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Turkish Press Review, 04-08-13
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
13.08.2004
ERDOGAN MEETS WITH GEORGIAN
PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, ADDRESSES BUSINESS COUNCIL
BELGIUM PROMOTES TURKEY’S
EU MEMBERSHIP BID
GREEK PM REITERATES SUPPORT
FOR TURKEY’S EU BID, PRAISES HIS GOOD RELATION
WITH ERDOGAN
REUTERS POLL: “TURKEY’S
MEMBERSHIP NEGOTIATIONS WILL BEGIN IN 2005”
BUSINESS WEEK: “TURKEY IS
FEELING STRAINS IN ITS TIES WITH THE US AND
ISRAEL”
CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT
TARGET RAISED TO $10.8 BLN
FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE
COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS
ERDOGAN: “I WILL TALK TO
PUTIN AND TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM”
BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH GEORGIAN
PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, ADDRESSES BUSINESS COUNCIL
[02] BELGIUM PROMOTES TURKEY’S EU
MEMBERSHIP BID
[03] GREEK PM REITERATES SUPPORT FOR
TURKEY’S EU BID, PRAISES HIS GOOD RELATION WITH
ERDOGAN
[04] REUTERS POLL: “TURKEY’S
MEMBERSHIP NEGOTIATIONS WILL BEGIN IN 2005”
[05] BUSINESS WEEK: “TURKEY IS
FEELING STRAINS IN ITS TIES WITH THE US AND
ISRAEL”
[06] CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT TARGET
RAISED TO $10.8 BLN
[07] FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE
COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS
[08] ERDOGAN: “I WILL TALK TO PUTIN
AND TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM”
BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)
[01] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH GEORGIAN
PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, ADDRESSES BUSINESS COUNCIL
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, currently in Tbilisi to pay an
official visit, yesterday met with Georgian
Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze. During their
meeting, Burjanadze briefed Erdogan on recent
developments in the breakaway South Ossetia
region. Erdogan said that Ankara was ready to
contribute to a peaceful resolution of the
dispute. Later, Erdogan attended a meeting of
the Turkish-Georgian Business Council.
Addressing the gathering, Erdogan said that
Turkey was the number three country in
investments in Georgia, after the United States
and Britain, but added that he would like to see
further investment. Also addressing the council,
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili touted
friendly relations between the two countries and
urged Turkish businessmen to invest more in his
country. “The Georgian government will stand by
you when you invest here,” added Saakashvili.
/Turkiye/
[02] BELGIUM PROMOTES TURKEY’S EU
MEMBERSHIP BID
Belgium's European Union Minister Didier Donfut yesterday argued that
the EU should approve Turkey’s membership. “The
Union, as a community of values, should turn
towards the Mediterranean countries,” Donfut
told daily La Libre Belgique. “To deprive
ourselves of Turkey, with its place in the
international community and economic role and
its embrace of two world cultures, would be a
grave strategic error.” /Sabah/
[03] GREEK PM REITERATES SUPPORT FOR
TURKEY’S EU BID, PRAISES HIS GOOD RELATION WITH
ERDOGAN
Speaking to German daily Bild yesterday, Greek Prime Minister Costas
Karamanlis reiterated his support for Turkey’s
European Union membership bid. He said that as
Turkey’s EU membership gets closer, more people
would understand the advantages of giving a
European perspective to Ankara. Karamanlis also
praised his good relations with Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying, “Erdogan is a
moderate person and I respect his religion.” He
added that Erdogan represented a new generation
in Turkey. /Aksam/
[04] REUTERS POLL: “TURKEY’S
MEMBERSHIP NEGOTIATIONS WILL BEGIN IN 2005”
Turkey is expected to start its European Union membership negotiations
in 2005, but Ankara is likely to take another 10
years to complete the reforms required for full
membership, according to the results of a
Reuters poll of 31 economists released
yesterday. Analysts surveyed said that Turkey’s
chance to persuade the EU to open its membership
talks in 2005 rose considerably this year after
the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP)
introduced a flurry of reforms to fulfill the
Copenhagen criteria. Merrill Lynch analyst
Mehmet Simsek sees an 85 percent chance that the
EU will begin membership talks with Turkey next
year. “The chances have improved dramatically
over the past few months on the back of
accelerated reforms, Turkey's stance in Cyprus
and improved diplomatic ties,” said Tevfik Aksoy
at Deutsche Bank. “The fact the Cyprus issue
remains unresolved is a negative but it would be
extremely unfair if the EU were to blame Turkey
for that,” said Dwyfor Evans at Bank of America.
