Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 05-04-13

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Baykal: "Annan Plan was the minimum basis for an agreement".

[02] Gul and Molyviatis hold a joint press conference: Turkey and Greece reached agreement on three more Confidence-Building Measures.

[03] Bulent Ecevit: "I do not know why the USA handed over Apo to US".

[04] Alpay Durduran on the issue of the properties.

[05] Emine's doctor: She will be ready for transplant within three weeks.

[06] Maronites will go for the first time to the ballot-box.

[07] Old Greek Cypriot enclaved woman and British company were the victims of robberies.

[08] KIBRISLI newspaper reports that after the Salamina-Yenicami match FIFA and UEFA will not object to teams visiting the occupied areas

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[09] Turkish Cypriot daily comments on the statements of Mr Langendijk

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Baykal: "Annan Plan was the minimum basis for an agreement"

"The discussions started for no good reason. Apparently the Parliament Speaker wanted to host his Greek counterpart in Turkey. However, the Greek Parliament Speaker said 'I cannot come because your government made a casus belli decision'. Upon this, the Parliament Speaker stated that time has come to remove this decision," Baykal said.

Baykal emphasized that the Greek Parliament had announced in 1995 that it could extend its territorial waters up to 12 miles, and the (Turkish) Parliament announced that this will be a casus belli.

Baykal said: "What will happen if Greeks say 'We have extended our territorial waters to 12 miles'? Will we bow in front of this decision? This foreign policy understanding and mentality caused very important problems to Turkey in Cyprus, Iraq and on our way to the European Union (EU)."

Pointing out that some circles argue that the Turkish party should make new concessions to make the Annan Plan acceptable for the Greek Cypriots, Baykal said: "This will be a dead end process. The EU wants us to extend the customs agreement to 'southern Cyprus' under the name of Cyprus. Admission of this may cause very important results. 'Southern Cyprus' may like to send ships to Turkish ports. Turkish Cypriot officials warned that necessary measures should be taken before October 3rd."

Baykal noted: "Everybody knows that the Annan Plan was the minimum basis for an agreement, and any change in the plan would upset the balance. What we should focus on from now on is to remove the blockade on 'TRNC'. We should ensure those people to take their deserved place within international community."

[02] Gul and Molyviatis hold a joint press conference: Turkey and Greece reached agreement on three more Confidence-Building Measures

Speaking at the press conference, Gul said that they had reached agreement on three more measures in addition to 11 others designed to build confidence between the two countries.

He listed those three measures as follows:

- Setting up cooperation between Turkish and Greek military natural disaster management teams, and holding joint exercises between them,

- Participation of a certain number of military personnel in language training programs to be provided by Turkish and Greek military institutions every year,

- Organizing sports events between Turkish and Greek military academies.

Stressing that they had also taken an important step in aviation, Gul told reporters that the sides had also agreed to establish a direct communications line between Larissa air base in Greece and Eskisehir air base in central Turkey.

"The relevant authorities of Turkey and Greece will carry out some practical arrangements about that decision. All these developments are the signs of positive relations between our countries," he said.

Gul noted: "During the meeting, we reiterated that we have been supporting the efforts of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to find a solution to the Cyprus issue. We also expressed our appreciation with Greece's support to Turkey's EU membership process."

Highlighting the importance of benefiting more from the huge cooperation potential of the two countries in trade and economy by developing joint projects, Gul expressed his hope that the trade volume between Turkey and Greece would further increase in a stable way.

"In order to reach that target, Turkish and Greek business circles should be encouraged to increase reciprocal investments. We have reached a full consensus of opinion to encourage mutual investments. We will make some recommendations to the Turkish-Greek Business Council to this end. We also welcome initiatives of Turkish and Greek private sectors to establish a joint bank. Our dialogue and cooperation has begun turning into a relation of active partnership.

Our cooperation in trade, energy, transportation and tourism constitutes the strategic dimension of this a partnership," he said.

Noting that Karacabey-Komotini natural gas pipeline was expected to become operational in 2006, Gul said that they were determined to complete the tender process for construction of the pipeline in Turkey within three months. "We believe that further development of cooperation in transportation will have positive impacts on economic and commercial relations between our countries. We have agreed to start the necessary works to make railway transportation between Turkey and Greece more active," he said.

Noting that they also discussed providing some facilities in visa proceedings in order to encourage tourism, Gul added: "We underlined the importance of supporting the bilateral cultural ties and activities between our countries. As a result, Turkish and Greek peoples will know each other in a better way."

Molyviatis, in turn, said that they had decided to further develop the existing cooperation between Turkey and Greece.

Speaking at the press conference, Molyviatis said that his visit aimed to confirm Greece's will to maintain the good relations with Turkey. Noting that they had reviewed the bilateral relations in detail, Molyviatis said that Turkey's EU membership process, the Cyprus issue and regional developments were high on the agenda of their meeting.

He noted that they had decided to further develop the existing cooperation between Turkey and Greece in tourism, trade, economy, energy and the other areas. Molyviatis recalled that they had also agreed to establish a direct communications line between Larissa air base in Greece and Eskisehir air base in central Turkey.

We aim to make our geography a region of democracy, peace and prosperity showing respect to human rights, religious freedom and protection of minorities, he said adding that they had been supporting Turkey's EU perspective to this end. Molyviatis said that Turkey had the right of becoming a full member of the EU after fulfilling the necessary criteria.

Noting they believed that all the sides wanted re-unification of Cyprus, Molyviatis said that a solution should be sustainable, lasting and compatible with the United Nations resolutions and European values on the basis of the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan.

[03] Bulent Ecevit: "I do not know why the USA handed over Apo to US"

When asked whether the US Administration "forgave" the motion issue Ecevit said: "No, it did not. Now we will face worst problems. I do not know how the democracy will overcome this. Before we had serious foreign relations with the USA on Iraq. We have told them that you are concerned about Iraq´s threat to countries in the region, we too are concerned as well. We had taken steps to work together, then the motion was not approved. Now they want again from us to open Incirlik, Why?" The USA openly states that `we will do away with Iran´ They again need us. And they warn us that `this time we will not forgive you if you commit a mistake´. Recently we have read in the press that agreement has been reached as regards Incirlik. What is this agreement? Will it be used for logistics or for other purposes?

USA´s Iraq policy is obvious. It is obvious in its Kurdish state policy. One has to take measures against them. They will not be content with Incirlik, they will ask all the airports in the southeast".

When asked, if the USA´s Kurdish policy is obvious, why then the Americans had handed over the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, (Apo) to Turkey? Did they put the conditions, you should not hang him? Ecevit answered:

"Definitely there was no such condition. They cannot put such a condition because there is capital punishment in the USA. Why have they handed over Apo? I do not know until today, may be this happened with the reaction of certain circles in that pluralistic society, that oppose the Kurdish policy. There, there are people who do not like the idea of Kurdistan attached to America. At the end, what was good had happened. They did not raise any condition as regards Apo". Ecevit concluded by saying that the secret to have good relations with the USA is to be "honest".

[04] Alpay Durduran on the issue of the properties

Mr Durduran notes, inter alia, the following in a written statement he issued yesterday:

"The issue is not only about the Greek Cypriots but for the Turkish Cypriots as well. Respect must be shown for the rights of those who were forgotten and did not want to plunder Greek Cypriot property. The problem must be solved as soon as possible for the sake of showing respect to all Cypriots who are facing the accusation of plundering. We are calling on the administration to respect the human rights and freedoms. We do not accept responsibility about the non-solution which has been prolonged for the plundering of the Greek Cypriot properties and we cannot call solution any solution that will not be lifting the results of the plundering".

[05] Emine´s doctor: She will be ready for transplant within three weeks

The Chairman of the Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine Centre for Bone Marrow Transplants, Prof. Dr. Ali Unal said that once the laboratory tests prove the bone marrow is suitable for Emine, then she will be ready for the operation in three weeks time.

[06] Maronites will go for the first time to the ballot-box

"On 17 April for the first time after 31 years an election will be held for the head-man and for the community members at the village of Kormakitis, in which mostly Maronites live.

With the decision of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, 112 Maronites will take part in the elections to be held for the first time.

From the election one head-man and four members will be elected. There is only one candidate for the position of the head-man and four candidates for the positions of members. The candidacies were submitted to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that the candidates should take the simple majority of the votes. In order to be able to be elected, they must safeguard the 57 of the 112 votes.

While the Supreme Election Board will secure the needs of the ballot-box, the voting boxes and the seal for the elections, the persons on duties will be officers of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The decision of the Foreign Affairs Ministry for the election was announced to the Maronite community on 15 March and the end of the application procedure was set on 31 March."

