Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 11-08-11

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

[01] Kucuk claims that they will achieve 4% economic growth

[02] Ozgurgun replies to the Cypriot Foreign Minister

[03] Izcan: Turkey has absolutely no right on Cyprus's natural resources

[04] YKP says that the Turkish side continues to create fait accomplis on the territory and population issues

[05] The regime will reportedly stop paying the electricity bills of enclaved Greek Cypriots in occupied Karpasia peninsula

[06] ITU campus to be built at the restored building of the former Famagusta State Hospital

[07] In occupied Famagusta, the medieval walls lack of care

[08] Boom in tourism of the occupied area; Hotel occupancy rates in a very high level

[09] Talat not hopeful that a solution on the Cyprus problem will be reached

[10] Printed media 2010 circulation in Turkey increased by 13.4%

[11] "Survey reveals that journalists recognize media censorship"

[12] Turkey pursues its nuclear agenda

[13] Erdogan, Davutoglu to visit Somalia with their families

[A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS

Main issues highlighted in today's Turkish press are statements by Premier Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu that Syria's decision to withdraw its troops from the city of Hama is a positive result in terms of the Turkish initiative in Damascus, Davutoglu's telephone conversation talks with his British counterpart William Hague and the Foreign Minister of Kosovo Enver Hoxhaj on Syria developments, accusations by Kemal Kilicdaroglu against AKP for Davutoglu's talks in Syria with Assad, the contacts of the Egyptian Foreign Minister in Turkey and other internal issues.

[01] Kucuk claims that they will achieve 4% economic growth

Claiming that the "TRNC" is expecting a 4% economic growth this year despite the economic crisis, Kucuk said that this success was the result of the economic measures taken in cooperation with Turkey.

Kucuk said that his "government" aimed to achieve a number of other goals in the fields of health, tourism and education as well as the "state's infrastructure" by 2012, raising the standard of living in the "TRNC". He also gave information concerning their plans and projects to improve motorway infrastructure and safety standards.

[02] Ozgurgun replies to the Cypriot Foreign Minister

"Insulting Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots simply for protecting their legitimate rights and interests, to say the least of it, is going way over the line" Ozgurgun alleged in a written statement.

Dr Markoullis had described Turkey's reaction to Greek Cypriot plans as "bullying and arrogant." "If there is anyone in our region acting like a bully, it is the Greek Cypriot administration which was unlawfully and unilaterally accepted in the European Union. And the real arrogance is the Greek Cypriot attempt to take advantage of its position to make other EU members comply with its law defying attitude" Ozgurgun claimed.

[03] Izcan: Turkey has absolutely no right on Cyprus' natural resources

Izcan noted that the natural resources of the island belong to the Cyprus people and added that the Turkish Cypriots, who are citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, could demand their rights from these natural resources.

Izcan recalled that Turkey recognizes the Republic of Cyprus when this suits its plans and then says that "there is no state such as Republic of Cyprus" when the existence of the Republic of Cyprus does not suits its plans. Izcan noted that Turkey demands rights on the Turkish Cypriots also when this suits its plans.

Izcan said that the AKP Government implements a policy which escalates tension, uses threats and contributes in the increase of nationalism in both sides of the island. He noted that this policy harms the solution process on the island and the relations between the two communities.

(I/Ts.)

[04] YKP says that the Turkish side continues to create fait accomplis on the territory and population issues

Durduran said that Turkey should take its decisions and that Cyprus does not belong to Turkey. He added that Turkey should explain this to its people and support the solution in the island.

Durduran pointed out that efforts are exerted to created fait accomplis in the areas of territory and governance by continuing to distribute rural plots of land to young people. He noted that unacceptable fait accomplis continue also on the issue of the population structure [in the occupied area of the island].

"In this situation nothing good could come out of the ongoing negotiations", he argued and added: "The fact that the UN points out to an international conference is a proof of this. The UN is obliged to have a time limit. It is pointed out to this as well. Everyone could say whatever they wish, these will happen and when the UN gets bored it will convene a conference. It will put the EU into action for this. However, because time that passes causes destruction in the north, those who live in the north will suffer. The Cyprus problem is not a problem which will be closed when you say I closed it".

(I/Ts.)

[05] The regime will reportedly stop paying the electricity bills of enclaved Greek Cypriots in occupied Karpasia peninsula

(I/Ts.)

[06] ITU campus to be built at the restored building of the former Famagusta State Hospital

According to the paper, the aid for the restoration works, which are taking place at the former building of the Famagusta State Hospital where the ITU campus will be built, is to increase year by year.

ITU will also launch works for the Maritime Faculty by the end of year and will use a building which is near the "municipality" of occupied Lefkosia as an administrative division.

