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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-01-02Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 02 JANUARY 2001 Tuesday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on January 2, 2001. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)HORROR SHIP:SIX DEAD BODIES FOUND, 45 OTHERS MISSINGA Georgian-flagged cargo ship sank on Monday after slamming into rocks off shores Kiris region in Kemer township in southern Antalya province. Police said six dead bodies were found so far, and noted that 32 people were rescued and 45 others were missing. The Georgian-flagged ship sank when it hit rocks in a storm early on Monday morning. Rescue efforts continue. ''I HAVE MANY MORE THINGS TO DO'' MILLIYET (LIBERAL)HALKBANK ALSO SERVED FOR MURAT DEMIRELIt has been found out that Murat Demirel, the former owner of Egebank and who was imprisoned, used credits worth of 96 million dollars, 12,5 million marks and 38.5 billion liras from Halbank's branch in Levent district of Istanbul. The illegal credits given by the bank to 20 separate firms will be closely examined. BOMB IN 2000 SABAH (LIBERAL)''I WON'T LEAVE POLITICS''Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that the rumours saying that he would resign in April, 2001 are not true. Issuing messages for the new year, Ecevit said that ''we will have the leaders summit within few days and discuss economy. 2001 will be a critical year in economy.'' Ecevit said that Turkey still needs National Security Council. STORM AND HEAVY RAIN IN ANTALYA CUMHURIYET (LEFT)HEAVY BURDEN IN 2001The government transferred a heavy burden to 2001 in political and economic issues. The parliament will be busy in discussing the constitutional amendment, civil code amendment and many other laws in 2001. The government couldn't also adopt the regulations that were necessary to abide by the EU legislation. HEAR SCARF BAN IN TRNC UNIVERSITIES RADIKAL (LEFT)''OPERATION RETURN TO LIFE HAS BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL''Mehmet Bekaroglu, the member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission who met with political inmates in Sincan F type prison, said that the latter insist on death fast. Bekaroglu claimed that the operation return to life which was staged in prisons has been unsuccesful in returning inmates to life, but it has been succesful in transferring inmates to F type prisons. IT WILL BE RAINY IN EARLY DAYS OF 2001 IN TURKEY YENI BINYIL (LIBERAL)EU CALENDAR STARTS TO FUNCTIONTurkey will start to fulfil the ''medium term priorities'' of the Accession Partnership Document starting from today. Such sensitive issues like ''the right to be educated in mother tongue and the right to have cultural rights'' are foreseen to be taken under guarantee by Turkey to join the EU. Meanwhile, Turkey also prepared the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA) which was requested from her by the EU. TURKIYE (RIGHT)RESTORATION WORK IN DOLMABAHCE PALACE COMPLETEDPolat Akbulut, the chairman of parliamentary national palaces department said that parts of Dolmabahce Palace were restored. He said that the restoration work cost 3.7 trillion Turkish liras. ENERGY PRODUCTION STOPS IN TWO DAMS ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)85 BABIES BORN IN ISTANBULA total of 85 babies were born in the first minutes of the new year in Istanbul. The first triplets of the new year were born in Social Security Agency (SSK) Goztepe hospital. CARGO SHIP SINKS KILLING SIX PERSONS -TORRENTIAL RAINS PARALYSE DAILY LIFE IN ANTALYA The bad weather paralysed the daily life in Antalya. Uncalı Security Directorate's building, Rapid Force Directorate's building and one hotel were flooded. Meanwhile a bridge in Kepez region in Antalya was closed to traffic due to a risk of collapse. -2001 TO BE INVESTMENT YEAR OF BOTAS BOTAS tries to complete the necessary investments as the natural gas that will come both from Iran and Russia will start to be pumped to Turkey. A total of 26 billion cubicmeters of extra natural gas from Russia and Iran will arrive in Turkey and BOTAS has to complete the construction of pipelines to distribute this gas to consumers. Botas started to put out to tender the pipelines that have to be completed by it. By the completion of four ''loop'' lines, natural gas will be given to the natural gas station in Adapazarı in December 2001. The proposals for the construction tenders of Sivas-Malatya (160 km), Malatya-Gaziantep (160 km) and Gaziantep-Adana-Mersin (240 km) will be received in February. When this pipeline is completed, natural gas will be given to the provinces of Malatya, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Osmaniye, Iskenderun, Adana, Mersin, Elazıg, Adıyaman and Hatay. The other pipeline between Konya and Izmir will be 613 kilometers in lenght and it will be put out to tender in three parts. -SHIP ACCIDENT Coast Guard teams started to recover the parts of dead bodies from the shore after the storm and heavy rain stopped. The search and rescue frigate came to the scene where the accident took place in the morning. Commando-divers in the frigate will examine the front part of the cargo ship which was split in two. The 45 missing persons who are believed to have been locked in the cargo department of the ship, will most probably be found dead, officials said. Meanwhile, the illegal immigrants who were rescued were brought to Antalya Directorate General of Security's Foreigners' Department. They are expected to be deported today. The four dead bodies