Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-06-11

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ANADOLU AGENCY

NEWS

11 JUNE 2001 Monday

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO START DEBATING CLOSURE CASE AGAINST FP ON TUESDAY

[03] WORLD BANK DELEGATION TO START HOLDING CONTACTS ON STATE TENDER DRAFT LAW

[04] ISTANBUL TO HOST OECD MEETING

[05] DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER YILMAZ AND AUSTRIAN PRIME MINISTER SCHUSSEL TO OPEN CONFERENCE ON TURKEY-AUSTRIA-EUROPE

[06] MEETING OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS ENDS -NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER CAKMAKOGLU TELLS MINISTERS THAT EXAMINATION DID NOT REVEAL ANY DEFECT IN PRODUCTION OF CASA PLANES

[07] STATE MINISTER DERVIS SAYS THEY DON'T PLAN TO CARRY OUT 8 BILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT SWAP

[08] ''CONFERENCE ON STORY OF THREE SEAS'' TO BE HELD IN ISTANBUL BETWEEN 19-21 JUNE

[09] KAHKONEN HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE (1) -TURKISH AND IMF OFFICIALS AGREE ON SUBMISSION OF UPDATED LETTER OF INTENT

[10] EU SAYS DEVELOPMENTS IN TURKEY'S ACCESSION STRATEGY ARE POSITIVE

[11] TURKEY-IMF TALKS -TREASURY: ''ALMOST 1.5 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF SOURCE WILL BE RELEASED FOLLOWING APPROVAL OF EIGHTH REVIEW''

[12] KAHKONEN HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE (2) -''IF THE DOMESTIC DEBT SWAP IS CARRIED OUT SUCCESSFULLY, DOMESTIC DEBT MATURITY WILL EXTEND AND ITS RISK WILL BE REDUCED''

[13] KAHKONEN HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE (3) -KAHKONEN SAYS CLOSURE OF EMLAKBANK WAS MENTIONED IN LETTER OF INTENT

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

PALIANI BECOMES WORLD CHAMPION
Ramazan Paliani of Turkey competing in men's 57 kg category, won gold medal at the 11th World Amateur Boxing Championships in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He beat Galip Caferiov of Kazakhstan in the final match, and became world champion. Turkey won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the championships.

A 5.7-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE OCCURS IN AEGEAN SEA
An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale occurred in the Aegean Sea at 04:11 p.m. on Sunday. The earthquake was felt in western coasts. There were not any immediate reports of casualties and damages in the earthquake.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

GENC RESIGNS
Security Director General Turan Genc requested a change in his post. Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen accepted Genc's request for his

removal from the office. Yucelen offered Genc to serve as governor of norheastern province of Ardahan.

MINIMUM WAGE TO INCREASE BY 5 MILLION LIRAS
The net minimum wage will be increased 4 million 954 thousand 600 Turkish liras (TL) from 102 million 369 thousand 600 TL to 107 million 323 thousand 800 TL as of July 1, 2001. In accordance with the decision of the Minimum Wage Fixing Commission, the gross minimum wage which is now 139 million 950 thousand TL will be increased to 146 million 947 thousand 500 TL on July 1. According to calculations, the current net minimum wage meets only half of the monthly compulsory food expenditures of a four-member family.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

BLOOD FEUD CLAIMS SIX LIVES
A total of six people were killed and a number of others were injured in a clash which erupted due to blood feud between two rival families in Avurtepe village in Siverek township of southeastern province of Sanliurfa. An argument broke out between members of the families. The argument turned into an armed clash later in which automatic weapons were used. A total of six people were killed and a number of others were injured in the clash. Reinforcement units have been sent to the village.

RALLY HELD IN ANKARA
A rally was held in Ankara's Tandogan Square to protest allegations on so- called Armenian genocide. Thousands of people protested countries recognizing these allegations. All roads around Tandogan Square were closed to traffic early in the day. Speaking at the rally, Prof. Dr. Haydar Bas from the Azerbaijani State Baku University said, ''Armenians have been preparing to claim territory from Turkey.''

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

ISTANBUL TOPS ORGANIZED CRIME LIST
Istanbul topped the list of last year's organized crime incidents. According to the information compiled from Security General Directorate's data, 466 organized crime incidents took place in 53 of Turkey's 81 provinces. Istanbul came first with 105 incidents, followed by Icel with 43 incidents. Other cities on the list are Adana with 32, Bursa with 28, Antalya with 25, Ankara with 19, Kayseri with 16, Kocaeli with 15 and Gaziantep with 14 incidents.

FOSSIL OF A MALE HOMINOID UNEARTHED IN CANKIRI
Fossil of a male hominoid which is vital to enlighten the chain of evolution, was unearthed in Corakyerler region in northern province of Cankiri. The fossil which was aged between 7 and 8 million years, is expected to complete the missing ring between 4.4-million-year-old fossil found in Ethiopia and 9.9-million-year-old fossil unearthed in Anatolia.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

TRAFFIC E-MAIL GROUP STARTS FIGHT AGAINST TRAFFIC TERRORISM
Traffic E-Mail Group of 500 people has started a fight against the traffic terrorism which causes thousands of deaths every year. The group formed by scientists, doctors, engineers, journalists, lawyers and even deputies aims to increase communication between people of different professions in a free environment and bring a solution to Turkey's traffic problem. Those who are interested should e-mail their names, the name of the school they graduated from and their professions to hamithanci@yahoo.com'' to be accepted to the group.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

TREASURY TO SELL 6-MONTH BONDS ON TUESDAY
Treasury Undersecretariat will hold June's second bond auction on Tuesday. Treasury foresees to raise minimum 100 trillion Turkis liras (TL) in this 6- month (175-day) bond auction. It said that the value date of these bonds in June 13 and maturity is December 5, 2001. Treasury said that the bonds which would be sold in this auction would be the re-issuance of Treasury bonds which had been sold on April 18, 2001.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

[02] CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO START DEBATING CLOSURE CASE AGAINST FP ON TUESDAY

Constitutional Court Chief Judge Mustafa Bumin, Deputy Chief Judge Chairman Hasim Kilic, and judges Fulya Kantarcioglu, Rustu Sonmez, Ahmet Akyalcin, Ali Huner, Yalcin Acargun, Tulay Tugcu, Mahir Can Ilicak, Ertugrul Ersoy and Sacit Adali will convene at 10:00 a.m. on June 12, and start debating the closure case against the FP.

The lawsuit was filed on May 7, 1999, by Vural Savas, the retired Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, with the pretext that the FP was the continuation of the outlawed Welfare Party (RP) and it became the focus of anti-secular activities.

Savas requested the Constitutional Court to lift deputyships of all FP members except for Aydin Menderes who resigned from the FP one day before the closure case.

While he was explaining his opinion on the merits of the case, Savas claimed that the second paragraph of Article 103 of the Political Parties Law was contrary to the Constitution, and requested the court to annul the paragraph.

The second paragraph of Article 103 of the Political Parties Law was annulled by the Constitutional Court.

Before his retirement, Savas sent a video footage to the Constitutional Court including words referred to Necmettin Erbakan, the former leader of the outlawed RP, during the first regular congress of the FP.

The Constitutional Court asked Sabih Kanadoglu who was replaced with Savas, to explain his opinion about the video footage.

Kanadoglu requested the Constitutional Court to accept the video footage as a supplementary evidence.

The Constitutional Court rejected Kanadoglu's request.

Later, Kanadoglu submitted a supplementary indictment to the Constitutional Court.

Kanadoglu also requested the Constitutional Court to ban founders of the FP from political activities for five years, and to lift deputyships of Ismail Alptekin and Mehmet Ozyol.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court rejected FP leader Recai Kutan's request for implementation of Article 104 of the Political Parties Law.

At its meeting on February 7, 2001, the Constitutional Court decided to combine Kanadoglu's supplementary indictment with the main lawsuit.

The FP submitted its pre-defense against the supplementary indictment.

Later, Kanadoglu explained his opinions on the merits of the case.

After submission of written defense by the FP, Kanadoglu made verbal statements, and FP deputy Mustafa Kamalak made his party's verbal defense.

Mehmet Turhan, the Rapporteur of the case, prepared a supplementary report.

The report was distributed to the members of the Constitutional Court.

[03] WORLD BANK DELEGATION TO START HOLDING CONTACTS ON STATE TENDER DRAFT LAW

The delegation will hold a series of contacts on the draft prepared by Finance Ministry and Public Works and Housing Ministry officials.

During the contacts, World Bank delegation will convey its views and recommendations to Turkish officials.

World Bank which has opposed to exceptions in the draft regarded with construction, wants Turkey to make important arrangements to put an end to misuses in the construction field.

Meanwhile, a European Union (EU) delegation will come to Turkey this week to hold contacts on the draft.

