Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 14-12-16

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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] Cavusoglu: We are defending Turkish Cypriots' rights over Cyprus' natural gas deposits

[02] Nami: Granting the Turkish Cypriots 30 million euro per year is a kind of lifting their "isolations"

[03] Talat: Eroglu did nothing for the solution of the Cyprus problem during the past five years

[04] Akinci: Let Varosha become a place for the young people earning their living

[05] Dogus Derya: There is no difference between the nationalist language between the two sides in Cyprus

[06] European Parliamentarian calls Akkuyu nuclear plant project an insane and dangerous project

[07] Cakici regretted having Solmaz as their TDP "candidate" in the past "general elections"

[08] One hundred fifty three animals were slaughtered in occupied Karpasia because they contracted Lumpy Skin Disease

[09] Erdogan slams EU criticism of media, police crackdown

[10] Mogherini is 'very surprised' at Erdogan's comments on detentions

[11] Four more freed in Turkish 'parallel state' operation

[12] Turkish columnists on the detention of journalists in Turkey

[13] Jews are 'leaving Turkey due to safety concerns'

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Cavusoglu: We are defending Turkish Cypriots' rights over Cyprus' natural gas deposits

In a statement during the 2015 budget discussions at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Cavusoglu alleged that the Greek Cypriot side that is carrying out unilateral seismic research activities in the Eastern Mediterranean had shown the appearance of the Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa vessel as an excuse to leave the talks.

"Everyone is aware of the fact that the Turkish Cypriots have rights over the natural gas and petrol resources surrounding the island and we are also defending this. The Greek Cypriots are not denying this fact but to continue unilateral exploration efforts is to ignore the Turkish Cypriots peoples' rights", claimed Cavusoglu.

He continued stating that Turkey will always protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriot "people" and added that some workings were taking place with Greece to guarantee the protection of the Turkish Cypriot "peoples' rights".

[02] Nami: Granting the Turkish Cypriots 30 million euro per year is a kind of lifting their "isolations"

Addressing the "assembly" of the regime yesterday, Nami noted that they have made some innovations on the issue of their lobbying activities. He added that some improvements have been made and will continue within the Green Line and Financial Aid Regulations. He said that they have undertaken some initiatives for selling processed food products to the government-controlled area of Cyprus.

Referring to the Cyprus problem, Nami noted that the stagnancy, which is experienced today, will be overcome and argued that solving the problem is possible in case the sides remain faithful to the convergences of the past and concentrate on the unsolved issues.

Moreover, Nami said that they have undertaken some initiatives for involving the Turkish Cypriots living abroad more actively [in the Cyprus problem] and that they are continuing their work on the issue of their "representation offices".

Nami said also that his "ministry" held contacts with the World Bank and the European Development Bank asking for the breakaway regime to use money granted to Cyprus. He added that they will soon have the results of this initiative.

(I/Ts.)

[03] Talat: Eroglu did nothing for the solution of the Cyprus problem during the past five years

Referring to Eroglu's stance in the negotiations, Talat argued: "The approach that the Greek Cypriot side wants many places is not a very correct one. It has been said that some places have spiritual and cultural importance for the Greek Cypriot people. During the negotiations they have not exhibited an approach officially saying 'we want these places'. This is a fiction of the supporters of Eroglu, who is the leader of the non-solution, aiming at distancing the Turks of Cyprus from the solution. Mr Eroglu closed his eyes to this or he supported it. Thus, a situation which is not true has been created. The Greek Cypriots did not ask for these places".

Talat added that absolutely no progress was achieved during Eroglu's term and argued that Eroglu will be defeated in the first round of the "elections". "The Turkish Cypriots' duty is to say good bye to Eroglu, because there is nothing left for Mr Eroglu to give to this community", said Talat and added: "Mr Eroglu achieved to pass five years with the non-solution. There has been absolutely no progress. Very well, will this last forever? I do not think that it will. In the end, the international conditions are changing. [?] I am not talking only about the Cyprus problem. There is absolutely nothing he can give in any issue. Therefore, the Turkish Cypriots must first of all get rid of Eroglu. [?]"

Talat argued that the strongest candidate is Sibel Siber because she has a party such as the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) to support her. He noted that he could not support a candidate who has no vision for the solution of the Cyprus problem and added that Siber's team, which is ready from now, will have "very experienced staff with a vision for the solution".

