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Turkish Press Review, 03-06-17Turkish 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 morning17.06.2003FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS SPRING IN THE AEGEAN? BY SEDAT ERGIN (HURRIYET) THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION BY TURGUT TARHANLI (RADIKAL)CONTENTS
[01] SEZER APPROVES CANCELLATION OF UZAN CONCESSIONS ON TWO POWER STATIONSPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday approved a Cabinet decree cancelling the concession agreements of two power stations owned by the controversial Uzan group, namely the Cukurova Electric and Kepez Electric stations. Last Thursday, the Energy Markets Regulatory Authority (EPDK) decided to cancel the concessions, citing violations by both facilities of certain provisions of their agreements with the government. In related news, a regional court has rejected the Uzan Group’s appeal to have a stay order issued on the cancellations. Meanwhile, the Capital Markets Board (SPK) has launched an investigation into allegations of possible misuse of the power stations’ assets to finance the election campaigns of Cem Uzan’s Young Party (GP). /Sabah/[02] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH PAKISTANI PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF TO DISCUSS ECONOMIC TIES, REGIONAL ISSUESPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the midst of an official visit to Pakistan, yesterday met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. During their talks, Erdogan and Musharraf discussed a number of issues including Cyprus, Iraq, and the disputed Kashmir region, and they also talked about ways to boost trade ties between their two nations. Musharraf said that his country supported the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC) bid to join the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Erdogan remarked that Ankara would continue to support Pakistan in the Kashmir dispute, and reiterated that Turkey favored a just solution in the border region. Also touching on the aftermath of recent US-led wars in the region, both Erdogan and Musharraf stated that chaos in Afghanistan and Iraq needed to be brought to an end as soon as possible. Later, speaking at a meeting of businessmen, Erdogan said that if bilateral economic and trade ties were bolstered, this would also contribute to the region’s economy. /Turkiye/[03] GUL: “I BELIEVE THAT BY THE END OF NEXT YEAR, TURKEY WILL NO LONGER NEED IMF HELP”By the end of 2004, Turkey should no longer need the assistance of the International Monetary Fund, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confidently predicted yesterday. He said that the government was determined to successfully implement and fulfill the IMF-sponsored economic program and that when this was done, IMF aid would no longer be needed. “This is what Turkey, the IMF, and the World Bank all want,” Gul told an economic conference. “If our politics proves its skill and steers us away from further crises, then we won’t need additional IMF loans.” The IMF’s involvement in Ankara’s affairs was a mistake of previous governments, he argued, adding that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government believed that Turkey could go it alone. Also touching on the government’s decision last week to take over two power stations, Gul underlined that Energy markets Regulatory Authority (EPDK) head Yusuf Gunay had clearly stated that the takeover decision was an unanimous one. “In our country, rules, laws and regulations apply to everyone,” he added. /Aksam/[04] ZIYAL CONTINUES WASHINGTON VISIT BY REAFFIRMING STRATEGIC TIES WITH GROSSMAN, WOLFOWITZForeign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, currently in Washington to mend bilateral relations which were strained in the wake of Turkey’s refusal of US troop deployments for the Iraq war, yesterday met with US Undersecretaries of State Marc Grossman and Richard Armitage, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. During their talks, Grossman told Ziyal that strategic ties between Turkey and the US carried great importance for both countries and that they wanted to continue close relations, adding that they had discussed all issues required by their alliance. Later, speaking on “Washington Journal” on public affairs TV channel C-Span, Ziyal said that Ankara wanted to work with the US to create a prosperous postwar Iraq. Speaking to reporters later, Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington Faruk Logoglu said that both sides had discussed a sum of $1 billion proposed for Turkey in the wake of the war, adding that some of those funds could be channeled into Turkish work on Iraqi reconstruction. /Aksam, http://www.c- span.org_[05] FINANCE MINISTER UNAKITAN BEGINS TOUR OF THREE GULF COUNTRIESFinance Minister Kemal Unakitan yesterday began a tour of the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait and Dubai. Before leaving, Unakitan told reporters that the main goal of his visit was to promote Turkey’s privatization program and the companies included in it. /Hurriyet/[06] AKP DEPUTY CHAIRMAN MERCAN TO ATTEND MERRILL LYNCH MEETINGS TOUTING TURKEY’S INVESTMENT CLIMATEJustice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Murat Mercan is set today to begin a four-day tour of European financial capitals including London, Zurich, Amsterdam and Milan upon the invitation of investment bank Merrill Lynch. Representing Turkey at meetings with European investors, Mercan will tout Turkey as a stable, reliable country with a healthy investment climate. In related news, at the beginning of July, in order to promote Turkey’s export goods and to boost its market share, an economic delegation headed by State Minister Kursad Tuzmen is scheduled to pay a visit to Kazakhstan. During the visit, various avenues of cooperation will be explored, especially in the mining, telecommunications, food, tourism, banking and energy sectors. /Turkiye/[07] DENKTAS MEETS WITH US CYPRUS ENVOY WESTONTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas yesterday received US State Department Cyprus Envoy Thomas Weston. After a one-and-a- half-hour meeting, Denktas told journalists that he and Weston had exchanged views various issues concerning the island. /Turkiye/[08] LAGENDIJK: “THE EU HAS NO SET INTENTION TO EXCLUDE TURKEY FROM THE UNION”Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Commission, said yesterday that the European Union had no set intention to exclude Turkey from the Union. Speaking in Istanbul at the 50th meeting of the commission, Lagendijk characterized steps taken so far by Ankara for EU accession as positive but falling short of satisfactory. Also participating at the meeting, commenting on the role of the military in the country, EU Commission Representation in Turkey head Hansjoerg Kretschmer said that the Union fully supports Ankara’s EU reforms but that the military should play the same role in Turkey as in other democratic countries. /Cumhuriyet/[09] STATE WORKERS’ COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BEGINSThe collective bargaining process between the government and union Turk-Is on behalf of state workers began yesterday. Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin and a delegation from the union met for approximately one hour. However, the first round of negotiations proved fruitless since the government did not make a firm offer. /Cumhuriyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[11] SPRING IN THE AEGEAN? BY SEDAT ERGIN (HURRIYET)Columnist Sedat Ergin comments on Turkish-Greek relations concerning the Aegean issue. A summary of his column is as follows:“Greek government officials, most notably Foreign Minister George Papandreou, have recently been accusing Turkey of violating Greek airspace over the Aegean. Athens has been complaining to the European Union about Turkish military jets’ flights over the Aegean. The Aegean rules of flight which have been valid for decades are now being brought to the EU’s agenda. Meanwhile, Ankara is trying to downplay the issue. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s failure to respond to these accusations as the General Staff had requested can be seen as the government’s policy of ‘letting things cool down.’ When Gul resisted, the General Staff had to issue a statement single-handedly, and this caused Athens to charge that the military is governing Turkey. Replying to these accusations, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ‘We are in the EU process. We and Greece should both be sensitive to these issues,’ which shows the government’s flexible stance. Clearly the AKP government is giving priority to full EU membership in its foreign policy, so for now it’s bearing up under Greece’s strategy in order not to offend the EU. Of course beyond this specific policy, Greece is trying to shape international public opinion and the EU in its direction. Probably it has two tactical aims: Athens wants to benefit from the worsened state of Turkish-US relations following the Iraq war as well as Turkey’s lessened importance in the region and use this situation to its own advantage. In addition, Athens is trying to make the EU favor its own take on the Aegean issue before the bargaining between Turkey and Greece next year. At this point, we should remember that the Aegean problems were among the most important elements of the 1999 EU summit in Helsinki. The summit’s final declaration urged Ankara and Athens to ‘exert all efforts towards solving border disputes,’ adding, ‘If they fail to do so, they should bring the problem to the International Court of Justice.’ The declaration started, ‘The EU will review the situation on these disputes in order to encourage a solution through the International Court of Justice by the end of 2004.’ Of course, in December 2004 the EU will decide if it will start full membership negotiations with Turkey or not. Even if Turkey has met all the political criteria by this date, it has to come to an agreement with Greece or at least reach a framework for solving the Aegean problems. Thus, the AKP government will make a series of decisions on this issue next year. This will be a test for the government.” [12] THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION[13] BY TURGUT TARHANLI (RADIKAL)Columnist Turgut Tarhanli writes on the right to self-determination in relation to Turkey. A summary of his column is as follows:“The right to self-determination is once again the buzz among Ankara’s political circles. On June 4, the Parliament ratified two United Nations documents, namely the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The two documents share a first article in common: ‘All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.’ Certain domestic circles have recently argued that these covenants pose a grave threat to Turkey’s territorial integrity. First of all, let’s not forget that these are legal documents, both signed by nearly 150 states worldwide. In other words, most of the countries of the world are signatory parties to these covenants. There are certain important points here: These peoples who are the ‘subjects’ of the right to self-determination refer to a nation living in a country, rather than a group of people. Historically speaking, the reason why this right was accepted as an international principle was to eliminate colonialism. During the colonial period, since the subjects of the colonization process were communities which had not organized themselves into nation-states, the United Nations had to use the term ‘peoples’ rather than nations. As a matter of fact, the preamble of the UN Charter begins, ‘We the peoples of the United Nations determined,’ and the first article states that one of the purposes of the UN is ‘to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.’ As we all know, Turkey has been bound by the UN Charter for nearly 60 years now. The most important tool of international law to end colonialism was the right to self-determination. Therefore, the subjects of this right are colonized people, people whose territories were occupied by foreign countries and those oppressed under the tyranny of foreign powers. The rights of such countries to form independent states or to integrate with another country are recognized by international law. However, destruction of an already established and internationally recognized country’s territorial integrity would also constitute a breach of international law. In other words, no one can claim the right to self-determination within the territories of an internationally recognized country.” 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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