Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 08-07-28

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Statements by Avci and Sanlidag to the effect that an agreement has been reached for the illegal regime to open a tourist office in Russia

[02] Full-fledged negotiations to start on 3rd of September

[03] How the Turkish Cypriot press covers the meeting between Christofias-Talat

[04] The positions of the two sides in Cyprus

[05] The UN, the EU, the US and Turkey on the decision to start talks in September

[06] The Compensation Commission paid in all 8 million, 66 thousand 307 Euro for Greek Cypriot land of one million 738 thousand 43 square meters

[07] Serdar Denktas stated that the results of the 25th of July meeting between Christofias and Talat must be studied carefully

[08] Israelis to build a giant shopping mall in occupied Keryneia

[09] World Kickboks Champion is visiting occupied Cyprus

[10] Turkish Court to begin hearing Ergenekon case 20 October

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[11] From the Turkish press of 25, 26 and 27 July 2008

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Statements by Avci and Sanlidag to the effect that an agreement has been reached for the illegal regime to open a tourist office in Russia

It was made known that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will make efforts for even more Russian tourists to visit the island by opening a tourism and information office in Russia. In a statement made to the Russian Interfax news agency, the TRNCs Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Turgay Avci said that they will open a tourism and information office in Russia. Stating that the sides reached to an agreement, Avci noted: An office will be opened shortly. This step will ensure an important increase to the reputation of North Cyprus among the Russian tourists and businessmen. In a statement also to Interfax, the Minister of Economy and Tourism of the TRNC, Erdogan Sanlidag, explained that their target is to invest more on the advertisement in this country in order to attract even more tourists from Russia. Sanlidag said: Our advertising budget is $5 million. We consider investing only a part of this in the advertising market of Russia. Minister Sanlidag, who announced that their goal is to exceed the number of one million tourists in a short time, stated that since the beginning of the year, approximately 3.000 Russian tourists came to North Cyprus and that this figure will exceed the 8-10 thousands by the end of the year.

(ML)

[02] Full-fledged negotiations to start on 3rd of September

Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders agreed on Friday on measures to be taken in various areas.

President Mehmet Ali Talat of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias decided to launch full-fledged talks on September 3rd, aiming to find a permanent solution to Cyprus problem in their meeting on Friday at the buffer zone in Cyprus.

Talat and Christofias also agreed to take 16 measures, in addition to six measures they decided to take in their June 20th meeting.

The measures will be taken in areas of environment, cultural heritage, crisis management and crime and punishment.

Below are environmental measures:

Cooperating in closing illegal garbage areas, and re-arranging the areas.

Cooperating in exchange of information and experience between experts of the two parties.

Cooperating in preventing wild fires.

Waste management, rehabilitation and treatment.

Increasing consciousness about water saving.

Cooperating in creation of a joint approach to mining and stone quarry business.

Preserving biological diversity and nature.

Taking under control and managing maritime and sea pollution.

Taking under control and managing chemical pollution.

Taking under control and managing asbestos pollution.

Taking under control and managing historical pollution.

Below are measures regarding cultural heritage:

Listing the immovable cultural heritage of Cyprus.

Deciding on two restoration pilot project.

Guiding ad-hoc working group to develop an interactive computer training program.

Below are measures regarding crisis management and crime and punishment: 1- Launching cooperation mechanisms in crisis time.

2- Exchanging information and intelligence on crime, criminal matters and punishment. The two parties reached a compromise on six measures on June 20th, including educational and training programs on preservation of cultural heritage, road safety, mutual passage of ambulances, establishment of a joint health committee, environmental training and projects on waste product management. Talat and Christofias agreed late in March to resume negotiations aiming at a settlement of the Cyprus problem, and their envoys later agreed to set up a number of working groups and committees in an initial attempt to lead the way for substantial talks.

[03] How the Turkish Cypriot press covers the meeting between Christofias-Talat

KIBRIS: They begin. President Talat and the President of the Greek Cypriot Administration Christofias decided to start the negotiations for a solution on the 3rd of September.

HALKIN SESI: The people will give again the last decision

AFRIKA: The sign of victory. The paper publishes a photo of President Christofias greeting with his finger forming the sign of victory.

YENI DUZEN: They start on the 3rd of September

BAKIS: The negotiations on the 3rd of September

GUNES: A new date three of September

YENI VOLKAN: Talat did not keep his promise. The paper, in its subtitle, reports that the negotiation which aims at the elimination of the TRNC and to patch Turkish Cypriots onto the Greek Cypriots will start on the 3rd of September.

