Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 12-09-25

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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] Eroglu's contacts in New York; he met with the Prime Minister of Kuwait

[02] Davutoglu to meet with the UN Secretary General

[03] A delegation from the Chamber of Trade of Kirkuk to carry out contacts in the occupied area of Cyprus

[04] Yorgancioglu reiterated the need for early elections

[05] Elcil denied allegations that there is not an increase on the "population" of the occupation regime

[06] Kucuk ordered a research investigation against Afrika's publications

[07] More on the "Pathology of Transplantation Conference" held at the illegal near East University

[08] Turkish columnists question the verdicts on the "Sledgehammer Case"

[09] Turkey opens another case of coup- List of civilian February 28 coup collaborators in hands of prosecutor

[10] Turkish military acquires AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Eroglu's contacts in New York; he met with the Prime Minister of Kuwait

Eroglu is also expected to meet with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday. He will further carry out contacts with state and government officials of other countries, writes the paper. Eroglu will also participate to a reception of the Federation of Turkish-American Associations.

At the same time, Eroglu will give interviews to Reuters, the Associated Press, the German Haber Agency and other agencies, writes the paper.

Meanwhile, according to Kibris, within the framework of his contacts in New York, Eroglu met yesterday with the Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah.

In a short statement after the meeting, Eroglu said that he had a fruitful meeting with the Prime Minister of Kuwait. He further said that they will do the necessary in order to develop the tourism cooperation and to improve the trade ties between the "TRNC" and Kuwait.

Explaining the reasons for which no solution has been found to the Cyprus problem yet, Eroglu referred also to their expectations from the members of the OIC.

As regards the Cyprus problem, Eroglu accused the Greek Cypriot side for rejecting all the issues agreed at the negotiations and alleged that it is the Turkish Cypriot side which gives the struggle, despite the "embargoes" which are imposed to them.

Saying that the Prime Minister of Kuwait proposed the development of trade ties between the two "countries", he stated that as soon as he return to the occupied area of Cyprus, he will meet with the related organizations in order to evaluate this proposal and do the necessary.

(AK)

[02] Davutoglu to meet with the UN Secretary General

According to AA, Davutoglu will meet with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon early on Tuesday.

Davutoglu attended an opening meeting on supremacy of law on Monday and he presented a document showing Turkey's approval on International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) to UN officials. Turkey had signed the document on September 14, 2005.

Davutoglu also signed the third additional protocol of Convention on the Rights of Child of the UN.

Davutoglu held several bilateral talks with ministers from Germany, Algeria, Brazil and Sweden.

[03] A delegation from the Chamber of Trade of Kirkuk to carry out contacts in the occupied area of Cyprus

According to a statement issued by the "chamber", the delegation will pay a three-day visit to the "TRNC" in order to carry out contacts inspections. As it was made known, the delegation will carry out bilateral meetings on the potential of exported goods.

(AK)

[04] Yorgancioglu reiterated the need for early elections

Referring to the serious problems experienced in the Turkish Cypriot community, Yorgancioglu said that the community ululates from the problems. He reiterated that they will exert the necessary efforts so that to go to early elections and called also the party organization to cooperate.

(AK)

[05] Elcil denied allegations that there is not an increase on the "population" of the occupation regime

Referring to the allegations say that there is "no increase on the population", Elcil said that this is not true and added that the number of students in schools shows the contrary.

(AK)

[06] Kucuk ordered a research investigation against Afrika's publications

According to daily Africa, the documents that the paper published were reportedly about the election campaign of Kucuk who seemed to issue orders so that he will be able to win the UBP leadership towards his main revival Ahmet Kasif.

Kucuk asked for an investigation to take place against the paper claiming that the documents published were not issued or signed by him and that the documents presented are fake. On its part Afrika calls on Kucuk to present the documents to the so-called police so that it will be reveled if they are fake or not.

[07] More on the "Pathology of Transplantation Conference" held at the illegal near East University

According to the paper, Michael Oellerich participated from Germany, Lai Meng Looi participated from Malaysia, Jagdish Butany participated from Canada.

In addition, reporting on the same issue, Vatan (25.09.12) reports that the first stem cell transplantation will take place in the breakaway regime for the first time at the hospital of the illegal YDU.

[08] Turkish columnists question the verdicts on the "Sledgehammer Case"

Under the title "Neither justice nor democracy has been served", Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily news (25.09.12) publishes the following article by Semih idiz:

"The harsh verdicts in the "Sledgehammer Case," sentencing some of Turkey's highest-ranking retired and active officers ? for allegedly attempting to topple the government by illegal means ? comes as no surprise. Normally it should be a matter of joy for democrats to finally see the Turkish military's wings clipped in a way that it will not interfere in the democratic processes anymore.

But for those who followed it from the start, this case, as well as the parallel ongoing "Ergenekon Case," has little to do with justice or advancing Turkish democracy, and everything to do with settling old scores.

Put another way, these verdicts are a concrete result of the postmodern civil war that has been raging in this country between hard-line secularist Kemalists and the supporters of the pro-Islamic government since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.

Apart from the hardcore supporters of the government, most people with a conscience, feel there has been a serious miscarriage of justice which will not serve either democracy or justice. [?]

The list of irregularities is headed by the fact that much of the accusations rest on a Microsoft Word document whose authenticity is suspect. The anomalies include the use of fonts that did not exist at the time the document ? allegedly outlining a program for destabilizing Turkey in order to facilitate a military takeover ? was said to have been written.

[?]

Put another way, if the standards in the West, which Turkey aspires to, were applied, this case would have been thrown out, not because those accused are necessarily innocent, but because of the anomalies in the evidence put forward by the prosecution.

