CAIRO (A.A) - Turkey's prime minister said on Tuesdaythat it was high time for Turkish and Arab nations worked for a common future.Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish and Arab nations should have closeand firm relations."It is high time that we, sharing the same geography and destiny by usingdifferent languages, re-claimed for a common future,"Erdogan said during ArabLeague Foreign Ministers'Council Meeting in Cairo, Egypt.Erdogan said Turks and Arabs shared a common civilization, common belief,common culture on a common geography for centuries, and inherited goals, createdon the same civilization, to their upcoming generations in different languages."We are two nations with a common history, today and future,"Erdogan said.Erdogan also said a crying Palestinian child in Gaza hurt a mother inAnkara, and similarly the voice of youth in Cairo was welcomed with the sameenthusiasm in Tripoli, Damascus and Istanbul."Today, we are in a historic turning point where we share our happiness andagonies in the highest level, and we today understand each other better than everand we are looking at the future with hope and confidence,"Erdogan also said.(More)(BRC-MS)

ISTANBUL (A.A) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep TayyipErdogan said on Monday that he would not pay a visit to Gaza.Erdogan left for Egyptian capital of Cairo for his visits to Egypt, Tunisiaand Libya between September 12 and 15.Before his departure, Erdogan told reporters at Ataturk Airport in Istanbulthat he would not pay a visit to Gaza. Replying to a question, Erdogan said,"Iwill not visit Gaza. But I would like to say clearly that I'm longing to visitGaza as soon as possible."Erdogan said that Turkey was ready to extend every kind of support to Egyptduring its critical and difficult period."During our talks in Egypt, we willunderline importance of Turkey's friendship,"he said.Replying to a question, Erdogan said that he would not make speech at TahrirSquare. Erdogan said that he would make statements and speeches there withoutcausing any problem for the future of Egypt.Regarding fight against terrorism, Erdogan said that terrorist organizationwas doing wrong. Erdogan said that terrorists staged attack on gendarmerie postand security department in Semdinli town with rocket launchers from inside thecrowd of a wedding ceremony."I believe that our citizens in Hakkari will keepterrorist organization at arm's length."Erdogan said that security forces woulddo what was required in combating terrorism.Replying to a question on the attack on Mavi Marmara aid ship by Israel,Erdogan said that Israel made a big mistake. If Israel did not apologize toTurkey, pay compensation and lift embargo on Gaza, there would be nonormalization in relations between Turkey and Israel, he said.(EÖ)

ISTANBUL (A.A) - Turkish hotel chain Dedeman Hotelskeeps investing in Syria.Dedeman Resort International CEO Tamer Yorukoglu said that they wereconstructing their fourth hotel in Syria, stating that the new hotel was expectedto end in 2013.Speaking to the AA correspondent, Yorukoglu said that the current uprisingin Syria has affected the company's businesses in that country.If issues were solved in Syria, there would be no delay in construction ofthe hotel, he said.Yorukoglu said that they were also holding talks regarding hotel projects inRussia, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.Celebrating its 45th year in the market, the Dedeman Hotels chain aims togrow 19 percent this year.(EÖ)

ANKARA (A.A) - Turkish Deputy Premier and GovernmentSpokesman Bulent Arinc said on Monday that right now there was no talk of aground operation.After the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Arinc told reporters thatministers discussed security, domestic and international issues in the meeting.When asked whether Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would visit Gazaduring his tour to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, Arinc said,"there is a great joyand excitement in Egypt and Gaza. Prime Minister Erdogan really wants to visitGaza."Arinc added that there was not a definite decision regarding visit toGaza.Replying to a question on"Predator"drones, Arinc said that they knew thatTurkey must use unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence purposes."In order toobtain these Predators in Turkey, I know the foreign ministry is working onthis,"Arinc said."This has not yet been concluded,"he added.Answering a question on a cross-border ground operation, Arinc said thatright now there was no talk of a ground operation but when it was required, therewould be no need to announce it beforehand or have meeting after meeting aboutit.(EÖ)

