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Turkish Press Review, 03-05-22Turkish 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 morning22.05.2003GUL: “OUR EXCEPTIONAL RELATIONS WITH PAKISTAN WILL BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE ECONOMIC TIES” KAZAKH PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV: “TURKEY AND KAZAKHSTAN WILL DO THEIR BEST TO BOOST RELATIONS” US HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSES SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION, SENDS MEASURE TO FULL HOUSE ECONOMY MINISTER BABACAN MEETS IMF’S KAHKONEN CANADIAN DELEGATION SEEKS TO BOOST TRADE TIES WITH “STRATEGIC PARTNER” TURKEY FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS… WHAT DOES TURKEY WANT? BY TUNCAY OZKAN (AKSAM) A DELICATE BALANCE BY FEHMI KORU (YENI SAFAK)CONTENTS
[01] GUL: “OUR EXCEPTIONAL RELATIONS WITH PAKISTAN WILL BE EXPANDED TO INCLUDE ECONOMIC TIES”Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, currently in Islamabad, Pakistan for a two-day visit, yesterday met with his counterpart Hursid Mahmud Kasuri to discuss a number of issues, including Iraq’s postwar reconstruction. Speaking after their meeting, Gul said that the Turkish-Pakistani alliance was a very strong one. “We have exceptional political relations, and we plan to make this the case in our economic ties as well,” said Gul. “We want to strengthen our commercial cooperation and we will strive towards this end.” Regarding the disputed region of Kashmir, Gul said that Turkey was pleased with recent positive developments between India and Pakistan. Stressing that residents of Kashmir had suffered for many years, Gul said he hoped this easing of tensions would eventually bring stability and peace to the region. Advocating that problems be solved through dialogue and international legitimacy, Gul added that Turkey and Pakistan had decided to exchange views on Iraq’s reconstruction. “We would be pleased to see Pakistan contributing troops to an Iraq international peacekeeping force,” said Gul. Asked about the effect of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in Turkey’s political life, Gul replied that the nation was governed by a constitutional order. “There have been problems in the past, but now we’ve overcome these,” said Gul. “Turkey is governed with a constitutional order through a democratically elected government.” For his part, Kasuri said that he was very pleased to host Gul, adding that they had decided to comprehensively boost cooperation between the two countries. Gul later met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. /Aksam/[02] KAZAKH PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV: “TURKEY AND KAZAKHSTAN WILL DO THEIR BEST TO BOOST RELATIONS”Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev yesterday arrived in Turkey to pay an official visit. Nazarbayev first attended a meeting of Kazakh and Turkish businessmen along with Prime Minister and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Speaking at the meeting, Nazarbayev said that Turkey and Kazakhstan would do their best to boost bilateral economic and political relations. “Difficult days lie behind us, as our nation has overcome its problems,” said the Kazakh president. “We want to invest in Turkey.” Also speaking at the meeting, Erdogan said that trade between Turkey and Kazakhstan had risen, especially in recent years, but that there was a need to increase it further. “Turkey is ready to take all steps to boost our mutual trade volume,” added Erdogan. /Hurriyet/[03] US HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSES SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION, SENDS MEASURE TO FULL HOUSEThe powerful US House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed a resolution recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide and reaffirming support for the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. The committee then sent the resolution to the full US House of Representatives for a floor vote. The resolution, first introduced on April 9 to coincide with the anniversary of the “genocide,” states that the lessons of the so-called Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda should be used to help prevent similar tragedies in the future. Both the US State Department and Turkish Ambassador to the US Faruk Logoglu had previously sent letters to the committee asking it to strike the “Armenian genocide” reference from the resolution, which currently has over 66 sponsors or co-sponsors. While the Armenian lobby claim that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire around 1915, the Turkish government accuses Armenians of distorting the historical record by overstating the numbers and the facts, arguing that the casualties were victims of wartime, not genocide. /Cumhuriyet/[04] ECONOMY MINISTER BABACAN MEETS IMF’S KAHKONENState Minister for Economy Ali Babacan yesterday met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Turkey Desk Chief Juha Kahkonen. During their two-hour meeting, the officials reportedly discussed the criteria for completing the fifth review of Turkey’s IMF-supported economic program. Before his meeting with Babacan, Kahkonen also met with Treasury Undersecretary Ibrahim Canakci for one hour. /Turkiye/[05] WORLD BANK VP LINN TO VISIT TURKEYWorld Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Johannes Linn is due to visit Ankara on May 29. On his farewell tour of various countries before his retirement, Linn is expected to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, State Minister Ali Babacan and other officials as part of his contacts in Ankara. /Turkiye/[06] CANADIAN DELEGATION SEEKS TO BOOST TRADE TIES WITH “STRATEGIC PARTNER” TURKEYIn a bid to launch new commercial initiatives in the Middle East and Central Asia, Canadian companies have selected Turkey as their new strategic partner. A number of Canadian businessmen arrived in Istanbul yesterday to forge contacts with their Turkish counterparts, beginning with a meeting held with the attendance of Gar Knutson, Canada’s secretary of state for Eastern Europe and the Middle East. “To date, Canadian companies have invested $400 million in Turkey,” said Knutson. “However, I believe that both countries have greater potential and should improve their cooperation in the fields of energy, health, telecommunications, construction and transportation.” Furthermore, Canadian Ambassador to Turkey Michael Lier told the meeting that his country saw Turkey as not only as an economic partner but also a strategic one. /Cumhuriyet/[07] ISTANBUL