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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 02-01-03Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AjansıANADOLU AJANSI HABERLER 03 January 2002 Thursday 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 3, 2002. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)TURKISH LIRA TO GAIN VALUECentral Bank announced 2002's Monetary Program on the first working day of the year. The bank said the foreign currency would become stable as the demand decreases and the foreign currency that is kept ''under the matress'' will be directed to consumption helping the Turkish economy grow. The bank also indicated that the promises regarding structural policies should be fulfilled and the banking system has to be strengthened to reach these goals. FUNDAMENTALISM STILL ALIVE IN TURKEY MILLIYET (LIBERAL)DERVIS: ''THERE'LL BE NO SUPPORT FOR MONEY SYPHONERS''The bill which was prepared for the banks created doubts in the public. Transfer of money from Treasury to financially weak banks further increased the doubts. People started thinking that money syphoners might be supported through this bill. In order to assure people on the matter, Dervis said ''We would never allow the money go to the syphoners. We'll give this money to the banks with certain conditions. This money will not be given to save any individual, company or institution. Not the banks which are mismanaged, but the banks which suffer difficulties because of the crisis will be helped through this bill.'' CAKAN ACCUSES MUNICIPALITIES FOR HIGH NATURAL GAS PRICES On the other hand Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek claimed that the sharp increase in natural gas prices was a result of the U.S. dollar and oil prices in 2001. He said it was also caused by the 206 percent price increase of BOTAS. Gokcek admitted that his municipality was profitting 45 percent from the sales of natural gas. SABAH (LIBERAL)THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE QUIT USING NATURAL GASAfter the increase of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the natural gas and the price increases of BOTAS, using natural gas has become a dream for people of low income. The natural gas bills of some houses in Ankara and Istanbul even exceeded their rent. Thousands of people have already started switching from natural gas to coal. People are curiously waiting for the announcement of Energy Minister Zeki Cakan. HEAVY SNOW FALL CAUSES 210 TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN ANKARA CUMHURIYET (LEFT)TURK SAYS EU HAS A DOUBLE STANDARDCriticizing the EU for not including PKK and DHKP-C in the list of terrorist organizations, Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said the EU had a double standard. ''They think that the same act is a terrorist act in EU countries, but not in other countries. This is wrong. If an organization is launching terrorist acts in a country, it is still a terrorist organization even if it's not active in an EU country,'' Turk said. PARLIAMENT TO WORK OVERTIME BEFORE ECEVIT'S U.S. VISIT RADIKAL (LEFT)BILL PROTECTING CHILDREN STILL WAITINGTurkey signed a U.N. protocol to protect children from sexual harassment and child pornography 16 months ago. However, the protocol is waiting for an approval from Parliament and therefore it still hasn't taken effect. Recently, a teacher in Bursa was arrested for involvement in child pornography trade and shocked many families. But there are absolutely no laws in Turkey to prevent child pornography or prostitution. The bill is the 17th on Parliament's list of the things to be debated. ONE MORE INMATE DIES ON DEATH FAST TURKIYE (RIGHT)WORLD BANK PLANNING TO PROVIDE 9 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS TO TURKEYBETWEEN 2003 AND 2005 World Bank and Turkey will start County Aid Strategy (CAS) talks that will cover 2003 and 2005 this year. The World Bank is planning to provide Turkey 6 to 9 billion U.S. dollars depending on Turkey's need between 2003 and 2005. Officials stated that the CAS is supposed to last until June of 2003, but the talks could also be finalized before the end of this year. The same sources also indicated that the bank would lend 3 billion U.S. dollars to Turkey. 