ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on March 17, 2004. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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A TV CHANNEL: TARGET OF SUICIDE BOMBERS
Three suicide bombers, who were getting ready to shed blood in Istanbul, were captured. Adem Cetinkaya, one of the detainees, was revealed to be the murderer of dentist Yasef Yahya. Cetinkaya was captured as he was getting ready to bomb a private TV channel.
Police, who was investigating the bomb attack on the Free and Accepted Masons Grand Lodge Association's building in Yakacik neighborhood of Kartal district in Istanbul, detained 18 people during the operations.
IMPORTANT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN TURKEY
Johannes Feldmayer, the Executive Board member of Siemens, said they considered important investment opportunities in Turkey, mainly public investments, and in the markets of information and communication technologies.
Emphasizing that geographical position made Turkey a key bridge country for trade with Central Asian countries, Feldmayer said this position also made Turkey a transit country for transportation of oil and natural gas products of Caspian region.
MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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SYRIAN GIVES MONEY TO MURDERERS
It was proven that the al-Qaeda cell which carried out car bomb attacks on synagogues, HSBC building and British Consulate in Istanbul had taken the money from Louai Sakka of Syria. While following the trail of number one terrorist Habib Aktas of the al-Qaeda cell which staged the four bloody bombings in Istanbul, the Directorate General of Security reached very important information. Habib Aktas was in contact with a person who was called ''Alaaddin of Syria'' and paying frequent visits to Turkey. The real name of this person was Louai Sakka. It was proven that Sakka had transferred plenty of money to Aktas before bombings. Besides, police found out the passports and names he used while entering Turkey. Officials stress that murderers like Azad Ekinci, Habib Aktas and Gurcan Bac escaped to Syria after bombings.
READY-TO-EXPLODE SUICIDE BOMBERS CAPTURED
Three of the eighteen persons who had been detained under the information given by Engin Vural who attacked on the Masonic association, were arrested. One of those persons confessed that he was the murderer of dentist Yasef Yahya. It was proven that some of those terrorists, four of whom are suicide bombers and claimed to have planned to attack a television channel, had earlier received training in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
ANATOLIA: CRADLE OF LANGUAGES
The latest supposition: More than six thousand languages and dialects spoken in the world were derived from a single language. The Indo-European language which is accepted as the ancestor of languages spread from Anatolia 8-10 thousand years ago.
SABAH (LIBERAL)
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THEY COME FROM CHINA AND DIE IN TURKEY
A firedamp explosion in the Turkish Coal Agency (TTK) coal mine in Karadon region in northern province of Zonguldak killed five Chinese workers, and wounded three others.
Chinese miners Liu Gruang Yung, Hung Lan Hong, Yi Xian Gin, Yon Xin Zinon and Cheng Ping were killed while Chinese miners Cheng Chanenel, Wu Lianvin and Yong Yongong were injured in the explosion which was caused by spread of spark during a welding work in the mine where nearly eighty TTK and Chinese miners were digging a shaft. Wu Lianvin, one of the injured Chinese miners, said the explosion happened while they were conducting a welding work of top of the shaft.
FROM GUL TO AJARIA: ''DON'T FORGET, YOU ARE WITHIN GEORGIAN BORDERS''
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul made a warning to Ajarian administration. Stating that Ajaria had a special status, Gul said, ''this status should not disrupt Georgia's territorial and political integrity.''
Gul said he met with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Jvaniya on Monday, and noted that, ''any military operation or clash will lead to deep wound in the Caucasus.''
CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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POLICE DID NOT PITY STUDENTS AGAIN
Police intervened in a group of people who attempted to hold an illegal demonstration in Beyazit Square in Istanbul and detained nearly thirty people.
Nearly 100 people who gathered in the main campus of the Istanbul University marched from the campus gate to the Beyazit Square and made a statement protesting the incidents that had happened in front of the university's Faculty of Pharmacy killing seven students and injuring forty-one others on March 16, 1978 and the use of chemical weapons in Halabji town of Iraq on March 16, 1988.
Police intervened in the demonstration with pepper-gas and clubs when groups attempted to make a press statement.
When police officers from the Rapid Deployment intervened in the groups, demonstrators dispersed through several directions. Meanwhile, some demonstrators threw stones at security forces. Many people were taken into custody during the incidents.
RADIKAL (LEFT)
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''REGION IS IN NEED OF US''
After three years, Jordan's King Abdullah came to Ankara yesterday bringing together his own project ''New Middle East'' instead of the United States' ''Greater Middle East Initiative''. King Abdullah who was the guest of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer together with Queen Raina, said that powerful cooperation of the two countries was the basic condition of ending of violence which did not stop in the region.
DENKTAS'S TRUMP CARD: RESIGNATION
In a response to rightist opposition parties' offer saying, ''resign and we fight against Annan's plan'', Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) leader Rauf Denktas said, ''it will be seen soon whether or not there is a need for my resignation.'' It will become clear whether or not Denktas would join the four-party meeting. Turkey and Greece are going to do the rehearsal of the four-party meeting in Athens today.
ERDOGAN ASKS ANNAN FOR HIS SUPPORT
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to use his influence over the issue of providing Cyprus agreement's harmonization with EU regulations. In a letter he sent to Annan, Erdogan reminded him of the promise which was given to Turkey in New York saying, ''it will be assured that the agreement will be permanent.''
TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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PEACE TO COME WITH YOU
King Abdullah of Jordan, who visited Ankara and Istanbul, said, ''I appreciate the efforts exerted by Turkey to settle peace in the Middle East. Your country is very valuable. We should do our best for the region to progress toward the way of peace.''
Abdullah also stressed that they wanted economic relations between the two countries to be improved.
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME TO START ON MARCH 28
Daylight saving time will start at the end of March.
The standard time will be set forward by one hour at 01.00 a.m. on Sunday, March 28. The daylight saving time will end on October 31, 2004 by setting back the standard time by one hour at 02.00 a.m.
A total of 6 billion 259 million kilowatt-hour of power has been saved in Turkey since 1990 as a result of daylight saving time practice.
ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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EU ALLOCATES 47 MILLION EURO FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE OF GAP
European Union (EU) acted together with GAP Regional Development Administration Chairmanship to preserve historical and cultural values in the region and allocated 47 million Euro budget for it.
GAP Regional Development administration chairman Muammer Yasar Ozgul, who gave information about the program, said 16.6 billion U.S. dollars would be spent for GAP by the end of the year.
WORLD BANK: SUPPORT WILL CONTINUE TO TURKEY
World Bank President James Wolfensohn said the World Bank would continue extending support to Turkey.
After visiting the International Finance Corporation (IFC) office in Istanbul, Wolfensohn answered questions of reporters.
Asked whether there was a need for a new stand-by deal between Turkey and the IMF in 2005, Wolfensohn said that he did not have detailed information on talks with the IMF, but he knew that the World Bank would continue extending support to Turkey.
Asked how much source they would transfer to Turkish economy in 2004 and 2005, Wolfensohn said that he could not comment on amount of source in 2005, but it was nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2004.
(AY-MS-AÖ) 17.03.2004