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Turkish Press Review, 05-09-21Turkish 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 morning21.09.2005FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN VISITS RIZEPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday visited the Black Sea province of Rize to attend a series of openings. Addressing citizens, Erdogan stated that the government was doing its utmost in the main duties of the state, meaning education, health, justice and security. Pointing to corruption in the healthcare system, Erdogan said his government would determinedly fight people trying to harm the state. /Turkiye/[02] GUL: “TURKEY IS THE ONLY SIDE MAKING CONCESSIONS”As part of his ongoing contacts in New York, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met with his Swedish and Latvian counterparts earlier this week. Expressing his concern over the European Union’s Negotiations Framework Document for Turkey, Gul charged that the Greek Cypriot administration was trying to block Turkey’s EU membership bid. Urging the Union not to kowtow to any one of its members, Gul added that it was the Turkish side that was constantly making concessions after concession. /Milliyet/[03] ARINC SPEAKS AT LITHUANIAN PARLIAMENTParliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, who is currently visiting Lithuania, yesterday delivered a speech to that nation’s Parliament. Pointing to Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union, Arinc said that Turkey had fully completed all conditions to begin its accession talks. Turkey’s membership will contribute to Europe in the areas of politics, culture, social richness, defense and security, said Arinc. Lending support to Turkey’s beginning EU talks, Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Arturas Paulauskas also stated that Turkey had fulfilled the EU criteria. Lithuania joined the EU last year. /Milliyet/[04] HIGHER ANTI-TERROR BOARD TO GATHER NEXT WEEKPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unexpectedly turned over to Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul the chairmanship of the Higher Anti-Terrorism Board, which will meet next week for the first time in six years. The directive putting Gul at the helm was published in yesterday’s Official Gazette. The board, comprised of a number of Cabinet ministers and bureaucrats, will convene next Tuesday to take up basic principles of fighting terrorism. /Hurriyet/[05] TALAT: “DRAFT COUNTER-DECLARATION IS UNACCEPTABLE TO TURKISH CYPRIOTS”Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday said that the draft counter-declaration adopted by the European Union Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) to respond to Turkey’s declaration on Cyprus is unacceptable to Turkish Cypriots. Talat sharply criticized the draft counter-declaration at a press conference. Talat said that the text on which COREPER reached agreement was not positive due to two fundamental elements: linking the recognition of Cyprus to Turkey's EU process, and demand for unilateral removal of restrictions imposed by Turkey on Greek Cyprus. Talat said the EU’s policy was impeding efforts for a solution to the Cyprus problem, and added, “This is upsetting.” /Cumhuriyet/[06] GREEK CYPRIOTS BLOCK DRAFT COUNTER-DECLARATIONThe Greek Cypriot administration yesterday blocked a draft counter- declaration about which European Union Term President Britain had said a consensus existed. Greek Cypriots demanded that statements referring to a solution under UN auspices be removed from the counter-declaration and added, “Otherwise, the call for recognition [of Greek Cyprus from Turkey] will mean nothing.” A Greek Cypriot representative said that the final decision on the draft counter-declaration would be made by their leader Tassos Papadopoulos, and added, “We haven’t gotten his approval yet.” /Hurriyet/[07] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…[08] GREEK CYPRIOTS AT THE WHEEL BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on Turkish-European Union relations. A summary of his column is as follows:“I wish I could ask European Union Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Guenter Verheugen if he feels remorse for the efforts he made years ago to bring the Greek Cypriot administration into the EU. Unfortunately, he’s no longer the EU commissioner for enlargement. He left, but the Greek Cypriots remained. Actually they remained as troublemakers. EU member countries’ ambassadors have been working on the ‘reply to Turkey’ declaration for a month and a half. However, judging from the news from Brussels, the Greek Cypriots blocked it from being issued at the last minute. As you know, Turkey is supposed to apply the Customs Union agreement to the 10 new EU members, including the Greek Cypriot administration, in order to start its membership talks with the EU on Oct. 3. Turkey fulfilled this obligation back on July 29, and stated in a declaration on the same day that doing so doesn’t mean that we recognize the Greek Cypriot administration. The EU member countries were expected to reply to this. That was back in August. Then they said that they had reached an agreement and this consensus document appeared. Although the Greek Cypriots insisted that it should be stated in the declaration that Turkey can’t start membership negotiations as long as it doesn’t recognize Southern Cyprus, they couldn’t reach their aim due to the resistance of Britain and Germany. The consensus document said that Turkey should recognize the Greek Cypriot administration before becoming a full member. There are 10 years until that. In addition, there were certain things in the declaration welcomed by Greek Cypriots. For example, it stated that the EU would monitor whether Turkey was fulfilling its obligation as part of the Customs Union and that if it fails to do so, this would have a negative impact on its negotiations. So, the EU told us that if you don’t open your harbor and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes, then negotiations wouldn’t go forward. Similarly, it emphasized that the declaration issued by Turkey this summer had no legal validity. Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos also wanted the statement expressing support for United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan’s efforts for a solution to the Cyprus issue to be taken out. He tried to justify this as follows: as long as this statement exists, the call for recognition has no meaning. We can see the Greek Cypriots won’t give up their veto blackmail option. That’s why I remembered Verheugen. When one looks back, it can be seen that both Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration were spoiled by the EU member countries. However, now they have control of the wheel due to our so- called prudent, cautious and skilful officials’ foolishness. I hope we can overcome this situation.” 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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