ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on June 22, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
------------------
PROMISE FOR EU MEMBERSHIP
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul shared the same table with President Jacques Chirac of France, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Prime Minister Costas Simitis of European Union (EU) Term President Greece at the dinner hosted by President Kostis Stephanopoulos of Greece. During the dinner, President Chirac said, ''we had some concerns about approval of the sixth EU adjustment package. Now, we appreciate Turkey's determination. There is not any suspicion about Turkey's EU membership now. Our support to Turkey will increase.'' Meanwhile, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ''now, we will adopt the seventh adjustment package. We are determined at the EU membership. Eighty percent of Turkish people is in favor of the EU membership. Because they know that they deserve modernism.''
PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN VISITS HOUSE OF ATATURK
Following European Union (EU) Thessaloniki Summit in Chalkidiki, Greece, heads of state and government of the EU countries visited Mount Athos, the center of Eastern Orthodox Monasticism. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who represented Turkey at the summit, preferred to visit the House of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Salonica instead of joining the tour to Mount Athos.
BREKK: ''IMF DOES NOT HAVE ANY NEW EXPECTATION FROM TURKEY''
Odd Per Brekk, the senior resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Turkey, said that positive developments and changes had occurred in Turkish economy in the last one year, adding that the IMF did not have any new expectations from Turkey since the current program was sufficient for a sustainable economy. Speaking at the Fifth Economy Summit organized by TEBIAT, Brekk said that Turkey had recorded positive progress in its European Union (EU) membership process, and interest of foreign investors in Turkey had increased significantly.
MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
------------------
NEW TURKISH SATELLITE TO BE LAUNCHED ON JULY 28
Production activities of Turkey's first small satellite (BILSAT) with the British Surrey University Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) have completed. The BILSAT will be launched from Russia on July 28, 2003. The satellite was sent to Plesetsk Space Base in Russia The BILSAT satellite will carry five Earth observation cameras. One will be a panchromatic camera and the remaining four will obtain images in red, green, blue and near infrared bands. The satellite will have very accurate pointing and will be capable of imaging the same area at different incidence angles, permitting the virtual construction of stereoscopic images.
COMMISSION INSISTS ON AWACS
Corruption Inquiry Commission has been investigating allegations saying that Turkey had paid 180 million U.S. dollars in extra to Boeing Firm during purchase of AWACS. The Defense Industry Undersecretariat rejected to send some documents demanded by the commission by stressing that those documents were confidential. The commission insisted on its investigation and for the second time asked the Defense Industry Undersecretariat to send the documents in question.
SABAH (LIBERAL)
---------------
GUL: ''TURKEY AND IRAQ WILL EXCHANGE GASOLINE AND DIESEL OIL''
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said that Turkey and Iraq would start exchanging gasoline and diesel oil. ''There are not electricity, drinking water, telephone and gasoline in Iraq. Turkey is the only country in the region which can meet those demands in the best way. These are concrete proposals. With our own methods, we do connect electricity in a very short time. Under a decision which was taken two days ago, we will send gasoline to Iraq by bringing extra fuel oil and diesel oil into Turkey. With this respect, we gave permission to private companies. We estimate that twenty or thirty trucks would start working again.''
GUL: ''AK PARTY IS A CONSERVATIVE AND DEMOCRATIC PARTY''
Speaking at the World Economic Forum meetings in Jordan, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said, ''although ninety-nine percent of Turkish people is Muslim, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) did not describe itself as an Islamic political party. The AK Party is a conservative and democratic party. We do not discriminate our people according to their religious beliefs.''
CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
-----------------
EULOGY TO TURKEY AT EU SUMMIT
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Jacques Chirac of France sit at same dinner table at Friday night. Sources quoted Chirac as saying to Erdogan, ''we had doubts about approval of the adjustment package. But now everybody believes that Turkey would join the EU.'' Speaking to reporters following the dinner, Erdogan said, ''they were astonished at our performance.'' Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced that Chirac had given the message that 'accession talks with Turkey may start earlier than December of 2004'.
TWO DIFFERENT CONTRACTS FOR NATURAL GAS
It was revealed that Turusgaz and former Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer had signed two different contracts that included two different prices. The contract in Russia envisages that Turkey should pay 152 U.S. dollars for one thousand cubic meters natural while the contract in Turkey envisages that Turkey should pay 125 U.S. dollars for one thousand cubic meters gas. Payment of some part of annually eight billion cubic meters gas was made according to the contract in Russia while some part of the payment was made according to the contract in Turkey.
RADIKAL (LEFT)
--------------
GUL TO MEET WITH POWELL
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, who is currently in Jordan to attend the World Economic Forum meetings, will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell today. Responding questions of journalists about his scheduled meeting with Powell, Gul said, ''in fact, meetings to be held in Washington D.C. in the coming days are more important than this meeting. Main issues will be taken up in Washington D.C. Therefore, I attribute more importance to my visit to the United States.''
BREKK: ''TURKEY WILL NOT EXPERIENCE A NEW CRISIS''
Odd Per Brekk, the senior resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Turkey, said that Turkey would not experience a new economic crisis. Speaking at the Fifth Economy Summit organized by TEBIAT, Brekk said that Turkish economy had strengthened significantly.
TURKIYE (RIGHT)
---------------
BON VOYAGE!
Truck drivers who have been without work in the southeast will have jobs. Thirty thousand trucks will carry gasoline to Iraq and bring fuel oil in return. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul gave the southeast good news about Iraq. He said, ''there are not electricity, drinking water, telephone and gasoline in Iraq. Turkey is the country in whole region that can meet these demands in the best way. We were made a concrete proposal about it. Border gates started to work again. In coming days, we will open two hospitals in Kirkuk and Baghdad. Fuel oil and trucks constitute the start of these job.'' Giving information about the EU Thessaloniki Summit, Gul said, '' they were not inviting us to these meetings in the past but it changed at the Thessaloniki. European leaders stated that they were astonished and excited about reforms in Turkey. French President Jacques Chirac who saw our determination stated that accession talks with Turkey might start earlier than December 2004.
''EU IS CIVILIZATION''
After the EU Thessaloniki Summit, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the House of Ataturk in Salonica, Greece. He said that the summit was very positive about Turkey and it had made Turkey come one more step closer to the EU. He reiterated, ''if there is vacuum in politics, the army has the priority of filling this gap.''
ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
--------------------
''I SWEAR AT PROSECUTOR WHO DOESN'T FAVOR SECULARISM''
Vural Savas, former chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, said that prosecutors in Turkey could not be objective, adding, ''if a prosecutor does not favor the republic and secularism, I swear at him.'' Speaking to a private television channel, Savas said that the most important duty of prosecutors was to protect the republic and secularism. Defending himself for the expressions like ''vampires and malignant tumor'' he had used in his indictments in the past, Savas said, ''a prosecutor can always use such words in order to express importance of the issue.'' He said, ''everybody has started to call me 'militant democrat' after my book 'Militant Democracy' was published. I am not a militant democrat but I want to be called 'militant Kemalist'.''
BRANCH OF OLIVE TREE FROM HOUSE OF ATATURK TO ATHENS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who attended the EU Thessaloniki Summit held a press conference at the House of Ataturk in Salonica yesterday and gave messages of peace to Greece. ''I hope that this house would be a symbol of peace between Turkey and Greece,'' he said and stressed that he was ready to be a peace envoy if necessary for solution of the Cyprus issue. Erdogan also stated that they did not think that harassment of civil planes by military planes over Aegean Sea was correct, and Greek allegations could not be accepted because Turkish military planes flew over Aegean without any weapon. ''Also Greek planes should fly without any weapon,'' he stressed. The Prime Minister stated that the army from time to time ''filled the gaps'' in Turkey but Turkey was currently going through a serious democratic process. The Prime Minister visited the House of Ataturk despite the security problem occurred due to anti-globalization protests.
(UK-MS) 22.06.2003