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Turkish Press Review, 08-11-17Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning17.11.2008CONTENTS
[01] IN WASHINGTON, ERDOGAN HOLDS BILATERAL TALKS WITH WORLD LEADERSIn Washington, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the weekend met with outgoing US President George W. Bush, as well as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and his Italian and German counterparts on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting on the global economic crisis. Erdogan also spoke with representatives of US President-elect Barack Obama for about 45 minutes, including former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Obama's foreign affairs advisor Phil Gordon. Afterwards, Erdogan addressed the meeting of G-20 prime ministers. Erdogan tomorrow will proceed to Geneva, Switzerland to attend the inauguration of a new Chamber for Human Rights and for the Alliance of Civilizations in the local UN office. Erdogan was invited to the occasion by his co-chair on the Alliance of Civilizations project, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez. /Star/Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the weekend attended a G-20 meeting in Washington, bringing together leaders from major industrialized and developing countries to address the global economic crisis. Before the meeting, Erdogan met with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan to outline details of a possible standby agreement with the Fund. Turkey has opposed an IMF standby agreement based on reducing growth and investments. During the G-20 meeting, world leaders resolved to support economic growth policies and to protect investors to help overcome the crisis. In line with these decisions, the IMF softened its attitude on growth and investment, meaning Turkey and the Fund are closer to an agreement than before. Turkey believes that the crisis can only be overcome by boosting growth and reducing government spending. Afterwards, Strauss-Khan told reporters he is sure that Turkey will soon reach an agreement with the Fund, adding that this is needed to stabilize the country's economic situation. IMF First Managing Director John Lipsky also said, "Turkey's economy is raising great hopes. It has a great future. We must assure that this future becomes a reality." /Turkiye-Sabah/ [02] TURKISH, ARMENIAN FMS TO MEET IN ISTANBUL NEXT WEEKFollowing up on President Abdullah Gul's historic visit to Yerevan in September, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia will meet in Istanbul next week. The top Armenian diplomat will be in Istanbul to attend a foreign ministers' meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and to take over the organization's term presidency. During his stay, Edward Nalbandian will meet with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in an effort to move towards normalized relations between the two countries. A mutual understanding is expected to emerge from their talks to start preparing for a trilateral meeting among the presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. /Hurriyet/[03] ANKARA, TEHRAN CONTINUE NATURAL GAS TALKSNegotiations over new natural gas purchase agreements are continuing between Iranian and Turkish representatives, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding is only a matter of time, according to Turkish officials. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler and his Iranian counterpart Qolam Hosein Nozari, each supported by a group of bureaucrats, are currently conducting talks toward an agreement. Speaking after one session of talks, Guler said that Turkey is planning to increase the amount of gas it purchases from Iran not only for Turkish needs, but also for European consumers. He added that Iran's gas resources will be exported to European customers through pipelines across Turkey. Turkey currently imports 27 million cubic meters of natural gas from Iran daily, he said, adding that the new deal, once it is agreed on by both parties, will ensure the flow of 23 million more. /Today's Zaman/[04] CELIK: "THE GOVT WILL PROTECT BOTH EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS FROM THE GLOBAL CRISIS"Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Celik said yesterday that the government was determined to protect both employees and employers from the fallout of the global economic crisis, adding that they will do whatever is necessary towards this end. Stressing that the government's top priority is to ensure employees not lose their jobs at a time of global crisis, he pledged such steps as making it easier for workers to use unemployment insurance and providing financial help to companies having difficulties paying their employees. Touching on government efforts to expand union rights for civil servants, Celik also said that they were planning to eliminate all differences between workers and civil servants on union rights, putting them under the same umbrella classification of employee. /Turkiye/[05] OZDEMIR ELECTED GERMAN GREENS' CO-CHAIREuropean Parliament member Cem Ozdemir yesterday was elected co-chairman of Germany's Greens Party, in a historic first for Turkish-origin citizens in