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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 02-04-26
From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>
TURKISH PRESS
AND OTHER MEDIA
No.80/02
26.04.02
[A] NEWS ITEMS
[01] UNFICYP has started to scrap weapons in the framework of the Greek
Cypriot side/s goodwill gesture to facilitate the Cyprus talks
[02] Rauf Denktas claims that the Turkish Cypriot player Sabri has returned
to the occupied areas
[03] The occupation regime distributes land in the occupied Vouno village
[04] Deluge of criticisms by Rauf Denktas against the EU and the Council of
Europe from Strasbourg
[05] A Turkish Cypriot businessman will reportedly become advisor of the US
embassy to Nicosia
[06] Sabri: "I want to play football"; Xenis: "Many Greek Cypriot clubs are
interested in buying Sabri"
[07] Prosecutor moves to jail Erdogan
COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS
[08] Columnist in "Star" newspaper says that the fleeing of the Turkish
Cypriot football player to the free areas marks the beginning of the end of
the pseudostate
[09] AFRIKA envisages the future of the Turkish Cypriots
[Á] NEWS ITEMS
[01] UNFICYP has started to scrap weapons in the framework of the Greek
Cypriot side/s goodwill gesture to facilitate the Cyprus talks
Turkish Cypriot English language weekly "Cyprus Today" (20-26/04/02) reports
that Greek Cypriot guns were being turned into scrap by the United Nations
this week in what has been billed as a goodwill gesture to the Turkish
Cypriot side.
Some 4,500 weapons, including automatic rifles and heavy machine guns, are
being destroyed by peacekeepers in a UN compound.
Five million rounds of ammunition were destroyed as a part of the same arms
cache between 1999 and 2000.
"The task is expected to take up to two months", said a spokesman for the UN
mission.
The weapons have been kept under UN guard at the former Nicosia Airport
since they were imported by Greek Cypriots from Czechoslovakia in 1972.
They include automatic rifles, machine pistols, heavy machine guns and
mortars.
[02] Rauf Denktas claims that the Turkish Cypriot player Sabri has returned
to the occupied areas
Yeniduzen (26/04/02), quoting Turkish daily Star's internet version, reports
that the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas has declared in Strasbourg that
the Turkish Cypriot footballer Sabri Selden has returned to the occupied
area.
Denktas claimed that Sabri has realized his mistake. Star correspondent Emin
Vural reported that Denktas also criticized Turkish clubs for not opening
their doors to the Turkish Cypriot players. Denktas said : If the Turkish
clubs open their doors to these players they will not look for any other
place to play. Denktas branded players like Sabri weak characters.
[03] The occupation regime distributes land in the occupied Vouno village
According to Kibris (26/04/02), the so-called Ministry of Interior, Village
Affairs and Housing, Social Housing Directorate has distributed building
plots in the occupied village of Vouno to 32 youths.
Speaking at the ''ceremony '' the so -called prime minister of the pseudo
state Dervis Eroglu declared that their aim is to keep the Turkish Cypriots
in Cyprus and help the youth to acquire property and have a job to
work.Eroglu went on and said that until now they have distributed 2.500
building plots to the people most of whom have built their own house. He
said that they are also providing low interest loans to the people who want
to build their house in the countryside in villages.
Speaking at the same ''ceremony '' the so-called housing minister Mehmet
Albayrak said that the work to distribute land to the youth in the villages
continues and up to now 105 villages in the occupied area were included in
the project while 2.524 building plots in 84 villages were distributed to
the youth. He said that the first condition to stop migration is to give the
chance to the youth to build their own houses. He further added that the
total value of each building plot is 750-Pound Sterling. Albayrak noted
that ''legally'' it was not possible to distribute these building plots free
of charge.
[04] Deluge of criticisms by Rauf Denktas against the EU and the Council of
Europe from Strasbourg
YENI DEMOKRAT (26.04.02) reports that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf
Denktas harshly criticized the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's
(COEPA) Cyprus rapporteur, Dick Marty on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference regarding his contacts at the Council of
Europe, Mr Denktas alleged that Mr Marty prepared a biased report without
examining the Cyprus problem. He also claimed that the report should
definitely be amended before being submitted to the COEPA general council.
Mr Denktas argued that the Council of Europe should prepare a report on the
so-called "economic embargos", which violate the human rights of the Turkish
Cypriots.
