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Turkish Press Review, 09-05-21Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning21.05.2009CONTENTS
[01] GUL MEETS WITH SLOVENIAN TURKPresident Abdullah Gul yesterday met with his Slovenian counterpart Danilo Turk at the Cankaya Presidential Palace. Gul and Turk held a joint press conference after the meeting. Afterwards, Gul hosted a dinner in honor of Turk at the Cankaya Presidential Palace. Speaking at the gathering, Gul said, "Our talks focused on ways to further improve our bilateral relations and development. We consider Slovenia a significant ally and friendly country with which we cooperate for stability and prosperity of Europe and our region." Touching on economic and commercial relations between the two countries, Gul stated that trade volume between the two countries increased to $900 million last year. "We aim at further increasing this amount in years to come," he added. For his part, Turk spoke about attendance of the Alliance of Civilizations Forum, saying that the Alliance of Civilizations initiative was very important. Turk added that he would not forget Turkey's support to Slovenia's membership process to international organizations such as the UN. Stating that they appreciated Turkey's policies in the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia, he stressed that Turkey and Slovenia had similar opinions about international affairs. He said that Slovenia, as a European country, believed that Turkey should take place in the EU, and that Turkey would make important contributions to the EU with its economic and demographic dynamism and strategic location. /All papers/[02] FM DAVUTIGLU VISITS GEN. BASBUGForeign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday paid a visit of courtesy to Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug. The two reportedly discussed the international issues. /Aksam/BRAZIL'S DA SILVA BEGINS HIS VISIT TO TURKEY, FIRST-EVER BY A BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT Accompanied by a large delegation, including Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Industry and Trade Minister Miguel Jorge, and businesspeople, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva yesterday came to Istanbul to pay a three-day official visit at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, which is the first-ever by a Brazilian president. The Brazilian leader, a former labor unionist better known as Lula, met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul's Ciragan Palace late yesterday. The meeting was closed to the press. A presidential statement said that the visit was historically important, as it was the firs-ever visit by a Brazilian president to Turkey. Lula Da Silva is expected to meet with President Gul today. As part of his visit, he will also attend a meeting of Turkish-Brazilian Business Council in Istanbul. The Brazilian President will later proceed to Ankara to hold official talks about the ways to diversify cooperation areas in order to improve bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and international issues. The presidential statement also said that an oil drilling agreement would be signed between the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO) and Brazil's PetroBras with the presence of Gul and Lula Da Silva as part of the visit. /Sabah/ [03] TURKEY SET TO NAME NEW DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATOTurkey is expected to name one of its leading four diplomats as the deputy secretary-general of NATO in the months to come. Among the candidates are Turkish Ambassador to Khartoum, Sudan Fatih Ceylan, Hasan Aygun, the political advisor to the NATO's Portugal Mission, Turkey's Permanent Representative to the UNESCO Ali Tuygan and Hikmet Cetin, NATO's former Special Envoy to Afghanistan. Turkish deputy secretary-general of NATO will be responsible for the alliance's relations with the Islamic world. Turkey initially opposed to the election of former Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the secretary-general of NATO due to his stance during the infamous cartoon crisis of 2006, which led to major protests across the Islamic world and his rejection to ban a terrorist PKK affiliated-satellite broadcaster. After taking firm assurances about policies which Rasmussen pledged to follow as the secretary general, Turkey agreed Rasmussen's election to the top NATO post during the 60th anniversary summit of the alliance in early April. One of the assurances Turkey received was the appointment of a Turkish deputy secretary-general to improve the alliance's relations with Muslim countries. /Aksam/[04] BOSTON CELEBRATES TURKISH FESTThe eighth Turkish Film and Music Festival in Boston, US ended yesterday. Over the course of approximately six weeks, the event presented more than 20 activities at local venues. Festival director Erkut Gomulu said that the event became a part of Boston's cultural life. Though only a very limited number of Turkish films had been screened in the city in the past, he said, festivals and competitions have allowed a broader spectrum of people to view the best examples of Turkish cinema. World-renowned Turkish clarinetist Selim Sesler and the violinist Onur Dilisen as well as the groups Black Fortress of Opium and Esthema performed at the festival. /Hurriyet Daily News/[05] FRENCH DIVA TO PERFORM IN ISTANBULFrench singer Patricia Kaas, who competed in the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow on Saturday and finished in the 8th place, will take stage on June 10 at Istanbul's Cemil Topuzlu Harbiye Open Air Theater. /Hurriyet Daily News/[06] SEVENTH TURKISH OLYMPICS TO START ON MAY 28 IN ANKARAInternational Turkish Language Olympics, organized by the International Turkish Education Association (TURKCEDER), will start on next Thursday in Ankara. Turkish Olympics will host 600 students from 115 countries including Afghanistan, Argentina, Venezuela, Benin, Ethiopia, Congo, France, Italy, Uganda, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The speaking, writing, grammar, poetry, singing, presentation and specific ability contests will be organized under the category of Turkish as a Foreign Language, and essay writing, poetry and general knowledge contests will be held under the category of Turkish as Native Language. The finals in the song contests will be held at Istanbul's Halic Congress Center on June 3, and poetry contest finalists will compete at Bursa's Kultur Park on June 2. The award ceremony of the Turkish Olympics will take place at Ankara's ASKI sports center. /Today's Zaman/[07] TURKISH SEASON ACTIVITIES SET TO START IN FRANCEFrance