TOPTAN MEETS WITH KYRGYZ DELEGATION
Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan yesterday met with Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Interparliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Djangoroz Kanimetov and an accompanying delegation. Kanimetov said that Turkey and Kyrgyzstan have close social, cultural and historical ties. Trade between the two countries is valued at $186 million, he added. Toptan, for his part, said that one of his major goals is to help establish better relations with the Turkic world. /Hurriyet Daily News/
ERDOGAN, BERISHA TO OPEN ALBANIA-KOSOVO HIGHWAY
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with his Albanian counterpart, Sali Berisha, will inaugurate a highway connecting Albania and Kosovo later this month. Turkish-US consortium Bechtel-Enka constructed a 61-kilometer stretch of the highway, running between the Albanian cities of Durres and Kukes, and the road is set to cut the travel time from Durres to the Morina checkpoint on the border with Kosovo from six hours to two. In related news, Erdogan is set to visit Greece, Albania and Belgium late this month. /Today's Zaman-Hurriyet Daily News/
DAVUTOGLU: "BOTH RULING AND OPPOSITION PARTIES HAVE BEEN LOYAL TO TURKEY'S EU GOAL"
There has been no letup in Turkey's interest in its European Union membership, said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday. After meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Davutoglu told a joint press conference that Turkey's ruling and opposition parties have both been loyal to Ankara's goal of EU membership. Stating that Turkey will reject any alternatives to full membership, he underlined the importance of Turkey as an energy hub for Europe. /Star/
GUNAY UNVEILS MAJOR ANKARA MUSEUM PROJECT, THE LARGEST OF ITS KIND IN TURKEY
Speaking to reporters en route to Turkmenistan to cut the ribbon on several hotels built by Turkish contractors, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay said that the government would soon launch a major project to construct Turkey's biggest museum, similar to Paris' Louvre, in Ankara. Stating that it would be built on an area of 40,000 square meters, and that seeing the entire museum would take a full week, Gunay said it may be called the Turkish Museum of Civilizations. Gunay said his ministry would soon seek bids for the facility's construction, adding that the same would be done for a planned Troy museum in the Marmara province of Canakkale. He also spoke about ministry plans to use a number of Istanbul-area buildings owned by state, military and educational institutions to help attract tourists. Work on this project is underway, he added. Asked about criticism of a recent move stripping local administrations of their authority over coastal development, giving it instead to the central government, Gunay said that this was meant to avoid coastal exploitation during the local election season, and to give coastal planning a coordinated shape, replacing differing plans from many municipalities. He also said the government would soon announce an incentive package to help Turkey's tourism industry weather the global economic crisis. /Sabah/
BOSNIAN BRIDGE SET TO REOPEN WITH TURKISH OFFICIALS ON HAND
Two Turkish Cabinet ministers yesterday arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina to attend the opening of a 17th century bridge reconstructed by the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA). State Ministers Faruk Celik and Faruk Nafiz Ozak are set to reopen the bridge, originally built in 1682 over the Neretva River in Konjic, Bosnia. The 82-meter bridge was heavily damaged during World War II. /Hurriyet Daily News/