Referring to the on-going face-to-face talks towards finding a solution to
the Cyprus problem, the Turkish Cypriot leader repeated his view that the EU
would be committing a mistake if it exerts pressure on the issue of the time
by which the negotiations must be completed.
Mr Denktas criticized once again the statement of Mr Gunter Verheugen, EU
Commissioner responsible for the Enlargement, who said that the Republic of
Cyprus will join the EU even if the Cyprus problem is not solved.
Meanwhile, during a meeting with Turkish journalists in Strasbourg, Mr
Denktas said that the timetable for the enlargement of the EU is binding
only for the EU itself and it could not be the time table for the solution
of the Cyprus problem.
Furthermore, referring to EU's representative in Turkey, Mrs Karen Fogg, he
criticized the EU for having organized a campaign against the Turks by
paying Turkish journalists to write certain things against Turkey and the
occupation regime in the northern part of Cyprus.
[05] A Turkish Cypriot businessman will reportedly become advisor of the US
embassy to Nicosia
Under the front-page title "Kufi Birinci becomes advisor of the USA",
KIBRISLI (26.04.02) reports that "well-known" Turkish Cypriot businessman
Kufi Birinci is about to be appointed as advisor of the embassy of the
United States to Nicosia. The paper writes the following:
"According to information, which our reporters acquired from reliable
sources, Kufi Birinci, who has applied for a post opened by the embassy of
the USA in Cyprus, has made a serious step towards the position of the
advisor as he passed successfully the first interview.
According to information acquired by our newspaper, the advisor who will
work as an expert in the international relations field, must be a political
science and international relations graduate and in parallel to the English
language he should have good command of the Turkish and Greek languages.
The sources report that Kufi Birinci has more than all these qualifications
and for this reason he is the most powerful candidate.
Kufi Birinci is expected to begin his new job within the next few weeks".
[06] Sabri: "I want to play football"; Xenis: "Many Greek Cypriot clubs are
interested in buying Sabri"
VATAN (26.04.02) reports that Turkish Cypriot football player, Sabri Selden
has said that the reason for his fleeing to the free areas of Cyprus is
because he wants to play football. Speaking last night on the "Sports
journal" programme of "Genc TV", Sabri noted the following when asked by
journalist, Ertan Birinci:
"I passed over to the South to play football. In some newspapers unfounded
articles have been published. I am bored of these. I will talk when the day
comes. I will play in Southern Cyprus, in Greece, but the most important in
Turkey if I am given the chance".
Meanwhile, VATAN spoke yesterday on the phone with Mr Stavros Xenis, former
chairman of AEK Larnaca football club, who said the following responding to
a question of the paper: "There are a lot of teams which wish to take Sabri
to their club. OMONIA Nicosia is one of them. Therefore, we have signed a
preliminary agreement. This agreement provides for 1.000 Cyprus pound
salary, a car and a house".
[07] Prosecutor moves to jail Erdogan
The following report was published in "Turkish Daily News" on 26.04.02:
"The State Security Court (DGM) moved to jail popular opposition leader
Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the prosecutor made a surprise move for his
imprisonment.
In what seemed to be a routine move, DGM Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yuksel summoned
Erdogan for his testimony over a fiery speech he made ten years ago but than
stunned everyone by sending him to court with a demand for his arrest.
As Erdogan is not member of Parliament, he has no judicial immunity. Erdogan
became the man on the hot seat after the powerful military petitioned the
Justice Ministry on Tuesday to bring charges against him for insulting the
military, and praising Islamic groups in Afghanistan, in a speech he made a
decade ago.
The dual of words between Erdogan and Chief of General Staff Gen. Huseyin
Kivrikoglu reached a peak on Wednesday when Erdogan said that the top
general's statements regarding him has "cast a shadow on Turkish democracy."
Kivrikoglu, during a reception organized as part of April 23, Sovereignty
and Children's Day, accused Erdogan of "spitting hatred" against the
military and charged that contrary to "we have changed" messages the AKP
group was giving "they have not changed."
Erdogan, however, countered the remarks of Kivrikoglu stating that he could
not be taken responsible for a statement made a decade ago "under the
prevailing conditions" of that time.
Stating that he and the political environment have changed in the past
ten-years, Erdogan said that he has formed a brand-new party, and he should
be viewed according to his recent actions and statements.