which were found in the sea, were taken to Antalya State Hospital's morgue. -GAP REGION EXPORTS 510,8 MILLION DOLLARS OF The exports were worth of 521,9 million dollars in the same period in 1999. Abdulkadir Cıkmaz, the chairman of the southeast anatolian exporters union told A.A correspondent on Tuesday that Iraq, Italy, Syria, Germany and Britain are the countries which ranked the top in importing products from GAP region. -TREASURY GAINS 4.4 QUADRILLION LIRAS OF INCOME FROM CIGARETTE A report prepared by the Finance Ministry and State Monopolies Directorate (TEKEL) officials about tobacco noted on Tuesday that many taxes and funds are collected from tobacco and cigarette. The report noted that the total amount of taxes and funds collected from cigarette sector reached 6,5 billion dollars in the last four years. The monetary value of the taxes and funds provided from tobacco has been 4, 4 quadrillion liras. Thus Treasury gained an average annual income of 1.1 quadrillion Turkish liras from tobacco. -ERDOGAN, A LAWYER APPLIES TO COURT SAYING LAW ON CONDITIONAL RELEASE If the courts take serious these claims, they can transfer the issue to the Constitutional Court asking for the annulment of the law. Erdogan applied to State Security Courts (DGM) in Ankara and Izmir for his six clients and said that his clients should also benefit from the law on conditional release. Erdogan stressed that the regulation is against the Constitutional principles of equality and state of law. -250 HOUSES AND OFFICES INUNDATED IN ANTALYA PROVINCE Touristic resorts were also inundated with heavy rain in Goynuk hamlet of Kemer county, transportation in high ways are imited and the schools were closed for one day. Efforts are underway to discharge water from the basement of some official buildings. Meteorology officials said that the rainy weather will leave the region in the afternoon. Meanwhile the highway between Antalya and Burdur has been opened to traffic. -SHIP ACCIDENT IN KEMER A helicopter searching for illegal immigrants, notified commando-divers that a person was waving his hand in the sea. SAS and SAT commando-divers rushed to the region, and rescued the person. -AN INMATE WHO WAS TAKEN TO NUMUNE HOSPITAL Sources told A.A correspondent that 4 out of 34 inmates who were taken to Numune Hospital on December 22, 2000, were still under medical treatment. -HANNAY, SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF BRITAIN Sources told the A.A correspondent on Tuesday that President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) would receive Hannay. Hannay is also scheduled to come together with Glafcos Clerides, the leader of Greek Cypriot administration. -PREPARATORY WORKS CONTINUE FOR TURKEY-TRNC PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL Prior to the meeting, the Joint Economic Committee will held a meeting on January 10, and the Joint Education and Culture Committee will convene on January 11. Separate delegations from the TRNC will attend the meetings. The delegations will start to come to Turkey beginning from January 9. A five-member delegation headed by TRNC Economy and Finance Minister Mehmet Bayram, will attend the Partnership Council meeting. Tahsin Ertugruloglu, the TRNC Foreign Affairs and Defense Minister; Ilkay Kamil, the TRNC Interior and Rural Affairs Minister; Salih Miroglu, the TRNC Public Works and Transportation Minister; and Mehmet Altinay, the TRNC National Education and Culture Minister; are in the delegation. Meanwhile, a five-member delegation will represent political parties having seats at the TRNC Parliament, will also be in attendance at the meeting. After the Partnership Council meeting which will focus on economic issues, the sides are expected to sign a loan agreement of 350 million U.S. dollars. -A TOTAL OF 195 PERSONS KILLED IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS Sources at the Directorate General of Security told A.A correspondent on Tuesday that 195 people died in 146 traffic accidents between December 23, 2000 and January 1, 2001. They added that 65 percent of traffic accidents occurred in city centers killing 68 people and injuring 62 others. Death toll and number of injured people in accidents are as follows: Number of accidents Number of Date resulted in death Death toll injured people ----- ------------------- ---------- ------------- December 24, 2000 15 26 61 December 25, 2000 16 23 82 December 26, 2000 11 17 22 December 27, 2000 10 10 25 December 28, 2000 21 25 40 December 29, 2000 14 16 4 December 30, 2000 19 24 33 December 31, 2000 6 6 6 January 1, 2001 16 22 48 -ABU KALAM AJAD OF BANGLADESHI ORIGIN RESCUED He was rushed to hospital for medical treatment. Doctors said that he was in good condition. Ajad said that there were nearly 70 people on board aiming at proceeding to Greece. Ajad is the 33rd person to be rescued from the sinking of the Georgian- flagged Pati. Meanwhile, search and rescue works were called off due to bad weather conditions in Kemer. Colonel Fevzi Tosun said that SAS and SAT commando-divers were not able to dive into the wreckage because of low-visibility following a storm. SAS and SAT commando-divers picked up body parts which washed ashore on the beaches. The remains were believed to be from people who were dismembered when the ship split in two after hitting the rocky shore. Veli Ciftci, the Republican Chief Prosecutor in Antalya, said that a full investigation into the ship accident was under way. He said that at least six people were known to have been killed in the shipwreck. The 400-ton cargo ship left