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Turkish Press Review, 08-05-21
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
21.05.2008
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS
CONTENTS
[01] AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT VISITS TURKEY
[02] IN BULGARIA, BABACAN ATTENDS SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES' FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING
[03] BAYKAL REBUFFS ERDOGAN'S CLAIMS OVER FOSTERING HATRED
[04] BAHCELI: "THE AKP IS TRYING TO ESTABLISH A DICTATORSHIP OF FEAR"
[05] MUMCU TO RUN FOR ANAVATAN LEADERSHIP
[06] OPPOSITION'S CENSURE OF PM REJECTED
[07] TURKISH-GERMAN MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS DIALOGUE ISSUE
[08] DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EU AND US
[01] AUSTRIAN PRESIDENT VISITS TURKEY
Austrian President Heinz Fischer yesterday arrived in Ankara as the
official guest of his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. Fischer and his
spouse Margit Fischer were welcomed with an official ceremony by Gul and
his spouse Hayrunnisa Gul at Cankaya Presidential Palace. Gul hosted a
dinner to honor of his Austrian counterpart. Fischer said, "Turkey's
European Union membership will be reviewed taking into consideration
whether Turkey fulfilled that last term conditions, when it comes to
membership stage. We call this process 'open ended negotiations'." For his
part, Gul said that Turkey which completed its EU negotiation process would
be more different than today. Fischer also met with Parliament Speaker
Koksal Toptan. /Milliyet/
[02] IN BULGARIA, BABACAN ATTENDS SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES' FOREIGN
MINISTERS MEETING
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan yesterday went to Bulgaria to attend Southeast
European Countries' Foreign Ministers meeting, held within the framework of
the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP). Speaking to reporters
before departure, Babacan said the Southeast European Countries Cooperation
process was an important Balkan cooperation platform that reflected the
region's common will. Saying that the Southeast European Countries
Cooperation process aims to find solutions in the region through political
dialogue and the common will within the region itself, Babacan added, "The
process that began with Turkey's initiatives is the only platform that
brings Balkan countries together around the same table." "We expect a
decision at the meeting that would make Turkey the term president of the
Southeast European Countries Cooperation process between 2009 and 2010,"
Babacan said. Asked about a question on Turkey's mediation efforts between
Syria and Israel, Babacan stated that initial talks between these two
countries would take place through Turkey's assistance. "If we reach a
point in these indirect talks, the two sides will then convene around the
same discussion table," Babacan also said. /Turkiye/
[03] BAYKAL REBUFFS ERDOGAN'S CLAIMS OVER FOSTERING HATRED
Speaking to his Republican People’s Party's (CHP) group meeting, main
opposition leader Deniz Baykal yesterday criticized Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s recent remarks about not attending the reception given
by President Abdullah Gul at the Cankaya Palace for Britain's Queen
Elizabeth's honor. Saying that Erdogan accused himself of fostering
antagonism and hatred, Baykal added he hadn't attended the meeting because
of his principles, not hatred. /Star/
[04] BAHCELI: "THE AKP IS TRYING TO ESTABLISH A DICTATORSHIP OF FEAR"
Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said
yesterday that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
attempted to bring constitutional and democratic rights under control
through a dictatorship fed by fears". Referring to claims that Osman Paksut,
deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court, has been phone tapped,
Bahceli said AKP was pushing the country towards a totalitarian system, in
which private lives of citizens are controlled and people's private
conversations are tapped. Speaking at his party's parliamentary group
meeting, Bahceli said, "The AKP, which talks about improving democracy in
the country, is trying to seize constitutional and democratic rights,
placing citizens under the control of their dictatorship of fear." Our
democracy is no longer able to protect its people. Turkish democracy is
about to become a system that closely scrutinizes its citizens and feels
suspicions about them, he added. "An administration that looks at its
citizens as potential threat can no longer continue to serve the nation."
