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Turkish Press Review, 03-07-24Turkish 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> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning24.07.2003FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... MILITARY MIGHT AND THE POLITICAL MIND BY ALI BAYRAMOGLU (YENI SAFAK)CONTENTS
[01] SEZER DISCUSSES POSSIBLE IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENT WITH OPPOSITION LEADER BAYKALPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday met with opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal to discuss a number of issues, including the prospect of Turkey’s contributing soldiers to an Iraq stabilization force. During their talks, Sezer reportedly said that a United Nations resolution would be needed before any such deployment. Speaking afterwards, Baykal called the meeting “very fruitful,” adding, “It gave me a chance to hear the president’s views on certain issues.” /Aksam/[02] CABINET MEETS IN ERZURUMThe Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday convened in the eastern Anatolian province of Erzurum to mark the 84th anniversary of the historic Erzurum Congress, a major landmark in the Turkish War of Independence. Following the two-hour-plus meeting, government spokesman and Justice Minister Cemil Cicek told reporters that ongoing and future investments in Erzurum and eastern Anatolia would be given continued financing and support. He added that the upcoming 37- article seventh European Union harmonization package had been signed by all the Cabinet ministers and next would be sent to Parliament. /All Papers/[03] GUL: “PARLIAMENT WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD ON OUR SENDING SOLDIERS TO IRAQ”Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, currently in the United States for an official visit, yesterday attended a meeting of the Turkish-American Council. Addressing the gathering, Gul said that if the US wanted Turkey to send soldiers to Iraq, then Parliament would have to debate the issue. “Parliament is the institution with the last word,” he stated. Gul is expected to meet today with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In related news, Paul Bremer, head of the interim US administration in Iraq, yesterday said that the US would welcome Turkey’s sending soldiers to the country. /Milliyet/[04] POWELL: “DESPITE SOME SETBACKS, TURKISH-US RELATIONS REMAIN STRONG”Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of Eric Edelman, the new US ambassador to Turkey, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that despite some setbacks, Turkish-US relations remained strong. At the Washington, DC ceremony, Powell also praised Turkey’s Ambassador to the US Faruk Logoglu for his contributions to bilateral relations. Present at the swearing-in were US Iraq administrator Paul Bremer and Vice President Dick Cheney, under whom Edelman previously served as national security advisor. “Edelman is the best person for the critical tasks that lie ahead,” said Cheney. The new ambassador is set to take up his post in Ankara in the middle of next month. In related news, former US Ambassador to Ankara Robert Pearson left the capital yesterday, closing out three years in office. In a farewell statement, he urged Turks to hold fast to their dreams and to water the tree of the enduring Turkish-US friendship. /Hurriyet/[05] 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF ABOLITION OF CENSORSHIP CELEBRATEDYesterday the 95th anniversary of the abolition of censorship in Turkey was celebrated. To mark the occasion, the Directorate General of Press and Information hosted a reception in Ankara. Addressing the assembled media and journalist guests, Director General Abdurrahman Bilgic remarked that abolishing censorship was a key step towards establishing a free press. Pointing to a proposed new Press Law, Bilgic said enacting the bill would pave the way for greater accomplishments by the Turkish media. /Turkiye/[06] REPENTANCE BILL SENT BACK TO COMMISSIONA bill proposing granting former terrorists the right to lay down their arms and repent their crimes was sent back to Parliament’s Justice Commission yesterday following debates in the full assembly. A vote on the bill was largely in favor, at 313-77 with two abstentions, but failed to win the super majority of 330 required for such measures. In light of this, Justice Commission Chairman Koksal Toptan requested that the bill be sent back to the lower body. The commission is expected to meet today to reconsider the bill before it faces another full Parliament vote. /Turkiye/[07] PARLIAMENT ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION WRAPS UP WORK, PROPOSES FURTHER INVESTIGATIONParliament’s special Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday ended its work investigating allegations of corruption under previous administrations. After over four months of work, the commission proposed setting up separate investigation commissions to focus on 25 former government ministers, including former Prime Ministers Bulent Ecevit and Mesut Yilmaz. A statement issued by the commission warned that corruption threatens Turkey’s security, adding that ending corruption could free up some TL 76 million for improving the nation’s education and health care. /All Papers/[08] VORKINK APPOINTED NEW WORLD BANK TURKEY DIRECTORAndrew Vorkink has been appointed the World Bank’s new Turkey director, replacing Ajay Chibber, who will now head the Operations Evaluation Department, the WB announced yesterday. Since joining the bank in 1977, Vorkink has worked on legal reforms in the Central Asia and Eastern European regions, and is also an expert on the fight against corruption. Recently head of the Balkans Department, Vorkink was educated in Istanbul and at Yale and Harvard. /Anatolia News Agency/[09] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...[10] MILITARY MIGHT AND THE POLITICAL MIND BY ALI BAYRAMOGLU (YENI SAFAK)Columnist Ali Bayramoglu comments on the prospect of Turkish troop deployment in Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:“Since the Sulaimaniya incident we have been caught up in a shallow argument about military might. There are even those who say that in order to be a ‘powerful country’ we must have a powerful, aggressive army. However, no one realizes that our long-standing policies based merely on military strength and sheer threat of use of force have already gone bankrupt. This applies to both Turkey’s domestic issues and its foreign policy. One should not forget this: The military mind is a tool for times of conflict. In countries where the military mentality dominates, power- centric tendencies, assessments and expectations lord over the political realm. The state itself becomes prior to politics, replacing domestic problems and internal dynamics. Gradually, the idea that politics could be sacrificed for the sake of the state itself becomes more and more plausible for people. Society grows polarized, and the poles get even more homogenized within themselves. And then diversity is lost. This is even truer in countries like Turkey where political rights and freedoms are overwhelmingly restricted, and where a patriarchal mentality – one nurtured by an inferiority complex due to lost ‘glory,’ and by an obsession with Turkish identity due to a deep feeling of having been oppressed -- turns into a reflexive response to everything. This picture grows even darker if you are living on a ‘fault zone of Western-Eastern identities.’ And in this picture, societal problems concerning freedom, democracy, secularism, citizenship, poverty – all these are seen in the mirror of this mere quest for might. Today we are facing such a heated debate, this time on possible troop deployments in Iraq. And once again we are challenged by the ‘war, weapon, might’ triad based on the perceived interests of ‘the Turkish nation and identity.’ Our country is being forced to embark on an adventure in order to overcome its own crises of politics and political mentality, ones whose roots in fact lie in that selfsame ‘war, weapon, might’ triad. Unfortunately we are once again lost in search of ‘real strength’ which could only come about through general welfare and democracy, lost for the sake of ‘imaginary might,’ which is the product of conflict, authoritarianism and false nationalism.” 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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