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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-05-18Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 18 MAY 2001 Friday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on May 18, 2000. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)BAHCELI CRITICIZES DERVISDevlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Deputy Premier who criticizes State Minister for economy Kemal Dervis, said that if it was to the interest of the country and if State Minister Kemal Dervis was poison, he would drink it. Bahceli said that Dervis has to respect the state traditions. Noting that the letter of intent prepared was submitted to IMF before being shown to them first, Bahceli said that ''when we, the coalition leaders convene, Dervis can speak on his mobile phone in English for a long time, which is against the state traditions.'' PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT SAYS TURKEY DIDN'T GET DONATIONS MILLIYET (LIBERAL)HEAVY FINES FOR PRESS CRIMES ON THE WAYThe Parliamentary Constitutional Commission adopted yesterday the bill that makes amendment in the Law on Foundation and Broadcasting of Radio and Television Channels. The bill also foresees change in the Press Law. The bill extended the scope of the crimes committed through the press and it increased the amount of the fines for at least thousand times. The fines that will be given for crimes committed by the press can be 10 billion TL at least and 100 billion liras at maximum. COTTARELLI PRAISES ECONOMIC PROGRAMME OF TURKEY SABAH (LIBERAL)SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN CASA PLANE TO BE BURIED TODAYThe 34 soldiers who died in the military plane crash in eastern Malatya province on Wednesday, will be buried today. The special forces personnel took part in many successful operations and they will be buried together. Funerals will take place in 19 different provinces. A ceremony will be held in Ankara's Kocatepe Mosque in which President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, deputy premiers Devlet Bahceli and Mesut Yılmaz and chief of general staff Gen. Kıvrıkoglu will participate. 40 BILLION DOLLARS OF CAPITAL IS NEEDED FOR BANKS CUMHURIYET (LEFT)PERSISTENCE OF GOVERMENT IMPEDES GETTING RESULT IN COLLECTIVE BARGAININGThe negotiations of the Confederation of the Turkish Labour Unions (Turk- Is) with the government on collective bargaining can't result as the IMF does not want the government to give any wage rise to workers. Bayram Meral, the Chairman of Turk-Is said after the meetings held yesterday that ''the decisions of IMF are imposed on us.'' State Minister Mehmet Kececiler said in his part that ''we can't give the source which does not exist, to workers.'' GOVERNORS IN COURT RADIKAL (LEFT)NO REVISION IN CABINET, BUT ITS NUMBER TO DECREASEThe expectation for a revision in the cabinet changed in the direction of an expectation for a radical change in the administration. The coalition leaders who prepare to evaluate their performance in the government for two years by holding a meeeting, will discuss a reform in the cabinet, including the plan to decrease the number of ministers. STATE MINISTER DERVIS SAYS TURKEY HAS TO MAKE THE CAKE BIGGER TURKIYE (RIGHT)3,9 BILLION DOLLARS COME TO TURKEY TODAYCentral Bank announced that the first part of the external finance support approved by the IMF, which is 3,9 billion U.S. dollars will arrive in Turkey today. The source will be effective in decreasing the foreign exchange rate and reducing the interest rates. BAHCELI SAYS NO REVISION IN GOVERNMENT ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)YILMAZ SAYS THOSE WHO WANT CAN GO TO PILGRIMAGE BY HIGHWAYReligious Affairs Head Mehmet Nuri Yılmaz, who returned to Turkey from Syria, said that Syrian officials are positive about the idea of Turkish citizens' going to pilgrimage to Mecca by highway that passes from Syria. Noting that the flights of the Saudi Arabian Airlines and Turkish Airlines are insufficient in times of pilgrimage, Yılmaz said that they will discuss the issue with Saudi Arabian officials soon. Yılmaz added that they will give priority to Turkish citizens who are younger than a certain age to go to Mecca by highway. -PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ADOPTS BILL THAT AMENDS LAW ON The bill also foresees change in the Press Law, Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law. The bill re-arranges the principles that will be implemented in radio, television broadcasting. The broadcasting will be in Turkish, yet broadcasting to teach foreign languages which contributed to the formation of cultural and scientific works and broadcasting news and music in these languages is also permitted. The broadcasts will be made in a manner to safeguard the existence and independence of the Turkish state, the indivisible integrity of the country and the nation, the peace of the society and public morals. The bill also forbids usage of telephones for competition tv programmes which reward people with money. The bill also changes the structure of the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK). According to the bill, the Board will be composed of nine