Today in Turkish Press

ANKARA (A.A) - August 6, 2011 - These are some of the major headlines and their summaries in Turkish press on August 6, 2011. The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HURRIYET
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THERE IS BLACK HOLE IN CASH BOX
Upon allegations that Galatasaray "gave incentive premium for a match between Denizlispor and Fenerbahce", police investigated Galatasaray's accounts, but could not find any document proving 1 million USD of money outflow from the soccer club. Galataray's chairman Adnan Polat came to Istanbul Police Department to testify on Friday. After his statement that lasted for one and a half hours, Polat said, "I have learned about this letter (a letter he is claimed to receive from Galatasaray's sportive director Bulent Tulun) for the first time in my life. There was nothing concerning me. I just spoke about the letter."

GIVE US HOLY MANTLE, AND WE BUILD A PALACE FOR YOU ON BOSPHORUS
The sacred relics of Prophet Muhammad, given as a gift to Veysel Karani upon the Prophet's will, was opened to visitors at Istanbul's Mosque of the Holy Mantle in Fatih neighborhood. Archeologist Gulay Koprulu, a granddaughter of Karani from the 57th generation, said, "my deceased father did not accept a proposal of an Arab sheik asking him to give the Holy Mantle to the sheik and thus the sheik would construct a palace for our family on the banks of the Bosphorus." 

MILLIYET
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GUL COUPLE IN KITCHEN
President Abdullah Gul's four-year in office has become a book. The book includes special snapshots about the Gul family. In one of them, Gul is cooking "katmer", a special type of pastry peculiar to the central province of Kayseri (Gul's motherland), in the kitchen of Istanbul's Tarabya Mansion together with his wife Hayrunnisa Gul. Under the photograph, Gul wrote, "Mrs. Hayrunnisa was a good cook. When I became the president, this is one of the things we have lost. I am always teasing her saying, 'you are not cooking, you will forget how to cook'."

BRING TSK, AND WE BIND IT TO MINISTER
Republican People's Party (CHP) chairperson Kemal Kilicdaroglu made a call to the government, and said, "let you bring up a proposal, and we support. Let's bind the General Staff to the Defense Ministry." Kilicdaroglu said, "what we are objecting to developments regarding Supreme Military Council (YAS) meeting is that everything happened behind closed doors. What has changed so that these decisions were made? The president and prime minister should make it public. The prime minister met Necdet Ozel (chief of general staff) but he did not share their compromise with the Turkish public. There were discussions about jailed commanders. The council has lost its characteristic as a council."

SABAH
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"WISH WE HAVE AN ERDOGAN, TOO," SAYS GREEK DAILY
Greek daily To Vima published an article on its Friday edition comparing Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to describe a dire economic bottleneck troubling the Greek government. "Take a look at Papandreou's Greece and Erdogan's Turkey. We have waken up from a deep sleep to what we have been experiencing for the last one and a half years. And Erdogan took over the reigns of his country with the same situation we are in today, a bankruptcy. He proved successful in navigating through the hard roads of the IMF, and he saved a substantial part of his people from poverty. He gave his country a rapid pace of economic growth. And he left the biggest challenge to the end: to take full power and fundamentally change the old establishment as well as the power balances," To Vima's Georges Maluhos wrote.

TURKEY LAUNCHES SOMALIA AID CAMPAIGN
The Turkish Red Crescent Society and the country's international development agency TIKA have launched an aid campaign to support efforts to fight a devastating famine in Somalia. Planes carrying tons of food and medical aid supplies will depart from Turkey on Monday. Also, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a separate aid campaign.

VATAN
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HE WAS FREED, HE CRIED
Prosecutors freed anchorman Ugur Arslan, who was detained under the Deniz Feneri e.V. charity investigation carried out by Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office. Moreover, concerned court released Mustafa Bolukbasi. However, court arrested Harun Kapuyoldas and Muzaffer Safak. Arslan cried when he was released.

SCANDAL EVEN IN THE LAST DAY
Only 27 minutes left to the end of 11-day university preference selection, the Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM) sent an SMS to Cuneyt Mutlu's cell phone, and notified that his grade was miscalculated. Mutlu's grade was raised to 523 from 511. Thus, he overtook 3,893 other candidates.

