JANUARY 1 - DECEMBER 31, 2000*
CONTENTS
ı. DOMESTıC
ıı. RELATIONS WTTH GREECE AND CYPRUS ISSUE
ııı. RELATIONS WıTH THE EUROPEAN STATES AND THE EU ıV. RELATIONS WTTH THE UNıTED STATES OF AMERıCA
AND THE NATO
V. RELATIONS WTTH THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLıCS AND THE BALKAN STATES
Vı. RELATIONS WıTH ıSRAEL ARAB STATES AND ıRAN, AND THE NORTHERN ıRAQ QUESTıON
Vıı. OTHERS
I. DOMESTIC
January 3- Turkey opens a new international airport terminal in istanbul, its biggest city and commercial capital, to meet rising demand in both business and tourist traffic.
January 4- The office of the chief prosecutor of the Ankara State Security Court (DGM) decides that Foreign Minister ismail Cem did not break the lavv vvhen he suggested that a ban on Kurdish language broadcasts could be relaxed.
February 10- Turkey successfully tests its first short-range ground to-ground missiles (Toros 230-A and 260-A), developed to reduce dependence on foreign arms suppliers.
April 15- Prime Minister Ecevit says it is only natural that the military should be so closely interested in the eleetion of the nevv president
£
Prepared from Turkish Probe and Briefıng by Research Assistant Atay Akdevelioğlu, Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science.
because whoever becomes head of state also becomes the commander-in chief of the armed forces and the chairman of the National Security Council.
May 5- Ahmet Necdet Sezer, chief justice of the Constitutional Court is elected 10th president of Turkey with a clear 330-vote majority in the
550-seat unicameral Turkish Parliament.
May 10- Former Chairman of the Rebirth Party (YDP) and ex-Cabinet minister Hasan Celal Güzel is released from Ayaş Prison after serving a four-month sentence for a public speech.
October 18- Ömer Izgi of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) is elected Parliament speaker.
December 28- More than ten million tourists visited Turkey during 2000 and Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu says that, barring unforeseen circumstances, 2001 could be a record year.
II. RELATİONS VVİTH GREECE AND CYPRUS İSSUE
January 19- George Papandreou arrives in Ankara to become the first Greek foreign minister to pay an official visit to Turkey since 1962.
January 20- Greece says it vvill help press for Turkey's membership of the EU, a turnaround for Athens, vvhich had earlier blocked Turkish bids for inclusion in the Union. Meanvvhile, Prime Minister Ecevit meets Greek Foreign Minister Papandreou for talks symbolizing a dramatic improvement in relations between the tvvo neighbors whose hostility has cast a shadow över the eastern Mediterranean. Papandreou also meets President Demirel. Earlier Papandreou signs a series of agreements for cooperation on fighting terrorism, tourism, the environment and the protection of investment.
January 25- Greek President Costas Stefanopoulos dubs Turkey "backvvard", "militarist" and only "a bit democratic."
January 31- Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Glafcos Clerides meet separately vvith U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to launch the second round of Cyprus proximity talks.
February 3- Foreign Minister ismail Cem arrives in Greece to start a landmark three-day visit capping six months of diplomacy that has seen the once perennial foes forge a nevv relationship.
February 8- A second round of proximity talks on Cyprus end in Geneva. Sides schedule third round of talks.
February 11- On a first-ever official visit to Germany, Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş meets vvith Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
February 12- The Turkish and Greek prime ministers meet aııd vow to keep on improving their "very positive" ties, and the Greek leader reiterates his support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
March 20- Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. President Rauf Denktaş begins an official visit to Ankara, receiving unexpectedly strong Turkish support for his re-election bid in the April 15 northem Cyprus presidential elections.
April 11- Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit warmly congratulates Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis on his re-election and says Turkey is ready to work to further improve ties with Greece.
April 24- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş is sworn in for his fourth term as president.
May 19- Turkish warplanes make a historic landing at the Greek military's Nea Anchialos airfield to join NATO exercises, displaying the remarkable improvement in bilateral relations.
June 2- Turkish soldiers storm a Greek beach in a military exercise, starkly underlining the improved relations between the two eastern Mediterranean countries.
June 5- The third round of U.N. brokered indirect peace talks aimed at reuniting Cyprus's Greek and Turkish communities resume in Geneva.
June 10- An addendum to a routine U.N. report on Cyyprus angers Greek Cypriots, who claim that the world body is creating new complications to the existing political mess on the Mediterranean island.
June 14- The U.N. Security Council decides to keep the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Cyprus for another six months, until December 15, and to serap an addendum to a periodic U.N. report that said the Turkish Cypriots should also approve the presence of the U.N. peacekeepers in the northern part of the island which they control.
