Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 02-09-12

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Statements by the Turkish Cypriot leader before and after meeting President Clerides under UN auspices.

[02] Ignoring the UN resolutions on Cyprus Sukru Sina Gurel calls on third parties to recognize the realities of the Turkish invasion and continuing occupation.

[03] Belgian MPs visit illegally the occupied areas of Cyprus.

[04] Parties complete listings for the November 3 elections.

[05] Records of Erdogan and Erbakan erased.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[06] The game plan of Yilmaz.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Statements by the Turkish Cypriot leader before and after meeting President Clerides under UN auspices

Denktas, upon leaving his office this morning, told reporters that today they would decide on the agenda.

Referring to EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen`s remarks, Denktas said: ``These remarks show that Verheugen doesn`t know much about Cyprus. `` Verheugen recently had said the Turkish Cypriots were invited to EU membership talks but they rejected the offer.

Denktas said Verheugen didn`t tell them under what title the Turkish Cypriots would participate in these talks.

``We were invited as a minority by a delegation formed by Greek Cypriots and it was stated that the talks were going to be held by the legal Cyprus government which shows that we were invited as a minority. Verheugen doesn`t know about this. He isn`t aware that he`s helping the Greek Cypriots to colonize us by accusing the Turkish Cypriot side. He cannot reach anywhere by making such random remarks both against Turkey and us.`` Denktas said that such statements, made in such a critical time, were intentional. ``They`re trying to intimidate us, make us do what Greek Cypriots want us to do and make Turkey pressure us,`` Denktas said.

In statements after the meeting, Mr Rauf Denktas said that during today`s meeting he presented an improved version of the document dated April 29, 2002 which contains solution proposals for the Cyprus problem. ``We had a document and we presented the Greek Cypriot side an improved version of this document. I hope they like it,`` he said.

Denktas further said that during today`s meeting, they focused on the content of the meetings and the status issue.

The talks will continue this week on Friday and next week on Tuesday and Thursday.

[02] Ignoring the UN resolutions on Cyprus Sukru Sina Gurel calls on third parties to recognize the realities of the Turkish invasion and continuing occupation

Gurel, who is in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly session, met firstly with Ertugruloglu.

Speaking after the 40-minute meeting, Gurel said that no progress can be achieved in the Cyprus problem unless the third parties see the fact that progress can only be reached in the Cyprus problem by recognizing the sovereign equality of the "TRNC".

When an A.A correspondent said that ``U.N. expects a solution on the island until the end of this year. What is your view about it?`` Gurel replied: "As long as the realities on the island are ignored and as long as the sovereign equality of the `TRNC/ is not taken into consideration, it is not possible to reach a solution. This is how we, Turkey and `TRNC/, assess the issue and we also expect others to change their attitude.``

Gurel, who has around 30 scheduled meetings, is expected to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Undersecretaries of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman and Elizabeth Johns, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan, EU Joint Defense and Foreign Policy Commissioner Javier Solana, and EU Commission's member responsible for foreign affairs Chris Patten. Gurel will also address the U.N. General-Assembly on September 13.

Gurel will also participate in the Eurasia Summit that will take place in New York at Grand Hyatt Hotel on September 17 and deliver a speech on, ``Bridge Uniting the East and the West: Turkey``.

During the speech, Gurel is expected to brief about the foreign policy of Turkey which gained international attention with respect to its economic situation after September 11 and with respect to its strategic importance.

On September 17 Sukru Sina Gurel will go to Washington D.C. where on 18 September he is expected to meet with US Vice President Dick Cheney, US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Condaleeza Rice.

[03] Belgian MPs visit illegally the occupied areas of Cyprus

The paper writes that Belgium "is getting ready to contribute" to the protection of the cultural heritage in occupied Cyprus and adds that the above-mentioned MPs are among those who had submitted a report on this issue to both the Belgian Parliament and Senate. The report especially refers to the historical monuments in Famagusta region.

According to KIBRIS, the Belgian delegation met yesterday with the so-called speaker of the assembly, Mr Vehbi Zeki Serter and the chairman of the so-called "legal and political affairs parliamentary committee", Mr Ilker Nevzat. The two Turkish Cypriot "officials" informed their guests about the views of the Turkish side on the Cyprus problem and referred to the Turkish version of the historical developments in Cyprus.

On her behalf, explaining the aim of their visit to the pseudostate, Mrs Pehlivan argued that the Belgian Senate and Parliament consider the "TRNC", as he called the illegal regime in the occupied part of Cyprus, very important and added that some MPs want to "open a window to the TRNC from the cultural point of view".

Noting that they have submitted a report both to the Belgian Senate and the Parliament regarding the historical and cultural heritage of Famagusta, Mrs Pehlivan said that they were expecting a decision on the issue within the next few days.

When we raised this issue we realized that the Belgians are not satisfactorily informed about the Cyprus problem, supported Mrs Pahlivan and concluded: "We realized that a coin has two sides. You have to see both of them. At least as a start, we wanted to open a door for the TRNC from the cultural point of view".

[04] Parties complete listings for the November 3 elections

Deputy prime minister and leader of the Motherland Party (MP) Mesut Yilmaz would be a candidate from his hometown Black Sea region city of Rize.

