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Turkish Press Review, 02-09-13Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr><LINK href="http://www.byegm.gov.tr_yayinlarimiz_chr_pics_css/tpr.css" rel=STYLESHEET type=text/css> <map name="FPMap1"> </map> <map name="FPMap1"></map> Press & Information Turkish Press Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning13.09.2002FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS…CONTENTS
[01] SEZER: “PARLIAMENT SHOULD PRESERVE ITS PRESTIGE”Following Wednesday’s submission of political parties’ candidate lists to the Supreme Election Board (YSK), yesterday saw renewed efforts to postpone the Nov. 3 elections on the part of deputies either excluded from these lists or unhappy with their assigned positions on the lists. Public reaction against these efforts was swift, as was President Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s statement calling such postponement maneuvers “unwelcome.” Warning that any delay damage Parliament’s standing, Sezer said, “More than anyone else I expect the lawmakers to preserve Parliament’s prestige, and I don’t believe they would do anything to cast a pall over that standing.” /All Papers/[02] ECEVIT CRITICIZES YILMAZ, OTHER POLITICAL PARTIESAppearing on NTV yesterday, Prime Minister and Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit yesterday offered his views on recent political developments. Criticizing Deputy Prime Minister and Motherland Party (ANAP) Chairman Mesut Yilmaz, Ecevit said, “Instead of calling on me or our other coalition partner, the Nationalist Action Party [MHP], to withdraw from the coalition, Yilmaz should have done so himself.” Stating that Yilmaz had clearly expressed his wish to postpone early elections during their meeting earlier this week, Ecevit remarked that Yilmaz’s calling on the DSP to withdraw from the government was an attempt to defer early elections through sparking a political crisis. Slamming Turkey’s 10% electoral threshold as “an anti-democratic practice,” Ecevit said, “You don’t see such high barriers in other democratic countries. However, we don’t have enough time to change the Elections Law before the elections.” Ecevit charged that as the elections draw ever closer, many political parties had switched tacks in a naked attempt to gain more seats in Parliament, a phenomenon he labeled “incomprehensible.” /Cumhuriyet/[03] COALITION LEADERS TO MEET TO DISCUSS CIVIL SERVICE PAY HIKEPrime Minister Bulent Ecevit said yesterday that the leaders of the coalition government would meet within one or two days to decide on an increase in the salaries of Turkey’s 2.2 million civil servants. Regarding recent meetings between civil servants’ unions and the government, he said that a pay raise had not yet been settled on, but that he expected a consensus was within reach. Meanwhile, State Minister Mehmet Kececiler yesterday met with representatives of civil servants’ unions to propose a gross TL 100 million pay hike as of this October. /Star/[04] YILMAZ PROPOSES THAT ELECTIONS BE HELD ON DEC. 15Motherland Party (ANAP) leader and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said yesterday that early elections scheduled for Nov. 3 might be postponed for one month and held instead after the European Union’s Copenhagen summit this December. Yilmaz, who is currently in Brussels to participate in the ongoing EU Convention meeting, yesterday met with Hans Gert Potering, chairman of the European People’s Party and the European Democrats Group. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Yiliaz said, “The early elections calendar and the EU calendar are separate matters, but both of them are very important.” Remarking that Turkey was expected to complete certain tasks before the Copenhagen summit, Yilmaz said, “For this reason, Parliament can make an adjustment in the scheduled elections date.” Elections may be held on Dec. 15 with the current candidate lists, suggested Yilmaz, adding, “Turkey would not be harmed by holding elections one month later, but if we miss the EU’s Dec. 12 train, this would surely hurt.” /Turkiye/[05] GUREL MEETS WITH FOREIGN MINISTERS ON SIDELINES OF UN MEETINGDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel, currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting there, met with his Spanish, Austrian, Danish, Russian and Dutch counterparts earlier this week as part of his contacts on the international gathering’s sidelines. Gurel expressed Turkey’s views on two main issues during his meetings, namely the Cyprus issue and Turkey’s EU membership bid. Gurel yesterday stressed that admittance of the Greek Cypriots’ to the EU in the absence of a permanent settlement on the island would violate international agreements. In addition, he asserted that the EU’s Progress Report on Turkey to be released on Oct. 16 should be prepared with aim of helping Turkey begin its accession negotiations as soon as possible. He also exchanged views with other foreign ministers on the issues of Iraq and Afghanistan, where Turkey currently commands the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). /Cumhuriyet/[06] CEM: “I HAVE WORRIES ABOUT ELECTIONS UNDER THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT”Speaking to reporters yesterday after meeting with Turkish Tradesmen’s and Artisans’ Confederation (TESK) Chairman Dervis Gunday, New Turkey Party (YTP) leader Ismail Cem expressed support