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Turkish Press Review, 03-09-08
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
08.09.2003
ERDOGAN, BERLUSCONI DISCUSS TURKEY’S EU
MEMBERSHIP BID
GUL ATTENDS EU FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING
IN ITALY
NEW IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI:
“TURKEY WILL HAVE A ROLE IN IRAQ’S RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS”
SIMITIS: “PROGRESS ON CYPRUS, AEGEAN
WILL FIGURE HEAVILY IN TURKEY’S EU PROSPECTS”
GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER SCHILLY TOUTS
TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP AS TONIC AGAINST TERRORISM
PAPANDREOU: “LET’S WORK ON ANNAN’S CYPRUS
PLAN AGAIN”
INDUSTRY AND TRADE MINISTER COSKUN LEAVES
FOR NORTH-SOUTH DIALOGUE MEETING IN CROATIA
HEALTH MINISTER AKDAG TRAVELS TO WHO
MEETING IN AUSTRIA
TUZMEN: “CUSTOMS PROCEDURES WILL BE
MODERNIZED TO HANDLE A $500 BILLION TRADE VOLUME”
GOVERNMENT, CIVIL SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES
TO MEET AGAIN ON THURSDAY
TURKEY DEFEATS LIECHTENSTEIN 3-0
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM
THE COLUMNS
THOSE SEEKING TO SPOIL TURKISH-US
RELATIONS
BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN, BERLUSCONI DISCUSS TURKEY’S EU
MEMBERSHIP BID
[02] GUL ATTENDS EU FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING IN
ITALY
[03] NEW IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI: “TURKEY
WILL HAVE A ROLE IN IRAQ’S RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS”
[04] SIMITIS: “PROGRESS ON CYPRUS, AEGEAN ISSUES
WILL FIGURE HEAVILY IN TURKEY’S EU PROSPECTS”
[05] GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER SCHILLY TOUTS
TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP AS TONIC AGAINST TERRORISM
[06] PAPANDREOU: “LET’S WORK ON ANNAN’S CYPRUS
PLAN AGAIN”
[07] INDUSTRY AND TRADE MINISTER COSKUN LEAVES FOR
NORTH-SOUTH DIALOGUE MEETING IN CROATIA
[08] HEALTH MINISTER AKDAG TRAVELS TO WHO MEETING
IN AUSTRIA
[09] TUZMEN: “CUSTOMS PROCEDURES WILL BE
MODERNIZED TO HANDLE A $500 BILLION TRADE VOLUME”
[10] GOVERNMENT, CIVIL SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES TO
MEET AGAIN ON THURSDAY
[11] TURKEY DEFEATS LIECHTENSTEIN 3-0
[12] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS
[13] THOSE SEEKING TO SPOIL TURKISH-US RELATIONS
BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
[01] ERDOGAN, BERLUSCONI DISCUSS TURKEY’S EU
MEMBERSHIP BID
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday returned to
Ankara from Italy, where he had attended the weekend
Ambrosetti Forum. “I believed Turkey, the only country where
Islamic culture and democracy co-exist, will change the image
of the Islamic world for the better,” Erdogan told reporters.
During his meeting with Erdogan, Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi said that Turkey was a rare example of democracy in
a region where democratýc government was all but unknown. He
stressed that Ankara’s recent passage of EU harmonization
packages was good for both itself and Europe, adding that this
proved Turkey’s desire to join the ranks developed nations.
“The EU’s enlargement is a necessity,” said Berlusconi, whose
nation hold’s the Union’s rotating presidency through year’s-end.
