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Turkish Press Review, 05-09-05
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
05.09.2005
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “I BELIEVE WE WILL BEGIN OUR EU TALKS ON OCT. 3”
[02] ARINC TO ATTEND CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK
[03] GUL: “WE’LL NEVER TOLERATE THE PKK”
[04] BAYKAL: “TERRORIST ATTACKS AIM TO INTIMIDATE THE GOVT AND MAKE TURKEY UNSAFE”
[05] AGAR: “POVERTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO AN END IN ORDER TO TROUNCE TERRORISM”
[06] FORMER UK DEFENSE MINISTER: “TURNING BACK TURKEY’S EU BID WOULD HAVE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES”
[07] GREEK CYPRUS ESTABLISHES SPECIAL UNIT TO WATCH ANKARA’S EU BID
[08] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
[09] TOWARDS OCT. 3 BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
[01] ERDOGAN: “I BELIEVE WE WILL BEGIN OUR EU TALKS ON OCT. 3”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that he believed Turkey
would begin its European Union accession talks on Oct. 3, as scheduled,
adding that if the EU countries erected new hurdles before that goal,
Ankara could go its own way without EU membership. “I believe that the EU
leaders will keep their promises,” he said, saying that Ankara had
fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria to begin its talks. /Hurriyet/
[02] ARINC TO ATTEND CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc is due to travel today to New York to
attend the Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliament on Wednesday.
During his stay, Arinc is also expected to meet with Turkey’s UN Ambassador
Baki Ilgin. Later, Arinc will meet with Israeli Parliament Speaker Reuven
Rivlin, Georgian Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze, and UN Development
Program Head and former Turkish Deputy Kemal Dervis. /Turkiye/
[03] GUL: “WE’LL NEVER TOLERATE THE PKK”
Touching on a recent wave of terrorist attacks yesterday, Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul said that the government would never tolerate the continued
existence of the terrorist group PKK, adding that fight against the PKK
would continue. “All our security units will be mobilized in this fight,”
said Gul, adding that no one should doubt this. /Cumhuriyet/
[04] BAYKAL: “TERRORIST ATTACKS AIM TO INTIMIDATE THE GOVT AND MAKE TURKEY
UNSAFE”
Speaking at a meeting of his party yesterday, main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal charged that some circles were
trying to create conflict in the country over ethnic differences. “We
recently saw terrorist attacks in our country begin again,” he said. “These
attacks come from a political rivalry which aims to intimidate the
government and make Turkey unsafe.” Baykal stressed that there should be no
dialogue with PKK terrorists. /Turkiye/
[05] AGAR: “POVERTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO AN END IN
ORDER TO TROUNCE TERRORISM”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, opposition True Path Party (DYP)
leader Mehmet Agar said that the poverty in southeastern Turkey should be
brought to an end in order to aid the fight against terrorism. Agar said
that a good government was needed in order to do this. He added that
certain circles in the country wanted to divide Turkey, but that they would
not succeed. /Turkiye/
[06] FORMER UK DEFENSE MINISTER: “TURNING BACK TURKEY’S EU BID WOULD HAVE
GRAVE CONSEQUENCES”
While debates over Turkey’s European Union bid continue, a warning was made
this weekend that rejecting Turkey’s membership might have “serious
consequences.” Former British Defense Minister Michael Portillo said if
Turkey is turned back, the country might slide into fundamentalism, with
grave results for both Europe and the world. “Secularism does not look
secure” in Turkey, wrote Portillo in a column for London’s Sunday Times.
“Strategically, the loss of Turkey to fundamentalism would be a serious
blow. It is a question that should have troubled the 25 European Union
foreign ministers meeting near Newport, Gwent, when their Turkish
counterpart joined them on [last] Friday to discuss accession to the
Union.” /Aksam/
[07] GREEK CYPRUS ESTABLISHES SPECIAL UNIT TO WATCH ANKARA’S EU BID
The Greek Cypriot Foreign Ministry has established a new European Union
Legal Department to closely follow Turkey’s EU process. Foreign Ministry
Undersecretary Sotos Zakheos stated that an existing department had been
revamped especially to monitor Turkey’s progress towards EU membership, a
new chapter in which is set to begin next month with the start of Ankara’s
EU talks. /Aksam/
[08] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
[09] TOWARDS OCT. 3 BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on Turkey starting its European Union
membership talks on Oct. 3. A summary of his column is as follows:
“Probably we won’t be able to start membership talks on Oct. 3 without a
fight. Actually periods of peace and ease are seldom seen in international
diplomacy. We didn’t expect this much from the European Union. Certain EU
countries are waging domestic politics through Turkey. In any case, we will
sit at the table in Brussels on Oct. 3. Europe won’t lose its common sense
so much as to let Turkey slip from its grasp. In addition, the EU is making
remarks which go beyond the Greek Cypriots’ stance, because Greek Cyprus
knows that a Turkey which is forced to leave the table could hinder the
unification of Cyprus for a century.
For 25 years the Cyprus issue has been a hindrance in all our foreign
relations, and our interests suffered huge blows. We missed a few
opportunities over the issue. Neither Turkey nor the Turkish Cypriots did
what was necessary. The north and the south are now on strained terms, and
the south has the upper hand. Sooner or later an agreement will be reached
on the Cyprus issue. But are some clever people in Europe trying to
distract Ankara’s attention to the Cyprus issue while undermining us in
another area? We’re confident that our skilful diplomacy won’t be tricked
this way. Meanwhile, general elections will be held in Germany on Sept. 18.
Even if the current political power loses, a new government won’t be
established before Oct. 3. If Christian Democrat leader Angela Merkel sits
in the chancellor’s seat in Berlin, she will be told Turkey’s situation and
its potential. Meanwhile, let me say get well soon to French President
Jacques Chirac, who got sick recently and was taken to the hospital. I hope
he will soon be back in the full bloom of health and can return to his
positive policy on Turkey.”
ARCHIVE
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