True Path Party (TPP) leader Tansu Ciller was named the candidate for the Aegean city of Mugla. Ciller was an Istanbul deputy.

Meanwhile, the Felicity Party (Saadet) (FP) leader Recai Kutan was placed on Malatya's constituency list. Center-left Republican People's Party (RPP) lists were finalized on Tuesday evening, making some big guns of the party unhappy since they were not placed on these lists.

Party leader Deniz Baykal was named the candidate for Antalya, as in the previous elections. Former State Minister Kemal Dervis was placed first on Istanbul's first constituency list, followed by party assembly member and musician, writer and film director Zulfu Livaneli, deputy Secretary Algan Hacaloglu and central executive board member Guldal Okucu.

The party's big guns, former chairman Hikmet Cetin and former secretaries Adnan Keskin and Ertugrul Gunay were not placed on the candidate lists, which drew the reactions of party members. Keskin was reported to have accused Baykal of staging genocide in the party.

Islamic scholar Yasar Nuri Ozturk was placed first on Istanbul's third constituency list, while Confederation of Turkish Labour Unions (Turk-Is) Chairman Bayram Meral was placed first on Ankara's list. Party secretary Onder Sav, deputy chairmen Esref Erdem and Oya Arasli ranked at the top of Ankara's list.

[05] Records of Erdogan and Erbakan erased

Erbakan, on Wednesday, announced that he would run for Parliament as an independent candidate while Erdogan is expected to enter the elections from his JDP

Erbakan, who led Turkey's Islamic movement for three decades, was banned from politics for five years in 1998 after a court closed his Welfare Party for criticizing this mainly Muslim country's staunchly secular laws.

But Erbakan, 75, and his supporters have said the ruling only prohibits him from joining political parties. The Anatolia news agency said Erbakan applied on Wednesday to run as an independent in the central Anatolian city of Konya, a traditional base for pro-Islamic parties.

Erbakan managed to form a government in 1996, but was pressured out of power the following year by the military, which considers itself the guardian of Turkey's secular ideology.

Despite the political ban, Erbakan managed to hold strong influence over his former lawmakers until a successor party was closed on similar grounds last year.

Erbakan was convicted of fraud earlier this year - a conviction which could ban him from politics for life under Turkish law. Erbakan was accused of falsifying party records to hide millions of dollars of cash that were ordered to be seized after Welfare Party was closed.

Meanwhile, Erdogan was convicted of violating Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code which mainly regulates crimes related to inciting hatred on the basis of religion, race, or class.

Turkey's election board would still have to rule on their candidacy and many analysts consider approval unlikely. The board is expected to decide later this month.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[06] The game plan of Yilmaz

There is now a totally different mood than yesterday, in Ankara. It's no surprise a lot of Members of Parliament (MP's) are very unhappy and rebellious, although they were not a short while ago. It is the simple survival instinct that motivates them: Appearance of their names in the candidate lists, almost exclusively selected by their dear leaders.

Otherwise, you are part of the cooking pot. Furious and resentful.

Mesut Yilmaz's game plan is very clear. The leader of the Motherland Party (MP), seeing the only way out for survival, builds his strategy upon the survival instincts of the MP's. He laid it all out. Calling the final whistle for the end of the government, Yilmaz first expected Ecevit to resign. He was rejected. Then, as a second move, after a long deliberation with his disillusioned party folks, he called for the resignation of the Nationalist Action Party (NAP) from the government - which is not likely - or forming a broad based "election-reform government" leaving NAP out in the cold until after the early elections.

Yesterday, late afternoon, MP's waited like curious schoolchildren for their verdict. The leader, in a highly questionable manner, put out the lists of names, laying the possibilities of changing the road map to elections, as Yilmaz considers his new moves, this time with the help of Ismail Cem's New Turkey Party (YTP).

Turmoil amongst the MP's in general will be for granted. But the question will be: How strong? How widespread is the anger of knowing they will not be elected in these elections?... This is crucial for the further acts of the political theater.

If, as many have guessed, the rebellion will be around half of the MP's, there will be a fertile ground for realizing the plan. As Motherland Party (MP) resigns, Yilmaz and Cem are, as informed speculation goes, going to declare the government defunct, and ask for a vote of confidence. For this, there will be a strong argumentation, as usual, by Yilmaz, and a strong backing from within Parliament. This is the calculation.

In that kind of scenario, it is rather probable that Ecevit will resign even before such a vote takes place. Or, again, he might not.

Further ahead, is more blurred. How the President acts at that stage, nobody really knows. The MP and NTP parties might present a majority number of support, including the deputies afloat and rebellious, and claim to form a government, together with True Path Party (TPP). There is little doubt Ciller might say no to a proposal of taking over as the next Prime Minister.

Might it work? It might, theoretically. But, it is one thing to solve the problems of survival in the rooms in Ankara, and another to confront the expectations created by the same actors amongst the voters hoping for a fresh start by the polls. You may expect a heated atmosphere in the coming weeks.

These are the days during which we witness derailment of politics. Even further.

/SK

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