Turkish Press Review, 06-09-11

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From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>

11.09.2006

CONTENTS

[01] ERDOGAN ATTENDS ERTUGRUL GAZI COMMEMORATION CEREMONIES

[01] ERDOGAN ATTENDS ERTUGRUL GAZI COMMEMORATION CEREMONIES

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is due tomorrow to travel to France for an official visit. During his stay in the country, Gul is expected to meet with French officials and talk to them about the so-called Armenian genocide and the activities of Armenians in the country this year, which has been proclaimed the "Year of Armenia" in France. Gul will meet with his French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy and Europe Minister Catherine Colonna to discuss a number of issues, including bilateral relations. Gul will also meet with representatives of Turkish associations in France and tell them to stay calm during the "Year of Armenia." /Aksam/ [03] CETIN: “NEITHER NATO NOR ANOTHER FORCE CAN SEND TURKISH TROOPS TO THE AREA OF CLASHES”

Appearing on television yesterday, former NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan Hikmet Cetin said that neither NATO nor another force could send Turkish soldiers to the south of the country, the area of clashes. Cetin said that Turkey had enough soldiers in Afghanistan and that the number of Turkish soldiers has more than doubled from 300 to 700 over the last month. “Ankara can increase the number of soldiers in the upcoming period for the security of Kabul, but it won’t send soldiers to clashes," he explained. /Milliyet/ [04] GREECE'S KARAMANLIS REITERATES SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID

Speaking at a fair in Thessalonica yesterday, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis commented on relations between Turkey and the European Union and the stance of Athens on the issue. In his speech, Karamanlis reiterated Athens' support for Turkey’s European Union membership bid, saying that all countries would benefit from Turkey, which is on its way to the EU. “However, Turkey needs to fulfill its obligations for its EU bid since it made an agreement with the Union,” he added. /Star/ [05] GREEK CYPRUS’ LILLIKAS WARNS TURKEY

Greek Cypriot administration Foreign Minister George Lillikas over the weekend said, “If Turkey doesn’t fulfill its commitments, opening new chapters during its European Union process will be out of the question.” Stating that Turkey was playing "a dangerous game" on its EU process, Lillikas said that their support for Turkey’s accession process isn’t unconditional. “If it doesn’t fulfill its commitments, Turkey can’t continue its accession process as if nothing had happened,” said Lillikas. /Cumhuriyet/[06] BABACAN TO MEET WITH IMF'S WOLFOWITZ, RATO

Turkey will be represented by a high-level delegation headed by State Minister for Economy Ali Babacan in an eight-day joint annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank set to start on Friday in Singapore. Babacan will participate in important committee sessions on global finance, fiscal policy, and economic development. He will also meet with IMF Managing Director Rodrigo De Rato, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Timothy D. Adams, Iraqi Finance Minister Jabr Al-Zubaidy, and Council of Europe Development Bank Governor Raphael Alomar. /Sabah/[07] TUZMEN TO TRAVEL TO THE US

State Minister Kursad Tuzmen yesterday traveled to the US to seek ways to boost trade ties with the country. Before his departure, Tuzmen, accompanied by a large group of businessmen, told reporters that within three years, Turkey was planning to increase its export to the US by 50 percent, and to push the current $10 billion total trade volume to $15 billion. Furthermore, Tuzmen over the weekend attended an opening ceremony of Ruscam-Ufa facility of Anadolu Cam in Baskordistan. /Turkiye/[08] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[00] COMPETITION IN POLITICSBY ISMAIL KUCUKKAYA (AKSAM)

Columnist Ismail Kucukkaya comments on next year's presidential election. A summary of his column is as follows:

“Late Turkish President Turgut Ozal used to say that who will become president can’t be known until the last moment. These words indicate an important realty in our lives. The next eight months will be dominated by discussions about next year's presidential election, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be at the center of these. Everybody in the ruling party has started to position themselves. It's clear that Erdogan will say nothing and announce no decision until the last moment. It doesn’t matter if Erdogan will be elected president or not, but the important people in Ankara have already started to act with their own assumptions. Obviously, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is positioned for the post-Erdogan period. His talks and communication with all the sensitive people shows this situation. Actually, as he knows the requirements of being a prime minister and has some experience with it (he served as premier from November 2002 to March 2003, when Erdogan took the post), he can establish close, warm relations with Brussels, the US and the European Union.

Ankara Greater Municipality Mayor Melih Gokcek, whose success in predicting political developments is known very well, is standing by the side of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Gokcek has been close to him. However, some had claimed that Gul and Gokcek would be competing with each other. But he told me that Erdogan would become president and Gul prime minister. Gokcek has really accepted Gul’s possible leadership. He told me that Gul deserved to be prime minister and that he himself wanted to serve one more term as mayor. We can continue this discussion of the actors of politics besides Gul and Gokcek. But in sum, Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and State Minister Abdullatif Sener are now acting in a ‘wait-and-see’ mode. Some other important people think that if Erdogan doesn’t run for president, they can. The opposition party thinks that the election will cause great tension and that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won’t be able to handle this process. In other words, all the calculations, including general elections, depend on the Presidential Palace.”[09] FIVE YEARS AFTER SEPT. 11, WHO WON?BY FERAI TINC (HURRIYET)

Columnist Ferai Tinc comments on Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and terrorism. A summary of her column is as follows:

“It’s been five years since the Sept. 11 attacks. The world was on the US' side when it faced this big terrorist attack. Every country helped to form a new democratic government in Afghanistan and end the rule of the Taliban. A year after the attacks, the war against terror seemed to be won. But the situation is different now. Both the world and US public opinion are more pessimistic than two years ago. The strong resistance that NATO forces faced during its operation to clean the Taliban out of the southern provinces and the explosions in Kabul show that not victory, but a greater chaos is about to come. Reports about the region say that NATO forces haven’t destroyed opium fields in the south because they're the only economic resource of the people of the region and that the Taliban benefits from this. Five years later, Afghanistan is entering a new era. Yesterday, NATO members met again to send more troops to Afghanistan. No country can do more. Although they don’t want to give up, they're reluctant to send troops because the fight is uncertain.

While Afghanistan is the successful front in the fight against terrorism, Iraq is the unsuccessful front. Even those who supported the war in Iraq say that it was a mistake. Iraq is going to an uncertain position from which neither the US nor another international force can come out successful. The aim of democratizing Arab countries has already vanished. During the process of democratization, the nationalist reaction tended towards fundamentalist movements and strengthened them, as seen in the examples of Hamas in Lebanon. The fight against terror turned into a right to wage war against people who have different values. Israel bombing the Lebanese and US President George W. Bush calling this legal has changed the meaning of the fight against terror.

The fight against 'Islamic fascism' has replaced the fight against terror. Osama bin Laden and other terrorists were compared to Hitler and Lenin. Bush’s new formula to gain political support has no future. Terrorism and radical fundamentalist terror is a fact, and threatens everyone. The fight against it must be very effective. But it's won't be if the US broadens the front by marginalizing Syria and Iran. Is it possible to form alliances that leave radical fundamentalist terror alone? It seems very difficult.”

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