Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 13-03-01

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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] Eroglu said that he prepares to sent a letter to Ban, asking for the re-launching of the Cyprus negotiation talks

[02] Elections at UBP did not end the rival between Kucuk and Kasif

[03] Inauguration ceremony for a social facility building in Mesaoria which will serve seventeen thousand persons

[04] Murat Kanatli will be YKP's candidate for the forthcoming "by-elections" at the occupied Lefkosia municipality

[05] Turkey to deliver note to UN in replying to Greece's motion

[06] Imral? meeting's minutes were leaked to the press; allegations for efforts to sabotage the peace process; statements by Erdogan

[07] Mayor Boutaris: "Ottoman mosques in Thessaloniki may be opened to prayers"

[08] Illegal YDU rector ranked again among the 100 richest Turks

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Eroglu said that he prepares to sent a letter to Ban, asking for the re-launching of the Cyprus negotiation talks

In statements to a program broadcasted live by TRT news, Eroglu said that at the meeting he will have with the UN Secretary-General's special adviser for Cyprus, Alexander Downer in March, they will put forward their desire for the talks to be resumed during Spring, adding that they will also ask from Downer to persuade the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades on this.

Referring to Anastasiades' election, Eroglu said that they are interested about the policy that Anastasiades will follow on the negotiation table.

Reiterating that all aspects of the Cyprus problem were discussed at the negotiation table, Eroglu said: "We can solve this problem, as long as there will be the mutual willingness from the opposite side. We are looking for a Cypriot solution the last four years. All the proposals were submitted by us and were rejected by the Greek Cypriots. We couldn't find a solution as Cypriots. Which other countries are related with the Cyprus problem? What I say is to call them, let's call Turkey, Greece and the UK and let's have a quintet summit. (...)", Eroglu said.

Referring to Anastasiades' statement in the night he was elected as President of the Republic of Cyprus, that the Turkish Cypriots are consider as their citizens [Translator's note: meaning citizens of the Republic of Cyprus], Eroglu alleged the following: "In the south there is the Greek Cypriot administration and in the north is the TRNC state. This state has its own citizens. But, of course, the Greek Cypriots always make these statements since they want the continuation of the Republic of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus is a state which was established and based on the partnership of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriots. We, however, were excluded from this state in 1963. The solution we exert efforts to find at the negotiation table, is based on a new state to be, with two founding states based on the bi-zonal, bi-communal political equality", Eroglu said.

He concluded by accusing once more the EU for accepting unilaterally the Greek Cypriots to the EU and said: "It was not fair for the EU to accept south Cyprus and Greece, the sides which created the Cyprus problem, as EU members".

(AK)

[02] Elections at UBP did not end the rival between Kucuk and Kasif

According to the paper, Kasif announced the road map he will follow and stated that he will continue to work for the best interest of the "country" and of UBP.

On the same issue, Turkish daily Volkan (01.03.13) reports that after safeguarding its victory, Kucuk is now preparing of striping Kasif supporters of their positions in UBP and the "government". According to the paper, Kucuk is thinking of removing from their position persons who openly supported Kasif and questioned his authority and to replace them with persons he trusts.

[03] Inauguration ceremony for a social facility building in Mesaoria which will serve seventeen thousand persons

The building which will provide service for 17 thousand persons is located between the occupied villages of Pergamos and Kondea. The project was financed by the occupied Pergamos municipality and the European Union. The social facility complex will consist of cinema and theatre rooms, conference and meeting areas, play area and other sport facilities..

[04] Murat Kanatli will be YKP's candidate for the forthcoming "by-elections" at the occupied Lefkosia municipality

The paper further notes that the Baraka Cultural Center, will also announce its candidate today.

As of now, the following persons are running for the "mayor's" position:

Suphi Hudaoglu with Social Democracy Part.

Kadri Fellahoglu with Repupbican Turkish Party.

Mustafa Arabacioglu with Democratic Party.

Hasan Sertoglu with National Unity Party.

Murat Kanatli with the New Cyprus Party.

Zehar Cengiz with Cyprus Socialist Party.

Arif Salif Kirdag independent.

[05] Turkey to deliver note to UN in replying to Greece's motion

The note, which will be submitted in the near future, will say the Greek claims have no ground under international law.

Ankara's note to the U.N. will stress that the licenses that Turkey has given to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) since 2007, are within the boundaries of the Turkish continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean.

It will also express that Turkey has sovereign rights concerning exploration and drilling for natural resources in these fields that it will continue under international law.

Greek Foreign Minister Demitris Avramopoulos said the areas in which Turkey had granted exploration permits in the Mediterranean were deemed to fall within the Greek continental shelf. Greek officials informed their Turkish counterparts before they submitted the verbal note to the U.N. However, Greece failed to respond to Ankara's warning to the Greek government to avoid taking such a step.

The Greek initiative at the U.N., which came ahead of the High-Level Cooperation Council meeting between Athens and Ankara, is seen by Turkey as the new Greek government's move to satisfy their public over promises given in their election campaign.

[06] Imral? meeting's minutes were leaked to the press; allegations for efforts to sabotage the peace process; statements by Erdogan

The minutes were made public on Thursday by the Milliyet daily, at a time when Turkey is going through a process often described as being very fragile but also having a great potential to end the conflict which has claimed more than 40,000 lives since the PKK's establishment more than three decades ago.