Antalya on Sunday heading for Greece. The ship had traveled from Israel to Turkey last week. At least 83 people including 10 crew members and 73 passengers, were on board the cargo ship when it split in two and sank in a storm. Half of the ship sank about 100 meters off Kemer township while the other half grounded. Among those rescued were six crew members, including the ship's Greek captain. -ANKARA TO HOST INTERNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL LAW President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk and Eralp Ozgen, the chairman of bars' union of Turkey, are expected to participate in the convention as speakers. On the first day of the convention, two conferences on ''Constitutionalism Movement in the World and New Constitutions'' and ''Constitutionalism in Turkey and Constitution Culture'' will be organized. Mustafa Bumin, the chairman of constitutional court, and Nejat Arseven, the acting speaker of parliament, will preside the conferences. On the second day, issues such as ''Basic Rights and Freedoms: Scope, Restriction and Violation'', ''Economic, Social and Cultural Rights'' and ''New Developments and Third Generation Rights'' will be discussed. A conference on ''Political Systems'' will be held on the third day of the convention. On the fourth day, a session will be held on ''Globalization, Universal Values and National Sovereignty''. Academicians from Turkey, Brazil, Germany, Egypt, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain will attend the convention. -DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BAHCELI: Addressing the group meeting of his party, Bahceli said, ''number of laws on conditional release from prison and on general amnesty increased to 52 in the history of the Republic. Under normal conditions, it is not possible to correlate a healthy state of law with permanent implementation of amnesty. Such an implementation damage confidence in the justice, and decrease deterrence of the punishments.'' Noting that the arrangement which had been brought onto agenda from time to time since the second half of 1998, and which had been legalized at the end of December 2000, became a necessity, Bahceli stressed, ''it was important not to need such laws in Turkey. We have adopted the method of reductions in punishments and conditional release from prison instead of the method of amnesty. The law aims at making inmates more careful not to commit crimes again. Members and heads of terrorist organizations and organized gangs were not included in the scope of the amnesty.'' Bahceli noted, ''the current situation in jurisdiction, punishment and execution system should be scrutinized. All prisons should be reconstructed to this end. F type prisons based on room system, are important opportunities to us. We cannot accept efforts to change places in which offenders should serve their sentences, into centers where new offenders are being trained. Unfortunately, overcrowdness and long-standing negligences caused prisons to become new centers of crime and terrorism. Intervention in prisons revealed the brutal methods of the terrorist organizations. Those who are trying to approach to the prison issue with only 'humanitarian factors', should scrutinize their stance after inhuman methods of terrorist organizations were revealed.'' Referring to economic crisis in the second half of November, Deputy Prime Minister Bahceli said, ''the 57th government did not deserve such harsh criticisms. The government took important steps to prevent the crisis. Our disinflation and economic reconstruction program concluded its first year. At the end of the first year, the picture in Turkey is hopeful. We cannot say that we reached all our targets. But it should be remembered that important developments were recorded in Turkey.'' Bahceli underlined importance of cooperation among all relevant institutions in order to prevent such a crisis. He added that rehabilitation process in the banking system should be finalized as soon as possible. -SECURITY FORCES CAPTURE 329 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS The immigrants including Iranians, Iraqis, Morroccans, Palestinians, Afghans, Syrians, Azerbaijanis, Nigerians and Bulgarians were taken into custody for violating the Turkish borders and the passport law. Officials told the A.A correspondent on Tuesday that the illegal immigrants would be deported once the legal proceedings are completed. -SHIP ACCIDENT IN KEMER Search and rescue works which were earlier called off due to bad weather conditions in Kemer, restarted. SAS and SAT commando-divers recovered two more bodies near Kiris region. At least 83 people including 10 crew members and 73 passengers, were on board the 400-ton cargo ship when it split in two and sank in a storm yesterday. Half of the ship sank about 100 meters off Kemer township while the other half grounded. -FOREIGN BORROWING STOCK REACHES 106.9 BILLION Turkey's foreign debt increased 4 billion U.S. dollars compared to the same period of 1999. -ISTANBUL DGM DECIDES TO ARREST CAGLAR IN HIS ABSENTIA Ercan Cengiz, the republican prosecutor of Istanbul DGM, requested the court to arrest Caglar, the former owner of Interbank and former deputy of the True Path Party (DYP), in his absentia. The Istanbul DGM no: 1 accepted Cengiz's request, and decided to arrest Caglar who did not come to the Security Department to give testimony, in his absentia. Caglar was claimed to have obtained an illegal loan of 7.5 million U.S. dollars from the Egebank.
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