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Turkish Press Review, 04-11-26Turkish 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> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning26.11.2004FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…CONTENTS
[01] SEZER URGES MUSLIM COUNTRIES TO DEVELOP RELATIONS WITH THE TRNCPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday urged Muslim countries to take more concrete steps to end the international isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Speaking at a meeting of the Permanent Committee for Economic and Trade Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Sezer noted that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had told the Security Council this summer that there was no reason to maintain the isolation of Turkish Cypriots. “The time has come to develop relations with Turkish Cypriots, a group which for 40 years has suffered under a host of restrictions and embargoes.” /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN: “OUR GOAL IS TO MAKE TURKEY A LEADING COUNTRY IN THE REGION”Addressing a reception hosted by the Foreign Capital Association (YASED) yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that his government’s mid-term goal for the Turkish economy is to fulfill the Maastricht criteria. “We’re determined to become a leading country, a model country in our region,” he said. “Turkey’s position in the world economy and international political scene is improving rapidly.” /Hurriyet/[03] IN ROME, GUL ATTENDS TURKISH-ITALIAN FORUMForeign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday attended the Turkish-Italian Forum in Rome. Before the gathering, Gul met with his Italian counterpart Gianfranco Fini to discuss a number of issues, including Turkey’s European Union accession talks. Later, addressing the forum, Fini said that he wanted Ankara to begin its accession talks with the EU as soon as possible, adding that Turkey’s full membership would benefit both sides. Fini further stressed that Ankara’s negotiation process would ease a resolution on Cyprus. For his part, Gul said that Turkey had done everything for its EU membership bid, adding that now it was the EU’s turn. “We hope to begin our membership talks in the first half of next year,” added Gul. /Milliyet/[04] FRENCH PARLIAMENT HEAD TO VISIT TURKEYJean Louis Debre, the president of the French National Assembly, is soon to pay an official visit to Turkey with an accompanying delegation expected to include the group heads of the assembly’s political parties, including Debre’s own ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) as well as the socialists, communists and Greens. In an interview with French radio Inter, Debre stated that Turkey must be accepted into the European Union. Debre added that he wanted the party group heads to discuss Turkey’s EU membership bid with Turkish officials. /Sabah/[05] DUTCH FM: “ANKARA COULD BEGIN ITS EU TALKS BY THE END OF 2005 OR EARLY 2006”Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said yesterday that Ankara could begin its accession talks with the European Union by the end of 2005 or by the beginning of 2006. Addressing the European Affairs Commission, Bot said that if EU leaders accept a “conditional yes” for Ankara’s membership talks, then its negotiations could begin by the end of next year at the earliest. A decision on Turkey’s talks will be reached at the Dec. 17 EU summit, with Bot’s the Netherlands serving as EU term president. In related news, daily French Le Figaro stated yesterday that in trying to postpone Ankara’s accession talks, France was becoming isolated within the EU. /Milliyet/[06] D’ESTAING PROPOSES “PRIVILEGED PARTNERSHIP,” NOT EU MEMBERSHIP, FOR TURKEYIn an opinion piece written for French daily Le Figaro, former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing said yesterday that Turkey being an overwhelming Muslim country was not an obstacle to its European Union membership bid and could not be used as a basis for rejecting it. However, he further claimed that Turkey was not a European country and that the EU should propose a “privileged partnership” for it, rather than full Union membership. D’Estaing further claimed that Turkey was not part of the European continent, as only 5% of its land and 8% of its population are in Europe. /Cumhuriyet/[07] IMF’S RATO: “TURKEY’S ECONOMY IS ONE THE WORLD’S MOST DYNAMIC”International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo Rato yesterday lauded Turkey’s economy as one of the world’s most dynamic. Addressing a conference in Spain, Rato stressed that the IMF’s role was to help countries achieve economic stability, adding that Fund policies had found success in Brazil and South Korea as well as Turkey. /Aksam/[08] ANKARA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER UKRAINE’S ELECTION CRISIS“Ankara has been following recent developments in Ukraine with great concern,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry yesterday. Pointing to the crisis following Ukraine’s