Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 12-09-05

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

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] NATO's Rasmussen expressed full support to Turkey over its policy in Syria

[02] Ozgurgun politicizes AEL-Fenerbahce football match; Comments on statements by Foreign Minister Markoulli

[03] Bagis alleged that President Christofias' refusal to jointly watch the football match is a loss for him

[04] Eroglu met with the Finish Ambassador to Lefkosia

[05] A delegation of Abkhazian Chamber of Commerce met with Cerkez

[06] Royal Dutch Shell CEO met with Erdogan and Yildiz; Shell is interested to drill in the Black Sea as well

[07] Turkish Minister is illegally visiting the occupied area of Cyprus

[08] Kucuk met with the so-called Sharpshooting Federation; he congratulated them for participating to a competition in Finland

[09] Sertoglu: AEL-Fenerbahce football match is an opportunity to break the "embargoes"

[10] Zulfu Livaneli sings in CTP's "Peace Feast" in occupied Famagusta

[11] Turkey sent diplomatic note to France over genocide issue

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] NATO's Rasmussen expressed full support to Turkey over its policy in Syria

Urging the international community to offer a solution to the Syrian crisis in the region, Rasmussen urged world powers to send a strong message to Syria's Bashar al-Assad. "The international community should send a very strong and clear message towards supporting Syrians' demands," Rasmussen noted, adding that NATO is following the situation and is ready to help and support Turkey.

[02] Ozgurgun politicizes AEL-Fenerbahce football match; Comments on statements by Foreign Minister Markoulli

In statements to illegal TAK news agency, Ozgurgun argued that Turkey will never become interlocutor of the Greek Cypriots and that playing a football match is not tantamount with holding political contacts with a country. Ozgurgun reacted to the invitation, which he said was made by President Christofias to Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu to watch the AEL-Fenerbahce game in Lekfosia as a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus. Ozgurgun alleged that inviting the "president of the TRNC" to watch the match like "an ordinary citizen" was an insult to the Turkish Cypriot "people" and tantamount to saying to the Turkish Cypriots that "I do not recognize the people you elect, you cannot have elections, you can be nothing more than a minority".

Ozgurgun alleged that the Greek Cypriots mix politics with sports and that nationalism, economic problems, pressure by the Church and the will of the Government have an influence in this.

According to Ozgurgun, it would not be an "anomaly" if two leaders, who carry out negotiations, watched a match together, but the message which President Christofias wanted to give and could not say it openly was that "the Greek Cypriots and the Republic of Cyprus represent Cyprus, a team of (Cyprus) will play with Turkey and I will watch the game only with Abdullah Gul".

Ozgurgun alleged that Turkish Cypriot teams have asked many times to play matches with Greek Cypriot teams, but they received a negative answer. He argued that in order for the two "people" to come closer, first they should attach importance to activities in the fields of sports, culture and art. He claimed that the Greek Cypriots do not want to do this, that they only cooperate with a small minority from the "TRNC" and that no agreement could be reached with this mentality.

Ozgurgun alleged that the "TRNC" has a "state structure" in every field and in every issue, it carries out sports activities and has a football league, but UEFA is also committing what he described as "a mistake" on the issue of the so-called embargo in sports.

Ozgurgun said that he considers as an insult against the entire Turkish Cypriot "people" the statements recently made by Foreign Minister Markoulli regarding the Turkish Cypriots. Arguing that Minister Markoulli had said that "we have to take the support of ordinary Turkish Cypriots", Ozgurgun claimed that this statement showed that it would not be possible to reach an agreement with the Greek Cypriot side and that the Greek Cypriots will never accept very important established UN parameters such as the two equal founding states, the political equality of the two "peoples" and bi-zonality.

(I/Ts.)

[03] Bagis alleged that President Christofias' refusal to jointly watch the football match is a loss for him

"He couldn't see the positive image it would convey to world; and to Greek and Turkish Cypriots," Bagis, said yesterday, responding to reporters' questions as he received the mayor of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, As?m Guzelbey.

(?) "It was a sincere invitation. It was based on the idea that important messages could be delivered via sports, because it is an antidote to any discrimination," Bagis said, adding that the "Greek Cypriot government", as he called the Republic of Cyprus had formerly refused all of Turkey's comprehensive and sustainable offers regarding the island.

Bagis also made it clear that he would not run as a candidate for mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on his own initiative.

[04] Eroglu met with the Finish Ambassador to Lefkosia

The Finnish Ambassador to "south Cyprus", as the Republic of Cyprus is called, had taken over the post earlier this summer.

The Turkish Cypriot leader's "undersecretary" Hasan Gungor was also present at the meeting. No statement was issued before or after the meeting.

[05] A delegation of Abkhazian Chamber of Commerce met with Cerkez

The "cooperation protocol" signed between the two chambers in March last year topped the agenda of the meeting during which mutual support was emphasized.

Receiving the representatives of the Abkhazian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce Gunay Cerkez underlined the need to take relations with the Abkhazian Chamber further within the framework of the cooperation protocol signed last year.

