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Turkish Press Review, 05-09-08
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
08.09.2005
ERDOGAN, GUL TO ATTEND UN
MEETINGS IN NEW YORK
ARINC SENDS LETTERS TO
PARLIAMENTS WHICH RECOGNIZED SO-CALLED ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
FM SPOKESMAN: “THE US
OPERATION AGAINST TAL AFAR SHOULD DISTINGUISH
BETWEEN CITIZENS AND TERRORISTS”
EU MULLS RESPONSE TO
ANKARA’S DECLARATION ON CYPRUS
AGAR CRITICIZES GOVT’S
STANCE ON RECENT PKK PROVOCATIONS
UNAKITAN: “WE WON’T FORSAKE
BUDGET DISCIPLINE”
NGO SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON EU
TALKS
US GENERALS DUE IN ANKARA
TODAY TO DISCUSS TERRORISM
FROM THE COLUNMS... FROM
THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS
DISCUSSED AT THE NSC
BY MERIC KOYATASI (AKSAM)
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN, GUL TO ATTEND UN
MEETINGS IN NEW YORK
[02] ARINC SENDS LETTERS TO
PARLIAMENTS WHICH RECOGNIZED SO-CALLED ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
[03] FM SPOKESMAN: “THE US OPERATION
AGAINST TAL AFAR SHOULD DISTINGUISH BETWEEN
CITIZENS AND TERRORISTS”
[04] EU MULLS RESPONSE TO ANKARA’S
DECLARATION ON CYPRUS
[05] AGAR CRITICIZES GOVT’S STANCE
ON RECENT PKK PROVOCATIONS
[06] UNAKITAN: “WE WON’T FORSAKE
BUDGET DISCIPLINE”
[07] NGO SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON EU TALKS
[08] US GENERALS DUE IN ANKARA TODAY
TO DISCUSS TERRORISM
[09] FROM THE COLUNMS... FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS
[10] ISSUES DISCUSSED AT THE NSC
BY MERIC KOYATASI (AKSAM)
[01] ERDOGAN, GUL TO ATTEND UN
MEETINGS IN NEW YORK
A three-day summit of heads of state and
government will start next Wednesday in New York
to follow up on the UN Millennium Summit of
2000. Turkey will be represented by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul is also expected to attend to the
60th UN General Assembly meeting to be held at
month’s-end. /Star/
[02] ARINC SENDS LETTERS TO
PARLIAMENTS WHICH RECOGNIZED SO-CALLED ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
In letters sent this week to the parliaments
of 16 countries which have recognized the
so-called Armenian genocide, Parliament Speaker
Bulent Arinc said that there was nothing in
Turkey’s history to be ashamed of. Sweden,
Poland, Canada, Argentina, and Germany were
among these countries. Arinc stated that such
recognitions had disappointed Turkey. /Turkiye/
[03] FM SPOKESMAN: “THE US OPERATION
AGAINST TAL AFAR SHOULD DISTINGUISH BETWEEN
CITIZENS AND TERRORISTS”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik
Tan said that the US operation in Tal
Afar, Iraq should work to distinguish between
local residents and terrorists. Tan stated that
Turkey was working to help solve the situation
in the city, adding that Turkish officials had
conveyed Ankara’s sensitivities about the issue
and urged the US not to harm innocents living
there. In related news, the US Embassy in Ankara
issued a written statement, stressing that US
operations didn’t target a particular ethnic
group and that no chemical weapons were used in
the operations. /Turkiye/
[04] EU MULLS RESPONSE TO ANKARA’S
DECLARATION ON CYPRUS
The European Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER)
yesterday discussed its response to be given to
Turkey’s supplementary declaration on Greek
Cyprus. The debate focused on the issues of
recognition of Greek Cyprus vis-a-vis the Ankara
Protocol, but no consensus emerged from the
meeting. Amongst the clauses of a proposed
counter-declaration discussed in Newport, Wales
last week was: “The EU invites Turkey to legally
normalize its relationship with all Union
members.” This statement was not included in the
draft submitted to the committee by EU Term
President Britain, but was debated. But Greek
Cyprus, with the support of France, demanded
that the statement be included in the draft. And
Turkey tried to block at least the expression
“legally normalize” from the draft, which would
mean legal recognition. The second issue in the
debate was a section saying the protocol had to
be implemented to all member states completely.
