ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on August 11, 2003. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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SECRET DECREE OF JULY 11
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a top secret decree and brought forth the obligation of use of Turkish passport for citizens of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) when proceeding to another country from Turkey. Earlier, some 40 thousand TRNC citizens took passport from the Greek Cypriot side in order to become citizen of the European Union (EU) and came to Turkey to proceed the third countries.
''WE CANNOT TURN A BLIND EYE TO FIRE IN OUR NEIGHBOR''
General Staff Deputy Chief General Yasar Buyukanit said about the issue of dispatch of Turkish soldiers to Iraq, ''we cannot turn a blind eye to the fire in our neighbor.'' General Buyukanit hosted a farewell reception after his appointment as commander of the First Army. During the reception, General Buyukanit stressed that no one should use the Turkish Armed Forces for their own political purposes.
MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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''NOBODY SHOULD TRY TO BRING THE ARMED FORCES INTO A LINE''
General Staff Second Chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit who was appointed as the commander of the First Army hosted a cocktail party for reporters in the garden of the General Staff Headquarters in Ankara. Answers of Gen. Buyukanit to questions of reporters were full of messages to both the government and the United States. These messages can be summarized under four headlines: ''1-Nobody should use the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for his political purposes. 2- Nobody should attempt to bring the TSK into a line. The TSK's line is quite clear. 3- Today's conditions are more risky than those on March 1 in terms of dispatch of troops to Iraq. 4- I hope that our concerns which we expressed about the seventh package of adjustment with the EU would not come true.''
GOOD NEWS FROM U.N. TO TURKISH COMPANIES
The United Nations approved the business contracts worth of 430 million U.S. dollars that Turkish companies made under the oil-for-food program during the former regime period in Iraq. The NTV reported that the United Nations gave a piece of good news to Turkish companies which had been expending intense efforts to enter the Iraqi market. The 430 million U.S. dollars of oil-for-food agreement is defined as an important step of Turkish companies as to regain influence over the Iraqi market. Meanwhile, there has recently been an increase in number of contracts that Turkish companies _ mostly small and medium scale enterprises _ signed with Iraq. Akfen company signed a 50 million U.S. dollars agreement to meet the foodstuffs requirement of the U.S. army. Another Turkish company won the tender for dry cleaning and garbage of the U.S. army while a Turkish company will repair runways of the Baghdad and Basra airports. Turkish companies also won the tender for infrastructure like motorway, water and electricity in Kirkuk. The amount of business contracts that Turkish companies signed in last two months in Iraq reached 120 million U.S. dollars. Turkish companies' market share in Iraq including the previous contracts that the United Nations approved is targeted to reach 1 billion U.S. dollars by the end of the year.
SABAH (LIBERAL)
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PRESIDENT SEZER REFUSES TO ATTEND WEDDING
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer attended the inauguration of the Philosophy Congress in Istanbul. However, he did not attend the wedding ceremony of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Prime Minister Fatos Nano of Albania were in attendance at the wedding ceremony as witnesses. Earlier, Prime Minister Erdogan sent an invitation to President Sezer and his wife to attend the wedding of his son. More than 10 thousand guests watched the ceremony.
GUL: ''WE DISCUSS DISPATCH OF TURKISH SOLDIERS TO IRAQ''
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said, ''we will take into consideration our national interests as taking a decision about Iraq. A peaceful Iraq will be beneficial for us. In that case, our commercial relations will further develop and our economy will revive. If Iraqi people do not want us, our presence in Iraq will be meaningless.''
CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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WEDDING CEREMONY PARALYZES ISTANBUL
Istanbul's Lutfi Kirdar Congress and Exhibition Hall hosted two totally different activities yesterday. On the one hand, the most distinguished thinkers of both Turkey and the world discussed ''Philosophy Facing World Problems'' during the 21st World Philosophy Congress. On the other hand, a 17-year-old young girl got married with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan in a wedding ceremony which turned into a political show. 14 thousand guests attended the ceremony. Tight security measures were taken in and around the hall. A total of 5 thousand policemen were deployed. Citizens faced difficulties due to roads which were closed to the traffic because of the wedding.
