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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 01-12-13Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AgencyANADOLU AGENCY NEWS 13 December 2001 Thursday CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on December 13, 2001. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)BAN TO ''KAPLAN SUPPORTERS''German police raided on 1,200 offices of the Union of Islamic Communities and Societies known as ''supporters of Kaplan'' and other fundamentalist organizations on Wednesday morning. The activities of all of the organizations were banned. The fundamentalist organization of Metin Kaplan, known as ''Black Voice'', was collapsed upon the instruction of German Interior Minister Otto Schily. The activities of the Union of Islamic Communities and Socities, its 19 sub-organizations, and the Foundation of Serving Islam centered in the Netherlands were banned in Germany. ''I ACCEPTED THIS DUTY FOR A TEMPORARY TIME'' MILLIYET (LIBERAL)BARGAINING FOR TERIMGalatasaray management is trying to end relations with coach Mircea Lucescu, who criticize the decisions. Chairman Mehmet Cansun had a bargaining with Fatih Terim in Tarabya district of Istanbul on Wednesday night. The executive board decided to terminate contract with Lucescu, who defended the footballers and criticized the discipline decisions the previous day. Following these developments, Cansun bargained with Terim. Terim said that he would not accept the proposal as long as Lucescu was the coach. OSMANLI'S BUILDING NOW BELONGS TO OYAK SABAH (LIBERAL)THREE NEW CONDITIONS FROM IMFState Minister Kemal Dervis for economy, who met with the opposition leaders, asked for support to pass tobacco, public procurement and borrowing laws as soon as possible for the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan of 10 billion U.S. dollars. The tobacco law vetoed by President Ahmet Sezer foresees limitation of tobacco cultivation while the public procurement law envisages the transparency of public tenders and the borrowing law foresees a borrowing discipline. DO NOT OVERSHADOW HOPES CUMHURIYET (LEFT)REAL SECTOR DRAFT PRESENTED TO PRIME MINISTRYThe draft law which will restructure the debts of the real sector to the financial sector was presented to the Prime Ministry. The draft law which covered both the banks and all financial organizations in the new debt structuring, brings ''exemption from jurisdiction'' to administrators of the Savings Deposits Insurance Fund (SDIF) controlled banks. CHINESE AND SOUTH KOREAN DELEGATIONS IN IZMIT RADIKAL (LEFT)SNOW ON AGENDA OF CAPITALCapital Ankara had a difficult day on Wednesday due to the snowfall which started in the morning and hit the city in the afternoon. More than 400 traffic accidents happened in Ankara due to icy roads. Meteorology officials said that the snowfall would also continue on Thursday. The security forces called on the drivers to take all necessary measures against icy roads. PARLIAMENT IS HARDWORKING TURKIYE (RIGHT)FOUR-DAY HOLIDAY IN NEW YEARThe public personnel would be on administrative leave on December 31. Thus, the civil servants would have a four-day holiday on the eve of the new year. AYCELL TO SAY ''HELLO'' ON FRIDAY ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)DGM LAW APPROVED ''COMPULSORILY''President Ahmet Necdet Sezer approved ''compulsorily'' the Law No. 4723 which foresaw amendment in the State Security Courts (DGM) and the Law on Fight with Organized Crimes. Sezer is expected to apply to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the law in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. A statement of the Presidential Press Center released a statement in which it said that Sezer had earlier sent back the law to the parliament for a second consideration as he didn't approve the first, second and third articles of the law and the provisional first article. But, the center noted, the parliament adopted the law in its current shape on December 6, 2001 and added that the President was obliged to promulgate the law in this case as it was foreseen in Article 89 of the Constitution. U.S. DELEGATION TO COME TO ANKARA TO GIVE INFORMATION -CHINA NATIONAL TOURISM ADMINISTRATION CHAIRMAN ARRIVES IN TURKEY He Guangwei and the accompanying delegation will sign a memorandum of understanding with Tourism Minister Mustafa Tasar on giving Turkey the status of ''official tourist route'' on December 14. Thus, Turkey can have the opportunity to make official promotion campaigns in China. -TRNC REPRESENTATIVE IN WASHINGTON D.C. RESPONDS TO BOB DOLE: Dole had defined TRNC as ''fictitious'' in a letter he sent to the editor of The Washington Times. Erdengiz said in his response to Doyle which was published in the same newspaper that TRNC governed a defined territory and population under a democratic