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Turkish Press Review, 05-06-08Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr><LINK href="http://www.byegm.gov.tr_yayinlarimiz_chr_pics_css/tpr.css" rel=STYLESHEET type=text/css> e-mail : newspot@byegm.gov.tr <caption> <_caption> Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning08.06.2005UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH TURKISH LEADERS ERDOGAN BEGINS CONTACTS IN WASHINGTON GUL: “MISUNDERSTANDINGS WITH THE US WILL END” GEN. BASBUG URGES THE US TO DO MORE AGAINST PKK SEZER POSTPONES ASIA TOUR BAYKAL: “TERROR IS RISING AGAIN” US SENDS LETTER OF PROTEST TO GREEK CYPRIOT ADMINISTRATION BELGIAN SENATE REJECTS “GENOCIDE” MEASURE HIGH SCHOOL EXTENDED TO FOUR YEARS DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION TURNS 85 INTERNATIONAL ISTANBUL MUSIC FEST BEGINS FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS THE GORDIAN KNOT BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)CONTENTS
[01] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH TURKISH LEADERSUkrainian President Victor Yushchenko, who is currently visiting Turkey, yesterday met with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer. After their talks, six agreements for increased cooperation in various areas were signed. Sezer told reporters that cooperation between the two countries would serve regional stability, while Yushchenko said that the countries’ bilateral trade volume would rise to $10 billion within five years. Then the Ukrainian president and his accompanying delegation paid a visit to Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc. Addressing a panel in Ankara, he stressed that Turkey and Ukraine share the same political will to integrate with Europe. In the evening, Sezer hosted a banquet in honor of Yushchenko and his wife. /Turkiye/[02] ERDOGAN BEGINS CONTACTS IN WASHINGTONPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday arrived in Washington for talks with top US leaders. Erdogan held a meeting with the Washington Post’s editorial board and then met with 13 leading decision-makers during a luncheon. He also had an interview with CNN International. The Turkish premier is set to meet with his US counterpart George W. Bush today in a bid to reconfirm strong relations between the two allies. The Cyprus issue and continued presence of the terrorist group PKK in northern Iraq are expected to dominate the two leaders’ talks. Erdogan also plans to have talks with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to urge him to end the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC) international isolation and push Greek Cypriots to resume talks for a settlement on the island. /Sabah-Turkiye/[03] GUL: “MISUNDERSTANDINGS WITH THE US WILL END”Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul traveled to the US yesterday to accompany Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his talks with US President George W. Bush and to hold contacts with other top US officials. Speaking to reporters after his arrival, Gul said that certain problems which recently emerged between Turkey and the US had stemmed from misunderstandings, adding that those would end via a summit today between the top leaders. After meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later in the day, Gul told reporters that they had reviewed bilateral relations and agreed to further cooperation in various areas, including anti-terrorist efforts and the Cyprus issue. The Turkish foreign minister also addressed an annual meeting of the American-Turkish Council (ATC). /Star/[04] GEN. BASBUG URGES THE US TO DO MORE AGAINST PKKSpeaking to a defense panel at the American-Turkish Council (ATC) yesterday in Washington, Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said that the US having the PKK on its list of terrorist organizations was not in itself enough. “We are discussing these issues in trilateral meetings with the Iraqi government,” he said. “However, it’s quite striking that to date no offensive active has been taken against the group. The terrorist group should be starved of outside support and its hope for success should be ended. Now Turkey is expecting more from its American friends concerning the issue.” Citing how the concept of moderate Islam has recently received wide attention, Basbug said, “It shouldn’t be forgotten that not only the transition from radical to moderate, but also from moderate to radical is also possible. In addition, I would like to emphasize that a secular state and a moderate Islamic model can’t coexist. Secularism is the main engine of democracy.” Basbug added that it was well understood that the US forces in Iraq has certain difficulties but that attacks of the PKK using explosives had risen. Basbug also said that Turkey was willing to normalize its relations with Armenia but that Armenia should comply with basic international legal rules and act like a good neighbor towards this end. Meanwhile, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace said that Turkish-US relations would continue to be as important in the next 50 years as in the last 50. Pace praised Basbug as “forthright, honest and a real Turkish patriot.” /Cumhuriyet/[05] SEZER POSTPONES ASIA TOURPresident Ahmet Necdet Sezer has postponed an upcoming Asia tour due to back problems. Sezer had been scheduled to travel starting this Friday to Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China and Afghanistan to pay official visits. /Star/[06] BAYKAL: “TERROR IS RISING AGAIN”Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal warned yesterday that the terrorist threat had recently begun to rise again in Turkey. Addressing