2001 INFLATION FIGURES TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)KANADOGLU ASKS COURT TO FINALIZE AK PARTY AND HADEP CASESSupreme Court Chief Judge Sabih Kanadoglu has applied to the Constitutional Court and asked the court to quickly finalize the case about the People's Democratic Party (HADEP) which has been continuing for three years and the application of Justice and Development Party (AK) which has been investigated for 4,3 months. Kanadoglu indicated that the delay in the HADEP case would cause a number of national and judicial losses. -TURKEY TO PARTICIPATE IN PEACE KEEPING FORCE IN AFGHANISTAN WITH A The Turkish battalion is expected to be formed by 800 personnel. French Defense Minister Alain Richard made a statement on Wednesday and announced that Turkey was expected to take over the command of the peace keeping force from Britian after three months. An official statement about the command situation and Turkey's contribution to the peace keeping force is expected to be made soon. Meanwhile, diplomatic circles in Washington stated that the United States played a role in the decision to give the command to Turkey after Britain. It was reported that U.S. President George W. Bush also interfered to give Turkey the command of the international peace keeping force. Bush also talked to British Prime Minister Tony Blair about the matter and had an influence on him. The peace keeping force had began to be employed in Kabul end of last month. -TURKEY'S CAR EXPORT BREAKS RECORD IN 2001 The automotive sector's export revenues in 2000 was 2 billion 636 million U.S. dollars only. Automotive and bi-industry had export revenues of 1,500 billion U.S. dollars in 1996; 1,562 billion U.S. dollars in 1997; 1,771 billion U.S. dollars in 1998; and 2,481 billion U.S. dollars in 1999. Germany topped the list of countries which imported cars from Turkey with 859,9 million U.S. dollars. France, Italy and the United States followed Germany. Besides, developed Western countries, the sector for the first time exported cars to Abudabi, Niger, Angola, Tanzania, Haiti, Guyana, San Marino, Cambodia, New Caledonia, Dagestan, Tatarstan, Serbia, Folkland and Maldiv Islands. Below is the list of top ten countries which imported cars from Turkey last year: . ..... Increase/Decrease Country (1000 dollars) (percent) ----------------------- ----------- ------- France 537.376 42.2 Italy 530.471 92.1 U.S.A 176.901 7 Iran 121.589 419.2 Spain 16.515 152.5 Belgium 85.868 46.4 Egypt 75.897 1.8 Istanbul Leather Free Region 75.634 -43.6 -LEATHER SECTOR REACHES ITS EXPORT TARGETS IN 2001 Due to the economic crisis in Far East and Russia, the leather sector had difficult times but then it started recovering in 2000. As of November 2001, it increased its export to 504.6 million U.S. dollars with a 20 percent compared to the prevous year. Turkey Leather Industrialists Association Chairman Turgut Kosar told the A.A that he expected the total export revenues of last year to be around 670 million U.S. dollars. Kosar stated that Turkey was exporting 24 percent of its total leather production. -HOUSING MINISTER AKCAN:''HIGHWAYS GENERAL DIRECTORATE HAS 1,500 PROJECTS Akcan, in an exclusive interview with the A.A, said that his ministry's 2002 budget was two quadrillion 850 trillion 503 billion TL. ''We assigned 462 trillion 230 billion TL to the ministry, one quadrillion 933 trillion 273 billion TL to the Highways General Directorate, 455 trillion Tl to the Iller Bank. ''The Highways General Directorate currently has 1,500 projects for Turkey, '' Akcan said. ''In Turkey, it takes 20-22 years to complete a highway project. In European countries, it takes only 5-6 years. Our goal is to also complete these projects as quickly as possible. If our investment fund is increased by 20 percent we'll complete 28 projects. If it's increased by 30 percent, we'll complete 150 projects. Without any funds, we need 150 years to finish these projects.'' The housing minister said that if his ministry's investment fund is increased by ten percent, they would complete 15 highway projects and this would create a relief in the highway transportation. Below are the highway projects that might be completed if enough fund is acquired: -Denizli-Acipayam - 82 kilometer -Manisa-Menemen - 34 kilometer -Ormanköy-Akyazi-Dokurcan - 40 kilometer -Midyat-Cizre - 91 kilometer -Kastamonu-İnegöl-Cide - 103 kilometer -Tunceli-Pulumur - 89 kilometer -Ercis- Muradiye-Caldiran - 72 kilometer -Seydisehir- 48 kilometer -Konya-Karaman ayrim-Belören-Hadim - 71 kilometer -Elmadag-Kirikkale -Kalecik - 32 kilometer -Nallihan-Mudurnu -Göynük-Tarakli - 90 kilometer -Nallihan-Goynuk - 69 kilometer -Nevsehir-Aksaray - 50 kilometer -Gumushane-Bayburt-Kelkit-Siran - 76 kilometer -Isparta-Egridir - 40 kilometer -JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER TANAKA TO VISIT TURKEY AND FOUR OTHER COUNTRIES During his ten-day tour, Tanaka will have contacts in Turkey, Portugal, France, Britain and Spain. Tanaka, who is the son of an ex prime minister, is famous for entirely changing the traditional structure of the Japanese Foreign Ministry and exchanging a few undersecretaries and top executives. Turkish Ambassador to Japan Yaman Baskut told the A.A that Japanese and Turkish foreign ministers met three times in the last three years which was a pleasing development. Tanaka, during his meetings with Turkish government officials, is expected to focus on the restructuring of Afghanistan, regional developments and bilateral relations. Japan has become an important trade partner of Turkey and financial cooperation is also expected to be raised as a topic during Tanaka's visits. The Japanese foreign minister is expected to arrive in Istanbul on Thursday night. After spending the night in this city, he will go to Ankara on Friday and meet with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem and Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. He will later return to Istanbul and visit Topkapi Museum, Sultan Ahmet Mosque and the Covered Bazaar. Tanaka will leave Turkey on Jan.6, 2002. Tanaka will be accompanied by 12 people during his ten-day tour. -TOBB CHAIRMAN HISARCIKLIOGLU:''RESTRUCTURING TURKEY'S ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, ''Restructuring Turkey's economic, political, social and administrative areas should be the priority of 2002,'' he commented when he announced his expectations from the new year at a press conference on Thursday. Hisarciklioglu said that Turkey's debt load should be decreased through a budget and borrowing discipline, real sector credits should be increased and Central Bank should follow a foreseeable and transparent money policy. He also stressed that the government must take the necessary measures to increase the production of the real sector and increase employment. He said that economic growth could be maintained by switching foreign currency savings of people to Turkish Lira. -MHP LEADER BAHCELI ADDRESSES HIS PARTY GROUP MEETING (1) Addressing his party group meeting, Bahceli said the most important development which put its seal to the year 2001 was the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11, and after this the intervention on Afghanistan. Pointing out that the discussions and developments which started following the terrorist attack in the U.S. brought together the interrogation of existing global order and process, Bahceli said fight against terrorism and terrorist organizations became more important. Bahceli said it was sorrowful that importance of Turkey's policies, which have been revealed against the terrorist attacks that became fierce throughout 1990's, could be understood following such a dramatic incident, adding that, ''however, it is the duty of the politicians and statesmen to draw a lesson after every saddening event.'' MHP leader Bahceli said the Turkish government proved its sincerity and determination in fight against terrorism with all the decisions taken with the decision of the parliament, and added that, ''Turkey once again showed that it is a very important political and military ally and actor.'' Bahceli said Turkey's determination to break the effectiveness of prejudiced international circles, which are in an effort to put Islam religion and Moslems in the same scale with terrorism, could not be denied, adding that, ''unfortunately there are people who evaluate all those developments only as the favor of international conjuncture.'' Bahceli said the