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Turkish Press Review, 05-08-24
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
24.08.2005
FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
CONTENTS
[01] NSC STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF UNITY OF THE STATE
[02] GUL SENDS LETTERS TO HIS ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN COUNTERPARTS LAUDING WEST BANK PULLOUT
[03] EU COMMISSION: “WE SUPPORT TURKEY BEGINNING ITS ACCESSION TALKS AS SCHEDULED”
[04] FISCHER: “TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP IS IMPORTANT FOR THE EU’S SECURITY”
[05] AGAR: “THE GOVT NEEDS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS”
[06] UN ECONOMIC COMMISSION PRAISES TURKEY’S ECONOMY
[07] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
[08] DANGER OF SOCIOLOGICAL FISSURES BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
[01] NSC STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF UNITY OF THE STATE
The National Security Council (NSC) chaired by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
convened yesterday to discuss a number of issues, including a recent wave
of terrorist attacks. A statement released following the meeting stressed
the importance of the unity of the state. “The first duty of the state is
to protect the republic and foster an atmosphere of peace without
practicing discrimination over language, religion, ethnicity or gender,” it
said, adding that the government could achieve this by implementing its
duties set out in the Constitution. The statement further reiterated
Turkey’s determination to combat terrorism, adding that in order to win
this fight, efforts were needed to narrow economic differences between
regions. /Turkiye/
[02] GUL SENDS LETTERS TO HIS ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN COUNTERPARTS LAUDING
WEST BANK PULLOUT
Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan yesterday said that Abdullah Gul had
sent letters to his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, Sylvan Shalom and
Naser Al-Qedwa, saying that he was pleased by the progress in
implementation of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the
West Bank. In his letter, Gul said that successful completion of the plan
would be a concrete step in reaching a solution in the context of two
separate states. /Turkiye/
[03] EU COMMISSION: “WE SUPPORT TURKEY BEGINNING ITS ACCESSION TALKS AS
SCHEDULED”
European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn’s spokesman Krizstina
Nagy said yesterday that the stance of the commission on Turkey’s EU
accession talks was clear. Nagy said that there were two conditions for
Turkey to begin talks with the EU, and that Ankara had already fulfilled
these. “The commission supports Turkey beginning its talks with Turkey on
Oct. 3, as scheduled,” said Nagy. She added that she hoped the framework
document on Turkey’s accession talks would be signed by the EU member
states. /Milliyet/
[04] FISCHER: “TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP IS IMPORTANT FOR THE EU’S SECURITY”
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer yesterday said that Turkey’s
European Union membership was important for the Union’s security, and
criticized his election opponent Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party
leader Angela Merkel’s stance against Turkey’s EU bid. In related news,
Merkel reiterated that “privileged partnership” for Turkey would be better
than full membership. “We want close relations with Turkey,” she said.
/Milliyet/
[05] AGAR: “THE GOVT NEEDS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS”
Opposition True Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Agar said yesterday that the
government needed to improve the conditions of its civil servants. In a
written statement, Agar said that the government hadn’t reached an
agreement with trade unions and that it did not represent the nation’s
will. He added that government officials had rejected all demands of the
trade unions under the state budget dictated by the International Monetary
Fund. /Turkiye/
[06] UN ECONOMIC COMMISSION PRAISES TURKEY’S ECONOMY
The United Nations Economic Commission yesterday praised the recent
economic progress of Turkey, adding that it had achieved high growth, low
inflation and macroeconomic stability. “If interest rates continue to fall,
this will also help to reduce inflation further,” it predicted. The
commission added, however, that Turkey needed to continue to pursue reforms
in order to maintain economic stability. “If Turkey were to forsake its
reforms, this would cost the nation dearly,” it warned. The commission
further predicted that Turkey would begin to attract more foreign capital
in the near future. /Star/
[07] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
[08] DANGER OF SOCIOLOGICAL FISSURES BY FIKRET BILA (MILLIYET)
Columnist Fikret Bila comments on the sociological dimensions of the
Kurdish issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
“The era of terror undergone by Turkey over the past 25 years has caused a
degree of politicization. The domestic and foreign political consequences
of this period topped Turkey’s agenda. ‘National integrity,’ ‘unitary
structure’ and ‘concern over division’ were the most sensitive areas in
domestic and foreign politics. The republic was opened to discussion. In
the beginning, the rejection of the entire ‘single’ basis of the Turkish
Republic focused on the ‘uniqueness of the nation.’ The harshest
discussions over the ‘Kurdish issue’ are on the ‘concept of nation.’
Although a single state and flag can be called acceptable, people reject
the ‘single nation’ idea. This rejection has been in our political life and
supported in certain places. This concept obviously shows fissures and
resolution in the political area as well. With the fact that this
resolution came up for contention, conducting this within the rules of
democracy and law and efforts for abstracting the process from the terror
and terrorist groups are considered normal. The ‘ethnic’ characteristic of
the political consequences emerging from terrorism is very risky
sociologically, rather than politically. This has important signs, namely,
the spread of ethnic resolution in political and sociological life and its
influence on daily life. The real danger lies here. If this problem causes
sociological fissures rather than political ones, it will be harder to
solve this.
Turkey can ‘coexist’ no matter its ethnic origin. The question of ‘where
you’re from’ didn’t use to include ethnic controversy, suspicion and
concern. This was the situation both in military and civilian life. People
used to go to places where they found a job and food, without any concern
over ethnic origin, and build neighborhoods, friendships and marriages.
This situation is still valid to some extent. However, there are signs of
resolution just like bells of danger. The real disaster is that the issue
was transformed from a conflict between the state and the terrorist group
into a social conflict, in other words, the Turkish-Kurdish conflict. The
current process’ moving towards ethnic conflict is the greatest danger for
Turkey. People with different ethnicities being suspicious of each other
and considering each other potential dangers are the first signs of social
fissures. If the problem turns into a Turkish-Kurdish issue, who knows
where and how it will stop? This is the nature of ethnic conflict.
Therefore, an ethnic problem shouldn’t be considered independently from
other problems which might occur in parallel. Mistakes in managing the
process might lead to worse ones.”
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