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Turkish Press Review, 04-06-03Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr><LINK href="http://www.byegm.gov.tr_yayinlarimiz_chr_pics_css/tpr.css" rel=STYLESHEET type=text/css> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning03.06.2004FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS DIFFICULT TO NAME BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET) SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZE ENTERPRISES BY KORKMAZ ILKOKUR (RADIKAL)CONTENTS
[01] ANNAN URGES END TO TRNC EMBARGO, ISOLATIONUN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday presented a 25-page report on Cyprus prepared by former Cyprus Envoy Alvaro de Soto to the Security Council. The report stressed that the international isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) should be brought to an end, adding that this shouldn’t encourage the island’s continued division, but rather reunification. The report praised the efforts of both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat to find a solution for the island. By endorsing the UN plan for the island in an April referendum, the TRNC’s citizens have “undone any rationale for pressuring and isolating them," said Annan, adding: "I would hope the members of the council can give a strong lead to all states to cooperate both bilaterally and in international bodies to eliminate unnecessary restrictions and barriers that have the effect of isolating the Turkish Cypriots and impeding their development." In related news, TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat said that he welcomed the report. /Star/[02] GUL: “WE NEED AN ACTIVE FOREIGN POLICY IN THE PURSUIT OF REGIONAL AND GLOBAL PEACE”Speaking to the closing night of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) Congress in Istanbul, Abdullah Gul touted Turkey’s recent rise in democratic standards and positive economic developments, adding he didn’t think it would be long before it joins the European Union. Gul added that Ankara needed to pursue an active foreign policy aimed at regional and global peace. Also addressing the gathering, Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TOBB) head Rifat Hisarciklioglu said that members of the media had a key role to play in the globalization process. /Milliyet/[03] BUMIN REELECTED TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT HELMMustafa Bumin, the Constitutional Court chief justice whose last term in office ended last month, yesterday was reelected to the post. Bumin was the sole candidate and received the votes of all 11 members of the Higher Court of Delegation. He is set to serve for four more years. /Turkiye/[04] COMMISSION RECOMMENDS SENDING YILMAZ, TANER CORRUPTION CHARGES TO SUPREME COURTParliament’s Investigation Commission recommended yesterday sending the cases of former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and State Minister for the Economy Gunes Taner to the Supreme Court. After completing over three months of work on the corruption files on the two former politicians, the commission convened yesterday to make a ruling. Speaking to reporters, commission head Mustafa Demir said that its members had completed their investigation of the matter and unanimously agreed to forward charges of corruption against Yilmaz and Taner in Turkbank tenders to the Supreme Court. These files are expected to be taken up by the full Parliament soon. /Turkiye/[05] AL-QAEDA KIDNAPS TURKISH TRUCK DRIVERTerrorist group al-Qaeda yesterday kidnapped one Turkish and one Egyptian truck driver transporting food to southern Baghdad. The terrorists threatened to kill the hostages if Ankara and Cairo don’t condemn the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces. In related news, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has begun initiatives to free the hostages. Rejecting the terrorists’ demands, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that Turkey wanted a timely handover of power to Iraqis and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq without causing chaos in the region. /Turkiye/[06] OECD GROUP DISCUSSES WAYS TO BOOST GLOBAL ROLE OF SMESA working group on small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) formed under the Industry and Business World Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) convened in Istanbul yesterday to discuss ways to increase the global role of SMEs. Ahmet Ecmer Yorganci, representing the Directorate General of Small- and Medium-size Industry Development (KOSGEB) in Brussels, said that the SME Working Group was made up OECD member states and convened twice a year. The OECD ministerial-level meeting is due to take place tomorrow. /Anatolia News Agency/[07] IMF DELEGATION ARRIVES IN TURKEY FOR EIGHTH REVIEW OF ECONOMIC PROGRAMAn International Monetary Fund delegation headed by Turkey Desk Chief Riza Moghadam arrived yesterday in Turkey for the eighth review of the IMF- supported economic program. The delegation is to hold contacts today in Istanbul with business and finance leaders and later will proceed to Ankara to discuss the form of the new economic program after the current standby agreement ends next year. /Cumhuriyet/[08] CB HEAD WARNS OF THREAT TO ECONOMY FROM RISE IN OIL PRICESSpeaking at a meeting of the