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Anadolu Agency: News in English, 02-01-25Anadolu Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>Anadolu AjansıANADOLU AJANSI HABERLER 22 January 2002 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 25, 2002. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)AN OFFENDER ABOARD OFFICIAL PLANEBusinessman Ismail Koluk who accompanied Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit during his visit to the United States, and his brother Cemal Koluk were taken into custody for inciting a hired gunman to kill another businessman Melih Atay. PISKINSUT TO FORM HER POLITICAL PARTY ON MONDAY TURKEY PAYS 11 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS TO ECHR DERVIS: ''WE ARE IN A CRITICAL TURNING POINT'' MILLIYET (LIBERAL)FIGHT OF HARMONYJustice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk did not step back. Criticisms of some opposition parties and non-governmental organizations saying that freedoms were being narrowed were not taken into consideration. Disputes broke out among members of three political parties forming the coalition government. But in the end, adjustment bill was adopted by the Parliamentary Justice Commission. ''WE THINK ABOUT SUICIDE BECAUSE...'' SABAH (LIBERAL)NINE YEARS WITHOUT UGURProminent journalist-writer Ugur Mumcu who was killed in a bomb attack in front of his house on January 24, 1993, was commemorated throughout Turkey. State Minister Fikret Unlu for Youth and Sports, deputies Ridvan Budak and Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik and a number of people attended the ceremony in front of Mumcu's house. Speaking at the ceremony, Mumcu's wife and Ugur Mumcu Journalism Foundation Chairperson Guldal Mumcu said, ''killing a people is synonymous with killing yourself. This vicious circle can destroy the whole humanity.'' ECEVIT: ''ECONOMY HAS BEGUN TO REVIVE FRENCH DEFENSE MINISTER ARRIVES IN TURKEY CUMHURIYET (LEFT)TEARS OF WIFE OF A MARTYRZerrin Okkan, the wife of former Police Chief Gaffar Okkan who was killed in a terrorist attack in southeastern province of Diyarbakir on January 24, 2001, left two letters on grave of her husband on the first anniversary of his demise. Meanwhile, Okkan and five other policemen who were assassinated, were commemorated in Diyarbakir. Nearly one thousand women laid carnations on Karakoc Boulevard where Okkan and his colleagues were killed. ''HE WILL LIVE IN OUR THOUGHTS'' ECEVIT: ''SADDAM SHOULD TAKE BUSH SERIOUSLY '' RADIKAL (LEFT)LAST DAYS OF FREEDOMThe ''Mini Democracy Package'' which limits the thought and the freedom of expression by changing Article 159 and 312 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) will be legalized next week. Justice Commission has given the visa to 'Mini Democracy Package'' which caused a discussion in the coalition. The coalition partners and the opposition members who criticized the amendments in the Article 159 and 312 of TCK will seek a chance of reconciliation in the General Assembly. The draft will be debated on Wednesday and legalized in two days, if the leaders decide in favor of the draft. BANKING LAW DEBATED IN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE TURKIYE (RIGHT)END TO INTEREST TRAPCredit cards crisis is coming to the Council of the Ministers. The consumer credit and moratory interest will be limited by the amendment which will be made in the law. Moratory interest problem in the consumer credit and payments of the credit cards, which led many people to go bankrupt and the banks to be included in the blacklist, is tried to be solved. In this direction, newly arranged Preservation of the Consumers draft law will be taken up in the first meeting of the Cabinet. FORGET ELECTION ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)RATES DO NOT CHANGE IN PROPERTY TAXFinance Minister Sumer Oral has announced that they were not planning to change the property tax rates. Oral noted that the principle of statement would be lifted in the new arrangement related to the property tax and stated that the municipalities would accrue the tax upon the minimal values and transmit to the taxpayers. Stressing that the works to remove the injustices were continuing, Oral said that the draft which was being prepared on that issue would be debated by the Council of Ministers on Monday. -BAHCELI, GUREL AND ADMIRAL ALPKAYA DUE TO PAKISTAN Sources told the A.A correspondent on Friday that State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli will pay a visit to Pakistani capital Islamabad between February 16 and 18, 2002. Naval Forces Commander Admiral Bulent Alpkaya will pay a visit to Pakistan between February 11 and 15. Meanwhile, a Turkish Export Products Fair will be opened in Karachi between February 16 and 19 for the first time in the history of relations between Turkey and Pakistan. State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel will attend inauguration of the fair in which Turkish firms will display their goods in the sectors of machinery, chemistry, foodstuff, automotive, electricity-elekcronics and construction. Sources said that commercial relations between the two countries were far away from their real potentials. -STATE MINISTER DERVIS AND FOREIGN MINISTER CEM TO ATTEND WORLD ECONOMIC This year's World Economic Forum meetings will be organized in Now York instead of Davos as a sign of solidarity in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York on September 11, 2001. Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti will also attend the meetings. Meanwhile, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan will leave for the United States on Friday to attend the World Economic Forum meetings. The theme of this year's meetings will be ''Leadership in Fragile Times: A Vision for a Shared Future''. Heads of state and government, ministers, high-level economy bureaucrats, representatives of non-governmental organizations and high-level representatives of a number of companies will attend the meetings. -FRENCH DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER CAKMAKOGLU Speaking about the visit of the guest minister, Cakmakoglu said, ''we evaluate the visit of the French minister as a tour to improve stagnancy and regression period which we entered following the adoption of draft resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians. Relations between the two countries were very positive till the year 2001.'' Cakmakoglu said, ''we believe that such intiatives aiming to compensate this situation will continue.'' French Defense Minister Richard in his part said the visit aimed at improving the relations in a constructive way. Pointing out that voting in the French Parliament took place in a way that the French Government did not approve, Richard said the incident should be considered as an isolated one because relations between the two countries have a very positive course. -FRENCH DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER CAKMAKOGLU Speaking about the visit of the guest minister, Cakmakoglu said, ''we evaluate the visit of the French minister as a tour to improve stagnancy and regression period which we entered following the adoption of draft resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians. Relations between the two countries were very positive till the year 2001.'' Cakmakoglu said, ''we believe that such intiatives aiming to compensate this situation will continue.'' French Defense Minister Richard in his part said the visit aimed at improving the relations in a constructive way. Pointing out that voting in the French Parliament took place in a way that the French Government did not approve, Richard said the incident should be considered as an isolated one because relations between the two countries have a very positive course. -AMERICAN WRITER WEEMS TO REFUTE ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS Ergun Kirlikovali from the Federation of Turkish-American Associations (TADF) said on Friday, ''the book will be put up for sale soon. For the first time in history, Armenians will lose their advantage of religion. Also, the Western world will begin to listen to Turkish thesis more seriously. Sam Weems, a Christian intellectual of religion, refutes both historical and religious allegations of Armenians.'' Weems who was born in Arkansas, earned a decree in law. He worked as a judge, and retired from his post a few years ago. He says that he was ashamed about Armenians' Christendom on behalf of the Christian world. Weems who says ''religion of Armenians is also fake as well as their historical allegations'', documented his opinions in detail by using Armenian sources. Noting that Armenians were lack of religious tolerance, Weems said that there were more Armenian churches in Turkey than Armenia. He said that Armenia, on the contrary, destroyed all mosques in the country which were open at 1918s. Describing Armenia as an intolerant state, Weems said that Armenians could not be real Christians to this end. Summing up the figures of deads claimed by Armenians and the figures of deportation, Weems proved that a genocide had never been in question as alleged by Armenians, using Armenian documents. He said that Armenians had claimed that more Armenians than their real population were killed when they were asking for help from the West, but when it was time to convince the winners of the First World War why an Armenian state had to be found, they could easily manage to show all their deads as alive. Noting that he collected information from archives in Washington D.C., London, Paris, Moscow and Istanbul without any problem, Weems said that he was not allowed to enter archives in Armenia. Weems added that he was not allowed to enter archives of terrorist ''Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)'' in Boston either. -FOREIGN TRADE IN 2001 According to a report of DTM, foreign trade deficit is expected to decrease 60 percent from 26.7 billion U.S. dollars to 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2001 when compared to the previous year. The reason for continuous decrease in imports at high rates in 2001 was the ''high rate devaluation and shrinkage in the economy''. The report recalled that total exports had been 31 billion 64 million U.S. dollars in 2001 according to the statistics of the Exporters' Associations and noted that there were significant increases in exports of motor vehicles and by-industry, iron and other metals, electric and electronic devices and machines, chemical substances and textiles and raw material in 2001. Motor vehicles and by-industry were the sectors which showed the greatest development and exports by these sectors increased 45.7 percent to 3 billion 912 million U.S. dollars in 2001, the report said. According to the report, exports to the European Union (EU) countries increased by 13.5 percent especially as a result of increase in exports to Italy, exports to Middle Eastern countries increased by 36 percent, exports to East European countries increased by 26.6 percent, exports to the countries of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) rose by 13.7 percent while exports to the United States decreased by 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, monthly imports which had been about 5 billion U.S. dollars through the end of 2000 started to be about 3-3.