Otherwise, it is not beyond imagination that certain soldiers considered it a duty to undermine and topple the AKP, which was, at least until recently, much despised by the Kemalist upper echelons of the Turkish Armed Forces.

In other words, an opportunity was missed, due to political motives, for determining true guilt or innocence. At least that is what most impartial observers in Turkey believe.

[?]

In addition, under the title "Completely off the rails with the Balyoz case", Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily news (25.09.12) publishes the following article by Mehmet Ali Birand:

"The results in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) case have divided me in two. One part of me was very pleased, while another was sad.

I was happy because the process of relieving our country from its historical "military tutelage" has begun. A first step has been taken. This was unimaginable 15 years ago. The system we call our republic was totally based on the supervision of the military. Two scapegoats were designated, one being bigots, and the other separatists, and the military was openly given the duty of protecting the country against this duo. We lived under this tutelage for years.

The military tutelage or military patronage took a huge toll on this country. Democracy was killed, freedoms restricted, political life ruined and the Kurdish issue escalated to the level it is at today. Unfortunately, none of our elected governments were able to defy this discourse.

[?]

Balyoz and Ergenekon are symbolic cases. Moreover, they are political cases. Rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. The aim of trials like these is not to do justice, but to send the message to the society that those who stage coups or attempt to stage coups should know that one day they will appear in court.

[..]

The results did not surprise me, but I found them unnecessarily imbalanced. Because of that, my human side was sad, especially for the pain of the families. Moreover the coarseness of the way the justice system handled this case disturbed my conscience. I do not want to adopt a clear stance before seeing the justifications for the verdicts and before the Supreme Court of Appeals rules on the final verdict. However, the public is left with a series of question marks including the suspicion that evidence was not scrutinized adequately and the suspects' right to a defense was not met. The widespread opinion is that rain has fallen on the just and the unjust alike. In short, the perception is that the justice system was not capable of undertaking this huge responsibility.

If you look carefully, even the ruling party is making a cautious evaluation of the results in the case. A "fine tuning" is expected from the Supreme Court of Appeals. This "fine tuning" is very important, because we have Ergenekon and the Sept. 12 and Feb. 8 cases coming up. If we want these cases to change the pro-coup mentality, then the public conscience should be able to approve of the verdicts.

[?]

[09] Turkey opens another case of coup- List of civilian February 28 coup collaborators in hands of prosecutor

The new documents, which were recently seized and delivered to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, have revealed the civilian leg of the February 28 military coup, popularly known as the postmodern coup due to the non-violent manner in which the government was overthrown. Turkey's government was led by an Islamist-leaning party at the time.

The documents reveal the identity of civilians who collaborated with the West Study Group (BCG) -- a clandestine organization formed within the military in order to contribute to the staging of the planned coup, which categorized politicians, intellectuals, soldiers and bureaucrats in accordance with their religious and ideological backgrounds -- during the coup era.

The documents include opinions and assessments about the reliability of the civilian collaborators as well as personal information such as their religion, sect, political view, veteran status and ethnicity.

The documents also reveal the name of Cumhuriyet daily columnist Umit Zileli as a civilian collaborator of the coup. The documents include assessments made by the BCG about Zileli such as the fact that he was a member of the Labor Party and since he had close relations with the former head of the Constitutional Court, Yekta Gungor Ozden, he could be very beneficial for the BCG. Stating that Zileli would do anything for the benefit of the country, the BCG went on to say that Zileli had always provided reliable and tangible information and could be used in reactionary and missionary activities.

Reportedly at the heart of the Feb. 28 investigation are the actions of the BCG, which was headed by Gen. Cevik Bir, the deputy chief of General Staff at the time.

On Feb. 28, 1997, an unarmed military intervention that resulted in the fall of the coalition government led by Necmettin Erbakan of the now-defunct Welfare Party (RP) occurred under the leadership of Bir. The Feb. 28 coup introduced a series of harsh restrictions on religious life with an unofficial but widely practiced ban on the use of the Islamic headscarf. The military was purged of members with suspected ties to religious groups.

[10] Turkish military acquires AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters

After a few years' delay in the sale, three AH-1W helicopters were delivered by C-5 military transport to Ak?nc?lar airbase in Ankara on Sunday, sources from the Defense Ministry told Today's Zaman. With the sale, the Turkish Air Forces has finally achieved success in its bid to modernize the current fleet of attack helicopters.

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) currently has six operational Super Cobra helicopters. The military had purchased 10 Super Cobra helicopters from the US, its close military ally, in the 1990s. Some of the helicopters need technological modernization, while some of them are no longer in service. These attack helicopters have a delivery system for 12 rockets and can fly for hours. The topographic features of Turkey's Southeast require a greater number of capable helicopters. The Super Cobra has proven its capabilities in comparison to other helicopters in past TSK operations.

Nearly four years ago, Turkey requested 12 attack helicopters from the US. However, the US Congress did not approve the sale until last November, citing as its reason the US military's shortage of such aircraft. Last November, Congress approved the sale of only three of the 12 requested AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters to Turkey.

The Obama administration formally notified the US Congress on Oct. 28 of an unusual proposal to sell three AH-1W Super Cobra twin-engine attack helicopters to Turkey from the US Marine Corps inventory. Under the administration's plan, the Marines would get two new, late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z Super Cobras in exchange for the three, twin-engine AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara, a congressional official told Reuters last year. Such sales from the US military's current inventory are extremely rare, Reuters noted.

According to US law, the administration needs to notify Congress of the sale of arms to other countries and seek authorization. If the proposed sale is to a NATO-member country, Congress has 15 days to reject the sale or it will be automatically authorized. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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