June 15- Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş warns that a U.N. deal vvith the Greek Cypriot government on the fate of U.N. peacekeepers on the island will damage chances for the success of U.N. sponsored talks.
June 21- President Ahmet Necdet Sezer starst two-day official trip to northern Cyprus.
July 8- Five Turkish Cypriots are arrested for suspected spying for the Greek-controlled southem part of Cyprus. The suspects, three journalists, a Turkish Cypriot military officer and the officer's wife, are accused of trespassing on restricted military property, photographing classified documents, and passing the photographs on to the Greek Cypriot government.
July 15- The Greek government lifts its visa requirement for Turks who want to visit Greek islands for one-day trips.
July 18- A Turkish Cypriot court frees three suspects accused of spying for Greek Cypriots pending further investigation of the charges against them.
July 21- Greek Cypriot negotiators say that they consider proposals for a Cyprus settlement which have been put forward by a U.N. mediator to be "pro-Turkish-Cypriot and outside the guidelines laid down by the Security Council," a Greek Cypriot official says after a meeting of the Greek Cypriot "National Council."
July 24- The second part of the third round of proximity talks, which aim to seek a solution to the Cyprus dispute, resumes in Geneva.
August 1- The Turkish Foreign Ministry says the decision taken by the European Council Delegates Committee in the Loizidou case is not acceptable and that it will negatively affect the proximity talks that are continuing in Geneva between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot administration.
September 2- Greek anarchists set fire to a Turkish Embassy car, the fifth attack on diplomatic vehicles in less than a month, poliçe say.
September 12- In a statement that appeared to upset Greek Cypriots, Secretary General Kofi Annan calls for negotiations between the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots in which each party "represents its side-and no one else- as the political equal of the other." Annan reads the statement separately to Greek Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş at the start of the fourth round of the "proximity talks" aimed at reuniting divided Mediterranean island.
September 26- The fourth round of the Cyprus proximity talks concludes in New York. Greek Cypriot leadcr Glafcos Clerides rejects U.N. proposals for a solution, particularly those regarding the issue of govemance.
October 4- In a meeting in Athens, the defense ministers of Greece and Turkey talk about tuming their swords into plowshares.
October 7- Six Greek F-16 fighter planes land on Turkish soil for the first time for joint exercises, marking a sharp improvement in ties between the two countries.
October 12- Greece grounds its jet fighters taking part in NATO war games in Turkey after a dispute över exercise flight corridors.
October 16- Greece issues an ultimatum for NATO to resolve a dispute över a military exercise in the Aegean Sea which has rekindled longstanding boundary disputes with Turkey.
October 23- Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Rauf Denktaş warms that the Greek side of the island is risking war by locking the radar of its antiaircraft missile batteries on Turkish warplanes.
November 2- Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz arrives in Athens and says that longstanding disputes between Turkey and Greece should be solved at the bargaining table.
November 10- The latest round of U.N. sponsored talks on Cyprus end in Geneva without visible progress and with a renewed warning that the process w ili be "long and drawe-out."
November 14- The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Qatar, attended by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, gives support to the Turkish Cypriots and emphasizes that the equal political status of both the Turkish and Greek Cypriots should be respected in order for a solution to the Cyprus problem to come about.
November 15- The European Parliament approves a proposal recommending that a phrase calling on Turkey to recognize the alleged Armenian genocide be included in a non-binding resolution evaluating Turkey's performance on the way to EU membership, a move likely to discourage efforts in Turkey to fulfill membership requirements.
November 15- Prime Minister Ecevit asks the prime ministries of the EU in a letter to remove the Cyprus segment mentioned in the short-term measures of the draft Accession Partnership Document.
December 6- U.N. Peace Force in Cyprus will no longer be welcome by the Turkish Cypriot authorities in northern Cyprus unless the United Nations recognizes the North as an independent state, Denktaş says.
III. RELATİONS WITH THE EUROPEAN STATES AND THE EU
January 9- Prime Minister Ecevit warns his coalition allies that Turkey's bid to join Europe would suffer if it did not delay the legal process against the condemned öcalan.
January 12- Turkey's coalition government decides to postpone hanging terrorist leader öcalan until the European court has given its judgement on the case.
January 14- PKK terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan says Turkey's decision to delay his execution is a step tovvards democratization and membership of the European Union.
February 2- Prime Minister Ecevit says the rise of Austrian far-right leader Joeng Haider raises concems about the growth of racism in Europe.
