SEZER VISITS CROATIA TO DISCUSS BOTH COUNTRIES’ EU MEMBERSHIP BID
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday visited Zagreb, Croatia to meet with his Croatian counterpart Stipe Mesic. During their talks, Sezer and Mesic discussed a number of issues such as cooperation between the two countries to fight terrorism, drug smuggling, and European Union membership bid of both Turkey and Croatia. Speaking afterwards, Sezer said that he and Mesic had same point of view on many issues. “We share common goals, especially in joining the EU and now we need to coordinate our cooperation to meet these goals,” said Sezer. “We agreed that exchanging views for our EU membership bid could create new cooperation fields.” Sezer reiterated that Turkey would continue to support Croatia’s NATO membership and that Croatia’s membership would contribute to the stability and security of Southeastern Europe. For his part, Mesic said that there was not only political cooperation between the two countries, but also in other fields. “Turkish companies may take part in the infrastructure and in our country,” he said. “Integration of Southeastern Europe into EU is our main goal and we should cooperate to reach our goal.” During their meeting, Sezer and Mesic agreed to work harder to improve trade ties and that the free trade agreement which took effect on July 1 between Turkey and Croatia would be a turning point for both. /Aksam/

GUL MEETS WITH BRITISH FM STRAW
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who is currently on a working visit to Britain, yesterday met with his British counterpart Jack Straw in London. Speaking at a joint press conference following the meeting, Gul said that he conferred on Turkey’s EU candidacy and the Cyprus issue with Straw. Answering a question on the Cyprus problem, Gul stated that Turkey had always favored a fair and lasting settlement on the island and that concrete steps were taken to this end. Straw, for his part, said that Britain appreciated Turkey’s progress in passing the necessary political reforms for its EU membership, and that he was hopeful for a permanent resolution soon on the Cyprus problem. /Cumhuriyet/

FM GUL: “WE ARE WAITING FOR AN ANSWER FROM THE US ON OUR OFFER TO HELP IN IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday said that Turkey had offered substantial assistance, including supplies of electricity, water and refined gasoline, to the US in the Iraqi postwar reconstruction but had yet to receive any reply from Washington. “The situation in Iraq is not good, and unfortunately is getting worse, and we are worried,” said Gul in an interview with British daily the Financial Times. “It is not just security that is a problem, and the Coalition Forces should not only deal with the security.” /Hurriyet/

PEARSON: “TURKISH-US COOPERATION WILL ALWAYS CONTINUE”
US Ambassador to Turkey Robert Pearson, whose duty is due to expire soon, gave a reception at the US embassy yesterday due to Indepence Day of the US, July 4. Speaking at the reception, Pearson said that Turkish-US cooperation would always continue no matter what and that tension between the two countries due to Iraq war was in the past. “Now future and what we will do in the future is important,” said Pearson, adding that he was sorry to leave Turkey. Also speaking, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said that Pearson had represented the US successfully during three years. Sahin added that strategic cooperation between the two countries would always continue. /Milliyet/

GERMAN AMBASSADOR BORN: “TURKEY’S EU ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS COULD BEGIN IN 2005”
Wolf-Ruthart Born, Germany’s new ambassador to Ankara, yesterday said that Turkey’s European Union accession negotiations could begin in 2005 should the nation fully comply with the Copenhagen criteria, adding, however, that becoming a full member in the Union might take quite a long time. Born furthermore stated that Turkey’s being a Muslim country did not constitute an obstacle to the country’s EU membership, for Turkey had a well-established secular system. “What is important is that both the EU and Turkey share many common values,” underlined Born. Born is set to assume the ambassadorial post in Ankara replacing Rudolf Schmidt next week. /Hurriyet/

RTUK DECIDES TO SUSPEND BROADCASTS OF FIVE UZAN-OWNED TV CHANNELS
The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) yesterday decided to suspend broadcasts of five TV channels owned by the controversial Uzan group, namely Star TV, Kanal 6, Starmax, Star 6 and Star 8, each for a period of one month. The decision came on the heels of recent derogatory broadcasts appeared on these channels shortly after the cancellations of the concession agreements of two power stations owned by the Uzan group, namely Cukurova Electric and Kepez Electric. The broadcasts targeted Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. /Cumhuriyet/

BDDK APPOINTS NEW MANAGEMENT TO UZANS GROUP’S IMAR BANK
The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) yesterday announced that it appointed a new management to Uzan group’s Imar Bank. The written statement said that appointments came after a member of the Bank’s board have resigned. Cumhur Dogan was appointed the new general manager of the bank. /Turkish Daily News/

JUNE INFLATION FIGURES RELEASED
The State Instýtute of Statistics (DIE) yesterday released month-on-month inflation figures for June. Inflation last month was -1.9% on the whole price index (WPI) and –0.2% on the consumer price index (CPI). The figures pushed year-to-year WPI inflation to 29.6% and CPI inflation to 29.8%. /All papers/

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