SEZER: ''BASIS OF DEMOCRACY IS PHILOSOPHY''
Making the opening remark of the 21st World Philosophy Congress in Istanbul, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said, ''institutionalization of the philosophy in Turkey has begun in the republic era. However, philosophical education is not given adequate importance in our secondary schools. A modern philosophical education will open new horizons for our young people.''
RADIKAL (LEFT)
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''TURKISH CHILDREN DO NOT LIKE READING BOOK''
According to a public survey carried out in 35 countries, Turkish children do not like reading books. A total of 5 thousand 390 Turkish children from 62 provinces participated in the survey. While Sweden was ranked first in the survey, Turkey was ranked 28th among 35 countries. The survey revealed that Turkey should take a series of measures to infect its children with books.
ISTANBUL OVERCOMES WEDDING
Wedding ceremony of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan and Reyyan Uzuner paralyzed daily life and traffic in Istanbul. 5 thousand policemen were deployed for the wedding ceremony in which 14 thousand guests attended. Many roads were closed to the traffic under security measures. Meanwhile, participants of the 21st World Philosophy Congress were utterly bewildered with guests of the wedding wearing black Islamic-style cloths.
TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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''WE CAN'T IGNORE THE FIRE IN OUR NEIGHBOR''
General Staff Second Chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit who announced that the tri-partite summit of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and General Staff Chief Gen. Hilmi Ozkok would be held tomorrow at the Presidential Palace, said, ''we can't close our eyes if there is an instability in our neighbor''. Buyukanit answered questions of reporters during a reception he hosted in the garden of the General Staff Headquarters in Ankara. Replying a question which said, ''there are speculations that Washington expects a response in September about dispatch of troops to Iraq. Is there a general position or attitude that you conveyed to the government?'' Buyukanit said that assessments were under way. Recalling that Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and government officials had held an assessment meeting on August 5, Buyukanit said that they had presented their political and military evaluation at the meeting. He said, ''there will be a summit meeting at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday. Also the Chief of the General Staff will attend the meeting. And the government will form its decision.'' Stressing that the army did not have the authority to take political decision alone, Buyukanit said, ''the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has the capability of fulfilling every mission and duty. There should not be doubt about it. And nobody should attempt to use the TSK for his political purposes.'' He added, ''we sent soldiers to Afghanistan, Somalia and Bosnia. We can't close our eyes if there is instability in our neighbor across our door.''
''THEY ATTAINED THEIR DESIRE''
The wedding which engaged the public opinion's attention for days ended happily. Nearly ten thousand guests attended the wedding ceremony of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan and Reyyan Uzuner at the Lutfi Kirdar Congress and Exhibition Hall in Istanbul yesterday. At the marriage, Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and AK Party deputy Nevzat Yalcintas acted as witnesses of the bride while Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc acted as witnesses of the bridegroom. Before the wedding ceremony, an international philosophy conference was held at the hall, and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer made the opening remarks of the conference. Later, the President returned to Ankara. Meanwhile, General Staff Chief Gen. Hilmi Ozkok sent a wreath to the wedding ceremony. Following the ceremony, the Prime Minister hosted a dinner at the Dolmabahce Palace. Berlusconi, Nano, ministers and businessmen attended the dinner.
ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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WEDDING OF YEAR GETS THREE PRIME MINISTERS TOGETHER
Wedding ceremony of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son Bilal Erdogan and Reyyan Uzuner was performed by Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna in the presence of five witnesses. Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and AK Party deputy Nevzat Yalcintas acted as the witnesses of the bride while Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc acted as the witnesses of the bridegroom. Speaking to reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, Berlusconi said, ''I am here to keep my promise to Mr. Erdogan and under our friendship with Turkish people and government. We are working on marriage of Turkey and Europe.''
(UK-MS-AÖ) 11.08.2003