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Turkish Press Review, 02-09-10Turkish 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> <map name="FPMap1"> </map> <map name="FPMap1"></map> Press & Information Turkish Press Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning10.09.2002CONTENTS
[01] BUSH CALLS SEZER ON IRAQ ISSUEUS President George W. Bush yesterday made a telephone call to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer focusing on the two countries’ respective views on the Iraq issue. The conversation followed recent calls to the leaders of France, Russia and China in a buildup to Bush’s Thursday speech to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he is expected to try to make the case for military intervention in Iraq. Bush emphasized his resolve to continue consultations with close US friend and ally Turkey and also his high regard for Turkey’s views. Sezer, for his part, laid out in detail Turkey’s own stance on the Iraq issue. In addition, he stressed Turkey’s desire to boost its economic and commercial ties with the US. /Hurriyet/[02] YILMAZ PUSHES EU LAW IMPLEMENTATION WITH CIVIL GROUPSDeputy Prime Minister and the Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz held a meeting yesterday with representatives of civil organisations to discuss their possible contribution to Turkey’s European Union membership bid. In a press conference before the meeting, Yilmaz told reporters that the necessary regulations would be completed and enacted by the end of the month to ensure full implementation of the EU harmonisation laws passed earlier this summer. Yilmaz also criticised senior coalition partner the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) for requesting constitutional review of these laws, stressing that the reforms were binding on all three partners of the coalition government. Commenting on Turkey’s chances of getting a date at December’s Copenhagen summit in December for the start of its accession negotiations with the EU, Yilmaz said that Turkey should snap out of its euphoria over the adoption of the EU laws and that civil groups should coordinate their lobbying activities. /Cumhuriyet/[03] TURKEY TO OPEN NEW BORDER GATE TO SYRIATurkey is planning to open a new border gate to Syria at the southeastern Anatolian city of Akcakale, officials announced yesterday. The new gate is intended to re-channel trade currently conducted through the Habur Gate with northern Iraq in favor of new routes through Syria and Iran. /Cumhuriyet/[04] CHP MEMBERS VISITS ATATURK’S MAUSOLEUMCelebrating the 79th anniversary of their party’s foundation, members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) headed by their leader Deniz Baykal yesterday visited Anitkabir, Ataturk’s mausoleum, in Ankara. After laying a wreath at the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder and first leader of the CHP, the members then visited the resting place of Ismet Inonu, the party’s second leader. /Turkiye/[05] CEM VISITS GROUP FOR DISABLEDNew Turkey Party (YTP) leader Ismail Cem yesterday visited the Ankara headquarters of the Federation for the Disabled, a nongovernmental organization, to lay out his party’s platform on the handicapped. “After November’s elections, the YTP hopes to work with the federation to put together new government policies on the disabled,” said Cem. “We also hope we can work to apply these policies together.” Faruk Oztimur, the federation’s chairman, said that a failure on Turkey’s part to respect and accommodate its handicapped citizens could hinder the country’s European Union membership bid. /Milliyet/[06] YTP, DTP DECIDE AGAINST ALLIANCEIsmail Cem and Mehmet Ali Bayar, the respective leaders of the New Turkey Party (YTP) and the Democratic Turkey Party (DTP), yesterday announced that their parties had been unable to reach agreement on an alliance for this November’s elections. Following this development, DTP officials started negotiations with the True Path Party (DYP) towards a possible alliance. A decision on such an alliance is expected from the DTP today. /Milliyet/[07] SHP TO ALLY ENTER ALLIANCE WITH HADEP, ODPOfficials from the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP), the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) and the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) yesterday said that they had overcome hurdles standing in the way of their forming an alliance for November’s elections. The parties are to form a joint committee to draw up their common programs as well as to allocate spots on common candidate lists. /Milliyet/[08] RESIGNATIONS, PARTY SWITCHES CONTINUETrue Path Party (DYP) Giresun Deputy Rasim Zaimoglu and Motherland Party (ANAP) Bursa Deputy Turhan Tayan yesterday resigned from their respective parties. Zaimoglu is expected to join ANAP, while Tayan to join the DYP. In addition, former Democratic Left Party (DSP) Aydin Deputy Ertugrul Mumcuoglu joined the Nationalist Action Party’s (MHP) ranks in a ceremony held yesterday. This brings the number of deputies in Parliament of the concerned parties as follows: 84 in the DYP, 68 in ANAP, and 126 in the MHP. /Turkiye/[09] MHP APPLIES TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO ANNUL EU LAWSThe Nationalist Action Party (MHP) applied to the Constitutional Court yesterday to annul the four articles in the European Union harmonization law package which Parliament passed this summer. Remarking that Turkey wanted to establish an “honorable cooperation” with the EU, MHP leader and Deputy Prime Minister Devlet Bahceli claimed that Turkey had yet to see any positive response from the EU in return for its recent important steps taken on the road towards EU membership. “The EU has continually undermined Turkey’s efforts through statements saying that we haven’t done enough,” Bahceli said. “Thus Turkey has unfortunately been met by a position which it in no way deserves.” /Turkiye/[10] EUROPEAN COUNCIL CONGRATULATES TURKEYThe European Council’s Council of Ministers yesterday expressed its congratulations to Turkey for Parliament’s passage of legislation this summer abolishing the death penalty. Turkey’s permanent representative to the council, Ambassador Numan Hazar, had officially told the ministers of Parliament’s historic action. Hazar also stated that with the reforms, Turkey was now ready to sign the sixth protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights. /Cumhuriyet/[11] NATO DELEGATION INSPECTS AIR BASES IN TURKEYA statement released yesterday by the General Secretariat of the Office of the Chief of General Staff said that recent activities of a NATO delegation at Turkey’s NATO airbases were merely routine procedure, known as base exploration, and were not related to United States preparations to intervene in Iraq. The statement explained that this procedure was carried out every year by NATO to determine the infrastructure facilities needed on the bases. /Cumhuriyet/[12] CENTRAL BANK: “TARGETED INFLATION RATE IS ACHIEVABLE”In a statement released yesterday, the Central Bank said that this year’s year-end inflation rate of 35% was “very likely” achievable. “Determined implementation of the economic program should maintain the inflation slowdown into next year,” the statement added. However, the bank warned, rises in the price of crude oil could endanger this target. /Star/[13] WASHINGTON MEETING TO DISCUS CASPIAN, CAUCASIAN ENERGY ISSUESEnergy and Natural Resources Undersecretary Yurdakul Yigitguden and Turkish Ambassador to Washington Alev Kilic are scheduled today to begin a two-day meeting with US officials on Caspian Basin and Caucasian energy policies. At the meeting, they are set to discuss both Turkish and US policies in the regions with US Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones and Steven R. Mann, senior US advisor for Caspian basin energy diplomacy. /Star/[14] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[15] IS THE COUNTDOWN ABOUT TO BEGIN? BY SAMI KOHEN (MILIYET)Columnist Sami Kohen comments on recent developments regarding the Iraq issue. A summary of his column is as follows:“The Bush administration has opened its plan to carry out a military operation against Iraq for discussion in the international community. US President Bush has recently intensified his efforts to win international support for ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and discussed his Iraq strategy with US congressional leaders and his allies as well as Russia and China. However, that doesn’t mean that Bush is prepared to abandon his plans for Iraq if he doesn’t receive international support. Both Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell’s recent remarks on the issue show clearly that the US wouldn’t hesitate to launch a military strike on its own. We can even say that clock is ticking on Iraq and that the countdown for a US operation is about to begin. Although Bush says that he hasn’t yet made a decision on the issue, his ambition to topple Saddam is well known, as is his view that doing so would take care of his father’s ‘unfinished business’ from a decade ago. However, the international community remains unpersuaded by the arguments and claims of the Bush administration. According to Bush and his staff, the most important reason to carry out a military strike against Saddam is the Iraqi leader’s drive to acquire weapons of mass destruction and attempts to develop nuclear weapons. The Bush administration considers these developments a great threat to both the US and world peace in general. In fact, not only the US but also many other countries are concerned about Iraq’s capabilities. However, as we all know, Iraq isn’t the only country which has acquired such weapons but Bush is somehow obsessed with the idea that Saddam constitutes the greatest threat to world peace. If the US launches a military operation in Iraq then Saddam will probably use these weapons out of desperation, and this would be a true catastrophe not only for the region but also for the entire world. The international community believes that rather of planning military action which would plunge the world into chaos and wreak irreparable damages, the Bush administration should instead step up its diplomatic efforts to persuade Saddam on this issue. However, the problem here is that Saddam isn’t playing a fair game, and he has been very successful to date in