Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 12-11-30

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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] Saner says they reached 600.000 subscribers of mobile phones in occupied Cyprus; Statements by Saner, Yildirim and Atun at CeBIT Fair

[02] Erdogan to meet with EU ambassadors on January; he is hopeful for the acceleration of Turkey's EU bid after the Republic of Cyprus' EU presidency

[03] NATO allied land commander: Turkey's border is NATO's border

[04] They forget occupation and wonder why Titina Loizidou does not return to her occupied house in Keryneia

[05] Gul warns of 'dead end' in BDP immunity controversy

[06] Statements by Eroglu at Turkey's 56th National Paediatric Congress

[07] Turkey will give 3.3 billion TL to the regime with the new "economic program"; Reactions against Turkey's interferences

[08] Talat: Turkish Cypriots benefited by the "Property Compensation Committee"

[09] The so-called police has filed a lawsuit against YKP

[10] The so-called "Cyprus Education Research Union" to host in 2014 the 42nd Congress of BISEP

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Saner says they reached 600.000 subscribers of mobile phones in occupied Cyprus; Statements by Saner, Yildirim and Atun at CeBIT Fair

Saner said that the regime is not at the position they wanted it to be in the world's information technologies sector, in spite of the quality of its population. Saner expressed their satisfaction for participating in CeBIT as "partner country" and added that their target was to "create serious possibilities" for promoting in the world the products of the breakaway regime. He said that thanks to their work and the infrastructure they will develop in the field of information technologies, they will show that they do not recognize the "isolations" allegedly implemented on the "TRNC" and make the "embargoes" meaningless.

Meanwhile, the self-styled minister of economy and energy of the regime, Sunat Atun also addressed the opening ceremony of the fair and thanked that Turkish Minister of Transport and Communications, Binali Yildirim, who, he said, was the "father of the idea" for the breakaway regime's participation in the fair, exerted efforts with determination for the realization of this target.

Atun referred to the negotiations process with the aim of reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem and reiterated the Turkish allegation that the process has come to a deadlock because of the Greek Cypriot so-called lack of will and intransigence, in spite of Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu's alleged efforts to reach a lasting solution. Atun argued that even if the official relations of the Turkish Cypriots with the world have been frozen, their life did not freeze and continued. He added that the vision they had determined with Turkey is for the breakaway regime is to proceed towards the future with stable steps being healthy from the economic point of view, on sound foundations and in prosperity. He noted that the effects of global economic crisis had been seen in the occupied area of Cyprus in 2009, but thanks to the economic program they prepared with Turkey they prevented the deterioration of the crisis.

Furthermore, in his address, the Turkish Minister of Transport, Binali Yildirim said that they had started in the occupied area of Cyprus all the projects they have in Turkey, being faithful to their statement that the regime will have whatever Turkey has. He noted that their support and cooperation will continue for the development of the breakaway regime.

Meanwhile, referring to the same issue Turkish Daily News newspaper (30.11.12) reports that Yildirim alleged that the breakaway regime already surpassed the Republic of Cyprus economically "despite an ongoing international embargo and will acquire information technology as advanced as Turkey's".

"I declare that we will not abandon [Editor's note: Turkish occupied part of] Cyprus to poverty as the entire world plays ostrich and isolates the island's northern side. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [Editor's Note: the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus] is now at a point where its economy is stronger than [Editor's Note: The Republic of] Cyprus," Yildirim alleged.

A second submarine fiber-optic network cable from Anatolia to the occupied northern part of the island was inaugurated November 10 (2012) in Kerynia, he added.

He also noted that e-government services are being built by Turkey in the occupied area of Cyprus and will be put to use as soon as possible. "Any technological improvements will be implemented in Turkish Cyprus in tandem with Turkey," Yildirim said.

(I/Ts.)

[02] Erdogan to meet with EU ambassadors on January; he is hopeful for the acceleration of Turkey's EU bid after the Republic of Cyprus' EU presidency

Within this framework, Erdogan will meet by the mid of January in Ankara with the Ambassadors of EU countries. Erdogan will reiterate Turkey's determination in its bid to join the EU and also is expected to ask for the opening of more EU negotiation chapters, writes the paper.

