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Turkish Press Review, 02-01-22
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Press
& Information
Turkish
Press
Turkish
Press Review >>
Foreign
Press Guide
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
22.01.2002
CONTENTS
[01] PUBLIC BIDDING LAW APPROVED
[02] ECEVIT TO SADDAM: "TAKE BUSH'S WARNINGS SERIOUSLY"
[03] NO STATEMENT FROM DENKTAS-CLERIDES MEETING, TALKS CONTINUE
[04] CILLER VISITS TUGIAD, PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR PARTIES LAW
[05] COUNCIL MEETS TO BATTLE "GENOCIDE" ALLEGATIONS
[06] MUSHARRAF PRAISES ATATURK
[07] BRITISH DELEGATION TO VISIT GAP
[08] TURKEY TO BUY 14 SEA HAWK HELICOPTERS FROM US COMPANY
[09] IRANIAN NATURAL GAS COMING TO TURKEY
[10] IMF TO DISCUSS TURKEY'S STANDBY AGREEMENT ON FEB. 4
[11] $500,000 ON THE WAY TO AFGHANISTAN FROM TURKEY
[12] TURKISH FABRIC AND TEXTILES PROMOTED IN US
[13] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[14] STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE WON'T SAVE US BY SEMIH IDIZ (STAR)
[15] TURKISH-EU RELATIONS BY HASAN CEMAL (MILLIYET)
[01] PUBLIC BIDDING LAW APPROVED
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday approved Turkey's new Public Bidding
Law. The law proposes opening the Turkish market to international companies
and ensuring a more transparent bidding market as well as establishing a
Public Bidding Board. The board will have the authority to organize and
supervise the bidding market. Passage of the law was among Turkey's
committments to the IMF. /All Papers/
[02] ECEVIT TO SADDAM: "TAKE BUSH'S WARNINGS SERIOUSLY"
Speaking to Turkish channel TRT-1 yesterday, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
cautioned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that he should take seriously
warnings from US President George W. Bush. " In any operation against Iraq,
we would be successful" Ecevit added. Ecevit also said that the US would
consult Turkey about any possible military strike against Iraq as part of
the war against terrorism. Neither should Sadddam defy the decisions of the
European Union because by doing so he only makes problems with the rest of
the world, Ecevit remarked.
/Hürriyet/
[03] NO STATEMENT FROM DENKTAS-CLERIDES MEETING, TALKS CONTINUE
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek
Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides met for the second time
yesterday as part of the direct talks, which started on Jan. 16. After
their talks, Denktas reminded reporters of his and Clerides' decision not
to make in-depth statements concerning the meeting, and said merely that
they had discussed "general issues." He added, "The Greek Cypriot
administration doesn't want to release any statements to reporters either.
It's too early for that, so there will be no more information for now."
Following the meetings, which were also attended by US Special Cyprus Envoy
Alvaro de Soto as an observer, Denktas said they would continue their
contacts on this Wednesday. Denktas' advisor on constitutional and legal
issues Mumtaz Soysal said that all the issues had been discussed, and added
that they were doing their best to be hopeful. Before Denktas and Clerides
met TRNC Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu and Deputy Prime Minister Salih Cosar
conferred. Before this meeting, Denktas told journalists, "We will
determine our agreements and disagreements. We will discuss our
disagreements at last and try to reach an agreement on these issues."
/Cumhuriyet/
[04] CILLER VISITS TUGIAD, PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR PARTIES LAW
True Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller yesterday visited the Turkish
Young Businessmen's Association (TUGIAD) to talk with its members.
Stressing her support for TUGIAD'S position on the political parties and
electoral law, Ciller said, "The law should be debated soon, because we can
truly say that today's economic crisis stemmed from a political crisis."
Ciller stated that the DYP wanted to decrease the number of deputies from
the current number of 550. Concerning the 10% representation threshold
elections for parties in Parliament, she said, "Decreasing the threshold
would cause political divisions and coalition governments for our country.
But we need political unification, not division." /Turkiye/
[05] COUNCIL MEETS TO BATTLE "GENOCIDE" ALLEGATIONS
The Coordination Council to Struggle Against Baseless Claims of Genocide,
which was established in order to research allegations against Turkey of so-
called genocide, was convened yesterday under the chairmanship of Deputy
Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli. Before the council's second meeting held at
the National Security Council (MGK) Secretary-General building, Bahceli,
MGK Secretary General Tuncer Kilinc and his chief assistant conferred with
each other. At the council meeting itself, Turkey's Legal Research Group,
the National Education Working Group and State Archives director general
Yusuf Serenay gave presentations on their work, with the latter saying that
Turkey's Ottoman-era archives were already open for everyone to examine.
