Selections From Todays Turkish Press

The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) will vote whether or not put on the agenda a censure motion submitted by the Felicity Party (SP) on the government's foreign policy tomorrow. Debates on the Civil Code will begin on Wednesday. The 1030-article Bill will be taken up in 10 sections in the TGNA Plenary Session. On the other hand, Minister of Finance Sumer Oral will present the Budget Bill for the 2002 Fiscal Year to the TGNA Plan and Budget Commission on Thursday, Oct. 25. /Turkiye/

BAHCELI CALLS ATTENTION TO PRIVATE SECTOR

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli addressed the closing meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Economic and Commercial Cooperation Permanent Committee (COMCEC) held in Istanbul. Bahceli pointed out that hard work was needed in the Islamic countries to develop private sector. He said new regulations should be made which help the development of private sector. Bahceli also noted that the increase in the Islamic Development Bank's loan facilities for member countries was welcomed. The Conference which lasted for days, was ended issuing the final declaration. /Turkiye/

EU'S PLAN FOR TURKEY

The leaders of the European Union (EU) member countries stated that they did not envisage Turkey's participation into the efforts concerning the future of Europe, which was interpreted in Ankara that it was a new move concerning the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The EU leaders started a new process of pressure to convince Ankara regarding the ESDP issue. The leaders opened the issue of Turkey's participation in the efforts on Europe's future to discussion and they stated that the EU would give the final decision concerning the issue during the Laekan Summit to be held in December. Laeken Summit is important because during this Summit the work about the ESDP will be discussed there. The EU leaders would like to achieve a result about the ESDP issue, which has gained more importance following the terrorist attack occurring on September 11. Diplomats say that the decision of the EU leaders to separate Turkey from the other candidate countries was a warning to Ankara that "If you continue to insist on the issue of the ESDP, we will reevaluate our view regarding Turkey." This message of the EU also consists of the warning that Turkey's equal status with the other candidate countries might change. According to the information received, a delegation to be chaired by Peter Ricketts from the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs will come to Turkey this week to reach a consensus concerning the issue of the ESDP. England, which plays a significant role on the process of the formation of the ESDP, has sent a high-ranking delegation to Ankara at the end of last year but a result could not be reached. /Cumhuriyet/

GUREL ON MICHEL'S WISH

State Minister and the spokesman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), Sukru Sina Gurel, reacted to the European Union's (EU) wish to exclude Turkey from the work concerning the future of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Gurel criticized the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louis Michel's statement concerning the issue and said, "The EU should give up this kind of narrow minded and shallow evaluations." Gurel answered the questions about the issues on the agenda on the CNN Turk channel and evaluated the tendency towards separating Turkey from the other candidate countries in the future of Europe. Gurel said, "There are various opinions among the members of the EU about Turkey but generally their policy towards Turkey is directed by short term interests. For example, the Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister's statement, they are very shallow evaluations. The EU should change its narrow minded approach towards Turkey. If this does not change, we should know so that we can determine our policy in accordance with it." While evaluating the latest developments concerning the Cyprus issue, Gurel said the EU was being cornered by wrong steps on the Cyprus issue. /Cumhuriyet/

CEM STARTS HIS TOUR TO THE CENTRAL ASIA

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Cem, started his tour of visit to the Central Asian states including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to evaluate the developments after the operation against Afghanistan had started. Prior to his departure to Baku, Cem spoke with the press members at Ataturk Airport and stated that during his contacts, he would discuss the situation in the Southern Caucasus and Afghanistan. Cem said he would give information on the Eurasia Cooperation Agreement, which was formed after a long lasting work with the Russian Federation, and added, "One of the two basic targets of our foreign policy for the last four years is to enlarge the economic cooperation in order to develop peace and stability in Eurasia and the Russian Federation, which is a strong country in the center of Eurasia. We worked seriously for this purpose. A very important agreement emerged with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs. We will give information in Baku about this project. In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, mostly the latest situation in Afghanistan will be evaluated." While answering a question if he has a concrete suggestion concerning the humanitarian aid to be made to Afghanistan, Cem said, "A meeting will be held concerning the cooperation between Kizilay (Turkish Red Crescent) and the Red Cross in Ankara. Kizilay has already been working on this issue and we support it. I held a meeting with the Ambassadors of the Central Asian Republics and Azerbaijan and as a project, we decided to send various food stuff." Cem added that he supported the East-West Institute's plan to open a research center in Istanbul concerning the Balkans, Caucasus and the Middle East issues. /Cumhuriyet/

