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Turkish Press Review, 05-03-28
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
28.03.2005
FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
CONTENTS
[01] ERDOGAN TO TOUR TUNISIA, MOROCCO
[02] PROCESS OF TURKEY’S EXTENDING EU PROTOCOL TO NEW MEMBERS BEGINS
[03] CLERIDES: “TURKEY SIGNING THE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL WON’T MEAN OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF GREEK CYPRUS”
[04] PARLIAMENT DUE TO DEBATE TCK AMENDMENT THIS WEEK
[05] SOME TURKS EVACUATED FROM KYRGYZSTAN
[06] DENKTAS: “THOUGH TURKISH CYPRIOTS ACCEPTED THE UN PLAN, THE INTL COMMUNITY HASN’T KEPT ITS PROMISES”
[07] AGAR: “THE NATION ISN’T PLEASED WITH THE AKP GOVT”
[08] EMINE ERDOGAN: “THE PROGRESS OF WOMEN WILL DETERMINE TURKEY’S DEVELOPMENT”
[09] IN BATMAN, TENS OF THOUSANDS RALLY TO CONDEMN FLAG-BURNING ATTEMPT
[10] PALESTIAN LEADER ASKS TURKEY TO REBUILD GAZA AIRPORT
[11] SABANCI URGES MORE WOMEN IN WORK FORCE, ALL-OUT EU EFFORT
[12] TUZMEN TO TRAVEL TO BULGARIA
[13] TOURISM MINISTER KOC: “SOME 20 MILLION TOURISTS WILL VISIT TURKEY THIS YEAR”
[14] NBC APOLOGIZES FOR INACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF TURKEY
[15] MARMARIS MARITIME FESTIVAL
[16] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
[17] JUSTIN MCCARTHY: A ONE-MAN ARMY BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)
[01] ERDOGAN TO TOUR TUNISIA, MOROCCO
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due this week to start a four-day
tour of the north African countries of Morocco and Tunisia. A large group
of businessmen will accompany the premier on his tour. Earlier this month,
Erdogan also paid visits to Ethiopia and South Africa to strengthen
Turkey’s economic ties with African countries. /Turkish Daily News/
[02] PROCESS OF TURKEY’S EXTENDING EU PROTOCOL TO NEW MEMBERS BEGINS
The European Union Commission sent a letter to Ankara late on Friday
initiating the process of Turkey signing of 1963 Association Agreement to
10 new EU members, including the Greek Cypriot administration. The letter
reportedly agreed to Ankara’s two reservations: Turkey will sign the
protocol, but this will not entail recognition of the Greek Cypriot
administration, and Greek-Cypriot flagged ships as well as Greek Cypriot
planes will not be allowed to use Turkish harbors or airports. Turkey is
now expected to send a letter in reply to Brussels confirming that it is
ready to sign the protocol. In later stages, the text will have to be
approved by the Council of Europe, compromising ministers from all 25 EU
member states. The signing of the protocol by Turkey and the EU term
president is not expected to take place for at least two months. /Turkiye/
[03] CLERIDES: “TURKEY SIGNING THE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL WON’T MEAN OFFICIAL
RECOGNITION OF GREEK CYPRUS”
Even if Turkey signs a protocol extending the country’s Customs Union to
the 10 new European Union members, including Greek Cyprus, this would not
mean that Ankara officially recognizes the Greek Cypriot administration,
said former Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides over the weekend.
Appearing on Greek Cypriot TV, Clerides argued that since signing a pact
and actual practice are two different matters, Turkey might accept the
Ankara Agreement’s protocol but may still continue to deny Greek Cyprus
official recognition. Clerides also rejected Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister
George Iacovou’s recent prediction that Turkey’s negotiations would be
suspended if the country fails to implement the protocol in the first three
months, citing how Greece started to put its own protocol into practice
only two or three years after signing it. /Hurriyet/
[04] PARLIAMENT DUE TO DEBATE TCK AMENDMENT THIS WEEK
A bill proposing amendments to the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is due to
be debated by Parliament this week. Supporters of the bill reportedly hope
it will improve freedom of the press and eliminate allegedly oppressive
provisions and restrictions on freedom of expression in the new TCK.