[07] Old Greek Cypriot enclaved woman and British company were the victims of robberies

As the paper writes, the robbers took the money, which was inside some envelopes consisting of 30 years´ of savings that the old lady had hidden in her wardrobe. The robbers tied the old lady in her bed and struck her in the face. Then they took the money and disappeared. The paper writes that Mrs Anastasiou recognised the two persons that had tied her in bed but she was not able to recognise the third person who stole the money.

In addition, as Turkish Cypriot daily AFRIKA newspaper (13.04.05) reports, the British who took over the «The British Lewis Trust Group Ltd» firm and the 270 donums from Sidika Atalay in order to establish a tourist complex in occupied Karpass peninsula, made a complaint to the so-called policy of the pseudostate that some checks were stolen from the firm's check books. The incident was revealed when a person went to a foreign exchange money bureau and it was revealed that the checks he carried were invalid.

[08] KIBRISLI newspaper reports that after the Salamina-Yenicami match FIFA and UEFA will not object to teams visiting the occupied areas

Under the title: "The eyes on Turkey, as in the past bold decisions are expected from the Turkish Football Federation after the match held between Yenicami and the Greek Cypriot Nea Salamina", the paper writes the following: "The time has come for the necessary actions to be undertaken in an effective manner to provide our footballers with the opportunity they were expecting for years, to have relations with foreigners in the field of football.

It is over 30 years now that the young persons playing football in the `TRNC´ could not have the opportunity to play matches with Turkish clubs and the Turkish National teams and these opportunities must now be created as in the past.

Subtitle: The eyes on Turkey

After the much held between the Greek Cypriot Nea Salamina and Yenicami football teams the attention and eyes were turned to Turkey.

Stressing that since a match between a Greek Cypriot team and a Turkish team took place after 50 years, the time has come, as in the past, for some teams from Turkey too to come to the `TRNC´, the football supporters expect from the President of the Turkish Cypriot Football Federation, Mr Omer Adal, more effective actions.

Subtitle: UEFA and FIFA cannot be an obstacle

Some football supporters, pointing out that after the match between Nea Salamina and Yenicami, the conditions in Cyprus have changed, and stressing to the changing conditions, they agree that UEFA and FIFA can no longer prevent Turkish teams from holding matches in the `TRNC´.

Subtitle: Adal and Ustu should go to Istanbul

The President of the Turkish Cypriot Football Federation, Mr Omer Adal, should raise the issue with the chairman of the Turkish Football Federation, Mr Bicakci, by going to Istanbul continuously".

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[09] Turkish Cypriot daily comments on the statements of Mr Langendijk

"They had said that the Zodhia gate would open after two weeks. Many weeks passed. The period of the watermelons has come. The Zodhia gate, however, has not yet been opened. The minefields will be cleaned up. This has not been possible to be done. What about the mass graves? There is nothing new from there as well. What about Varosha? Obstinately we are not opening it as well. People have been excused from shouting about the opening of the Ledra barricade. It is still closed.

The Greek Cypriots are saying 'let us demilitarize the area within the walls. We are saying that this cannot be done. The army cannot be removed from its place. Is population still massively coming from Turkey? Of course it is. What about the illegal workers? They are too many! The illegal building on Greek Cypriot properties continues at full speed. We have activated the British and the Israelis in the issue. The cases against journalists at the courts are tons of files. Is it still a crime to insult the TRNC? It is! Is it a crime to insult the great persons of the foreign states? That is also a crime! Are the civilians still being tried at military courts? They are! How many bombing attacks have we dissolved within the last 16 years? None! How many perpetrators of political crimes have we arrested? None! Under whose command is the police? The Commander of the Security Forces! To whom is he bound? To the General Staff of Turkey! Who is arranging the goings and comings to the south? The Turkish generals! Who decides who will pass and who will not pass and who will be always subjected to control while he passes? The (Army) Command! How comes the drugs enter northern Cyprus escaping the attention of a forty thousand-strong army, three thousand members of the security forces and three thousand policemen? It is not known! What about the flag on the mountain? It will be repainted soon! How much is our population? 187 thousands! How about our voters? 147 thousands! How many flags do we have? Two! The flag of Turkey and the flag of the TRNC! What about our anthem? It is the anthem of Turkey!

After all these, a short-haired, energetic Dutch parliamentarian comes. His name is Lagendijk. And he says: 'E, Europe. Let these Greek Cypriots know about your limits. It is enough!' We thought that we did not possess a grain of sense. In the end we see that this Dutchman does not posses even this much!"

/SK

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