The EU said that the draft law was far away from conforming to EU directives.

Finance Ministry officials said that they had been continuing to work on the tender reform together with Public Works and Housing Ministry officials.

They added that the draft would be given its last shape by taking into consideration the views of the World Bank and the EU.

The draft was designed to ensure transparency and fairness in bidding procedures for government contracts.

[04] ISTANBUL TO HOST OECD MEETING

Releasing a statement, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Foreign Minister Ismail Cem would deliver a speech at the meeting that would be presided by OECD Secretary General Donald Johnston.

''It will be the fourth meeting held in another place except for the OECD headquarters in Paris since signing of the OECD convention in 1961. The first three meetings were held in Tokyo in 1989, in Berlin in 1991 and Warsaw in 2000,'' it said.

Following the meeting, another meeting will be held on June 15 at Istanbul's Center for Development of Private Sector.

[05] DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER YILMAZ AND AUSTRIAN PRIME MINISTER SCHUSSEL TO OPEN CONFERENCE ON TURKEY-AUSTRIA-EUROPE

Turkey-European Union (EU) relations, developments in Turkish economy and investment opportunities will be debated in the conference.

Politicians, businessmen, bank managers and economy experts from Turkey and several EU member countries will attend the conference which will be jointly held by Alpbach Europe Forum, Sabanci University and Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK).

The conference aims to further improve economic relations between Turkey and EU and between Turkey and Austria and to debate the problems that Turkey faces in the EU full membership process.

Developments in Turkish economy, the facilities provided for foreign investors, and privatization will be discussed in the panel discussions which will be held within the framework of the conference.

Turkish businessmen, officials of the Privatization Administration Board, bank managers, European businessmen, journalists and representatives of the EU will join the panel discussions.

Sarik Tara, the chairman of DEIK; Nihat Akyol, the Turkish Permanent Representative to the EU; Meral Gezgin Eris, the chairperson of the Economic Development Foundation; Volkan Vural, the Secretary General for the EU; Cem Duna, the former Ambassador to the EU; Ugur Bayar, the chairman of the Privatization Administration Board; former Central Bank Governor Yavuz Canvevi; Ahmet Kilicoglu, the general manager of Turkish Eximbank; Ahmet Bozer, the chairman of Coca-Cola Europe-Asia; Oktay Varlier, the coordinator of Alarko Holding; Sureyya Yucel Ozdan, a member of Executive Board of Game company; Tevfik Yamanturk, a member o fthe Guris Executive Board; Nuri Colakoglu, the chairman of the Yeni Medya company; Ahmet Evin, a lecturer of the Sabanci University; and Erdogan Alkin, the chairman of the TEN Investment, will speak at the panel discussions.

Oskar Benedikt, Peter Tempel and Hannes Swoboda of the EU and Faruk Sen, the director of the Turkish Studies Center, will speak at the panel discussions in which Turkey-EU relations will be debated.

Meanwhile, Yilmaz will deliver a speech at an unofficial meeting which will be held prior to the conference.

Yilmaz, who will arrive in Vienna on June 17, will speak at a meeting the same night in which the announcers, organizators, and representatives of the organizations which support the conference will attend.

Deputy Prime Minister of Austria and Susane Riess-Passer, the leader of the Liberalists Party, will join this meeting.

[06] MEETING OF COUNCIL OF MINISTERS ENDS -NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER CAKMAKOGLU TELLS MINISTERS THAT EXAMINATION DID NOT REVEAL ANY DEFECT IN PRODUCTION OF CASA PLANES

Following the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Yilmaz Karakoyunlu, the State Minister and the spokesman of the government, told reporters that Cakmakoglu informed the ministers about the examination made on the two CASA planes which had crashed into the ground.

Karakoyunlu said that this examination was carried out by the Office of Chief of General Staff, National Defense Ministry, Defense Industry Undersecretariat, Naval Forces Commandership, and civil aviation institutions.

The last decision about the two plane crashes can be given after the black boxes of both planes are examined, Karakoyunlu quoted Cakmakoglu as saying.

Karakoyunlu noted that the ministers did not express their views about this issue and that the statement made by Cakmakoglu was satisfactory.

The press will be informed about the latest developments regarding the examination of the black boxes, Karakoyunlu stated.

Karakoyunlu said that Environment Minister Fevzi Aytekin informed the Council of Ministers about the security of the crossing of vessels through the Straits.

