Turkish Press Review, 06-09-05

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From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>

05.09.2006

CONTENTS

sense when voting. /Turkiye-Milliyet/[01] IN BALIKESIR, ERDOGAN SAYS TURKEY SHOULD GO TO LEBANON TO SHOW ITS PRESENCE IN THE MIDEAST Attending opening ceremonies in Balikesir yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the government wouldn’t accept any duty besides keeping the peace in Lebanon. “We have to be there in order to show the presence of Turkey in the Mideast,” said Erdogan, adding that the government believes Turkey should participate in the peacekeeping force. “Sending soldiers to the country is a historic responsibility,” said Erdogan. The premier stressed that the government would continue to work hard for the nation, adding that Turkey’s future was bright. Commenting on recent terrorist attacks, Erdogan said that the fight against the terrorist PKK was continuing. “The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is taking comprehensive measures against the terrorist PKK,” added Erdogan. /Turkiye/[02] GUL: “WE’LL DEPLOY TROOPS IN LEBANON FOR PEACE AND STABILITY” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday said that Turkey’s avoiding dealing with an issue in its region wouldn’t be strategically sound, adding, “We want peace and stability in Lebanon. Moreover, we told everyone our requirements about the task before going there.” Speaking to news channel NTV, Gul said, “Sending forces and attaining peace and stability in the region is in Turkey’s interest. If this promotes stability, we shouldn’t have reservations about sending troops.” Gul stated that the defeated March 1, 2003 motion before the Iraq war was very different from the motion for Lebanon which will face a Parliament vote today. “The motion for Lebanon paves the way for sending Turkish forces to a mission which is expected by the international community," he explained. "Therefore, in the name of my party, I don’t see any resistance to approving the motion.” Stressing that Turkish forces will be sent to Lebanon as parts of efforts to find a lasting peace in the region, Gul also assured that these soldiers won’t take in part in any operation to disarm Hezbollah. Meanwhile Gul yesterday received Indian Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Uban Tripathi and the Indian section of the Turkish-Indian Business Council./Turkiye/[03] UN’S ANNAN TO ARRIVE IN TURKEY TODAY United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to arrive in Ankara late today, possibly after a motion for sending Turkish peacekeeping soldiers to Lebanon is voted on in Parliament. Annan is expected to meet tomorrow with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to discuss a number of issues, including Turkey sending soldiers to Lebanon. /Turkiye/[04] TALAT MEETS WITH PAKISTANI PRESIDENT Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday traveled to Pakistan for an official visit. This is Talat’s first visit to a country with his title of “TRNC president.” Talat yesterday met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to discuss ways to boost bilateral ties between Ankara and Islamabad. During their meeting, Talat said that he was pleased with Musharraf’s invitation and briefed him on recent developments on the island. For his part, Musharraf expressed full support for the TRNC’s policy of ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. /Milliyet/[05] EP REPORT: “ANKARA’S NEGOTIATIONS MAY COME TO A HALT” A new report prepared by European Parliament Turkey Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings harshly criticizes Turkey, claiming that it isn’t ready for the European Union membership. A warning that Ankara’s negotiations could slow down or even stop if Turkey doesn’t open its ports and harbors to Greek Cyprus is the most important part of the report. The report also states that improvements in freedom of expression have not been satisfactory, and it adds that neighborly diplomatic relations should be opened with Armenia without any preconditions. Meanwhile, EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chair Joost Lagendijk criticized the report’s language and that the EU should fulfill its commitments to the Turkish Cypriots. /Sabah- Turkiye/ Three Turkish women university rectors recently attended the World Women University Presidents Forum held in Beijing by the Communication University of China. The Fourth Asia Communication and Media Forum was held at the same time as the forum, and the common topic of the two meetings was “Harmonious World and Diversified Culture: The Responsibility of Universities and the Media.” Bogazici University Rector Ayse Soysal, Izmir Institute of Advanced Technology Rector Semra Ulku and Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University Rector Zehra Seyfikli were among the more than 100 women university presidents from 34 countries participating. /Cumhuriyet/[06] AUGUST INFLATION FIGURES RELEASED The Turkish Statistics Institution (TUIK) yesterday released inflation figures for August. Last month the consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.44%, while the producer price index (PPI) fell by 0.75%, pushing the yearly CPI to 10.26% and PPI to 12.32%. /Star/[07] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…[00] SEPT. 5 MOTIONBY CUNEYT ULSEVER (HURRIYET) Columnist Cuneyt Ulsever comments on today’s motion on Turkey’s military contribution to the peacekeeping force in Lebanon. A summary of his column is as follows: “Today is a very important day. Only one word was the determining factor in almost all areas of Turkish foreign policy in recent years: ‘the motion.’ We’re still discussing the costs and benefits of the Mach 2003 motion and couldn’t reach any agreement on it. Debates over the costs and benefits of today’s motion will continue whatever the result, and I think we won’t reach an agreement on this one either because the issue isn’t objective and the results aren’t predictable. Parliament will decide on an issue which rests on subjective criteria. There are two main views about sending troops to Lebanon: 1. Those who say that this issue isn’t our problem claim that we should stay out of Lebanon. 2. Those who claim that Turkey should do its part in the reconstruction of the Middle East say that Turkey should send troops. Those two policies are conflicting. Those who think about the humanitarian aspect of the problem oppose sending troops out of fear that Turkish troops will die, or on the contrary they support sending troops claiming that it would stop the bloodshed in the region. I try to look at international problems from the aspect of realpolitik. Of course there is the humanitarian aspect, but I don’t think that humanitarian considerations are predominant in world politics. I think those who say that ‘this isn’t our problem’ don’t see that Turkey has already been swept up into the problem. Those who didn’t want to send troops to Iraq for the same reason were late in seeing that Turkey couldn’t avoid the problem and that it had to pay a high price during the war. I think that Turkey should take its place as an ‘imperial state’ in the region. Its history, geography, culture and human capital compel Turkey to become a powerful country in the region. I think Turkey has to play an active role in a ‘war of taking a share' which it can’t stop. I think it is inversely proportional to Turkey’s power to stay just an observer. Whatever decision Turkey takes, we shouldn’t hurt those who decide. The most important mistake now would be to hurt ourselves in an international problem.”[08] HOW WILL THIS END? Columnist Gunduz Aktan comments on terrorism and Turkey’s stance on it. A summary of his column is as follows: “Our soldiers are dying and bombs are destroying tourism. The reasons why the terrorist PKK is doing this aren’t important. What’s important is that it can do it. As long as it has this ability, it will always carry out similar terrorist attacks. The main problem is how to end these or whether or not they will end. Before 1998, we said that if we could defeat the PKK, terror would end and we could find a remedy for the Kurds’ complaints. More than this happened. PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured, tried and sentenced. Our EU process began, and cultural rights started to be recognized. But this wasn’t enough. Separatist Kurds who were influenced by the Iraqi Kurds’ independence movement started to be active again. They came from northern Iraq and started their terrorist attacks. When citizens from EU countries were injured or died in bomb attacks, their own media wouldn’t even mention the word ‘terrorism.’ They mentioned Kurdish guerillas and militants, as if the PKK’s style of ‘war’ is legal. Certain ‘official’ Europeans say that our intervening at Mt. Kandil would have a negative impact on our EU membership talks and that we should meet the Kurds’ ‘legal’ demands. Certain Kurdish human rights groups have condemned ‘all kinds of violence,’ as if the violence used by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and PKK were the same and there are no terrorist attacks. If the European Parliament starts to take decisions similar to previous ones, calling on parties to declare a cease-fire and insist that a political solution should be found, we shouldn’t be surprised. In short, we’re returning to the pre-1998 period. Can we make economic progress and solve our social problems in such a situation? What would we do if bomb attacks start to take more civilian lives? Actually, we have three possible paths: Continuing our present approach. In other words, the PKK will kill innocents, while we will kill more PKK members and hope that one day they will give up. The other way is accepting the Democratic Turkey Party (DTP) and PKK’s wishes. In other words, accept a federation with two founding elements through a constitutional change and wait for them to give up terror and separatism. Meanwhile, it seems that today’s stance will continue until a radical choice is made. For this purpose, I must make it clear that we aren’t facing different organizations. Neither the PKK, nor KONGRA-GEL and the DTP have political legitimacy, as they are all part of the same terrorism. It seems that the PKK has become Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani’s tool in establishing a Kurdish state. Therefore, the responsibility for terrorist attacks in Turkey belongs not only to Kandil, but also to Sulaimaniyah and Erbil in Iraq. Obviously, Kurds will win the referendum to be held in 2007, in Kirkuk, because the Iraqi Kurds have been subjecting Arabs in and around Kirkuk to ethnic cleansing for the last three years and tipped the population situation in their favor. Their reasons for them doing this were right, but their practice was against the rules of war. During the Saddam Hussein era, they wanted to reverse the settlement of Arabs instead of Kurds. They burned the land registries and suppressed the Turkmen. If this is the method of solving problems, everybody should consider that the problems created by Kurds can be solved with certain methods similar to those in Kirkuk. Meanwhile, our press is still covering the terrorist attacks on their back pages and thus blunting terrorism’s impact on the public. As this fails to reflect the incidents’ seriousness, it causes delays in finding more effective policies.” ARCHIVE <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http:/_www.byegm.gov.tr_statistic/countcode.js"> </script>

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