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Turkish Press Review, 06-04-06
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
06.04.2006
SEZER PRAISES FRIENDLY
RELATIONS, SOLIDARITY BETWEEN TURKEY AND
AZERBAIJAN
ERDOGAN ADDRESSES CONTRACTORS’
UNION, APPEARS ON TELEVISION
CICEK TOUTS PLANNED CHANGES TO
ELECTION LAW AND NEW ETHICS COMMISSION
TAN: “WE EXPECT MORE CONCRETE
STEPS FROM THE US”
US STATE DEPT’S BRYZA LENDS
SUPPORT TO TURKEY ON CYPRUS ISSUE
KURDISH ISSUE SPARKS DEBATE AT
EP
RATO: “AFTER TAX CUTS, ANKARA
HAS TAKEN STEPS TO MAKE THINGS BETTER”
IRANIAN ENVOY: “WE SUPPORT
TURKEY’S ANTI-PKK EFFORTS”
MEPS’ LETTER THREATENS TO HALT
TURKEY’S NEGOTIATIONS
GREEK FM AGAIN DISMISSES ANNAN
PLAN
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE
COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
IMPLEMENTING LAWS CORRECTLY
BY ULUC GURKAN (STAR)
CONTENTS
[01] SEZER PRAISES FRIENDLY RELATIONS,
SOLIDARITY BETWEEN TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN
[02] ERDOGAN ADDRESSES CONTRACTORS’
UNION, APPEARS ON TELEVISION
[03] CICEK TOUTS PLANNED CHANGES TO
ELECTION LAW AND NEW ETHICS COMMISSION
[04] TAN: “WE EXPECT MORE CONCRETE STEPS
FROM THE US”
[05] US STATE DEPT’S BRYZA LENDS SUPPORT
TO TURKEY ON CYPRUS ISSUE
[06] KURDISH ISSUE SPARKS DEBATE AT EP
[07] RATO: “AFTER TAX CUTS, ANKARA HAS
TAKEN STEPS TO MAKE THINGS BETTER”
[08] IRANIAN ENVOY: “WE SUPPORT TURKEY’S
ANTI-PKK EFFORTS”
[09] MEPS’ LETTER THREATENS TO HALT
TURKEY’S NEGOTIATIONS
[10] GREEK FM AGAIN DISMISSES ANNAN PLAN
[11] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE
COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
[12] IMPLEMENTING LAWS CORRECTLY
BY ULUC GURKAN (STAR)
[01] SEZER PRAISES FRIENDLY RELATIONS,
SOLIDARITY BETWEEN TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
currently in Baku to pay an official visit,
yesterday attended a dinner hosted by his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. Addressing
the gathering, Sezer praised friendly relations
and solidarity between Turkey and Azerbaijan,
saying that these relations should be further
strengthened. Sezer stated that bilateral
cooperation aimed to contribute to peace,
security, and stability in the region, adding
that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline would
also serve this goal. For his part, Aliyev
characterized relations between the two
countries as “very important,” adding that their
ties were developing. Sezer returned to Turkey
yesterday after completing his contacts.
/Turkiye/
[02] ERDOGAN ADDRESSES CONTRACTORS’
UNION, APPEARS ON TELEVISION
Speaking to the General
Assembly of the Contractors’ Union yesterday,
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he
knew that contractors had problems, but that the
government would take necessary steps in
legislation and work to overcome these problems.
“However, we’re unable to take steps in the
judiciary,” he said. Later, appearing on
television, Erdogan commented on the controversy
over the appointment of a new Central Bank
governor and criticized President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer vetoing his first choice, saying that the
government should have the right to determine
who will head the CB. /Milliyet/
[03] CICEK TOUTS PLANNED CHANGES TO
ELECTION LAW AND NEW ETHICS COMMISSION
Speaking at a press conference
yesterday, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek briefed
reporters on two bills proposing changes to the
current Election Law as well as a new political
ethics commission. Cicek stated that the first
there was a need to regulate political finances
and make the assets of politicians transparent,
adding, “The goal is to make it easier for the
nation to get information about politicians.
