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Turkish Press Review, 03-11-12
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
12.11.2003
ERDOGAN TOUTS TURKEY’S PROGRESS,
CRITICIZES CIRCLES TRYING TO BLOCK THIS ADVANCE
GUL: “WE WILL TRY TO SOLVE THE CYPRUS
ISSUE BY NEXT MAY”
BLAIR: “TURKEY IS RIGHTLY PRESSING FOR
ITS HISTORIC EU ACCESSION”
VERHEUGEN PRAISES TURKEY’S REFORMS
DENKTAS: “IF THE OPPOSITION WINS BIG IN
TRNC ELECTIONS, I WILL STEP DOWN AS NEGOTIATOR”
PKK_KADEK ANNOUNCES DISSOLUTION; ANKARA
CALLS MANEUVER MERE WINDOW DRESSING
TALABANI: “WE DON’T WANT TURKISH TROOPS
TO SUFFER HARM”
TUZMEN: “OUR EXPORTS CAN EXCEED $48
BILLION BY YEAR’S-END”
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM
THE COLUMNS…
IRAQ AND CYPRUS
BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN TOUTS TURKEY’S PROGRESS, CRITICIZES
CIRCLES TRYING TO BLOCK THIS ADVANCE
[02] GUL: “WE WILL TRY TO SOLVE THE CYPRUS ISSUE
BY NEXT MAY”
[03] BLAIR: “TURKEY IS RIGHTLY PRESSING FOR ITS
HISTORIC EU ACCESSION”
[04] VERHEUGEN PRAISES TURKEY’S REFORMS
[05] DENKTAS: “IF THE OPPOSITION WINS BIG IN
TRNC ELECTIONS, I WILL STEP DOWN AS NEGOTIATOR”
[06] PKK_KADEK ANNOUNCES DISSOLUTION; ANKARA
CALLS MANEUVER MERE WINDOW DRESSING
[07] TALABANI: “WE DON’T WANT TURKISH TROOPS TO
SUFFER HARM”
[08] TUZMEN: “OUR EXPORTS CAN EXCEED $48 BILLION
BY YEAR’S-END”
[09] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS…
[10] IRAQ AND CYPRUS
BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
[01] ERDOGAN TOUTS TURKEY’S PROGRESS, CRITICIZES
CIRCLES TRYING TO BLOCK THIS ADVANCE
Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting
yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that
Turkey has made significant progress during his ruling
Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) first year in office.
“However, there are some who are bothered by this
improvement,” he added. Erdogan charged that though certain
circles were trying to escalate every controversy into a
crisis, issues could actually be easily settled using
democratic means. He urged the AKP deputies to remain
adamantly opposed to efforts to block Turkey’s progress or
disturb social peace. /Cumhuriyet/
[02] GUL: “WE WILL TRY TO SOLVE THE CYPRUS ISSUE
BY NEXT MAY”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that he was
hopeful a solution to the Cyprus issue could be reached by
next May, when Greek Cyprus is set to join the European
Union. In Rome to meet with the EU troika – current EU Term
President Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, upcoming
President Ireland’s Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, and EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU Commissioner for
Enlargement Guenter Verheugen representing the EU Commission
– Gul gave gratitude for the praise expressed in the recent
EU Progress Report on Turkey’s reforms. Pointing to Ankara’s
determination to implement the reforms, Gul added that
Turkey favored finding a resolution to the Cyprus issue.
Addressing the meeting, Frattini expressed pleasure at
Ankara’s positive approach to finding a settlement to the
longstanding issue. Stressing that during its presidency
Italy had always supported Turkey’s EU bid, Frattini said,
“We all admire Turkey’s importance in a region that must be
stable.” After completing his contacts in Rome, Gul returned
to Ankara last night. /Sabah/
[03] BLAIR: “TURKEY IS RIGHTLY PRESSING FOR ITS
HISTORIC EU ACCESSION”
The looming European Union membership of Turkey heralds a
bold new era for Europe, declared British Prime Minister
Tony Blair yesterday. "The most fundamental change in Europe
for decades is taking place: enlargement to a Europe of 25
... and Turkey now rightly pressing to enter accession
negotiations," said Blair in his speech to the Lord Mayor's
Banquet in London. "Europe is already the largest economic
market and political alliance in the world. It will become
bigger and the symbolism of Turkey, a Muslim nation and
American ally, joining the EU could not be more epochal." In
related news, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday
told a visiting delegation from the European Turkish
Businessmen’s and Industrialists’ Association that his
country had been more supportive than any other European
nation of Turkey’s EU membership. Speaking for the
association, Chairman Esref Unsal said that Schroeder had
pledged to support Turkey’s beginning accession talks in
December 2004. Schroeder is expected to pay an official
visit to Ankara in February. /Milliyet, http://www.number-10.gov.uk
_
[04] VERHEUGEN PRAISES TURKEY’S REFORMS
Following a Turkey-European Union troika meeting, EU
Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen held a press
conference. Praising Turkey’s reforms, Verheugen said, “For
the first time a country is taking comprehensive steps for
democracy. Would that every country would do the same.”
