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Turkish Press Review, 09-05-22Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning22.05.2009CONTENTS
[01] GUL TO VISIT KYRGYZSTAN, TAJIKISTAN NEXT WEEKPresident Abdullah Gul will start a tour of Central Asia next week, visiting Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Gul is scheduled to visit Kyrgyzstan next Friday, where he will meet with his Kyrgyz counterpart Kurmanbek Bakiyev and then proceed to Dushanbe, Tajikistan to meet with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon. Economic cooperation and expanding business ties are expected to be the main focus of Gul, who will be accompanied by a group of businessmen in his Central Asia trip. Gul and Rahmon will reportedly discuss ways to increase the existing trade volume between the two countries. He will also meet with Turkish businessmen operating in Tajikistan. /Today's Zaman/[02] FM DAVUTOGLU MEETS WITH TRNC'S OZGURGUNForeign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday met with his Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) counterpart Huseyin Ozgurgun in Ankara. During the gathering, Davutoglu reiterated Turkey's support to the TRNC and underlined the importance of intensifying the negotiation process and efforts to find a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem. Davutoglu criticized the relation of Turkey's European Union membership to the recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration, saying that the EU doesn't keep its promises. For his part, Ozgurgun said that “motherland” Turkey's guarantorship is a “sine qua non,” for Turkish Cypriots. /Star/[03] FM DAVUTOGLU TO ATTEND OIC MEETINGA delegation headed by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend the 36th Session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Foreign Ministers Council to be held in Damascus, Syria on Saturday. Regional and international issues will be discussed at the meeting. /Hurriyet Daily News/[04] SLOVENIAN TURK: "SLOVENIA WILL STRONGLY SUPPORT TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIP"The Turkey-Slovenian Business Forum, jointly organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and the Turkish-Slovenian Business Council was held in Istanbul yesterday, with Slovenian President Danilo Turk also in attendance. Speaking at the meeting, Turk said that Turkey and Slovenia got closer in the recent past. Stating that Turkey strongly supported Slovenia's United Nations and NATO membership, he added, "We can never forget Turkey's support, and Slovenia will strongly support Turkey's EU membership." Stressing that Slovenia is currently a medium economic power in the EU, Turk said that they wanted to become one of the most developed countries in the EU. He expressed his hope to promote their relations with Turkey, and called Turkey a super power in terms of tourism. "Every year, the number of Slovenians visiting Turkey increases," Turk said. /Hurriyet/[05] LULA DA SILVA CALLS FOR STRONGER TURKISH-BRAZILIAN RELATIONSBrazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is paying a three-day official visit to Turkey, the first-ever of its kind, at the invitation his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, addressed a meeting of Turkish-Brazilian Business Council in Istanbul yesterday, which was held by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK). Stressing that Turkey is a country of the utmost importance for the world, Lula Da Silva called for stronger relations between Turkey and Brazil in all areas, including bilateral trade ties. Considering the huge trade potential of the two countries, the current Turkish-Brazilian bilateral trade volume is very low, and needs to be remarkably improved, he said. Talking about his country's social and welfare policies, he said, "Along with our policies to expand trade ties with the rest of the world, we also took decisions to take care of those in need in the country." Lula Da Silva also talked about the possible cooperation areas with Turkey, and saying that Brazil's state-owned oil drilling company Petrobras would invest in Turkey to explore oil in the Black Sea. Praising the potential of the two countries, he concluded his address with a message to Turkish businesspeople: "Turkey, with 72 million and Brazil, with 190 million people, are two emerging countries with many things that they still have to build, so let us do it together.” Also speaking at the meeting, Brazilian Industry and Trade Minister Miguel Jorge said Brazil, the third largest jet aircraft producer in the world, could work with Turkey to produce jets. He said that bilateral trade volume between the two countries climbed from $22 million in 1999 to $1.5 billion in 2008, adding that Brazil was ready to become one of Turkey's leading trade partners. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek addressed the meeting as well. Stating that Brazil is Turkey's biggest trade partner in Latin America, Simsek said, "But the current bilateral trade volume between the two countries was below the desired level." Calling on Brazilian businessmen to take advantage of Turkey's unique geographical location, he said Turkish and Brazilian firms could cooperate in several industries, particularly the automotive, household appliance, textile and agriculture sectors. In related news, Lula Da Silva is expected to proceed to Ankara today, where he will be welcomed by President Gul with an official ceremony at the Cankaya Presidential Palace. As well as holding official talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Gul will also host a dinner in honor of the visiting Brazilian president. Playing in leading Turkish football clubs