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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 02-01-01Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AjansıANADOLU AJANSI HABERLER 01 JANUARY 2001 Monday Türkiye Dünya Parlamento Ekonomi Spor Sanat-Magazin Sağlık Türkiye CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCANThese are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on January 1, 2002. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)MAN NO LONGER LEADER OF FAMILYThe Turkish Civil Code which introduces important changes in family law and which is consisted of 1,030 articles, went into force today. The adoption of the new civil code by the parliament resulted the efforts launched for 50 years to amend the Civil Code dated 1926. The new Civil Code further expands the Turkish women's rights than that of the Civil Code which was adopted in 1926. The 1926 code was considered revolutionary and brought significant rights for Turkish women when it was adopted, but failed to keep up with the changes in women's roles in modern society. The new law brings equality between the husband and wife in a marriage. The code also guarantees that all assets accumulated during the union are shared equally in the event of a divorce. With the new code, women are now entitled to use their maiden names. The new code raises the legal age for marriage to 18 for both men and women, and grants out-of-wedlock offspring the same inheritance rights as others. Men will be able to request alimony from wives who are better off under the new code. Adopting children will also be easier under the new code. MILLIYET (LIBERAL)TOP EVENTS OF 2001 IN TURKEYThe paper chose State Minister Kemal Dervis as the man of the year. Turkey had one of the severest economic crises in its history in 2001. Yet this crisis also speeded up economic reforms. Kemal Dervis was the one who started these structural reforms in economy. Dervis tried to bring long lasting solutions rather than temporary ones. He didn't give in to the ''town politicians'' who tried to intimidate him. The event of the year was the state crisis at National Security Council (NSC) meeting. The president accused the government of failing to effectively fight corruption and irregularities and threw the constitution book at the prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan threw the book back at the president as Ecevit and his ministers stormed out of the NSC meeting. The crisis in the meeting caused an economic crisis in the country. SABAH (LIBERAL)DERVIS:''2002 YEAR WILL BE FINE''State Minister Kemal Dervis who spends his new year holiday in Bodrum with his wife, he swam in the sea yesterday. Dervis said that 2002 year will be good for Turkey, and called the people to trust the government. OZTRAK SAYS TURKEY SHOULD CONTINUE ITS REFORMS CUMHURIYET (LEFT)DENKTAS SEEMS OPTIMISTICRauf Denktas, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said in his new year message that the direct talks which will start on January 16 will be difficult, adding that he has the determination to continue taking part in the talks until he reaches success. Noting that he believes the conditions in 2002 will be better, Denktas said that ''I would like to believe that 2002 will bring positive, constructive days to Turkish Cypriots and Cyprus.'' Denktas said that the negotiations will start in Cyprus on Jan. 16, adding that ''both sides hope these talks to result with an agreement that will be accepted by the two peoples on the island.'' NEW EU TERM PRESIDENT TO SUPPORT TURKEY Referring to candidate countries, Pique noted that Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey should not feel themselves isolated and stressed that ''we will bring a new dimension to the full membership negotiations with Turkey, we will focus more on its full membership goal.'' RADIKAL (LEFT)PRESIDENT SEZER CALLS FOR STRUCTURAL REFORM IN ECONOMYPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer stressed in his new year message that Turkey needed economic reforms and further democracy, adding that the most important reason of economic crises and social injustice is corruption. ''We must not lose our hope for the future and we must work more to have better days,'' he said. Referring to EU membership, Sezer said that studies related to adjust Turkish laws to the EU legislation have to be completed as soon as possible. JOINT RESCUE OPERATION IN AEGEAN TURKIYE (RIGHT)NEW YORK TIMES SAYS TURKEY STARTED FIGHT WITH TERRORISMWilliam Safire, one of the writers of New York Times said that Turkey was the first country which started the fight against terrorism. Noting that Turkey put pressure on another state, Safire said that Turkey deployed soldiers on its border with Syria in order to urge Syria to get rid of Abdullah Ocalan, the head terrorist. Safire added that Syria gave in to the demand of Turkey. ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)WE HAVE HOPE IN NEW YEAR!Turkey which tries to cope with one of the severest economic crises in its history, is hopeful in the new year by the support extended by IMF and World Bank. -DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BAHCELI TO GO TO EUROPE Bahceli who visited Turkmenistan, Germany and France since the establishment of the 57th government, will be in Koln city of Germany on January 3. Bahceli will pay a special working visit to Koln. Bahceli, who will proceed to the Netherlands from Koln, will participate in the Turkish Federation Congress in this country. After his contacts in the Netherlands, Bahceli will go to Belgium and return to Turkey on Jan. 7. -BRITAIN WANTS PKK TO BE INCLUDED IN EU LIST OF TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS Britain, which is in close cooperation with the U.S. about security, will start an initiative to include the terrorist ogranization PKK to the list. The U.S. supports Britain's initiative. Wall Street Journal, the paper of American financial circles noted on Tuesday that certain terrorist organizations acting in Europe and Palestine were included in the list, but terrorist organizations which act in Turkey, the Middle East and Asian countries were not included. The EU will freeze the money and properties of the terrorist organizations included in the list. Turkey had demanded the EU to include terrorist organizations PKK and DHKP/C in the list. Terrorist organizations including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ETA, IRA and 17 November (acting in Greece) are in the list. -IMF DELEGATION TO START ITS REVIEWS IN TURKEY IN MARCH The first review is in March, the second is in May, the third one is in July. The reviews after July will be held in every three months. The tranches of the IMF will be released when the IMF delegation completes each of its review in Turkey. After every review, Turkey will send additional letters of intent to IMF. If the economic programme is implemented as it is planned, the IMF delegation can come to Turkey in every six months in 2003 and 2004. Meanwhile Turkey is expected to send the new letter of intent, which has the character of being the preliminary text of the three-year stand-by agreement with IMF, to IMF next week. The letter of intent will have the signatures of State Minister Kemal Dervis and Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti. The letter is expected to be taken up in the IMF Executive Board meeting in the third week of January. A significant part of the loan worth of 10 billion dollars is expected to be released after the IMF Executive Board meeting. -TURKEY AIMS TO BORROW AT LEAST 2,5 BILLION DOLLARS IN 2002 The amount of Turkey's foreign borrowing target will be increased in 2002 within the scope of the new programme and Turkey will borrow at least 2,5 billion dollars by issuing debenture bonds in foreign markets. Turkey's rating which would be better with additional source inflow, will reduce 2002's foreign borrowing cost. The government will give priority to foreign borrowing in order to decrease the burden of internal borrowing. -PRESIDENT SEZER ISSUES MESSAGE UPON NEW YEAR (1) Turkey has the power to overcome the difficult days by activating its dynamism and capacities, said Sezer and noted that the most important reason of economic crises which hinder Turkey's development process and the social injustice is corruption. ''Being ignorant about corruption which causes consuming of country's resources extravagantly and which serves personal interests will both harm the social peace and the trust in state,'' Sezer said in his message. Referring to the importance of respect to democracy and human rights, Sezer also talked about the positive developments in economy. ''We must benefit well from the positive developments in economy,'' said Sezer and noted that everybody in Turkey has to work harder to revive all the sectors of economy and to overcome the structural problems. The priority has to be given to solution of economic problems, improvement of social prosperity, prevention of unemployment and ensuring fair distribution of income, stated Sezer. -PRESIDENT SEZER ISSUES MESSAGE UPON NEW YEAR (2) ''I think that Turkey has to benefit well from the opportunities to start full membership negotiations with the EU in 2002 year which is a turning point in enlargement process of EU,'' said Sezer. Noting that important progress was recorded in Turkey's EU full membership process in 2001, Sezer said that Turkey showed its resolution to become a full member of the EU by the comprehensive constitutional amendments it undertook and the decisions it took to put into practice its national programme for adoption of acquis. ''EU welcomed this resolution of Turkey in Laeken summit. We expect the completion of the studies related to the transfer of the EU's political criteria into Turkey's legal system as soon as possible,'' he said in his message. Noting that important developments took place in Cyprus issue in 2001, Sezer said that TRNC President Rauf Denktas's opening the way to direct negotiations in Cyprus has revived the hopes for a solution. ''We wish finding of a fair and lasting solution on the island in the new year,'' he said. Sezer said Turkey strongly condemned the terrorist attacks launched in the friendly country U.S. on September 11, 2001 and noted that the attacks which targetted the basic values of the humanity showed the terrible dimensions of terrorism and the rightfulness of the cooperation and solidarity at the international level against terrorism. President Sezer said that Turkey extends an effective support to the international initiatives started against terrorism and believes that the international society has to accept a common definition of