Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 03-10-17

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Denktas: It is up to Turkey to decide to withdraw troops from Cyprus

[02] KIBRIS writes that the number of the voters is expected to reach 145 thousands; The so-called Minister of Interior says he was not informed about the announced number of the voters

[03] YENI DUZEN and VOLKAN publish public opinion polls with different results

[04] Ultra nationalists in the occupied areas are organizing a protest march against the USA and the EU

[05] The General Secretary of the OIC stated that both the rights of the Turkish and the Greek Cypriots in Cyprus must be taken into consideration

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[06] Ilnur Cevik: "Erdogan confronted with Cyprus realities"

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Rauf Denktas: "It is up to Turkey to decide to withdraw troops from Cyprus"

Mr Denktas went on and alleged that in the face of continued Greek Cypriot arming he does not see the possibility of Turkey's withdrawing troops from Cyprus.

Welcoming the cancelling of military exercises by Turkey and Greece, Denktas said: "We do not know if there is something else behind this".

Speaking on another occasion to a delegation from Istanbul and the Bosporus municipalities yesterday, Denktas repeated his known allegations regarding the Annan peace plan and said: "We will not be subdued .We have no right to that because the issue is not my issue but Turkey's. It is an issue of the Turkish nation. We cannot legitimize Greek Cypriots' EU membership by signing it ( Tr note :the Annan plan).

And Mr Denktas concluded: "There are those who say that Turkey should leave and go.What about the martyrs then? Turkey's right to stay here is a permanent right, because strategic rights are permanent and lasting. Therefore, Turkish-Greek balance should be maintained".

[02] KIBRIS writes that the number of the voters is expected to reach 145 thousands; The so-called Minister of Interior says he was not informed about the announced number of the voters

The paper writes that the attitude of the opposition parties in case of such development is not clear yet and adds that the regime continues granting its so-called citizenship to people from Turkey.

KIBRIS publishes also statements by the so-called Minster of Interior, Mehmet Albayrak who said he was not informed about the number of the voters announced by the "SEC". The paper reminds that Mr Albayrak had said on 9 October that he could know nothing about the "citizenship" granted to people from Turkey by the "Council of Ministers" and added that he was not informed about the above-mentioned cases.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot weekly YENI CAG newspaper (17.10.03) reminds the announcement of "SEC" and a statement by Ferdi Sabit Soyer, General Secretary of the Republican Turkish Party, that if the number of the voters in December "elections" increases to 140.000-145.000, then great confusion and trouble will be created.

Noting that the Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM) evaluated "the continuous interference of Turkey's local military and civilian representatives" in the "elections", the paper publishes a written statement issued by PUM calling on the Turkish Cypriots to forget an "election the result of which is known beforehand", carry their struggle again into the streets and show that they want the Cyprus problem to be solved.

[03] YENI DUZEN and VOLKAN publish public opinion polls with different results

YENI DUZEN publishes a public opinion poll conducted in the last week of September by a company in Ankara, which according to the paper, is known about its relations with the Erdogan government. The poll was conducted in the whole of the occupied area of Cyprus with the participation of 1.480 persons. The results are the following:

Republican Turkish Party (RTP): 28.2 %
National Unity Party (NUP): 21.6 %
Peace and Democracy Movement (PDM): 14.7 %
Solution and EU Party (SEUP): 8.6 %
Democratic Party (DP): 7.4 %
Justice and Peace Party (JPP): 3.2 %
Others: 2.1 %
Undecided: 14.2 %

Under the banner front-page title "The national forces 57 %, the collaborators 27 %", VOLKAN publishes the results of three public opinion polls, conducted during the last month by three different organizations: a Turkish institution, an illegal university in the occupied areas and the National Unity Party.

In the first two polls only three parties pass the limit of the 5 % of the votes, which is necessary to enter into the pseudoparliament. These parties are the National Unity Party, the Republican Turkish Party and the Democratic Party. In the other poll, the Peace and Democracy Movement gets 5.01 %. According to the paper that is the reason why only the above-mentioned three large parties were invited to the ruling Justice and Development Party's 1st Congress in Turkey recently. The results of the opinion polls, in which the Nationalist Justice Party (NJP) and the Cyprus Justice Party (CJP) are also mentioned, are the following:

       Turkish Institution   Illegal University      NUP
NUP:       34.1 %                  32.7 %           33.3 %
RTP:       21.3 %                  20.2 %           18.6 %
DP:        17.1 %                  15.6 %           12.8 %
PDM:        4.4 %                   4.7 %            5.01 %
SEUP:       1.3 %                   2.1 %            1.9 %
 NJP:       3.7 %                   4.0 %            3.1 %
CJP:        1.1 %                   1.4 %            1.1 %
JPP:        1.3 %                   1.4 %            1.0 %
Undecided: 12.70 %                 15.0 %           20.0 %

[04] Ultra nationalists in the occupied areas are organizing a protest march against the USA and the EU

[05] The General Secretary of the OIC stated that both the rights of the Turkish and the Greek Cypriots in Cyprus must be taken into consideration

Mr Belkeziz also said that the OIC is pleased with the good offices mission of the Secretary-General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan, for reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem. He also added that the OIC is ready to facilitate the dialogue between the two sides in Cyprus in the framework of the Annan Plan.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[06] Ilnur Cevik: "Erdogan confronted with Cyprus realities"

"Turkey's international clout cannot be disputed. On the same day when Turkey is a major player in the Islamic conference in Kuala Lumpur with its president and deputy prime minister making a major impact, its prime minister is in Brussels attending the European Union summit and it is also high on the American agenda as the leading potential contributor for troops in Iraq.

Of course this international clout also creates problems of all kinds that we have to shoulder and overcome.

Turkey had a bumpy ride at the Islamic summit as many of our Muslim brothers openly, or behind closed doors, opposed our plans to send troops to Iraq. There is an atmosphere of uncertainty with the U.S. on whether they really want our troops in Iraq or not. But while all this was happening and Turks were glued to the Iraq issue we seemed to forget that the Cyprus issue remains the main thorn in our full membership aspirations.

Yes, we have made major strides in our reform campaign to appease the EU. But we still have some way to go before Brussels is satisfied that we have legislated all the desired reforms to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria. Brussels and the member states also want to see how we apply these reforms and how we can get the conservative judicial establishment to undergo a complete mentality change and become more liberal and democratic.

All these are the least of our problems with the EU. What is crucial and what some Turks simply want to forget, by hiding their heads in the sand, is that unless we do something dramatic in Cyprus and hammer out a solution we will not even get a date for the start of the accession talks let alone become a member one day.

It is of no use the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas coming to Turkey dozens of times in a month and trying to court the Turkish public opinion to prevent a settlement in Cyprus. The Annan Plan is there and thanks to the mistakes by Denktas we have been portrayed as the side that has turned down the plan. If Denktas had said before that the plan was defective but still acceptable in general he would have pushed the Greek Cypriots into a corner and would have portrayed them as the intransigent side. But he didn't and was branded as the villain who has blocked a Cyprus solution. So now the EU member states expect the Turkish Cypriots and their mentors in Turkey to make a move.

Now Erdogan is hearing from his EU counterparts, in very clear terms, that without a solution on Cyprus it will become practically impossible to secure a date for accession talks, especially after May 2004 when Greek Cyprus becomes a EU member. So Erdogan and his government will face some very tough decisions on Cyprus, irrespective of who wins in the Turkish Cypriot parliamentary elections. We simply won't be able to say "look, we have legislated reforms and met the Copenhagen criteria so give us a date before May 2004."

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