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Turkish Press Review, 03-04-07Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr><LINK href="http://www.byegm.gov.tr_yayinlarimiz_chr_pics_css/tpr.css" rel=STYLESHEET type=text/css> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning07.04.2003FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNSCONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “WORKING WITH DETERMINATION, THE AKP GOVERNMENT IS UP TO THE CHALLENGES FACING TURKEY”Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday pledged that Turkey would overcome the challenges facing it by working in unity and determination. Addressing his party’s regular monthly meeting, Erdogan said, “The interest on Turkey’s domestic and foreign debt was some $72.5 billion, and we have left that money untouched and unspent.” Stressing that the AKP had sought the nation’s helm fully aware of its issues and problems, Erdogan said that the government would prove equal to dealing with these tasks. /Turkiye/[02] KHARRAZI: “IRAN ALSO STANDS OPPOSED TO ANY KURDISH STATE”On a six-hour official visit to Turkey yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi met with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During their talks, Kharrazi said that Iran, like Turkey, favored Iraq’s continued territorial integrity. Regarding Turkey’s concerns about northern Iraq, Kharrazi said that Iran did not want any intervention in the region. “There are not only Turkmen in northern Iraq, but also Shiites,” said the Iranian official. He also proposed a trilateral meeting between Turkey, Iran and Syria to help prevent the establishment of a Kurdish state in the region. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated that he would travel to Damascus next Sunday to meet with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara to exchange views on recent developments in the region. /All Papers/[03] BUSY DIPLOMATIC SCHEDULE IN ANKARAFollowing last week’s visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, US presidential envoy to the Iraqi opposition Zalmay Khalilzad is set this week to arrive in Ankara to hold further meetings with Turkish officials. In addition, the British and German foreign ministers, Jack Straw and Joschka Fischer respectively, are reportedly set to soon hold meetings with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Ankara. /Turkiye/[04] POLISH PRIME MINISTER VISITS TURKEYPolish Prime Minister Lezsek Miller yesterday arrived in Ankara to pay an official visit at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During his contacts in Turkey, Miller is scheduled to be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and to meet with Erdogan as well as Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc. /Turkiye/[05] BABACAN: “THE AKP GOVERNMENT HAS SIGNED TURKEY’S NEW LETTER OF INTENT”Turkey has now signed its new letter of intent (LOI) with the International Monetary Fund, clearing the way for the disbursement of a $1.6 billion IMF loan tranche, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan announced yesterday. Speaking alongside Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti and Treasury Undersecretary Faik Oztrak, Babacan said that the letter committed the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to bring down inflation, reduce public sector debt and work for long-term growth, adding that Turkey would continue its privatization program and fight against corruption. “Negotiations over the LOI continued longer than expected as we wanted our point of view reflected in the economic program,” he stated. “However, the fourth review of the economic program can’t be completed before the budget is first passed.” Babacan stated that Turkey’s economy had been hurt by the ongoing war in Iraq. “The government has taken the necessary measures to get through this difficult period with the least possible impact, and it will continue to do so,” Babacan stated. The government still hopes to maintain its annual 20% inflation and 5% growth targets, added Babacan. /Milliyet/[06] IMF HEAD KOEHLER: “WE WELCOME TURKEY’S LOI AND ITS PLEDGES OF STRINGENT ECONOMIC REFORMS”International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler said yesterday that the IMF welcomed Turkey’s new letter of intent (LOI) pledging stringent economic reforms through the end of 2004. “The letter is needed for the IMF to release a $1.6 billion aid tranche, part of a $16 billion agreement Turkey signed after its 2001 financial crisis,” he stated. “Those funds had originally been scheduled for release last October.” The fund is due to review the LOI at its April 18 meeting. /Aksam/[07] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[08] CONFUSION OR CLEVERNESS? BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)Columnist Tufan Turenc comments on the United States’ goals and the policies followed by Turkey. A summary of his column is as follows:“It would be useful to evaluate the current situation and then, even more importantly, prospects for our future state. Obviously as soon as the US finishes with Iraq, it will then turn to remove other regimes in the region which it considers threats to itself. The first target would be Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The US sees Arafat as the person responsible for terrorism in the Middle East and believes that he should be gotten rid of. US President George W. Bush has repeatedly said as much in his speeches. The US believes that an Israeli-Palestinian peace is impossible