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Turkish Press Review, 00-08-07
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
07.08.00
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] KHK TENSION CONTINUES
[02] MHP CONGRESS IN MOUNT ERCIYES
[03] DENKTAS LEAVES TURKEY
[04] GREEK CYPRIOTS NOT HAPPY FOR PROXIMITY TALKS
[05] ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WANTS TO MEET TURKISH GOVERNMENT
[06] GOKALP'S STATEMENT
[07] PREPARATIONS FOR THE EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
[08] CRITICISM CONCERNING THE PETROLEUM DRAFT LAW
[09] ACTIVITIES CONCERNING THE EARTHQUAKE
[10] MUMCU ON TOURISM INCOMES IN THE YEAR 2000
[11] CONSTANT PRICE FOR ELECTRICITY
[12] NEW INVESTMENTS FROM PETKIM
[13] ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGE'S SUCCESS
[14] IMKB COMPANIES ANNOUNCES HIGH PROFITS FOR THE FIRST HALF
[15] TURKEY RANKS 52 ON WORLD FOREIGN INVESTMENT LIST
[16] ECONOMISTS HOPEFULL FOR THE YEAR-END INFLATION TARGETS
[17] TURCO-JAPANESE STATUE SYMPOSIUM IN MILAS
[01] KHK TENSION CONTINUES
The tension between Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and President
Ahmet Necdet Sezer on the decree in the force of law (KHK) which
concerns dismissing the civil servants who are involved in
reactionary and separatist actions continues. The tension had
begun at the meeting between Prime Minister Ecevit and President
Sezer on August 1. President Sezer had conveyed his uneasiness
with the decree in the force of law to the Prime Minister.
Although Sezer approved the content of the decree of law, it was
reported that he was in favour of a new law on the issue instead
of enacting a decree in the force of law. Prime Minister Ecevit
said that as the government they do not have any intentions to
withdraw the decree in the force of law. /Turkiye/
[02] MHP CONGRESS IN MOUNT ERCIYES
Hundred thousands people gathered at the Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) 'Victory Congress' in Tekir Valley at Mount Erciyes,
Kayseri. During the Congress, musical groups took stage and
various games were organized. Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman
of MHP Devlet Bahceli delivering a speech at the congress, said
that people who are willing to sacrifice their life for the sake
of their country do not need to take lessons from the people
whose love for their country is open to questioning. Bahceli
said, "We have to be careful and work hard to upgrade our country
to the leader status." /Milliyet-Aksam/
[03] DENKTAS LEAVES TURKEY
President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf
Denktas who arrived in Turkey after the proximity talks in
Geneva, said that he had gone to Geneva to help to reach a
peaceful and permanent solution for the Cyprus problem and that
Turkish-Cypriots had discussed the suggestions for a solution in
a comprehensive way. Denktas said, "The one, who wants to reach a
consensus, should remove the embargo. Our approach is for the
establishment of good neighbourly relations and the cooperation
bridges and to make an agreement that will prove only one Cyprus
State, which is a big example of reconciliation. Turkish Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit was also worried about the internal
problems of Cyprus but he believed that those problems would be
solved because he trusted the Turkish-Cypriots". President
Denktas left for TRNC yesterday. /Aksam/
[04] GREEK CYPRIOTS NOT HAPPY FOR PROXIMITY TALKS
Stating that they could not meet Turkish side in Geneva meetings,
the leader of Greek Cypriots Glafkos Klerides said that they were
not happy with this process. Klerides said that confederation
issue was not brought to the agenda of the proximity talks.
Meanwhile Greek Cypriot politicians who went to Geneva stated
that they were uneasy with the results of the proximity talks.
Greek Cypriot Parliament Speaker Spiros Kipriyanu stated that
they needed to discuss the latest developments in Athens again.
/Turkiye/
[05] ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WANTS TO MEET TURKISH GOVERNMENT
After the Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat visited Ankara, the
Israeli government took an initiative for a similar visit. The
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sent a letter to his Turkish
counterpart Bulent Ecevit and wanted to hold a meeting concerning
the problems in the Middle East. Israel's one of the leading
newspapers, 'Jerusalem Post', said that during Arafat's meetings
with the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister
Bulent Ecevit and the former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel,
Israel played dangerous games over Jerusalem. The newspaper also
wanted Turkey to use its influence on the issue and stated that
Turkey was trying to follow an impartial and natural policy
concerning the issue. /Turkiye/
[06] GOKALP'S STATEMENT
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Husnu Yusuf Gokalp said
that the "Chairmanship of the Department of Marketing and Foreign
Trade" was established within the Ministry in order to find
solutions for problems of the marketing of the agricultural
productions in Turkey, which has a big agricultural potential. In
his written statement, Gokalp said that there were many problems
concerning the marketing of many important agricultural
productions. /Cumhuriyet/
[07] PREPARATIONS FOR THE EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
Preparations for the Junior Chamber International's (JCI) 40th
European Conference, which will be held in Istanbul in 2002, were
started. More than 3,000 officials are expected to come to Turkey
to attend the conference, which is an international organization
and which aims at contributing to the improvement of the
socio-economic level of the society. /Turkiye/
[08] CRITICISM CONCERNING THE PETROLEUM DRAFT LAW
State Miniter Suayip Usenmez prepared a report entitled
"Reconstruction Works, Opinions, Criticisms and Suggestions on
Petroleum and Natural Gas in the 21st Century" that criticizes
the petroleum draft law that is on the agenda of the Council of
Ministers. Usenmez pointed out that if this draft law is enacted,
then the production and the search activities will stop and that
Turkey will depend on the other countries in terms of petroleum.
