Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 09-09-29

Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Talat meets with the UN Secretary-General and invites him to Cyprus

[02] Davutoglu and Clinton meets; Cyprus among their issues of discussion

[03] A supplementary budget for the so-called Property Compensation Commission has been adopted

[04] Eroglu argues that occupied Morfou is not an area which will be sacrificed

[05] A new Turkish Cypriot association has been established

[06] Products of 4.4 million euro were sold from the occupied areas to the free areas of the Republic of Cyprus during the first eight months of 2009

[07] Turkish Cypriot opposition parties want the practice of entering from Turkey into the occupied areas of Cyprus with presenting only identity cards to stop

[08] Ertugruloglu and Caglar to attend PACE meetings in Strasbourg

[09] Turkey and Armenia to sign protocols on October 10

[10] Turkish and Azerbaijani Presidents to meet in Nakhchivan

[11] ICAN Air Service Negotiations Conference takes place in Istanbul

[12] Turkey-Brazil Trade and Investment Forum kicked off in Istanbul

[13] Turkey and Romania to conduct joint command exercise

[14] Five Turks elected to Bundestag

[15] New reforms to allow minorities to pray at sacred sites

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[16] Turkish Cypriot Yeni Duzen reports that 114 thousand Turkish settlers will be granted the citizenship of the breakaway regime

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Talat meets with the UN Secretary-General and invites him to Cyprus

Under the title Last chance, Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (29.09.09) refers to the meeting and reports that Mr Talat warned regarding the ongoing negotiating process, which he described as the last chance. Because if there is no solution while there are two leaders who say that they want a solution, I doubt on when a solution will be found, he added. Mr Talat said he told Mr Ban Ki-moon that the UN should defend its own parameters and that the solution will be very difficult in case the sides venture outside of these parameters.

(I/Ts.)

[02] Davutoglu and Clinton meets; Cyprus among their issues of discussion

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu discussed the issues of normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, Cyprus problem, counter-terrorism, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran's nuclear program in a meeting he held with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday.

Davutoglu informed Clinton on the recent developments in Turkey's relations with Armenia. Clinton told Davutoglu that the U.S. supports the process between Turkey and Armenia.

On Cyprus, Davutoglu said that the U.S. should encourage the Greek Cypriot administration to find a solution as the negotiation process in the island would not continue forever.

As regard to the issue of counter-terrorism, Davutoglu and Clinton stressed the need to continue a trilateral mechanism between Turkey, the U.S. and Iraq in the fight against terrorism.

On Bosnia-Herzegovina, Clinton told Davutoglu that the U.S. appreciated Turkey's positive role in that country.

Finally, on Iran, Clinton told Davutoglu that the upcoming days were critical. Davutoglu reminded Clinton that every country had the right to utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Turkey does not want nuclear weapons in the region. We have advised Iran to make its nuclear program transparent so that they prove their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, Davutoglu said.

[03] A supplementary budget for the so-called Property Compensation Commission has been adopted

The draft-law, which provides for additional financial resources for the Commission, was submitted yesterday to the assembly and it was adopted with the votes of all parties except the Communal Democracy Party (TDP). The paper writes that the UBP would not be able to secure a quorum and the assembly would not have met if the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Freedom and Reform Party (ORP) did not support the UBP. The chairman of the TDP, Mehmet Cakici said: This means that when Turkey wants, everybody participates in the plenary session and it secures quorum. Mr Cakici described as contradiction the fact that those who have been against the Commission today are acting as if they support it in order to prevent the early solution.

Turkish Cypriot daily Bakis newspaper (29.09.09) reports that Serdar Denktas, chairman of the DP, stated that the Commission is operating and therefore it is right to provide some money to it. He argued that they should open the way for the Turkish Cypriots as well to apply to this Commission.

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (29.09.09) refers to the same issue and reports that Omer Kalyoncu, MP with the CTP, stated that it is not right to follow a policy having the mentality of let this country collapse and let the solution come. He argued that it is also not right to reject a change only because Turkey has asked for it. He pointed out that the change was realized because the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanded it.

(I/Ts.)

