SEZER RECEIVES JAPANESE DELEGATION
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday received Japanese Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Taku Yamasaki and an accompanying delegation at his office. The same delegation was then received by Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Topics discussed during the meetings reportedly were the Middle East conflict, the Afghanistan issue and Turkish-Japanese bilateral economic relations. /Turkiye

AMENDMENT TO LIMIT PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY APPROVED
Parliament’s Interparty Reconciliation Commission yesterday agreed on a Constitutional amendment limiting the authority of Turkey’s presidents. Meeting under the chairmanship of Deputy Parliament Speaker and Motherland Party (ANAP) Deputy Yuksel Yalova, the commission reached agreement on six articles of the constitutional amendments and prepared two alternative bills for Article 101. The commission plans to debate a package including the articles to be debated next week before Parliament goes on summer recess. The agreement proposes to amend Article 105, which exempts presidents’ decisions from oversight and review. The commission also decided to lift the power of presidents to make judicial appointments, a move that current President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had requested. In addition, under the package, presidents will be elected for a five-year term and be limited to a maximum of two terms in office. /All Papers/

JUSTICE MINISTER TURK: “CONDITIONAL RELEASE BILL WILL PASS AS IS”
Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk left for Baku, Azerbaijani, yesterday to pay an official visit upon the invitation of his Azeri counterpart Fikret Memmedov. Before departing, he spoke to reporters regarding the controversial conditional release bill, asserting that the bill did not constitute a special amnesty. “When one comments on laws, the lawmakers’ intent should be taken into consideration,” Turk added. He predicted that the bill would pass through Parliament again without any changes. /Turkiye/

NEW RADIO AND TV LAW PASSES PARLIAMENT
A bill making changes to Turkey’s regulations concerning radio and television broadcasts was approved in Parliament yesterday after contentious debate. Opposition party deputies criticized both the law and the government in a highly charged session. At the end of debates, only four of the bill’s 18 articles emerged without amendments. The bill now awaits the signature of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Meanwhile Truth Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller charged that the bill was not congruent with European Union norms. She further argued that it “wasn’t logical” to try to censor the Internet. /Aksam/

PKK AND DHKP-C ADDED TO EU’S LIST OF TERRORIST GROUPS
The European Union Committee of Permanent Representatives yesterday decided to add the terrorist organizations PKK and DHKP-C to their list of terrorist groups. The decision is expected to be officially announced today. The inclusion of the two terrorist organizations would mean that their assets in EU member countries would be frozen, their offices closed and their activities monitored. However, how the inclusion will affect KADEK, the PKK’s self-proclaimed new name, is as yet unclear. “Their switching names shouldn’t make any difference,” Turkish sources said, arguing that clearly KADEK is nothing but a continuation of the PKK. Ankara and the United States pushed hard for the inclusion of the two terrorist organizations on the list. /Hurriyet/

ANKARA DISCUSSES EU RELATIONS IN LIGHT OF NEW TERRORIST GROUP LIST
Diplomatic sources stated yesterday that the European Union’s recent decision to add the PKK and DHKP-C to its revised list of terrorist organizations had boosted Turkey’s confidence in the Union and also encouraged Turkish leaders and diplomats to take more steps for democratization and improvement of human rights. Turkish leaders and diplomats held a meeting yesterday in Ankara to discuss recent developments concerning Turkish-EU relations. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, Deputy Prime Ministers Devlet Bahceli, Mesut Yilmaz and Husamettin Ozkan, Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal and Deputy Undersecretary for EU Affairs Akin Alptuna attended the meeting. Stressing the importance of EU’s recent decision, Foreign Minister Cem remarked that the EU move had created important opportunities for Turkey which would open the way to accession negotiations. Cem stated that if the death penalty were abolished in Turkey, then the European countries would be more likely to extradite terrorists taking shelter in Europe to Turkish justice. /Cumhuriyet/

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER TO VISIT TURKEY
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vacpayi is scheduled to visit Turkey on May 8 as an official guest of Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Ecevit paid a three-day official visit to India in the spring of 2000. /Cumhuriyet/

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL ANNAN TO VISIT CYPRUS
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to visit Cyprus this month. UN officials stated that Annan was expected to travel to the island on May 14 and hold separate meetings with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides on May 15. Annan is also expected to request that the two leaders do their utmost to reach an agreement during the peace talks which began earlier this year upon the joint initiative of both sides. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council yesterday discussed the issue of Cyprus, and UN Special Envoy for Cyprus Alvaro de Soto briefed the council on recent developments on the island. /Cumhuriyet/

GAS STATION OWNERS PLAN ONE-DAY PROTEST
Some 280 owners of gas stations in Ankara declared yesterday that they would hold a one-day “fuel-out” on May 13 to protest what they consider an unfair allocation of fuel sale profits. For those 24 hours they will refuse to sell gas. After a meeting chaired by Ankara Chamber of Commerce head Sinan Aygun, the group released a decleration complaining that the retailers’ share of profits had plummeted from 12% in 1998 to %4.5 today. They demanded a return to the 1998 level. Additionally, the group said that credit card commissions charged retailers should be lowered from 5% to around %1.5-2. /Milliyet/

DEMAND HIGH FOR VILLAGE CITY PROJECTS
To date some 210 settlements throughout Turkey have applied to be part of the village city projects, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit’s “longtime dream,” government sources said yesterday. The projects were the focus of an Ankara meeting earlier this week between Ecevit, World Bank Turkey representative Ajay Chibber, State Minister Mustafa Yýlmaz, and Assistant Treasury Undersecretary Selcuk Polat. Chibber said that the projects, which are due to be supported by a $300 million WB loan, were viewed as “highly exemplary” by the bank, and that the credits would be released as soon as possible. The funds will be used to support both continuing Projects and new ones. Ecevit is expected to visit the local settlements at the end of this month. /Milliyet/

57TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF TURKISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY BEGINS
The 57th General Assembly of the Turkish Chamberce of Commerce and Industries begins today with a dinner held in Ankara. Some 800 delegates will attend the assembly meetings to be held at the Buyuk Anadolu Hotel outside Ankara. /Milliyet/

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION