Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 08-08-12

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] A US delegation discussed the FIFA proposals at the headquarters of the Turkish Cypriot Football Federation

[02] Turkeys Minister of Transport will visit illegally the occupied areas of Cyprus; The third stage of the occupied Nicosia Morfou road will begin

[03] The 17th Regular General Congress of the UBP will be held on 29 November 2008

[04] The distribution of seats in the assembly after Huseyin Avkiran Alanlis affiliation with the ORP

[05] Lieutenant Hilmi Akin Zorlu appointed as the Commander of the Turkish occupation Forces in Cyprus

[06] The church in the occupied Trimithi village is used as ceramic workshop and a warehouse

[07] Reliant Mermaid exercise to take place with participation of Israel, Turkey and the USA

[08] Turkey is holding talks with four countries for purchasing an our defense system

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[09] From the Turkish Press of 11 August 2008

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] A US delegation discussed the FIFA proposals at the headquarters of the Turkish Cypriot Football Federation

(AK)

[02] Turkeys Minister of Transport will visit illegally the occupied areas of Cyprus; The third stage of the occupied Nicosia Morfou road will begin

According to statements made by the director of the self-styled roads department, Aydin Kahya to the illegal TAK news agency, with the completion of the road occupied Nicosia will be connected with Morfou. Pointing out that the Nicosia-Morfou main road will encompass the route between Morfou and the campus of the Istanbul Technical University and the occupied villages of Filia, Massari and Kyra.

The tender of the road provides for its completion within 1.5 years, but it is expected to be ready earlier, noted Mr Kahya adding that the third stage of the road will cost 22 million new Turkish liras (YTL).

(I/Ts.)

[03] The 17th Regular General Congress of the UBP will be held on 29 November 2008

The power of struggle between the former president of UBP, Dervis Eroglu and its chairman, Tahsin Ertugruloglu has become fierce due to the congress. Mr Ertugruloglu said yesterday that he did not want to reply to Mr Eroglus statements made to the press. He noted that he is following the attacks against himself, the efforts for distorting the realities and the resorting to abuse of feelings.

He argued that it is a fact that those who say that the UBP is not conducting a good opposition are dealing a blow to the party for the sake of harming himself. Mr Ertugruloglu reiterated his demand for early elections as soon as possible. He noted that the UBP is not the only factor which will determine whether early elections will be conducted and added that when he says this he is not referring to Turkey.

Referring to the Cyprus problem, Mr Ertugruloglu said they were not happy about the developments and strongly criticizing the Turkish Cypriot leader Talat. He reiterated the views of his party on the Cyprus problem noting their lines are the recognition of their separate sovereign rights, the acceptance of the fact that the Turkish Cypriot people have a sovereign state and the continuation of the effective and actual guarantees of Turkey.

He alleged that immediately after the referendum in 2004, the Turkish side should have demanded the recognition of the breakaway regime. He claimed that there is no chance for achieving an agreement on the Cyprus problem, because of the policies of the Greek Cypriot side.

(I/Ts.)

[04] The distribution of seats in the assembly after Huseyin Avkiran Alanlis affiliation with the ORP

The number of the MPs of the ORP increased to five (5) with Mr Alanli. After this development, the distribution of seats at the assembly is the following: Republican Turkish Party (CTP) 25, National Unity Party (UBP) 13, Democratic Party (DP) 6, Freedom and Reform Party (ORP) 5 and Social Democrat Party (TDP) 1.

(I/Ts.)

[05] Lieutenant Hilmi Akin Zorlu appointed as the Commander of the Turkish occupation Forces in Cyprus

Lieutenant Hilmi Akin Zorlu has been appointed as the commander of the Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces.

Lieutenant Zorlu will replace his predecessor Lieutenant General Hayri Kivrikoglu.

A ceremony will be held for the exchange of duty on Wednesday the 13th of August at 6.30 pm.

[06] The church in the occupied Trimithi village is used as ceramic workshop and a warehouse

(I/Ts.)

[07] Reliant Mermaid exercise to take place with participation of Israel, Turkey and the USA

Reliant Mermaid, a trilateral humanitarian search and rescue (SAR) exercise involving naval ships and aircrafts from Israel, Turkey and the United States, will take place between August 17 and 22 in the international waters off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean sea.

In a written statement Naval Forces Command Secretariat General said a briefing about the exercise would take place in Haifa Naval Base in Israel on August 18.

