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Turkish Press Review, 06-04-21
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
21.04.2006
SWEDISH KING SET TO VISIT
TURKEY AT END OF MAY
FM GUL MEETS WITH HIS PAKISTANI
COUNTERPART
PEPE: “TOXIC BARRELS BELONG TO
UNIFAR”
NEW ZEALAND BACKS TURKEY’S
MIDEAST POLICIES
VAN PROSECUTOR DISBARRED OVER
SEMDINLI INDICTMENT
YILMAZ SEEKS ACQUITTAL ON
CORRUPTION CHARGES RATHER THAN CASE DROPPED ON
TECHNICAL GROUNDS
ARMENIANS TO DEMONSTRATE TO
MARK SO-CALLED GENOCIDE
ARMENIAN PATRIARCH ADDRESSES
SYMPOSIUM
BABACAN TRAVELS TO WASHINGTON
TO ATTEND IMF, WB MEETINGS
VISIT OF IRAN’S TOP NUCLEAR
NEGOTIATOR TO ANKARA POSTPONED
EU POSTPONES PARTNERSHIP
COUNCIL MEETING
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
JUDICIARY AFFECTED THIS WAY
BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)
CONTENTS
[01] SWEDISH KING SET TO VISIT TURKEY AT
END OF MAY
[02] FM GUL MEETS WITH HIS PAKISTANI
COUNTERPART
[03] PEPE: “TOXIC BARRELS BELONG TO
UNIFAR”
[04] NEW ZEALAND BACKS TURKEY’S MIDEAST
POLICIES
[05] VAN PROSECUTOR DISBARRED OVER
SEMDINLI INDICTMENT
[06] YILMAZ SEEKS ACQUITTAL ON
CORRUPTION CHARGES RATHER THAN CASE DROPPED ON
TECHNICAL GROUNDS
[07] ARMENIANS TO DEMONSTRATE TO MARK
SO-CALLED GENOCIDE
[08] ARMENIAN PATRIARCH ADDRESSES
SYMPOSIUM
[09] BABACAN TRAVELS TO WASHINGTON TO
ATTEND IMF, WB MEETINGS
[10] VISIT OF IRAN’S TOP NUCLEAR
NEGOTIATOR TO ANKARA POSTPONED
[11] EU POSTPONES PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL
MEETING
[12] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
[13] JUDICIARY
AFFECTED THIS WAY
BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)
[01] SWEDISH KING SET TO VISIT TURKEY AT
END OF MAY
Swedish King Carl Gustaf and
Queen Silvia are set to pay an official visit to
Turkey at the end of next month. During their
five-day stay, the monarch will be accompanied
by a group of Swedish businessmen from leading
firms of this country. The delegation will hold
meetings with Turkish businessmen to explore
ways to develop business ties between the two
countries. /Turkiye/
[02] FM GUL MEETS WITH HIS PAKISTANI
COUNTERPART
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday
criticized Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israeli statements during a
meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed
Kasuri. Gul said that Ahmadinejad’s statements
had united the international community against
Iran. Kasuri spoke about the Afghanistan’s
situation and warned, “If the US strikes Iran,
terrorism will explode.” Kasuri said, “The US
has 17,000 soldiers in Pakistan. I provide
70,000 soldiers to protect the border. Three
million refugees are open to be attracted by
radical elements. Shall we deal with this or the
economic toll of the issue?” He added, “Pakistan
and Iran are neighboring countries. If the US
strikes Iran, how can we handle this?”
/Cumhuriyet/
[03] PEPE: “TOXIC BARRELS BELONG TO
UNIFAR”
Environment and Forestry
Minister Osman Pepe said yesterday that toxic
waste barrels unearthed recently in Istanbul’s
Tuzla district belonged to the Unifar Chemical
Company. Speaking to reporters at a press
conference, the minister stated that a criminal
complaint had been filed against the company.
Pepe said the new environmental law to be put
into force this October would impose fines on
companies of up to $3 million for offenses such
as the one committed in Tuzla. /Aksam/
[04] NEW ZEALAND BACKS TURKEY’S MIDEAST
POLICIES
New Zealand Parliament Speaker
Margaret Wilson yesterday expressed her
country’s support for Turkey’s policies on the
Middle East. The visiting official made the
remarks at a meeting with Parliament Foreign
Affairs Commission head Mehmet Dulger. Her
delegation also met with Parliament Speaker
Bulent Arinc during their stay in Ankara. “There
are many similarities between the foreign
policies of Turkey and New Zealand,” Wilson
said, expressing her country’s support for
Ankara’s policies, especially those which aim to
solve Middle Eastern disputes. “There’s a lot we
can learn from Turkish democracy. We consider it
useful to increase our visits to Turkey,” Wilson
added. /The New Anatolian/
[05] VAN PROSECUTOR DISBARRED OVER
SEMDINLI INDICTMENT
Van
Public Prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya, who was
criticized for accusing the land forces
commander of culpability in last November’s
Semdinli incidents, was disbarred yesterday by
the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges
(HSYK) for “dishonoring the legal profession” in
a way deemed harmful to its public standing. The
inquiry into the prosecutor’s conduct in the
indictment he prepared on the Semdinli case had
created serious political tension. /Turkish
Daily News/
[06] YILMAZ SEEKS ACQUITTAL ON
CORRUPTION CHARGES RATHER THAN CASE DROPPED ON
TECHNICAL GROUNDS
Former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, who is being
judged in the Turkbank case at the Supreme
Court, told the court yesterday that he wanted
to be fully acquitted of the corruption charges
rather than have his case dropped on technical
grounds, as one prosecutor has suggested. “I
neither accept the accusation of rigging a state
tender nor of abuse of power,” Yilmaz told the
court. “Nor do I want to benefit from an amnesty
or the statute of limitations, as suggested by
the prosecutor. I just want justice.” Yilmaz has
denied all the charges against him, calling them
part of a “political plot.” /Sabah/
[07] ARMENIANS TO DEMONSTRATE TO MARK
SO-CALLED GENOCIDE
Armenians are expected to
demonstrate up through next Tuesday in front of
the Turkish Embassy in Washington to mark what
they call Armenian commemoration day. A meeting
to commemorate the so-called Armenian genocide
is also expected to be held at the US Congress.
