GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON MAR 16

HURRIYET
-- TURKISH FRIGATE INTERCEPTS PIRATES
A Turkish frigate intercepted a group of pirates in the Gulf of Aden as they attempted to hijack a cargo ship. The Turkish frigate, Giresun, prevented the pirates from boarding the Vietnamese vessel off-coast of south Yemen. The two Turkish AB-212 helicopters also participated in the interception, which was carried out in cooperation with a war ship from Danish Naval Forces Command.
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-- WORLD WATER FORUM TO START
The Fifth World Water Forum is set to begin in Istanbul on Monday with the participation of leaders from 65 countries and over 15 thousand guests and the event will hamper traffic as police will close down a number of streets and avenues as well as certain routes in sea traffic. A variety of events throughout the week aim to focus on one overarching theme: "Bridging Divides for Water."
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MILLIYET
-- INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT IN ERGENEKON PROBE
The Chief Prosecutor's Office in Ankara asked for permission from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to launch an investigation against Senkal Atasagun, former undersecretary of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT), regarding a list of 69 people showing the structure of the Ergenekon organization. The list includes several politicians like Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, former chiefs of the General Staff, journalists and businessmen. After the list was included in the Ergenekon file, the Labor Party denounced Atasagun for preparing an unrealistic list. Now, the Chief Prosecutor's Office waits for the prime minister's permission to launch an investigation against Atasagun for allegedly misusing his authority and defamation.
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-- NIGHT SHIFT WITH TALABANI
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan met with President Jalal Talabani of Iraq who came to Istanbul prior to the 5th World Water Forum. The meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace started at 10:20 p.m. and lasted for about an hour. Issues of security and fight against terrorism were high on agenda of the meeting.
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SABAH
-- WORLD'S HEART BEATS IN ISTANBUL
The 5th World Water Forum will begin in Istanbul today with the participation of some 26 thousand people from 107 countries and 13 international organizations. The forum, considered world's most comprehensive water activity, will take place at Istanbul's Sutluce Culture and Congress Center and last for a week. On the sidelines of the forum, a summit will take place with the participation of 15 heads of state. More than 500 journalists will converge to Istanbul to cover the event.
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-- TALABANI SAYS INDEPENDENCE OF KURDS IS JUST A DREAM
Iraq's President Jalal Talabani said that Iraq could not be separated, adding that the civil war was over. In an interview with the Sabah daily, President Talabani said that Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds did not want to get separated from Iraq, and that Iraqi Kurdistan was a part of Iraq. He said that Kurds voted in favor of remaining within borders of Iraq during the referendum, and Barzani also agreed with them. The ideal of the Great Kurdistan was just a dream in poems, Talabani added.
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-- EXPLOSION IN TUPRAS INJURES FOUR PEOPLE
An explosion occurred at a refinery of the Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corp (TUPRAS) in Aliaga town of the western province of Izmir due to compression. Four people were injured in the explosion.

VATAN
-- TAX CUT IN AUTOMOTIVE SALES IN EFFECT
In a bid to revive domestic consumption, the government introduced as of Monday tax cuts in the sale of automotive products. Special consumption tax in cars under 1600 cc is reduced from 37 percent to 18 percent. The rate will drop to one percent from 10 percent in the sale of commercial vehicles, and it will drop to 1 percent from 4 percent in sale of trucks and buses. The tax cuts will be valid for a period of three months.
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-- PROSECUTORS ASK FOR PERMISSION TO PROBE FORMER INTELLIGENCE HEAD
Prosecutors have appealed to the Prime Ministry for permission to probe, Senkal Atasagun, former head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), with charges of misuse of authority and insulting the Turkish Armed Forces. The intelligence agency prepared in 2002 a diagram showing the formation of an alleged criminal network known as Ergenekon, implicating 69 people such as former chief of the military staff and commanders as well as the leader of the main opposition party.
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CUMHURIYET
-- UNEMPLOYMENT BREAKS RECORD
Unemployment figures have already overtaken those of the early 2000s when a severe economic crisis hit Turkey. Near 150 thousand people applied for unemployment pay in just January and February. The total number had been was 92 thousand in 2002 and 142 thousand in 2003. Over 299 thousand people appealed to Turkey's employment agency, 40 percent higher over the same period in 2008.
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-- TWO TURKISH DIRECTORS AWARDED IN BULGARIAN FILM FEST
Two Turkish directors received awards at the 13th Sofia Film Festival. Ozcan Alper received "the Best Director" award with his "Sonbahar" (Autumn), a Turkish-German co-production, and Huseyin Karabey received "the Best Balkan Film" award with his "My Marlon and Brando."
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RADIKAL
-- CRISIS ALSO HITS TAXES
Number of tax-payers decreased by 90 thousand in the last five months as a result of the global crisis. There were 5,403,633 tax-payers in the last quarter of 2008 when the crisis began affecting Turkey. The number of tax-payers reduced to 5,314,447 in the beginning of March.
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-- DAY OF WATER FORUM
The 5th World Water Forum will begin in Istanbul with the participation of more than 100 countries and more than 20 thousand people. President Jalal Talabani of Iraq is among the guests of the forum which will last for a week.
YENI SAFAK

-- "WE MADE A MISTAKE"
Admiral Salim Dervisoglu, former commander of the Turkish Naval Forces, said that the Kurdish problem could not be solved with military methods. "We failed to take necessary economic steps. We could not integrate those people. We tried to assimilate them," he said.
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-- ACCIDENT LIKE A DISASTER
An automobile and a passenger bus collided with minibuses in two separate accidents in the southeastern province of Gaziantep. 14 people were killed and 27 people were injured in the accidents. Rain-slicked roads caused the accidents.