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Turkish Press Review, 07-04-05Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning05.04.2007CONTENTS
[01] KUWAITI PREMIER MEETS WITH ERDOGANPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah, who arrived in Ankara late on Tuesday for an official visit. Following their talks, at a joint press conference, Erdogan praised the Kuwaiti government's decision to open a trade office in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). For Kuwait to take such a step, following the lead of Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, shows how much importance easing the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots has been given, Erdogan said. Sheikh Nasser, for his part, said that his country was ready to cooperate on the Cyprus issue, and called for strengthened bilateral ties between Turkey and Kuwait. /Hurriyet/[02] PM ERDOGAN RECEIVES GERMAN-TURKISH FRIENDSHIP DELEGATIONPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday received a delegation of a German-Turkish Friendship Group from the Bundestag visiting Turkey. Following the one-and-a-half-hour meeting, the delegation also had talks with the members of Parliament's European Union harmonization Commission. /Aksam/[03] IN GERMANY, GUL HAILS TURKISH-EU TIES AND TOUTS NEW E-CONSULATE SERVICESSpeaking to reporters in Germany yesterday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul commented on Turkey's European Union membership bid, saying that Turkish-EU relations continued to be good. Asked why Turkey wasn't invited to the recent EU's 50th anniversary celebrations, Gul said that he wasn't interested in this, despite all the ink spilled on the issue. "We're watching the course we're following," said Gul. "There are many things we must do. Everyone knows Turkey's contribution to world peace and stability as well as regional peace and stability. We have no intention of hawking our country." Later, Gul attended a meeting to tout the introduction of new "e-consulate" services to allow expatriate Turks to carry out embassy-based services through the Internet. Stressing that the new program was the culmination of two years of work, Gul added that 85% of such services could be carried out through cyberspace. "We're a pioneer among countries in offering this," added Gul. /Turkiye/[04] REPUBLIC DEMONSTRATION SET FOR APRIL 14A republic demonstration, set to be held on April 14 in Ankara, has already been criticized by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Academics, students and several university rectors are expected to take part. Following the demonstration, the protestors will visit Antikabir. In related news, more than 20 universities are supporting the protest. In related news, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) claims that the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is behind the demonstration. However, CHP leader Deniz Baykal said that the massive protest rally was being organized by non-governmental organizations, adding that if his party were behind it, he would say so. /Milliyet/[05] IN NICOSIA, DEPUTY PM SENER SIGNS ECONOMIC PACTDeputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener yesterday met with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Economy and Tourism Minister Enver Ozturk in Nicosia. Sener and Ozturk signed a protocol on an economic program and memorandum of understanding. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Sener said that the solidarity between Turkey and the TRNC had no equal, adding that the ties between Turkey and the TRNC were unique. Sener further stated that the TRNC continued to develop with Turkey's help, despite the isolation imposed on it. /Milliyet/Ihsan Dogramaci, former head of the Board of Higher Education (YOK) and the founder of Hacettepe and Bilkent Universities, yesterday received an honorary doctorate from the US' Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dogramaci, 92, during a ceremony at Parliament, will also be given an honorary award. /Hurriyet/ [06] NEW YORK'S MET HOSTS EXHIBIT ON "VENICE AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD"The Metropolitan Museum in New York has begun to display a new exhibit on "Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797." The display tells about relations between the West and the Islamic world through artworks including portraits of Ottoman sultans and Turkish handcrafts. According to the museum, the show "deals with the works of Islamic art that entered Venetian collections in historical times and explores the nature of the artistic relationship between Venice and the Mamluks in Egypt, the Ottomans in Turkey, and the Safavids in Iran." The exhibit runs through July 8. /Turkiye/FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS... [07] WHY NOT BETTER TIES?BY OKTAY EKSI (HURRIYET)Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on Turkish-Syrian relations. A summary of his column is as follows: "We won't be expecting much from a football match. You know that the process of establishing political relations between the US and the