SEZER MEETS WITH POWELL
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, yesterday met with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. During the meeting, Iraq issue and bilateral relations were reportedly taken up. Powell said that the US had done everything in terms of politics and diplomacy on Iraq issue. Stressing that the US administration hadn’t decided yet on a military operation, Powell said, “However, taking into consideration of every possibilities, the US is continuing its preparations for a military operation.” For his part, Sezer said that an operation against Iraq should stand on a legal basis and that carried out if an international consensus was obtained. In addition, the president also met with his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov.
Meanwhile, the World Summit on Sustainable Development which lasted 10 days ended yesterday by issuing a final declaration. It remarked that primary aims of a sustainable development were to eliminate poverty, to change matters for consumption and production and protect natural resources. /All Papers/

ECEVIT ISSUES A CIRCULAR TO ACCELERATE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU LAWS
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit issued a circular yesterday to speed up the implementation process of the EU harmonization laws, accepted by Parliament in early August. The circular envisages the entry into force, by Oct. 1, of all the necessary by-laws and regulations needed to put the EU laws into practice. The circular states that the full implementation of these laws should start before the EU Progress report is issued on Oct. 15-16. In the meantime, the Secretariat-General for European Union Affairs declared yesterday that the implementation of provisions concerning the right to broadcast in and learn the mother tongue should have priority over other arrangements. /Cumhuriyet/

SOMUNCUOGLU: “THE EU WILL NOT GIVE EVEN A DATE TO TURKEY”
Nationalist Action Party (MHP) Aksaray Deputy Sadi Somuncuoglu claimed yesterday that Turkey was under pressure of the European Union, Greece and United Nations. Somuncuoglu said that the EU was putting forward many reasons not to set a date for the beginning of Turkey’s EU membership negotiations during its December’s Copenhagen Summit. He also called on the government to make a decision to freeze both Turkey’s EU membership bid and its relationship as part of the Customs Union, if Greek Cypriot Administration’s accession to the EU is approved. /Turkiye/

TURKISH SOLDIERS TO TAKE PART IN THE EU ARMY
A statement was issued yesterday by the Office of the Chief of Gen. Staff yesterday confirming that Turkish soldiers, from now on, would take part in the crisis management operations carried out by the European Union Army, to be created within the framework of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Following the conclusion of negotiations between Turkey and the EU, an agreement was signed earlier this week. According to this agreement, Turkey now has the right to participate in the administration of crisis management operations launched by the EU through the ESDP. This development is also considered to be a victory over Greece’s ‘no concessions’ policy regarding Turkish involvement in the EDSP, a common EU policy that aims to create a European military force capable of managing crises posing a threat to peace in Europe and the world. /Hurriyet/

IRAQI OFFICIAL: “TURKISH-IRAQI ECONOMIC RELATIONS SHOULD IMPROVE”
Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ali Tuygan yesterday met with Iraqi Foreign Ministry official Ambassador Muhammed Emin Muhammed Ahmed in Ankara as a part of the regular political consultation meetings between the two countries. Speaking to the journalists after the meeting, Ahmed stated that Iraqi administration had always been satisfied with Turkey’s policies concerning its relations with Iraq. Stating that since Turkey and Iraq complement each other in the economic field, they had a great potential and shared broad common interests in economic cooperation, Ahmed underlined that stepping up cooperation in trade would help the two countries promote economic growth. Responding to a journalist’s question whether or not a second border gate would open between the two countries, Ahmed said that as the economic relations between Turkey and Iraq improved, a second border gate would be more likely to open. /Cumhuriyet/

GUREL ASKS BRUSSELS TO EXTRADITE FEHRIYE ERDAL
Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel, on a visit to Brussels as part of the action plan to explain Turkey’s efforts to fulfill Copenhagen Criteria, yesterday met with Belgian Minister for European Affairs Annemie Neyts. Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Gurel stated that he had asked Neyts to extradite Fehriye Erdal, the suspect of Ozdemir Sabanci’s assassination. “Turkey abolished death penalty as part of the harmonization reforms for its European Union membership bid, therefore Erdal should be extradited,” Gurel stated. Neyts said that they would examine the situation in judicial terms. /Milliyet/

MERAL JOINS CHP
Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Turk-Is) Chairman Bayram Meral yesterday joined the Republican People’s Party (CHP) with a ceremony that was held at the party’s headquarters in Ankara. In addition, Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) Chairman Memduh Hacioglu and former Democratic Left Party (DSP) and former State Minister Fikret Unlu are also expected join the CHP today. In related news, New Turkey Party (YTP) Adana Deputy Ali Tekin yesterday resigned from his party. With this defection, the number of YTP deputies in Parliament fell to 60. /All Papers/

ERDOGAN MEETS WITH DANISH AMBASSADOR
Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Tayyip Erdogan met with Christian Hoppe, European Union term president Denmark’s ambassador to Ankara on yesterday. Answering reporters’ questions about how the EU’s reaction against a possible AKP government, Hoppe said that the elections were part of the democratic process in democracies. “People’s decision will determine the government after upcoming elections,” he said. “We will cooperate with the new government after November.” It was observed that Erdogan was annoyed when a reporter asked Hoppe how the EU would react to an Islamist party, such as AKP, winning the elections. Erdogan said that describing a party as Islamist was a discourtesy to the religion. /Milliyet/

BAYKAL: “TURKEY SHOULDN’T RELINQUISH THE CONTROL OF ITS ECONOMY”
Appearing on CNN Turk, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Deniz Baykal offered his evaluations on the Turkish economy and current economy policies. Remarking that the Turkish economy recently underwent a serious crisis due to incorrect economy policies pursued by the previous governments, Baykal stated that Turkey should maintain its relations with the IMF but should not relinquish the control of its economy. Baykal also stated that there was an urgent need to develop new policies which would help Turkish economy recover as soon as possible. Underlining that Turkey’s biggest problem was the high inflation rate which hindered the development of the Turkish economy, Baykal added that the CHP was planning to pursue new economy policies aimed at decreasing the inflation rate and downsizing the bloated state structure. /Hurriyet/

WB TEAM TO VISIT TURKEY
World Bank officials are scheduled to arrive in Turkey next week to hold discussions on a minimum of $500 million loan the lender has pledged for supporting the so-called Istanbul approach. The proposed WB loan will be extended in the context of a three-year country assistance strategy. /Star/

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