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Turkish Press Review, 05-05-20Turkish 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 morning20.05.2005MAY 19 ATATURK, YOUTH AND SPORTS HOLIDAY CELEBRATED ALL OVER TURKEY GUL: “WE WON’T RETRY OCALAN” CONGOLESE FOREIGN MINISTER BAYA VISITS TURKEY IRAQI PREMIER AL-JAAFARI IN ANKARA BOUCHER: “THE PKK IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION” BABACAN: “THE AKP IS CONSERVATIVE, NOT ISLAMIST” DERVIS: “TURKEY WON’T ACCEPT ANY STATUS BESIDES FULL MEMBERSHIP” TUZMEN VISITS FINLAND IRANIAN DEPUTY OIL MINISTER: “OUR NATURAL GAS PROBLEMS WITH TURKEY CANNOT BE RESOLVED” FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… INSIDE AND OUTSIDE TURKEY BY CUNEYT ARCAYUREK (CUMHURIYET)CONTENTS
[01] MAY 19 ATATURK, YOUTH AND SPORTS HOLIDAY CELEBRATED ALL OVER TURKEYCelebrations were held yesterday throughout Turkey to mark May 19, Atatruk, Youth and Sports Holiday. Top officials headed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern, secular Republic of Turkey. Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mustafa Bumin, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener, members of the Council of Ministers, Land Forces Commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, Naval Forces Commander Adm. Ozden Ornek, Air Forces Commander Gen. Ibrahim Firtina, Gendarmerie Forces Commander Gen. Fevzi Turkeri, Supreme Court Chief Justice Osman Aslan, Council of State Chairman Ender Cetinkaya, Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Erkan Mumcu and a number of deputies were present at the ceremony. They laid a wreath at the tomb of Ataturk, and observed a minute of silence in his memory. Later, President Sezer inscribed the mausoleum’s commemorative book, writing, “Turkish youth is determined to preserve Ataturk’s reforms and principles. The secular and democratic Republic of Turkey will live forever.” /All papers/[02] GUL: “WE WON’T RETRY OCALAN”Appearing on television yesterday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that he believed that the government would prefer reopening and reviewing the Abdullah Ocalan case to retrying the terrorist head. “I believe Turkey will handle this issue appropriately,” he said. “We need to be calm. In order not to cause new problems, we must take firm steps. I believe we can easily handle this issue if we act with common sense.” /Milliyet/[03] CONGOLESE FOREIGN MINISTER BAYA VISITS TURKEYCongolese Foreign Minister Raymond Ramazani Baya yesterday paid an official visit to Turkey. Baya was received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and then met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and State Minister Mehmet Aydin in Ankara. Stressing that the Republic of Congo takes Turkish democracy as a role model, as do all African countries, Baya called on the Turkish government to improve commercial relations between the two countries. “My country supports Turkey’s European Union membership bid,” he added. “Turkey could also play an important role in the reconstruction of our war-torn country. We’re closely following Turkish businessmen’s successful ventures in foreign countries. I hope they will also help us to reconstruct Congo. Turkish firms can have full confidence in the support of the Congolese government because we’ll do our utmost to improve our investment conditions.” /Turkiye/[04] IRAQI PREMIER AL-JAAFARI IN ANKARAIraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari yesterday arrived in Ankara to pay a two-day official visit to Turkey as a guest of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Iraqi ministers of finance, commerce, oil, electricity and industry are also accompanying al-Jaafari. “Our ministers will discuss with their Turkish counterparts ways to improve bilateral relations and cooperation between our two neighboring countries,” al-Jaafari said. “Turkey and Iraq share common interests, particularly on water and oil resources.” The Iraqi premier will meet with Erdogan today and attend a banquet tonight held by Erdogan in his honor at the Prime Ministry Official Residence. The two leaders are expected to review current bilateral relations and explore new ways of boosting bilateral cooperation in Iraq’s reconstruction. The Turkish side is also likely to underline the importance it attaches to Iraq’s territorial integrity and request that al-Jaafari take stronger measures both to ensure the safety of Turkish truck drivers working in his country and to crack down on the terrorist PKK in northern Iraq. /Turkiye/[05] BOUCHER: “THE PKK IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION”US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Wednesday underlined that Washington continues to view the PKK as a terrorist organization. “We continue to see Abdullah Ocalan as a terrorist who belongs in prison, and that's a view we've had and it hasn't changed and we think has long been clear,” he told reporters in Washington. Referring to the recent European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling on a retrial of Ocalan, he added, “We certainly take note of the European court's decision. We leave it to Turkey, I think, to handle the matter in an appropriate way.” /Cumhuriyet/[06] BABACAN: “THE AKP IS CONSERVATIVE, NOT ISLAMIST”In an interview this week with a Spanish daily, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan said that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) isn’t an Islamist political party but a conservative one. “We’re not Islamists and we don’t want to establish an Islamic republic in Turkey,” he stressed. “My party is both democratic and conservative. Turkey has already proved that Islam and democracy can coexist peacefully.” He also underlined that there is no direct connection between the May 29 French referendum on the EU Constitution and Turkey’s EU membership bid. “If France rejects the constitution, it won’t be the end of the world,” Babacan added. “We’ll continue on our path towards full membership.” /Milliyet/[07] DERVIS: “TURKEY WON’T ACCEPT ANY STATUS BESIDES FULL MEMBERSHIP”Incoming United Nations Development Program (UNDP) head Kemal Dervis yesterday attended a conference entitled “Turkey: A Candidate Country on the Verge of Membership Talks” at Istanbul’s Bogazici University. “Turkey’s ultimate target is to become a full EU member,” stressed Dervis, a former Turkish parliamentarian and economy minister. “No other option can be acceptable for Turkey.” /Star/[08] TUZMEN VISITS FINLANDState Minister Kursad Tuzmen yesterday traveled to Finland as the official guest of Finnish Foreign Trade and Development Minister Paula Lehtomati. In Helsinki, Tuzmen and an accompanying business delegation attended a reception held in their honor by Turkey’s Ambassador to Helsinki Osman Paksut. Speaking to reporters at the meeting, Tuzmen underlined the importance of the security and supervision of customs. “We need to improve our customs to fight smuggling,” he said. “During such critical times when terrorism is more and more globalized, better measures are needed at customs, particularly to prevent nuclear trafficking.” /Hurriyet/[09] IRANIAN DEPUTY OIL MINISTER: “OUR NATURAL GAS PROBLEMS WITH TURKEY CANNOT BE RESOLVED”Speaking to daily The Tehran Times, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Hadi Nejad Hossein argued that Turkey and Iran were no longer able to resolve their natural gas problems on their own. “Natural gas issues between Ankara and Tehran have become a serious problem that seems impossible to resolve,” he claimed. “However, Iran still considers Turkey an efficient route along which Iranian natural gas can be transported to Europe.” /Milliyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…[11] INSIDE AND OUTSIDE TURKEY BY CUNEYT ARCAYUREK (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Cuneyt Arcayurek comments on the Wall Street Journal’s reaction to last week’s ruling on a retrial of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. A summary of his column is as follows:“A strong reaction that our media should have shown to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Abdullah Ocalan’s retrial came yesterday from the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper described the statements that the head of the PKK terrorist organization had not been tried justly as ‘incredible.’ The Journal wrote that the court went too far. International lawyer David Rivkin denounced the decision as ‘political, and despicable in its arrogance and hypocrisy.’ However some writers in the Turkish media are arguing that we must abide by the ECHR’s decision. The United States reiterated this week that it considers Ocalan a terrorist. However, a known circle in Turkey has no aim besides giving Europe whatever it wants, as they believe they can become Europeans this way. As we are discussing the ECHR decision, Ocalan is commanding his terrorist organization from Imralý and the PKK is continuing to shed blood. The government isn’t telling the truth about the PKK abroad, nor is it questioning the Europeans, nor are the Europeans dealing with the renewed terrorist 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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