GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON APR 24

HURRIYET

--MESSAGE FROM THE STATE

During a ceremony held at Turkey’s first parliament building as part of celebrations for April 23, National Sovereignty and Children's Day, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chair, Devlet Bahceli, took the hand of Hasip Kaplan, a deputy from the Democratic Society Party (DTP), and said, "let us complete the colors of the parliament."

"Our opinions may be different, but we are gathered under the roof of parliament thanks to the votes of the nation," Kaplan told Hurriyet daily. Bahceli said such a hand-shake was in line with the spirit of the first country’s parliament.

--INFORM US ABOUT SABAH'S QATARI PARTNER

Concerns have been raised over the identity of the partner of Calik Group's Turkuvaz, which bought Sabah-ATV media group. It was revealed that the foreign partner is the Amir of Qatar. Calik Group has not commented on the issue and released on the name of the partner company.

Zahit Akman, chair of the Turkish Radio & Television Supreme Council (RTUK), said that the council should be notified of the change in the distribution of Turkuvaz's shares.

MILLIYET

--QATARI PARTNER CONFUSES

Calik Group made a part of payment for Sabah and ATV by taking the Qatar's Al Wasaeel International Media as a partner. It was revealed that the owner of the company was the Qatar Investment Authority.

Chairman of RTUK said they were not notified about the Qatari partner. The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund said, "We will investigate the company."

--CEYLAN IN CANNES AGAIN

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Uc Maymun" (Three Monkeys) will compete for the Golden Palme d'Or at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. This is the third time Ceylan has been announced as the nominee for the award. Ceylan will compete along side world-famous directors including Clint Eastwood and Steven Soderberg.

SABAH

--ANKARA COLD AS ICE

Tension among the country’s leaders was felt during the ceremonies held in Ankara to celebrate April 23, Turkey's National Sovereignty and Children's Day. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman, Deniz Baykal, stood side by side in silence at a ceremony held at Anitkabir, the resting place of the founder of modern Turkey, Ataturk.

--TURKEY RANKED 8TH IN TAX BURDEN AMONG OECD COUNTRIES

Turkey is ranked 8th among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of tax burden over employees. Regarding the tax burden for the average salary, Turkey was ranked the 1st among 30 OECD-member countries with a figure of 42.7 percent in 2007.

VATAN

--F-16 JETS BOMB NORTH OF IRAQ

Turkish F-16 jets bombed the north of Iraq again. The website of the Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by Jalal Talabani, reported that four F-16 jets bombarded the Hakurk region in the north of Iraq.

--TENSION IN ANKARA

The tension between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman, Deniz Baykal, was clearly felt on April 23, Turkey's National Sovereignty and Children's Day. Erdogan and Baykal walked side by side in silence during a ceremony held at the Anitkabir, the Mausoleum of Ataturk.

CUMHURIYET

FAREWELL TO MARTYRS

The rhree soldiers, who were killed in a mine blast on Tuesday, were laid to rest in their hometowns. Those attending the funerals chanted slogans opposing the terrorist organization, the PKK.

--LABORERS IN TAKSIM

Representatives of Turkey’s workers’ unions once again announced plans to celebrate May 1 in Taksim Square in Istanbul despite government threats. Chairman of the Confederation of Public Sector Unions (KESK) said they would go to Taksim Square, which he said, was open for all celebrations from Police Day to New Year’s Eve.

The Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions (DISK) Board of Directors will convene today to discuss details of the celebrations planned for Taksim Square.

RADIKAL

--TURKEY'S GOBEKLITEPE CHARMS BRITONS

Leading British daily newspaper, The Guardian, yesterday gave extensive coverage to the ongoing archaeological excavations in Gobeklitepe in southern Turkey. The newspaper said that Gobeklitepe site had stunned archaeologists. In an interview with the daily, Klaus
Schmidt, head of the excavations, said, "This place is a supernova. Within a minute of first seeing it I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here."

The British daily also compared the site with Britain’s famous Stonehenge to give understanding to the true magnificence of the site: "None of the circles excavated (four out of an estimated 20) are more than 30 meters across.

“The dig consists of T-shaped pillars, two five-meter stone towers at least a meter above their peers. And what makes them remarkable is their carved reliefs of boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions, and their age. Dated at around 9,500 B.C., these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia, and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge."

--SYMPOSIUM ON INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

A symposium on "Intercultural Dialogue" will be held at the Italian Culture Center in Istanbul. Sakir Eczacibasi, head of the Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Art and a leading Turkish businessman, will give the opening speech at the symposium.

YENI SAFAK

--DON'T LET THE CHILDREN SEE

While Turkish children shared their joy of having the only children's festival in the world with the foreign guests of honor, who came to celebrate with them, the voices of children singing, reading poems and laughing echoed around the country.

Children sent messages of "compromise, tolerance and self-confidence" when they symbolically took over the titles of various statesmen.

The conversation between Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chair, Devlet Bahceli and Democratic Society Party (DTP) MP, Hasip Kaplan at the first parliament building drew attention. Only the speech given by Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair, Deniz Baykal, included "support for closure" on this festive day.

--THERE CAN BE NO EU WITHOUT TURKEY

The president of Slovenia, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, called on Europe to support Turkey. Slovenian President Danilo Turk said the EU needed Turkey if it had the desire to become a strategic global player.