VERHEUGEN ON TURKEY'S MEMBERSHIP

European Union (EU) Commissioner responsible for enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, spoke to the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" newspaper and said, "If we give the image that we are not serious concerning Turkey's membership to the EU, we would lose a stable partner for the EU and NATO. Turkey should meet the hard criteria to be a member of the EU. Otherwise, the "Whole Europe Integration Project" will lose its credibility. We will soften the conditions of Turkey's membership. In return, Turkey will give us the guarantee of strategic aid. We cannot make such a bargain." Verheugen also claimed that if the United Cypus becomes a member of the EU, it will be advantageous for the Turks and for the Turkish-Cypriots. Verheugen added that the membership negotiations made with the Greek-Cypriot Administration were continuing well and that the meetings would be completed by the end of the year 2001. /Milliyet/

AFGHAN GOVERNMENT TO BE FORMED IN TURKEY

One of the high-ranking officials from the Afghan opposition, Huseyin Anvari, said an attack cannot be made on the capital Kabul if the searches for an alternative government are not completed and that the meetings for an alternative government might be held in Turkey. Shiite Hareket-i İslami party leader and the leader of the Khazars on the Afghan territory, Anvari, said, "Even if the Afghan resistance is broken, we will not enter Kabul. For the security of the people living in this city, we do not want to enter Kabil before a government is established. 60 names of the opposition are about to be determined. Most probably a delegation of three will meet the delegation of the former Afghan King Zahir Sah in Turkey. Anvari added that both delegations will give the names determined to each other and a meeting place in Afghanistan will be set for the opposition. /Milliyet/

TURKEY FEELING COMMISSION'S SUPPORT IN NEW PHASE

Despite Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's remarks, evaluated not to be constructive by Turkish officials, Turkey is preparing for a "struggling for EU phase" in the next two months before the gathering of he EU conference in December in Laeken, a top Turkish official on Turkish-EU relations said. Speaking to the Turkish Daily New on Sunday in a telephone interview, Ambassador Nihat Akyol, Turkish representative at the EU, stated that with the support of the EU Commission behind Ankara, Turkey will accelerate diplomatic traffic with the member states until the conference in December. Referring to the words of EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement Gunter Verheugen, Akyol stated that the EU Commission and Turkey were of the same opinion; that no discrimination should be made against Turkey. "Of course, we expect them to persuade the member states, but we will not stop until the conference in December," Akyol said. Stating that they were aware of the position of each member state concerning the short-term agenda of the union, Akyol said that emphasis will be put on the Turkish-EU affairs. /Turkish Daily News/

TURKEY-QATAR KEK MEETING IN ANKARA

A Turkey-Quatar Joint Economic Commission (KEK) Meeting will take place in Ankara under the presidency of State Minister Mehmet Kececiler. Subjects of increasing and diversifying of trade relations between the two countries will be discussed during the meeting. According to the statement given by the office of State Minister Kececiler, the Qatar Economy Minister and a delegation under the presidency of Economy and Trade Minister Yusuf Huseyin Kemal will meet with Kececiler at the Customs Ministry. /Turkish Daily News/

GEORGIAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENSE: TURKISH-GEORGIAN COOPERATION IS NOT AGAINST ANY OTHER COUNTRY

Georgian Deputy Minister of Defense Gela Bezhuashvili said that the military cooperation between Turkey and Georgia is not against any other country. In his statement he gave to the "Prime News," Bezhuashvili stated that Georgia can do what it has to do in the establishment of relations between Turkey and Armenia. It is expected that during the visit of Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan to Tblisi between October 25-27, the Turkish-Georgian military cooperation issue will be discussed. During Sarkisyan's Tblisi visit, issues such as the general security of the region and development of Tblisi-Erivan bilateral relations will be held. /Turkish Daily News/

ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO ARRIVE IN TURKEY

Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero is expected to arrive in Ankara on Tuesday for a few hours after his visit to Lebanon, Syria and Iran. Ruggiero is to meet Foreign Minister Cem and will return back Rome after his meetings. /Turkish News/

