Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 01-11-21

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] CUMHURIYET sees the meeting between President Clerides and Rauf Denktas leading to an agreement.

[02] Devlet Bahceli refers to Cyprus during an address to his party assembly meeting.

[03] Cakmakoglu says no change in Ankara/s position on ESDP.

[04] Sukru Sina Gurel: Turkey - EU relations and Cyprus must be taken up separately.

[05] Co-operative bank to be liquidated.

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS

[06] Columnist in MILLIYET calls on Turkish leaders not to ignore the views of Turkish Cypriot students.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] CUMHURIYET sees the meeting between President Clerides and Rauf Denktas leading to an agreement

The leaders who realized that the logic of `non-solution is a solution/ cannot go on, will discuss the unofficial Draft Constitution on which both sides agreed two years ago.

This draft was envisaging a bizonal, bicommunal loose federation and rotating presidency.

The report further says that even the name of the new state was decided as "United States of Cyprus".

The report notes that nobody knows how many rounds will be held, but, even if nothing comes out of it, there is a slim hope that work will continue.

Leyla Tavsanoglu, reporting from occupied Nicosia, says that the face to face meeting between President Clerides and Denktas will take place, according to Denktas on 4 December and Clerides on 6 December near the Nicosia airport at the UN representative Zbigniew Wlosowicz/s residence.

Quoting articles from the Turkish Cypriot press she then reports about various scenarios on how President Clerides and Denktas decided to meet following changes that occurred on the world order after the 11 September events.

She further quotes unnamed sources in the occupied area that the main bone of contention is the presence of the Turkish occupation forces, and according to the scenario, the UN Peace Force will withdraw and in its place a NATO force with Turkey/s contribution shall be deployed, and parallel to these the sides will reciprocally reduce their troops in Cyprus.

"Another scenario" she says, "if the above scenario fails, a short war for 24 hours will take place in Cyprus and then a Dayton type agreement will be forced on the sides".

Tavsanoglu says that this scenario was mentioned by former UN Special Envoy Gustave Feissel and Denktas strongly criticised Feissel for this.

[02] Devlet Bahceli refers to Cyprus during an address to his party assembly meeting

Referring to the Cyprus question, Bahceli said: ``Turkey wants a fair and lasting solution on the island. This solution depends on world/s taking into consideration the rights and benefits to the Turkish Cypriot people. Otherwise, Turkey will continue to defend and protect its own rights and interests against the EU which plays the tune of Greece and the Greek Cypriot side.``

``The most distressing and thought-provoking thing in arguments on Cyprus is the attitude of some circles in Turkey. It should be well-known that the presence of such distorted mentalities was the sign of Turkey`s rightfulness. Instigators claiming that we cannot become a member of the EU, are not the circles defending our national rights sincerely and protecting regional security and stability. Those who will not be taken into consideration in international relations, are people who bargain with their own nation and own states in the name of national interests and values. In fact, those who defend the EU membership on the level of unconditional surrender, want us to hand over Cyprus unconditionally. Therefore, Turkey has to struggle both inside and outside. Turkey has been wasting time because of such attitudes," he added.

[03] Cakmakoglu says no change in Ankara's position on ESDP

Cakmakoglu who is visiting Brussels to have a series of contacts with interior and defense ministers of EU member and candidate countries, told reporters that Turkey proposed last year to have contributions to the Rapid Deployment Force which is expected to be formed by the EU. Ankara is offering to contribute to this force with a reinforced brigade with the condition that a ``satisfactory`` agreement is reached on the ESDP issue. Cakmakoglu said Turkey could extend the content of this offer if the disagreement is overcome.

During the speech he made at the meeting Cakmakoglu drew attention to the importance of international cooperation against terrorism. The meeting was participated by the ministers of EU members, 13 EU candidates and non-EU member NATO Allies which are Norway and Iceland.

Speaking about NATO-EU relations, Cakmakoglu said these relations should be based on official and legal grounds. He indicated that Turkey supported expanding the ESDP but it thinks that NATO`s and the EU`s activities should complement each other.

The national defense minister said that Turkey could also contribute to the EU police force and he indicated that there were currently 184 Turkish policemen filling international posts.

Responding to questions, Cakmakoglu said there were differences between the views the EU is trying to make Turkey accept and Ankara`s views. He added that contacts on the technical level were continuing to bring these two views closer.

The third meeting about this subject will take place in Ankara on November 26 and the United States and Britain will also be represented at these meetings.

Cakmakoglu declared that Turkey wanted an ``acceptable and satisfying`` position in the ESDP and the Turkish side already explained to EU countries the reasons behind this approach.

Anatolia News Agency also reported that representatives of the Cyprus Government spoke about disarming Cyprus during the conference and Cakmakoglu said that the Turkish government earlier explained, orally and in writing, why such a thing was not possible.

Cakmakoglu left Belgium after the press conference.

[04] Sukru Sina Gurel: Turkey - EU relations and Cyprus must be taken up separately

Speaking about the ``Future of Turkey-EU relations" in a symposium organized by the Berlin Europe Academy, Gurel said that Turkey wants to join the EU, adding that this is not a one-way path.

