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Turkish Press Review, 05-11-28

Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: 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 morning

28.11.2005

FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS

CONTENTS

  • [01] ERDOGAN URGES WORLD COUNTRIES TO STAND UNITED AGAINST TERRORISM
  • [02] ERDOGAN ATTENDS EU-MEDITERRANEAN SUMMIT
  • [03] ARINC CALLS ON PARLIAMENTS TO COOPERATE AGAINST TERRORISM
  • [04] IRANIAN FM TO VISIT TURKEY
  • [05] RAUF DENKTAS: “THE EU IS IMPOSING A CYPRUS CONDITION”
  • [06] BAYKAL: “ROJ-TV IS ACTIVE IN TURKEY”
  • [07] TURKEY-EU JJC MEETING TO START TODAY IN BRUSSELS
  • [08] TEACHERS DEMONSTRATE FOR BETTER CONDITIONS
  • [09] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
  • [10] DEMOCRACY AND THE ECONOMY BY ERDAL SAFAK (SABAH)

  • [01] ERDOGAN URGES WORLD COUNTRIES TO STAND UNITED AGAINST TERRORISM

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday delivered a speech at the opening of the first meeting of the high-level group formed under the Alliance of Civilizations Project in Mallorca, Spain. Erdogan said that during his government’s three years in office, he had always underlined the need for an alliance of civilizations. Stressing that no religion or culture could be represented as a reason for violence and terrorism, Erdogan stated that it had no particular religion, language, country, race or nation. He also urged world countries to take concrete steps to overcome terrorism. /Turkiye/

    [02] ERDOGAN ATTENDS EU-MEDITERRANEAN SUMMIT

    The 10th European Union-Mediterranean Summit yesterday began in Barcelona, Spain yesterday with the participation of leaders and organizations from 40 countries. On the first day of the gathering, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held bilateral meetings with world leaders. Following a meeting with new German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Erdogan said that Turkey and Germany would continue their cooperation both economically and politically in the days to come. He added that he had invited Merkel to visit Turkey to develop relations. For her part, Merkel stated that they had taken up economic cooperation and the issue of the integration of Turks living in Germany, adding that she welcomed Erdogan’s invitation to Turkey. Furthermore, Erdogan met with Spanish Premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The two leaders reportedly focused on the Cyprus issue. Zapatero is expected to visit Turkey next spring to boost bilateral economic and trade relations. Erdogan then held talks with Catalan Autonomous Administration leader Pasquel Maragall. /Star/

    [03] ARINC CALLS ON PARLIAMENTS TO COOPERATE AGAINST TERRORISM

    Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc yesterday attended the Fifth Euro- Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Barcelona. Speaking at the gathering, Arinc said that every country should decide on a single, comprehensive definition of terrorism in order to better coordinate the fight against it. He added that parliaments needed to have a more influential political mission in relations between different countries. /Milliyet/

    [04] IRANIAN FM TO VISIT TURKEY

    Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is set to pay a one-day working visit to Turkey on Wednesday. His visit will be the first high-level visit from Iran since conservative leader Mahmod Ahmadinejad’s election there as president. He is expected to be received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to discuss economic, political and cultural relations. /Star/

    [05] RAUF DENKTAS: “THE EU IS IMPOSING A CYPRUS CONDITION”

    Speaking at a conference on ‘Turkish-Greek Relations and Cyprus’ in Aydin yesterday, former Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas warned, “If Turkey recognizes the Greek Cypriot administration in the way the European Union wants it to and opens up its harbors, the TRNC will become a virtual state. We might be removed from there in short order.” Stating that Turkey deserves EU membership and has met the Copenhagen criteria, Denktas said that the EU was always stipulating new conditions to Turkey. “What are the mines, pitfalls and dangers on the EU path?” Denktas asked. “When we talk about this, the press never reports it. It paints a rosy picture to the nation. Even if it has no right, the EU is stipulating a Cyprus condition to Turkey, as if Turkey had created the Cyprus issue. It wants Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as a legal government and apply the additional Customs Union protocol on the Greek Cypriots as well. This means ignoring the 1960 treaties which made Turkey a guarantor for Cyprus.” /Cumhuriyet/

    [06] BAYKAL: “ROJ-TV IS ACTIVE IN TURKEY”

    Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said over the weekend the fact that Danish-based Roj-TV, which is linked to the terrorist PKK, is active in Turkey was more important than a deputy giving an interview to it. Speaking to journalists, Baykal said that CHP Deputy from Hakkari Esat Canan being interviewed on Roj-TV showed that the channel is active both in Denmark and Turkey. Turkey says Roj-TV is a mouthpiece for the outlawed PKK, which is designated a terrorist group not only by Turkey but also by the United States and the European Union, and is pressing Denmark to close it. Baykal said the government needs to tackle the issue and take measures against Roj-TV. /Turkish Daily News/

    [07] TURKEY-EU JJC MEETING TO START TODAY IN BRUSSELS

    The Turkey-EU Joint Consultation Committee’s (JCC) 20th meeting, where Turkey’s accession talks will be discussed in detail, will be held in Brussels today and tomorrow. The Turkish side will be represented by a large delegation of members of employers and employee trade unions. Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarciklioglu is scheduled to have a private talk with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn on the second day of the gathering. /The New Anatolian/

    [08] TEACHERS DEMONSTRATE FOR BETTER CONDITIONS

    Thousands of teachers from across the country held demonstrations in Ankara over the weekend. Teachers under the banner of the Education Personnel Labor Union (Egitim-Sen) demonstrated for better conditions and clashed with police, leaving 17 injured. Commenting on the incidents, Education Minister Huseyin Celik admitted that teachers’ wages were low, but added that protests would not lead to any improvement. /Star/

    [09] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS

    [10] DEMOCRACY AND THE ECONOMY BY ERDAL SAFAK (SABAH)

    Columnist Erdal Safak comments on the relationship between democracy and the economy. A summary of his column is as follows:

    “In Sabah’s supplement to commemorate its 20th anniversary, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote, ‘Reforms, particularly economic openings, weren’t supported by structural reforms in the 1990s.’ Isn’t this the reason behind the crises we have suffered? Erdogan tried to be objective in this article and set aside his political concerns. The article also includes very important reminders and certain observations which make us unhappy when looking at the past. For example, Erdogan wrote, ‘The world’s closed regimes started to follow a policy of openness in the 1980s and became successful, whereas Turkey squandered the 1990s. Obviously, the impact of this process on our nation was very painful.’ He means the following: after the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989 and Communism ended in Europe, the former Eastern Bloc countries started to rapidly integrate into the world. While all the members of former Warsaw Pact began to move to liberal economies, Turkey, for example, was 10 years ahead of them in privatization. Today, all of those countries have completed their privatization, but Turkey is only half finished. It was a waste of time and many natural resources were wasted.

    The sentence about structural reforms written by Erdogan made me think of March 1997. At that time, international rating agencies were lowering Turkey’s credit rating. They based this on such negative factors as our growing budget deficit and the rising ratio of debt payments to the gross national product (GNP). The Central Bank chairman of the time, Gazi Ercel, said in March 1997, ‘No, the fall in our rating comes not from these developments, but from the fact that there’s nothing to make us hopeful for structural reforms.’ Then he listed the steps he expected from Turkey: expanding the tax base, speeding up privatization, radical reform to social security and the retirement system, transparency and most importantly, democratic stability. However, at that time Turkey couldn’t listen to the warnings made by credit rating agencies and Ercel, because tanks were hitting the wall of democracy in the process of Feb. 28 [the 1997 so-called postmodern coup]. We paid the price for this during the economic crisis of February 2001, that is, four years later. What’s more painful is that during that 20-year period Turkey couldn’t make the connection between good governance and human rights. If our politicians had seen that transparency is a requirement of a strong economy and that it could be ensured by the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, human rights and democracy, and then done what was necessary at the time of Sabah’s establishment, would the terrorist PKK and separatist terrorism exist today? Erdogan is right: Democracy is a prerequisite for progress.”

    ARCHIVE

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