Also, as the paper writes, Bagis held yesterday a luncheon meeting with the EU ambassadors and explained them the recent reforms in Turkey.

Bagis further met with the Irish Ambassador in Ankara, Kenneth Thompson whose country will take over the EU presidency on January 1. Bagis convey to Thompson Ankara's hopes that during Irish Presidency, several chapters should open for Turkey.

Meanwhile, Turkish daily Today's Zaman (29.11.12) reported that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed hope that Turkey will revive its bid to become a full member of the European Union after Ireland assumes the presidency of the union in January.

In statements to journalists on Wednesday aboard a plane on route to Ankara from Spain, Erdogan said: "I believe that there will be a revival in Turkey's EU bid with the presidency of Ireland. We had earlier declared that all our efforts would be suspended during the presidency of Greek Cyprus. After Ireland assumes the EU presidency, we will accelerate our efforts".

Erdogan also said he thinks Turkey's stalled bid to join the EU could receive a fresh boost due to elections in France earlier this year that saw Nicolas Sarkozy lose the race for a new term as President, to Francois Hollande. Asked if he received any signals to that end, Erdogan said: "Yes. They [European leaders] have different opinions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a more positive approach. New chapters should be opened in the new term [of Ireland's presidency]."

(...)

Journalists asked the Prime Minister if he is planning to pay visits to European capitals as part of Turkey's EU bid, and Erdogan responded: "I will pay a visit to Brussels soon. Officials from EU member countries pay frequent visits to our country, and we are visiting them, too." Erdogan also said he threatened EU officials that Turkey would quit accession efforts if they declined to open new chapters for Turkey during the presidency of the Netherlands. "They [EU officials] promised me that they would solve the problem. And two new chapters were opened," he said.

(...)

(AK)

[03] NATO allied land commander: Turkey's border is NATO's border

Gen. Hodges replied questions of reporters during the introductory meeting for the NATO Allied Land Command which will become operational in Turkey's western Izmir province on Friday.

When asked how NATO acts in case of a sudden attack on Turkey, Gen. Hodges said that Turkey's border was NATO's border, and in case of a sudden attack, North Atlantic Council immediately convened without any delay.

Gen. Hodges said that Turkey had been one of the important and valuable members of NATO thanks to its geographical location and military contributions since NATO was established.

Noting that NATO Allied Land Command was moved to Izmir with the joint decision of 28 members, Gen. Hodges said that members one more time confirmed the importance of Turkey.

In addition, Ankara Anatolia (29.11.12) also reports that Turkish national defense minister said NATO would decide which country would send Patriot missile defense system to Turkey.

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz attended a reception in Ankara and replied to questions.

The delegation comprised of officials from NATO, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkish Armed Forces have been carrying out a survey in some provinces in Turkey, he said.

Yilmaz said that the delegation were assessing possible sites to install Patriot missiles, stating that NATO team inspected military installations in Malatya province on Wednesday. "They are visiting several provinces. They will prepare a report," he said, adding that he hoped that it would be finalized soon.

"NATO team has been assessing possible sites to install Patriot missiles in order to protect Turkey's border with Syria as NATO-member Turkey asked allies to deploy the missiles as a defense against any aerial attack from Syria after mortar rounds and shells from Syria struck Turkish territory", according to Ankara Anatolia.

[04] They forget occupation and wonder why Titina Loizidou does not return to her occupied house in Keryneia

The paper writes that after the payment of compensation by Turkey, the house was abandoned and turned into a place in which homeless dogs and people live from time to time. Inhabitants of the area, who see this situation, on the one hand blame the "officials" of the breakaway regime for this and on the other reproach Loizidou wondering why she does not go back and live there.

According to Kibris, the paint of the wall fell off and the windows are broken. One room of the house has been turned into warehouse in which packages of cigarettes, computer parts, tables and armchairs are placed.

The paper refers also to Mrs Loidizou's grandfather, who had been a doctor, used the house as a clinic and sometimes treated his patients without taking any money.

After the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the house had reportedly been given to a war veteran from Turkey and it was used as a guesthouse for foreign workers.

(I/Ts.)

[05] Gul warns of 'dead end' in BDP immunity controversy

Speaking to reporters on Thursday at a reception following a ceremony for the Presidential Grand Awards in Culture and Arts, Gul implied that he is against the idea of divesting the deputies of their immunity as it might accomplish nothing, while warning the deputies to keep their distance from terrorism.

"Turkey should beware of heading down a dead-end street and repeating past mistakes," Gul stated, referring to the fate of the now-defunct Democracy Party's (DEP) deputies who were stripped of their parliamentary immunity and put into jail in 1994 due to their suspected ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

A motion was recently prepared by the Prime Ministry to lift the immunity of the 10 BDP deputies and has been submitted to Parliament for discussion.

BDP deputies are the subject of frequent investigations by prosecutors but are immune from prosecution while in office, unless the assembly votes in favor of lifting their immunity.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was determined to remove the parliamentary immunity of the BDP deputies following nearly 800 complaints filed against them in Parliament accusing them of having links with a terrorist organization.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ar?nc, who spoke to the press following a meeting with visiting Senegalese President Abdul Mbaye in Ankara on Thursday, was supportive of removing the deputies' immunity. "Some of the BDP deputies are committing a crime 'with intent' as defined in the Turkish Penal Code [TCK]. That means they are committing acts that are considered offences knowingly and deliberately. That's why they deserve a hundred times to be tried. If a civilian had committed this crime, prosecutors would have indicted him and brought him before a court. But there is a different procedure in the case of deputies. They can be tried only if their immunities are lifted."

Commenting on the issue, columnist Murat Yetkin writes the following on Hurriyet Daily News (30.11.12) under the title "Gul and Erdogan once again".

"Turkish President Abdullah Gul's words yesterday, Nov. 29, on Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's vow to lift the immunities of 10 deputies in Parliament endorsed a discrepancy between them as two fellows in politics for many years.

Erdogan had said Parliament should consider lifting the parliamentary immunities of nine deputies of the Kurdish problem-focused Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) ? the 10th deputy being close to the group ? for praising the attacks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK); some of them had had pictures as they embraced PKK militants (one of them wanted for killing soldiers) who had blocked a road to carry out their armed propaganda earlier this year in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border. Right after Erdogan's challenge, a number of ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) deputies submitted a petition to a parliamentary commission to make that real.

Gul made it clear that he thought lifting the immunities of BDP deputies would be like Turkey dragging itself into a "dead end" once again. He was pointing at the 1994 incident when five Kurdish-origin members of Parliament had been stripped of their immunity; three of them were later tried and put in prison, which did not help Turkey find a solution to its Kurdish problem. Gul also warned the BDP deputies to refrain from praising acts of terrorism, something he found "unacceptable."

But it is not only the discrepancy between him and Gul which could stop Erdogan from making his vow real. Kurdish-origin deputies within the AK Parti are not all comfortable with Erdogan's stance. Galip Ensarioglu for example, a deputy for Diyarbak?r and influential former head of the chamber of commerce of the city told reporters in Parliament that if the bill came to the General Assembly he would reject it. Mehmet Ali Sahin, Erdogan's deputy chairman in the party and the head of its delegation in the Constitution Conciliation Commission, told CNNTurk yesterday evening that they might not be in a rush to bring the bill to the General Assembly. That means those files could be held in the hands of the government as the sword of Damocles regarding the future moves of the BDP.

It also means something else. Following the attempt to have local elections earlier, it will be yet another case of Erdogan taking a step back from his political moves. There are indications that something similar might happen to his ambitious presidential system, which has been submitted to the Conciliation Commission. On his way back from Madrid on Nov. 27, he told journalists he found the checks and balances mechanism in the U.S. slowed down the President from achieving what he wanted; Erdogan wants to see a President in Turkey who can take quicker decisions with less control. That will not make everyone happy in Turkey; Gul had his warning earlier on that, too."

[06] Statements by Eroglu at Turkey's 56th National Paediatric Congress

The congress will last until 2 December. Participants from several countries such as the USA, Iran, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and the occupied area of Cyprus will reportedly attend the congress.

Speaking yesterday during the opening ceremony of the congress, the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu referred, inter alia, to the Cyprus problem and the Cyprus negotiation talks, alleging that it was not possible to reach a result at the talks because of the Greek Cypriot side's stance. He further accused the Greek Cypriot side for lack of will towards the solution.