Professional journalists’ groups recently protested the new law and sent a
letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urging changes. /Sabah/
[05] SOME TURKS EVACUATED FROM KYRGYZSTAN
A Turkish Foreign Ministry delegation headed by Ambassador Metin Goker
yesterday continued its meetings with Kyrgyz officials in Bishkek conveying
Ankara’s readiness to help to end the turmoil in the country following last
week’s fall of the Askar Akayev government. In addition, the delegation and
Turkish Ambassador to Bishkek Serpil Alpman held a gathering with Turkish
businessmen and students. Alpman advised businessmen to resume normal
operations only under tightened security measures. In related news, a total
of 117 Turkish citizens were returned to Turkey on Saturday, and Foreign
Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said yesterday that another plane departed on
Sunday to evacuate a group of Turks, including students and academics
living in the country, adding that the situation was quickly returning to
normal. /Turkiye/
[06] DENKTAS: “THOUGH TURKISH CYPRIOTS ACCEPTED THE UN PLAN, THE INTL
COMMUNITY HASN’T KEPT ITS PROMISES”
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas yesterday
criticized the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, saying that
it had supported the UN Cyprus plan and directed the Turkish Cypriots to
vote for it. He further stated that though the Turkish Cypriots had
accepted the UN plan, the international community had failed to keep its
promise to bring the TRNC’s international isolation to an end. “Some 65% of
those who voted for the plan now regret it,” claimed Denktas. “The AKP
government has forsaken Turkish Cypriots.” He stated that after leaving the
presidency on April 17, he would establish a new organization called
“Turkish Cypriots’ National Cause,” a group he said would be above
political parties. /Aksam/
[07] AGAR: “THE NATION ISN’T PLEASED WITH THE AKP GOVT”
Speaking at a meeting of his party yesterday, True Path Party (DYP) leader
Mehmet Agar criticized the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government,
saying that the nation wasn’t pleased with its rule. He stressed that
unemployment was still Turkey’s most pressing problem. “Nothing has changed
since the AKP came to power, and the nation has run out of patience,” he
said. “A great majority of the nation is struggling with difficult living
conditions.” /Turkiye/
[08] EMINE ERDOGAN: “THE PROGRESS OF WOMEN WILL DETERMINE TURKEY’S
DEVELOPMENT”
Addressing a symposium organized by a businesswomen’s association yesterday,
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife Emine Erdogan said that women’s
progress in Turkey would also determine the country’s development, adding
that she hoped the symposium would be a guide for all the world’s women.
Erdogan further briefed the participants on recent steps to end
discrimination against women, adding that this was not only a problem of
Turkey, but in fact of all humanity. /Turkiye/
[09] IN BATMAN, TENS OF THOUSANDS RALLY TO CONDEMN FLAG-BURNING ATTEMPT
Tens of thousands of people rallied over the weekend in Batman to condemn
an attempt to burn the Turkish flag at Nevruz celebrations last week. The
demonstration was organized by the Batman governorship. In related news, in
Tunceli and in Diyarbakir, the attempt was also protested by people in
“Respect the Flag” rallies. /Turkiye/
[10] PALESTIAN LEADER ASKS TURKEY TO REBUILD GAZA AIRPORT
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has asked Turkey to build Gaza Airport, a
facility devastated by Israeli tanks some four years ago. Upon his request,
the Foreign Ministry’s Directorate General of General and Bilateral
Relations dispatched to Palestine a group of experts to assess the
operations of the international airport, which is also known as the Yasser
Arafat airfield. The team prepared a report on the general state of the
airport and what needs to be done next to bring it up to working order.
