Turkey press scan

These are some of the major headlines and their summaries in Turkish press on March 9th, 2005. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.HURRIYET (LIBERAL)BELGIUM TO TRY ERDAL: Deputy Prime Minister & Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx of Belgium said that they would start trying Fehriye Erdal, a member of the illegal Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and one of suspects of killing of businessman Ozdemir Sabanci in 1996, in the coming days.     TURKEY TO LAUNCH INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal made a historic decision yesterday. Following their tete-a-tete meeting, Erdogan and Baykal said that they would launch international initiatives against the allegations of so-called Armenian genocide. The two proposed all relevant countries to open their archives to historians.     MILLIYET (LIBERAL)HE DECIDED NOT TO GO IN LAST MINUTE: Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer cancelled his official visit to Finland. Sources said that Sezer cancelled his visit since he feared that ''police beating could overshadow his visit''. The official reason of this cancellation is incompatibility of the schedules.    THIS TIME 35 CL BOTTLE!: Big bottles (75 cl) of Yeni Raki are no more being sold at the markets. However, a person who drank a small bottle (35 cl) of raki was hospitalized this time.SABAH (LIBERAL)ERDEMIR RESIGNS FROM AK PARTY: Mehmet Erdemir quit ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the fifth in three weeks, saying the party had become too remote from the people who elected it. Number of seats of the AK Party decreased to 362 in the 550-seat parliament.     ERDOGAN: ''WE ARE READY TO TAKE STEPS'': Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an impartial study to be carried out by historians about Armenian allegations that their people were exposed to genocide during the World War I. ''We have opened our archives to those people who claim there was genocide. If they are sincere they should also open their archives. Teams of historians from both sides should conduct studies in these archives. We are ready to take steps on this issue. We do not want future generations to have a difficult life because of hatred and resentment,'' Erdogan said.     CUMHURIYET (LEFT)TENSION ESCALATES BETWEEN TURKEY AND EU: Tension has escalated between Turkey and the European Union (EU) recently. The EU strongly reacted to Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul's answer to Hansjoerg Kretschmer, the head of delegation of the European Commission to Turkey. Meanwhile, the European Parliament condemned the police intervention in Sunday's demonstration in Istanbul.     BOMB ATTACK IN DIYARBAKIR: A bomb which was left near vehicles in front of Yenisehir Municipality in southeastern city of Diyarbakir, went off injuring three people. Security forces launched an operation to capture those who were responsible for the attack.       RADIKAL (LEFT)HAND-IN-HAND AGAINST GENOCIDE: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), reached a compromise on a joint statement against ''Armenian genocide'' allegations. According to this joint statement, Turkey will declare that the ''Blue Book'' considered by Britain as the evidence of genocide is ''baseless''. Scientists will be asked to examine Turkish and Armenian archives.    NO BEATING THIS TIME: The International Women's Day was celebrated in Turkish metropolises particularly in Istanbul and Ankara with a number of activities. Police intervened in a group of demonstrators in eastern city of Malatya. Women reiterated their demands from headscarf to sexual freedom in these demonstrations.    TURKIYE (RIGHT)INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INCREASES: The monthly industrial production increased 6.8 percent in January of 2005 over to the same month of the previous year. The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) announced that industrial production rose by 7.1 percent in manufacturing industry, 16.1 percent in mining industry, and 1.3 percent in electricity, gas and water sector.     PETKIM SHARES TO BE SOLD BY PUBLIC OFFERING: A part of shares of Petrochemical Industry (Petkim) will be sold by  public offering. Turkish Privatization Administration Board (OIB) Chairman Metin Kilci said that OIB's 88.86 percent shares in Petkim would be sold by public offering in April.       ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)PRIVATIZATION ADMINISTRATION LIKES PUBLIC OFFERING: The Privatization Administration Board decided to sell Petkim shares by public offering after its decisions to sell THY and Tupras. The Privatization Administration Board is expected to sell public institutions by public offering from now on because it does not want to see that its decisions regarding these privatization bids are returned by the judiciary. Earlier, Tupras tender was cancelled by a judicial decision.GENEVA COLLECTS TURKEY'S 5-YEAR FAIR INCOME IN 10 DAYS: The automotive fair held in Geneva has been turned into an economy summit with participation of bosses and CEOs of the companies. 700,000 people have visited the Geneva fair last year, while 2 billion USD was earned from the fair. This year, 800,000 people are expected to visit the fair. The money Geneva earned in 10 days from this organization is five times of Turkey's 400 million USD fair and congress tourism income, according to a survey of the Turkish Travel Agencies Union.    YENI SAFAK (CONSERVATIVE)ISLAM ENMITY IN EU: Helsinki Human Rights Federation said that discrimination and violence against Muslims in Europe had increased after September 11th (terrorist attacks in the United States). In its report on intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in the EU, the Federation said that the Muslims in Europe had started to be seen like ''enemy inside themselves,'' and pointed to possible dangerous results of this increase of discrimination and violence.    STUDENT PARDON TO BE PASSED WITH 330 VOTES: The draft law on student pardon was re-adopted by the Parliamentary National Education Commission without any changes. (The draft law was vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer). The draft law will be voted by the General Assembly next week since Prime Minister Erdogan wants it to be passed by 330 votes. The draft law was expected to be brought to the General Assembly tomorrow (Thursday).        Â