Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 07-10-11

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Soyer invites German politicians to visit occupied Cyprus; They accept the invitation

[02] Turkeys Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan to visit occupied part of Cyprus for the Ramadan Bayram Holiday

[03] The United Cyprus Party has declared that the Cyprus problem is going towards partition in a dangerous manner

[04] The so-called assembly elects its new members of the Presidency Council

[05] UBP Leader discusses with General Buyukanit internal and foreign affairs issues

[06] Untreated water stored on occupied Keryneia discharged into the sea causing an environmental disaster

[07] Syrian President to visit Turkey next week

[08] Turkey keen to boost Israeli investments

[09] Turkish Parliament adopts bill for removing Articles 18 and 19 from the Constitutional amendments package

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Soyer invites German politicians to visit occupied Cyprus; they accept the invitation

Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer has emphasized that the non-solution of the Cyprus problem has gone far beyond the limits of tolerance.

Mr Soyer, who is continuing his contacts in Germany, said that the meeting which is to take place between President Mehmet Ali Talat and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York next week will create new opportunities for the solution of the Cyprus problem.

Evaluating his contacts in Germany he has held so far, Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer stated that the solution of the Cyprus problem is based on the political equality and bi-zonality, as well as on the UN-guided negotiations process and parametres.

The Cyprus problem continues to be a source of crisis both in the Eastern Mediterranean and the EU. The non-solution in Cyprus has a negative effect on Turkey-EU relations like it has on Turkish-Greek relations, he added.

Mr Soyer stressed that the Cyprus problem must not remain unsolved and said that he expects dynamism to take place on the Cyprus issue in 2008.

Referring to the Talat-Papadopoulos meeting on the 5th September, the Prime Minister reminded that the proposals presented by President Mehmet Ali Talat to the Greek Cypriot Leader Tassos Papadopoulos included the formation of preparation committees for the implementation of the 8th July Agreement and a call to start negotiations in order to provide a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem by the end of 2008.

As part of his contacts in Germany today, Mr Soyer met with the Co-Chairperson of the German Green Party Claudia Roth.

Speaking during the meeting, Ferdi Sabit Soyer called on Mrs Roth to produce a kind of intellectual oppression to help restarting the negotiations process in Cyprus under the UN auspices.

He also called on Europe not to be defeated by nationalism.

Reiterating the Turkish Cypriot sides commitment for a federal settlement in Cyprus, the Premier went on to say that the Turkish Cypriot side does not want any walls in Cyprus and it works hard to turn the Eastern Mediterranean into a region of peace and cooperation.

As long as the solution of the Cyprus problem delays, all the physical barriers on the island turn into intellectual barriers and we are committed to the UN resolution plan with the aim of destroying all those barriers the Premier stressed.

Mr Soyer invited Claudia Roth to Cyprus for holding official and public contacts and making observations.

For her part, Mrs Roth stressed that Europe is fed up with the Greek Cypriot sides approach which keeps causing deadlock.

We want all the walls knocked down. We did that for the Berlin Wall in the past and we really work hard to do the same in Cyprus, she said.

Welcoming Mr Soyers invitation to Cyprus, she immediately asked her assistants to make the necessary preparations for a visit to Cyprus.

Mr Soyer later came together with MPs from the German Social Democrat Party.

Tonight, the Premier will have a dinner together with a group of German MPs with Turkish origins.

On the same issue, Ankara Anatolia news agency (10.10.07) reports the following from Berlin:

Claudia Roth qualified her talks with Soyer as "official" and "transparent".

Roth said the presence of a community under isolation within EU, like Turkish Cypriots, was an embarrassing situation for Europe.

She also noted that they supported and encouraged all the efforts aiming to revive the unification process in the island.

Pointing out to the importance of union of Cyprus for Europeans, Roth said such a union will prove that different religions create no contradiction for democracy. She said it will show that they want a dialogue between religions, not a clash.

Roth also noted that they want TRNC to become a part of the international community as well.

[02] Turkeys Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan to visit occupied part of Cyprus for the Ramadan Bayram Holiday

Moreover, KIBRIS further reports that the so-called Finance Minister of the occupied area Ahmet Uzun who is currently in Ankara held meetings with the Turkish officials as regards implementation of the occupied areas budget. Mr Uzun had met with Turkish State Minister Responsible for Cyprus Affairs Cemil Cicek and Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan.

Following his meeting with Mr Cicek, Mr Uzun expressed the belief that TRNC-Turkey relations will continue in the best possible way with the present government in Ankara.

(MHY)

[03] The United Cyprus Party has declared that the Cyprus problem is going towards partition in a dangerous manner

The member of the Central Executive Committee of the BKP Abdullah Korkmazhan, in a written statement yesterday declared that the new policy put forward by Turkey which demand the acceptance of the existence of the two state, two people, two religion and two democracy reality in Cyprus is adopted and accepted by the government and by Mehmet Ali Talat. It shows that with this policy, adds Mr. Korkmazhan, efforts towards finding a federal solution has been abandoned.

The statement further added: The Cyprus problem is going towards partition in a dangerous manner. Partition will be destructive not only to the Turkish Community but to whole of Cyprus.

(MHY)

[04] The so-called assembly elects its new members of the Presidency Council

The General Assembly of the TRNC Parliament held a voting session today to re-elect the 7 members of the Presidency Council.

Fatma Ekenoglu is re-elected as the Speaker of the Parliament.

Gulboy Beydagli becomes the new Deputy Parliamentary Speaker and Ali Gulle is elected as the Head of the Chief Administrator ship.

Other members of the Presidency Council of the Parliament are Ahmet Barcin, Mehmet Ceylanli, Teberruken Ulucay and Ali Seylani.

All members of the Presidency Council are MPs from the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) as the main opposition National Unity Party (UBP) and the Democrat Party (DP) did not present any candidates for elections.

UBP and DP MPs, who have been boycotting the Parliament in protest of the formation of the government, did not attend the voting session at the General Assembly for the Presidency Council but were present during the voting held for the formation of the ad-hoc committees.

[05] UBP Leader discusses with General Buyukanit internal and foreign affairs issues

The Leader of the main opposition National Unity Party Tahsin Ertugruloglu met with the Chief of the Turkish General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit in Ankara today.

The UBP Secretary General Nazim Cavusoglu was also present at the meeting which lasted nearly an hour.

Speaking to the BRT after the meeting, Mr Cavusoglu said that they discussed the UBP`s views and concerns about internal and foreign affairs during the meeting.

Nazim Cavusoglu also said that no one should be disturbed by such a meeting as it was natural to hold discussions with Turkish officials as a main opposition party.

Meanwhile, the UBP Leader Tahsin Ertugruloglu and his delegation returned to the Republic this afternoon.

[06] Untreated water stored on occupied Keryneia discharged into the sea causing an environmental disaster

Weve received reports that one of the walls housing the Girne (occupied Keryneia) Water Purification Installation collapsed this afternoon, leading to the discharge of approximately one thousand tones of untreated waste water into the sea.

The incident took place in the area between the Girne Military House and the Kasgar Court.

Experts say this is leading to a local environmental disaster.

The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Asim Vehbi and the Minister of Interior Ozkan Murat went to the scene to make on-the-spot inspections.

The same issue is also covered by all the local Turkish Cypriot daily newspapers (11.10.07) which report under banner headlines about the environmental disaster that took place in the occupied Keryneia yesterday when 1000 tones of waste water was discharged to the sea following the collapse of the wall of the waste water treatment tank. The papers report that the so-called Minister of Environment Asim Vehbi called on the people not to swim or fish in the area for the time being.

(MHY)

[07] Syrian President to visit Turkey next week

Syrian President Bashar al-Asad will pay a visit to Turkey next week, it was announced on Wednesday.

Al-Asad will hold talks in Ankara and Istanbul.

Al-Asad received the Turkish FM and Chief Negotiator for EU talks Ali Babacan recently in Damascus. Babacan had delivered an invitation to al-Asad from Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

[08] Turkey keen to boost Israeli investments

The Turkish government is edging towards closer ties with Israel. Speaking at a press conference, Turkey Investment and Promotion Agency president Alpaslan Korkmaz described Israel as "definitely a strategic country for us economically."Korkmaz said that Turkey's economy has been growing rapidly for the past four years, thanks to an ambitious government program, which includes reducing the public sector and encouraging investment.

Turkey has established more than 25 free-trade zones where the government bears the cost of employees' social benefits. Israeli imports from Turkey totalled $1.5 billion in 2006, while exports totalled $782 million. Bilateral trade has grown 57 pct over the past five years and 188 Israeli companies currently do business in Turkey.

[09] Turkish Parliament adopts bill for removing Articles 18 and 19 from the Constitutional amendments package

Turkish parliament adopted Wednesday a bill which would exclude article 18 from a broader constitutional amendment package, one that would allow among other things, the election of the Turkish president by universal vote.

Articles 18 and 19 of the package, which is set to be voted in a referendum on October 21st, includes provisions related to the election of the 11th president.

A group of deputies from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party submitted the bill last week, on the grounds that the two temporary articles had been void now since the parliament had already elected the 11th president.

Furthermore, Ankara Anatolia news agency (10.10.07) reports the following from Ankara:

Turkish parliament approved Wednesday the second article of a constitutional amendment bill, which envisages exclusion of temporary Article 19 of the constitutional amendment package to be voted on October 21st.

A total of 374 MPs voted in favor of the second article of the constitutional amendment bill.

The second article sets forth that temporary Article 19 of the constitutional amendment package, which envisages the new provisions on presidential election to be enforced for the 11th president as well, shall be removed from the constitutional amendment package.

EG/

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