Most of the work has been discussed, but we
haven’t taken concrete steps yet. Political
finances is one of the issues. We want to clean
up politics in Turkey.” Later, Cicek visited
Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) leader Erkan Mumcu
to seek his support on the issue. During their
meeting, Mumcu asked Cicek about work to make
changes to the Anti-Terror Law, and Cicek stated
that preparations were continuing. /Aksam/
[04] TAN: “WE EXPECT MORE CONCRETE STEPS
FROM THE US”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said
yesterday that Turkey expected more concrete
steps from the US to eliminate the PKK presence
in northern Iraq. Speaking to reporters at a
weekly press conference, Tan said that US
authorities shared the same views on the issue
but had failed to move actively. Pointing to the
current political vacuum in Iraq and
unsuccessful attempts to establish a government
after elections, Tan said that that situation
was encouraging terrorists. He added that the
Foreign Ministry was continuing its contacts
with Danish authorities to stop broadcasts of
the PKK’s Roj-TV. Concerning the Cyprus issue,
Tan said that the Greeks were trying to discuss
the issue on the European Union platform, but
added that a solution could be found under the
auspices of the United Nations. /Turkiye/
[05] US STATE DEPT’S BRYZA LENDS SUPPORT
TO TURKEY ON CYPRUS ISSUE
US
State Department Undersecretary for Europe and
Eurasia Matt Bryza, visiting Turkey, yesterday
met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. During
their meeting, Byrza said that Turkish Cypriots
had showed that they favored a settlement on the
island, even though the world just now seems to
be recognizing this. He stressed that the Greek
Cypriots should convince United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan that they were
ready to resume talks for a resolution. In
related news, while addressing the US House of
Representatives, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said that Annan’s Cyprus plan was the best
foundation for a compromise for both sides on
the island. /Turkiye/
[06] KURDISH ISSUE SPARKS DEBATE AT EP
European parliamentarians’
attempt to introduce debate of the Kurdish issue
during a meeting slated for May in Ankara drew a
strong reaction from Turkish lawmakers. The
Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee convened
on Tuesday in Strasbourg to determine the agenda
of its upcoming meeting in Ankara. Turkish
parliamentarians said they were against the
inclusion at the coming meeting of an agenda
item on developments in southeastern Turkey and
Kurds’ rights. “If you insist on this item, we
want to open to debate on the rights of Turks in
Europe, especially in Germany,” said the Turkish
parliamentarians, including Onur Oymen and Sukru
Elekdag from the main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP) and Aydin Dumanlioglu from
the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
/Turkish Daily News/
[07] RATO: “AFTER TAX CUTS, ANKARA HAS
TAKEN STEPS TO MAKE THINGS BETTER”
International Monetary Fund
Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said yesterday
that in the wake of criticism over value-added
tax (VAT) cuts in the textile sector, Ankara had
taken steps to make things better. Speaking to
British daily The Financial Times, Rato stated
that he was concerned about recent economic
developments in Turkey adding, however, that
there were no signs of deviance from the
IMF-supported economic program. The IMF
criticized the government after it cut the VAT
from 18% to 8%, putting an additional $2 billion
burden on the budget. In related news, last week
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said that
the government would discuss tax cut requests
from other sectors. /Hurriyet/
[08] IRANIAN ENVOY: “WE SUPPORT TURKEY’S
ANTI-PKK EFFORTS”
Iranian Parliament speaker’s
Special Envoy Seyed Ali Akbar Mohtashami on
Tuesday visited Parliament’s Turkey-Palestine
Friendship Group head Huseyin Tanriverdi and
invited him to the International Conference on
Support for the Palestinian People set for next
week. During the meeting, Mohtashami spoke about
the terrorist PKK and the US. Mohtashami said
that there was a security cooperation agreement
between Turkey and Iran and that Iran recognizes
that the PKK is a terrorist group and supports
Turkey on this issue. Mohtashami charged that
the US and European Union countries don’t give
their full support to Turkey against the
terrorist PKK. In related news, ambassadors and
diplomats experienced on Iraq yesterday
