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Turkish Press Review, 00-09-19Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>19.09.00Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morningCONTENTS
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS AS ARMENIAN LOBBYING INCREASES BY MUSTAFA BALBAY[02] (CUMHURIYET)[03] AKBULUT IN BULGARIADuring his visit to Sofia, Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) Yildirim Akbulut said: "Like Germany and France, Bulgaria should also proclaim the PKK as a terrorist organization and should end its activities in this country." Mr. Akbulut and the accompanying Turkish delegation met Bulgarian National Parliament's Speaker Yordan Sokolov. At the meeting, the TGNA Speaker conveyed Turkey's concern over the terrorist organization PKK's activities in Bulgaria and rumours on an international Armenian meeting which is planned to be held in Bulgaria in 2002. /Turkiye/[04] TANTAN IN UZBEKISTANInterior Minister Sadettin Tantan and a delegation left for Tashkent, Uzbekistan yesterday on the invitation of the Uzbek Interior Minister Major General Zakir Almatov. During the meetings, the Turkish delegation is discussing the struggle against terrorism, organized crimes and drug trafficking issues with Uzbek authorities. It is stated that Uzbek security teams, fighting against terrorism, would be trained in Turkey who has been struggling against terrorism for years. /Turkiye/[05] LOGOGLU MEETS HENNEKINNEUndersecretary of Foreign Ministry Faruk Logoglu met the Secretary-General of French Foreign Ministry, Loic Hennekinne, in Ankara yesterday. Discussing the political, economic and cultural relations between Turkey and France, Mr. Logoglu and Mr. Hennekinne held consultations on France's experiences concerning the European Union (EU), which is currently EU's term president, and the accession partnership document which will be completed by the European Commission in October. Turkey requested support from France for not including the Cyprus and Aegean issues in the accession partnership document. Mr. Hennekine, who replied to the questions of the reporters after the meeting, stated that they understood Turkey's concern over the so-called Armenian genocide bill and added that they were trying to do their utmost to prevent these kinds of attempts against Turkey. Stating that France supported Turkey's full EU membership, Mr. Hennekine explained France's cooperation proposals which are: to explain the French model, which is regarded as the most convenient model for Turkey's administrative and juristic reforms, to the Turkish bureaucrats, to convey France's EU experience to Turkey via the mechanisms that will be established, to improve the cooperation between the two countries' state planning and statistics institutions. In addition, France desires to contribute to the Justice Academy that will be established in Turkey. /Cumhuriyet/[06] GREECE REJECTS THE KURDISH ASYLUM SEEKERGreece has rejected granting the right of asylum to a member of the separatist terrorist organization PKK. Turkey and Greece signed an agreement for cooperation against terrorism in January. The Greek Public Order Ministry has ordered the responsible editor of a pro-PKK journal to leave the country within three months. Minister Mihalis Hrisohoidis pointed out the reasons for the rejection. He said that they would not grant political immigrant status to any person escaping from Turkey and there were no clear evidence that this person's individual rights were violated in his country. /Milliyet/[07] CEM PRESENTS PAPANDREOU A COMFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES PACKAGEForeign Minister Ismail Cem and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou are discussing the relations between two countries at the 55th term meetings of the United Nations. The ministers do not include the Cyprus issue, since it is not a Turkish-Greek problem, into their discussion agenda for the sake of preserving the permanent friendship. They agreed yesterday on a package of confidence-building measures in the Aegean Sea. The measures that were agreed on are as follows: 1. The number, range and scope of the joint military exercises carried out in the Aegean Sea by both Turkish and Greek armed forces will be decreased. 2. Turkish and Greek attack aircraft flying over the Aegean should bear IFOF electronic eqipment enabling their identification. 3. Unarmed Turkish and Greek aircraft should fly over the Aegean 4. The military airbases in Eskisehir and Larissa should jointly supervise the military flights in the international aviation zone over the Aegean. 5. Turkish and Greek armed forces should carry out joint military exercises in the Aegean and the Mediterranean within the framework of Partnership for Peace (PFP). 6. Turkish and Greek war ships should visit each other's ports. 7. Observers should be mutually invited to the national military exercises carried out by each state. 8. Within the framework of 'Open Sky' Agreements, the training flights by Turkish and Greek aircraft should be mutually controlled. 