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Turkish Press Review, 05-05-10Turkish 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 morning10.05.2005FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…CONTENTS
[01] SEZER VISITS PORTUGALPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday traveled to Lisbon to pay an official visit at the invitation of his Portuguese counterpart Jorge Sampaio. Before his departure, Sezer told reporters that he would be reciprocating Sampaio’s September 2003 visit to Turkey, adding that Ankara placed great importance on Portugal’s support. The president is set to begin his official talks today with a meeting with Sampaio. /Star/[02] ERDOGAN ATTENDS VE DAY CELEBRATIONS IN MOSCOWWorld leaders including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday arrived in Moscow to participate in Victory in Europe Day ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II. About 50 world leaders including US President George W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev and United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan attended the parade held in Red Square hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Erdogan shook hands with Armenian President Robert Kocharian at the ceremonies, he also conveyed Turkey’s dissatisfaction to Putin and Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski over their parliaments’ recent recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide. “The UN may soon lead a new round of peace talks to reunite Cyprus,” said Erdogan at a press conference in Ankara upon his return from Moscow. “Annan said a new peace process can be launched, and I saw that the Greek Cypriot side wouldn't oppose this. We can hold more meetings on the issue with the secretary- general during a visit to the US in the first half of June.” /Hurriyet/[03] GUL: “A ‘NO’ VOTE IN EUROPE WOULDN’T AFFECT TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP”Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that results of the referendums on the European Union Constitution in certain European countries would not affect Turkey’s EU membership prospects. Speaking at a luncheon in Ankara with EU countries’ ambassadors and diplomats to mark May 9 European Day, Gul denied allegations that Ankara had slowed down in its efforts on the road to membership. “Our government will stick to the reform process to the end,” said Gul. Briefing the group about reforms to be implemented, Gul stated that Oct. 3, the date set for Turkey to begin accession talks, would be the beginning of a new era between Turkey and the EU. “Turkey is determined to be part of the future,” added Gul. /Turkiye/[04] GUL TRAVELS TO ROMANIAForeign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday traveled to Bucharest, Romania to attend the South East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) Eight Summit. Before his departure, Gul said that the gathering would focus on new ways to further cooperation in the region. He added that he would also be able to meet with his counterparts from Balkan countries. After completing his contacts in Romania, Gul is set to proceed to Kiev, Ukraine tomorrow. /Turkiye/[05] DERVIS RESIGNS FROM CHP, PARLIAMENT TO TAKE UN POSTOpposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul Deputy and newly confirmed head of the United Nations Development Program Kemal Dervis yesterday submitted his resignation to the Parliament Speaker’s. Office. Dervis, who is expected to address Parliament tomorrow, also met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to thank him for his support for the appointment. Stressing that he would officially begin his duty in August, Dervis said that he would represent Turkey during his term in office. /Sabah/[06] ITALIAN FM FINI: “THE EU NEEDS TURKEY, SO A FRENCH REJECTION OF THE CONSTITUTION SHOULD NOT IMPACT TURKEY”Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said that a possible French rejection of the draft EU constitution should not stop the bloc from opening membership talks with Turkey on Oct. 3. In an interview with the Financial Times, Fini reaffirmed that Italy is a "supporter of Turkey's EU membership bid," and suggested that the EU should press ahead with its plans. Fini said he was "rather optimistic" about the French referendum, stressing that even a French “no” should not deter Brussels from embracing Turkey. "In an effort to fulfill the EU criteria, Turkey has made radical changes,” Fini said. "Turkey is already part of NATO. It's a pillar of stability in its region. It's a major Muslim country. We can't say No just because they are Muslim. The accession of Turkey would be a sign of the full compatibility of Islam with democracy.” He pointed out that a further rejection from Europe could be seen as a push towards fundamentalism because Turkey is making great efforts to join the Union. In related news, the Italian Foreign Ministry has established a permanent Turkey desk with a ceremony attended by Fini and Turkey’s Ambassador to Rome Ugur Ziyal. Fini said that Italy regards Turkey as a strategic partner and wants to improve its relations with the country. /Aksam/[07] BRITISH AMBASSADOR WESTMACOTT: “TURKEY SHOULDN’T EXPECT PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT”British Ambassador to Ankara Peter Westmacott yesterday attended a