ERDOGAN PLEDGES TO PASS TCK WITHOUT ADULTERY BAN; VERHEUGEN SAYS NO OBSTACLES REMAIN TO ANKARA’S ACCESSION TALKS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently in Brussels for an official visit, yesterday met with European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen to discuss Turkey’s EU bid. During their meeting, Erdogan said that the government wouldn’t insist on the issue of criminalizing adultery in a new Turkish Penal Code (TCK) bill and complained that he had been misunderstood on the issue. “We’ll pass the TCK bill without including the issue of adultery,” he said. Later, speaking at a joint press conference alongside Verheugen, Erdogan thanked the commissioner for his contributions and added that the Parliament would pass the new TCK bill as soon as possible. For his part, Verheugen reiterated that the new TCK was very important for fulfilling the EU political criteria and that with its passage, no more obstacles would remain to Ankara’s accession talks. Verheugen added that there would be no further conditions stipulated for Ankara’s EU bid. /Aksam/

WITH TCK ROW RESOLVED, ERDOGAN AND PRODI ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met separately in Brussels with European Union Commission President Romano Prodi and European Parliament Chairman Josep Borrell. Speaking afterwards, Erdogan pledged that the Parliament would urgently discuss and pass the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK) bill. For his part, Prodi called Erdogan’s visit very positive and added that the EU Commission report scheduled to be released on Oct. 6 would be just and objective. Later, speaking at a joint press conference with Borrell, Erdogan said that the issue of outlawing adultery would no longer be on the government’s agenda. He stressed that Ankara had fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria, adding that he believed there was no reason to say no to beginning Ankara’s accession talks. /Aksam/

GUL: “AT THE DECEMBER SUMMIT, TURKEY WILL GET A DATE TO BEGIN ITS EU TALKS”
Currently in New York to attend United Nations General Assembly sessions, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul predicted yesterday that during December’s European Union summit Turkey would get an unconditional date to soon begin its accession talks. Speaking to reporters after meeting with representatives of the US Jewish community, Gul said that his government had made great efforts on the road to EU membership and would not jeopardize this cause. “Turkey will honorably become a member of the EU, and will contribute greatly to world peace,” said the foreign minister. /Turkiye/

PARLIAMENT TO CONVENE ON SUNDAY TO PASS TCK BILL
After his meetings in Brussels with European Union leaders, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday telephoned Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials to set up a Sunday extraordinary session of Parliament in order to sweep away the last obstacle to Turkey beginning its EU accession talks. AKP deputies also submitted a proposal with 208 signatures for such a session to Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc. Arinc is expected to call for Parliament to meet this Sunday, unifying the motions given by both the AKP and the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which had proposed a Tuesday session. Arinc is set to hold a press conference addressing the matter today. During the extraordinary session, the two last articles of the TCK bill will be debated. No arrangements concerning a controversial measure outlawing adultery will be on the agenda. /Turkiye/

CHP VOWS CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR TCK BILL
Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chairman Kemal Anadol said yesterday that his party welcomed the end of the recent crisis regarding the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) bill. He added that his party’s support for the bill would continue. Meanwhile, CHP leader Deniz Baykal suspended his program in Trabzon scheduled for Sunday in order to attend an expected Parliament session to debate the TCK. /Turkiye/

BABACAN: “THE NEW LIRA WILL BOOST TURKS’ INTEREST IN THEIR OWN CURRENCY”
Speaking at a press conference on the new Turkish Lira, which is due to begin circulating at the beginning of next year, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan yesterday said that the re-denominated money would boost the Turkish people’s interest in their own currency, predicting that it would be easy to adopt the new lira without the current six zeros. /Milliyet/

TURKEY, ALGERIA SIGN ECONOMIC PROTOCOL
Ankara and Algiers yesterday signed a protocol during a meeting of the Turkish-Algerian Joint Economic Commission (KEK). Under the protocol, signed in Ankara, analysts are to meet next year to address tariff obstacles faced by Turkish firms seeking entry into Algeria as well as ways to improve banking sector cooperation. /Star/

IMF: “TURKEY IS ON TRACK TO BECOME A TIGER ECONOMY”
Since its amazing recovery in the wake of the 2001 crisis, Turkey is on its way to becoming a “tiger economy,” a new International Monetary Fund report said yesterday. Michael Deppler, the IMF’s European Department director, and IMF Turkey Desk Chief Reza Moghadam discuss the topic in an IMF survey entitled: “Turkey: From Crisis to Recovery.” “Turkey is shifting to a new view of both its place in the world and how it wants to manage its economy and its politics more generally,” adds Deppler in the report. “That is probably the most significant change, to hope that Turkey’s performance in the future is going to be significantly better than it has been in the past.” Deppler underlines that as he sees it, almost all the country’s economic woes stem from political problems. Moghadam, for his part, calls the performance of Turkey’s fiscal policy impressive compared with that in emerging markets around the world. “Last year the government ran the highest primary surplus on record in that country, just over 6% of GNP [gross national product],” adds Moghadam. “For the first time in Turkey's history, the credibility gap – the gap between market expectations and the inflation target – has turned negative.” /Hurriyet/