Anadolu Agency: News in English, 02-01-26

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From: The Anadolu Agency Home Page at <http://www.anadoluajansi.com.tr/>

ANADOLU AJANSI

HABERLER

26 January

2002 Saturday

Türkiye

Dünya

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Ekonomi

Spor

Sanat-Magazin

Sağlık

Türkiye

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

[02] GAP REGION EXPORTS 171.1 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF THREAD

[03] WORLD CUP TO BE IN TURKEY ON SUNDAY

[04] BOSTANCIOGLU SAYS HE DOES NOT ALLOW ANYBODY TO MAKE POLITICS OVER CHILDREN

[05] KECECILER SAYS IMPORTS MADE THROUGH CUSTOMS REACHED USD 39.2 BILLION

[01] TURKEY-PRESS SCAN

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)

ORAL: ''SEZER'S DECISION WILL NOT AFFECT OUR RELATIONS WITH IMF''
Finance Minister Sumer Oral said, ''three articles of the Banking Law which were vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer can be debated and adopted by parliament in a short period of time. President Sezer's decision to veto these three articles will not affect our relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).''

ECEVIT: ''I WILL SEND A LETTER TO SADDAM HUSSEIN''
In an interview with the private CNN Turk television channel, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said, ''during our meeting, U.S. President George W. Bush stated that any military operation against Iraq would not cause a separation in Turkey. The U.S. administration is determined to get rid of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Steps taken by Iraq and Saddam Hussein can change the United States' decision. I except Saddam Hussein to take recent developments seriously. I will send a letter to Saddam Hussein in coming days.''

TURKISH-JAPANESE FOUNDATION TO COMMEMORATE BARIS MANCO
Turkish-Japanese Foundation will commemorate prominent musician Baris Manco on the third anniversary of his demise in a ceremony to be held at the Turkish-Japanese Foundation Culture Center.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)

SECURITY DEPARTMENT INFORMS INTERIOR MINISTRY ON SATANISM
Directorate General of Security prepared a four-page report on satanism which was brought onto agenda of Turkey after Lara Falay, 16, a student of Uskudar American College, committed suicide by throwing herself from the Bogazici Bridge. The report which was submitted to the Interior Ministry, described satanism as a terrorist organization. The report emphasized that special units should be set up to fight against satanism.

T. SINAI KANKINMA BANKASI TO MERGE WITH SINAI YATIRIM BANKASI
T. Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi will merge with Sinai Yatirim Bankasi. Releasing a statement, Sinai Yatirim Bankasi said that the T. Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi would take over the Sinai Yatirim Bankasi with its all rights, credits, debts and commitments.

SABAH (LIBERAL)

BAHCELI: ''WE ARE ACTING LIKE A SINGLE POLITICAL PARTY''
State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said, ''three political parties forming the coalition government have been acting like a single political party. We will support the economic program until the end. Success of the economic program is of vital importance for the future of our country. Meanwhile, general elections should be held in 2004. Early elections will not be beneficial.''

GENERAL DOSTUM: ''I AM GRATEFUL TO TURKISH PEOPLE''
Deputy Defense Minister General Abdul Rashid Dostum of Afghanistan who is currently in Turkey to visit his family, held a press conference in Istanbul. He said that he was grateful to Turkish people. He asked Turkish Armed Forces to assist Afghanistan in modernizing its army. He invited Turkish businessmen to follow their government's lead in helping rebuild Afghanistan.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)

TUSIAD: ''MENTALITY SHOULD BE CHANGED''
Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) Chairman Tuncay Ozilhan said that ''mini democracy package'' would narrow borders of freedom of thought. Ozilhan stressed that a mentality reform should be made in Turkey.

TOXIC BARRELS RETURN TO ITALY
Turkish and Italian members of the environmental organization Greenpeace gave two of toxic barrels which were thrown into the sea off northern province of Sinop by an Italian firm, to Italian officials. They held a demonstration in front of the Italian Environment Ministry with toxic barrels stolen from depots in Sinop.

RADIKAL (LEFT)

146 MEMBERS OF HADEP DETAINED
Clashes erupted in demonstrations held in Siirt, Diyarbakir, Batman and Gaziantep on the first anniversary of dissappearance of Serdar Tanis and Ebubekir Deniz, members of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP). 17 people including four policemen were injured in the clashes. Security forces detained 146 members of the HADEP.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)

PIECE OF CAKE
The draw for the 12th European Football Championship in 2004 qualifying groups was made in Portugal. Turkey was drawn with Britain, Slovakia, Macedonia and Liechtenstein in group seven. Authorities said, ''it is the best group that Turkey could be. We will vie with England for the leadership.''

