ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their brief stories in Turkey's press on June 23, 2004. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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EIGHT-YEAR MONITORING PROCEDURE ENDS
The Council of Europe (COE) Parliamentary Assembly decided to close the monitoring procedure for Turkey. The COE Parliamentary Assembly voted a report and draft resolution, which were prepared by Luc Van den Brande of Belgium and Mady Delvaux-Stehres of Luxembourg to close the procedure. The report eulogized the reform process in Turkey and made a series of recommendations to Turkey for the future. The procedure started in 1996 with the pretext of existence of problems in democratization and continuation of human rights violations in COE founding member Turkey. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that one more obstacle in front of opening of accession talks between Turkey and the European Union (EU) had been overcome with closure of the monitoring procedure.

''WE WILL KEEP OUR PROMISE''
Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Pinhas Avivi quoted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel as saying eight months ago that Israel would not do anything in northern party of Iraq without holding consultations with Turkey. Avivi denied news stories claiming that Israel had trained Kurdish commando units in northern part of Iraq.
MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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HISTORICAL DECISION FOR TURKEY
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (COEPA) signed a historical decision yesterday and ended the monitoring procedure for Turkey which has been continuing since 1996. 141 of 153 parliamentarians voted in favor of Turkey. The result of voting is one of the most positive decisions taken about Turkey on human rights and democracy fields. The decision of COEPA also means that Turkey met Copenhagen criteria mainly and it is also a strong message to the European Union (EU) which is about to take a decision whether or not to start membership negotiations with Turkey.

BUSH COMES WITH HIS HOTEL
A security that has never been applied until today will be implemented for U.S. President George W. Bush who will pay an official visit to Ankara prior to NATO Summit. Hilton Hotel in which Bush will stay will completely be evacuated and left to U.S. security experts.

SABAH (LIBERAL)
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TURKEY AND IMF AGREE ON DRAFT LETTER OF INTENT
State Minister Ali Babacan said that Turkey and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation headed by Turkey Desk Chief Reza Moghadam agreed on draft letter of intent. Babacan said that Turkey and IMF discussed the structure of their relations in and after 2005. Babacan emphasized that IMF Executive Directors were expected to complete the eighth review after Turkey submitted the letter of intent and before the Executive Board recessed in the second week of August. IMF is expected to release about 660 million U.S. dollars of loan for Turkey after it completed the eighth review.

ERDOGAN CRITICIZES NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ''NATO Summit will be held in Istanbul next week. The summit will make a valuable contribution to Turkey's promotion to the whole world. More than 10 thousand delegates from 57 countries will attend the summit. Therefore, there may be some problems in Istanbul.'' He added, ''marginal groups will, of course, use their democratic rights. Turkey is a democratic country. However, freedoms are not unlimited in democracies. If somebody violates freedom of the others, than it will be considered a crime. Some certain places were arranged for demonstrations. These groups can hold protests in these places.''

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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''ISRAEL DO NOT TELL THE TRUTH''
Journalist Seymour Hersh gave detailed information about activities of Israel in northern part of Iraq in an article in the New Yorker Magazine. He defended that Israel did not tell the truth. Hersh claimed that Israeli intelligence and military operatives were now quietly at work in northern part of Iraq, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel's view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria.

OPERATION FOR AMMONIUM NITRATE
Istanbul Police Department has speeded up its operations prior to NATO Summit on July 28 and 29. Acting on a tip-off, security forces raided a house in Tuzla district of Istanbul. During the operation, security forces seized six sacks of ammonium nitrate, a chemical substance used in production of bombs.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
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NINTH ADJUSTMENT PACKAGE ON WAY
The government prepared the ninth adjustment package including several arrangements in line with the latest constitutional amendments. The package was put to the signature of members of the Council of Ministers. Under the package, all expressions of ''death sentence'' will be removed from the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). According to the package, number of members of the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) Board will be reduced from nine to eight.

TURKEY'S WARNING TO TALABANI
Turkey gave the message to Patriotic Union of Iraqi Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani that it would not accept the request of Kurds for ''autonomous federation''. Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul stressed during his meeting with Talabani, ''on numerous occasions, we said together with the regional countries that we were against any arrangement that could jeopardize Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity.''

TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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OBSTACLES ARE OVERCOME
Ankara stated that one of the obstacles before Turkey's starting membership negotiations with the European Union (EU) was overcome with Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's (COEPA) ending monitoring procedure for Turkey.

GUL: WE HAVE TO BELIEVE STATEMENT OF ISRAEL
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said that Israel told Turkey that the news claiming that Israel has relations with Kurdish groups in the north of Iraq were not true. Gul added that Turkey has to believe the statement of Israel. Gul said that everybody knew the sensitivity of Turkey about this issue and added that they conveyed this sensitivity to related people.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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RETIRED OFFICERS: WE SHALL SWEEP AWAY LANDMINES ON SYRIA BORDER
A group of retired officers, who had undertaken missions in the southeast region for a long time, prepared a project to sweep away 615 thousand land mines on Syrian border. If National Defense Ministry approves the project, 30 thousand hectares of field will be cleaned and opened for agriculture. The government has decided to sweep away the land mines in previous months.

JOINT CONDEMNATION TO TERROR IN TUNCELI
Non-governmental organizations released a press statement in southeast Tunceli province and condemned terrorist activities. The organizations recalled that the terrorism in the region harmed Tunceli significantly on socioeconomic aspect.

(UK-GC-AÖ) 23.06.2004