Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 13-10-07

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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] Nami will meet with Davutoglu

[02] Nami said the aim of the negotiations is a referendum to be conducted in March

[03] Eroglu met with Downer

[04] Izcan accused AKP of imposing Islamic lifestyle to Turkish Cypriots

[05] Kilicdaroglu congratulated Yorgancioglu

[06] Korkmazhan: The sides should be sincere and constructive

[07] Yorgancioglu agreed to implement the economic package; only problem the "electricity authority"

[08] Fellahoglu met with British MPs

[09] More info about the applications to the "Immovable compensation committee" by the Greek Cypriots

[10] A cruise boat carried tourists from Larnaca to Alanya

[11] Latest scenario: One more term with President Gul

[12] Research show that Turks increasingly less interested in joining EU

[13] Poll shows that Turkish people overwhelmingly support democracy as answer to Kurdish issue

[14] New law to permit Turkish police to detain 'possible' protesters

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Nami will meet with Davutoglu

Huseyin Ozel, "director of the personnel of the foreign ministry", announced to "BRT" that Nami will fly to Ankara on Tuesday at 14.00 and meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Later, Nami will also brief the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Turkey's Assembly on the latest developments of the Cyprus problem.

[02] Nami said the aim of the negotiations is a referendum to be conducted in March

Speaking to the Anatolian News Agency, Nami said that their position was conveyed to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during their meeting in New York.

Stating that the Cyprus negotiations process which has been continuing for 50 years has a symbolic significance, Nami alleged the following: "We would restart the negotiations on October and conclude it on March. I hope to see the Yes vote in the referendum and the problem would get out of the UN's agenda after 50 years. This would be a very meaningful message for the international community".

Reporting on the same issue, Turkish Cypriot Yeni Duzen newspaper (05.10.13) reports that Nami also said that confederation is not on the Agenda of the Turkish Cypriot side. On the Varosha issue he claimed that it is a territory issue adding that these kinds of issues are part of a comprehensive solution.

[03] Eroglu met with Downer

Eroglu's special representative and spokesman Osman Ertug, "presidential undersecretary" Hasan Gungor and Serdar Hoca, Oguzhan Hasipoglu, Gulfem Veziroglu Sevgili and Gunes Onar from the Turkish Cypriot negotiating team were present at the meeting.

Making a statement to the press after the one hour meeting Downer said that he had found the opportunity to receive extensive information regarding Eroglu's visit to New York.

He also underlined the need for the two leaders to work towards what steps they will be taking from now on.

[04] Izcan accused AKP of imposing Islamic lifestyle to Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (06.10.13) reports that the general secretary of the United Cyprus Party (BKP) Izzet Izcan participated in the European United Left?Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) meeting which was held in Istanbul between 2-4 of October.

Referring to the Cyprus problem Izcan stated that the price of the non-solution and of the continuation of the status quo in Cyprus is paid by the Turkish Cypriots who became a minority in occupied Cyprus. He also accused the ruling in Turkey Justice and Development party (AKP) for interfering in every aspect of live in the breakaway regime and for imposing the Sunni Islam lifestyle to occupied Cyprus.

[05] Kilicdaroglu congratulated Yorgancioglu

They also evaluated the relations between Turkey and the breakaway regime, as well as the problems in the region.

[06] Korkmazhan: The sides should be sincere and constructive

In a written statement, Korkmazhan said that the sides have not decided yet when the negotiations will start or which the ground for the negotiations will be, however, he added they make no realistic statements like there will be a solution in 3 months or a referendum in 2014.

[07] Yorgancioglu agreed to implement the economic package; only problem the "electricity authority"

The only uncertainty in the agreed programme is the issue of the "electricity authority" ("KIB-TEK"). The package envisages the preparation of the privatization of "KIB-TEK", however, the "government" insists on to make it autonomous, the paper reports.

According to the programme, the new employments in the "public sector" will be appointed mutually with the Turkish "embassy" in the occupied part of Lefkosia.

