Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 05-06-09

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Erdogan: Bush personally instructed U.S. State Secretary to study direct flights from U.S. to Ercan airport of TRNC.

[02] Council of Europes interim resolution on Cyprus.

[03] Serdar Denktas says that the occupation regime will be conducting a census next year; Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot parties discussed the issue of the settlers.

[04] An independent deputy joined Anavatan Party in Turkey.

[05] House in occupied Dikomo built by Turkish Cypriots was taken over by the occupation army.

[06] NEU signs a protocol for cooperation with the California State University Sacramento.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[07] Columnist in RADIKAL argues that in their efforts to encircle China and USSR the US created the Islamic Green Belt part of which is the ruling JDP in Turkey.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Erdogan: Bush personally instructed U.S. State Secretary to study direct flights from U.S. to Ercan airport of TRNC

Mr Erdogan said: We had the opportunity to discuss and evaluate strategic partnership between Turkey and U.S. during the meeting. Cyprus, Middle East, Israel-Palestine, Iraq as well as Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, studies of the Broader Middle East Initiative were also discussed. I can summarize the main titles of our discussion as freedoms, democracy, rule of law, fight against terrorism, security and human rights.

Meanwhile, we also had the opportunity to discuss the issue of PKK and evaluate the issues as regards to minorities in Turkey. As you know we have sent Foundations Law to the Parliament. We have again conveyed our views that the visit of U.S. congressmen to Ercan Airport (occupied airport of Tymbou) of TRNC to be further improved. I have the impression that Bush was positive towards this process and that he particularly appreciated the attitude of Turkey as regards to the issues on April 24th referendum. I also had the impression that he thinks those who have to take steps for the future process was the other side.

We have also expressed Turkey's determination about the European Union (EU) negotiation process. We have told them that the referendums that were held both in France and the Netherlands did not and would not affect Turkey negatively as it has nothing to do with Turkey. We said it was the voting for the EU Constitution and that Turkey's current efforts about the issue were for the negotiations that would start on October 3rd. Turkey believes that as those issues were opened on October 3rd, the process will improve positively and in a different way. There are of course difficulties and there will be. However, we will continue on our path by overcoming the difficulties in the way previous states achieved them.

Replying to a question of reporters whether direct flights will start from Washington to Ercan Airport (occupied airport of Tymbou) and whether U.S. lecturers will teach in universities in the occupied areas of Cyprus were discussed, Mr Erdogan said: We mainly focused on start of flights between Washington and Ercan Airport. U.S. President George W. Bush personally instructed the U.S. State Secretary to study direct flights from U.S. to Ercan Airport. I also thanked him for visit of U.S. Congressmen to TRNC. A group of British businessmen also visited TRNC. However issues about the universities were not discussed. More than one year passed for the period about the report which UN Secretary-General presented to UN Security Council. We asked support for this. We expressed our belief that the UN Security Council should make its decision from now on about this issue.

Upon a question about demands of the United States from Turkey, Mr Erdogan said: Opposition in Turkey criticizes us about our accomplishments regarding these issues. I gave you concrete examples; Turkey has planned to give an assistance worth of 100 million USD to Afghanistan. Turkey commands ISAF for the second time within two years. Turkey has provided logistic support in the Iraq issue. Also the attitude of citizens of TRNC and the determination of the Turkish government about the Cyprus issue as well as Turkey's attitude towards the Broader Middle East Initiative are obvious.

Todays Turkish Cypriot and Turkish newspapers cover the meeting of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and U.S. President Bush as follows:

KIBRIS: The paper, under the title Bush gave hopes, reports that the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan stated after yesterday´s meeting with U.S. President Bush that the U.S President sees positively the issue of lifting the embargo and the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots and to promote the issue of U.S. Congressmens visit to the occupied area of Cyprus. Mr Erdogan also said that Mr Bush expressed the satisfaction of his country for Turkeys stance regarding the referendums on 24 April, 2004. Mr Erdogan added that Mr Bush shares the view that the other side (Greek Cypriot side) is the one that should take some steps from now on. Mr Bush described the U.S-Turkish relations as very important strategic partnership and added that they discussed issues of foreign affairs during the meeting with Erdogan.

YENIDUZEN: More Concrete steps for Cyprus. Turkish Premier Erdogan discussed with U.S. President Bush the Cyprus issue.

KIBRISLI: The paper, under the title Let us examine the direct flights to Ercan, reports that Bush reacted immediately to Erdogans demand to ensure direct flights from U.S.A to the occupied area of Cyprus and gave directions to the Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice: Lets examine the issue of direct flights to Ercan. Mr Erdogan also said to the reporters that If Russia is an obstacle to this issue, I will discuss it with Mr Putin. The paper also reports that Mr Erdogan asked from Mr Bush to use his influence over the European Union to lift the embargo of the Turkish Cypriots.