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2001 due to high rate of devaluation and economic shrinkage. The report said that imports in January-October period in 2001 decreased by 24.5 percent when compared to the same period previous year. In the first ten months of 2001, imports of investment goods reduced by 36.3 percent, imports of intermediary goods decreased by 17.4 percent and imports of consumer goods dropped by 42.4 percent. -FRENCH DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER CAKMAKOGLU (2) French Defense Minister Richard, currently officially in Turkey, visited Cakmakoglu. Cakmakoglu and Richard spoke to reporters after holding tete-a-tete meeting and interdelegational talks. Cakmakoglu said they had a beneficial meeting discussing bilateral and regional issues as well as political and military issues, and added that, ''we evaluate the visit of the French minister as a tour to improve stagnancy and regression period which we entered following the adoption of draft resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians. Relations between the two countries were very positive till the year 2001.'' Pointing out that a delegation, comprised of French businessmen, visited Turkey, Cakmakoglu said reaction of Turkish public and administrators to the adoption of resolution on so-called genocide on Armenians was known. ''We believe that such initiatives aiming to compensate this situation will continue.'' Stressing that they assessed the two countries have similar views on regional issues, Cakmakoglu said they had the opportunity to discuss support of France to Turkey regarding European Union (EU), and that the sides exchanged views in fight against terrorism. French Defense Minister Richard in his part said they targeted improving bilateral relations in a constructive way. Pointing out that voting in the French Parliament took place in a way that the French Government did not approve, Richard said the incident should be considered as an isolated one because relations between the two countries have a very positive course. Richard said he would like to stress particularly the consensus of opinion between the two countries on strategical issues, and pointed out the support of France regarding Turkey's integration with the EU. Richard said there were Turkish-French relations on realization of French investments in Turkey, situation of Turkish citizens living in France, willingness of French citizens for touristic visits to Turkey, and scientific areas. Richard said they would like to establish constructive relations in defense field, adding that he brought a series of proposals in this respect. When asked about the Armenian problem, the guest minister said he could hold a news conference at the airport, and noted that Turkish and French soldiers acted together in crises periods. Responding to a question about the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, Richard said the French government thought that Turkey was perfect enough to undertake the responsibility of this force in the future. Richard said the final decision and the conditions belonged to the Turkish government and that they would respect the decisions of Turkey. -PRESIDENT DENKTAS OF TRNC AND GREEK CYPRIOT LEADER CLERIDES TO COME The leaders will come together at the Lefkosa Conference Center near the Lefkosa Airport in the buffer zone at 17:00 local time. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Alvaro de Soto will be in attendance at the meeting as observer. Denktas and Clerides will continue to discuss authorities of the central government. President Denktas told reporters following the meeting on January 23 that they took up principles of the agreement. During the meeting on January 26, President Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Clerides decided to come together three times in a week at 17:00 local time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. -ABNA CONFERENCE STARTS The conference on ''Perspective of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies (ABNA) about Teachings of Communications'' started at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University. Making the opening remarks of the conference, Karakoyunlu thanked ABNA Term President Anadolu Agency's (A.A) President General Director and Head of Executive Board Mehmet Guler and Bahcesehir University Board of Trustees Chairman Enver Yucel. Recalling that representatives of eight important news agencies were attending the conference, Karakoyunlu said that the conference would attract attention as a meeting which included such a comprehensive exchange of information and experience. Noting that the A.A which had been founded upon instructions of Ataturk on April 6, 1920 had first conveyed information and experiences to public by sticking its bulletins on the walls, Karakoyunlu said that this event was not a tradition unique to Turkey. Recalling that documents had been sticked to the walls in the places where Venetians had come together to get information during the Ottoman-Venetian war in 1560, Karakoyunlu said that fee had been collected from persons who wanted to enter those places. Recalling that the fee had been ''1 Gazeta'' which was Venetian currency in that period, Karakoyunlu said that this was the root of the word ''gazette''. Karakoyunlu said that very successful examples could not be displayed regarding comparison of Turkey with the world. Karakoyunlu said the press sector in Turkey had displayed a rapid change in regard to root of education and professional ethics since the Tanzimat reform movement (1839-1876 in Ottoman history. Karakoyunlu added, ''it is a perfect example with respect to education both at basics and implementation which you cannot find in any other country.'' Pointing out that authors generally prevailed in newspapers during Tanzimat movement, Karakoyunlu said graduates or students of the School of Political Science and jurists continued to prevail after the authors. Karakoyunlu said characteristics changed to some extend with foundation of Republic, adding that the jurists were the leading force after 1950's, and that authors and students of the School of Political Science followed them. Stressing that graduate of Teachings of Communication were generally in the lead today, Karakoyunlu said economists and graduates of the School of Political Science, and very rarely jurists and authors, are seen. Karakoyunlu went on as saying, ''this rapid change, may