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Turkish Press Review, 05-05-24Turkish 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 morning24.05.2005FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNSCONTENTS
[01] ARINC TO VISIT THE USParliament Speaker Bulent Arinc is due to leave for the US today to pay an official visit. Arinc is expected to meet with US House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert and other high-level officials in Washington. After completing his contacts there, Arinc is set to proceed to Chicago, and return to Turkey on Sunday. /Star/[02] GUL TRAVELS TO SWEDENForeign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday traveled to Sweden to attend the NATO-Europe-Atlantic Partnership Council Security Forum. Before his departure, at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport, Gul told reporters that the meeting would be the first order of business and he would then meet with his counterparts of the member countries during working dinners and panels. In addition, Gul, accompanied by State Minister Guldal Aksit, will attend a panel on women’s rights in Stockholm today. /Turkiye/[03] PERES OFFERS SUPPORT TO TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIPIsraeli Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres yesterday offered full support to Turkey’s European Union membership bid. Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, who is currently visiting Israel to attend a meeting of the Socialist International, met with Peres. Their talks reportedly focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as Turkey’s EU membership bid. Peres said that Turkey must join the Union, adding that he was ready to talk with European leaders and to lobby to convince them on the matter. After his contacts in Tel Aviv, Baykal arrived in Ramallah in the West Bank and visited the tomb of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. /Aksam/[04] MERKEL’S POSSIBLE RISE IN GERMANY CAUSES CONCERN IN ANKARAAnkara is concerned with Sunday’s decision in Germany to hold early elections. After the polls expected this fall, Turkey will face a difficult period on its road to European Union membership if the Christian Democrats led by Angela Merkel come to power. Merkel is known for her opposition to Ankara’s EU membership, as she has proposed a “special partnership” rather than full membership. Commenting on the matter, Gul said that the elections in Germany would not affect Turkey’s EU membership process. “Turkey’s relations are not with parties but with states,” added Gul. /Turkiye/[05] “YES” CAMPAIGN WORKS TO CONVINCE FRANCEEuropean leaders are looking for ways to convince France to accept the European Union Constitution. The EU Constitution was prepared after long years of effort and will face its most difficult test yet next Sunday in France in a referendum. According to the latest public opinion polls, 52% of the French people don’t favor the Constitution, and so its supporters are working to promote it. As part of promotional campaigns, there are posters in Rome, Italy, saying, “The EU Constitution belongs to everybody,” and Italian Leftist Democrats have called on Romans to send e-mails encouraging their French friends to support the Constitution. In addition, many EU leaders are actively supporting these “yes” campaigns. German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder, who recently suffered a heavy election defeat in his country, and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski visited Paris last week to lend support to the “yes” campaign. Schroeder will visit France again this Thursday to participate in the “yes” meeting of socialists in Toulouse. The same day, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is expected to visit Lille, France. Those favoring the “no” campaign are also generally against Turkey’s EU membership. /Cumhuriyet/[06] US DIPLOMAT: “WE WILL OVERCOME THE TRNC’S ISOLATION”Speaking to Greek daily Kozmas Tu Ependiti, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicolas Burns said the Turkish Cypriot nation had showed tremendous political will by saying yes to reunification in last year’s referendum. “The US’ policy of ending the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is clear,” he added. “Our new policy is going into practice. We recognize the Greek Cypriot administration in the diplomatic sense. We’ve started to establish economic relations with the Turkish side. Our businessmen have started initiatives on this issue. We’ve started to bring Turkish Cypriot students to the US, just like we brought Greek Cypriots before. We’re working to reunite the island. Of course we also support those in the north who favor this reunion.” /Cumhuriyet/[07] TURKEY TO ESTABLISH INTERVENTION FORCE WITH ROMANIA, ITALYThe European Union is expanding its project for battle groups which can intervene anywhere in the world. Under this project, Turkey decided to participate in a joint battle group with Italy and Romania. After the group begins operations, Turkish soldiers will participate in EU military operations. The letter of intent for the establishment of this group was signed by Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul in Brussels yesterday. With this letter, Turkey will start preparations starting next year and the battle group will become operational in 2009. /Milliyet/[08] AGAR TO SELECT DYP ADMINISTRATIVE STAFFTrue Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Agar will shape his party’s leadership this week. The General Administration Council (GIK) will hold its first meeting on Tuesday. Four deputies recently resigned from the DYP after Agar shut them out of party leadership positions. The general administration board consisting of 13 members will also be elected by the GIK. /Hurriyet/[09] TURKEY SENDS HUMANITARIAN AID TO GEORGIATurkey has sent two truckfulls of humanitarian aid to Georgia to help those suffering from last month’s flood disaster. At the Georgian government’s request and with Turkish Red Crescent help, two trucks carrying over 17 tons of food and 10 packages of water purification tablets left Ankara for Georgia yesterday. /Hurriyet/[10] NETHERLANDS COMMANDER VISITS TURKEYNetherlands Land Forces Commander Gen. Marcel Urlings, visiting Turkey yesterday, met with his Turkish counterpart Yasar Buyukanit. The two top commanders remarked that the two countries had friendly relations and good military cooperation and agreed to further develop these ties. /Star/[11] ANTALYA HOSTS CoE PARLIAMENTARIANS’ ASSEMBLY MEETINGThe Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentarians’ Assembly Economic Affairs and Development Commission meeting began in Antalya yesterday. Speaking at the gathering, commission Chairman Evgeni Kirilov praised Ankara’s recent