9. Turkish and Greek maritime companies should establish direct relations. The delegations of the two countries will meet in Ankara on 29 September to review the principles of "Good Neighbourliness". Mr. Cem and Mr. Papandreou have also agreed on issues such as searching for possible oil reserves in the Aegean, the prevention of environmental pollution around the Meric (Evros) river, the organization of 2008 Football Championship in Turkey and Greece and the organization of mutual visits by each country' youth. /Sabah/[08] DE SOTO'S SOLUTION TO THE CYPRUS PROBLEMIt was claimed that the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General's Special Representative to Cyprus, Alvaro De Soto, presented a map concerning the territorial issue to the parties during the fourth round of Cyprus proximity talks in New York. According to the news in the Greek-Cypriot press, the map, envisages that 28% of the territory should be given to the Turkish-Cypriot Administration. According to the map prepared by De Soto, a canton region will be formed between the Karpaz region and Akincilar village in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the Turkish-Cypriot Administration will control 55% of the shores. The map also foresees that 50% of the Greek-Cypriot immigrants should return to their previous places. /Aksam/[09] CZECH PRESIDENT TO VISIT TURKEYCzech President Vaclav Havel will visit Turkey on the invitation of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on Oct. 10-12. During his visit, the Czech President will be presented the title of "honorary doctorate" by Bilkent University. After completing the meetings in Ankara, the Czech President and his accompanying delegation will also visit Izmir and Istanbul. /Star/[10] TURKISH BUSINESSMEN IN AFRICAA delegation of Turkish businessmen headed by State Minister Hasan Gemici is travelling to Africa on a fact finding tour of the Congo, the Congo Democratic Republic and Gambia. The tour started yesterday and will last until the end of the month. During this time the delegation is expected to sign many agreements on commercial, economic and technical cooperation. /Turkish Daily News/[11] BLACK SEA PARTNERSHIP MANOEUVRE STARTSThe 'Black Sea Partnership-2000', one of the planned manoeuvres of the Naval Forces Command for the year 2000, started with the arrival of the ships in Istanbul Harbour. This manoeuvre, which will be carried out in the Western Black Sea, will be controlled by the Northern Group Commander, Rear Admiral Murat Bilgel. This manoeuvre aims at increasing training and cooperation between the countries bordering the Black Sea and supporting the activities of the Partnership for Peace. The manoeuvre will end on 23 September. /Aksam/[12] AIR FORCES COMMANDER GOES TO HOLLANDAir Forces Commander Gen. Ergin Celasin has gone to Holland as the official guest of the commander of the Royal Dutch Air Force, Lt Gen. Dick 1. Berlijn. Gen. Celasin will return to Turkey on Sept. 21. /Turkish Daily News/[13] OTELLINI'S STATEMENTThe world's biggest micro-chip producer, Intel's Deputy Chairman, Paul Otellini, said that Turkey was the country which will mostly benefit from internet banking due to its young population and dynamic economy. Mr. Otellini, who paid an official visit to Turkey as the highest-level Intel representative, attended a press conference in Istanbul and stated that the telecommunication infrastructure should be improved and rational policies should be carried out in order to ensure this economic success. /Hurriyet/[14] FOCUS: "TURKEY GAINED THE MOST FROM TOURISM"In the weekly German magazine, Focus, it was stated that Turkey gained the most from the tourism sector this year. In the news entitled "Tourism Balance-Sheet for Bodrum and Majorca", it was said that the hotels in the touristic regions of Turkey were booked-up during the 2000 season. It was added that this boom originated from the low prices in Turkey. /Hurriyet/[15] DECREE ON DIVISION OF TEAS INTO THREE BRANCHESA draft of the Decree with the power of law on the division of Turkish Electricity Production and Distribution Joint Stock Company (TEAS) into three different companies was sent to the Prime Ministry. According to the draft the production of electricity will be carried out by the Electricity Production Company. The transmission, distribution and management planning will be organized by the Electricity Transmission Company. The third company, Electricity Trade and Undertaking Company will deal with the agreements on the sale and purchase of electricity with other countries. /Milliyet/[16] THE INTEREST RATE ESTIMATES FOR THE YEAR 2001The Treasury revising its estimates for the years 2001 and 2002, stated that the average interest rate of bonds will be 22 percent in 2001 and it will decrease to 20 percent in 2002. The decrease in interest rates faster than expected for this year made the Treasury revise some of its estimations. In the seminar about "Capital Markets and Investment Opportunities in Turkey" held in London last week, the Undersecratary of Treasury Selcuk Demiralp pointed out that, the rapid decrease in interest rates led to certain changes in some projections. /Sabah/[17] BOEING OPENS SCHOOL IN QUAKE REGIONA school which was built by Boeing company in Bolu was opened yesterday. The representative of Boeing Philip Nuber said that as a global firm, they feel responsible tehmselves to support the social activities. The