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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-01-25Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 25 JANUARY 2001 Thursday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on January 25, 2000. The Anadolu Ajansi does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)SHAMEGaffar Okkan, the Police Chief of Diyarbakir, and five other policemen were martyred in an armed attack yesterday. Okkan was serving in the most critical region of Turkey. The State could not allocate an armoured vehicle to Okkan although he became target of the terrorist organization Hezbollah following last year's successful operations. All the windows of the car were shattered in the attack. Terrorists first threw a bomb, then opened fire on the vehicle of Okkan. Okkan and five other policemen were killed while four others were injured in the attack. ARMENIAN TERRORIST TOPALIAN SENTENCED TO 37 MONTHS IN PRISON MILLIYET (LIBERAL)CHIRAC'S CONFESSIONPresident Haydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan reacted to President Jacques Chirac of France for approval of draft resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians by the French parliament. President Chirac told President Aliyev, ''local elections will be held in France soon. Prime Minister Jospin's government has approved the draft resolution to get more votes. It was a political decision. In fact, I do not support the resolution.'' SECURITY FORCES SEARCH FOR 13 SUICIDE BOMBERS IN ISTANBUL SABAH (LIBERAL)HE KNOWS HIS MURDERERGaffar Okkan, the Police Chief of Diyarbakir, talked to Nuriye Akman, a reporter of Sabah, just before the armed attack on him. He said, ''we identified 26 more suspected Hezbollah hitmen. We know that they were in Diyarbakir, and they know that we identified them. Therefore, they are changing their places continuously.'' Later, he and five other policemen were martyred in an attack carried out four of these 26 hitmen. Okkan who was born in Hendek township of northwestern Sakarya province in 1952, was appointed head of the Diyarbakir Security Department in 1997. He was married with two children. UGUR MUMCU COMMEMORATED CUMHURIYET (LEFT)EL SALVADOR THANKS TURKEYThe 24-member search and rescue team which rushed to El Salvador in the wake of massive quake disaster on January 14, returned to Turkey. The team handed over the medical stuff to the Red Cross officials in the region and informed people on search and rescue operations. Meanwhile, the Red Crescent sent financial aid of 21 billion Turkish liras to El Salvador through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent. HAKTANIR WARNS BRITISH GOVERNMENT ANAP DEPUTY LEADER AKARCALI SUBMITS A DRAFT LAW RADIKAL (LEFT)BUMIN: ''THERE IS NO RESIGNATION''Mustafa Bumin, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, denied news reports claiming that they threatened Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit to resign, and stressed that these were totally untrue claims. Bumin said, ''I visited Prime Minister Ecevit together with my two friends. We did not tell at the meeting that if our demand was not accepted, we would all resign. Such a thing was not even implied. Our demand was not an 'ultimatom'' as claimed so by the press.'' Bumin pointed out that they were neither in favour of closing political parties nor making this process difficult. He stressed that their aim was not to make the three powers of the state namely the legislative, executive and judiciary organs confront each other. DURMUS: ''WE CAN BOYCOTT FRENCH MEDICINES'' TURKIYE (RIGHT)DRAFT LAWS SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE ON ALGERIANSBulent Akarcali, the Deputy Chairman of the Motherland Party (ANAP), submitted a draft law to the parliament saying, ''the Turkish parliament recognizes and condemns France's genocide in Algeria between 1954 and 1962.'' Meanwhile, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) submitted a draft law to the parliament to impose sanctions on countries carrying out works against Turkey. Haluk Bayulken, the Chairman of Turkish-Atlantic Council, sent a letter to President Jacques Chirac of France, and called on him to launch initiatives for annulment of the resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians. YILMAZ DUE TO DAVOS ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)BUMIN: ''WE ARE NOT IN FAVOR OF CLOSING POLITICAL PARTIES''Mustafa Bumin, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, said, ''we are not in favor of closing political parties. Closure criteria for political parties should be adjusted to the European standards.'' DE SOTO DUE IN CYPRUS -ARMED ATTACK ON OKKAN, POLICE CHIEF OF DIYARBAKIR Sources said that several people were taken into custody in connection with yesterday's armed attack in which Okkan and five policemen were killed and four policemen were injured. Cemil Serhadli, the Governor of Diyarbakir, said, ''none of four assailants has been captured yet. Police Chief Okkan had an armoured vehicle. But he was not using it because he had relied on residents in Diyarbakir. Residents also trusted in him. I call on everyone to assist security forces in their search for assailants.'' Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets, and marched from Dagkapi neighborhood to Ofis neighborhood in order to protest the armed attack on Okkan. They chanted slogans such as ''Gaffar was our father,'' ''They murdered our father'' and ''Martyrs never die, the motherland will not be divided''. A funeral will take place in front of the Diyarbakir Governor's Office at 11:00 a.m. for Police Chief Gaffar Okkan, his aide Mehmet Kamali, and his bodyguards Sabri Gun, Mehmet Sepetci, Atilla Durmus and Selahattin Baysoy. State Minister Edip Safder Gaydali, State Minister Fikret Unlu, Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan, Labour and Social Security Minister Yasar Okuyan, and Turan Genc, the Director General of Security, will be in attendance at the funeral. Following the funeral, bodies of martyrs will be sent to their hometowns Aydin, Kirikkale, Antakya, Mersin and Adapazari. -A DEMONSTRATION TO BE HELD IN NEW YORK TO PROTEST FRENCH PARLIAMENT'S Releasing a statement, the TADF said on Thursday, ''we will organize a demonstration in front of the French Consulate General in New York on January 27 to protest French government's disrespect to Turkey and Turkish people. All Turkish-American community and friends of Turkey are invited to the demonstration.'' The statement added, ''the French parliament has approved the draft resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians. This approval is the most serious disrespect to our people who were tortured, raped or massacred during the World War I.'' -TURKEY-IRAQ BUSINESS COUNCIL SET UP Addressing the general assembly meeting, Yavuz Zentinoglu, the Chairman of Executive Board of DEIK, recalled that Iraq was the second most important commercial partner of Turkey before the Gulf War. Noting that economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Iraq had been damaged due to embargo imposed on Iraq by the United Nations, Zeytinoglu stressed, ''the business council will play an important role in accelerating economic and commercial relations between the two countries.'' Mehmet Ali Neyzi was appointed as the Chairman of Turkish side of Turkey- Iraq Business Council. Meanwhile, Turkish goods will be displayed at the Third Turkish Export Products Fair in Iraqi capital of Baghdad between May 5 and 11. Releasing a statement, the Forum Fair Firm said that textiles, automotiv products, foodstuff and construction equipments would be displayed at the fair. The statement recalled that Mehmet Akat, the Turkish Ambassador to Iraq, had started his term in office in Baghdad after submitting his letter of credentials. -INTERIOR MINISTER TANTAN: Addresing the ceremony staged in front of Diyarbakir governorship for Gaffar Okkan, the Police Chief of Diyarbakir, and five policemen who were killed in an attack on Wednesday, Tantan said those killings caused great sufferings throughout the country. Tantan said those, who were killed in the attacks, sacrificed themselves for Turkey, noting that the tranquility and confidence atmosphere, installed in Diyarbakir, spread to the Turkish nation. Tantan said, ''it should be known that fight of the security forces against the illegal organizations and terrorist activities will continue without interrouption.'' He said people of the Turkish nation should know that those who wanted to create non-confidence atmosphere will not be able to achieve in their goals. Tantan called on people to be patient and to extend support to security forces. Turan Genc, the Director General of the Security Department, pointed out that the police organization sacrificed itself to protect the security of life and property of people, and would continue to do so. Genc said the murderers would be captured soon and will be handed to the Turkish justice. -NARCOTICS TEAMS CONFISCATE 19 KG OF HEROIN IN GAZIANTEP Acting on a tip-off, narcotics officials raided a house in Izorlar hamlet in Narlica village of Kilis township. They impounded 19 kg of heroin and equipment used in production of illict drug. A total of eight people were