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Turkish Press Review, 07-04-13Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning13.04.2007CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN: “DEADLINE FOR DECLARING THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IS APRIL 25 MIDNIGHT”Speaking yesterday after the General Assembly of the Turkish Agricultural Credit Center Union, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented on May’s presidential election. Asked about when the presidential candidate would be declared, Erdogan said that the deadline for declaring the candidate was April 25 midnight. Later, Erdogan met with his party’s deputies. Addressing the gathering, Erdogan stressed that his basic goal wasn’t to be elected president, but to raise the national income to $10, 000 and to create a livable country. He further stated that the person to be elected the president should embrace the whole nation. In related news, Erdogan commented the remarks of Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, saying that he spoke within democracy and law. “He made a speech which befits a statesman,” added Erdogan. /Milliyet/[02] GEN. BUYUKANIT: “CROSS-BORDER OPERATION WOULD BE BENEFICIAL”Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit yesterday said that the Kurdish leader Barzani’s recent remarks were very worthless and that an operation into northern Iraq was necessary. Stating that a cross-border operation would be beneficial, Gen. Buyukanit said, “There should be a political decision for a cross-border operation. Conducting a military operation out of Turkey’s borders, if it’s not within the context of NATO, is subject to the parliament’s approval. If this authorization will be given to us, we can do it and be successful.” Speaking at a press conference at the General Staff Headquarters, which he informed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan beforehand, Gen. Buyukanit gave important messages about terrorism, cross-border operation, and presidential election. Noting that the intelligence reports claiming that terrorism activities would rise in May, Gen. Buyukanit said northern Iraq is a training field giving logistical support to the PKK. Touching on the presidential election, Gen. Buyukanit said that he hoped that someone who is loyal to the principles of the republic, not just in words but also in essence, would be elected president. /Star/[03] BAYKAL: “BUYUKANIT SAID THAT ERDOGAN SHOULDN’T BE PRESIDENT”Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal yesterday spoke about Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit’s statements about the presidential election and said, “Chief of General Staff stated his views that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shouldn’t become president.” Baykal said, “This is surely not a memorandum. Chief of General Staff openly underlined that they didn’t want a president like Premier Erdogan.” Touching on Gen. Buyukanit’s remarks on Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani’s recent statement, Baykal said, “This is a clear and sharp expression of attitude against the US.” In related news, opposition Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) leader Erkan Mumcu said that Gen. Buyukanit’s statement about the presidential election was mature and serious. /Hurriyet-Cumhuriyet/[04] ARINC: “I’LL START THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, WHEN I SEE 184 DEPUTIES IN PARLIAMENT”Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc commented on approaching presidential election, saying that Parliament had been electing the president for 84 years and it wouldn’t share its authority with any person or institution. “Parliament is the symbol of democracy,” he said. “We are carrying out this duty on behalf of our nation. We’ll choose our 11th president on behalf of our nation.” Commenting on arguments that 367 deputies needed to be present in Parliament on the day when the first round of elections to be held, Arinc said that this claim was fully wrong, adding that the claim wasn’t only forcing the law, but also violating it. “When I see 184 deputies in Parliament on that day, I will start the election,” added Arinc. /Turkiye/[05] GUL, TALAT DISCUSS DIRECT TRADE REGULATIONTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday received Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Speaking afterwards, Talat stated that the steps to be taken by the European Union on Direct Trade Regulation would also contribute to a resolution on the island. He stressed that the EU should approve the regulation as soon as possible, adding that he was waiting for the EU to keep its promise. For his part, Gul said that the regulation became an issue of the EU, adding, however, that the TRNC wouldn’t lose anything if the EU approves the regulation or not. /Sabah/[06] US’ MCCORMACK: “IRAQIS AND TURKISH GOVERNMENT SHOULD COOPERATE IN ELIMINATING PKK THREAT”US Assistant of Secretary of State for Public Affairs Sean McCormack yesterday spoke about Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit’s recent remarks about a cross-border operation into northern Iraq and said, “Now, Turkey faces a real threat from the PKK,” and added, “It's a terrorist organization that has killed innocent Turkish citizens, and it's a problem that needs to be dealt with. The way we suggest it be dealt with is to have the Iraqis and Turkish Governments working together to try to eliminate this threat and we have lent our good offices to that effort in the form of retired General Joe Ralston, former SACEUR. And he has had good discussions working with the Iraqis and the Turks on this issue. It's clearly a very emotional issue I think on both sides. Everybody understands that. But the focus should be on trying to resolve this in a cooperative way, in a joint way, rather than to resort to unilateral actions.” /Aksam/[07] IMF’S RATO SAYS TURKISH ECONOMY FORMED ONE OF BIGGEST SUCCESS STORIES OF RECENT YEARSSpeaking at a press conference yesterday, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said yesterday that the Turkish economy constituted one of biggest success stories of recent years, adding that both the government and the nation needed to be celebrated. Asked how election atmosphere would affect Turkey’s economy, Rato said that elections had its own dynamic and this wasn’t peculiar to only Turkey. “Of course, we believe that general macro economic strategy shouldn’t disregarded eveN during election campaign period,” said Rato. Also present at the meeting, IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said