Cicek: Rise In Salaries Of Civil Servants Will Be Announced Tomorrow

ANKARA - Justice Minister and government spokesman Cemil Cicek said on Monday that rise in salaries of civil servants would be announced on Tuesday.
Following the meeting of Council of Ministers, Cicek told reporters that they set the principles of rise in salaries of civil servants in their meeting.
Cicek said that State Minister Ali Babacan for the Treasury and Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan would work on the issue in detail later in the day under chairmanship of State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin.
Thus, the rise in salaries of civil servants would be given final shape, Cicek noted.
Cicek stated that a verbal or written statement regarding the issue would be made on Tuesday.
''Our principle is to make high rise in salaries of people with lower salaries and low rise in salaries of people with higher salaries,'' Cicek said.
When reporters recalled him about the news that 60 million Turkish liras (TL) of rise would be made in salaries of civil servants, Cicek said, ''we will announce the details tomorrow because it is a technical issue. I may say wrong things if I make a detailed statement now. Our three friends will work on the issue and inform you tomorrow.''
CICEK: LEGAL ARRANGEMENTS IN 21 FIELDS SHOULD BE MADE IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE FOREIGN INVESTORS
Cicek told reporters that they agreed to legalize those arrangements as soon as possible and pass a majority of laws on agenda of parliament before the parliament recess.
Cicek said that scarcity and insufficiency of investments came at the top of main problems of Turkey.
Turkey could not make sufficient investments from its budget since it was under a heavy debt burden, Cicek noted.
Cicek stated that scarcity and insufficiency of investments brought forward many social and economic problems, particularly unemployment.
Therefore, information about the efforts of the Investment Environment Rehabilitation Coordination Board was given during the meeting, Cicek said.
Cicek recalled that the board was formed by high-level undersecretaries of some ministries and representatives of private sector.
Very comprehensive initiatives were made under the umbrella of that board to attract foreign capital and encourage foreign investors, Cicek said.
Cicek stated that many legal arrangements should be made in that field.
''We give importance to such initiatives to encourage investments and the Council of Ministers once more confirmed that these initiatives should be accelerated,'' Cicek said.
Cicek pointed out that legal arrangements in 21 fields should be made in order to attract foreign capital and encourage foreign investors under the auspices of that board.
The government had legalized four relevant laws so far, including direct foreign investments law, labor law, law on working permit for foreigners, and company establishment law, Cicek recalled.
Cicek said that Employment Agency Law, law on amendment to several laws to enable sale of lands belonging to the Treasury, law on fight against smuggling were passed from the parliament and waited for President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's approval.
Five laws namely law on Social Security Agency (SSK), law on Social Security Agency for the Self-employed (Bag-Kur), Environment Law, Mine Law, and Turkish Patent Institute Law were on parliament's agenda, Cicek stated.
Cicek went on saying, ''some of the laws on parliament's agenda are among laws we have to pass priorily within the scope of the fifth negotiation. There are 4 draft laws at the Prime Ministry. There are five issues which are at the stage of presentation to Prime Ministry. We think that legal vacuum in encouragement of foreign capital will totally be ended in case we legalize these 21 laws.''
''Today, we have decided to legalize these laws and pass a majority of laws on parliament's agenda before the parliament recess,'' Cicek added.
Cicek stated that the commission formed to amend Press Law had completed its work and draft Press Law was ready.
State Minister Besir Atalay would hold a press conference within the week and give information about the mentioned draft, Cicek pointed out.
Cicek noted that they thought of legalizing the draft in the new legislative term.
One of the issues they took up in their meeting was foreign trade, Cicek stated.
Cicek emphasized that export was one of the most important factors of economic growth.
Turkey had gained a good momentum in exports and recorded positive developments, Cicek said and expressed pleasure.
Cicek went on saying, ''Turkey has recorded 7.4 percent of growth rate in the first quarter of 2003. This figure is the second biggest rate in the world. Exports from Turkey rose 14.1 percent to 35.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2002. Turkey raised an income of 17.8 billion U.S. dollars through exports with a rise of 30.1 percent in the first five months of 2003. Rate of increase in all main and sub sectors was 30.1 percent as of January-May 2003. Rate of increase in agricultural product exports was 16.5 percent, 30.8 percent in industrial product exports and 20.4 percent in mining sector in the mentioned period.''
''First ten countries ranked first in exports from Turkey are EU countries. Germany, the United States, Britain, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Russian Federation, Israel and Greece come at the top of exports from Turkey. Turkey makes imports from Germany, Italy, Russia, France, Britain, the United States, Switzerland, China, Iran and Japan,'' Cicek said.
Cicek continued, ''thus, it can be seen that Turkey has not only targeted EU as a political preference but also the economic figures have shown that Turkey is in more cooperation with EU countries and makes a great deal of its exportation to these countries. Our exports to European countries increased 36 percent this year and Germany ranks the first with 33.5 percent.''
''China comes at top of markets we give importance. Our exports to China increased by 79.4 percent. Our exports to Japan rose by 63 percent. Automotive and by-industry, electronics, agriculture, ceramics, paper, glass products, textile are our main export fields,'' Cicek said.
Cicek stated that Turkey had 50 billion U.S. dollars of investment in contracting services in 55 countries.
