GUL: “KURDISH PESHMERGAS HAVE BEGUN TO WITHDRAW FROM KIRKUK”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that Kurdish peshmergas who last week took control of the city of Kirkuk and its environs had now begun to withdraw from the region, as both they and the United States had promised. “However, he added, “there is still a lack of order. We want peace and stability established in the region.” Speaking to reporters, Gul said that British Foreign Minister Jack Straw had called him to say that British troops in the region were doing what they could to improve the situation. “Our contacts with Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [IPUK] leader Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Kurdistan Democracy Party [IKDP] leader Massoud Barzani are continuing,” added Gul. “When a new Iraqi administration is being put together, factors important to Iraq’s ethnic Turkmen should be taken into consideration.” /Turkiye/

TURKISH MONITORING TEAM IN NORTHERN IRAQ REPORTS NO SYSTEMATIC ATTACK ON TURKMEN
A team of 15 Turkish military personnel sent late last week to Kirkuk and Mosul to observe the current situation in the newly liberated northern Iraqi cities and their environs has sent its first report to Turkish officials. The report stated that despite a number of isolated incidents, there was no systematic attack taking place on the cities’ Turkmen. Regarding official land and population records, which media reports last week said were being destroyed by Kurdish forces, the monitoring team said that most of the records had survived intact, though some of them had been lost during the cities’ plundering. The report also confirmed that the majority of the Kurdish peshmergas had withdrawn from Kirkuk, as both they and the United States had pledged. /Sabah/

BAYKAL: “TURKEY NEEDS A NEW APPROACH ON CYPRUS”
Turkey needs a change in its Cyprus policy, Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said yesterday. “It is now clear that there’s a need for a new approach on the Cyprus issue,” he stated. “The Greek Cypriot administration will soon join the European Union, despite the fact that this violates agreements concerning the island as well as international law.” Baykal added that the priority now should be lifting the economic embargo on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). On Wednesday, Greek Cyprus is due to sign key EU accession papers with the EU, illegally on behalf of the entire island. /Cumhuriyet/

ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS TURKEY
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom yesterday arrived in Ankara at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. In addition to Gul, Shalom is expected to meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. /Milliyet/

CB HEAD SERDENGECTI: “DESPITE THE WAR, TURKEY’S ECONOMY COULD GROW 3.6% THIS YEAR”
Turkey’s economy could continue its healthy growth this year despite the war in Iraq, predicted Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti yesterday at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “I think that Turkey will grow 3.6% this year, even though it took some time for the Justice and Development Party [AKP] government to complete the fourth review of its economic program,” Sedengecti told the gathering in Washington. “The Iraq war has hurt Turkey’s tourism sector and oil revenues, and it could jeopardize our fiscal stability.” However, the CB has taken all necessary measures to head off such a development, he added. /Milliyet/

TOBB CHAIRMAN HISARCIKLIOGLU: “THE AKP’S PRIORITY SHOULD BE THE ECONOMY”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu said that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s priority should be the economy. “If we want our country to grow more self-sufficient and powerful, then we should try to better our economy,” declared Hisarciklioglu. “However, if we fail to do this, our economy will be more vulnerable to pressures from outside our borders.” /Turkiye/

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