HOSTS EVTEKS 2003 FAIREVTEKS 2003, the world’s second-largest home textiles fair, yesterday began at the 100,000 square-meter CNREXPO exhibition space in Istanbul. The fair, officially opened by Industry Minister Ali Coskun and State Minister Kursad Tuzmen, is set to last through Sunday and should attract some 100,000 visitors. /Turkiye/[08] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…[09] WHAT DOES TURKEY WANT? BY TUNCAY OZKAN (AKSAM)Columnist Tuncay Ozkan comments on the desires of the Turkish people and what should be done to address them. A summary of his column is as follows:“Revising Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law is of course a good move. Turkey should have tackled this problem before. But it hasn’t happened yet, since those who support amending the article for the sake of the EU had previously wanted the article kept as is. The problem always stems from the double standards of Turkey’s administration. Turkey wants to enjoy the rule of law and get rid of double standards. Today those who are fighting against terrorism might oppose amending this law. Isn’t it a mistake not to come to an agreement with them and take measures to address their concerns? These mistakes help nobody. There are so many things that Turkey should change, and we do want to change. However, won’t we discuss how we will replace whatever we do away with? Of course we should. Everybody living in Turkey wants democracy and the reconstruction and transformation of politics. But we failed to understand or trust those who favored change, so we treated them shabbily, because one can’t explain radical changes to established systems before the nation is ready. Do we really have as many people in our country who favor the modern world as we think? Or are we seeing only the demands and needs of a well-educated elite? In other words, in a country where the average education level is just over three years, has everybody forgotten their empty stomachs and come to favor the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) adopting EU standards? Please don’t misunderstand me. The Turkish people deserve better. But what are we going to do in practice? We haven’t even been able to decide whether our mandatory education will last five years or eight. In the midst of such chaos, certain people might spoil the existing order. History is full of nations which committed such errors. Turkey shouldn’t present these criteria as a fait accompli. Taking drastic steps on the TSK without first thinking would cast a shadow over the future of our country.” [10] A DELICATE BALANCE BY FEHMI KORU (YENI SAFAK)Columnist Fehmi Koru writes about the US’ failure to maintain order in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Turkey’s position towards the latter. A summary of his column is as follows:“It is only a matter of time before US forces, just as they did in Afghanistan, establish security and stability in Iraq. Moreover, Washington has moved to bring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to an end. The US Secretary of State Colin Powell-backed ‘road map’ is widely expected to contribute significantly to efforts for a permanent settlement of the issue. US President George W. Bush, who has successfully restored his country’s image of a superpower victimized by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is almost guaranteed to win a second term in next year’s presidential elections… Scratch the surface of the above lines, and very clearly they do not correspond with reality. No matter how hard it tries to make us believe that this is how it is, in fact it is not. Taking advantage of the Sept. 11 attacks, the deadly ‘hawk wing’ in Washington first attacked Afghanistan and then Iraq. If they had their druthers, Syria and Iran would be the next two targets. And by the way, the same war lobby has asked Turkey to apologize to the US for ‘failing to move in lockstep’ with US aims. However, the current picture in both Iraq and the US shows that things are not going as planned. Let’s first see what is going on in Afghanistan. The Bush administration has backed Hamid Karzai, a consultant to US oil company Unocal, as the head of the country’s new interim government. Yet Karzai’s leadership is confined to merely the capital Kabul. There are local warlords all over the country who rule areas under their own control. Here’s what the Associated Press reported on Tuesday: ‘President Hamid Karzai threatened to resign if recalcitrant governors across the country don't send vital customs revenues to the central government.’ The situation in Afghanistan is having an impact in Washington. On May 6, US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher accused the US State Department of letting the fruits of the US military victory in Afghanistan waste away through neglect. ‘US officials are going the wrong way in Afghanistan,’ said Rohrabacher. What about Iraq? Are the American GI-patrolled Iraqi streets safe? Here’s the answer of Monday’s Washington Post: ‘Iraqis have begun tracking down and killing former members of the ruling Baath Party, doubtful that the United States intends to adequately punish the mid-level government functionaries who they say tormented them for three decades.’ Bush and his close aides have put the US and the world as well as themselves into great trouble. Let’s take a look at what the New York Times said on Tuesday: ‘This is not what the White House wanted as President Bush starts pointing toward next year's election campaign. Iraq is in a state of near anarchy. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is escalating again, and Islamic terrorists are on the attack in the Middle East. Just at the moment when Bush would like the nation to think of him as a statesman, everything seems to be going the wrong way in one of the world's most combustible regions. Bush has himself to blame in part.’ Washington’s hawks have put the world into very hot water. The current situation in Iraq requires Turkey to play an active role. Therefore, it makes no sense to say that Turkey should stay out of this mess. That’s why I believe that when it feels it necessary, Turkey, putting forward its own conditions, should get involved in the problem. Ankara must start at once seeking ways to stop the chaos in Iraq before it comes to threaten our own stability. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s skill in foreign policy hinges upon its ability to negotiate this delicate balance.” 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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