SEZER ATTENDS TRILATERAL SUMMIT IN ROMANIA
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday arrived in Romania to attend a sixth trilateral summit with his Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts. Speaking at the summit’s opening, Sezer said that all three countries had developed cooperation in many areas over the last decade. He also held separate meetings with the Bulgarian and Romanian presidents, Georgi Pirvanov and Ion Iliescu respectively, to discuss bilateral and regional issues. /Aksam/

ERDOGAN: “FOR THE SAKE OF OUR EU BID, WE MUST ACT SWIFTLY”
Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday, Prime Minister and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey needed to act swiftly for the sake of its European Union membership bid. “We must recognize that any efforts to block our EU membership bid will end up harming the future of our children,” he said. Erdogan added that the sixth harmonization package would be submitted to Parliament after the National Program. Later receiving a delegation from the Turkish-American Association (TAA), Erdogan said that he or Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul might soon pay an official visit to the United States. In related news, opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal reiterated that Turkey’s EU bid should never be used as a political tool, since its membership drive is a national cause. /Aksam/

ARINC MEETS WITH JAPANESE EMPEROR AKIHITO, DISCUSSES BILATERAL COOPERATION
Parliament speaker Bulent Arinc, who is currently in Japan for an official visit, yesterday was received by Japanese Emperor Akihito. Arinc was accompanied during his visit by Turkish Ambassador to Tokyo Solmaz Unaydin, and the three discussed Japanese-Turkish relations. Speaking afterwards, Arinc called their meeting useful, emphasizing that they had focused on bilateral cooperation as well as Japan’s celebration of this year as “The Year of Turkey.” Later Arinc visited the Tokyo Mosque. /Milliyet/

BABACAN HAILS LOW INFLATION FIGURES
The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) yesterday released month-on-month inflation figures for May. Inflation last month was -0.6% on the wholesale price index (WPI) and 1.6% on the consumer price index (CPI). The figures pushed year-to-year WPI inflation to 33.7% and CPI inflation to 30.7. In related news, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan praised the Central Bank’s role in the lower-than-expected inflation. “Though we’ve revised our current account deficit target for this year, there is no need to revise our 20% inflation goal,” he said. “We can score this success to the CB.” /All Papers/

BAYKAL: “LEARNING MOTHER TONGUE LANGUAGES SHOULD BE AN INDIVIDUAL CHOICE, NOT A DUTY”
Just as in other democratic countries, all ethnic groups in Turkey enjoy the right to receive education in their mother tongue, thanks to a recent Constitutional amendment, but learning mother tongues should not be turned into a “civic duty,” opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal declared yesterday. Such education is a democratic right, Baykal told his party’s parliamentary group meeting, one to be exercised through individual choice and initiative. He added that Turkey now stood at a critical point in its relations with the European Union, presenting it with an opportunity that shouldn’t be squandered. /Milliyet/

NATO PLEDGES TO CONTINUE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM
The NATO foreign minister’s two-day meeting in Madrid, Spain ended yesterday. After the gathering, a joint communiqué was issued underlining the alliance’s determination to continue the fight against terrorism. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul represented Turkey at the meetings. He also held one-on-one meetings with his counterparts from various countries to discuss bilateral as well as regional issues. /Turkiye/

PEARSON: “TURKEY AND THE US SHOULD CONTINUE TO WORK TOGETHER”
The Turkish-American Businessmen’s Association (TABA) yesterday hosted a farewell reception and luncheon in honor of US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson, whose three-year posting is due to end this summer. Addressing the reception, Pearson said, “Turkish-American relations should be protected, strengthened, nourished and helped to recover whenever damaged.” Also speaking at the reception, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener underlined that good Turkish-US relations made significant contributions to the interests of both countries, adding, “From now on, we should look at to the future of our relations rather than the past.” He also praised Pearson’s role in improving and strengthening bilateral relations during his soon-to-end term of duty. /Turkiye/

EP TO VOTE ON OOSTLANDER’S TURKEY REPORT
The European Parliament is set to debate today on a Turkey report prepared by Dutch parliamentarian Arie Oostlander, which last month was the target of intense criticism from both Turkey and the EP itself. The report faces a vote tomorrow. Oostlander argued in the first draft of his report that Turkey's Kemalist ideology constituted a barrier to the country’s European Union membership bid, and he demanded that certain institutions such as the National Security Council (MGK) be abolished. However, after receiving fierce criticism both from Turkey and other EP deputies, Oostlander removed the offending sections on Kemalism, a philosophy revered by the country as the cornerstone of its modern, secular regime. In addition, the bill associated with the report includes a number of amendment proposals asking both Turkey and the EP to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide. /Cumhuriyet/

EU ANNOUNCES 12 MLN EURO TRNC AID PACKAGE, MEASURES TO EASE TRADE
The European Union Commission yesterday announced a 12 million euro aid package for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as well as measures paving the way for easier access for its exports to European Union markets. The aid package is meant to encourage rapprochement between the Turkish and Greek sides of the island as well as to help the TRNC integrate into Europe. Under the measures, the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce will be responsible for the exportation of non-agricultural products to the EU markets. Some 9 million euros of the package will be allocated for improving the TRNC’s infrastructure, with the remaining aid allocated for Turkish Cypriot nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). However, the draft fails to meet both Lefkosha and Ankara’s expectations of the EU, falling short of fully lifting the economic embargo on the country. /Hurriyet/

TURKISH FIRM CYBERSOFT WINS COMPUTERWORLD 2003 HONORS AWARD
Turkish software company CyberSoft yesterday received one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for computer technology, Computerworld magazine’s 2003 Honors Award in the category of government and nonprofit groups. The award recognized CyberSoft’s VEDOP, a pioneering e-government initiative allowing Turkish taxpayers to file their tax returns and check balances online. CyberSoft bested five finalists in their category to win the award, and company representatives were in Washington yesterday to receive their award from the top tech magazine. /Cumhuriyet/

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION