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Turkish Press Review 96-06-11Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWTUESDAY JUNE 11, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] DEMIREL WARNS AGAINST 'POLITICS IN THE MOSQUE OR BARRACKS'President Suleyman Demirel warned yesterday that politics and religion were different things, and that politics should not be permitted to "enter the mosque or the barracks". "If you spill politics into the mosques you would be dividing the Muslims. You would be dividing the people of this country. No one should come between God and believers" Demirel said. But he underlined the importance of "fredom of belief and conscience, the most valuable of all the freedoms in Turkey. If Turkey managed to ensure that differentation it would be able protect its secular republic and its "indivisible unity" he stressed.Speaking at the general assembly of the Journalists' Association yesterday, at a meeting held to mark the 50th anniversary of the association, Demirel summed up the history of the Turkish Republic. /Sabah/ [02] TURKEY SAYS ACCORD WITH ISRAEL THREATENS NO ONETurkey has repeated that the accord it concluded with Israel last February for cooperation between the two countries in the area of military training is not directed against any other country. Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel said yesterday that the accord, which has caused so much controversy in the Arab world as well as Turkey's Islamist circles, was merely a "routine agreement". Akbel was responding to questions during a regular press briefing on the call by the leaders of Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to review the accord.Akbel said during his briefing for foreign media that the accord with Israel was similar to accords Turkey had concluded with Arab countries such as Egypt. He also confirmed Israeli reports that Turkish air force pilots had been receiving training in Israel under the framework of this agreement. He said 12 Turkish planes had flown in Israel and had since returned. Israeli President Ezer Weizman might meet his Turkish counterpart, Suleyman Demirel, during a visit to Turkey on Tuesday, Akbel added. Weizman will be in Istanbul today to attend a UN conference on human settlements. He is also expected to meet Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz. Akbel noted that nearly 30 heads of state and government, including Palestinian Head of State Yasser Arafat, would attend the Habitat Leaders Summit. /Cumhuriyet-Hurriyet/ [03] TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN SIGN MILITARY AGREEMENTAzerbaijani Defence Minister Major General Sefer Abiyev and Turkish Chief of General Staff General Ismail Hakki Karadayi yesterday signed a military agreement in Ankara. The agreement calls for technical, scientific and educational cooperation between the military establishments of the two countries. Under the agreement, the two countries will also cooperate with each other with respect to the social, medical and cultural aspects of the military.Abiyev said that the agreement marked a historic event for his country and that he believed the agreement would create a strong foundation for the further development of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Karadayi, in return, stressed that Turkey wanted Azerbaijan, which speaks the same language as Turkey and shares a similar culture, to be successful in every field. "Azerbaijan, with its strategic location, oil reserves and pipelines, has emerged as a very important country in recent years" Karadayi emphasized. Sungurlu, who received his Azerbaijani counterpart earlier in the day, noted that Turkey wanted to see peace and stability in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan. /Cumhuriyet/ [04] TURKEY ELECTED TO ILO BOARDElections to the board of the International Labour Organization (ILO) were held yesterday as part of the 83rd ILO International Labour Conference in Geneva. The Turkish government has been elected a titular member of the ILO Board for the first time since 1957. Bayram Meral, chairman of the Confederation of Turkish Labour Unions (Turk-Is), has been elected a reserve member while Kubilay Atasayar, general-secretary of the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Unions (TISK), has also been elected to the board.Minister of Labour and Social Security Emin Kul said that the elections to the board of such a significant organization showed the importance attached to Turkey on the international level. Meral and Atasayar said that it was an important development that Turkey would now be represented at the ILO both as government and as organizations of employees and employers. Turkey will serve on the board until 1999. /Hurriyet/ [05] TURKISH TREASURY SIGNS $500 MILLION BOND ISSUEThe Turkish Treasury signed an agreement in London on June 7 with the US finance house J.P.Morgan and the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) whereby its bonds can be sold to European and Far Eastern investors. Speaking at the signing ceremony the general director of the foreign trade department of the Turkish Treasury, Aydin Karaoz, said that due to the sound borrowing policies followed by the Turkish Treasury, foreign entrepreneurs were confident about Turkey, and that the June agreement on bond sales was an indication of this confidence."With this sale of bonds, Turkey will have a financial capability worth $500 million in the Far East and in Europe. What is more important is that we have three years to pay it back, and the interest we got is the lowest ever, at 6.25 %" he added. Karaoz, speaking later at a luncheon, said that the structure of the Turkish economy had unique features and potentials which were hardly shared by any other country. Anthony Best from J.P.Morgan said that they had chosen Turkey this year beacuse of the developments it had achieved in the region, which he described as increasing the trustworthiness of Turkey from the financial institutions' point of view. /All papers/ [06] TURKEY SUBMITS NATIONAL REPORT TO HABITAT IIYesterday, Turkey's National Committee presented its national report and plan of action to the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements Habitat II, the head of Turkey's Mass Housing Administration (TOKI) declared at a press conference in Istanbul. Flanked by conference secretary general Wally N'Dow and National Advisory Board president Ilhan Tekeli, TOKI president Yigit Guloksuz declared that the 155-page report aimed at "finding good solutions" to Turkey's settlements issues. N'Dow described the report as "one of the most thorough" submitted to the conference. Each of the nearly 140 countries participating in the conference will present a national report to Habitat II that will serve as raw material for a global plan of action.The recommendations of the National report reflected the expertise of nearly 300 organizations, three-quarters of which were non-governmental bodies or civic societies. Top officials of national and local governments, senior members of the academic and scientific world, representatives of trade unions, public institutions and professional