discussed Iran with the participation of Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul. The meeting, where
critical issues such as Iraq, the European Union
and Cyprus were discussed, will also continue
today. /Star/
[09] MEPS’ LETTER THREATENS TO HALT
TURKEY’S NEGOTIATIONS
A group of member of the
European Parliament yesterday sent a hostile
letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The letter, which blames Turkey’s state and
military for the recent unrest, threatens to
suspend Turkey’s negotiations with the European
Union. The letter said: “We state solemnly that
there’s no military solution to the ‘Kurdish
question’ and that the search for a political,
nonviolent and negotiated solution to the
problems of the region is necessary; bear in
mind that for us, the recognition of the Kurdish
population’s right to exercise their fundamental
rights is a condition for the accession of
Turkey to the EU.” /Cumhuriyet/
[10] GREEK FM AGAIN DISMISSES ANNAN PLAN
Greek
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, currently
visiting Greek Cyprus, yesterday reiterated her
view that the Annan plan is history and a new
plan or a proposal is needed in order to reach a
solution on the island. At a joint press
conference with her Greek Cypriot counterpart
George Iacovou, Bakoyanis said, “I said the
Annan plan is history, because this plan was put
to a vote by the Cypriot people,” adding, “We
can’t reopen discussion on a plan which was put
to a vote. We have to work on another plan or
proposal. And this new suggestion should respect
the EU acquis (as Greek Cyprus is a member of
the bloc) and United Nations Security Council
resolutions. It should also be acceptable to
both sides on Cyprus.” In referendum in April
2004, Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan plan
while Turkish Cypriots accepted it. /Cumhuriyet/
[11] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE
COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
[12] IMPLEMENTING LAWS CORRECTLY
BY ULUC GURKAN (STAR)
Columnist Uluc Gurkan comments on implementing
the laws correctly and fighting terrorism. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“Both
the police and the military have been
complaining for a long time that the fight
against terrorism has been weakened by Turkey’s
harmonization to the European Union and that the
security forces’ hands are tied. However, the
government didn’t care about this and only said
that the solution was possible with more
democracy. We can see that recent incidents
influenced the government as well. The
Anti-Terror Law will be changed and the powers
of security forces will be expanded in light of
current needs. Security forces should use
initiatives similar to those of European
countries and make immediate interventions with
the effective use of force against the threat of
terrorism. Otherwise, public order could be
ruined, as it has been in Turkey for the last
year. However, security forces should be very
careful in using both initiative and force. They
should avoid using excessive force. Therefore,
when the Anti-Terror Law is being amended, a
tendency towards tougher measures isn’t a must.
Instead of this, meaningless formalities which
limit security forces’ intervention in incidents
and restrict their ability to move at the moment
of intervention should be reconsidered. Besides
the changes to the law, implementing the current
law as required is important, as this would be
able to solve many problems.
There
are serious problems in implementing the law in
Turkey. Laws sometimes aren’t implemented or
they are used as a threat against human rights
with an unacceptable toughness. We saw in
newspapers that terrorists wearing masks on the
streets of Istanbul were going to organize
protests and carrying bags full of Molotov
cocktails. Some photojournalists took photos of
this terrible scene, but the security forces
didn’t take action to prevent the terrorists. We
also read in newspapers that certain officials
tried to explain this as follows: ‘The police
can’t use great force at demonstrations in
cities, because they push the women and children
to the protest frontlines.’ The photos showing
them carrying Molotov cocktails in bags doesn’t
justify this excuse. On the contrary, it proves
that the laws and public authority were
suspended during these incidents. This incident
shows that we should understand that laws exist
in order not to be ignored. They should be
implemented as required.”
ARCHIVE
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