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Turkish Press Review, 04-10-21
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
21.10.2004
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH FRENCH OFFICIALS
[02] FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER: “IF TURKEY IMPLEMENTS THE EU’S CRITERIA, IT CAN BE A MEMBER”
[03] GUL: “TURKEY’S PATH TO THE EU SHOULD BE CLEAR”
[04] LAGENDIJK: “EUROPE’S DEFINITION OF MINORITY DIFFERS FROM TURKEY’S”
[05] FISCHER, REHN WEIGH IN FOR TURKEY’S EU BID
[06] TRNC GOVERNMENT RESIGNS
[07] EDELMAN: “SOME KURDISH GROUPS ARE TRYING TO ALTER KIRKUK’S DEMOGRAPHIC MAKEUP THROUGH FORCE”
[08] NSC TO CONVENE NEXT WEEK
[09] TURKEY TO TAKE OVER ISAF COMMAND NEXT FEBRUARY
[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[11] THE ISSUE OF MINORITIES BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)
[01] ERDOGAN MEETS WITH FRENCH OFFICIALS
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday began contacts in France as
part of his three-day visit to the country. Appearing on TV station France
3, Erdogan said that he had difficulty understanding the French public’s
hesitation at welcoming Turkey’s European Union membership. Stressing that
Ankara had enacted important reforms to harmonize to the Copenhagen
criteria and taken steps for their implementation, Erdogan said he expected
that the EU would recognize those efforts and open its door to Turkey. The
Turkish premier then met with French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
During their meeting, Sarkozy reportedly told Erdogan that President
Jacques Chirac would have the final word on Turkey beginning accession
talks. “Chirac has already made his decision,” added Sarkozy. That
statement was interpreted as a positive sign of France’s stance on the
matter. Following the meeting, Erdogan, accompanied by State Minister Ali
Babacan, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, Industry and Trade Minister Ali
Coskun, visited Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral. Addressing a meeting of
France’s International Affairs Institute, Erdogan said that even during its
most trying periods, Turkey had never lost its perspective on unifying with
the EU, adding that at the December EU summit, Ankara expected a date to
soon begin talks with the Union. /Turkiye/
[02] FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER: “IF TURKEY IMPLEMENTS THE EU’S CRITERIA, IT
CAN BE A MEMBER”
Speaking at a conference at Israel’s Tel-Aviv University yesterday, French
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said that Turkey’s majority-Muslim
population was not an obstacle to its joining the European Union.
Underlining that the EU was not a religious club, Barnier said, “Turkey is
a secular nation. Religion is not a criterion for the EU. We have other
criteria. If Ankara implements them, Turkey can become an EU member.” Asked
about Israel’s possibly joining the EU, the French minister said,
“Enlargement will continue.” Commenting on the controversial wall Israel is
building in the West Bank, Barnier charged that it was a violation of
international law. /Turkiye/
[03] GUL: “TURKEY’S PATH TO THE EU SHOULD BE CLEAR”
Turkey’s path to the European Union should be clear, said Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul yesterday at a gathering of Europe’s parliamentary Greens in
Istanbul. Gul said that Turkey’s EU integration process was progressing
steadily toward the target of full membership. “The decision made at the
Dec. 17 EU summit will be critical for setting the path of the Turkish-EU
integration process,” added Gul. /Hurriyet/
[04] LAGENDIJK: “EUROPE’S DEFINITION OF MINORITY DIFFERS FROM TURKEY’S”
Europe’s definition of minority is different from Turkey’s, Joost Lagendijk,
co-chairman of the Turkey-European Union Joint Parliament Commission, said
yesterday. Stating that there can be discussions between Turkey and the EU
about the subject, Lagendijk said that whether Turkey implements the EU’s
definition would be seen in five or six years. Lagendijk also said that he
also wasn’t satisfied with the expression “open ended” in the recent EU
commission report on Turkey. “This won’t influence the decision to be taken
on Dec. 17,” added Lagendijk, referring to the upcoming EU summit. “The
decision will be positive.” /Hurriyet/
[05] FISCHER, REHN WEIGH IN FOR TURKEY’S EU BID
Addressing a three-day parliamentary meeting of Europe’s Greens in Istanbul
yesterday, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer predicted that those who
oppose Turkey’s European Union membership today would later see the
futility of their position. “They will regret opposing Turkey’s EU bid,”
said Fischer, adding that he would do his best to promote Ankara’s bid. He
further called on the European Union Commission to set a date at the
December EU summit to begin Ankara’s accession talks. Also addressing the
gathering, incoming EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn praised
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. “In my country,
Ataturk is known as a symbol of Turkey’s modernization,” he said. Rehn also
praised the nation’s recent EU reforms, adding that its EU goal was
meaningful and that membership would be beneficial for Turkey and the Union
both. However Rehn predicted that Ankara’s accession talks could last for a
decade and be difficult and complex. /Milliyet/
[06] TRNC GOVERNMENT RESIGNS
The government of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) resigned
yesterday. President Rauf Denktas accepted the nine-month long Republican
Turkish Party (CTP) and Democratic Party (DP) coalition government’s
resignation, and is set to meet with former Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu
today to appoint him to form a new government. Eroglu will then be able to
attempt the formation of a new coalition government among the parties in
the 50-seat Parliament. “There will be efforts aimed at creating a majority
government, but we think this may not be quite possible,” Serdar Denktas,
chairman of the coalition’s junior partner, the DP, said yesterday.