[04] Eroglu argues that occupied Morfou is not an area which will be sacrificed

(I/Ts.)

[05] A new Turkish Cypriot association has been established

(I/Ts.)

[06] Products of 4.4 million euro were sold from the occupied areas to the free areas of the Republic of Cyprus during the first eight months of 2009

According to information acquired by the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, more than one fourth of these products are vegetables and mainly potatoes. The paper notes that while the sales from the occupied areas to the free areas of the Republic doubled in 2008 in comparison with 2007, the same tendency is observed in the first eight months of 2009 in comparison with the same period of 2008.

(I/Ts.)

[07] Turkish Cypriot opposition parties want the practice of entering from Turkey into the occupied areas of Cyprus with presenting only identity cards to stop

The self-styled prime minister Eroglu told Kibris that this practice is implemented only for persons who visit the occupied areas of Cyprus for a short period of time and that those who will stay for more than one month to work present their passport. He argued that there will be no benefit for the breakaway regime to re-examine the agreements it made with Turkey.

(I/Ts.)

[08] Ertugruloglu and Caglar to attend PACE meetings in Strasbourg

Autumn Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) kicks off in Strasbourg.

UBP MP Tahsin Ertugruloglu and CTP MP Mehmet Caglar are representing the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus at the PACE meetings.

The challenges posed by climate change, the war between Russia and Georgia one year after, and the election of the Council of Europes new Secretary General are among highlights of PACE autumn session.

[09] Turkey and Armenia to sign protocols on October 10

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey will sign two protocols, which provide a framework for the normalization of bilateral relations, on October 10, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.

Erdogan's remarks came on Sunday upon his arrival in Turkey from the United States, where he attended the UN General Assembly in New York as well as the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Pittsburgh.

The foreign ministers will come together on October 10 and sign the drafted document, Erdogan told reporters, without elaborating, while noting, however, that the issue was discussed during his brief tête-à-tête with US President Barack Obama after the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh ended on Friday. The signing is to take place in Zurich and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, whose country acted as a mediator in reconciliation talks between the two neighbours, is also likely to attend the ceremony along with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a Turkish governmental official.

On August 31, Armenia and Turkey announced that they had agreed to start internal political consultations on the two protocols --the Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and the Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations-- which had been initiated in the course of their efforts under Swiss mediation.

After being signed, the two protocols will be submitted to the respective Parliaments for ratification on each side, a process expected to take considerable time due to the opposition's objections in both Ankara and Yerevan. Erdogan, meanwhile, also said that Turkey would not pay $7.8 billion for a possible purchase of Patriot missile systems from the United States, adding that no final decision had been made on different alternatives.

A purchase of missiles worth of $7.8 billion is simply out of the question. Our defence industry undersecretariat is working on the issue. No final decision has been made yet, Erdogan said.

What we have on the table is in fact a planned purchase of a package of four missile batteries at a cost of $1.3 billion. And these batteries are mobile, not fixed, he said, noting that the purchase would not target any specific region or country. The US administration has recently notified Congress of a possible sale of Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile batteries and related equipment to Turkey, the only NATO ally bordering Iran.

Earlier this month, the Turkish military said that Turkey's possible purchase of Patriot missile systems from the United States would cost $1 billion, not a previously quoted figure of $7.8 billion.

[10] Turkish and Azerbaijani Presidents to meet in Nakhchivan

President Abdullah Gul is scheduled to pay a visit to the autonomous Azerbaijani republic of Nakhchivan later this week, when he will take the opportunity to hold a high-level meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.

In addition to Aliyev, the summit's host, and Gul, the presidents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are expected to take part in the summit on October 2-3, while Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will be represented, but not at the presidential level.

The summit in Nakhchivan comes at a delicate time, as it will take place around one week before the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey are to sign two protocols providing a framework for the normalization of their bilateral relations. Gul will reassure Aliyev that Ankara's steps for normalizing its relations with Yerevan will not harm its friendly relations with Baku. Meanwhile, Gul's meeting with Aliyev is likely to be followed by a bilateral meeting between Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan, which is expected to take place in Kishinev, Moldova, on the sidelines of an upcoming summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on October 7-8.

