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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 02-10-24

Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

TURKISH PRESS AND OTHER MEDIA No.203/02 24.10.02

[A] NEWS ITEMS

  • [01] The Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly says Cyprus, Dodacanese, Mosul and Kirkuk are within Turkey/s national borders.
  • [02] Sukru Sina Gurel continues to threaten the EU.
  • [03] Chief prosecutor moves to close the Justice and Development Party.
  • [04] New distribution of seats in the so-called Assembly as independent joins the Democratic Party.
  • [05] Ertugruloglu off to Istanbul to participate in the ICO committee meeting.
  • [06] President Bush calls on Turkish President Sezer. They discussed Cyprus and regional affairs.
  • [07] Nationalist Justice Party congratulated the pseudostate for the expelling of the Spanish journalists.
  • [08] Mehmet Ali Talat: Civilian organizations and people related to the EU come under attack.
  • [B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

  • [09] Cyprus package being prepared.

  • [01] The Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly says Cyprus, Dodacanese, Mosul and Kirkuk are within Turkey/s national borders Ankara Anatolia (23.10.02) reported from Konya that the Turkish Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi said on Wednesday that the United States and Europe had been trying to draw a new geography in the Middle East by acting together. Responding to questions of journalists during his visit to the central province of Konya, Izgi underlined the importance of the general elections in a period in which significant developments have been occurring both in Turkey and abroad. ``The United States and Europe had been trying to draw a new geography in the Middle East by acting together. Why do they want to establish a state in this region instead of another place? They even announced the capital city of this state they wanted to establish near oil reserves. Turkey needs a sensitive and determined government during such a period,`` he said. The Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly went on: ``Why do they want to establish a state in Northern Iraq where 1.5-2 million Kurdish people are living? This is an eastern policy which has been planned against Turkey for a long time. We are opposed to a puppet state in the region. In fact, these regions are our inheritance from the Ottoman Empire. People living in this region are basic element of the Ottoman. If someone intervenes in this geography, Turkey will take the region that it already had until 1926 and on which a solution could not be reached in Lausanne under its protection. It is a state policy, and this policy caused the United States to take a back step on the issue of a possible operation against Iraq.`` Responding to a question, Izgi said the National Borders were drawn by Mustafa Kemal in 1907. ``These borders include the Dodecanese Islands, the whole of Cyprus, Mosul, Kirkuk, and Suleymaniyah. We can say that Mosul and Kirkuk belong to us, but we do not say it. We only say that `a Turkoman state will also be established if a Kurdish state is founded in Northern Iraq`. But our priority is to maintain the territorial integrity of Iraq.``
  • [02] Sukru Sina Gurel continues to threaten the EU Istanbul NTV television (23.10.02) carried a 20-minute recorded interview with Sukru Sina Gurel, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, by Murat Akgun conducted in Ankara. Referring to the National Security Council meeting held on 22 October, Akgun asked whether the Turkish state has a plan-B in the event a date for the commencement of the membership negotiations are not set at the Copenhagen summit and whether this plan includes an immediate integration with occupied Cyprus. In reply, Gurel said: "We make a differentiation between the Cyprus issue and our EU membership process. These two issues do have a connecting point, which is the following: As stipulated by international agreements, Cyprus cannot accede to the EU before Turkey becomes an EU member. If, however, the EU disregards international agreements and takes steps concerning Cyprus, then it will have to suffer the consequences. Naturally, they will not have taken a positive step, because they will thus create a new point of conflict in the eastern Mediterranean, finalize the separation in Cyprus, and disrupt the Turkish-Greek balance. The best part, of course, is that they will, in a way, cause the Turkish Republic and the `TRNC/ to be freer than ever to advance together, hand-in-hand, towards the future."
  • [03] Chief prosecutor moves to close the Justice and Development Party NTV television (23.10.02) broadcast that Turkey's chief prosecutor has launched a case to close Justice and Development Party (JDP), which has been leading most opinion polls in the lead up to the November 3 general election. Chief prosecutor Sabih Kanadoglu applied to the Constitutional Court for a ruling to close the JDP on Wednesday. Kanadoglu asked the court to close the party and to prevent JDP's chairman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from acting in that position. Last week, Erdogan had to stand down as a member of the party's founding council as a court has ruled that he is not eligible to stand as a candidate in the November 3 poll. According to Kanadoglu, his continuing to act as the leader of the JDP is in breach of article 104 of the Political Parties Laws. Erdogan's resignation from the founding council of the party was an attempt to deceive justice as the leader of a party was its natural founder and should retain the chairmanship of the party, Kanadoglu said. Erdogan, who was previously found guilty of inciting hatred and enmity between different religious and ethnic groups under article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code, is still under a court imposed ban preventing him from involvement in political activity.
  • [04] New distribution of seats in the so-called Assembly as independent joins the Democratic Party Illegal Bayrak Radio (23.10.02) broadcast that independent so-called Deputy Kemal Havali joined the Democratic Party [DP] today. Havali announced that he joined the DP in a ceremony held at the party headquarters today in the presence of DP Chairman Salih Cosar. The distribution of seats in the so-called Republican Assembly following Havali's move is as follows: National Unity Party, 20 seats; DP, 13; Communal Liberation Party, six; Republican Turkish Party, five; Nationalist Justice Party, one; independents, three; and vacant, two.
  • [05] Ertugruloglu off to Istanbul to participate in the ICO committee meeting According to KIBRIS (24.10.02), the so-called Foreign Minister of the pseudostate Tahsin Ertugruloglu left the occupied area last night for Istanbul to attend the Islamic Conference Organization, Economic and Trade Permanent Committee meetings to be opened today. The deliberations of the Committee will continue and end tomorrow. Ertugruloglu will return to the occupied area tomorrow evening.
  • [06] President Bush calls on Turkish President Sezer. They discussed Cyprus and regional affairs According to KIBRIS (24.10.02), the US President George W. Bush had a telephone conversation with the Turkish President Ahmet Sezer. KIBRIS, quoting White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, reports that President Bush discussed a range of issues with Sezer among them the Cyprus problem, the Iraqi issue, the Balkans, Caucasus and Afghanistan.
  • [07] Nationalist Justice Party congratulated the pseudostate for the expelling of the Spanish journalists VOLKAN (24.10.02) reports that the Nationalist Justice Party (NJP) congratulated the pseudostate for the expelling of the Spanish journalists on the 15th of October. The journalists were expelled from the pseudostate with the pretext that they participated in a meeting without permission. According to the paper, in a press conference given yesterday, the vice president of NJP, Cetin Atalay, said that until today a large number of journalists visited the pseudostate using the Ledra Palace checkpoint and he stressed that these people visited certain persons and centres and then declared to the world public opinion that the Turkish Cypriots think in a certain manner. He stressed that no organisation is authorised to speak about the national line. Mr Atalay also condemned the Chamber of Commerce for criticising the so-called Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its action and added that the Chamber of Commerce sacrificed the pseudostate for the EU.
  • [08] Mehmet Ali Talat: Civilian organizations and people related to the EU come under attack KIBRISLI (24.10.02) reports that the chairman of the Republican Turkish Party (RTP), Mehmet Ali Talat, made accusations that civiliian organizations and Turkish Cypriots related to the EU are faced with attacks. In a written statement released yesterday, Mr Talat said that the psychological warfare against civilian organizations and their leaders take place due to the fact that they are maintaining relations with European Institutions and support EU membership. He added that these attacks are observed with great anxiety. Mr Talat said that these attacks are ineffective and stressed that "they will be thrown into the litter-bin of history". Mr Talat concluded that these attacks take place because with the European Union civilian groups and individuals will not be under control by the so-called government but, on the contrary, they will be able to express themselves and tell their opinion freely.
  • [B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

