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Turkish Press Review, 03-04-21Turkish 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> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning21.04.2003FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNSCONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “A PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM WOULD BE BEST FOR TURKEY”Speaking on television this weekend, Prime Minister and Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocated the eventual adoption of a presidential or semi-presidential system in Turkey, one based on the US model. “I believe that a presidential system would be best for Turkey,” he said. “All Turkey’s institutions should integrate with the nation, and a consensus must be ensured in order to achieve this aim,” said Erdogan. “Without ensuring consensus, transition [to the system] won’t be healthy. But, if we achieve this, I believe our nation will make a great leap forward.” A presidential system would end the legislature and executive branch from stepping on each other’s toes in “interventions,” he predicted. Turning to other issues, Erdogan said that Turkey would play a role in the postwar reconstruction process of Iraq. “Turkey will definitely take part in both the political and physical reconstruction of Iraq,” remarked Erdogan. “Subcontractor services and building supplies are cheaper in Turkey.” Erdogan added that the United States had a number of requests from Ankara regarding Iraq’s reconstruction and that the Foreign Ministry was evaluating these. _Aksam[02] GUL: “SIMITIS’ STATEMENT SHOWS THAT TURKEY WAS RIGHT ABOUT CYPRUS”A statement attributed to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, if borne out, only proves that Turkey’s stance on the Cyprus issue was the right one, said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday. Turkish media reports over the weekend said that, after Greek Cyprus signed its European Union accession accords last Wednesday, Simitis said, “We have accomplished Enosis,” meaning unification between mainland Greece and the island of Cyprus. Under the accords, Greek Cyprus is due to join Greece in the Union’s ranks in May 2004. “It turns out that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [TRNC] President Rauf Denktas was right,” said Gul. Speaking on television, Gul reiterated that Turkey and Turkish Cypriots were sincere in their desire for a just and lasting resolution on the island. “If a settlement can be reached within the year left before Greek Cyprus’ EU membership, then the Turkish side of the island can also be integrated into the Union,” he stated. “However, if this doesn’t happen, the TRNC could still enter the EU alongside Turkey.” Speaking on US requests from Turkey for Iraq’s reconstruction, the foreign minister said that the government had given a positive reply in principle but that details still needed to be worked out. He also warned northern Iraqi Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani to be “more careful in their statements,” referring to recent provocative remarks by the regional leaders. /All Papers/[03] US PULLS OUT NEARLY HALF OF PERSONNEL, JETS FROM INCIRLIKWith hostilities in Iraq winding down, last week the United States withdrew 30 out of 80 fighter jets and almost half of its 4,500 personnel from Incirlik Airbase near Adana. The US had been enforcing the northern “no-fly zone,” or Operation Northern Watch, out of the base under NATO mandate. With the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime, however, the US military apparently plans a reduced presence in Turkey, though last week US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to be pinned down. “We have not made final decisions with respect to the footprint of the US in that part of the world, and won’t for months,” he told reporters. Press reports say the US plans to establish four new bases in Iraq under the new Iraqi administration. /All Papers/[04] NY TIMES: “TURKEY WILL ESTABLISH A NEW SECURITY ARRANGEMENT WITH WASHINGTON”The United States is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region, along with establishing a revised US-Turkish security arrangement, said the New York Times yesterday in a news analysis by Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt. “American military officials, in interviews this week, spoke of maintaining perhaps four bases in Iraq that could be used in the future,” stated the writers. “One at the international airport just outside Baghdad; another at Tallil, near Nasiriya in the south; the third at an isolated airstrip called H-1 in the western desert, along the old oil pipeline that runs to Jordan; and the last at the Bashur air field in the Kurdish north.” Quoting an unnamed senior Bush administration official, the Times stated that there would be some kind of a long-term defense relationship with a new Iraq, the scope of which has yet to be defined — whether it will be full-up operational bases, smaller forward operating bases or just plain access. “The US is acutely aware that the growing American presence in the Middle East and Southwest Asia invites charges of empire-building and may create new targets for terrorists,” said the writers. “So without fanfare, the Pentagon has also begun to shrink its military footprint in the region, trying to ease domestic strains in Turkey and Jordan. Turkish officials say a new postwar security arrangement with Washington will emerge.” The US daily also recalled that the US has withdrawn nearly all of its 50 attack and support planes from Incirlik Airbase in the wake of Turkey denying the Pentagon access to its military facilities before the Iraq war as well as the end of the northern Iraqi “no- fly zone.” The writers quoted Faruk Logoglu, Turkey's ambassador to the US, as saying, "These issues will define a new relationship and a new US presence abroad. But the need for an American presence in the region will not be diminished.” /Hurriyet/[05] US GEN. MOORE: “THE US HAS NOT ASKED TURKEY FOR MILITARY ASSISTANCE IN POSTWAR IRAQ”Retired US Gen. Bruce Moore, the northern Iraq division head of the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, told the regional Kurdish assembly yesterday