terrorism in order to reach success in its anti-terrorism fight. The attacks in the U.S. showed that ''there was not clash among civilizations, but intolerance and fanaticism on the basis of terrorism,'' said Sezer and stressed that Turkey took an initiative to start a dialogue process between EU and Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Pointing out that Turkey welcomed the provisional government founded in Afghanistan, Sezer said that Turkey, which has always helped Afghanistan, re-opened its Embassy in Kabul and its Consulate General in Mazar-ı Sharif. Sezer stressed that Turkey will continue to do its best to help the provisional Afghan government for installation of peace, compromise and development process, formation of national unity and for reconstruction in Afghanistan. Sezer said that Turkey is worried about the escalation of tension in the Middle East, adding ''Turkey wants ending of acts of violence which can cause instability in the whole Middle East and resuming of the negotiations between the two sides.'' ''Turkey should not lose its hope for the future and it must work harder to have better days,'' Sezer said adding that everybody has to fulfil his/her responsibilities. -ARMED ATTACK ON SUMERBANK'S VEHICLE IN TRABZON Noting that he had a meeting with security and gendarme officials about the attack on Monday, Yazar said that that the officials of the bank didn't abide with the circulars of the Interior Ministry and they didn't inform the security and gendarme while transferring the money. They didn't use an armoured vehicle and they didn't prefer a crowded street for the passage of the vehicle, he said. Yazar added that one of the pictures of the three assailants who ran away from the scene after killing one person and stealing 278 billion liras has been drawn. -BINBIRDIREK CISTERN IN ISTANBUL OPENS A total of 700 persons whose majority was tourists participated in the new year party. The cistern belonging to the Byzantium era, was under restoration for seven years. -ENVIRONMENT MINISTER AYTEKIN ASSESSES 2001 IN ENVIRONMENT FIELD Aytekin said that Turkey will probably get 100 million dollars credit from EU to be used in environmental investments in 2002. Speaking to A.A correspondent, Aytekin said that his ministry provided credit from Spain for Salt Lake Environment Project in 2001. ''The auction regarding this project could not be held for 7-8 months due to technical impediments although we provided the credit. We will hold this auction in the first months of 2002,'' he said. Aytekin said that the credit will be given to the projects which will fulfill the environmental rules, adding that the credit will be used to prevent water pollution, to decrease the carbon dioxide emmission caused by climate changes, for afforestation and to remove solid waste products. ''We will determine the urgent projects and we will start to implement these projects particularly in touristic regions,'' he noted. -SP LEADER KUTAN ASSESSES 2001 YEAR This shows that the war in the region will continue, said Kutan who assessed the year 2001 to A.A correspondent. Such a war in the region means severer economic cost for Turkey and serious political risk at the same time, he alleged. Noting that 2001 year was not a good one for Turkey and the world, Kutan said that the attacks in the U.S. on September 11 can't be considered as a simple terrorist incident. Kutan said that yet thousands of civilian people died in the operation started by the U.S. against Afghanistan. Referring to Palestine, Kutan said that Israil's blockading Palestine and Arafat can cause serious results both in the Middle East and the world. Kutan noted that Turkey had one of the severest economic crisis of its history in 2001, adding the crisis still continued. Kutan claimed that Turkey was drifting towards bankruptcy, adding that Turkey's total debt is 190 billion dollars and its national gross product (GNP) is only 145 billion dollars. He defended the view that the credit to be taken from IMF would not solve the problems. Kutan alleged that no important positive developments in respect of democracy and human rights took place in Turkey in 2001, claiming that Turkey closed its main opposition party -Virtue Party- as it defended the right to wear headscarf. -TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA SENSOY SAYS TURKISH-RUSSIAN RELATIONS In an interview published in the recent issue of a magazine namely ''Diplomat,'' Sensoy said that both countries should not be content with the status of the bilateral relations today. Noting that the 25-year project of Blue Stream will definitely speed up the bilateral relations, Sensoy said that the relations have been improving for a long time and both sides were getting closer to each other. Sensoy said that both countries have interests in a broad region from the Balkans to the Middle East, from the Caucasus to Central Asia, adding that both countries launch efforts for cooperation and stability in these regions on the one hand and on the other hand they try to keep under guarantee their interests there. Sensoy added that he was sure that Turkey and Russia would carry out a more resolved cooperation against terrorism following the attacks in the U.S. on September 11. Dünya Parlamento Ekonomi Spor Sanat-Magazin Sağlık
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