Browse through our Interesting Nodes on Politics in Cyprus Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923) Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923)
HR-Net - Hellenic Resources Network Compact version
Today's Suggestion
Read The "Macedonian Question" (by Maria Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou)
HomeAbout HR-NetNewsWeb SitesDocumentsOnline HelpUsage InformationContact us
Friday, 29 March 2024
 
News
  Latest News (All)
     From Greece
     From Cyprus
     From Europe
     From Balkans
     From Turkey
     From USA
  Announcements
  World Press
  News Archives
Web Sites
  Hosted
  Mirrored
  Interesting Nodes
Documents
  Special Topics
  Treaties, Conventions
  Constitutions
  U.S. Agencies
  Cyprus Problem
  Other
Services
  Personal NewsPaper
  Greek Fonts
  Tools
  F.A.Q.
 

Turkish Press Review, 07-12-19

Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>

Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning

19.12.2007


CONTENTS

  • [01] ERDOGAN: “THE MILITARY HAS DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO WHAT IS NECESSARY”
  • [02] GENERAL STAFF: “NO CIVILIANS WERE TARGETED, AND REPORTS OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE DISINFORMATION”
  • [03] RICE: “THE UNITED STATES, IRAQ, AND TURKEY SHARE A COMMON INTEREST IN STOPPING THE PKK”
  • [04] EC’S PIERINI: “THE TURKISH ARMY IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE EU”
  • [05] KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
  • [06] TO OUR READERS

  • [01] ERDOGAN: “THE MILITARY HAS DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO WHAT IS NECESSARY”

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday reiterated that the military would take every measure necessary in the fight against the terrorist PKK. “The military has done whatever is necessary and will continue to do whatever is necessary,” he told a joint press conference in Ankara with his visiting Macedonian counterpart. “Turkey has no negative attitude towards Iraqi civilians or friends. Turkey’s enemies are the terrorist camps in northern Iraq which threaten our national unity. We are exercising our rights under international law.” /Hurriyet/

    [02] GENERAL STAFF: “NO CIVILIANS WERE TARGETED, AND REPORTS OF CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE DISINFORMATION”

    The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said yesterday that it had inflicted heavy losses on terrorist PKK camps in northern Iraq in weekend airstrikes and in a small-scale incursion afterwards by ground forces. In a statement posted on its website, the military confirmed that Turkish ground troops had crossed a few kilometers into northern Iraq yesterday after spotting a group of PKK militants trying to move into Turkey overnight. The military again reiterated that no civilians were targeted and that reports of civilian casualties were disinformation. “The air operation was planned very precisely and it executed with great caution,” said the statement. “Only facilities used by the terrorist organization (PKK) were included in the list of targets in the operation, and no civilian residential areas were targeted.” In related news, President Abdullah Gul said, “From now on, whatever is necessary in the fight against terrorism will be done,” On a visit to Konya, Gul also said Turkey’s only goal in northern Iraq was to combat the PKK threat. “There are no other goals,” he added. “Iraq is Turkey’s neighbor, and we want to save the Iraqis from this vexing terror. The whole world has seen that Turkey has no ulterior motives. In the end, everybody has understood that Turkey is right in this fight.” /Star-Hurriyet/

    [03] RICE: “THE UNITED STATES, IRAQ, AND TURKEY SHARE A COMMON INTEREST IN STOPPING THE PKK”

    On a surprise visit to Iraq, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday met with regional administration leaders in Kirkuk, then proceeded to Baghdad and met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Afterwards, at a joint press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Rice said, “The United States, Iraq, and Turkey share a common interest in stopping the activities of the PKK which threaten to undo the stability of the north, which clearly have resulted in deaths in Turkey, and when we were recently together in Istanbul, we actually had a trilateral discussion about our common interest in dealing with this problem.” She added, “This is a circumstance in which the United States has constantly counseled that we need an overall comprehensive approach to this problem, that no one should do anything that threatens to destabilize the north.” Addressing Turkey’s recent cross-border operation into northern Iraq, she said, “As to the activity last Sunday, this was a Turkish decision and we have made clear to the Turkish government that we continue to be concerned about anything that could lead to innocent civilian casualties or to a destabilization of the north.” For his part, Zebari said, “We want stability and security in Iraq and with Iraq's neighbors also and the border areas. The PKK presence is unacceptable. The PKK has conducted terrorist activities against Turkish interests and civilians and their presence is not acceptable, neither by the Iraqi government nor the KRG (Kurdish regional administration) authorities.” /Turkiye/

    [04] EC’S PIERINI: “THE TURKISH ARMY IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE EU”

    Marc Pierini, the head of the European Commission Representation in Turkey, said yesterday that the Turkish Army has great importance for the European Union. In a guest opinion column in Dunya daily, Pierini wrote, “Let’s think about the military dimension of an EU and NATO where the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is completely integrated in their all peacekeeping operations: Turkey has the second greatest army in NATO, and it can clearly change the planning possibilities of possible EU peacekeeping operations in the Near and Middle East and Africa as well as other regions.” /Milliyet/

    FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS… FROM THE COLUMNS…

    [05] KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

    BY ERGUN BABAHAN (SABAH)

    Columnist Ergun Babahan comments on recent Turkish airstrikes against the terrorist PKK and intelligence sharing with the US. A summary of his column is as follows:

    “In 1502, Portuguese mapmaker Alberto Cantino was executed in Lisbon. His crime was preparing a very detailed and accurate map of the Indian Ocean. At that time, the punishment for this crime was death, because Cantino’s action resulted in waterways which up to then had only been known to Portuguese sailors being opened to its rivals, and so broke his nation’s trade monopoly. The map was later lost, and only found 400 years later hanging on the wall of a restaurant in Madeira. Back then knowledge translated into both power and money, and now too. Turkey was able to carry out a pinpoint-accuracy operation with 50 planes against Kandil thanks to US intelligence and it opening up Iraqi airspace (which is under its control).

    After leaving Syria in the late ‘90s, terrorist PKK head Abdullah Ocalan went to a strange city in Russia. Not Turkey, but the US found out where he was, just as it had on his earlier travels. Maybe the US administration was already eyeing invading Iraq and didn’t want a Marxist Kurdish group, and an enemy of then local Iraqi Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani (now Iraqi president), in the way. No matter the reason, the intelligence came from the US, just like in Turkey’s latest anti-PKK operation, because the US is a superpower which can listen to telephone conversations worldwide, read all emails and constantly watch every region by satellite. Now it believes that the PKK’s being so much in the way in northern Iraq iis harming the local administration and so has started to provide intelligence from the region to Turkey. In other words, this intelligence isn’t being shared out of the goodness of Washington’s heart. Everything has been weighed and calculated. But in any case, the success of this operation can’t be downplayed either. Not every country can carry out a huge operation with 50 warplanes in the middle of the night. Yes, Turkey has the power to do it, but it doesn’t have the intelligence, which comes from foreign sources. When Turkey can detect threats to itself using its own satellites, it will inevitably become an influential regional power.”

    [06] TO OUR READERS

    In observance of the Feast of the Sacrifice holiday, the Turkish Press Review will not appear on Thursday and Friday. Please join us again on Monday, December 24.
    Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
    Back to Top
    Copyright © 1995-2023 HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network). An HRI Project.
    All Rights Reserved.

    HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute, Inc.
    trkpr2html v1.02a run on Wednesday, 19 December 2007 - 9:51:06 UTC