HALKIN SESI: U.S.A and Turkey evaluated their strategic partnership.

VATAN: TRNC on the agenda of the White House.

ORTAM: Bush: Our relations are strategic.

GUNES: Turkey is a strategic partner!

VOLKAN: Erdogan: The isolation of TRNC must be lifted.

AFRIKA: Erdogan: The embargoes that are applied to the Turkish Cypriots are meaningless.

MILLIYET: They discussed the Cyprus problem. The paper reports that the top priority issue of the meeting of the two leaders was the lifting of the isolation of TRNC.

HURRIYET: Erdogan-Bush met at the White House.

[02] Council of Europes interim resolution on Cyprus

In the interim resolution, the committee stressed that significant steps had been taken about prevention of violation of rights to education and freedom of religion of Greek Cypriots living in the occupied area of Cyprus and about military courts.

In its interim resolution, the Committee of Ministers asked for more effective investigation into the fate and whereabouts of the missing persons.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided in 2001 that Turkey violated 14 articles of the European Convention on Human Rights after it received the complaint of the Greek Cypriots.

In its interim resolution, the Committee of Ministers said that the Court condemned the excessive censorship of school textbooks for use in the primary school of Greek Cypriots living in the occupied area of Cyprus and the absence of appropriate secondary education facilities in violation of the right to education of Greek Cypriots living in the occupied area of Cyprus. But, the interim resolution noted that the opening of the school in the occupied area of Cyprus constitutes an important development in order to remedy the violation found by the Court in this regard.

Recalling that the Court considered that there were a certain number of measures limiting the religious life of Greek Cypriots living in the occupied area of Cyprus, the interim resolution said that such restrictions have been lifted in a satisfactory manner.

The interim resolution recalled that the Court condemned the legislative practice of authorizing the trial of civilians by military courts, and said that violations have ended after necessary measures were taken.

Recalling that the Committee of Missing Persons in Cyprus was reactivated at the end of 2004, the resolution said that more efforts should be exerted regarding the issue of missing persons.

[03] Serdar Denktas says that the occupation regime will be conducting a census next year; Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot parties discussed the issue of the settlers

In statements yesterday after the regular meeting of the leaders and representatives of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties at the Ledra Palace, Mr Denktas noted that they discussed the issue of the population of the TRNC and the settlers.

Mr Denktas said that they gave the Greek Cypriot side some real numbers on the issue and thus they took the issue from the hands of the Greek Cypriots who used it as material for propaganda.

Mr Denktas pointed out that during the past meetings they avoided touching on problematic issues and described the meeting that took place yesterday as the most productive of all the meetings they had until today.

Mr Denktas stated that with the census they plan to conduct next year they will put an end to the issue, which the Greek Cypriot side exaggerates and uses to accuse Turkey and to frighten its own people. He added that during their next meeting they will be discussing the same issue and that the Greek Cypriot side will give facts for the population in the free areas of the island.

[04] An independent deputy joined Anavatan Party in Turkey

Tuysuz, who had resigned from the Republican People's Party (RPP) recently due to his problems inside the party, had so far preferred to remain independent.

With Tuysuz joining the Motherland Party, the party's seats in the parliament have now risen to 13.

According to Ankara Anatolia news agency (08/06/05), the new distribution of the seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly is as follows:

Justice and Development Party: 356

Republican Peoples Party.: 160

Motherland Party.: 13

Socialist Peoples Party:4

Truth Path Party: 4

Peoples Ascendance Party: 1

Independent..: 9

Vacant........................................: 3

[05] House in occupied Dikomo built by Turkish Cypriots was taken over by the occupation army

As the paper writes, the Ugurlu family, which was given a building plot in occupied Dikomo village for the property they had in the south, spent 140 billion Turkish liras to build a house in the village. However the military authorities claim now that the building plot belongs to them and the family should not have built a house there.

In the previous week the military authorities tried to pull down the house using bulldozers and now the so-called police keep 24 hours watch over the house so that the family may not be able to enter it. The pseudo police even started putting barbed wires around the house.

The so-called district officer of occupied Kyrenia Mr Savas Orakcioglu stated that the problem will be solved between the so-called ministry of interior and the military authorities.

[06] NEU signs a protocol for cooperation with the California State University Sacramento

The protocol was signed by the deputy rectors and responsible for academic affairs of the two universities, Dr Senol Bektas and Dr. Rick Brown.

According to a statement issued by the NEU, the cooperation will include the engineering faculties. Within the framework of the protocol the two universities will be exchanging scientific and educational information and experience and use each others experience in solving various scientific problems entering in their field of interest. Towards this end exchange of academic staff will be taking place. The sides will also support the exchange of students and researchers and encourage the organization of common scientific meetings and conferences.

