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Turkish Press Review, 98-09-30
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
30.09.98
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY AND MEXICO SIGN THREE AGREEMENTS
[02] DENIZOLGUN VISITING US
[03] PKK CAMPS IN IRAN
[04] ITALY REPLIES TO TURKEY'S WARNINGS
[05] HARSH MESSAGE FROM ECEVIT
[06] TURKEY IN THE MISSILE CIRCLE
[07] BAGHDAD AND DAMASCUS WANT WATER DIALOGUE
[08] TURKISH-INDIAN CASE
[09] FINANCIAL CLEARANCE DAY
[10] DEMIREL: "RUSSIAN CRISIS COULD HURT TURKISH TRADE"
[11] CEM COMPLETES VISIT TO CANADA
[12] GREECE, TURKEY TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO EXERCISES
[13] NSC CONVENES TODAY
[14] KYRGYZSTAN COMMITTEE VISITS EDUCATION MINISTRY
[15] US AIR FORCE, TURKISH UNION AGREE TO END WORK STOPPAGE
[16] DEMIREL TO VISIT MACEDONIA
[17] TURKEY DENOUNCES GREEK 'GENOCIDE' RESOLUTION
[18] KOSOVO ISSUE TO BE DISCUSSED IN ISTANBUL
[19] TURKISH BANK IN KAZAKHSTAN
[20] IRANIAN GENERALS TO VISIT ANKARA
[21] '18 MARCH' SUBMARINE IN PLYMOUTH
[01] TURKEY AND MEXICO SIGN THREE AGREEMENTS
Signaling Turkey's increasing interest in Latin America, Prime
Minister Mesut Yilmaz completed yesterday a two-day visit to
Mexico during which three agreements on bilateral cooperation
were signed. Yilmaz met with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo,
and delegations from the two countries had bilateral talks aimed
at outlining ways of improving economic relations, the Anatolia
news agency reported.
The two sides also agreed to accelerate their struggle against
drug-trafficking. During his stay in Mexico city, Yilmaz also met
with members of the Mexican Businessmen's Association and briefed
them on the state and pace of development in the Turkish economy.
Yilmaz invited Mexican entrepreneurs to invest in Turkey and to
establish a Turco-Mexican Business Council.
[02] DENIZOLGUN VISITING US
Minister of Transport Arif Ahmet Denizolgun noted yesterday that
their first target was to bring the Istanbul tunnel project into
being. Denizolgun went yesterday to the US to attend a Meeting of
Ministers for a Summit on Economic Developments in the World
about to be held in Washington. Denizolgun said in a statement
prior to his departure from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that
transport ministers from many countries would participate in the
meeting during which especially recent developments in
telecommunications would be taken up, the Anatolia news agency
reports.
[03] PKK CAMPS IN IRAN
It is reported that there are 16 camps belonging to the PKK
terrorist organization in the settlement areas near the Turkish
border of Iran, and there are PKK liaison bureaus in five big
cities of Iran. /Cumhuriyet/
[04] ITALY REPLIES TO TURKEY'S WARNINGS
The Italian government has replied to Turkey's warnings over a
meeting of the so-called Kurdish Parliament-in-exile in Rome
yesterday and said: "There is nothing in our power to prevent
it". Members of the so-called parliament held a press conference
together with a group of Italian parliamentarians yesterday. Two
Russian deputies, the Chairman of the Armenian Party from
Lebanon, the Deputy of the New Democratic Party from Greece, the
Deputy of the Social Democrat Party from Romania, a deputy of
Palestinian origin from Israel and a politician from southern
Cyprus also attended the meeting.
Turkish Ambassador to Rome Inal Batu sent a letter to
Undersecretary of the Italian Foreign Ministry Pierro Fascino and
denounced the meeting of a terrorist organization at the Italian
Assembly and added that the meeting could lead to an enormous
crisis between Turkey and Italy. Batu also had telephone
conversations with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi last
Saturday to prevent the meeting from being held at the Italian
Assembly. However these efforts did not yield any results and the
meeting of the so-called Kurdish Parliament was held at the
Italian Assembly yesterday. /Cumhuriyet/
[05] HARSH MESSAGE FROM ECEVIT
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit sent a harsh message to Italy
about the so-called Kurdish Parliament meeting yesterday.
Although Italy knew that Turkey was very sensitive about the
Kurdish issue, they let the Kurdish Parliament-in-exile gather in
Italy, said Ecevit adding, "Italy's attitude is indefensible
Italy has broken the agreement between Turkey and Italy on the
struggle against terrorism. The Turkish state and government have
shown the necessary reaction. However our relations will not be
as close as before."
Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), Hikmet
Cetin said for his part that he had talked to his Italian
counterpart on the phone pointing out that the recent event at
the Italian Parliament was "unsuitable" and would certainly
damage Turco-Italian relations. /Hurriyet/
[06] TURKEY IN THE MISSILE CIRCLE
The Middle East has become a region full of missiles. The range
of Scud-C missiles made in Northern Korea and purchased by Syria
covers the Central, Southeastern and Eastern Anatolian regions of
Turkey while the range of Iranian Sahab-3 missiles covers all
Central and Eastern Anatolia including the capital city of
Ankara. According to The Economist, an international economic
magazine, Iran will try out a new missile system at the beginning
of next year. /Cumhuriyet/
[07] BAGHDAD AND DAMASCUS WANT WATER DIALOGUE
It is reported that Iraq and Syria want to establish dialogue
with Turkey on sharing water resources. Iraqi newspapers note
that the call for dialogue was made because of the increasing dam
projects realized by Turkey on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Meanwhile, Turkish State Minister responsible for the
Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) Salih Yildirim said that
there was nothing about GAP developments to concern Iraq.