"We have intensified our work in order to better our services through
taking advantage of the latest technology," he stated. During the meeting,
the council decided that a concerted effort was needed against the claims
of so-called genocide, which have increased in recent years. Towards this
end, it decided to bolster lobbying efforts as well as to produce films to
help argue its case to the world. /Aksam/
[06] MUSHARRAF PRAISES ATATURK
In an interview, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf speaks of his
admiration for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic,
but also remarks that he considers Pakistanis a "more Muslim-oriented
society" than Turkey. Speaking to US-based Newsweek international magazine,
Musharraf expresses pride in his fluent Turkish, which he learned as a
child when his father was a diplomat in Ankara. But even while admiring
Ataturk, he says that his real role model is Mohammed Ali Jinnah,
Pakistan's founder, who - similar to Ataturk - "envisaged a modern, secular
Muslim state." Addressing the recently heightened tensions between Pakistan
and India, Musharraf remarks, "I don't think there can be war-unless
there's some mad action." /Cumhuriyet/
[07] BRITISH DELEGATION TO VISIT GAP
As a sign of Great Britain's continuing interest in the Southeastern
Anatolia Project (GAP), a delegation led by British Defense Attaché Kim
Winfield will visit the region this week. The delegation will go from
Ankara to Gaziantep today and then to Sanliurfa in order to investigate the
GAP work in the region.
/Cumhuriyet/
[08] TURKEY TO BUY 14 SEA HAWK HELICOPTERS FROM US COMPANY
Turkey last week agreed to purchase 14 Sea Hawk naval helicopters made by
US-based Sikorsky Aircraft using loans granted by US Eximbank, during Prime
Minister Bulent Ecevit's visit toWashington. The US bank had decided to
provide $324 million in loans for Turkey's purchase of the helicopters, but
the project first needed the approval of the US Congress. US Eximbank
granted Turkey a $1.3 billion loan some three years ago for the sale of 50
Black Hawk military and transport helicopters. Ankara has used up to $1
billion of that loan, and the rest of it could be used for the purchase of
the Sea Hawk helicopters for Turkey's Naval Forces. /Turkiye/
[09] IRANIAN NATURAL GAS COMING TO TURKEY
After years of work, Iranian natural gas will at long last begin to be
pumped to Turkey today with a ceremony. Turkey is to buy the gas will be
purchased from Iran for a 25 year period. In the beginning, the volume of
the gas will be 3 billion cubic meters annually, and later increasing year
by year it could reach an annual volume of 10 billion cubic meters.
/Turkiye/
[10] IMF TO DISCUSS TURKEY'S STANDBY AGREEMENT ON FEB. 4
The International Monetary Fund is expected to meet on Feb. 4 in order to
discuss Turkey's new standby agreement. Turkey's Letter of Intent was given
and signed during Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's recent visit to the United
States.
/Hürriyet/
[11] $500,000 ON THE WAY TO AFGHANISTAN FROM TURKEY
State Minister Edip Safter Gaydali attended a conference yesterday in Tokyo
on rebuilding Afghanistan. He said that as a first step Turkey would
provide $500,000 to the nation's international reconstruction fund and
would increase its aid to $5 million over the next five years. Gaydali said
that there were three areas where Turkey could play a role, namely, health,
social development and agriculture. /Milliyet/
[12] TURKISH FABRIC AND TEXTILES PROMOTED IN US
A Fashion and Fabric Fair was opened yesterday at the New York
Intercontinental Hotel to promote Turkish fabric and textile products for
US business purchasers. State Minister Tunca Toskay and Foreign Trade
Undersecretary Kursat Tuzmen attended the opening ceremony of the fair,
made a tour of it and wished success to the producers. Over 30 companies
from throughout Turkey are participating in the fair that will last for two
days. /Aksam/
[13] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS
[14] STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE WON'T SAVE US BY SEMIH IDIZ (STAR)
Columnist Semih Idiz writes on the strategic importance of Turkey and its
affect on its relations with the West. A summary of his column is as
follows:
"Turkey's 'strategic importance' has always played an important role in its
relations with the West. That is why the usual policies of the West were
not implemented in line with the circumstances prevalent at the time.