[08] Turkey is holding talks with four countries for purchasing an our defense system

Defense Industry under Secretary Murad Bayar said that four serious candidates had been found for the procurement of a long-range, high-altitude air defense system and that talks with these four countries were underway.

Bayar replied to the AA journalist's questions about the air defense systems that Turkey is planning to purchase.

Underscoring that there were four serious contenders for the long-range, high-altitude air defense system, Bayar said these were the United States, Russia, China and Israel.

Bayar also emphasized that they were about to begin serious development projects in the field of air defense systems. He added that half the requirement for mobile air defense systems would be met directly through tenders while the rest would be met by domestic, home-grown production.

Turkey is preparing to establish a comprehensive air defense umbrella to counter surrounding missile threats.

The Long-Range Regional Air Defense and Missile Defense System Project is designed to provide Turkey with regional air and missile defense against all air threats.

The project will see four batteries purchased in the first package for the Air Force with four more batteries being purchased at a later date making eight missile defense batteries in all.

Emphasizing that talks were underway with four countries including Russia for a long-range, high-altitude air defense system, Bayar said that the s-300 [NATO designation SA-10 Grumble and SA-20 Gargoyle for the extended range version] was currently in production but that this production line was going to be upgraded to the s-400 [NATO SA-21 Growler] and that Turkey was interested in the s-400.

The missiles manufactured by the United States, Russia, China and Israel are the main choices for air defense systems. However, experts agree that Russia and the United States are the main competitors in this field.

Following a bad showing in the Iraq War the United States Patriot system has been upgraded and is now effective against tactical missiles and non-missile aerial vehicles.

The Chinese seem to be experts in the area of medium altitude air defense systems.

Russia is particularly boastful of its long-range, high-altitude systems the s-300 and s-400.

Russia also says it can carry out joint production of these missiles.

The four contenders for the project are Russia's Rusoboronexport [Russian Defense Export Company] s-400, the Patriot Pac III MEADS, the Israeli Arrow and the Chinese HQ-9.

Turkish firms are expected to contribute with the production of certain sub-systems.

Two of the long-range air defense systems, which are planned to go active in 2010, are expected to be deployed in Ankara and Istanbul while the other two should be deployed according to threat assessments.

Turkey's requirement for a long-range anti-air and anti-missile system first emerged during the United States operations against Iraq in 1991 and 2003. During those operations NATO mobilized its own assets and deployed Patriots to Turkey. Patriot systems provided security against Iraq's Scud missiles.

Turkey first met the Patriot system during the 1991 Gulf War. Patriots were successfully used against Iraqi Scuds by both Israel and Saudi Arabia. The air defense radars used by the land-based Patriot system can detect a target up to 100 km [62 miles] away destroying it within 15-20 seconds. Patriots have a range of 70 km [45 miles].

There are two alternatives to Patriot. The first is the Russian-built s-300 system. Turkey first heard of the s-300 when the Greek Cypriots purchased it for deployment in southern Cyprus in 1997. The s-300 system has a range of 150 km [90 miles], can reach an altitude of 27 km and can lock onto a target and fire within 8-10 seconds.

The third option is the Israeli Arrow-2. Produced with US help the Arrow-2 has a range of 100 km and can reach an altitude of 50 km.

Defense sources say that Russia has developed the s-400 after the s-300, and that this system outperforms both the Patriot and the Arrow. The same sources say that Russia is not currently offering the s-400 for sale but adds that the s-400 may be purchased during talks for the s-300. The s-400 is known as a 5th generation air defense system. Its performance is double that of the s-300 with a range of 400 km. The s-300 can fire six missiles simultaneously while the s-400 can fire 12. They can hit targets traveling at 2,800 meters a second.

Evaluations of bids for low-altitude, medium-range air defense systems are underway.

Defense Industry under Secretary Bayar said that the next phase for the purchase of ready-to-go low- and medium-altitude air defense systems would be calling for bids.

There is currently no system in the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] inventory for long-range missile and air defense. Turkey still uses the Rapier and pedestal-mounted Stinger for short-range defense and the modernized I-HAWK for medium range defense.

High-altitude, long-range air defense systems are aimed at destroying long-range missile threats before they enter Turkey's air space.

During the operation of high-altitude air-defense systems once it has been determined that enemy missiles are headed for Turkey the air defense systems and their associated batteries are alerted, also with satellite help.

