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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-01-13Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 13 JANUARY 2001 Saturday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on January 13, 2000. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)ANAP: ''WE MEANT SADDAM''Beyhan Aslan, the Acting Chairman of Parliamentary Group of Motherland Party (ANAP), noted, ''as our leader Mesut Yilmaz said before that everything is transparent in democratic regimes while there is not any clarity in closed regimes. We meant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime by saying closed regimes. We did not say that the Turkish Armed Forces opposed to the European Union (EU). The Turkish Armed Forces belive in democracy like civilians. And civilians defend country's integrity like the Turkish Armed Forces.'' CAKICI BENEFITS FROM LAW ON CONDITIONAL RELEASE TURK: ''LAWYERS ENCOURAGE INMATES TO FAST TO DEATH'' MILLIYET (LIBERAL)TANTAN: ''I DID NOT INFORM EVEN YILMAZ ON OPERATION''Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan said, ''we monitored developments for three months before launching an operation against illegal practices in state energy tenders. During this process, I did not inform even Energy and Natural Resources Minister Cumhur Ersumer and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz.'' IBRAHIM HALIL CELIK ARRESTED SABAH (LIBERAL)BANKS REQUEST TRANSITION PERIODOsman Tunaboylu, the Chairman of the Turkish Banks Union and the General Director of Ziraat Bankasi, said that carrying out an international control depends on the rehabilitation of the sector as soon as possible. Attending a meeting with the administrators of the economic press in Istanbul, Tunaboylu said that starting an international control and supervision process without a transition period can cause problems in both the financial and real sector. Tunaboylu noted that the target of the banking sector is to become a sector which operates in accordance with the international norms and standards, the credibility of which is accepted throughout the world, which is transparent, and which is open to the international competiton. Tunaboylu said that the banks and the Turkish Banks Union support the stability program. He said that all the banks, particularly the banks which were transferred to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund and the public banks, should be rehabilated in accordance with the international norms and standards. CUMALI LAID TO REST CUMHURIYET (LEFT)TURKEY IS TRNC'S IMFTurkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) signed protocols which foresee cooperation in economic, political, cultural and social fields. State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel said that the Turkey-TRNC Partnership Council was an important step in development of bilateral relations and that the protocols explained how Turkey would support the TRNC. Gurel said that Ankara would support Lefkosa in implementation of this programme. Gurel said that a ''joint economic zone'' would be formed between Turkey and the TRNC in accordance wit the protocols, and within this framework, Turkey would give a 350 million U.S. dollars loan to the TRNC within three months. Turkey will hold the tenders about this loan in Ankara and always monitor the process of the project. BOTAS SUFFERS 1.2 BILLION DOLLARS LOSS DUE TO GULF CRISIS ''ANY DISCRIMINATION WAS NOT MADE IN OPERATION'' RADIKAL (LEFT)ENERGY MINISTRY'S TENDERS INVESTIGATEDTalat Salk, the Republican Prosecutor of the Ankara State Security Court (DGM) who has been carrying out operation against illegal practices in state energy tenders, said, ''five inspectors are investigating all projects of the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry including the Blue Stream Project. We have enough proof to support allegations.'' TURKIYE (RIGHT)YILMAZ ON THE DEFENSIVEDeputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz gave response to General Staff's statement about the latest investigation into corruptions in energy tenders. Yilmaz said that if the General Staff really could not determine which officer it was that spoke to the press saying that criminal investigation was initiated by the military and not the civilian powers, then the deitors of the paper concerned should help them find the controversial commander. Speaking at the press conference in Berlin, Yilmaz said, ''an officer made a statement denigrating the civilian authority and reducing confidence in state institutions. ''WE WON'T WITHDRAW OUR VETO'' ATTACKER ARRESTED ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)SECOND SWINDLING IN HOUSING ASSISTANCEIt was claimed that the Social Security Authority (SSK), State Employees Pension Fund and some municipalities did not deposit 400 trillion Turkish liras (TL) of Housing Assistance money they had collected from workers, to the account at the Emlak Bankasi with the opinion ''let's swipe the money before the Emlak Bankasi swipes it.'' State Minister Faruk Bal said that it could be true that the relevant institutions and organizations had not deposited the money, and that the bank did not have the responsibility to follow the issue. Bal defended that the workers should follow their Housing Assistance money. YILMAZ SAYS HURRIYET SHOULD HELP ARMED FORCES EVERY ENERGY TENDER INVESTIGATED DOUBLE STANDARD IN VAT -CULTURE MINISTER