February 11- On a first-ever official visit to Germany, Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktaş meets vvith Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
February 12- The Turkish and Greek prime ministers meet and vow to keep on improving their "very positive" ties, and the Greek leader reiterates his support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
April 5- German President Johannes Rau arrives on a three-day state visit to Turkey, the first by a European head of state since Ankara's acceptance as a candidate to the European Union.
April 7- German President Johannes Rau, in Turkey for a state visit, says that Turkey has done good things to improve its human rights record, but that more stili needs to be done.
April 11- The EU telis Turkey it is disappointed by the slow pace of human rights reform since the country vvas made a candidate for EU membership in December. The bloc, meeting Turkey in Luxemburg in the framevvork of a bilateral pact for the first time in three years, telis Foreign Minister ismail Cem that it is looking for improvements on human rights, notably for Kurds, and the abolition of the death penalty.
April 14- President Süleyman Demirel meets vvith Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski vvho is on a two-day state visit to Turkey.
May 25- Turkey and Hungary display their determination to further develop bilateral relations during Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban's four-day visit to Turkey, the first by a Hungarian prime minister in 17 years.
June 1- European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana makes a short visit to Ankara but ails to resolve differences över Ankara's insistence that they be allovved to participate in the defense strategy of the 15-nation bloc of vvhich it is not yet a member.
June 5- Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, on a two-day trip to Norvvay, says Turkey is making progress in its economy and human rights and is aiming to meet EU membership standards vvithin a few years.
July 13- EU Enlargement Commisioner Guenter Verheugen says in a joint press conference vvith Foreign Minister İsmail Cem in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri that he is pleased vvith Turkey's progress tovvards meeting accession criteria since the country became a European Union candidate in December 1999.
July 14- Prime Minister Ecevit telis the EU commissioner for enlargement that Turkey vvill fulfîll conditions for EU membership "earlier than anticipated."
June 20- The EU excludes Turkey and other non-EU NATO member countries from the decision-making mechanism of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) at its summit in Santa Maria De Feira, Portugal.
August 1- The Turkish Foreign Ministry says the decision taken by the European Council Delegates Committee in the Loizidou case is not acceptable and that it vvill negatively affect the proximity talks that are continuing in Geneva betvveen the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot administration.
August 30- Prime Minister Ecevit says Belgium was "bovving to terrorists" by refusing to extradite Turkish terrorist Fehriye Erdal.
November 8- The European Commission makes public the Accession Partnership Document for Turkey. The document sets short and medium-term goals for Turkey including democratic, economic, judicial and social reforms. It also refers to the Cyprus dispute in its short-term measures.
November 9- Turkey accepts an EU road map to membership, swallowing reservations över Cyprus demands, and says it will do everyth'ng necessary to meet requirements for sweeping democratic and economic reforms.
November 15- The European Parliament approves a proposal recommending that a phrase calling on Turkey to recognize the alleged Armenian genocide be included in a non-binding resolution evaluating Turkey's performance on the vvay to EU membership, a move likely to discourage efforts in Turkey to fulfill membership requirements.
November 15- Prime Minister Ecevit asks the prime ministries of the EU in a letter to remove the Cyprus segment mentioned in the short-term measures of the draft Accession Partnership Document.
November 18- The Foreign Ministry reacts angrily to the Italian Parliament's approving a resolution supporting a Tecent European Parliament resolution calling on Ankara to recognize the alleged Armenia genocide.
November 21- Foreign Minister ismail Cem accuses the EU of behaving like "colonial governors" by setting "offensive" nevv conditions for Turkish membership.
December 6- Prime Minister Ecevit leaves Turkey to attend the EU summit in Nice, France.
December 24- The Foreign Ministry criticizes the Netherlands for allovving the far-left terrorist organization, Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), to operate freely there.
December 25- Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit says relations vvith the European Union, the economy and social justice vvill be the top priority issues for his government in the new year.
December 27- Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz says the role of Turkish military vvould inevitably change as the country approached EU membership, but change vvould take time.
December 31- Motherland Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Yılmaz says that there are certain problems which Turkey must overcome in the process of gaining full membership to the EU.
IV. RELATİONS WITH HE UNIED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE NATO
May 19- Turkish warplanes make a historic landing at the Greek military's Nea Anchialos airfield to join NATO exercises, displaying the remarkable improvement in bilateral relations.
June 20- The EU excludes Turkey and other non-EU NATO member countries from the decision-making mechanism of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) at its summit in Santa Maria De Feira, Portugal.
June 27- Parliament extends the mandate for U.S. and British planes to use Turkish air base to patrol the no-fly zone över northern Iraq another six months.
October 12- Greece grounds its jet fıghters taking part in NATO war games in Turkey after a dispute över exercise flight corridors.
