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Turkish Press Review, 06-06-13Turkish 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> <style type="text_css"> <!-- .baslik { margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; margin-top:1cm; font-size:12.0pt; color:#000099; text-align: justify; } --> <_style> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning13.06.2006FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNSCONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN VISITS CROATIAPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday arrived in to Croatia for an official visit and was welcomed with a state ceremony. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told a press conference that the two countries have been friends since the Turkish War of Independence, adding, “I thank Turkey for its stance on Bosnia. Our relations are showing improvement in the economy. By working with Turkish ports, Croatian ports can show more improvement.” He added, “A very large archive was left from the Ottoman Empire and we’re very much interested in this archive being explored.” For his part, Erdogan said, “We once lived in Bosnia Herzegovina. I believe we’ll continue with success for the unity and peace of the Balkans. Partnership and unity will continue in the European Union process.” /Hurriyet/[02] TURKEY OFFICIALLY BEGINS EU TALKSTurkey reached a milestone yesterday on its road to join the European Union with the decision to begin official talks on the first of 35 chapters with the bloc. The EU foreign ministers yesterday convened in Luxembourg to discuss whether to launch official talks with Turkey beginning with the science and research chapter. The Greek Cypriot administration had rejected the start of the process, urging Turkey to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels and calling on Turkey to normalize its relations with Nicosia. Following intense negotiations, a compromise was reached on the common position document, and the EU General Affairs and Foreign Relations Council approved the document proposing the beginning of the talks. Then the Turkish-EU Partnership Council was held with the participation of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Turkey’s EU chief negotiator State Minister Ali Babacan. The 19-page common position document urges Turkey to speed up its reform process, normalize civilian-military relations, give more freedom to non-Muslim minorities, extend the Customs Union agreement to the EU’s 10 new member states, and normalize relations with neighboring countries, as well as not block EU-NATO cooperation. /Turkiye-Sabah/[03] GUL: “TURKEY IS PATIENT AND DECISIVE ON THE ROAD TO JOIN THE EU”Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that Turkey would act patiently and decisively during its process to join the European Union. Speaking to reporters before leaving for Luxembourg to attend a meeting of Turkish-EU Joint Partnership Council, Gul, accompanied by Ali Babacan, state minister and Turkey’s chief negotiator for EU talks, said that the meeting would be a milestone on the road to join the bloc, adding that the process would be full of difficulties, ups and downs. Stressing that the important thing was to reach the eventual goal of full membership, Gul said that the government was continuing its reform process, and as part of that, the ninth reform package was sent to Parliament yesterday. After arriving in Luxembourg late last evening, Gul addressed the meeting of the council, calling on the EU to back the efforts of Turkey and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for a settlement on Cyprus. /Turkiye/[04] ARINC VOICES SUPPORT FOR ALBANIA’S NATO BIDParliament Speaker Bulent Arinc yesterday expressed Turkey’s support for Albania’s possible NATO membership. Arinc held talks in Tirana with Albania President Alfred Moisiu, who asked for Turkey’s support for Albania’s aspirations to join NATO. The two officials agreed to intensify cooperation, especially in the areas of the economy, tourism and health. /Turkish Daily News/[05] US ASSISTANT SEC’Y OF STATE BOUCHER TO VISIT TURKEYRichard Boucher, US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, will arrive in Turkey tomorrow to participate in a conference in Istanbul and to hold contacts in Ankara. Boucher will meet with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials to discuss such issues as developments in Central Asian countries, oil and gas reserves of the region and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline set to officially open next month. /Cumhuriyet/[06] ITALIAN LAND FORCES COMMANDER CECCHI VISITS ANKARAItalian Land Forces Commander Gen. Filiberto Cecchi was welcomed yesterday with a ceremony at Ankara’s Land Forces Command Headquarters, after the national anthems of both countries were played. Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit decorated Gen. Cecchi with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) Medal of Merit. Gen. Buyukanit said besides the successful services of Gen. Cecchi for his country and with the Italian armed forces, he had contributed to consolidating friendship and cooperation between the armies of Turkey and Italy. Gen. Cecchi, for his part, said that he was honored to receive that medal and expressed his confidence that his visit would contribute to strengthening cooperation between the two armies. /Star/[07] VORKINK: “I DON’T EXPECT ANY CRISIS IN TURKEY”World Bank Turkey Director Andrew Vorkink yesterday predicted that fluctuations in the Turkish markets could continue, adding, however, that he didn’t expect any crisis. Speaking to reporters during a forum on creating business in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Vorkink said that it was too early to say whether the inflation target for this year would be met or not. “There are many factors affecting inflation,” he said. “The recent interest rise will help bring down inflation, but at the same time growth will fall.” Stressing that the effects of the interest rate hike on inflation would be seen in a few months, Vorkink said that the Central Bank’s decision to raise interest was both appropriate and brave. He stated that a half-dozen large countries had followed suit by raising rates after Turkey, adding that the CB had proved its determination to fight inflation. Speaking at the same forum, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said that the economy would continue to grow, adding that high month-to-month inflation wasn’t important. /Sabah/[08] IMF’S BREDENKAMP PRAISES CB’S “BRAVE” INTEREST HIKEAppearing on CNN Turk yesterday, International Monetary Fund Turkey Representative Hugh Bredenkamp said that the Central Bank was expecting high inflation figures for the next two months, adding, “I agree with this. It’s