[08] Fellahoglu met with British MPs

Fellahoglu briefed the British Deputies on their relations with the Nicosia Municipality and their joint projects. Bois and Love, who wanted to brief in detail regarding the joint project of the sewage treatment and water supply in the occupied village Mia Milia, visited and inspected the facilities.

[09] More info about the applications to the "Immovable compensation committee" by the Greek Cypriots

The paper, which sites information from the committee website, publishes the following as regards the number of the applications and the money paid by the committee since 2006 that the committee started to operate:

Year Number of application Compensation (?)

2006 100 2.221.000

2007 197 3.147.000

2008 76 1.646.600

2009 70 31.047.000

2010 397 12.724.900

2011 1926 12.980.440

2012 1601 33.952.775

2013 (*first nine months) 988 37.702.836

Total 5355 135.422.551

[10] A cruise boat carried tourists from Larnaca to Alanya

[11] Latest scenario: One more term with President Gul

In a speech delivered Oct. 1, Gul underlined that it was his "last address ... during my term," and that following the end of his term, he would "continue to be in the service of our nation."

Only days later, in an interview with private news television A Haber late on Oct. 3, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also felt the need to deliver clear-cut remarks on the very same issue. Refuting suggestions that he and the incumbent president could come head to head in a showdown for the presidency, Erdogan said: "I don't believe there will be a decision that will lead to us parting ways. What I mean is we will do the necessary consultation and negotiation among ourselves if needed."

"As a matter of fact, through these remarks, both Gul and Erdogan revealed the difficulty of making future plans for each of them while ignoring the other. In this way, they have also declared that they had to name the presidential candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) through "consultation."", writes the paper adding that as there are various scenarios under given conditions, the results of local elections scheduled for March 2014 will be a decisive element in picking the final scenario.

The likeliness of the scenario of "one more term with Gul" rises when taking into consideration probabilities such as: Erdogan, as such a dominant character, may not like to be at Cankaya with the current presidential authorities, especially when taking probable conflicts with Gul into account.

Or if there is a decrease in the ruling party's votes in the local elections, he may prefer to offer an opportunity to Gul for a second term at Cankaya while taking the chances of not being able to get elected as president into account.

[12] Research show that Turks increasingly less interested in joining EU

The recently announced results of the research say that although public desire to become a full member of the EU increased by 1% compared to in 2012, the EU bid has started to decrease in importance on the agenda of the Turkish people.

The three-year study finds that the main reason of this loss of desire is increasing self-confidence because of economic expansion in recent years and the ability of the economic crisis -- which began in 2008 in Hungary and Romania and spread to Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy and will likely continue in Belgium, Slovenia and some Eastern Europe countries in 2014 -- to affect Turkish economic welfare.

Aside from fears about the economy, among the main factors that have changed the Turks' feelings towards the EU are negative signals that have been coming from EU countries, particularly from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has taken a hard line on Turkey becoming an EU member.

Islamophobia, racism and Turkophobia also rank among the negative factors that have changed Turkish public opinion about the EU. The research indicates that if developments on Turkey's EU candidacy continue in a negative way, the number of people who want to see Turkey as part of the EU will decline even further next year.

The research says that the growing strength of the Turkish economy has given Turkey confidence.

On the upcoming of the annual progress report of Turkey that will be published on Oct. 16, the research shows that Turkey does not expect to receive positive signals. The research also states that the EU report's being negative each year and the EU not moving forward on Turkey's bid, also affect public opinion.

The 2013 research reveals that Turkey desires to develop close relations with BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). As well as Turkey turning towards BRICS countries rather than the EU in recent years, the research says that Turkey is also taking the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) into consideration for further cooperation.

The study says there are increasing numbers of those who believe Turkey does not need the EU and declining numbers of those who want Turkey to be an EU country.

The TAVAK research also reveals that if Turkey can be a full member of the EU in 2014, the EU will supply 2 billion euros every year.