Reiterating once more his known statements that the Greek Cypriot side, which rejects all the agreements until know, has become a member of the EU and that it now carrys out the EU presidency, Eroglu said that, on the contrary, the Turkish Cypriot side, which is the side which has always accepted all the agreements, is now under "embargoes and isolations". Eroglu continued and wondered where the justice toward this, is.

Stating that he will launch a new negotiation process with the newly elected Greek Cypriot leader, Eroglu said that had already convey this to the UN's Special Representative to Cyprus, Alexander Downer.

Stating that they do not have the intention to continue with open-ended talks, Eroglu stressed the need for the international community to motivate the Greek Cypriots towards the solution.

(AK)

[07] Turkey will give 3.3 billion TL to the regime with the new "economic program"; Reactions against Turkey's interferences

Kucuk said that the "minister" is continuously in consultations with the economic organizations in the occupied area regarding the new "protocol" and added that the content of the "protocol" will be shared with the public after it is signed.

Moreover, addressing the same meeting, self-styled minister of finance, Ersin Tatar said that 33% of the breakaway regime's budget is covered by Turkey and added: "If there was not for this contribution, the economy would collapse. The situation of south Cyprus [Translator's note: as he referred to the Republic of Cyprus] is there?"

Speaking at the same meeting, Omer Kalyoncu, "MP" with the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), called on Kucuk to announce the main chapters of the economic program which will be signed of Tuesday and argued that the "minister of finance" had said he was not aware of this program. Kalyoncu noted that if the program is signed without the "people" to know its content, the consequences will be "fatal".

Meanwhile, Sonay Adem, another "MP" with the CTP, called on the "government" not to sign the "economic protocol" on 4 December and to tell the Turkish so-called ambassador to the occupied part of Lefkosia to convey to his government that they do not have the right to bring such a "protocol" to the "TRNC". Adem noted that the self-styled minister of economy, Sunat Atun had signed a "protocol" with the shopkeepers' association for loans with a low interest rate, after pressures by Turkey's so-called aid delegation, because the members of this association are Turks from Turkey. Adem accused the self-styled ambassador of Turkey of interfering into the affairs of the breakaway regime.

Finally, Mustafa Emiroglulari, "MP" with the Social Democracy Party (TDP), said that the Turkish Prime minster Erdogan and his team cannot administer the "TRNC", because the "TRNC" has an "elected parliament" and "government". He added that his party has always been against interferences from outside. He noted that the current Turkish "ambassador" should go away, because "this ambassador does not love the Turkish Cypriots".

(I/Ts.)

[08] Talat: Turkish Cypriots benefited by the "Property Compensation Committee"

Talat stated during his visit that the "Property Compensation Committee" was established after a "long struggle" at the time that he was "president" and said that the Turkish Cypriots have benefited greatly by it, expressing the hope that in the future the gains coming from the Committee will increased.

Referring to the various problems occupied Varosha area is facing, Talat said that the internal problems of the breakaway regime are painful and predicted that the economic difficulties which affect everyone will grow even more. He also accused the self-styled government of not approaching the problems in a positive way.

On the Cyprus problem Talat stated that if the Cyprus problem was solved, the persons living in Varosha would have benefited by it.

[09] The so-called police has filed a lawsuit against YKP

The so-called police filed a lawsuit against YKP alleging that the action they took was contrary to the "municipality's regulation" as was as well, the opening of placards without permission.

(AK)

[10] The so-called "Cyprus Education Research Union" to host in 2014 the 42nd Congress of BISEP

According to a statement issued by the press office of the so-called ministry, the chairman of the "union", Kemal Batman has said that they had gain the right to host the 42nd congress of BISEP, which was established in 1950 in the USA and operates with educational issues. The congress will be organized in the occupied areas of Cyprus in 2014.

Moreover, Batman has invited the so-called minister to participate to the "1st International Education Research Congress" which is to take place in occupied Keryneia, between December 6-9. Batman added that participants from Turkey, the "TRNC" and 19 different foreign countries are expected to attend the congress.

(AK) TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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