Two separate scenarios were played out during yesterday's exercise. In the first scenario, emergency teams rescued illegal immigrants from the water after the cargo ship they were travelling in collided with a commercial ship. The second scenario involved emergency teams putting out a fire on board a cargo ship and rescuing crew who jumped deck.

The "commander of the Turkish peace forces in the TRNC", "major general" Y?lmaz Y?ld?r?m, the"commander of the Turkish Cypriot security forces brigadier general" Tevfik Algan, the "acting commander of the Turkish coast guard admiral" Bulent Olcay, the "air commodore" Yusuf Erge, the "rear admiral" Onder Gurbuz from the Turkish Navy and Brigadier General Fedai Unsal from the Office of the Turkish Chief of General Staff, watched the exercise.

Also, observers from Somalia, Pakistan, Kosovo, Burkino Faso and Palestine also watched the exercise.

The first land stage of the exercise had taken place on Tuesday at the St. Hilarion area near Girne.B.

[05] Eighteen Syrian refugees were caught inside a TIR cargo

According to a press release by the "police", all 18 persons were men from Syria and on the same ship hundreds of cartons of smuggled cigarettes were also seized.

(DPs)

[B] Turkish Press

[01] Erdogan says 'may seek coalition if fails to get majority'

Polls indicate the elections may be closer than anticipated when he called the snap elections in April, suggesting he may be pushed to a second-round run-off for the presidency, and his AKP could lose its majority in the 600-seat assembly.

"If it is under 300 [seats], then there could be a search for a coalition," Erdogan said in an interview with Kral FM radio station. He added that the probability of this was "very, very low."

The AKP has formed an alliance with the nationalist MHP before the elections, which will herald a switch to a new powerful executive presidency narrowly approved in a referendum last year. Opposition parties have also formed an alliance.

MHP leader Devlet Bahceli said on June 18 that another election could be held if his alliance with the AKP cannot form a majority in parliament after Sunday's vote.

[02] CHP presidential candidate Ince: "Our choice is the West"

"I have spoken to some Ambassadors and told them they should not force us to change our choice [of the West]. Immediately after I am elected President, I will tour the European capitals," Ince told a group of editors-in-chief and directors of newspapers and broadcasters in a meeting in Istanbul on June 20.

Ince announced that his "most urgent priority" is the justice system. "I do not care what the EU says, we will recognize cemevis as places of worship because it is the right of our Alevi citizens. Religious classes in schools will no longer be compulsory," he said.

"The EU wants us to do certain things. But there are things we should do for our people whether the EU wants it or not. Do we have to hear that we should fix our justice system from the EU? These things should be fixed even without the EU and I believe I have earned the trust of the EU as well," Ince said when asked about his foreign policy.

"We will not return to the past. Our parliamentary system in the past was bad, but the new one is even worse. We will change this. Even newspaper headlines are decided by one man. We will change that too," Ince promised.

Ince voiced confidence that he would be elected President after the June 24 elections, stressing he had never seen such energy during a campaign in his 30-year-long political career. "I am addressing huge crowds. There is an extraordinary groundswell," he said.

(…)

Ince also said he would accept IYI (Good) Party leader and presidential candidate Meral Aksener's offer to become her Vice President if she is elected as President in the upcoming elections.

"If I win the presidential election, I will offer vice President posts to Aksener and [Felicity Party's (SP) leader and presidential candidate] Temel Karamollaoglu," Ince added.

"I have often been asked if I will put Erdogan on trial if I am elected as President. I say 'no.' I am not in a position to try people. Putting people on trial is not my job," he said.

Ince also vowed to relentlessly continue to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen which is widely believed to have been behind the July 2016 coup attempt.

Ince, however, said the government's recent military operations against PKK targets in the Kandil region on the Iraq-Iran border are part of plans to make political gains ahead of the elections.

[03] Bozdag: "Turkey to receive US F-35 jets on Thursday"

"Necessary contacts have been made with the U.S., and delivery of the F-35 jets will be on Thursday," Bozdag told reporters in the central Yozgat province on Wednesday.

Referring to recent U.S. congressional bills seeking to block the sale, he added that any attempt to make the sale conditional on the release of Andrew Brunson, a U.S. priest facing terrorism charges in Turkey, amounts to a "threat."

Delivery of the Lockheed Martin-made jets is due to take place at a ceremony in Texas, with the jets set to come to Turkey once the pilots have received training.

..

TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION

(AK / AM)

Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article