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Turkish Press Review, 05-11-30
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
30.11.2005
ERDOGAN ANNOUNCES NEW TAX
CUTS
CICEK: “EU MEMBERSHIP IS
TURKEY’S BASIC AND INDISPENSABLE POLICY”
CHIEF NEGOTIATOR BABACAN:
“IT‘S NORMAL FOR SOME REFORMS TO TAKE TIME”
CHP LEADER BAYKAL: “THERE’S
ONLY A SINGLE NATION IN OUR REPUBLIC, NAMELY THE
TURKISH NATION”
TRNC FM: “WE COULD PURSUE
THE TAIWAN MODEL”
NEW US AMBASSADOR SET TO
ARRIVE ON SATURDAY
GREEK CYPRIOTS COMPLAIN
ABOUT TRNC TO UN
TURKISH-GREEK EXPLORATORY
TALKS ON AEGEAN TO RESUME
ECONOMY COULD BE PROBLEM IN
EU TALKS, WARNS TOBB CHAIRMAN
WB’S VORKINK PRAISES TAX
CUTS, PREDICTS TURKEY WILL ATTRACT MORE FOREIGN
CAPITAL
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM
THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
“GONGOS” COMING
BY MUHARREM SARIKAYA (SABAH)
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN ANNOUNCES NEW TAX CUTS
[02] CICEK: “EU MEMBERSHIP IS
TURKEY’S BASIC AND INDISPENSABLE POLICY”
[03] CHIEF NEGOTIATOR BABACAN: “IT‘S
NORMAL FOR SOME REFORMS TO TAKE TIME”
[04] CHP LEADER BAYKAL: “THERE’S
ONLY A SINGLE NATION IN OUR REPUBLIC, NAMELY THE
TURKISH NATION”
[05] TRNC FM: “WE COULD PURSUE THE
TAIWAN MODEL”
[06] NEW US AMBASSADOR SET TO ARRIVE
ON SATURDAY
[07] GREEK CYPRIOTS COMPLAIN ABOUT
TRNC TO UN
[08] TURKISH-GREEK EXPLORATORY TALKS
ON AEGEAN TO RESUME
[09] ECONOMY COULD BE PROBLEM IN EU
TALKS, WARNS TOBB CHAIRMAN
[10] WB’S VORKINK PRAISES TAX CUTS,
PREDICTS TURKEY WILL ATTRACT MORE FOREIGN
CAPITAL
[11] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
[12] “GONGOS” COMING
BY MUHARREM SARIKAYA (SABAH)
[01] ERDOGAN ANNOUNCES NEW TAX CUTS
Speaking at his party’s group meeting
yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
hailed recent economic developments and
announced new tax cuts. Erdogan stated that next
year corporate tax would be cut from 30% to 20%
and that the number of income tax brackets would
be reduced to four from five. “The tax rate for
the first bracket is 15%, 20% for the second,
27% for the third, and 35% for the fourth, the
latter down from 40%,” said Erdogan. “We want to
simplify our tax system.” The premier stated
that he wanted to reduce value-added tax (VAT)
for both textiles and ready-to-wear clothing,
adding that businessmen who continue to employ
unregistered workers would be punished.