school cost $150,000. /Sabah/[18] MARTYRS AND VETERANS' DAYTurkish martyrs and veterans, who enabled the Republic of Turkey to reach these days, are going to be officially commemorated today for the first time. Chief of the General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu issued a message to mark the "Martyrs and Veterans' Day." In his message Gen. Kivrikoglu said: "Turkish Armed Forces is determined to defend this country forever, which was entrusted to us by our martyrs and war veterans." /Turkiye/[19] BACH DAYS COMMENCEWithin the framework of the 250th anniversary of his death, the prominent composer Bach is being commemorated with a series of concerts and conferences, organized in Istanbul. The activities will end on Friday, Sep. 29. /Turkiye/[20] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS[21] AS ARMENIAN LOBBYING INCREASES BY MUSTAFA BALBAY (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Mustafa Balbay comments on the recent Armenian lobbying activities. A summary of his column is as follows:"One can find both friendship and hostility when searching the archives or taking a look at history. The important thing is what you are looking for. If your country is established on a vast area and has a great historical heritage, you inevitably face many contradictions in interpreting it. It should be noted that when the PKK terrorist organization lost its importance, there has been an increase in the news concerning Armenia. News as if they are blueprints are coming from different parts of the world. The developments taking place only in September are the warnings of others to come. Some of these are: 1)The Armenian lobby groups in the US came together last week and decided to present a 'freedom award' to Murad Topalian who was tried with the exploding of a bomb in front of the Turkish House in New York and resulted in the wounding of three. Topalian was arrested following an investigation after a raid on a depot in the State of Ohio when large amount of arms and explosives were seized. 2) The Armenian lobby groups in Russia met and decided to use the map accepted at the Sevres Treaty on postcards on special days and celebrations. 3)The so-called Armenian Genocide claims were presented to the US House of Representatives . If they are accepted there, they will go to the Congress. 4)France accepted the Armenian Bill in 1998 in Parliament. It is waiting for a final decision at the Senate on Turkey's reaction. Armenians have started to work to bring the issue to the Senate floor. 4)It was permitted to construct an Armenian Genocide monument in Assen, Holland in a cemetery. When the Turks reacted to it a commission was established which will listen to the Turkish side in late September. 5)In Switzerland an interesting court case is taking place concerning the Armenian claims. A group of Turks collected signatures to state that the so-called genocide as claimed by the Armenians was not true,and that the Swiss officials approached the case in a biased stance and many historians penned the incidents which took place in 1910s in a different way. The statement was conveyed to Swiss officials. While the Turks were waiting to see how their reaction was met, they learned that court cases were opened against them. The reasoning was that 'To claim that no proven genocide has taken place is racism'. After presenting such a spectrum of events, the essence of the issue should be mentioned. The Armenian lobbies have a three-staged plan. The first stage is to make Turkey accept that there has been a Genocide of Armenians at the beginning of the century and to use all means for this purpose. Secondly, after having it accepted they want to ask for a heavy compensation from the Republic of Turkey. The third stage concerns demands for territory. This three-staged plan is going on despite the intervals during the PKK terrorism. The recent news are different in one aspect than the previous ones. Armenia which was established after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, did not support the efforts against Turkey for a long time. However, a change of policy has been observed in Armenia last year. The State is also supporting the efforts against Turkey. In fact, Kocharian voiced the issue during the UN Millennium Summit. Can Armenia with an area of 29,800 square kilometers, and a population of four million with no outlet to sea, and which has the most convenient access to the world through Turkey take this decision alone? Definitely not... At this point we have to see the new process clearly and get into action before any decision is taken on the issue instead of reacting against decisions. The events of 1915 should be evaluated within the circumstances of the day. Furthermore, the Republic of Turkey which has been founded in 1923 did not experience any problems with the Armenians. There are 40,000 Armenian citizens living in Turkey now. Armenia which could not get on its feet from the day it was founded should evaluate the 2000s very well... Those who take the support of far-away countries may believe that they have won the case. But they will be disappointed to see that their support has gone and they are left all alone! 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