Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 05-11-21

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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 Foreign Minister held contacts in Germany. Statements on Cyprus.

[02] Deniz Baykal was reelected chairman of the Republican People´s Party. Ismail Cem in the central committee of CHP.

[03] VOLKAN: In order to amend the Article 159, the RTP-NUP coalition is on the agenda.

[04] Lagendijk: The Cyprus problem must be solved within 3-4 years.

[05] The self-styled Legal and Political Affairs Committee held contacts in Ankara.

[06] Representatives from foreign embassies attended the reception given in Ankara for the anniversary of the UDI.

[07] Dutch fake dollar gang in the occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] The Turkish Foreign Minister held contacts in Germany. Statements on Cyprus

Speaking at the lunch, Gul said his meeting with German Christian Democrat Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel (who is expected to be new German Chancellor), was ''very positive''.

Gul said: ''The trade volume between Turkey and Germany increases. Also the number of German tourists visiting Turkey increases.'' Gul said there were things to be done both by the Turkish government and the German government for the solution of the problems of Turkish citizens living in Germany. ''All those issues were discussed during my meeting with Merkel,'' Gul added.

Illegal Bayrak television (20.11.05) broadcast that the Turkish Foreign Minister addressed an international forum in Germany where he held a number of contacts with state and government officials.

Speaking during the forum, Mr Abdullah Gul said that the Cyprus Problem could become a problem during Turkeys EU accession negotiations if it remains unresolved.

Explaining that the United Nations Secretary-Generals attempts and efforts to solve the Cyprus Problem had failed, Mr. Abdullah Gul said that this was solely due to the Greek Cypriot rejection of the Annan Plan during last years referendum, which in fact had created great disappointment within the international community.

Warning of the possible danger of certain countries exploiting the Cyprus Problem to achieve their own strategic interests in the future, the Turkish Foreign Minister called on the European Union to step up its efforts towards finding a solution to the Cyprus Problem.

Mr Abdullah Gul also expressed his view that a solution cannot be reached with the efforts of the Turkish Side alone but with the combined interests of all parties concerned.

[02] Deniz Baykal was reelected chairman of the Republican People´s Party. Ismail Cem in the central committee of CHP

The votes were counted after an election process that lasted approximately one hour. Of the 1,223 ballots cast in the voting, Baykal received all the 1,158 valid votes, and was elected party chairman. Of the ballots cast, 65 were considered invalid.

Turkish MILLIYET newspaper (21.11.05) reported that former Turkish Foreign Minister and New Turkey Party leader, Mr Ismail Cem, was elected in the central committee of the Republican People´s Party during its 31st congress.

On the same issue Istanbul NTV television (19.11.05) broadcast that during its routine congress work CHP Chairman Deniz Baykal charged that the government has not been able to come to terms with the principles of the secular and democratic republic. Referring to the discussion about ulema [Muslim religious scholars], Baykal claimed that Prime Minister Erdogan turned into the Taliban.

Addressing the party members for some three hours during the congress, Baykal targeted the government. Commenting on the incidents in Semdinli and Hakkari, Baykal said: The PKK and the citizens living in the southeast are separate from one another. Take ownership of the citizens, and adopt a stand against the PKK and its supporters, Baykal called on the government.

Reacting to the prime minister's remarks that the ulema should also be consulted [with regard to the Islamic headdress], the CHP leader said that in Islam there is no mediating class between God and its subject. Baykal told the prime minister: You are turning into the Taliban. Do you want the kind of Islam advocated by the Taliban?

Baykal reiterated that the new president should be elected by the new parliament and elections should be held in 2006, adding that his party does not hope for help from another institution and is not issuing an invitation to the army. Baykal also called on the citizens to defend the republic.

[03] VOLKAN: In order to amend the Article 159, the RTP-NUP coalition is on the agenda

VOLKAN reports that Salih Miroglu, who is a candidate for the NUP chairmanship, told the paper last week that with these conditions they will not establish a coalition government with the RTP. He said that his party is definitely against the amendment of the Article 159.

Miroglu said that the RTP and DP were playing with fire. He said: The RTP and DP government are committing one mistake after another and making things impossible to settle.

They have to be crazy in order to play with the title-deeds. Playing with the TRNC (occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus) ownership system and the territory on which the TRNC is based is to create doubts about the territory which was made homeland by shedding blood. It is to make the `TRNC´ landless and to push its future to political uncertainty Creating doubts on the title-deeds is tantamount to destroy the whole real estate sector, building sector and land buy-and-sell sector, which are the driving power of the economy. It is tantamount to stopping the investment and production. It is tantamount to creating doubts on the title-deeds that people are holding for the last 31 years, and as a result of this, it is tantamount to people´s rebelling and internal conflict.

Miroglu urged the RTP-DP coalition to stop playing with fire and give up to pursue this issue. He said that all these troubles started because the RTP-DP put aside the national thesis and adopted the 1/3 formula in the Annan Plan. They have to declare as soon as possible that they have abandon this mistake, Miroglu concluded.

Moreover, Turkish Cypriot weekly CYPRUS TODAY newspaper (19-25 November), under the title Talat reveals plan for compensation to Greek Cypriots, reported the following:

A draft law that would provide the possibility of compensation to Greek Cypriots for immovable properties in the TRNC has been prepared and ratified by the Council of Ministers and is due to be published for consultation in the Official Gazette after procedural discussions in Parliament, President Mehmet Ali Talat revealed this week to Cyprus Today.

The governments aim is to bring the draft back before MPs for final approval-after the statutory 10-day public consultation period before the start of budget discussions.

