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Turkish Press Review, 98-04-29Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>29.04.98Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES EXCEED $24 BILLIONCentral Bank foreign exchange reserves increased by $2 billion over the last 10 days, reaching $24.2 billion. Replying to questions from journalists following a meeting of the General Council yesterday, Head of the Central Bank Gazi Ercel said that $1 billion of this increase had come from the GSM licence transfers of Telsim and Turkcell, two mobile telephone companies, on April 27. /Sabah/[02] SEVEN TERRORISTS KILLEDDuring current operations being carried out in Mus, Bingol, Diyarbakir and Bitlis, seven members of the PKK terrorist organization have been killed, two terrorists have been wounded and one captured alive. The number of terrorists killed in this region during the last few days has reached 41. /Sabah/[03] CALL FOR DIALOGUE FROM EUROPEA report on Turkey taken up by the European Parliament yesterday calls for political dialogue. The report, prepared by British conservative parliamentarian Edward McMillan-Scott, said that Customs Union was a step towards Turkey's full EU membership, and called on Ankara to establish political dialogue which has been suspended for a while with the EU. The report also noted that current agreements between Turkey and the EU, including financial cooperation, should be fully implemented and that efforts should be exerted for the normalization of relations. /Sabah/[04] VISIT OF CONDOLENCE FROM PM YILMAZTurkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz went to the Greek Embassy in Ankara yesterday and signed the book of condolences opened for former Greek President Konstantin Karamanlis, who passed away on April 23. Later, Yilmaz met with Greek Ambassador Dimitris Nezeritis for 20 minutes. Following the meeting, Yilmaz noted that he had extended his condolences to Nezeritis over the death of Karamanlis. /Sabah/[05] 21 PEOPLE TAKEN INTO CUSTODYDuring operations against organizations preparing for illegal May 1 activities, 21 members of the illegal DHKP-C organization have been taken into custody. /Hurriyet/[06] FUEL HIKES POSTPONED FOR TWO MONTHSThe High Planning Council headed by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz convened yesterday and decided that automatic fuel price implementations envisaged to be applied on May 1 would be postponed for two months. Following the meeting, Finance Minister Zekeriya Temizel made a statement and said that this decision had been taken because of certain conditions creating unfair competition in the market. /Hurriyet/[07] GREAT INTEREST IN IS BANK SHARESForeign investors in New York are showing great interest in Is Bank shares. Within the framework of privatization, 12.3 % of Is Bank's shares have been put on sale. Head of the Prime Ministry Privatization Administration Ugur Bayar, who went to New York to promote the shares, said that they were very pleased with the interest they were receiving in New York. /Hurriyet/[08] IMF: TURKEY'S CREDIBILITY IS IMPROVINGMartin Hardy, Head of the Turkish Desk in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and his accompanying delegation visited the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) yesterday. Martin Hardy noted that there was development in the private sector and in the Turkish economy and that Turkey's credibility was improving. Pointing out that they believed that the present Turkish government would continue with its economic reforms, Hardy said that he would meet later with officials from the government in Ankara. /Hurriyet/[09] ECEVIT CRITICIZES THE WESTDeputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said in a conference on "Recent developments in the Cyprus issue and Turkish-Greek relations" in Ankara yesterday that those who particularly helped to erode relations between Turkey and Greece were their Western allies. Ecevit noted that Turkish-Greek relations were going through a period of chronic tension. /Hurriyet/[10] ASSOCIATION COUNCIL MEETING WITH EU COULD BE POSTPONEDIt is reported that because Greece refused to lift its veto on financial aid to Turkey during a meeting of the European Council held in Luxembourg two days ago, a Turkish-EU Association Council meeting planned to be held on 25 May could be postponed. On the other hand, while there are no negotiations being held at the political level between Turkey and the EU, meetings at the technical level are continuing. Head of the Turkish Desk of the EU Commission, Eric Van Den Linden, came to Ankara last week and discussed technical details of the Association Council meeting with Turkish diplomats. /Hurriyet/[11] ITALIAN JOURNALIST RELEASEDItalian journalist Damiano Giovanni Frisullo, who was taken into custody because of sharing in demonstrations during recent Nevruz celebrations in Diyarbakir, was released yesterday. Frisullo, who displayed a photograph of a female terrorist and shouted slogans, noted in his defense that he had had no intention of interfering in Turkey's domestic affairs and added that all he wanted was peace. /Hurriyet/[12] PALESTINIANS CRITICIZE TURKEYPalestinian Minister Faysal Huseyni yesterday criticized relations between Turkey and Israel. Noting that Turkey and Palestine shared a number of things in common, Huseyni said that developing countries like Turkey should think more about what the results of stronger ties with Israel could lead to. "While other countries develop their ties with Israel, we get pushed more into the background" complained Huseyin.It is anticipated that in the near future Faysal Huseyni will visit Ankara to talk about developments in the region. /Cumhuriyet/ [13] CYPRUS CONFERENCE ON THE HORIZONReports from Cyprus have taken on a more positive note as plans for a more "comprehensive" approach to problems there are taken up by US special representative Richard Holbrooke. Starting from May 2, new initiatives between the two communities on the island will get started, leading up to a four-party conference to bring leaders together- especially Northern Cyprus President Rauf Denktas and Leader of the Greek Cypriot side Glafkos Klerides. /Cumhuriyet/[14] US FILM ABOUT ATATURKIn a move to introduce founder of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk, to the American public, the US Public TV services channel is preparing to make a film about developments in Turkey at the turn of the century. The film will be ready to be shown by the end of October this year to mark Turkey's Republican