Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 13-02-01

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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] Vakif Foundation in the occupied area of Cyprus to financially support the project for the restoration of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery

[02] Eroglu discussed their strategy with the political parties

[03] Davutoglu to discuss Syria issue with Lavror

[04] Eight more persons were granted the "TRNC citizenship"

[05] Yorgancioglu: Kucuk should tell those who visit the occupied area of Cyprus that this place is a separate "state"

[06] "Communal Existence Movement" protested against Atalya's statements that Turkish Cypriots needs religious education

[07] USA ambassador visited occupied Famagusta

[08] Illegal YDU withdraws from the agreement on the Armenian Church

[09] Jim Jeffrey: Turkey's focus 'shifts' from Syria to Baghdad

[10] Ankara says wants to be 'observer member' of Shanghai organization

[11] Zeki Levent Gumrukcu, the new spokesman of the MFA

[12] 2013 World Report of the Human Rights Watch called Turkey to release imprisoned Kurdish journalist, activist, students

[13] Turkey's exports increased by 13.1% in 2012, imports decreased by 1.8%

[14] New data by Turkstat on Turkey's population

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Vakif Foundation in the occupied area of Cyprus to financially support the project for the restoration of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery

The chairman of the "Vakiflar Administration" Mustafa Kemal Kaymakamzade and the Project Manager of UNDP-PFF Tiziano Zennaro put their signatures under a protocol today, which foresees the financial contribution of the "Vak?flar Administration" for the full restoration of the Apostolos Andreas Monastery.

Speaking to the press after the signing of the protocol, Kaymakamzade alleged that, for years, the Turkish Cypriot side had struggled for the restoration of the monastery, but it always faced the "Greek Cypriot side's" preventive initiatives.

He said that the "Vak?flar administration" will financially contribute to the full restoration of the monastery which will be conducted by the UNDP-PFF under the auspices of the Technical Committee on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, with the involvement of Turkish Cypriot contractors.

[02] Eroglu discussed their strategy with the political parties

In statements after the dinner, Eroglu said that they possess "in details the Cyprus policies and the common policies" put forward by the candidates in the presidential elections of 17 February, and added that they discussed and debated these policies last night. Pointing out that they discussed the strategy which they will follow in possible negotiations and what steps they will take, Eroglu said that they decided to meet again in 10-15 days.

Eroglu noted that after the interruption of the negotiations, the work of the technical committees was intensified because of the discussion of confidence building measures. He said that some committees work very good and achieved progress, but some others could not convene allegedly because the Greek Cypriots do not participate.

In his statements, Irsen Kucuk, self-styled prime minister of the regime and leader of the National Unity Party (UBP), said that the preparation of the ground for the continuation of the Cyprus talks after the presidential elections of 17 February has started. Describing the meeting as "useful", he noted that they evaluated the statements made by the candidates in the presidential elections.

Speaking after the meeting, Mehmet Cakici, chairman of the Social Democracy Party (TDP), said that they made a "good evaluation" on the Cyprus issue and expressed the belief that we have entered into a process during which no one will be able to run away from the solution. He argued that Eroglu should follow an "active and daring" policy during the new process and argued that the statements made by the candidates in the presidential elections in the Republic of Cyprus, and especially the statements by Democratic Rally Party (DISY) chairman, Nikos Anastasiades should not be taken seriously into consideration. He expressed the view that what Eroglu should do at the first meeting with whoever is elected is to reaffirm the agreements reached with the Greek Cypriot side during former Turkish Cypriot leader Talat's period. According to Cakici, agreements such as two constituent states, single sovereignty, single citizenship and the cross voting are included in these, as well as some agreements achieved by Eroglu on some chapters.

Cakici argued that after some meetings on the property issue an agreement could be reached. He said that the economy of the Republic of Cyprus is in a bad situation and claimed finding oil and natural gas is "chance that cannot be lost". He alleged that the way out on the issue of oil is Turkey and that the Greek Cypriot side has no other way than transferring the oil to Europe through Turkey. He argued that Europe want to be saved from its dependency on Russia and added: "... A solution will be reached in Cyprus. We have to be properly ready for this. There is no other way".