Karakoyunlu quoted Aytekin as saying that they can take action against the crossings through the Canakkale and Istanbul Straits, which can cause danger within the framework of the international agreements and that they will comply with all the provisions of these agreements.

Ramazan Mirzaoglu, the State Minister for Maritime, said that vessel crossing through the Straits is free under the Montreux Treaty but that measures to prevent possible dangers during the crossing of a vessel through the Straits can be taken, Karakoyunlu noted.

Karakoyunlu quoted Aytekin as saying that the European Union (EU) members and the Mediterranean countries are beside Turkey regarding all the measures that should be taken for the security of the Straits within the framework of the relevant agreements.

Responding to a question, Karakoyunlu said that the Council of Ministers did not debate the economic issues at the meeting.

Upon another a question, Karakoyunlu said that the Council of Ministers did not discuss the high-level appointments.

Karakoyunlu responded in negative to the question if Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit gave information about his official visits to Brussels and Goteborg.

Responding to a question if the safe crossing through the Straits was brought to the agenda due to a special purpose, Karakoyunlu said, ''no. The issue was not debated due to a specific purpose.''

When a reporter reminded him about the decision of Russia regarding the storage of nuclear wastes, Karakoyunlu said, ''I read a news story about this issue. But, it is not connected with Russia. The safe crossing through the Straits was debated in general. We all said that the Environment Ministry, the State Ministry for Maritime, Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry should held contacts and debate the issue regarding all its dimensions.''

Asked about the measures to be taken for a secure crossing through the Straits, Karakoyunlu said that he cannot give any information about this issue because measures were not debated at the meeting.

[07] STATE MINISTER DERVIS SAYS THEY DON'T PLAN TO CARRY OUT 8 BILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT SWAP

When asked by journalists whether or not an 8 billion U.S. dollars of bid had come to the debt swap from banks, Dervis said, ''it was not that much. Actually, we don't plan to carry out such an amount of debt swap.''

Meanwhile, sources said that Treasury's offer to banks in the debt swap would be almost 5 billion U.S. dollars.

[08] ''CONFERENCE ON STORY OF THREE SEAS'' TO BE HELD IN ISTANBUL BETWEEN 19-21 JUNE

The conference is sponsored by Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Business Council and Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA).

The conference which will be held under auspices of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will serve promotion of progress recorded in energy field in Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Eastern Mediterranean regions and their broad potential to the investors in the world.

Ministers and high-level officials from relevant countries and almost 400 businessmen intersted in energy issues are expected to attend the conference at which latest developments about Baku-Ceyhan and Tengiz- Novorossiysk pipeline projects will be discussed and at which Turkey's key role in the region will be put forward once again.

Energy and Natural resources Minister Zeki Cakan, BP Executive Board Chairman John Browne, Shell Central Asia Deputy Director Gavin Graham, ENI Director Vittorio Mincato and OPIC Caspian Basin Investment Director Mara Bolis will attend the conference.

BSEC Business Council and DEIK Board member Nihat Gokyigit and CERA official Steven McCarthy will hold a joint press conference at The Marmara Hotel on June 15 prior to the conference which will take place at the Conrad International Hotel.

[09] KAHKONEN HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE (1) -TURKISH AND IMF OFFICIALS AGREE ON SUBMISSION OF UPDATED LETTER OF INTENT

Kahkonen held a press conference at the Treasury Undersecretariat building on the eight review talks they wrapped up in Turkey following the new economic program.

Kahkonen said that they had reached an agreement with the Turkish officials on submission of an updated letter of intent which included the steps that would be taken in the economy from now on.

Noting that the letter of intent would prepare the necessary ground for the meeting of the IMF Executive Directors Board, Kahkonen said that another tranche of loan to Turkey would be approved if the Board took a positive decision.

Kahkonen said that the next review talks would be held in July.

[10] EU SAYS DEVELOPMENTS IN TURKEY'S ACCESSION STRATEGY ARE POSITIVE

The EU General Works Council which continues its meeting in Luxembourg took initiative to remove uneasiness created in candidate countries following the referendum in Ireland by releasing a statement.

The statement released by EU foreign ministers stressed the ''importance of enlargement process''.

Emphasizing the importance of progess recorded in implementation of Turkey's EU accession strategy, the Council said that it was pleased with the Turkish government's approving the National Program which included the things that it should fulfil during the accession process.

Noting that it had some worries over the human rights issue, the EU Council said that concrete measures should be taken to remove those worries.

Extending support to the Turkish government's economic program and to contributions of the IMF and World Bank, the statement said that the EU Council believed that a serious implementation would restore stability in the Turkish economy.

