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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-05-17Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 17 MAY 2001 Thursday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on May 17, 2000. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)34 OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS KILLED IN MILITARY CRASHThe Turkish military suffered a major blow when 34 officers and soldiers from the elite Special Forces were killed in a plane crash: It was the military's worst air disaster as well as the single biggest loss for Special Forces. The officers and soldiers were killed yesterday when their transport plane crashed into an apricot and beet field in Akcadag township of eastern Malatya province. IF PILOT WENT FOR ANOTHER THREE KILOMETERS MILLIYET (LIBERAL)SPECIAL UNITS WITH CLARET RED BERETS KILLED IN CRASHIn the plane which crashed near Akcadag township of eastern Malatya province, there were also 21 special forces personnel with claret red berets on their hands. These soldiers were very important for the army. They had carried out successful operations and they brought Sakęk and Abdullah Ocalan to Turkey. GAZI ERCEL ACCUSED SABAH (LIBERAL)AKBANK BECOMES NUMBER TWO TAX PAYER AFTER CENTRAL BANKAfter the Central Bank, Akbank has become the second tax payer in Turkey. Central Bank has become the top in the list of corporation tax payers with 218,8 trilion liras it will pay. Akbank followed Central Bank with 131,5 trillion Turkish liras. Turkish Petroleum Refineries Inc. (TUPRAS) has become the third with 103,4 trillion TL. U.S. DOLLAR'S FLUCTUATION BECOMES CLEAR CUMHURIYET (LEFT)PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT'S STRANGE COMMENT ON NORTH IRAQPrime Minister Bulent Ecevit expressed his concerns over the developments in Northern Iraq. Responding to questions of journalists in the plane while returning from Adana to Ankara, Ecevit stressed that ''there is nothing bad in Northern Iraq, yet a de facto state has been set up! This is the worrying aspect of developments there.'' JUSTICE MINISTRY STARTS INVESTIGATION ABOUT PROSECUTOR SALK RADIKAL (LEFT)LEADERS GIVE PROMISE TO IMFThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) released yesterday the letter sent by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, and State Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers Devlet Bahceli and Mesut Yilmaz to IMF Managing Director Horst Kohler. In their joint letter, Ecevit, Bahceli and Yilmaz said, ''the letter of intent sent to you by State Minister Kemal Dervis and Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti sets out the polices, programs and measures that Turkey's government will implement to overcome the financial and economic crisis affecting Turkey today and to steer the country to a strong economic recovery within a macroeconomic framework that aims at reducing inflation to less than 20 percent next year. In our program, growth, stability and structural reform are mutually reinforcing goals. The government is fully committed to pursue these goals and stands behind all the measures and polices detailed in the letter. As you know, we already have made impressive progress in the legislative agenda that constitutes the basis of very deep structural reforms, including in enhancing governance and transparency in both the public and the private sectors.'' TURKIYE (RIGHT)IMF DOPING ON MARKETSThe IMF's approving the letter of intent sent by the government decreased the value of the U.S. dollar and interest rates and it boomed the stock exchange rates. The IMF's decision to send 19 billion dollars to Turkey and its allocation of 12,8 billion dollars within this year, has increased the composite index by 6 percent to 12,298 in Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB). The interest rates decreased to 70 percent and one U.S. dollar decreased to 1,130,000 TL. DERVIS SAYS TURKEY GETS A GOOD OPPORTUNITY State Minister Kemal Dervis who went to Paris yesterday to meet with the representatives of G-7 countries, said that Turkey will come out of its problems by the economic programme which the IMF approved. ''No such amount of loan has been given to any other country, if we can use this money well, we will have better days,'' Dervis said. ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)WE WILL GET RID OF BANKS IN FUNDThe new economic programme foresees closure of the eight banks among the 13 banks which are in the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund at the end of May and the sale or liquidation of the remaining banks till the end of 2001. [02] IMF TO GIVE 1,5 BILLION DOLLARS TO TURKEY ON FRIDAYANKARA - IMF will send 1,5 billion dollars part of the loan worth of 3,8 billion dollars which it would release in the first stage, to Turkey on Friday.The IMF administration works on inclusion of the 1,5 billion dollars part of the loan into the Central Bank's accounts on Friday. The remaining 2,3 billion dollars part will be sent to Turkey at the end of May. Turkey will use a IMF loan worth of 19 billion dollars (15 billion SDR) for a period of three years and it will use 12,8 billion dollars of this loan in 2001. World Bank is expected to release the loan worth of 2 billion dollars following the Executive Directors meeting in June, this year. Meanwhile, the visits of IMF delegation headed by Juha Kahkonen to Turkey will start as of June this year. The IMF delegation will come to Turkey in the middle of June to review the programme for the eighth time. The IMF delegation will examine whether Turkey has fulfilled the performance criteria or not and in the former case, another loan worth of 1,5 billion U.S. dollars will be released after June 25. IMF delegation will pay visits to Turkey monthly starting from June and it will come to Turkey once in every two months starting from August. [03] U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE POWELL SAYS HE IS PROUD OF RELATIONS WITH TURKEYWASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday that Turkey is a great friend and ally of the U.S., adding that ''we are proud of our relations with Turkey.''Steve Rothman, a deputy of the Democrat Party from New Jersey told Colin Powell in the international operations sub-committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that ''Turkey is a vital strategic partner of the U.S., yet it has certain problems with its neighbours. We must be hopeful about the solution of the Cyprus and Upper Karabakh issues which constitute an obtacle in the bilateral relations in order to set up a closer relation with Turkey'' and asked the views of Powell on the issue. Powell said in his part that the U.S. tries to help Turkey to help it in coming out from its economic difficulties. ''We also work together with Turkey to reach an agreement about the European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) and we will continue to do so. I am proud of our relations with Turkey, I also had the opportunity to meet with my Turkish courterpart Ismail Cem for a few times,'' he said. Powell and Cem met with each other for the first time in Brussels within the scope of the NATO foreign ministers meeting. The second meeting took place when Cem came to Washington D.C. for an official visit. The new U.S. administration had welcomed Cem at the highest level, showing the importance it attributed to Turkey and the bilateral relations. [04] TENDER FOR PRIVATIZATION OF TURKISH TELEKOM CANCELLEDANKARA - The tender for privatization of Turkish Telekom was cancelled on Thursday.According to a statement made by Privatization Administration Board (OIB) on behalf of Tender Commission for Turkish Telekom, the tender which had been suspended in accordance with the Ankara Administrative Tribunal no:6's decision on March 20, 2001 to stop enforcement, was cancelled. The statement recalled that the tender had been opened with the auction notice on December 14, 2000 for sale of 33.5 percent of Turkish Telekom's public shares to strategical investors and that ten investors had signed Letter of Trust while seven other investors had purchased tender specifications. ''However, the tender in question for which the deadline for submitting bids was May 14, 2001 has been cancelled as it was impossible to carry out any legal procedure due to the OIB's decision about the matter and the court decision to suspend the enforcement,'' it added. [05] TURKISH-GREEK FRIENDSHIP -THIRD TURKISH-GREEK TOURISM FORUM TO TAKE PLACE IN MARMARIS BETWEEN MAY 18-20ANKARA - The Third Turkish-Greek Tourism Forum will be held in Marmaris township of Mugla province in Aegean region between May 18-20.The Tourism Minsitry said on Thursday that the continuing dialogue process between Turkey and Greece which started within framework of the compromise reached by Turkish and Greek foreign ministers in New York, the U.S. on June 30, 1999 entered its third year. Noting that representatives of Turkish and Greek state and private sector institutions would attend the Forum that would take place at the Marmaris Mares Hotel, the ministry said that cooperation agreements in tourism and maritime, travel facilities between Turkey and Greece, visa, sea tourism, tourism investments, airway, promotion and tourism education would be discussed at the Forum. The Forum had been held firstly in Bodrum township of Mugla on September 9, 1999 and the second Forum took place in Rhodes. [06] ALMOST 40.7 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF