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Turkish Press Review, 06-02-23Turkish 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 morning23.02.2006FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...CONTENTS
[01] PRESIDENT SEZER VISITS BULGARIAPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer arrived in Bulgaria yesterday on an official two-day visit, reported the Anatolia news agency. Sezer and his Bulgarian counterpart, Georgi Pirvanov are expected to discuss bilateral economic and political ties and their countries’ efforts to join the European Union, the Bulgarian Presidential Office said. Turkey opened membership talks with the EU in October, while neighboring Bulgaria hopes to join the 25-nation bloc next January. /Turkish Daily News/[02] PM ERDOGAN: “WE TAKE NO NOTICE OF THE EU’S THREAT”Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday gave a sharp response to statements by Wolfgang Schussel, the foreign minister of European Union Term President Austria, saying he expected Turkish harbors to open to Greek Cypriot ships by the end of the year. “We don’t find it ethical to constantly push this matter even though it’s not part of the Copenhagen criteria, or the Maastricht criteria and it’s not on the agenda of Turkey’s accession to the European Union. We don’t say ‘yes’ to this,” said Erdogan. “We didn’t deceive the EU on the Annan plan. We acted absolutely honestly. The Greek Cypriot administration deceived them. Unfortunately, the Greek Cypriots got into the EU although they opposed the EU countries, and said, ‘We don’t want peace on the island,’ and the embargo remains on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). First they have to correct this mistake.” /Hurriyet/[03] GUL ADDRESSES PARLIAMENT’S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ON CARTOON CRISISAddressing Parliament’s Human Rights Commission yesterday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul commented on recent outrage in the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed, saying that such a crisis in a period marked by increased efforts to reconcile different cultures and societies clearly aimed at derailing these efforts. Gul stated that the freedoms of the press and expression were basic principles of democracies and open societies. “However, freedom of the press shouldn’t include attacks and insults on the religions of other people,” he said. “If the [European] leaders had been prudent, this crisis could have been prevented.” The foreign minister stressed that reactions to the cartoons were reaching a dangerous level, which was the aim of some circles. Gul added, however, that in any case such reactions shouldn’t include violence. /Star/[04] ANNAN INVITES GUL TO QATAR FOR ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS MEETINGUN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has invited Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to attend the Alliance of Civilizations meeting on Sunday to be held in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Annan yesterday invited the various sides of the cartoon crisis to Doha to discuss the furor and hold a joint press conference. /Sabah/[05] DANISH PRESS: “ANKARA WILL BE A MEDIATOR”Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s being asked to deliver the opening speech at an unofficial European Union foreign ministers meeting next month by European Union Term President Austria is being seen by the Danish press as “a mediation suggestion to Turkey to solve the recent cartoon crisis.” One newspaper wrote that the invitation is a big opportunity for Turkey to contribute to a solution to an EU crisis. “We have difficulty understanding the suggestion of the EU,” said Berlingske Tidende daily. /Milliyet/[06] ISRAELI AMBASSADOR: “GOOD RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WILL CONTINUE AS BEFORE”Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Pinhas Avivi yesterday spoke of “sound relations” between Turkey and Israel, saying that these relations would continue as they were before last week’s Hamas visit to Ankara. Pinhas stated that he believed the recent developments wouldn’t turn into a crisis and cited President Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s upcoming visit to Israel. Pinhas added that his contacts were continuing with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and other parties on the issue. “Diplomats should improve relations, not harm them,” he added. In related news, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that both the US administration and the Israeli government had been informed about the visit beforehand. “Hamas is a democratic party which won last month’s Palestinian elections and we needed to meet with it,” said Gul. /Turkiye/[07] HAMAS: “WE’LL BENEFIT FROM TURKEY’S EXPERIENCE”Hamas Political Bureau head Khaled Mashaal, currently