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Turkish Press Review, 05-06-13Turkish 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 morning13.06.2005FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNSCONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN VISITS ANTALYAPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by Forestry Minister Osman Pepe, Education Minister Huseyin Celik and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler visited Antalya over the weekend for a series of opening ceremonies. After opening of the Kepez Municipality building, Erdogan attended inauguration of a seven star Rixos Premium Hotel in Belek. /Star/[02] AKP DEPUTY VISITS ARMENIATurhan Comez, Balikesir deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), who is carrying out contacts in neighboring Armenia, yesterday met with French Ambassador Henry Cuny in Yerevan. During their talks, Cuny said that some 20-25 Turkish students who can speak French might study at the French University in Yerevan and Armenian students studying at the French University could go to a Turkish University as part of a student exchange program. Comez the first Turkish parliamentarian to visit Armenia also met with Ghiro Manoyan of the nationalist Dashnaksutiun Party. He said the meeting was unofficial and pointed to the importance of exchanging views. Manoyan said it was the first time he had met with a Turkish politician, adding that he was hopeful that two nations could live in peace. /Turkiye/[03] ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO BE SIGNED TODAYThe foreign ministers of the European Union member countries are expected to sign the additional protocol which will extend the Customs Union to 10 new members today in Luxembourg. The foreign ministers will sign the additional protocol of Turkey’s Ankara Agreement that will extend the country’s Customs Union to 10 new EU countries including the Greek Cypriot administration. Ankara is expected to declare that although it accepts the protocol, this would not mean that Turkey officially recognizes the Greek Cypriot administration. /Hurriyet/[04] BAYKAL TRAVELS TO SPAINOpposition Republican of People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal yesterday traveled to Madrid, Spain, to attend a Socialist International meeting for presidential election. In addition, Baykal spoke to the NTV news canal over the weekend. Commenting on recent headscarf dispute, Baykal said, “If the president wore a headscarf, no one would be able to walk without one.” Stressing that a woman wearing a headscarf may be elected as the president, the CHP leader said, “But, Turkey needs to decide where it wants to go.” He also called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to keep country far from such crisis, adding that new president should be elected by a new Parliament formed after early elections that can be carried out next year. /Star/[05] GREEK CYPRIOTS OPPOSES EU’S DIRECT TRADE WITH THE TRNCEU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn yesterday met with Turkish and Greek Cypriot officials on Cyprus to discuss the issue of a possible EU’s 256-million euro financial aid to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) which was previously blocked by the Greek Cypriots. During his visit, Rehn held talks with Greek Cypriot leader Tasos Papadopoulos and TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat. The meetings focused on the issue of EU’s direct trade with the TRNC, which Brussels decided to initiate last year but was never implemented because of the Greek Cypriot opposition. Weekend’s meetings also ended in failure because of excessive demands from the Greek Cypriots. For his part, Talat stated that his country is ready to resume peace talks if the Greek Cypriots meets the requests of the United Nations. /Hurriyet/[06] NSC SECRETARY-GENERAL: “TURKISH MILITARY FULLY ADOPTS THE COUNTRY’S EU STRATEGY”In an interview with Greek daily To Vima, National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Yigit Alpogan remarked that the Turkish military fully adopts Turkey’s European Union membership strategy, denying the rumors that the military opposes Turkey’s EU membership bid because it wants to keep its ‘special’ position in the country. “Such rumors don’t reflect the views of the Turkish military,” he said. He also added that the Dutch and French no to the EU constitution would not affect Turkey’s EU membership bid, stressing that everybody should focus on Oct. 3 when Ankara’s official membership talks are set to begin. /Hurriyet/[07] KOEHLER: “TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP TALKS SHOULD BE OPEN-ENDED”German President Horst Koehler yesterday the European Union should remain committed to its agreements with Turkey but the country’s membership negotiations should be open-ended. “Only a small part of Turkey is in Europe,” said Koehler. “There are major cultural differences. The understanding of rule of law and the position of women are also different in Turkey, and it takes long time to change dominant mentalities.” /Milliyet/[08] SWEDEN’S PRINCESS TO VISIT TURKEYSweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is set to arrive in Turkey today to have talks with officials in Ankara and Istanbul. During her four-day contacts, Victoria is expected to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and State Minister Ali Babacan. In addition, the Princess, accompanied by Swedish businessmen, will attend a seminar on Swedish Investment. /Turkiye/[09] ENVIRONMENTALISTS PROTEST BUSY OIL TRAFFIC IN BOSPHORUSMaritime traffic in Bosphorus halted for an hour over the weekend as some 1, 000 boats carrying Turkish environmental activists clogged the waterway in a demonstration against the passage of oil tankers. The protesters brandished banners reading, "Let's join hands to protect the Bosphorus" and "I love Istanbul" as the boats sounded their sirens. Three gliders accompanied the marine procession from the air. Increasing traffic through the Boshporus, particularly of tankers carrying dangerous cargo, has recently forced Turkey to step up safety measures and impose restrictions. /Milliyet/[10] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[11] BAYKAL TO EXHAUST AKP BY MURAT YETKÝN (RADIKAL)Columnist Murat Yetkin comments on presidential elections to be held in Turkey in a couple of years. A summary of his column is as follows:“Even if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t want to bring the issue on the agenda, the presidential election started to be discussed. These discussions started early, but they did. Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal started these discussions. Maybe he started to focus on this issue, as he thought that this is Erdogan’s weak point. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s term in office will end on May 16, 2007. In other words, there are nearly two years for elections. However, the discussion deriving from the possibility of holding general elections on November 2007 is climbing the tension already. It has a couple of reasons. Firstly, although the presidency is perceived as symbolic in terms of using the state’s authority, it’s considered the head of the executive branch in Turkey. Each assertive politician would like to live in the Presidential Palace one day. Great and harsh political discussions were made before every presidential election in this country. Secondly, this presidential election started to force Turkey to think of the symbolic characteristic of presidency. Speaking to the CNN Türk channel yesterday, Baykal said, ‘Presidency is a very important office both constitutionally and symbolically. The picture reflected by presidency as a symbol is very important.” Thirdly, this time we also started to walk on ideological fault lines. The Republic’s principle of secularism started to be discussed in relation with wearing headscarves under the discussions on presidential elections. The assumption that Erdogan would certainly want to become a president lies under this. This is the only reason for political, administrative, legal and militarily lobbies in Ankara to reduce the political equation to the presidential election. Baykal said he wouldn’t want to personalize the issue for Erdogan, but he added that this is a very basic discussion about Turkey’s future. ‘Where is Turkey going? Will it be a country where women can freely walk on streets without wearing a headscarf in 25 years? I’m not against headscarves, but I’m against formalizing it,’ he said. Erdogan previously said, ‘There will be no early election. Parliament will elect the president. He shouldn’t tire himself.’ Replying to Erdogan, Baykal said, ‘It’s not important if I get tired or not. We should be tired, so Turkey doesn’t get tired. Presidential election will be a source of tension. A statesman who wouldn’t want to tire his country should think of it.’ Baykal wants to spoil the competitive balances within the AKP with a new election and ensure that the government’s political power will be too long to increase the exhaustion. He also wants to strengthen his strategy with new alliances. Politics is gradually focusing on presidential elections.” 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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