ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their summaries in Turkish press on August 19th, 2008. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET
--------
BEST ANSWER TO DASTARDS
PKK terrorists exploded a bomb next to a private course in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir`s city-center eight months ago, killing seven people and wounding 65, including students preparing for the university exam. Although students went through a severe trauma, their resolution, psychologic support and efforts exerted by their teachers brought success. 1,113 students of the course passed the exam and got the right to study several fields such as medicine, engineering, dental surger, and business administration at universities.

FLIGHT TOLERANCE FOR ARMENIA
It was revealed that Turkey made a significant favor for Armenia during the conflict between Russia and Georgia. Ankara relaxed the flight quota to enable Georgians to leave the country via air and facilitate humanitarian assistance.

MILLIYET
--------
GOVERNMENT`S EU MOVE
The government will shape up the draft of National Program, which it has prepared according to views of the opposition and non-governmental organizations under its EU membership bid. The 400-page draft, which was discussed in Monday`s Council of Ministers meeting, is comprised of four parts.

LAND MINE TERROR AGAIN
PKK terrorists exploded a remote-control land mine while a military vehicle was passing by in Cizre town of the southeastern province of Sirnak. Non-commissioned officer Muslum Firat was killed and eight soldiers were wounded in the attack which occurred near Kizilsu village at 7:00 a.m. Monday. After the attack, soldiers launched operation in the region with helicopters. Also one soldier was injured after he stepped on a land mine which had been planted by terrorists in the southeastern province of Siirt.

SABAH
-----
FROM COMA TO MEDICAL FACULTY
18-year-old Gorkem Emre Oz, who was injured in a bomb attack in front of "Final", a private course in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on January 3rd, was taken to intensive care unit and received treatment for one month. Oz, whose leg was broken, also underwent a surgery, and then received treatment for another one month at his home. Oz, who lost his best friend in the attack, did not give up, and took university exam. Oz passed the exam and will study at Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty.

TURKEY`S AFRICAN APPROACH
50 of 53 African countries participated in the African Union Summit which is being held for the first time in Turkey. With the directives of President Abdullah Gul, the traffic was not interrupted in Istanbul, and leaders were brought to summit building by sea way. Making cooperation with Africa in eight areas is high on the agenda. Also, Gul received delegations from 26 countries on Monday.

VATAN
-----
SIRNAK: ONE SOLDIER KILLED, 8 INJURED
Terrorists exploded a land mine which they planted on the road near Kizlisu village of Cizre town of the southeastern province of Sirnak while a military vehicle was passing by on Monday. Non-commissioned officer Muslum Firat was killed in the blast. Eight soldiers were wounded in the attack and taken to hospital. Also one soldier, who stepped on a land mine in the southeastern province of Siirt, was injured.

AL-BASHIR CRISIS
The arrival of Sudanese leader Al-Bashir, who was asked to be arrested on charges of genocide, in Istanbul to attend Turkey-Africa Summit puzzled the whole world. 50 African leaders were invited to Turkey-Africa Summit which will officially begin at Ciragan Palace on Tuesday. The summit is hosted by President Abdullah Gul. The most discussed name is Al-Bashir who is kept responsible for masscare of 35,000 people in Darfur.

CUMHURIYET
----------
PROPOSAL FOR CIVILIAN SHIP FOR ASSISTANCE
Options have become clearer at talks with U.S. officials regarding assistance to Georgia.
Turkish officials said that there would be no trouble about the tonnage of the U.S. civilian fleet to stream to Black Sea from Turkish straits if the assistance would be made by civilian ships, as restrictions in the Montreux Treaty cover warships.

GENOCIDE CRIMINAL AL-BASHIR IN TURKEY
Sudan`s President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Istanbul for the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit. Red carpet rolled out for al-Bashir. Al-Bashir, who was blamed for committing genocide against ethnic groups in Sudan, had paid a formal visit to Turkey in January. International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him last month but Al-Bashir can easily come to Turkey.

RADIKAL
-------
TERROR COULD NOT STOP HIM
Gorkem Emre Oz, who was treated at hospital for a while after the deadly terrorist attack near a private course in Diyarbakir that killed six kids who were preparing for university exam, was one of the survivors of the attack. He took the university exam with crutches and succeeded to enter faculty of medicine at Izmir`s Dokuz Eylul University.

NEW MEDAL LOOMS IN BEIJING
Turkish boxer Yakup Kilic defeated his Algerian opponent in men`s 57 kg and guaranteed bronze medal in Beijing Olympics. Kilic will fight Ukrainian world silver medal winner boxer on Friday to qualify to final.

TURKIYE
-------
TOURISM REVENUES PLEASING
Tourism sector earned great amount of money despite the economic crisis that hit the globe this year. Basaran Ulusoy, chairman of the Association of Turkish Travel Agents, said, "tourists who travel thrice a year, vacationed once this year due to global crisis. But Turkish tourism sector saw it beforehand and set sail taking into account the wind. And it brought 22 percent growth this year."

COOPERATION WITH AFRICA
Turkey-Africa Business Forum took start in Istanbul with the participation of 50 African countries. Parties agreed to increase trade volume between Turkey and African countries to 30 billion USD in 5 years. It stood at 13 billion USD last year.

ZAMAN
-----
GISAN ALWAYS USED WORKERS FOR TESTING LIFE BOATS
Mehmet Oyar, the owner of GISAN Shipyard in Tuzla town of Istanbul --where an accident occurred recently and killed three workers and injured 12 others-- claimed that sand bags were not used while testing life boats. Oyar said, "I don`t know about sand bags. Sand bags are not used in testing."

TURKEY LEADER IN BORON PRODUCTION
Investments, which have been made in boron sector in the recent years, made Turkey the leader. Turkey has 72 percent of world`s boron reserves. Turkey has been behind China in boron production for long years, but now it has become the leader thanks to investments.

YENI SAFAK
----------
BRONZE OKEY, NOW IT IS TIME FOR GOLD
Turkish boxer Yakup Kilic in men`s 57 kg defeated his Algerian opponent Abdulkadir Chadi 13-6 in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Kilic reached semi-finals. Kilic guaranteed the bronze medal. He will fight Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko on Friday for final.

HE DID NOT COLLAPSE
Gorkem Emre Oz, who was severely injured in the bomb attack in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir that also killed seven people, joined university exam with crutches. He won Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty.

(TÇ-GC-MS)