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Turkish Press Review, 03-12-12
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
12.12.2003
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN, GUL ATTEND EU SUMMIT IN BRUSSELS
[02] SCHOENBOHM: “THE EU SHOULD STOP APPLYING DOUBLE STANDARDS TO TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP BID”
[03] DENKTAS: “I HOPE MY FELLOW TURKISH CYPRIOTS WILL VOTE WITH COMMON SENSE”
[04] PAPADOPOULOS: “THE UN CYPRUS PLAN HAS MANY DEFICIENCIES WHICH MAKE A REFERENDUM ON IT IMPOSSIBLE”
[05] AS POLLS LOOM, TRNC AMBASSADOR CHARGES ULTERIOR MOTIVES IN UN CYPRUS PLAN
[06] TURKEY, GREECE TO OPEN 13 NEW AEGEAN AIR CORRIDORS
[07] GERMAN POLICE RAID HOMES OF BANNED EXTREMIST GROUP MEMBERS, LEADER
[08] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[09] SECURITY ISSUES BY FERAI TINC (HURRIYET)
[01] ERDOGAN, GUL ATTEND EU SUMMIT IN BRUSSELS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accompanied by Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul arrived yesterday in Brussels to attend the European Union’s
year-end summit. Erdogan, as part of his bilateral meetings, met separately
with his Belgian counterpart Gul Verhofstad plus Bertie Ahern, the prime
minister of incoming EU Term President Ireland. Erdogan also talked with
Silvio Berlusconi, the premier of the current president, Italy. Following
their meeting, Erdogan stated that he had expressed his views on topics
concerning Turkey set to be covered in the summit’s final declaration. He
said the declaration included positive elements, adding, however, that he
opposed a mention of “cultural rights” in southeastern Anatolia. In
addition, Gul met with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen.
He told reporters that their talks had focused on Turkey’s recent reforms
and the Cyprus issue. /All Papers/
[02] SCHOENBOHM: “THE EU SHOULD STOP APPLYING DOUBLE STANDARDS TO TURKEY’S
MEMBERSHIP BID”
Wulf Schoenbohm, Turkey representative of the Konrad Adanauer foundation,
said yesterday that he believed Turkey could solve the problems that have
held back its European Union membership, adding however that it might take
15 years for its bid to go through completely. Addressing a conference on
Ankara’s EU bid, Schoenbohm said that Turkey was more developed than the 10
countries due to join the EU next spring. “I can’t understand why these
countries will be part of the EU before Turkey,” he said. “The Union should
cease applying double standards to Turkey.” /Turkiye/
[03] DENKTAS: “I HOPE MY FELLOW TURKISH CYPRIOTS WILL VOTE WITH COMMON
SENSE”
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas yesterday
received a delegation from the Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-
Sen) to discuss the TRNC’s general elections set for Sunday. During their
talks, Denktas said that he hoped his fellow Turkish Cypriots would vote
with common sense at the polls. Denktas himself is not up for re-election.
