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Turkish Press Review, 08-06-18Turkish 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 morning18.06.2008CONTENTS
[01] GUL: "ALL OF TURKEY'S S ARE OPEN TO RESEARCH THE SO-CALLED 'GENOCIDE' ALLEGATIONS"Addressing the 11th International Congress on Turkey's Social and Economic History at Ankara's Bilkent University yesterday, President Abdullah Gul said, "Writing history isn't the job of politicians or parliaments. It should be the job of historians and scholars." He added, "Turkey is proud of its history, and it has opened up its most secret archives to help researchers thoroughly research the (Armenian 'genocide') allegations." /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN: "WE'LL CONTINUE TO SERVE THE PEOPLE UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH"Speaking at his ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) group meeting, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said, "The Turkish National Football Team has shown this: If you believe you deserve to win, you will never give up fighting." He added, "We will continue to serve the people until our last breath." Touching on the closure case against the AKP, Erdogan said, "I hope Turkey will get past this turbulence as soon as possible," adding, "The cost of this process will be discussed, as it has happened in the past." /Turkiye/[03] EU OPENS TALKS WITH ANKARA ON TWO MORE CHAPTERSAt the Fifth Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg yesterday, the European Union opened accession talks with Turkey on two more chapters, namely corporate law and intellectual property law. Since its talks were launched in fall of 2005, Turkey has opened negotiations in eight policy areas. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country now holds the EU's rotating presidency, expressed hope that Turkey's accession process will continue smoothly. Touching on the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he said that the EU sees the case as a domestic issue and called it "extraordinary" in terms of the Union. Reiterating that the case has caused concern in Europe and warning that the EU will have to reexamine the Turkish political system, Rupel said that the court ruling on the case should be made in line with European norms and standards. /Cumhuriyet/Foreign Minister and chief negotiator for Turkey’s European Union talks Ali Babacan yesterday attended the Fifth Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Babacan said that Turkey expects its membership talks to continue with its technical preparations on four chapters taken into consideration, but added, "Unfortunately, we have seen that this is not the case." Stating that Turkey has been ready to open talks with the EU on five or six chapters, Babacan said that beginning talks on chapters such as education and culture and economic and monetary policy, which don't require accession criteria, has been blocked by some EU countries. Asked about Ireland's recent rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon, Babacan said that the EU's internal problems will not affect Turkey's negotiation process. Touching on recent Israeli-Syrian peace talks held under Turkish auspices, Babacan stated that the second round of meetings in Istanbul had ended successfully, and that more importantly, the next meeting is set to convene within about a month. /Star/ [04] TOPTAN: "TURKEY WON'T NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA WITHOUT A SOLUTION TO THE KARABAKH ISSUE"On an official visit to Baku, Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan yesterday met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Oktay Asadov. During the meeting, Asadov said, "Turkey and Azerbaijan support each other at every international forum. We share the same roots, and we are one nation with two states." Stressing that economic ties between the two countries fall short of their potential, Asadov said, "We must work hard to boost bilateral trade." Praising Turkey's stance on the Karabakh issue, he added, "Also, Azerbaijan gives full support to Turkey against the so-called Armenian genocide claims from Armenia." For his part, Toptan said, "I feel at home in Azerbaijan. We are very excited to see the cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan in all areas." Toptan also said, "Unless the Karabakh issue is solved, Turkey won't normalize its relations with Armenia. Turkey urges Armenia to end its occupation of Karabakh, which belongs to Azerbaijan. Armenia will benefit the most from this issue being solved. Turkey only wants peace in Karabakh." He added, "The close cooperation among Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia should be a role model for countries that have problems." Toptan was also received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. /Turkiye/[05] BAYKAL LASHES OUT AT "SLANDER CAMPAIGN" AGAINST JUDICIARY, MILITARYThe judiciary and military are facing a "slander campaign," main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal charged yesterday. Speaking at the CHP parliamentary group meeting, Baykal said that the government's duty was to stop this campaign, not covertly encourage it. Baykal claimed the ruling party's ideology was recently expressed by a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf on TV, who said she preferred Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini to Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. "She also said the country should stay