Selections From Todays Turkish Press

Mesut Yilmaz, who was elected the general chairman of the Motherland Party (ANAP) in the first day of the 7th Ordinary Congress of ANAP, also could have gained what he wanted during the Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) elections yesterday. At the end of the elections, 21 of 50 members of the MKYK have changed. Meanwhile, ANAP's deputy to Adiyaman, Mahmut Bozkurt, has informed that he has resigned from his party. /Milliyet/

MHP'S 12TH VICTORY ASSEMBLY HELD

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) held its 12th Victory Assembly on Tekir Plain some 2,200 meters above sea level in Kayseri. Addressing the assembly, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said radical reforms are necessary to overcome the crisis. Sressing that certain circles address the Nationalist Movement for the crisis, Bahceli said, "If there was not the Nationalist Movement, the dimension of the crisis would be larger and especially citizens with lower income would be suffering more." Talking to reporters Bahceli noted that MHP does not think about a revision in the cabinet and said as the government they will continue to yield towards radical reforms to meet the 21st century. /Turkiye/

MILITARY COUNCIL DECISIONS ANNOUNCED

At the end of this year's Supreme Military Council (YAS) meeting, General Staff Logistics Commander Lt. Gen. Hursit Tolon, Sixth Army Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Oktar Ataman, First Tactical Air Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Firtina have been promoted to full admiral. The promotions will be valid from August 30. Naval Forces Commander Adm. Ilhani Erdil, Air Forces Commander Gen. Ergin Celasin, First Army Commander Gen. Necdet Timur and War Academies Commander Gen. Nahit Senogul were retired at the end of the YAS meeting. Navy Commander Adm. Bulent Alpkaya was appointed as the new naval forces commander. National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Cumhur Asparuk was appointed to the post of Air Forces Commander. /Turkish News/

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ADVISORS IN TURKEY

A delegation of financial advisors from the US House of Representatives has arrived in Turkey. The delegation of 15 persons will visit the Foreign Economic Relations Board today and be briefed. They will visit the Istanbul Bourse on Tuesday and then move on to Kyrgyzistan. /Turkish Daily News/

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON TO VISIT TURKEY

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will pay an official visit to Turkey on Wednesday. The steps which can be taken to improve Turco-Israeli relations to a strategic partnership will be discussed during Sharon's meetings in Turkey. Ankara Administration, which will convey its concerns over the recent developments in the Middle East to Sharon, will request Sharon to end violence in the region. Sharon is expected to be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and to meet with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and Economy Minister Kemal Dervis. Strategic defense projects are the other important topic to be discussed in the meetings. Israel is known to be interested in the projects on tank modernization, attack helicopters and military satellites. Additionally, the Manavgat Water Project is expected to be discussed during the meetings. /Cumhuriyet/

GERMAN GOVERNMENT CHANGES ITS ATTITUDE ON SELLING ARMAMENT TO TURKEY

The German government has changed its attitude on selling armament to Turkey. This change has been stemmed from the efforts by the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministries of Defense and Economy with the aim of reinforcing Germany's position and guaranteeing the production of the defense industry companies in Germany. Prime Minister Gerhard Schroder and Minister of Defense Rudolph Scharping announced that Germany would change its restrictions on selling armament to other countries. The German Armament Exports Directive is expected to be changed in accordance with this new decision. The representatives of the prominent industrialists said that they were expecting support from the federal government in changing the directives for armament exportation in Germany in accordance with the European standards. The federal government had announced in last spring that Germany changed its armament policy after the missile defense system was brought into the agenda in the US and Prime Minister Scroder had said, "This change is necessary for Germany's great economic interests." /Cumhuriyet/

DERVIS: "HIGH INTEREST RATE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE"

Minister of State Responsible for Economy, Kemal Dervis said Turkish economy will get rid of the economic crisis in Autumn. Dervis said the most important issue is the high interest rate which reaches the 90%s. During an interview with German "Welt am Sonntag" newspaper, Dervis said, "Turkey overcame the crisis in March and April and the real relief in the economy will be in Autumn." He added the foreign currency movements began to improve and an increase in exports has been observed. Stressing that state banks salvaged from the pressure of politics, Dervis said state banks came to a position to compete with the private banks. He also called for German investors to invest more in Turkey. /Turkiye/

TURKISH-FRENCH JOINT COUGAR PRODUCTION GOES ON

The production of Cougar AS-532 helicopters for the Turkish Armed Forces is going on according to the envisaged program. The number of helicopters produced and delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces jointly with Turkey's Aerospace Industries (TAI) and French Eurocopter reached to 11.The production of the 30 helicopters in total is expected to be completed at the beginning of the year 2003. /Turkiye/

