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Turkish Press Review, 04-11-24
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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e-mail :
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
24.11.2004
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
CONTENTS
[01] SEZER: “TURKEY OWES ITS SUCCESS TO ITS TEACHERS”
[02] ERDOGAN: “IT’S TIME FOR THE MUSLIM WORLD TO ENGAGE IN SERIOUS SELF-CRITICISM”
[03] GUL TO ATTEND TURKEY-EU TROIKA MEETING
[04] IRAQ CONFERENCE DECLARATION SEEKS SUPPORT FOR JANUARY ELECTIONS
[05] PUTIN TO VISIT TURKEY
[06] EU FOREIGN MINISTERS SIGNAL BEGINNING OF TURKEY’S TALKS IN SECOND HALF OF 2005
[07] LAGENDIJK: “TURKEY CANNOT JOIN THE EU UNLESS ITS ARMED CONFLICT WITH KURDISH GROUPS IS OVER”
[08] IMF’S BREDENKAMP: “WE HAVE NO CONFLICT WITH ANKARA OVER BANKING LAW”
[09] HISARCIKLIOGLU: “EVERYBODY SHOULD LOOK INTO THE MIRROR NOW”
[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[11] CONFERENCES AND REALITIES BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
[01] SEZER: “TURKEY OWES ITS SUCCESS TO ITS TEACHERS”
In a message marking today, Nov. 24, Teachers Day, President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer proclaimed that Turkey owes its success to its educators, adding that
teachers deserved a higher standard of living. Echoing Sezer’s remarks,
Education Minister Huseyin Celik further called for the improvement of the
nation’s education system. /All papers/
[02] ERDOGAN: “IT’S TIME FOR THE MUSLIM WORLD TO ENGAGE IN SERIOUS SELF-
CRITICISM”
It’s high time for the Muslim world to engage in a process of serious self-
criticism, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday told a meeting of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Economic and Commercial
Cooperation Permanent Committee (ISEDAK). “Muslim countries are exerting
tremendous efforts to overcome their financial and political woes,” said
Erdogan in a speech. “For years, they’ve been trying to preserve their
cultures on the one hand, even as on the other the necessities of the
modern age force them to change. The economy, trade, investment and
development are the driving forces of globalization, and in our century the
private sector has become the chief actor of economic cooperation. Under
these circumstances, Muslim countries must examine themselves critically.”
He added that ISEDAK should ask itself a number of significant questions,
including why and how Islamic countries fell behind the standards of the
modern age. /All Papers/
[03] GUL TO ATTEND TURKEY-EU TROIKA MEETING
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is set to attend a Turkey-European Union
Troika meeting today in The Hague. Gul will reiterate that Turkey has
fulfilled the EU criteria and that Ankara expects to begin its accession
talks soon. He is scheduled to meet with the foreign ministers of the
Netherlands, which currently holds the EU’s rotating term presidency, and
of Luxembourg, which will assume presidency as of Jan. 1. In addition, he
will have talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. /Turkiye/
[04] IRAQ CONFERENCE DECLARATION SEEKS SUPPORT FOR JANUARY ELECTIONS
Seeking ways to end the ongoing violence in Iraq, a meeting of regional and
Arab countries and several international organizations meeting in Egypt on
Tuesday released a declaration stressing that national elections should be
held next January and calling for the international community to support
this goal. The declaration also underlined Iraq’s sovereignty, political
independence, national unity and the legitimacy of its government, and
condemned terrorist attacks in the country. /Cumhuriyet/
[05] PUTIN TO VISIT TURKEY
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to pay an official visit to
Turkey on Dec. 5-6. During his two-day stay, Putin is set to meet with
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as well as Turkish and Russian businessmen.
