Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 02-10-14

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Sukru Sina Gurel: No Cypurs trade off for EU.

[02] Ismet Kotak resigns from the Democratic Party.

[03] General Pervez Musherraf said he wanted to fight in Cyprus with the Turkish Army when Turkey invaded and occupied a defenceless island state member of the UN.

[04] New Turkey Party leader Ismail Cem: Cyprus is a clear political factor in Turkey´s accession talks with the EU.

[05] Turkey preparing for the 14th general election.

[06] Unemployment in the occupied area.

[07] A church in the occupied village of Ayios Georgios was turned into a mosque.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[08] A columnist of VOLKAN threatens all the Turkish Cypriots who oppose the occupation regime.

[09] Analysts evaluate foreign policy issues that await new govenrment after elections.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Sukru Sina Gurel: No Cyprus trade off for EU

"If there are assumptions that for the sake of getting a date for the start of EU accession talks Turkey may compromise on Cyprus, that is fundamentally wrong. They may rest assured that such anticipations will be proven wrong," Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel told a panel organized by the Turkish Young Businessmen's Association (TYBA) in Ankara on "The Cyprus problem and the EU dimension".

The foreign minister said if the European Union insists on its wrong approach to the Cyprus issue, it will eradicate any hope of a resolution of the Cyprus problem.

He said Greek Cypriot unilateral EU accession would seal the partition of Cyprus.

Gurel said the Cyprus issue was a national problem of Turkey and it was out of the question to sacrifice any of the inalienable treaty rights and strategic interests of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots people for the sake of any other interest.

The foreign minister said the priority regarding Cyprus should be attached on reaching a negotiated and mutually acceptable solution, not achieving EU accession. He said it was the EU's acceptance of the unilateral Greek Cypriot bid for membership in 1990 that has prevented a lasting compromise solution on Cyprus. The foreign minister stressed that over the past decades the Greek Cypriot leadership, in anticipation of EU membership, has not presented any comprehensive and complete proposal for a resolution.

He said despite all the openings the Turkish Cypriot side made over the past decades, it was unfortunate but the Greek Cypriot leadership had no intention of reaching a settlement on Cyprus on the basis of equality, partnership of two equal states and the realities of Cyprus.

"The assumption that EU membership would play a catalyst role on both sides and encourage them to move towards a settlement was wrong right from the beginning," Gurel said.

Another wrong assumption, Gurel said, was the one that Turkey would make sacrifices over Cyprus in order to promote its own EU bid.

"That's out of the question," Gurel said.

The foreign minister stressed that the progress report released by the EU Commission for Cyprus, on the other hand, was based on allusions.

"The attitude of the EU Commission regarding Cyprus is unacceptable," Gurel said adding that the Commission has totally ignored one of the two peoples of the island and the existence of the state of Turkish Cypriots and thus violated the principle of equality.

He said if Greek Cypriot unilateral EU accession was achieved, that would mean a total upset to the Turkish-Greek balances in the eastern Mediterranean. He said Greek Cypriot EU accession would mean union of Cyprus with Greece (enosis) through the EU door.

"With EU membership Greek Cypriots will achieve what they have aimed for throughout the past 40 years, enosis, though indirectly, through EU membership. On the other hand, the negotiations process will be endangered," he said.

"We expect the EU Council not to commit the same mistake by abiding with the suggestions of the Commission report. What EU ought to do is to contribute to a resolution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of equality of the two parties on Cyprus," he said.

Gurel underlined that if the EU insisted on its wrong policies and allowed unilateral Greek Cypriot accession, that would be the end of Cyprus talks. He said such a move would make partition of Cyprus permanent and place the EU seal on that partition.

The minister, on the other hand, said there would be some good aspects of the Greek Cypriot EU accession as well. He said such a development would allow Turkey and the pseudostate to act more freely. "Turkey and the `TRNC¨ can look together to a common future they wanted," he said.