ORTAM: They start on the 3rd of September

KIBRIS STAR: 3 September and referendum

KIBRISLI: As the door of solution has opened, it can also be closed!

VATAN: 3 September 2008

[04] The positions of the two sides in Cyprus

The paper writes the following:

Christofias wants a bi-regional, bi-communal federation with international representation, single sovereignty and single citizenship. Talat wants a bi-regional, bi-communal federation but does not agree with the Greek Cypriot demands on the issues of sovereignty.

Christofias wants the continuation of the Republic of Cyprus. Talat wants a new state.

Christofias wants a single economy. Talat wants two separate economies.

Christofias wants guarantees for the right to return and for the property rights. Talat wants compensations and exchange of properties.

Christofias does not want speedy negotiations with a time table. Talat wants the negotiations to be completed in four months.

Christofias does not want the remaining of armies and of foreign countries guarantees. Talat wants the Turkish army and the Turkish guarantee to remain.

Christofias does not want arbitrator. Talat shows that he supports arbitrator.

As regards the rotating presidency Christofias wants the Greek Cypriot to have the president for three years and the Turkish Cypriots to have the president for two years. Talat wants the Greek Cypriot to be president for four years and the Turkish Cypriot to be president for three years.

(CS)

[05] The UN, the EU, the US and Turkey on the decision to start talks in September

The Turkish capital as well as Washington and the UN have welcomed the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders' decision to start comprehensive negotiations in Cyprus in early September.

Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed on Friday to launch talks in September aimed at reuniting their divided island. Christofias and Talat will start talks on Sept. 3, ending a four-year impasse in efforts to bring the two communities together after decades of separation.

"Turkey has from the beginning been supportive of the start of comprehensive negotiations within the framework of a goodwill mission of the UN secretary-general for the purpose of reaching a settlement on the Cyprus issue based on the well-established UN parameters, which are bi-zonality and political equality of the two parties and a new partnership that will be established by two equal constituent states," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement released late on Friday.

"Turkey will give its full support to the negotiation process, which will be started between the two parties in Cyprus on Sept. 3, as long as it is in line with this understanding," the ministry noted.

In Washington, Gonzalo Gallegos, acting deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, said in a written statement released on Friday that the US applauded the announcement of the decision made by the Cypriot leaders for starting direct talks. "We strongly support the stated goal of these negotiations to find a mutually acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem that will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," Gallegos said.

In New York on Friday, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UN chief "warmly welcomed" Friday's agreement. "The secretary-general commends the leaders for the progress made so far and takes this occasion to reiterate the full support of the United Nations for their efforts toward a mutually acceptable solution," spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters during a press briefing. "During his visit to the island next week, the secretary-general's special adviser on Cyprus, Mr. Alexander Downer, will discuss with the leaders how the UN can best assist the process," she also noted. Downer, Australia's former foreign minister, recently accepted a post as a UN special envoy in Cyprus.

Moreover Ankara Anatolia (25.07.08) reported the following from Brussels:

The head of the European Commission said on Friday that Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders' recent decision to start full-fledged negotiations in Cyprus was an important step towards a solution that would be accepted by both parties and that would pave the way for the reunification of the island. Releasing a statement, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that EU welcomed the decision to start negotiations and to take new confidence-building measures in Cyprus.

In the statement, Barroso said a unified and integrated Cyprus would benefit not only Cypriots, but EU as a whole.

Barroso also said that EU was ready to extend all kinds of support that would be requested by the parties within the scope of negotiations.

President Mehmet Ali Talat of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias decided to launch full-fledged talks on September 3rd, aiming to find a permanent solution to Cyprus problem in their meeting on Friday at the buffer zone in Cyprus.

Further, Ankara Anatolia news agency (28.07.08) reports that the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) welcomed Monday the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders' decision to start comprehensive talks in Cyprus.

"OIC SG Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu welcomed the recent decision of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders to commence comprehensive direct negotiations on September 3rd 2008, under the UN auspices, to find a lasting solution to the Cyprus question," OIC said in a written statement.

"The OIC SG stated that his organization has always been in favour of dialogue between the two sides of Cyprus for reaching an equitable settlement based on the political equality of the two peoples of the island," the statement added.

The statement also said that Ihsanoglu reiterated OIC's full support to the good-will mission of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to achieve a peaceful and mutually acceptable settlement in the island.