EU administrations followed policies which confuse human rights and prepare a basis that is convenient to terrorist activities. He said, ''it is impossible to find adequate and realistic point of views towards terrorism recently. They have not yet taken the murderer organizations, which became a trouble for our country, to the list of terrorist organizations. It is also very difficult to say that an effective fight was carried out against terrorism. The EU administration still continue to have difficulty in overcoming its own internal conflicts and double standard approaches.'' ''It should not be forgotten that it is only possible to record a success only when a sincere, open and determined fight is carried out against terrorism,'' Bahceli said. Bahceli said he hoped Spain's EU term presidency would be an important opportunity as Spain suffered the sorrowful experiences of terrorism for long years. He said he hoped the EU administration soon review its policies about Turkey and fight against terrorism. ''Thus, this element, which often casts shadow over political and trade relations between Turkey and Europe would be lifted,'' he said. Bahceli said most of the Turkish nation hoped to be the full member of the EU, and also stressed that insensitivities on national interests like Cyprus could not be accepted by the nation. -MHP LEADER BAHCELI ADRESSES HIS PARTY GROUP MEETING (2) Addressing his party group meeting, Bahceli said that the 57th government coped with serious problems since it was established following the elections on April 18, 1999. Bahceli said that Turkey's main goal in 2002 will be hope, understanding and solidarity rather than hopelessness, chaos and fight, and it won't be recession and dismissal of workers, but production and exportation. Bahceli noted that the mission of all officials should be to refrain from acts that will disturb the productive working basis. Bahceli stressed that the most important laws that will be adopted in 2002 are Public Procurement Law, Tobacco Law and laws of adjustment, adding that ''we must support the state system based on rational and productive economic and social targets rather than the system which is based on earning money with money without producing.'' -TOBB CHAIRMAN HISARCIKLIOGLU SAYS GOVERNMENT HAS TO TAKE MEASURES Speaking in a news conference, Hisarcıklıoglu said that the state banks have to give credits to the real sector and small and medium scale enterprises (SMSEs) in 2002. Hisarcıklıoglu said that necessary regulations have to be made to increase the flow of direct foreign investments into Turkey, adding that the weakest part of the economic programme is the part on the real sector. He stressed that this part of the programme has to be strengthened. -IS BANKASI BREAKS A NEW RECORD WITH ITS 4 MILLION VISA ELECTRON CARDS Is Bankasi Retail Banking Directorate General Aykut Demiray said on Thursday that Is Bankasi had the biggest market share among European banks providing Visa Electron cards to their customers, according to the three monthly report prepared by Visa. Noting that 4 million Visa Electron users of Is Bankasi, was a pleasing development for Turkey, Demiray said, ''this achievement is very important in respect to Turkey's developing economical capacity and its contemporary position. We are proud of contributing the economic profile of Turkey.'' Meanwhile, the number of Visa Electron users in Turkey was 9.2 million in June 2001. -APPLICATION OF KANADOGLU TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT Erdogan responded to the questions of reporters at the parliament. When asked about his views regarded with acceleration of talks pertaining to the application of Kanadoglu to give a warning to Ak Party, and how he evaluated Kanadoglu's demand from the Constitutional Court, Erdogan said the issue was something between Kanadoglu and the Constitutional Court. Pointing out the existence of a judgement process, Erdogan said, ''we are not the interlocutor of this question. It is the Constitutional Court which will respond this. It is not right for us to engage with this incident which occurred apart from us.'' When asked if extension of the period would prevent them of not, Erdogan said the works continued and that they