SEZER APPROVES SHORTENED COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday approved a decree to shorten Turkey’s term of compulsory military service for males. Under the decree, military service will be reduced from 18 months to 15, and the number of active-duty soldiers will also fall by 17%. /Aksam/

ERDOGAN: “PARLIAMENT WILL RE-DEBATE ARTICLE 8 OF THE ANTI-TERROR LAW”
President Ahmet Necdet’s veto this week covered only two provisions of the recent European Union harmonization package, and Parliament will certainly reconsider the package, predicted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. Speaking before leaving for a state visit to Portugal, Erdogan stated that now Sezer had had his say, and Parliament would soon weigh in again with its own. The vetoed provisions were designed to annul Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law. /Aksam/

GUL: “THE GOVERNMENT FORESEES NO CHANGES TO THE VETOED PROVISIONS OF THE EU HARMONIZATION PACKAGE”
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has no intention of making changes to the vetoed provisions of the sixth EU harmonization package designed to annul Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday. “I believe Parliament will re-approve these provisions without making any changes,” added Gul. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed the provisions on Monday, arguing that removing the article would encourage terrorism and endanger the indivisible unity of the Turkish state. Sezer furthermore argued in his explanatory statement that annulling the article would create a legal void. However, the government believes that other existing legislation is able to protect Turkey from any genuine threats from separatist propaganda. The Constitution denies the president the power to veto the legislation again should Parliament return it to him unchanged, but Sezer could appeal to the Constitutional Court to annul the provisions after they come into force. /Cumhuriyet/

GUL BRIEFS PARLIAMENT ON TURKEY’S NATIONAL PROGRAM
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday briefed Parliament on the government’s recent revisions to the National Program for the adoption of the European Union acquis communautaire. Gul warned that Turkey would suffer a tremendous blow should it squander its growing chances for EU membership. Meanwhile, Murat Sungar, Turkey’s secretary-general for European Union Affairs, yesterday briefed Parliament’s EU Harmonization Commission on the National Program. Sungar underlined that the necessary legal reforms should be completed before this October, when the EU Commission is due to draw up Turkey’s latest progress report. “We are at point where our country’s EU candidacy is about take an irreversible step forward,” said Sungar. /Cumhuriyet/

CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF OZKOK VISITS ISRAEL
Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok yesterday flew to Israel for an official visit and met with top Israeli officials to discuss a number of issues. Last week, he visited Amman, Jordan on the first stop of his tour of Middle Eastern countries. Ozkok is expected to return to Turkey on Friday. /Aksam/

BABACAN: “NO NEW LOANS WON’T MEAN AN END TO TURKISH-IMF RELATIONS”
State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan reiterated yesterday that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government did not plan to seek any new loans from the International Monetary Fund, adding, however, that this didn’t mean relations between Ankara and the Fund would end. “We will continue to pursue our fiscal policy until we are successful in reducing our high debt stock,” said the minister. Also touching on Turkey’s high first quarter gross national product (GNP) growth of 7.4% announced yesterday, Babacan predicted that the nation would achieve this year’s growth target of 5%. /Milliyet/

FINANCIAL TIMES: “TURKISH PRESIDENT BLOCKS HUMAN RIGHTS REFORM”
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s veto of provisions of a reform package designed to annul Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law has effectively blocked human rights reform in Turkey’s EU membership ambitions, wrote British daily the Financial Times yesterday. “The presidential move underlined internal resistance from the establishment in Ankara to the changes being promoted by the country's reformist eight-month-old government,” the newspaper added. The FT further argued that President Sezer might have been influenced by objections to the changes raised by Turkey's “still-influential” generals at last week’s meeting of the National Security Council (NSC). /Cumhuriyet/

TURKISH DANCER OGULCAN BOROVA TAKES TOP SPOT, GOLD MEDAL AT NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION
Turkish ballet dancer Ogulcan Borova yesterday came in first place and won the gold medal in the International New York Ballet Competition held at the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Over 40 dancers from 24 countries participated in the competition. /Star/

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