PM ERDOGAN TO OPEN NEW HIGHWAY IN ALBANIA
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan next week is set to help open a new highway connecting Albania and Kosovo built by a Turkish-American consortium. Erdogan will join Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in the inaugural ceremony on June 25. The 61-kilometer highway was a joint venture of American company Bechtel and Turkish construction firm Enka. It will cut the six-hour travel time between the Albanian city of Drac to Kosovo's Morina border gate down to two hours. /Today's Zaman/
FM DAVUTOGLU TO TOUR FOUR CITIES IN FIVE DAYS
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday went to Luxembourg, the first stop of a tour including Berlin, New York and finally Moscow in a space of five days. Davutoglu yesterday attended an unofficial working dinner hosted by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and International Peace Institute (IPI) President Terje Rod-Larsen. Afterwards, Davutoglu will visit Berlin at the invitation of his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues. He is expected to meet with leading members of the Turkish community living there as well as representatives of Turkish groups. Davutoglu will then proceed to New York, where he will lead a meeting of the UN Security Council, which will discuss Iraq on Thursday. Finally he will fly to Moscow for an official visit to discuss bilateral, regional and international affairs with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. /Today's Zaman/
STATE MINISTER KAVAF ATTENDING EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON FAMILY POLICY
State Minister for Women and Family Affairs Selma Aliye Kavaf will attend a Council of Europe conference of ministers responsible for family affairs in Vienna, Austria today. Kavaf will address her European counterparts at a session on family-friendly policies. Kavaf is also scheduled to meet with her Austrian counterpart Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek. /Hurriyet Daily News/
GENERALS TO ATTEND SEMINAR IN ISTANBUL
More than 100 generals and admirals, including chiefs of staff of NATO and UN member states, will gather at the Silk Road 2009 Flag Officers Seminar in Istanbul next Tuesday and Wednesday. The theme of the seminar will be the cooperation of NATO and its partners on the bloc's 60th anniversary. Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug is expected to deliver the opening remarks. /Hurriyet Daily News/
TURKEY SHARES TOURISM EXPERIENCE WITH TURKMENISTAN
Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay yesterday attended the opening ceremony of four hotels built by Turkish contractors in Turkmenistan's Avaza Tourism Zone on the Caspian coast. The opening was also attended by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimohammedov, members of the Turkey-Turkmenistan Parliamentary Friendship Group, Turkish Ambassador to Ashgabat Huseyin A. Bicakli, Turkish Association of Travel Agencies (TURSAB) head Basaran Ulusoy, and Turkey's Calik Holding Chairman Ahmet Calik, along with other leading Turkish tourism industry figures. Speaking at the meeting, Berdimohammedov thanked Turkish businesspeople for their investments in his country, adding that his government would continue to ease visa, tax and customs requirements to promote such investments. Calling the new hotels a first step to improve the Turkmen tourism industry, he said similar facilities such as spas, culture and sports centers, private villas, modern hotels, and children's centers will be seen in Turkmenistan in the years to come. Also speaking at the ceremony, Gunay characterized Turkey and Turkmenistan as one nation with two states, adding that Turkey would continue to help Turkmenistan boost its tourism industry. Stating that the two countries can take part in joint tourism projects, Gunay also said that the TURSAB would help Turkmen officials revamp the country's tourism. Ulusoy proposed to Berdimohammedov a new vocational high school to educate young people to meet the country's tourism personnel needs. Berdimuhammedov aims to create a tourism zone in his country based on Turkey's experience along the Mediterranean coast, especially the famed resort city of Antalya, and similar to Dubai, and so is working to establish a free tourism zone in Avaza. The project to construct holiday and treatment facilities over 7,500 hectares has three stages. In the first stage, begun in late 2007, Turkmenistan wants to invest some $4 billion in construction. Around 40 foreign companies were interested in the first stage, but Turkish companies undertook the majority of the construction. /Sabah/
TURKEY TO LAUNCH MAJOR PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN IN INDIA
Turkey plans to launch a wide-ranging promotion campaign in India to tout its cultural and historical assets to the world's second most-populated country to capture a slice of the country's travel market. For the campaign, top Bollywood and other Indian beauties are filming ads in Turkish tourist and historical attractions such as Istanbul's Bosporus, the Cappadocia region, and the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya. At a press conference in Antalya yesterday, Miss India World Pooja Chopra called Turkey one of the 100 places everyone should visit during their livetimes. /Sabah/
ANATOLIAN EAGLE WARPLANE EXERCISE OVER KONYA
Dozens of jet fighter pilots from the US, Britain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and NATO AWACS pilots, along with their Turkish counterparts from the Turkish Air Forces, are engaging in mock aerial battles over the central Anatolian province of Konya as part of the Anatolian Eagle 2009/2 military exercises. A total of 83 jets, most from Turkey, are engaging in live bombing and strafing in a realistic training environment with simulated surface-to-air missiles confronting aggressors. The exercises are similar to the Red Flag exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in the US state of Nevada. The aerial battles are recorded on tape so that pilots can study errors that could have killed them in real combat. After starting on June 8, the drills will continue through Friday. The Anatolian Eagle 2009/2 exercises have been taking place at the 3rd Main Jet Airbase Command in Konya. Warplanes taking part in the drills include F-16s, Mirage-2000s, F-4s, and Eurofighters. /Turkiye/