TURKMEN OIL TANKER LAUNCHED

An oil tanker built at the Tuzla Sedef dockyards for Turkmenistan has been launched at a special ceremony. Addressing the ceremony for the ship, Undersecretary for Maritime Affairs Mustafa Kocak said Turkey ranked 21st out of the 35 countries in the world that have a say in the maritime sector. /Turkish Daily News/

GIANT SHIP TO PASS THROUGH THE BOSPHORUS TODAY

The Sapiem 7000, the giant ship which will lay down pipes in the sea for the Blue Stream Project, will pass through the Bosphorus today despite all the oppositions and demonstrations by the NGOs to attract attention to the possible dangers of the oil transportation. The Istanbul Bosphours will be closed to the ship traffic by 10.00 a.m. in the morning. /Cumhuriyet/

MACEDONIA RENTS WAR PLANES FROM TURKEY

The National Defense Ministry has made an offer to Macedonia concerning the rental of 20 F-16C and four F-16D planes found in the inventory of the Turkish Air Forces for the duration of 10 years. The subject was brought up by Macedonian officials wanting to rent second hand fighter planes instead of purchasing them. A special commission is to be sent to Macedonia to discuss details concerning financial, administrative and logistical support. /Turkish Daily News/

GAP BECOMES DOCTORATE THESIS

One of Turkey's most important investments, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), is going on attaching importance of foreigners also. Recently, the project become the subject of a scientist's doctorate thesis. Cecilia Tortaja from the Royal Instititute of Technology based in Sweden, prepared a doctorate thesis on GAP which examines environmental, social and economic effects of the development projects which depends on water. /Turkiye/

FORESTRY MINISTRY TO SET UP PROTECTION AREAS

The Forestry Ministry has started a new project called, "Management Project of Natural Resources and Biological Variety," which is to be carried out in four parts of Turkey well known for its environmental importance, Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. Under the project, some 1 million US dollars will be donated to villagers in such areas, with the participation of citizens. It envisages the establishment of effective management for protection zones, to protect biological variety and to spread the experience they gain across Turkey. /Turkish News/

CHINA'S WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP

China, which has been trying to be a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for 15 years, is now trying to have her membership approved. However, a problem has occurred during the negotiations with Turkey. Turkey has requested that the amount restrictions on some goods, which take place in the additional part of the Accession Protocol, should continue until the year 2010. Thus, China could not be a member of the WTO as she has insisted on the year 2005. /Milliyet/

TREASURY'S FIVE MONTHS TERM BOND

The Treasury is organizing a bond bidding of five months (154 days) this week. The exports date of the bond bidding, which will be organized by the Treasury tomorrow, will be August 8th and the repayment date will be January 9th 2002. In the bidding, the system of "single pricing" will be carried out. In addition, the Treasury will make a domestic repayment amounting to 2.8 quadrillion TL by August 8th. /Milliyet/

KOC HOLDING COMPANY'S TARGETS

Koc Holding Company's Group Chairman of Foreign Trade, Hasan Bengu, said, "From now on, we will be more interested in the foreign markets. If required, we will buy the global brands. Marks&Spencer is for sale now. Why don't we go and buy? This way we would go from Europe to Turkey. In addition, there are so many groups for sale such as Marks&Spencer." According to the news published in the weekly "Economist" magazine, Koc Holding Company, which could not have reached the psychological limit of 1 billion US dollars in the last five years in exports, aims to make exports amounting to 1 billion 723 million US dollars with an increase of 77% when compared to last year. /Hurriyet/

GARANTI NAMED BEST TURKISH BANK IN INTERNET TRANSACTIONS

New York-based Global Finance magazine named Industrial and Financial Conglomerate Dogus Group's banking Garanti Turkey's best bank in internet transactions, the bank announced yesterday. Explaining its decision, Global Finance said Garanti was a pioneer in the Turkish Internet banking market and had the lead as of June with more than 315,000 Internet customers, 90 percent of whom are individual customers, according to a written statement by Garanti. /Turkish Daily News/

NORWEGIAN BIDDING CONCERNING BALCOVA THERMAL FACILITIES

Balcova Thermal Facilities, which has been attracting particularly the Norwegian tourists for many years, will have an international test this year. Within the framework of the agreement made with the facilities, the Norwegian government has sent her patients to Balcova, will open a bidding for the first time for the Norwegian patients, who receive treatment in Balcova. The facility, which will win the bidding by presenting the best conditions to the bidding that is expected to be participated by 10 countries, will cure the Norwegian patients, whose expenses are paid by the social security system. General Director of Balcova Thermal Facilities, Mehmet Ali Calkaya, said the proposals would be given on September 14th 2001 and that they were willing to win the bidding. /Hurriyet/

