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Turkish Press Review, 03-10-10Turkish 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> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning10.10.2003FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...CONTENTS
[01] TURKEY, GREECE CANCEL MILITARY EXERCISES NEAR CYPRUSBoth Turkey and Greece will cancel scheduled military exercises near the island of Cyprus, said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday after a meeting with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou. Gul and Papandreou met at the 10th foreign ministers’ meeting at the Mediterranean Forum (FORMED) held in Antalya. “We have been doing the Toros and Barboros military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean,” Gul told reporters. “Greece, for its part, has been doing the Toksadis and Efotoros military exercises. But this year both these exercises have been canceled. I will soon visit Athens to discuss next year’s Olympics in that city. Besides the Olympic games, cooperation in many other areas will also be discussed.” Meanwhile, Papandreou praised Turkey’s decision to send troops to Iraq as a difficult but correct decision. “Such a decision was necessary for Iraq’s stability,” he added. /Hurriyet/[02] ERDOGAN: “THE MEDIA MUSTN’T WAVER FROM ITS COMMITMENT TO SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST”Speaking yesterday at the opening of the 40th Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) general assembly in Istanbul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed to the increasing importance of public broadcasting. “In the era of globalization, public broadcasting plays a key role in the development of democracy, human rights and civil society,” said the premier. Stressing that broadcasters should never waver from their commitment to inform the public about important issues, Erdogan stated that this was only possible through providing broadcasters with financial, administrative and editorial independence. In addition, following the gathering, Erdogan told reporters that Turkish soldiers would go to Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the Iraqi people rather than as a police force. /Hurriyet/.[03] TURKEY’S UN AMBASSADOR BRIEFS ANNAN ON IRAQ DEPLOYMENTTurkish Ambassador to the United Nations Umit Pamir yesterday visited UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Pamir briefed Annan on Parliament’s recent go- ahead for sending troops to Iraq, saying that details of the matter would be clear following meetings between Turkish and US officials. The ambassador also remarked that Ankara had no secret designs on the region, reiterating that Turkish troops in Iraq would not be an invasion force. /Turkiye/[04] IN TALKS WITH US SIDE, ANKARA SEEKS DUTY TO THE NORTH OF BAGHDADFollowing the passage Tuesday of a government motion on sending troops to Iraq, meetings with Turkish and US officials to set details on the deployment began yesterday. Turkey is reportedly seeking that its troops serve in a region to the north of Baghdad, including the cities of Bagubah, Fallujah and Tikrit, where US soldiers have faced heavy attacks. Some 6,000 or 10,000 Turkish soldiers are expected to be deployed. In addition, sources said that Ankara stipulated that US forces must combat members and leaders of the PKK_KADEK terrorist organization based in northern Iraq. In related news, US House of Representatives Armed Forces Committee Chairman Jim Saxton accompanied by four fellow congressmen yesterday met with Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin. /Turkiye/[05] BARZANI: “TURKISH TROOPS WILL MAKE IRAQ’S SECURITY WORSE”The deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq will only make the country’s security situation even worse, and the United States will be to blame, charged Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKPD) leader Massoud Barzani yesterday. In related news, Fevzi Safi Irfan, the mayor of Fallujah, an Iraqi city where Turkish troops could be deployed, said that the presence of these soldiers would amount to “punishment” from the US. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari yesterday also repeated his claim that Iraq’s Governing Council, on which he serves, is opposed to the deployment, though the council itself has yet to release any official statement to that end. /Aksam/[06] FORMER US SECRETARY OF STATE ALBRIGHT TO VISIT ISTANBULFormer US Secretary of State Madeline Albright is scheduled to pay a visit to Istanbul on October 31. In a conference organized by Capital magazine and sponsored by Garanti Bank, Albright will deliver a speech on global trade development projects during her 1997-2001 tenure as the top US diplomat and share her memories of world leaders. Albright will also make a presentation on the effects of globalization. /Hurriyet/[07] CHP PLANS CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHALLENGE TO DEPLOYMENTThe main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) yesterday announced plans to challenge before the Constitutional Court the validity of a motion giving authorization to send Turkish troops to Iraq. CHP deputy leaders Ali Topuz and Kemal Anadol told a press conference that the “content and procedure” of the motion were unconstitutional. Anadol charged that Parliament’s closed session on the motion violated Articles 6 and 7 of the Constitution. “The motion granted Parliament’s authority to the government, ” added Topuz. /Hurriyet/[08] IMF’S DAWSON: “TURKEY IS A MODEL COUNTRY, AND THE MARKETS RECOGNIZE THIS”Turkey’s progress with its International Monetary Fund-supported economic program has been exemplary, and the financial markets are rewarding this, said IMF External Affairs Director Dawson yesterday. Asked about the sixth review, he described it as “continuing,” and added, “I’m not in a position to say when it will be completed... I think Turkey is a model in terms of how we deal with missions in country program cases, and I think there will be a statement at the time it is concluded... Market confidence indicators are also very, very strong. So the markets are still giving a strong vote of support for the Turkish program.” /Cumhuriyet/[09] TUSIAD DELEGATION MEETS PRODI TO TALK TURKEY’S EU BIDA visiting Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) delegation met in Brussels yesterday with European Union Commission Chairman Romano Prodi to discuss Turkey’s EU membership bid. During the meeting, TUSIAD Chairman Tuncay Ozilhan said that Turkey’s dynamic young population would help propel the Union into the future, adding that Ankara had completed the Copenhagen criteria and would do what is needed to fully implement them. /Milliyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[11] DIFFICULTIES IN IRAQ BY HASAN CEMAL (MILLIYET)Columnist Hasan Cemal comments on the many difficulties Turkey faces on the Iraq issue. A summary of his column is as follows:“Of course no country wants to see its soldiers die. However, today the situation is very complicated, and discussions are being dominated by Turkish soldiers’ blood. The opposing sides accuse each other of supporting US President George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein and the PKK, which is a shameful tactic. Nobody should seek to exploit such emotions. Some shout slogans like ‘The blood of Turkish soldiers isn’t for sale.’ However, the important thing is the ability to see the big picture. Sometimes in a larger context Turkish soldiers might play important roles, just like over the last two decades. Turkish soldiers have died and been injured not only in southeastern Anatolia, but also in northern Iraq for many years. What’s more, the instability in Iraq and the power vacuum in northern Iraq lie behind these tragic incidents. ‘Turkey has been dealing with Iraq for almost 23 years,’ a top Foreign Ministry official told me recently. ‘The war next door started back in 1980 when Saddam attacked Iran. Then in 1990 Saddam invaded Kuwait, and then we came to this point through two gulf wars, which is enough.’ I think he’s right. Iraq, Turkey and the Middle East need stability and order in Iraq. Would Arabs deny this, or would the Kurds prefer more chaos? I don’t think so. Chaos wouldn’t serve their interests. It’s important for Turkey to play a constructive role in establishing order and stability in Iraq as soon as possible. As for the Iraqi Kurds, Talabani and Barzani and circles close to them should listen to the words of a Foreign Ministry source: ‘For 12 years now Turkey has given you the base for your security, providing your lifeblood. How can you be so quick to forget this?’ In sum, Iraq is important for Turkey, and Turkey is important for Iraq as well. A stable, independent unitary Iraq, living peacefully with others and no longer under occupation, would be a new Iraq and a new door. Now Turkey holds the key to open this door, that is, to cooperate for a solution in Iraq. Ankara should use this key carefully, without alienating the Arabs or Kurds. It should use this key by looking at the entire picture, paying attention to the Middle East and details of the cooperation with the US and the balance between the European Union and the US as well.’ [12] THE CIVILIAN-MILITARY BALANCE IN IRAQ BY FERAI TINC (HURRIYET)Columnist Ferai Tinc writes on Turkey’s Iraq policy. A summary of her column is as follows:“Iraq’s Kurds, who embraced foreign powers after the fall of Saddam Hussein, are the most worried ethnic group in the war-torn country about Turkey’s decision to send its troops there. I can understand why. Prominent Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said he believed soldiers from Iraq’s immediate neighbors would only plunge the country into deeper chaos since they have their own agenda on Iraq besides the country’s reconstruction. I’ve said before that no matter how oppressive was Saddam’s regime, it had to be overthrown by the Iraqi people themselves. I was against the war. I opposed the US troop deployment in our territories. However, now the situation has completely changed. Saddam was toppled by a US-led war, and Washington is unable to establish a new order. It’s impossible to provide the Iraqi people with reliable basic services without first establishing security in the country. The United Nations and international non- governmental organizations (NGOs) are withdrawing their staffs from Iraq. The priority in Iraq is security, which is why I believe Turkish troops should cooperate with the coalition forces towards this end. But how, and under which conditions? New negotiations are underway to nail down the details. There’s an important point here: Turkey should consider its own fight against the Kurdish terrorist group PKK/KADEK as a separate issue. Ankara should of course seek international support, since the PKK/KADEK announced that it had ended its cease-fire. However, Turkey doesn’t have to send its troops to Iraq to combat terrorism. This is a different fight. Therefore, fighting terrorism and contributing to Iraq’s stability are two different priority issues on Ankara’s agenda. It’s high time for Ankara to take important steps which will change our country’s negative image in the eyes of the world on the Kurdish issue. Ankara should pursue an Iraq policy which treats all ethnic groups equally and favors the immediate establishment of an Iraqi democracy, so the world can see that its worries about Turkey’s so-called ‘secret plans for northern Iraq’ are based on nothing but idle gossip.” 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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