GUL, MEDVEDEV DISCUSS CAUCASUS OVER PHONE
President Abdullah Gul and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev had a telephone conversation yesterday. According to the Presidential Press Office, the two leaders spoke about bilateral ties, the Southern Caucasus, and other regional issues. Gul also offered his condolences to Medvedev for casualties during the recent wildfires in Russia. For his part, Medvedev thanked Gul for Turkey's help in putting out the fires. /Sabah/

OUTGOING MILITARY CHIEF BASBUG PAYS FAREWELL VISIT TO PM ERDOGAN
Outgoing Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, who will retire at the end of this month, paid a farewell visit to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. Erdogan received Gen. Basbug at the Prime Ministry for nearly two hours, the longest farewell visit yet by a military chief to Erdogan. For their respective farewell visits, Erdogan had met with former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit and former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok for less than one hour each. Basbug will be replaced by Land Forces Commander Gen. Isik Kosaner. Yesterday also saw a ceremony for the handing over of the post of 1st Army Corps commander from Gen. Hasan Igsiz to Gen. Hayri Kivrikoglu, a former Aegean Army commander. /Today's Zaman/

TURKEY'S NEIGHBORS ARE PARTNERS, NOT FOES, IN PROPOSED NEW SECURITY POLICY DOCUMENT
Turkish officials are reportedly revising a key security document that has helped guide Ankara's foreign policy in past decades to reflect changing priorities under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. Reportedly, the document will now describe neighbors as partners, not enemies to be kept at bay. The highly confidential National Security Policy Document has long termed Greece, Iran, Iraq, Russia and Armenia as foes that could pose security threats to Turkey. But the AK Party government has sought closer links with all its neighbors in a bid to expand Turkey's influence in regional and global politics, thus clashing with the orthodox security doctrine, a Cold War holdover. Sources said the proposed changes to the document will highlight the potential for cooperation with neighbors, breaking from the previous emphasis on areas of conflict. If the planned changes to the document take effect, no act will be considered a threat to national security unless it is clearly defined as criminal under the Constitution or Turkey's laws. The revised National Security Policy Document continues to view the terrorist PKK as the biggest internal threat, according to sources. Other groups that carry out separatist activities parallel to the PKK's goals are also considered threats. The revisions, drafted by a team of experts headed by Prime Ministry Undersecretary Efkan Ala, are expected to take final shape at the National Security Council's next meeting in October and then to be sent to the Cabinet for approval. /Today's Zaman/

UN FACT-FINDING TEAM IN TURKEY FOR AID FLOTILLA PROBE
Members of an international fact-finding team established by the UN Human Rights Council began meeting with Turkish officials in Ankara yesterday as part of an investigation into an Israeli attack on an aid flotilla on May 31 that left nine peace activists dead. Members of the UN panel met with President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday and are due to travel to Istanbul and Iskenderun, where three Turkish ships that were part of the aid flotilla are currently docked, before completing their visit this weekend, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The fact-finding mission is made up of British lawyer Desmond de Silva - a former UN war crimes prosecutor - Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam. Its mandate is primarily to investigate whether Israel breached international humanitarian or human rights law. Their final report on the raid, said the statement, "carries great importance for shedding light on the facts of the incident." The UN Human Rights Council's investigation into the Israeli raid, which took place in international waters, is separate from a higher-profile UN probe announced by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 47-member council's probe was launched before Ban's announcement of the high-level panel earlier this month. The president of the Geneva-based council, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, has dismissed claims that Ban's announcement made the council's investigation superfluous, saying that there is a clear distinction between the missions and mandates of the two inquiries. /Today's Zaman/

TURKISH DELEGATION MEETS WITH KYRGYZ OFFICIALS
A delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Undersecretary Hakki Akil yesterday met with Kyrgyz officials in Bishkek, including Amangeldi Muraliev, the first deputy prime minister of Kyrgyzstan's interim government. A statement from Bishkek said that Turkey had sent five planes to the country in the last four months and would extend $21 million in aid, adding that Muraliev thanked the Turkish government and people for their assistance. The delegation also met with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev. Today the delegation is set to visit the provinces of Osh and Jalalabad, where violence between ethnic Kyrgyz people and Uzbeks in June left at least 180 dead and 1,900 wounded. The people of Kyrgyzstan approved a new constitution in a June 27 referendum after an interim government led by former Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva came to power in April following anti-government protests that toppled the president, whom the opposition accused of usurping power. /Hurriyet Daily News/

