GUL: "IT'S NOT THE KURDISH ISSUE, IT'S TURKEY'S PROBLEM"
President Abdullah Gul yesterday flew to Dakar, Senegal to attend a summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Before leaving, speaking about his recent meeting with a group of Democratic Turkey Party (DTP) deputies, Gul told reporters, "The problem in southeastern Turkey concerns all Turks, not only the people living in that region. It is characterized as a `Kurdish issue,' `terrorism issue' or `southeastern Anatolia issue.' In fact, it is Turkey's problem, not that of any group or party. The DTP is a party represented in Parliament, and every political party has opinions about the problems. My meeting with the DTP deputies was very normal." Gul said he had listened to the deputies' views on various issues, expressed his own, and gave them some advice. He stressed that all political parties, politicians, and people should help to solve the problem. /Hurriyet/

ERDOGAN: "THE GOVT WILL INVEST $11-12 BLN IN THE SOUTHEAST"
In an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the government is planning a broad series of investments worth as much as $12 billion in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast, in a new economic effort intended to create jobs and draw young men away from the terrorist PKK. "The state will invest between $11 billion and $12 billion over five years to build two large dams and a system of water canals, complete paved roads and remove land mines from the fields along the Syrian border," reported the Times. Plans for the project will be completed within two months, said Erdogan, at which point construction on the two dams will begin. He said he had dedicated one of his deputy prime ministers to visit cities across the southeast to work on it. Within a few months one TV channel of state broadcaster TRT will also include Kurdish, Persian and Arabic, Erdogan said. "We have relatives in northern Iraq," he added. "And people living there have relatives in our southeastern region. With whom will we have good relations other than with ourselves?" He also said a consulate would be opened in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in an effort to improve relations with Iraq. /Turkiye/

INTERIOR MINISTER RECEIVES DTP DEPUTIES
On the heels of meetings earlier this week with both the president and Parliament speaker, Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputies yesterday met with Interior Minister Besir Atalay. DTP group leader Ahmet Turk and deputy group leader Selahattin Demirtas attended the meeting, at which the upcoming Nevruz celebrations were discussed. Turk said that they would organize events at 87 locations and asked Atalay to provide facilities for those, and Atalay urged them to avoid any actions that could cause tension. /Star/

TRNC'S TALAT TO MEET NEXT WEEK WITH CHRISTOFIAS
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat will reportedly meet with Greek Cypriot administration leader Demetris Christofias next Friday, March 21, at the residence of Michael Moller, the special UN envoy on Cyprus. The Turkish side places great importance on the meeting, where it expects clarification of the direction the Cyprus issue will take in the days to come. /Turkiye/

CARIBBEAN PREMIER VISITS TURKEY
Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, yesterday arrived in Ankara as the guest of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gonsalves, in Turkey to exchange views on regional issues with an eye towards developing Turkey's friendship and cooperation with the Latin America and Caribbean regions, will also travel to Izmir and Istanbul to meet with tourism sector investors. /Aksam/

ECONOMY MINISTERS TOUT IMPROVED FIGURES
Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan and two other state ministers responsible for economic matters, Nazim Ekren and Mehmet Simsek, yesterday held a press conference on economic figures for Turkey revised under new formulas. "Since 2004, the debt owed by the Turkish public sector has been declining, in a mark of economic success, and debts are no longer a matter of concern," said Simsek. "This is an important development." He added that over the past five or six years, fiscal discipline has been restored. Erken also stated that Turkey can be seen as richer from a macroeconomic perspective as the nation's income was adjusted to a higher figure, adding, "International investors will have a different approach to Turkey from now on." Unakitan said that the government budget's share of the economy has declined to below one-fourth and that making concessions from fiscal discipline is out of the question. /Turkiye-Milliyet/

TUSIAD URGES GOVT TO CONTINUE WORKING WITH IMF
Turkey's future relations with the International Monetary Fund need to be clarified as soon as possible, said Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) head Arzuhan Dogan Yacindag yesterday. "Turkey's standby agreement with the IMF will end in May, when uncertainty and instability in the world economy will probably reach a peak," she said. "Maintaining strong relations with the IMF will be an important safeguard for Turkey's economy." /Sabah/