Stressing that he did not consider the Progress Report released this week by the European Commission as a paper that may obstruct the European Council give Turkey at its December meeting a date for the start of accession talks, Gurel said: "We anyhow believe that the progress report should not be given more importance than it merits."

The foreign minister, who is also holding the deputy prime minister portfolio in the three-way coalition government, said Ankara expected the EU summit to end in Copenhagen with a political decision to start accession talks with Turkey in 2003. "We believe that Turkey ought to be given a date and we believe that we will be given a date," Gurel said adding that the progress report was not a document that could prevent the EU Council making such a political decision on Turkey.

Gurel said Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner for enlargement called him Thursday afternoon and conveyed his evaluation of the progress report.

Leaving the panel, the foreign minister, ruled out speculations of a deal between Turkey and the United States according to which Turkey would support an American operation against Iraq in exchange of a new American plan for a Cyprus resolution.

"There is no such plan," Gurel said.

"Turkey and the United States are strategic partners and within our strategic partnership we discuss together issues that are high on our priority listings," he said.

[02] Ismet Kotak resigns from the Democratic Party

Noting that the problem is about Serdar Denktas, one of the candidates for the party leadership, wanting to become the party leader by making use of every channel, Kotak said that this group, which wants to get hold of the party, is using the position of the general secretary to conceal its real goal.

[03] General Pervez Musherraf said he wanted to fight in Cyprus with the Turkish army when Turkey invaded and occupied a defenceless island state member of the UN

During a conference at the ^ÓWar Academies Command^Ô on current international issues, the Pakistani leader referred to the Turkish-Pakistani relations and its importance. When he said: ^ÓDuring the Cyprus Operation I wanted to take part in it as volunteer^Ô, the audience gave an ovation.

Among the audience were Turkey´s Chief of Staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, the Commander of the War Academies General Ibrahim Firtina and other senior officers.

[04] New Turkey Party Leader Ismail Cem: Cyprus is a clear political factor in Turkey^Òs accession talks with the EU

Question: We have also a very serious Cyprus Problem. Could Cyprus be an obstacle before our EU membership?

Answer: Legally it cannot. Today Cyprus is not a legal condition in the relation with the EU. However; it is clearly a political factor in Turkey^Òs accession talks with the EU. Denktas has done the maximum that was expected from us. He has put forward an acceptable conciliatory model. We have, may be, to further and continue our reconciliatory and constrictive stance on certain points. Only in this way we could minimize the negative effects of the situation existing in Cyprus to our EU procces.

Question: Do you think that our interests in Cyprus are more important than the advantages that an EU membership will provide to Turkey?

Answer: Turkey could not take the risk of being face to face with events like killing of the Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus. A possible new conflict in Cyprus could put Turkey in a very difficult situation and could force Turkey to be in an intervening position. For this reason we should not look into this problem of what kind of advantages we have in Cyprus.

Question: Could an EU member Greece or Greek Cypriot Administration engage in killings as in the past? Would EU permit this?

Answer: This kind of incidents do not occur with the permission of the EU or Greece or even with the permission of the Greek Cypriot Administration. In case, with a wrong reconciliation formula the two communities are brought together without any guarantees, of incident of a personal dimension could pave the way for major incidents. And these incidents could put Turkey in a very difficult situation. Turkey could not take this risk.

[05] Turkey preparing for the 14th general election

Millions of registered Turkish voters will vote on November 3 in perhaps one of the most controversial elections in Turkey's history. The controversy first stemmed from the election date; until early this month, it was still a mystery whether elections will be held or not on November 3, with the so-called disgruntled movement growing unexpectedly strong in their efforts to get the election date postponed with explicit backing from some parties.

