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Turkish Press Review, 07-12-19
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
19.12.2007
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “THE MILITARY HAS DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO WHAT IS NECESSARY”
[02] GENERAL STAFF: “NO CIVILIANS WERE TARGETED, AND REPORTS OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE DISINFORMATION”
[03] RICE: “THE UNITED STATES, IRAQ, AND TURKEY SHARE A COMMON INTEREST IN STOPPING THE PKK”
[04] EC’S PIERINI: “THE TURKISH ARMY IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE EU”
[05] KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
[06] TO OUR READERS
[01] ERDOGAN: “THE MILITARY HAS DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO WHAT IS
NECESSARY”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday reiterated that the military
would take every measure necessary in the fight against the terrorist PKK.
“The military has done whatever is necessary and will continue to do
whatever is necessary,” he told a joint press conference in Ankara with
his visiting Macedonian counterpart. “Turkey has no negative attitude
towards Iraqi civilians or friends. Turkey’s enemies are the terrorist
camps in northern Iraq which threaten our national unity. We are exercising
our rights under international law.” /Hurriyet/
[02] GENERAL STAFF: “NO CIVILIANS WERE TARGETED, AND REPORTS OF CIVILIAN
CASUALTIES ARE DISINFORMATION”
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said yesterday that it had inflicted heavy
losses on terrorist PKK camps in northern Iraq in weekend airstrikes and in
a small-scale incursion afterwards by ground forces. In a statement posted
on its website, the military confirmed that Turkish ground troops had
crossed a few kilometers into northern Iraq yesterday after spotting a
group of PKK militants trying to move into Turkey overnight. The military
again reiterated that no civilians were targeted and that reports of
civilian casualties were disinformation. “The air operation was planned
very precisely and it executed with great caution,” said the statement.
“Only facilities used by the terrorist organization (PKK) were included
in the list of targets in the operation, and no civilian residential areas
were targeted.” In related news, President Abdullah Gul said, “From now
on, whatever is necessary in the fight against terrorism will be done,”
On a visit to Konya, Gul also said Turkey’s only goal in northern Iraq
was to combat the PKK threat. “There are no other goals,” he added.
“Iraq is Turkey’s neighbor, and we want to save the Iraqis from this
vexing terror. The whole world has seen that Turkey has no ulterior
motives. In the end, everybody has understood that Turkey is right in this
fight.” /Star-Hurriyet/
[03] RICE: “THE UNITED STATES, IRAQ, AND TURKEY SHARE A COMMON INTEREST
IN STOPPING THE PKK”
On a surprise visit to Iraq, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
yesterday met with regional administration leaders in Kirkuk, then
proceeded to Baghdad and met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Afterwards, at a joint press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar
Zebari, Rice said, “The United States, Iraq, and Turkey share a common
interest in stopping the activities of the PKK which threaten to undo the
stability of the north, which clearly have resulted in deaths in Turkey,
and when we were recently together in Istanbul, we actually had a
trilateral discussion about our common interest in dealing with this
problem.” She added, “This is a circumstance in which the United States
has constantly counseled that we need an overall comprehensive approach to
this problem, that no one should do anything that threatens to destabilize
the north.” Addressing Turkey’s recent cross-border operation into
northern Iraq, she said, “As to the activity last Sunday, this was a
Turkish decision and we have made clear to the Turkish government that we
continue to be concerned about anything that could lead to innocent
civilian casualties or to a destabilization of the north.” For his part,
Zebari said, “We want stability and security in Iraq and with Iraq's
neighbors also and the border areas. The PKK presence is unacceptable. The
PKK has conducted terrorist activities against Turkish interests and
civilians and their presence is not acceptable, neither by the Iraqi
government nor the KRG (Kurdish regional administration) authorities.”
/Turkiye/
[04] EC’S PIERINI: “THE TURKISH ARMY IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE EU”
Marc Pierini, the head of the European Commission Representation in Turkey,
said yesterday that the Turkish Army has great importance for the European
Union. In a guest opinion column in Dunya daily, Pierini wrote, “Let’s
think about the military dimension of an EU and NATO where the Turkish
Armed Forces (TSK) is completely integrated in their all peacekeeping
operations: Turkey has the second greatest army in NATO, and it can clearly
change the planning possibilities of possible EU peacekeeping operations in
the Near and Middle East and Africa as well as other regions.” /Milliyet/
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…
[05] KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
BY ERGUN BABAHAN (SABAH)
Columnist Ergun Babahan comments on recent Turkish airstrikes against the
terrorist PKK and intelligence sharing with the US. A summary of his column
is as follows:
“In 1502, Portuguese mapmaker Alberto Cantino was executed in Lisbon. His
crime was preparing a very detailed and accurate map of the Indian Ocean.
At that time, the punishment for this crime was death, because Cantino’s
action resulted in waterways which up to then had only been known to
Portuguese sailors being opened to its rivals, and so broke his nation’s
trade monopoly. The map was later lost, and only found 400 years later
hanging on the wall of a restaurant in Madeira. Back then knowledge
translated into both power and money, and now too. Turkey was able to carry
out a pinpoint-accuracy operation with 50 planes against Kandil thanks to
US intelligence and it opening up Iraqi airspace (which is under its
control).
After leaving Syria in the late ‘90s, terrorist PKK head Abdullah Ocalan
went to a strange city in Russia. Not Turkey, but the US found out where he
was, just as it had on his earlier travels. Maybe the US administration was
already eyeing invading Iraq and didn’t want a Marxist Kurdish group, and
an enemy of then local Iraqi Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Jalal
Talabani (now Iraqi president), in the way. No matter the reason, the
intelligence came from the US, just like in Turkey’s latest anti-PKK
operation, because the US is a superpower which can listen to telephone
conversations worldwide, read all emails and constantly watch every region
by satellite. Now it believes that the PKK’s being so much in the way in
northern Iraq iis harming the local administration and so has started to
provide intelligence from the region to Turkey. In other words, this
intelligence isn’t being shared out of the goodness of Washington’s
heart. Everything has been weighed and calculated. But in any case, the
success of this operation can’t be downplayed either. Not every country
can carry out a huge operation with 50 warplanes in the middle of the
night. Yes, Turkey has the power to do it, but it doesn’t have the
intelligence, which comes from foreign sources. When Turkey can detect
threats to itself using its own satellites, it will inevitably become an
influential regional power.”
[06] TO OUR READERS
In observance of the Feast of the Sacrifice holiday, the Turkish Press
Review will not appear on Thursday and Friday. Please join us again on
Monday, December 24.
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