/Hurriyet/
[05] MUMCU TO RUN FOR ANAVATAN LEADERSHIP
Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) leader Erkan Mumcu said yesterday that his
party would hold an extraordinary congress at the end of June and he will
again run for the leadership. Following a meeting with ANAVATAN's top
administrators to mark the party's 25th foundation anniversary, Mumcu said
that they agreed to hold an extraordinary congress on 28-29 June and their
talks with the Democrat Party (DP) for cooperation in central right were
continuing. /Hurriyet/
[06] OPPOSITION'S CENSURE OF PM REJECTED
Parliament rejected yesterday the request by opposition parties for a no-
confidence vote against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for using his
political power to the benefit of Calik Group in the Sabah-atv sale. During
his address to Parliament, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
leader Deniz Baykal accused Erdogan of intervening in the sale process for
the benefit of Calik Group. "The prime minister discouraged some
businessmen who wanted to enter the sale process," said Baykal. Calik Group,
with the partnership of Qatar-based Al Wasaeel International Media Company,
bought mass circulation daily Sabah and one of the leading prime-time
television channels, atv, for $1.1 billion. /Turkish Daily News/
[07] TURKISH-GERMAN MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS DIALOGUE ISSUE
Organized by Directorate General of Press and Information, The Turkish
Research Center Foundation and Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the 8th
Turkish-German Media Dialogue Symposium Meeting was held in Antalya on May
15-18. Press members from Turkey, Germany and Switzerland attended the
meeting. Four separate sessions entitled "Turkey's image in the German
media," "Europe's image in the Turkish media," "Ways to improve news
contents," "Turkey's EU membership process in media," "Turkey's EU
membership in terms of media" were held as part of the three-day gathering.
The Turkish Research Center Foundation Director Faruk Sen and Friedrich
Naumann Foundation Director Jörg Dehner and Directorate General of Press
and Information General Director Salih Melek delivered welcome speeches at
the opening of the symposium. At the closing session, Cumhuriyet daily's
assistant editor Guray Oz and German Focus Magazine Foreign News Redactor
Andrea Claudia Hoffman talked about the topic of "How well do we know each
other?" /Cumhuriyet/
FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS
[08] DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EU AND US
BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)
Columnist Sami Kohen comments on differences between the European Union and
the US in their stances on the closure case against the Justice and
Development Party (AKP). A summary of his column is as follows:
"When it was announced that the closure case would be opened against the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) in March, firstly the European Union
criticized it harshly. Officials from the EU Commission said that if the
AKP is closed, the process of membership talks with Turkey might be
suspended. On the contrary, the US criticized it more cautiously and later
than the EU. American officials said that such issues are resolved not in
courts, but at the Parliament in democracies. While discussions on the
closure case escalated, clear differences between the stance of the EU and
the US emerged. These differences stemmed from the EU's commitment to
democratic criteria and principles and the US' pragmatic approach in its
foreign relations. Then certain changes emerged in their criticisms.
Besides democracy, the EU started to note the importance of secularism in
Turkey and the US administration also emphasized the principle of
secularism as well. Recent approaches of both the EU and the US show that
differences between the styles of both parties got gradually smaller.
Let's start with the US. Final statements made by officials from the US
administration, mostly Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, show that
Washington has made a fine tuning on political developments in Turkey. For
example, Rice said that she hoped the closure case would be resolved as
part of principles of democracy and secularism. Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Asian Affairs Matt Bryza expressed a similar hope
by emphasizing Turkey's values of secularism and democracy. Actually, even
if American officials don't say this openly in their official statements,
they don't approve such an initiative to close a party and consider such a
thing as dangerous and inconvenient. Some people also express this opinion
and concern clearly, for example an article published on the Washington
Post recently and another article written by former US Ambassador to Ankara
Mark Parris on Wall Street Journal last week. Parris, who follows Turkey
closely, indicated possible negative aspects to derive from closing the AKP
and blamed the Bush administration for being indifferent to the issue. But
Parris also reiterated the AKP administration's mistakes in bringing the
crisis to this point.
As for the EU, high-ranking officials from the Commission and member
countries state their concerns over initiatives to close a party and also
express Turkey's sensitivities as well. In this respect, Turkey-EU Joint
Parliamentary Committee Co-Chairman Joose Lagendjik said to the Milliyet
daily that they should be more sensitive to Turkey's concerns over
secularism, which is very meaningful. Actually, Lagendjik’s words don't
reflect the EU's official policy, but even this might be considered the
sign of a more realistic approach within the EU. On the other hand, the
EU's basic approach is against closing a party. Both the EU and the US
favor the protection of secularism within the democratic order and they're
both afraid that closing a party would cause serious political
complications in Turkey. Now they both seem to be on the same side on the
issue."
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