persons. Five of them will be chosen by political parties and four of them will be appointed by the council of ministers. They will be charged for four years. Broadcasts which are against the broadcasting principles will be stopped and an instead a programme prepared by the Board, will be broadcast. The Telecommunication Board is authorized to work regarding frequency tapes which constitute the basis of radio and television broadcasting and national and local TV channel and radio frequency plans. If the broadcasting principles are violated for the second time, fine will be given and if they are violated for the third time, the broadcasting will be halted. The bill also lifts the ban on those people, who have more than 10 percent shares in private radio and television channels, from getting involved in any sort of commitment in the public sector. The Parliamentary Constitutional Commission added eight new articles to the bill making an amendment in the Press Law. The bill extended the scope of the crimes committed through the press and it increased the amount of the fines for at least thousand times. The fines that will be given for crimes committed by the press can be 10 billion TL at least and 100 billion liras at maximum. The owners of the companies, president of its executive board and its high ranking officials can also be punished for the crimes which are committed by periodical publications. The bill brought sanctions for the crimes committed on the internet for the first time. The punishments foreseen for crimes committed through the press will also be implemented by crimes committed on the internet. Meanwhile the members of the Commission from the opposition parties reacted to the joint motions of the coalition parties which changed the parts of the Press Law regarding punishments. Deputies of the opposition parties said that these amendments meant making a new law. However the motions were accepted by the coalition-party members of the Commission. -GAP REGION EXPORTS DRIED APRICOT WORTH OF 11,6 MILLION DOLLARS GAP exported 7,1 tons of dried apricot worth of 13,6 million dollars in the same period last year. The share of the dried apricot in the region's total exports which was 7,7 percent between January-April 2000 decreased to 6,2 percent in the same period this year. GAP region exported the fruit to France, the U.S., Britain, Australia, Germany, Israel, Canada, Italy and Spain. The export unit price of dried apricot decreased by 56.5 percent compared to the same period last year. -REPO TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN BANKS AND The Central Bank data shows that the repo transactions, which were 5 quadrillion 291.2 trillion TL on May 4, increased to 5 quadrillion 668.1 trillion TL on May 11. The reverse repo transactions, which were 85 trillion 615 billion TL on May 4, decreased 9 trillion 3 billion TL to 76 trillion 612 billion TL. The repo transactions among the financial organizations increased 215.4 trillion TL to 3 quadrillion 898.6 trillion TL on May 12. The total repo transactions amount was 3 quadrillion 683.2 trillion TL on May 4. The reverse repo transactions among the financial organizations, which were 3 quadrillion 683.2 trillion TL on May 4, increased 215.4 trillion TL to 3 quadrillion 898.6 trillion TL on May 4. -BANKS' CREDIT VOLUME DECREASES 795.5 TRILLION TL The total credit volume at banks was 35 quadrillion 881.2 trillion TL on April 27. The Central Bank data shows that the total credits in the system was composed of 2 quadrillion 821.7 trillion TL of loans given to financial sector and 32 quadrillion 264.1 trillion TL of loans given to non-financial sector as of May 4. The credits given to financial sector were composed of 976.7 trillion TL of loans given by deposit banks and 1 quadrillion 95 trillion TL of loans given by development and investment banks. -STATE MINISTER DERVIS SAYS FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES DECREASED BY Responding to the question with notice presented by Virtue Party (FP) deputies Ergun Dagcıoglu, Zeki Unal and True Path Party (DYP) deputy Kadir Bozkurt, Dervis said that the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank which was 27,6 billion dollars before February 19, has been 18,8 billion dollars on April 6. ''Our reserves in the crisis period decreased by 8,8 billion dollars,'' Dervis said and noted that the foreign debt stock is 114,3 billion dollars as of the end of 2000 and it increased by nearly 55.5 quadrillion liras due to the increase in the U.S. exchange rate. ''We should not forget the fact that this amount will decrease when the foreign exchange rate is balanced, '' he added. Noting that the domestic debt interest rates increased following February 20, Dervis said that the interest rates in treasury tender started to decrease again and the date of maturity has been extended. Dervis said that the internal debt stock which was 44,4 quadrillion liras in January 2001, increased to 45,4 quadrillion liras in February 2001. Dervis said that economy will be stabilized by the implementation of the transition to strong economy announced on April 14, adding that the growth rate in the second half of the year is expected to be positive, yet the