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Turkish Press Review, 05-06-07Turkish 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 morning07.06.2005FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN FLIES TO WASHINGTONPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left Turkey for Washington yesterday. Erdogan will hold contacts with US President George W. Bush, UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan and Robert Pollock, an editor at the Wall Street Journal. Pollock was criticized earlier this year by the Justice and Development Party for describing Turkey as a “sick man” in a column on Turkish-US relations. Ankara considers these visits important opportunities to improve relations with the US, which have been tense in recent years, and to refresh the friendship. /Sabah/[02] GUL TRAVELS TO USForeign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday traveled to the US to hold a series of contacts and to accompany Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to the country. Before his departure at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport, Gul told reporters that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government was pursuing a sound and coherent policy on Cyprus. If previous governments had followed our policy, the Greek Cypriots would not have been a member of the European Union now, and Turkish Cypriots would have been in a better position, said Gul. He stressed that Ankara placed importance on furthering Turkey’s relations with the US. Asked about the PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, Gul stated that he would urge US officials to cooperate in ending the presence of terrorists in the region. /Star/[03] UN’S PRENDERGAST MEETS WITH GUL OVER CYPRUSAfter completing his contacts in Cyprus and Greece, United Nations Undersecretary-General for Foreign Affairs Kieran Prendergast yesterday arrived in Ankara. Prendergast met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and other high-level foreign ministry officials to exchange views on the Cyprus issue. He is expected to report on his talks to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. /Turkiye/[04] YUSHCHENKO IN ANKARAUkraine’s new President Victor Yushchenko arrived in Ankara yesterday for an official visit. First he met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Following the meeting, Erdogan said that they had discussed political, economic, military, commercial and cultural issues. Erdogan added, “Ukraine and Turkey have no problems with each other. Turkish contractors have a great many investment in Ukraine. The trade volume between the two countries totals $3 billion. Some 300,000 Ukrainian tourists visited our country last year. Today we discussed what we could do in such areas as energy and transportation. Ukraine, which has a unique situation particularly in terms of space research, is planning joint investments with Turkey. In addition, we are hoping we can act together on infrastructure and superstructure issues.” In addition, a Commercial and Economic Cooperation Protocol was signed with State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oley Rybachuk. Yushchenko will meet with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer at the Cankaya Presidential Palace today to discuss bilateral political and economic relations and regional issues. /Cumhuriyet, Türkiye/[05] GEN. BASBUG: “THE TURKISH NATION EXPECTS CONCRETE STEPS FROM THE US”Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said yesterday that Ankara and the US had common points in the fight against terrorism, but that they were not as one in their stance regarding the PKK. Speaking to a gathering of the American-Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington, Basbug stated that Turkish people were looking for steps to be taken by the US against the terrorist PKK militants in northern Iraq. /Turkiye/[06] BABACAN MEETS WITH IMF DELEGATIONState Economy Minister Ali Babacan yesterday met in Ankara with a visiting International Monetary Fund delegation led by Turkish Desk Chief Lorenzo Giorgianni. Babacan was accompanied by Treasury deputy undersecretaries at the meeting, during which macroeconomic developments, monetary and budget policies and structural reforms were discussed. As part of its contacts in Turkey, the IMF delegation arrived in Istanbul last Wednesday. The delegation is expected to discuss the latest economic developments, improvements in structural reforms and the completion of the review in Ankara with officials from the public sector. /Aksam/[07] C-17 CARGO PLANES START LANDINGS AT INCIRLIKIn the wake of the Cabinet’s decision to approve an annual extension of Turkish permission for the use of Incirlik Airbase, C-17 cargo planes belonging to the US Air Force have started to land at the airbase. Incirlik Air Headquarters officials said that four C-17 cargo planes landed at Incirlik late last week. They added that logistic supply materials such as tents, food, drinks, clothes and spare parts would be transferred to Iraq and Afghanistan through Incirlik. /Aksam/[08] EARTHQUAKE HITS EASTERN ANATOLIAAn earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale followed by at least 10 aftershocks yesterday hit the Karliova region of the eastern Anatolian city of Bingol. The tremor caused panic among people in the region and injured some 50 people, said officials. /Hurriyet/[09] ANKARA UNIVERSITY PLANS CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONSAfter a conference at Istanbul’s Bogazici University to debate and question Turkey’s official stance on the so-called Armenian genocide allegations was canceled last month, Ankara University has stepped into the breach. Ankara University Rector Nusret Aras said that the university would organize a conference entitled “The Historical and Political Situation in the Armenian Incidents.” Aras said, “We see this as our task. We will invite people holding divergent opinions.” Stating that the conference participants have not been determined yet, Aras added, “Ankara University is qualified to examine historical issues. As our university can bring together qualified people, I hope we can give some resolution to this complex issue.” /Milliyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[11] THE ANKARA-DAMASCUS-WASHINGTON TRIANGLE BY ERDAL SAFAK (SABAH)Columnist Erdal Safak comments on relations between Ankara, Syria and Washington. A summary of his column is as follows:“There’s no doubt that the most thorny issue in this week’s talks between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George Bush, and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul with his counterpart Condoleezza Rice, will be relations with Syria. Vis-a-vis the US administration, which wants Turkey to exert pressure on Syria, Ankara is following an exactly opposite stance. Moreover, Turkey’s frequent visits to Damascus of late have weakened the isolation policies of the US, France and the United Nations. One of Turkey’s friends in the US Congress, Robert Wexler, openly told Erdogan last week that the White House feels uneasy over this situation. ‘Turkey continues its relations with Syria despite the international front that aims to exert pressure on Syria,’ he said. ‘However we want Turkey to have its place on this common front.’ Syria is cornered. I can even say that in the psychological state it’s in, it could blow itself up together with everybody around it. It’s like a suicide bomber. A handful of Syrian Baath Party, army, and secret service administrators are risking everything to preserve their positions. Last week’s assassination of Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, just like Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in broad daylight and in the center of Beirut, shows how seething Syria is. This murder is an indication that Syria has withdrawn from Lebanon only on the surface, but that that its secret service El Muhaberat is continuing its activities. On the same day that Kassir was murdered, Nakshibendi Sheik Masuk El Haznevi was found dead. On the days that coincided with these murders, the missile test conducted by Syria must be seen as part of Damascus’ challenge. As you probably know, on May 27, Syria launched three missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Parts from one of these missiles landed in the Turkish villages of Hatay’s Mahmutlar and Golbasi. The missile broke up into pieces in the Turkish skies, and this was done deliberately. The fools in Damascus were tying to say before Erdogan’s US visit: ‘If you join the front against us, Syria will break with you too.’ But what was strange was that Turkey accepted the apology of Damascus, which said that this happened ‘accidentally,’ and closed the subject. But for example, if Greece had conducted a similar test and its missiles fell on Edirne or Izmir, would we have remained so silent? The US is not so mistaken in its suspicions over Ankara’s relations with Syria.” 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 |