On his part, Asim Akansoy, general secretary of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), said that being able to submit constructive proposals and establishing close consultations with the UN is important for the CTP. He argued that the result of the elections in the Republic of Cyprus will add dynamism to the Cyprus problem and that the developments have reached a certain point for the solution of the Cyprus problem. He noted that they should be active and manage the situation well in order for dragging the process to a positive point.

Finally, Atay Ahmet Rasit, responsible for Democratic Party's (DP) foreign relations, said that the meeting was very useful and fruitful and added that they examined the manifesto of Nikos Anastasiades, who they think is the strongest candidate in the presidential elections. He noted that the DP expressed its priorities for the negotiations during the meeting.

(I/Ts.)

[03] Davutoglu to discuss Syria issue with Lavror

The meeting will take place under the cloud of an Israeli attack against Syrian targets and after a surprising call from Syrian National Council head Moaz al-Khatib to talk with the Bashar al-Assad government.

Turkish-Russian dialogue over Syria intensified following Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey on December 3, 2012, when the two countries agreed to keep their growing bilateral economic and trade ties unaffected by disagreement over Syria.

As part of their deal to keep in close contact, undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu paid a visit to Moscow to meet his counterpart, Mikhail Bogdanov, last month. Davutoglu-Lavrov's meeting in Munich will be followed by another crucial meeting of the two Ministers in Turkey in April, as part of the joint strategic group.

"This dialogue helps both sides prevent bilateral problems arising from Syria," a diplomatic source told the Hurriyet Daily News, implying that the difficulty in reducing differences over the issue, is unlikely to be resolved in the near future.

Turkey and Russia have been one of each other's important economic and trade partners in recent years, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan set a new target of $100 billion trade volume by 2020.

Although heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, Turkey did not hesitate to allow a Russian company to build and operate its first nuclear plant. The two countries' joint economic councils will meet in late April in Antalya.

During the meeting, Lavrov is expected to inform Davutoglu about ongoing trilateral talks between Russia, the United States and the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, as part of the Geneva Agreement.

With concerns that al-Assad's immediate fall would create chaos in Syria, Washington is considering a gradual transition in the country that would commence by creating the necessary conditions for fair elections.

In the meantime, as the Syrian National Coalition seems to be far from becoming a strong body that could lead an interim government, Washington proposed to Russia the joint preparation of a list of potential government officials, who could lead the process. A separate body to provide security in the country is also being considered as part of the talks.

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[04] Eight more persons were granted the "TRNC citizenship"

The site notes that during the last meeting of "council" the "TRNC citizenship" was granted to the following eight persons:

Amanda Jayne Warrender  born 26 August 1964    Manchester
Asghar Sa?dan           born 6 August 1941     Tabr?z
Coskun Ozturker         born 7 July 1964       Bal?kesir
Ozer Ozbilen            born 19 September 1966 Istanbul
Abdullah Tasan          born 14 June  1976     Odemis
Hakan Emerce            born 1 September  1974 Sivas
Omer Telek              born 1 August 1981     Bursa
Bar?s Erkan             born 14 September 1990 Famagusta.

[05] Yorgancioglu: Kucuk should tell those who visit the occupied area of Cyprus that this place is a separate "state"

In statements at the "assembly" of the regime, Yorgancioglu criticized the fact that a delegation from Turkey which visited the "parliament" described the occupied area of Cyprus as "Turkey's province". Yorgancioglu asked from self-styled prime minister, Irsen Kucuk to brief those who visit the occupied area of Cyprus that this place is a "separate state".

(I/Ts.)

[06] "Communal Existence Movement" protested against Atalya's statements that Turkish Cypriots needs religious education

The Movement protested against the recent statements of Turkey's Minister, responsible for Cyprus Affairs Besir Atalay, who stated that Turkish Cypriots need religious education.

[07] USA ambassador visited occupied Famagusta

According to the paper, Koenig, along with a delegation of United States Agency for International Development (USAID), met with the "mayor" of Famagusta Oktay Kayalp.

