Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 08-08-26

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Mehmet Ali Talat evaluated the developments regarding the Cyprus problem during a meeting at the headquarters of KAMU-SEN

[02] The Turkish Cypriot leader to visit Ankara before the key talks with President Christofias

[03] The CTP started visits to Turkish Cypriot organizations for exchanging views on the Cyprus problem

[04] Ata Atun argued that the negotiations between President Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader Talat will enter into deadlock and be broken off in 2009

[05] Hasan Findik replied to Yeni Volkan newspaper on the issue of the equivalent property law

[06] The Turkish Cypriot children have been sent to Turkey for Koran classes

[07] Increase in the number of the students in the illegal universities in the occupied area of Cyprus

[08] Sabahattin Ismail denied that he made any statements to Kibrisli newspaper on the issue of giving Turkey a base in Cyprus

[09] Turkey to open 15 new embassies in African countries

[11] Cuba seeks to foster its economic relations with Turkey

[10] Kosovo seeks Turkeys support for recognition from OIC

[12] Kazakhstan recommends Turkey for CICA presidency

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[13] Columnist in Milliyet compares the crisis in Caucasus with the occupied areas of Cyprus

[14] From the Turkish Press of 25 August 2008

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Mehmet Ali Talat evaluated the developments regarding the Cyprus problem during a meeting at the headquarters of KAMU-SEN

Mr Talat criticized the bargaining which the Greek Cypriot politicians are allegedly trying to carry out through the press and added that the place of the bargaining is the negotiating table.

Mr Talat stated:

We shall perhaps gradually make them also understand this. If we do not and this job develops negatively and there is a deadlock in the end, the blame will not be on us. We shall not always show flexibility at the highest level until the end. Referring to the new process regarding the Cyprus problem, he said: According to our expectations, this process should not be very long, because there is no unknown aspect of the Cyprus problem. All elements, the points of understanding and convergence have been examined a lot until today.

Mr Talat alleged that the Greek Cypriot side is not in a hurry for a solution because it represents the whole Cyprus in the UN and the EU and that is why it has no problem. He argued that the Turkish Cypriots are in a hurry because of the isolations and the non-existence of direct flights, because they cannot sell their products to Europe and play matches with Turkish teams and because they are deprived of many things. He said that had Turkey not helped them by providing to them the 0090392 code and the Mersin 10, Turkey code they would not have been able to communicate and have correspondence with the world.

Mr Talat said that they have been telling foreigners that the lifting of the isolations would encourage the Greek Cypriots for a solution and pointed out to the equal rights of the Turkish Cypriots on the island. He noted that they want to share the power on the island and it is out of the question for them not to want a solution.

Mr Talat alleged that it will be seen at the negotiating table whether President Christofias wants a solution, because the solution is equality. He said that the Greek Cypriot politicians make statements continuously and he criticized these statements. He noted that he repeatedly warned President Christofias not to make statements to the press and that the place of the bargaining is the negotiating table.

He alleged that the statement made by President Christofias after the first meeting that there is no common language and that the issues of sovereignty and citizenship have not been clarified had made things more difficult, but he showed important flexibility and prevented the deadlock. He added: However, this cannot continue forever. I have told him this many times, but he still continues. Unfortunately, they are conducting a bargaining through the press.

Showing as example that all the Greek Cypriot party leaders have issued statements regarding a statement made by the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who during a meeting with a Turkish Cypriot party, said that Morfou can never be given away, Mr Talat claimed:

Has Mr Erdogan said or not such a thing? Believe me I have not asked. I have not asked at all. It is not important. Of course what the Turkish Prime Minister says is important and anyway I know whether he said this, because I know his views. One of our newspapers wrote this and the Greek Cypriot press took it at once, asked about it and everybody in the Greek Cypriot side started to sing like a nightingale. Our entire TRNC was gone, when they said Morfou is indispensable, we want Karpass too, we want Varosha as well, and we also want to return to Keryneia and Nicosia! They want it all! They asked for my opinion and I said I will say it at the negotiating table, because this is the right thing. Perhaps we will slowly make them also understand this. When we sit at the negotiating table we will make a good bargaining. Therefore, we are waiting for 3 September now.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Bakis newspaper (26.08.08) refers to the visit of Mr Talat to KAMU-SEN under the title Talat is searching for support and wonders whether a certain trick is being cooked up in the backstage.

(I/Ts.)

[02] The Turkish Cypriot leader to visit Ankara before the key talks with President Christofias

As preparations for the comprehensive talks which are set to start at the beginning of next month continue, it has been announced that President Mehmet Ali Talat will be flying to Ankara on Thursday.

The President will go to the Turkish capital for the hand over ceremony at the headquarters of the Turkish General Staff.

During his stay in the capital, President Talat will hold discussions with President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.

Meanwhile, its been announced that senior aides of the two leaders will meet on Wednesday to finalize the preparations for next months meeting between the two leaders who will meet on the 3rd of September to launch the comprehensive negotiations. And separately, President Mehmet Ali Talat has come together with members of working groups which were set up to prepare the ground of substantive talks.

The evaluation meetings at the Presidential Palace are expected to continue tomorrow. President Talat is expected to meet with representatives of political parties in the coming days.

[03] The CTP started visits to Turkish Cypriot organizations for exchanging views on the Cyprus problem

Ozkan Yorgancioglu, MP of the CTP, pointed out that a new process will start on 3 September for the Cyprus problem and expressed the opinion that this will be a new window of opportunity for the solution of the problem.

Furthermore, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (26.08.08) refers to the visits under the title Window of opportunity and reports that Mr Yorgancioglu said there are points of agreement between the sides in parallel to their points of disagreement. He noted that the Annan Plan is a framework accepted by the international community in spite of the fact that it was rejected by the Greek Cypriots. He reminded the 23 May agreement between the two leaders and noted that this will form the main elements of the solution which will come out of the negotiating process.

Mr Yorgancioglu noted: We are saying within the framework of the Annan Plan. We are not saying it should be completely the same. In the end there will be negotiations, some changes could take place, but these will not have the character of putting into difficulty the interests of the Turkish Cypriot people or of making the Greek Cypriot people say no.

In his statements, the chairman of EL-SEN, Tuluy Kalyoncu said that the source of all the difficulties is the Cyprus problem. The chairman of GUC-SEN Mustafa Sabanci said that the problems should not be ignored because of the Cyprus problem. The chairman of KAMU-SEN, Mehmet Ozkardas noted that all the non-governmental organizations and the people should support the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mehmet Ali Talat in the process loudly and with courage.

(I/Ts.)

[04] Ata Atun argued that the negotiations between President Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader Talat will enter into deadlock and be broken off in 2009

He noted that the statements of the two sides to the press are not indicating the existence of agreement. He argued: The wishes of the two sides are not intersecting on a common point. The views are very different. The wishes and desires of the Turkish Cypriots cannot be brought to agreement with the wishes of the Greek Cypriots.

(I/Ts.)

[05] Hasan Findik replied to Yeni Volkan newspaper on the issue of the equivalent property law

Commenting on a report published yesterday in Yeni Volkan newspaper, Mr Findik said that this draft-law passed from the council of ministers on 13 March 2007 and it is being discussed at a parliamentary subcommittee and, therefore, there is absolutely no secrecy.

He noted that the draft-law was published also in the official gazette and added that the target of the law was the following: To open the way for penal sanctions against those who have taken any resource in the north and sold their property in the south and to open the way for those who have not been able to take enough resources in the north to resort to legal means in order to search the rights of their resources in the south.

(I/Ts.)

[06] The Turkish Cypriot children have been sent to Turkey for Koran classes

The paper writes that imams at the mosques especially in the areas of occupied Famagusta and Karpass have visited one by one some houses and suggested to the families to allow their children to go to Turkey noting: It is free of charge. You will give them only their pocket money. We shall feed them, and find them a place to sleep in Turkey. Let the children not play in the streets. Let them tour the historical and touristic places in Turkey. Meanwhile, let them have a three-hour religious lesson. Let them learn their religion.

The paper reports that some families gave their permission for the participation of their children in these programs. Within the framework of the programs two planes full of children were sent to Turkey in July and August. The girls were settled in Bursa and the boys in Istanbul. The classes were not three hours, as the imams had promised, but were turned into a Koran course and the children were having nine hours religious education per day.

According to the paper, the children did not like this and sent message to their families asking to take them away. The families were told by the officials of the Koran courses that they could allow the children to go only if one of the members of the family went to Turkey to take the children. Many families decided to go and take their children, concludes Kibris.

(I/Ts.)

[07] Increase in the number of the students in the illegal universities in the occupied area of Cyprus

(I/Ts.)

[08] Sabahattin Ismail denied that he made any statements to Kibrisli newspaper on the issue of giving Turkey a base in Cyprus

(I/Ts.)

[09] Turkey to open 15 new embassies in African countries

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official visit to Ghana next month, Ghanaian media have reported, saying the visit is aimed at strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries.

