Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 04-07-12

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

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Talat, Denktas meet Lavrov; Talat notes change in Russia´s Cyprus policy.

[02] Erdogan on alleged trade embargoes.

[03] Gul: No need for further raising the status of the pseudostate.

[04] Bi-communal Peace Festival in occupied Morfou; Former Presidents Clerides and Vassiliou have been prevented from participating.

[05] Turkey's Abdullatif Sener claims that the EU treats the occupation regime as a country prior to the accession.

[06] Environmental disaster in the occupied areas of Cyprus.

[07] HALKIN SESI claims that the Greek Cypriots will be organising a march to the close city of Varosha with the support of the Church and extremist organizations.

[08] Akinci: Either early 'elections' in September or a censure motion against the 'government'.

[09] The 'national' football team of the pseudostate is looking for funds in order to go to Norway for a football match.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[10] Salih Cosar advocates free trade with the Cyprus Republic.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Talat, Denktas meet Lavrov; Talat notes change in Russia´s Cyprus policy

Talat and Denktas met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Istanbul. In a statement after the meeting, Talat stressed that Russia gave the signs of a change in its Cyprus policy.

"Naturally, the recent developments have brought Russia to the point of reassessing the situation just as it brought all the world institutions and all the world countries. They are saying that they are quite insistent and determined on the issue of ending the economic isolation," Talat claimed.

In his turn Serdar Denktas assessed the final communique issued by the OIC. He said: "We arrived here as part of the Muslim community. Now we are going back as the Turkish Cypriot state. This is a step. It is a positive step directed toward the future. We will exert efforts to end the isolation, which has been continuing for years, by advancing the ties we have established here."

[02] Erdogan on alleged trade embargoes

Expressing belief that the report to be released in October will be favorable, Erdogan added that he does not even want to think about a 'no' as Turkey is ahead of several countries, which are full EU members.

If the EU says 'no,' said Erdogan, they will continue on their way by changing the name of the Copenhagen political criteria into the Ankara criteria.

Noting that the decision to lift the "economic embargoes" allegedly imposed on the Turkish Cypriots did not meet their expectations, Erdogan explained that they sought for scheduled flight to start as well.

[03] Gul: No need for further raising the status of the pseudostate

Gul has made this statement at the end of the 31st Foreign Ministers meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

[04] Bi-communal Peace Festival in occupied Morfou; Former Presidents

The bi-communal choir and the bi-communal folklore dance group participated in the festival, which has been organized by 30 Turkish Cypriot and 10 Greek Cypriot organizations.

The paper writes that the two former Presidents of the Republic of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides and George Vassiliou, who had tried to go to occupied Morfou and participate in the festival, attempted to cross to the occupied areas from the Ledra Palace barricade, because there was a lot of traffic at the Ayios Dhometios barricade. The occupation authorities did not permit Mr Clerides and Mr Vassiliou to enter the occupied areas from Ledra Palace, noting that the only vehicles which could enter from there were the vehicles of the UN and the diplomats. The so-called Minister of Internal Affairs of the occupation regime, Ozkan Murat supported that he called the two former Presidents and told them that they could pass from Ledra Palace, but they decided to return back and not to participate in the festival.

Commenting on the issue Turkish Cypriot daily AFRIKA newspaper (12.07.04) writes, inter alia, the following: "'Clerides and Vassiliou are two former Presidents of Cyprus. The day before, they would cross to the Turkish side and go to the Fair of Morfou. They could not cross over. Our police at Ledra Palace did not give them permission. 'Only the UN Peace Force and the diplomats can pass by car from Ledra, you cannot', they said to them. After this, they decided not to go to Morfou. They returned back. They did not take the risk of waiting at the queue at Ayios Dhometios gate. Would it be the end of the world if Clerides and Vassiliou were given the permission which is given to the diplomats? '".

Meanwhile, referring to the festival Turkish Cypriot daily ORTAM newspaper (12.07.04) reports that more Greek Cypriots than Turkish Cypriots participated in it. The paper writes that in the past the number of the Turkish Cypriots who participated in such bi-communal activities was bigger than the number of the Greek Cypriots.

[05] Turkey's Abdullatif Sener claims that the EU treats the occupation regime as a country prior to the accession

In statements to CNN-Turk television, Mr Sener supported that the relations between Turkey and the pseudostate go beyond the relations between any other states and added that these relations would continue to exist in the future. Mr Sener reminded that in 2004 Turkey had a contribution of 520 trillion Turkish liras to the budget of the occupation regime.