Providing information about the "TRNC's commercial status", Cerkez pointed out that the "TRNC" has special relations with the European Union although the EU Acquis Communautaire is suspended within the "TRNC" territory.

Noting that the "TRNC" and Abkhazia are two "countries" having similar conditions, Cerkez said that they would be seeking for export opportunities.

The President of the Abkhazian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gennadi Gagulya also stressed the need for increasing cooperation between the two chambers by sharing knowledge and experience.

[06] Royal Dutch Shell CEO met with Erdogan and Yildiz; Shell is interested to drill in the Black Sea as well

Y?ld?z met Shell Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Voser in Ankara yesterday, along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"In the context of the partnership we embarked upon last year with TPAO, we have added exploration to our activities in Turkey. We are pleased to be searching for natural gas with TPAO, both in the Mediterranean Sea and on land," said Voser, explaining that their seismic explorations were continuing, and that they could soon start looking at other opportunities in the country.

"It is very important that our partnership is continuing in many areas," added Y?ld?z. "One such area is shale gas exploration, and the exploration in Diyarbak?r is part of that agreement."

He also said Turkey was interested in exploring both gas and oil in the Black Sea with Shell. "I am confident that our huge partnership in the Mediterranean will be successful. Seismic data will be studied and then we will discuss where we can begin our work together," Y?ld?z said.

Shell has been active in Turkey for 89 years and will celebrate its 90th anniversary next year, Voser said, adding that Turkey's energy market liberalization over the past year would be an important factor contributing to the sustainability of the Turkish economy in the long run. He stressed that short-term economic and political waves would not deter Turkey from its 2023 vision and growth plans, calling Erdogan a "visionary" and "stead-fast" leader. He said that Shell, for its part, would bring its experience and technology to the table and would be ready at the country's service.

Meanwhile, when asked by a reporter as to whether Turkey's natural gas distributor Botas was selling gas at below the cost of production, and if this was one of the most important contributors to Turkey's budget deficit, Y?ld?z responded: "What do you want, a price hike?"

However, he did confirm that Botas was indeed selling natural gas at below the cost of production, confirming what Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek had recently said.

[07] Turkish Minister is illegally visiting the occupied area of Cyprus

The first concert will be held today at occupied Bellapais Monastery and the second tomorrow at Buyuk Han in occupied Lefkosia. Eighteen musicians from seven countries participate in the orchestra.

(I/Ts.)

[08] Kucuk met with the so-called Sharpshooting Federation; he congratulated them for participating to a competition in Finland

According to the paper, Kucuk congratulated the athletes who participate to an international championship which took place in Finland, and said that the representation of their "country" abroad as well as their success to the championship constitutes a great contribution to the promotion of the "TRNC" abroad.

Criticizing the so-called embargoes, "prime minister" Kucuk called on the EU to lift the so-called embargoes and assured that the so-called government will continue supporting sport.

Speaking in his turn, Arif Cankurt, "chairman" of the so-called sharpshooting federation pointed out the fact that it was the first time that Turkish Cypriot athletes participated to a completion in Finland. He added that the Turkish Cypriot athletes had the opportunity to meet with athletes from different countries of the world and establish a friendship. He also said that athletes from several countries expressed their wish to visit the occupation regime for camping.

(AK)

[09] Sertoglu: AEL-Fenerbahce football match is an opportunity to break the "embargoes"

Sertoglu said that as "federation" they want Fenerbahce to travel to the free areas of Cyprus through the occupied area of the Republic and argued that this match is an opportunity to show to Europe and the whole world the "embargoes" in the field of sports implemented on the Turkish Cypriots.

(I/Ts.)

[10] Zulfu Livaneli sings in CTP's "Peace Feast" in occupied Famagusta

Addressing the crowd, Ozkan Yorgancioglu, chairman of the CTP, said he brought greetings from South Africa, from Socialist International's President and General Secretary Papandreou and Louis respectively. He said that unfortunately, peace has not been established yet in our country and that they had organized the feast in order to give the message to the world that they are "thirsty for peace". He added: "Time for peace in our country has come. It is the time for our young people to build their own future. Preventing this is a crime. Therefore, we have to intensify this struggle. The struggle we give for peace, for humanity's honor should come to an end?"

(I/Ts.)

[11] Turkey sent diplomatic note to France over genocide issue

Turkey's Embassy in Paris issued a diplomatic note to the French Foreign Ministry along with the French Education Ministry to protest the inclusion of two-page section into French textbooks that detail mass killings of Armenians in 1915 with what the embassy said "fake documents."

Relations between Paris and Ankara had begun to thaw after a decision in February by France's constitutional court to strike down the genocide denial law as contrary to free speech. But the ties of the two countries could see the winter again as new President Francois Hollande said in July that he will stand by a campaign pledge to make it illegal to deny that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, was genocide.

Turkey had cancelled all economic, political and military meetings with France in December after the French parliament voted in favour of the draft law. At a joint news conference early in July, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the law was unlikely to be resurrected and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the opening of a warmer phase in relations with France.

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