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Turkish Press Review, 04-07-01Turkish 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 morning01.07.2004VISITS ABROAD SET FOR ERDOGAN THIS MONTH ERDOGAN THANKS ISTANBUL GOVERNOR FOR SUCCESSFUL SECURITY DURING NATO SUMMIT GUL: “TURKEY HAS FULFILLED ALL OF THE EU CRITERIA” ISTANBUL GOVERNOR: “THE NATO SUMMIT IS THE BIGGEST EVENT YET HOSTED BY TURKEY” BABACAN STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAM AKSU THANKS ISTANBULITES FOR SUCCESSFUL SUMMIT BARZANI HINTS AT KURDISH SECESSION FROM IRAQ ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: “TURKEY HAS DONE ITS BEST” DUTCH PREMIER OPPOSES NEW EU CRITERIA FOR ANKARA FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS THE SUMMIT HAS ENDED, BUT ITS NAME REMAINS BY DOGAN HEPER (MILLIYET) WILL THE EU-US SPLIT AFFECT ANKARA? BY MAHIR KAYNAK (STAR)CONTENTS
[01] VISITS ABROAD SET FOR ERDOGAN THIS MONTHPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to pay official visits to a number of countries this month. First, Erdogan is set to visit Bulgaria on July 6-7, next Tuesday and Wednesday. During his contacts in his country, bilateral and regional issues will be discussed. After this visit, the premier will travel to Moldova and then to France on July 19-21 to hold meetings with French officials, including President Jacques Chirac and the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties. France is the one of the countries in the European Union which has expressed the most reservations about Turkey’s EU membership. During his visit, Erdogan is expected to work to convince French leaders that Ankara deserves to get a date to begin its accession talks. In addition, later this month the premier is set to pay a long-postponed visit to Iran. /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN THANKS ISTANBUL GOVERNOR FOR SUCCESSFUL SECURITY DURING NATO SUMMITPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accompanied by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday visited Istanbul’s Governor Muammer Guler in his office. After a half-hour meeting, Erdogan told reporters that Turkey’s organization of this week’s NATO summit in Istanbul had been an unqualified success and a boon to the country. “I hope that in addition to Istanbul, other provinces in Turkey will host important meetings,” said Erdogan. “I thank the security forces for their selfless efforts to ensure security during the summit.” /Sabah/[03] GUL: “TURKEY HAS FULFILLED ALL OF THE EU CRITERIA”Speaking at the closing session of this week’s “NATO Youth Summit” at Istanbul’s Koc University, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that Turkey had done its duty on the road to European Union membership. “We have fully implemented the Copenhagen criteria,” said Gul. “They gave us a list of things to be done. No item has been neglected.” Stressing that there was no reason for the EU to reject Ankara’s bid, the foreign minister stated, “I hope the EU will treat us the same as the other candidate countries.” He said that if Turkey were rejected, then it would turn to other international groupings. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world for Turkey,” added Gul. /Turkiye/[04] ISTANBUL GOVERNOR: “THE NATO SUMMIT IS THE BIGGEST EVENT YET HOSTED BY TURKEY”After the successful completion of this week’s NATO summit, Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler yesterday held a press conference. Guler said that 49 countries had sent representatives to attend the meeting, including heads of state or government and foreign ministers. “Moreover, over 2,000 journalists, both domestic and foreign, were our guests,” he added. He stated that during the summit, a number of state organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had worked together closely to make sure things went smoothly. Guler stressed that as the summit was the greatest event hosted by Turkey to date, security plans had been prepared carefully and the highest security measures had been taken. “Some 24,000 security forces worked 18 hours a day to ensure security for the event,” he said. /Turkiye/[05] BABACAN STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAMIt is not enough that Ankara work with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, we must have a solid economic program, said State Minister Ali Babacan yesterday. “The important thing is that Turkey has a very solid economic program that we implement with determination,” Babacan told a meeting of the Turkish Businessmen’s and Industrialists’ Association (TUSIAD). He added that a new three-year program would address such issues as unemployment, poverty, and income inequality. /Aksam/[06] AKSU THANKS ISTANBULITES FOR SUCCESSFUL SUMMITInterior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu yesterday expressed thanks to Istanbulites and other area residents for their support for this week’s NATO summit and apologized to those who had been inconvenienced. Aksu added that Turkey had passed two tests with the summit, namely hosting a major international event and also exhibiting a democratic approach to protests. /Milliyet/[07] BARZANI HINTS AT KURDISH SECESSION FROM IRAQIraq's Kurds will not honor the nation's territorial integrity unless a federal and democratic system is adopted, Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani said yesterday. Kurds aren't less important than Iraq's Arabs and will not accept second-class citizenship, Barzani told Saudi daily al-Hayat, warning further, "If Iraq doesn't become a federal democratic country we won't live in it." He called on Iraq's new government to honor the terms of the interim Constitution, which upholds the Kurds' right to autonomy in northern Iraq, when drafting the country's permanent