Officials from the Turkish prime minister's office were not immediately available to confirm the visit. However, on its Web site the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) quoted Ghana's Foreign Minister Akwasi Osei Adjei as announcing the visit upon his return from Istanbul, where he represented his country last week at a Turkish-African summit that brought together leaders from African Union nations and Turkey to discuss ways to expand cooperation in economic areas.

'Mr. Akwasi Osei Adjei said Ghana tabled a position at the summit calling for an action to see to the implementation of all instruments agreed upon in Istanbul. He explained that the continent is saddled with so many agreements and arrangements awaiting implementation, and more cannot be added. The foreign minister said Turkey has expressed interest to invest in such areas as energy, education, culture, road, tourism and agriculture. On bilateral issues Turkey gave a firm promise to open an embassy in Accra,' the GBC reported.

The Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, which took place August 18-21, marked a landmark step in expanding ties between Turkey and the African continent. Fifty member states of the 53-nation African Union were represented at the summit. Six African countries were represented at the level of heads of state, while five of them were represented by vice presidents, six by heads of government, one by deputy head of government and the rest by either their foreign minister or some other senior-level official. Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho were the three countries not represented at the summit due to a meeting in South Africa.

Eager to solidify cooperation with Africa, Turkey plans to open 15 new embassies in African countries in the coming years and to increase aid to Africa.

[10] Kosovo seeks Turkeys support for recognition from OIC

Turkish State Minister Said Yazicioglu concluded his two day official trip to Kosovo and returned Monday to Turkey.

Yazicioglu told AA before his departure at the Pristine International Airport that cooperation and relations between Turkey and Kosovo were discussed during his meetings with Kosovan officials.

Minister Yazicioglu, who met President Fatmir Sejdiu and PM Hashim Thaci and other high level Kosovan officials, said the overall atmosphere prevailing during the meetings was very positive.

He said he saw will of Kosovan officials to take the relations between the two countries to a better level, adding that opening of embassies in both sides would be a good step towards that goal.

Yazicioglu said Kosovan officials asked Turkey to use its influence in the Organisation of the Islamic conference to help Kosovo seek recognition among Muslim states.

Yazicioglu and Sejdiu had released a press release after their meeting expressing their shared views on the need for further enhancing relations and cooperation between the two nations.

During the trip Yazicioglu also inaugurated the Turkey-Kosovo Chamber of Commerce together with Kosovan Health Minister Alush Gashi and Interior Minister Zenun Pajaziti.

[11] Cuba seeks to foster its economic relations with Turkey

Cuba was promoted in an international fair in a western Turkish city on Monday.

Cuba was the honorary guest of an international fair organized in the Aegean city of Izmir every year, and it was promoted in a meeting held within the framework of this year's fair.

'We want to see Turkey among the top ten countries we are having trade relations with,' Antonio Carricarte, the Cuban deputy minister of foreign trade, said in the meeting.

Carricarte said that Cuba and Turkey had signed 18 cooperation protocols so far, and also said that Cuba should be seen as a country that could help another country integrate to a big continent.

Izmir is hosting the fair for the 77th time this year. The theme of this year's fair will be global warming and climate change.

Izmir International Fair, welcoming almost 60 countries, 1000 companies and 1,5 million visitors every year, provides an environment which domestic and foreign exhibitors promote new technologies and exhibit new products and businessmen meet.

The fair also presents social, cultural events and entertainment as a whole together with its industrial and commercial dimension.

Last year, the Izmir International Fair was held between August 31st and September 10th. There were 1,091 exhibitors, including 815 domestic and 276 foreign. Nearly one and a half million people visited the fair opened on about 72,000 sqm. of area. Ukraine was the guest country of honour of the fair in which 59 countries participated.

[12] Kazakhstan recommends Turkey for CICA presidency

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has suggested that Turkey should be elected as the next term president of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

The Kazakh president's proposal came yesterday in Almaty, where the third ministerial level meeting of the CICA is being held.

'The time has come to select a candidate for the next presidency. We suggest electing one of the active CICA participants to this position -- the Republic of Turkey,' Nazarbayev was quoted by Kazakh media as saying at the meeting, where Turkey was represented by Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek. Kazakhstan has held the term presidency of the CICA, a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation toward promoting peace, security and stability in Central Asia, since 2002 and its term will end in 2010.

Delivering a speech at the same meeting, Simsek said that if Turkey was chosen as the CICA term president, it would benefit from the experiences of Kazakhstan and exert efforts to advance the conference, the Anatolia news agency reported. The minister said that participants discussed the successes and future activities of the conference. He detailed Turkey's assistance to Afghanistan through the CICA and called on the other member states to assist Afghanistan, too.