/Cumhuriyet/
[08] TURKISH-INDIAN CASE
An application for complaint against Turkey by India to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) will be discussed in Geneva on 5-6
October. During the hearing, Turkey will explain its reasons for
restricts against India stemming from the customs union agreement
signed between Turkey and the European Union (EU). /Cumhuriyet/
[09] FINANCIAL CLEARANCE DAY
One of the most important aspects of the new tax reform is the
September 30 "financial clearance day", which encourages people
who have unrecorded income in the form of cash, foreign exchange,
cheques, bonds and other movable assets to deposit their assets
in banks on September 30 for one day, in order to legalize them.
Finance Minister Zekeriya Temizel said yesterday that the
financial clearance day was meant to benefit the public, and
added that it was not an invention for taxing unrecorded income.
/All papers/
[10] DEMIREL: "RUSSIAN CRISIS COULD HURT TURKISH TRADE"
The financial turmoil in Russia could unfavourably affect
Turkey's foreign trade and hurt its economy, President Suleyman
Demirel declared in Istanbul yesterday. Turkey exports more than
$10 billion in goods a year to Russia. If there is a decline in
Turkish exports to Russia, it could worsen Turkey's
balance-in-payments deficit however, Demirel warned. Demirel was
speaking at the awards ceremony for the highest tax payers,
exporters and foreign currency earners of the Istanbul Chamber of
Commerce (ITO). /All papers/
[11] CEM COMPLETES VISIT TO CANADA
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem completed on Monday a one-day visit
to Canada, which was defined as 'fruitful and positive'. Cem had
talks with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Foreign
Minister Lloyd Axworthy on ways of boosting bilateral political
and economic ties, as well as on persisting international
problems such as the situations in northern Iraq, Kosovo,
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Russia. The talks were held in a very
friendly and sincere atmosphere, the Anatolia news agency
reported yesterday.
[12] GREECE, TURKEY TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO EXERCISES
For the first time in 13 years, Greece and Turkey will jointly
take part in a NATO exercise in the Aegean Sea. An announcement
issued by the Greek General Staff said Greece will take part in
the annual "Dynamic Mix" a large 21-day air, land and sea
exercise held in the region, the Associated Press reported
yesterday. /All papers/
[13] NSC CONVENES TODAY
The National Security Council (NSC) meets today under the
chairmanship of President Suleyman Demirel. At the meeting,
domestic and foreign-based problems as well as recent events
concerning the country will be discussed. /Cumhuriyet/
[14] KYRGYZSTAN COMMITTEE VISITS EDUCATION MINISTRY
Education Minister Hikmet Ulugbay met with Kyrgyz Deputy Prime
Minister Boris Silaev and Sovetbek Toktamusev, Minister of
Education, Science and Culture. The Kyrgyz representatives
congratulated Turkey on the 75th year of the Turkish Republic.
[15] US AIR FORCE, TURKISH UNION AGREE TO END WORK STOPPAGE
US Air Force officials struck a deal with the Military Workers'
Union (Harb-Is) yesterday, ending a 69-day strike at military
bases. "The workers will return to their posts on Wednesday" said
Tevfik Mustu as quoted by the Associated Press. /All papers/
[16] DEMIREL TO VISIT MACEDONIA
President Suleyman Demirel will pay a visit to Macedonia on
October 2-3 aiming to boost bilateral relations with the young
Balkan Republic. Agreements on agricultural, as well as technical
and scientific cooperation will be signed, a Foreign Ministry
statement said. /All papers/
[17] TURKEY DENOUNCES GREEK 'GENOCIDE' RESOLUTION
Ankara harshly condemned yesterday a recent resolution of the
Greek Parliament which has declared September 14 as a day of
remembrance for the 'genocide' of the Greek minority by the
Turkish state without having any historical basis. "We condemn
and protest this resolution" a Foreign Ministry statement said.
"With this resolution the Greek Parliament, which in fact has to
apologize to the Turkish people for the large-scale destruction
and massacres Greece perpetrated in Anatolia, not only sustains
the traditional Greek policy of distorting history, but it also
displays that the expansionist Greek mentality is still alive"
the statement added. /All papers/
[18] KOSOVO ISSUE TO BE DISCUSSED IN ISTANBUL
The Strategic and Social Research Foundation of the Marmara Group
is going to organize a meeting, a "Kosovo Conference", on 7
October in Istanbul. Former foreign minister Murat Karayalcin
will give the opening speech of the meeting during which the
deepening crisis in Kosovo will be discussed. Speakers
journalists and representatives from Kosovo and Turkey will
attend the meeting. /Sabah/
[19] TURKISH BANK IN KAZAKHSTAN
Demirbank will open an office in Almati as the second private
Turkish bank in Kazakhstan. Present capital of the
Demir-Kazakhstan Bank, which is based only on Turkish capital, is
$6 million which is planned to increase to $12.5 million by the
end of the year. /Sabah/
[20] IRANIAN GENERALS TO VISIT ANKARA
Iran will send a high-level military delegation within the next
few months to Ankara in order to restore relations with the
Turkish Chief of General Staff, damaged because Iran supports the
PKK terrorist organization and fundamentalist activities in
Turkey. According to diplomatic sources the meeting was organized
by the Turkish Foreign Ministry during Ismail Cem's visit to Iran
in mid-September. /Hurriyet/
[21] '18 MARCH' SUBMARINE IN PLYMOUTH
One of Turkey's most modern navy vessels, the TCG '18 March'
submarine, arrived in Plymouth, Britain, on September 29 where it
will be used in educational exercises to teach submarine defense
tactics to the British Navy. The '18 March' will remain in
Plymouth until November 2. /All papers/
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