[11] ICAN Air Service Negotiations Conference takes place in Istanbul

Turkey's Civil Aviation Director Ali Ariduru said Monday Turkey was the only European country with increasing flight traffic in the face of the global financial crisis.

Taking the floor at the ICAN Air Service Negotiations Conference, organised by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Istanbul, Ariduru said Turkey exceeded the level of 55 million passengers per year, ten years ahead of 2015, the year projected for the said level by many international aviation organizations.

He said the number of passengers in domestic lines increased four folds since 2002 and reached 35 million and in international flights this number increased by nearly two folds and reached 42 million, thus bringing the total number of passengers to 77 million in 2008.

Ariduru said the total number of passengers as of August 2009 already reached 56.637 million noting that the turnover of civil aviation companies in Turkey exceeded USD 8 billion marking a nearly four folds growth since 2002. Number of passengers in Turkish civil aviation increased nearly by four folds and number of air planes rose by 100 pc, and Turkish people loved travelling with airlines, concluded Ariduru. He said with 42 million passengers in international flights in 2008, Turkey climbed up to 13th place in the world air traffic, noting that they expected this upward trend to continue.

The ICAN conference which is hosted by Turkish Civil Aviation authority with the participation of 200 people from 56 countries will end on September 2. The conference is organized to enable aviation negotiators from different states to conduct bilateral and regional meetings to discuss ways to improve air services and boost cooperation among aviation companies.

[12] Turkey-Brazil Trade and Investment Forum kicked off in Istanbul

Turkish State Minister Zafer Caglayan said Monday as the centre of the world, Turkey should work with both the east and west.

Speaking at the inauguration of the "Turkey-Brazil Trade and Investment Forum" in Istanbul, Caglayan stressed that many investors in all corners of the world are aware of Turkey's unique position between the east and the west. Brazilian investors have investments worth 520 million USD in Turkey. Turkish companies have investments worth 43 million USD in Brazil. Brazilian investments are crucial for Turkey, Caglayan said.

Turkey and Brazil are jointly searching for natural gas and oil in the Black Sea. Such a joint work will boost relations in the energy field, Caglayan said. Turkey is the second country in the world, after China, with the most number of contractors. We call on our Brazilian friends to cooperate with Turkish contractors in third countries, Caglayan noted.

Caglayan called on Brazilian authorities to sign a free trade agreement with Turkey as early as possible.

Furthermore, Ankara Anatolia news agency (28.09.09) reported the following:

Brazilian Deputy Minister of Development, Industry and Trade, Ivan Ramalho, said Monday they wanted to boost bilateral relations with Turkey.

Speaking at the inauguration of the "Turkey-Brazil Trade and Investment Forum" in Istanbul, Ramalho said that their interest in Turkey continues to get bigger and bigger. As members of the G-20 countries, Turkey and Brazil display extremely dynamic foreign trade.

We have gone far with Turkey in bilateral trade in the past decade. Mutual trade grew more than 20 percent in the past two years. The trade volume in 2008 exceeded 1 billion USD, Ramalho said. We want to promote bilateral relations between Turkey and Brazil. There is a good climate for Turkish investors and companies in Brazil. Seminars held to boost bilateral relations are crucial, Ramalho also said.

[13] Turkey and Romania to conduct joint command exercise

The Turkey-Romania Joint Commando Exercise will take place in Turkey's province of Kayseri and Romanian city of Buzau between October 5 and 11, 2009. The exercise aims to promote cooperation between commando and air units of the two countries, said the Turkish General Staff on its web site on Monday. Paratroopers from both countries will participate in the airborne exercises to be held in the two countries.

[14] Five Turks elected to Bundestag

Five politicians of Turkish origin have been elected to the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament, according to preliminary results, with one of them being the Free Democratic Party's (FDP) first ever Turkish deputy.

Serkan Toren of the FDP was elected to Bundestag in his first candidacy in the state of Lower Saxony in the German general elections. In addition to Toren, Memet Kilic of the Green Party and Aydan Ozoguz of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) were elected to the Bundestag for the first time. Kilic was elected from the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, while Ozoguz was elected from the city-state of Hamburg.

