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Turkish Press Review, 04-08-23Turkish 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 morning23.08.2004<blockquote> <_blockquote>CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “TURKEY WILL ENTER A NEW ERA”Turkey will enter a new era after getting a date for its European Union accession talks, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday during a trip to the Black Sea town of Rize. Stressing the great importance of getting a date for accession talks, Erdogan underlined that the government is working very hard for Ankara’s EU bid. /Sabah/[02] BAYKAL CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT OVER DEBTDuring a visit to Tokat yesterday, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal charged that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has only added to Turkey’s debt rather then cutting it. /Star/[03] FRENCH FM: “THE EU SHOULD KEEP ITS PROMISE AND GIVE TURKEY A DATE TO[04] BEGIN ACCESSION TALKS”Speaking to Greek daily To Vima yesterday, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said that the European Union should keep its promise to give Turkey a date this December to begin accession talks. “Turkey has achieved considerable progress since it signed a partnership agreement with the EU in 1963,” said Barnier. “The European Commission appreciates the reforms recently passed by Ankara.” The top French diplomat stressed that if Turkey chooses an economic and political development model close to the Union’s, than the EU would also benefit from this. “Both Turkey and the EU have responsibilities and they shouldn’t forget these,” he said. /Milliyet/[05] NEW EU COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT TOUTS TURKEY’S PROGRESS TOWARDS MEMBERSHIPOlli Rehn, the successor to European Union for Enlargement Guenter Verheuugen, due to take over the post in November, said yesterday that Turkey has recently achieved important progress for its EU membership, adding that all candidate countries must fulfill the Copenhagen criteria in order to join the Union. Rehn stressed that enlargement was very important for the EU and added that this process would continue. /Turkiye/[06] TURKMEN PROTEST EFFORTS TO DILUTE THEIR PRESENCE IN KIRKUKAfter being forced by Iraqi Kurds to vacate their homes in Kirkuk and having their properties seized, Iraqi Turkmen yesterday staged a protest of the new Iraqi government. “The purpose of this protest is to raise our voice to both the new Iraqi government and the world and to prevent Kurdish efforts to take the control of the city,” said one protester. “This is a peaceful protest, but in the future we could use force to protect our rights.” The Kurds are trying to change the demographic structure of Kirkuk before an upcoming census which will have a key role in the northern Iraqi city’s future. About 250,000 Turkmen currently live in Kirkuk out of a total population of about 1 million. After Arabs and Kurds, Turkmen are the third-largest ethnic group in Iraq. /Hurriyet/[07] SENER: “THE GOVERNMENT IS CONTINUING TO WORK TO PROVIDE[08] SOME PROVINCES WITH ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE”Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said yesterday that the government was continuing to work to provide economic assistance to a number of underdeveloped provinces, adding that providing such aid to provinces where per capita income is under $1,500 had helped some, but did little for others. Sener added that unemployment was still one of Turkey’s most pressing problems despite a high growth rate, but predicted that unemployment would fall in the upcoming period. He further stressed the importance of economic stability in creating jobs. /Aksam/[09] ROMANIAN CONSUL GENERAL: “SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TIES WITH ANKARA[10] NEED TO BE FURTHER DEVELOPED”Speaking to Turkish daily Cumhuriyet yesterday, Radu Gabriel Safta, Romania’s consul general in Istanbul, evaluated his country’s European Union membership bid. Romania is expected to join the EU in 2007. Safta said that the EU accession process hadn’t easy for his country, but that structural reforms had boosted the Romanian economy. He stressed that there were macroeconomic similarities between the Romanian and Turkish economies and added that his country would erase four zeros from its own currency next year, similar to the upcoming Turkish lira revaluation. Safta added that social and cultural ties between the two countries needed to be further developed. /Cumhuriyet/[11] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[12] OUR EU NEGOTIATIONS AND STABILITY[13] BY FAIK OZTRAK (MILLIYET)Columnist Faik Oztrak comments on Turkey’s European Union membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:“The closer the date for the European Union Commission to issue its Turkey report gets, the more heated discussions on our country’s membership grow. The EU is to decide whether or not to set a date for the beginning of Turkey’s membership negotiations in line with the commission’s fall report. The commission will issue its report after evaluating the reform packages that our Parliament recently passed in order to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria. The Copenhagen criteria require EU candidate countries to establish a stable institutional structure safeguarding democracy as well as human and minority rights plus an effective market economy capable of competing with the EU’s own economic forces. The decision on Turkey’s status will first depend on the former group, namely the political criteria. In 1997, the EU Commission adopted a no-concessions attitude with its strict enlargement policy and decided to start membership talks with only five candidate countries out of 10. But in 2000 the commission seemed to pursue a more flexible policy, especially in the cases of Bulgaria and Romania. Therefore, we all expect it to be more flexible with Turkey. However, making a decision on Turkey will be difficult for the EU Commission, as we all know that the old continent has certain sensitivities about our country. Thus, EU officials have sometimes made interesting and even shocking statements on the issue. We should expect more such statements in the future, something which will jolt our economy. Our government has to develop a strong public relations strategy to help avoid possible fluctuations in the financial markets. Every possible problem in Turkey’s negotiations will have negative repercussions on our economy, destabilizing the markets, which is why both the EU and our government must be careful in their decisions. An unstable Turkish economy would be detrimental not only to us but also to the EU. The member states must avoid inventing new criteria for Turkey’s membership bid, if they really want our country to adopt itself to the Union’s conditions as soon as possible.” 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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