Air defense systems are able to stop enemy missiles some 50-300 km away.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[09] From the Turkish Press of 11 August 2008

a) War in the Caucasus

In a column in Radikal, Murat Yetkin analyzes the repercussions of the ongoing war in the Caucasus from the point of view of Georgia, Russia and Turkey. He says that the Georgian president "stepped on Russia's toes" in order to seize Ossetia, and he is about to "lose Abkhazia and his own seat." As for Turkey, Yetkin argues that "Turkey is in a difficult situation." It must "readjust its energy-politics-security equation in the region in line with current developments before it gets caught in the winter and gas crises," he advises. Recounting the course of events, Yetkin states that "Russia's unexpectedly strong reaction was not met with as strong a reaction on the part of the United States, as maybe hoped by Georgia." Yetkin speculates that the conversation President Bush held with Russia's Putin in Beijing must have played a role in this. Prime Minister Erdogan, in his part, was not successful in reaching Putin, who seemed to be more available when the matter concerned gas talks. Yetkin maintains that with the recent move the Georgian president shrank his country and turned his army into toy soldiers; and such a leader will not be forgiven, not by his people and not by his army. He adds that Russia came out strengthened from the events. Yetkin explains that Turkey undertook many cooperation projects with Georgia, at the same time managing to maintain a balance with Russia, which was not pleased about all these energy and other projects. The recent Georgian move endangers these balances, Yetkin remarks, adding that from this point on things will become more difficult for Turkey.

Milliyet columnist Semih Idiz, in a commentary, explains that the pro-Western Georgian president miscalculated the reaction of Russia, which Idiz claims was seeking an opportunity to conduct an operation against Tbilisi. Idiz charges that "Moscow, by encouraging Ossetian separatism, brought Georgia to where it wanted it and dealt its blow." The magnitude of this blow, Idiz remarks, was determined by the ire engendered by the bombing of Serbia, by Kosovo's independence, and by the expansion of the US-NATO axis into the Caucasus. Idiz states that the "neo-nationalists" in Turkey must not forget that it was Russia that pushed Turkey into the Western alliance in the wake of World War II, and even now the Russian media are publishing anti-Turkish reports with regard to the conflict in the Caucasus. "Our neo-nationalists" should also not forget, Idiz adds, that the Russians are fearful of pan-Turkism and in this context want the Armenians to seize Karabakh and that the Russians have always supported the Greek Cypriots. Idiz concludes that from Turkey's viewpoint this matter is not as simple as it seems.

Under the headline, "Dirty war," Milli Gazete carries a front-page report which asserts that "the United States and Russia have chosen South Ossetia as a new battlefield in the long-standing dirty and bloody war they have been fighting by proxy using small, poor, and oppressed states." The report claims that the United States is trying to "bring Russia to its knees" in South Ossetia in advance of its expected military campaign against Iran.

In an article entitled "The Caucasus, Russia, and the United States", Milli Gazete columnist Abdulkadir Ozkan argues that contrary to their representation respectively as an "invader" and a "disciple of peace" in the latest clashes in the Caucasus, Russia and the United States are actually "accomplices" in an imperialist ploy to apportion the world among one another. He also claims that any approach on the current events in South Ossetia that does not adopt the viewpoint of regional states' aspirations for independence means support for the United States and Russia.

b) AKP's New Constitutional Amendment Package

According to a report in Vatan, the Justice and Development Party, AKP, is planning to put forward a "democratization package" consisting of 40 proposed constitutional amendments, rather than a brand new constitution. The report says that "in the AKP corridors it is being said that the party has renounced the 'civilian constitution,' which was drafted by academics and finalized by party jurists." Moreover, the report states, the AKP will also take into consideration the warnings of the Constitutional Court in preparing the "democratization package," and it will seek conciliation with the opposition. To this end, the AKP is expected to establish a constitutional conciliation committee, the report adds. The package is expected to include provisions to make the closing of political parties more difficult, to change the method of electing Constitutional Court members, and to amend the structure of the Higher Education Council with the input of the Republican People's Party. Some of the amendments that will be proposed are listed as follows: 1) arrangements that will strengthen the relations with the EU and improve human rights; 2) amendments in the Political Parties and Election Laws that will eliminate antidemocratic articles such as the election threshold; 3) changes that will restrict parliamentary and other immunities, a matter that the opposition is so insistent on.

EG/

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