  • [09] Cyprus package being prepared Under the above title in his regular column OPINION of Turkish Daily News (24.10.02) Mahmet Ali Birand writes the following: "The first gift package that will be put before us in the aftermath of the election will involve the Cyprus issue. The UN Secretary-General will suggest a solution and all hell will break loose. If you have a problem and if the two sides that are parties to this problem cannot reach a solution, in the end somebody else comes up and produces a solution. This is exactly the situation in Cyprus. Unfortunately, the package to be put before you will satisfy neither you nor the other party. However, you would have no choice. You would have to accept it. The leaders of the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities in Cyprus have been having talks for months. Despite all the efforts they have not been able to find a solution. In the end, the worst fears of both sides are going to materialize. The United Nations Secretary-General is preparing a package, taking as his starting point those proposals put forth in the past and accepted by the two sides. At this stage the content of the package is not exactly clear. One thing is certain, though. It will contain items that will make the Turkish side angry as well as items that will please them. The Greek Cypriots will be angered by those items that please the Turkish side and the Turks will applaud those items that draw adverse reactions from the Greek Cypriots. At this stage the most important question mark involves the support the U.N. Secretary-General will be getting from the Washington-London-European Union trio. If this trio strongly supports Kofi Annan's package, this will be an entirely different story. Then the Turkish Cypriots' and the Greek Cypriots' resistance will diminish. If the opposite happens, just as his predecessors, Annan will go down in history as a person "who has left behind himself yet another Cyprus package." There is yet another possibility. If he fails to get adequate support from the United States and Britain, Annan may decide against presenting such a package. During the next two weeks it will be determined which of these possibilities will be fulfilled. Before the final stage is reached, I have a few words to tell all the parties concerned in the Cyprus issue: The Turkish side must calculate well. If Southern Cyprus gets admitted into the EU as a full member before the Cyprus problem is solved, the `TRNC/ and Turkey will be confronted with political problems much more seriously than in the past. Both the EU and the U.N. will put pressure. In the Aegean and on the island, tension will mount once again. There will be a return to the "process of having fights" of the 1970s and 1980s. Economy will suffer. An unwarranted friction will begin. Furthermore, in the long-run, the possibility of losing the `TRNC/ will further grow. The Greek Cypriots and Greece too should do their calculations well. There is no sense in failing to give the Turks a sovereign status even for 24 hours just for the sake of not having a new Cyprus founded, that is, just for the sake of ensuring continuation of the old Cyprus. A Southern Cyprus that joins the EU together with the northern part of the island would be more at ease, managing in the long-run to overcome all of the existing problems. A Turkey that has been distanced from the EU, pushed into a corner and rendered "harsh" inevitably would not give the region an easy time. Greek Prime Minister Simitis and Clerides, who is at the end of his political career, must clear the path for a solution, thinking about the long-term interests of their country, that is, thinking about the tranquillity and enrichment of their country. Meanwhile, if the EU and the United States want stability in the region they can make it easier for both sides to reach a solution. Stability to be achieved in the Cyprus-Turkey-Greece triangle is essential from the standpoint of both the EU and U.S. interests. Conclusion Turkey, Greece and Cyprus have had a needless fight over the past five decades at a cost of billions of dollars. When we look back now, can you tell me if any of them has won anything? No one has won anything while the people in all these countries have suffered. Now there are two alternatives. Either billions of dollars will be spent as in the past, living in a climate of war or a new page will be turned and a new beginning will be made, closing the door on the events of the past. The money that would otherwise have gone into bullets and weapons, will be distributed to the people. Which one would you choose?" /SK
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