TALAY DUE TO AZERBAIJAN Kemal Fahir Genc, the Deputy Undersecretary of Culture Ministry; Halil Hepdinc, the Director General of Foreign Affairs and Coordination with the European Community; Asim Cebeci, the Acting Director of Revolving Fund Enterprises; and Varol Ozkoc, the Director General of Promotion and Cultural Affairs Department of Foreign Ministry; will accompany Talay during his visit to Azerbaijan. The meeting hosted by Azerbaijani Culture Minister and TURKSOY Director General Polad Bulbuloglu, will be held between January 16 and 17. At the meeting, cultural activities in 2001 will be determined and term coordinatorship of TURKSOY will be handed over to another country. -WORLD BANK SUPPORT TO SULTANSAZLIGI BIRD PARADISE Forestry Ministry National Parks Chief Engineer Timur Erdem told the A.A correspondent on Saturday that the Sultansazligi Bird Paradise which hosts tens of thousands of birds of 301 species was included in the Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (GEF-2) Project's scope for its effective protection as a habitat. Erdem said that the first comprehensive meeting on the project which had been initiated in August of 2000 would be held on January 17, 2001 in central province of Kayseri. ''Sultansazligi where the birds migrating among Europe, Middle East and Africa stop for a rest, is one of the most important bird paradises in the world. With this respect, the World Bank decided to include Sultansazligi into its portfolio of assistance to natural beauties in Turkey,'' he said. Erdem added that GEF-2 project would continue until 2005. -LETTER OF PROTEST FROM TUSK-IS TO FRANCE The decree said, ''if campaign of Armenian circles aiming at blackening the Turkish nation and Turkish history results in success, this can cause many negativities to Turkey. Therefore, member labour unions should launch a campaign by sending letters of protest to French MPs.'' Stressing that labour unions' sending letters to their French counterparts would be useful, the decree said that employees should also send letters to French deputies. The protest letter written in French language was attached to the decree. Salih Kilic, the General Education Secretary of Turk-Is, told the A.A correspondent, ''it is a sorrowful and thought-provoking development that France brought a draft resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians onto parliamentary agenda by forgetting its massacres in Algeria in the past.'' He added, ''I believe that French parliamentarians would act with common- sense and oppose to the draft resolution. Approval of the draft law will play havoc with good relations between Turkey and France.'' The protest letter which was prepared by the Turk-Is to be sent to France, said, ''we learnt with regret that the French parliament would debate a draft resolution claiming that Armenian people had been exposed to genocide in 1915. Assessment of the past is a duty of historians, not of parliaments. The French parliament had appointed historians to investigate massacres committed by French soldiers in Algeria in the past. Many distressing incidents had been experienced during the World War I. Millions of people lost their lives. If the French parliament adopts a resolution for only Armenian people, what will it do for millions of Turkish people who were massacred during this period? We believe that such a meaningless attitude would not continue any longer, and that distinguished members of the French parliament would not be deceived by extremist Armenian circles. More than 3.5 million Turkish people living in Europe want this. Please do not allow Turkish people who had never committed the crime of genocide in their history, to be used in this obnoxious campaign of slander.'' -LION HOROSCOPE ON NEMRUD MOUNTAIN Nemrud Mountain which is known as the best place in the world to watch sunrise and sunset, is the oldest known horoscope in the world. 2000-year-old giant god statues belonged to the Kommagene Kingdom on Nemrud Mountain in Kahta township of southeastern Adiyaman province, was taken to the List of World Cultural Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The International Nemrud Foundation which was based in the Netherlands to restore and protect the Nemrud Mountain that is described as the ''Eighth Wonder of the World'', said that the lion horoscope depicted a constellation which would not be seen for the forthcoming 25,000 years. The Foundation said, ''the Lion Horoscope, at the West Terrace of the Nemrud, is the oldest known horoscope in the world. It depicts a constellation which will not be seen for the forthcoming 25,000 years. The animation shows the sky as if you yourself were present at the West-Terrace on top of the Nemrud on the 14th of July 109 B.C. The Lion Horoscope is a stone slab measuring 1.75 x 2.40 metres with a thickness of 0.47 metres. It shows a lion marching to the right. It is the Lion Horoscope. The particular constellation of that day will not be seen. The body of the lion is covered with 19 stars. Each star has 8 pointed rays. Apart from a small difference the positions of the 19 stars represent the constellation of Lion as described in the Ephemeris of Eratosthenes.'' ''The lion wears under his neck a sickle, symbol for the new Moon. Above that dish the star Regulus radiates. Regulus has been associated with the king throughout history of mankind. It was named Regulus by Copernicus after the earlier 'Rex', equivalent