/All Papers/
[05] BUSINESS WEEK: “TURKEY IS
FEELING STRAINS IN ITS TIES WITH THE US AND
ISRAEL”
Turkey’s strong ties with Israel and the US have been strained by the
Iraq war, and little improvement is likely as
Ankara angles to join the European Union, argued
Stan Crock, chief diplomatic correspondent for
Business Week in Washington. In his piece
entitled “Turkey in Transition,” Crock stated
that observers could make two further additions
to the casualty list of the war in Iraq:
Turkish-Israeli ties and US-Turkish relations.
“It wasn't so long ago that Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon called Turkey the most
important nation in the world to Israel – after
the US,” he wrote. “But the ardor between these
two Middle Eastern democracies is cooling.
Ankara has cancelled some business contracts
with Israel...” According to Crock, although
Israel would like a decentralized government to
keep Iraq weak, Turkey would like a strong
central government in Baghdad to keep the Kurds
in check. “Turkey is outraged at reports that
Israel is training Kurds in northern Iraq – a
charge the Sharon government denies,” he added.
/Sabah/
[06] CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT TARGET
RAISED TO $10.8 BLN
Speaking at a press conference yesterday following the 12th meeting of
the government’s Economic Coordination Council,
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said that
the council was closely watching the current
accounts deficit and stressed that the financing
of the deficit was very important. Sener stated
that the council had decided to revise this
year’s $7.6 billion current accounts deficit
target upwards to $10.8 billion. The
International Monetary Fund also warned about
the high trade deficit in a report it released
on Wednesday. Touching on Turkey’s new
three-year standby with the IMF, Sener said that
the new deal was a response to market wishes. He
added that the council also discussed providing
economic aid to provinces where per annual
capita income is below $1,500. /Cumhuriyet/
[07] FROM THE COLUMNS … FROM THE
COLUMNS … FROM THE COLUMNS
[08] ERDOGAN: “I WILL TALK TO PUTIN
AND TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM”
BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)
Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli comments on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s current visit to Georgia. A summary of
her column is as follows:
“One problem kept coming up during Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s discussions with
Georgian officials, namely Russia’s involvement
in Georgia’s internal politics and Georgian
officials’ distress at this. Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili has been unable to bring
stability since he came to power. He first dealt
with Adzhara (Adjaria) – the problem of which
was solved after the region’s leader fled to
Russia, the country which supported him – but
the troubles didn’t end there. Thereafter, the
problem of South Ossetia emerged. Even during
Erdogan’ short visit, there’s been no letup in
the bloodshed in South Ossetia. Saakashvili
believes that Russia is behind the turmoil in
the region. In almost all of his speeches, he
refers to ‘Georgia’s northern neighbor, which
sees Georgia not as an independent state, but as
a part of its soil.’ At a joint press conference
with Erdogan, Saakashvili complained about
Russian nationalist politician Vladimir
Zhirinovsky, who tried to enter Georgia without
a passport or permission, claiming that the
country is a part of Russia.
Therefore, Saakashvili requested support from
its ‘neighbor in its west’ against its ‘neighbor
in its north.’ In other words, Saakashvili
requested that Erdogan serve as a kind of a
mediator between Georgia and Russia. Erdogan
welcomed this request. Erdogan said that he
would talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin
and try to solve the problem. ‘Putin will visit
Ankara soon,’ said Erdogan. ‘We will establish
friendship and gain mutual trust. I will later
talk to him about this issue. It will be a talk
between friends.’
Turkey is changing its passive policy on
Georgia to a more active one. This is reflected
by Erdogan’s statements that he will do his duty
in solving the problems in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. Erdogan is also frank about Ahiska
Turks who were living in Georgia, but were
forced to leave the country. The Ahiska Turks
were on the Council of Europe’s agenda. Erdogan
said to Saakashvili that Georgia had promised
the world to let them return to their homes, but
then failed to deliver. ‘We are expecting steps
from you on this issue,’ Erdogan told
Saakashvili. Erdogan’s visit to Tbilisi is
signaling an active Turkish foreign policy in
the Caucasus.”
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