ERDOGAN: “WE WILL POOL RESOURCES FOR A BETTER HEALTH CARE SECTOR”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday attended an organ transplantation conference at Baskent University in Ankara. Addressing the gathering, Erdogan remarked that in addition to its scientific aspects, organ transplantation also had social and cultural dimensions. Stressing that his government would draw private hospitals into the health care system, Erdogan stated that state hospitals would be linked with private ones. “We’ll not allocate the nation’s resources separately as state and private, and thus we close the doors to exploitation,” added the prime minister. /Turkiye/

GUL: “TURKEY’S ROLE ON CYPRUS IS AS GUARANTOR NATION, NOT OCCUPIER”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday harshly criticized the European Council Parliamentary Assembly’s reports on Cyprus released this week. Regarding allegations that Turkey was an “occupier” on the island, Gul said, “Turkish troops entered Cyprus in 1974 within the framework of our role as a guarantor country. Turkey isn’t an occupier on the island.” Speaking to reporters while receiving a delegation from the Science Academy’s Turkish Historical Foundation, the foreign minister stated that the government would present the National Program to Parliament next Tuesday. In addition, Gul said that Turkey would host two important international meetings within the next year. Next May, a NATO summit will be held with the attendance of the heads of state or government from 46 countries and then, the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers’ meeting will also be hosted by Turkey. /Turkiye/

PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ARINC VISITS HUNGARY
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc yesterday flew to Budapest, Hungary for an official visit. During talks with his Hungarian counterpart Katalin Szili, Arinc sought her support for Turkey’s European Union membership, pointing out that Turkey had also given its support for Hungary’s NATO membership bid. Hungary is set to join the Union next year. Speaking after their meeting, Arinc said that the Turkish people wanted to join the EU. “We want to begin accession talks by the end of the next year,” he added, referring to the EU’s end-2004 summit. /Aksam/

BUSH MEETS WITH GREEK PM PAPANDREOU, EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID
US President George W. Bush yesterday met with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and European Union Commission Chairman Romano Prodi to discuss a number of issues, including Turkey’s EU membership bid. Speaking afterwards, Bush reiterated that the US supported Turkey’s joining the EU. Touching on the Cyprus issue, Bush said that he would continue to support a resolution on the island. For his part, Papandreou said that they were in agreement on supporting Ankara’s EU bid, adding this would send a very important message to both Turkey and the rest of the world. /Aksam/

GOVERNMENT EXPECTED TO PRESENT REPENTANCE DRAFT LAW FOR PKK/KADEK TERRORISTS TO PARLIAMENT
The Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is set to present to Parliament a repentance draft law which would encourage militants of the terrorist group PKK/KADEK to lay down their arms. The issue is expected to be debated during today’s National Security Council (NSC) meeting. Under the bill, terrorists who renounce their cause and lay down their arms would be eligible for amnesty. However, convicted terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan and other high-level militants of the group would be denied the amnesty. Although the terrorist group pledged to abandon armed attacks after Ocalan was apprehended in 1999, the PKK/KADEK is still believed to have an estimated 5,000 trained fighters in and around Turkey. /Hurriyet/

FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN DIRIOZ: “ALLEGATIONS THAT TURKEY VIOLATED GREEK AIRSPACE ARE COMPLETELY GROUNDLESS”
Athens’ escalating allegations of Turkish fighter jets violating Greek airspace are completely false and groundless, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Dirioz in a written statement yesterday, adding that these allegations were meant to justify Greece’s own years-long pattern of unlawful, unilateral actions in the Aegean. “Greece is the only country in the world to claim a 10-nautical mile zone of national airspace, even though its territorial waters in the Aegean extend for just six nautical miles,” stressed Dirioz. Stating that blowing the issue out proportion would serve neither the interests of Turkey nor Greece, Dirioz urged settlement of the problem through a bilateral approach. Earlier this month, Greece took its complaints of violations to the European Union Commission. Ankara, however, has long favored a bilateral approach to the issue rather than one involving international bodies or statutes. /Cumhuriyet/

BABACAN: “AN APPRECIATED LIRA WOULD EASE IMPLEMENTING THE EU ECONOMIC CRITERIA”
Speaking at the Istanbul Chamber of Trade (ISO) yesterday, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan said that the Turkish lira needed to appreciate, otherwise it would be difficult to implement the European Union’s economic criteria. Touching on interest rates, Babacan said that these rates remained too high. “However, we predicted in our economic program that interest rates would be 45%,” he said, representing a reduction. The economy minister added that the government would continue to fully implement the program. /Milliyet/

ENERGY MINISTER GULER: “I BELIEVE THE BLUE STREAM GAS PIPELINE DISPUTE WILL BE RESOLVED THIS WEEK”
Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said yesterday that Turkish and Russian officials had begun a two-day meeting on the strategic Blue Stream gas pipeline project and that he expected a pricing dispute to be resolved at the gathering. During talks last week on the issue, Turkish officials demanded a reduction in prices, and the problem remained unresolved. /Turkish Daily News/

DANISH OFFICIAL DISCUSSES TURKEY’S EU BID IN ANKARA
Danish Parliament’s European Union Commission head Claus Larsen Jensen, who is currently in Turkey for an official visit, yesterday met with EU Harmonization Commission head Yasar Yakis, Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission head Aydin Dumanoglu and Foreign Relations Commission head Mehmet Dulger to discuss Turkey’s EU membership bid. /Turkish Daily News/

FIRST TURKISH TROOPS VISIT ARMENIA FOR NATO-PFP EXERCISES
A group of Turkish soldiers arrived yesterday in Armenia for computer-based exercises, the first such military visit to Armenian soil since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The troops under Col. Ahmet Kabak are set to take part in NATO’s Cooperative Best Effort 2003 exercises, the first to be hosted by Armenia, a non-NATO member participating under the 27-nation Partnership for Peace (PfP) banner. Armenian President Robert Kocharian allowed the Turkish soldiers’ participation alongside 400 other multinational troops over the objections of the country’s Parliament. /Anatolia News Agency/

ISTANBUL INTERFAITH CONFERENCE: “TERRORISM HAS NO RELIGION”
The threat of terrorism cannot be traced back to or associated with any one religion, participants at an Istanbul interfaith conference declared yesterday. The gathering’s attendees, including Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders plus scholars and politicians, roundly denounced those who commit terrorist acts. Many recalled the centuries-long example of peaceful religious tolerance set by the Ottoman Empire and how people fleeing religious persecution in other countries had found refuge in Ottoman lands. Terrorism has no religion and geography and there is no excuse for perpetrating terrorist acts, the participants agreed. /Turkiye/

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