Mr Talat, speaking in the wake of a statement in London by Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer, who spoke of changes in Article 159 of the Constitution which also concerns properties, said: What must be done has to be done if one is to avoid legal obstacles. But without reference to changing the Constitution, the draft law for compensation has been prepared.

In addition to that, the paper reported also the following: Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer, on a visit to the UK, has said there will soon be fundamental changes to Article 159 of the Constitution, which sets out the states policy on properties.

Speaking to reporters before a reception for the 22nd anniversary of the TRNC, Mr Soyer said the property court cases filed internationally by the Greek Cypriots involved dangers for the TRNC the Turkish Cypriots had neglected fighting legal battles against them. At the moment, he said, his Cabinet and Presidency were trying to lead an effort which TRNC officials should have done 30 years ago.

He said: Part of our legal struggle is the structure of the property issue. I say this openly: We did not defend the Loizidou case well enough. And as the party directly experiencing the impact of the Loizidou case, we are now determined to do whatever it takes concerning the properties of the Turkish Cypriots in the South.

My Soyer said the decision to amend Article 159 rested on the fact that the Greek Cypriots were using its provision against the Turkish Cypriots. The prospect of change to Article 159 has been on the agenda for the past five months, as part of efforts to block the filing of property cases in the European Courts by the Greek Cypriots. An ad hoc working group was authorised to examine the issue, with government sources referring to potential amendments that would make return of previously Greek Cypriot-owned properties theoretically possible.

An expert on the subject, deputy head of the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Law Assistant Professor Dr Tufan Erhuman, told Cyprus Today in August: We must choose the proper discussion to make and everyone must avoid breeding of undue fear in the hearts of the people and indeed in the property market.

The debate is, what must be done, pending solution of the Cyprus problem, to allow the European court to transfer the cases filed by Greek Cypriot individuals to the TRNC Immovable Properties Compensation Committee.

[04] Lagendijk: The Cyprus problem must be solved within 3-4 years

Mr Lagendijk expressed the opinion that the conclusion of the chapters of the negotiation process and therefore Turkeys accession to the Union will not be possible in case the Cyprus problem is not solved.

Noting that Turkey faces a time limit on the issue because of its accession negotiations with the EU, the Dutch member of the EP said that Turkey has to solve the Cyprus problem within 3-4 years. Turkey cannot continue leaving open the wound of Cyprus until the end of the negotiations, he added.

Mr Lagendijk said that the Direct Trade and the Financial Aid regulations of the EU for the Turkish Cypriots will be discussed for the last time aiming at the decrease of the isolations of the Turkish Cypriot community.

He noted that Britain wants the issue to be discussed once more before the end of its term presidency and that pressures will be exerted on the Cyprus government aiming at the approval of the regulations. In case these efforts fail, it is more likely that the regulations are separated from each other, he added.

I/Ts.

[05] The self-styled Legal and Political Affairs Committee held contacts in Ankara

Mr Fellahoglu, during a press conference yesterday at the occupied airport of Tymbou, informed the reporters regarding the contacts of the self-styled Committee in Ankara, adding that the latest developments on the Cyprus problem and Turkeys progress on harmonization of EU laws had dominated much of the delegations contacts.

Noting that one of the main concerns of the Turkish Cypriot side is the opening of Turkish ports to the vessels registered in the Republic of Cyprus before the Cyprus settlement, Mr Fellahoglu said that this issue was taken up during their meeting and the general atmosphere and consensus in Ankara was the simultaneous opening of the Turkish ports to the Greek Cypriot vessels with the opening of the illegal TRNC (occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus) ports to the world.

Alleging that many countries within the international community have a wrong view of North Cyprus due to a successful propaganda campaign pursued by the government of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Fellahoglu noted the importance of increasing foreign contact visits in order to remove this unjust bias. He also added that they should start with strengthening existing diplomatic and cultural ties with other Turkic and Islamic states.

According to illegal Bayrak television (19.11.05), the self-styled Committee paid a courtesy visit to the Turkish State Minister in Charge of Cyprus Affairs, Mr Abdullatif Sener, where Mr Sener said that the unjust international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots and North Cyprus (occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus) continued despite the rejection of the Annan plan by the Greek Cypriots in last years referendum, a plan he added that has been accepted by the United Nations as the only basis for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

Noting that the international isolation and embargoes imposed on North Cyprus was strong enough to even topple the strongest of world economies, Mr Sener said that despite the hardships faced in the TRNC economy, all obstacles were overcome with the support of Turkey.

(DPs)

[06] Representatives from foreign embassies attended the reception given in Ankara for the anniversary of the UDI

On this occasion, the self-styled Ambassador of Ankara´s regime in the occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus, Tamer Gazioglu, gave a reception at the Sheraton Hotel in Ankara. Among the one thousand guests were Palestine, Omman, Albania, Nigeria, Pakistan Bangladesh, Kyrgyzistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan´s ambassadors to Turkey.

[07] Dutch fake dollar gang in the occupied territories of the Republic of Cyprus

The Police officer giving evidence in court said in 1939 the USA used to prepare black papers to be sent to South Africa, once at the chosen destination, these papers were turned into banknotes, after special fluid was dropped on it.

The suspects were caught red handed, while trying to swindle, using the same method with fake papers. The accused were taken to court, when they were discovered with papers used in producing fifty dollar bills.

The 5,360 pieces of black coloured papers, which were of the same dimension as 50 dollar note, were found in their possessions, and taken as evidence by the police.

The Court ordered the culprits to be detained for 7 days so that the investigations could be carried out. Their solicitor didn´t object the demand.

/SK

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