PRODUCTS EXPORTED FROM KAYSERI LAST MONTHKAYSERI - Exports of several products from Kayseri province in Central Anatolia rose 78.8 percent to 40 million 681 thousand 499 U.S. dollars last month.Kayseri Chamber of Industry said on Thursday that almost 40.7 million U.S. dollars of fibreoptic cable, denim, telephone cable, furnitures, house textiles, ready-made clothes, cloth, towels, thread, enamelled house utensils, electric ovens and carpets were exported to the European Union (EU) countries, the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Albania, Azerbaijan, Israel, Russia, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Syria, Canada, Japan, Jordan, Iraq, Ukraine, Sudan, Kenya, Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, Taiwan, Yemen and China last month. Total exports from Kayseri in April of 2000 was 22 million 745 thousand 607 U.S. dollars. [07] GOVERNMENT AND TURK-IS CAN NOT REACH COMPROMISE ON PUBLIC LABOUR CONTRACTSANKARA - No result could be obtained on Thursday from the talks carried out between the Turkish Trade Union of Workers and Employers (Turk-Is) and the government regarded with the public labour contracts.Bayram Meral, the Turk-Is Chairman, spoke to journalists following his meeting with State Minister Mehmet Kececiler. Meral said Kececiler would bring the issue to Council of Ministers meeting that will take place on May 21. Meral said he would again meet Kececiler on May 21. [08] PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT: ''IMF'S SUPPORT IS NOT DONATION, BUT DEBT''ANKARA - Bulent Ecevit, the leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and Prime Minister, said on Thursday that support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was not a donation, but a debt. He said, ''if we can use this loan wisely, we may gradually get rid of the process to meet the debts with more tough conditioned borrowings.''Addressing the opening of his party group, Ecevit expressed his sorrow over the death of 36 officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers in a plane crash that occurred in eastern Malatya province. Ecevit said decision of the IMF Executive Board, regarded with financial support, was an important contribution in opening the ways of healthiness for the Turkish economy, noting that, ''now that our duty is to benefit from this contribution.'' Ecevit said every kind of extravagancy door should be closed and that production economy should be replaced with rentier economy from now on, adding that, ''in IMF's support decision, there is the approval and support of the European Union (EU), and countries which have strong economy, which are called the G-7's. There is the confidence felt to 57th government behind this support. If there was not the determined attitute, domestic harmonization, and loyalty to the promises of the government, if the parliament did not manage to pass the reform laws, this foreign support would not be provided to economy so easily.'' Noting that determination of the government and rapid working of the Parliament will not only strengthen the economy but also accelerate accession to the EU full membership, Ecevit said, ''monetary support of the IMF Executive Board reached 16 billion U.S. dollars with the contribution of the World Bank.'' He said 3.9 billion U.S. dollars part of this support will immediately be paid to Turkey to meet the urgent needs, adding that remaining part of the support will be paid within this year with specific periods. Ecevit said, ''we should keep in mind that this support is not a donation, but a debt. If we can use this loan wisely, we may gradually get rid of the process to meet the debts with more tough conditioned borrowings.'' Ecevit said Turkey had very large opportunities that it will not have to make tough conditioned borrowings, adding that natural richness and industry are among these. Stressing that Turkey had experienced entrepreneurs, and hard working and trained workers, Ecevit said Turkey has a very big tourism potential stemming from natural and cultural assets. Pointing out that Turkey was close to productive markets, Ecevit said, ''if it can make use of the opportunities in time, Turkey may take place among the countries whose economies are very strong.'' Ecevit said continious high inflation and inflation lobby exploiting this were among the elements which prevent this development, and added that, ''a wide non-registered economy is mainly among these elements. Failure of the banks to support the production efficiently is one of the serious obstacles in front of strengthening of economy. Negligence of agriculture is another obstacle. We should overcome all these obstacles quickly. We should implement the stability program in a