ANKARA (A.A) - Amount of monetary assistance Turkey hascollected for Somalia reached 467.6 million Turkish lira on Monday. (One U.S.dollar is equal to 1.79 TL)Turkey's Disaster&Emergency Situation Management said that Turkey hadcollected 467.6 million TL in aid campaigns for Somalia so far.The management said Turkey had sent 17,000 tons of humanitarian aid toSomalia by nine planes and seven ships so far.(EÖ)

ISTANBUL (A.A) - The Istanbul Gold Exchange (IAB) wasdown 0.54 percent on Monday as gold traded at 106,074 Turkish liras a kilo and1,838.41 USD an ounce.A total of 1,172 kilograms of gold was traded at the IAB.The trading volume was 25.9 million Turkish liras in 15 transactions and54.8 million USD in 42 transactions.The basic statistics of transactions in today's sessions at the IAB are asfollows:IAB TL/KG USD/OUNCE EURO/OUNCE Previous Closing 106,200.00 1,847.00 1,025.00 Lowest 105,400.00 1,830.00 Highest 106,600.00 1,851.00 Closing 105,400.00 1,837.00 Average Weighted Price 106,074.49 1,838.41 Transaction Amount (Kg) 245 927 Number of Transactions 15 42 Transaction Volume (TL-USD-Euro) 25,988,250.00 54,812,029.74 Total Transaction Amount (Kg) 1,172 Total Number of Transactions 57 IAB Index Previous Closing 4,247 IAB Index Today's Closing 4,224IAB Index Change (percent) -0.54(EÖ)

ISTANBUL (A.A) - The top 10 shares in terms of valuegained and lost on daily-basis on Monday at the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) areas follows:SHARES INCREASE% 01 - HATAY TEKSTIL 20.00 02 - METEM ENERJI TEKSTIL 16.35 03 - BISAS TEKSTIL 15.29 04 - KARTONSAN 11.43 05 - DAGI GIYIM 10.43 06 - ERICOM9.76 07 - ACIBADEM HAST. 9.45 08 - AKMERKEZ G.M.Y.O 9.17 09 - T.TUBORG 9.06 10 - SODA SANAYII 8.33 SHARES DECREASE% 01 - IDEALIST GYO -15.63 02 - EURO TREND YO -15.19 03 - CBS BOYA -7.89 04 - VANET GIDA -5.80 05 - UTOPYA TURIZM -5.71 06 - KAPITAL YAT.HOLDING -4.72 07 - TUMTEKS -4.35 08 - TRABZON SPOR-4.19 09 - METRO HOLDING -4.08 10 - GALATASARAY SPORTIF -3.65 (EÖ)

ANKARA (A.A) - The amount of money in circulation wasup on Friday.Turkish Central Bank data, released on Monday, showed that the volume ofTurkish banknotes in circulation rose to 57.6 billion Turkish liras (TL) onFriday.The bank said money in circulation was 57.04 billion TL on Thursday,September 8.(EÖ)

LEFKOSA (A.A) - Turkish Cypriot President Dervis Eroglureiterated his call on the Greek Cypriot administration that exploration for oiland natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean must be delayed when Cyprusnegotiations are continuing.Eroglu and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias met on Monday as partof intensified talks at the buffer zone in Lefkosa.After the meeting, Eroglu said that they discussed the issue of"citizenship, migration and foreigners"in today's meeting.Regarding the Greek Cypriot administration's efforts regarding explorationfor oil and natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, Eroglu said that adelegation headed by his special envoy Kudret Ozersay would pay a visit to Ankaraon Thursday and discuss the steps with Turkish officials that would be taken, ifGreek Cypriot administration gave a negative response to calls for postponementof exploration of oil and natural gas."I hope that Greek Cypriot administration will delay their activities. Thetwo parties earlier agreed to hold intensified talks till October,"he said.Eroglu said that such an unfavorable issue could make negative impact onintensified talks.Leaders will also meet on September 14 and 16 this week.Intensified talks in Cyprus began on July 25 and will continue until October21. The Cypriot leaders will have a tripartite meeting with the U.N. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon in New York at the end of October.(EÖ)

ISTANBUL (A.A) - Turkish stock market was down 0.53percent on Monday.The National-100, main index of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE), dropped298.17 points during the whole session.The index closed at 55,604.81 points.(EÖ)