Turkey's military takeovers were excused, and the arms embargo imposed on
Turkey in 1974 by the US under pressure from the Greek and Armenian lobbies
was lifted by President Carter within a short time. In fact, during the
Cold War, lashing out at Turkey was not in line with the interests of the
West. If we must tell the truth, this phenomenon has prevented the
elevation of democracy and human rights in the country to Western
standards. Even as the Western countries took important strides towards
these goals following World War II, they were not interested with the
situation in Turkey. They attached more importance to Turkey's stability as
a 'border station' against the Soviet threat. It didn't concern
conservative circles who were afraid of the Soviet threat if this stability
was achieved through authoritarian means. The criticism leveled at Turkey
came rather from the liberal and leftist circles growing within the
framework of increasing democracy and human rights. Then as everyone was
thinking that Turkey had lost its strategic importance due to the collapse
of the Soviet Union, Saddam Hussein came to the rescue. The West, once
again woke up to Turkey's strategic significance. During the Gulf crisis
one of the most-talked-about countries was Turkey. However, in time this
importance began to fade away and the lobbies against Turkey were revived.
This time they began to strike Turkey using the Kurdish issue. Turkey and
the West, which were allies within the framework of NATO, almost began to
seem as foes. The 'cold war' between Europe and Turkey reached its peak.
They accused Turkey of not facing upto its history and of having low
standards of democracy and human rights. They seemed determined to divide
Turkey, espousing double standards and a Crusaders' mentality. Thus began a
dialogue between Turkey and Europe where no one listened to the other.
Finding circumsmtances convenient, the Armenian and Greek lobbies began to
launch initiatives against Ankara -- until Sept. 11. The attacks launched
against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon demonstrated Turkey's
strategic importance once more. How long this situation can last depends
upon international circumstances. With the cooling of the war against
terrorism, Turkey's strategic location will lose its importance. This makes
us wonder whether the strategic location of Turkey will be enough to save
us in the long run. Today, Turkey is among those countries which are
passing through a transition and have complex social structures. In brief,
it is crucial for us to understand the dynamics coming with our economic
and social developments. Turkey is passing through the same stages the West
has gone through only in a different time. That is why the strategic
location of Turkey is not enough by itself to save Turkey. Turkey has to
have a strong economy in addition to high standards in its democracy and
legal system and respect for human rights. Otherwise it will get to be more
difficult to defend our long-term interests."
[15] TURKISH-EU RELATIONS BY HASAN CEMAL (MILLIYET)
Columnist Hasan Cemal comments on the recent list published by the EU
regarding terrorist organizations. A summary of his column is as follows:
"The confusion in the EU regarding what is terror and who is a terrorist
continues unabated. It may be that this confusion is a choice made
consciously. The Union may believe that he who doesn't harm the EU can be
left alone. The PKK is a terrorist organization and so is the DHKP-C.
However, the list the EU has released begs to differ. If the PKK or the
DHKP-C are not terrorist organizations, what are they? The EU cannot defend
this choice. It cannot answer the questions of the Turkish side behind
closed doors and gives signs that these two organizations will be included
in other lists, which will be published later. Did no one learn from the
tragedy of Sept. 11? This stance is affecting Turkish-EU relations
adversely and strengthens the hands of those who would like to keep Turkey
away from Europe. In addition, it is hampering Turkey's democratization and
reform process besides encouraging the PKK. Some issues, such as education
in a mother tongue, cannot be solved through demonstrations in the streets.
The solution for them needs time, and care. If you carry the issue to the
streets this will only backfire. Turkey has entered a critical year. The
importance of 2002 lies in the fact that there will be important
developments regarding Turkish-EU relations. If the date for accession
negotiations are finalized at the end of the year at the latest, a vital
threshold will have been passed. Thus, Turkey's EU membership will get on a
track with no return. There are many responsibilities falling upon everyone
regarding the issue. We hope that the EU convinces Belgium and the
Netherlands and puts the PKK and DHKP-C on its terrorist organizations
list. We also hope it is realized that a sensitive issue like education in
Kurdish needs care and patience and that it should not be carried to the
streets. Otherwise, the hands of those who would like to keep Turkey away
from Europe will be strengthened."
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