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Turkish Press Review, 04-08-13Turkish 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> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning13.08.2004ERDOGAN MEETS WITH GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, ADDRESSES BUSINESS COUNCIL BELGIUM PROMOTES TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP BID GREEK PM REITERATES SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID, PRAISES HIS GOOD RELATION WITH ERDOGAN REUTERS POLL: “TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP NEGOTIATIONS WILL BEGIN IN 2005” BUSINESS WEEK: “TURKEY IS FEELING STRAINS IN ITS TIES WITH THE US AND ISRAEL” CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT TARGET RAISED TO $10.8 BLN FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS ERDOGAN: “I WILL TALK TO PUTIN AND TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, ADDRESSES BUSINESS COUNCILPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, currently in Tbilisi to pay an official visit, yesterday met with Georgian Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze. During their meeting, Burjanadze briefed Erdogan on recent developments in the breakaway South Ossetia region. Erdogan said that Ankara was ready to contribute to a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Later, Erdogan attended a meeting of the Turkish-Georgian Business Council. Addressing the gathering, Erdogan said that Turkey was the number three country in investments in Georgia, after the United States and Britain, but added that he would like to see further investment. Also addressing the council, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili touted friendly relations between the two countries and urged Turkish businessmen to invest more in his country. “The Georgian government will stand by you when you invest here,” added Saakashvili. /Turkiye/[02] BELGIUM PROMOTES TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP BIDBelgium's European Union Minister Didier Donfut yesterday argued that the EU should approve Turkey’s membership. “The Union, as a community of values, should turn towards the Mediterranean countries,” Donfut told daily La Libre Belgique. “To deprive ourselves of Turkey, with its place in the international community and economic role and its embrace of two world cultures, would be a grave strategic error.” /Sabah/[03] GREEK PM REITERATES SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID, PRAISES HIS GOOD RELATION WITH ERDOGANSpeaking to German daily Bild yesterday, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis reiterated his support for Turkey’s European Union membership bid. He said that as Turkey’s EU membership gets closer, more people would understand the advantages of giving a European perspective to Ankara. Karamanlis also praised his good relations with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying, “Erdogan is a moderate person and I respect his religion.” He added that Erdogan represented a new generation in Turkey. /Aksam/[04] REUTERS POLL: “TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP NEGOTIATIONS WILL BEGIN IN 2005”Turkey is expected to start its European Union membership negotiations in 2005, but Ankara is likely to take another 10 years to complete the reforms required for full membership, according to the results of a Reuters poll of 31 economists released yesterday. Analysts surveyed said that Turkey’s chance to persuade the EU to open its membership talks in 2005 rose considerably this year after the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) introduced a flurry of reforms to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria. Merrill Lynch analyst Mehmet Simsek sees an 85 percent chance that the EU will begin membership talks with Turkey next year. “The chances have improved dramatically over the past few months on the back of accelerated reforms, Turkey's stance in Cyprus and improved diplomatic ties,” said Tevfik Aksoy at Deutsche Bank. “The fact the Cyprus issue remains unresolved is a negative but it would be extremely unfair if the EU were to blame Turkey for that,” said Dwyfor Evans at Bank of America. /All Papers/[05] BUSINESS WEEK: “TURKEY IS FEELING STRAINS IN ITS TIES WITH THE US AND ISRAEL”Turkey’s strong ties with Israel and the US have been strained by the Iraq war, and little improvement is likely as Ankara angles to join the European Union, argued Stan Crock, chief diplomatic correspondent for Business Week in Washington. In his piece entitled “Turkey in Transition,” Crock stated that observers could make two further additions to the casualty list of the war in Iraq: Turkish-Israeli ties and US-Turkish relations. “It wasn't so long ago that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Turkey the most important nation in the world to Israel – after the US,” he wrote. “But the ardor between these two Middle Eastern democracies is cooling. Ankara has cancelled some business contracts with Israel...” According to Crock, although Israel would like a decentralized government to keep Iraq weak, Turkey would like a strong central government in Baghdad to keep the Kurds in check. “Turkey is outraged at reports that Israel is training Kurds in northern Iraq – a charge the Sharon government denies,” he added. /Sabah/[06] CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT TARGET RAISED TO $10.8 BLNSpeaking at a press conference yesterday following the 12th meeting of the government’s Economic Coordination Council, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said that the council was closely watching the current accounts deficit and stressed that the financing of the deficit was very important. Sener stated that the council had decided to revise this year’s $7.6 billion current accounts deficit target upwards to $10.8 billion. The International Monetary Fund also warned about the high trade deficit in a report it released on Wednesday. Touching on Turkey’s new three-year standby with the IMF, Sener said that the new deal was a response to market wishes. He added that the council also discussed providing economic aid to provinces where per annual capita income is below $1,500. /Cumhuriyet/[07] FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS[08] ERDOGAN: “I WILL TALK TO PUTIN AND TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s current visit to Georgia. A summary of her column is as follows:“One problem kept coming up during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s discussions with Georgian officials, namely Russia’s involvement in Georgia’s internal politics and Georgian officials’ distress at this. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has been unable to bring stability since he came to power. He first dealt with Adzhara (Adjaria) – the problem of which was solved after the region’s leader fled to Russia, the country which supported him – but the troubles didn’t end there. Thereafter, the problem of South Ossetia emerged. Even during Erdogan’ short visit, there’s been no letup in the bloodshed in South Ossetia. Saakashvili believes that Russia is behind the turmoil in the region. In almost all of his speeches, he refers to ‘Georgia’s northern neighbor, which sees Georgia not as an independent state, but as a part of its soil.’ At a joint press conference with Erdogan, Saakashvili complained about Russian nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who tried to enter Georgia without a passport or permission, claiming that the country is a part of Russia. Therefore, Saakashvili requested support from its ‘neighbor in its west’ against its ‘neighbor in its north.’ In other words, Saakashvili requested that Erdogan serve as a kind of a mediator between Georgia and Russia. Erdogan welcomed this request. Erdogan said that he would talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin and try to solve the problem. ‘Putin will visit Ankara soon,’ said Erdogan. ‘We will establish friendship and gain mutual trust. I will later talk to him about this issue. It will be a talk between friends.’ Turkey is changing its passive policy on Georgia to a more active one. This is reflected by Erdogan’s statements that he will do his duty in solving the problems in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Erdogan is also frank about Ahiska Turks who were living in Georgia, but were forced to leave the country. The Ahiska Turks were on the Council of Europe’s agenda. Erdogan said to Saakashvili that Georgia had promised the world to let them return to their homes, but then failed to deliver. ‘We are expecting steps from you on this issue,’ Erdogan told Saakashvili. Erdogan’s visit to Tbilisi is signaling an active Turkish foreign policy in the Caucasus.” 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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