Sub-title: Ecevit adds fuel to AKP controversy
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, meanwhile, accused the opposition pro-Islamist
AKP of being an inheritor of a dark past. Addressing his group in Parliament
on Thursday, Ecevit strongly criticized the AKP and said that the AKP was an
inheritor of a dark past, referring to one of Erdogan's speeches where he
harshly criticized the Turkish military.
Ecevit said that the AKP thought that it would make a play for the top of
politics by showing that it has cleared off its dark past. "However, when
the elections come to the agenda, such parties will vanish into thin air,
just like soap foam," he added.
Responding to Ecevit's statement, AKP leader Erdogan claimed that Ecevit was
an inheritor of an even darker past, but said he did not want to believe
that Ecevit had delivered such a statement. When recalling Ecevit's words,
claiming that the AKP was showing itself as having cleared off its dark
past, Erdogan noted that if Ecevit had delivered such a statement, he felt
sorry for democracy and added that a revision was required, both in politics
and in the DSP. Erdogan emphasized that such statements did not suit a party
leader.
Erdogan noted that it would be very ugly to characterize the AKP in such a
way without concrete evidence, since the AKP was a newly founded, brand-new
party. "If we start to look deeply into Ecevit's past, I believe that he is
an inheritor of a darker past," Erdogan added.
Responding to a question on the leak of a video cassette of one his speeches
to the press, by the pro-religion Saadet (happiness or contentment) Party
(SP), Erdogan said that he had nothing to say on this issue since there was
no concrete evidence. On the cassette, Erdogan harshly criticized the
Turkish military; Kivrikoglu responded with harsh words for the AKP.
Sub-title: SP leader Kutan: Turkey needs peace more than ever
Commenting on Chief of General Staff Huseyin Kivrikoglu's critique of
Erdogan, SP leader Recai Kutan said that Turkey needed peace more than ever.
Responding to questions from reporters following the 4th Petroleum Council
meeting at the Sheraton Hotel, Kutan also denied the claims that the SP was
responsible for the press leak of the video cassette of Erdogan's speech. He
added that it was out of the question for the SP to get involved in such an
act.
Turkey is an overwhelmingly Muslim country, but the state is staunchly
secular and it is a crime to oppose the secular nature of the state.
Insulting the military is also a crime.
In the speech, Erdogan congratulates Afghanistan for "forming an Islamic
republic," and accuses the influential military of sending young,
inexperienced Turkish soldiers into battle against Kurdish separatists in
southeastern Turkey. Some 37,000 people have died in the fighting. "This
isn't defending the country. This is nothing more than acting as a hangman
and sending people on a suicide mission," newspapers quoted Erdogan as
saying in his 1992 speech.
The military - which regard political Islam as a major threat to Turkey, and
pressured an Islamic government out of power in 1997 - were already wary of
Erdogan, but his remarks on the military's battle against Kurdish rebels
touched a sensitive nerve.
Erdogan's defenders say that, the speech was made at a time when many people
in Turkey and the West were praising the efforts of Islamic fighters in
Afghanistan. They also point out that the military later changed its policy
of sending inexperienced young soldiers to fight Kurdish rebels, thus
tactfully acknowledging it was a mistake.
Erdogan, the former mayor of Istanbul, served a four-month jail sentence in
1999 for reading a poem, the courts deemed incited hatred based on religious
differences. Last week, a court ruled Erdogan's conviction barred him from
being elected to parliament. Erdogan founded the Justice and Development
Party last summer, after a court closed an earlier pro-Islamic party for
anti-secular activities. Erdogan's party is the second largest opposition
party in parliament, but it regularly tops opinion polls - helped by a deep
economic crisis, that has discredited older parties. Elections are not
scheduled before 2004.
[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS
[08] Columnist in "Star" newspaper says that the fleeing of the Turkish
Cypriot football player to the free areas marks the beginning of the end of
the pseudostate
Istanbul Star newspaper (24/04/02) publishes the following commentary by Ali
Sen, under the title "The Beginning of the End in Cyprus":
"I spent the weekend in Cyprus. I have been saying for years that we are
eventually going to lose Cyprus. Yet our politicians keep saying in
complete ignorance of the facts about Cyprus that they will never make
concessions on the Cyprus issue.
I had the opportunity during my visit to meet with a number of friends,
among them Ertan Birinci, a nationalist Turkish Cypriot who is Chairman of
the Association of Cypriot Sports Columnists and the owner of the Genc TV
station and Lawyer Ahmet Omer Adal, who is Chairman of the Northern Cyprus
Turkish Football Association. It was along with only three hundred fans
that I watched a match between the famous Cetinkaya and Gonyeli teams at the
Ataturk Stadium, which can seat some 20,000 spectators.