/Hurriyet/
[11] SABANCI URGES MORE WOMEN IN WORK FORCE, ALL-OUT EU EFFORT
Addressing a symposium organized by a businesswomen’s association yesterday,
Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) Chairman
Omer Sabanci said that boosting women’s participation in the nation’s
workforce, which currently stands at 25%, would help Turkey’s social
welfare and development, adding that this would require the removal of
hurdles to women’s education, work, and political involvement. Touching on
Turkey’s European Union membership bid, Sabanci urged an all-out effort by
Ankara for the nation’s EU accession. “The EU process requires patience and
acting with dispassionate common sense,” he said. Sabanci added that
TUSIAD’s duty was to help Ankara successfully get through its EU accession
talks, which are set to begin this Oct. 3. /Cumhuriyet/
[12] TUZMEN TO TRAVEL TO BULGARIA
State Minister Kursad Tuzmen and an accompanying delegation of businessmen
are set to travel to Sofia on April 11-13 to hold meetings with Bulgarian
officials in an effort to improve bilateral trade relations. “Our trade
volume with Bulgaria rose to $1.84 billion in 2004,” he said over the
weekend. “We’re expecting it to exceed $2.5 billion this year.” /Star/
[13] TOURISM MINISTER KOC: “SOME 20 MILLION TOURISTS WILL VISIT TURKEY THIS
YEAR”
Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc over the weekend said that his
ministry was expecting some 20 million foreign tourists to visit Turkey
this year. “Some 600,000 tourists have already come to Antalya even before
the summer season,” he noted. “Our country is always praised at
international tourism fairs for its high-quality tourism services.” /Star/
[14] NBC APOLOGIZES FOR INACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF TURKEY
Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC television network, and John Wells,
executive producer of NBC series The West Wing, sent a letter to Turkey’s
Ambassador to Washington, Faruk Logoglu, apologizing for NBC’s inaccurate
portrayal of Turkey in a recent episode of the show. The episode in
question portrayed Turkey as a country ruled by Islamic law which had
ordered the beheading of a woman for the crime of adultery. Zucker and
Wells offered their apologies to Logoglu for the unflattering portrayal and
wrote that they had been misinformed about Turkey and its laws. In an
effort to correct the defamation, many Turkish politicians and diplomats,
including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself, had criticized NBC
and sought an apology. “In the future, we will not only visit Turkey, a
country that we admire, but also present a better and correct portrayal of
your country,” added Zucker and Wells. /Hurriyet/
[15] MARMARIS MARITIME FESTIVAL
The Marmaris International Maritime Festival
will begin on April 27 and will last through May 1. As the first festival
of its kind in Turkey, it will bring together most of the nation’s maritime
organizations and institutions, both private and public, as well as
domestic and international swimming, diving, sailing and yachting clubs,
covering a wide range of activities, competitions, shows, concerts and
entertainment activities. A number of foreign warships and tall ships are
also taking part in the festival. The festival is organized and coordinated
by the Marmaris Head Official District and Marmaris Municipality with
assistance from the Turkish Navy, the Association of South Aegean Tourist
Hotel Managers, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) and
many other private sector firms and organizations. /BYEGM/
[16] FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS…FROM THE COLUMNS
[17] JUSTIN MCCARTHY: A ONE-MAN ARMY BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)
Columnist Tufan Turenc comments on the recent visit to Turkey of historian
Justin McCarthy. A summary of his column is as follows:
“It’s obvious why we can’t disprove the Armenian allegations, because we
don’t know what happened in the years 1915-16. Moreover, unlike the
Armenians’ fervent belief in their allegations, we don’t have a strong
belief in the fact that we are right. As with every issue, we are so lazy
that we prefer to stay silent instead of fighting. I was thinking about
this when I was talking with Justin McCarthy from the University of
Louisville after his conference at Marmara University. ‘The Armenian
allegations are a great lie and their documents are false. Turkey has to
fight these slanders, but I have to admit I’m not positive that it will do
so,’ he told me.
I asked McCarthy how he began his research on the issue. As a Ph.D. student
at the University of California Los Angeles in 1976, McCarthy found out
that 3 million Muslims had been killed in the Balkans and Turkey, and he
started to look into this. His studies drove him to research the Armenian
genocide allegations. ‘I have to say that until then I also believed the
Armenian genocide allegations, but as I looked deeper into the issue the
truth came out,’ he said frankly. ‘As my research continued, I found out
that the documents of the Armenians were fake. The Turks were facing a
great lie and slander.’ McCarthy came under pressure. He was threatened
with losing his job if he continued his research. His family had to get
police protection. This didn’t intimidate McCarthy.
Many of his colleagues who signed an open letter published in The
Washington Post saying that there was no genocide withdrew after receiving
threats and gave up their research on the allegations. Only McCarthy stood
firm. ‘I would always say the same things, because they’re true,’ said
McCarthy. He also exposed that the people and accounts in ‘The Blue Book’
by British historian Arnold Toynbee were nothing more than fiction. He
found out that there had been no genocide at the places mentioned in the
book. ‘Toynbee did it wrong. He wasn’t honest in his profession,’ said
McCarthy. ‘I think he was embarrassed. History can’t be written with such
lies, because this isn’t history.’ I believe that McCarthy’s honesty and
courage won’t let him give up his fight.”
ARCHIVE
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