Banning of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the front-runner for becoming Turkey's next prime minister, from standing at elections and the uncertainty over whether the Democratic People´s Party (DPP), under whose banner the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (PDP) will run in elections, will face the same fate as Erdogan are other factors that contributed to the controversy over the upcoming elections. From the viewpoint of the Council of Europe, these bans are likely to cast a shadow on the fairness of the polls. And hence, the Council's Parliamentary Assembly, decided, for the first time, to send an observatory delegation to Turkey on November 3.

November 3 elections will be the second among Turkish elections since 1950 in terms of the number of parties running for parliamentary seats, with 18 parties having been placed in the ballot. The all-time winner was the 1999 elections, when a total of 20 parties competed to pass the 10-percent election threshold.

The 1983 elections broke a different record, with only three parties participating. This election was the first to be held after the military coup of 1980.

Democratic Party (DP) was the all-time winner of Turkish elections with a record support rate of 57.6 percent in 1954.

With the November 3 elections, the total number of parties that have run in elections so far will be 46. No party has been able to stand at all the elections, given that several political parties were closed down during the military coups of 1961 and 1980.

The Republican People's Party (RPP), the oldest party of Turkey set up by the founder of the Turkish Republic Kemal Ataturk, is the party which participated the most in elections so far. The party was not in the ballot in 1983 or 1987 elections, the first two elections following the 1980 coup. In all the rest, the party was a participant.

The majority of those parties that were closed down following the coups participated in subsequent elections under different names.

The RPP was the sole party in the country until 1950. In the 1950 elections, it was defeated by the DP, with 39.4 percent against the DP's 52.6. The next election in 1954 saw only the gap between RPP and DP growing; with 35.3 percent against 57.6 percent, respectively.

In the last elections that were held four years before the 1961 coup, after which DP was banned, the two parties were close competitors, with 47.8 percent for DP and 41 percent for RPP.

The subsequent period until the 1980 coup was a scene for competition between RPP and the Justice Party (JP), which was a continuation of DP under a different name.

Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the post-1980 era is the proliferating number of parties running in elections. Following the record-low participation in 1983, the number of participants in subsequent elections rose to seven in 1987, then to 12 in 1995 and 20 in the 1999 elections.

The first pro-Kurdish party of Turkey, HADEP, participated for the first time in the 1995 elections.

[06] Unemployment in the occupied area

The paper also writes that unemployment has increased rapidly in the pseudostate especially during the last six months. It stresses out that 2 thousand people received unemployment benefit from the so-called Department of Social Security between January and July.

The paper also reports that between 1977-2002, around 42 thousand people in the pseudostate benefited from the unemployment benefits and points out that this has cost the so-called authorities around 3 trillions Turkish Lira.

[07] A church in the occupied village of Ayios Georgios was turned into a mosque

According to the paper although the church of the village was turned into a mosque it is really in bad condition and parts of the walls are in danger of falling.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[08] A columnist of VOLKAN threatens all the Turkish Cypriots who oppose the occupation regime

^ÓOne cannot understand why there is so much resentment, so much hate towards the race to which they belong, towards their state and their own people. Some controlled and mislead writers of Afrika newspaper, which is the Turkish version of the Greek Cypriot Mahi newspaper, are overjoyed when they write that the EU Commission in Brussels placed Southern Cyprus on the top of the list of the countries to accede to the Union. They write with sadist joy even about the fact that Turkey is not granted a date to begin its accession negotiations.

One of these charlatans in his column incites the Turkish Cypriots to get hold of a red passport in order to be able to become Europeans (!) and calls on them to hurry up because after 12 December the Greek Cypriot administration will be giving passports to Turkish Cypriots living in the TRNC with difficulty and the TRNC authorities will be hunting for the red passports.

Let us assure this charlatan beforehand that this state will never stop the idiots who develop a passionate desire to get hold of red passport and become Europeans. No interrogations will take place.

It is enough only to know beforehand that those who say that they are citizens of a non-existing Republic of Cyprus and acquire red passports they will lose the TRNC citizenship. When they cross over the border of our state, the Ledra Palace gate, they must state how long they plan on staying in our land and get permission for this. They will be treated as foreign citizens.

