TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 129/13 11/07/2013
1.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Atalay to illegally visit occupied Cyprus on
July 19
2. Opinion poll shows that CTP comes first with 38-40%
3.
Kucuk said this is the last time he is a candidate for “elections”
4.
Yorgancioglu said that he will end the problem with the “citizenships”
5. Erdogan reportedly to visit occupied Cyprus in order
to help UBP’s election campaign
6.
Durduran: The fenced off town of Varosha
should be returned to its legal owners
7. KTOS protests
against the Quran lessons for young children
8.Gezi park: Thirteen people were arrested in third
wave; Death toll rises to 5
9.Α directive
banning headscarf in public service to be canceled
10.Α directive
banning headscarf in public service to be canceled
1.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Atalay to illegally visit occupied Cyprus on
July 19
According to Turkish Cypriot daily
Kibris (11.07.13), Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Cyprus
affairs Besir Atalay will illegally
visit the breakaway regime. The paper writes that Atataly and the Turkish
Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu will deliver a lecture entitled “Cyprus in the
light of lifetime and strategic sources”, which will be held at the “Near East
University” on 19th of July.
2. Opinion poll shows that CTP comes first with
38-40%
Turkish Cypriot
daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (11.07.13) reports that according to an opinion poll
conducted on behalf of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) for the forthcoming
28 July “parliamentary elections”, CTP comes first with 38-40%, followed by the
National Unity Party (UBP) with
25-27%, the Democratic Party (DP) with 15-17% and the Communal Democracy Party
(TDP) with 5%.
The paper notes
that 9-11% of the persons asked in the research stated that they have not
decided yet which party will vote for.
The research’s
results were announced to a group of Turkish Cypriot journalists by the
chairman of the CTP Ozkan Yorgancioglu who said that the opinion poll was
conducted by the RED BORDER research firm with a sample of 1,200 persons, through
personal interviews with the participants.
Yorgancioglu
also said that according to the results, CTP comes first in all provinces in
the occupied area of Cyprus,
even in occupied Trikomo region which traditionally UBP
is the main power.
3.
Kucuk said this is the last time he is a candidate for “elections”
Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan (11.07.13)
reports that the National Unity Party (UBP)
announced yesterday, under the title “Full ahead”, their political positions on
the “early elections” in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus.
During the press conference, the leader
of UBP and “former prime minister”
Irsen Kucuk announced that this is the last time that he is a candidate for
“elections”, adding that he believes that he has reached his goal creating a
strong and prosperous future for younger generations.
Kucuk noted that in the UBP “election manifesto”, there is nothing
imaginary; it is an indication of what they can achieve. He stressed that in
the new era of UBP, they will try
to do politics based on the principles of the UBP
and not to the persons of the UBP
as they did in the past. He also said that they will adjust the breakaway regime
with the realities of the world, adding that their connection to the world is
through Turkey.
4.
Yorgancioglu said that he will end the problem with the “citizenships”
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibrisli
(11.07.13) reported that the leader of Republican Turkish Party – United Forces
(CTP-BG), during his “election campaign” visits, said that he will put an end
to the policy of granting new “citizenships” of the breakaway regime, as it is
written in the “election manifesto” of CTP-BG. He also said that the political
stage, which reflects the willpower of the Turkish Cypriots, will not be lost.
Finally, Yorgancioglu said that the perception of CTP is free willpower and not
a controlled one.
5. Erdogan reportedly to visit occupied Cyprus in order
to help UBP’s election campaign
Turkish Cypriot
daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (11.07.13) sites information according to which the
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan may visit the occupied area of Cyprus in order
to help the National Unity Party’s (UBP)
“election campaign”.
The paper,
reporting on the issue under the title “AKP staff works for UBP”, writes that the involvement of the ruling in
Turkey Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the “elections” is very clear for
all the other Turkish Cypriot parties except of UBO and notes that it was Izzet
Izcan, the leader of the United Cyprus Party (BKP) who said that he has
reliable information about Erdogan’s visit to the breakaway regime.
6.
Durduran: The fenced off town of Varosha
should be returned to its legal owners
Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika (11.07.13),
under the above title, reports that Alpay Durduran, member of the party
committee of the New Cyprus Party (YKP), in a written statement yesterday,
evaluating the latest proposal for the opening of the fenced off town of
Varosha, criticized the stance of the Republican Turkish Party – United Forces
(CTP-BG) on this issue which (CTP) is committed to the agreements of 1977
Denktas-Makarios and of 1979 Denktas-Kyprianou.
Durduran explained that this statement
is contradicted to the statement that the opening of the fenced off town of Varosha to its legal
owners is part of a comprehensive solution and cannot even open under UN
administration. He added that according to the agreement of 1979 between
Denktas and Kyprianou, they were committed to the decision that the fenced off
town of Varosha
can be returned to its legal owners with an agreed formula in case they cannot
reach a comprehensive solution.
7. KTOS protests
against the Quran lessons for young children
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (11.07.13) reports that the
primary school teachers' trade union (KTOS) protested on the practice of
providing religious lessons, particularly Quran lessons to young children,
stressing that this practice is against to their “laws” and to their secular
education.
The paper reports that although some trades unions and
NGOs have objections to this practice, the Quran lessons continue.
8.Gezi park: Thirteen people were arrested in third
wave; Death toll rises to 5
Turkish daily Cumhuriyet
(10.07.13) reported that in operations centered in Izmir and carried out in five provinces in Turkey, 15
persons were taken into custody on grounds that they
provoked the Gezi
Park events and caused
damage to public goods.
These people
were taken into custody in operations carried out last Friday in Izmir, Ankara,
Istanbul, Manisa, and Batman. The suspects, among them nine students from the
Ege and Dokuz Eylul Universities,
had been accused of being members of the DHKP-C [Revolutionary People's
Liberation Party-Front], Turkish Communist Labor Party, and Marxist Leninist
Armed Propaganda Forces.