KISLALI COMMEMORATED

Journalist and author Ahmet Taner Kislali was commemorated in a ceremony on Sunday, on the second anniversary of his death. Kislali's widow Nilufer Kislali, his daughter, relatives, friends, former Constitutional Court President Yekta Gungor Ozden, Yenimahalle Mayor Tuncay Alemdaroglu and citizens attended the commemoration ceremony at Karsiyaka Cemetery. Prof. Ahmet Taner Kislali was killed on Oct. 21, 1999 by a bomb placed on the windshield of his car parked outside his house. /Turkish News/

TOBB AND DERVIS TO DISCUSS THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Chairman of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Stock Exchanges (TOBB), Rifat Hisarciklioglu, said the meetings that have been organized since the end of August in order to solve the problems of the manufacturing industry, will come to an end today. Hisarciklioglu said, "If we do not see a constructive approach for the solution of 15 problems, we will request the view of Chairmen of 352 Chambers and Stock Exchanges and will determine a new strategy. /Sabah/

PROMOTION CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE

Following the Istanbul documentary broadcast by televisions, a new film was prepared in France to promote Turkey's touristic, cultural and historical values. Turkey's Tourism Counsellor in Paris said in the first nine month period of the year 2001, the number of French tourists visiting Turkey increased by 24.90 % when compared to last year and reached to 454,426. /Turkiye/

THY TO SHRINK BY 20%

Following the terrorist attacks on the US, the THY which is in a bottleneck due to the cancellation of reservations and decrease in the demand, is revising its targets. Turkish Airlines (THY) Commercial Affairs Deputy General Director Gurol Yuksel said flights will be decreased by 15-20 percent and number of workers by 20 %. Meanwhile, the Deputy Chairman of the Association of Turkish Private Sector Aviation, Sahabettin Bolukcu stated that the private airlines companies were also in crisis and precautions taken by the THY should also be carried out by them. /Turkiye/

MISSING THE OPPORTUNITY BY SUKRU ELEKDAG (SABAH)

Former Ambassador Sukru Elekdag writes on the aftermath of events following the September 11 attacks on the US. A summary of his column is as follows: "Ankara is seriously concerned that Iraq can be a target for a military operation during the war against terror which began following the September 11, 2001 attacks. In an interview with famous commentator on CNN last week, Prime Minister Ecevit said that if such a possibility were to come true, Iraq would be divided and that this would create problems for the independence and territorial integrity of Turkey. Ankara believes that Iraq can only protect its territorial integrity with an authoritarian regime, and an operation which would result in overthrowing Saddam will lead to a division of the counry in three parts and the foundation of a Kurdish State in the north would be inevitable. During the Ottoman Empire, Iraq consisted of three provinces: the provinces of Shiite Arabs in Basra, Sunni Arabs in Bagdad and Kurds and Turkomans in Musul.The ruthless actions of Saddam against Shiites and Kurds following the Gulf War, increased the hatred among the peoples. Therefore, if Saddam is toppled, the proclamation of independence by the Shiites forming the majority, with the support of Iran is inevitable. In that case, the proclamation of a Kurdish State in the north cannot be prevented by Bagdad. Ankara who believes that the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq is against Turkey's vital interests, is of the opinion that such a state would cooperate with some of her neighbours and the PKK terrorist organization and will demand land from our country, further the greater Kurdistan cause and fan the Kurdish nationalism in the region. Considering the fact that the US policy following 1991 adopted the establishment of a Kurdish State, these concerns are not unfounded. In fact, the parliamentary elections in Northern Iraq in May 1992 and the foundation of a Kurdish Government were backed by the US. Today, the US should know that following policies with the aim of establishing a Kurdish State in northern Iraq is contrary to her interests. However, if a Kurdish State is founded, dependent upon the US on every way, with no outlet to sea, surrounded by unfriendly states, Washington's Middle East policy will be indexed to providing the security of such a state. This would lead Iran and Syria to solve the existing disputes amongst themselves and form a block against Israel and the US. It will not be wrong to say that such a development would lead to results which would harm US interests in the region. When the US reaches her aims in Afghanistan, it is highly probable that the hawks within the Government will force the opening of a second front against Iraq. Turkey has to be prepared for such a possibility and must not leave the arena to Barzani and Talabani. Otherwise, Turkey will not have a say in the restucturing period after Saddam in Iraq."