such as Fenerbahce, Besiktas and Galatasaray, several Brazilian footballers are also expected to attend this dinner. /Turkiye-Hurriyet/[06] TURKEY IS AT 7TH PLACE ON THE EUROPEAN INTERNET LEAGUEA recent report released by Internet World Stats revealed that 26.5 million people out of 75.7 million in Turkey are internet users. According to revealed figures 35% of Turkish people are shown as active internet users. These figures carried Turkey to seventh place on the European internet league. /Milliyet/[07] UKRAINE'S SHAKHTAR DONETSK WINS LAST UEFA CUP IN ISTANBULBrazilian Jadson struck an extra-time winner to secure Shakhtar Donetsk a 2- 1 victory over Werder Bremen in the last UEFA Cup final at the Fenerbahçe Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul on Wednesday. Jadson's first-time shot from Darijo Srna's cross seven minutes into the first extra period squirmed under keeper Tim Wiese and Shakhtar became the first Ukrainian team to win a major European trophy since the break up of the Soviet Union. Shakhtar was the third former Soviet club to win the UEFA Cup in five seasons following victories for CSKA Moscow in 2005 and Zenit St. Petersburg last year. "It was important not to allow Werder to play to their style, we controlled the game and we created most of the chances," Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucesu told reporters. Also Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko were at the stadium to watch together the game. UEFA President Michel Platini joined them as well. The UEFA Cup will become the Europa League next season, a revamped competition UEFA hopes will enhance the image and profile of European soccer’s second-tier tournament. /Today's Zaman/FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… [08] ANYBODY REMEMBERS THE SHINING PATH?BY ERDAL GUVEN (RADIKAL)Columnist Erdal Guven comments on the way to end an armed organization. A summary of his column is as follows: "Each country has peculiar conditions. The dynamics of each political or ethnical struggle, whether armed or unarmed, are peculiar as well. So special conditions and dynamics should be taken into consideration in the process of creating parallelism between the future of any armed struggle in any country and that of the terrorist PKK in Turkey. The states don't have any universal 'handbook' to direct their struggle against the armed organizations. But there is a general rule: an armed organization can't be defeated only through military methods. This rule is often brought to the agenda in Turkey as well in terms of the struggle against the PKK. But there are certain exceptions in this rule as well. It seems the latest exceptional situation occurred in Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers surrendered themselves to the state's organized armed force. In other words, it seems the Sri Lanka state has solved the problem of terrorism only through military methods. I'm writing carefully, because we should wait to make a definite judgment. This is a matter of process, but there is another exceptional situation which occurred recently in Peru. The Shining Path organization was established in Peru in 1970 in order to conduct an armed struggle to establish a Maoist order. The organization enjoyed its strongest era in 1980s. Its ideological devotement to this grant purpose and the cruelty of its methods turned the Shining Path into one of the most fearful movements in the world. The organization has not only administrated a considerably large area in the rural Peru, but also carried out terrorist attacks in cities and almost taken the regime as hostage. Then Alberto Fujimori came into power in Peru in 1990. He promised to end the Shining Path. He suspended the Constitution, Parliament and the Constitutional Court with the army's support and initiated a merciless struggle completely based on military methods against the Shining Path by paying no attention to human rights two years after he was elected the Peru leader. Abiamel Guzman, leader of the Shining Path, and nearly the entire commanding level of the organization was captured in the same year. The organization was destroyed in the following two years and nearly 6,000 Shining Road supporters surrendered and Fujimori declared his victory at the end of 1994. The organization seemed to be moving in mid 1990s, but the number of its members never surpassed a few hundred. Furthermore, the new leader Oscar Ramirez was caught in 1999 and the remaining members were captured in 2004. Now only the name of the Shining Road exists in Peru, not itself. They are now working as a sort of guard for coca producers, but they don't go out of the woods of the country. Their actions are limited to occasional kidnapping. So the result is the end of an armed struggle, 70,000 dead people, a marginalized organization and a country with damaged democracy. The fact that the Tamil Tigers were brought to their knees doesn't mean that the problem was completely solved. As a matter of fact, the reasonable people in Turkey don't argue that the Kurdish issue can be solved by discharging the PKK. But this is not our issue. The issue is about how to struggle against an armed organization. Obviously, Sri Lankan Head of State Mahinda Rajapaske follows the road of Fujimori. It is understood that the military operation which ended with the declaration of victory last week has discharged almost all the Tamil Tigers. So the rule of 'armed organizations can't be brought to their knees through military methods' is now facing a new exception. And not only armed organizations, but also the states struggling against these organizations should think about this exception." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |