GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON JAN 3

HURRIYET

-- FIRST INFLATION FIGURES OF YEAR

Consumer prices have been up by 10.06 percent in 2008 and producer prices also risen by 8.11 percent. According to the inflation figures made public by the Turkish Board of Statistics, consumer prices dropped by 0.41 percent and producer prices was down by 3.54 percent in December last year. Annual inflation figure for December 2008 was 10.44 percent in consumer prices and it was 12.72 percent in producer prices.

-- IMF DELEGATION DUE IN TURKEY ON JANUARY 8

A delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by Turkey Mission Chief Rachel van Elkan will come to Turkey on January 8. The delegation's visit to Turkey is expected to last for ten days. During the visit, the delegation will lay the groundwork for a new stand-by arrangement. If a new agreement is signed, the first tranche of the loan is expected to be released within January.

-- TURKEY'S EXPORTS BREAK A NEW RECORD IN 2008

Turkey's exports have broken a new record and reached 131.5 billion dollars despite the sharp decline in December stemming from the global crisis. State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said that Turkey's exports could have reached 136 billion dollars if the global crisis had not erupted. Turkey's exports grew 20.3 percent in 2008.

MILLIYET

-- BAYKAL ON ILLEGAL MONIRORING: "WE DID NOT CALL THE POLICE, BECAUSE WE DON'T TRUST THEM"

Republican People's Party (CHP) Leader Deniz Baykal made interesting remarks Friday at a TV program on CNN Turk private channel. Baykal said they did not report the bug found in CHP headquarters, to the police because they did not trust them. Also commenting on broadcasts in Kurdish at the state run TV Channel

TRT, Baykal said it was wrong for a state institution to become tool for ethnic efforts. Baykal said their candidate for mayor in Izmir would be Aziz Kocaoglu for sure, while stating that they did not decide yet on CHP's candidate for mayor in Istanbul. "People want to see Kemal Kilicdaroglu or Gursel Tekin as CHP's candidate," said Baykal.

-- INTERESTING REMARKS FROM AKP'S GEDIKLI: "OLMERT DESERVES A PAIR OF SHOES, TOO"

AKP's Deputy Chairman Bulen Gedikli said Friday that Israel displayed an attitude that was improper for a state. "Israel's PM Olmert, also deserved a pair of shoes," said Gedikli. Recently, U.S. President Bush was protested by a reporter who threw his shoes at Bush, during his visit to Iraq.

SABAH

-- BOMBER SENTENCED TO NINE "LIFE TIMES" IN PRISON

The court announced its verdict regarding the bomb attack in Diyarbakir which killed seven people, six of whom were students. Erdal Polat was sentenced to nine aggravated lifetime imprisonments, plus 75 years and four months of jail time. Five of the other culprits were sentenced to 6 years and three months of jail time each.

-- INFLATION RATE FOR 2008: 10 PERCENT

The inflation rate dropped by 0.41 percent in consumer prices and 3.5 percent in producers' prices in December. Overall inflation rate in consumers prices for 2008 had been 10 percent. Despite a 25 percent decline in December, total exports in 2008 amounted to 131 billion dollars.

VATAN

-- HE LIES

Veysel Karani Demir, director-general of the Baskent Natural Gas Company, has said at a news conference he held after demise of seven university students in Ankara, that his company did not have any fault. He said that the aluminum pipe that connected the domestic heating system to the chimney was torn up, and the burned gas spread to the apartment causing the tragedy. When asked whether he would resign, Demir said that he was planning to resign but the mayor of Ankara, Melip Gokcek, did not accept it. Seven students of the Bilkent University died of carbon monoxide poisoning while celebrating the new year.

-- IMF DUE IN TURKEY FOR 20TH STAND-BY

Turkey is getting ready to sign its 20th Stand-by Agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A delegation headed by Turkey Mission Chief Rachel van Elkan will come to Turkey next week. If a new agreement is signed, the first tranche of the loan is expected to be released within January. The amount of the loan will be set during talks of the delegation in Ankara.

CUMHURIYET

-- NO MEDICINE

Erdogan Colak, chairman of the Union of Turkish Pharmacists, has said that they decided to annul the agreement with the Social Security Agency and the Ministry of Finance enabling people to get their medicine from free pharmacists. Colak said that they took the decision since some rules of the agreement were not fulfilled. "Patients will pay the cost of medicine as of February 1," he said.

-- SHARP DECLINE IN EXPORTS

Turkey's exports have sharply reduced in December. According to the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) figures, exports reduced 25 percent to 7.1 billion dollars in December. TIM also said that exports of industrial products decreased to 5.7 billion dollars.

RADIKAL

-- EXPORTS UPSIDE DOWN

Global crisis is not circumventing Turkey: Exports in December declined by 25 percent compared to November. It declined by a total of 41 percents in the last three months. State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said economic contraction would continue.

-- CRISIS AFFECTS INFLATION

The economic crisis pulled the inflation rate down: The Producer Prices Index dropped by 3.54 percent while the Consumer Prices Index was down by 0.41 percent. Annual inflation in the Consumer Prices Index for 2008 had been 10.06 percent.