be, will cause a very important problem throughout the country. I would like to point out my concerns about it. Teachings of Communications were opened almost in all universities. Relations between the education faculty, and school of communications should be set up very carefully, otherwise demand to those faculties may face a sudden decrease. Or those who receive education in those faculties may face the difficulty of finding job.'' Karakoyunlu said, ''Teachings of Communication are like facultees of medicine and law and should be evaluated as indispensable institutions of universal education model.'' He said necessary efforts should be exerted to educate students with vocational seriousness and discipline.'' He said, ''otherwise, opening universities aiming to 'meet the demand', and setting up teachings of Communication in any place of Anatolia which will lack technical equipment, may create difficulties for the students which will receive education in those faculties.'' Karakoyunlu said that the concept of communication could not be settled on a solid base, and showed Larousse and Ana Britannica's editions in Turkey, and said, ''I would like to say that those two outstanding encyclopedias don't include the word communication. I think this shows how Turkey remained behind the world in communication sector. As the concept is not included in the context of thoughts of the community itself, naturally, it is not reflected in encyclopedias.'' ''Teachings of Communications were founded firstly within structure of the Istanbul University as schools of journalism and public relations. This contituted a very successful model of education,'' he said. Addressing students, State Minister Karakoyunlu said, ''the rule of 5W 1 H represents the five main principles. Senators and eyewitnesses had to abide by these principles in the Roman Empire 2,100 years ago.'' ''In Turkey, the press is free. At the same time, the individual is also free. If the freedom of press is changed into the right of using his/her pen freely, the freedom of individual is then to struggle for claiming his honor. Freedom of one of them to destroy the other cannot be called as freedom. It is not possible to defend any attitude aiming at violating freedom of individuals with the claim of press freedom. The press is free, however a member of press can act arbitrarily. In that case, we should accept that this person was not mature enough to digest freedom, instead of talking about violation of freedom of press. This defense is not against freedom of press, but against arbitrarily acts of member of press,'' he said. Karakoyunlu said, ''Turkey could not reach this maturity yet. The most important principle of our profession is to appropriate our responsibility with the freedom criterion defining this responsibility.'' ''I will submit a new press law to the parliament next week. For the first time, the first Article of the Turkish Press Law is composed of only one sentence: 'The press is free'. The second Article of the law says; 'Also individuals are free'. Two separate struggles for freedom reveals how important the concept of ethics between these two is,'' he said. Directors general and high-level representatives of Athens News Agency (ANA) and Macedonia Press Agency (MTA) of Greece, Albanian Telegraph Agency (ATA), Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), Macedonia Information Agency (MIA), ROMPRESS of Romania and TANJUG of Yugoslavia are in attendance at the conference. -HUMAN RIGHTS TRIPARTITE MINISTERS MEETING Second of the human rights tripartite ministers meeting was held in Interior Ministry. The meetings started upon the invitation of state minister Nejat Arseven. Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen said they evaluated the works of the deputy undersecretaries of Prime Ministry, Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry in the field of human rights for one month. When journalists asked about the discussions on articles 159 and 312, Turk said he disclosed his views in Parliamentary Justice Commission, noting that the process continued. Turk said the draft law as a ''modest and important'' step. -PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT RECEIVES DEFENSE MINISTER RICHARD OF FRANCE (2) Sources told A.A correspondent on Friday that National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu was also in attendance at the meeting at the Prime Ministry Office. Rebuilding of Afghanistan, modernization of Afghan army and formation of a new police force in Afghanistan were discussed at the meeting. Expansion of NATO, Caucasian region and relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia were brought onto agenda. Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Ecevit said that 20 percent of foreign investments in Turkey were made by French firms, and expressed his satisfaction over French firms' interest in Turkey. Prime Minister Ecevit stressed that imbalance in mutual trade volume between the two countries againts Turkey should be removed. Meanwhile, Richard invited Prime Minister Ecevit to France. -DEFENSE MINISTER RICHARD OF FRANCE HOLDS A PRESS CONFERENCE (1) Richard held a press conference at Ankara's Esenboga Airport after wrapping up his contacts in Ankara. Noting that he did not want to affect Turkey's decision by making a statement about the command of ISAF, Richard recalled that Turkey, earlier, stated that it was ready to take over the command of the ISAF. Turkish officials should make the preference themselves to take over the command of the ISAF in Afghanistan from Britain, he said. He said that they relied on Turkey's military power and capacity to undertake this mission. Richard added that if Turkey accepted to command the ISAF, France would be ready to cooperate in providing stability in Afghanistan and in rebuilding Afghanistan. Dünya Parlamento Ekonomi Spor Sanat-Magazin Sağlık
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