that the US had not requested military assistance from Turkey to help establish peace and stability in Iraq. “There are only 15 Turkish military observers within Iraq,” said Moore, who took up his office in Arbil on Sunday. Speaking to the press after his address to the assembly, he added that Iraq’s many ethnic and religious groups must put aside their differences to build a new free and democratic nation. He stressed that all these ethnic groups should have a hand in all spheres of public life, adding that all Iraqis should share the benefits from the nation’s natural resources such as oil. “The immediate task of my office,” said Moore, “is to restore electricity and medical care and pay civil servants' salaries, all of which were disrupted since the northern areas that had remained under Saddam Hussein's control fell to the Kurds and Americans more than a week ago.” /Hurriyet/[06] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[07] WASHINGTON’S PLANS BY SEMIH IDIZ (AKSAM)Columnist Semih Idiz comments on Washington’s plans in the postwar period. A summary of his column is as follows:“Both reports in the US press and my conversations with US officials show that Washington is trying to develop its postwar strategy and define Turkey’s new role in its plans. First let’s evaluate the military dimension. A piece in yesterday’s New York Times shows that the US wants to withdraw its soldiers from Iraq as soon as possible. Therefore it’s planning to establish four strategic bases in the country and will request the ‘right for long-term access’ in order to amass soldiers and equipment there. The US wants to establish a military footprint there in short order. However, it’s trying to do this without losing any military efficiency and by maximizing its strategic leverage in the region. If the US manages to get its four Iraqi bases, clearly the strategic importance of its bases in Turkey, particularly Incirlik, would be diminished. Of course this doesn’t mean that Washington would give up this base, because after all it has an established presence in Incirlik and it wouldn’t want to lose the advantages of this situation. However, Turkey’s strategic military importance for the US will be lessened by these developments. As the war in Iraq showed, bad developments could lie ahead for Turkey as Washington and Ankara’s strategic interests come to loggerheads. However, a fall in Turkey’s strategic importance doesn’t necessarily mean a fall in its political importance. We can see this from the placating messages sent recently by the US to Turkey. In sum, Turkey’s features as an ‘exemplar country’ with its secular and democratic structure have gained importance in line with Washington’s political calculations for the future. At this point the importance of the defeated proposal on deploying US soldiers emerges, but this time in another sense. US officials I spoke with said certain things, one of which can be summed up as follows: The no vote by nearly 90 of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) 365 deputies shows that the majority of the party doesn’t favor ideological Islam, to the relief of the US. Now Washington will focus on the reforms promised by the AKP. The more they are implemented, the more Turkey’s stature as an exemplar country will increase. Actually we saw an example of this in US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s statement that if Turkey meets the Copenhagen criteria, the US would like the European Union to start negotiations at the end of 2004. We shouldn’t ignore the nuances here: Previously Washington had been pushing Turkey’s EU membership due to its geostrategic importance, but has now started to talk about the Copenhagen criteria so as to underline its political importance. During these calculations of Washington, Ankara’s own thoughts are not yet clear. I hope the clues to this will emerge in the coming days.” [08] TURKEY’S SHARE BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS (SABAH)Columnist Asli Aydintasbas comments on postwar Iraq and Turkey’s possible role in the nation’s reconstruction process. A summary of her column is as follows:“As I write these lines today, Saddam Hussein, probably somewhere in northern Iraq, plus George W. Bush, at his farm in Texas for Easter celebrations, and Jay Garner, a retired US general appointed by Washington to oversee Iraq’s transition to ‘democracy,’ sitting at his desk at the Kuwait City Hilton, were all racking their brains to figure out their next moves. Baghdad is still suffering under a terrible, chaotic situation, with still no water and no electricity. Contrary to the US’ assertions, I think that the war isn’t quite over yet. But the Bush administration has already launched ‘Operation Iraq Reconstruction.’ So what will Turkey’s role in this process be? Let’s first take the military aspect of the issue. Washington doesn’t want to undertake its peacekeeping mission in Iraq single-handedly and thus has been consulting with its NATO allies as well as the coalition forces for some time now. For instance US Vice President Dick Cheney recently talked to the leaders of Azerbaijan and Hungary over possible security force deployment in Iraq. Ankara has also conveyed to the US the message that Turkey, too, was willing to send troops to the country as part of an international security force. Yet, ‘surprisingly,’ the Bush administration, for the time being, does not seem willing to approve Turkish troop deployment in the country partly due to the US disappointment over our Parliament not letting US forces in for a northern offensive into Iraq, and partly due to the fear that Turkish-Kurdish clashes could set off sparks in Iraq, especially in the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, and make things much worse in the country. Secondly there is another, and perhaps a more important aspect of the reconstruction process, namely the reconstruction, physical literal, of the nation’s infrastructures. No matter what some say, certain US officials have made clear that Turkish construction companies will have a part in rebuilding Iraq’s US-pummeled infrastructures.” 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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