to the 'Basileos' of Ptolemeus. In ancient Akkadia known as 'Amil-gal-ur' King-of-the-celestial-sphere. In Babylonia as 'Sharu' the King. In ancient Persia as 'Miyan' the Centre, leader of the four royal stars. Above the lions back are three stars depicted with sixteen points instead of eight. These are not stars but planets. From left to right they are Mars, Mercury and Jupiter. Above them you can read their Greek names. The Lion Horoscope is a frozen picture of the positions of the heavenly bodies at a certain moment at a certain date. Jupiter needs about 12 years to pass the ecliptica, Mars 2 years and Mercury 1 year. The moon passes the ecliptic in 1 month. So the slow planets Jupiter and Mars give the year, Mercury the month and the moon gives the day. First the years were selected in which Jupiter was in the constellation of Lion as depicted at the stone slab. From these years those were selected in which Mars was also moving through this part of the ecliptica. And the same for Mercury. The second selection criterium was the sequence of these planets, being Mars-Mercury-Jupiter according to the Lion Horoscope. As a result the constellation of the 14th of July 109 B.C. was selected,'' it said. Recalling that Mercury normally could not be seen with the naked eye most of the time, the Foundation said, ''however, on this particular day Mercury had reached almost its maximum distance from the Sun and was therefore good visible. The time lapse between sunset and descending of the moon was about 17 minutes. If the moon-Regulus conjunction was visible from top of the mountain, it was only very short : Just before the descending of the moon at 19h37 Local Real Time. In the minutes before the complete constellation as depicted on the Lion Horoscope was in place. This particular phenomenon makes it possible to determine not only the date but also the time of the constellation, being 19h35 Local Real Time. So, the Lion Horoscope indicates not only the date of that particular constellation but even the exact hour.'' Noting that King Mithridates' coronation took place on July 14 109 B.C. at 19h35, the Foundation said, ''this particular day was chartered and chosen long before as being the right day for the coronation of Mithridates. That day the king and his court assembled on top of Mount Nemrud. If you had been a noble of Kommagene, you could have seen how Mithridates ans his father King Samos II were standing at the West Terrace and watched the sunset. Also you could see Jupiter, Mercury and finally Mars, the red planet. On the nights before, everyone in Kommagene had followed their path through the heavens. The people had watched how the planets passed the royal star Regulus. To commemorate his coronation, Mithridates had sculptured the Lion Horoscope and the four slabs, on which he welcomes the gods. The five slabs are flanked on both sides by an eagle and a lion. Antiochus, the son of King Mithridates, constructed the statues of the gods identical to the slabs of his father. These statues are Apollo, the Goddess of Kommagene, Zeus and Herakles. He flanked the five colossi also with an eagle and a lion. They are only much bigger as those of his father.'' Further information can be obtained from the International Nemrud Foundation's website: ''http://www.nemrud.nl''. -STATE MINISTER TOSKAY: Addressing journalists on his arrival from Germany where he had paid a visit to Heim Textile Fair, Toskay stressed, ''Turkey has been experiencing a serious economic process. On my personal view, authorities and institutions should become calm. Everyone should expend efforts to make calmness and objectiveness dominant over discussion and solution of problems.'' Recalling that media has been sensitive for a long time towards the issues of corruption in public tenders and bribery, Toskay said, ''the media should not have the right to complain about what is happening in Ankara. Because, it has been dwelling upon these matters as it had never done before. But everyone should act with common-sense at this point.'' Responding to a question, Toskay told reporters, ''tension among the institutions will be eased after common-sense becomes dominant. What I am interested in is finalization of investigation in accordance with laws and without any influence. We cannot allow formation of an atmosphere which will lead distruption in struggle against corruption and bribery.'' When asked whether or not gendarme's carrying out an investigation into corruption could be described as an intervention in civil and democratic order, Toskay said, ''the gendarme commandership takes place within structure of the Interior Ministry. This question does not suit Turkey's administrative structure.'' -MUTLU NAMED AMONG 75 BEST SPORTSMEN IN 2000 Releasing a written statement, the Turkish National Olympic Committee (TMOK) said on Saturday that Austria-based World Sports Awards Foundation named five sportsmen in 15 categories for the competition. Halil Mutlu was named among five sportsmen in the category of athletics. The award ceremony will take place at the Royal Albert Hall in British capital of London on January 16. Taner Senseven, the Chairman of TMOK for relations with press, will be in attendance at the ceremony. -GAP REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN The new plan aims to give the start for process of reform in economic structure, develop local entrepreneurship and provide foreign