taken into custody in the operation. A full investigation into the illicit drug trafficking is under way. -QUOTA DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND INDIA Turkey which should lift textiles and read-to-wear clothings quotas imposed on India by February 19, 2001 in accordance with a World Trade Organization (WTO) decision, will violate the customs union deal if it lifts these quotas. Sources said on Thursday that Turkey discussed the issue this week with the European Union (EU) officials in Brussels in order prevent occurrence of an incident which is not in line with the customs union deal. Sources said that the EU officials had told that they would support every decision in order to prevent Turkey from suffering any difficulty against the WTO. With this respect, Turkey will firstly announce that it will abide by the WTO decision as of February 19, 2001. However, Turkey is planning to implement different methods which are similar to quotas in order not to harm the customs union deal, and with this objective, Turkey will hold talks with both EU and Indian officials, sources said. -NUMBER OF BELGIAN TOURISTS COMING TO TURKEY Officials at Promotion Consulting Office of Tourism Ministry in Brussels told the A.A correspondent on Thursday that 256,927 Belgian tourists visited Turkey in 2000. In 1999, number of Belgian tourists coming to Turkey was 149,622. Meanwhile, number of tourists visiting Turkey increased by 39 percent to 10,412,248. 23 percent of tourists came from East European countries. -AZERBAIJANI AGRICULTURE MINISTER ALIYEV HOSPITALIZED IN ANKARA Doctors at the Yuksek Ihtisas Hospital told the A.A correspondent on Thursday that Aliyev had come to the hospital the day before to undergo a check-up. Sources said that Aliyev who underwent angio cardiography on Thursday is in good condition and he will be discharged from hospital on Friday. -FOREIGN DEBT PAYMENTS The Central Bank data shows that the Treasury paid 379.60 million U.S. dollars; the Central Bank repaid 22.77 million U.S. dollars; and the administrations with general and consolidated budgets paid the remaining 41 million U.S. dollars in foreign debt between January 1 and 24. Turkey repaid 10 billion 44.6 million U.S. dollars in foreign debt in 2000. -PRODUCTION OF COUGAR HELICOPTERS CONTINUES Within scope of the programme, the number of helicopters produced by the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in 2000 reached six. Under the programme, one or two Cougar helicopters will be produced each month. Within framework of the Phenix II programme which will end in 2003, first two helicopters will be produced at Eurocopter's facilities in France and the remaining 28 helicopters will be produced at TAI's facilities in Ankara. -TUSIAD LAUNCHES INITIATIVES FOR ANNULMENT OF RESOLUTION Tuncay Ozilhan, the Chairman of TUSIAD's Executive Board, sent a letter to Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, the Chairman of MEDEF and a member of Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), and expressed Turkey's uneasiness over approval of the resolution. In his letter, Ozilhan stressed, ''trade volume between Turkey and France is about 30 billion French francs. French businessmen's investments in Turkey reached 35 billion French francs. The French parliament's decision will seriously affect economic relations between the two countries. As a reaction to the decision, the National Defense Ministry announced that it cancelled a tender contract worth of 240 million U.S. dollars with France's Alcatel Firm for spy stallite project.'' ''A total of 60 votes are required for annulment of the resolution. 40 of these votes exist at the French Senate. We expect MEDEF to launch initiatives to obtain remaining 60 votes. If MEDEF sends TUSIAD's statement to members of parliament and senate, we will consider its effort as a positive step to further improve relations between Turkey and France,'' Ozilhan said. TUSIAD's statement said, ''the TUSIAD condemns the French parliament's taking a decision by describing incidents in Turkey during the World War I as genocide on Armenians. This decision is an accusation against Turkish people on an issue which should be left to historians. The Turkish government should open historical archives to historians to show its determination. This decision has jeopardized not only economic relations, but also political and military relations.'' Meanwhile, a delegation headed by Aldo Kaslowski, the Deputy Chairman of TUSIAD's Executive Board, will visit France in coming days to express Turkey's views on the issue. -AUCTION FOR SOCCER MATCHES BROADCAST RIGHTS TO BE HELD