Ekin Deligoz of the Green Party was elected from Germany's biggest state, Bavaria, to the Bundestag for the fourth time. Deligoz has served as the vice president of the Parliamentary Commission on Family, Women and Youth since November 2005.

Sevim Dagdelen of the Left Party was elected to the Bundestag for the second time. Two leading politicians of Turkish origin, meanwhile, were not elected to Bundestag: Lale Akgun of the SDP, who ran for a seat in the federal parliament for the third time, and Cem Ozdemir, the co-leader of the Green Party.

While Akgun announced that she would leave politics after this result, Ozdemir said he wanted to run again in the general elections slated for 2015, the Anatolia news agency reported.

About one in five Germans has an immigrant background and the biggest single minority is Turkish. Of the roughly 2.8 million people with Turkish roots, only about 600,000 can vote, many failing to register or acquire citizenship. Before these elections, five lawmakers out of 614 in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, were of Turkish origin.

[15] New reforms to allow minorities to pray at sacred sites

The government has said it will include demands voiced by minority groups in its democratization package. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who met with leaders of Armenian, Greek, Jewish and Assyrian minorities in Istanbul on Aug. 15, asked minority group leaders to give the government a report that details their demands.

While the government has started to consider the demands of minorities, topics concerning minorities will be added to the democratization package. The government is planning on meeting a portion of the demands that do not require a constitutional change. A significant amount of these demands consists of matters that require changes to regulations and bylaws.

The rest is a matter of determination as the legal groundwork for them is ready but the laws have not been effectively implemented. Taking into consideration EU criticism of Turkey's implementation of reforms, the government will seek to enforce laws on a wider scale.

Turkey on April 7 also played a role in the government's push to incorporate minority rights into the democratization package. During his visit, Obama met with Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Chief Rabbi of Istanbul Isak Haleva, acting Armenian Patriarch Archbishop Aram Atesyan and Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Yusuf Cet in Istanbul and listened to the challenges they face in Turkey.

Aside from the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Armenian, Jewish and Syrian communities have communicated their demands to the government, which will conduct an in-depth study to identify which demands can be met and include demands that can be addressed into the democratization package. It is believed that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate did not submit a new written statement to the government because it has presented a countless number of reports in the past describing its demands.

Subtitle: Halki Seminary reopening very difficult

The status of the Halki seminary, which the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate has been struggling to reopen, is still under consideration at the Ministry of Education.

While Ministry of Education lawyers have deemed that the seminary cannot be reopened according to the demands of the patriarchate, alternatives the lawyers have offered were rejected by the patriarchate. As for the government, it has linked any step to be taken regarding this issue to the rights that will be granted to Turkish Muslim minorities living in Greece.

Subtitle: Right to pray at scared sites to be extended

Security and houses of worship are among the leading problems mentioned by minority communities. The government will increase security around minority houses of worships. Provincial and town security directorates will be ordered to be on higher alert. Shortcomings stemming from the implementation of the Foundation Law, which was introduced with great difficulty during the EU harmonization process, will be identified and resolved. The law, which was put into effect despite staunch opposition from the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), granted foundations set up by minorities the right to own property and to acquire assistance in Turkey and abroad.

A mass held at the St. Nicholas Church in Antalya's Demre district, known as the birthplace of Santa Claus, sparked a major controversy in 2007. Then on August 16, 2009, there were attempts to prevent a religious ceremony from taking place at the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon. A Greek member of the European Parliament carried the issue to the EU. The government is in principle not against worship at places considered scared by Christians.

While the government is open to granting certain rights to Christians living in Turkey if they make any such request, it will not tolerate Greek and Greek Cypriot deputies and religious leaders' efforts to turn the issue into an international crisis. Although extreme nationalist and Muslim groups reacted negatively toward a religious ceremony organized with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the St. Nicholas Church in 2007, the government has indicated that there is nothing wrong in allowing Christian minorities to engage in such acts.

