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Turkish Press Review, 08-02-04
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
04.02.2008
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
CONTENTS
[01] PARLIAMENT TO VOTE THIS WEEK ON ENDING UNIVERSITY HEADSCARF BAN
[02] BABACAN: “2007 WAS A LOST YEAR FOR EU REFORMS”
[03] FM BABACAN TO VISIT RUSSIA
[04] OIC, BABACAN CALL FOR RESOLUTION OF PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT
[05] EU’S LAGENDIJK: “I SUPPORT THE AKP ON THE HEADSCARF ISSUE”
[06] THOUSANDS RALLY AGAINST GOVT HEADSCARF PROPOSAL
[07] HISTORY WILL JUDGE BAHCELI
[01] PARLIAMENT TO VOTE THIS WEEK ON ENDING UNIVERSITY HEADSCARF BAN
Constitutional changes meant to lift the headscarf ban at universities will
be taken up by Parliament this week. On Wednesday Parliament will debate
the amendments and hold its first round of secret voting, followed by a
second round on Saturday. The proposed amendment will be passed if it gets
the votes of more than 330 deputies. /Turkiye/
[02] BABACAN: “2007 WAS A LOST YEAR FOR EU REFORMS”
Turkey’s European Union accession reforms slowed down last year due to
general elections and Parliament’s resulting long recess, said Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan yesterday. “As soon as Parliament reopened, work on
the budget started, and so there wasn’t much progress in legislation in
2007,” Babacan told news magazine Kriter. “But this wasn’t only for
the EU, there wasn’t progress in general. 2007 was a lost year for
reforms. Now, after the general elections, a new Parliament was seated.
There’s also a new president. Now the infrastructure is ready for us to
continue with a new wave of reforms.” He said that nearly 230 meetings on
the EU acquis have been held since last fall, adding, “Seventeen
delegations were sent to Brussels in the last five months. We’ll finish
the second round of updates on March 17. More than 40 visits were paid to
EU countries at the level of prime minister and state minister. The premier
visited five EU countries in five months.” /Sabah/
[03] FM BABACAN TO VISIT RUSSIA
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will pay a visit to Moscow on Feb. 16-17 at
the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergei
Lavrov. The two top diplomats will discuss issues such as the Fener Greek
patriarch’s claim to be “ecumenical,” Cyprus, the terrorist PKK and
Kosovo. /Cumhuriyet/
[04] OIC, BABACAN CALL FOR RESOLUTION OF PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Following a weekend meeting by the Organization for the Islamic Conference
(OIC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia focusing on the Mideast issue, an OIC
declaration meeting condemned recent actions by Israel. Reading out the
declaration, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu a Turkish scholar,
said that Israel was responsible for the ongoing deplorable situation on
the Gaza Strip. The declaration urged the establishment of a Palestinian
state with Jerusalem as its capital and the pre-1967 borders. In addition,
speaking at the gathering, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said the conflict
between Israel and Palestine was the basic reason for many problems in the
region, adding that their issues could be resolved through negotiations.
/Turkiye/
[05] EU’S LAGENDIJK: “I SUPPORT THE AKP ON THE HEADSCARF ISSUE”
EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Co-Chair Joost Lagendijk said over
the weekend that he was in favor of ending the headscarf ban at
universities. At a conference in the Netherlands, Lagendijk said, “Ending
the headscarf ban wouldn’t contradict European Union principles or
criteria.” He added, “I support the ruling Justice and Development
Party’s (AKP) work on this issue.” /Star/
[06] THOUSANDS RALLY AGAINST GOVT HEADSCARF PROPOSAL
More than 100,000 demonstrators flocked to the mausoleum of Turkey’s
founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on Saturday to voice their opposition to a
government proposal to end headscarf ban at universities. Similar
demonstrations took place in provinces around the country. The meeting led
by women’s groups targeting the efforts of the government and opposition
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to lift the ban turned into a huge pro-
secularism rally in the capital with the participation of around 60 non-
governmental organizations. /Turkish Daily News/
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
[07] HISTORY WILL JUDGE BAHCELI
BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)
Columnist Tufan Turenc comments on Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader
Devlet Bahceli. A summary of his column is as follows:
“After the death of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Alparslan
Turkes in 1997, Devlet Bahceli came silently onto the stage to take the
party helm. Actually, nobody could have guessed at that time that such a
silent politician would come to play such an important role in the
country’s fate. But Bahceli’s decisions and positions ended up changing
the country’s fate at critical junctures. Obviously history will judge
Bahceli.
Bahceli was so respectful that during the 1999-2002 coalition government,
he didn’t smoke in the presence of then Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. So
he was a harmonious partner. But when Ecevit fell ill (only to die a few
years later) amid rumors the MHP would be kicked out of the coalition,
Bahceli forced early elections. Despite Ecevit’s pleas, he held firm and
early elections were held in November 2002. The elections amounted to
suicide for a coalition government which has just survived an economic
crisis, because the measures and reforms it took had just started to yield
results. The economic situation was getting better, but this hadn’t
reached the level of the people yet. Bahceli didn’t heed Ecevit’s
warnings, and the elections caused the coalition parties to collapse.
Ecevit’s Democratic Left Party (DSP) and Mesut Yilmaz’s Motherland
Party (ANAP) didn’t pass the election threshold. Bahceli’s MHP suffered
the same fate. Meanwhile, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), a
religious party which was established six years ago, became the ruling
party. Obviously, Bahceli is the main actor who caused the AKP to
unexpectedly become the ruling party.
The second incident where Bahceli steered the country’s fate is last
summer’s presidential election. AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his
party members announced that they would elect a religious president in
order to establish a regime dominated by Islamic elements. Their candidate
was then Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. In spite of all the AKP’s efforts,
Gul’s bid fell short and general elections were triggered. Afterwards,
Bahceli came to the help of the AKP, anxious that it again wouldn’t be
able to elect Gul. He gave surprising support, and so the religious
president was elected with MHP help. So Bahceli was the lead actor in this
election, which was very dangerous for the regime’s balances. Now Bahceli
is again the actor playing the key role in the headscarf issue that we
face. A constitutional amendment was necessary to lift the headscarf ban at
universities, but the AKP lacked the supermajority in Parliament to change
the Constitution. Just then Bahceli appeared on stage to help the AKP lift
the ban. Under MHP leadership, girls will be able to wear headscarves at
universities as of next week. All the warnings made by opposition parties,
the judiciary, non-governmental organizations, professional organizations,
the media and most importantly universities had no impact on Bahceli.
Bahceli was the lead actor in lifting the headscarf ban, which sets into
motion a breaking point for the secular democratic republic entrusted to
our nation by Ataturk. Obviously, history will write about the events I
tried to summarize here and make its own judgment of Bahceli.”
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