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Turkish Press Review, 09-06-04Turkish 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 morning04.06.2009CONTENTS
[01] GUL, ARINC RECEIVE TURKISH-SPEAKING STUDENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLDPresident Abdullah Gul yesterday received around 100 students participating in the 7th International Turkish Olympiads at the Cankaya Palace. Saying that more than 300 million people speak Turkish all around the world, he added that students learning Turkish in far-away countries is something new. "This shows Turkey's strength. It also connects Turkey with the rest of the world,” he said. Afterwards, the students visited Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc, who created a parallelism between the event and the United Nations. "There are students from 115 countries, which is more than half of the number of UN member countries. Children from all countries are participating in the event. We organize events that boost the love for Turkey and Turkish in every country," he added. /Today's Zaman/[02] ERDOGAN CALLS ON FOREIGN INVESTORS TO INVEST IN TURKEY, GIVING ASSURANCE OF LUCRATIVE RETURNSAddressing the opening ceremony of the Turkey-World Trade Bridge 2009 meeting, held by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) in Istanbul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that foreign investors engaging in trade with Turkey during this period would surely secure more profit, and called on them to invest in Turkey. Stressing that the global financial crisis has taken its toll on the world trade and that its adverse effects on Turkey's economy have been visible for some time, Erdogan said that the Turkish economy had entered a process of recovery, starting from the first month of 2009. Expressing belief that the country's economy will enter a growth trend as of this summer, Erdogan said, "Those who engage in trade with Turkey and those who invest in Turkey during this period will see abundant returns. I would like to reiterate that exports will start to increase soon and that firms with long-standing ties with Turkish companies will find this process lucrative." Also speaking at the opening ceremony, State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan stressed that it would be wrong remedy to adopt protectionist policies in response to the ongoing global economic crisis. Protectionist countries should not expect to recover from the crisis on their own, he added. Praising the timing of the trade bridge, Caglayan said that the meeting would contribute remarkably to the world economy in the months to come. The Turkey-World Trade Bridge began on June 1 and will run through June 7. It targets striking about $7 billion in deals. About 2,000 businessmen from 115 countries are attending the event with an eye to finding chances of establishing new trade deals with each other /Today's Zaman/[03] TURKEY SEEKS TO IMPROVE TRADE TIES WITH USTransportation Minister Binali Yildirim said yesterday that the US could use Turkey as a center for air supply and cargo transportation to the Middle East, the South Asia and other regions. Meeting with his US counterpart Ray LaHood on the sidelines of the 28th Annual Conference jointly held by the American-Turkish Council (ATC) and the Turkish-American Business Council (TABC) in Washington with a focus on the review of relations between the two countries under the theme of US-Turkey: Overcoming Challenges in an Era of Change, Yildirim told reporters afterwards that the US was currently carrying out its transportation to the region via Germany which was having difficulties due to heavy traffic. "I told my US counterpart that this transportation process can be carried out through Turkey," he said, adding that opportunities for cooperation in the aviation sector and high-speed train projects were on the agenda of their meeting as well. Yildirim also said that the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and General Electric would soon start joint production of locomotives in the Central Anatolian province of Eskisehir. Yildirim also said, "In addition to Turkey's strategic partnership with the US in fields of defense and security, we would like to improve ties in transportation, trade, tourism and information technology as well. We believe there is a great potential towards this end." /Sabah/[04] TURKISH CEO PRESENTED DISTINGUISHED CAREER MEDAL IN WASHINGTONSureyya Ciliv, the general manager of Turkey's leading GSM operator Turkcell, was presented yesterday the medal of distinguished career as part of the 28th Annual Conference of the American-Turkish Council (ATC) and the Turkish-American Business Council (TABC). Ciliv got his medal from ATC head Brent Scowroft and TABC head Haluk Dincer. Commercial leadership medal of the conference this year was presented Turkey's Akbank, while Ferith Sahenk, the chairman of the board of Turkey's Dogus Group, was presented the medal of distinguished citizen. /Sabah/[05] IRANIAN AMBASSADOR CALLS FOR IMPROVED TURKISH-IRANIAN TRADE TIESIranian Ambassador to Ankara Bahman Hosseinpour said on Tuesday that Iran and Turkey, as two neighbors, can cooperate in industry and tourism. Paying a visit to the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO) in Izmir, Hosseinpour talked about economic relations between the two countries. "The bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Iran is currently at around $11 billion. Our commercial ties with Turkey have improved immensely in the past few months," he said. Husseinpour said, "We place great importance on healthy relations with Turkey, and Turkey's security and happiness leads to our happiness,” he said, noting that developing relations between Turkey and Iran would be the source of peace in the region. “Turkey and Iran can play an important role to this end based on their geography and history. At a time of global economic crisis, the two countries can facilitate great opportunities,” Husseinpour said. Stating that Iran would welcome Turkish entrepreneurs in its market, he called on businessmen to hurry and invest in Iran. "Iran imports via the Persian Gulf. I believe a portion of Iran's imports can come via Turkey," Hosseinpour said, adding, "Our relations are