associations and NGOs comprise the Turkish National Committee. /Sabah-Cumhuriyet/ [07] ILO: UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBER ONE PROBLEM FOR WORLD'S CITIESIn its new report for Habitat II, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has claimed that urban unemployment will be the number one problem facing the world's cities next century. The ILO estimates that 1.2 billion job seekers will come on the world labour market by the year 2025, and most of these jobs will have to be created in cities, as the share of nonagricultural employment has grown by 93 % in the last four decades and now accounts for 40 % of all employment in developing countries - a trend that means that by the year 2000, "one-half of humanity will be living and working in cities, with developing countries accounting for the major share of the world's new urban population" according to ILO Deputy Director general, Katherine Hagen.To formalize the ILO's thoughts on the unemployment crisis, the organization is presenting to Habitat II an "Urban Employment Charter", which has been prepared by worker, employer and government organizations from 20 different countries. The Charter calls for the mobilization of additional financial resources at local, national and international levels, and for municipal authorities to evaluate policies with a view to maximizing their impact on employment, while responding to social needs and improving the urban environment, for, as Katherine Hagen states, "only the generation of productive employment can break the vicious circle of urban poverty that is taking root in cities worldwide". /Cumhuriyet/ [08] HERITAGE FOUNDATION WARNS TURKEY ABOUT RUSSIAThe American Heritage Foundation has reported that Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Jirinovsky, hard-line Russian leaders, see Turkey as the enemy of Russia. In a report by the Foundation, details of a report prepared for the Nationalist-Communist alliance which supports communist leader Gennady Zyuganov in the Russian presidential election to be held on June 16 are given.The foundation says that the report was prepared by prominent defence and security experts including Boris Yeltsin's advisers. The foundation has stated that the report, noting that the Turkish naval fleet is stronger than the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, says that Turkey threatens Russian interests by unilaterally changing the status of the Bosphorus straits. The report claims that Turkey tries to influence Central Asian countries by using various threats against Armenia. The report also claims that Turkey supports Chechnya, Azerbaijan and military-nationalist organizations in other countries, the foundation claims. The Heritage Foundation has stated that the report calls on Russia to increase nuclear deterrent power and to give priority to developing strategic nuclear power. /Hurriyet/ [09] TURKEY LIKELY TO ATTEND EU SUMMITReports say that Turkey is planning to attend an upcoming EU Summit on June 22 in Florance, Italy. Turkey will meet with fourteen other EU member countries, except Greece, during the summit. Reports also say that Turkey will hold a meeting with the "Troika" that includes rotating president member countries - Spain (formerly), Italy (now heading the EU) and Ireland (the next). It is also reported that other member states will participate in the meeting. /Milliyet/[10] TURKEY SHOWING STRONG FREE SHOP COMPETITIONTurkey's free shop market compares favourably with the rest of the world. Compared with Dubai for example, free shops in Turkey are somewhat cheaper. London is one of the best tax-free places for shopping, but Istanbul is coming up fast.Free shops are sprinkled fairly liberally throughout Turkey. Tax free shoppers can take advantage of Turkey's system at road border facilities, ports and airports and in-flight sales. According to research by the Turkish Union of Tourism Agencies (TURSAB), the whole free market sector is fiercely competitive not only on the international front, but also on the home front. The increasing popularity of the free market system, however, has ensured that it has become one of the domestic market's biggest money-spinners. /Sabah/ [11] ALL SERVICES MILITARY EXERCISESThe Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) are joining in combined exercises from tomorrow on under the "EFES-96" programme which will continue until June 14. Almost 13 thousand military personel will share in the exercises, along with over 100 naval vessels, tanks and helicopters. During the programme, fighter planes will make over 117 practice sorties. Officials note that live ammunition will be used.In the meantime, parliament will be taking up debate on the advisability or not of inviting foreign troops to join in similar exercises. /Hurriyet/ [12] ISRAELI FIGHTER SYSTEMS WILL BEEF UP STRIKE POWERThe high-tech Israeli systems that are being installed in Turkish F-4 fighter planes will add an extra 90 kms to the range of missiles fired from the planes. This means for example, that Turkey will be able to deal with Syria's SAM ground missile sites without having to put planes at risk by entering Syrian defended air space.The whole of Turkey's air force is being built up with new technology, new equipment and new training. Tanker planes are also being used. /Cumhuriyet/ [13] BIG NEW TRANSPORT PROPOSALS FOR BLACK SEA REGIONExtensive new land and sea transport measures for the Black Sea region within the framework of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation are being proposed. "Intermodal" projects for new roads, railways and even river transport are nearing concrete conclusions, and a "Black Sea Ring Corridor" system is starting to look as though it could work.The system will take in large areas of what is sometimes called Euro-Asia, tying in the Balkans, Caucasia, Central Asia and parts of western and Eastern Europe. Turkish railways will have a large part to play in the regional development. /Cumhuriyet/ [14] EXEMPLARY BROTHERHOODThe municipality chairmen of Eregli, Zonguldak, and of the Greek Hydra island, Halil Posbiyik and Kostas Anastopulos, have come together for the 3rd International Ottoman Strawberry Culture Festival held in Eregli. Both chairmen noted that the brotherhood of the two towns should be an example for those trying to create crises. Eregli Municipality Chairman Posbiyik presented the golden key of the city to his guest, and Anastopulos gave Posbiyik a honorary citizenship certificate. /Milliyet/[15] CHINESE WILL CHEW TURKISH CHEWING GUMTurkish chewing gum producer Baycan is putting up a new factory in Beijing. Factory investments so far amount to $14 million. The factory will have the capacity to produce one million pieces, or 5,000 tons of chewing gum yearly. Talat Sinnar, General Manger of Baycan China facilities, says that with its cheap prices and high quality, Baycan will be able to compete with the famous chewing gum producers already established at the Chinese market. Baycan is also planning to export to neighbouring countries. /Milliyet/Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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