ANKARA - A strained atmosphere prevaled yesterday in the case against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who claimed IsBank's former executives gave a loan of $170 million to businessmen Erol Evcil. The former Isbank executive Erbasar Ozyurek, his

ANKARA - Public workers are preparing to stage mass demonstrations in 11 provinces on Oct. 18 in order to protest the 13.8 percent 2004 pay raise announced by the government late Monday. The government awarded civil servants a 13.8 percent pay raise

ANKARA - U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman said Tuesday it was a matter of concern when Turkish troops would be sent to Iraq, how many troops would go to the region and where they would deploy, adding that negotiations on the issue were going on.

ANKARA - South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma paid a visit to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in his office, yesterday. The meeting in which bilateral negotiations were held, was closed to the press. The South African President after met with Prime

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that they will overcome problems over the vocational schools and higher education by consensus and will then forward the motion to Parliament. After receiving Inter-University Board Chairman Prof.Dr.Ayhan Alkis and the rectors, PM Erdogan said that the "Mini-motion" about vocational schools and Preachers' high schools (IHL) will be handled by the Parliamentary Education Commission tomorrow.

Erdogan recruits new executives in the party, weeding out Islamists and preparing for the local elections on March 28 Ilnur Cevik ANKARA - Ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan installed a new party executive on

ANKARA - The Justice and Development Party (AK Party)'s Ankara Deputy Ersonmez Yarbay said the ruling party is beginning to resemble the other parties. Yarbay was left out of the party administration after he criticized the alteration in regulations,

Turkey's powerful military fired a warning shot on Monday at government plans to reform religious schools, in a shakeup critics fear will boost the influence of Islam in higher education. The military views itself as the ultimate guarantor of Turkey's

Prime Minister Erdogan pledges to reduce red tape for the sake of country's exports ANKARA - State minister responsible for foreign trade Kursad Tuzmen expects exports to reach $45 billion and imports to stand at $64-65 billion by the end of this

Free Turkish Press Scanner ee ==Updated Daily==                    14 October 2003           

'The politician that does not do his job well had better not act like a regime guard; the bureaucrat who abuses the power bestowed on him had better not use nationalism for his goals; the corrupt businessman had better not try to create polemics on the

ANKARA - The World Economic Processing Zones Association (WEPZA)'s 25th Board meeting will be held in Istanbul's Conrad Hotel on October 19, Anatolia news agency reported. Following the board meeting, a conference will be organized in five sessions on

Free Turkish Press Scanner ee ==Updated Daily==                    13 October 2003           

OCT. 3 Israel says it has agreed to buy 15 million cubic metres of water annually, from Turkey, for 20 years, but does not disclose the price it would pay in its first ever water import deal. "I hope we can begin (importing the water) in the very

Ruling AK Party leader and Prime Minister Erdogan, in a speech at the Founders' Committee immediately after the party was established, said, 'The AK Party will never rule the country with an iron fist.' However, at the first grand congress to be held

Now US and Turks will sit down to serious business to decide if, when and how Turkish troops will be deployed in Iraq Ilnur Cevik Turkish and American negotiators have started pulse-finding meetings, which will turn into full-fledged negotiations in

Government's historical decision to deploy Turkish troops to Iraq should come naturally after a detailed analysis of the conjuncture, the reactions of the Iraqi peoples and the mode of the world public opinion. Since, we live in a "global

PM Erdogan loses when he insists and wins when he agrees When he insisted on mistakes, such as additional motor vehicle tax, selling off former forestland, retirement age and high education reform, his success rate decreased rapidly His less strident

Editorial by Ilnur Cevik11 October 2003, The Americans hold the key whether we send our troops to Iraq or not. There is speculation these days that the government passed the motion in Parliament to be allowed to send troops to Iraq but in fact this

CHP parliamentary group's deputy chairman Topuz urges PM Erdogan not to make efforts aimed at deviating the Republic from its path Topuz says, 'There are in own past and in world history many cases attesting to the very sad fate of those people who