ON JANUARY 30 Following the meeting between Football Federation Board and Soccer Clubs Union, Aydin said that they had decided to hold the auction on January 30. ''We want re-start of the season as soon as possible. The auction will cover 3.5 years of broadcast rights. We decided to make changes in the specifications and reduce the first installment to 100 million U.S. dollars. All television channels and other organizations can bid for the auction,'' he said. -ANKARA DOCTORS' ASSOCIATION SAYS 26 INMATES CONTINUE DEATH FASTING Altan Ayaz from the association said that they had spoken to 314 inmates at the Numune Hospital and Sincan F Type Prison in Ankara after the interventions in the Ankara and Cankiri prisons. Noting that they had prepared a report as of January 17 after those meetings, Ayaz said that 26 prisoners were continuing death fast, 57 inmates were continuing their death fasts with seven or twenty days breaks and 127 others were on hunger strike. -WEF ANNUAL MEETING IN DAVOS A report on ''Turkey: Country of Opportunities'' was prepared within framework of the WEF Annual Meeting started in Davos, Switzerland. The report said that the Turkish economy had grew 6.5 percent on gross national product basis in last five years despite the earthquakes in 1999. Noting that Turkey would grew 5.5 percent in next ten years according to estimations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week, the report said that it would mean that economic growth in Turkey would be two-fold of the growth in the EU in next ten years. ''The economy in Turkey which is a powerful agriculture country diversifies mainly in industry. Turkey which exported 8 billion U.S. dollars of textiles and ready-to-wear clothings last year is now ranked eighth in the ready made clothings field. Besides, Turkey is very successful in tourism sector and is the 12th most popular country in the world. Turkey is the biggest cement producer in Europe and 12th biggest steel producer in the world. The most important point is that Turkey has a rapidly developing automobiles industry. Its automobiles production capacity has increased from 20 thousand to 600 thousand in last two decades,'' it said. The report said that transportation, telecommunication, electric, energy and water sectors in Turkey offer very attractive opportunites and these sectors were open to also private sector. It said that Koc, Sabanci, Dogan, Zorlu and Cukurova holdings in Turkey which had a dymanic economy led by private sector were great holdings even at world standards. Stressing that Turkish companies were very successful in international markets, the report said that Anadolu Endustri group was operating in beer sector in Russia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Romania while Turkcell was operating in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Croatia. It said that Beko and Vestel companies were very successful against their Asian and European rivals in field of electronic household appliances. The report said that there should be a confidence in the future of the Turkish economy as a result of five points: ''Turkey has the youngest population in Europe whose level of education increases continuously; the cost of workpower is less than the cost in many European countries; as a result of EU and customs union deal, Turkey can sell goods without customs duty; it has the biggest market among the EU candidates; and Turkey has a strategical position regarding reaching the Asian, European and Middle Eastern markets.'' It said that Turkey was implementing a very sound and strict programme in accordance with its agreement with the IMF and the programme started to give positive results especially regarding the inflation rate and public deficit. Stressing that privatization in Turkey accelerated, it said that privatization of Turkish Telekom was the most important factor of the programme. Recalling that Turkey had experienced a financial crisis in November of 2000, it said that confidence of markets in the programme had been re- settled as a result of IMF's 10 billion U.S. dollars aid and government's measures. Noting that the economic crisis would require a little revision in 2001 year targets, it said that Turkey could achieve macro economic targets in 2002 and 2003. The report added that Turkey was now waiting for foreign investors. -ARMED ATTACK ON OKKAN, CHIEF POLICE OF DIYARBAKIR The funeral started with participants' observing a minute of silence out of respect to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founder of modern and secular Republic of Turkey, and all martyrs who sacrificed their lives for