DOUBLE GROUND FEAR SHAKES STOCK EXCHANGE
The severe conditions of European and U.S. economies have deep reflection on Turkey. Friday's loss at the Istanbul Stock Exchange was 5.16 percent. Foreign investors were confused with the decisions of the Turkish Central Bank. Investors sold at the stock exchange, and started to purchase foreign exchange. Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci said, "we will give foreign exchange whoever wants and as much as they want." This remark eased the tension. However, one-week loss of the stock exchange reached 10 percent. 

CUMHURIYET
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STOCKS PLUMMET, USD AT HIGHEST LEVEL
As alarming news continue to arrive for the world economy, Turkey's stocks exchange saw a dramatic drop on Friday, plummeting 5.16 percent to as low as 56,265 points. U.S. dollar skyrocketed against the Turkish currency trading at 1.7380 despite a move from the Turkish Central Bank to reduce required foreign reserve ratio by half a point and sell 50 million USD to the market.           

TURKEY CALLS FOR ACTION ON FAMINE-STRICKEN SOMALIA
Turkey has called on the Islamic Conference Organization for an emergency session over the famine in Somalia that threatens millions of lives. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree ordering aid campaign for Somalia and other African countries facing famine. The Turkish Red Crescent and the country's international development agency also started an aid campaign. 
  
RADIKAL
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HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SOMALIA
A devastating famine that hit Africa has turned into a humanitarian tragedy in Somalia as 500 thousand children are on the brink of death as 3.7 million people are desperately waiting for foreign aid. 29 thousand children under five have died within the last 90 days. 

BLACK FRIDAY IN ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGE
Signals regarding a possible global economic crisis have shaken markets in the world. The Istanbul Stocks Exchange was hit the hardest with a 5.1 percent lost. The Turkish Central Bank reduced required foreign reserve ratio by half a point and sold 50 million USD to the markets.   

   TURKIYE
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ISTANBUL-HEJAZ TRAIN VOYAGE TO TAKE ONLY 24 HOURS
A railway between Istanbul and Hejaz, a project of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid, will be put to implementation after 115 years of interval. Turkey, Jordan, Syria and Arabia have speeded up initiatives. The project is expected to be completed by 2015. With a high-speed train line, it will only take 24 hours between Istanbul and Mecca. 2 million people will be carried by the train to sacred territories every year.

IF THERE IS NO UN, THERE IS TURKEY
When the United Nations (UN) is remaining indifferent to children dying of hunger in Somalia, Turkey has launched initiatives to end this tragedy. Turkiye daily newspaper went to camps in Somalia and Kenya, brought up the humanitarian tragedy in the camps where mass deaths are seen due to hunger. The UN added 3.7 million people, including 500,000 children, in the list of "those who will die". 
Turkey, which extends its helping hand in any country which is facing problems, has not remained indifferent to developments in Somalia either. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a campaign for the draught region, where the UN is not sending assistance to. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on Islam countries for an extraordinary meeting.

ZAMAN
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TURKISH CENTRAL BANK INTRODUCES FIVE-STEP PLAN 
As U.S. economy signals another recession and fears mount that debt crisis will spread across Europe, the Turkish Central Bank has introduced a five-step plan. The plan aims at reducing current account deficit that soared due to increase in imports, to keep inflation rate at a target of 5.5, to minimize effects from global economic risks, to prevent fluctuation in the Turkish currency by adjusting overnight borrowing rates, and sell more foreign currency to the markets coupled by a reduction in required foreign reserve ratio. Turkish government expressed full support to the bank in implementing the new strategy.

FOREIGN CLIMBERS NO LONGER TO GET INTELLIGENCE APPROVAL FOR MOUNT AGRI EXPEDITIONS
Foreign mountaineers will no longer be required to get clearances from Turkey's National Intelligence Organizaton to climb Mount Agri, the highest mountain in Turkey. Foreign appeals to the Turkish Foreign Ministry for Agri expeditions will be directly referred to the offices of the local governors in Agri and Igdir provinces.               

YENI SAFAK
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JITEM KILLED VEDAT AYDIN
Former police chief Hanefi Avci, who testified as a suspect in unsolved murders case in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, confirmed that the gendarmery intelligence unit, JITEM, abducted and killed Vedat Aydin, the head of Diyarbakir branch of People's Labor Party (HEP), in 1991.

SUCH OYAK NECESSARY FOR EVERY ONE
The Army Assistance Agency (OYAK), set up by the 1960 military coup makers in order to help members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), has become one of the biggest holdings in Turkey in the last 50 years with state privileges. Although severance pay of a high-level bureaucrat is below 100,000 Turkish liras (TL), a retired general can be paid around 500,000 TL.