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Turkish Press Review, 03-10-07Turkish 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 morning07.10.2003FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…CONTENTS
[01] GOVERNMENT SENDS MOTION ON IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO PARLIAMENTFollowing yesterday’s Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the government sent to Parliament a motion on Iraq troop deployment. The motion, which requests authorization to deploy Turkish troops in Iraq for one year, was presented to the Parliament Speaker’s Office in the late afternoon. Neither the number of soldiers nor the region of Iraq they would serve in was specified in the motion. The three-and-a- half page text of the motion signed by Erdogan highlighted the vital importance of Iraq’s territorial integrity. The motion is expected to be debated and face a vote in Parliament on Wednesday or Thursday. /All Papers/[02] AKP TO DISCUSS TROOP DEPLOYMENT ISSUE IN GROUP MEETINGPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul are set to address their ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies during today’s AKP parliamentary group meeting. The two top ministers will brief deputies for the last time on the need to send troops to Iraq. AKP Group Deputy Chairman Salih Kapusuz said that there would be no group decision binding the deputies. “We’ll respect our deputies’ decisions, even if they vote against the motion,” said Kapusuz. “However, we have no doubt it will be approved. The government and related institutions have looked at the issue from all angles. Our party will support sending troops to Iraq.” /Turkiye/[03] TROOPS PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE IRAQ DEPLOYMENTFollowing yesterday’s submission to Parliament of a government motion on sending troops to Iraq, the General Staff has ordered military units to make appropriate preparations. Military officials are expected to deploy the First Tactical Division and the Ninth Infantry Brigade as well as the 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Ankara. A new round of talks between Turkish and US officials is set to begin soon to settle details of the deployment. /Turkiye/[04] AGAR CRITICIZES GOVT HANDLING OF IRAQ TROOP DECISION, SAYS DYP WILL VOTE IN LINE WITH PARLIAMENT PRESENTATIONThe True Path Party (DYP) will vote on the Iraq troop deployment motion in line with how the government presents the issue in Parliament, said DYP leader Mehmet Agar yesterday. The DYP has only a handful of seats in Parliament, but they could be pivotal in a close vote. Criticizing the government’s decision to hold a closed parliamentary session on the issue, Agar added, “Everything should be shared with the people. If there’s something confidential, it should be negotiated with party leaders instead of in a closed session.” /Turkiye/[05] OZDEMIR CALLS IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENT MOTION A “BELATED” DECISIONMotherland Party (ANAP) leader Ali Talip Ozdemir yesterday said that Turkey should deploy troops in Iraq to preserve its territorial integrity, but chided the government’s decision to send a motion on the issue to Parliament yesterday as “belated.” Added the minority opposition leader, “Since this was your final decision after all, why did you wait so long?” /Turkiye/[06] IRAQIS ATTACK TURKISH CONVOYA number of people, including Turkish truck drivers, were reportedly attacked yesterday at Iraq’s Baci Oil Refinery 180 kilometers south of Baghdad. According to reports, during the attack many truck drivers were wounded or killed and also many trucks were damaged. Investigation of the incident is under way. /Milliyet/[07] FIRE RAGES ON BURGAZADA ISLANDAt least one person died and 13 homes were destroyed in a fire yesterday that raged yesterday on the island of Burgazada near Istanbul. The blaze, which began in a garbage pile and was spread by strong winds to the island’s forested and housing areas, devastated some 40 acres before firefighters brought it under control eight hours later. The deployment of firefighting aircraft was delayed as they were busy battling another blaze in Canakkale. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said investigators were looking into whether arson was behind the fire. /All papers/[08] ERDOGAN: “TURKEY SUPPORTS THE EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENSE POLICY FOR A STRONGER EU”Speaking in Rome this weekend at a European Union Conference on the future shape of the EU constitution, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he did not think it would be beneficial to reopen the whole EU Draft Constitutional Treaty for further discussion. He said that the EU Convention had provided consensus on a single document through a creative and realistic approach, adding that there was no need to discuss the entire draft. Erdogan also stated that Turkey supported a European Security and Defense Policy (ESPD) in order to strengthen the role of the Union on the international stage. /Aksam/[09] GUL MEETS WITH QATARI FM, DISCUSSES BILATERAL RELATIONS AND IRAQForeign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday met with his Qatari counterpart Seyh Hamid bin Casim bin Cebir el-Tani to discuss bilateral relations and the Iraq issue. Speaking after their meeting, Gul said that Turkey had no “secret agenda” in possibly sending its troops to Iraq. He further stated that if Turkey does decide to deploy troops, their purpose would be to bolster Iraq’s stability and protect its territorial integrity. /Cumhuriyet/[10] IPUK’S SALIH: “TROOPS FROM ANY COUNTRY MAY FACE ATTACKS IN IRAQ”Berham Salih, a top Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (IPUK) representative who is currently visiting Ankara, said yesterday that troops sent from any country to Iraq, including Turkish ones, might be attacked in his country. “It would be better to keep the number of foreign troops in Iraq as low as possible,” said Salih. “The deployment of troops from Turkey or any other country may harm both Iraq’s security and its political situation.” Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, Salih stated that he had asked for political and economic aid from Ankara. He also called on Turkish businessmen to invest in Iraq. /Turkiye/[11] DENKTAS: “GREEK CITIZENS WILL BE ABLE TO ENTER THE TRNC WITHOUT A VISA”Speaking on news channel NTV yesterday, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas said that the closed area of Maras (Varosha) would soon be opened to settlement for both Turkish and Greek Cypriots. He also said that the TRNC would soon move to allow Greek citizens to visit the TRNC without a visa, following a similar action earlier this year for the Greek Cypriots. Touching on the island’s future, Denktas said that he would not restart negotiations with the Greek Cypriot administration if it failed to recognize the TRNC as a state, adding that he would continue to strive to raise the standard of living of the TRNC citizens to that of the Greek Cypriots. Asked what he would do should he lose December’s presidential elections, Denktas said that he could resign. Later speaking at an opening ceremony of a university, Denktas said that the Cyprus issue was at a very critical stage, adding that he welcomed Ankara’s continued support. /Aksam/[12] EDELMAN VISITS ISTANBUL MAYOR GURTUNA, DISCUSSES IRAQ TROOP DEPLOYMENTUS Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman yesterday visited Ali Mufit Gurtuna, the mayor of the Greater Municipality of Istanbul. Speaking after the meeting, Edelman said that if Parliament approves a just-proposed motion on Turkey sending troops to Iraq, he believed these forces would contribute greatly to Iraq’s stability. He added that the US administration respected Turkey’s democratic decision-making process. Later, Edelman visited Muammer Guler, the governor of the province of Istanbul. /Star/[13] SIMITIS: “PROGRESS ON CYPRUS AEGEAN ISSUES IS NEEDED FOR TURKEY’S EU ACCESSION TO GO FORWARD”Meeting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Rome over the weekend, Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis warned that without progress on the Cyprus and Aegean issues, his country would not approve starting Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union at the end of 2004. The EU is set to review Turkey’s accession progress at its December 2004 summit and decide on starting the talks at that time. In related news, there are reportedly efforts to add a “Warning on Cyprus” to the final statement out of this December’s EU summit. The warning would reportedly say that a lack of progress on a Cyprus settlement would endanger the start to Turkey’s talks. /Hurriyet/[14] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…[15] THE AKP’S 10% THRESHOLD DILEMMA BY SEDAT ERGIN (HURRIYET)Columnist Sedat Ergin writes on Turkey’s system of requiring a party to win a minimum of 10% of the votes in an election for it to be represented in Parliament. A summary of his column is as follows:“The most important outcome of last week’s focus on the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) is that it once again highlighted the unfairness of the 10% threshold. Not the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) but rather its overwhelming majority in Parliament should be questioned. This is a question of our representative democracy. Due to the 10% threshold, last November approximately 15.8 million votes out of a total of 32.8 million cast were effectively thrown into the wastebasket. This is a wrongheaded and unfair practice which stymies the national will. Although the AKP won just one-third of the total votes, this translated into a two- thirds parliamentary majority. There is a serious lack of proportion between these two numbers. This situation spotlights a crisis of representation in our Parliament. The threshold constitutes an impediment to the national will, which is why I believe it’s high time that Ankara reconsider our election system. Moreover, the European Union is very likely to put pressure on Ankara to do so as well. We all know that on previous occasions EU circles have conveyed to Ankara their concerns about the threshold. Moreover, the EU Commission is likely to add a sentence to its Turkey Progress Report due out early next month stating that the threshold prevents a significant number of votes from being represented in our Parliament. It’s clear that as we’re trying to join the EU such a high threshold should be abandoned. The highest threshold among the current EU members is Germany’s 5%. It’s not difficult to see that this discussion will soon rise to the top of Ankara’s agenda. The AKP, which has accepted EU membership as its priority, will have to take concrete steps on this issue. Here lies a dilemma for our government: If the threshold is lowered, the AKP will be forsaking an important advantage which brought it to power single-handedly in the last elections. Therefore, this will be an important test for the credibility of the AKP’s democratization 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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