Usenmez presented his report to a commission including the State
Ministers Recep Onal and Mehmet Kececiler and Minister of Energy
and Natural Resources Cumhur Ersumer. /Cumhuriyet/
[09] ACTIVITIES CONCERNING THE EARTHQUAKE
The first anniversary of the earthquake that occurred on 17
August 1999 will be commemorated in Sultanahmet by the
non-governmental organizations. These activities, which will be
organized under the name of "17 August: Sleep and Awakening"
between 9 and 20 August, will include some exhibitions and forums
and panels during which the experiences and the problems of the
non-governmental organizations and the suggestions for the
solutions of these problems will be discussed. /Cumhuriyet/
[10] MUMCU ON TOURISM INCOMES IN THE YEAR 2000
Minister of Tourism Erkan Mumcu said that the results of the
first seven months of 2000 in tourism sector were very lucrative.
Mumcu said that the number of tourists visiting Turkey reached
1.5 million which showed 60 % increase in tourist figures
comparing the same period of last year. Stating the figures
revealed the real potential and dynamism of the Turkish tourism,
Mumcu said that the advertisement campaign of the Tourism
Ministry was very successful. Mumcu added the figures to date
showed that the target of 10 million tourists could be exceeded.
Mumcu said that they would reach a record number next year by a
well-organized flight schedule and added that real target for
next year is $ 20 billion income from tourism. /Cumhuriyet/
[11] CONSTANT PRICE FOR ELECTRICITY
Turkish Electricity Distribution Corporation (TEDAS) is searching
for new income sources to fill its economic gap. At the last
meeting of State Economic Enterprises Coordination Council, it
was decided to apply a constant price for the electricity
consumption. The tariff for the new implementaiton will be TL
500.000 for the households, TL 5 million for the industrial
facilities and TL 2 million for the commercial places. TEDAS's
annual deficit is around TL 600 trillion. Meanwhile a protocol
has been signed between state-owned pipeline company BOTAS,
Turkish Electrical Generation and Transmission Corporation (TEAS)
and the Treasury Undersecretariat on TEAS's international
obligations and its debts to BOTAS. According to the protocol,
the Treasury Undersecretariat assumed responsibility for TEAS's
foreign debts. /Turkiye/
[12] NEW INVESTMENTS FROM PETKIM
Petkim, which was put on the privatization calendar for the last
quarter of this year, plans $ 400 million investments in its
Aliaga complex until 2003. Petkim has also complexes in Izmit
Yarimca and Canakkale. General manager of Petkim Turgut Bozkurt
said that they did not have any plans for renovation of Yarimca
and Canakkale complexes, since Canakkale complex is very small
and Yarimca complex will be privatized by way of selling as an
asset. Bozkurt said that nine factories out of 18 in Yarimca has
already been closed due to economic reasons and added that they
want to increase the volume of exports in Petkim. /Milliyet/
[13] ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGE'S SUCCESS
Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) took the fourth place in the
developing markets in terms of the transactions volume of the
stocks. Federation of International Stock Exchange Markets
announced that, with the $606.2 billion transactions volume of
stocks Taiwan Stock Exchange took the first place followed by
South Korea with $281.2 billion, Hong Kong Stock Exchange with
$198.5 billion and IMKB with $ 98.9 billion. /Milliyet/
[14] IMKB COMPANIES ANNOUNCES HIGH PROFITS FOR THE FIRST HALF
Companies whose shares are traded at the Istanbul Stock Exchanges
(IMKB) have started to announce their profit performances for the
first half of the year last Friday. It is reported that this year
companies' performances were higher than the corresponding period
of the last year when taking into account at the figures of the
23 companies' net profits.
[15] TURKEY RANKS 52 ON WORLD FOREIGN INVESTMENT LIST
A new report prepared by State Planning Organisation (DPT) shows
Turkey placed as one of the leading countries among developing
nations in terms of per capita foreign capital investment in the
early 1990's. But,the report says this share fell drastically at
the end of the decade. According to the report total foreign
direct investments rose from $359 billion in 1996 to $464 billion
in 1997 and $644 billion in 1998. In addition direct foreign
investments increased by 24.3 percent from 1986 to 1990. The rate
of increase was 19.6 percent in 1991-95, 9.1 percent in 1996,
29.4 percent in 1997 and 38.7 percent in 1998./Turkish Daily
News/
[16] ECONOMISTS HOPEFULL FOR THE YEAR-END INFLATION TARGETS
Professor Refik Erzan from Bosphorus University and Professor
Targan Unal from Istanbul University are hopeful for the year-end
inflation targets. The results of the government's
anti-inflationary stabilisation programme have created divergent
opinions but most of the academics assess the program positively.
Professor Refik Erzan said that the economy was stimulated
production grew 8 percent in the first five months of this year.
Erzan said that the rise in July inflation stemmed from the fact
that the economy is recovering quickly. "I still see 25 percent
consumer inflation as a realistic target for the year's end" he
said.
Professor Targan Unal said that targets of the programme for the
first seven months of the year had been achieved succesfully. He
said that if expectations of a higher inflation are broken then
the year end program target will be achieved.
Other economists usually consider the dropping of inflation
target from 65-70 percent to 30-35 percent would be a great
achievement. /Turkish Daily News/
[17] TURCO-JAPANESE STATUE SYMPOSIUM IN MILAS
Turkish and Japanese sculptors will meet at a symposium,
organized by Mimar Sinan University and the Municipality of Milas
on 10 August in Milas. The symposium will be attended by four
Turkish and three Japanese artists, who will make a statue of
Milas in marble. Within the framework of the symposium, lecturers
of Mimar Sinan University will give ceramics courses for the
amateurs and the students. /Hurriyet/
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