Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 02-09-26

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] The Turkish Cypriot proposals at the talks were leaked to Anatolia news agency

[02] Turkey and the pseudostate will discuss the economic package being implemented in the occupied areas

[03] Kenan Akin worries about the future of the Turkish settlers

[04] Reference to Cyprus by Kemal Dervis during statements in Washington

[05] Turkey alleges that the Loizidou case cannot be executed

[06] The pro-islamic Prosperity Party to support delaying the elections

[07] The minimum wage in the occupied areas of Cyprus

[08] A new electricity transformer station in the occupied areas

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] The Turkish Cypriot proposals at the talks were leaked to Anatolia news agency

Diplomatic sources told A.A correspondent on Wednesday that the document was presented to Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides by the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas on September 11.

The sources said that the document was prepared after the Swiss, Belgian and U.S. presidency systems were examined. The proposal takes Belgium as basis in foreign affairs and the Swiss model as basis in domestic affairs.

The sovereignty issue is solved on the basis of ``three level sovereignty`` that can be defined as ``transfer of some authorities of the founding states to a common administration.``

According to the documents, Turkish and Greek Cypriot founding states can use their ``remaining authorities`` in the territories they are ruling.

The common state will have to share almost 50-60 percent of its authorities with the European Union (EU) in case EU membership comes onto the agenda.

In the April 29 document, the Turkish side had proposed formation of four ministries in the common state while the September 11 document increases the number of ministries to 10.

These ministries were named as ``departments`` as in the U.S. system in the first document while upon the objections of the Greek Cypriot administration, they were defined as ``ministries`` in the September 11 document.

This document of the Turkish side foresees the common state to have a structure above the two founding states, and the two founding states have to recognize each other to set up a common state. Diplomatic sources said that the two founding states have to recognize each other at least 24 hours before the foundation of the common state.

The same sources said that the Turkish document was prepared by also taking into consideration the transformation process within the EU.

According to the proposal of Denktas, the authorities will be used by the 12-member partnership council to be formed by equal participation from both sides. The presidents of the two sides and five representatives to be appointed by them will be in the council. The presidents will head the partnership council for two years. The missions of foreign relations, economy, relations with the EU and coordination will be distributed among the other members of the council who will have equal status. The council will work like a coalition government.

The Greek Cypriot side, which supports the view of ``single democracy, single elections,`` and ``numerical majority cannot be equal to numerical minority,`` is not warm to the document which takes ``cooperation of democracies`` as the basis.

Despite this attitude of the Greek Cypriots, certain western countries told Turkish officials that there are ``useful points`` in the document.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General`s Cyprus special representative Alvaro de Soto, who participates in the direct talks between Denktas and Clerides, will have contacts in Ankara on September 27, Friday within the scope of his regional tour.

De Soto, who is expected to meet with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, will later proceed to New York from Ankara and meet with U.S. State Department's Cyprus special coordinator Thomas Weston and British special envoy for Cyprus Lord David Hannay there.

[02] Turkey and the pseudostate will discuss the economic package being implemented in the occupied areas

Turkish and pseudostate bureaucrats will hold a meeting on Thursday to assess the Economic Package which has been implemented in the occupied areas.

All issues from finance to education, from health to foreign policy will be taken up at the meeting within the framework of bilateral relations.

The Partnership Council will convene on Monday with the participation of five Turkish ministers and five so-called ministers of the occupation regime.

So-called Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Economy Salih Cosar, so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense Tahsin Ertugruloglu, so-called Interior,Rural Affairs and Housing Minister Mehmet Albayrak, so-called Finance Minister Mehmet Bayram and so-called Labour, Social Security, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmet Kasif will represent the pseudostate at the meeting.

The so-called Ministers will leave for Turkey on Sunday. They will depart from Turkey on Monday after attending the meeting.

The Partnership Council was founded with an agreement signed in occupied Nicosia on August 6, 1997 in order to determine the measures to provide unification in economy and finance and to provide partial unification in security, defense and foreign policy on the basis of partnership, and to encourage the governments to put into practice these measures.

