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Turkish Press Review, 03-06-16Turkish 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 morning16.06.2003ERDOGAN VISITS PAKISTAN ON SECOND STOP OF ASIAN TRIP PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ARINC CRITICIZES US’ IRAQ POLICY ENERGY OFFICIAL DEFENDS POWER STATION TAKEOVER ZIYAL VISITS WASHINGTON IN BID TO MEND STRAINED RELATIONS US CYPRUS COORDINATOR WESTON TO MEET WITH DENKTAS EU OFFICIAL BOUTEILLER: “ANKARA SHOULD KEEP UP ITS REFORMS” ITALIAN DEPUTY PM FINI: “A EUROPE WITHOUT TURKEY IS INCONCEIVABLE” BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER VERHOFSTADT: “TURKEY’S FATE IS ITS OWN HANDS” MHP LEADER BAHCELI ANNOUNCES OPPOSITION TO SIXTH HARMONIZATION PACKAGE 1.5 MILLION-PLUS STUDENTS TAKE UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAM SPECIAL NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HONORS 100 YEARS OF TURKISH HISTORY FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… ATHENS’ PRESSURE ON ANKARA BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET) GOVERNING BUT LACKING POWER BY H. BULENT KAHRAMAN (RADIKAL)CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN VISITS PAKISTAN ON SECOND STOP OF ASIAN TRIPIn Malaysia on Saturday for the first stop of a two-nation trip to Asia, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with that country’s Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. Later in the day, Erdogan flew to Islamabad and met with his Pakistani counterpart Zafarullah Han Cemali to discuss a number of issues, including the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India. Erdogan said that Turkey favored a peaceful solution for the violence-torn border region, adding that any proposed solution must deliver justice to both sides. During the meeting, Erdogan also urged Pakistan to support the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC) bid to join the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). /Aksam/[02] PARLIAMENT SPEAKER ARINC CRITICIZES US’ IRAQ POLICYAppearing on state TV channel TRT 2 over the weekend, Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc criticized the United States’ policy on Iraq. “It is wrong to forcefully impose a political regime on another nation,” said Arinc. “The Iraqi people should be allowed to express their own free will. The US willfully ignores the United Nations regulations and does whatever it wants to in Iraq without taking into consideration the wishes of its people. I hope this mistaken policy will be reversed immediately and a truly democratic regime established in the region as soon as possible.” /Turkiye/[03] ENERGY OFFICIAL DEFENDS POWER STATION TAKEOVEREnergy Markets Regulatory Authority (EPDK) head Yusuf Gunay yesterday defended the government’s decision last week to take over two power stations, arguing that it was both reached unanimously and constitutionally sound. The two stations, Cukurova and Kepez Electric, had been administered by the controversial Uzan group, which the government contends violated provisions of their 1998 concession agreement on the facilities. /Hurriyet/[04] ZIYAL VISITS WASHINGTON IN BID TO MEND STRAINED RELATIONSForeign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal flew over the weekend to Washington in a bid to mend bilateral relations which were strained in the wake of Turkey’s refusal of US troop deployments prior to the Iraq war. During his four-day visit, Ziyal is expected to meet with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Assistant Secretary of State Marc Grossman, the latter a former US ambassador to Ankara. He will convey a message to the Bush administration that Turkey is ready to cooperate with the US on Iraq’s reconstruction. He will also deliver an address tomorrow on “Perspectives in Turkish Foreign Policy: Looking Forward After Iraq” at the American Enterprise Institute and speak to National Press Club on Wednesday on the subject of “Mending the Rift Between the US and Turkey.” /Star/[05] US CYPRUS COORDINATOR WESTON TO MEET WITH DENKTASDiplomatic initiatives of both the European Union and the United States to resolve the Cyprus issue are picking up speed. Thomas Weston, the US special envoy to Cyprus, is due today to meet with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas in Lefkosa. Weston recently also met with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos. Following his talks with Denktas, Weston will also meet with representatives from various TRNC political parties and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). /Anatolia News Agency/[06] EU OFFICIAL BOUTEILLER: “ANKARA SHOULD KEEP UP ITS REFORMS”Didier Bouteiller, the commissioner for horizontal issues and liaison with multilateral institutions for the European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Committee, over the weekend urged Turkey to continue its reforms in order to speed its pace towards EU membership. Remarking that the December 2004 EU summit would be a critical event for Turkey’s membership bid, Bouteiller stated that Ankara’s priority task should be preparing for this date when its membership negotiations are due to be scheduled. “I hope that Turkey’s membership talks will begin in 2005,” said Bouteiller. “However, I must stress that Turkey still has a long way to go.” He also added that the EU was planning to boost its financial aid to Turkey in 2004-2006. /Turkiye/[07] ITALIAN DEPUTY PM FINI: “A EUROPE WITHOUT TURKEY IS INCONCEIVABLE”Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, whose nation will take over the EU term presidency in less than two weeks, over the weekend stated that he believed the European Union had certain responsibilities towards Turkey. Stressing that Italy would support Turkey’s EU membership bid, Fini remarked that his country respected Turkey’s calendar and believed that Ankara would do its utmost to fulfill all the necessary criteria on time. “I can’t think of a Europe without Turkey,” added the Italian deputy prime minister, echoing statements by his superior, Silvio Berlusconi. “Turkey will adopt itself to European norms, develop its economy and improve its democracy. During our term presidency, my country will always support Ankara’s efforts towards these goals.” /Cumhuriyet/[08] BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER VERHOFSTADT: “TURKEY’S FATE IS ITS OWN HANDS”Speaking to daily Sabah yesterday, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt stated that since the European Union cannot rightfully exclude a country which fulfills all the necessary membership criteria, Turkey’s fate rested in its own hands. “Ankara itself will determine the beginning date of its membership negotiations,” said the Belgian prime minister. “The EU criteria for candidate countries are very clear. Turkey can begin its membership negotiations as soon as it manages to fulfill these. Therefore, the Turkish government should