/Milliyet/
[05] AGAR CRITICIZES GOVT’S STANCE
ON RECENT PKK PROVOCATIONS
Opposition True Path Party (DYP) leader Mehmet Agar yesterday
criticized the government’s stance against the
recent provocations of the terrorist group PKK,
calling for the nation to stay calm and act with
common sense. “The fight against the PKK is the
duty of security forces,” he said, adding that
no one but these forces needed to take the
initiative. Agar stressed that people needed to
co-exist peacefully. /Turkiye/
[06] UNAKITAN: “WE WON’T FORSAKE
BUDGET DISCIPLINE”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Finance Minister Kemal
Unakitan said that the government would not
forsake budget discipline, adding that the
interest rate pressure on the budget was still
high. “We don’t want to impose new taxes, so we
can’t raise tax revenues,” he said, adding that
expenditures could not also be reduced since
services shouldn’t be cut. “The only way is to
bring down interest, which requires fiscal
discipline,” he said. Unakitan said that last
month’s budget surplus was 195 million YTL and
that the primary surplus was 5.28 billion YTL.
/Cumhuriyet/
[07] NGO SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON EU TALKS
Tomorrow a summit of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will be held
in Ankara in the runup to Turkey’s European
Union negotiations expected to begin on Oct. 3.
The strategy to be followed in the talks will be
discussed at the summit, which will be hosted by
Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Ali Babacan. The
heads of 46 NGOs are expected to attend. After
the summit, proposals and points of view will be
evaluated. /Star/
[08] US GENERALS DUE IN ANKARA TODAY
TO DISCUSS TERRORISM
US Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. James Jones and US Central
Command Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Lance Smith
are expected to arrive in Ankara today for an
official visit. During their stay in Ankara, the
US generals are expected to discuss
anti-terrorist efforts and the terrorist PKK.
Turkish officials are expected to remind them of
the US administration’s commitments about the
PKK. In related news, before the generals arrive
in Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip was
briefed by his military advisor Gen. Bekir
Kalyoncu about the issue. /Turkiye/
[09] FROM THE COLUNMS... FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS
[10] ISSUES DISCUSSED AT THE NSC
BY MERIC KOYATASI (AKSAM)
Columnist Meric Koyatasi comments on issues discussed by the National
Security Council (NSC). A summary of his column
is as follows:
“Tension is rising due to the US, which wants
revenge for Turkey rejecting the deployment of
US soldiers for the Iraq invasion back in March
2003, as well as due to certain European Union
member countries willing to turn their back on
their promises to Turkey, and countries
supporting the terrorist PKK. Through laws
enacted for the EU concerning public order and
national security, our security forces were
weakened and this led to much criticism. Then,
when the news came that the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) would make a ruling on
retrying PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, again some
reasonable people issued necessary warnings.
When Turkey struggled against terrorism for many
years, it was hurt economically, too. Economic
activity particularly in the southeast was
crippled by terrorism, and resources spent for
public order rose.
When we were just about to say that terrorism
was finished and Turkey was starting to recover
economically and the state’s budget deficit was
falling, the PKK started to stir up an
atmosphere of ethnic conflict just one month
before the EU membership talks. In the past the
PKK used to target state security forces, but
now it’s trying to instigate Turkish-Kurdish
conflict. Can they succeed? Of course they could
stir up a conflict. However, such conflicts
would not lead to Ocalan’s release, or a
federation. Then we would suffer hard times just
when we were about to recover economically and
from the threat of terrorism. Of course,
meanwhile, our EU bid would be lost.
So many people have discussed these incidents
on newspapers and TV. Let’s say that the
government has fallen short on public order and
foreign policy. However, not only the
government, but also the state is responsible
for these issues. What was discussed and what
sorts of measures were decided on the National
Security Council (NSC) meeting chaired by the
president with army command participation every
month? Although people who are not even
strategists predicted these things months ago, I
wonder what the NSC members discussed?”
ARCHIVE
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