his party’s parliamentary group meeting, Baykal said that terror could not be prevented through military means alone. Citing how 14 security personnel had been killed in recent clashes with terrorists, Baykal called on the government to evaluate the threat. “Terror cannot be neglected,” said the CHP leader. /Sabah/[07] US SENDS LETTER OF PROTEST TO GREEK CYPRIOT ADMINISTRATIONAfter the Greek Cypriot administration protested a US congressional visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) last week, the US responded in kind by sending it a letter of protest. This marked the first official US protest of the Greek Cypriot administration, which is doing its best to keep the TRNC isolated. In the letter sent to the Greek Cypriot Embassy in Washington, US State Department Undersecretary Daniel Free wrote that the US was very distressed over the Greek criticism of US Ambassador to Cyprus Michael Klosson, who welcomed the congressional delegation visiting the TRNC. Free emphasized that the stance of the Greek Cypriot administration, political parties and media concerning the US ambassador was unacceptable. /Hurriyet/[08] BELGIAN SENATE REJECTS “GENOCIDE” MEASUREThe Belgian Senate’s Justice Commission yesterday turned back a proposal to criminalize denying claims of an Armenian genocide. The bill was returned to the Federal Assembly. Belgian senators said that it wasn’t Belgium’s job to judge historical contorversies and stressed that the positive steps taken by Ankara concerning the issue couldn’t be ignored. /Milliyet/[09] HIGH SCHOOL EXTENDED TO FOUR YEARSEducation Minister Huseyin Celik yesterday approved a decision to extend the period of education in high schools from three years to four. Celik is to give more details concerning the issue at a press conference today. /Hurriyet/[10] DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION TURNS 85A delegation of officials from the Directorate General of Press and Information led by Director General Abdurrahman Bilgic visited Ataturk’s mausoleum, Anitkabir, yesterday to celebrate the institution’s 85th anniversary. Bilgic and the delegation entered the mausoleum through the Lion’s Way and observed a minute of silence. Then Bilgic signed the commemorative guest book, and officials and administrators of the directorate toured the Ataturk and War of Independence Museum. /Cumhuriyet/[11] INTERNATIONAL ISTANBUL MUSIC FEST BEGINSThe 33rd International Istanbul Music Festival yesterday opened with a Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra concert at the Hagia Erene Museum in Istanbul. Istanbul Culture and Art Foundation (IKSV) Chairman Sakir Eczacibasi made the opening speech of the festival, sponsored by Eczacibasi Holding. Following the ceremony, the orchestra gave a concert led by State Symphony Conductor Pavel Cogan. The festival will include over 30 events, including orchestra and chamber music and recitals, through July 2. /Aksam/[12] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS[13] THE GORDIAN KNOT BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s current visit to the US. A summary of his column is as follows:“Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the US has begun. Milliyet Columnist Yasemin Congar wrote yesterday that recent efforts to soften Washington had yielded little. Akkording to Congar, before Erdogan’s arrival in Washington, US President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor Staphen Hadley said: ‘Turkey’s American friends should claim Turkish-American friendship in the public arena… And America’s Turkish friends should defend America against the outrageous charges against the US.’ Hadley’s words amount to saying, ‘You are failing defend us.’ Otherwise, Hadley would give examples of Turkey’s American friends defending it. After the famous motion of March 1, 2003 [rejecting US troops in Turkey for an offensive into Iraq], in an interview with CNN Turk on May 6-7, then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and former Ambassador to Ankara Marc Grossman weighed in with this advice: ‘We can tell you what the right thing for you is. Just do what we tell you.’ If not at this time, when should our American friends raise their voices? Despite all this, Erdogan in order to be welcomed by Washington visited Israel, which he had once branded a ‘terrorist state.’ He met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who used to be the leader of a band of terrorists. It was a sort of repentance. As if he wasn’t the one who called the people who died in Fallujah ‘martyrs,’ Erdogan issued a message on May 21: ‘Our relations with the US are different then with any other country. The US, our friend and our ally, is our primary partner vis-a-vis problems both regional and worldwide.’ But we still don’t know whether he curries favor with the US. Whether Erdogan likes it or not, I would like to tell him how he could cut the Gordian knot of Turkish-US relations: PKK terrorists are still in the mountains… They came from Iraq, a region under the control of the US, into Turkey. The US doesn’t allow Turkey to conduct operations in the region, but doesn’t say anything about the PKK’s armaments and meeting its needs like food and fuel in a region under US control. Consequently, the US then, whether willingly or not, supports the PKK. With this fact, and the Turkish martyrs coming from southeastern Turkey, the US shouldn’t expect to win the hearts of the Turkish people.” ARCHIVE <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="http:/_www.byegm.gov.tr_statistic/countcode.js"> </script> Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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