Following the conference, Simsek held a bilateral meeting with Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin. The two later held a joint press conference. When reminded of Nazarbayev's proposal for electing Turkey as the next chair of the conference, Simsek said the decision concerning the proposal would be made in the coming days.

The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by Nazarbayev in October 1992 at the 47th Session of the UN General Assembly.

The CICA member states are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Mongolia, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. The observer states are Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Ukraine, the US and Vietnam. The UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the League of Arab States also participate in meetings of the CICA.

The CICA's working bodies include the head of states and governments meetings, which convene every four years and serve as the supreme body of the conference; the ministers of foreign affairs meetings, which occur every two years and advance consideration of all CICA-related activities; the committee of senior officials, which meets at least once a year and whose role it is to observe implementation of previous CICA decisions, conduct consultations on relevant current issues of the CICA and consider the activities of the special working groups; the special working groups, formed upon the decision of the senior officials committee for examination of issues referred to different spheres of CICA activities and the completion of defined tasks.

From the outset, Turkey, attached the utmost importance to the CICA process; bearing the importance of international disarmament and arms control in mind, and believing that regional cooperation and expansion of concepts such as the prevention of disputes, mutual confidence and security building beyond the OSCE region will further improve relations among Central Asian countries. The third foreign ministerial level meeting in Almaty is aimed at focusing on preparations for the third CICA summit, which is scheduled to take place in 2010.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry, in a statement released ahead of the meeting, said that the core point of the meeting is to address issues pertaining to the practical realization of 'a cooperative approach to the realization of confidence-building measures for the CICA.'

During yesterday's meeting, member states signed an agreement for the shifting of the headquarters of the conference from Almaty to Astana in order to provide a more favourable situation for the work of the secretarial office with the diplomatic missions and offices of the international organizations accredited in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakh media reported.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[13] Columnist in Milliyet compares the crisis in Caucasus with the occupied areas of Cyprus

Fundamentally or on paper- everyone supports the territorial integrity and rejects division. The Russian Federation also because of sensitive areas in its own structure (like Chechnya), is a country that adopts these principles. Moscow, however, does not support the same criteria for others Just as in the case of Kosovo. Or if we are to give an example closer to us, as in Cyprus

Moscow was always supporting the Greek Cypriot side on the Cyprus problem and opposed to the creation of separate existence for the Turkish Cypriots. It was also reluctant to create relations with the TRNC.

However, Russia gave active support to the military operation to South Ossetia and to the partition in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and now it supports the decision for recognition of their independence. When its own benefits come under consideration, it shows that it moves to the opposite direction.

(EA)

[14] From the Turkish Press of 25 August 2008

Presidential Elections in the USA: In a commentary in Milliyet, Semih Idiz views Joseph Biden, an 'enemy of the Turks', who was picked by Barack Obama as his running mate. Idiz quotes a friend of Biden saying 'he has a thing about Turkey,' and stresses that it is impossible for Ankara to be pleased with Obama's choice. The columnist recalls that in addition to being anti-Turkey, Biden had behaved 'rudely' toward Bulent Ecevit, the Turkish Prime Minister in the late 1990's. Nevertheless, Idiz notes, the realities make politicians change their stands, as Nancy Pelosi recently did, so there is some hope that Biden will do the same. 'Otherwise,' Idiz argues, 'Washington will give Turkey the opportunity to prove that it does not need the United States either economically or socially. And that is the opportunity many circles in Turkey are waiting for.'

In an article entitled 'Obama's choice and implications for Turkey', in Zaman Washington correspondent Ali H. Aslan asserts that while US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate could somewhat weaken his slogan of change ... it will appeal to those who hesitate to entrust the United States to a young politician like Obama.' He argues that although Biden's position on human rights, his tendency to issue 'messages pleasing to his hawkish Israeli friends,' and his "excessively federalist views regarding Iraq' could cause concern to some quarters in Ankara, the main lines of the US foreign policy will remain the same whether the Obama-Biden duo or McCain and his team take over the US presidency. Aslan goes on to ponder 'the devil in the details of Turkish-US relations,' asserting that certain fundamental changes have taken place in bilateral relations as seen in the way Ankara refrains from providing unquestioning support for all US wars, has voiced objections based on the Montreux Convention to the passage of US naval ships through the straits, and disclosed a Caucasus alliance initiative without consulting with Washington.

ES/

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