Europe. Afterwards, Ozdemir told a press conference, "Some day we'll see a woman or man of Turkish origin as a (German) state minister, prime minister or president," and he called on the Greens to deal with the problems of immigrants. Ozdemir added that he would focus on representing people who are excluded from society. /Sabah/[06] NEWSWEEK PUBLISHES CAGAPTAY'S OPEN LETTER TO OBAMAAn open letter to US President-elect Barack Obam written by Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, has been published in this week's issue of Newsweek international magazine. "Since 2004, the PKK has increased its terrorist attacks into Turkey from American-controlled Iraq," he wrote. "In 2007, the Bush administration started to help Turkey take on the issue by providing Ankara with intelligence support. Now there is an opportunity for you to take that a step further by bringing Iraqi Kurds on board with the United States and Turkey to tackle the PKK." Adding that the Iraqi Kurds helped Ankara and Washington fight the PKK in the 1990s, in due course cementing their ties with Ankara, Cagaptay wrote, "If you engage the Iraqi Kurds to fight the PKK, you will open the path for the Iraqi Kurds and Ankara to build bridges with one another, while helping build the Turks' confidence in the United States as a friend." Stressing Turkey's importance for the US, he added, "You should not ignore Turkey. Because of its strategic location, Turkey is a key partner to the United States in tackling many foreign- policy challenges. You will need Turkish support and the Turkish base at Incirlik to achieve many of your goals, such as withdrawing troops from Iraq." /Star/[07] YILMABASAR OPENS EXHIBIT IN MUNICHTurkey's first professor of ceramic art, Jale Yilmabasar, has opened an exhibit in Munich, Germany. Yilmabasar's abstract and symbolic paintings are on show in the exhibit, which will continue through Jan. 31, 2009. She has received many international awards for her ceramics and painting, and shown her works in many countries. /Hurriyet Daily News/FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… [08] THE GUEST WORKERS' CHILDRENBY FERAI TINC (HURRIYET)Columnist Ferai Tinc comments on Turkish immigrants living abroad and the new face of Europe. A summary of her column is as follows: "When a cab driver in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, asked me last week why we sent Turks to them, I said we didn't send them, you invited them. I told him without losing my temper that they had selected them by looking at their teeth or gauging their strength. I remember those days. Photos of people from Anatolia used to be published in newspapers, and they would be selected or not on this basis. They strongly believed they would return after a while, and so they were called 'guest workers' or 'foreign workers.' But the hope of change which spread to Europe after Barrack Hussein Obama was elected US president reminded Europe of its 'foreigners' as well. Now a new era is dawning. Europe is realizing that those foreigners aren't temporary. The 9-11 attacks awakened those who thought that racism and xenophobia had ended. Now Europe is trying to put xenophobia in check while understanding the new Europe and where it's going. While Europeans were still asking themselves if they could have their own Obama, we got historic news from Germany: Cem Ozdemir was elected co-chair of the Greens Party. He's the first child of a guest worker to head a German party. What's more, he did this with a large majority of votes, more than 70 percent. Also Ahmad Abutaleb, an Amsterdam city council member of Moroccan origin, was nominated to be its mayor of a few days ago. The Dutch queen will make the decision, but the Social Democrats were given credit for making the nomination for one of Europe's largest port cities. Ozdemir's speech after his election is also worth analyzing. Downplaying his Turkish origin, he stressed that a person's ethnic origin should be unimportant. The new Europe will develop around this formula. When Obama was elected, black people worldwide were happy to close a chapter marked with slavery, but Obama has repeatedly stressed that he represents all Americans, not just black ones. Ozdemir is also careful about this. He's a German of Turkish origin. He's a politician who knows and feels the problems suffered by foreign workers and immigrants very well. He's also aware that he's responsible for producing solutions for Germans on behalf of the Greens. I'm happy he was elected not because of his Turkish origin, but due to his successful German citizenship and his Turkish origin. The children of immigrants won't come back. With their roots in Europe , they aren't Turks, Moroccans, Algerians, etc., but new Europeans. When Europe understands that its nearly 4 million Muslims â€" 2.5 million of them in Germany â€" aren't going anywhere, and accepts that Islam is becoming the number two religion on the continent, and reflects this change in its politics, it will be able to assimilate this change. Europe's new politics, but firstly the European left, will find its own language with the guest workers' children." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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