SABAH
-- New regulations for school bus employees
New regulations will force school bus drivers and assistants to have at least a high school degree so that children will be able to commute more safely, according to Istanbul’s education director, daily Sabah reported Wednesday. Director Muammer Yıldız said 1,500,000 children are transported by 16,000 school buses in Istanbul, but parents often have concerns about the employees driving the buses or the assistants. “The bus drivers and assistants who will be employed in school buses will undergo training. The assistants will carry at least a high school diploma,” said Yıldız. The director said they would also announce an amendment in the next few days to change the colors of school buses to yellow so that they will be more visible in other countries, as is the custom in other countries. “In many foreign countries the bus colors are yellow so as to be easily noticed. Therefore, we decided to paint the service buses yellow,” said Yıldız. Thanks to a GPRS system that will be installed on every school bus, the whereabouts of students will be immediately traceable. At the same time, the regulations will ensure that students are not transported in older vehicles. During the operation started by the Istanbul Police Department’s Children Branch and Education Ministry, 2,022 school bus drivers were inspected. The operation will be continued for the foreseeable future.
HABERTÜRK
-- Football fans refute torture allegations
During a football match, fans of the Akhisar Municipality team who threw a rabbit on the pitch later defended their actions, saying the rabbit did not die, daily Habertürk reported Wednesday.
The fans who threw the rabbit claimed the rabbit survived but have nonetheless received many complaints from animal rights activists, the report said.
During a match between Aksihar Municipality and Tavşanlı Linyitspor – “Tavşanlı” refers to a place full of rabbits – a fan who later identified himself as Yasin Gergin allegedly held a rabbit aloft in the stands and then threw it onto the pitch.
“The fans should be punished,” said Nesrin Çıtrık, deputy head of the Animal Rights Association of Turkey, or HAYTAP, who filed a complaint against the fans. Çıtrık was also angry that both teams remained silent about the situation.
Following the complaints, Manisa Governor Celalettin Güvenç announced the fans would be fined under the accusation they had tortured an animal.
Yasin Gergin and the leader of Akhisar Municipality team’s fans said the rabbit is still alive. “We took the rabbit to a veterinarian. There is nothing wrong with it, just one of his legs was injured,” said Gergin, adding that he did not throw the animal, but rather dropped it when some fans hit him.
TARAF
-- ‘Media’s bomber’ fears leaving house
A man named by the media as a suspect in an Istanbul bomb attack on a military bus that killed five soldiers and the teenage daughter of a soldier is unable to leave his home, daily Taraf reported Wednesday.
A roadside bomb was detonated as three buses carrying gendarmerie personnel were passing through the Istanbul district of Halkalı on June 22 last year, killing the 17-year-old girl, Buse, and five gendarmerie sergeants. Doğan Akay was arrested on accusations of being a member of a terrorist group and later on suspicion of involvement in the Halkalı incident.
He was held at the Kandıra F-type prison for almost six months before being released following a court decision – but has been unable to leave his house in the eastern province of Iğdır since being named “the Halkalı bomber” by the media.
“Everyone believes that I murdered of Buse, but I have not been charged with involvement in the bomb attack,” said Akay. He said he was tortured by officers for four days while giving testimony at the direction of the İzmit Provincial Gendarmerie Office. He has filed a complaint against the gendarmerie officers. “I cannot forget what I experienced.”
ZAMAN
-- People refuse to leave their homes despite a danger of collapse
A landslide that followed excavation work in Kastamonu’s İnebolu district led to 40 families being told to evacuate their homes, as the moving earth damaged several apartment buildings, daily Zaman reported Wednesday.
Excavation works for the construction of 20 five-storey apartment buildings began on Ismetpaşa Street a few months ago. During the excavations, cracks appeared in the two-storey house, belonging to Muammer Aksal, five meters away. Aksal took the builders to court and managed to have construction halted. However, builders claimed that expert reports did not mention anmy possible threats to surrounding buildings and asked that construction be allowed to continue.
As construction continued, a landslide brought the walls of the new building to the ground – along with the walls of a nearby apartment building. A 15-meter-high barrier wall shielding Aksal’s two-storey house from the the construction site also collapsed and new fissures appeared in the house that accommodates two families.