“Everybody should be aware of their
responsibility,” he said. Erdogan said that
reducing inflation to single digits was an
historic success of the government. Erdogan
further dismissed criticisms of his upcoming
trips to Australia and New Zealand, saying that
they would be working visits not sightseeing
tours. Turkiye_
[02] CICEK: “EU MEMBERSHIP IS
TURKEY’S BASIC AND INDISPENSABLE POLICY”
Speaking after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting,
Justice Minister and government spokesman Cemil
Cicek said that Turkey’s chief European Union
talks negotiator Ali Babacan had briefed the
Cabinet members on recent developments
concerning Ankara’s EU membership bid, adding
that EU membership was Turkey’s basic and
indispensable policy. Cicek stressed that any
government succeeding the Justice and
Development Party (AKP) government should
continue to do what is required for Turkey’s EU
bid. /Milliyet/
[03] CHIEF NEGOTIATOR BABACAN: “IT‘S
NORMAL FOR SOME REFORMS TO TAKE TIME”
An answer to EU Commissioner for Enlargement
Olli Rehn’s criticisms that Turkey has slowed
down the pace of reforms since last year was
given yesterday by Turkey’s chief European Union
talks negotiator Ali Babacan. “We don’t have a
timetable before us for the implementation of
new legal arrangements,” said Babacan. “I don’t
think it wise to immediately change newly
enacted laws. We have to watch the
implementation for a while. If any problems are
encountered we can change the laws later on … No
one should expect a modification in the short
term.” Babacan also said that the reform process
hadn’t slowed down, but that it was normal for
some reforms to take time. /Star/
[04] CHP LEADER BAYKAL: “THERE’S
ONLY A SINGLE NATION IN OUR REPUBLIC, NAMELY THE
TURKISH NATION”
Main opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP) leader Deniz Baykal yesterday weighed in
again on the sub-identity_primary-identity
debate. Speaking at a CHP parliamentary group
meeting, Baykal said that legal identity and
political identity are quite different concepts,
and added, “Our legal political identity can’t
erase our ethnic identities. Our state is the
Turkish state. Our republic is the Turkish
Republic. There’s only a single nation in our
republic, and it’s called the Turkish nation.”
Baykal then cited Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s words:
“Those dwelling in Turkey established the
Turkish state that is called the Turkish
nation.” /Aksam/
[05] TRNC FM: “WE COULD PURSUE THE
TAIWAN MODEL”
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)
Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas said yesterday
that if they fail to reach an agreement with
Greek Cypriots on the Cyprus issue, then Turkish
Cypriots would try to be accepted economically
by the world without political recognition, a la
Taiwan. “Our alternative is the Taiwan model,”
said Denktas. “Political recognition could be
belated, so we can fulfill the Taiwan model.” He
added that no one should expect Turkish Cypriots
to leave the island if the two sides fail to
reach an agreement. /Milliyet/
[06] NEW US AMBASSADOR SET TO ARRIVE
ON SATURDAY
New US Ambassador Ross Wilson to Turkey is
coming to Ankara on Saturday to take up his
duties. The appointment of Wilson, a former US
ambassador to Azerbaijan, was approved on Nov.
18 by the US Senate. The head of mission’s post
which was exited in July by Eric Edelman, now at
the US Defense Department, has been filled in
since then by Charge d’Affaires Nancy
McEldowney. /Aksam/
[07] GREEK CYPRIOTS COMPLAIN ABOUT
TRNC TO UN
Greek Cyprus’ support for opening the Lokmaci
Gate, a third crossing point between the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek
Cyprus, has been withdrawn, with Nicosia
claiming that Turks are “planning to seize the
buffer zone.” The Greek Cypriots also complained
to the UN about Turkish Cypriots’ efforts to
open the gate. Greek Cypriot administration
spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said they had
withdrawn support because Turkish soldiers were
proceeding to “the far side of the 1974
armistice line.” /Star/
[08] TURKISH-GREEK EXPLORATORY TALKS
ON AEGEAN TO RESUME
Turkish and Greek foreign ministry officials
are due today to start the 32nd round of
exploratory talks concerning the Aegean issues
in Athens, the Foreign Ministry said in a
written statement. Foreign Ministry
Undersecretary Ali Tuygan, who has been in
Athens since yesterday, is to head the Turkish
delegation, while Greek Foreign Ministry
Director-General Anastasios Skopelitis will lead
the Greek group. Ankara and Athens initiated
exploratory talks regarding the continental
shelf in 2002. /Turkish Daily News/
[09] ECONOMY COULD BE PROBLEM IN EU
TALKS, WARNS TOBB CHAIRMAN
The biggest difficulty in Turkey’s accession
talks with the European Union will be on
economic issues, said Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the
head of the Turkish Union of Chambers and
Commodities Exchanges (TOBB), yesterday.