[08] Illegal YDU withdraws from the agreement on the Armenian Church

The general director of Evkaf, Mustafa Kaymakamzade told Yeni Duzen that the reason for this decision of "YDU" is the delay by the Evkaf to handover the building to the illegal university within the period of time provided for in the agreement and "university's" annoyance by some news published in the press. Kaymakamzade said that "YDU" decided to withdraw from the project about a week ago and added that now they will evaluate how the process will proceed.

According to the paper, a "source" that wishes to remain unknown, said that the "YDU" decided to withdraw after pressure exerted by Ankara. Kaymakamzade, however, denied this allegation.

(I/Ts.)

[09] Jim Jeffrey: Turkey's focus 'shifts' from Syria to Baghdad

Jeffrey said there were several reasons behind Turkish-Iraqi relations shadowing the Syria issue; notably that Iraq is now a potential source of stability, as opposed to previous years, as well as a major oil exporter, already the second-largest at OPEC and competing with Saudi Arabia.

The first signs of the U.S. administration's stance toward Syria came during Obama's inauguration speech. President Obama said the decade of war is over and then, when he gave an exclusive interview to The New Republic's editors, he made his hesitations towards Syria clear by expressing some tough questions on his options: "In a situation like Syria, I have to ask, can we make a difference in that situation? Would a military intervention have an impact? How would it affect our ability to support troops who are still in Afghanistan? What would be the aftermath of our involvement on the ground? Could it trigger even worse violence or the use of chemical weapons? What offers the best prospect of a stable post-Assad regime? And how do I weigh tens of thousands who've been killed in Syria, versus the tens of thousands who are currently being killed in the Congo?'"

Jeffrey said he interpreted Obama's statements to suggest an end to long-term, massive ground wars that fight the very population of a country and are designed to nation-build. "He is absolutely right. That period is over. Because it was not particularly successful," Jeffrey said.

According to diplomatic sources, Turks are also aware of this and Turkey is now trying to shift its focus towards Iraq instead of the Syrian conflict. "Iraq is now more important for us," a Turkish official said. "You saw this shift during Undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu's visit to Washington two weeks ago as well."

While discussing the challenges in Syria with his counterpart at the State Department, Sinirlioglu also met twice with Ambassador Carlos Pascual, the State Department's Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs. Diplomatic sources have confirmed that energy deals in Northern Iraq made between Turkish companies and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) were one of the top topics on the agenda.

(?)

Jeffrey said Washington is working with all parties to solve the crisis between the central government and the KRG. "Sooner or later, hydrocarbons will be exported out of northern Iraq. The question is whether that would be done in cooperation with Baghdad, and thus reinforcing the unity and federal system in Iraq, or whether that would be done in another, maybe less-helpful, way. The U.S. is working with all parties to try to come up with a way forward that has everybody involved," the ex-envoy said.

However, he painted a starker picture of the future. "We tried that in the past and it failed. A major reason behind the failure has been Baghdad's lack of cooperation, including not paying the second [instalment] of payments to the companies in the north. Everybody knows that Turkey and the U.S. are in agreement on the unity and stability of Iraq. But there is clearly a difference of views on some of the specifics, including oil," Jeffrey said.

[10] Ankara says wants to be 'observer member' of Shanghai organization

Unal, in his last press briefing as the Ministry Spokesman, said that Turkey is already a "dialogue partner" of the Russian and Chinese-led group and that joining every international organization, becoming an observer state or following their activities is fundamental to Turkey's "multilateral diplomacy."

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Unal added that Turkey is already attending the organization's meetings, stressing that Ankara wants to upgrade its status by becoming an observer member state and advance cooperation with the SCO.

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[11] Zeki Levent Gumrukcu, the new spokesman of the MFA

Zeki Levent Gumrukcu, former Deputy Director of the Policy Planning has been appointed to the Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesmanship.

Speaking after an ordinary press conference, Unal handed over his duty to Gumrukcu.

Unal said, two and a half years which he spent with press members had passed tough as well as joyful for him.