Speaking on the issue, Namik Mutfuoglu, coordinator of ITU in Cyprus, stated inter alia, that the works for the construction of the campus started from last April.

He also stated that the works at the building of the former Famagusta State Hospital were intensified after the decision of ITU to enrol its first students in October 2011 and added that around 90 students will start their preparation classes this year.

(AK)

[07] In occupied Famagusta, the medieval walls lack of care

According to the paper, the tourist operators called on the "Famagusta municipality", the "environment department" and the "department of antiquities and museums" to look up the issue.

(AK)

[08] Boom in tourism of the occupied area; Hotel occupancy rates in a very high level

As the paper writes, the occupancy rate of almost all hotels in the occupied area of Cyprus during the summer period is at 100% and the reservations for the Ramadan Feast are full. The majority of the tourists at the hotels are from Turkey and the UK and also from Azerbaijan, Iran, Italy, France and Israel, countries that are considered as new markets of tourists.

Speaking on the issue, Mehmet Dolmaci, chairman of the "Turkish Cypriot hotelier's union", stated that the situation of the hotels especially in the period of the Ramadan Feast is very good, however he stressed the need for the works to continue. He then said that the occupancy rate in the occupied area is very high because of the contribution of Turkey's Aid Delegation to implement the charter flights system.

Explaining that due to the fact that some airline companies and tourist operators took the risk and gave discounts at some packages to attract clients and because of the several problems experienced in Egypt and the Middle East, there was an important increase on the number of tourists visiting the occupied area.

Saying that the most important problem the "country" has to confront is the lack of promotion policy for this year, Dolmaci stated that it is sure that if they do not pay attention to the promotion of the "country" next year, then recession is to come.

On the same issue, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (11.08.11) reports on the occupancy of the hotels in the occupied area of Cyprus for the month of August and writes that the occupancy rate of the hotels in occupied Keryneia has reached to 85%, while in occupied Famagusta 60%. Also, as regards the small hotels, the rate of their occupancy is 35%.

(AK)

[09] Talat not hopeful that a solution on the Cyprus problem will be reached

Talat had a long conversation on many issues with Gokhan Altiner, columnist of Haberdar. Altiner reports that he saw Talat very pessimistic on the Cyprus problem.

Responding to a question, Talat said that he is not informed on what happens in the Cyprus negotiations and recalled that when he was the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community he was accused by Dervis Eroglu of hiding everything from the "people".

"Mr Eroglu continuously says to the community that a solution could be achieved and that they work for this, but I clearly say to you that in this manner not only a solution could not to be achieved, but not even a solution in pieces, because both leaders do not exert such effort", he alleged.

Responding to another question, Talat said that it seems that the relations of Eroglu with the self-styled government of the regime are not good. He recalled that when he was in the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community, Eroglu demanded the inclusion of self-styled foreign minister Huseyin Ozgurgun in Talat's negotiating team and was strongly criticizing him because he was not doing this. "Why he does not include him now", he wondered.

Talat argued that the relations between the community and the self-styled government deteriorated recently. He wondered why Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan was not making hard statements when Talat was in the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community. He expressed the view that Erdogan has not changed and argued that the National Unity Party (UBP) "government" is responsible for Erdogan's hard statements regarding the Turkish Cypriots. Talat said that he does not approve these statements made by Erdogan, but accused the UBP "government" for blaming Ankara on everything and for deteriorating the relations between Erdogan and the Turkish Cypriots.

"There is a government which expects everything from Turkey. They have come to a situation where Ankara tells them what to do and they do it", he noted.

(I/Ts.)

[10] Printed media 2010 circulation in Turkey increased by 13.4%

According to the survey, the number of newspapers and magazines increased 6.4% to 6,459 in 2010. Magazines accounted for 57% of all publication. 90% of dailies is local, 3.3% is regional and 6.7% national. As for magazines, 35.8% is local, 7.2% is regional and 57% is national.

Total annual circulation of newspapers and magazines increased 13.4% to 2,571,694,304 in 2010. Newspapers accounted for 94.6% of total circulation.

Dailies accounted for 90.1% of total circulation of newspapers while monthlies accounted for 47.4% and weeklies accounted for 19% of total circulation of magazines.

Total number of employees in the printed media reached 59,670 including 16,912 women.

[11] "Survey reveals that journalists recognize media censorship"

After surveying 67 journalists from various media outlets, such as Milliyet, Hurriyet, Zaman, Taraf, Sabah, Haberturk and Sozcu, 85.1% of the journalists surveyed said that censorship and self-censorship are definitely common in the Turkish media while 14.9% said it was fairly common.