[06] The Compensation Commission paid in all 8 million, 66 thousand 307 Euro for Greek Cypriot land of one million 738 thousand 43 square meters

According to the paper, which invokes reliable sources, the Compensation Commission paid in the year 2006 two million 817 thousand 88 Euro, in the year 2007 three million, 991 thousands 614 Euro, and in the first six months of the year 2008 one million, 257 thousand 606 Euro as compensation.

Since the establishment of the Commission, 729 applications were made by of the Greek Cypriots and 41 of them were completed. In 35 of these applications compensation were given, in three cases the land was returned back to the owners and in two cases the issue was solved with exchange of properties.

(CS)

[07] Serdar Denktas stated that the results of the 25th of July meeting between Christofias and Talat must be studied carefully

(CS)

[08] Israelis to build a giant shopping mall in occupied Keryneia

An Israeli investor is in talks to create a giant shopping mall in the centre of Girne (occupied Keryneia) Cyprus Today can reveal.

The investor whose identity has not been revealed has commissioned a survey of the Evkaf building, behind the Vakiflar Bank, with a view to acquiring the leases of all 14 business units on the ground floor.

The ground floor of the three-storey building, which currently houses a nightclub, office and shop premises, would then be transformed into a modern shopping mall if the deal went ahead.

One of the business owners, graphic designer Berkay Akpinar, said: I have met the developer and made it clear that all of us with premises here would want a minimum of £10,000 to assign our leases to him.

This architect is working out the cost of converting the area and I expect to hear next week whether he will be going ahead to make an offer for the ground floor.

A spokesman for Evkaf in Lefkosia said: We are in very early discussions about the possible acquisition of the ground floor of the Vakiflar Ishani office block in Girne. There may be further developments next week but it is too soon to say more at the moment.

He said that while all the 14 units were leased, only three or four were currently in active use with the remainder being empty.

[09] World Kickboks Champion is visiting occupied Cyprus

(ML)

[10] Turkish Court to begin hearing Ergenekon case 20 October

The High Criminal Court no: 13 in Istanbul agreed Friday to hear the Ergenekon case.

The court accepted the 2455 pages long indictment compiled in 441 folders about 86 suspects. The first hearing of the case will be held on October 20th at a prison complex in Silivri town of Istanbul.

An alleged criminal network that came to be known as "Ergenekon" was revealed after police seized hand grenades, TNT explosives and fuses in a shanty house in Istanbul on June 12th, 2007. Several Turkish figures, including retired senior army officers, were detained and sent to prison within the scope of the investigation.

The indictment regarding the operation "Ergenekon" was filed at an Istanbul court last week, indicting 86 people on charges of attempting to overthrow Turkish government. The 2455-page indictment includes 86 suspects, 47 of whom are in prison.

Prosecutors accuse the suspects of "being members of an armed terrorist organization, aiding the armed terrorist organization, attempting to overthrow Turkish government by force, inciting people to armed insurgency, possessing and throwing explosives, instigating these crimes, instigating the attack on Council of State and bombing of daily Cumhuriyet, having secret documents on state security, recording personal data, encouraging military disobedience, inciting people to enmity and animosity."

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[11] From the Turkish press of 25, 26 and 27 July 2008

a) Details on Turkeys ambassadors meeting:

Detailing the discussions held at the Foreign Ministry meeting last week attended by Turkey's ambassadors in a column in Referans (25.07.08), Barcin Yinanc says that Armenian genocide claims and relations with Armenia were the topics most dwelt upon during that meeting. Ambassadors stationed in Western countries expressed the view that these countries will endorse resolutions accepting the Armenian genocide claims as the 100th anniversary of the 1915 incidents approaches. One group maintains that the solution to the problem passes through Yerevan and that Ankara should normalize its relations with Armenia as soon as possible, while an opposing group maintains that there is no genocide problem and that this so-called problem is a trump card used by certain countries against Turkey.