determined way. This should not be a stagnant and static stability, but a dynamic one. Opportunities should be given to overcome the imbalance between the incomes and salaries.'' Pointing out that the 57th government could meet all these needs, Ecevit said fight against corruption was one of the most important elements in transition to a just order. Ecevit said the last step in transition to a just order was the Public Workers Union Law, adding that a very big injustice will end after this law takes effect. Ecevit said right of mass bargaining will be recognized to the civil servants with this law, adding that thus the civil servants will have a very big opportunity to obtain their needs and and demands. In the final part of his speech, Ecevit mentioned the flood disaster in Hatay province. Ecevit said people of Hatay were pleased to see the full support of the state. [09] MACRO FIGURES ON U.S. DOLLAR BASISANKARA - The average U.S. dollar currency will be 1 million 69 thousand Turkish liras (TL) in 2001, 1 million 304 thousand TL in 2002 and 1 million 493 thousand TL in 2003 according to the ''Program for Transition into Powerful Economy'' of Turkey which received support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).According to the program figures, Turkey's gross national product (GNP) will reduce to 170,7 billion U.S. dollars while budget income will be 43,5 billion U.S. dollars and budget expenditures will be 69,1 billion U.S. dollars and budget deficit will be 25,6 billion U.S. dollars in 2001. Macro figures on U.S. dollars basis from 1999 to 2003 are as follows: . (Billion U.S. dollars) . (E) (E) (E) GNP 187,4 201,9 170,7 188,5 203,3 - Tax Incomes 35,4 42,4 34,8 ... ... Budget Expenditures 66,5 74,9 69,1 ... ... Personnel Expenditures 16,5 16,0 13,3 ... ... Investment Expenditures 3,4 3,6 3,6 ... ... Transfers 15,7 16,0 12,6 ... ... - Transfers to SEEs 0,9 1,4 0,9 ... ... - Support to Agriculture 0,6 0,6 1,0 ... ... - Social Security 6,6 5,2 4,8 ... ... Non-Interest Balance 2,8 9,3 8,7 10,6 11,4 Net Interest Payments 24,5 31,9 34,3 36,0 32,7 Budget Balance -21,7 -22,6 -25,6 -25,6 -21,3 Operational Balance -7,5 -4,0 -1,0 -9,0 -5,1 Consolidated Public Balance -3,7 5,7 9,4 12,3 13,2 Public Sector Non-Interest Balance 41,4 44,2 38,6 30,5 27,4 Public Sector Borrowing Requirement 45,4 38,6 29,2 18,3 14,0 Public Sector Net Borrowing Stock 114,3 117,9 134,0 132,7 131,9 - Net External Debt Stock 37,7 39,8 58,4 53,3 47,8 - Net Domestic Debt Stock 76,6 78,3 75,6 79,4 84,4 Gross External Debt Stock 103,1 114,3 113,0 112,3 115,5 Current Balance -1,4 -9,8 -1,0 -1,7 -1,2 Exports 29,3 31,2 34,1 36,5 39,3 Imports -39,8 -53,6 -47,0 -49,9 -53,6 Tourism Incomes 5,2 7,6 8,3 8,6 9,1 Labor Transfers 4,5 4,6 4,6 4,8 ... (x) : Excluding Central Bank's profit, interest incomes and privatization incomes (xx): No data (E) : Estimation SEEs: State Economic Enterprises [10] OECD MINISTERS MEETING -EUROPEAN MINISTERS EXPEND FULL SUPPORT TO DERVISPARIS - Belgium, which is the coming term president of the European Union (EU), and Switzerland, which is one of the important countries of the World Finance System, on Thursday expressed support to the new economic program announced by Turkey.Didier Reyners, the Belgian Finance Minister, who responded to the questions of reporters during OECD Ministers Meeting, said they found the economic program, disclosed by State Minister Kemal Dervis, as positive, noting that they expended support to the program. Pointing out that implementation of the program was as important as its context, Reyners said the EU would closely cover the performance. Belgian minister said the support that will be given to the program by the Turkish people was also very important. Pascal Couchepin, the Swiss Economy Minister, which is one of the important countries of the world finance system, had a short meeting with State Minister Kemal Dervis. The Swiss minister, who spoke to Turkish journalists, said he congratulated Dervis and that he supported the program. Couchepin said private finance institutions in his country were also positive toward Turkey. [11] CENTRAL BANK ADJUSTS FOREIGN EXCHANGE AUCTION SYSTEMANKARA - Central Bank will start holding foreign currency auctions when necessary instead of holding daily auctions.Central Bank will not announce the amount to be sold before the auctions. Releasing a statement on Thursday, Central Bank said that it adjusted the foreign currency auction system in accordance with the 2001 year monetary program. Noting that it decided to form a more flexible foreign currency auction system as a result of the 2001 year monetary program which foresaw a more balanced foreign currency supply and demand, it said that it decided to make two changes in the system to