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Turkish Press Review, 96-07-04Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs <http://www.mfa.gov.tr>CONTENTS
TURKISH PRESS REVIEWTHURSDAY JULY 4, 1996Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning[01] US EMBASSY RECEPTIONA big July 4 reception given by the US Embassy in the residence grounds included a large number of guests from the diplomatic world, the press, political circles and leading figures from the trade and commercial sectors.In a rather nice diplomatic gesture, a small group of musicians opened up the reception by playing both the Turkish and US national anthems, and continued with selections of Turkish music. Despite the wide diversity of guests, the main topic of conversation was the up-coming vote of confidence for the new RP-DYP coalition government. /All papers/ [02] US "HAPPY" ABOUT FIRST CONTACTSReports from Washington suggest that in general terms the US administration is "happy" about the new government coalition being put together by Welfare Party leader Necmettin Erbakan. Many US government officials appear to think that the RP-DYP coalition will get a vote of confidence this coming Monday.The call from Erbakan in his first message to the US for "dialogue and cooperation" has gone down well. The appearance of Prime Minister Erbakan at the US Embassy July 4 reception given by ambassador Marc Grossman has been taken as a "positive signal" that all is well between the US and Turkish sides. /All papers/ [03] CILLER TO MISS BALKAN CONFERENCEDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller will not attend the conference of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia this weekend because of the vote of confidence in the new government. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Onur Oymen will represent Turkey at the conference. The Balkan conference was originally scheduled to coincide with the Habitat II conference in Istanbul, but was postponed at Turkey's request until this weekend. /Cumhuriyet/[04] HAN SUNG-JOO IN ANKARAHan Sung-Joo, Cyprus special representative of the UN secretary general, in Ankara yesterday after his visit to Cyprus, received five messages from the Turkish Foreign Ministry. A senior diplomat from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Ankara's first message to Han Sung-Joo was to fulfill his mission. "The US and Britain also want to play a role in the Cyprus question. At the G7 meeting, President Clinton and British Prime Minister Major decided to coordinate their efforts on the Cyprus question. But for us, the UN goodwill mission has priority" he said. He pointed out that Ankara had also given a second message about Turkey's rights as guarantor on Cyprus. He said that Ankara would never bargain on these guarantor rights. The third message from Ankara to the Cyprus special representative concerned the arming of Greek Cypriots. "We said that we were uncomfortable with the arming of Greek Cypriots. We cannot tolerate that" the same senior diplomat said. The fourth message was: "Initiate negotiations between the sides in Cyprus without any preconditions". And the fifth was: "Do not let the process of Greek Cypriot EU membership replace the UN process".Han Sung-Joo met Deputy Undersecretary Inal Batu and Undersecretary Onur Oymen yesterday. Han, before starting his meetings, told reporters that he had not brought a package for the solution of the Cyprus problem. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel, in his weekly press briefing, said Turkey's aim was to find a comprehensive and permanent solution to the Cyprus problem. "The parameters of this solution are clear: bi-communal, bi-zonal, under the active guarantee of Turkey, a federal structure would be reached through free talks between the two societies. We would like to emphasize that the real discussion process aiming to find a solution to the Cyprus problem is the UN goodwill mission. We do not foresee opening any other discussion processes" Akbel said. /Milliyet-Cumhuriyet/ [05] KARADAYI VISITS BULGARIA AND ROMANIAChief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi said that Turkey has no intention of invading any other country's territoty but would defend its own borders. Yesterday, the Turkish military leader completed a three-day visit to Bulgaria where he met government and army officials to discuss military cooperation between the two countries. After visiting a military installation at Filibe, Karadayi travelled on to Romania for a two-day visit.[06] IRELAND TO SEND FM SPRING TO GREECEIrish Foreign Minister Dick Spring, whose country has taken over the EU term presidency from Italy, will pay a visit to Greece next week to ask Greek officials to lift the veto on EU aid to Turkey. Spring told a press conference he was hopeful that Turkey, a member of the customs union, would receive the $470 million aid in the near future. "We would like to strengthen relations between Turkey and the EU" said Spring, who pointed out the strategic importance of Turkey.Spring also expressed his content over the peaceful elections held in Mostar, adding that he would pay a visit to Bosnia to make a decision on ending the EU role in the region. However, he said that it was too early to comment on when Ricardo Perez Casado, the EU administrator in Bosnia, would depart from office. /All papers/ [07] BOSNIAN REFUGEES TO VOTE IN TURKEYBosnian refugees will vote in Turkey in the September 14 Bosnian elections. Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Omer Akbel said at a weekly press conference that it was very important to enable Bosnian refugees to vote. He said that the Anatolia Progress Foundation, an independent establishment, would take all the necessary measures to facilitate the voting in Turkey. "Turkey believes that permanent peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina depends on free elections as indicated in the peace agreements" Akbel said. /All papers/[08] TERRORIST ATTACK IN TUNCELIIn the Cicekli village of Tunceli yesterday, separatist terrorists killed four soldiers and wounded three in an ambush when the terrorists fired a rocket at a military vehicle on its way to an anti-terrorist operation. The three wounded soldiers were sent to the Tunceli state hospital. The Army has started a military operation in the area. Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan sent a condolence message to Chief of General Staff Ismail Hakki Karadayi in which he condemned the armed attack by the terrorists. Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Kalemli also sent a condolence message to Karadayi. /Sabah-Hurriyet/[09] ISTANBUL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DELEGATION VISITS BOSNIAA 98-person delegation from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has visited Bosnia-Herzegovina to check the appropriateness of the area for new investments. The chairman and the board of directors of the chamber visited the deputy chairman of the Bosnian Muslim-Croat Federation, Eyup Ganic. In the meeting Ganic said that there were still certain risks but that the Turkish side was expected to make investments in Bosnia. Ganic added: "There are numerous economic opportunities in Bosnia. Besides, Bosnia has strong relations with the US, Germany and Austria in terms of economic investments that will also help the restructuring of Bosnia". He said that the political problems could only be solved by concentrating on solving the economic problems.Chairman of ICC, Mehmet Yildirim, who met with Ganic yesterday, said that they were ready to help Bosnia. According to Yildirim, the ICC has begun to provide information to all its members in order to encourage them to invest in Bosnia. He also said that there were many Bosnians among the ICC members as well. /Sabah/ [10] JAPAN SIGNS $410 MILLION LOAN FOR TURKEYThe Export-Import Bank of Japan said it signed an agreement yesterday on a loan of $410 million to the Republic of Turkey to build what will be the country's largest thermal power plant. The bank said it would be providing 60 % of the total, or $246 million. It said the remainder would be co-financed by eight private Japanese banks, including the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. The equipment will be installed in a 1400 MW thermal power plant to be built in the suburb of Turkey's Bursa city. The power plant will enable the Turkish Electricity Generation Transmission Corporation to meet the growing power demand stimulated by Turkey's economic recovery. It will be fuelled by natural gas.Now a Mitsubishi-Enka deal can go through for the project which will be started off on July 9, when Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan attends a ground breaking ceremony at the Bursa site. /All papers/ [11] TURKEY -THE CHEAPEST COUNTRY IN EUROPEAccording to research undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Turkey turned out to be the cheapest country among the 20 countries included in the report. OECD representatives note that goods at a cost of DM 129 in Switzerland, could be purchased for DM 100 in Germany and DM 38 in Turkey. /Hurriyet/[12] TURCO-JAPANESE COOPERATION IMPROVINGJapanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Director for Economic Development and Planning, Nobuhirg Koyama, said that the agency was preparing a plan for development cooperation between Turkey and Japan, and added that the implementation of the plan would begin in 1997. JICA is an organization aiming to support the development of cultural and human resources in developing countries. The agency is also planning to undertake investments in eastern Anatolia. /Cumhuriyet/[13] JAPANESE EXCAVATIONS IN TURKEYThe archaeological excavations which were started in 1986 at Kalehoyuk, Kirsehir, by Japanese Prince Takahito Mikasa are being carried on by Japanese archaeologists, the Anatolia news agency reported. Seventeen archaeologists and around 100 workers are employed at the excavation led by Sachiro Omuram. The excavations are expected to continue for 10 more years.Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |