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Turkish Press Review, 02-06-21Turkish 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> <map name="FPMap1"> </map> <map name="FPMap1"></map> Press & Information Turkish Press Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning21.06.2002CONTENTS
[01] EU’S SEVILLE SUMMIT BEGINS TODAYThe European Union’s Seville summit is to begin today in the southern Spanish city. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer accompanied by Foreign Minister Ismail Cem will represent Turkey at the meeting. Among the major issues to be discussed there are the fight against illegal immigration, the EU’s enlargement process and various financial issues. Turkey expects a positive atmosphere to dominate the summit concerning the EU’s relations with the candidate countries and for an exact date for the beginning of Turkey’s accession negotiation process to be determined. /Cumhuriyet/[02] TURKEY TAKES OVER COMMAND OF ISAFTurkey yesterday officially took over the command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for a six-month period from its predecessor, Great Britain. At a ceremony held in Kabul, Afghanistan ISAF British Commander Maj. Gen. John McColl said that everybody had worked in harmony during the rule of the Afghan interim government and that the nation’s restructuring process had begun. McColl also wished success to his successor, Turkish Maj. Gen. Hilmi Akin Zorlu, in his new post. Zorlu said that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) would contribute to ensuring peace in the country and would take responsibility for Kabul airport. At the ceremony, Afghanistan interim leader Hamid Kharzai expressed his pleasure at seeing Turkey take the reins of the ISAF. Turkey plans to serve in the ISAF with a total of 1,400 soldiers by the end of this month. /Turkiye/[03] DERVIS: “THE ECONOMIC PROGRAM IS GOING VERY SUCCESSFULLY”State Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis yesterday issued a written statement saying that Turkey’s economic program was going very well in the sense that the government had successfully fulfilled all of its targets set out for June. Dervis remarked that recent operations in the banking sector were of great importance for the future of Turkey’s financial sector. Stating that the Turkish economy would become more powerful with a new banking system, Dervis reiterated that the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board was to hold a meeting on June 28 to discuss a new loan tranche to be delivered to Turkey. /Hurriyet/[04] DERVIS TO BE HONORED IN SWITZERLANDState Minister for the Economy Kemal Dervis is due to attend next week the 13th meeting in Switzerland of the Crans Montana Forum, a private gathering of government officials, policymakers, and scholars. There he will receive the forum’s Prixde la Foundation (Foundation Prize) on June 28. Prior to that gathering, Dervis will on Monday attend a meeting arranged by the World Bank and give a speech there. Then on Tuesday he will attend a roundtable meeting in Montreal organized by Canadian-Turkish cooperation group. /Turkiye/[05] YUCELEN URGES GERMAN COUNTERPART SCHILY TO EXTRADITE METIN KAPLANInterior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen last week sent a letter to his German counterpart Otto Schily, stressing the importance of the extradition to Turkey of Metin Kaplan, the head of the so-called Anatolian Federated Islamic State. Yucelen stated that Turkey believed in the urgent necessity of signing a cooperation agreement against organized crime between the two countries. He also added that the extradition of all terrorists without making arbitrary distinctions was of great importance. /Cumhuriyet/[06] RELATIONS BETWEEN CYPRUS AND THE EU IN THE SPOTLIGHTErtugrul Apakan, the Foreign Ministry’s Cyprus Department head, yesterday briefed Parliament’s Foreign Relations Commission on recent developments concerning peace talks between the two leaders of the island. Stating that admittance of the Greek Cypriot administration to the European Union would plunge the island into social and economic chaos, Apakan said, “Such a development would also bring about new disputes and instability in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish-Greek relations would also be adversely affected. If the EU approves the membership of the Greek Cypriots, then the division between the two nations on the island would become definite.” Meanwhile, British daily the Financial Times featured a commentary by Judy Dempsey on the relations between Cyprus and the European Union. According to Dempsey, one European diplomat said, “Clerides and Denktas know the issues inside out. They know what they have to do to make a deal. On another level, it boils down to trust. Each community wants assurances it will be secure, safe and politically equal under a settlement." Dempsey stressed that the EU was ready to admit a divided island although EU diplomats acknowledged that such a development would carry great risks. “It would mean a serious setback for the gradual thaw in relations between Greece and Turkey and for resolving old outstanding issues in the Aegean,” said Dempsey. “They also worry that Turkey might annex Northern Cyprus.” Quoting a European ambassador, Dempsey also remarked that the whole area of the Mediterranean could become much more unstable and that the EU would be inheriting a highly volatile and unstable region. /Cumhuriyet/[07] IMF, US TREASURY COMMEND BDDK’S TAKEOVERInternational Monetary Fund External Affairs Director Tom Dawson yesterday praised Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency’s (BDDK) decision to place Pamukbank into receivership. He said that following other steps, weak banks were being removed from the system and a critical stage had been completed in the economic programme for the rehabilitation of Turkey’s banking system. Dawson also remarked that political uncertainty was hurting the economy. Meanwhile, in a joint declaration, IMF European First Region Director Michael Deppler and Foreign Currency Affairs Director Stefan Ingves called on the BDDK to stay alert to keep the banking system healthy and also keep a tight leash in the future. In addition, US Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs John B. Taylor gave his full support for the takeover of Pamukbank and Turkey’s efforts to reform its economy. /Hurriyet/[08] CILLER URGES LEADERS TO CONSIDER EU ISSUE AS A WHOLETrue Path Party (DYP) leader Tansu Ciller yesterday began her tour of the leaders of parties in Parliament, urging them to hold debates on Turkey’s EU accession laws as a whole before it recesses for the summer. Following the cancellation of her Friday appointment with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit due to his health problems, Ciller yesterday met with Parliament Speaker Omer Izgi. Ciller said that she had asked Izgi for his help to take up the EU laws as a whole in Parliament and to keep Parliament working through July. Ciller told reporters that Turkey’s fixation on the death penalty issue was misplaced and that settlement of the Cyprus issue should have the priority. The DYP leader is scheduled to meet with Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz today. In addition, Ciller yesterday visited former President Suleyman Demirel. Leaving his office, Ciller said that there was a power vacuum in Turkey and that it was not being governed well. “This vacuum is hindering Turkey’s EU membership bid process, solution of the Cyprus issue and Turkey’s economy. Turkey should recognize this fact soon,” she said. /Turkiye/[09] FOGG: “TURKEY HASN’T GOTTEN ENOUGH EU SUPPORT”Former European Union Representative in Turkey Karen Fogg says in the current issue of Turkish magazine Aktuel that the nation hadn’t received enough EU support and that it hadn’t yet seen the “friendly face of Europe.” Speaking on monetary and technical aid, Fogg tells the magazine: “Important programs were laid out for Turkey for the 1998-2001 period, but they took too much time to be carried out. The process in Brussels is complicated but this is no excuse.” She added, “Now I am more aware than ever that Turkey’s joining the EU would be wonderful.” /Milliyet/[10] ICEL PROVINCE RE-NAMED MERSINParliament voted yesterday to change the name of the Mediterranean province of Icel to Mersin in a unanimous vote. Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen said that the change reflected the wishes of both the province’s deputies and its citizens. Democratic Left Party (DSP) Mersin Deputy Aktif Serin said that the old name was hurting the city’s economy and trade. /Milliyet/[11] EU CITIZENS CURIOUS ABOUT TURKEYA new opinion poll taken in the leadup to the European Union’s current Seville summit indicates that citizens in EU member countries would like to know more about Turkey. The poll, conducted by the EU Institute of Statistics (Eurostat), asked people living in the 15 EU member nations which EU candidate they would like to learn more about. Turkey placed first, with 25% of people curious about it followed by Greek Cyprus at 21%, Malta at 19% and Poland at 18%. The same poll also showed Turkey as the EU candidate country respondents were most interested in as a tourist destination. /Aksam/[12] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE COLUMNS...[13] CRITERION BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on the EP’s decision to include the PKK on its list of terrorist organizations. A summary of his column is as follows:“I have previously written that after telling Turkey that ‘terror and the struggle against terrorism are over’ European Parliament (EP) Joint Commission’s Dutch Chairman Joost Lagenjik advised Turkish officials to establish dialogue with the PKK, just as in Northern Ireland, and he added that if such a dialogue wasn’t established, then the body would consider one of the Copenhagen unmet by Turkey. First of all, let’s start with the example of Northern Ireland. There are many differences between the situation in Northern Ireland and Turkey. First of all, Britain was unable to defeat the IRA in Northern Ireland. However, Turkey was capable of defeating the PKK. The British government searched for a dialogue, as it was incapable of defeating the IRA. It was out of question for an undefeated organization to hand over its weapons. Actually the IRA is to a large extent keeping its weapons. However, the PKK had to surrender as the party which lost the armed struggle, and it doesn’t have the right to request dialogue. Moreover, a person must either have gone mad, or he must be never heard the word ‘terror’ or ‘terrorism’ if he asks Turkey to establish dialogue with an organization which has even -– finally -– been included in the terrorist organizations list of European Union. In order to have the right to ask Turkey to establish dialogue with the PKK, Europe has to explain why it considered both Northern Ireland’s IRA and the ETA organization in Spain terrorist groups and why it waited for 18 long years (since 1984) to put the PKK into the terrorist organizations list. Actually even as one says that they finally included it on the terrorist organizations list, the situation isn’t quite as it seems. I recently attended a roundtable meeting with our colleagues in Germany. Meanwhile, a friend of us asked, ‘As the EU put the PKK on its terrorist organizations list, if a person applies to the German authorities and says, ‘I am being prosecuted because I am a member of the PKK and I request political asylum’ then is this person treated as a terrorist suspect, or is he given political asylum?’ Then a German official answered, ‘Of course he will be granted asylum.’ We asked how this could be. The official said, ’Germany prohibited the activities of the terrorist organization but it didn’t say that its members were terrorists.’ As you see, they seem to be very sensitive concerning the ‘human rights.’ However, they don’t say anything about the laws in ‘the war against terrorism’ which have been passed in the US, Great Britain, Canada, India and which violate basic principles of law and ignore human rights. For example, they don’t criticize the US presidential order making it possible for a suspect who isn’t a US citizen to be tried by a military tribunal, convicted, and executed.” [14] PROUD BUT DIFFICULT MISSION BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the mission Turkey took on in Kabul yesterday. A summary of his column is as follows:“Turkey has started to shoulder a proud but difficult international mission thousands of kilometers away from its borders. A Turkish commander, Brigadier Gen. Akin Zorlu, is commanding the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is a peacekeeping force consisting of 4,800 people from 19 nations responsible for ensuring security in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul. The Turkish commander took over his duty from British Gen. McColl yesterday and he will continue the critical mission of this international force, which also includes 1,000 Turkish soldiers, for six months. Obviously, it is a great diplomatic achievement for Turkey to undertake peace and security in Afghanistan, which has been the focus of the entire world for months, and to help this country with its reconstruction. Thus, Ankara is taking advantage of the opportunity to display its regional role and activity on the international stage. It wasn’t easy for Turkey to achieve such a success. Actually Turkey voluntarily requested this task, which nearly nobody seemed to be willing to accept at first, but Ankara put forth some ‘technical’ conditions to accept this risky business: the area of operations will be well defined, logistical support will be ensured, financial aid will be extended, etc. At the end of a round of hard bargaining, most of these conditions were met or it was promised that they would be met, as in the issue of financial aid. However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Turkey’s mission in Afghanistan (and its presence which is soon expected to reach 1,400 people) is extremely dangerous. The situation in Afghanistan is by no means settled yet. Armed attacks occur even in Kabul, and the ethnic tension and clashes still go on. In such an atmosphere, it is very difficult to administer a multinational force which is responsible for ensuring peace and security within rather narrow limits of authority. Actually, Afghans love and show sympathy towards Turkey generally. Therefore, Turkey has more advantages there than other countries. We believe that Gen. Zorlu will use these advantages and Turkey’s privileges in the best way possible. Turkey’s taking over the new military mission in Afghanistan coincides with the time in which the political situation in Afghanistan is becoming normal, and this development is somewhat reassuring. The traditional Loya Jirga assembly, consisting of 1,500 delegates, convened and elected Hamid Kharzai as the leader of the country, and Kharzai declared the temporary government by taking various ethnic and political balances into consideration. This government will be in power until general elections to be held in 2004 and meanwhile it will try to ensure peace and security, national unity, reconstruction and economic development in the country. The latest steps show that Afghanistan might attain a normal life after strife which has lasted nearly a quarter-century. Afghans will need all kinds of support from other countries in this hard and difficult road. Turkey might be one of the leading countries which ensures this support in not only the military sphere, but also in the other fields, including the economy, and which plays a role towards this end.” 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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