Turkish Press Review

ISTANBUL (AA) - Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Friday's newspapers mainly covered news that Transport Minister Binali Yildirim is set to become the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s next chairman and, likely, the country’s prime minister.

HURRIYET ran with the headline: "First message", reporting that Yildirim promised to "get this plague of terrorism off Turkey's agenda" during his first public speech.

According to the paper, following his nomination announcement, Yildirim visited the Sur district of southeastern Diyarbakir province where a PKK bomb killed 16 villagers last week.

On May 12, PKK terrorists detonated a bomb-laden truck in Durumlu neighborhood following an argument with a group of villagers who had spotted the vehicle and began to chase it.

"We will work in harmony," was VATAN's headline, quoting Yildirim. The paper said the next chairman and prime minister gave a message of harmony and unity.

Earlier this month, current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced he would not stand again for the AK Party chairmanship, a role he currently holds alongside the premiership, meaning he will also be replaced as prime minister.

The announcement came hours after the party's highest decision-making body, the Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK), gathered Thursday.

The chosen candidate is to be elected in an extraordinary party congress Sunday. He is expected to become the country's next prime minister.

AKSAM wrote: "To premiership with a new captain," describing Yildirim as "the man of mega projects".

As transport minister, Yildirim shepherded through several major projects, including high-speed rail lines connecting capital Ankara to Istanbul and the central Anatolian cities of Eskisehir and Konya.

Yildirim was also involved in Istanbul’s Marmaray underwater rail tunnel, the Eurasia Tunnel -- a roadway tunnel connecting Istanbul's European and Asian sides -- and Istanbul’s third bridge over the Bosphorus.

In other news, the disappearance of an EgyptAir plane with 56 passengers, seven crew members, and three security personnel was another item covered by Turkish dailies Friday.

Both MILLIYET and STAR wrote that terrorism was suspected in the case of the missing flight. According to MILLIYET, Egyptian and Russian officials said the plane may have been brought down by terrorists.

On Thursday night, the company carried information contained in an official letter from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs apparently confirming that debris near the Greek island of Karpathos belonged to the missing jet.

This claim was later rejected by Greek aviation officials.

The EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo went missing over the eastern Mediterranean early Thursday morning after it entered Egyptian airspace, the airline had said earlier.

According to the airline, there were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, one British, one Belgian, one Portuguese, one Algerian, one Chadian, one Canadian, one Sudanese, one Kuwaiti and one Saudi citizen aboard.

In economic news, financial newspaper DUNYA reported that the number of people who have progressed to advanced fourth-generation (4G) telecom services has exceeded 10 million in since the technology was introduced on April 1.

According to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, the technology offers consumers faster browsing, downloads and uploads.