(I/Ts.)

[04] Akinci: Let Varosha become a place for the young people earning their living

Akinci argued that Turkey constitutes a 75 million market for "south Cyprus", which is in economic crisis, both in the field of tourism and in trade. He noted that carrying natural gas to Europe through Turkey will be cheaper and at the same time it will be to the benefit of all countries in the area, including Turkey and Greece. "The wise thing to do is to share the wealth which the natural gas will bring, not to fight", he added.

Referring to the return of the occupied fenced off city of Varosha to its legal owners, Akinci said that opening Varosha under UN control would be to the benefit of both communities. He said: "Let us open it so that to become a new place for young people from both communities earning their living. Let it benefit both sides, let the building contractors of both sides carry out common projects here, let the kingdom of the snakes and the rats end".

(I/Ts.)

[05] Dogus Derya: There is no difference between the nationalist language between the two sides in Cyprus

She went on and stated that some events are silenced in the "official history" adding that the history was created for the benefit of those who wanted to administrate the "country". She went on and added that the losers of the Cyprus problem are not only the Turkish Cypriots but the Greek Cypriots, the Armenians and the Maronites of Cyprus as well. "The church set abortion free for the first time in 1974 because of the many women that were raped at the time", she stated. She went on and added that the concept of a federal solution stands against chauvinism while the nationalist rhetoric can bring war.

The paper, also writes that Zorlu Tore, "deputy" with the National Unity Party (UBP) reacted against Derya's statements claiming that the "rape allegations" made by the Greek Cypriot side are not true. "It cannot be accepted to declare that the Turkish army raped women in Cyprus", Torlu alleged.

[06] European Parliamentarian calls Akkuyu nuclear plant project an insane and dangerous project

Harms stated that this is an insane project from the financial point of view as well and added that the Republic of Cyprus, as an EU member must protect its rights legally.

She said that Turkey is a country that could easilly use alternative energy sources adding that this solution will not solve Turkey's energy problems. She also said that the Akkuyu nuclear plant project would put the ecosystem into a great danger, as well as all the neighbouring countries.

[07] Cakici regretted having Solmaz as their TDP "candidate" in the past "general elections"

Speaking on a programme on Turkish Cypriot private channel Genc TV, Cakici spoke out against UAP leader Fatma Solmaz by saying that he did not share any of her political views.

At the time, Solmaz was reported as having Turkish ruling AKP party relations and common views. Cakici said that this was the first time he had encountered something like this, having been in politics for the past 10 years. He explained that at the time they believed her to be a person of good standing. "This was one of the reasons our party fell apart; I wish we had investigated more thoroughly", he added.

[08] One hundred fifty three animals were slaughtered in occupied Karpasia because they contracted Lumpy Skin Disease

According to the paper, the biggest numbers of sick animals are in occupied Agia Triada and in occupied Yiallousa village.

[09] Erdogan slams EU criticism of media, police crackdown

An operation was launched Sunday in Istanbul and other provinces against people suspected of being affiliated with what the Turkish government describes as the "parallel state," an alleged group of bureaucrats embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police.

Speaking in Kocaeli at the inauguration ceremony of a new refinery facility by the Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation, known as the TUPRAS, on Monday, Erdogan said the EU had no authority to meddle in the internal affairs of Turkey, in response to criticism from European leaders. "No one has authority to meddle into the steps taken by the Turkish security. The EU should keep its opinions to itself," the President said.

Erdogan responded to comments by Federica Mogherini, the European Commission's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, who described Sunday's police crackdown in Turkey as going against European values.

Referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, Erdogan said: "They should look at their own double standards in failing to punish members of terrorist groups like the PKK."

He also criticized Germany for its alleged failure to conclude cases against PKK members in the country.

Erdogan also reminded the EU for its failure in extraditing Fehriye Erdal, the alleged murderer of Turkish businessman Ozdemir Sabanc? in 1996. Erdal is a member of Turkey's outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front. "Those who seek to return the old Turkey are taking their answers. The violence and treason will not be left unanswered," Erdogan said.

Later, at another event in Kocaeli, Erdogan accused Ekrem Dumanli, the editor-in-chief of Turkey's Zaman daily, who is among the detainees, of "showing off."