did not have any hesitations. -CENTRAL BANK SAYS TURKEY MEETS END-YEAR IMF MONETARY GOALS Central Bank said that it had met a range of end-year monetary criteria set out under a 19 billion dollars emergency support package with the IMF. The announcement came ahead of a January International Monetary Fund board meeting that may approve an additional 10 billion dollars in loans for Turkey under a fresh three-year standby accord. The bank said in a statement that it had kept net domestic assets to 19,493 trillion lira (around 13.6 billion dollars) based on the last five work days' average in December, under a 22,400 trillion limit set out in the IMF pact. It said a fall in net international reserves of 1.73 billion dollars during November and December was also well within a limit of 3.546 billion dollars for the period. The bank also said it had met target ranges for end- December base money, which stood at 7,642 trillion lira calculated on the last five work days' average, against a ceiling of 7,750 trillion lira. According to the IMF accord, both net international reserves and base money are monitored as performance criteria but net domestic assets are taken as indicative. -REPO TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN BANKS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS DECREASE The Central Bank data show that the repo transactions, which were 3,77 quadrillion TL on December 21, decreased to 2,79 quadrillion TL on December 28. The reverse repo transactions, which were 4,56 trillion TL on December 21, increased 231 billion TL to 4,79 trillion TL on December 28. The repo transactions among the financial organizations decreased 224.5 trillion TL from to 3,68 quadrillion TL on December 21 to 3,46 quadrillion TL on December 28. The reverse repo transactions among the financial organizations decreased 224,5 trillion TL from 3,68 quadrillion TL to 3,46 quadrillion TL on December 28. -TURKEY REPAYS USD 30,51 MILLION OF FOREIGN DEBT ON JAN.2 The Central Bank data show that the Treasury repaid 25,40 million U.S. dollars; the Central Bank repaid 3,78 million U.S. dollars; and the administrations with general and consolidated budget paid the remaining 1, 33 million U.S. dollars. Turkey has repaid 13,53 billion U.S. dollars in external debt in 2001. -WHOLE SALE PRICES INCREASE BY 4,1 PERCENT AND CONSUMER PRICES The annual inflation rate has been 88,6 percent in whole sale prices and 68,5 percent in consumer prices. The inflation in whole sale prices has been 81,1 percent and 63,3 percent in consumer prices between January-December 2001. The annual inflation as of Dec. 2001 when compared to 12-month averages has been 61,6 percent in whole sale prices and 54,4 percent in consumer prices. -ANNUAL INFLATION IS 88.6 PERCENT IN WHOLE SALE PRICES AND 68.5 PERCENT IN Below listed the monthly and annual inflation rates on a comparative basis in the last four years: Monthly inflation. WPI CPI------------------------ --------------------- Months 1998 1999 2000 2001 1998 1999 2000 2001 ------ ---- ---- ---- ----- ---- ---- ---- --- Feb 4.6 3.4 4.1 2.6 4.4 3.2 3.7 1.8 March 4.0 4.0 3.1 10.1 4.3 4.1 2.9 6.1 April 4.0 5.3 2.4 14.4 4.7 4.9 2.3 10.3 May 3.3 3.2 1.7 6.3 3.5 2.9 2.2 5.1 June 1.6 1.8 0.3 2.9 2.4 3.3 0.7 3.1 July 2.5 4.0 1.0 3.3 3.4 3.8 2.2 2.4 Aug 2.4 3.3 0.9 3.5 4.0 4.2 2.2 2.9 Sept 5.3 5.9 2.3 5.4 6.7 6.0 3.1 5.9 Oct 4.1 4.7 2.8 6.7 6.1 6.3 3.1 6.1 Nov 3.4 4.1 2.4 4.2 4.3 4.2 3.7 4.2 Dec 2.5 6.8 1.9 4.1 3.3 5.9 2.5 3.2 Annual inflation. WPI CPI-------------------------- ----------------------- Months 1998 1999 2000 2001 1998 1999 2000 2001 ------ ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --- Feb 89.6 48.3 67.5 26.5 99.3 63.9 69.7 33.4 March 86.0 48.2 66.1 35.1 97.2 63.5 67.9 37.5 April 83.3 50.0 61.5 50.9 93.6 63.9 63.8 48.3 May 79.9 50.0 59.2 57.7 91.4 63.0 62.7 52.4 June 76.7 50.3 56.8 61.8 90.6 64.3 58.6 56.1 July 72.1 52.4 52.3 65.4 85.3 65.0 56.2 56.3 Aug 67.4 53.7 48.9 69.6 81.4 65.4 53.2 57.5 Sept 65.9 54.4 43.9 74.7 80.4 64.3 49.0 61.8 Oct 62.0 55.2 41.4 81.4 76.6 64.7 44.4 66.5 Nov 58.6 56.3 39.1 84.5 72.8 64.6 43.8 67.3 Dec 54.3 62.9 32.7 88.6 69.7 68.8 39.0 68.5 Dünya Parlamento Ekonomi Spor Sanat-Magazin Sağlık
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