S.O.S. 2001 EXHIBITION TO BE HELD

The International Disaster Preparation Exhibition-S.O.S. 2001 will be held at the CNR International Exhibition Center between August 17 and 21 in Istanbul, Anatolia news agency reported over the weekend. According to CNR's statement, the exhibition's slogan is, "We are on the same side against a disaster." The Istanbul Governorship, Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, and the Housing and Public Works Ministry are all supporting the exhibition. All 81 governors of Turkey's provinces, 141 district governors and some 3,000 mayors are expected to participate in the exhibition. It also stated that several public institutions and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including the Search and Rescue Team (AKUT), would hold panels, conferences and conversations during S.O.S. 2001. /Turkish News/

OVERLOADED STRAITS WOULD HAMPER WORLD TRADE

Ramazan Mirzalioglu, Minister of State responsible for Maritime Affairs, stated that Chinese strip Varyag will not be permitted to pass through the Straits, declaring that the demands for passing through the Straits had reached a level that may damage world trade. Asked about the Varyag ship, Mirzaoglu said that if more pressure is put on Turley, the Turkish Straits would be overloaded and world trade would be damaged. "The traffic through the Straits is already overloaded. Parallel demands for Kazakh oil will increase the already heavy traffic. The Turkish Straits cannot become oil lines. They should carry Central Asian and Kazakh oil though another route," said Mirzaoglu. /Turkish Daily News/

TURKISH EXPERT APPOINTED TO WORLD WATER COUNCIL

A Turkish expert will work for the World Water Council, which is an international think tank on water affairs. Vedat Ozbilen, working for the Regional Development Administration of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), has been appointed to the Water Action Unit Council for two years. The above mentioned unit will be responsible for the preparation of the 3rd World Water Forum to be held in Japan in 2003. /Turkish Daily News/

TURKISH MARK ON THE BIGGEST FAIR

The world's biggest ready-made clothing fair, CDP, which is organized in Dusseldorf, Germany, has been opened with the Turkish stylist Umit Unal's fashion show titled "Himalaya." 66 Turkish companies, including the companies within the Istanbul Textile and Ready-Made Exporters' Union (ITKIB), have participated in the CDP fair, which will be open until August 7th 2001. /Hurriyet/

TOURISTS PREFER TURKEY

Turkey's tourism income, which had amounted to 7 million US dollars in 1963, has reached 7 billion 636 million US dollars last year. In addition, 4 million 766 thousand tourists have visited Turkey this year and an income of 2 billion US dollars was earned. According to the information on the internet site of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, depending on the figures of the State Institute of Statistics and the Ministry, the tourists visit Turkey because 25% of them prefer Turkey due to the cheap prices, 20% knows the Turkish people, 15% want to explore the cultural activities, 19% have a desire to visit Turkey, 15% finds the opportunity of shopping for cheap prices, 6% thinks of the employment opportunities in Turkey, 3% think they can buy goods with high quality and 2% like the Turkish cuisine. /Milliyet/

DISNEYLAND IN KUSADASI

The Chairman of the Executive Council in the Gunaydin Companies Group, Yasar Gunaydin, said that they would build a Disneyland in Kusadasi. Gunaydin stated that Disneyland would consist of three sections. He added, "In one of the sections, Turkey's important natural, historical and touristic centers such as Pamukkale and Cappadoccia will be promoted. This project is supported by both UNICEF and the Ministry of Culture." /Cumhuriyet/

MODERN TURKISH POETRY IN ISRAELI MAGAZINE

The "Apiryon", one of the prominent literature magazines in Israel, gave coverage to the samples of the modern Turkish poetry in its summer edition. The some of the poems of Nazim Hikmet, Melih Cevdet Anday, Gulten Akibn, Behcet Necatigil, Cahit Kulebi, Necati Cumali, Turgay Fisekci and Avram Ventura were published in the magazine. Short bios of the poets were also included. /Cumhuriyet/

3 HOLY SITES OF CHRISTIANITY FOUND IN ANCIENT EPHESUS

Three of the 12 holy sites of Christianity have been discovered in the Ancient Ephesus area. It has been reported that the work to find all 12 sites is continuing. The Caves of Patrus and Paulus and the Lucas monument have been discovered between the home of the Virgin Mary and Ancient Ephesus. Archaeologists believe the monuments and caves will play an important role in faith tourism in Turkey. /Turkish Daily News/

SECOND LEKTON PEACE FESTIVAL TO PROMOTE TURCO-GREEK FRIENDSHIP

The 2nd Lekton Peace Festival, which will be held as part of the 38th Trojan Festival, will take place between August 10 and 16 in the Babakale Point, Canakkale, the westernmost point of Turkey. The Festival aims to promote Turco-Greek friendship at the point they are closest to each other geographically. /Turkish Daily News/

SUREYYA AYHAN'S SUCCESS

Sureyya Ayhan, who represents Turkey in the 8th World Athletics Championship, attracted attention with her successful performance in the qualifying competition for the 1500 m races. Ayhan overtook one of the favorites of the 1500 m races, Carla Sacramento in qualifying competition. /Cumhuriyet/