Gross National Product (GNP) is expected to decrease by 3 percent. Stressing that the decrease in growth rate and domestic demand will decrease the imports and it is expected to posiitvely affect the tourism and export incomes. ''The current accounts in 2001 will be almost in balance. The ratio of the total public sector non-interest surplus to GNP which was 3 percent in 2000 will increase to 5,5 percent in 2001,'' Dervis said. Noting that the basic problem of the real sector is economic instability, Dervis said that high inflation rate and high interest rates negatively affect the investment and production plans of the real sector. Dervis said that they think of taking certain measures to ease the real sector and incerase exports in the short term. Dervis said that the credit capabilities of Eximbank will be increased, the Value Added Tax (VAT) payments will be speeded up and red tapes will be cut. Dervis said that they started an action plan to end the administrative and bureaucratic impediments that stand in front of the direct foreign capital. Dervis stressed that the unproductive offices of state banks will be closed and the number of personnel will be decreased. Dervis added that they aim at decreasing the number of branches of the five banks which are in the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund to 134 as of the end of June. He added that if there is no interest in the sale of the state banks, they will be either combined within the structure of Sumerbank or the number of personnel in the banks will be reduced. -FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS According to Central Bank's temporary statistics, total foreign exchange deposit accounts at banks was 51 billion 980 million U.S. dollars on April 27. Meanwhile, total foreign exchange deposits increased 51 million U.S. dollars to 41 billion 766 million U.S. dollars in this period. The total internal foreign exchange deposits rose 413 million U.S. dollars to 36 billion 670 million U.S. dollars and external foreign exchange deposits decreased 18 million U.S. dollars to 2 billion 847 million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, total foreign exchange deposits at the interbank market dropped 344 million U.S. dollars to 2 billion 250 million U.S. dollars. The foreign exchange deposits with letter of credit and super foreign exchange accounts reduced 62 million U.S. dollars to 10 billion 88 million U.S. dollars. -WORLD BANK COMPLETES PUBLIC EXPENSE ADMINISTRATION REFORM REPORT Experts of the World Bank gave the draft report to the economy officials last week to be reviewed. The reform, which aims to change the budget structure and expense principles fundamentally, foresees Turkey to realize a more productive expense. The report wants daily and real expenses to be shown in a detailed way. According to the reform program, which aims to show all public expenses, all the expenses will be shown in the budget, and those data will be inspected transparently. A revised program will be published every year and daily expenses will be announced. The budgets will be prepared with a very large participation, and views of public institutions as well as the non-governmental institutions will be taken. In the new reform program, a three-year transition stage will take place, and after this transition stage, budget implementations, in accordance with the European Union (EU) criteria, will be realized. The World Bank is expected to give approximately one billion U.S. dollars to Turkey for the implementation of the reform program. -NATO MILITARY COMMITTEE MEETINGS Venturoni, who held a news conference in Brussels, pointed out that military committee officials of NATO and the European Union (EU) convened for the first time, noting that this formed a very important step. The Military Committee Chairman pointed out that the EU wanted and needed to use NATO facilities and capabilities in the military identity which it wanted to realize, and noted that there was no change in Turkey's attitude. He said the solution should come from the political wing. Ankara does not oppose to the usage of NATO facilities and capabilities in the military identity which the EU would form, however, stresses the requirement of inclusion of all European NATO allies in decision mechanism. Admiral Venturoni said the solution and the compromise should come from the political wing, noting that this issue would be high on the agenda during the North Atlantic Council meeting which will take place in Budapest by the end of this year in foreign ministry level. He said some progress could be recorded. Admiral Venturoni said the problem continued, noting that approval of all NATO allies was required to reach a compromise. Recalling the compromises which were reached within the body of the West European Union (WEU), Venturoni stressed the requirement of not stepping back. The Military Commitee Chairman said the situation in the Balkans was discussed comprehensively during the meeting held this week, adding that the situation in the region was extremely sensitive and instable. Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu, the Chief of General Staff, represented Turkey during the military committee meetings. -CASA TYPE PLANE CRASHES A TAI personnel and three Spanish people died in the accident. Tusas Aviation and Space Industry Corp issued a statement and said: ''The second of the nine CN-235 plane, which is jointly produced by TAI and Spanish Casa Company for the Turkish Armed Forces, took off from the runway on May 18, 2001 at 12:15 local time to make a test flight. The plane crashed immediately after it took off. The reason of the accident could not be determined yet,'' the statement said. The plane was delivered to the flight team after getting flight permission and after being passed through all system controls in accordance with the flight norms and principles that were determined by the Casa company and international institutions. The plane went through extraordinary controls and tests by considering the sorrowful accident that occurred on May 16, 2001. An experienced expert of TAI was also in the plane as observer. He had been the flight engineer of the 50 CN-235 plane which was delivered earlier. The plane crashed immediately after taking off from the Akinci Air Base while it was making its first test flight. The statement said that the plane had serious damages, adding that Spanish J.L. Gasco De La Calle, the first pilot; Eugenio Munoz, the second pilot; Daniel Haro, the plane engineer; and Emin Kiran, the plane engineer of the TAI; died in the plane crash. All the procedures were made without any deficiencies during the production of the plane, the statement noted. The statement added, ''officials are investigating the cause of the accident. A team from Casa firm has left Spain for Turkey. The results of the investigation carried out by the Casa team and the TAI experts will later be made public.'' -FERNANDEZ, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF CASA FIRM, DUE TO TURKEY The Spanish Embassy in Ankara told A.A correspondent that Fernandez decided to come to Ankara as another Casa-type plane crashed into the ground in Ankara. Three Spanish citizens, including two pilots and one engineer, and a Turkish citizen who were aboard, had died in the plane crash. Officials of the embassy said that the Spanish people who died in the accident came to Turkey two weeks ago for the routine control of the CASA planes. The officials emphasized that there was not any connection between the visit of these people to Turkey and the plane which crashed into the ground in eastern Malatya province on Wednesday. -COEPA PRESIDENT JOHNSTON: Speaking to journalists following his contacts in prime ministry, Johnston said he and State Minister Devlet Bahceli discussed future of Council of Europe and Turkey-COE relations. Johnston also said he and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit discussed ongoing death fasts in prisons. Pointing out that death fasts was an issue creating concern and attracting the attention of the international community, Johnston said this was a difficult situation for the government, and noted that there was a positive cooperation between the officials and the COE. Johnston said he got information from Prime Minister Ecevit regarded with the ongoing works in prisons, expressing belief that those changes would be influential in putting an end to the death fasts. Addressing to the families of those who are on death fast, COEPA President said those young people were sacrificing their lives for some ideological reasons. He also requested the families to try to convince those young people to give up their protests. Johnston said they did not discuss ''minority languages,'' with Prime Minister Ecevit, and noted that both the COE and COEPA favors preservation of minority languages and freedom of broadcast in those languages. Defending that there was the fear of a ''rooted separatism,'' in Turkey, Johnston said this fear formed an obstacle in realization of some reforms. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem hosted a lunch in honor of Johnston. No statement has been made to the press during the lunch. -CN-235 CASA PLANES PRODUCTION PROGRAM TAI issued a statement after a CASA type plane crashed near Akcadag township in eastern Malatya province, and another one, which took off from Akincilar Base on Friday afternoon for a test flight, crashed into ground. TAI briefed about the production program of the planes. According to the statement, TAI had produced 50 CN-235 cargo plane in 1991- 1998 within the framework of the contract, and delivered them to Turkish Air Forces. Within the scope of the project, TAI produced 92 percent of the body of the plane from raw and composite material. The contract, regarded with joint production of nine additional CN-235 planes, together with CASA in TAI installations, took effect on July 23, 1999. Six of them would be for Turkish Naval Forces and three of them would be for the Coastal Guard Command. Within the scope of the program, the assembly process and rear fuselage production started on March 24,2000, and central wings production started in June 2000. The tail production started in october 2000. Flight procedures started on March 28, 2001. As of April 2001, production process of five planes continue in different stations. -RAMSTORE SOFIA OPENS WITH CEREMONY The first