Gurel said that Turkey fulfilled all of its obligations towards the EU, but the latter didn`t do the same, adding that ``the EU would have given us 2 billion Euros to meet the losses stemming from the Customs Union. We`ve not received this money yet. Besides, we had to get 600 million Euros within the scope of fourth financial protocol. We didn`t receive it either.``

Gurel said that Turkey was the only country which joined the customs union without being a member, noting that the other candidates became members and then joined the customs deal.

``EU which prepared for the future at the Nice summit didn`t mention Turkey even once in its enlargement plans. If Turkey`s joining the EU takes too much time, Turkey maybe will not want to take part in this new EU,`` Gurel said.

Gurel pointed out that if the EU takes into consideration Turkey`s security interests, the latter is ready to make military cooperation with the EU.

``Turkey is a NATO member, it permits allies to use NATO bases in Turkey, but Turkey is not included to the European Security and Defense Identity. This can`t be accepted,`` he said.

Referring to the Cyprus issue, Gurel said that Turkey-EU relations and the Cyprus issue have to be taken up separately.

Turkey, Turkish Cypriots and also former U.N. Secretary-General Peres de Cuellar warned the EU about the issue and noted that Turkish Cypriots were not a minority and that the Greek Cypriots wouldn`t wish to negotiate. ``Yet, the EU didn`t listen to us. The EU will either continue its attitude or delay Cyprus`s membership to the EU. If the Greek Cypriot side is accepted to the EU as a member, the `TRNC/ will assume a joint approach with Turkey,`` he said.

[05] Co-operative bank to be liquidated

Zihni Uysal, president of the VIP-KOOP Administrative Council, made a statement in connection with the decision, saying: "We had problems, but the situation did not call for liquidation. This decision was reached for political reasons and not economic ones."

Noting that the cooperative was experiencing certain difficulties and that, therefore, the supermarkets belonging to the cooperative have been closed down in occupied Nicosia and Kyrenia some time ago, Uysal continued:

"The various minor problems we encountered were surmounted among the members. The bank is continuing its normal activities, it is receiving deposits and extending loans. We have money in our coffers, we have no exchange problems, neither do we have problems with other banks. The decision to liquidate was reached despite all this. This is a continuation of a political stand adopted against KIT's [Public Economic enterprises] and cooperatives."

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS

[06] Columnist in MILLIYET calls on Turkish leaders not to ignore the views of Turkish Cypriot students

"I had listened to students in Northern Cyprus on a number of occasions, with a deep sadness:

- Fine, we're all Turks, but there is a bit of distance as well... Groups of friends are generally not mixed, but develop within our own group...

We saw this all the more clearly in the recent "32nd Day" program of Mehmet Ali Birand on CNN TURK television. I hope that a few eyes, hitherto closed, have now been opened wide.

During the program, filmed at the Near East University, a young Turkish Cypriot girl said that:

"Yes, we are Turks, and we want to stay Turks. But at the same time we're Cypriots... We have certain things in common with the Greeks as well, from having lived together with them for centuries... We should be the ones deciding our future, not Turkey!"

As the program went on, Denktas said that "certain young people" have been deceived, and that they have "forgotten the savagery of the Greeks". * * * Naturally, my emotions are with Denktas, who says that "The motherland, Turkey, is our blood and our soul".

But we also have to recognize the reality: Among the Turkish Cypriots, a gradually growing portion prefer not to identify with Turkey, but rather with the "Turkish Cypriot" identity...

They are both thankful to Turkey and resentful... And they hold Turkey to a degree responsible for the fact that they are undeveloped.

According to retired Vice Admiral Atilla Kiyat, seven thousand `TRNC/ citizens have taken out passports from the Greek Cypriot administration!

Today, the "Greek Cypriot passport" is the passport of a country with a per capita income of 16,000 dollars, and tomorrow it will have the value of a "European passport"!

As for the young people of the `TRNC/, they live with the fear of unemployment; the "fear of massacre" appears to be something that, for them, has been "buried in the past"...

Moreover, in Turkey as well, some see the Cyprus problem as an economic burden, and a constant obstacle in the process leading to EU membership.

Rather than condemn these "dissident" views on both sides, it is necessary to try to understand them! And besides, there is no way to conduct a 12 September [1980 Turkish military coup] or 28 February [1997 National Security Council decision to remove Islamists from power in Turkey] operation on Cyprus!..

* * * In order to support the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey has put a good many of them on salary, and subsidizes them.

While some circles in Turkey count this as being a "burden", some circles on the island itself consider that it is for this very reason that industry, tourism, and trade have not developed there!

The greatest factor in this, of course, is the embargo carried out against the `TRNC/...

But while Turkey struggles by economically on a [per capita] national income of about 3,000 dollars, the high national income of both Southern Cyprus and Greece is leading young people with concerns for the future to hold various different feelings!

As David Miller explains in his book "Citizenship and National Identity",

"The feeling of identity is not one-dimensional. In addition to language, ethnic origin, and education, an individual's profession, political views, economic relations and expectations for the future, and conceptions regarding citizenship are all important components of one's identity.

This sociological truth is extremely important, both from the standpoint of Turkey's maintaining its own unitary structure, and from that of not losing Northern Cyprus to the Greeks.

The economy! The economy! The economy!

And for that, it is essential to bring about a "manageable democracy"...

We should understand very clearly that, if we should lose another whole decade the way we lost the decade of the 1990's, we will also lose some very important things that today we cannot even imagine!

KV/SK

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