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Turkish Press Review, 02-08-12Turkish 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> <map name="FPMap1"> </map> <map name="FPMap1"></map> Press & Information Turkish Press Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning12.08.2002DERVIS MEETS WITH YT LEADERS, BAYAR ECONOMY MINISTER TURKER: “NO CONCESSIONS FROM THE ECONOMIC PROGRAM” GUREL: “TURKEY WILL DEMAND COMPENSATION FROM SYRIA” TASAR: “WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A SECOND BREAKTHROUGH IN TOURISM” BAYDAROL: “THE EU SHOULD GIVE A DATE TO TURKEY AT THE COPENHAGEN SUMMIT” TURKISH SPRINTER SCORES GOLD AT EUROPEAN COMPETITION TURKISH GRAPHIC ARTIST IN CALIFORNIA GETS ACCLAIM TURKEY TAKES DELIVERY OF JETS FROM ISRAEL TWO TURKISH FILMS FEATURED AT MONTREAL FILM FESTIVAL FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS DERVIS AND ... BY YASEMIN CONGAR (MILLIYET) WHEN ELECTIONS TURN TO CONFUSION… BY MUSTAFA BALBAY (CUMHURIYET)CONTENTS
[01] DERVIS MEETS WITH YT LEADERS, BAYARJust one day after stepping down from his post in a widely expected move, former State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis yesterday met with former Foreign Minister and New Turkey (YT) leader Ismail Cem and former Deputy Prime Minister and YT founding member Husamettin Ozkan. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Dervis said that this week he would continue his efforts to craft a center-left choice that both reflects modern social liberal thinking and could come to power on its own. Later in the day, Dervis also met with Democratic Turkey Party (DTP) leader Mehmet Ali Bayar. /Hurriyet/[02] ECONOMY MINISTER TURKER: “NO CONCESSIONS FROM THE ECONOMIC PROGRAM”State Minister for the Economy Masum Turker, newly appointed to the ministry in place of Kemal Dervis who resigned from his post over the weeekend, met with a team of state economy bureacrats yesterday. In a press conference after the meeting, Turker emphasized that economic program would be carried out as it was set to without making any concessions. Pointing to the importance of being a minister responsible for the economy in present-day Turkey, Turker said that they would not allow any changes to the program due to November’s coming elections. Meanwhile, analysts didn’t predict any fluctuations in the Turkish markets due to the resignation of Kemal Dervis, as his resignation had been expected for some time. /Turkiye/[03] GUREL: “TURKEY WILL DEMAND COMPENSATION FROM SYRIA”Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sukru Sina Gurel said yesterday that Turkey would demand financial compensation from Syria a dam collapse two months ago that wreaked damage to Turkish land and farms. After the collapse on June 5 of the Zeyzoun Dam, which lies on the Asi (Orabntes) River upriver from Turkey in Syria, some 1,500 hectares of agriculturel land in the border province of Hatay were flooded. “We will discuss the issue in the Foreign Ministry after the damage in Hatay caused by the floodwaters is assessed,” he stated. “After this process is completed Turkey will demand compensation from Syria.” The dam was built in 1996 for irrigation purposes, and it collects rainwater and receives water from the Asi River. /Sabah/[04] TASAR: “WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A SECOND BREAKTHROUGH IN TOURISM”Tourism Minister Mustafa Tasar held a press conference yesterday to evaluate the performance of his ministry over the past year and its targets for the future. Turkey recognized the importance of tourism relatively late, said Tasar, with the first breakthrough achieved in 1983-1991 under the late president Turgut Ozal. “The second breakthrough was started by us,” he continued, “In organizing the Second Tourism Council with the participation of all sections of the public, we drew out the direction for Turkish tourism for the 21st century.” Tasar said that they had initiated an ongoing promotional campaign to attract travellers from abroad. He added that they expect 13 million tourists and about $13 billion income from tourism this year alone. /Turkiye/[05] BAYDAROL: “THE EU SHOULD GIVE A DATE TO TURKEY AT THE COPENHAGEN SUMMIT”Turkish European Foundation Executive Board member Can Baydarol said yesterday that the European Union should give a date to Turkey at December’s Copenhagen summit to start its membership negotiations. Baydarol stated that Turkey had passed the EU harmonization laws to fulfill the Union’s political criteria and that now it was the EU’s turn to give a date to Turkey. “The first thing Turkey should do is to