panel titled “The Future of Turkish-EU Relations” at Parliament. Stressing that Turkey should not expect preferential treatment from Britain, which will take over the rotating EU presidency in June, Westmacott underlined that Ankara should accelerate its reform process to fulfill the criteria required by the Union. “Our friends might of course express their expectations from us,” he said. “However, the EU term president must be impartial. You should amend the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) as soon as possible.” /Milliyet/[08] TURKEY BOWS OUT OF CUSTOMS SUMMIT IN GREEK CYPRUSThe European Union Directorate General for Customs summit will be held this week in the Greek Cypriot city of Pafos. Turkey announced that it won’t send representatives since the summit will be held in southern Cyprus, which Ankara doesn’t recognize. The Customs Undersecretariat explained that it will not attend the meeting due to the problems on the island. /Milliyet/[09] FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…[10] WORLD WAR III BY ALI KIRCA (SABAH)Columnist Ali Kirca comments on the threat of a World War III. A summary of his column is as follows:“Do you think that World War II was the last world war? Since May 9, 1945, when the war officially ended, the world has experienced perhaps dozens of wars in which hundreds of thousands of people died. However, none of these wars were great and huge enough to be called a world war. Or were they? However, we spent our childhood under the shadow of the nightmare of ‘World War III.’ Everybody told us that this war could break out and bombs could land on us anytime. Since primary school, teachers taught us how to protect ourselves from a possible nuclear attack during civil defense lessons. In addition, this attack would be from the north, because we were surrounded by nuclear missiles. These fears weren’t limited to lessons at school. As we grew up, the dimension of these threats and dangers increased, or they were exaggerated. Certain crises which broke out from time to time scared us. For example, we thought the Cuban missile crisis between the US and Soviets Union interested us directly, or some people made us think so. This wasn’t enough: seasoned world statesmen warned us that communism would come this winter, or if not, next winter and of course with its missiles. Then one day the film ‘The Day After’ showed us the view of the disaster we would experience. Since time later, children who learned nuclear attack defense at school became journalists and watched summits in Reykjavik, Washington and London held by Gorbachev and Reagan concerning eliminating nuclear missiles, and learned that the fears of a World War III weren’t baseless. However, these journalists also learned that World War III was actually a groundless suspicion. On the scale of the nuclear terror balance, actually the danger of war was zero and some people grew rich and the cost of this was world hunger and poverty and the collapse of one world bloc. This was the story and nobody taught us this fact during the lessons for protecting ourselves against nuclear attacks. Maybe nobody will apologize for this. Nobody will do what German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder did for World War II for the nightmare of a World War III. Nobody will apologize like Schroeder in the name of the German people for the things done against the Russian people. Once, journalist Cetin Altan said, ‘Actually toothaches don’t happen on four feet. For example, lions and tigers don’t get toothaches. We, humans, stood up. Then the energy went to our brains and the consciousness of death began.’ Do you think this irrelevant? Haven’t you ever had a toothache?” [11] THE OCALAN CASE BY DERYA SAZAK (MILLIYET)Columnist Derya Sazak comments on the case of convicted terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan. A summary of his column is as follows:“The European Court of Human Rights will rule on the case of Ocalan this week. In the decision to be announced Thursday, it is expected to rule for a retrial of the terrorist leader. After Ocalan got the death penalty, and after the death penalty was abolished, in 2002, aggravated prison terms were applied. Because of the exception brought to cases that do not come to a conclusion in the European Court of Human Rights, (ECHR) the amnesty path to Ocalan was closed. For this reason, the appeal Ocalan’s lawyers made to ECHR was only accepted as an appeal to defend their client. Both Ocalan’s lawyers and the Turkish government opposed the decision of the Lower Chamber of the ECHR. In accordance with this opposition, decisions on Ocalan’s case file will be made by the Grand Chamber. The ECHR will propose that in order to observe the judicial proceedings, a ‘Commission of Delegates’ made up of European Council members will be formed. The Foreign Ministry favors abiding by the decision. The international rules of law make it necessary that the Ocalan case should be reopened. Also, the negotiation process with the European Union due to start this October is not expected to be affected negatively by the Ocalan case. After being tried as the murderer of 30,000 people, it is not likely that Ocalan will be acquitted this time either.” 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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