The paper reports that the cooperation between the two universities had began in 2000 when Dr. Cavit Atalar, teacher in NEU, went to America within the framework of Cyprus- American Scholarship program and worked with Dr. B. M. Das, dean of the Engineering and Commuters Faculty of CSUS.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[07] Columnist in RADIKAL argues that in their efforts to encircle China and USSR the US created the Islamic Green Belt part of which is the ruling JDP in Turkey

Mine Kirikkanat under the title: "The United States' passion for green":

With their latest trip to the United States, Prime Minister [Recep] Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul have taken the JDP [Justice and Development Party] government to kiss the hand of its patron and win his heart. No matter what they might discuss with their interlocutors, no matter what requests they might "exchange", the aim of the visit is to repair the relationship between Turkey and the United States, while its end is for the Islamist JDP government to patch things up with the United States, to which it owes its existence.

In Turkey, investment in religious rule, a "counter-revolution" against the secular republic, began right after Ataturk's death, during the time of Ismet Inonu's leadership of the RPP [Republican People's Party], then spread through the DP [Democratic Party], and picked up speed during all the subsequent governments without exception; the policy of Islamicization was enthroned with 12 September 80 military coup d'etat, and finally crowned with the JDP government. And behind the scenes throughout all this process has been the desire, the will, and the support of the United States.

The United States has been opposed to the secular state and has supported the Islamic 'shariah' [religious law] state and in this way nourished radical Islam not just in Turkey, but also in the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Asia, the area around the Caspian Sea, North Africa, and even in the interior of Africa. The goal of this policy, known as the "Green Belt" project, was evident, and its target obvious: Until the 1980s, based on the thought that not just the countries around the communist USSR, but also almost all of those in the buffer zone between the USSR and the other communist bloc of China were Muslim, [the aim was] to yet further darken and unleash the green of Islam in the political region surrounding the "enemy" in order to prevent the ideological spread of "godless" communism, to weaken it, and in the end to destroy it!

In the years when I was a naïve idealist, I was unable to comprehend why the United States preferred to replace the communist USSR and the Chinese blocs not with a "secular, liberal, and democratic" belt, but rather to do so with "the green of the shariah". In order to be able to comprehend the foundations of the "Green Belt" project, I had to sift my ideals through a "Machiavellian" sieve. Democracy was not a sufficiently strong pole against communism, because it was not valid in the Muslim countries that encircled the enemy! Against "godless" communism, the most effective weapon would certainly be religion; there was no alternative. Indeed, from Iraq to Egypt, and even in Africa, all the countries that were secularized by either military or civilian dictators were coming under Soviet and Chinese influence. Capitalism, which we now refer to as liberalism, or else the free market, existed in Christianity, which the United States at least understands as religion, and so it was assumed as a result that it was the same in Islam. And so the United States encircled the USSR and China with the Islamic belt.

It could not leave the buckle of this belt, Turkey, which is a bridge between Asia and Europe, secular, and thus independent of religion as a means of manipulation, and so it got involved by nourishing Islamism within the democracy effort that was proceeding here by fits and starts.

The "Green Belt" Islamism that the United States used in the past to encircle the USSR and China and is using again today to encircle Russia and China, the shared "overarching identity" that it seeks to give to Muslim countries that would inevitably be divided based on areas of national interest by a nationalism independent of religion, is an element that facilitates bringing together and, naturally manipulating, large masses of people beyond the borders. In other words, it would be difficult for the United States to influence Turks, Iranians, Syrians, Iraqis, Saudi Arabians, Kuwaitis, Egyptians, etc., via their national identities, not only because some of them have no national identity, but also because most of them comprise, as an identity separate from religion, thousands of "tribal" allegiances.

It is much easier to deal with the Muslims of all these countries in terms of two communities and manipulate/organize them in terms of their Sunni and Shi'ite identities! At the moment, it is only the Kurds who fall outside of this arrangement, and they have in any event historically been the pawns of the United States.

However...

Not only has the "Green Belt" project, in a process that began with Iran and became global on 11 September 2001, become an impediment, and now the Islamist identity that it [the United States] itself shaped has come to oppose it as a foe in a great many areas, but the United States also believes that it has even been "betrayed" by the JDP, whose patron it has been in Turkey.

The World Empire is now dubious about the Islamic belt that it wove with its own hands. But in order to halt the project, it needs to generate a new policy in place of it, which is not easy, and for which it is perhaps too late. Especially for Turkey.

The Islamic shariah is preparing to become the state in Turkey in 2007; let us see how pleased the United States will be, and how and with what it will satisfy itself when this happens.

/SK

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