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Turkish Press Review, 05-06-20Turkish 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 morning20.06.2005FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNSCONTENTS
[01] NEW BORDER GATE OPENED BETWEEN TURKEY, BULGARIAPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Bulgarian counterpart Simeon Saxe-Coburg yesterday opened a new border checkpoint at Hamzabeyli-Lessovo, in the northwestern province of Edirne. The two leaders stated that they hoped the new border crossing would increase trade between the two neighboring countries. The opening of the border checkpoint will considerably facilitate traffic on the basic connection between Bulgaria and Turkey, the Kapikule-Captain-Andreevo border checkpoint. /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN CALLS ON BUSINESSMEN TO INVEST IN BLACK SEA REGIONPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday attended a banquet in Istanbul organized by the Rize Culture and Social Solidarity Foundation. Stressing that the government was working hard to develop Turkey, Erdogan said peace and prosperity are in store for the Turkish nation. He also called on businessmen to invest in the Black Sea region to contribute to regional development. /Star/[03] GUL: “GERMANY IS LOOKING FOR A PARTNER IN GUILT”Speaking to journalists from Turkish daily Zaman, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday criticized the German Parliament’s adoption of a resolution denouncing a so-called massacre of Armenians during the Ottoman era. Stating that the German Parliament had taken an unacceptable decision, Gul said, “The decision is full of mistakes. It talks about the UN’s determination concerning this issue. However, international institutions have no determination about it. We want them to produce evidence, but they can’t. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian is passed over in just a few lines, but the speech made by Justice Minister Cemil Cicek at the Parliament and the postponed conference on the Armenian issue are there. The most important issue is to ensure the integration of 3 million Turks [living in Germany]. This decision opens the door to provoking enmity towards Turkey. The current German government is opposed to it, in particular German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.” He added that the decision was motivated by guilt about the Nazi Holocaust and that Germans were looking to share this guilt. /Milliyet/[04] BAYKAL CRITICIZES ERDOGANAddressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent visit to the US, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said in a written statement yesterday that the path of the government had been “reset” during the visit. “He was given a new path,” said Baykal. “However, when Erdogan returned to Turkey, we saw that he missed his path. Domestic political developments and social incidents caused Erdogan to miss his path.” He added that the government agreed to consider the problems of the region of Iraq and Israel from the US point of view during the visit. /Sabah/[05] AGAR PROPOSES SPECIAL EU SUMMIT FOR TURKEYTrue Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Agar yesterday suggested that Turkey request a special summit from the European Union. Appearing on CNN Turk, Agar said the conditions in the EU this January and June aren’t the same and that certain obstacles to Turkey’s EU bid had emerged. “We should request this [summit] before the signing of the Additional Protocol,” added Agar. “Turkey should know the conditions that it faces. There are large problems that we will face in the future. The EU should declare the exact date of Turkey’s possible membership, leave conditions unacceptable to us out of the negotiations, and determine the requirements of Turkey and share these with the public.” /Cumhuriyet/[06] TURKS IN GERMANY PROTEST ARMENIAN RESOLUTIONFollowing the German Parliament’s approval of a resolution last week concerning a so-called Armenian massacre by the Ottoman Empire, thousands of Turks living in Berlin yesterday staged demonstrations protesting the resolution. /Hurriyet/[07] US AMBASSADOR EDELMAN LEAVES ANKARAAfter serving for two years in Ankara, US Ambassador Eric Edelman departed for his home country over the weekend. Staff from the US Embassy in Ankara saw Edelman off at Esenboga Airport. Nancy McEldowney, the deputy chief of mission, will serve as charge d’affaires until a new envoy is appointed. Former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ross Wilson is expected to become the new ambassador to Turkey and begin the post this autumn. /Sabah/[08] TURKISH PAINTERS IN FRENCH EXHIBITWorks of 18 Turkish female painters living in France will be exhibited at the Chateau de Bressuire in France from July 9 until Aug. 20. The exhibit is organized by the cultural department of the city of Bressuire. /Cumhuriyet/[09] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[10] A TRANSATLANTIC GLANCE AT THE EU CRISIS BY YASEMIN CONGAR (MILLIYET)Columnist Yasemin Congar comments on Turkey’s relations with the European Union and the United States. A summary of her column is as follows:“Current European Union President Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker spoke of a ‘profound crisis’ in Europe after the EU leaders’ failure to reach an agreement on the Union's future budget at the Brussels summit over the weekend. Rejected by the French and Dutch, the EU’s constitutional treaty is now considered dead by most Europeans. The EU is suffering from an institutional crisis and is questioning its future as a bloc. Possible repercussions of the current crisis on Turkey’s membership bid will probably be directly connected with this institutional aspect. ‘Can the EU sustain an enlargement process even if it does not have effective institutions to operate a larger bloc?’ asked French President Jacques Chirac. The United States is also very interested in the latest developments on the continent. ‘It is incorrect to argue that the US wants a weaker and divided EU,’ claimed one high-level US State Department official. ‘We want a strong EU to cooperate on our common interests.” There are of course chronic EU antagonists in Washington, some of whom are very close to President Bush. However, decision-makers do not want to see an ineffective EU in the international arena. Washington supports the EU’s enlargement process because it wants Eastern Europe to be included into the bloc under the roof of democratic stability. The Bush administration prefers a flexible European bloc, rather than a confined one to a tight, narrow structure. The more and varied resources the EU has to nourish itself politically and socially, the more channels Washington would have at its disposal to penetrate the bloc. Let’s not forget this point either! In the same context, Washington also supports our EU membership bid because a stable and democratic Turkey on the side of the Western camp gives the Islamic world important messages. Therefore, any argument that the US would never want to see Turkey in the EU would be mistaken. Some who espouse this view also believe that the EU and the US are two opposite poles. However, our officials have recently stressed that the Turkish government does not see its relations with Washington as an alternative to its EU membership bid, underlining that Ankara should continue on its path towards its ultimate goal. A wise recommendation comes from far-sighted Washington politicians: ‘The EU will overcome the current crisis sooner or later, so Turkey should go on working hard for its membership negotiations, without handing anti-Turkish circles in Europe a trump card to play in the future.‘ These politicians also believe that Turkey should pursue more active policies in a wider area from the Black Sea to the Far East, without restricting itself to a narrow EU target. Therefore, Ankara should have an effective transatlantic vision for its relations with Washington and the EU.” 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 |