[12] 2013 World Report of the Human Rights Watch called Turkey to release imprisoned Kurdish journalist, activist, students

"If the Turkish government is sincere in solving the Kurdish problem, it would be a positive first step to release the thousands of peaceful Kurdish activists, journalists, human-rights defenders, unionists and students," Human Rights Watch's expert on Turkey, Emma Sinclair-Webb, said in a statement yesterday.

According to the report, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government maintained economic growth in 2012 despite some slowdown and kept a strong focus on stepping into a key role in the region, but failed to take convincing steps towards addressing the country's worsening domestic human rights record and democratic deficit.

"Prosecutors and courts continued to use terrorism laws to prosecute and prolong the incarceration of thousands of Kurdish political activists, human-rights defenders, students, journalists and trade unionists," the report said.

(?) "Thousands charged with alleged terrorism offenses remained in prison throughout their trials. ? Some face terrorism charges for activities amounting to exercising their right to non-violent expression and association," the report also said.

The hit TV series, "Magnificent Century" (Muhtesem Yuzy?l), and other serials criticized by politicians, were also mentioned within the report.

"Politicians' intolerance against any opposition voices, even TV serials, and filing of defamation case causes a permanent atmosphere disincentive for freedom of speech," the report said.

Excessive use of violence by the police was another subject discussed in the Human Rights Watch's report. Authorities often mask the problem by charging individuals who report police abuse with resisting police dispersal or disobeying police orders rather than examining their complaints, according to the HRW.

The ongoing coup-plot cases Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) were also criticized for failing to uphold the right to a fair trial principle.

"All defendants were appealing their sentences at [the time of] this writing. The serious fair trial concerns in these cases and the prolonged pre-trial detention of some defendants overshadowed the important contribution of these efforts to combat impunity of the military," the report read.

Arizona University's Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has sent letters to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2011 to express its concern over the ongoing academic immunity problems in Turkish universities.

(?)

Also, Laurie Brand, chair of the Committee on Academic Freedom (MESA), said that they were seriously concerned about the situation in Turkey and stressed that incidents violating academic immunity were increasing every day.

[13] Turkey's exports increased by 13.1% in 2012, imports decreased by 1.8%

TurkStat said foreign trade deficit dropped by 20.7% in 2012 to $83.9 billion from $105.9 billion a year earlier, as export to import ratio was up to 64.5%.

On a monthly basis, exports were up 1.4% to $12.6 billion in December 2012 and imports were down 3.7% to stand at $19.8 billion.

Export to import ratio for December 2012, was 63.8%.

[14] New data by Turkstat on Turkey's population

The number of households in Turkey is 19,481,678 and the average household size is 3.8 according to the 2011 figures. Provinces with the highest average size of households are Sirnak (8), Hakkari (7.9) and Siirt (6.8), respectively whereas provinces with the lowest average size of households are Canakkale (2.9), Balikesir (3) and Eskisehir (3).

The proportion of people who migrated to a different province in Turkey is 3% and corresponds to 2,207,844 people. Reasons for migration are; migration related to a member of the household (41.5%), education (22.6%), to seek/find a job (12.2%), assignation/change of job (13.4%), marriage/divorce (7.5%) and health (1.1%), respectively.

Sirnak is on the top of the list in unemployment with 15.3% of unemployment rate followed by Diyarbak?r with 13,8% and Hakkari with 13% in unemployment. Provinces having lowest unemployment rate are Kastamonu (3.5%), Canakkale (4.2%) and Nevsehir (4.3%).

Ardahan ranks first in the highest employment rate with 58.2% in Turkey. It is followed by Artvin with 54.7% and Bayburt with 54.5% in employment. Provinces having lowest employment rate are Kirikkale (34.8%), Diyarbakir (34.9%) and Batman (35.7%).

In terms of labor force participation rate Ardahan is the highest with 61.7% and Kirikkale lowest with 38.8%.

While the labor force participation rate is 69.2% for males, this rate is 25.9% for females.

The highest proportion of services sector is in Ankara with 73% and of those who are employed, 22.7% is employed in agriculture, 27.2% is employed in industry and 50.1% is employed in services sector.

He noted that an earlier project launched by the Turkish Cypriot side for the environmental restoration of the site will also continue. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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