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Turkish Press Review, 04-08-11Turkish 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 morning11.08.2004ERDOGAN TO VISIT GEORGIA ISTANBUL ROCKED BY BOMB BLASTS KARAMANLIS REITERATES SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID, SAYS ANKARA’S FUTURE IS IN EUROPE PUTIN INVITES ERDOGAN TO VISIT RUSSIA TALAT: “THE TRNC’S ISOLATION SHOULD BE ENDED BEFORE ANKARA GETS A DATE TO BEGIN ITS EU ACCESSION TALKS” UNAKITAN PREDICTS JOB GROWTH ON THE WAY ISO SURVEY EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ON ECONOMY FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... WILL THE RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE COVER SYNAGOGUES’ ELECTRICITY BILLS? BY ERTUGRUL OZKOK (HURRIYET)CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN TO VISIT GEORGIAPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to travel to Tbilisi, Georgia today to meet with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to discuss a number of issues, including bilateral relations and regional and international developments. During his two-day visit, Erdogan is also expected to meet with his Georgian counterpart Zurab Zhvania. In related news, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is due to arrive in Turkey next Monday for a four-day visit, where he will be expected to express his support for Turkey’s European Union membership bid before the December EU summit, when the Union is to decide whether or not to begin Ankara’s accession talks. /Turkiye/[02] ISTANBUL ROCKED BY BOMB BLASTSBomb blasts early Tuesday rocked two tourist hotels and a gas complex in Istanbul, killing two and wounding 11. Two near-simultaneous explosions occurred at around 2 am in the hotels, and an hour later two more bombs went off at a liquefied gas storage site in Esenyurt, on Istanbul's outskirts. “We are taking all necessary measures to ensure that tourism is not affected,” Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu told a news conference. Aksu recalled that Istanbul earlier this year hosted a NATO summit and several other international conferences without a hitch, thus proving Turkish officials’ ability to provide security. An al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the bombings. “The Abu Hafs [Al Masri] Brigades have carried out the first of a series of operations that will be launched in the face of European states... and the upcoming attacks will be more violent,” the group said a statement posted on an Islamist website. However, Aksu stated that the perpetrators of the bombings were Kurdish separatist PKK militants. In the evening, the PKK denied the al-Qaeda-linked group’s statement, and itself claimed responsibility for the attacks. /All Papers/[03] KARAMANLIS REITERATES SUPPORT FOR TURKEY’S EU BID, SAYS ANKARA’S FUTURE IS IN EUROPESpeaking to French daily Le Monde yesterday, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis praised Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying that now Ankara was much closer to the European Union thanks to his Turkish counterpart. Karamanlis stated that Ankara’s future was in Europe and reiterated Greece’s support for Turkey’s EU bid. He said that Turkey’s European Union membership was important not only for Ankara, but also for the whole region and that recently Ankara had taken important steps forward. “We appreciate Turkey’s EU reforms for its membership bid,” said Karamanlis. Asked whether close relations between Turkey and the EU would hinder a resolution on the Cyprus issue, Karamanlis said that he didn’t believe so, adding that for the last 40 years, all sides had been doing their utmost for a resolution. He added that he didn’t believe the Greek Cypriots would oppose Turkey’s EU bid. /Turkiye/[04] PUTIN INVITES ERDOGAN TO VISIT RUSSIARussian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to pay an official visit to Turkey in September, has invited Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit his country for World War II victory commemoration ceremonies to be held next May. Erdogan yesterday met with Russian Ambassador in Ankara Peter Stegny, who conveyed Putin’s invitation to the premier. The leaders of the UN National Security Council and G-8 countries are expected to attend the victory celebrations. /Hurriyet/[05] TALAT: “THE TRNC’S ISOLATION SHOULD BE ENDED BEFORE ANKARA GETS A DATE TO BEGIN ITS EU ACCESSION TALKS”Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday warned that if Turkey gets a date to begin its European Union accession talks at the December EU summit, then this could reduce Ankara’s leverage on the Cyprus issue. Talat stressed that in light of this danger, the TRNC’s international isolation should be brought to an end before Turkey gets a date from the EU. He further urged that since Ankara had fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria, the Union should give Turkey such a date. /Milliyet/[06] UNAKITAN PREDICTS JOB GROWTH ON THE WAYSpeaking at a press conference yesterday, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan predicted that increasing investment and economic growth would yield rising employment in the months to come. “We’ll see this in the second half of this year and the next,” he said. He also touted recent low inflation figures, adding that the nation would get used to this modest inflation. Unakitan stated that the government was closely watching Turkey’s high current accounts deficit and had taken certain measures to reduce it. The current accounts deficit is expected to reach $10 billion by year’s-end. /Aksam/[07] ISO SURVEY EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ON ECONOMYIstanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Chairman Tanil Kucuk yesterday released the results of the chamber’s Economic Situation Public Survey, saying that it showed optimism for the economy for the second half the year. Kucuk said that the ITO expected the economy to continue to grow in the coming months. He also underlined that unemployment could only be tackled through well-prepared, comprehensive plans designed to create new manufacturing jobs. /Hurriyet/[08] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...[09] WILL THE RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE COVER SYNAGOGUES’ ELECTRICITY BILLS?[10] BY ERTUGRUL OZKOK (HURRIYET)Columnist Ertugrul Ozkok comments on Turkey’s Jewish community. A summary of his column is as follows:“Whatever their faith, the electricity bills of places of worship in Turkey were covered by the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAS), at least until 2002. The former coalition government lifted this financial burden from TEDAS, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs started to cover these expenses. However, the situation of the synagogues and churches was forgotten. TEDAS also used to pay their electricity bills, but stopped this and expected them to pay instead. The Jewish community wrote to TEDAS, but to no avail. Therefore the community appealed to the government. ‘The problem isn’t money,’ a Jewish community member told me. ‘We are upstanding members of this society and carry Turkish passports. If the state is covering the electricity bills of mosques, shouldn’t it do the same for synagogues, which are places of worship for Turkish citizens who are Jews? This would demonstrate equal rights for all citizens.’ At last the government found a solution to this, and the Directorate of Religious Affairs will cover these expenses. By the way, I’d also like to touch upon a recent controversy which also involved the Jewish community. Last weekend Reuters quoted Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew as saying, ‘Freedom of religion is restricted in Turkey.’ This statement wasn’t welcomed among the Jewish community, which firmly rebuked it and decided to announce that it disagrees with the patriarch. In a statement released yesterday, Istanbul’s chief rabbi said that Jews living in Turkey don’t face any problems concerning religious freedom or practicing their faith. Reuters has apologized, saying that the statement had been misquoted. All these events show how the Turkish state has good relations with its non-Muslim citizens.” 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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