When an empty pit appeared on the ground floor of the building the families asked their neighbors for help. After the landslide, Kastamonu Governorship and Catastrophe and Emergency Directorship teams arrived at İnebolu to examine the site.
However, those who were advised to evacuate their homes however do not have anywhere else to stay. “We don’t have any place to go. We are victimized,” said Reyhan Kömeçoğlu, who lives in an apartment next to the construction site.
From Anatolia News Agency:
HÜRRİYET
-- BIG AWARD TO TURKISH RESEARCHER
Ataman Şendöl, 33, a Turkish molecular biologist who studies cancer in the Microbiology Department of Zurich University, was named one of three regional winners of "The Young Life Scientist 2010 Prize" which was awarded jointly by GE Healthcare and the U.S. weekly magazine Science.
-- CALL TO HSYK: DO WHAT IS NECESSARY
Main opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu assessed the recent releases from prisons during his party's group meeting yesterday. He said a 10-year arrest term was unacceptable. Kılıçdaroğlu called on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, or HSYK, to undertake its responsibility and duty, and do what was necessary.
-- THREE WEEKS MILITARY SERVICE FOR 38,000 POLICEMEN
Interior Minister Beşir Atalay gave the second good news to policemen: a total of 38,415 policemen – 36,213 of whom have not yet done their military service and 2,202 of whom are currently undertaking their military service – will be considered as having completed their military service after three weeks of training.
MİLLİYET
-- GÜL: I WAS SURPRISED AND SORRY
In a statement to Milliyet daily, Turkish President Abdullah Gül commented on Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, Chairman Devlet Bahçeli's harsh remarks on his recent visit to southeastern province of Diyarbakır. "I was very surprised with his tone," Gül said. Bahçeli earlier criticized Gul for "legitimizing ethnical separatists."
Speaking to Milliyet, Gül's press advisor Ahmet Sever said, "The president was very surprised with Mr. Bahçeli's statements and he felt sorry. He was particularly sad that a party chairman could not see the president's efforts aiming at strengthening the state’s commitment to Diyarbakır."
-- WE HAVE EXCEEDED THE 1 TRILLION TL THRESHOLD, ERDOĞAN
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey grew by 8.9 percent on average in the first nine months of 2010. "We had closed 2009 with a GDP figure of 953 billion Turkish Liras. I proudly announce that we have exceeded the psychological threshold of 1 trillion liras in 2010," Erdoğan said.
SABAH
-- ERDOĞAN CRITICIZES BDP FOR TRYING TO HINDER SOLUTION TO KURDISH ISSUE
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday fired a salvo of harsh criticisms at the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, accusing it of trying to prevent a solution to the Kurdish issue. "Their plan is to hinder the solution. Let me put it straightforwardly: This attitude is an attitude to gain political capital out of tears of the mothers, sufferings of the fathers and the blood of our young people," Erdoğan told his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, lawmakers in a meeting at Parliament.
-- LEADERS OF TURKISH HEZBOLLAH FREE
Senior operatives of the Turkish Hezbollah were released from prison Tuesday after an amendment to the country's criminal procedures law – entered into force on Dec. 31 – which ordered the release of suspects who have stood trial with arrest for over five years. Suspects of the Turkish Hezbollah case were tried for murdering over a hundred people, including writer Konca Kuriş and Mehmet Sincar.
VATAN
-- BE CAREFUL, IT'S FREEZING TODAY
Turkey will freeze for the next three days due to extreme cold weather. Temperatures will drop to one degree. It will snow in Tekirdağ, Bursa, Bilecik, Kütahya, Bolu, Çorum provinces and high regions. However, the temperature will rise 7-8 degrees with the sunny weather on the weekend.
-- PLANE CRASHES, TWO PILOTS SURVIVE
A training plane that took off from the western province of İzmir broke down in the air. Pilot Captain Sezai Demirel and pilot Lieutenant Burak Yorulmaz changed the direction of the plane, which was about to crash into a village, towards an orchard. The plane was scrapped, while pilots survived with minor injuries.
-- WE ARE TAKING TEXTILES BACK FROM CHINA
Turkey's textile export, which rose to $14.6 billion in 2010, began the New Year fast. Giant brands like Adidas, Nike and GAP preferred Turkey after prices rose 30 percent in China.