Noting that they also debated work of Eximbank, Cicek said that Eximbank was serving businessmen who made investments abroad.
Cicek noted that Eximbank had provided support to exports to 173 countries so far and gave around 2,500-3,000 exporter firms loan every year.
''Firms using loan from Eximbank make 55 percent of Turkey's export. After our government came to power, significant steps have been taken through Eximbank. Maturity of short term loans are extended from six months to a year. A new program named small and medium scale enterprises export preparation loan to solve the guarantee and finance problems of those enterprises. Short term loan interest rates were reduced for three times on April 21, May 5 and June 5, 2003. The interest rates are between 30 and 41 percent on Turkish lira and Trlibor plus 1.50 and 3.75 percent on foreign exchange loans. Turkish Eximbank has stated that it will provide cash loan support of 3 billion U.S. dollars to export sector and 3.5 billion U.S. dollar insurance guarantee support in 2003. Thus, it will contribute to 16 percent of finance of Turkey's export,'' Cicek said.
Cicek pointed out that talks with IMF delegation were also taken up during the meeting.
Fifth review contacts continued by not only representatives of private sector but also with officials, Cicek said.
Cicek added, ''as the government, we favor that these talks are concluded positively and they are ended as soon as possible. As the government, we favor expressing our determination about these talks with the IMF. The stability program in practice is for the benefit of Turkey. The government doesn't have any hesitation about this. The program will be continued determinedly.''
CICEK: ''WE WISH TO PASS SEVENTH EU ADJUSTMENT PACKAGE BEFORE PARLIAMENT RECESS''
When asked if the efforts of the commission formed by Turkey and the United States to inquire detention of Turkish soldiers by U.S. forces in Sulaymaniyah came onto agenda, Cicek said that the issue did not come onto their agenda.
Cicek said, ''in fact, it needn't come to our agenda. We talked about this before. It is a negotiation carried out by the Foreign Ministry and Office of General Staff. A statement will be made about the issue by authorities who join the talks soon.''
Asked if the seventh EU adjustment package was opened to signature, Cicek said that there was a short discussion on the issue.
Cicek stated that they had to inform political parties about the issue and hoped to give that information within that week.
''We think of submitting the package to parliament most probably within this week. We wish to pass it before the parliament recess,'' Cicek said.
When a reporter said that a meeting on economy would be held at 9.00 p.m. and asked if new economic measures were in question, Cicek said that the most important issue of Turkey was always the economy and it was natural to make meetings on economy so often.
Cicek added that evening's meeting would be within that scope.
Asked if arrangements on making National Security Council (NSC) civilian would take place in the seventh adjustment package or if it would be included in another package, Cicek said that there were not any arrangements necessitating a constitutional amendment in the seventh package.
Cicek pointed out that the mentioned issue directly required a constitutional amendment and said, ''such an amendment is not foreseen in this package. I think this is an answer to your question. In fact, a constitutional amendment cannot be made by a draft of the government. This necessitates signature of at least 184 parliamentarians. Therefore, ours is a draft not a proposal.''
Replying to questions of draft on Higher Education Board (YOK), Cicek said that that issue did not come onto Turkey's agenda for the first time with their government.
Cicek went on saying, ''YOK is on Turkey's agenda for a long time. There is a paragraph about YOK even in program of every government and in election declaration of every party. These reveals that YOK has some shortcomings and deficiencies in making a modern university life. It will be useful to make such an arrangement. We try to make every arrangement with a wide participation and informing everybody. Since YOK Law is a basic law and since it is an arrangement regarding the most distinguished institutions of Turkey, it will be beneficial to bring the issue onto agenda after discussing it with the concerned institutions.''
''When Erkan Mumcu was the National Education Minister during the term in office of the 58th government, the draft was sent to all concerned institutions, rectors, YOK and Inter-university Board. But, a positive response did not come. And, even no response came. After it was stated last week that the draft YOK law would be submitted to parliament, the Inter-university Board held a meeting. National Education Minister Huseyin Celik was also invited to the meeting. What came out of the meeting was that the concerned institutions expressed belief that they could make contributions to an amendment to the YOK law. Thus, our government thought it would be beneficial to give opportunity to the concerned institutions to express views about the draft if it would contribute to the law,'' Cicek said.
Cicek added, ''therefore, the draft will be sent to YOK, all political parties and the opposition party, members of the Inter-university Board, and rectors. We have given them one-month time. In this one-month time, we will expect everybody to express their views on the draft. After learning their views, we will bring the draft onto parliament's agenda in the new legislative term.''
Asked if rise in salaries of public workers came onto agenda, Cicek said, ''this issue was negotiated by the Prime Minister and Turk-Is Coordination Board. It was earlier announced that 5 percent rise would be made in the first six months, 9 percent rise in the second six months of time, and 5 percent rise would be made in the third and fourth periods. Any change is out of question. We expect the unions to accept this proposal and sign collective contracts. The process Turkey is undergoing is certain. Economic problems are obvious. The number of unemployed is certain. Therefore, I would like to state that the earlier proposed amount is not a rise which can be underestimated.''
Cicek added, ''as government, we have told them that we don't have the opportunity to make a higher rise. I would like to once more express the same determination today.''

(BRC) 14.07.2003