ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their summaries in Turkish press on May 4th, 2008. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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TERRORIST HEADS MIGHT HAVE BEEN KILLED IN RAID ON MOUNT QANDIL
Intelligence sources have suggested that PKK's terrorist heads might be among those hit during Turkish military's air operation on Mount Qandil, some 100 km inside Iraq's north, where some 150 terrorists were killed by heavy bombardment of the warplanes. Sources believe that Murat Karayilan, one of the heads of the terrorist organization, also might have been killed during the operation.

GOVERNMENT REVISES PRIMARY SURPLUS DOWN TO %3.5
Turkish government revised its primary surplus target for 2008 down to 3.5 percent, 3 points lower than an earlier projection of an economic program unveiled after an economic crisis in 2001. Economic analysts have said the revision meant a loosening in financial discipline. Turkish State Minister for the Treasury Mehmet Simsek said however, "any loosening of the financial discipline is out of question."

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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"LOCAL ELECTION INVESTMENT" BY AK PARTY
The Justice & Development (AK) Party government dropped the public sector primary surplus target from 4.2 percent to 3.5 percent for 2008. The government aims at using the source which will be created by this reduction in primary surplus target for Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP), employment package and local administrations. Economy experts consider this initiative of AK Party "local election investment".

GREAT PANIC IN PKK
General Staff announced that more than 150 PKK terrorists including senior members were killed in the operation to the Qandil region in the north of Iraq on May 1st and 2nd. It said the operation led to panic among terrorists.

SABAH (LIBERAL)
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MAJOR BLOW TO PKK
More than 150 terrorists were killed in Qandil region in the north of Iraq. Turkish General Staff announced the results of the air operation conducted on May 1st in the north of Iraq. A statement by the General Staff said the operation led to panic among members of terrorist organization and heads of the terrorist organization might have been killed in the operation.

DOGUS HOLDING: "WE DON'T EXPECT AN ECONOMIC CRISIS"
Ferit Sahenk, chairman of executive board of Dogus Holding, said they did not expect an economic crisis in the country. Sahenk said as long as remarkable transformation and achievements continued, Turkey would keep advancing on its way with sound steps.

VATAN (INDEPENDENT)
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JURISTOCRACY AND TAUTOLOGY
The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has opened two concepts to discussion in its defensive argument in the closure case: Juristocracy and tautology. AK Party argument says that the indictment is "a political manifesto." "Judiciary cannot be used as an instrument of political opposition otherwise it becomes political. This would turn the democratic regime into a juristocracy, which is a rule of the judges," AK Party said. "The indictment is a monument of tautology, a repeated sum of same arguments. The indictment is devoid of any legal or political legitimacy."

ANOTHER POLICE STATE RAID
Prof. Gencay Gursoy, chairman of the Turkish Doctors' Union (TTB), was briefly taken into custody at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday at a hotel in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Gursoy was brought before a court for "having failed to notify the prosecutor's office" that he had resigned from a journal of which he was the editor-in-chief many years ago. Gursoy filed a criminal complaint on Friday after police tossed a tear gas into a hospital during a break up in May Day demonstrations in Istanbul.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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EU ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO TURKEY
Lithuania's Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said the EU attached a great importance to Turkey and if Turkey became a full member of the EU, the Union could expand into Eurasia. Kirkilas said they were determined to support Nabucco Project.

PREPARATION FOR CENSURE MOTION
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman Deniz Baykal said the government was responsible for the incidents that took place on May 1st, not the unions. Baykal said they discussed a censure motion against interior minister or prime minister.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
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CUSTODY AT EARLY MORNING
The police detained Gencay Gursoy, chairman of Turkish Doctors' Union, at 5 a.m. at a hotel in Ankara. Later Gursoy was released by the court. Doctors' chambers, and some other nongovernmental organizations condemned the police.

NEW TARGET AT PRIMARY SURPLUS: 3.5 PERCENT
The government revised public sector primary surplus target, which was earlier set as 4.2 percent for 2008, as 3.5 percent. Speaking at a press briefing in Ankara about the medium-term financial frame for the period between 2008 and 2012, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said a revision took place in the national income calculation and medium term global economic and financial outlook has been changed. The public sector primary surplus target was set as 3 percent for 2009, 2.7 percent for 2010, 2.5 percent for 2011 and 2.4 percent for 2012, Unakitan said.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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FOREIGN MINISTER EXPECTS NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS
Turkish Foreign Minister said "Turkey could take a new initiative" to ease its relations with its eastern neighbor Armenia. "Some new developments can take place concerning relations with Armenia in the period ahead," Ali Babacan told reporters.

EU OFFICIAL: "UNION CANNOT REMAIN INDIFFERENT ON AK PARTY CLOSURE CASE"
European Commissioner for enlargement Olli Rehn has said that "the Union could not remain indifferent" if Turkey's highest court ruled to close the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party. "Turkey is facing a new political tension concerning the closure case against AK Party. Democratic principles must be observed according to the European standards," Rehn said.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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GUL MEETS TURKS IN MACEDONIA
Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited on Saturday a Turkish neighborhood in Macedonia's Ohrid city where he has participated in the 15th Summit of Presidents of Central European States. Gul was welcomed with great acclamation by Turks who carried Turkish flags.

TURKEY SPENDS 300 MLN USD ON TEST-TUBE BABY
Infertile couples in Turkey spent around 300 million USD for test-tube baby in 2007, however, one out of every three of them had a baby. And with the new social security law, the Turkish government lowers the maximum number of test-tube treatments that it would finance from three to two. Around 150 thousand couples sought treatment in 2007.

YENI SAFAK (CONSERVATIVE)
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DOGUS HOLDING: "WE DON'T EXPECT AN ECONOMIC CRISIS"
Ferit Sahenk, chairman of executive board of Dogus Holding, said they did not expect an economic crisis in the Turkey. "Everyone has been working hand in hand in the world. The situation in international financial markets has been getting better. We don't expect an economic crisis in Turkey," Sahenk said.

HIGH IRON PRICE TO PULL DOWN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
Necip Nasir from Izmir Chamber of Trade said increase in iron prices led construction companies to go bankrupt. Nasir said quota must be implemented in exports of iron.
(YMB-EÖ)