The Jewish and Assyrian communities do not have any complaints regarding worship. Members of both religious groups can use sites they consider sacred freely. However, a land dispute has been ongoing between the Mor Gabriel (Deyrelumur) Monastery and three predominantly Muslim villages in Midyat, Mardin. The government is considering using special initiative to prevent similar disputes from occurring in the future. During the crisis, in which the sides ended up in court, the government asked Mardin's governor and other influential leaders in the region to find a peaceful solution.

Subtitle: First steps taken for Jewish minorities

The Jewish community's demand from the government mostly involved security issues. Representatives from the Jewish community requested that security around synagogues be tightened and problems stemming from the implementation of the Foundations Law be resolved.

The Jewish community also requested that Jewish students and teachers at all Higher Education Board (YOK) institutions to be allowed off on religious holidays. YOK was informed of this demand in 2008, upon which it immediately issued a circular to all universities requesting the necessary steps be taken to allow Jewish students and teachers to take a day off on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Sukkot and Passover. YOK has decided to be more diligent on resolving problems stemming from the implementation of university policies.

Subtitle: Turkish Protestants communicate demands

The Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey has applied to Parliament's Human Rights Commission to request that problems related to houses of worship of the roughly 3,500 Protestants living in Turkey be resolved.

Turkish Protestants have communicated the same demands to the government in a report. Noting that they have rented offices, workplaces and warehouses to perform collective worship but that municipality workers and security forces shut down their churches, Turkish Protestants requested that their problems be solved.

Requesting that the condition in the Building Law implementation statute stating that there must be a space of at least 2,500 square meters in order to establish a house of worship be removed, Turkish Protestants ask that religious groups be granted the right to buy or build houses of worships according to their own needs and resources. They also requested permission to open small houses of worship similar to masjids (prayer rooms for Muslims).

According to the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkish Protestants are not considered a minority. However, the government may grant limited rights to Turkish Protestants and give permission for the construction of a small church in Istanbul, taking into consideration the size of the group.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[16] Turkish Cypriot Yeni Duzen reports that 114 thousand Turkish settlers will be granted the citizenship of the breakaway regime

...KADEMs director, Muharrem Faiz has stated that the Cypriots, whom he divided according to their origin as I wrote before, are 107 thousand. It is noted that at the moment 347 thousand persons are residing permanently on the island. University students, families of army officers and citizens of third countries of the world are included in them. Politis gives these numbers and underlines that the proportion of the foreigners in the Cypriot population is 53%. And stressing that especially the weight of those who vote is 37%, it describes this 37% as a mass which said by 60-70% no in the referendum and it usually votes for the right wing parties. ...

Mrs Akter adds that she wrote the same numbers in Yeni Duzen after an interview with Mr Muharrem Faiz. She reminds that in 2004, the sides had agreed on a list of 50.000 persons who would stay in Cyprus, but the Turkish side was able to give a list of around 43.000 persons. She goes on and says:

In the five years that passed since 2004, this number has now reached to 70 thousand. That is, in five years time another 27 thousand persons became citizens. Now the National Unity Party (UBP) declares that it will give the citizenship to the persons who reside here permanently for five years. And the embassy of the Republic of Turkey says that our advice is also in this direction, those who reside here for five years should be able to take the citizenship. The procedures regarding the citizenship vary according to the conditions existing in every country, but the five year of permanent residence is a method which could be implemented generally. Where? In many western countries. Faiz points out that the percentage of the foreigners in these western countries varies between 10-14%. This is five times more in our country! 53%! And Faiz establishes something which is even more impressive. After taking the families of the army officers and the students in the universities out of the 347 persons who reside in Northern Cyprus permanently, the number of those who remain is 114 thousand. A part of these persons live in Cyprus for one year, another part for five years and others for more than five years. That is, this means that the project of the UBP is potentially 114 thousand new citizens! Very well, is the situation really this? No! The 114 thousand citizenships, if for example the citizenship is granted to the males, include the spouse and the children and the number of citizens increases in a manner that cannot be controlled. There were persons who took the citizenship automatically in a considerable part of the 27 thousand citizenships which came up in five years. Over the citizenship of one person new citizenships are developed for many years in the form o chain...

(I/Ts.)

EG/

Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article