[13] Poll shows that Turkish people overwhelmingly support democracy as answer to Kurdish issue

The results of MetroPOLL's research come from two surveys: one conducted in 31 provinces on Sept. 21-27 among 1,208 individuals via telephone and another one on Sept. 5-13 only in Ankara among 1,800 individuals. The poll conducted in Ankara focused specifically on voting patterns of the respondents. The research team was led by Professor Ozer Sencar and included academics Ihsan Dagi, Dogu Ergil, Sitki Yildiz and Vahap Coskun.

The most outstanding finding of the poll was that a majority of the respondents say democratizing reforms are the only viable way to solve the decades-long Kurdish issue. In response to a question on how the Kurdish issue can be solved permanently, 36 percent replied, "Through dialogue and negotiations," while 50% said, "Democratizing reforms without talking directly to the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK]." Only 8% agreed with "armed fight by the military" as a valid method. The researchers say this is a significant finding, indicating that nearly 90% of the population do not believe any more in security-oriented approaches but supports negotiations and democratization reforms as viable options for a settlement. Even among Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters, the weight of those who supported fighting the PKK as the right way to deal with separatism was only 17%.

The respondents also believe there should be red lines in negotiations. Seventy-one percent responded negatively to a question inquiring whether the state should improve the prison conditions of PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, with only 18% believing it should. The PKK has named better conditions for Ocalan as a primarily issue of importance in the ongoing settlement process, which started in the form of talks between the government and Ocalan in late 2012. Not surprisingly, 79% of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) voters said Ocalan's conditions should be improved. Ocalan has been in solitary confinement on Imrali, an island off Istanbul's coast, although several inmates were moved to the island at some point. The BDP and the PKK want Ocalan to serve the rest of his life sentence under house arrest.

Fifty-four percent of respondents believe the settlement process has strengthened the PKK, while 30% believe it has weakened it. The PKK announced a cease-fire in March this year, which was supposed to be followed by a withdrawal of its militants from Turkish soil, but this has not happened to a satisfactory extent as of yet. The researchers also noted that the idea that the PKK has gained an upper hand since the start of the process is higher among those with higher levels of educational background. Only 21% of respondents with lower levels of education agreed that the process made the PKK stronger, while 67% of those with a university education or higher agreed with this view. The researchers concluded that the higher a person's education level, the more prevalent the perception of the PKK as a threat.

The survey study included questions about confidence and trust felt towards Ocalan and the PKK. Seventy-six percent replied that they did not believe that Ocalan and the PKK will carry out their end of the deal in the talks for a settlement. Only 15% expressed trust in the PKK. Certainly, that ratio was higher among BDP voters, 79% of whom said they have confidence in the PKK. In response to a question on whether the PKK should be allowed to turn into a legitimate political party, 34% responded positively, which the researchers say is a significant percentage and notes that this further confirms that violence and military options are no longer legitimate for Turkish society and that there is potential for the PKK to eventually become a political actor.

The study also found that there has been an 11% increase compared with a similar survey in 2012 in the percentage of those who support the idea of allowing Kurds to be schooled in Kurdish. Forty-eight percent said they were in favour of Kurdish being a language of education along with Turkish, while 47% said they are against.

[14] New law to permit Turkish police to detain 'possible' protesters

The new regulations that will be conducted jointly by the justice and interior ministries will allow the police to detain a suspect who "may hold a protest" for up to 24 hours without any court decision while also increasing the penalties for resistance to police and damaging public property.

The move to strengthen police powers was precipitated by the countrywide Gezi Park protests, which began at the end of May.

Organizations which "tend to hold protests" will be monitored and their members could be detained by police if intelligence reports suggest they are planning to conduct a demonstration or action.

The regulations will also increase the penalties for resistance to police and damage to public property. Those who possess Molotov cocktails might be sentenced up to five years in prison under the new regulations. The draft also includes a board to regulate security forces, which will monitor malpractice within the institutions. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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