ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their summaries in Turkish press on May 27th, 2008. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET (LIBERAL)
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PRESIDENT INTERVENES
President Abdullah Gul, whom Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chairman Devlet Bahceli called on to take initiatives to ease tension between the government and jurisdiction, took the first step.
Releasing a statement, Gul said he was closely following the developments that had intensified recently, and his meetings would continue.
Gul met Supreme Court of Appeals chief judge Hasan Gerceker for 40 minutes.

FINNISH BADGE TO TURKISH CONDUCTOR
General Music Director of Borusan philharmonic orchestra and conductor Gurer Aykal will be decorated with state medal of Finland at a ceremony on May 29th in Ankara.

MILLIYET (LIBERAL)
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"TRIAL SHOULD END AS SOON AS POSSIBLE"
On his way back from Lebanon, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the closure case against the ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party put them into a quite difficult position. "We want the trial to end as soon as possible. Turkey should not be harmed in this process. On the other hand, elections will be held in March 2009."

STATEMENT COMES FROM CANKAYA THIS TIME
President Abdullah Gul has taken action in an effort to ease the tension between the government and the judiciary. A statement issued by the Cankaya Presidential Palace said, "it is the duty of all responsible people and institutions to pay attention to rules of good manners and ethics."

CEYLAN: ONE OF THE BEST OF THE WORLD
Movie world has admired Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan who won the "Best Director Award" with his film "Three Monkeys" at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. Afmet Rifat Sungar, one of the actors of the movie, said, "following the award ceremony, Sean Penn and Natalie Portman told us that they liked our film so much."

SABAH (LIBERAL)
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A GESTURE, A VETO
Chief of Greek General Staff Gen. Dimitrios Grapsas, who paid a visit to Turkey upon an invitation from his Turkish counterpart Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, was welcomed at a military ceremony. The military band played traditional Greek music "syrtaki" .
While political analysts regarded the visit as a new step in the Turkey-Greece rapprochement, a separate development took place at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A group from Greece who wanted to revive a three thousand year old legend, constructed a wooden ship identical to the one mentioned in it, and wanted to follow its route and pass through the straits. Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused their demand for security reasons.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs perceived the initiative as an attempt to realise the pontic dreams, which was the real reason of their refusal. The group from Greece who asked for permission one year ago wanted to go to Georgia with the ship. When their demand was refused, they reapplied two months ago. However no answer came from Ankara yet.

"THE INCIDENTS CAUSED US 25 BILLION USD," PREMIER
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to reporters on the plane during his return from Lebanon: "We were going to attract around 25 billion USD of foreign investments. Because of the incidents, delays have begun. We told foreign investors that continuity was paramount in state affairs and we invited them. Because if we lose them they will go to other countries. We want to dissolution case to be concluded as soon as possible."

VATAN (INDEPENDENT)
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SOUTHEAST PACKAGE TO BE MADE PUBLIC TODAY
During his visit to the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make public his projects which have priority. The projects are described as "the second biggest development move of the Republican history".
Nine ministers as well as many bureaucrats will attend the visit.

THE ADDRESS IS ERDOGAN
President Abdullah Gul released a written statement and said he was closely following political and legal discussions that had intensified recently within the country and called on the parties to act in line with the customs and traditions, and methods.
By saying, "in my regular meetings with the representatives of the constitutional institutions in the recent months..." Gul referred to his regular meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Cankaya Palace on Thursdays.

CUMHURIYET (LEFT)
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"GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE THE STEP"
President Abdullah Gul received Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Judge Hasan Gerceker in an effort to ease the current tension in Turkey. During the meeting, Gerceker expressed his uneasiness over the recent developments in the country. "It is not the judiciary that created this tension," he said. President Gul said that the discussions should not reach dimensions that could harm national interests, economic and political stability.

OUR PROUD
Prominent Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the "Best Director Award" with his film "Three Monkeys" at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. Speaking at the award ceremony, Ceylan said, "I am honored with this award. I dedicate it to my beautiful country Turkey." He described Turkey as a lonely and beautiful country. Leading names of Turkish cinema expressed great pleasure with his success.

RADIKAL (LEFT)
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"GRAVE SINS" FROM DIRECTORATE OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS
Those who accessed to the web-site of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, have been bewildered with an article about sexual life and bans. According to the article, flirtation is a sin as gravest as adultery. The article also says that women`s involvement in working life is inconvenient since men and women should not stay alone. According to the article, women`s traveling alone and wearing perfumes are also unfavorable.

SUCCESS OF "THREE MONKEYS"
Prominent actor Sean Penn, who led the award jury at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, has kept his promise and taken into consideration films by directors who cared about the world. Accordingly, Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the "Best Director Award" with his film "Three Monkeys". Ceylan dedicated his award to his lonely and beautiful country Turkey.

TURKIYE (RIGHT)
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TURKEY TO EXPORT GRAIN-CEREALS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend "Gap Action Plan" meeting in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and initiate the agricultural mobilization. "We will boost agriculture with an investment worth of 12.5 billion USD. Turkey will become a country exporting grain-cereals to other countries," Prime Minister Erdogan said.

"PARLIAMENT DID NOT DESERVE THOSE ACCUSATIONS"
Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said that the parliament did not deserve those harsh accusations by the judiciary. He also expressed his regret over reaction of the highest court against the legislative organs` way of using their authorities.

CHIEF OF GREEK GENERAL STAFF IN ANKARA
An official welcoming ceremony took place at the Turkish General Staff Headquarters in honor of Chief of Greek General Staff Gen. Dimitrios Grapsas. Gen. Grapsas said at his meeting with General Staff Chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit that Turkey and Greece were quite lucky to have great leaders like Ataturk and Venizelos.

ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)
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IF WE HAD NOT LIVED THIS PROCESS, WE WOULD
HAVE ATTRACTED 25 BILLION USD OF INVESTMENT
Prime Minister Erdogan said the incidents that began with the dissolution case seriously harmed Turkey. Erdogan said the damage on economy was getting bigger gradually and foreign investors started delaying their investments. If it were not for these incidents we would have attracted 25 billion USD of foreign investments. Erdogan who asked the dissolution case against Justice and Development (AK) Party to be concluded as soon as possible said, "on the one hand there is fight against terrorism, on the other hand there is the elections in March 2009. Whatever is going to happen should happen. And everybody will act accordingly."

DISCUSSIONS SHOULD NOT HARM OUR NATIONAL UNITY AND STABILITY
President Abdullah Gul stepped in for the solution of the crisis between the judiciary and the government. Gul initially invited Hasan Gerceker, president of the Supreme Court of Appeals, to the Presidential Palace. Gerceker had a meeting with President Gul on Monday. According to sources, President Gul emphasized Turkey`s stability during the meeting and said, "Political and jural discussions should not harm the stability, estimation and progress gained with sacrifices of our people." Gul who issued a written statement before the meetings said all related people and institutions should try to protect the stability. Gul said that discussions were necessary and beneficial in democracies, but pointed out that they should not escalate to a point harming economy and political stability.

YENI SAFAK (CONSERVATIVE)
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CANKAYA STATEMENT
President Abdullah Gul made warning for stability against the political statements released by Supreme Court of Appeals and Council of State consecutively that "escalated tension".
President Gul wanted the parties to refrain from acts targeting hard-won stability.

CASE OPENED, 25 BILLION USD MISSED
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said foreigners were amazed against the closure case, saying that, "25 billion USD foreign capital would have flowed to Turkey if those incidents had not happened."
"Turkey can not be an iron curtain country from now on," Erdogan said.

(UK-OZG-AY-MS)