[11] TURKEY-IMF TALKS -TREASURY: ''ALMOST 1.5 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF SOURCE WILL BE RELEASED FOLLOWING APPROVAL OF EIGHTH REVIEW''

Meanwhile, a letter of intent which assesses the progress recorded in program's economic performance and in factors that were mentioned in the economic policies letter on May 3, 2001, will be submitted to the IMF for completion of the eighth review.

Treasury Undersecretariat released a statement on the eighth review talks in Ankara with the IMF delegation headed by IMF's Turkey Desk Chief Juha Kahkonen.

The statement said that Treasury Undersecretariat expected the IMF delegation to propose the IMF Executive Directors Board to conclude the eighth review and that it expected the IMF Board to convene through the end of June to assess the eighth review.

The statement stressed that the ninth review was expected to be held in July.

The statement said that after the program for transition into powerful economy was put into practice and IMF's Turkey program was strengthened, the IMF delegation headed by Kahkonen wrapped up the same day the eighth review which was the first review of the stand-by deal.

Recalling that the IMF delegation had held contacts at the relevant economic units and gotten information on the recent developments in the economy during the review visit, the statement said, ''during its visit, the IMF delegation has held contacts on the developments in the public finance, banking and structural reforms which are on the agenda.''

The statement added that a letter of intent which assessed the progress recorded in program's economic performance and in factors that were mentioned in the economic policies letter on May 3, 2001, was prepared for completion of the eighth review, and that this letter would be sent to the IMF soon.

[12] KAHKONEN HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE (2) -''IF THE DOMESTIC DEBT SWAP IS CARRIED OUT SUCCESSFULLY, DOMESTIC DEBT MATURITY WILL EXTEND AND ITS RISK WILL BE REDUCED''

During the press conference he held on the eighth review talks, Kahkonen answered questions of reporters.

Responding to a question, Kahkonen said that the government continued working with international advisors on the domestic debt swap.

Noting that this swap also included factors which could provide reversal of syndicated loans obtained from abroad, Kahkonen said that those factors could be achieved by ensuring non-interest surplus and implementing a supplementary budget in line with program's targets.

Responding to another question, Kahkonen said that economic program was very ambitious, and stressed that comprehensive measures which would be taken were important to reduce possible risks of the program.

Responding to another question, Kahkonen said that the eighth review would be completed by the end of June and the ninth review would be held next month, adding that conditions of the eighth review were important.

Kahkonen said that another loan tranche would be released following approval of the eighth review.

Stressing that the conditions of the eighth review had already been fulfilled, Kahkonen said that the economic program was a very transparent program and that there would also be reactions in national and international areas.

Kahkonen said that the government for the first time agreed to publicly announce an expert report that the IMF prepared within framework of the eighth review and that this program would be announced in next few days and this was important for transparency.

[13] KAHKONEN HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE (3) -KAHKONEN SAYS CLOSURE OF EMLAKBANK WAS MENTIONED IN LETTER OF INTENT

Kahkonen told a press conference that the government made a commitment about the closure of Emlak Bankasi and that the closure of the bank was like a pre-condition.

They considered that the government had recorded progress in closure of Emlak Bankasi, Kahkonen said.

When asked whether or not there would be revision in inflation and growth targets, Kahkonen said, ''it is too early to make revision in the inflation and growth rates. Inflation and growth rates are in line with the program targets.''

When recalled of public collective agreements and cereals prices, Kahkonen said that those deals had created an additional burden on the budget.

''Officials are taking measures. Some of the compensatory measures have come into force. And some measures will go into effect. I think that announcement of these by government officials is appropriate,'' he said.

When asked whether or not a schedule had been set for privatization of Turkish Telekom, Kahkonen said that they did not give a final date for Turkish Telekom but they thought that a professional executive board would bring facilities during the privatization process.

Responding to a journalist who said, ''former Turkey Desk Chief Carlo Cottarelli promised hope in the beginning of the program but later he became obliged to tour with car,'' Kakkonen said, ''I did not take over the program. The government is implementing the program. A new team is leading the economy. And I am doing my best for the success of the program.''

When asked whether or not he had worries over political support, Kahkonen said, ''I previously said that poltical support is very positive. Political support concerns not only Turkey but also abroad. Because, it is followed also in the international area. During our meetings with the minister, he emphasized that he was aware of political support for implementation of the program. We also received messages about this

matter.''

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