PRESIDENT GUL DUE IN BAHRAIN TODAY
Starting today, President Abdullah Gul will pay a two-day official visit to Bahrain as the official guest of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. During his stay, he is expected to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues. /Hurriyet Daily News/

STATE MINISTER AYDIN VISITING JAPAN THIS WEEK
State Minister Mehmet Aydin will travel to Japan on Wednesday. He is expected to hold talks in Tokyo with Japan's foreign minister, state minister for food security, and minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology. Aydin will return to Turkey on Sunday. / Hurriyet Daily News/

CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF BASBUG TO HOLD MEETING TODAY
Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug is today set to hold a meeting to discuss recent domestic developments such as the fight against terrorism, the ongoing Ergenekon probe, and the outcome in southeastern Anatolia of last month's nationwide local elections. /Sabah/

US SEC'Y OF STATE CLINTON DUE IN TURKEY NEXT MONTH
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit Turkey next month for her second visit this year. Issues such as the fight against terrorism, recent developments in neighboring and regional countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the so-called Armenian genocide allegations are set to be discussed during her visit. /Turkiye/

NEW DETENTIONS IN ERGENEKON PROBE
Former and current university rectors as well as academics and members of the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD) and the Support for Modern Life Association (CYDD) were among 20 people detained yesterday as part of the ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, an alleged secret crime network nested within state organs charged with plotting to overthrow the government. Twenty individuals were detained yesterday in simultaneous police operations staged at 83 homes and offices belonging to 50 people in 18 cities as part of the ongoing investigation. The new detainees include Baskent University Rector Mehmet Haberal, ADD Deputy Chairman Mustafa Yurtkuran, former Ondokuz Mayys University Rector Ferit Bernay, and former Ynönü University Rector Fatih Hilmiodlu. The offices of CYDD Chairwoman Türkan Saylan were also searched yesterday, and Tijen Mergen, a member of Milliyet newspaper's board, was detained. The rectors, the prosecution claims, were actively involved in planned military coups which retired generals are suspected of having devised in 2003 and 2004. Searches were conducted in offices of the ADD, CYDD, Contemporary Education Foundation, Kanal B television station, Baskent University and Patalya Hotel. More than 200 people have been indicted in the case on charges of forming an illegal organization to provoke events to pave the way for a coup. But opposition parties accuse the government of using the case to muzzle its opponents and cover up its political failures. /Sabah/

AZERI DEPUTIES: "IF TURKEY OPENS ITS BORDER WITH ARMENIA, IT WILL LOSE AZERBAIJAN"
Azeri Deputies Azay Guliyev, Tenzile Rustemhanli and Rauf Zeyni, in Turkey to express their worry that Turkey will open its border to Armenia without a solution in Nagorno-Karabakh, held contacts in Ankara yesterday. In an interview with Cumhuriyet daily, they warned that Turkish-Azeri relations could be ruined. "If the border opens, Turkey will lose Azerbaijan," added one of the deputies. "Azerbaijan will use its strategic trump card. And also the interests of the US, which is pressuring Turkey to open its border, will run risks." /Cumhuriyet/

GOVT ANNOUNCES EU PRE-ACCESSION ECONOMIC PROGRAM
The government has announced the details of a long-awaited stimulus package to be implemented over the next three years as part of efforts to cushion the global economic crisis' impact on Turkey. Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, alongside Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek and Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, Deputy Prime Minister Nazim Ekren yesterday said the EU Pre-Accession Economic Program will first be sent to Parliament for approval and is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Stating that Turkey is being affected by the crisis like all other countries, Ekren said the government had reconsidered economic forecasts in light of the crisis. Ekren said the government will step up work on having an automatic tax system for the whole country next year. "The tax collection system will be revised before the end of this year," he added. "Public spending on civil service wages and expenditures on State Economic Enterprises will be arranged in line with economic targets." The government will not create new extra-budgetary funds or arrange the budgets of local administrations, he explained. Ekren said the government will not halt public investments and is expected to allocate some _12.2 billion for the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) through 2012. "The middle-term plan involves the basic principles of a standby deal that the government expects to sign with the International Monetary Fund soon," he said. Under the program, the budget deficit to gross national income ratio this year would be 4.6 percent, followed by 3.2 percent for 2010 and 2.8 percent for 2011. The new package would also provide for the effective operation of a credit guarantee fund. "The packages (to fight the economic crisis) we have introduced so far total $750 billion, and their ratio to the budget is 17 percent," he said. Turkey has one of the most steadily growing economies in its region with a $750 billion gross domestic product, said Ekren. He said they expect a 3.6 percent contraction in the economy for 2009. "For 2010 we predict 3.3 percent growth, and 4.5 percent by 2011," he added. Turkey's exports will amount to $104 billion this year and $111 billion and $120 billion in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Turkey's foreign trade deficit will be $34 billion this year, and $43 billion and $54 billion in 2010 and 2011, he added. /Sabah/