Commenting on the measures that the EU had announced for the Turkish Cypriots, Mr Sener said that in the draft-decision which is expected to be adopted in September, there are some provisions for granting the pseudostate 259 million euros and for lifting the so-called embargo against it. Mr Sener noted that all these efforts were an indication that the EU has the pseudostate as its interlocutor. "There is even the picture that in a sense it is treated as a country prior to the accession", he claimed adding that all these are positive signs.

[06] Environmental disaster in the occupied areas of Cyprus

The director of the so-called Forestry Department, Ilkay Ilseven said that since the Annan Plan was submitted especially the coasts of the occupied Kerynia and Famagusta have been turned into construction sites. Mr Ilseven noted that the interest of protecting the environment increased after the 1995 fire on the Pentadaktylos mountain range, but this did not last for long.

"This interest lasted for a few years. The love for the forests and the trees increased, but in the next years this was forgotten. Recently we do not see this interest. It is obvious that we have not taken our lesson from the past", he said.

[07] HALKIN SESI claims that the Greek Cypriots will be organising a march to the close city of Varosha with the support of the Church and extremist organisations

The paper claims that the Greek Cypriots will organise a "border march" like the ones they had organised in the past, having the material and moral support of the Church and some extremist organisations. The paper also alleges that the Greek Cypriots will organise this march in order to divert the attention of the international public opinion to another direction, and to change the climate after the referenda results which were not positive for them.

The paper also writes that the so-called authorities of the pseudostate will not give permission to persons to go to the occupied areas for propaganda reasons and that the so-called authorities have already started taking measures towards this direction.

[08] Akinci: Either early 'elections' in September or a censure motion against the 'government'

"Either a decision for early 'election' in September will be taken, or we will support the censure motion", said the leader of the PDM. Stressing that for three months now the pseudogovernment fell into minority, and that no basic `laws´ including the occupation regime´s `budget´, could pass from the `parliament´, Mr Akinci stressed that soon a solution must be found to this issue.

[09] The 'national' football team of the pseudostate is looking for funds in order to go to Norway for a football match

According to the paper, the 'national' football team of the pseudostate needs 28 thousand dollars in order to go to Norway but for the time being it seems that it is difficult to find this money. During the next few weeks it will be clarified if the pseudostate team will go or not to Norway.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[10] Salih Cosar advocates free trade with the Cyprus Republic

"There is a political and cultural globalization going on in the world today. Globalization has taken place based on values such as democracy, supremacy of law, human rights, and the competitive free market economy.

As is known there is free movement of people, goods, services and money within the EU. A truck starting out in the south of Italy can cross the borders of many countries reaching Denmark without encountering any obstacle.

Motherland Turkey has a Customs Union Agreement with the EU. Motherland Turkey entered this Customs Union Agreement in 1995 risking free competition with the EU countries. By being a member of the Customs Union Turkey has a better quality economy and a more efficient production infrastructure; it has not lagged behind the other EU countries in competition.

I worked very hard to initiate free trade with Southern Cyprus after the gates were opened up to it. However, I failed to achieve this due to the obstacles put up by those with the conservative disease. Now, much water has flown under the bridge. Individual trade between the north and the south continues, and now the south is an EU country.

Now, let us hunch over but think about this straight. We want to open up to the world and to integrate with it. We want to engage in direct trade with the EU using our own ports. We are saying that we can found a unified state with Southern Cyprus on the basis of the Annan Plan. We want trade from the north to the south to be made easier. However, we are knowingly restricting imports from the south to the north. Can there really be bilateral relations without reciprocity?

How can the restriction of imports be justified when funds are being made available to increase competitive strength? Seeing that individual trade from the south is being carried out and that every product from the south ends up one way or another in our markets what is the logic behind restricting imports from the south?

At a time when the EU is about to announce new openings for Northern Cyprus it is wrong for us to adopt a prohibitive attitude instead of making willing initiatives for integration with the south and therefore the EU.

Southern Cyprus has been a member of the EU since 1 May 2004. Their relations with us should be the same as any other EU country. A deepening and broadening of economic relations between Northern and Southern Cyprus are very positive steps both for all parties and for a settlement. We should insist on this ourselves. We must continue to persist in our demands that economic relations between Northern Cyprus and the EU normalize. We learnt from the experience of 23 April that the `TRNC´ is not at a disadvantage when trading with Southern Cyprus. Wholesale profits and freight charges might be a hindrance to this advantage. Freight charges should be reduced. If they are not then we should do less. This is something we can affect.

We talk about work to adapt to the EU yet at the same time we apply classic trade protection methods.

What the government does and what it says are two different things.

I wonder if it is preparing for an election?"

/SK

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