in British hands because her rights would be more secure," continued Baykal, "I remember Foreign Minister Ali Babacan saying during a trip abroad that Muslims in Turkey are under pressure. This reflects a certain mindset." He also claimed that not only secularism, but even the regime and the republic were at stake. /Cumhuriyet/[06] BAHCELI CLAIMS GOVT IS PLANNING EARLY ELECTIONSOpposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli yesterday expressed his opposition to alleged plans of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to call for early elections if a top court decides to close the party down. "A careful, detailed analysis of the consequences of holding new general elections should be done," Bahceli told his deputies at a parliamentary group meeting. Commenting on the premier's recent warning to AKP members that "once you step off this train, you can't get back on," Bahceli claimed that the AKP leader had lost his confidence in his deputies. In addition, Bahceli criticized recent bugging and wiretaps of high-level state officials, urging the government to prevent this from happening again. /Cumhuriyet/[07] GREEK LAND FORCES COMMANDER VISITS TURKEYGreek Land Forces Commander Gen. Dimitrios Voulgaris yesterday met with his Turkish counterpart Gen. Ilker Basbug. Voulgaris, in Turkey as Basbug's guest, visited Anitkabir, first Ataturk's mausoleum. Before their meeting, Basbug called the visit "very important" as the first-ever by a Greek Land Forces commander to Turkey." Afterwards, an official welcoming ceremony was held for Voulgaris. He and his delegation will leave Turkey tomorrow. /Milliyet/Speaking at a meeting held by the Committee for the Promotion of Automotive Industry yesterday, State Minister for Foreign Trade Kursat Tuzmen predicted that Turkey's automotive industry would produce 5 million autos and reach $125 billion in exports by 2023. Stating that Turkey has reached most of its export goals in recent years, he said that he was sure it would also reach this one. Tuzmen added that Turkey's automotive industry could be 10th in the world and number three in Europe in the years to come. /Turkiye/ FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… [08] A NEW PARTY AND ITS EMBLEMBY MUHARREM SARIKAYA (SABAH)Columnist Muharrem Sarikaya comments on the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). A summary of his column is as follows: "It seems that the case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will conclude in the latter part of July. Following the AKP's submission of its written defense, the Constitutional Court set the date for oral arguments. All the parties in Parliament want the case decided quickly. Even the AKP is making preparations for the possibility of closure. Maybe that's why the AKP even discussed if a defense was superfluous. But then it prepared and submitted one, thinking that not doing so would show disrespect to the court. As I said, the AKP believes it could be closed at the end of next month. So why doesn't it set up a new party now, in line with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli's suggestion to prevent the new one from being a continuation of the AKP? The reason is simple. If it follows this suggestion, it would be accepting closure. But it also can found a new party as suggested by Bahceli after the court ruling. Similarly, Article 84 of the Constitution states, 'The membership of a deputy whose statements and acts are cited in a final judgment by the Constitutional Court as having caused the permanent dissolution of his party shall terminate on the date when the decision in question and its justifications are published in the Official Gazette.' In the past, the full text of Constitutional Court rulings have been published anywhere from two months to five years after a ruling was made. Thus, even if the case ends with closure, the AKP would be alive until the full ruling is released. So the new party won't be a continuation of the AKP and there will be no legal problem. Would this be a problem? There are two precedents; one concerns former People's Labor Party (HEP) leader Fehmi Isiklar, and the other the Virtue Party (FP). When Isiklar was HEP leader, a closure case was brought against it. Then he resigned, switched to the Social Democratic People's Party (SHP), and became deputy Parliament speaker. Then people waited for Isiklar to resign. Something similar was seen with the FP. Although it was closed down, FP officials decided to continue their work in Parliament until the full ruling was published. So Omer Izgi, who was then Parliament speaker, asked for a ruling. He got the reply that the court's decision was clear, there was no need to discuss it, and the FP as a legal entity ended with the closure decision. After this was read out by Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Iliksoy to Parliament, the FP was closed within days. I don't know if something similar will occur with the AKP. But even if it's closed again, it will move to a new party as a whole. The party's emblem is even ready: the sun… Similarly, at his party's parliamentary group yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan quoted late writer Cemil Meric saying let the miserable people who believe illumination is fire and who try to extinguish it continue to fling dirt at the sun. So the party administration found its slogan too: You can't put out the sun…" Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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