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Turkish Press Review, 06-06-12Turkish 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> <style type="text_css"> <!-- .baslik { margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; margin-top:1cm; font-size:12.0pt; color:#000099; text-align: justify; } --> <_style> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning12.06.2006FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “TURKEY WILL DEVELOP FURTHER WITH HONOR”Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday attended his Justice and Development Party (AKP) Kayseri Provincial Congress. Addressing the party members, Erdogan said that the AKP would complete its provincial congresses by mid-July, and that this fall, the general party congress would be held. Stressing that the AKP would prepare itself for the general elections set for next year, Erdogan said that during its rule, the AKP government had greatly benefited the nation. Concerning Turkish-International Monetary Fund relations, the premier said that Turkey would never be a servant, adding that the government was making efforts to further develop the country with honor. Pointing to recent improvements in economic figures, Erdogan vowed that the government would not make concessions from fiscal discipline. In addition, Erdogan, accompanied by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, opened the Kayseri Park Mall and Living Center, one of the largest malls in Turkey. /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN TO VISIT CROATIA AND MACEDONIAPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today starts a three-day visit to Croatia and Macedonia. During the visit, Erdogan will first go to Zagreb, Croatia where he will meet with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and participate in a Croatian-Turkish Business Council meeting. Erdogan and his accompanying delegation then will proceed to Skopje, Macedonia. There the premier will meet with his Macedonian counterpart Vlado Buckovski and will also address a Macedonian-Turkish Business Council meeting. /Cumhuriyet/[03] ARINC VISITS ALBANIA TO STRENGTHEN INTER-PARLIAMENTARY TIESParliament Speaker Bulent Arinc began his visit to Albania on Sunday as the official guest of his Albanian counterpart Jozefina Topalli. Speaking to reporters before his departure, Arinc stressed that besides an exchange of views on ways to further develop and strengthen relations, he will discuss the two parliaments’ possible contributions to the development of energy, transportation and infrastructure projects. Arinc also expressed Turkish support for Albania’s integration with European-Atlantic organizations as an element of confidence and stability in the region. The Parliament speaker will meet with his Albanian counterpart Topalli as well as Interior Minister Sokol Olldashi and will be received by President Alfred Moisiu on Monday and is also scheduled to visit Tirana University. Following his meeting with Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Tuesday, Arinc is scheduled to leave the country. /The New Anatolian/[04] 2 SOLDIERS KILLED, 3 WOUNDED IN TUNCELI2 soldiers were killed, while three were wounded in Tunceli by gunfire opened by PKK terrorists at a military vehicle. The wounded soldiers were sent to Elazig State Hospital after initial treatment at Tunceli State Hospital. /Sabah/[05] OFFICIAL EU NEGOTIATIONS ON SCIENCE AND RESEARCH CHAPTER TO BEGIN TODAY, IF GREEK CYPRIOT OBJECTIONS OVERCOMEThe European Union member states’ foreign ministers are expected today to discuss the Negotiation Position Document in Brussels in order to decide whether to begin Turkey’s official negotiations on the science and research chapter or not. Ankara will be waiting with baited breath for news from this meeting in Luxembourg, where 24 members of the bloc will try to counter Greek Cypriot obstruction of Turkey concluding the first and easiest of 35 detailed policy chapters with the EU -- with Greek Cyprus keeping its threat to create crises for Turkey and the EU at the beginning and end of each chapter. The Greek Cypriot administration insists that the issue of Turkey opening its airports and harbors to it constitutes “closure criteria.” The other EU member states will try to persuade Greek Cyprus to give up this insistence. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is expected to travel to Luxembourg if the EU foreign ministers persuade the Greek Cypriot administration on the issue. /Aksam/[06] GREEK CYPRIOT FM THREATENS TO USE VETO CARDOutgoing Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou stated late Saturday that his administration hasn’t ruled out exercising its right of veto at today’s European Union foreign ministers’ meeting on Turkey’s accession talks on the science and research chapter. Commenting on the 25-nation bloc’s failure to reach a common position on the matter at Friday’s EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) meeting, Iacovou said that there would be consultations in Luxembourg with Austria, which holds the rotating EU presidency, and that the position of the Greek Cypriot administration and its European partners on the issue would be drafted on Monday. “We’ll discuss the issue with EU member states’ foreign ministers on Monday,” he said. Stressing that Greek Cyprus had certain reservations about the issue, Iacovou added that opening and closing the science and research chapter with Turkey in one day could mean that a chapter could be closed without Turkey fulfilling its obligations. “This would be the wrong message to Turkey,” he added. /The New Anatolian-Aksam/[07] REHN: “THE SLOWDOWN IN TURKEY’S REFORMS IS HURTING RELATIONS BETWEEN ANKARA AND THE EU”European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said yesterday that Turkey’s alleged slowdown in reforms was damaging relations between Ankara and the European Union. Stressing that implementation of EU reforms under the political criteria was a must, Rehn added that pace of the reforms would also determine the pace of negotiations. “We need to make considerable progress,” he added. /Milliyet/[08] TURKISH, GREEK MEDIA RAISE VOICES TO DISPEL PREJUDICEParticipants in the Fourth Turkish-Greek Media Conference, hosted by the Turkish Press Council in Istanbul, ended the conference yesterday with a decision to hold the conferences regularly on an annual basis. The conference is a brainchild of the Contact Group, made up three journalists from each country who joined forces in 1999 to better inform the public. The group aims to boost cooperation between both countries’ media to strengthen peace and rapprochement and avoid