Ramstore of Europe, which costed 33 million German marks, was opened to service in Sofia. Rahmi Koc, the Koc Holding Executive Board Chairman, addressed the opening ceremony and said, ''Our target is to improve prosperity level of people by making various investments to the region, and thus preventing conflicts,'' he noted. Recalling that they opened may shopping centers earlier in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, Koc said Bulgarian officials expended great support in formation of this new project. Koc said Turkish and Bulgarian goods and many other products coming from all over the world were presented to the service of the customers, and noted that this also provided employment to 300 people. Pointing out that they made 33 million German marks to the Sofia project, Koc said, ''if we can succeed here, we are planning to open other Ramstores in other countries of Southeastern Europe. Turkey ranks the 4th in Bulgaria's foreign trade volume. We are closely covering the Bulgarian economy. They decreased rate of inflation to single digit number in two years.'' Meanwhile, Oktay Irsidar, the Migros General Director and Ramstore Executive Board Chairman, said Varna, Plovdiv, and Burgas formed their field of interest after Sofia. He also said they could open a second Ramstore in Sofia later this year. Irsidar said they evaluated Syria as a country which worths interest, noting that they had expectations from Syria for investment. He listed those expectations as customs facilities, tax exemption, and facility for money transfer. -ECHO TO GRANT 20 MILLION EURO ADDITIONAL AID TO TURKEY State Minister Faruk Bal; Oscar Benedikt, the Economic Counsellor representing the European Commission's Turkey Representative, and ECHO representative Christian Dalmais held a joint press conference. Bal said that almost 20 thousand people died and thousands of others were injured in the massive earthquakes which hit Turkey in 1999. A total of 96 thousad 808 dwellings, 15 thousand 944 workplaces were demolished or seriously damaged in the earthquakes, Bal noted. Bal stated that 107 thousand 331 dwellings, and 16 thousand 815 workplaces had moderate damages while 125 thousand dwellings had minor damages in the earthquake. Not only the Turkish citizens but also the international community extended assistance to the quake survivors following the two devastating earthquakes, Bal said. Bal pointed out that a part of the dwellings which are under construction by the loans provided by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are to be completed. The dwellings constructed in Duzce will be handed over to quake survivors on May 25 and other dwellings are foreseen to be delivered in June, Bal stated. Bal reminded the reporters that the ECHO provided 30 million euro aid for 32 rescue and rehabilitation projects following the earthquake and that after these projects were fulfilled, the ECHO announced that it will extend 20 million euro additional aid to Turkey. Benedikt said that the earthquake which rocked the Marmara Region was ''the disaster of the century.'' They are pleased to contribute to the rescue and aid efforts in the region, Benedikt noted. Benedikt stated that the additional 20 million euro will be used to increase the aid capacities of the local administrations and to make social and economoic rehabilations in the quake zone. The Prime Ministry Project Implementation Department will carry out these projects, Benedikt said. ECHO representative Dalmais said that the ECHO office in Turkey was closed in April 2001. It is not statistically possible to experience a similar disaster in Turkey, Dalmais noted. However, they will be ready to help Turkey in such a case, Dalmais stated. Dalmais added that what is important is to be prepared for disasters and to be aware of the responsibilities. -BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN PROJECT The ministry statement said eight companies, which are partners of the project, had a meeting on May 15, 2001 in Baku, and evaluated the results of the engineering works, which continued for six months, as positive. The companies also decided to propose their executive boards to start detailed engineering works, which is the following stage. The statement said the companies noted that pre-talks held with the international finance institutions, were giving hope to provide finance to the project. ''The basic engineering work proved the thesis of Turkey that this project was an attractive one due to economic and commercial means,'' the statement said noting that, talks continued with the new oil companies who wanted to be partners to be the project. -MILITARY AGREEMENT BETWEEN MACEDONIA AND TURKEY Gen. Unal Onsipahioglu, the chairman of General Staff Logistics Department, and Gen. Savo Yanev, the chairman of Macedonian General Staff Logistics Department signed the agreement. Military sources said General Staff Logistics Department will expend 1.200 million U.S. dollars for the modernization of Macedonian army due to vehiches and technical appropriations, within the scope of the continuation of former projects. This aid will be given within six and 12 months.
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