dispensation. ''TRNC satisfies all the requirements for a state under international law, '' Erdengiz noted. Erdengiz stated that United Nations (U.N) Security Council resolutions characterized the Turkish and Greek Cypriots as politically equal peoples of the island. Responding to Dole who defined the Cyprus Peace Operation as ''occupation of the island'', Erdengiz noted that Athens Court of Appeals approved the Cyprus Peace Operation of 1974 as a legal act to save the Turkish Cypriots. Erdengiz reminded the readers about the statement of Greek terrorist Nicos Sampson who told an Athens newpaper in 1981 that ''if Turkey had not intervened in the situation, they would not only declare enosis (union with Greece) but also massacre the Turks in Cyprus.'' TRNC Representative Erdengiz said that TRNC ''would not disappear'' and added that TRNC President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides decided to hold direct talks on December 4 and had a dinner in TRNC on December 5. -PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT DUE TO LAEKEN TO ATTEND EU SUMMIT Sources said that Ecevit will leave for Belgium on Friday evening and attend the EU summit on Saturday. Ecevit will hold bilateral contacts during the summit and the working meal. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit will return to Turkey on Saturday evening. Ecevit will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, his wife Rahsan, and some bureaucrats from the Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry. -STATE MINISTER DERVIS SAYS REDUCTION OF ADDITIONAL LOAN TO 7 BILLION U.S. Dervis visited Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal. Responding to questions of reporters, Dervis said, ''reduction of additional loan is out of question. We will continue to receive all the loans as announced. We will make our own payments. Then, IMF will recommend 10 billion U.S. dollar additional loan to executive directors.'' Upon a question on talks with IMF, Dervis said that the contacts were under way and that the IMF delegation could make a statement before it departed from Turkey. He could make a statement together with the Central Bank Governor and Treasury Undersecretariat in coming days or weeks, Dervis noted. Upon a question on sua sponte retirement, Dervis said that this was not the issue of today. -ISRAELI AMBASSADOR SAYS LASTING PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE IS OF Sultan visited Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO) Chairman Kemal Colakoglu. Responding to questions of reporters if Turkey could have a role in ensuring lasting peace between Israel and Palestine, Sultan said that the role that Turkey had undertaken was very important and that Turkey had given messages to both of the sides. Sultan noted that terrorism should be ended for a permanent friendship in the region. There were many problems at the moment, Sultan said, but that they had positive thoughts for the future. -MOUNTAINEERS TO CLIMB TO 10 MOUNTAINS IN TURKEY DUE TO UNESCO'S Mountaineers will climb to 10 mountains in Turkey on behalf of Turkish presidents due to UNESCO's declaration. Mountaineering Federation Chairman Alaattin Karaca said in a statement on Thursday that there would be many activities around the world because of ''International Year of Mountains''. Karaca stated that Mountaineering Federation Environment and Ecology Board Chairman Prof. Kazim Yildiz would work in the committee which was formed for these activities on behalf of Turkey. Karaca said that mountaineers would climb to 10 mountains in various cities on behalf of Turkish presidents beginning from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founder of Turkish Republic. According to the program, below is table showing the mountains which would be climbed, the dates of these climbs and the name of the presidents. Date (2002) Mountains Presidents ------------ -------------- ------------ Feb 09-11 Bursa, Uludağ Celal Bayar Mar 02-03 Isparta, Davraz Süleyman Demirel Apr 20-22 Van, Süphan Mt. İsmet İnönü May 18-20 Kayseri, Erciyes Kenan Evren May 31 Jun 2 Erzincan, Esence Dağı Cevdet Sunay Jun 21-23 Antalya, Kızlar Sivrisi Fahri Korutürk Jul 06-08 Niğde, Demirkazık Ahmet Necdet Sezer Aug 03-07 Artvin, Kaçkar Mt. Turgut Özal Aug 25-31 Ağrı, Ağrı Mt. