ANKARA - These are some of the major headlines and their summaries in Turkish press on April 23rd, 2005. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHILDREN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS THROUGHOUT TURKEY
HURRIYET- Turks will be celebrating the National Sovereignty and Children's Day throughout Anatolia today. The Turkish parliamentary general assembly will hold a special meeting to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the foundation of the parliament.
TURKISH WAR ACADEMY TO ADMIT MORE FEMALE STUDENTS
HURRIYET- Turkish War Academy has announced that it will admit more female students. The female students will have to take the OSS university scholastic aptitude test. Female students may apply for admission between May 16th and June 17th, 2005.

KEMAL DERVIS CLOSE TO BECOMING UNDP CHIEF
MILLIYET- Japanese candidate, for the UN Development Program (UNDP) Chairmanship, Eshekawa has lost all chances of becoming the UNDP's chief. Kemal Dervis and Norwegian Minister Hilde Johnson are the two final candidates trying to become UNDP's new chief.
FRONT GETS DIVIDED
MILLIYET- A division took place at the Iraqi Turkmen Front Council meeting after unsuccessful election results. The Turkmeneli Party and Turkmen Independents Movement, considered to be in favor of more dialog with the Kurds, announced that they are leaving the front.

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY
SABAH- The Turkish Grand National Assembly, the headquarters of the War of Independence and the national sovereignty, is celebrating its 85th birthday today.
PROUD DUTY
SABAH- Only two candidates are left for the post of heading the UN Development Program. They are Kemal Dervis and Hilde Johnson of Norway. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will choose the person who will become the new head of the program. After this, the UN General Assembly will approve this name. Then, this person will become the new head of the UN Development Program.

TURKISH PRODUCTS ON HEAVY DEMAND IN YEREVAN
VATAN- There are Turkish products in dozens of shops in Yerevan, Armenia. Turkish products arrive in Yerevan from Georgia or Russia as the Kars border is presently closed. Turkish electronics giant Beko has a store in Yerevan.
MIGROS TO PURCHASE GIMA FOR 220 MILLION U.S. DOLLARS
VATAN- Turkish Koc Group's Migros is about to purchase Gima and Endi food chain stores. The Koc Group will pay 220 million USD for 76 Gima stores and 45 Endi stores.

PRESIDENT SEZER: "DON'T PERMIT TENSION"
CUMHURIYET- In the message he issued to mark April 23rd National Sovereignty and Children's Day, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said that Great Leader (Mustafa Kemal Ataturk) had ensured national unity and gathered everybody around the same ideal without any ethnical, religious, linguistic and social discrimination. Sezer stated that some circles wanted to push Turkey into a dangerous process and an atmosphere of tension, and asked the citizens not to be affected by provocations and act with common sense.

ERDOGAN WAS TENSE AFTER MEETING OZKOK
CUMHURIYET- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a meeting with Turkish Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok that lasted for about one and a half hours. In the meeting which was held upon prime minister's request, the decree on Incirlik base (in southern city of Adana), Cyprus, Aegean, north of Iraq, PKK, and internal and external security matters were discussed. Asked about his views about Ozkok's remarks at the War Academies, Erdogan, who seemed to be fairly tense, said, "everybody has his/her own opinion. Of course, we share some of them, and don't agree on some of them. This is a different thing. But, in my opinion, his remarks were mature in general."

EU: NATIONAL FEELINGS DANGEROUS
RADIKAL- Dutch Ambassador to Turkey Gosses said, "national feelings of not only the west but also Turkey may cause problems."
SOLDIER BRIEFING TO ERDOGAN
RADIKAL- Turkish Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok briefed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on internal and external security matters for about one and a half hours. This meeting was held upon Erdogan's request.
MOURNING TIME IN GEDIZ
RADIKAL- 18 people who died in the methane gas explosion in a mine in Gediz town of western Turkish city of Kutahya were laid to rest yesterday. Around 10,000 people joined the funeral, including Labor & Social Security Minister Murat Basesgioglu and Energy & Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler.

"PRIVATE" JOY OF SSK MEMBERS
TURKIYE- People who are under the auspices of the social insurance system named "Social Security Agency (SSK)" have started to receive health service from private hospitals after they were given the opportunity to get medicines from every pharmacy. (Earlier, SSK personnel were only allowed to receive health service from the SSK hospitals and get their medicines from SSK pharmacies.) Some private hospitals started to admit SSK members, while some of them will open their doors to SSK members in coming days.
LETTER OF COMPROMISE
TURKIYE- Wexler and Whitfield, U.S. congressmen who are the members of Turkish Friendship Group, sent a letter to other U.S. congressmen. In their letter, Wexler and Whitfield asked U.S. congressmen to exert efforts to persuade (Armenian President Robert) Kocharian to accept (Turkish PM Recep Tayyip) Erdogan's proposal to "open archives and solve the problem".

MAYORS DO NOT WANT VISAS BUT ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE
ZAMAN- Mayors throughout Anatolia want urgent economic assistance. Here are some of the comments made by four mayors:
Aytac Durak (Adana): Those coming to Adana and Mersin are individuals with low qualifications. This is where the risk lies. The only solution is economic development.
Emin Ozgun (Artvin): We do not even have one single private factory. Every one wants to leave our city and find "bread" somewhere else. My four brothers left Artvin.
Aziz Kocaoglu (Izmir): Visas or putting limits on growth may not be the solution. We have to provide new employment opportunities for the young population.
Osman Baydemir (Diyarbakir): We are receiving under qualified individuals to our city. We are waiting for economic assistance.

SSK CARD HOLDERS WILL BE ABLE TO GET
YENI SAFAK- TREATMENT AT PRIVATE HOSPITALS
Turkish citizens with Social Security Agency (SSK) membership and cards will be able to receive treatments from private hospitals, said sources. 33 hospitals have signed an agreement with the SSK to treat patients.
TURKISH AIRLINES REACH A RECORD IN NUMBER OF PASSENGERS
YENI SAFAK- Turkish Airlines (THY) sources have remarked that the THY has broken a record in the number of passengers carried in the first three months of 2005. THY carried more than three million passengers globally in the first quarter of 2005.