ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on May 7, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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PRESIDENT SEZER VISITS QUAKE ZONE
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer came to quake-hit region Bingol. Sezer is accompanied by Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, Land Forces Commander Gen. Aytac Yalman and Third Army Corps General Tamer Akbas during his visit to eastern Bingol province. Sezer examined the Natural Disaster Assistance Coordination Centre set up in 49th Brigade Command in eastern Bingol province and got briefing from them. After briefing, President Sezer who offered his condolences to relatives of people who died in the strong quake said, ''I feel sad due to the quake. I share grief of people in Bingol. What is important is to put into practice experiences which we gained from quake.''
TREASURY AUCTIONS 287-DAY DISCOUNTED BONDS
Treasury Undersecretariat sold 1.47 quadrillion liras in 287-day discounted bond auction on Tuesday. The total bid in the auction had been 2 quadrillion 564 trillion Turkish liras (TL) while Treasury sold 2 quadrillion 70.8 trillion TL on nominal basis. The net sale in the auction was 1 quadrillion 47 trillion TL. The simple interest rate became 54.40 percent and the composite interest rate became 51.80 percent. The value date of 287-day discounted bonds is May 7, 2003 and maturity is February 18, 2004. The total bid in the 385-day discounted debenture bond was 5 quadrillion 68.8 trillion liras and the net sale in the auction was 2 quadrillion 433 trillion liras. The composite interest rate in the auction was 53.59 percent. The value date of 385-day discounted debenture bonds is May 7, 2003 and maturity is May 26, 2004.
MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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THREAT FROM PENTAGON
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz sharply criticized Turkey for not backing the United States in its war against Iraq and urged the country to now follow Washington's line in its relations with Iran and Syria. He told private television CNN-Turk that he was particularly disappointed with the Turkish military, saying that it could not show a good leadership and that the Turkish government and Turkish people could not understand the realities of Iraq. I think for whatever reason, they did not play the strong leadership role and attitude that we would have expected, he said in the interview. Criticizing Turkey for taking initiatives that encouraged Syria and Iran against the U.S., Wolfowitz said that Turkey would do a mistake if it decides to make further cooperation with Syria and Iran. Turkey must say now 'we made a mistake, let's figure out how we can be as helpful as possible to the Americans,'' Wolfowitz said.
DERVIS: CITIZENS REGARD CHP AS PROHIBITORY PARTY
Kemal Dervis, the former minister in charge of economy who is currently a deputy from the Republican People's Party (CHP) said that there were persons within his party who still defended the views remaining from 1930s. ''We must overcome our fears and be advocates of freedom,'' said Dervis. ''There should be no other party than CHP in Turkey which is more liberal... Some people in Turkey still regard CHP as a prohibitory party.'' Speaking in the panel discussion on modern social democracy and Turkey, Dervis said that social democrats had to attribute importance to the structure that reflected the characteristics of Turkey. ''Yet if CHP can't unite nationalist Kemalism with modern social democracy, we can't achieve many things as a leftist party,'' he said.
SABAH (LIBERAL)
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TURKEY'S TEXTILE EXPORT TO REACH USD 30 BILLION
House Textile Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (EVSIAD) chairman Ahmet Nazif Zorlu said that Turkey could increase its textile export to 30 billion U.S. dollars with some changes. Stating that only house textile export became annually 3 billion U.S. dollars, Zorlu said that when 2 billion U.S. dollars of shuttle trade was added to those figure, power of this sector could be understood better. Zorlu said that this sector grew about 20 percent each year and noted that they were moving toward creating world trademarks.
CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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CICEK ASKS BAYKAL TO SUPPORT EU PACKAGE
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek visited Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal and asked for CHP's support to the legal regulations to be made regarding EU membership process of Turkey and fight with corruption. Cicek said after the meeting that they made a general assessment with CHP leader Baykal.
BAYKAL TO GO TO EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
CHP leader Deniz Baykal will go to France and Germany to attend some meetings. Baykal will be in Dijon city of France between 17-18 May and in Berlin city of Germany between 22-23 May. Baykal will attend the great congress of the French Socialist Party (PS) in Dijon.
RADIKAL (LEFT)
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GREEK CYPRIOTS SEARCHING FOR WAY-OUT
Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos is distressed due to Greek Cypriots' great interest in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Papadopoulos, who was distressed since international society gave positive points to TRNC which allowed free passages between the two sides and Greek Cypriot people showed great interest in TRNC, started to search for a way-out. Papadopoulos who talked to U.N. Secretary General's Deputy Special Representative Zbigniew Wlosowicz said that they were ready for negotiations on the basis of Annan plan.
GUL: ''STATEMENTS OF WOLFOWITZ ARE SINCERE''
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that statements of U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were sincere and noted that his statements put forth perspectives toward the future. When asked how he evaluated statements of Wolfowitz, Gul said media focused only on one side of the speech. Gul said, ''I read the whole speech. They are sincere statements putting forth perspectives toward the future.'' Gul said Wolfowitz gave positive messages regarding improvement of Turkish-U.S. relations, stating that he stressed Turkey's importance. Wolfowitz, who spoke to private television CNN-Turk, said that Turkey covered a wrong attitude in Iraq policy and stated that he was disappointed with the Turkish army and the government in Iraq.
TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS IT HAS NO INFORMATION
Foreign Ministry said that it didn't have information confirming that terrorist organization PKK/KADEK opened an office in Mosul in north of Iraq, adding that the Ministry noted down such news. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said that ''we don't want to think of such a possibility because there is full cooperation between Turkey and the U.S. in fight with terrorism.''
GUL FINDS WOLFOWITZ REALIST
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that the statements of U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were sincere, and pragmatic. Gul stressed that the press focused only on one part of the speech, but one had to read the whole text to make an assessment. ''I read the whole of the speech. These are sincere, pragmatic statements which put forward perspectives for the future,'' said Gul. Noting that Wolfowitz issued positive messages for improving Turkish-U.S. relations, Gul said Wolfowitz said there were many things that needed to be done for improving Turkey-U.S. relations and he stressed the importance of Turkey.
ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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BAYKAL SAYS TURKISH ARMED FORCES' ISSUING STATEMENT IS WORRISOME FOR REGIME
Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said that Turkish Armed Forces' feeling the need to issue a statement was worrisome for Turkey, adding that ''will Turkish Armed Forces be in a position to explain itself by issuing a statement? Will Turkish Armed Forces feel the worry of being misunderstood?'' Baykal said that Turkish Armed Forces was a basic institution which contributed significantly to development, modernization, and formation of legal state in Turkey, adding that everybody had to be careful to keep the army away from politics.
(EÖ-ÖS-AÖ) 07.05.2003