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

HE COULDN'T HEAR FROM HIS SON ABDUCTED BY PKK FOR TEN YEARS
Fifty-year-old Abuzer Yaman living in eastern province of Malatya could not hear from his son Dogan Yaman for ten years. His son was abducted by PKK while he was serving army in Cukurca hamlet in eastern province of Hakkari in 1992. Abuzer Yaman who has knocked on every door in order to find his son applied to the European Court of Human Rights as the last remedy. Yaman said, ''other families pray before tombs of their martyrs. But we don't know what happened to our son. I am willing to see even a hair of my son.''

-FIRST WEEK OF CYPRUS TALKS ENDS
-TALKS TO RECESS DURING FEAST OF SACRIFICE
LEFKOSA - First week of the Cyprus talks which started upon initiative of President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), aimed to find solution to the Cyprus question and targeted to continue until a solution is found, ended. Talks which focus on constitutional issues and authorities of the new partnership that will be founded, are being held wawy from the press. Both sides do not give information to the press about the talks. Sides target to continue the talks where all matters will be brought to the agenda without any pre-condition until June.

Denktas and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides decided to hold talks at 17:00 local time on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during their meeting in Lefkosa on January 16 in which also U.N. Secretary General's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro De Soto participated.

Following the meeting on January 16, Denktas said that Clerides and he had discussed the general framework, and one day after, he said that they would take up functions of the two equal sides in the new republic that would be founded.

Prior to their meeting on January 21, Denktas said that they would discuss authorities of the central government and at the end of the meeting, he said that they had discussed general issues.

Denktas and Clerides met for the third time on January 23. Prior the this meeting, Denktas said that he had been always intransigent towards every proposal which would cause Turkish Cypriots to be minority, and would continue to do so. After the meeting, Denktas said that Clerides and he had discussed principles of the agreement. The two leaders met for the fourth time on January 25.

Denktas announced that talks would recess during the Feast of Sacrifice and Alvaro De Soto who was attanding the talks as observer would go to New York to give a report.

Several solution scenarios started to be published in newspapers, mostly in Greek Cypriot press, at the very beginning of the talks.

According to one of those scenarios, civil groups from the TRNC and Greek Cypriot side had agreed on foundation of a ''United States of Cyprus'' and Denktas and Clerides were talking on such a solution formula.

The Greek press reported that people who had come from Turkey to Cyprus after 1974 and settled on the island and were called ''settled'' by the Greek Cypriots would leave the island in return for 5,000 British pounds.

President Denktas harshly reacted to such news stories. Noting that news stories about ''United States of Cyprus'' were totally nonsense, President Denktas said, ''no one has the right to mislead public opinion with such news stories that do not reflect the realities.''

Meanwhile, Greek Cypriot radio said that the sides put forward their proposals during the meetings. It said that the Greek Cypriot side defended a bizonal and bicommunal federal solution based on the ''Republic of Cyprus'' while the Turkish Cypriot side supported a confederational solution based on two separate states.

Leaders attended the meetings with their delegations. Legal Adviser to Denktas Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Soysal, TRNC Presidential Undersecretary Ergun Olgun, TRNC Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministry Undersecretary Resat Caglar and secretary Seniha Birand accompanied President Denktas. Greek Cypriot Presidential Undersecretary Pandelis Kuros, Greek Cypriot Chief Prosecutor Alekos Markides, Greek Cypriot administration Spokesman Mihalis Papapetru and a secretary accompanied Clerides.

President Denktas launched an initiative, and sent a letter to Clerides on November 8, 2001 in which he invited Clerides to hold a face-to-face meeting to find a solution to the Cyprus question.

Denktas and Clerides came together for the first time in four years in the buffer zone on December 4, 2001.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Cyprus Alvaro De Soto was also in attendance at the meeting in which the two leaders decided to start direct talks.

President Denktas hosted a dinner in honor of Clerides on December 5. In return, Clerides hosted a dinner in honor of President Denktas on December 29. During these dinners, the issue of missing people was taken up. The two leaders decided to expend efforts to find a solution to the issue of missing people.

Denktas and Clerides came together twice on January 11, 2002 to discuss the issue of missing people.

During the meetings, the sides decided to submit written proposals to each other. The Greek Cypriot side proposed to transfer the issue to the Missing People Committee. The Turkish Cypriot side will assess the proposal, and explain its view in coming days.

The issue of missing people is kept separate from the face-to-face talks aming at finding a solution to the Cyprus question.

-PANAMANIAN-FLAGGED CARGO VESSEL RUNS AGROUND IN CANAKKALE STRAIT
CANAKKALE - Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel ''Teo'' ran aground in the Canakkale Strait on Saturday. The 12,869 gross tonne vessel which was going from Algeria to Constanta Port of Romania without any cargo had gone off its course due to an unknown cause and run aground in front of the State Water Works Canakkale Office Facilities, sources said.

Sources said that the captain had not requested help yet and crew were trying to rescue their ship.

-MUMCU COMMEMORATED IN BERLIN
BERLIN - Prominent journalist-writer Ugur Mumcu was commemorated in German capital Berlin on the ninth anniversary of his assassination with a ceremony organized on Saturday by the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD), Berlin People's Revolutionary Union (HDF) and Tiyatrom.

Osman Koruturk, the Turkish Ambassador to Germany; Aydin Durusoy, the Turkish Consul General in Berlin; Consul Iskender Okyay; ADD Chairman Kaplan Terzioglu; HDF Chairman Merih Gulen; and a number of Turkish citizens were in attendance at the ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, Terzioglu said, ''Ugur Mumcu explained problems of Turkish people in his articles, and put forward solutions to these problems. He had been a real laborer, Kemalist and democrat. Mumcu had always enlightened the public opinion. It is impossible to forget him.''

Meanwhile, Gulen said in his part that he had the opportunity of meeting Mumcu in Berlin, and added, ''many people like me have been impressed by his thoughts.''

[02] GAP REGION EXPORTS 171.1 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS OF THREAD

In 2000, the region exported 137 million 457 thousand U.S. dollars of thread.

Officials at Southeast Anatolian Exporters' Association told the A.A correspondent on Saturday that they exported 56 million 796 thousand U.S. dollars in cotton thread, 84 million 645 thousand U.S. dollars in acrylic thread, and 10 million 768 thousand U.S. dollars in synthetic thread.

Most of the products were exported to Syria, Saudi Arabia, France, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Bulgaria, Portugal, the United States and Greece.

[03] WORLD CUP TO BE IN TURKEY ON SUNDAY

Under an organization of Coca-Cola, the official sponsor of the World Cup, the cup will tour Istanbul on Monday.

The cup will start touring Istanbul on a specially designed long truck from Tunel district in the Istanbul Strait's part in Europe at 11:00 a.m. The World Cup tour will end at Bagdat Boulevard after crossing the Bogazici Bridge.

The World Cup was designed by Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzangia in 1974. The cup which was made of 18 karats of pure gold is 36 centimeters in height and weighs 4,970 grams.

[04] BOSTANCIOGLU SAYS HE DOES NOT ALLOW ANYBODY TO MAKE POLITICS OVER CHILDREN

Responding questions of reporters about ''demand for education in Kurdish'', Bostancioglu said that as the National Education Minister, his duty was to give the best education to children. ''And while doing this, I don't allow anybody to make use of children for political purposes. I don't allow anybody to make politics over children.''

[05] KECECILER SAYS IMPORTS MADE THROUGH CUSTOMS REACHED USD 39.2 BILLION

Speaking at the press conference, Kececiler said, ''imports made through customs in the January-December period of 2001 reached 39.2 billion U.S. dollars and exports rose to 31.2 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, foreign trade deficit became 7.9 billion U.S. dollars.''

''A total of 14.4 million people entered Turkey from the customs while number of departing people was 14.3 million. 26 thousand 469 vessels came to Turkey, and 25 thousand 518 vessels departed from Turkey. 563 thousand 178 lorries came to Turkey, 519 thousand 818 lorries departed from Turkey, '' he said.

-TURK SAYS TURKEY HAS GAINED A MODERN CIVIL CODE
ADANA - Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said on Saturday that civil codes had a broad content which covered lives of people before their birth to death, adding, ''if the new Turkish Civil Code is compared with those in the world, it can be seen that it is at the most advanced point.'' Speaking at the ''Seventh Introduction Seminar of the Turkish Civil Code'' held in southern province of Adana, Turk said that the need for a change had started to be felt 25 years after the code had entered into force.

