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Turkish Press Review, 06-01-02Turkish 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 morning02.01.2006PRESIDENT URGES END TO 2005 IDENTITY DEBATES ERDOGAN: “THE NATION ELECTED OUR GOVERNMENT FOR FIVE YEARS” AFGHAN, JAPANESE LEADERS DUE TO VISIT ANKARA CELIKKOL APPOINTED SPECIAL ENVOY TO IRAQ AUSTRIA TAKES UP EU’S TERM PRESIDENCY GREEK GOVERNMENT SAYS PM KARAMANLIS TO VISIT TURKEY IMF PRAISES TURKISH ECONOMY FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS WE WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT THE EU IS BY SEMIH IDIZ (MILLIYET)CONTENTS
[01] PRESIDENT URGES END TO 2005 IDENTITY DEBATESPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer delivered serious messages on political developments and debates on Saturday in a statement he released marking the new year. Sezer warned that there are efforts to harm the unity and peace of the Turkish nation and the unitary structure of the Turkish state, but that these efforts will come to no avail. Stating that every politician, political party and person in Turkey should transcend their ideological differences and unite behind the nation’s European Union bid, Sezer warned that fruitless debates over the basic characteristics of the republic should be avoided. “The Turkish Republic is a crucial country by virtue of its geographical situation and people, with a unitary state structure under the Constitution. The unitary state structure cannot be retained without ensuring the consciousness of a national identity. Unity is ensured through the national state in multinational societies, and ‘a single nation’ principle is the most important factor that reinforces this unity. Uniting all the citizens within society as a single nation is the most effective method for living together with our differences,” he said. /The New Anatolian/[02] ERDOGAN: “THE NATION ELECTED OUR GOVERNMENT FOR FIVE YEARS”Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed yesterday that the next general elections would be held in November 2007, as scheduled. Speaking at a meeting of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Mugla, the premier touted his government’s record over the last three years. Stressing that the government was opposed to ethnic, religious and regional nationalism, Erdogan defended people’s freedom to live in line with their beliefs. In addition, the premier visited a childcare center in the city before returning to Ankara late in the afternoon. /Turkiye/[03] AFGHAN, JAPANESE LEADERS DUE TO VISIT ANKARAAnkara will see busy diplomatic traffic in the coming days. Immediately after the New Year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be Ankara’s first guest. During Karzai’s two-day visit starting on Thursday he will meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. He will also attend a meeting of the Turkish-Afghan Business Council in Istanbul on Friday. The second important visit will come from Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi starting next Tuesday. Koizumi will be the first Japanese premier to visit Turkey. Also US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Turkey is a certainty, through the timing is not yet clear. /Star/[04] CELIKKOL APPOINTED SPECIAL ENVOY TO IRAQAmbassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol has been appointed Turkey’s special envoy to Iraq. The appointment decision was published in the Official Gazette, which said, “Celikkol is hereby appointed as Turkey’s special envoy to Iraq in order to develop relations with Iraq and to coordinate Turkey’s contribution to Iraq’s reconstruction, and to execute contacts by both foreign states and international institutions.” /Cumhuriyet/[05] AUSTRIA TAKES UP EU’S TERM PRESIDENCYAustria yesterday officially took over the European Union’s Term Presidency from Britain for six months. “We will show a special interest in our close neighbors and Western Balkan countries,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik. “Europe has to be a strong and a reliable partner in the world. Austria’s presidency will focus on everyday concerns such as jobs and economic growth while boosting citizens’ confidence in the European project.” /Cumhuriyet/[06] GREEK GOVERNMENT SAYS PM KARAMANLIS TO VISIT TURKEYGreek Deputy Foreign Minister Yannis Valinakis said over the weekend that Ankara and Athens would agree on a date for an official visit by Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to Turkey in 2006. In a statement to Greek daily To Vima, Valinakis said there was already a decision for Karamanlis to visit to Ankara. In comments on Turkey’s relations with the EU, Valinakis said he believed Ankara would exert efforts to fulfill its commitments to the Union “more seriously” during Austria’s term at the helm of the EU rotating presidency, which started on Sunday. /Turkish Daily News/[07] IMF PRAISES TURKISH ECONOMYThe International Monetary Fund said that Turkey has the potential to reach a growth rate similar to that of Far Eastern countries provided it maintains its macroeconomic political discipline and speeds up structural reforms. An article on Turkey published recently in the IMF’s Research Bulletin stated that in the wake of five years of economic crises, Turkey had begun to turn itself around. Stressing that inflation had fallen to single digits and interest rates and the state debt coefficient had also gone down, the article noted that Turkey’s performance exceeded the world’s average. /Sabah/[08] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[09] WE WILL UNDERSTAND WHAT THE EU ISBY SEMIH IDIZ (MILLIYET)Columnist Semih Idiz comments on Turkish-EU relations in 2006. A summary of his column is as follows: “On the one hand the European Union promises higher standards of living, and on the other, it opened certain paradigms of the republic up for debate. Over the last year we’ve suffered from problems deriving from this dilemma. It’s not hard to predict that these problems will grow in 2006 and cause us to experience periodic crises with the EU. For example, the EU voiced approval for the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK) without knowing its true nature, then saw what happened after the implementation of Article 301, and now is seeking its annulment. People in Turkey opposed to the EU say that they want to make it free to insult Turkishness. Actually, they’re right, because they say that people in the EU can insult Turkishness as much as they can insult being British or German as part of freedom of thought. This is hard for Turkey to swallow. Therefore, the meaning of EU membership will be understood better and maybe certain dreams will be given up in 2006. Actually, Ankara was getting angry when others mentioned the ‘special relationship’ formula but we ourselves might bring it up in 2006. This is embedded in the stance of ‘the EU should take our special conditions into consideration,’ which is expressed by circles calling themselves nationalists. In turn, the EU says that it doesn’t have to consider a country’s special conditions vis-a-vis basic principles and that those who want to take part in the bloc must comply with its conditions. We saw our confusion on this issue when former Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu told my colleague Fikret Bila that the conditions stipulated by the EU on Turkey weren’t stipulated on other countries and that it seems the EU is giving orders and we’re obeying them. In fact the EU has stipulated different conditions for each candidate country. For example, it told Hungary to solve the problem of minorities, and asked Romania and Bulgaria to overcome the problem of chronic corruption. In addition, the EU intervened in Austria’s domestic affairs and prevented extreme rightist Joerg Haider from coming to power, even though it’s an EU member. In short, the EU has never applied a standard template to a candidate or member country. What is applied isn’t a double standard, but a multiple-standard. However, we also see that there’s a general parity on basic political principles which lead the EU and which it seeks for everybody to abide by. The basic issue is whether the order in Turkey is sufficient to suit this parity. We’ll see this better in the year to come.” 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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