Stressing that Turkey was a very important country in
straddling the worlds of Islam and the West as well as a key
European partner on defense and security, the EU
commissioner added, “However, without implementing its
reforms, a reason would be lacking to integrate Turkey into
the EU.” /Turkiye/
[05] DENKTAS: “IF THE OPPOSITION WINS BIG IN
TRNC ELECTIONS, I WILL STEP DOWN AS NEGOTIATOR”
A big opposition win in next month’s Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC) general elections would prompt TRNC
President Rauf Denktas to quit his post as negotiator, the
TRNC leader pledged yesterday. ''If they [the opposition]
win by a great majority it means the people have lost
confidence in me, so why should I stay here and waste my
time?'' he told Reuters. He added, however, "But I know that
will not happen," predicting a decisive win for his side
instead. Denktas himself is not up for re-election. European
Union leaders and other figures have expressed hope that
fresh blood on the Turkish Cypriot side could help reach a
resolution before Greek Cyprus is due to join the EU next
May. /Cumhuriyet/
[06] PKK_KADEK ANNOUNCES DISSOLUTION; ANKARA
CALLS MANEUVER MERE WINDOW DRESSING
The PKK_KADEK terrorist group announced yesterday it was
allegedly dissolving itself to set up a new group. A
statement from the group said that it had been disbanded to
open the way for a new and more democratic organizational
structure which would allow wider participation representing
the interests of the Kurdish people. Ankara, however, called
the move nothing but a tactical maneuver, similar to when it
switched its name to KADEK after the EU recognized the PKK’s
terrorist nature. “A terrorist group can’t change its
stripes by just altering its name,” said a diplomatic source.
“This only shows their desperation.” Meanwhile, just days
after US forces in northern Iraq exchanged fire with PKK
terrorists, US officials also announced that there would be
no change in American policy towards the terrorist group. /Hurriyet/
[07] TALABANI: “WE DON’T WANT TURKISH TROOPS TO
SUFFER HARM”
Iraqi Governing Council President Jalal Talabani said
yesterday that he didn’t want to see Turkish troops
suffering losses in Iraq. Talabani, holder of the rotating
council leadership and a prominent Iraqi Kurdish leader,
told Baghdad daily Elmeda that he wanted to find solutions
to Iraq’s problems with its neighbors through peaceful means.
Claiming that it was not out of hostility that the council
had rejected the prospect of Turkish troop deployment in
Iraq, Talabani said, “Security and stability in Iraq can
only be met by Iraqi security forces led by the council. We
don’t want Turkish troops to suffer losses or for any crisis
between our two nations.” /Turkiye/
[08] TUZMEN: “OUR EXPORTS CAN EXCEED $48 BILLION
BY YEAR’S-END”
Speaking at a press conference at the Foreign Trade
Undersecretariat yesterday, State Minister Kursat Tuzmen
confidently predicted that with $40 billion in exports so
far this year, Turkey was well on track to surpass $48
billion in exports by year’s-end. /Cumhuriyet/
[09] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS…
[10] IRAQ AND CYPRUS
BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
Columnist Fikret Bila comments on the Iraq and Cyprus
issues. A summary of his column is as follows:
“The current situation shows that from now on, it will be
impossible for Ankara to follow a policy supported by
military force in Iraq. It should be accepted that Iraqi
Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani are the
ones who benefited the most from the US invasion of Iraq and
scored the greatest political success. Hoshyar Zebari, one
of Barzani’s underlings, became Iraqi foreign minister and
Talabani will visit Ankara as head of the Iraqi Governing
Council, both of which vividly demonstrate their achievement.
Moreover, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that the US was
doing the most to protect the Kurds, their ally. It would be
unrealistic to believe that in the coming days Turkey will
have a place in influencing and directing Iraq’s
reconstruction in line with our national interests. Turkey
can’t do more than protect and defend its own political and
geographical integrity.
This situation could change only with a clear-cut US
failure and the breakout of an Iraqi civil war, but Ankara
wants neither of these. Obviously such chaos would only hurt
us. The current conditions and results can’t be considered a
success for Ankara. Nor is the situation on Cyprus any
different. After accepting the political condition of the
need for a Cyprus resolution, it would be difficult for us
to influence or direct our European Union membership bid.
The Iraq issue was left up to the US-Kurdish alliance, and
the Cyprus issue was left up to the EU. Solving the Cyprus
problem is no guarantee of EU membership or even getting a
date for membership negotiations. After this phase, the EU
might stipulate new political conditions. European leaders’
praise and warm messages about Turkey today might end up
being new conditions. Ankara has so far been unable to
receive a guarantee from the EU, so it can do nothing but
continue to wait.”
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