capital flow into the region. With this objective a draft report was prepared in accordance with opinions of regional participants and ''brain-storms'' last year, and the report which will be finalized this year will set timetables and programmes for finalization of GAP in 2010. According to the GAP Regional Development Authority's statistics, the aim to increase level of living standards in the region and make it sustainable became effective in revision process of GAP Master Plan as GAP Regional Development Plan. The draft GAP Regional Development Plan targets ''to give the start for process of reform in economic structure and develop local entrepreneurship; enable inflow of foreign capital and supportive public funds and contribution of regional and external sources to the project; enable local residents and especially disadvantageous groups to reach sources and to participate in decision-meaking mechanisms; provide a balanced social development; develop institutional capacity of the region; protect natural resources by establishing an environment management system; enable a productive and sustainable usage; develop education, health and infrastructural services; make use of cultural heritage of the region; protect and utilize historical and cultural assets; activate organization of places; strengthen network systems; provide unity of rurals and urbans; recover living standards; and reduce differences between the regional and national figures.'' -TURKEY OBTAINS 6 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS FROM Officials at the Black Sea of Hazelnut Exporters' Association said on Saturday that Turkey exported 1 million 940 thousand tonnes of hazelnuts between 1991 and 2000 to nearly 80 countries. Amounts of hazelnuts and incomes obtained from exports of hazelnuts in last ten years are as follows. . Export Income YEAR (Ton) (U.S. dollars) ---- ------- ------------- Assessing future of Turkish tourism, Mumcu said, ''we should diversify tourism facilities in Turkey. Therefore, we attribute great importance to activities such as thermal, fitness, golf and congress. The Tourism Ministry has been expending great efforts to encourage new investments, and to promote Turkey abroad. Private sector should increase its investments in the field of tourism.'' Mumcu said, ''tourism entails an environment of good quality. There are uneducated people working in the tourism sector. These people do not give proper services. There are five-star hotels all around the world. We should make our hotels different from the hotels in other countries. This difference should be based on social and cultural factors.'' He stressed, ''the most beautiful shores of Turkey have been opened to construction of housing estates. This is nothing but a massacre.'' Stressing that tourism was Turkey's number-one source of income, Mumcu noted, ''tourism is an engine activating 32 sectors. It is a sector providing promotion of Turkey. Every year 7.8 million people from member countries to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) come to Turkey to spend their holidays. Tourism has an important impact on Turkey's future.'' -TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS CLAIM 3,628 LIVES IN 2000 Addressing a meeting organized by the Directorate of Security in Ankara, Ismail Ozdemir, the Deputy Governor of Ankara, stressed, ''people should be more respectful to each other in order to decrease traffic accidents.'' Noting that traffic did not consist of only rules, Ozdemir underlined importance of infrastructure. He said that infrastructure was insufficient in Ankara. Ozdemir said, ''there are 2,157 unpaid traffic inspectors in Ankara. They determined 56,996 traffic rule violations in 2000.'' Meanwhile, Ihsan Memis, the Chairman of Unpaid Traffic Inspectors' Association, said, ''more than one million people are given driving licence by private driving courses every year. This system should be changed and quality of the driving lessons should be increased.'' Kemal Iskender, the Police Chief in Ankara, said, ''traffic accidents are one of the most important problems in the world. Every year, more than one million people die, and 10 million others are injured in traffic accidents in the world.'' Iskender said, ''in 11 months of 2000, 420,854 traffic accidents occurred. A total of 3,628 people were killed, and 105,216 others were injured in these traffic accidents. In the same period, 65,910 traffic accidents occurred in Ankara killing 195 people and injuring 9,941 others.'' He added, ''according to a report prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it was revealed that rate of casualties in traffic accidents in Turkey decreased by 21.9 percent in 2000.'' -MESSAGE OF FRIENDSHIP TO GREEK PEOPLE WITH FLOWERS Making a statement in front of the Republic Monument in Izmir, Soyuturk said that the friendship which had increased after the devastating earthquake on August 17, 1999 became the initiator of convention of politicians to solve the problems. Stressing that there had not been a change in the Greek politicians' position toward Turkey despite those developments, Soyuturk defended that any step had not been taken in solution of problems of the Western Thracian Turks. Noting that Greece had not given visa to folk dance group which had been invited to Komotini, Soyuturk defended that Greece was supporting the resolutions on so-called genocide on Armenians and terrorist PKK