reforms on the road to European Union membership. Stressing that Turkey was a CoE member which had always acted with responsibility and altruistically, Kirilov said that during the gathering, Turkey’s recent situation would be taken up. Also addressing the meeting, head of the Turkish delegation and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Eskisehir Deputy Murat Mercan remarked that over the last three years, Turkey had marked very positive economic developments through wise policies, adding that Ankara would move ahead decisively on the road to EU membership. /Turkiye/[12] HAYDARPASA STATION ADDS GERMAN HISTORYA plaque in German telling the history of Istanbul’s Haydarpasa Station, which was constructed by the German Anatolian-Baghdad Company in 1906 and came into service in 1908, was unveiled yesterday after Turkish State Railways (TCDD) Deputy General Director Erol Inan and German Ambassador in Turkey Wolf-Ruthart Born cut the ribbon. Noting that the brief history located at the entrance of the station had been in Turkish and English only, Inan said, “We wrote a brief history in German at the entrance upon Born’s request.” /Milliyet/[13] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[14] TURKEY, SPAIN AND THE EUROPEAN UNION BY ILTER TURKMEN (HURRIYET)Columnist Ilter Turkmen comments on similarities between Turkey and Spain’s European Union membership bids. A summary of his column is as follows:“Last week I took part in a conference jointly organized by Sabanci University’s Istanbul Policies Center and the research centers of two European universities in Madrid. The most striking issue that came up at this meeting was the problems that Spain had faced during its own EU membership talks. A number of Spanish participants underlined interesting similarities between Turkey and Spain as they shared their experiences with us. First of all, both countries have a legacy of once-great empires. As Spain cannot ignore Latin America in its policies, Turkey cannot turn a blind eye to the Middle East. Both countries’ foreign policies are multidimensional. As some now question whether or not Turkey belongs in Europe, fierce debates were once seen on whether Spain is European. Once, Spain was a Mediterranean country in the eyes of most Europeans. They believed that Europe ended at the border of Spain. In addition, Spain was also hanging under the threat of terrorism like Turkey today, and it also had to deal with double standards on this issue. The Francisco Franco dictatorship plunged the country into complete isolation in the post-World War II period. After Franco died in 1975, Spain’s transition to democracy was difficult and painful. Even after negotiations began with Brussels in 1979, the Spanish military attempted a coup d’etat in 1981. In that period, the Copenhagen criteria had yet to be fully conceptualized but there was the essence of some basic principles. Spain signed a number of United Nations conventions on personal, political, economic and social rights. The country then normalized its relations with most countries, and it was forced to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Negotiations were very tough. However, they came to a happy ending in 1986 with the support of then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. In an economic sense, there are both similarities and differences between Turkey and Spain. Today our country’s national per capita income is approximately 30% of the European average. Spain’s was about 68% before it joined the bloc. However, there are certain structural similarities between the two countries. Agriculture was a very important problem to Spain, which on the other hand had to struggle with high inflation. Spain was largely dependent on foreign countries for energy. Trade and payments deficits plagued the country for a long time. In addition, the financial structures of its industrial institutions were weak, and the banking system was fragile. Today, Spain seems to have overcome all of these problems. Spain has been fully integrated into Europe. The Spanish participants yesterday also underlined that a ‘no-concession’ policy on the Turkish side during accession talks would harm us very much. According to them, Turkey must not seek reciprocity on every issue. Ankara should be ready to compromise with Brussels. Ultra-nationalism can never fit with the EU principles. As Francois Mitterand once said, ‘Nationalism means war.’ EU membership talks might be hard to handle, but it’s much better to be a part of the bloc than shut out of it. Today Spain is the most enthusiastic advocate of the European project. It approved the EU Constitution by a single referendum without causing any problems to Brussels. It’s very important for nations to learn the necessary lessons from their pasts.” [15] SAILING AGAINST THE WIND BY CUNEYT ARCAYUREK (CUMHURIYET)Columnist Cuneyt Arcayurek comments on the policies of the government and Mehmet Ali Talat on the Cyprus problem. A summary of his column is as follows:“My headline today is a summary of the policies applied by the government and TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat to the Cyprus problem. The new laws put in force by the Greeks hold the Turks at bay and show that they are sailing against the wind. The Turkish Cypriots thought that by finding a new leader, namely Talat, they would overcome their obstacles. The general idea was that to overcome difficulties under the leadership of Talat, they should first get rid of longtime President Rauf Denktas. Now Denktas is gone, but the Turkish Cypriots face new problems with each passing day. Talat, in an interview with a Greek newspaper, said ‘Please believe that we want Cyprus to be reunited.’ Another subject is: 32,000 Turkish Cypriots got passports from the Greeks. However the Greeks gave these passports for another reason. Now the Greek Cypriot leadership says to these Turks, ‘If you are Greek Cypriot citizens, then it’s not legal for you to live on property which belongs to the Greeks, so you should go to court.’ The cases against Turks said to be using Greek property rises every day, and the warning Talat made to the Geeks is very amusing: He says, ‘You will risk free movement.’ But who cares? Besides, it also became obvious that the government in Ankara doesn’t take Talat very seriously either. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan started contacts about the Annan plan in Moscow, and Talat was shocked when he heard this. The upshot is that both the Greeks and the government in Ankara are playing with Talat. Denktas who was against a resolution, is gone now. But developments cannot be made with Talat, who is ready for every solution, 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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