their country. Addressing the ceremony Turan Genc, the Director General of Security, expressed his profound sorrow over the incident. He offered his condolences, and implored God's strength upon all who are grieving for their beloved ones. Genc said, ''security forces are ready to sacrifice their lives to defend national unity, inseperable intergity of the country and peace of the society. We will capture assailants of Okkan and our five other colleagues as soon as possible and bring them to justice.'' Interior Minister Sadettin Tantan said, ''hundreds of people held demonstrations in Diyarbakir to protest assasination of Okkan and five other policemen. Okkan was an exemplary person with his industriousness, honesty and courage.'' National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu condemned armed attack on Okkan, and offered his condolences. He stressed that struggle against terrorism would continue with determination. Following the speeches, Zeki Arslan, the Mufti of Cankaya district, prayed for the martyrs. Later, bodies of Okkan and Durmus were sent to their hometowns to be laid to rest. Relatives of martyrs; Kemal Nehrezoglu, the Secretary General of Presidency; Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi; Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit; Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli; Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz; Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan; State Minister Hasan Gemici; State Minister Edip Safter Gaydali; State Minister Yuksel Yalova; State Minister Fikret Unlu; National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu; Health Minister Osman Durmus; National Education Minister Metin Bostancioglu; Finance Minister Sumer Oral; Transportation Minister Enis Oksuz; Labour and Social Security Minister Yasar Okuyan; General Yasar Buyukanit, the Deputy Chief of General Staff; representatives of higher judicial organs; Recai Kutan, the leader of the Virtue Party (FP); Tansu Ciller, the leader of the True Path Party (DYP); Deniz Baykal, the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP); Ismet Sezgin, the leader of the Democratic Turkey Party (DTP); Muhsin Yazicioglu, the leader of the Great Unity Party (BBP); deputy chairman of political parties; a number of MPs; Senkal Atasagun, the Undersecretary of National Intelligence Agency (MIT); Ankara Governor Yahya Gur; Police Chief Kemal Iskender of Ankara; Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek; General Erol Tutal, the Commander of Ankara Garnison; high-ranking military officials; policemen and citizen were in attendance at the funeral. Tight security measures have been taken for the funeral. -WESTERN THRACIAN TURKS' SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION REACTS Staging a press conference at the association building, Hakguder said that Greece had usurped the Western Thracian Moslem Turkish minority's right to elect its mufti in accordance with a law it adopted in 1990 by colmpletely ignoring the Lausanne Treaty and bilateral agreements. Noting that Greece had appointed people to offices of Mufti in Xanthi, Komotini and Dimetoka ten years ago after the decicion in question instead of the elected people, Hakguder said that this incident paved the way for appoinment of people who were not elected and approved by the Turkish minority. Stating that term in office of ''so-called Komotini Mufti'' Cemali Mico, one of those appointed people, had been extended on January 23 although his term in office would end in April of 2001, Hakguder said, ''the Greek Foreign Minister's decision to extend so-called Komotini Mufti Cemali Meco's term in office till 2010 does not serve any purpose except sabotaging the efforts for development of friendship. When this decision is taken into consideration together with the resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians approved by the French parliament, it leaves suspicion in our minds that it is a phase of a coordinated games played against Turkey.'' Asking the Greek government to abolish the law adopted in 1990, Hakguder said, ''friendship can't be set up so easily as it needs sacrifices. It is understood from the latest developments that Greece does not have the intention to make self-sacrifices. In Greece, a Christian governor or foreign ministers can appoint a mufti who is authorized to take decisions also about family law while even a caretaker of a church is assigned with elections. We are the side which mostly wants lasting friendship. And this will be most beneficial to Turkey and Greece.''
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