for deputies excluded from their parties’ candidates lists released this Wednesday, a number of whom have begun efforts to postpone the Nov. 3 elections. Cem also told reporters he had doubts about the wisdom of conducting elections under the current government. “This government’s performance in ensuring that elections are conducted properly worries the YTP in some respects,” he added. /Aksam/[07] BAYKAL: “YILMAZ IS TRYING TO POSTPONE ELECTIONS DUE TO ANAP’S THRESHOLD PROBLEM”Appearing on television yesterday, Republican Turkey Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said that Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz was trying to postpone November’s elections due to fears that his party would be unable to reach the 10% threshold needed for representation in Parliament. “Yilmaz’s claims that his postponement efforts are for the sake of Turkey’s European Union membership bid are unconvincing,” said Baykal. “Yilmaz’s demand that the elections be pushed back to Dec. 15 constitutes high treason against his country, and I can’t believe that he’s sincere.” Baykal also stated that efforts of certain political parties to postpone the elections would come to nothing. /Milliyet/[08] TURKEY PREPARING TO REOPEN CONSULATE IN MOSULTurkey is preparing to reopen its consulate in Mosul, a region in northern Iraq where ethnic Turkmen constitute a majority of the population, Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Dirioz yesterday told a press conference focusing on recent developments in Turkey’s foreign relations. Turkey’s consulate in Mosul closed its doors during the 1991 Gulf War, Dirioz stated, adding that it might be reopened as soon as conditions were suitable. Responding to a question on Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani’s recent efforts to repair strained relations with Turkey, Dirioz said that Turkey had taken close note of Barzani’s remarks that the IKDP advocated Iraq’s territorial integrity as well as the establishment of a democratic administrative structure in the country in a possible post- Saddam period. /Cumhuriyet/[09] TUSIAD: “POSTPONING ELECTIONS WOULD HURT TURKEY’S EU BID”Speaking yesterday in the southeastern city of Mardin prior to a business meeting, Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) Chairman Tuncay Ozilhan said that postponing November’s elections would damage Turkey’s European Union membership bid. “Elections are on Turkey’s agenda now, and TUSIAD stands behind Turkey’s EU bid, as does the entire nation,” he told reporters. “Delaying elections would cause political and economic uncertainty.” Asked about a possible US operation against Iraq, Ozilhan said such an operation would adversely affect Turkey. /Milliyet/[10] IMF: “TURKEY WILL MEET ITS ECONOMIC TARGETS”Speaking at the International Monetary Fund’s headquarters in Washington yesterday, IMF External Affairs Director Thomas Dawson said that Turkey’s current economic program was going well and that the nation would achieve its inflation and growth targets for the end of the year. Dawson also said that an IMF delegation would come to Turkey in October to review the progress of the economic program. /Milliyet/[11] IPUK REPRESENTATIVE VISITS ANKARABarham Salih, prime minister of the northern Iraqi regional government in the area controlled by Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (IPUK) leader Jalal Talabani, yesterday arrived in Ankara for a meeting with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal. Salih, a participant in the recent Iraqi opposition meeting in Washington, told reporters after the meeting that he and Ziyal had discussed last week’s accord between the IPUK and longtime rival the Iraqi Kurdish Democratic Party (IKDP). Ziyal said that the new accord overlaps with the 1996 Ankara Declaration. Salih is expected to return to northern Iraq tomorrow. /Cumhuriyet/[12] KAYA RESIGNS FROM MHPNationalist Action Party (MHP) Kahramanmaras Deputy Mehmet Kaya yesterday resigned from his party. With this resignation, the number of MHP seats in the Parliament was reduced to 125, and those of independents rose to 23. /Sabah/[13] ISTANBUL TO HOST UNESCO CULTURE MINISTERS MEETINGThe Third Round Table meeting of cultural ministers organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is to take place next Monday and Tuesday at Istanbul’s Ciragan Hotel. The theme of the gathering will be “Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Mirror of Cultural Diversity,” and it will serve as a follow-up to UNESCO’s meeting on cultural diversity in Paris last December. Organisers confirmed yesterday that representatives from more than 95 countries would participate in the meeting. /Cumhuriyet/[14] ZEUGMA PROJECT HONORED AT SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE EXPOIn this week’s Expo 2002 Science Competition held in the Republic of South Africa, a project prepared on Zeugma by students at the Gaziantep Private Euphrates High School was honored with two awards. /Cumhuriyet/[15] FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS…[16] THE SECOND ACT BY MUMTAZ SOYSAL (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Mumtaz Soysal comments on the latest developments in Turkish politics. A summary of his column is as follows:“It was an unfinished play; it started with the words, ‘Let’s set a date for elections for the sake of the health of the economy,’ spoken by Dervis out of the blue and causing people to say, ‘Where did that come from?’ The aim was to make a change of the government, which was voicing some feeble objections to the ‘nationalist’ manners of the True Path Party (DSP) and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) vis-a-vis issues which the European Union and the US are sensitive to, and so as to clear obstacles before Turkey’s ‘road of civilization.’ The phrase ‘road of civilization’ belongs to Mesut Yilmaz. Since he repeats this phrase all the time, it’s been ascribed to him. The plan was to attract votes by ‘becoming the champion of Turkey’s EU bid’ with the early elections, but many entrepreneurs grew impatient, which was felt mostly through the pressure of business circles in Istanbul. This last initiative, which had the smell of the EU, the US and the International Monetary Fund, was directed at spoiling the government without waiting for early elections. Then MHP leader Bahceli sensed this and set forth his final opinion in scathing terms for an earlier election, which uncovered the conspiracy of Dervis, Ozkan and Cem within the DSP. However, this unfinished conspiracy was frustrated and its plans spoiled. Thus the first act ended with an air of complete failure, misery and internal unfaithfulness for the entrepreneurs, and Turkey faced the EU laws which were enacted in a panic to be used as elections fodder. Now the same actors have lifted the curtain on the second act of the play. The non-governmental organizations (NGOs), mostly from Istanbul, have ‘made an action plan’ with the leadership of a foundation that sees a remedy for Turkey’s development in foisting the nation on the EU; Verheugen, forgetting, his negative words from only a few days ago, said from Brussels that he wanted a stable government favoring Europe to be established on Nov. 3; Yilmaz struck a pose to find a pretext for postponement in the MHP applying to the Constitutional Court to annul harmonization laws, thus sparking a government crisis; and Cem expressed agreement with him. However, the advantage of playing the European card in the elections has fallen, and even turned out to be a disadvantage because the EU’s policy of lassoing Cyprus and leaving Turkey out has been clearly exposed. The muddle-headedness of those who try to govern Turkey through Europe remind me of teenagers who get crushes on their teachers, forget about their other courses and then flunk. However, this republic should have been mature enough to put itself in order rather than losing its self-control in pursuing hopeless puppy-dog love affairs.” [17] SEZER, THE POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS BY DERYA SAZAK (MILLIYET)Columnist Derya Sazak comments on recent developments in Turkey regarding the heated debate on possible elections postponement. A summary of his column is as follows:“President Ahmet Necdet Sezer closed his doors to the postponement of November’s elections by saying ‘I do not favor a government change.’ Sezer stated that he didn’t think that the elections would be postponed, adding, ‘I am sure that Parliament will not cast a pall over its prestige and that the leaders of the political parties will do what it is right.’ There are two groups which may want to postpone the Nov. 3 elections, namely those who were disappointed by the deputy candidate lists and those worried that their parties won’t meet the 10% threshold. However, the designs of the former group seem unlikely to prevail this time due not only to Sezer’s sensitivities on the issue but also to last-minute developments in parties such as the True Path Party (DYP) and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), both of which stand on the verge of the 10% threshold. DYP leader Tansu Ciller has come to accept that postponing the elections and getting the prime ministry by overthrowing the current government with a censure motion wouldn’t be easy, and so she decided to enter the elections in alliance with Mehmet Ali Bayar’s Democratic Turkey Party (DTP). Moreover, she managed to come to terms with Tugrul Turkes and his Enlightened Turkey Party (ATP), and thus got the chance to claim at least a handful of votes of the MHP. Along with the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the DYP and the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the MHP is also ready to enter the elections. Deputies dissatisfied with their places on candidate lists and hoping for postponement of the elections put most of their chips on a storm breaking out in the MHP, but these hopes were dashed when the MHP leader intervened with the lists and kept its current Parliament cadre on the list to hold the sway. And now, it’s the people’s turn. Turkey will wake up to a new Parliament and government on the morning of Nov. 4. The AKP seems likely to emerge the top party after elections and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a virtual shoo-in to become Turkey’s new prime minister. Whereas the CHP, as the sole party in a position to challenge the AKP, is trying its best to lose. I hope that it will make up for its missteps in preparing its candidate lists with a sound economic policy underlining Dervis’s role in the elections campaign.” ARCHIVE <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http:/_www.byegm.gov.tr_statistic/countcode.js"> </script> Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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