constitution. "Unless these terms are met, we won't have any commitment toward Iraq's unity," he said, adding that the "Kurdish nation" is "destined to become an independent state." Barzani also said he believed Turkey would not have any problem with federation. /Star/[08] ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: “TURKEY HAS DONE ITS BEST”Speaking to Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said yesterday that the majority of Italians consider Turkey’s EU membership a positive prospect in line with Europe’s interests. Stating that a final EU reform package in Parliament this summer would be very important, Frattini said, “Ankara should show that it is constantly progressing on the path to reform, as it has so far. The recent release of the Kurdish ex-deputies was a very good sign, one which we appreciated. These are the concrete signs to open real opportunities.” Frattini stated that the EU member countries attending this week’s NATO summit in Istanbul generally thought that Turkey had done its best, adding that US President George W. Bush’s support for its EU bid was also important. He added that Italy appreciated Ankara’s past and present efforts and that its support had been constant. /Cumhuriyet/[09] DUTCH PREMIER OPPOSES NEW EU CRITERIA FOR ANKARAPeter Balkenende, the foreign minister of new European Union Term President the Netherlands, which today takes over its duties for six months, said yesterday that he supports Ankara’s EU membership bid if it implements the Copenhagen criteria. Speaking to reporters at The Hague, Balkenende said the EU should not erect new conditions before Turkey. “We should play the game transparently,” said Balkenende. The premier stressed that if the fall EU Commission progress report on Turkey is positive, Ankara could get a date to begin accession talks during December’s EU summit. /Milliyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS[11] THE SUMMIT HAS ENDED, BUT ITS NAME REMAINS BY DOGAN HEPER (MILLIYET)Columnist Dogan Heper comments on this week’s NATO summit. A summary of his column is as follows:“After the end of the Cold War, NATO became unemployed. The Istanbul summit was a turning point for the alliance. Its mission area has been widened, and now it will have an active role outside Europe and in the fight against terrorism. Europe, on the other hand, will deal with developments in its own region. Thus, NATO will transfer its mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina to the European Union. European countries will be able to intervene in Iraq under the NATO ‘cooperation’ umbrella. Even if this cooperation is defined as training Iraqi security forces, what this means is that NATO will have a role in Iraq either way. NATO will also expand its role in Afghanistan. Would these developments be enough to say that the US and the EU are no longer two different poles? Even if it seems to be on paper, French President Jacques Chirac’s attitude doesn’t give the impression that this would be the case in practice. According to Chirac, if training is needed on Iraqi soil, this could be done by coalition forces, not by NATO. He even rebuked US President George W. Bush for expressing his support for Turkey’s EU membership, accusing him of ‘going too far.’ The NATO summit provided a boost to Turkey’s prestige. Turkey used to be a border country for NATO, but has become a center with developments in its mission area. Turkey’s responsibilities have also been enhanced. The number of foreign troops in Afghanistan will be increased. These troops will also serve outside Kabul, in more dangerous areas. Turkey in return has expectations about the terrorist PKK, but has yet to get a positive reply. Look at the contradiction: NATO’s mission is said to be the fight against terrorism, but fighting an organization declared a terrorist group is rejected. Isn’t this a double standard? Would widening NATO’s mission and loading the fight against terrorism on it stymie international terrorism? And even if it does, would this be permanent? Doing so seems doubtful without a solution to the Palestine question, a just share of natural resources in the region, and bestowing democratic and economic progress on underdeveloped countries.” [12] WILL THE EU-US SPLIT AFFECT ANKARA? BY MAHIR KAYNAK (STAR)Columnist Mahir Kaynak comments on the aftermath of this week’s NATO summit in Istanbul. A summary of his column is as follows:“The NATO summit was very successful and important for Turkey. Terrorism was identified as a target, which is not a new theme, but we see that the difference of approach between the United States and the European Union proved unsolvable and in fact grew starker still. Turkey’s position remained uncertain. While the United States considers Turkey an important element of ‘the common West’ and the keystone of the Greater Middle East Project, the EU persisted in putting its relations with Ankara on a different track than the Atlantic partnership. While one of the main points of the US strategy in the region is clearly Islam, the EU continued its uncooperative attitude. On the other hand, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer insisted on treating religion as separate from politics. The most important question for us is, if the US-EU split deepens, will this have an effect on Turkish politics? Believing international developments to be the sole spur for the democratization of this region and concomitant anti-terrorist efforts would be a mistake. We could see changes carrying the force of a world war, and so it’s only natural that tensions too would increase. Turkey lies at the focal point of this, and may end up being greatly affected.” 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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