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Turkish Press Review, 07-11-06
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
06.11.2007
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…
CONTENTS
[01] PRESIDENT GUL TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN
[02] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH BUSH IN WASHINGTON
[03] AMBASSADOR WILSON: “TURKEY, THE US AND IRAQ CAN SHARE INTEL TO DEFEAT THE PKK”
[04] EU TO RELEASE TURKEY PROGRESS REPORT TODAY
[05] ONE YEAR LATER, STATESMAN ECEVIT COMMEMORATED
[06] THE KURDISH AND TERRORISM ISSUES
[01] PRESIDENT GUL TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN
President Abdullah Gul, accompanied by State Ministers Kursad Tuzmen and
Nimet Cubukcu and a group of businessmen, will fly to Azerbaijan today. Gul
is scheduled to meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev,
Parliament Speaker Oktay Asadov and Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and to
address the Azerbaijani Parliament. During the visit, the two presidents
will sign several agreements and discuss bilateral relations along with
regional and international developments. Gul will later proceed to Gence,
Azerbaijan’s second-largest city. /Cumhuriyet-Turkiye/
[02] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH BUSH IN WASHINGTON
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met with US President George
W. Bush at the White House. Afterwards, Bush said that they had had a long
discussion about the terrorist PKK, calling it an enemy of Turkey, a free
Iraq and the United States. “I made it very clear to the prime minister
that we want to work in a close way to deal with this problem,” Bush told
reporters. “We talked about the need to have better intelligence
sharing.” He added, “In order to chase down people who murder people,
you need good intelligence. We talked about the need for our militaries to
stay in constant contact.” After his meeting with Bush, Erdogan delivered
a speech at the National Press Club. “On Oct. 17, almost all members of
the Turkish Parliament gave a mandate to the government to launch an
operation,” he said. “This is a mandate for a cross-border operation
that solely targets the PKK, not civilians.” Turkey will exercise its
right to protect itself and the nation against terrorism if necessary
international support and cooperation are not provided, he added. “We
have come to the point of using our rights under international law, against
the separatist terrorist organization which threatens our territorial
integrity, public order, security and peace, by deploying in northern Iraq,
” said Erdogan. “This is an authorization granted by international law
and we will use it.” Erdogan stressed two vital issues in Turkish-US
relations, namely a resolution regarding Armenian allegations on the
incidents of 1915 and the presence of the terrorist PKK in northern Iraq.
/Star-Sabah/
[03] AMBASSADOR WILSON: “TURKEY, THE US AND IRAQ CAN SHARE INTEL TO
DEFEAT THE PKK”
Turkey does not want northern Iraq to continue to be a safe haven for
terrorist groups, said US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson yesterday. “As
Iraq hasn’t reached the required stability, we don’t want any
developments causing a new crisis,” he told Aksam daily. “The US
administration wants to find a common solution to the problems of its
strategic partner Turkey caused by the terrorist PKK. Adding new troubles
to the problems of the Middle East would run counter to the interests of
the US, Iraq and Turkey. We can share intelligence to defeat the terrorist
PKK. Using the tripartite mechanism would benefit everyone.” /Aksam/
[04] EU TO RELEASE TURKEY PROGRESS REPORT TODAY
The EU Commission is set today to release its annual progress report on
Turkey along with an accession strategy document and financial assistance
framework for the next four years. Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn
is expected to hold a press conference to mark the report’s release. In
the report, the Commission assesses political and economic developments in
Turkey over the last year. /Turkiye/
[05] ONE YEAR LATER, STATESMAN ECEVIT COMMEMORATED
On the first anniversary of his death, the late Bulent Ecevit, founder of
the Democratic Left Party and a two-time prime minister, was commemorated
yesterday in a ceremony at his gravesite in the Turkish State Cemetery.
/Milliyet/
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…
[06] THE KURDISH AND TERRORISM ISSUES
BY ISMET BERKAN (RADIKAL)
Columnist Ismet Berkan comments on the Kurdish and terrorism issues. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“I’ve been on a few TV programs over the last few weeks and on all of
them I found myself at discussing the idea that there’s no Kurdish issue,
but a terrorism issue. I’m writing this just as Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is about to leave his hotel to meet with US President George
W. Bush. Of course, I don’t have any inside information on the content of
the meeting or its possible consequences, but maybe I don’t need any: I
know that the Kurdish issue and the issue of separatist terrorism which has
caused Turkey so much trouble are very complicated and so can’t be solved
in a single meeting. But I also know that the terrorist PKK is indirectly
under US control. This has been the case maybe for years. The PKK falls
silent when the US asks it to and delivers captured soldiers when the US
asks it to. But I’m not so naïve as to think that the Kurdish issue and
the issue of separatist terrorism can be ended if the US wants it. In
addition, I don’t support conspiracy theories that underestimate the
power and potential of my country.
Columnist Fikret Bila has recently been giving us the words of retired
commanders who fought the terrorist PKK in the field and were instrumental
in policy-making. From what they said we can conclude that even if the
Kurdish issue and the terrorism issue are interwoven, they are actually
separate issues. Both former Land Forces Commander Gen. Aytac Yalman and
former Chief of General Staff Gen. Dogan Gures have expressed this. When
you still say there’s no Kurdish issue, but one of terrorism, you suggest
going back to the beginning. In my opinion, when a genuine effort to solve
the Kurdish issue is made, we can erect an infrastructure to end separatist
terrorism once and for all. Otherwise our prime ministers will visit the US
and our soldiers will organize more operations for a long time to come.
From what I can tell, a (cross-border) military operation (into Iraq) will
be organized. Actually, if any, the only issue is the Turkish army not
hitting the Iraqi administration, but the terrorist PKK.
As long as we don’t cross this thin line, if Turkey carries out
operations along our Iraqi border, particularly in the mountainous region,
or keeps soldiers there permanently, this won’t lead to serious failures.
I accept that this operation, and even a permanent military structure which
might be established, will hold back the issue of terrorism for a certain
period of time. Even if we ignore the threat of the terrorist PKK in cities,
the issue of terrorism in the mountains won’t end completely. The only
way to end or marginalize terrorism is to make our Kurds feel that
they’re also first-class citizens. As long as we don’t do this, there
will be pressure for a federation, separation, etc. So maybe we can buy
some time to solve the Kurdish issue by defusing the issue of terrorism. In
other words, an operation might not be completely unnecessary and
disadvantageous, so long as we use the time that we have lost to our
benefit.”
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