The leaked minutes come from a meeting last week between PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) members Pervin Buldan, Altan Tan and S?rr? Sureyya Onder, who were allowed to visit him on Imral? Island, where the PKK chief is serving a life sentence, as part of the government's recent move to settle the Kurdish issue through dialogue. The BDP Deputies met with Ocalan in the Imral? prison on February 23.

Questions emerged on Thursday as to who leaked the minutes to the press and why, with the parties involved in the process accusing each other. The original minutes of the meeting are reportedly longer than what appeared in the Milliyet daily, raising suspicions that certain parts of the minutes were purposefully leaked in order to sway public opinion against the ongoing talks. Sources say the government holds the BDP responsible for the minutes being made public and maintains that the leaked minutes were from the Deputies' notes.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan complained on Thursday that BDP deputies have not been as tight-lipped as they should have been during the peace process. "You should have noticed that I am trying not to make frequent comments on this issue. However, the BDP deputies unfortunately made statements about their notes [from the meeting]. I am not sure this is honest and healthy [for the process]," Erdogan told a group of journalists.

The BDP, however, denies having leaked the minutes, while agreeing that the move aims to sabotage the peace talks. "We have not given the minutes to the press. It is impossible for us to know whether the minutes were given by the government or others. It is the responsibility of the government to shed light on this," BDP parliamentary group Deputy Chairman Idris Baluken said.

(?)

The most talked-about parts in the minutes, which appeared in Milliyet in full two pages, include Ocalan's full support for the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) on a variety of issues, his support for Erdogan in the short run while threatening him with "declaring war with 50,000 people" in the long run if the Prime Minister cannot solve the Kurdish issue and his claim that the faith-based Gulen movement has been working against both the government and MIT.

In the published minutes, Ocalan claims that the PKK "served ruling power to the government on a silver plate," implying that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) owes being in power for 10 years to Ocalan. He also says the PKK could support Erdogan's possible bid for Presidency, if the country switches to a presidential system. "We would support Tayyip Bey's Presidency. But the presidential system [he would introduce] would need to be like that of the US," Ocalan says.

According to the minutes, Ocalan wants the peace process to go on under his own control, as he reveals his three-stage roadmap for the solution. "All of us will be free," he says, if the peace process is successful. However, if the process fails, he threatens to wage a "war" with 50, 000 people against the Turkish state.

He accuses the AK Party of seeking "hegemony." "The AK Party is after hegemony. But we cannot allow this," he says.

Ocalan claimed there was a secret attempt to "overthrow" Hakan Fidan, the MIT undersecretary. He said journalists Emre Uslu and Mehmet Baransu have actively targeted MIT, adding that these journalists were supported by a "colossal" power.

Uslu and Baransu have claimed that the lethal bombing of civilian Kurdish villagers in Turkey's Uludere district on December 28, 2011, was based on inaccurate intelligence provided by MIT.

He also said that Uslu "and the like" were trained in "Utah," which he said is the "new" center for controlling secret groups inside Turkey. He suggested that the "colossal power" behind those targeting MIT is the Gulen movement, which he claimed is backed by the US.

Uslu, commenting on Ocalan's statements, told Today's Zaman that Ocalan's claims are a "typical" example of what is called "and?c" in Turkish -- a press or public statement made under orders or pressure from the military or a state security agency. Uslu argued that MIT, or certain groups within that organization, targeted him and Baransu for their outing of the facts behind the Uludere massacre. Uslu said Ocalan is being used by MIT to attack him and Baransu.

Baransu, also in comments to Today's Zaman, agrees that Ocalan's remarks are a typical example of and?c. He recalled that in the past, state agencies made additions to statements from Semdin Sak?k -- a former PKK leader -- to make some journalists appear as if they were affiliated with the PKK. He said MIT was using Ocalan to get back at him for what he wrote regarding Uludere. He also said it "meant something" that Ocalan was silent on the Uludere killings, a deeply significant matter for many Kurds. He also said the government was in the know about the press campaign against him, as he had recently been warned by a former interior minister to expect something like this.

(?)According to the minutes, Ocalan also targeted Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen and accused his movement of conspiring against the government and MIT, although Gulen was among the first figures who voiced support for the government's peace talks.

(?)

[07] Mayor Boutaris: "Ottoman mosques in Thessaloniki may be opened to prayers"

Speaking to reporters in Ankara as part of the Turkish-Greek Tourism Forum, Mayor Boutaris indicated that it was up to the Greek government to open mosques to prayers. "I consider myself a brother of the Turks. I consider myself a partner with the Europeans", Boutaris also said.

Also, the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Omer Celik met on Thursday with the Mayor of Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Celik thanked Boutaris for the sensitivity displayed in protecting Turkish and Ottoman artifacts in Thessaloniki. "The restoration of Ataturk's Home in Thessaloniki has been completed. An inauguration will take place for the home in April," Celik noted.

"We request from Mayor Boutaris to name a square by the home as the 'Square of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk', Celik also said.

[08] Illegal YDU rector ranked again among the 100 richest Turks

According to the paper, Gunsel ranks 36th. His fortune is estimated to 1.1.billion dollars. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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