“Turkey has been a member of NATO for years and is a shining
beacon of democracy in a region where democracy, one of the
basic pillars of Europe's system, hardly exists.” /All papers/
[02] GUL ATTENDS EU FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING IN
ITALY
The European Union’s foreign ministers convened on Friday
for a two-day informal meeting in the Italian town of Riva Del
Garda to debate the draft of a European constitution, seek
common ground on Iraq, and discuss the Middle East peace
process. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul attended the meeting to
tell his European counterparts of Turkey’s plans through next
year for its EU membership bid. Speaking to reporters
accompanying him on the plane trip to Italy’s Lake Garda, Gul
stated that the gathering was a key one for Turkey, since it
was the first EU foreign ministers’ meeting since Ankara’s
approval of the seventh EU adjustment package this summer. Gul
said that he would tell his Union counterparts that Turkey had
fulfilled its responsibilities on its path towards EU
membership and would continue to do so. During the meeting,
Gul met with the German, Greek and Spanish foreign ministers
and laid out for them Turkey’s Iraq policy, underlining that
Ankara had reluctantly arrived at its willingness to send
troops there. “All Turkey wants is to help Iraq establish
peace and stability,” said Gul. Meanwhile, German Foreign
Minister Joschka Fischer told Gul that he did not believe that
France and Russia would oppose the United Nations sending a
peacekeeping force to Iraq. Gul also stated that Fischer had
made very positive and constructive statements on Turkey’s EU
membership bid. /Cumhuriyet/
[03] NEW IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI: “TURKEY
WILL HAVE A ROLE IN IRAQ’S RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS”
Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s new foreign minister as selected
from its 25-member Governing Council, said yesterday that the
nation’s neighbors Turkey, Syria, and Iran would all have
roles to play in Iraq’s reconstruction process. Speaking to
Iraqi daily Ezzaman, Zebari said that Iraq would appoint
ambassadors to the US and Britain by the end of this year, and
called on other countries to re-open their embassies in
Baghdad. Last week, Zebari, an ethnic Kurd and former foreign
policy chief for the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP),
said that he opposed the deployment of troops from Turkey, or
indeed any neighboring state. /Aksam/
[04] SIMITIS: “PROGRESS ON CYPRUS, AEGEAN ISSUES
WILL FIGURE HEAVILY IN TURKEY’S EU PROSPECTS”
Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis yesterday called on his
Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to clear away
whatever remaining domestic obstacles stood in the way of
solving the Cyprus and Aegean continental shelf issues. “We
can solve these issues by December 2004,” Simitis told a
Salonica press conference. “The EU’s setting a date for
accession talks [at its 2004 summit] will depend on progress
on these two issues.” Regarding his expectations from Ankara,
Simitis said, “We know that Turkey’s current government wants
to follow a different course on human rights and social
matters from that of its predecessors.” Ankara also wants to
gain EU membership and has recognized the need to solve
certain chronic problems, said the Greek premier, adding that
the government had passed several reform packages to harmonize
with the EU. “However,” he said, “in order to begin accession
talks with the Union, the problems between Turkey and Greece,
including the Cyprus issue and continental shelf, should also
be solved.” He added that during his meetings with Erdogan to
date, he got the impression that the Turkish premier was
resolved to take steps to solve the issues. /Hurriyet/
[05] GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER SCHILLY TOUTS
TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP AS TONIC AGAINST TERRORISM
German Interior Minister Otto Schilly stated over the
weekend that Turkey’s EU membership would contribute to the
Union’s fight against terrorism. “If Turkey joins our ranks,
the EU will than have proven that different faiths can live
together in peace and stability despite their unique views,
beliefs and traditions,” said Schilly. “Turkey’s membership
would constitute proof for the world that multi-religious
groups can survive with the help of democracy and tolerance.”
/Star/
[06] PAPANDREOU: “LET’S WORK ON ANNAN’S CYPRUS
PLAN AGAIN”
Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou over the weekend
called on the two nations on Cyprus to work once again on the
peace plan proposed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. He argued that Annan’s plan was the only path to a
permanent and sustainable solution on the island. /Star/
[07] INDUSTRY AND TRADE MINISTER COSKUN LEAVES FOR
NORTH-SOUTH DIALOGUE MEETING IN CROATIA
Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun yesterday travelled
to Croatia to attend the fourth session of the European Union
North-South Dialogue Meeting hosted by the Turkish-Greek
Business Council. Speaking before his departure, Coskun said
that the meeting was important for Turkey’s EU membership bid.