organization from the backstage. Emphasizing that those were distressing and unfortunate developments, Soyuturk requested the Greek politicians to contribute to development of friendship. Celal Ocal, the Chairman of the Turkish World Culture and Human Rights Association, stressed that the resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians which would be taken up at the French national assembly would strike a heavy blow on Turkish-French friendship. Ocal said that they would stage several protest actions including boycotting French products in case the French national assembly approved the resolution in question. Later, Soyuturk and representatives of associations in Izmir left flowers to the Aegean Sea wishing that friendship between the Turkish and Greek peoples would be permanent. -JUSTICE MINISTER TURK: Addressing journalists, Turk said, ''we will put an end to dormitory system in prisons. A serious decrease was recorded in death fasts and hunger strikes after some inmates have been transferred to F type prisons. ''Terrorist organizations cannot reach their targets with death fasts and hunger strikes. As I said before, there has been an increase in the number of inmates who decided to go on death fast after the visit of their lawyers. We closely monitor that, if there is a need, we will file a suit about these lawyers. There is not any critical situation in prisons. Relatives of some prisoners expressed their pleasure with opening of F type prisons. But unfortunately, there are families encouraging their children to go on hunger strikes.'' -MU THEOLOGY FACULTY DEAN BEYAZ DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL Speaking to journalists while leaving the hospital, Beyaz said, ''a dispute is tried to be created between the religion and the state. This is very wrong and baseless. This is the outcome of the attitude of hostile elements. The holy Koran calls the faithful to obey God, the Prophet, the state and statesmen.'' ''Now, some persons say, 'this state is non-Muslim, we waged holy war against this state and we don't obey the rules of this state.' This is the mistake. I am asking the Turkish people: Isn't this our state? Isn't it the state which has the imams give the call for prayer at our 70 thousand mosques? Isn't it the state which pays salaries to 100 thousand religious functionary? Isn't it the state which protects our lives?'' ''We are loyal to the state and the flag. We are ready to struggle for dominance of our laws in every place. Thousands of Zekeriya Beyaz are ready to sacrifice themselves for this purpose,'' he said. -TURKISH-GREEK COOPERATION IN QUAKE-STRICKEN AREA Addressing the inauguration, Hikmet Erenkaya, the Mayor of Saraybahce, said that they were grateful to the Greek people who had rushed to their help in the wake of 1999's earthquake disaster. Stressing that the center would make a valuable contribution to efforts aiming at healing wounds of the disaster, Erenkaya said, ''nearly 30 thousand people were killed, and 100 thousand buildings collapsed in the quake disaster. We wish such disasters would not occur again. Many countries rushed to Turkey to help us. Enmity came to an end, and friendship was set up among countries in the wake of the disaster.'' Meanwhile, Costa Hristo Foridis, the representative of Kessa Dimitra, said, ''Saraybahce Social Center was constructed within framework of the European Commission Humanitarian Office's (ECHO) aid programme for the Turkish quake survivors. The social center is a product of good and meaningful cooperation between the Turkish and Greek peoples.'' The center cost nearly 200 thousand U.S. dollars. -SPORTS - SOCCER Stadium : Adnan Menderes in western province of Aydin Referees: Kazim Ercakir (Turkey) Teams: Turkey : Sener, Gokhan, Hakan, Murat Atas, Murat Almis, Mithat, Koray, Mevlut, Omer, Hidayet, Nuri, Mesut, Sezer, Engin, Yusuf France : Benvegnu, Farvy, Alexander, Medjani, Bertrand, Veigneau, Plessis, Derbhy, Khiter, Lejeune, Laurent, Bru, Briand, Mandanne Scorers : Turkey - Mesut 50 France - Khiter 7 90 min. : 1-1 Meanwhile, Greece ranked third in the tournament, beating Belgium 2-1. -TURKISH-GREEK COOPERATION IN LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS Addressing the meeting, Tekirdag Mayor and TRAKYAKENT Chairman Osman Tabak said, ''the East-West Thracian Municipalities' Union is the first official institution in Turkey to provide cooperation between Turkey and Europe at the local administrations level. The Union aims at providing cooperation among the Turkish, Greek and Bulgarian local administrations in the fields of environment, agriculture, urban planning, tourism, culture, education, health and transportation. I believe that the Union will make a valuable contribution to stability and neighborhood process in Southeastern Europe.'' Meanwhile, Dinos Haritopulos, the Chairman of West-East Municipalities' Union in Greece, said in his part, ''I had visited Marmara Ereglisi in the wake of the 1999's quake disaster. During this visit, I met with some mayors and we decided to cooperate. I believe that local administrations are playing an important role in rapprochement among the nations.'' Tekirdag Governor and Local Administrations Director General Zeki Sanal said, ''the union was founded within framework of the Council of Europe's Frame Convention for Cross-Border Cooperation among Local Administrations.''
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