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk -TURKEY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONVENTION One government and two parliament representatives from each country will take place in the Convention which is expected to start its activities early next year. EU Term President Belgium, during Gand summit, had stated that there was some reluctance regarding the participation of Turkey in the Convention which is the only candidate country which hasn't yet started membership negotiations. Some countries are against Turkey's participation, some are proposing partial or limited participation while others support Turkey's full participation in the Convention. European Parliament General Council, during a meeting in Brussels, stated that all candidate countries should be represented at the Convention. The EU Commission doesn't want to discriminate against Turkey and warns that excluding Turkey from the Convention would lead to certain troubles. Turkish diplomatic sources stated that a discrimination against Turkey would negatively affect Turkey's relations with the EU. The same sources said that Turkey's participation was not related to other issues on the agenda and it cannot be turned into a bargaining matter. Belgium, on Wednesday, said that Turkey should participate in the Convention under equal circumstances with other candidates. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's advisor Peter Moors declared that his country was going to propose Turkey's equal participation in the Convention although until recently Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel made statements that were against Turkey's participation. -ECHR ACCEPTS ERBAKAN'S APPLICATION TO APPEAL The delegation of five judges of the ECHR on Wednesday night approved the transfer of the case to the Grand Chamber. The RP's application will be debated one more time at the Grand Chamber which is formed by 17 judges. The third department of ECHR had announced in July that Turkey had not violated human rights. The executives of the RP, Necmettin Erbakan, Sevket Kazan and Ahmet Tekdal, had applied to the court in 1998 and claimed that Turkey violated 11 articles of the European Declaration of Human Rights. The ECHR decided to examine the RP's application on Oct. 3, 2000. The Strasbourg Court listened to the lawyers of the Turkish government and the RP on Jan. 16, 2001. The judges of the ECHR had asked questions to the lawyers to understand if the RP was a pro-sheriat political party or not. -TURKISH AND GREEK TEAMS COOPERATE ON COASTAL SECURITY Greek Naval Commerce Ministry announced Thursday that the Greek teams informed the Turkish teams when they detected the boat. Later the Turkish coast guard boats immediately went to the area and brought the boat back to the Turkish coast. -CEM'S VISIT TO PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED If the weather conditions allow, Cem will go to Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Monday and he will proceed to Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Monday. Cem will convey Turkey's best wishes to the Afghan nation during Ramadan holiday. He will also attend the opening of the Turkish Embassy in Kabul with Mufit Ozdes who was appointed to Kabul as the Turkish ambassador and Foreign Ministry Afghanistan Coordinator Aydemir Erman. -JAPANESE SENATOR YAMAMOTO TO VISIT ISTANBUL 30-year old Yamamoto, who is fluent is Turkish, will have a series of contacts in Istanbul on Dec. 13-15 in order to make more Japanese tourists visit Turkey. Yamamoto was sent to Turkey to learn Turkish during her post at the Japanese Foreign Ministry and took Turkish classes for one year. She did her masters studies in international relations at Istanbul University for two years. Yamamoto told the A.A that she was grateful to Turkey and she wanted to form a bridge between Turkey and her country. Yamamoto said she was disappointed by the decrease in the number of Japanese tourists visiting Turkey after Sept.11 attacks and U.S. operation in Afghanistan. Yamamoto said that she felt debtful to Turkey, therefore she contacted the Turkish Embassy in Tokyo and the embassy officials scheduled a number of contacts for her. ''I'll meet with Tourism Minister Mustafa Tasar and Istanbul Security Director Hasan Ozdemir in Turkey,'' she said. ''Once Turkish authorities confirm that Turkey is a safe country, I will go back to my country and explain this in Japan. I want to help Turkey which is going through a difficult time. I know that the Turkish nation love the Japanese people. Japanese people should get to know the Turkish nation more closely.'' ''Modern Turkey should be a model for countries like Afghanistan in the 21st century,'' Yamamoto continued. ''European countries cannot be a model for countries like Afghanistan. Only a country like Turkey which treasures cultural values can constitute a model for Afghanistan. In January, an Afghanistan summit is expected to take place in Japan and I'm planning to discuss all these at the summit.'' During her visit, Yamamoto, will also visit the earthquake survivors who live in the villages set up by the Japanese in Izmit. Since she was in charge of Kobe region in Japan, Yamamoto said she witnessed the suffering of people who were hit by an earthquake and that she also wanted to share the problems of Turkish quake victims.
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