hiding large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons from UN inspectors. Nowadays, many countries ranging from Turkey to Russia are demanding that Iraq allow unfettered access to UN weapons inspectors and comply with the UN resolutions made in 1991 to rid the country of all weapons of mass destruction. The longer Iraq resists this international pressure, the more suspicions it arouses. It’s clear that the only action capable of halting the countdown to a US operation can be taken by Iraq itself. Neither the international community nor the American people can possibly sway Bush as much as Saddam’s own words and promises.” [16] BAYKAL SHOULD DO THE MATH BY ORHAN BURSALI (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Orhan Bursali comments on Republican People’s Party leader Deniz Baykal’s recent initiatives. A summary of his column is as follows:“Republican People’s Party leader Deniz Baykal called on Prime Minister and Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Bulent Ecevit and New Turkey Party (YTP) leader Ismail Cem to join the CHP. I read both Cem and Ecevit’s responses carefully. They both stated that they didn’t favor Baykal’s calls to join. Cem said, ‘I’m interested neither in joining nor in annexation,’ Ecevit said, ‘Baykal told us to fold our tent and join them, which is very improper.’ Why can’t or won’t Baykal make a clear , proper call? The first serious election opinion poll, carried out just after Kemal Dervis joined the CHP, revealed that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) would likely win 30% of the votes, the CHP 20% and the True Path Party (DYP) and the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) nearly 10% apiece. The CHP caught a good wind together with Dervis, and its sails should expect to billow more fully up until election day. However, the voters seem to be already decided. The AKP has apparently grabbed the top slot, and anything that might change this in the normal process of elections would be a major surprise. In other words, the CHP coming to power alone as the number one party is flat-out impossible. Can the CHP come to power? Let’s consider what would happen if only the AKP and the CHP got into Parliament. In such a situation, the AKP’s coming to power alone and a lonely CHP at Parliament could result. A coalition of the AKP and the CHP is another possibility. Would the CHP think of such a thing? In other words, being a minority partner? I don’t think so, and I think it shouldn’t. Coming to power isn’t the only important thing; the important thing is to come to power under the best conditions. If a sole AKP-ruled government collapsed due to instability, could a CHP minority government be possible? This might come true with a new elections program. Let’s consider that the possibility of an alliance of the DYP, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), and even the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) with certain socialists and social democrats in Parliament. Under these circumstances, we can talk theoretically about a coalition led by the CHP. What can the CHP do with a MHP, which doesn’t want Dervis, and with a coalition consisting of Ciller? However, it’s clear that the next government will be able to endure for a maximum of two years. The weight of Turkey’s main problems and the political parties’ lack of strategic development targets has made the seat of power into an ordeal for the political parties. As soon as they come to the power, the parties’ process of wasting away begins automatically. In other words, a coalition, which is the common denominator of different programs and understandings, is one of the worst alternatives for the CHP. So does the CHP have a chance of becoming the top party after the elections? If it can attract all of the votes of the YTP and the DSP, yes it can. Baykal and his staff also must be looking into this alternative, at least on paper. However, Baykal has avoided entering an institutional alliance with these two parties. He based his plans on the idea that he would be able to combine the votes of these two parties with the CHP in elections. For this purpose, he is making good use of Dervis’s momentum, but this dream is night-unattainable. We have to consider that the YTP and the DSP will have a total of 4-5% of the votes at least. Even if there are extraordinary circumstances and even if he works miracles, it would be difficult for Baykal to change this possibility. This share of 5%, which will be outside Parliament, might provide Baykal and his colleagues with a chance for social democratic power. Baykal stands on the threshold of a historic chance. If he can use the next day before candidate lists are declared to do the math and weigh the statistical possibilities, he will be able to make history as a leader who paved his road to power consciously. In addition, he will serve our democracy greatly and put an end to discussions about the legitimacy of Parliament. Thus, he will lay the foundation for the unity of the main powers of the social democrats under the roof of the CHP.” 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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