When it comes to those that intervene in the news-making process, 95% of the journalists surveyed said the government intervenes and 89% said the media owners do. The report also highlighted the change in the shift of power players that intervene in the news-making process. The report said in the past the military had a strong influence on controlling news stories; however, now the power seems to have shifted towards the police.

"This was one of the most interesting outcomes in the report for me," Arsan, who acts as the Media and Communication Systems Program coordinator at Bilgi University, told the Daily News. "I was expecting the military influence to be diminished, yet I didn't expect it to be replaced by the police and religious groups."

The survey also posed questions to the journalists such as whether they ever soften the tone of their stories or what subjects they think are censored the most.

According to the report, while more than 50% said they softened their tone because they are afraid of Government and media boss pressure, 64.5% said they were afraid that they might be taken to court for the content of their articles.

When asked what topics journalists think are most censored, 92% said relationship between the media owners is not revealed in the media. Meanwhile, 67% said that stories that cause other journalists to go to jail are censored. None of the surveyed journalists disagreed with stories about the involvement of religious groups in state affairs as being censored.

Arsan said she finished the report a couple of months before the general elections of June 12. Forty-one % of the surveyed journalists were in higher positions such as head editors, 25% were editors and 10% were columnists.

"I made a list of head editors, columnists and reporters who are experts in their fields and who are from media outlets with different perspectives. Although the number of participants may not sound high, they are people whom I think have a large influence on the Turkish media."

The report also contained civil disobedience acts, such as protests against hydro power plants or Internet bans or disobedience acts of Kurdish groups in Turkey and underlines that to sustain a healthy society, these acts should be recognized by the media.

The report also referred on the lack of unionization among journalists, citing that only 21% of the people who took the survey were members of the Journalists Union. Also, 89% said that the legal regulations protecting media freedom are not enough.

[12] Turkey pursues its nuclear agenda

"We assessed what kind of relations we can develop between Turkey and Switzerland on energy issues," Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters after his meeting with Leuthard.

When reminded of the decision of Switzerland to phase out nuclear power, Yildiz said that Turkey's determination on nuclear power plants still continues. He said when Akkuyu nuclear power plant will be constructed, an installed power which would correspond to Turkey's one-year growth would be obtained. "Nuclear is a part of lessening dependence on foreign sources. We are trying to drop the share of natural gas in generated electricity and obtain electricity from nuclear energy" he said.

Leuthard said that Switzerland decided to withdraw from nuclear power following the incidents at Fukushima nuclear power plant (which was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami disaster. Commenting on Turkey's nuclear power plant project, Leuthard said that the conditions of every country were different, noting that countries have to make decisions according to their own conditions.

Meanwhile, Zafer Caglayan the Turkish Economy Minister said that his country would welcome proposals from South Korea in a project to build a nuclear power plant.

"My Ministry and the Turkish Government are open to every proposal by South Korean companies over the issue of a nuclear power plant," Caglayan told reporters during a meeting with South Korean Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-Kyung in Seoul.

Turkey plans to construct two nuclear plants, one in the southern town of Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast -- which will be constructed by Russia's state-owned atomic power company ROSATOM with an estimated cost around 20 billion USD. Construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant is planned to start in 2013 and the first reactor is planned to generate electricity in 2018.

The other nuclear plant is planned to be built in the Black Sea province of Sinop. Turkey had been negotiating with Japan's TEPCO company which last week informed Turkey that it had withdrawn from the project.

[13] Erdogan, Davutoglu to visit Somalia with their families

"We prepare to help Somalia as if we were the only ones helping the famine victims," Erdogan said, highlighting that the efforts Turkey will make in Somalia will extend to all fields that need the contribution of the international community. Separately in Somalia, the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (T0
KA) Chairman Serdar Cam has announced plans to open a new coordination office in Somalia, noting that Turkey is poised to assist further by helping Somalia become a stronger player in the fields of international trade, the economy, agriculture and industry.

Moreover, Ankara Anatolia news agency (AA, 10.08.11) reported the following regarding aid campaigns to Somalia and other African countries fighting famine:

"Prime Ministry Directorate of Disaster and Emergency Management said that the Turkish people donated nearly $24 million at bank accounts opened by the Prime Ministry and the Directorate of Religious Affairs in an effort to help the Somali people suffering from severe shortage of food and water.

The deputies of AKP will each send at least $300 of financial aid to Africa. Nurettin Canikli, AKP deputy group chairman, said that AKP deputies "would join relief campaigns which had been pursued by assistance organizations, Religious Affairs Directorate and Red Crescent under the directives of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan."

Turkey delivered 10 tons of medicine, gathered within the scope of a relief campaign for drought-stricken Somalia, to Somali Health Ministry officials on 10 August. AA adds that the "relief campaign was launched by TIKA, the Red Crescent, and the Turkish daily Sabah." TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio

EG/

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