Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot Press and Other Media, 00-07-13

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

TURKISH CYPRIOT PRESS AND OTHER MEDIA

No. 132/00 -- 13.7.00

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Denktash says reply to UN views to be given on 24 July.

[02] Hasipoglu: Impossible for two communities to live together.

[03] Sener Levent accuses Denktash of terrorism, says "we are prisoners in our own country.

[04] 21 leftist parties and associations to stage major protest rally.

[05] Yilmaz appointed Deputy Prime Minister, State Minister.

[06] Weather conditions affect "TRNC" tourism.

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS

[07] Articles/comments on the "spy case" and the "TRNC/s" status.

[09] Denktash says reply to UN views to be given on 24 July

Speaking at a news conference, Denktash said that all the foreign diplomats were pleased that the "TRNC" submitted a document comprising comprehensive proposals.

Criticiizing the alleged constant interference of Greece, Denktash claimed:

"Greece and the Greek Cypriots want to remove the issue from under the UN umbrella and to take it to the EU".

Noting that De Soto conveyed his views to the two sides orally today, Denktash continued: "We noted these views. An initial reaction was not requested. We will make an assessment in Nicosia. We will submit our views when we return to Geneva on 24 July. What De Soto conveyed is a framework on how they view the Cyprus issue. We were asked to well assess these views. The important thing is not the framework but the results to be attained. We shall conduct work in order to place within the UN framework the document we submitted. The goal is to reach a solution based on the principle of two states"

Pointing out that they are not afraid of possible Greek Cypriot "provocations" during the celebrations to be held in the "TRNC", Denktash continued: "If they come, we shall defend our borders. Clerdies has made a promise to the United Nations. He said that he does not want demonstrations at the border and that measures have been taken. I hope that this is true".

Referring to certain Turkish press reports about himself and the recent developments in the "TRNC", Denktash said: "They are carrying in banner headlines the views of those who received one percent of the votes". Noting that the affiliation of the "police force" to the military "security forces" is constitutional and that the "security forces" commander was asked to make a speech, Denktash continued: "If you see what has been reported you would be sick to death. The commander spoke on behalf of the TRNC security forces. It is wrong to make an issue of it and to claim that there is no state".

Denktash went on: "I/m the real target. Serving Turkey is tantamount to safeguarding the Turkish Cypriots in the best possible manner. I am proud of it. The recent developments are in the interests of the Greek Cypriots". Denktash said that he will make a statement on the issue on his return to Cyprus.

[56] Hasipoglu: Impossible for two communities to live together

Referring to the recent developments in the "TRNC", Hasipoglu said that the Turkish Cypriots are loyal to the motherland and the Turkish Armed Forces.

Noting that the people have never been and will never be tolerant toward those who betray the homeland, Hasipoglu added: "Let no one create a regime problem in the country just because we are facing economic problems. Let no one be under the impression that just because there are economic problems this community will bow down and accept any solution it is offered. When the time comes, this community, this silent majority will rise and reassert itself. Let no one doubt that".

[74] Sener Levent accuses Denktash of terrorism, says "we are prisoners in our own country"

Alleging that Rauf Denktash was Polykarpos Yorgadjis/s spy in the 1960/s whose task was to wipe out leftists on the island, Levent says: "Denktash opens a case against us because we called him a spy and a murderer in our articles. The Security Forces Command has also taken us to court because we wrote that their Turkish commanders have ultimate decision making responsibility and that Cypriot Turks are fleeing the island. That is all there is to it".

Levent further says that when Cyprus was a Republic, Denktash could not get along with Emin Dirvana, the Turkish Ambassador. "Dirvana worked hard so that the Republic should survive. Denktash for his part ran underground activities, set off bombs in mosques saying `the Greeks did it¨.

The other side were doing the same. At the trial over an attack on the then Turkish News Bureau, Denktash explained, `I did not do it, but the guy who did it later owned up to it/. Dirvana was removed from office in 1962 after two Turkish lawyers were killed. In his memories, published in Turkey, he wrote that Denktash had had these two lawyers bombed", Levent says.

Asked to describe Denktash, Sener Levent says: "A Greek nationalist. He is far closer to that than he is to being a communist Turkish Cypriot".

Asked what is the reason for his falling out with the Turkish "Security Forces" in the occupied area, Levent replies: "We oppose the style of Turkey/s presence here. The commanders here tell everybody what to do. Our Parliament, the presidency, all our institutions are just for show. The commanders talk of making AVRUPA newspaper pay `a price/. I expect attacks against both the paper and me personally."