October 16- Greece issues an ultimatum for NATO to resolve a dispute över a military exercise in the Aegean Sea which has rekindled longstanding boundary disputes vvith Turkey.
October 20- Heading the vvarnings from U.S. President Bili Clinton, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert decides to withdraw the resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide.
October 22- President Sezer sends a letter thanking U.S. President Bili Clinton for his efforts to block the resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide.
October 31- The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey meet in Hungary and agree to resolve bilateral differences vvithin the North Atlantic Alliance and in bilateral talks.
December 14- Turkey refuses to change its policy över the ESDP under heavy pressure from NATO allies, stating that it vvill not approve ESDP access to NATO unless it is included in the decision-making process.
V. RELATİONS WITH THE FORMER SOVİET REPUBLICS AND THE BALKAN STATES
February 28- Prime Minister Ecevit became the first Turkish prime minister to visit Albania in seven years vvhen he starts a two-day visit.
March 5- Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian foreign ministers meet in Bulgaria. Greece and Turkey say their relations have improved so much recently that there is no need for a formal non-aggression pact.
March 20- As a further step to restore the rights of its ethnic Turkish minority, Bulgaria's government introduces the teaching of islam in schools.
April 30- Albanian President Recep Meydani arrives in istanbul for a two-day visit to Turkey as the guest of President Süleyman Demirel.
April 28- Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan initial the host government agreements which establish the legal framevvork for investment in the oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean Sea through Georgia and Turkey.
July 11- President Ahmet Necdet Sezer arrives in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani leader Haydar Aliyev telis him that Azerbaijan is keen to begin work on a U.S. backed oil pipeline that vvould terminate in Turkey and bypass both Iran and Russia.
August 4- Upon the reactions of both Turks living in Kosovo and the Turkish government, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) reverses a previous decision, for the Turkish language to be acknovvledged in the U.N. administered region.
August 22- Former Azeri President Ebulfeyz Elçibey dies in Ankara at the Gülhane Military Medical Academy.
October 23- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov visits Turkey.
November 22- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma arrives in Turkey for a three-day visit.
December 25- Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze says that his first foreign trip in 2001 vvill be to neighboring Turkey, Georgia's second-ranking trade partner, after Russia.
December 26- Six Black Sea nations (Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania and Bulgaria) are establishing a joint naval force to rapidly intervene in case of accidents and ensure the security of tanker traffic.
VI. RELATİONS WITH ISRAEL, ARAB STATES AND IRAN, AND THE NORTHERN IRAQ QUESTION
January 10- Several hundred Syrian families visit their Turkish relatives for their first Müslim religious holiday together after a 30-year separation because of tense relations betvveen the tvvo countries.
January 18- Foreign Minister Cem assures his Iranian counterpart that Turkey will not aIlow its military ally Israel to attack any of its neighbors from Turkish soil.
February 26- State Minister Edip Safter Gaydalı arrives in Iraq to negotiate joint oil and gas projects and an increase in Turkish trade under Iraq's oil-for-food deal. Gaydalı is accompanied by senior officials and some 100 businessmen.
February 29- Iraq Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan calls for Turkish help in preventing the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq.
March 6- Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Uğur Ziyal visits Damascus and discusses with Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Suleiman Hadad the longstanding water sharing dispute between the two neighbors as well as trade relations and security issues.
March 7- Visiting King Abdullah of Jordan says that more political and economic cooperation with Turkey vvill promote peace and stability in the Middle East.
March 9- Iraq accuses U.S. and Turkish officials of illegally entering its territory last month and urges U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the U.N. Security Council to get Washington and Ankara to stop such "acts of aggression."
April 26- In the vvake of Israeli Education Minister Yossi Sarid's statement that information about the so-called Armenian genocide should be inserted into the Israeli high school curriculum, another Israeli minister, Justice Minister Yossi Bbeilin, reportedly says the incidents in the Ottoman Empire involving Armenians could not be called anything but "genocide."
May 20- Suspected Islamic militant Ferhan özmen reportedly confesses to a string of majör terrorist killings ordered by Iran över the last decade, including a U.S. soldier and an Israeli diplomat as well as top Turkish intellectuals.
May 23- Iran summons the Turkish ambassador to protest against the mass arrest of Iranians in several Turkish cities.
May 23- Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy sends a letter to Foreign Minister Cem in another effort to clarify Israel's position on so-called Armenian genocide, that the issue should be left to historians to deal vvith.
June 5- Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Faruk Loğoğlu visits Baghdad via Habur and is received by Iraqi Deputy President Taha Yasin Ramadan.