is preparing to host the Season of Turkish Culture activities, which is set to start this July and last through March 2010. Among the planned activities as part of the event are the screening of award-winning Turkish movies, dance, and theater performances, and photo and art exhibits. The season will start with a performance by Turkey's famous dance group Fire of Anatolia at Paris' renowned Trocodero square. Two of the most important planned exhibits are an Ottoman Caftans exhibit at the well-known Louvre museum of Paris and an exhibit called Istanbul through the Ages at Grand Palais. The latter will be jointly inaugurated by President Abdullah Gul and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in July, which highlights the great importance placed by Turkey and France on the season. Paris Mayor Betrand Delanoe yesterday announced that to mark the beginning of the season, golden keys of Paris would be presented to three world renowned Turkish artists in July: 2006 Nobel literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk, famous photographer Ara Guler, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the last year's best director award winner of the Cannes Film Festival. The Season of Turkish Culture activities will seek to make Turkish culture better known across France and to encourage cooperation projects between the two countries. More than 400 artistic, educational, economic and cultural activities will take place in French cities such as Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg and Paris as part of the season. The event aims to promote modern Turkey in France with its dynamism, differences, culture and heritage, and improve political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries. Forty-two exhibitions will be held in France during the season, giving the French people the opportunity to learn about Turkish movie, literature, music and culture. /Milliyet/FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… [08] WHAT DOES DAVUTOGLU THINK ABOUT EU?BY MUSTAFA KARAALIOGLU (STAR)Columnist Mustafa Karaalioglu comments on the appointment of Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu as foreign minister. A summary of his column is as follows: "The appointment of Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu as foreign minister was found favorable. Even some people accepted this situation enthusiastically. The new foreign minister is the only expert in Turkey who is integrated in the field of foreign policy and who pursues consistent goals and perspectives. Besides his foreign policy theses, he has succeeded in drawing a strategic picture which favors openings. Turkey has been provided a role outside for many years. As can be clearly seen in his work entitled 'Strategic Depth,' he is the first person who provided Turkey with a role inside. This role has been constituted not through valor and slogans, but with the combination of realism, strategies and vectors of cyclical opportunity. What's more, this hasn't remained on the paper, but this was tested through the service beyond the consultancy that he has been providing for the government for more than six years and thus became successful. Now he was appointed to a heavier position with more opportunities. We went to Brussels with Davutoglu to participate in the EU Partnership Council meeting. We paid our visit in light of the criticisms that he has a tendency towards the Middle East files, rather than Europe in terms of the foreign policy. Firstly I should note that the picture is just the opposite. In other words, Davutoglu has a strong EU perspective. So there is an EU program which was planned word by word. State Minister and Chief EU Negotiator Egemen Bagis were also present at the visit. The harmonization between these two ministers will become an advantage in terms of better relations between Ankara and Brussels in the new process as well.Davutoglu said that it would be impossible to forget the EU, because this process would never make itself forgotten. Let's divide our conversation with Davutoglu into parts. We asked Davutoglu the meaning of the EU for Turkey. He told us that the EU is fundamentally the second Reform project and that the EU membership process will fulfill our restructuring. He added that we have implemented intensive and successful reforms until 2005 and 2006, but that the incidents which occurred in 2007 showed that our democracy is still fragile and thus Turkey needs political reforms mostly about the Constitution. When we asked Davuoglu why the reforms were hindered, Davutoglu replied that the most important factor was domestic development, that is, presidential elections, movements in the PKK terrorism and the closure case about the Justice and Development (AK) Party have decreased the dynamism and that the remaining two or four years was a loss in this regard. But he added that certain steps were taken in terms the developments concerning the TRT 6, the Foundations Law, Article 301 of the Penal Code and the May 1 celebrations. The second factor is the EU deals with the Cyprus issue. It has done nothing, although all the risks were taken. The third 'slowing down' factor is the substitution of French President Jacques Chirac and his German counterpart Gerhard Schroder by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel respectively. So what will be done from now on? Davutoglu replied that the Parliament would be in recess for one and a half months and that they would make good use of this situation. He said that they would make the Human Rights Council autonomous, change the law on the Secretariat General for EU affairs and deal with all reforms which are necessary for a positive Progress Report until the end of this year. He added that of course, at this point the opposition should also make contributions and that they should all make good use of the process which will last until the elections. Both Davutoglu and Bagis state that they haven't impaired, but strengthened Turkey's EU process. They said that they have become more valuable in the EU, as they were also effective and successful there, and that the EU membership talks also increased our importance in the Middle East. So these two processes should be considered inseparable parts and the foreign policy perspective should be determined in line with this. Davutoglu seems to be willing and impatient about the EU issue. His agenda of visit mostly consisting of Europe shows this situation. Finally, he said that we should gain momentum and avoid the process of becoming immobile and routine." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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