And Levent adds: "We are fighting for a single Republic of Cyprus. To be honest, we are being held prisoner in our own homeland. Whatever Ankara and its commanders want, they get. We write, we become traitors. Some people come over and set up banks and bring plans. We write, we become traitors. If this is treason then I am guilty. In the past, the Greek papers spoke with the leader of a so-called leftist political party and he said, `Sener Levent is an agent provocateur/. They are going to say, `if we die, he will dance on our graves/."

[121] 21 leftist parties and associations to stage major protest rally

A report in Turkish Daily News (12.7.00) says that the release of two of the detainees in the "spy case", according to socialist Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader Mehmet Ali Talat, demonstrated that the charges against Levent and others were political and lacked substance.

"This is a tragicomedy. Our task is difficult, but neither the current difficulties nor those that may come in the future will cause us to deviate from our determination to establish a full democracy here", Talat told the Turkish Daily News on telephone.

Sener/s daughter, Elvan Sener, who since the detention of her father has taken over administration of AVRUPA, told the TDN that there had been no pressure on the paper and that since her father was detained the circulation of the paper had "skyrocketed".

"We are grateful for the support rendered to us by our people. This support can be seen in our circulation", she said. She also praised declarations of support by parties, associations and foundations in support of her father and the other detainees.

Talat/s CTP and 20 other leftist parties, associations, trade unions and foundations have established a "platform against policies of oppression". The platform met on Monday night and decided to hold a major protest rally next week against the detentions. The platform also decided to call for a general strike for next Tuesday.

Talat told the TDN that over 80 percent of trade unions have expressed support for the general strike.

Excluding the social democratic Communal Liberation Party (TKP) of "deputy prime minister" Mustafa Akinci, all the leftist parties, associations, trade unions and foundations united in a joint declaration decrying the detentions, which represented a "mini coup d/ etat" by the so-called Security Forces Command, headed by Turkish Gen. Ali Nihat Ozeyranli, against the "civilian administration".

Although he is technically heading the military of another "country", Ozeyranli is still a Turkish general and, in accordance with the code of conduct of the Turkish Army, cannot speak or act in such a manner without authorization from his superiors in Ankara. Thus, the leftist platform has converted the issue into a test case - whether or not Turkish Cypriots are eligible to govern themselves without directives from Ankara.

The leftist platform, in a rare demonstration of unity, stated in their declaration that Gen. Ozeyranli should be immediately replaced.

"Deputy prime minister" Akinci as well deplored the detentions, which he said were carried out without prior notice to himself and "prime minister" Dervis Eroglu. Although as a member of the "government" Akinci was unable to speak out as loudly as he might like, he still condemned the development as "unfortunate, unpleasant and contrary to norms of a state of law".

He said he could not remain silent just because he was a "government" member, since the procedure followed in the detention of AVRUPA/s editor in chief Levent, two columnists and a photographer from AVRUPA, a non- commissioned officer and his wife was deplorable.

Akinci said Turkish Cypriots are capable of governing themselves. He said that as a Turkish leader who has defended that all through the past decades, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit must contribute to the Turkish Cypriot drive to consolidate civilian rule in the pseudostate.

While all other Turkish Cypriot newspapers only reported the developments on this issue, the AVRUPA took the issue and made it a "test case" for Turkish Cypriot self-administration independent from Turkey. Contrary to the general political line in the occupied area in support of a confederal settlement to the Cyprus problem, AVRUPA has also been supporting a "unitary state" settlement, angering Rauf Denktash and the military.

AVRUPA, very much like the Patriotic Union Movement led by former "deputy prime minister" Ozker Ozgur, a former Repubilcan Turkish Party (CTP) leader, has been defending the "Cyprus belongs to Cypriots" slogan that tacitly implies opposition to Turkey/s military presence on the island as well as to mainland Turkish settlers.

[198] Yilmaz appointed Deputy Prime Minister, State Minister

Turkish daily TURKIYE 13.7.00) reports that ANAP (Motherland Party) leader Mesut Yilmaz has been appointed state minister in the 57th government. Yilmaz has also been appointed as the deputy prime minister. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Cumhur Ersumer has been removed from the office of deputy prime minister.