in Iran to hold contacts, said yesterday that the newly elected government in Palestine would benefit from Turkey’s experiences, adding that Turkey’s government and cultural and economic development would all serve as examples for Hamas. “But a country benefits from democracy under its own particular conditions,” added Mashaal, who made a surprise visit to Ankara last week. /Aksam/[08] JORDAN’S QUEEN RAINA ARRIVES IN ISTANBULJordan’s Queen Rania El Abdullah yesterday arrived in Istanbul on a private plane for an unofficial visit. Queen Raina was welcomed by Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler’s wife Neval Guler, Deputy Governor Hasan Duran and Istanbul representative of the Foreign Ministry Fazli Kesmir at Ataturk Airport. /Cumhuriyet/[09] ITALIAN PM: “TAKE TURKEY AS AN EXAMPLE”Speaking to Al Jaazera television, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held up Turkey as an example to the Islamic world, saying, “The West is not your enemy. Respect is mutual. Believe in freedom and democracy.” Berlusconi said, “Look at Turkey. I personally wanted Turkey to be in the European Union. It quickly changes its laws or amends them. The future path of Islamic societies can follow Turkey’s lead.” /Hurriyet/[10] GREEK CYPRIOT VESSEL CAUSES CRISIS AT MERSIN PORTWhile the European Union’s calls for Turkey to open its harbors to Greek Cypriot ships continue, a Greek Cypriot-flagged container ship yesterday attempted to enter the port of Mersin without permission and caused consternation. After waiting for 13 hours, the ship was obliged by Ankara’s firm stance to leave Turkish territorial waters. /Cumhuriyet/[11] BABACAN MEETS WITH GREEK FMSpeaking yesterday before traveling to Greece to attend a meeting of southeastern European economy ministers, State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan said that changes to the current floating exchange rate could harm Turkey’s macroeconomic balances, adding that this could be very risky. “We shouldn’t look for a solution in the exchange rate,” he said. Later, Babacan met with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis to discuss a number of issues, including economic ties between the two countries. Though no statement was made following the meeting, Bakoyannis reportedly complained about Turkish and Greek military jets flying very close to each other. /Hurriyet/[12] FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...[13] THE WORLD SEES TURKS AS LAZY, CRAZY AND IGNORANT BY SEMIH IDIZ (MILLIYET)Columnist Semih Idiz comments on Turkey’s world image. A summary of his column is as follows:“Turkey’s international image is really terrible. A survey done by international marketing company GMI and brand expert Simon Anholt in 35 countries confirms this. According to the survey of 25,000 people, the ‘Turkey brand’ ranked lowest among other countries. Anholt explained the reason for this to CNN Turk with one word: ignorance. In sum, the world sees Turks as ignorant, lazy, poor, radical Islamist, crazy, barbaric and dangerous. Of course, these characterizations are all wrong and none of them suits us. However, we should accept that we do our best to feed these misunderstandings. Looking back three or four years ago, we see our success in the Eurovision song contest, the Formula One race in Turkey and the ‘Turks’ exhibition in London. However, such developments as the police beating women demonstrators, the disgrace during the football match with Switzerland and the trial of author Orhan Pamuk wiped away these gains. Thus, we came last on the list due to a handful of people who know nothing about the world and who profess to be fighting for Turkey’s honor. We’re now in Brussels to try to help for Turkey’s image. Our aim is to support the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts in getting this magnificent city selected the European Union’s ‘culture capital’ for 2010. The culture capital title was expanded to cover non-EU member European countries in 2005-2019 by a decision taken in 2000. Thus, Istanbul applied for it as well. Our only competitor is the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Kiev can’t even be compared with Istanbul under normal circumstances. However, according to sources here, Polish people told the Ukrainians that Turkey’s image is terrible and if you try for the title, you will win without a doubt. The jury will convene for a decision on March 14. The people pushing Turkey’s initiative are very hopeful. However, I’m afraid somebody will spoil this, because it’s very easy to create agitation in Turkey. Anyway, we should work hard, because we don’t deserve to come in last.” ARCHIVE The news and articles issued in the Turkish Press Review may be quoted from provided due acknowledgement is made. <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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