FIFA refuses to recognize the Turkish Cypriot soccer players. All kinds of
embargoes are being enforced on Northern Cyprus. Strangely enough, Turkey
is one of those countries that are imposing sanctions against Northern
Cyprus.
Turkish Cypriot soccer players are eligible to play in Turkish teams only
under foreign status. There is no industrial activity in Northern Cyprus.
People are poor and there is a widespread unemployment problem. The
greatest investment so far has been made by the Uzanlar group, the owner of
the Telsim GSM Company. They have also provided patronage to Turkish
Cypriot sports activities. Whenever I come to Cyprus, I see that my
Turkish friends on the island are more discouraged and hopeless than before.
They envy the lifestyle of Greek Cypriots. Per capita income in the South
is $18,000, in other words ten times as much as what Turkish Cypriots are
earning. Some 4,000 Turkish Cypriots are going to the South everyday to
earn their bread by working for Greek Cypriots.
When Sultan Selim the Second conquered Cyprus, he took Turks from Konya to
the island. These Turks, the ancestors of the Turkish Cypriots of the
present day, have always remained loyal to the motherland. They were
always persecuted by Greek Cypriots. In 1955, when Turkish and Greek
Cypriots were living together, the Cetinkaya soccer team came across a
banner at the entrance to a Greek football club, which read: "Dogs and
Turks not allowed." The same year, the Turkish Cypriot Soccer Federation
was established. It did not receive any support from Turkish federations.
It was always left to cope on its own. During my Chairmanship of the
Fenerbahce Soccer Club, I arranged for Fenerbahce's mid-season training to
take place in Cyprus. I did not heed those embargoes at all.
In the past, sportsmen from the Eastern Bloc used to take refuge in Western
countries. Turkish Cypriot soccer player Sabri fled to the Greek Cypriot
side with his family recently. Sabri could only play as a foreign soccer
player in Turkey whereas he can play as a local soccer player in Southern
Cyprus. This is an unspeakable disaster.
Turkey staged a military intervention in Cyprus in 1974. Cypriot Turks
used to admire Turkish troops. Turkey made a serious mistake by
establishing the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [TRNC]. The TRNC has
become a small state that no one recognizes. If Northern Cyprus had been
annexed to Turkey as a result of a referendum, the northern part of the
island would have become a Turkish province. The world would have made a
fuss over this for ten days and then would have stopped talking about the
issue. Instead the TRNC was founded and Northern Cyprus became a poor
state without an industry that no one recognizes.
Sabri's fleeing to the Greek Cypriot side marks the beginning of the end for
the TRNC. There is always a flight from poverty to wealth in the world.
Northern Cyprus is poor whereas Southern Cyprus is rich. There are no jobs
in the North and no end of jobs in the South. Nobody can stop those
running to the South. Tomorrow it will be grocers. The day after
tomorrow, it will be tradesmen. Southern Cyprus will become a full member
of the EU. If a referendum were to be held today, some 95 percent of
Turkish Cypriots would opt for the South.
Turkey has only made Turkish Cypriots unhappy by injecting great sums into
Northern Cyprus just as the Soviet Union made the people of the Eastern Bloc
unhappy with the money it injected into those countries.
If Turkey really regards Northern Cyprus crucial from a geopolitical
standpoint, then it faces a choice between starting to make big investments
there today and allowing thousands to migrate to Southern Cyprus.
[09] AFRIKA envisages the future of the Turkish Cypriots
AFRIKA (26.04.02) in a small commentary under the title "The result is
there", writes the following:
"The first thing Turkey did after its military operation, with the pretext
of restoring the constitutional order, was to divide this place. And by
bringing its own people into the northern part of the divided island it took
under control its political life. It forced factories to close down and stop
the production. In brief, it economically, politically and militarily made
dependent (translator's note: the occupied areas) to itself. Today, having
come to the end of this process, our annihilation, which is related to the
dependence, has been increased. The 'democratic' laws, which existed only
for appearances' sake, are withdrawn one after the other. There is no limit
for those who come. They give account to no one. There is a great disorder
of robberies, terror, crimes and traffic, which is at its highest level in
the history of Cyprus. With Solana's statement the division has been
finalized. Everyone keeps what he has taken! The Turkish Cypriots became
without a country in their own country. This is the result.".
EG/
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