that he was optimistic that the Turkish government would continue to implement proper economy policies. /Sabah/FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... [08] NOT IN WORDS BUT ALSO IN ESSENCEBY MUHARREM SARIKAYA (SABAH)Columnist Muharrem Sarikaya comments on the press conference held by Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit yesterday. A summary of his column is as follows: “There is only one comment to be made about the press conference held by Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit yesterday, that is, he gave his message in a kind and witty way, without violating the law. He mentioned the people from whom he thinks differently not only in words, but also in essence and he did it clearly, but without giving names. He spoke about the points that he doesn’t agree with the government on such issues as presidential elections, the mass meeting to be held for Republic tomorrow, rumors of coup d’état, operation against Iraq and relations with the European Union and the US. Let’s start from presidential elections. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc have been saying for many days the Constitution states who can be elected the president. Meanwhile, Gen. Buyukanit said that the person to be elected the president ‘would also be the chief commander of the general staff,’ adding, ‘Of course we know the legislation, Constitution, law and the way of electing the president. As a citizen and a member of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), we hope that the person who has the basic values of the Republic not in words, but in essence will be elected the president.’ Thus, Gen. Buyukanit meant that this issue wouldn’t be limited to certain articles of the Constitution on the duty and power of the president and showed that they don’t want a person who is suspected to have ‘adopted them in essence’ to become the president, even if he has these characteristics. As usual, while I was making evaluations with my colleagues at the end of the press conference, we all agreed that this message was sent to Mr. Erdogan. However, these two views were dominating the meaning of message. Some said that he wanted to tell Mr. Erdogan not to stand as candidate, otherwise there would be problems between you, as the chief commander, and the army. Some others said that he meant that Mr. Erdogan can stand as candidate and when he moves to Presidential Palace, we can see if you comply with basic principles or not. Gen. Buyukanit had also other disagreements with the government and Mr. Arinc. For example, he criticized the rumors on an ‘initiative of coup d’état’ which was claimed to have been written by former Sea Forces Commander Ozden Ornek on his diary. He even denied that this initiative also took place on general staff’s archives. In this respect, he didn’t agree with Mr. Arinc, who warned that the mass meeting to be held tomorrow for the Republic was organized by the Kemalist Thought Association, but there are certain allegations that Sener Eruygur Pasha is leading it and there would be the coup d’état. He said that certain domestic and foreign centers have been trying to deteriorate the TSK since 2003. It was seen that Gen. Buyukanit was thinking differently about Kurdish leaders from northern Iraq and the issue of cross-border operation against Iraq. He explained the reasons why they have waited for such a long period of time to respond to attacks against them. However, following lines from Ataturk, whose photograph was hung on the wall of Orbay Hall, where the press conference was held: ‘Doing something timelessly means failure. Everything should be done on time’.” Columnist Ismail Kucukkaya comments on the speech delivered by Chief of General Staff Gen. Buyukanit yesterday. A summary of his column is as follows: “When I entered the Orbay Hall yesterday to listen to Gen. Buyukanit, I noticed something different on the wall. There was a sentence on the wall different from the usual. It said: ‘Doing something timelessly means failure. Everything should be done on time.’ I evaluate Gen. Buyukanit’s speech in two different perspectives in terms of its timing and content. Gen. Buyukanit felt the need to say that 12 April does not bear a special meaning. ‘My term started 8 months ago. Within this period, I encountered undesired things but preferred to be calm. And this is my first press briefing,’ he said and added that although he arranged the schedule before, the exact date was determined to be 12 April as he is going to Thessalonica next month. First of all ten Turkish soldiers were martyred in the first week of this month. And Kurdish leader Barzani’s arrogant remarks coincided almost the same days. The second lieutenant who was accused of leaking the diary was brought to court. Also, former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok made some comments about the claims of coup d'état on April 11. Although it is said that there is no direct connection between these, it is at least an interesting coincidence. The fact that we are at a crucial period before next month’s presidential elections should be surely added to this. All of these factors made Gen. Buyukanit’s speech vital. As for the content of the speech, he delivered his speech in five main parts. The first 32 minutes were about terrorism. Other topics were about the efforts to deteriorate the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), efforts to create minorities in Turkey, and on daily discussions and TSK’s accreditation. An additional topic he talked about was next month’s presidential election. He said that the president was the commander-in- chief of the armed forces so the upcoming election interested them closely. He told what kind of a president TSK wants. I asked these remarks to some sources of the government. Most of them said that they didn’t view these remarks as strange and that they didn’t think Gen. Buyukanit referred to someone. In general, he was stick to the constitutional framework and gave clear messages to the public in his speech lasting nearly one and a half hour. I think his speech consisted of balanced, appropriate and clear messages. In my opinion, the Chief of General Staff of a democratic country should talk like this. In sum, I think one of the most important presidential elections in Turkey’s history is being held in a highly interesting and democratic platform of deliberation. Everything is happening before everyone in accordance with the rules and principles.” Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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