weekend presidential elections, the statement said that the country played an important role in the security of both Europe and Eurasia. It said that Ankara hoped the high tension in Ukraine would end soon through democratic means, adding that Turkey wanted to strengthen ties with this country in all areas. /Turkiye/[09] YILMAZ MEETS WITH AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT IN VIENNAFormer Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz yesterday met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer in Vienna. “It would be unfair for the European Union to start a negotiations process with Turkey which is open-ended,” said Fischer. “After the Dec. 17 summit, Turkey’s ultimate goal must be full membership. Shutting Turkey out of Europe would be a grave mistake.” /Sabah/[10] GREEK CYPRIOT FM SAYS NO PRECONDITION FOR TURKEYGreek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Yakovu said yesterday that Ankara’s recognition of Greek Cyprus was not a precondition for the beginning of its accession talks. Speaking to reporters after meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin, Yakovu said that Greek Cyprus would take a positive stance as part of the European Union. “We are not putting forth a precondition on Cyprus for a decision to be made for Ankara during the December EU summit,” said the top Greek Cypriot top diplomat. /Star/[11] DENKTAS, TALAT CRITICIZE ATTEMPTS TO IMPOSE CYPRUS HURDLE ON ANKARA’S EU BIDTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas yesterday said that the EU cannot set the Cyprus issue as a precondition for Turkey’s membership. “Nobody has the right to make the Cyprus issue an obstacle to Turkey’s EU membership bid,” he stated. In related news, TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat echoed Denktas’ views, stressing that no country has the right to put pressure on Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot Republic before a mutually acceptable agreement for the island is reached. /Star/[12] ANAP LEADER STEPS DOWNMotherland Party (ANAP) leader Nesrin Nas resigned yesterday during the party’sa Central Executive Council (MKYK) meeting. ANAP Presidential Board members had earlier called on Nas to resign due to her efforts to push a merger with the True Path Party (DYP). /Hurriyet/[13] TURKISH WORKS TO BE EXHIBITED IN LONDONA landmark exhibition entitled “Turks: A Journey of Thousand Years 600- 1600” is set to be open at London’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts on Jan 22. The three-month exhibition will feature over 350 artworks produced by Turks, including from the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, gathered from dozens of museums worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.royalacademy.org.uk. /Turkiye/[14] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…[15] A SUGGESTION FOR ERDOGAN BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)Columnist Tufan Turenc gives a suggestion to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A summary of his column is as follows:“Oliver Stone is one of the world’s top directors, and his latest movie, ‘Alexander the Great,’ was just released this week. Actually Stone has some amends to make since he got his start as a scriptwriter in 1978, when director Alan Parker commissioned his services to turn a book a screenplay. Stone rewrote the book, the film was shot, and then all hell broke loose. The film? ‘Midnight Express.’ We rightfully criticized it, accusing both the director and scriptwriter of being prejudiced against and enemies of Turks. I saw the film, though it wasn’t shown in Turkey. Indeed, it was unjust and insulting to our nation. However, it was widely acclaimed and went on to win five Oscars. This movie accused our nation unfairly and damaged our image, and these two men hurt Turkey in a way they never knew. Some years ago, Parker told a reporter, ‘I treated Turks very unfairly. I was young and I apologize to them.’ Parker added that if he had the opportunity, he would like to make up for his mistake. Then Stone himself became a director and made many important films. Today he’s one of the over the film. ‘I’m unhappy with that movie,’ said Stone. ‘I want to make peace with the Turkish people. I wanted to do ‘Alexander’s world premiere in Turkey but people told me that Turks don’t like me. I was scared. Let me visit Turkey and make amends. The movie was 26 years ago.’ Now I want to make a call to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Two successful and famous Hollywood directors want to visit Turkey, make peace with Turks and pay the price for the harm they did. This is a tremendous opportunity, and Erdogan should take advantage of it. These two directors should be invited to Turkey. Erdogan should propose facilities at their disposal so they can shoot a film here. I believe that they would make a very famous movie and undo the harm they did to Turkey with ‘Midnight Express’. Such a film would be hugely influential.” 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 |