Edirne Chamber of Trade and Industry yesterday, Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti said that the negative effects of recent increases in exchange rates would be limited. He warned, however, that current soaring oil prices still constitute a threat to the economy. /Cumhuriyet/[09] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[10] DIFFICULT TO NAME[11] BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the US’ Greater Middle East Initiative (GME) and Turkey’s role in it. A summary of his column is as follows:“Up to now it’s been called the Greater Middle East Initiative (GME) but now some are calling it the Expanded Middle East and North Africa Project. I don’t know if this name will be changed again because the project hasn’t taken its final shape yet. It will present itself on international platforms firstly at the G-8 summit in the US and the NATO summit in Istanbul this month. Obviously when Washington was preparing this project to ‘help’ mostly Muslim countries from Marrakesh to Bangladesh, it considered its own interests as well. Yes, the aim is to promote free and democratic regimes for countries in the region and bring them up to modern levels through radical economic and social reform. However, when Washington undertook its leadership, it aimed at taking this broad region under its strategic and economic wing. When the US was talking about the GME, it thought it could reach its aim. However, their latest contacts have led them to take a more realistic stance. In this respect, Ankara recently gave certain important opinions and recommendations to Washington. Turkey made them accept that it’s not a ‘target’ country but a ‘partner’ one, i.e. not a country which needs advice. The issues on which Turkey is insistent are as follows: democracy cannot be made through imposition. Thus, during the implementation of this project, the impression that it’s being imposed should be avoided. Economic support to accelerate the development of these countries should be given priority, and NATO shouldn’t be involved in security cooperation. Turkey’s message to Washington is about its own role. Turkey neither wants to be a model to the countries in the region, nor to be held up as such. However, Ankara is also ready to help those who want to take Turkey’s experiences as an example. This will be Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s message at the G-8 summit.” [12] SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZE ENTERPRISES[13] BY KORKMAZ ILKOKUR (RADIKAL)Columnist Korkmaz Ilkokur comments on small- and medium-size enterprises and a conference about them in Istanbul. A summary of his column is as follows:“A ministerial-level conference on small enterprises and entrepreneurship organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will start today at Istanbul’s Lutfi Kirdar Congress and Exhibition Center. Government officials, bureaucrats, experts and entrepreneurs from 80 countries will participate in the three-day event, which will start with a symposium; ‘Small- and Medium-Size Enterprises’ [SMEs or KOBIs] Ability to Meet Competition in the Information-Based Economy.’ Methods of increasing SMEs’ access to information will be discussed at the symposium. During its sessions tomorrow and the next day, entrepreneurship education, encouraging women’s entrepreneurship, the international growth of SMEs, how to benefit from information technology and e-commerce, innovative solutions to KOBIs’ financing problems, developing links with large firms, establishing ‘clusters’ among SMEs and finally improving statistics on SMEs will be discussed. For details of the conference, please visit www.oecd.org/sti/smes or www.oecdistanbul.sme2004.org Turkey’s hosting this event on such an important issue should be congratulated. However, the important thing is to understand the large role played by SMEs in terms of our economic and social development and to determine a sustainable policy appropriate to this role. For this reason, we expect this conference to have results for the determination of this policy, because SMEs are considered a guarantee of economic and social development worldwide. All governments accept the SMEs’ importance and their contributions to economic development, forging social unity, creating jobs and regional improvement. Although there are differences among countries, SMEs constitute 95% of the enterprises within the OECD economies and 60-70% of total private sector employment. However, SMEs have common problems in all countries and this three-day conference will deal with these. We should also find solutions to the problems with our own SMEs as well. The best thing one could do for the SME sector would be to ensure economic stability. Secondly, SMEs’ problem tapping into financial resources should be solved. SME financing policy and related financing institutions should be rethought as well. Thirdly, the number of women entrepreneurs should be increased and finally, SMEs and their owners and representatives shouldn’t hope for help from politics or present themselves as sources for votes.” ARCHIVE <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http:/_www.byegm.gov.tr_statistic/countcode.js"> </script> Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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