Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 06-08-08

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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 Republican Turkish Party and the Democratic Party continued their discussions.

[02] BDH and TKP continued their talks towards unification.

[03] Two deputies resign from SHP.

[04] Natural gas pipeline from Turkey to Greece to be ready by end of 2006.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[05] Columnist in TDN: Does EU compromise on Lebanon herald compromise for Cyprus?

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] The Republican Turkish Party and the Democratic Party continued their discussions

The coalition partners, Republican Turkish Party and Democratic Party continued their discussions today with the aim of removing the problems and differences between the two parties.

At the end of todays discussions, the two parties expressed the hope that they will succeed in removing their differences.

Committees set up earlier by the two parties met this morning under the chairmanship of the two parties General Secretaries to continue searching for ways of removing their differences on some issues.

Speaking after todays meeting, the CTP General Secretary Omer Kalyoncu said the two parties have the necessary will to work towards an agreement.

Mr Kalyoncu added that members of the two parties exchanged views on issues agreed before and decided to continue their discussions in the coming days.

For his part, the DP General Secretary Ertugrul Hasipoglu expressed the belief that the two parties will come to an agreement at the end of their discussions.

On the 25th of July, the CTP and DP agreed to set up four different technical committees on education, agriculture, industry and electricity.

[02] BDH and TKP continued their talks towards unification

After the `go ahead` given by the Peace and Democracy Movements Party Assembly for unification with the Communal Liberation Party, delegations from the two parties met again this afternoon to continue their discussions.

Todays meeting is the third of its kind.

The delegations met at the Peace and Democracy Movement headquarters in Lefkosia this afternoon with the aim of finalizing the details towards the unification of the two parties under the umbrella of a new party to be formed.

On Friday, the BDH Party Assembly authorized a committee chaired by the Party General Secretary Mehmet Cakici to conduct the talks with the TKP.

[03] Two deputies resign from SHP

In a written statement, the two deputies said that the SHP failed to criticize the terrorist activities that have taken place during the past two years and that they deemed it appropriate to resign. The resignations of Hakki Akalin and Mustafa Sayar reduced the number of the SHP seats in the parliament to two and increased the number of independent deputies to seven.

[04] Natural gas pipeline from Turkey to Greece to be ready by end of 2006

"The first part of the Turkey-Greece natural gas pipeline will be completed in two months, well before the date specified in the contract," said Ibrahim Kucukarslan, an executive of Turkish Sahinler Construction and Industry Limited Company.

The second portion of the pipeline will be laid by Oztas-Peker Consortium and will connect Canakkale/Lapseki-Gallipoli via an under water pipeline costing 55 million USD.

The pipeline of 300 kilometers will help carry Caspian Sea natural gas to European markets, and 209 kilometers of the pipeline will pass through Turkey.

Turkey-Greece natural gas pipeline is expected to be fully functional as of the end of 2006.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[05] Columnist in TDN: Does EU compromise on Lebanon herald compromise for Cyprus?

`` Now is the time of the EU! To show its teeth as the only remaining power against the blatant aggression by the American-Israeli axis, cried out the Greek Cypriot professor of international relations in one of the countless Greek TV discussions on the Lebanon crisis. This was just a day or two before the EU foreign ministers' summit last week. Certainly he had his own good reasons for striving to boost the importance of the EU in the playground of the Middle East with apparently only one player, the United States. Since joining the EU, Greek Cypriots feel safe and protected. And there is nothing more human than wanting to praise the hosts that welcomed you into their home as a member of the family. At the same time there is nothing more predictable than trying to exaggerate the importance of your host just because they accepted you as equals.

But I'm afraid that last week's emergency EU foreign ministers' summit in Brussels on the war in Lebanon was another disappointment. Once again the EU showed that in spite their proclamations on those famous acquis on democracy and human rights, they still remain a primarily economic interest group of nations, where a common foreign policy is the weakest link among them. Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, may seem friendly with all the parties involved in the recent turmoil -- maybe he knows some of the leaders personally from his NATO days -- but appears pathetically inactive when it comes to articulating any comprehensive common stance on behalf of Brussels. The communiqué of the 25 foreign ministers on Lebanon was typically wordy and noncommittal. It was the result of yet another compromise among those who rallied behind Washington like Britain, Germany -- a new American friend -- the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, the Czechs, and to some extent Italy, which did not think an immediate cease-fire was essential. These asked for an end of hostilities. The others --including Greece and Cyprus -- were for an immediate end to the war. They asked for a cease-fire. The result, after four hours of hot debate under the Finnish presidency, was yet another typical noncommittal text that called for a cessation of hostilities first, to be followed by a cease-fire. So once again everybody was happy and the Brussels golden rule of the middle way was achieved thanks to the idea of small but inventive Luxembourg. A small detail may be of interest: Until the last moment Javier Solana was insisting that the condemnation of Hezbollah should be placed before the condemnation of Israel in the communiqué.

The tense -- but weak on results -- meeting of the foreign ministers in Brussels could not but remind me of what Professor Richard Falk told me about the continuous failure of the EU to be unified and influential in relation to the war in Lebanon. Falk thought that at this particular moment this is a setback for world order and reflects centrally the more conservative leadership in Germany than at the time of the Iraq war (2003) and the greater ambivalence of France in the aftermath of its domestic riots. The EU has been effectively neutralized as a player in the region, and it was never, unfortunately, more than an impotent, symbolic balance to the coercive and hegemonic approach being pursued by the United States and its partner, Israel.

Going back to our enthusiastic supporter of the EU, the Cypriot professor, who never stops praising Brussels for accepting his country while hitting Turkey hard for its inability to comply with the EU acquis. Our professor may count on Brussels for bloodying Turkey's nose, but judging from yet another example last week of the EU's preferred policy of convergence of opinion, I think the stance of the EU towards Turkey is not going to be judged on principles but on interests. Even more than that: on the compromise of various regional interests under the supervision of the United States. And because of this, we should not expect a crisis after the publication of the EU Progress report on Turkey in autumn. This is not my opinion. It is the opinion of George Iacovou, the former Cypriot foreign minister, who expressed it in a private conversation we had recently in Greece.

/SK

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