provocations. /Turkish Daily News/[09] GREEKS FAVOR DIALOGUE FOR ANKARA-ATHENS DISPUTESAccording to a new public opinion survey, most Greek citizens favors finding solutions to disputes between Turkey and Greece through bilateral dialogue instead of going to The Hague. The public opinion survey conducted by Greek daily To Vima last week said that while 51.5% of the Greeks favor resolving disputes through dialogue, 43.7% backed bringing the issues to The Hague. /Star/[10] FINNISH FM: “TURKEY SHOULD IMPLEMENT ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL”Erkki Tuomioja, the foreign minister of Finland, which will take over the European Union term presidency from Austria next month, said that Turkey’s negotiation process may halt if it doesn’t implement the additional protocol. Speaking to Cumhuriyet, Tuomioja said, “Turkey knows its obligations to approve the additional protocol in Parliament and implement it, and recognize all European Union members including Greek Cyprus.” Stating that he doesn’t want the Cyprus issue to be a barrier to Turkey’s negotiation process, Tuomioja added, “I’m afraid Turkey not filling its obligations would bring the situation to a breaking point.” /Cumhuriyet/[11] TURKISH RED CRESCENT CELEBRATES 138TH ANNIVERSARYThe Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay) yesterday celebrated its 138th anniversary. Tekin Kucukali, head of the association, said that Kizilay has been serving people who need help all around the world. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc also issued messages praising Kizilay’s efforts to aid people both in the country and abroad. /Turkiye/[12] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[13] A LONG ROAD BY SEMIH IDIZ (MILLIYET)Columnist Semih Idiz comments on Turkey’s European Union membership process. A summary of his column is as follows:“Financial Times Editor Quentin Peel predicted last week that the European Union would start membership talks with Turkey on the science and research chapter and noted that it had taken more than eight months to get to this point, on one of the easiest chapters. Peel pointed out that if the same pace applies to the 34 other chapters in this exercise -- most of them far more difficult to deal with -- the whole process would last rather more than 20 years. Peel, who favors Turkey, of course emphasized the negative impact of Europe’s stance against Turkey’s membership. He wrote that certain populist politicians who benefit from this resistance would create instability in their regions. However, wrote Peel, the problem isn’t only related to populist politicians who resist Turkey on the basis of illogical fears. A great part of the problem also belongs to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). For example, like many European authors, Peel also mentioned the problems seen in appointing a new Central Bank head. The government’s efforts to appoint a person from the interest-free banking sector to head the CB caused great doubts in the West. Meanwhile, David Gow, an editor at British daily The Guardian, wrote last week that Europeans are trying to understand the meaning of chief negotiator Ali Babacan’s rejection of the emphasis that Turkey’s education system is secular. Although the expectations of starting membership talks on the education and culture chapter are being encouraged, the problems standing in the way of this aren’t limited to just that. It’s known that there’s a series of problems, including the clerical seminary on Heybeliada and education in Kurdish. We continue to suffer from problems concerning freedom of thought and freedom of academic research almost every day and obviously, this is reflected on issues of education and culture. In short, as Peel indicated, there are issues which are much harder than science and research and it seems that it will really take many years to achieve success on these chapters. So, it can’t be said that the press conference Babacan held last week where he tried to inspire the confidence of those supporting Turkey’s EU membership by listing forthcoming steps by the government for EU membership was sufficient. For the important thing is to list the things which have been done so far with concrete examples, rather than listing the things set to be done. This is the government’s weak point. Therefore, the EU path is growing longer.” [14] NEW EU CHANCE BY ISMAIL KUCUKKAYA (AKSAM)Columnist Ismail Kucukkaya comments on Turkey’s EU bid. A summary of his column is as follows:“In its relations with the European Union, Turkey is at an important crossroads. Timing is also critical, because it can bring critical results for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, Brussels and even the US. Now we’re waiting for the EU to prepare the Common Position Paper for Turkey. The EU couldn’t reach an agreement on it on Friday. The Greek Cypriots made it difficult. We’ll go to Luxembourg with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul if the problem is solved. If the de facto start of the EU talks can create an EU excitement in the Turkish population and the AKP can again create a Western perspective for Turkey, then this would be key for the future of the AKP as well as Turkey. The ruling AKP overcame its legitimization crisis with its support for EU membership and reforms for democratization. If the AKP wants to overcome its recent woes, then it should go back to this. There are criticisms in the documents of Friday’s EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) meetings about Ankara lacking the appetite for democratization it used to have before. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the government don’t accept it, but the Turkish population has started to lose its hopes in the EU. This is also the reason for the internal crisis of the AKP. Moreover, there isn’t as much support as before from EU countries. Remember the days when democratization was going quickly? Now we have a new opportunity. There’s no problem, if Turkey wants to remain an isolated Third World country. But if we want to benefit from this opportunity, then we won’t have another chance. We have to stick to our EU bid, and the meeting in Luxembourg is a great chance. Just starting the accession talks and celebrating it won’t be enough. The ties between Ankara and Brussels will never be sundered, but the problem here is the government’s appetite, determination and sincerity for reforms and the Turkish population’s vision to see the EU membership as its number one goal. This is what is expected from the government.” 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 |
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