Ecevit: There Are Positive Indications In Economy

ANKARA, March 7 (A.A) - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said that Turkey's economic troubles were partially continuing but there were positive economic indications.
Speaking during a program on CNN Turk on Thursday night, Ecevit said ''Sept.11 attacks deepened the economic crisis in Turkey. We set up a very ambitious government. There were reforms that we had to make which were neglected for many years.''
''We had big problems from the past in finance and banking sector,'' Ecevit said. ''We suffered a lot of problems in the beginning but as we started getting positive results we started overcoming the crisis. I believe that by the end of this year we'll get concrete results of our efforts. We went through a troublesome period. Some of the problems are still continuing. But there was a significant decrease in inflation in February. Interests will certainly drop. Important achievements took place in export. We had 32 billion USD from export last year. There is also a great activity in tourism. If we don't meet with something unexpected, we'll start observing positive developments by the end of this year.''
Praising the government's and Parliament's fast pace, Ecevit said Turkey was working very hard to realize the reforms expected by the IMF and the EU. He also said that the coalition, which is now three years old, was working in very good harmony.
''Our people are looking into future with hope. Because of this confidence, the reactions that were shown in Argentina didn't take place in Turkey,'' he said. ''It's obvious that our people have confidence in themselves, in the state and in business circles.''
The prime minister also said that the government started a big fight against corruption and mafias.
He said that during his administration, PKK chief terrorist Abdullah Ocalan was caught and terrorist organization Hezbollah was eradicated.
He said that secularism also became stronger during his administration and most dormitories which were set up by anti-secularist groups were shut down.
''The education reform of the government gave positive results. The number of female students going to schools increased dramatically,'' he said.
Ecevit also spoke about the constitutional changes.
ECEVIT:''A MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST IRAQ WOULD DESTROY TURKISH TOURISM''
Ecevit said that Turkey, even it doesn't take part in a possible operation against Iraq, would be deeply affected by the operation and its tourism would be destroyed.
Responding to Nuri Colakoglu's questions on CNN Turk on Thursday, Ecevit said the whole world regarded Turkey as a good example which can combine Islam with democracy, secularism and modernism. He said that people of Islamic countries admired Turkey.
Speaking about banks, Ecevit said state banks were being privatized and important changes were being made on international arbitration in Constitution.
''We made a very serious budget reform. A number of important steps were taken in the communication field. We passed the Telecom Bill and the Customs Bill. Then came the Social Security Reform. For the first time we brought unemployment benefits. We passed a law that allows the development of organized industry regions. In the past, if an investor wanted to make an investment in Turkey, they had to knock on forty doors now it will receive an answer to its application within three months. We reached an agreement with the United States to set up industry regions,'' he explained.
After the eradication of terrorism in south and south east Anatolia, Ecevit said people started returning to their villages and village-cities were being formed in these places. He said that the village-city project was going to have very important contributions to the region especially in education and health fields.
About Iraq, Ecevit said ''If an unnecessary military operation is lauched against Iraq, Turkish tourism will end and even if Turkey doesn't take part in that operation, it will be deeply affected by it. Even the rumors of this operation is badly affecting foreign investmetns and tourism. We're trying to explain this to our U.S. friends. There's no need for a new war in the Middle East. There's already an ongoing war there and we should focus on that. This war shoul be prevented.''