Turkish Press Review, 06-09-20

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

20.09.2006

CONTENTS

[01] TURKEY OBSERVES MARTYRS’ DAY

[01] TURKEY OBSERVES MARTYRS’ DAY

Parliament yesterday began an extraordinary session to debate European Union harmonization laws as part of the ninth reform package. Parliament is set to continue to work this week, including in the evenings if necessary, to pass the bills. /Turkiye/[03] GUL ATTENDS IRAQ COMPACT FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday participated in the Iraq Compact Foreign Ministers meeting held in New York at Iraq's initiative. Stating that Turkey wants to cooperate closely with Iraqi officials on terrorism, Gul said that they were still disturbed by the presence of the terrorist groups in Iraq. Gul, in New York to participate in UN General Assembly meetings, also attended a luncheon hosted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a reception hosted by US President George W. Bush. Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan yesterday said that Gul’s meeting with his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis was a warm and friendly one. Gul will meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tomorrow and will join Bush and Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington on Oct. 2. /Aksam/[04] CHP'S BAYKAL CRITICIZES EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF PARLIAMENT

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal yesterday criticized the appointment of a special envoy for the fight against the terrorist PKK. Speaking at his party’s group meeting at the Parliament, Baykal also criticized Parliament’s decision to hold an extraordinary session, saying that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had convened Parliament to hastily pass European Union harmonization laws. /Star/[05] EU POSTPONES PROGRESS REPORT ON TURKEY

The European Union Commission has postponed the release of its progress report on Turkey to Nov. 8. EU enlargement spokesperson Krisztina Nagy yesterday said that the postponement of the progress report previously scheduled for Oct. 24 was a simple calendar change. She said that the change came from the commission’s work on completing all candidate countries’ reports. EU sources said that the delay would give Turkey additional time to make progress on reforms. /Cumhuriyet/[06] IRAQ: “PKK OFFICES WILL BE CLOSED DOWN”

Iraq's government yesterday officially declared that all the terrorist PKK's offices in Iraq would be closed down. Iraqi government spokesperson Ali El Debah yesterday stated that this decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting. El Debah said that they wanted good relations with Turkey and all neighboring countries and thus the Iraqi government had decided to order all PKK offices in Iraq closed down. In related news, following the US and Turkey both appointing military men as special envoys to coordinate anti- PKK efforts, Iraq has done the same. Iraq’s new anti-PKK envoy is Amir Amet Hassun, a Sunni Arab general. /Star/[07] WILSON: “NORTHERN IRAQ WON’T BE A PKK BASE”

US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson yesterday said that northern Iraq won’t serve as a PKK base in the future. Also addressing the subject of a controversial article in an unofficial US magazine about the US armed forces, Wilson said that a map in the article showing parts of Turkey’s eastern Anatolian region as Armenia and "Kurdistan" did not reflect the US’ official policy. Wilson also said that the terrorist PKK had recently stepped up its violent attacks and this wouldn’t be tolerated. /Hurriyet/

[08] BABACAN. “THE IMF HAS AFFIRMED TURKEY’S ACCOMPLISHMENT”

International Monetary Fund President Rodrigo de Rato said yesterday that Turkey’s economic growth performance was very good. Speaking to reporters in Singapore, Rato said that structural reforms and economic policies carried out in Turkey had yielded positive results. Stressing that the floating foreign exchange rate regime and inflation targeting system had helped to curb inflation and ensure resistance to external shocks, Rato said that Turkey deserved the IMF’s support for the appropriate policies it has followed. /Turkiye/ [10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[00] THE AKP’S NATIONALISM MANEUVERBY HALUK SAHIN (RADIKAL)

Columnist Haluk Sahin comments on the Justice and Development Party (AKP). A summary of his column is as follows:

“We’re watching a political maneuver which is surprising for some people. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is steering its ship into the waters of nationalist votes. Up to now it has mostly tried not to use the word ‘Turk’ and considered nationalism a deviation from Islam, but recently it’s been attending all the meetings which include the word ‘Turk. ’ Actually, it’s not so hard to see that this maneuver is the application of a calculated political plan. The campaign for next year's general elections has already started for the AKP. This party is wooing the votes of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and other nationalist parties. Its calculation is multifaceted! Firstly, the AKP got a great many vote from the MHP’s base during the 2002 elections and it wants to win all these votes, which some see as nearly 8-10% of the whole pie. Secondly, 4 million new voters will vote during the next elections. It’s known that most of these young voters feel sympathy for nationalistic themes. Thirdly, it seems that there’s not another area to maneuver in.

The religious base is limited and already gave the AKP its maximum support back in 2002. The liberal section isn’t so big and it has still certain doubts about the AKP. The section which has high secular sensitivities has already decided not to vote for the AKP. In this case, although this change of course made by Erdogan and his colleagues seems strange, it has a logic. But I wonder if the AKP would venture to suspend membership talks with the EU for these votes that it needs to win the elections. Would it use the swagger of a 'nationalist ruling party which makes no concession from our national interests’ and try to make the trump cards of the MHP and Republican People’s Party (CHP) ineffective? The fear of losing power is terrible and causes many people to do inconceivable things. Erdogan and his colleagues might think of suspending membership talks and opening them again after winning the elections. They might want to forget or make others forget that all the EU members would have to approve our re-starting membership talks. It would be useful to watch the crisis which will start with the EU this fall from this perspective. Of course, there are other questions: What will the MHP and CHP do about this change of course? What will the AKP’s Islamist base say about it? Will ordinary citizens find it convincing? Let’s wait and see.” [11] HIS FELLOW CITIZEN GIVES THE BEST ANSWER TO THE POPEBY ABDULHAMID BILICI (ZAMAN)

Columnist Abdulhamid Bilici comments on the pope’s controversial remarks. A summary of his column is as follows:

“According to the pope, Islam is a religion which is not compatible with reason and the Prophet Mohammed didn’t make a contribution to humanity. What he did was always bad and spread the religion by the sword. Whatever the pope says, it doesn’t change reality. It's difficult to see this as a mistake if it's done by an organization with experience dating back centuries. So what's the reason for this? Some are worried that the predictions of the modernists about religion aren't seen in Islam. According to the dominant paradigm of the modern social sciences, religion will lose its influence over people and scientific advances will marginalize religion. This seems to be true if we look at Christianity in Europe. Islam, on the other hand, is spreading in many areas of society. The situation holds in Indonesia, Palestine, Turkey and Sudan. So both conservative people and those without a religion try to find a way to counter the spread of Islam in every area, because Islam’s universal message is spreading throughout the world via increasing global interaction. At the same time, radicals find a way to slander Islam.

If we look at the history of relations between Islam and Christianity, we can see that this is nothing new. I always ask myself why Islam, which exists in peace with reason and is full of tolerance, couldn’t reach the West, which was trying to shake off the dark Middle Ages. But one can’t deny the church’s slander of Islam at that time.

Muslim scholars are already responding to the speech by the German-born pope. And this debate also paves the way for interest in what Islam really is. In the debate the pope started, any objective person would see that Islam is second to none in areas such as tolerance and valuing reason. The church is trying to cover up its vicious acts which began with the Crusades, the Inquisition, and continued with colonialism and fascist movements in modern times.

The remarks by the pope were of course disappointing. I wish he had quoted his fellow citizen Goethe instead of an emperor who evaluated Islam from a hostile view. Goethe wrote the following in his West-East Divan:

Can the Koran from Eternity be?

Of that I have no doubt

That the book of books it must be

Yes I admit it, as a Muslim ought

Because it’s the token of Islam”

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