contact the other membership candidates,” he added. Also speaking on education, he said, “I believe that Turkey should change its education policy as soon as possible. Education is a critical issue because Turkey has a large population of young people.” Baydarol also said that Turkey would be strong after a possible US operation in Iraq and that it would play a very important role there. _Aksam[06] TURKISH SPRINTER SCORES GOLD AT EUROPEAN COMPETITIONNational track and field athlete Sureyya Ayhan yesterday bested all her competitors to win the gold medal in the women’s 1,500 meter finals at the European Athletics Championship in Munich, Germany. She clocked in at 3 minutes, 59:79 seconds, four seconds better than her personal best, which both edged out second place Gabriela Szabo from Romania (3:58.81) and established a new national record. It was Turkey’s first gold in the 68-year history of the championship. “Even if you offered me the whole world, I’d rather take this gold medal,” said a jubilant Ayhan. /All Papers/[07] TURKISH GRAPHIC ARTIST IN CALIFORNIA GETS ACCLAIMEmrah Yucel, a Turkish graphic designer currently living in Los Angeles, is getting attention and acclaim for poster designs work for a historic theater. Yucel and his partner in the Iconisus design group, Stephan Lapp, have been busy designing posters for the plays at the Pasadena Playhouse, one of Los Angeles’ largest and oldest theaters. Their work got a detailed write up in the weekend Los Angeles Times, which also discussed Yucel’s film and television ad work. Last month, Yucel was honored with the Key Arts Award for his film festival poster work. /Cumhuriyet/[08] TURKEY TAKES DELIVERY OF JETS FROM ISRAELTurkey took delivery last week of 56 new unmanned “Harpy” jet fighters from Israel. The initial 1996 purchase agreement for the planes, which are remote controlled and can strike at distant targets, called for 102 models to be delivered at a total cost of $75 million. The remaining 46 are scheduled to be delivered within the next few months. /Hurriyet/[09] TWO TURKISH FILMS FEATURED AT MONTREAL FILM FESTIVALTwo Turkish films, “Hiçbiryerde” (Nowhere), directed by Tayfun Pirselimoglu, and “Büyük Adam Küçük Aþk” (Big Man, Little Love), directed by Handan Ipekci, will be screened at the 26th Montreal Film Festival due to begin on Aug. 22. During the 10-day festival, over 400 films from 75 countries will be shown. /Cumhuriyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS[11] DERVIS AND ... BY YASEMIN CONGAR (MILLIYET)Columnist Yasemin Congar comments on the views of US officials on recent political developments in Turkey. A summary of her column is as follows:“ ‘What will Kemal Dervis do now? What do US officials expect him to do?’ When people ask me these questions I need to stress that the US officials are more curious about what other political leaders in Turkey could do than in Dervis’s next move. The Bush administration believes that since Dervis is a steady and honest politician, the answers to these two questions can be found in his own statements. I don’t mean that the US officials don’t have any close contacts with him. Everybody knows that Dervis and US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, a close friend of Dervis’s, recently held bilateral meetings in Washington and Istanbul and discussed recent developments in the Turkish political arena. I’ve already stressed that the US officials are much more interested in what other Turkish politicians will do. For example, they are more curious about Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Deniz Baykal’s future moves. Many US analysts believe that the ‘center left,’ which is Dervis’ new slogan under which he believes certain political groups could unify, should include the members of the CHP. That’s why the US officials wonder whether Baykal will accept joining forces with Dervis and his followers. Asked one US analyst, ‘Won’t Baykal accept unifying with Dervis and New Turkey (YT) leader Ismail Cem under the roof of the CHP?’ Another important issue for Washington is the dispute between the left and the right. Although they consider the alliance recently formed by Cem and Democratic Turkey Party (DTP) leader Mehmet Ali Bayar a positive development for Turkish politics, they also believe that the rightist and leftist political parties might form alliances on a number of sensitive issues such as Turkey’s bid for European Union membership but should not make any concessions from their main targets and party programs. The Washington administration understandably prefers a coalition government to be formed in Turkey, which would continue the trend of strengthening Turkish-US relations. That’s why the US has certain concerns about the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Although they believe that the AKP is a very important political party advocating moderate Islamic values, US officials assert that the AKP shouldn’t be the senior coalition partner since it doesn’t represent the majority view in Turkey. The other political party about which Washington has certain concerns is the Nationalist Action Party (MHP). The Bush administration has doubts about whether the MHP could develop policies which would lead to positive developments in Turkey’s economic program, international relations and relations with the European Union.” [12] WHEN ELECTIONS TURN TO CONFUSION… BY MUSTAFA BALBAY (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Mustafa Balbay comments on the political parties and their early campaign propaganda tactics. A summary of his column is as follows:“The grist to be used by political parties during the elections has begun to appear, or at least preliminary signs of it. However, it is abundantly clear that the rhetoric and propaganda will get even tougher with time. Before Parliament passed the EU harmonization package, I wrote, ‘The Motherland Party (ANAP) actually doesn’t want these laws to be passed and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) does, including the lifting of the death penalty. Because if these laws are passed, the MHP will take advantage of the situation by declaring itself the most nationalistic party, and if they aren’t, ANAP will use the situation by campaigning under the premise that only its leadership can make Turkey an EU member.’ We all see that Turkey has come to this stage. When the EU laws were passed, it seems that MHP based its elections policies solely on this situation. MHP leader Devlet Bahceli charged that all the parties except the MHP were supporters of the PKK. The philosophers say that you can’t step into the same river twice, for the water never stops flowing, but Bahceli is trying to set two tables with the same meal. The MHP based its elections policies on terrorist PKK leader Apo during 1999 elections, and now it will do the same thing in this year’s campaign. The MHP is showing signals of its opposition to the other parties by saying, ‘If they push us to the opposite camp, we cannot be responsible for this situation.’ We hope that this point of view will not deepen and that domestic peace won’t be harmed. True Path Party (DYP) leader Ciller uses the opposite of the words uttered by the MHP by saying, ‘They rescued Apo and I rescued Turkey’s EU membership.’ Clearly the DYP and the MHP are very much opposed to each other. In addition, the Felicity Party (SP) and Justice and Development Party (AKP) have started to harshly quarrel with each other. Necmettin Erbakan will tour 50 provinces with SP leader Recai Kutan. During these tours, he will speak as the guest of honor. It seems that the first target of Erbakan is the SP. Nothing has changed on Erbakan’s side: the most important propaganda material for him is still religion. If we scrape away the polished facade of Erdogan, these messages appear, ‘I don’t care if the election system is fair or not, but I will benefit from it as I wish. I haven’t changed, but I have developed myself. I only changed the way I tell or do something. If one must be in conflict with the system, I can do that. In the polls, the number of those who say that they would definitely not vote for the AKP is low. You can’t add up those people who don’t vote for us and say, “This number of people doesn’t want you”.’ I think these words are bad signs. As ANAP is right now only interested in its own problems, it hasn’t shown how it will attack the other parties yet. The DSP will use the left. It seems that New Turkey’s (YT) search to express itself has caused the DSP to rediscover the left. Its politics of ‘secularism respectful of faiths’ has given away to the politics of ‘the AKP, the most dangerous party.’ Let’s say our last word on Dervis and those who will search for a future with him. The dose of news concerning Dervis changed with his resignation. He is not a minister for the economy anymore, but a person who wants to go into politics. With his latest moves, Dervis seems to have become the center of attention, as well as the main bull’s-eye. If he says yes to politics, his situation as a bull’s-eye might weigh heavily…” 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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