In related news, US President George Bush is
expected to release a written statement on the
issue, but not use the word “genocide,” just s
in previous years. /Milliyet/
[08] ARMENIAN PATRIARCH ADDRESSES
SYMPOSIUM
Mesrob II, the patriarch of
Armenians in Turkey, yesterday addressed a
symposium held by Erciyes University, saying
that it wasn’t morally appropriate to put
responsibility on just one side concerning the
so-called Armenian genocide. Mesrob stated that
reflecting the truth wasn’t always easy, adding
that the new generation must learn the facts
about the issue. /Milliyet/
[09] BABACAN TRAVELS TO WASHINGTON TO
ATTEND IMF, WB MEETINGS
State
Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan yesterday
traveled to the US to attend the International
Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings.
Before his departure at Istanbul’s Ataturk
Airport, Babacan told reporters that the
meetings would bring together government
ministers and representatives from finance
organizations from some 180 countries. Stressing
that he would hold talks in both Washington and
New York including WB head Paul Wolfowitz, IMF
Chairman Rodrigo de Rato, IMF First Deputy
Chairman Anne Krueger and representatives from
certain private finance organizations, Babacan
said a large delegation from Turkey’s Treasury
Undersecretariat and Central Bank would follow
the four-day meetings. The state minister added
that an IMF delegation would arrive in Turkey in
the coming weeks for the third review of
Ankara’s economic program. Meanwhile, Wolfowitz,
during at a press conference in Washington, said
that Turkey’s economy had been put on track by
sound economic policies. /Turkiye/
[10] VISIT OF IRAN’S TOP NUCLEAR
NEGOTIATOR TO ANKARA POSTPONED
A planned visit to Turkey of
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani led
to friction between Turkey and the US. Larijani
told Ankara that he wanted to visit Turkey next
week. But the US conveyed its displeasure due to
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit
to Turkey at the same time. Upon this, Ankara
told Iran that it wasn’t possible to hold
Larijani’s visit next week and so the visit was
postponed. /Cumhuriyet/
[11] EU POSTPONES PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL
MEETING
The European Union has
postponed for one month a meeting initially set
for June of the Partnership Council, the top
decision body of bilateral relations. Behind the
delay is a wish to wait until after the EU
foreign ministers meeting in Vienna on May
27-28. The EU’s future borders and the
enlargement issue will be debated at this
meeting. EU foreign ministers and the Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will take part in
the Partnership Council meeting. During the
semiannual meetings, both sides convey their
views and try to solve their problems. Opening
Turkish harbors to Greek Cypriots will be the
main topic of the Partnership Council, which has
been postponed to June 12. /Hurriyet/
[12] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…
[13] JUDICIARY
AFFECTED THIS WAY
BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)
Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on the judiciary
and ways it is affected. A summary of his column
is as follows:
“Let’s say ‘well done’ to the Supreme Council of
Judges and Public Prosecutors (HSYK). We knew it
as the guarantor of the independence of the
judiciary. Now I found out that it’s not
realistic to establish a council, make it immune
for a certain period of time, and then expect
fair and impartial decisions from it. Their
removing Van’s public prosecutor from his duty
showed this. Actually, after the Justice
Ministry sent inspectors to Van to look into
this public prosecutor and issued a declaration
arguing that this process didn’t harm the
independence of the judiciary, we might have
concluded form the beginning that they would
make such a decision. However, we’re very naïve.
Even if these possibilities come to mind
sometimes, we tell ourselves not to spin
conspiracy theories.
What
was the issue? As you know, this public
prosecutor, who first attracted controversy over
the Rector Yucel Askin case, nearly wrote a
novel in his indictment about the bombing
attacks in Semdinli last November. For example,
he accused Land Forces Commander Gen. Yasar
Buyukanit of such crimes as establishing a gang
for his own interests. The deficiency of the
public prosecutor’s understanding of duty was
fixed with the indictment. It might have been
necessary to start a process into him, and it
would have been better if the HSYK did this.
However, the mechanism worked in the reverse
direction. For example, when the ministry
firstly protected the public prosecutor and then
sent an inspector to Van by changing its stance,
the judiciary received the first blow. Now, the
HSYK made a bad situation worse by removing a
public prosecutor just because he overstepped
his duty and by basing the decision to remove
him on grounds of staining the honor and
reputation of the profession. It took away the
last piece of the independence of the judiciary.
Can one HSYK member say that this decision
wasn’t inspired by the General Staff’s harsh
March 20 press release? Can anyone fail to see
that those about whom a process is requested are
being punished? Please tell me, from now on,
which public prosecutor can initiate a process
about a soldier without fear? Which judge can
decide only according to the law and his own
conscience? Let’s not deceive ourselves. Such a
law or state can’t exist.”
ARCHIVE
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