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Turkish Press Review, 00-11-20
From: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>
20.11.00
Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning
CONTENTS
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[02] PARLIAMENT BUSY WITH BUDGET DEBATES
[03] CEM MEETS WITH SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER FAISAL
[04] DEMIREL TO VISIT THE USA
[05] MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION GETTING PREPARED FOR THE EU
[06] COURT OF APPEALS DECISION ON THE SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
[07] FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING IN BRUSSELS
[08] PANGALOS DISMISSED FROM OFFICE
[09] CAKMAKOGLU TO ATTEND ESDI MEETING
[10] AWARD TO ENVER OREN
[11] NEW NATURAL GAS RESERVES IN TRACE
[12] WORLD BANK LOANS TO UNION OF CO-OPERATIVES
[13] TURKEY TO ATTEND 89 FAIRS IN 2001
[14] TUGIAD ATTENDS YES FOR EUROPE FORUM 2000 MEETING IN BRUSSELS
[15] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[16] REJECTING THE EU'S OFFER BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (MILLIYET)
[01] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[02] PARLIAMENT BUSY WITH BUDGET DEBATES
Parliament is going to debate a bill envisioning that some of the
temporarily imposed taxes be extended for some time. The taxes
were imposed to contribute to the financing of the eight-year
compulsory education project launched by the government and to
help restore the sites damaged by last year's earthquakes. They
were originally supposed to apply until the middle of this year.
The taxes will be imposed for two more years, if the bill is
passed in parliament. Parliament will also debate the issue of
the recent prison unrest. Another topic on Parliament's agenda is
legislative immunities. Parliament is set to debate some 10 files
which foresees the lifting of certain deputies' immunities. Some
37 other immunity files are still waiting to be put on the
parliament's agenda. As for the onging budget debates,
Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission is expected to debate
the budgets of the Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the
Constitutional Court, the Council of State and the Court of
Appeal today. Reports say Parliament might also debate the issue
of amnesty, which has been on the public agenda for some time. A
bill, drawn up as a result of discussions among the coalition
parties, is expected to be submitted to the Parliamentary
Speaker's Office. The Justice Commission will immediately debate
the bill, in the event the government submits it to the
Parliamentary Speaker's Office, say the reports. The draft may
even be brought to Parliament before the end of the week.
/Turkish Daily News/
[03] CEM MEETS WITH SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER FAISAL
Foreign Minister Ismail Cem met with his Saudia Arabian
counterpart Prince Saud-el Faisal in Riyadh. The two ministers
discussed bilateral economic and political relations as well as
developments in the Middle East peace process. Mr. Cem was also
received by Crown Prince Abdullah and King Fahd. /Turkiye/
[04] DEMIREL TO VISIT THE USA
Former President Suleyman Demirel will leave for New York Nov. 25
to participate in the international commission, headed by former
US Senator George Mitchell, which was formed to examine the
outbreak of violence in the Middle East. In addition to Mr.
Demirel, EU Higher Representative Javier Solana, Norweigan
Foreign Minister Thorbjoem Jagland and another former US Senator,
Warren Rudman, are also members of the commission. The formation
of the commission is reported to be approved both by Israelis and
Palestinians. Meanwhile, in the coming days, the UN Security
Council is expected to discuss a draft resolution proposed by
Palestinians to send a UN force to Jerusalem, West Sheria and
Gaza to protect civilian Palestinians. /Aksam/
[05] MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION GETTING PREPARED FOR THE EU
The Ministry of National Education conducts research on all EU
member countries' education systems. The aim of the research is
to explore the basic characteristics of the educational systems
and then enable Turkish education sysytem to adjust to these
characteristics and catch up with the standards of the EU
countries. The domain of the research covers every level and type
of schools and includes certain features such as compulsory
education years, education programs and the preparation of
lecture books. /Hurriyet/
[06] COURT OF APPEALS DECISION ON THE SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Court of Appeals sent its four year old decision on the
so-called Armenian genocide, stating that no genocide occurred
only losses due to migration, to the Office of the Prime
Minister. The Court of Appeals decided that Armenian writer Vhakn
N. Dadrian's book, titled "Genocide as a Problem related to
National and International Law" distorted historical facts. The
decision states that it was the Armenians who carried out
genocide and terror in the Ottoman Empire. The decision stated:
"Because of the violent attitudes of the Armenians towards both
the public and the soldiers, the Ottoman state made the decision
to exile them to the southern parts of the Empire. During the
migration there were certain losses of Armenian people for
various reasons. It is not fair to judge the Turkish nation for
incidents which took place during the migration and to call these
incidents a genocide." /Hurriyet/
[07] FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING IN BRUSSELS
The EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs will meet today in Brussels.
The meeting is expected to focus on two basic issues. First, the
Cyprus issue and second, Turco-Greek relations. At the Nov 8 EU
Commission meeting, the paragraph on Cyprus was excluded from the
`principles' chapter of the accession partnership document and
included in the `short term priorities' chapter. The paragraph
was changed as follows: "Turkey should give its full support to
the UN Secretary General's attempts to find a stable and
realistic solution to the problem." Since Ankara was concerned
over the inclusion of the Turco-Greek relations into the
accession partnership document, the Foreign Ministers in Brussels
are expected to make a decision which would not annoy Turkey and
would satisfy Greek demands. /Hurriyet/
[08] PANGALOS DISMISSED FROM OFFICE
Greek Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos was dismissed from
office for critisizing the Turkey policies of the ruling PASOK
party and Foreign Minister George Papandreu. Previously, in 1999,
Pangalos was removed from the Foreign Ministry for giving shelter
to terrorist Abdullah Ocalan in the Greek Embassy in Kenya. Greek
Prime Minister Kostas Simitis announced that he replaced Pangalos
with Evangelos Venizelos as Culture Minister. /Aksam/
[09] CAKMAKOGLU TO ATTEND ESDI MEETING
Turkey's Permanent Representative in the Western European Union,
Ambassador Temel Iskit, said some progress has been achieved on
the issue of establishing a European Army. Mr. Iskit said in
order for Turkey to take part in the European Security and
Defense Identity (ESDI), the EU should state beforehand its will
to live with Turkey under the same umbrella. The defense
ministers of EU and non-EU, NATO member countries will convene
this week in Brussels. National Defense Minister Sabahattin
Cakmakoglu will represent Turkey at the meeting. The ministers
will discuss the establishment of a European Army. The positions
and status of the NATO member countries, such as Turkey, Norway,
Iceland, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic will be discussed in
the meeting. /Turkiye/
PRODI: "GREEK-CYPRIOTS WIll NOT BE A EU MEMBER BEFORE A SOLUTION"
The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, said,
prior to the settlement of the Cyprus problem, the admittance of
Greek-Cypriots into the EU will cause great problems. Mr. Prodi,
in the Greek newspaper "Ethnos", said the EU cannot bear the
tensions of the Cyprus problem if the Greek-Cypriots are admitted
into the EU before a viable solution for the island is found. Mr.
Prodi said the enlargement process will be used as an instrument
to solve the Cyprus problem. /Milliyet/
[10] AWARD TO ENVER OREN
The president of the Executive Board of the Ihlas Holding
received "The Most Respectable Person" award given by the
American Biographical Research Institute. /Turkiye/
[11] NEW NATURAL GAS RESERVES IN TRACE
New natural gas reserves were discovered around the province of
Tekirdag in Thrace. The reserves are predicted to be were around
2-3 billion quadrat meters. /Turkiye/
[12] WORLD BANK LOANS TO UNION OF CO-OPERATIVES
The Union of Co-operatives are going to be rehabilitated. The
restructuring program will be implemented with the help of the
$166 million loans received from the World Bank. The
restructuring will be completed in four years. /Star/
[13] TURKEY TO ATTEND 89 FAIRS IN 2001
Turkey will attend 89 international fairs in 2001. At the fairs,
products ranging from furniture to food will be exhibited.
/Sabah/
[14] TUGIAD ATTENDS YES FOR EUROPE FORUM 2000 MEETING IN BRUSSELS
Turkey attended the "Yes for Europe Forum 2000 meeting" in
Brussels. During the meeting, members of the Turkish Young
Businessmen Association (TUGIAD) gave a conference on "the new
economy" to their collegues from the EU member countries.
Replying to the questions of Turkish reporters after his 3-day
contacts in Brussels, Chairman of TUGIAD Muharrem Yilmaz said,
"Turkish businessmen showed their European collegues that they
were ready to enter the EU. We're improving our relations with
the young European businessmen." /Sabah/
[15] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[16] REJECTING THE EU'S OFFER BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (MILLIYET)
Former Ambassador Sukru Elekdag comments on the contents of the
EU Accession Partnership Document. A summary of his column is as
follows:
"In case the statements concerning Cyprus question remain as is
in the EU Accession Partnership Document, the issue will come
before us in the future no matter what we say. Therefore, due to
the importance of the issue, we had suggested Prime Minister
Ecevit launch initiatives by visiting the capitals of the EU
states. We believed that in face-to-face meetings with his
counterparts, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit could express, with
determination, his Government's refusal to accept any deviation
from the Helsinki Declaration without causing a breakdown in the
dialogue. This proposal was not taken into consideration and only
messages were sent to the leaders of the EU states.
Ankara grasped the severity of the matter when it learned that an
attempt was made to include the Aegean problems into the APD (in
addition to the Cyprus issue) as a political criterion. This led
to a warning by Ecevit stating that, unless the statements were
removed from the text, Turkey's relations with the EU would be
reviewed. This means that Turkey may withdraw its candidacy from
the European Union. Ecevit has staked all in his reply to the EU.
Therefore, the following question should be answered: 'Have the
results of such a great gamble been assessed clearly?' We believ
this is not an action taken after fastidious calculation. In
fact, Turkey's interests are best served through hardwork done in
a calm and collected manner, without giving way to fury.
Otherwise, Turkey will fall into the trap set by those wanting to
keep the country out of the EU.
As a result of our obligations stemming from the APD, the
accordance of Kurdish broadcasting and of cultural rights reveal
the difference of opinion among the Coalition partners on the
issue. In fact, the fourth and fifth pharagraphs of the Lausanne
Treaty sheds light on the situation. The Lausanne Treaty did not
granted Kurds a minority status, but given the Kurds and other
Turkish citizens the right to broadcast in their mother tongue
within the framework of common legal and individiual rights and
to preserve their own identity."
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