pick up the pace of its work.” He also criticized certain EU circles’ misconception of a monocultural Europe completely dominated by Judeo-Christian values, adding, “Everybody must understand that Europe is not made up of only Christians and Jews.” /Sabah/[09] MHP LEADER BAHCELI ANNOUNCES OPPOSITION TO SIXTH HARMONIZATION PACKAGENationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli charged yesterday that the sixth European Union harmonization package sent recently to Parliament failed to take into consideration the indivisibility and structure of Turkey’s unitary state. “The harmonization package might hurt the nation because it would make fomenting ethnic and religious discrimination easier,” said Bahceli. “Misleading and ignoring the nation would be the greatest disrespect.” Formerly a top political and government party, the MHP last fall failed to win enough votes to enter Parliament. /Aksam/[10] 1.5 MILLION-PLUS STUDENTS TAKE UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMYesterday over 1.5 million students across the country took their Student Selection Exams (OSS) in order to gain admission to a university in Turkey or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Savas Kucukyavuz, the head of exam authority the Student Selection and Placement Center (OSYM), said that the three-hour exam had gone smoothly. /All Papers/[11] SPECIAL NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HONORS 100 YEARS OF TURKISH HISTORYA special issue of National Geographic Turkey on newsstands now honors 100 years of Turkish history with 100 photographs from over the last century. The commemorative magazine supported by Garanti Bank draws from National Geographic’s vast photo archives to enlighten and educate its readers on the breadth and scope of Turkish history. /Anatolia News Agency/[12] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…[13] ATHENS’ PRESSURE ON ANKARA BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)Columnist Fikret Bila comments on Athens’ policy of protesting flights by Turkish military jets. A summary of his column is as follows:“How is Ankara dealing with the recently increased tensions raised by Greece under the pretext of protesting Turkish military flights in the Aegean? NATO, to which both Ankara and Athens belong, was both aware of the Turkish flights and permitted them. In addition, the results of an investigation by NATO Central Command’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) definitively disproved Athens’ claims. However, Athens is continuing its current policy, and meanwhile it’s targeting the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). For example, Greek Defense Minister Yannos Papantoniou yesterday criticized the TSK again. He claimed that ‘generals’ are governing Turkey. In addition, Greek Cypriot administration Foreign Minister George Yakovu charged that Turkey was keeping Cyprus’ future European Union lands ‘under military occupation’ and that this made it ineligible to join the EU. Athens is now carrying its stance on Cyprus to the Aegean problem. It thinks that this policy, which it knows to have been influential in Cyprus, will work on the Aegean as well. It will continue to follow this path through next year. Ankara knows Athens’ intentions and aims and thinks them up to no good. For instance, Ankara thinks that Greece failed to return its own goodwill gesture of not putting pressure on Athens on the terrorist PKK issue. Will Athens’ pressure policy affect Ankara’s stance on the Aegean issue and military flights? Civilian and military circles I spoke to yesterday both said no. They told me that Turkish jets were flying under a training program with NATO’s full awareness and permission and that therefore these flights could neither be halted nor changed due merely to Athens’ tactics. Athens also knows this, but is trying to wear the TSK down. Military analysts’ take on the situation is this: Athens is trying to pressure Turkey from two sides. It wants Ankara to follow an appeasement policy because of its goal of EU membership. It’s trying to use the Iraq problem and the postwar conditions in the east, and to create pressure by pushing the Cyprus and Aegean issues to the west. Turkey isn’t getting any return for the well-intentioned steps it recently took on the EU road. Ankara is expecting to get a response for the steps it’s taken to implement needed reforms.” [14] GOVERNING BUT LACKING POWER BY H. BULENT KAHRAMAN (RADIKAL)Columnist H. Bulent Kahraman writes about a rift between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the country’s bureaucratic establishment. A summary of his column is as follows:“Close watchers of the AKP government should have noticed that it recently launched a new campaign for our country’s EU membership bid. Following Justice Minister Cemil Cicek’s call for judges to implement EU reforms in their rulings, the government is now urging all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to promote and speed up Turkey’s integration into the Union. Surprisingly enough, this campaign came in the wake of controversial remarks by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charging that a bureaucratic ‘oligarchy’ was trying to lord over Turkey’s elected politicians. That is, the prime minister was admitting that the AKP holds the government yet lacks the real reins of political power. These three developments in fact briefly summarize the basic contours of Turkey’s political life and structure over the last century. True, the AKP is the government, but it lacks political power. And the bureaucracy really is one of the reasons for this. The definition of Turkey’s bureaucracy should be flexible in that it constitutes an alliance, which I call a ‘historical bloc.’ By bureaucracy, I mean a specific quarter in Turkish political history, an alliance which was initially made up of ‘the military, bureaucracy and intellectuals’ back in the early years of the republic. This bloc is in a sense the established order, and its raison d’etre is to protect the overwhelming dominance of the regime’s founding ideology. And apparently, the government is now in a conflict with this alliance. However, in fact all our governments since 1950 have had tense relations with this bloc, notably Adnan Menderes’s Democrat Party (DP), Suleyman Demirel’s Justice Party (AP), and Turgut Ozal’s Motherland Party (ANAP). Each of these three prominent figures had their own sociological reasons for conflict with the bureaucracy, and more importantly they were aware of them and used them against the bureaucracy. This is what the AKP now lacks. It fails to understand the meaning and function of its mass support, and instead is merely blaming the bureaucratic establishment. In so doing, it cannot overcome the dilemma of being the government while lacking real power.” 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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