Day. It is planned that the film will be shown in a number of countries and throughout the US through at at least 360 TV channels.Turkey's Net Holding Group and other organizations have a share in production costs which have been budgeted at 550 thousand dollars. /Cumhuriyet/ [15] "NEW ATLANTIC INITIATIVE CONGRESS" IN ISTANBULThe annual meeting of the "New Atlantic Initiative Congress" will be opened by President Suleyman Demirel in Istanbul on Monday, May 3. State leaders, academicians and diplomats are going to discuss international and strategic issues closely related with Turkey such as "Democracy and Islam", "Turkey's Role in Regional Stability and Security", "Protection of Peace: Bosnia, Kosovo and Other Places".US Acting Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, Israel Trade Minister Nathan Sharanski, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailov, former US congress member Steven Solarz, US former Ambassador to Ankara Morton Abramowitz and present Ambassador Mark Paris, and President Head of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmet Celebi are expected to attend the three-day meeting in Ciragan Palace, Istanbul. /Cumhuriyet/Milliyet_ [16] HAKKARI SUMMITPresident Suleyman Demirel, Deputy Prime Minister Ismet Sezgin, Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi and force commanders went to Hakkari yesterday. Demirel spoke to the public at the 3rd Gendarmerie Border Brigade in Yesilova. Later he went to Hakkari and visit the Mountain Commando Brigade and was briefed by the Commander of the 2nd Army Corps, Rasim Betir. /Milliyet/[17] TURKEY URGES CONTACT GROUP TO ACT ON KOSOVOTurkey has urged the Contact Group to act to a well increasing turbulence in Kosovo, the Foreign Ministry announced, yesterday. The written statement emphasized "Turkey is monitoring the situation in Kosovo with concern and is making efforts towards ending the crisis." Foreign Minister Ismail Cem also urged the members of the group to take action in a letter addressed to them. Talking to reporters at an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting in Paris, Cem said his letter said that he feared that a tragedy similar to the one in Bosnia could happen again in Kosovo. /Milliyet/[18] YILMAZ-VERGAU MEETINGPrime Minister Mesut Yilmaz received German Ambassador to Ankara Hans Joachim Vergau yesterday. After the meeting Prime Minister Yilmaz said that they had discussed bilateral relations which have cool for sometime, and the membership process of Turkey into the European Union (EU).Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz also met with the US Ambassador to Ankara, Marc Parris yesterday. Yilmaz said after the meeting that they had exchanged views on the Cyprus issue. /Milliyet/ [19] ITALY CALLS ON GREEK CYPRUS TO RECOGNIZE DENKTAS AS HEAD OF STATEFollowing the United States, Italy has now demanded that Greek Cyprus recognize Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas as "head of state of the Turkish Cypriot federation." Greek Cypriot government spokesman Christos Stilianides confirmed that the Italian demand had been conveyed to Greek Cypriot leader Glafkos Clerides through the Italian Embassy in Nicosia. /Milliyet/[20] TURKISH BUSINESSMEN'S COUNCIL MEETING IN IZMIRThe Second World Turkish Businessmen's Congress will be held between 30 April and 1 May in Izmir with the participation of 1350 Turkish businessmen from 42 countries. The congress is organized by the Aegean Economy Development Foundation (EGEV) and the Turkish Foreign Trade Foundation (TDV). General Secretary of EGEV, Sahire Erturan said that it was expected that together with foreign mission representatives 1,600 businessmen will attend the meeting. /Milliyet/[21] GREECE SAYS IT WILL CONTINUE TO VETO EU AID TO TURKEYGreek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos said that Greece would continue to veto the release of European Union (EU) financial aid to Turkey but would "conditionally" accept the conventions of the Turkey-EU Association Council. EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on 27 April agreed to release 375 million ECU ($ 140 million). Only the Greek delegation refused to give consent. Speaking at a press conference later in the day, Pangalos said that Turco-Greek dispute over the Aegean islet of Kardak should be brought before the International Court of Justice at the Hague. During Monday's meeting, Greece agreed that Turkey should be invited to join a Turkey-EU Association Council meeting in late May, but refused to bend on any move that would persuade the Turks to take part.In a related development on Tuesday, Greek government spokesman Dimitri Reppas said that Greece and Turkey have exchanged protests over Athen's plans to use EU money to fund sustainable tourist development on some Aegean islands, the ownership of which, Ankara claims, is undetermined. /Cumhuriyet/ [22] TRIAL WATER BALOON ON WAY TO TRNCA giant water-filled baloon left on Tuesday from Antalya to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on a trial journey as part of Turkey's project to supply the drought-stricken TRNC with drinking water. The balloon, which holds 10,000 cubic metres of water, will travel to TRNC shores and then come back without unloading the water. The balloons carrying the water are supplied by a Norwegian firm. Speaking at the inauguration of the trial journey, Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer said that the project was the first of its kind in the world. /Sabah/[23] OLAF PALME MURDER CLAIMS UNDER INVESTIGATIONDeputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that authorities were investigating details in PKK terrorist leader Semdin Sakik's confession which states that the PKK was responsible for the 1985 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme. State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel told reporters yesterday that authorities had briefed Swedish officials on the latest claims in the murder case. /Hurriyet/[24] TURKISH-GREEK WOMEN WORK ON TRUST-BUILDINGThirty women from Turkey and Greece are expected to meet in Bodrum and on Cos Island following initiatives by various women's organizations. A conference will take place on Cos April 30 and May 1 and the Greek and Turkish women, especially academicians, housewives and journalists, will arrive in Bodrum on May 2 to continue their discussions. The four-day meeting will end in a press conference on May 3. /Cumhuriyet/Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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