important that we should focus on the mid-term. Focusing on the figures for each month is pointless.” Bredenkamp stressed that a shifting political atmosphere could affect inflation for some time, adding that inflation expectations for next year aren’t up as much as this year. Bredenkamp stated that if annual inflation rises to double digits, this would be temporary. He further called the CB’s interest hike decision “brave,” adding that this decision proved its seriousness at achieving the inflation target. /Milliyet/[09] SABANCI: “TAXES ON CELL PHONES SHOULD BE LOWERED TO THE EU AVERAGE”Speaking at a conference yesterday, Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) head Omer Sabanci said that the European Commission’s 2005 progress report on Turkey had criticized high communication taxes on both land line telephones and cell phones. Saying that Turkey had the highest tax on cell phones in the world at over 56%, Sabanci added that these high rates both put pressure on consumers and hindered the growth of the telecommunications sector. “The taxes should be lowered to the average of the European Union in the short- and mid-term,” he added. /Aksam/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[11] ALWAYS THE SAME SCENARIO BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)Columnist Sami Kohen comments on Turkey’s European Union membership talks. A summary of his column is as follows:“The same exciting scenario was seen again: Intensive diplomatic efforts on the European Union side, requests, rejections, draft documents and bargaining… Meanwhile, the Turkish side is following and pushing the developments and waiting tensely. The scenario which was seen during the European Council meeting last October in which a green light was given to Turkey’s EU membership talks was concluded with a consensus yesterday. So the first of 35 chapters to be discussed with the EU (the one on science and research) was discussed yesterday and thus our process of membership started in earnest. This is a new and important milestone on the EU path. However, it’s not difficult to predict that the Greek Cypriot administration will continue its obstructionist stance of this chapter on other chapters as well. At first glance, it could be considered a retreat that the Greek Cypriot administration couldn’t make the EU swallow its conditions but instead accepted the consensus formula suggested by Austria. Similarly, the Greek Cypriots’ being one vote against 24 and certain countries’ harsh criticisms of them could be considered a loss. However, we should recognize that the Tassos Papadopoulos administration maneuvered successfully and gained certain things. Likewise, the Greek Cypriot administration, which knows how to reap the most benefit from its EU membership, was able to keep the Cyprus issue and its conditions about it on the agenda this time as well. This situation disturbs certain EU members. The following remarks that I heard from the diplomat of an EU country reflect this uneasiness: ‘Cyprus held the EU hostage once again. The conditions stipulated by Cyprus hinder our work and distract our attention. However, even if Cyprus is a tiny country, it has equal standing in the EU and the right of veto, which shows that a new political structure is needed in the EU.’ Indeed, tiny Cyprus is trying to make the big EU follow it and is actually succeeding in this to some extent. Wasn’t it clear that this would be the case? Turkey had said so many times that it would be a mistake to bring the Greek Cypriot administration into the EU without solving the problem and uniting the island. The threat of the Greek Cypriots’ veto could have been prevented and thus a hurdle in Turkey’s membership talks could have been avoided, but we should consider this situation as it is, because the Papadopoulos administration will repeat the same threat at every opportunity. The chapter of science and research and the Sept. 21, 2005 declaration hang over us like Damocles’ sword. Nobody will be surprised when this is discussed during the EU summit this Thursday. In short, the same scenarios will be seen many times on the EU path.” [12] AN ANGRY GUL IN LUXEMBOURG BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS (SABAH)Columnist Asli Aydintasbas comments on Turkey’s EU accession talks. A summary of her column is as follows:“The good news came at the last minute: ‘The Greek Cypriots backed down. The EU unanimously decided to open the first chapter for Turkey’s accession talks. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul went to Luxembourg.’ We should be happy because Turkey reached a solution after haggling between the Foreign Ministry and Luxembourg. Greek Cypriots who tried to hinder Turkey’s accession talks with a last-minute imposition were left isolated. Britain and EU Term President Austria blocked the Greek Cypriots. Thus the talks on science and research officially started. But, Foreign Minister Gul and his diplomats were in no mood for celebrating. Gul was angry, and the diplomats who used to tell reporters to calm down because the EU business requires bargaining and compromise were all very tense. Why? The Greek Cypriots created this problem with such an easy chapter, and so will create greater problems in the future. This time the tension was briefer than before, but obviously we’ll have at least 34 or probably 50 crises of this sort. The opening and the closing of every chapter will bring other problems. Sometimes the Europeans will isolate the Greek Cypriots, but sometimes they will want us to reach a compromise. This isn’t an easy road but a bumpy process, said Gul. One diplomat said: ‘The important thing here is not to give up omething which we won’t be able to get back in the future.’ And Gul said: ‘The way is clear. There will always be problems, and not only are we going to be thinking about overcoming them, but also the EU.’ It’s true that the EU is based on compromise, but the recent crisis is unpleasant because the Greek Cypriots are so devious that they created a crisis out of a small issue like the starting of talks on science and research and want Turkey to accept Greek Cyprus. European countries opposed them because this time their demand was unreasonable, but if they act more cleverly and politically savvy in the future, then Turkey will have to pay a heavy price. It’s clear that Turkey will have to risk several crises or even breaking ties with the EU. What I’m talking about isn’t giving up our EU bid. An effort is needed to make them aware that the Cyprus question is independent from the EU bid. Sometimes one has to be ready to create a crisis. Maybe then the EU will understand that they don’t want to lose Turkey.” 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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