The council held its first meeting in Ankara on March 31, 1998. Later, the second meeting was held in occupied Nicosia on July 23, 1998, the third again in occupied Nicosia on July 19, 1999 and the fourth in Ankara in January of 2001.

[03] Kenan Akin worries about the future of the Turkish settlers

Speaking yesterday at a Press conference, Mr Akin, who is also a Turkish settler and is accused for the murder of Solomos Solomou during the 1996 incidents in Derynia, expressed the opinion that during the 3-4 October meeting in New York the UN Secretary-General will submit a document with proposals to the two leaders, and the side which will reject these proposals is going to be described as "intransigent".

Mr Akin argued that defining the following issues was of "vital importance": "The situation of those who came to the island after 1974, the border adjustments, the percentage of the territory which will be left to the Greek Cypriots, the situation of the Turks who live in this territory, the number of the Greek Cypriots who will come to the north and where they will be settled and the fate of the three freedoms".

Mr Akin expressed also the opinion that it would be wrong to solve the Cyprus problem as a package and say nothing is agreed unless everything is agreed.

[04] Reference to Cyprus by Kemal Dervis during statements in Washington

Speaking at a meeting held in Washington by Ari Foundation, Dervis said it would be very beneficial if the EU sets a date for Turkey during the Copenhagen Summit in December to start negotiations for full membership, stressing that this may not take place but that the EU should be careful not to keep Turkey separate from the other countries that are in the enlargement process.

Dervis said: ``Of course we expect a date to be set in the summit for full membership negotiations. However, the fundamental problem is that distinction should not be made between Turkey and the other 12 countries. We are ahead of Romania and Bulgaria in every sense. We met the Copenhagen criteria. It is our most natural right to expect a date to be set.``

Pointing out that discriminating between Turkey and the other 12 countries which are in the enlargement process would have very negative effects, Dervis said this will create an extremely negative atmosphere, and shake confidence in the markets.

Dervis said: ``I think this will not take place, we want to obtain a positive result from EU`s December summit. This will take place if we work as required after the establishment of the government.``

Dervis said: ``The next step should be positive. Turkey is determined on membership to the EU. EU is a strategic target for us, a path drawn by Ataturk, the founder of Modern Turkish Republic.``

Evaluating the general economic situation in Turkey, Dervis said: ``The Turkish economy passed through a very difficult shock. It took time to re-install the order. However the rate of exchange is stable despite all the negative developments, and political discussions. The program is on the right path. And the financial policies are going well.

For the first time in Turkish history, the rate of inflation will be realized as foreseen by the government. It will be a figure approximate to 35 percent. The expectations for growth was 3 percent. This will be 4 percent or more. Those developments are not reflected in the unemployment and distribution of income yet, but those which were made so far aimed at reaching stability and preventing us to turn into Argentina.``

Responding to a question about the role of the Cyprus problem in EU membership process, Dervis said he did not want to comment on foreign policy, stressing that he personally believed that a solution to the Cyprus question was very critical in the whole EU membership process. Yet Dervis stressed that Cyprus was not one of the Copenhagen criteria.

Dervis said the EU needed immigration due to economic means, stressing that its population would seriously fall in case it does not accept migration from outside. Stating that this migration coming from Turkey was appropriate geographically, Dervis said: ``The EU is advancing toward a situation of which Turkey may be a member.``

Stressing that Turkey's inclusion in the EU would not affect relations with the United States, Dervis said: ``I know that this is not a problem of the United States. It should be solved between Turkey and the EU. However, what we want from the United States is to support Turkey`s EU full membership.``

[05] Turkey alleges that the Loizidou case cannot be executed

Dirioz, in a weekly press conference of the Foreign Ministry, replied to the questions regarding the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (CEPA) report concerning the application of ECHR decision and questions on Council of Europe's intention to send an observer to the November 3 elections.

Dirioz, recalling that CEPA was demanding that the ECHR decisions should be applied by Turkey, said Turkey fully abides by ECHR decisions. Dirioz also added the compensation charges of ECHR against Turkey are being paid in time.