Drawing attention to the division within the Foreign Ministry over the issue, Yinanc notes that those who are in favour of improving relations with Armenia are in the minority. Pointing out that a majority favour the economic and political isolation of Armenia, the writer views yesterday's corner laying ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project as one of the significant legs of this strategy, adding: "It is interesting, however, that the corner laying ceremony of this project which is supposed to isolate Armenia coincided with a period in which secret talks are being held with Armenia and signals of a detente with Yerevan are being given." Questioning whether the group favouring the normalization of relations with Armenia has begun to exert more influence, Yinanc believes that the increasing power of Armenian opposition leader Ter-Petrosian, who favours a dialogue with Turkey, has also influenced the turn of events. The writer concludes by saying that the strategy to be pursued by Ankara on the Armenian issue depends on which group will be able to convince the government.

b) Ergenekon:

In an exclusive report entitled "You Will Discover Shocking Links," Yeni Safak (25.07.08) quotes Felice Casson, the "legendary" prosecutor who rooted out "the Italian Gladio established by the CIA," as having told Yeni Safak that the Ergenekon probe in Turkey will reveal "shocking links" if the investigation is not obstructed.

In an article entitled "Facts in the pursuit of Ergenekon" Milli Gazete (25.07.08) writers Mustafa Kurdas and Mustafa Yilmaz assert that former Justice Minister Sevket Kazan's four-volume book The Welfare Party Reality [first published in 2001] includes disclosures that are by far more striking than those made in a recent Zaman news story that cited Ergenekon as the mastermind behind the killings carried out by Hizbullah in Turkey. Kurdas and Yilmaz quote extracts from the said book where it is claimed that "it is not the real Hizbullah but an American Hizbullah that is operating in Turkey" and that this group was "established by the CIA" and "is receiving its tactical training from the CIA and Mosad."

In an article entitled "Where will it go?", in Vakit (26.07.08) columnist Abdurrahman Dilipak asserts that what the Ergenekon probe has revealed is "still the tip of the iceberg," adding that a National Intelligence Organization, MIT, report submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister some time ago and expected to be included in the additional indictment in the Ergenekon case possibly includes further disclosures about attempted coups. He rules out a cover-up in the investigation, asserting that "the inflow of information is continuing" and that "everybody is included in this business: local forces, foreign players, the United States, Israel, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and what not."

According to a report by Sukran Ozcakmak in Milliyet (27.07.08), the indictment against the Ergenekon organization includes information on many unresolved assassinations and cases such as the attack against the Council of State and the daily Cumhuriyet, the assassination of Ozdemir Sabanci, Esref Bitlis, Ugur Mumcu, Necip Hablemitoglu, and the missing Democratic Society Party, DTP, members, which might lead to the filing of new law suits.

A report by Musa Kesler in Milliyet (27.07.08) states that according to the indictment the Ergenekon organization has close ties with the PKK, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, DHKP-C, the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front, IBDA-C, and the Hizbullah. The indictment further claims that the Ergenekon organization planned to reach an agreement with Abdullah Ocalan and seize the PKK high level administration. The report adds that the document detailing the strategy aimed at seizing control of the PKK was called "antidote." The indictment also refers to Ergenekon's strategy of establishing "bogus terror organizations" and "ties with international terrorist organizations." According to the indictment the goal of the Ergenekon organization was not to wage a struggle against terror but to take terror organizations under its control and to use them to weaken the state authority, to disrupt public order, and "to administer these organizations in line with its own goals." The indictment goes on to state that one of the duties of Labour Party, IP, leader Dogu Perincek within the framework of the Theory and Planning Desk of the organization was to establish contact with terrorist organizations. Perincek's numerous photographs with Ocalan are included in the indictment as proof of this claim.

In an article entitled "Who is who?" in Yeni Safak (27.07.08) columnist Tamer Korkmaz comments on an "extraordinarily interesting detail" in the Ergenekon indictment regarding "a note in [Cumhuriyet columnist] Ilhan Selcuk's handwriting" about "an offer of $500,000 to Oral Celik for a possible job" and a "secret meeting" to discuss the matter. In explaining why the names of Ilhan Selcuk and Oral Celik are not as unconnected as they appear to be at first sight, Korkmaz claims that Celik, an accomplice in the murder of Milliyet Editor-in-Chief Abdi Ipekci, was a devoted henchman of Abdullah Catli, who "engineered" the Ipekci assassination. "And Catli himself was the rightist hit man of the counter guerrilla organization established by NATO and the United States. Under the circumstances, you decide in what relation Ilhan Selcuk stands to Uncle Sam," writes Yeni Safak.

In an article entitled "As facts start being brought to light", in Yeni Safak (27.07.08) columnist Fehmi Koru asserts that while the Ergenekon indictment may have proven disappointing to those who had expected the investigation to cast its net wide to cover all the mysterious murders carried out in Turkey in the past 50 years, the trial process should be expected to throw light on many unsolved criminal acts over the said period similar to those attributed to Ergenekon.

EG/

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