Recalling that gaps and deficiencies which had occurred in the Civil Code had tried to be removed with amendments from time to time, Turk said, ''however, partial amendments to a law cannot sometimes completely meet the need for a change. In that case, the law should be changed completely.''

Turk said that works on the new code had been carried out by taking into consideration the realities in Turkey and opinions of scientists and jurisdiction.

''Turkey has gained a comtemporary civil code. If this code is compared with those in the world including also those in European countries, it can be seen that it is at the most advanced point. Because, this code reflects developments, new understandings and thoughts which appeared after the World War II,'' he said.

Noting that the world had experienced a rapid change and an understanding of order where liberalism and human rights were in the forefront, Turk said, ''these developments have spread to every field of law. This has been seen firstly in the family law. Gender equality in the family law became the most important matter of arrangement in European countries since 1950s and Turkey has seriously followed all of these developments.''

''The new civil code has been brought to the level of meeting requirements of the 21st century better. The code also reflects innovations in Turkish language and law terminology,'' he said.

Stressing that human rights and gender equality were among the most important values, Turk said, ''our constitution expresses equality between men and women. It mentions that family is the basis of the Turkish nation and based on equality between spouses. I hope that the next amendment to Article 10 of the Constitution will also include the principle that 'women and men have equal rights'. This is a principle which is much more important than family law.''

Turk said that for the successful implementation of the Turkish Civil Code, it should be implemented with a contemporary understanding first of all by all jurists, particularly judges and prosecutors.

Turk announced that Family Courts would be formed for successul implementation of the new code and that all disputes stemming from family law would be taken up by those courts.

''However, judges will not only implement rules of law but at the same time, they will help spouses by giving advices to them while solving those disputes. And assistance of experts like pyschologists, pedagogs and sociologists will be taken,'' Turk added.

-MHP DEPUTY LEADER UCAS SAYS EDUCATION IN KURDISH IS CONTRARY TO
CONSTITUTION
MERSIN - Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy leader Adnan Ucas said on Saturday, ''initiatives about education in Kurdish language are nothing but provocations of the terrorist organization PKK. Education in Kurdish is contrary to our constitution.'' Holding a press conference in southern province of Icel, Ucas said, ''as you know, the issue of education in Turkey has been brought onto agenda of Turkey recently. This is a provocation of the terrorist organization PKK. Education in Kurdish is contrary to the Constitution. Articles of our constitution do not allow it. It is an initiative aiming at cornering Turkey. Politicians who have been helping these people with the pretext of adjustment with the European Union (EU) should give up their attitudes as soon as possible.''

-OKUYAN SAYS A SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENT SHOULD BE SIGNED BETWEEN TURKEY
AND BULGARIA
ISTANBUL - Labour and Social Security Minister Yasar Okuyan said on Saturday, ''a social security agreement should be signed between Turkey and Bulgaria as soon as possible. I hope that this agreement would be signed by the end of the year.''

Speaking at a meeting organized by the Solidarity and Culture Association of Turks in Balkans on the issue of ''Social Security Rights of Turks Living in Bulgaria'', Okuyan said, ''an extremely negative process was experienced between Turkey and Bulgaria in the past. However, those who behaved unjustly towards Turks in those days, were erased one by one from the pages of the history. In international relations, individuals should be attributed importance. The Republic of Turkey wants to set up good relations with neighboring countries. Relations have begun to further improve between Turkey and today's Bulgarian administration.''

''Talks have been continuing between Turkish and Bulgarian officials to solve social security problems of our kinsmen. A total of 38,919 people applied to receive pension from Bulgaria. 34,206 of them have begun to receive their pensions. Proceedings have been continuing for 2,670 people.

Requests of 1,204 people for pension were rejected by Bulgaria,'' he said.

Recalling that State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz had paid a visit to Bulgaria a few days ago, Okuyan said, ''during Yilmaz's visit, the issue of social security agreement was brought onto agenda. Both sides are positive about signing this agreement.''

''Bureaucrats from Bulgarian Labour and Social Security Ministry will come to Ankara on January 28 to carry out a joint work with Turkish officials. A social security agreement should be signed between Turkey and Bulgaria as soon as possible. I hope that this agreement would be signed by the end of the year,'' he added.

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