Touching on Ankara’s European Union membership bid, Denktas said that he
was not opposed to Turkey joining the EU, but added that violations of
international agreements should not be a part of this process. “The EU
shouldn’t make the Cyprus issue an obstacle to Turkey’s membership,” said
Denktas. He added that he opposed proposals to recall Turkish forces from
the island, saying their continued presence was vital. /Turkiye/
[04] PAPADOPOULOS: “THE UN CYPRUS PLAN HAS MANY DEFICIENCIES WHICH MAKE A
REFERENDUM ON IT IMPOSSIBLE”
Speaking yesterday before flying to Brussels to attend a European Union
summit, Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos said that the United
Nations’ Cyprus plan had many deficiencies, including security problems,
and so holding a referendum on the plan was out of the question. /Aksam/
[05] AS POLLS LOOM, TRNC AMBASSADOR CHARGES ULTERIOR MOTIVES IN UN CYPRUS
PLAN
The main target of the United Nations’ plan is to take Turkey out of Cyprus,
charged Ahmed Zeki Bulunc, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC)
ambassador to Turkey, yesterday. Echoing TRNC Prime Minister Serdar
Denktas’s recent statements on the issue, Bulunc said, “There are rich oil
beds between Turkey and the TRNC. These are very important for the United
States and the European Union.” In related news, TRNC political parties are
making their final campaign push in the countdown to Sunday’s parliamentary
elections. Among parties set to contend in the polls are the National Unity
Party (UBP), the Republican Turks Party-United Front (CTP-BG), the Peace
and Democracy Movement (BDH), and the Democratic Party (DP). /Star/
[06] TURKEY, GREECE TO OPEN 13 NEW AEGEAN AIR CORRIDORS
Following meetings in Paris coordinated by the International Civil Aviation
Organization, Turkish and Greek officials agreed yesterday to open 13 new
air corridors over the Aegean. Speaking to reporters, Foreign Ministry
Spokesman Huseyin Dirioz called the new arrangements important for ensuring
flight safety and order. Saying that the corridors in question would begin
to be used on Dec. 25, Dirioz added, “These arrangements will put an end to
longtime problems between our two countries.” /Hurriyet/
[07] GERMAN POLICE RAID HOMES OF BANNED EXTREMIST GROUP MEMBERS, LEADER
As part of a nationwide sweep, German police yesterday searched nearly 1,
200 apartments of members of Islamic militant Metin Kaplan’s group as well
as Kaplan’s own house. The raid was aimed against members of the Caliphate
State, a German-based group which seeks the overthrow of Turkey’s secular
government. Following the September 2001 attacks against the United States,
the German government banned the group. Many members were taken into
custody including the group’s leader, Metin Kaplan, a.k.a “Black Voice,”
the son of the late Cemalettin Kaplan. Metin Kaplan was released after
being questioned. German Interior Minister Otto Schily stated that the
operation was aimed at 1,000 militants defying the ban on the group.
/Sabah/
[08] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[09] SECURITY ISSUES BY FERAI TINC (HURRIYET)
Columnist Ferai Tinc comments on security issues concerning NATO, the
European Union and Turkey. A summary of her column is as follows:
“This weekend, general elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC) and the current European Union summit are both hogging the
spotlight. However, today I want to bring another issue to your attention.
If I hadn’t attended a recent meeting, I might have missed the importance
of two paragraphs in the draft European constitution set to be voted on at
the EU summit. Gen. Aydogan Babaoglu, the head of the General Staff’s
Planning and Principles Department, made an interesting speech at the 13th
International Security and Cooperation Conference in Antalya organized by
the Turkish Atlantic Council. When I remembered US Secretary of State Colin
Powell’s warning at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting last week in
Brussels, Babaoglu’s speech looms larger in importance. Powell warned the
EU not to establish a second security organization on a par with NATO.
Babaoglu said Turkey was being excluded in certain phases of NATO-European
Union relations as it’s not yet an EU member, adding, ‘Turkey should be
able to participate in EU mechanisms as a NATO member.’ As we see from the
speech, which stressed that non-EU NATO members shouldn’t be excluded from
security arrangements, the agreements between NATO and the EU aren’t
working as envisaged.
Turkey thinks that the EU-NATO agreements reached during Nice and enacted
in Copenhagen last year aren’t being practiced transparently. The Berlin
and Nice documents and Copenhagen agreements brought certain guarantees to
Turkey, ones to prevent its ‘exclusion,’ as Ankara was included in previous
European security policies as an observer. However, in Europe’s new era,
France and Germany have started to look for a more independent security
umbrella. The proposed EU constitution’s sections on security are being
closely followed by defense circles for this reason. Will this constitution
prepare a basis for the establishment of a second defense umbrella, one
excluding NATO? This is a question which the final document should answer.
This is not just a question, but also another problem for Ankara.”
ARCHIVE
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