Turkish-Russian trade relations, tanker traffic in the Bosphorus and new
energy ventures are expected to be taken up during the Russian leader’s
contacts. This visit was rescheduled from September due to a terrorist
crisis in North Ossetia. /Turkiye/
[06] EU FOREIGN MINISTERS SIGNAL BEGINNING OF TURKEY’S TALKS IN SECOND HALF
OF 2005
In the runup to next month’s European Union summit, foreign ministers of
the 25 EU countries earlier this week in Brussels agreed that Turkey’s
accession talks should begin in the second half of next year. The ministers
suggested starting a pre-talks screening process of Turkish regulations to
check their compatibility with EU rules in the first half of 2005 and then
proceeding to talks in the second half. Ankara is pushing for an earlier
date, a matter to be officially decided on at the Dec. 17 EU summit. The
foreign ministers also stated that in line with the EU Commission’s fall
progress report on Turkey, the talks would be open-ended and could be
suspended if Ankara falters in its human rights or democracy reforms.
/Turkiye/
[07] LAGENDIJK: “TURKEY CANNOT JOIN THE EU UNLESS ITS ARMED CONFLICT WITH
KURDISH GROUPS IS OVER”
Turkey cannot join the European Union unless its armed conflict with
Kurdish groups is over, yesterday argued Turkish-EU Joint Parliamentary
Commission Co-Chair Joost Lagendijk at a conference on “The EU, Turkey and
Kurds” organized by the European Parliament. Lagendijk urged Ankara to
resolve its problems regarding the identity and security of Kurds living in
Turkey, warning that serious difficulties existed in the implementation of
recent reforms concerning minorities. For his part, Tuncer Bakirhan, the
leader of Turkey’s Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP), stated that the
problems of Kurdish groups must be resolved through democratic means.
/Milliyet/
[08] IMF’S BREDENKAMP: “WE HAVE NO CONFLICT WITH ANKARA OVER BANKING LAW”
International Monetary Fund Turkey Representative Hugh Bredenkamp said
yesterday that there was no conflict between Ankara and the IMF concerning
banking law. Addressing a conference organized jointly by the Turkish Banks
Union (TBB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the IMF’s
private sector lending arm, Bredenkamp predicted that next year inflation
would fall to single digits while growth would rise above 10%. He stressed,
however, that the nation’s public debt stock was still too high compared to
the European Union’s, adding that this could jeopardize the payment of
Turkey’s debt. /Aksam/
[09] HISARCIKLIOGLU: “EVERYBODY SHOULD LOOK INTO THE MIRROR NOW”
Addressing a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Economic and Commercial Cooperation Permanent Committee (ISEDAK), Turkish
Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) Executive Board Chairman
Rifat Hisarciklioglu yesterday called on Muslim countries to make the
radical changes needed to catch up with the modern age. “Everyone in
Islamic countries should look into the mirror now,” he said. “What we need
is a permanent change of heart. Businessmen and bureaucrats should work
together to overcome their common problems.” /Milliyet/
[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[11] CONFERENCES AND REALITIES BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the situation in Iraq. A summary of his
column is as follows:
“At the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Economic and
Commercial Cooperation Permanent Committee’s (ISEDAK) meeting in Istanbul
yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a brilliant speech. A
more international meeting this week in Egypt on the Iraq issue was
attended by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Most of the participants voiced
their arguments against the US, with Washington in turn absolving itself by
blaming others for its own ineptitude. However, it will continue to do
whatever it wants and ignore or recognize such conferences at will. Iraq is
in a terrible situation now, and no conference can save a country teetering
on the edge. Iraq’s integrity is Ankara’s policy. However, Washington’s
lack of policy will determine the result.
The late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat wasn’t a better statesman than
Saddam Hussein. They both did many things to stay in power. Of course
Arafat didn’t torture his own nation, that is, the Palestinians. So he
can’t really be compared with Hussein. However, several years ago he
deprived his nation of the opportunity for peace offered by then US
President Bill Clinton. The US has taken the place of Britain and France in
the Middle East and now the entire world is arrayed against it. If it had
quickly finished its work in Iraq, it wouldn’t have had so many enemies.
However, it’s let things drag out. Turkey is now trying to determine its
rights between conferences and realities. We suffered great losses due to
both the Gulf and Iraq wars. This time our humanitarian losses in Iraq are
dwarfed only by the US. On the eve the Dec. 17 European Union summit, we
live in such a world.”
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