ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey`s press on June 8, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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SLOVAKIA OK, NOW IT`S MACEDONIA`S TURN
Turkish national football team, which won the bronze medal in the World Cup, is approaching to the 2004 European Championship finals steps by step. Turkey played its most important away match with Slovakia in Bratislava. Nihat scored the only goal of Turkey in the 11th minute and made the team rank the first in the group, two point ahead of Britain. Now, it is Macedonia`s turn. If we win this match in Istanbul on June 11, the only obstacle before the European Championship finals will be the match with Britain which will be played in our field.

GUL: ``ALL ROADS HEAD TO BAGHDAD``
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announces Turkey`s new point of view towards Iraq as follows: ``A war took place. An era was closed and a new era has begun. There were two de facto states in the past. Now, they have de facto united. This is what pleases us. Barzani and Talabani are aware of this. They opened office in Baghdad. Therefore, we have a policy towards whole of Iraq now.``

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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PLANS HAVE NOT REACH TARGET
Privatization Administration asked a foreign consultancy company to calculate the value of Petkim. The value was calculated as 3.2 billion U.S. dollars. But, the administration could not reach the value it had expected from privatization of Petkim. Trichem company calculated Petkim`s price as 3.2 billion U.S. dollars. 605 million U.S. dollars which was proposed in the tender is one-fifth of this figure. One of former heads of Petkim said that Petkim`s port could not even be bought with that amount.

DISASTER COMING WITH SLEEP
A passenger bus driver who slept on the road from Ankara to eastern Agri province caused disaster. A total of 27 people, most of whom were children, died in the bus which hit the wall of a bridge without any brake.

SABAH (LIBERAL)
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TENDERS OPENED FOR TWO GIANTS
Privatization continues in high gear. After Petkim, tenders opened to sell 65.76 percent of shares of TUPRAS and 100 percent of TEKEL`s shares.

WE WILL REDUCE VAT
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave promises: ``We reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate in medicine to 8 percent. We will then put into practice the same implementation in food. VAT in production will be decreased to 2 percent.`` Erdogan said that Turkey was determined to join the European Union (EU) and noted, ``nobody should try to be an obstacle before membership. He/she should come beside us if he/she wants to support. We don`t want a country which is disrupted by trivial problems.``

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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IMPRISONMENT TERMS TO MEMBERS WHO DIED
A search had been carried out in headquarters of Human Rights Association (IHD) following the news report of Anadolu Agency on January 22, 2001 that IHD got support from Greece.
Among the confiscated documents, there were 33 banned publishing. Ankara Chief Prosecutor`s Office opened file under Article 526/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which is about ``failing to abide by the order of the authority.``
A total of 46 people had been sentenced to imprisonment terms up to three months. Later this was commuted to fine. Ayse Nur Zarakolu and Nebahat Altinok, who did not have responsibility in authority of the association, and who had died, were also among those who were sentenced to pay fine.

AGAIN ACCIDENT, AGAIN DEATH
A passenger bus, belonging to ``Agri Dagi`` company, crashed into wall in Kopruler region on main Sivas-Erzican highway. A total of 27 people including driver Mustafa Yilmaz Ergul died and 33 others were injured.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
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U.S. APPLIED TO MILITARY, NOT THE GOVERNMENT FOR IRAQ BECAUSE...
Washington made the first mistake in Iraq crisis between Turkey and the United States. U.S. wrote to General Staff in September 2002 and officially asked for base for Iraq action. However, there had been a government although the country had entered into election atmosphere.
Whatever the reason was, this first step was not right. Political will should not have been by-passed. General Staff sent this request of the U.S. to the government.

FOUNDATION OF RAPID TRAIN WOULD BE LAID
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will lay the foundation of the Rapid Train Project today. The project which is planned to be completed within five years, has a cost of 1.2 billion Euro.

TURKIYE
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ARINC: THEY WANT TO OVERSHADOW OUR SUCCESS
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, who had visited Japan as the guest of Japanese Upper Parliament Speaker Hiroyuki Kurata, returned to Turkey.
Arinc, who held a news conference in Istanbul`s Ataturk Airport in his arrival, pointed out that his visit to Japan was very successful. Arinc said some wrong and meaningless news reports which appeared during his visit to Japan made him unhappy.

GUL: ``WE SHOULD HURRY``
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said there would not be names in European Parliament who know Turkey well next year, stating that Turkey should complete regulation changes this year without losing time.
Gul said Turkey entered a critical period on the way to EU, stating that there would be parliamentary elections in the European Parliament next year, and that names who know Turkey very well could change next year.
Speaking at a symposium held by Association for Liberal Thinking, Gul said steps which should be taken on the way to EU should be taken soon.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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120 WORKERS PAID SALARY WITHOUT WORKING FOR NINE YEARS
Bolu Karacasu Forestry Products Factory has not made any production since 1994. The factory`s loss amounts to 2 trillion Turkish liras (TL) every year while workers draw pictures, paintings or play backgammon instead of working say, ``we are very bored. We want new jobs.`` These workers are being paid without working for nine years. Machines in the factory which is within the scope of privatization have started to become worn out.

PARLIAMENT BACKSTAGE TO BE CLOSED TO MEDIA
Parliament will close the backstage used by deputies and ministers to journalists. The Parliamentary Chairmanship Council, which has decided to implement a project of magnetic and electronic cards, also includes reporters working in the parliament within the scope of the ban. Journalists can`t enter backstage used by ruling and opposition parties as of the new legislative year to start in September. Parliament officials said that they had taken such a decision due to intensive demands of deputies.

(AY-BRC) 08.06.2003