“Therefore it looks more likely that there will be early elections by the
end of January.” The TRNC Constitution stipulates the holding of early
elections if a new government cannot be formed in 60 days. The resigned
government, chaired by Mehmet Ali Talat, will remain on duty up to the
establishment of a new one. /Turkiye/
[07] EDELMAN: “SOME KURDISH GROUPS ARE TRYING TO ALTER KIRKUK’S DEMOGRAPHIC
MAKEUP THROUGH FORCE”
Eric Edelman, US ambassador to Turkey, yesterday charged that some Kurdish
groups were using force to try to alter the demographic structure of the
northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, adding that the US was opposed to this.
Speaking at Erciyes University, Edelman said that Ankara, Washington and
Iraq’s interim government were all proceeding carefully on the issue of
Kirkuk, adding that they favored the country’s territorial integrity.
“Decisions on the city’s future will be made transparently,” added Edelman.
/Cumhuriyet/
[08] NSC TO CONVENE NEXT WEEK
The Natiomal Security Council (NSC) will convene on next Wednesday, a
meeting delayed by two days due to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
visit to France. Erdogan is expected to brief the gathering on his Tuesday
meeting with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder. /Milliyet/
[09] TURKEY TO TAKE OVER ISAF COMMAND NEXT FEBRUARY
NATO sources said yesterday that next February Turkey would take over the
command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan for six or eight months. Following Turkey’s commandership,
Italy, Britain and Spain are expected to command ISAF, which was
established to support the interim government in Kabul following the
collapse of the Taliban regime. /Aksam/
[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...
[11] THE ISSUE OF MINORITIES BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)
Columnist Taha Akyol comments on the concept of minorities. A summary of
his column is as follows:
“The European Union’s recent progress report on Turkey describes Kurds as
an ethnic minority and Alawites as a religious minority. The concept of
‘minority’ was removed through Ankara’s initiative, but the content of the
relevant paragraphs wasn’t changed. The problem concerns the term
‘minority.’ Meanwhile, a report was issued by the Prime Ministry’s Human
Rights Consultancy Council (BIHDK) which deepens the concept of minority.
Of course I agree with the elements of the report which defend personal
freedoms. In addition, the criticisms that sometimes the word ‘Turk’ is
used racially are correct. The BIHDK report defends the integrity of the
state with the country but it opposes its integrity with its nation. It
writes that the integrity of the nation is against the principle of modern
cultural diversity. This is absolutely wrong! The concept of the integrity
of the nation and cultural diversity are completely separate from each
other. For example, Spain accepted local autonomies constitutionally, and
the provision of ‘one and indivisible Spanish nation’ is included in
Article No. 2 of its Constitution.
The principle of the integrity of the nation is about public law. Different
ethnic and religious representations cannot exist, there is only one
national representation. Different public arrangements can’t be made in
line with ethnic and religious identities. There’s one official language,
the citizens’ common language of communications. The education system is
established in compliance with it and cultural pluralism isn’t the essence
of education, but a detail. In addition, people are free to express
different ethnic and religious identities and cultural diversity and
institutionalize them in foundations and associations. Just as in unitary
France, the state can assist local cultural institutions. The issue of
minorities has been a destructive security problem in the form of
‘intervention of a foreign country,’ and this problem could have been
solved in the Treaty of Lausanne. Of course times and conditions have
changed. However, the definition of ‘minority’ in our culture is based on
this historical experience. During our War of Independence, Turks, Kurds,
Alawites and Sunnis all fought as one, and our flag was the same and the
language of the state was Turkish, and nobody objected. Our official
language has been Turkish since the 1876 Constitution. The term ‘language
of the state’ means the official language, and not even the EU has objected
to this term. The War of Independence is a perfect basis. Now it’s not the
time to create minorities, but to expand liberal freedoms for all our
citizens within a unitary state.”
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