based on a ‘win-win' understanding. There is no loser. I think whatever we need in Iran, we can buy from Turkey." /Today's Zaman/[06] CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF GEN. BASBUG DECORATED WITH MEDAL OF HONOR IN PENTAGONChief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, currently in Washington as the guest of his US counterpart Admiral Mike Mullen, yesterday visited Pentagon. Gen. Basbug, who was welcomed with a military ceremony, was reportedly decorated with a medal of honor at a ceremony held at Pentagon. In related news, National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, also in the US, met with his US counterpart Robert Gates. /Milliyet/FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… [07] WILL DAVUTOGLU BE ABLE TO KEEP HIS PROMISE?BY MEHMET ALI BIRAND (MILLIYET)Columnist Mehmet Ali Birand comments on Turkey's European Union accession bid and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's stance about it. A summary of his column is as follows: "There were many interesting winds blowing in Turkish-EU relations last month. On the one hand, there were the statements made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel which were criticized in Turkey, and on the other hand, there were the news from other EU members and the European Commission. We have faced contradictory pictures. Firstly, let's start with Sarkozy and Merkel. As the reforms couldn't have been started, France and Germany wanted to slow down Turkey's EU membership process and started to prepare for launching the privileged membership project. Nobody knows what the privileged membership exactly means. Everybody has a different definition for this. It's only known that it wouldn't be a full membership for Turkey and they're trying to keep Turkey among themselves with the second class accession status. Actually France favors this formula, but Germany is content. Furhermore, Austria, the Greek Cypriot administration and Greece applaud them from the back of stage. As long as Turkey doesn't implement its reforms, this current would be always in the foreground. Let's now consider the other side of the coin. The signals from the European Commission are completely different. When I talked to persons from the Commission who have been following closely, I started to see the picture more clearly. Brussels is only talking about the economic crisis and how the Treaty of Lisbon will develop. Nobody's talking about enlargement, as the political and institutional crisis couldn't have been overcome. If you add the new appointments to be made in the Commission and Parliamentary elections, the situation would become clearer. So what do they talk about Turkey? Turkey isn't on Brussels's agenda. They even don't discuss the formula of privileged membership. Certain circles might be talking about what France and Germany are trying to do, but there's not any interest in Turkey generally. Turkey's position can be summarized as follows: France doesn't favor Turkey's full membership. It doesn't want the cessation of membership talks completely, but it wants them to be prolonged. Germany is also deeply concerned about Turkey's full membership, but it doesn't favor the cessation of membership talks. Berlin doesn't want to lose the trump card of privileged membership, but it plans to keep it alive and put it on the table in the future, if necessary. Austria is acting completely suspiciously. Contrary to general conviction, the Greek Cypriot administration and Greece doesn't favor the cessation of membership talks. They aren't expected to reject Turkey's full membership, in case they get what they want. The countries outside these ones, namely, a total of 22 countries support Turkey. They don't want the process of membership talks to slow down. So the majority of these countries support Turkey. All the people from the Commission with whom we talked agree with each other, saying that the as long as we implement higher number of reforms in a quicker way, we would strengthen the hands of those who support us. The issue of whether a solution would be found to the Cyprus issue is one of the issues which have been discussed the most. In the case of a lack of solution, suspension of membership talks with Turkey will be discussed in December 2009. Meanwhile, membership talks are continuing, but it seems hard to yield a result. So what will happen? The atmosphere in the Commission doesn't favor dramatizing the incident. After all, they're aware of the fact that they are responsible for the Cyprus issue to reach this point. They generally expect the Commission to write down a report and give a new chance to membership talks. They even don't mention the suspension of membership talks. Everybody knows that such a decision would close the EU's doors to Turkey and nobody wants this. Of course, the European Parliament elections to be held this week should be closely followed, because the result of these elections will create an impact on Turkey's membership talks. If you ask something about Turkey in Brussels, you would see two interesting determinations. One of them is the impression about the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party. As part of this, it has lost its initial enthusiasm or they don't or don't want to implement the reforms. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hasn't been dropped from the EU's book completely, but question marks about him are increasing. On the other hand, Brussels is totally pleased with the appointment of Bagis as the chief negotiator. A great many people say that finally they could have found an official authority who visits Brussels often. Indeed, we had a problem of existence and Bagis is filling this. Of course, Bagis isn't strong enough to overcome everything by himself, and Erdogan is holding the keys. But Erdogan doesn't get into action due to certain reasons. In this case, everybody is looking at Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Davutoglu has removed all the suspicions about the EU issue. Furthermore, the statements he made to the Kriter journal is very clear. I wonder if he'll be able to convince Erdogan." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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