as long as Arafat is the leader of Palestine. Therefore, according to Washington, Arafat needs to be made history. However, clearly it would be impossible to make peace in the region with such an order, which the US is planning to establish through force of arms. Interestingly, Washington fails to grasp that Palestinians expelled from their own lands would only later re-emerge as more extreme terrorists. The other targets of the US are Syria and Iran, as has made clear. These two countries know that it will be their turn after Iraq. Everybody watching the incidents unfold can easily foresee what will happen in the region. However, it’s odd that the US apparently can’t. Maybe it sees but is deliberately pretending not to. As for the local scene, through its confusing policies the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has turned Turkish-US relations into an tangled knot. These relations were mended somewhat last week with US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit. The government even decided to deport three Iraqi diplomats, even though it had previously refused similar US requests. These developments relieved those who were concerned with the crisis of confidence between our two nations. However, the government has also started, out of the blue, a rapprochement with Iran and Syria. Initiating such relations with these two countries, which have been marked as targets by the US, will confuse Washington once again. The US will be scratching its head over Turkey’s actions, as will we all. I wonder if Ankara was unconvinced by the US pledges that a Kurdish state wouldn’t be formed in northern Iraq. Towards this end, if it’s trying to create an alliance with Syria and Iran against a Kurdish state, wouldn’t this amount to a declared lack of confidence with the US? If this is the case, why did it state that there was an ‘accord of viewpoints’ with the US concerning the Iraq issue? Or is the government still continuing its inconsistent and contradictory policies? Or are the suspicions that the AKP is trying to pull Turkey away from the West true? I don’t understand what the government is trying to do and I’m not alone: neither do many politicians, foreign policy experts and political analysts. I hope that, in the end, things get better.” [09] IS NATO COMING APART? BY ZEYNEP GURCANLI (STAR)Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli writes on the political crisis currently facing NATO. A summary of her column is as follows:“The Iraq war will probably lead to significant changes to political balances not only in the Middle East but also all over Europe. Especially NATO, the ‘security fortress’ of the Western world, is very likely to undergo a dramatic transformation since its Atlantic and European wings have recently split from each other as never before. This separation is unfortunately not only a matter of differences of opinion. On the one hand, there is the United States with its unparalleled military, as a superpower whose annual military budget totals $350 billion. However, on the other hand, there are European countries which want to continue US technical support but without losing their autonomy to make independent security decisions. US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns chatted with Turkish journalists over the weekend in Brussels. Stressing that the current disagreement among NATO members should not be evaluated as a US-European conflict, Burns said, ‘The US does not want another organization to become a rival to NATO. Americans are very deeply committed to NATO, as are the Turks. NATO will continue to pursue its security missions in both the Europe and Atlantic regions. Security arrangements established by the European Union might undertake peacekeeping missions or crisis management. The US will support such arrangements if and only if they don’t compete with NATO.’ Burns’ remarks were very comforting for Turkey, itself a non-EU member NATO country. As a matter of fact, Turkey was greatly consternated when the US expressed support for the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) when it was initially brought onto the EU’s agenda. Burns also criticized certain European countries, especially Germany, for cutting their annual defense budgets. He noted that the US’ military budget was twice that of all the European NATO members combined, which had created a huge gap. Burns also underlined that the US had no problems with Turkey, praising our country for successful military policies. He stated that the US appreciated Turkey since Ankara allocates 5% of the country’s gross national product (GNP) for defense expenditures. However, he didn’t shrink from criticizing Turkey’s policy towards Iraq. ‘We understand Turkey’s concerns,’ said the US diplomat. ‘However, the current conditions are very different than those of the 1991 Gulf War. There won’t be any massive rush of refugees towards Turkey’s borders.’ In brief, during my visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels, I realized that this is the most important crisis that NATO has ever been faced with. However, after hearing of my meeting with Burns, France’s diplomat also requested a meeting. He urged us not to make too much of the alliance’s current woes, adding that it had managed to overcome similar crises in the past.” ARCHIVE <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http:/_www.byegm.gov.tr_statistic/countcode.js"> </script> Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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