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Turkish Press Review, 06-06-19Turkish 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> <style type="text_css"> <!-- .baslik { margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; margin-top:1cm; font-size:12.0pt; color:#000099; text-align: justify; } --> <_style> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning19.06.2006FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN ATTENDS AKP CONGRESSESAfter attending his Justice and Development Party (AKP) congress in Istanbul on Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife, yesterday paid visits to Giresun and Trabzon, provinces of the Black Sea region, to attend party congresses and a number of opening ceremonies. Addressing gatherings, Erdogan pointed out that Turkey had the 17th greatest economy in the world. Stressing that national income reached $ 360 billion, Erdogan said that Turkey had begun to experience a serious process of investment and employment. /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN TO DISCUSS ECONOMIC, POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS WITH SABANCI AND KOCPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due tomorrow to meet with Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) Chairman Omer Sabanci and High Advisory Council Chairman Mustafa Koc to discuss recent economic and political developments. Sabanci recently criticized the government on secularism and reforms. /Sabah/[03] OIC TO MEET TODAY IN AZERBAIJANThe 33rd Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) will begin today in Baku, Azerbaijan. During the three-day gathering, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will represent Turkey. Ministers from 33 countries are expected to focus on the Iraq issue, recent developments in the Mideast and Darfur crisis in Sudan. In addition, plans for restructuring of the organization will also be taken up. /Turkiye/[04] TOURISM AND CULTURE MINISTER KOC MEETS WITH AHMADINEJADCulture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the weekend on an official visit to Iran. Ahmadinejad who received Koc and accompanying delegation said that Turkey and Iran had a common culture. He said that Iranian and Turkish officials should prepare the ground for an expansion of tourism through introducing and promoting such a great cultural heritage. Koc, for his part said that the commercial relations between Turkey and Iran showed great improvement and that they aimed to raise the trade volume to 10$ billion in the upcoming years. /Star/[05] AGAR: “POLICIES OF THE GOVERNMENT WORSENED THE SITUATION OF ARTISANS AND MIDDLE CLASS”Speaking at his party’s meeting of his party in Sivas at the weekend, opposition True Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Agar criticized the government, saying that policies of the government worsened the situation of artisans and middle class. “The unemployment has increased while the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is in power,” he said. “You can’t govern the country with lies. The nation is getting poorer.” /Milliyet/[06] TALAT: “IF TURKISH HARBORS AND AIRPORTS WERE OPENED TO GREEK CYPRUS, THIS WILL LIFT THE LAST LEVER FOR CYPRUS RESOLUTION”Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat said yesterday that if Turkish harbors and airports were opened to Greek Cyprus, this would lift the last lever for a resolution on the island. Speaking to Daily News, Talat expressed support for Turkey’s veto to Greek Cypriot’s membership to international institutions. “Greek Cyprus shouldn’t join new institutions,” he said. Stressing that the TRNC’s policy was to reunify the island on the basis of the Annan plan, Talat added that no one could create a mortgage on the future. He further stressed that he was ready to begin Cyprus talks with Greek Cyprus. “These talks can be on the basis of the Annan plan or not,” he added. /Milliyet/[07] GREEK FM’S NEW PLAN: “EUROPEAN UNITED CYPRUS” SOLUTIONGreek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said over the weekend that her country was preparing a new proposal entitled “European United Cyprus.” In an interview with Greek daily Elefterotipia, Bakoyannis said that a new plan under this title should contain components such as the UN Secretary- General’s all works to date, the reality brought by Greek Cypriots’ European Union membership for two-and-a-half years, and the will of two societies. Bakoyannis said, “Nothing can be imposed to a nation. Therefore, a new plan should be admitted by the government before it is voted by the nation.” /Hurriyet/[08] PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE TURKISH CITIZENSHIP BILLA bill proposing an amendment to the Turkish Citizenship Law, which would introduce new regulations on the naturalization of foreigners in Turkey, will be debated by Parliament’s Interior Commission on Wednesday. Under the bill, foreigners who want to obtain Turkish citizenship would be eligible if they fulfill the necessary requirements, although fulfilling them wouldn’t mean automatic naturalization. The necessary requirements for foreigners to acquire Turkish nationality would include being of legal age; being of sound mind; have been settled in Turkey for five years; behaving in a way which confirms their intent to settle in Turkey; have no dangerous diseases; be of good moral character; be able to speak reasonable Turkish; have an income or job which provides enough for them to support themselves and dependants; and for them not to pose a threat to national security or public order. Those who fail to do obligatory military service and acquire foreign citizenship without permission from the authorities would no longer be stripped off their nationality under the bill. In related news, an antiterrorism bill that has become controversial over suspicions that it might pave the way for an amnesty to Abdullah Ocalan, jailed head of the terrorist group PKK, is on its way to Parliament’s agenda again. The bill is to be handed over to the Justice Committee by a sub-commission. The sub- commission has removed an article that critics said would pave the way for an amnesty for Ocalan but has insisted to keep another article that military circles oppose. That article envisages a reduction in punishment for unarmed illegal organizations. The Justice Committee is now expected to take up the bill tomorrow and Parliament is likely to enact the bill before its summer recess, most probably the next week at the latest. /The New Anatolian-Turkish Daily News/[09] SENER: “IMPORTS CAN’T BE REDUCED IN FREE MARKET ECONOMY TO DECREASE CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT”Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener yesterday commented on high current account deficit, which is revised as 7% of the Gross National Product (GNP) for the end of this year, saying that imports couldn’t be reduced in free market economy to decrease high current account deficit, adding that exports needed to be boosted. “Under the rules of the World Trade Organization, you can’t take measures to restrict the imports,” he said. “The deficit can be reduced by boosting production.” He added that the package to be prepared for current account deficit would include measures on both imports and exports. /Aksam/[10] BABACAN: “RECENT FLUCTUATIONS IN THE MARKETS WON’T CHANGE OUR INFLATION TARGET”Appearing on CNN Turk yesterday, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan said that recent fluctuations in the markets due to global factors wouldn’t change the government’s inflation target. He stressed that these fluctuations didn’t only affect the Turkish markets, but all economies in the world. “Stock exchanges of all countries fell,” he said. Babacan stated that the government wouldn’t forsake fiscal discipline, adding, however, that inflation could increase a bit as a result of these fluctuations. /Milliyet/[11] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[12] THIS TIME LAST WEEK BY MEHMET ALTAN (SABAH)Columnist Mehmet Altan comments on Turkey’s European Union membership process. A summary of his column is as follows:“This time last week Turkey passed a historic curve and gained success, that is, membership talks with the European Union started. Just like getting a date for these talks, starting them happened during the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) era. The people didn’t create asocial enthusiasm, due to the mistaken tactics of the AKP. The Greek Cypriot administration’s political show and the Cyprus issue overshadowed the start of membership talks. The day started with an unnecessary delay last week, became joyful with the beginning of talks, but then turned into something distressed due to the atmosphere during the press conference. The parties looked like couples who don’t speak the same language, have a different way of argumentation and whose styles are different from each other in terms of problem solving. The reason for that was the difference of approaching the Cyprus issue. Opening the harbors and airports to the Greek Cypriot administration is required by the Customs Union’s Additional Protocol. This is a completely commercial issue. The EU’s promise to lift the ‘commercial’ embargo on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is again a ‘commercial’ issue. Both Ankara and Brussels should keep the promises they gave to each other. However, this commercial issue turned into something commercial in Ankara and meeting the engagements started to be viewed as Turkey’s and Greek Cypriots’ recognizing each other. Here, there’s a slip of style. The EU doesn’t understand a political approach to a commercial issue. Meanwhile, the government is insisting on turning a technical issue into a political success. It seems this weird dialogue will make the next step difficult. Opening the harbors and airports to the Greek Cypriot administration and the EU’s lifting the ‘commercial’ embargo on the TRNC is a consistent package. Even the quota on our tractor trailers can be included to them. As a matter of fact, the Foreign Minister mentioned this issue last week. However, recognizing the TRNC against the Cyprus Republic is another thing. Our position in the Cyprus issue was very problematic until UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s plan. When the TRNC accepted this plan, a new point was reached, balances started to be in favor of us and the Greek Cypriot administration entered a way where it would be lonelier. Turkey should try to remove the right complaints in the Progress Report which seems to be the most negative report until now. It seems that we will see a Turkey in which the official process halted, important transformations weren’t implemented and democratic approaches were shelved. The most important thing for us is decreasing the criticism in the Progress Report. This would mean increasing the life quality of our administrators. Unfortunately, we’re a very political society. Everything starts and ends with politics for us. A deep seriousness with a human-oriented approach seems too far away.” [13] WOULD ERDOGAN BECOME PRESIDENT? BY TARHAN ERDEM (RADIKAL)Columnist Tarhan Erdem comments on next year’s presidential elections. A summary of his column is as follows:“Opposition parties want early elections claiming that it would prevent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from becoming president. Last year, they began to talk about early elections and now they are saying that this year will be an election year. I’m not sure whether the government really wants elections, but if they want it then they should have answers to the following two questions: Would a party who has the majority in the Parliament go for an early election? Could an Opposition, which doesn’t have a program that the people support, force the government party to go for early elections? Those, who said no to these questions, didn’t view the request for early elections as serious. Recently the Presidential elections were more on the agenda. Some columnists remind us about the presidential elections after 1938 and in 1961. But the 1982 constitution and the constitutions of 1924 and 61 are different. The conditions have changed and therefore we can’t make useful interpretations. Some even say that there should be a change in the constitution so that the people would elect the president. Such a change would be a change in the regime, which would require a referendum. The Parliament will be closed for holiday. I’m wondering whether they are aware of the fact that these changes can’t be done so fast. I have already written that Erdogan would loose his power over his party if he becomes president. Some also say that he would rule like a Prime minister after becoming President, but the elements of dependency change after being elected. People start to think about themselves the minute they become President. One becomes president and the other Prime Minister. Thus a president can neither be a party leader nor a Prime Minister. We also experienced in 1991 that if the president isn’t under control, then he would be a problem for the government and a president who isn’t in harmony with the government would be ineffective. I think Erdogan can see that he would become a president if he wants to, but would loose his determining power in the government.” 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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