People's Republic of China back in the early '70s started with a match between the two countries' ping-pong teams. Turkey and Syria don't have such teams, so I won't talk about this week's football friendly between Turkish team Fenerbahce and Syria's Al Ittihat. We want Turkish-Syrian relations, which changed after Bahar Assad was elected president, to turn into a relationship of reliable friendship. I've had many bad things to say about the foreign policy of the ruling party in this space, but I never once criticized its policies meant to improve Turkey's relations with its neighbors. Actually, the problems in Turkish-Syrian relations stemmed from the enmity of the late Hafez Assad towards Turkey, just like Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou's similar attitude held back Turkish-Greek ties for 15 years. Just like his son George Papandreou shifted Athens' policy to a positive direction, Bahar Assad also corrected his father's policy. In addition, Turkey's friendly is helping rescue Syria from its isolation under US President George W. Bush's serious accusations and veiled threats that it might attack Syria at any time. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find good things in the past of Turkish-Syrian relations. For example, the terrorist PKK once took shelter in the Bekaa valley, which is under Syrian control, and protected the PKK in its territory for many years, as well as spouted rhetoric demanding territory from Turkey and supported everybody and every policy which would put Turkey in a difficult position. We find all this difficult to forget. Our late President Turgut Ozal also tried hard to end this negative situation. He even thought that he had convinced Hafez Assad to stop supporting the PKK in return for a commitment to divert water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to Syria, but this didn't pan out. Now we've reached a point where we can carry out a joint operation against the PKK alongside Syria. This week Syrian President Bahsar Assad made visiting US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi wait before meeting with him, on her controversial trip to Damascus, saying that he had very important guests from Turkey and first had to bid his Turkish guests farewell. Pelosi didn't accept Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's request to meet during his recent visit to Washington. In light of this, Assad's gesture becomes more meaningful. I wanted to mention my optimism about the relations between our countries today." [08] "A REAL MARKET CORRECTION IS COMING"BY KORKMAZ ILKORUR (RADIKAL )Columnist Korkmaz Ilkorur comments on world economic developments and their effect on Turkey's economy. A summary of his column is as follows: "Our economy has been breaking records. As demand fell, exports boomed. Economic growth last year was 6%, although some say the numbers are exaggerated. Turkey has shown positive growth for 20 straight quarters. The current account deficit is bit too high, but the good news warms the government's heart. As for me, I'm not pessimistic but rather cautiously optimistic. That's why I'm writing this column today. Today I'd like to quote from a guest op-ed in last week Britain's Financial Times written by William Rhodes. I even took my title from him. Who is William Rhodes? Followers of international finance know him well. He's the senior vice president of Citigroup and the president and CEO of Citibank. But what's important here is that he's also first vice chairman of the Institute of International Finance, which concerns itself with developing economies. Rhodes sometimes comes to Turkey, and his words are valued by Turkish financial circles. At the beginning of his op-ed, Rhodes analyzes the positive developments of the world economy regionally. 'Much of the good news has come as a result of extraordinary levels of liquidity pouring into opportunities around the globe,' he writes. 'To a large extent this is due to the Federal Reserve's expansionary monetary policies early in the decade and the US administration's fiscal stimulus. The yen carry trade has also facilitated the buoyant expansion of investments and leverage evident everywhere today.' It provides resources for investments and credits, he adds. Rhodes has another insight. 'It has been my experience that periods of economic expansion tend to last between five and seven years,' he says. He also writes that the correction seen last May was a soft one and reckons that as America is now in its sixth year of expansion, there will be a real, and serious, correction within the next 12 months. Lastly, Rhodes writes about the new actors such as hedge funds and private equity, about which I wrote in past columns. He further stresses that the most important issues will not be inflation, growth and interest rates themselves but the management of the destabilization and corrective effects of these international actors in international markets. In sum, we should be optimistic but also cautious." Turkish Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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