TOP TURKISH RELIGIOUS OFFICIAL SAYS ST. PAUL CHURCH SHOULD BE REOPENED
Following the historic mass earlier this month at the Sumela Monastery in the Black Sea region, Religious Affairs Directorate head Ali yesterday declared support for the first time for the reopening of a church dedicated to St. Paul. "We feel disturbed when we hear that minarets have been banned in Europe," said Bardakoglu, referring to a last year's controversial ban on new minarets in Switzerland. "We should be protecting freedom of religion for the various faiths on our soil. If we only approach religions from a security-based perspective, we won't be able to work this out." He called for the historic St. Paul Church in the southern Turkish city of Tarsus, Mersin, which currently serves as a museum, to be reopened as a church. "I believe it would be more suitable if the St. Paul Church in Tarsus serves as a church than its current role as a museum," he said. "Christians have asked for this. If a place is sacred for Christians and they want to hold religious ceremonies there, then there is no good reason for not allowing this." Bardakoglu added that when he visits Western countries, he is often challenged on why the church was turned into a museum. Bardakoglu said he was pleased with the mass at Sumela Monastery, saying that such ceremonies should never cause public concern, and that it signaled greater freedom of religion in Turkey. Orthodox Christians from Russia, Greece, Georgia and the United States poured into the Black Sea province of Trabzon on Aug. 15 for a historic mass at Sumela Monastery, open to worship for the first time in 88 years. The single-day service received special permission from the Turkish government and was watched by roughly 1,000 people live on large screens erected in the valley below the monastery, which was not large enough to accommodate all the people who wanted to take part in the mass. /Hurriyet Daily News/

TEDA PROJECT MAKES TURKISH LITERARY WORKS AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE IN TRANSLATION
As part of a major government project to make Turkish literary works available in translation all around the world, over the last five years more than 700 literary works have been translated into 40 different languages in 50 countries. Speaking about the Culture and Tourism Ministry's Translation Support Program (TEDA) project, under its Directorate of Libraries and Publications, directorate head Onur Bilge Kula said interest in Turkish literature has risen dramatically since Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, adding that TEDA could help other Turkish authors vie for the prize. "With each passing day, Turkey is seen more and more as a country that enjoys a developed, significant literature, reflecting its economic progress in art and valuing culture," said Kula. He stressed the need for better international promotion of the more than 300 Turkish novels published every year. Saying that young novelists dominate the Turkish literary world, Kula added, "This means we can expect the output of these authors to rise considerably. Turkish literature is moving towards a very bright future." Stating that besides Pamuk's Nobel win, Turkey being the guest of honor at the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair helped push publishers to submit more novels - and a more diverse selection - to TEDA for translation, Kula said the works translated vary from country to country. Works by the late Ahmed Hamdi Tanpinar have drawn great interest in recent years, but lesser-known authors could also be discovered abroad, he said. Calling TEDA one of Turkey's smartest projects ever, Kula explained, "With a project costing several million euros, we've produced a remarkable promotional campaign. That's one percent of the budget to promote tourism. We tout a lasting asset of our country, namely literature. For instance, tourism is transient, and people use up tourist services immediately. But people put literary works on their bookshelves. So literary works act as objects of visual promotion for years, and tout our assets that entire time." /Sabah/

REPORT: "THE TURKISH RETAIL MARKET REMAINS PROMISING"
Turkey is likely to be one of the fastest-growing markets in the region thanks to a strong economy that emerged largely unscathed by the global financial crisis, according to a new report by London-based researchers Business Monitor International (BMI). "Having a business-friendly regulatory environment and a growing population already in excess of 70 million, Turkey is likely to emerge as one of the world's highest potential consumer markers over the next decade," said BMI's "Turkey Food and Drink" report released Sunday. Turkey's short-term consumer-spending outlook differentiates it radically from the rest of emerging Europe, whose trends were systematically hurt by the economic turbulence of the past 18 months, it said. The report also pointed out that Turkey is widely expected to be one of the strongest performing economies in Europe over the next decade, leading the country to attain a per capita gross domestic product on par with Portugal, according to BMI forecasts. The demand in food and drinks in Turkey is rising due to indications that the country is emerging from the global financial crisis. According to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecasts, Turkey's real GDP growth will reach 6.8 percent by year's-end and 4.5 percent in 2011. BMI's growth forecasts for 2012, 2013 and 2014 are 5.2, 5.7 and 5.6 percent, respectively. Total food consumption in Turkey is also expected to grow by 34 percent while food consumption per capita is likely to grow 21 percent between 2009 and 2014, according to the report, which added that developments in the mass grocery retail industry and processed food industry are the key factors in this growth. /Hurriyet Daily News/