CUMHURİYET
-- OBJECTION TO ISRAEL IS POLITICAL
Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has leaked a former U.S. ambassador's remarks on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's stance on Israel. In a cable he wrote in 2009, former ambassador James Jeffrey said that the worsening situation in Turkish-Israeli relations stemmed from Erdogan's efforts to attract rightist circles within his political movement. The message was written months before the Mavi Marmara attack which affected the relations between Turkey and Israel deeply.
-- NEW VACCINE IN CHP YIELDS TO POSITIVE RESULTS
A recent political survey revealed that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has received acceptance within Republican People's Party, or CHP. The survey said Justice and Development Party, or AKP, would get 45.3 percent of votes, while CHP would become the second party with 30.7 percent and the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, would be ranked the third with 14 percent if elections were held today.
RADİKAL
-- TURKISH HEZBOLLAH SET FREE
Several operatives of the Turkish Hezbollah – a Sunni Islamist terrorist organization with no ties to Lebanese Hizbullah – was released from prison on Tuesday after an amendment to the country's criminal procedures law entered into force on Dec. 31, which orders for the release of suspects who have stood trial with arrest for over five years. Eighteen suspects who have stood trial since July 2000 in the Hezbollah case were set free including leaders such as Edip Gümüş and Hacı İnan, who are charged with murdering 103 people by burying them alive.
-- VILLAGE GUARDS DUE IN GENERAL STAFF
A delegation of 15 village guards, government-paid local paramilitary groups in Turkey, are set to hold meetings at the Turkish General Staff on Wednesday to convey their problems. Others are expected to arrive in Ankara next week with scheduled appointments at the Prime Ministry and Interior Ministry. In Turkey, there are over 60 thousand village guards and they cost the government 250 million Turkish Liras each year.
TÜRKİYE
-- PLENTITUDE OF POLITICAL PARTIES
There are currently 60 political parties in Turkey. An important number of them cannot even enter elections. There is a political party inflation in Turkey where general elections will take place on June 12. Nearly 34 political parties will not join elections as they could not get organized throughout the country. Most of these parties are working like foundations.
-- JOB ADVERTISEMENTS UP 50 PERCENT
According to job and human resources website yenibiris.com, the rate of job advertisements increased 50 percent in 2010, compared to 2009 during the global economic crisis was felt significantly. Experts said the search for employees was a sign of the end of crisis.
-- PROMOTION OF THREE GENERALS IMPOSSIBLE
National Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül spoke for the first time about two generals and one admiral who were temporarily lashed off but were shed green light for their promotions by a military court. Gönül said, "Promotion is impossible as long as suspension continues.”
ZAMAN
-- NO PROMOTION FOR GENERALS SUSPENDED BY GOVERNMENT
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said three generals, who were suspended by the government due their alleged connection to a military coup attempt, cannot be promoted despite a ruling by a military court in favor of promoting the generals. "As long as they are suspended they cannot be promoted," Gönül said. The three generals were suspended by the government for their involvement in what is publicly known as the “Sledgehammer” case, an alleged plot back in 2003 for a military takeover.
-- INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY WINTER GAMES TORCH IN ANKARA
The 2011 Winter Universiade torch arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara. Athletes carrying the torch were greeted by Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdağ at a ceremony in Ankara. Olympic and world champion woman weightlifter Nurcan Taylan attended the ceremony and carried the torch for a while. The torch was ignited in Istanbul on Dec. 8. It will tour 19 provinces of the country and arrive in the eastern province of Erzurum which will host the 25th Winter Universiade from Jan. 27 to Feb. 6.
YENİ ŞAFAK
-- IF PROBLEM ENDS, BDP TO END AS WELL
Speaking at his party's group meeting, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, was a structure that had appeared due to existing problems. "BDP displays all the efforts to provoke the situation and hinder the solution of the matter because it sees that its tools for exploitation disappear as the problem is solved," Erdoğan said. The prime minister also noted that steps taken by BDP did not aim at seeking any rights.
-- HERE COMES KARAYEL
Turkey's Vestel Defense Corporation has signed a contract with the Turkish Defense Industry Undersecretariat to develop a fully Turkish-designed unmanned aerial vehicle for the Turkish Armed Forces. The unmanned aerial vehicle named "Karayel" will be in service in two years time.
Commenting on the cooperation, Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said, "Turkey's dependence on foreign manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles has ended.”
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