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Turkish Press Review, 03-09-16Turkish 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 morning16.09.2003FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...CONTENTS
[01] SEZER MEETS WITH PORTUGUESE PRESIDENT SAMPAIOPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday met with his visiting Portuguese counterpart Jorge Sapaio. Speaking afterwards, Sezer said that Ankara and Lisbon would cooperate for Turkey to begin its accession negotiations with the European Union. He said that good bilateral relations between the two countries would continue with further initiatives to develop cooperation. “Our countries will also improve cooperation and dialogue on international issues of concern to both sides,” stated Sezer, citing the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Balkans, Latin America, Africa, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and security and disarmament issues. /All papers/[02] ERDOGAN: “I HOPE WE’LL BEGIN OUR EU NEGOTIATIONS NEXT YEAR”Speaking after his meeting with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he hoped Turkey would begin membership negotiations with the European Union next year, after its December 2004 summit, adding that the government would continue to carry out needed reforms. The EU is to decide at that summit whether or not to begin accession talks with Ankara. Asked about Portugal’s stance on Turkey's bid, Erdogan said that the two countries were working in solidarity. /All papers/[03] LEADING GREENS PARLIAMENTARIAN ROTH: “TURKEY BELONGS IN EUROPE”Turkey belongs in Europe, declared a leading German Greens deputy yesterday. Speaking to Turkish journalists in Munich, Bundestag Deputy Claudia Roth said that with a steadfast determination to improve the national democracy and human rights situation and implement the Copenhagen criteria, Turkey could join the EU’s ranks within a decade. “First of all, Turks must say ‘yes’ to the EU and do their utmost to achieve this goal,” added Roth, who also chairs the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee. “The EU cannot turn its back on Turkey if Ankara succeeds at implementing these reforms. I believe that in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Turkey has gained more importance for the world as a model nation which has successfully synthesized Islamic values and democracy. Turkey’s membership would also be a great opportunity for Europe to enhance its multicultural and multi-religious character.” /Hurriyet/[04] DEFENSE MINISTER GONUL RECEIVES GERMAN FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE HEADDefense Minister Vecdi Gonul yesterday received Volker Ruhe, chairman of the German Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee. Speaking to reporters at the state reception, Gonul said that his ministry was preparing a report on the Iraq troop deployment issue for presentation at this Friday’s National Security Council (NSC) meeting. “Our talks with Washington are continuing,” said Gonul. “We’re still exchanging views on the issue. Ankara’s final decision has yet to be made.” /Cumhuriyet/[05] CICEK DENIES RUMORS OF TRANSFER OF OCALAN TO F-TYPE PRISONSpeaking to reporters en route to Ankara from an unofficial meeting of his EU counterparts in Rome, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek denied recent rumors of a possible transfer of convicted terrorist Abdullah Ocalan to an F-type prison, saying that no such move was being considered. Cicek added that he believed Ocalan should continue to be incarcerated in complete isolation on Imrali Island. Commenting on the Rome meeting, he said that the lack of criticism of Turkey’s human rights practices by the EU justice and interior ministers present demonstrated “moderate progress” in Turkish-EU relations. /Hurriyet/[06] CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHIEF JUSTICE BUMIN TO MEET WITH ECHR HEAD IN STRASBOURGConstitutional Court Chief of Justice Mustafa Bumin will travel to Strasbourg on Sunday to meet with Luzius Wildhaber, the president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). During his visit, Bumin will be accompanied by six of his Constitutional Court colleagues. During their talks, Bumin and Wildhaber are expected to discuss Turkish-EHCR issues as well as legal human rights reforms. Bumin and the accompanying delegation will also meet with officials of the Council of Europe (CoE). /Anatolia News Agency/[07] GUL: “ONE CANNOT DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN TERRORISTS”En route to Georgia yesterday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters that talks between Turkey and the United States over terrorism were continuing. “The US can’t make some distinction between its terrorists and ours,” stated Gul, evidently referring to the continued presence of PKK_KADEK terrorists in northern Iraq. “It must show the same resolve to fight all kind of terrorism.” Regarding a possible Turkish troop deployment in Iraq, the foreign minister said that a report by a delegation which recently visited Iraq concluded that the Iraqi people would largely welcome Turkish forces. Gul added that although he would like to attend the funeral of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh set for this Friday, he was unfortunately unable due to a National Security Council (NSC) meeting already scheduled for that day. /Turkiye/[08] POWELL: “THERE ARE SERIOUS SENSITIVITIES ABOUT TURKISH TROOPS GOING TO IRAQ”US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday visited Halapja, an Iraqi town near the Iranian border where a 1988 poison gas attack by the Iraqi Army killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds. Asserting that the Halapja massacre, three years before the Gulf War, provided sufficient legitimacy for Washington to declare war against Saddam Hussein’s regime, Powell met with Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (IPUK) leader Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani. Speaking to journalists in Kuwait after his Halapja visit, Powell said that Washington would continue talks with Ankara on deploying Turkish troops in Iraq despite “serious sensitivities” on the Iraqi side. “There are, let me put it delicately, serious sensitivities associated with Turkish troops,” Powell said. “Nevertheless, we are going to continue to discuss it. I asked them [Barzani and Talabani] today to have an open mind about it.” /Cumhuriyet/[09] INDIAN PRIME MINISTER VAJPAYEE DUE IN ANKARAIndian Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is set to arrive in Ankara tomorrow. Vajpayee is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss a number of issues and also sign a series of agreements. Later, he will also meet with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and also participate in a ceremony naming a street in Ankara after famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. Vajpayee is also expected to be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. /Anatolia News Agency/[10] NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGINSSome 20 million students and 600,000 teachers yesterday began their new school year after the end of summer vacation. Speaking at a ceremony in a primary school in Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “Without finding solutions to issues concerning health, education and justice, no country can stand tall.” He vowed to soon implement new reforms to the nation’s education system. Meanwhile, the Education Ministry distributed some 80 million textbooks free of charge to primary school students, one of the reforms earlier pledged by Erdogan. /All Papers/[11] CABINET DECIDES TO RAISE TEACHERS’ STIPENDSSpeaking after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said that the government had decided to increase the school year preparation stipend for state schoolteachers by 46%. He said that the issue of civil service wage increases had not been on the meeting’s agenda, adding that the government would make its decision based on Turkey’s economic goals and conditions. Cicek said that State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan had briefed the Cabinet on recent economic developments, reporting that this year’s 20% inflation target was achievable but that much more work lay ahead. Cicek further stated that the Cabinet had not discussed the issue of sending troops to Iraq, but that the government was continuing to consider the issue. /All papers/[12] IRAQI TURKMEN SELECT NEW LEADERDuring the Third Turkmen Convention in Kirkuk yesterday, Dr. Faruk Abdullah was selected as the new leader of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF). Addressing the gathering, Abdullah said that all Turkmen should work together to solve their issues. Colonel William C. Mayville, the US Army commander in Kirkuk, also attended the last day of the meeting. Stressing that the Turkmen issue was a matter for the Iraqi nation, Mayville said, “Turkmen have rights equal to those of all other Iraqi citizens.” He also pledged that a new Iraqi constitution would protect the Turkmens’ rights. /Turkiye/[13] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[14] GOALS BY TOKTAMIS ATES (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Toktamis Ates comments on the US policy towards Iraq and Turkey’s stance on it. A summary of his column is as follows:“It’s easy to speak or write about foreign policy because during normally, one’s analyses are based only on hypotheses. In addition, nobody brings up how realistic or unrealistic these hypotheses might be. Turkey’s current foreign policy has a great many problems to tackle, for example, our relations with Greece and the European Union plus the Cyprus problem. Meanwhile, we also have to follow developments in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Balkans. However, besides these issues, we have other more important problems, that is, our relations with the US and the Iraq problem. As is well known, countries don’t have traditional ‘friendships’ or ‘enmity’ towards each other, rather, they have interests in foreign policy and they do what their interests require. For example, the US continued its relations with Turkey after 1991 quite warmly, but it also supported the PKK in the southern Anatolia region and northern Iraq. At that time the US wasn’t Turkey’s enemy, but it thought that the Kurds in northern Iraq would be more faithful to it. However, what this policy accomplished is difficult to say. When tension between the US and Iraq was rising, I believed that the US wouldn’t start a war without Turkey, without the benefit of a northern front. However, the US loudly began the war from the south and took Baghdad in very short order indeed. I wonder if the war has ended. Would a war end this way? Nobody can tell who surrendered and who signed a peace agreement or armistice on whose behalf. However, it seems the US has been unable to find what it was looking for in Iraq, and now it has new goals. I really wonder what kind of a policy the US wants to pursue in Iraq. Today the most important and even vital decision for our foreign policy is whether to send soldiers to Iraq. When this issue was first raised, I wrote that if we consider ourselves an important regional power, we should do what is necessary. However, I also had two conditions, that is, we should command our own units and our presence in northern Iraq should continue. Today I have the same view, but it’s difficult to sift through the contradictory reports from Iraq to see which are reliable. In this case it’s very hard to analyze foreign policy.” 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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