be valid as of May 18, 2001. According to this decision, Central Bank will only hold foreign currency auctions when necessary and it will not announce the amount to be sold in advance. The statement recalled that Central Bank had held auctions each day to sell foreign curreny to banks since March 29, 2001 and bought foreign currency from banks in return for Turkish lira in order to prevent excessive fluctuations in the market after adoption of the free-float system. Meanwhile, it said that it expected to receive almost 3.9 billion U.S. dollars first tranche of IMF loan on Friday. [12] FOREIGN MINISTER CEM: ''SOME CIRCLES SHOULD NOT FALL INTO ERROR OF AN EXPECTATION OF EVEN A LITTLE CHANGE IN TURKEY'S FOREIGN POLICY ON ACCOUNT OF THE MONEY THEY LENT''ANKARA - Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Thursday that a change in Turkey's foreign policy can be made only with parliament's will, government's decision and Turkish people's approval.''Some circles should not fall into error of an expectation of even a little change in Turkey's foreign policy on account of the money they lent. However, we have not seen even an implication so far,'' he said. Addressing the Parliamentary General Assembly as a response to Oya Akgonenc, a deputy from the Virute Party (FP), Cem said that the so-called Armenian genocide allegations were being used as a weapon against Turkey with political purposes. ''It is not true that any reaction has not been shown against these allegations. All ministries of the state and its relevant units are carrying out every kind of work. Nobody should build high hopes and labor under a delusion. It is out of question for Turkey to give concession to such nonsense,'' he said. Stressing that Turkey can't be just an onlooker toward a mistake like acceptance of Greek Cypriot administration's European Union (EU) membership, Cem said, ''in such a situation, we do what is necessary to protect interests of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Besides, what we will do does not have a limit.'' Cem said that there were points that Turkey became late in democratization but it was trying to overcome those deficiencies on its will. Noting that the EU brought the issue of making use of NATO's capabilities to forefront regarding the European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI), Cem said, ''If the NATO will give such an opportunity to the EU, it should protect the rights of non-EU allied countries like Turkey.'' ''There has been a considerable development in our relations with the EU. Now, the ball is in our court. Two financial issues were solved as a result of our talks with the commission for enlargement. We were asking a 450 million U.S. dollars of project loan from the Special Action Fund and we obtained it. Turkey reached the point of receiving 450 million U.S. dollars. The European Investment Bank has a 8.5 billion U.S. dollars of source allocated to candidate countries. This is the cheapest loan in the world. Turkey's private sector or state had the opportunity to get this source by bringing their projects,'' he said. [13] FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES OF CENTRAL BANK DECREASE BY 353 MILLION U.S. DOLLARSANKARA - The foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank decreased by 353 million U.S. dollars between May 4 and 11, 2001.According to the Central Bank's weekly bulletin, the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves which were 18 billion 163 million U.S. dollars on May 4, decreased to 17 billion 810 million U.S. dollars on May 11. Meanwhile, total foreign exchange reserves of banks and private finance organizations decreased by 12 million U.S. dollars from 11 billion 500 million U.S. dollars to 11 billion 488 million U.S. dollars as of April 27. Meanwhile, the international reserves comprising gold reserves of Turkey and foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank, commercial banks and private finance organizations increased by 298 million U.S. dollars from 30 billion 405 million U.S. dollars to 30 billion 703 million U.S. dollars as of April 27. [14] EXTERNAL DEBT PAYMENTS -503.64 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS REPAID IN EXTERNAL DEBT BETWEEN MAY 1 AND 16ANKARA - Turkey repaid a total of 503.64 million U.S. dollars in external debt between May 1 and 16, 2001.The Central Bank data shows that the Treasury repaid 440.80 million U.S. dollars; the Central Bank repaid 16.61 million U.S. dollars; and the administrations with general and consolidated budget paid the remaining 46.23 million U.S. dollars. Turkey has repaid 4 billion 1.42 million U.S. dollars in external debt since the beginning of the year.
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