Hisarciklioglu, in Brussels for joint
consultative talks with his European Union
counterparts, held a bilateral meeting with Olli
Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement. The
biggest difficulties will be economic in nature,
he told journalists after his meeting with Rehn.
“Political questions can be overcome, as they
carry no economic costs,” he said. The TOBB
chairman underlined to Rehn Turkey’s potential
as an economic regional power and asked for
support from Rehn in that direction. /The New
Anatolian/
[10] WB’S VORKINK PRAISES TAX CUTS,
PREDICTS TURKEY WILL ATTRACT MORE FOREIGN
CAPITAL
World Bank Turkey Director Andrew Vorkink
yesterday hailed the government decision to cut
corporate tax to 20%, adding that this reduction
would boost interest in the Turkish economy
compared to other countries in the Middle East
and Europe. “Turkey will attract more foreign
capital,” he said. Vorkink stressed that the
cuts would reduce the operating costs of small-
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which would
then boost investment and employment. “A
simplified tax system will also deter the
unregistered economy,” he added. “This decision
will make an important change for the Turkish
business world and for the economy,” he added.
/Milliyet/
[11] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
[12] “GONGOS” COMING
BY MUHARREM SARIKAYA (SABAH)
Columnist Muharrem Sarikaya comments on
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) meeting in
Brussels. A summary of his column is as follows:
“There have been government-oriented
non-governmental organizations (GONGO) for some
time in Europe, but Turkey just recently
encountered this concept. The term means
organizations which say the things governments
can’t say on behalf of governments and then
implements them. Leaders of the Turkish Union of
Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB),
Confederation of Revolutionary Labor Unions
(DISK), Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions
(Türk-Is), Trade Union Confederation (Hak-Is),
and Turkish Public Workers Union (Kamu-Sen),
which together constitute the Joint Advisory
Committee (JAC) within the European Union, and
other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have
been holding contacts in Brussels for two days.
However, now the atmosphere in Brussels
following the JAC meeting is far from the mild
atmosphere caused by the European Union Council
on Oct. 3 [when Turkey’s EU negotiations
started]. The EU closed the Cyprus file and
opened the democracy file, which includes five
issues, as EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli
Rehn has listed before: southeastern Anatolia,
freedom of expression and the press, family and
rights of women, torture, and union rights. The
EU believes that there are certain things
happening in Turkey contrary to the reforms on
these issues. The EU even emphasizes that as
long as the defects on these issues aren’t
tackled, the process of membership talks will be
stalled. The basic concern in these warnings is
that the government will start to apply strict
measures against the recent terrorist attacks.
When the EU is reminded that even EU members
take strict measures against terrorism, the EU
singles Turkey out. For example, Britain says
that lengthening the period of custody without
changes to 15 days is acceptable but that this
can’t happen in Turkey. Britain also doesn’t
consider economic development criteria, but
instead says that Christian Democrats in the
European Parliament place more importance on
social and democratic rights. In spite of all
this, JAC representatives have expressed their
views calmly for two days. Finally, TOBB
Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu reiterated his
view during his meeting with Rehn that not
democracy, but the economy matters more. He told
Rehn that if Turkey’s democracy improves, a
great many problems would be solved.
Hisarciklioglu then gave an example: When
Italy’s president and the Pirelli company
complained about high worker pay in Turkey and
talked about moving the Pirelli factory to
Egypt, Hisarciklioglu said that he would talk
with the union chairman about the issue. When he
called DISK Chairman Suleyman Celebi, he
replied, ‘If wages are the problem, we’re ready
to cut them so the factory stays in Turkey.’
Then Pirelli reversed its decision to move the
factory to Egypt. This shows that NGOs in Turkey
understand not only how to act together, but
also the culture of consensus.”
ARCHIVE
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