GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON DEC 5

HURRIYET
-- TURKEY SIGNS PROTOCOL WITH AIRBUS TO DESIGN NEW PASSANGER PLANE
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) signed a protocol with the Airbus as a risk partner in designing the new passenger plane of Airbus, A350XWB. Over 400 Turkish engineers with the TAI will design and manufacture ailerons for the new plane. The project will cost 500 million USD for starters and it will increase to as high as $1.5 billion.

-- TURKEY'S PACKAGE OF HOPE STUCK IN IMF
An economic package which markets in Turkey had long been waiting for to settle the fallout from an economic global malady have been belated as talks with the International Monetary Fund took long. Markets have been waiting for the package since Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan returned from a trip to India late last month. On a reduction in value-added tax, Erdogan said the government had no such plans. "The IMF wants us to increase the VAT," he told reporters.

-- FORMER DEP MP SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS IN PRISON
Leyla Zana, a former lawmaker from the banned Democracy Party (DEP), was sentenced to ten years in prison by a court in Diyarbakir in a case in which she was tried for a number of speeches she made. The court also banned Zana from politics. Zana's lawyer said they would appeal to a higher court.

MILLIYET
-- "MASTERS" DAY AT CANKAYA PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
President Abdullah Gul presented 2008 Presidency Culture & Art Great Awards to writer Yasar Kemal, architect Turgut Cansever and Dr. Alaeddin Yavasca. Cansever could not participate in award ceremony due to his health problems. Yasar Kemal said in the ceremony that every society would use its own mother tongue, write books, and shoot films.

-- 10 YEAR IMPRISONMENT TO ZANA
Leyla Zana, a former deputy of now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment due to nine different speeches she made at European Parliament, and in the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Batman, Bingol in various dates.

SABAH
-- DOLLAR FROM USA ON WAY
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said that dollar would be purchased from the United States in return for YTL in order to meet foreign exchange deficiency in the country. Erdogan said IMF wanted value added tax to be raised. An agreement could be signed with the fund at the beginning of the new year, he said.

-- TURKEY THIRSTY FOR PEACE
President Abdullah Gul gave the presidency award to author Yasar Kemal. Kemal delivered a speech including messages of peace and said, "the world and Turkey were fed up with fear and shame caused by the war. Everything is mortal. Only love is immortal. I still live with my dreams."

VATAN
-- 10 YEAR IMPRISONMENT AND POLITICAL BAN TO ZANA
Leyla Zana, a former deputy of now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment as she eulogized PKK terrorist organization and its head during nine speeches she made within a year as well as "being member of terrorist organization". Diyarbakir High Criminal Court reduced the prison term from 12 years to 10 years due to "good conduct". As her jail term exceeds two years, Zana was also deprived of her eligibility to vote and get elected in elections.

-- I CAME TO MY FAMILY, NOT IN EXILE
Vatan revealed that Uzbek General Rashid Dostum was secretly brought to Turkey. Dostum spoke to Vatan at his house in Ankara. He said, "Afghanistan is our home, nobody can get us out. I rescued the country from terrorism and communism. I am the second man in the protocol in Afghanistan. I came here to my family, I am not in exile. I will return to my country 5-10 days after spending Feast of Sacrifice in Turkey. I thank Turkey for sending me a plane."

CUMHURIYET
-- YASAR KEMAL RECEIVES PRESIDENCY AWARD
President Abdullah Gul decorated author Yasar Kemal, architect Turgut Cansever and Turkish classical music composer Alaeddin Yavasca with 2008 Presidency Culture and Art Great Awards in Ankara on Thursday. Author Yasar Kemal criticized the education system and said village institutes had been one of the best initiatives in the world.

-- ZANA SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON
Former deputy of Democracy Party (DEP) Leyla Zana was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of "making propaganda of terrorist organization" and "being a member of terrorist organization".

RADIKAL
-- EACH PEOPLE TO BE TAUGHT IN THEIR MOTHER LANGUAGE
Yasar Kemal, one of the leading names of the Turkish literature, has said that each people in Anatolia would receive education in their own mother languages and they would write books. Kemal was presented with the "Turkish Presidential Culture and Art Award". He said that he received the award in the name of social compromise.

-- YOK'S GREAT ATTEMPT
Higher Education Board (YOK) has added momentum to its project to establish free and safe universities throughout Turkey to prevent increasing acts of violence at campuses. Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Ozcan, chairman of the Board, said that since it was not possible to solve the problem with physical measures, they were seeking a solution through dialogue. He added that police officers would not be allowed to enter university buildings.

YENI SAFAK
-- OBAMA TO BE BRIEFED ON TURKEY
The Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) have prepared a report on the Middle East to be submitted to the President-elect Barack Obama who will be sworn in as the new president of the United States on January 20. The report underlines importance of Turkey in the region. Brookings and CFR experts recommend Obama to develop Turkey's mediating role to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

-- DOSTUM IN TURKEY
General Rashid Dostum has been brought to Turkey secretly under a special agreement between Turkish and Afghan governments. Dostum was under house arrest in Afghanistan because of his dispute with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Burak Ozugergin, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed that Dostum was in Turkey.