[206] Weather conditions affect "TRNC" tourism\

The front page of KIBRIS (13.7.00) under the title "The worst July" refers to the high temperatures and the economic problems in the pseudostate.

It also says that the tourism flow has been reduced. Actually, 1,000 German tourists have cancelled their reservations due to the weather conditions. Only 1,736 tourists from third countries arrived during the month of July.

In another article of the same newspaper it is said that the consumer price index for May 2000 has increased by 10% to 286,625,000 TL at a time when the new minimum salary is only 160,000,000 TL.

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS [221] Articles/comments on the "spy case" and the "TRNC/s" status

Specifically, CUMHURIYET newspaper (11.7.00) publishes an article by Hikmet Cetinkaya where it is stressed, inter alia, that AVRUPA Editor-in-chief Sener Levent/s views that "North Cyprus is under Turkey/s occupation" are known and there are lots of people in the occupied north who share this new. These people are politicians, journalists and intellectuals. Cetinkaya supports that these people are entitled to have their own views, it is wrong however to arrest them on charges of espionage! "This is an anachronistic method", Cetinkaya says.

Moreover, columnist Cengiz Candar, writing in SABAH daily (11.7.00), referring to the charges against Sener Levent says:

"The `leader/ of the gang, in other words the `espionage group/, is Sener Levent, AVRUPA/s general director of publications who is one of the most brilliant and capable journalists Cyprus has seen thus far. Columnists Harun Denizkan and Ali Osman Tabak are the other members of the group.

Creating an `espionage group/ would be difficult. The effort that would be made for that purpose would be unconvincing. So, a noncommissioned officer and his wife also were arrested. Obviously, that made the `espionage group/ quite convincing!

Sener Levent is from . He became renowned as one of TRNC President Rauf Denktash most unrestrained critics many years ago. He worked as a columnist in Asil Nadir/s newspaper, KIBRIS, for some time and was later sent to Moscow as the representative of daily Gunes, to which Asil Nadir/s publication group, many renowned journalists, including myself, and even politicians contributed. His wife is from Kazakhstan. She is of Turkic origin and a graduate of a university in Moscow. Because of his critical columns and aggressive controversialist nature, Levent would have been arrested for being a `Soviet spy/ in the past. However, accusing him of being a Soviet or Russian spy would mean nothing now. He had to be accused of something that would draw attention. The decision was made. He had to be accused of `spying for the Greek Cypriots/. But for all those who know him well, the accusation was a very disgusting calumny. The claim that the proprietor and two columnists of a newspaper established an `espionage group/ is probably unprecedented in the history of espionage activities in the world. As far as the recent developments are concerned, the Security Forces/ structure and jurisdictions have created suspicion.

The situation in Cyprus does not indicate that the two communities are heading toward an `armed clash/ So, why should Levent and his colleagues pass on military secrets to the Greek Cypriots, as if they have nothing else to do? What will the Greek Cypriots do with the military secrets they receive? Would they decide to attack north Cyprus? If a tense situation exists, then why has Denktash agreed to participate in the talks in Geneva?

I have another question: Is the TRNC an independent state or a military garrison?"

Touching on the same issue of the "TRNC/s" real status, another CUMHURIYET (11.7.00) columnist, Aydin Egin, wonders whether the "TRNC" is a province of Turkey. Stressing that the commander of the so-called security forces and the Turkish "embassy" in the occupied area are the `real power/ in the pseudostate and criticizing the fact that the "security forces" commander of the "independent TRNC state" is a Turkish general and the "TRNC police" is directly under this general, Egin says that Turkish Cypriot politicians who seek to correct this situation are declared traitors and journalists who write about these "and other similar peculiar situations" are branded as spies. "That is, the Cypriots are not allowed to determine the future of Cyprus", he says and adds: "Is the TRNC really an independent state or just a province of Turkey? If it is none of the two, then is it perhaps a Gordian knot, created by an awkward foreign policy, that is going on for decades?"

Another Turkish columnist, Alev Er, writing in YENI BINYIL (11.7.00), says that for years now the world considers the "TRNC" to be an overseas Turkish province and as a "pirate state". "However, the world is now offering it a chance to be part of international law again: the chance for Cyprus and the TRNC to become EU members. But there are people who do not wish this to happen and people who are loosing their sleep because the treasure is slipping away. They do not wish the TRNC and consequently Turkey to become EU members and are branding those who think otherwise as traitors of their country."

/SK

From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/

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