The President said that the fact that the Zaman daily claimed it knew about the Sunday police operation beforehand goes to show that they were, in fact, part of an illegal organization. "They said they were informed about the operation before it started. They started waiting at the building of their newspapers, with the hope that they would avoid detention there. They are well aware of the scope of their treason; that's why they are showing off," he said.

On the same issue, A.A. (15.12.14) reports that Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has said that the recent operation in Istanbul against the "parallel state" was not a political move but part of a judicial process that followed a complaint filed against the Gulen movement in 2011.

"It is not about the executive power but about the judiciary. The use of security forces is not political but a matter of the judicial process," he told the press at the Prime Ministry Office following Monday's Council of Ministers' meeting in capital Ankara.

Furthermore, A.A. (15.12.14) reports that Turkey's EU Minister, Volkan Bozkir, explained Sunday's police crackdown on senior media figures and police officers in 13 cities across Turkey to EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn in a phone conversation late Monday.

"Minister Bozkir mentioned to his counterpart that the judicial process was still ongoing, that the executive was not involved in this process in accordance with the principle of the separation of powers," a statement from the Turkish EU Ministry said.

"Turkey is a country which observes the rule of law," Bozkir told Mr. Hahn according to the statement. "Everyone should respect the independence and impartiality of the judiciary."

"Bozkir also stated that the detained persons were not investigated because of their written or oral expressions and also that the freedom of press in Turkey cannot be harmed," said the statement.

[10] Mogherini is 'very surprised' at Erdogan's comments on detentions

"I've seen the reaction from President Erdogan and I'm very surprised," said Mogherini, pointing out that Erdogan's call for the EU to "mind its own business" came just a week after she visited Turkey for talks with him.

Mogherini said she and her EU colleagues had then had "very constructive" talks with Erdogan and both sides had understood there was a "chance for a new start" with a new executive in Brussels and a new government in Ankara.

Members of the government, she said, even pointed out that Turkish efforts to join the EU were not so much about economic interests but about the values of democracy and the rule of law. "I believe it is in the Turkish interest to be consistent with this commitment," she added.

"There is this will to work on this new start otherwise we would not have paid this visit," she said. "The idea was and still is that of working in a consistent and coherent way on the EU accession," Mogherini said.

Meanwhile, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, told the legislative body in the French city of Strasbourg that "they are worried" about a development that "carries a danger". He added: "One has to be able to present arguments and counter-arguments in freedom without being intimidated and without the risk of being jailed when one is a journalist."

Schulz concluded: "We are going to observe with great concern what is happening in Turkey".

[11] Four more freed in Turkish 'parallel state' operation

Producer Salih Asan along with director Engin Koc, and scriptwriters Hikmet Tombulca and Samim Noyan have been released. This has brought the number of the suspects released to eleven. The remaining 18 are still under investigation.

Earlier in the day, Elif Yilmaz, Ebru Senvardar and Naci Celik Berksoy, who worked on a TV series known as "One Turkey" which broadcasts on Samanyolu, were also released.

In addition, Huseyin Gulerce, a former columnist of daily Zaman, which is allegedly linked to U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was freed after three hours of questioning, according to security officials.

All those detained are allegedly linked with Gulen and his so-called Gulen movement. The Zaman daily is also allegedly close to the same movement.

Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Hadi Salihoglu said Sunday he had ordered the detention of 31 suspects on charges of forgery, fabricating evidence and forming a crime syndicate to overtake the sovereignty of the state.

[12] Turkish columnists on the detention of journalists in Turkey

In this way, it is clear that detentions of journalists as well as the media's news stories and comments on these detentions are proof that the press is not free in Turkey."

Columnist Cafer Solgun, writing in Turkish daily Today's Zaman (online, 15.12.14), under the title "Tyranny or democracy", claims that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is ruthlessly using all public institutions, particularly judicial bodies to eliminate the Hizmet movement. He writes, inter alia, the following:

"(?) Pro-government media outlets are trying to distort the facts as they are ordered to do so, but any sane and conscientious person can see that this crackdown's sole intention is to intimidate and silence dissident media outlets, which cannot be accepted or ignored. But it is the truth.

Another dimension of the truth is that this operation is trying to take revenge for the graft and bribery investigation of Dec. 17 and 25, 2013 on its first anniversary.