These controlled writers say: ^ÑAs soon as the South is accepted to the EU, a great migration will take place from the TRNC to the South^Ò. However, this is totally untrue. There will be people who will cross to the South, but their number will not be bigger than a three-digit number. No one must doubt that within three months these people will return putting their tail between their legs. We see such examples every day.

Look at what another columnists, who is afraid of revealing his name like a rat, says against Turkey and what he writes with hatred as if he is taking his revenge about something: ^ÑIn the EU report it is said for example that tortures in Turkey should stop and Leyla Zana and other intellectuals should be set free. It is understood that the political parties do not care at all about these, because why should they worry if they or their relatives are not in prison? They are not the ones who are undressed stark naked and sticks are put in their buttocks. Therefore, they call on the EU to give a date. Is it not a shame to demand the accession to the EU of a country where indecent assaults are conducted with sticks?

It is a shame my girl, but do you know what the biggest shame is? The real shame is that these people tolerate among them a traitor like you and your day and night swearing. It is the shame of not applying to you the sticks issue, which you claim that is applied in Turkey. You do not reveal your name, but whoever you are listen to the charlatan who looks like you, take a red passport before 12 December and get lost, because, if Southern Cyprus is taken to the EU on 12 December, we shall be integrated to the Motherland. There is no other way. Then if you and those like you stay here, you may taste the sainthood of the stick. It is not known what those days may bring. The reaction of the people, whom you provoke and denigrate fro years without feeling ashamed to insult even their spiritual existence, may be serious. It is not known what the psychology of the people could force the persons to do during these spontaneous excitements.

Let me say this as well. You are so ill-mannered and unfair that you have not felt ashamed to write the lie that the charismatic leader and President of the Turkish Cypriots and at the same time their representative at the Cyprus negotiations, this respected man has undergone a heart surgery in order to avoid the talks. You have been very badly expecting his health to deteriorate, but the Great Allah made you feel ashamed. He did no allow you to rejoice.

Anyway, only 59 days remained until the day you will abandon this land. The days are numbered and they pass away quickly^Ô.

[09] Analysts evaluate foreign policy issues that await new government after elections

According to the majority of foreign policy analysts the most important problems that await the government, which will be established after the November 3 elections, are related to EU relations, Cyprus issue and the future of Northern Iraq.

Cengiz Candar adds the Israel-Palestine conflict to this list, since he considers that this may influence Turkey's relations in the Middle East. Unlike other writers Candar and Sedat Sertoglu do not have a concern for the establishment of a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. They state that the U.S. will not allow Kurds to establish an independent state in Northern Iraq.

Writers mostly outlined a "Cyprus issue -- Turkey's EU accession" relation even though current and former foreign ministers declared just the contrary. Most writers underlined that Turkey reaches a crossroads at the Cyprus issue and has to make up its mind. Some underlined U.S. support on the Cyprus issue and some pointed out the possibility of bargaining with the U.S. for Cyprus in order to assist on Iraq.

Sami Kohen, on the other hand in the interview made before the European Commission Progress report published, indicates that Copenhagen Summit is not the end of Turkey's and Cyprus's EU adventure. "It would be better since it would be earlier but not the final stage" Kohen comments for Cyprus issue.

Some agree that besides political and economic turbulence in Turkey, dust in the international arena will be in the air for a long time and some disagree claiming that Turkey will reach a calm atmosphere once all decisions have been made. While Mehmet Ali Birand states that everything will be settled shortly, Ferai Tinc gives a more specific date. According to Tinc, issues will be more or less uncovered by the

December 12 Copenhagen Summit but Sedat Sertoglu thinks that the chance for Turkey to get a date to start negotiations is no more than five percent. Sertoglu and Candar point out that the storm in the international arena will not calm down for long time because there are many problems Turkey has to overcome.

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