"Only exception of this is the Laizidou case which cannot be executed because of well-known reasons. We also are unable to take the response of our reconciliation attempts in this case" said Dirioz and continued: "There is nothing to do for `Sadak' and `Zana' cases in Turkish law." Dirioz also added retrial accepted in the last harmonization package cannot be reflected to the past and cannot be applied to these cases.

Dirioz criticized the reporters for not taking into consideration the information given by the Turkish delegation and added, "Our aim is to ensure the stable functioning of the democratic institutions of Turkey."

Dirioz also criticized the Council of Europe's attempt to send an observer to the November 3 elections saying: "Turkey is not holding elections for the first time and Turkey allows ESCO observers. Since these ESCO members are also members of the Council of Europe this attempt is pointless."

[06] The pro-islamic Prosperity Party to support delaying election

Mehmet Bekaroglu, the Deputy Chairman of SP, said that supporting efforts to defer the election was not directly intended to allow for the country's electoral laws to be changed, particularly that setting a minimum requirement of 10 percent of the national vote before a party could claim seats in the parliament, but to push back the date for the polls. The SP's executive had held a long discussion on the issue, Bekaroglu told a press conference Wednesday evening, and as a result concluded that the November 3 election would not be "fair and democratic".

"The elections have not only got to the point of candidates being banned but also to the point where the security of the election may not be able to be established due to severe financial mistakes," Bekaroglu said.

As there was growing consensus in the parliament in favour of deferring the elections his party would not stay disinterested in it, he said. The SP Deputy Chairman denied that his party had changed its position, having previously supported the call for early elections and stressed that the SP had always wanted the elections but only after the laws governing the conduct of elections and political parties had been amended.

When asked if the SP's new support for postponing the polls was due to the ban imposed by the Supreme Election Board (SEB) on former Prime Minister and leader of the Islamic political movement in Turkey, Necmettin Erbakan, from standing as a candidate Bekaroglu said that the ban cast a shadow over the democratic credentials of the elections but said this was not their reason. "The SEB banned Erbakan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Murat Bozlak and Ak?n Birdal," he said. "They are not ordinary people. They are symbols. They represent political movements, traditions. A ban imposed on them is a ban imposed on freedom of thought," he concluded.

[07] The minimum wage in the occupied areas of Cyprus

According to the paper, it seems that the minimum wage is higher now, 380 million TL, than in January 2001, which was 200 million TL; but if the money are transformed to dollars, the new minimum wage is lower now than it used to be in the past. In January 2001, the minimum wage was 299 dollars and now it is only 228 dollars, due to the inflation.

[08] A new electricity transformer station in the occupied areas

The ceremony was attended by the so-called Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu, the Turkish Ambassador in the occupied areas Hayati Guven, the so-called State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Economic Affairs Salih Cosar, the so-called Minister of Forestry and Agriculture Irsen Kucuk, the Deputy undersecretary of Turkey's Energy Ministry Fikret Baran and representatives of KIB-TEK (Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority).

Irsen Kucuk, delivering a speech in the ceremony, said that this project was carried out thanks to the contribution of Turkey. A few years ago, there was a serious problem with the electricity production and transportation, but with the contribution of Turkey the electricity master plan project was prepared and began to be implemented three years ago, Kucuk added.

The Chairman of the Administrative Council of KIB-TEK, Mustafa Dagbasi, informed on the electricity establishments in the occupied areas. He said that KIB-TEK produces today a total capacity of 175 MW, of which the 120 MW is partially reliable and the 55 MW is not fully reliable and uneconomic.

Referring to the estimated needs of the past years, which were 3500 KW electric energy per capita every year, Dagbasi said that they are trying to increase their productivity in order to cover the energy needs.

"At the first stage of the Project, the problems of electricity distribution in the occupied areas of Nicosia, Kyrenia and Famagusta were solved. At the second Stage the energy quality of the occupied areas of Mora, Morphou, and between the villages Myrtou and Karavas will be improved", Dagbasi said.

The Turkish Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Sources, Fikret Baran, said that Mora/s electricity substation is only a part of the 2nd Stage of the Master Plan and that the 2nd Stage will cost 5 million US dollars.

EG/

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