June 5- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Hossein Adeil arrives in Turkey and formally invites newly elected President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer to Tehran to attend the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit.
June 7- President Sezer announces that he will not go to the Iranian capital of Tehran to attend the ECO summit.
June 13- President Sezer and Culture Minister Istemihan Talay represent Turkey at the funeral of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
June 14- Turkey says it has urged neighboring Iraq expand local services into the Kurdish-held north, vvhich Ankara fears could end up splitting from Baghdad.
June 27- Parliament extends the mandate for U.S. and British planes to use Turkish air base to patrol the no-fly zone över northern Iraq by another six months.
July 25- Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani meets vvith Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Secretary Uğur Ziyal and is received by Prime Minister Ecevit in a bid to put relations betvveen the PUK and Turkey back on track.
August 2- Despite U.S. objections, Turkey signs an agreement vvith Iran to begin construction of a pipeline for importing Iranian natural gas as part of a $20 billion, 25-year deal.
August 5- Prime Minister Ecevit says after talks vvith visiting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat that he supports the principle of Palestinian statehood.
August 13- In the first visit of Turkish parliamentarians to Libya since Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan's controversial 1996 visit, parliamentarians discuss vvays of improving relations, but growing Turco-Israeli relations overshadovv the meeting.
August 22- Iraq condemns vvhat it calls the latest aggression by Turkey on its territory and threatens to retaliate.
August 23- Foreign Minister Cem visits Gaza and meets vvith Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
August 28- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak makes a one-day visit to Turkey.
September 15- Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) forces led by Jalal Talabani start fighting Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) terrorists in PUK-controlled areas of northern Iraq. This is the first such encounter betvveen the tvvo groups.
October 4- Massoud Barzaııi, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), visits Ankara and says Turkey has agreed to pay compensation for an air strike in northern Iraq in August that killed 38 civilians.
October S- Turkish officials and Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani say they agree to push on with military cooperation against Kurdish terrorists based in northern Iraq.
October 9- Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa cuts short a visit to Turkey, saying President Hosni Mubarak summoned him home for talks aimed at defusing a growing crisis in the Middle East.
October 9- A Turkish plane carrying medicine, businessmen and pro-Iraq activists lands in Baghdad.
October 30- State Minister Tunca Toskay, accompanied by a business delegation, flies to Iraq to attend the opening ceremony of an international fair in Baghdad and to take part in a series of official talks.
November 2- Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam arrives in Ankara for an official visit.
November 14- The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Qatar attended by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer gives support to the Turkish Cypriots and emphasizes that the equal political status of both the Turkish and Greek Cypriots should be respected in order for a solution to the Cyprus problem to come about.
December 17- Turkish Parliament once again extends for six months the mandate of U.S. and British aircraft that patrol a no-fly zone över northern Iraq.
December 25- Iraq says it agrees with Syria on a water-sharing plan but says Turkey is blocking efforts for a tripartite agreement.
December 26- Foreign Minister İsmail Cem says he urged Palestinian "President" Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami to make a "special effort" in seeking an end to the Middle East conflict.
December 28- Hundreds of Syrians cross the border into Turkey to spend the Müslim Eid al-Fitr holiday the traditional way with their relatives.
VII. OTHERS
March 30- Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit leaves for a four-day trip to India.
April 18- Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrives in Ankara for a state visit.
April 27- Chadian President Idris Deby pays state visit to Ankara as the guest of President Süleyman Demirel.
May 17- Galatasaray beats Arsenal 4-1 on penalties to win the UEFA Cup in the finals game in Copenhagen.
May 27- World Bark President James VVolfensohn completes his visit to Turkey, praising Turkey's resolve över reform but urging swift action on rehabilitation of banks.
June 16- The head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Nuri Yılmaz, meets vvith Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
July 23- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanju arrives in Turkey for a state visit.
August 17- After holding out for 34 years, Turkey signs the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Culture Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
October 10- Vaclav Havel becomes the first Czech president to visit Turkey vvhen he arrives in Ankara and starts high-level contacts vvith Turkish officials.
November 30- World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn sends a letter to Prime Minister Ecevit, vvarning him that Turkey faces a very povverful threat stemming from the recent shocks vvhich have led to a sharp rise in interest rates in domestic fınancial markets and to a fail in foreign currency reserves.
December 4- Turkey holds emergency talks vvith the IMF on action plan to rescue its economy as stocks plunge and interest rates move up to 20,000 percent.
December 21- The International Monetary Fund formally approves a $7,5 billion emergency loan package to help Turkey deal vvith its serious financial crisis.
December 22- Turkey, in a govemmental letter of intent, promises the IMF that it vvill trim its military spendings.