(?) A President is normally supposed to be conciliatory, all embracing and constructive. This is the presidential duty as defined in the Constitution. The only change in Erdogan's mentality and style in his transition from the prime ministerial to presidential duty is increased acrimony and combativeness.(?)"

Columnist Semih Idiz, writing in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 16.12.14) under the title "A new blow to democracy and press freedom", reports that although Zaman newspaper was an avid supporter of the Ergenekon and "Balyoz" (Sledgehammer) cases against alleged coup plotters in the military, and their supposed co-conspirators in the civilian domain, it proved that those cases ended in a fiasco. Many Zaman editors and columnists have already apologized openly. He added that this, however, does not justify the way that the daily is now being hounded by the authorities. "It is the principle of the matter that is important here", he writes.

Idiz continues: "(?) Abdulkadir Selvi, a prominent mouthpiece for Erdogan, who is also the Ankara representative of the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper, is a case in point. 'Are those who carried out this operation aware of how they have contributed to perceptions? What they have done has achieved nothing other than disgracing Turkey in the eyes of the world,' Selvi said in his column on Monday.

'What has been done is wrong. How can journalists be guilty if they have not engaged in violence, or criminality, or produced false documents?' Selvi added. These remarks have to be taken with a pinch of salt, given their author's known track record.

On reading these remarks, many will have conjectured that he is essentially concerned about Erdogan and the government's international reputation, more than anything else. Perhaps we should not try and second-guess Selvi and those who think like him, but let their words speak for them.

Suffice it to say, however, that Selvi's remarks contrast sharply with the almost celebratory tone employed by Yeni Safak over the Zaman and Samanyolu raids. All of this is part of the bitter war between Erdogan and Fethullah Gulen, of course.

(?) It is all too easy, therefore, for staunch secularists who oppose both Erdogan and Gulen to say, "Let them fight it out and finish each other off." It is, however, not vengeance but justice, and the rule of law that is important here. It is also democracy and the freedom of the press that is important here. (?)"

On the other hand, Ilnur Cevik, writing in Turkish daily Sabah (online, 16.12.14), under the title "When journalists get involved in an illegal dirty war", reports, inter alia, the following:

"Journalists are the most important elements of a democratic society. (?) However, when journalists start getting involved in a campaign of deceit, becoming a prosecutor and judge, trying to see off their adversaries through crooked tactics and becoming part of a dirty war, then their title as a 'journalist' becomes questionable.

That is what is happening in Turkey today. Gulen Movement-affiliated journalists, who have been taken into custody, are not facing a prosecutor because of what they wrote about the government over the past year but because there is reportedly strong evidence that they were involved in a plot to "finish off" their rivals in the same religious movement.

(?)

So the issue is not really "journalists opposed to the government being thrown into jail" but that people who allowed others to exploit them through their press identity and allowed themselves to be used as weapons to frame innocent people are now being asked to pay for what they have done.

The government has to manage this case properly and explain to the world what the facts are or, once again, it will be accused of suppressing the media. (?)"

[13] Jews are 'leaving Turkey due to safety concerns'

"We face threats, attacks and harassment every day. Hope is fading. Is it necessary for a 'Hrant among us' to be shot in order for the government, the opposition, civil society, our neighbours and jurists to see this?" Mois Gabay wrote on Dec. 10, referring to the murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in 2007.

Gabay, a professional in the tourism industry, added that increasing numbers of Turkish Jews are making plans to move abroad with their families, feeling unsafe and under pressure in the country.

"Around 37% of high school graduates from the Jewish community in Turkey prefer to go abroad for higher education ... This number doubled this year compared to the previous years," he wrote. It is not only students, who have begun to think about building a life abroad for their families and children, but also young businesspeople according to Gabay.

In a recent interview with Radikal, Gabay also said changes in the law and the recognition of hate crimes in the Turkish penal code are not sufficient for the protection of Turkey's Jewish community. "The laws have changed. Hate speech is now a crime, but when is a lawsuit ever opened over hate speech against our community? I don't blame the government alone for this. The opposition, the civil society, the unions and the democratic public sphere should be a shield for us. They should monitor these incidents. Are they waiting for the shooting of a Hrant among us?" he said, adding that daily threats have increased due to the widespread use of social media in Turkey. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

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