He added that the meeting’s agenda included economic relations
among various countries, especially southern and northern
European countries, investment opportunities, infrastructure,
energy, telecommunication, and tourism. /Anatolia News Agency/
[08] HEALTH MINISTER AKDAG TRAVELS TO WHO MEETING
IN AUSTRIA
Health Minister Recep Akdag yesterday left for Vienna,
Austria to attend the 53rd meeting of Regional Committee for
Europe of the World Health Organization (WHO). Speaking before
his departure, Akdag told reporters that the main issues at
this year's meeting would be mental health, children and
adolescents' health in the WHO European Region, the
methodology for updating the regional health for all (HFA)
policy framework, the regional office's country strategy, and
the strategic orientations of the regional office's work with
geographically dispersed organizational entities, including
country offices. /Anatolia News Agency/
[09] TUZMEN: “CUSTOMS PROCEDURES WILL BE
MODERNIZED TO HANDLE A $500 BILLION TRADE VOLUME”
State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said yesterday that Turkey’s
customs procedures would be revamped and modernized in
expectations of a $500 billion trade volume in the years to
come. “A foreign trade volume of $500 billion by the year 2020
is no fantasy,” said Tuzmen. Stressing that present customs
procedures were sufficient for the current trade volume,
Tuzmen added that a substantially larger volume should be
prepared for through such measures as sped-up computerized
transactions. /Hurriyet/
[10] GOVERNMENT, CIVIL SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES TO
MEET AGAIN ON THURSDAY
Government and civil service representatives are set to
meet again on Thursday in contract talks for next year. During
the meeting chaired by State Minister Ali Sahin, the sides are
set to discuss a Conciliation Council report proposing a
salary hike for next year as well as to sign an agreement.
Sahin told reporters that the council’s proposal on the whole
seemed difficult to meet on the government’s part, adding that
the final decision on the matter would rest with the Cabinet.
/Turkiye/
[11] TURKEY DEFEATS LIECHTENSTEIN 3-0
On Saturday Turkey’s national football team beat
Liechtenstein’s national team by 3-0 in the 12th European
Football Championship Qualifying Tour. Turkey is next set to
face off against Britain in Istanbul on October 11. /All
Papers/
[12] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE
COLUMNS
[13] THOSE SEEKING TO SPOIL TURKISH-US RELATIONS
BY YILMAZ OZTUNA (TURKIYE)
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on certain circles which
want to spoil Turkey’s relations with the US. A summary of his
column is as follows:
“The primary aim of those who don’t want Turkish soldiers
to be sent to Iraq is to spoil the strategic alliance between
Ankara and Washington. The common ground between our countries
bothers them. Our enemies fear Turkey’s having an
international say and having Iraq do what it says, and they
shudder to hear the word ‘Turk.’ Turkey has fallen into the
trap of its enemies not only in its period of empire, but also
in the republican period. Our economic situation is the
clearest indicator of this.
We should distinguish between on the one hand, those who
want to spoil our relations with the US and on the other,
those having difficulty comprehending and accepting the
conditions of the third millennium but who actually love Turks.
We separate those acting to put Turkey and the US at
loggerheads due to our opposition to any Kurdish state from
these idealists who support the status quo. However, I should
also say that they are also preventing the improvement of
Turkey’s lot.
The recent statement of Iraq’s foreign minister (ethnically
Kurd), ‘We don’t want Turkish soldiers here’ shows that he
lacks moral fiber. Obviously Turkish-US relations and
cooperation is being distorted for the sake of an independent
‘Kurdistan.’ If the US doesn’t act unsteadily and instead
emphasizes its willingness to cooperate with us, our soldiers
will go to Iraq and we’ll have a place at the table for Iraq’s
reconstruction.”
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