The suspects
were sent to the Court of Justice following their depositions at the police
headquarters, and 13 of them were arrested. Police in Kocaeli yesterday
conducted dawn raids into the houses of people who participated in rallies to
support the Gezi Park resistance. Police took into
custody 16 persons who are members of Student Unions and Community Centers.
While no explanation was given as to why these persons were taken into custody,
it was stated that they were being interrogated at the police headquarters. The
police issued search warrants for 23 persons, and an additional seven persons
are being sought, it has been stated.
In addition,
Turkish daily Today’s Zaman newspaper (10.07.13) reports that the death toll
rose to five on Wednesday from the Gezi Park incidents, sparked by outrage over
violent police action to oust a sit-in by environmentalists in Istanbul's
Taksim Square on May 31 and which have spread to dozens of cities across
Turkey.
Nineteen-year-old
Ali İsmail Korkmaz died on Wednesday at Osmangazi University
Hospital in Eskişehir. He suffered a
brain hemorrhage after being attacked by a group of people as he was escaping
police in Eskişehir
during a Gezi Park demonstration on June 2. Korkmaz
was a student at Anadolu
University.
The death toll
from the Gezi Park incidents has risen to five with
Korkmaz's death. Other people who died in connection to the incidents are
demonstrators Ethem Sarısülük, Abdullah Cömert, Mehmet Ayvalıtaş and police
officer Mustafa Sarı.
The protests,
fuelled by anger over the government's plan to create a replica of an
Ottoman-era military barracks in place of the Gezi Park in Istanbul's Taksim
quarter, have become a general condemnation of Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, who many consider to have grown authoritarian in his 10 years
in power and many accuse of trying to introduce his religious and conservative
mores in a country governed by secular laws.
9.Egypt's coup strains ties between Ankara, Cairo
Turkish daily
Today’s Zaman newspaper (10.07.13) publishes the following article regarding
Egyp-Turkey relations:
“In an
indication of the strain in diplomatic ties between Egypt and Turkey, which
strongly condemns a recent coup that ousted Cairo's first democratically elected
president, Egypt
has summoned the Turkish ambassador to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
Egypt called
Turkey's ambassador, Huseyin Avni Botsalı, to Cairo on Tuesday to protest what
it views as Ankara's interference in Egyptian affairs after Turkey described
the Egyptian army's ousting of elected President Mohammed Morsi as an
"unacceptable coup," Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
Cairo officials
have asked Ankara "not to take sides" in the ongoing power vacuum
after the military takeover in the country, the Turkish ambassador to Egypt
said after being summoned to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, according to a
Hurriyet report.
"[Egyptian
Foreign Ministry officials] expressed their wishes that Turkish dignitaries
make their statements without taking sides and in a way that embraces all Egyptians,"
Botsalı told Hurriyet.
"In other
words, they said that they expected Turkish dignitaries [to make] benevolent,
tolerant and sincere statements without taking sides in the problems between Egyptians,"
he further explained.
A senior Turkish
diplomat, who spoke to Today's Zaman on the condition of anonymity on
Wednesday, stated that there has been no information on whether or not Turkey is
planning to summon its Egyptian ambassador to Ankara.
Turkey's response to last week's military intervention in Cairo was seen by
Egyptians as one of the strongest reactions against the coup, even though the
two enjoyed close ties during the year-long presidency of Morsi.
Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu himself last week described the ousting of Morsi as
unacceptable, branding the intervention of the army as a “military coup” -- a
contrast to the US and some European bodies, which have refrained from using
the word “coup.” Ankara
has found itself alone in its strong condemnation of the Egyptian army's
ousting of Morsi and in calling on the Egyptian military to restore the democratically
elected government.
Davutoglu and
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have asked for the release of
Morsi, who is being held in custody in an undisclosed location, and have also
harshly criticized the US and Europe for not calling the takeover a
"coup."
[…]
Touching upon
the stances of the EU and the US
over the coup in Egypt,
Davutoglu stated that the international community have not shown desired
sensitivity on the matter.
[…]
Turkey has strongly criticized Western nations and the
European Union in particular for turning a blind eye to the army intervention
in Egypt.
[…]
One of the prime
minister's reasons for leveling criticism against Western nations for not
terming the army intervention in Egypt a “military coup” was that he
believes that doesn't fit into Western values. He said all coups, no matter
where or against whom they take place, are “bad, inhumane and the enemy of
democracy.”
Erdogan
dismissed claims that Turkey
is positioning itself against the current revolution because his government was
an ally of Morsi. He said that they would have held the same position if the
coup had been staged against those demanding Morsi's resignation.
10.Α directive
banning headscarf in public service to be canceled
Turkish daily
Today’s Zaman newspaper (10.07.13) reports that a directive that was adopted
after the Sept. 12, 1980
coup d'état is being abolished after more than three decades, in a move that
will allow women wearing the headscarf to serve in public office.
The directive,
which stipulates public servants should not cover their head, was prepared by
the National Security Council (MGK) after the 1980 coup. It was adopted on Oct. 25, 1982. The Justice
and Development Party (AK Party) has recently taken steps to completely remove
the directive. AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehmet Ali Sahin said work to abolish
the directive was nearing completion.
Turkey's ban on headscarves dates back to the 1980s. After
the 1980 coup d'état, a regulation clearly defined the permissible clothing and
appearance of staff working in state offices, including the stipulation that
the hair of civil servants must be uncovered. Women who wear headscarves were
then denied the right to be employed by the state.
The ban was
significantly tightened after Feb. 28, 1997, when the military ousted a
government it deemed too religious. Currently, state offices do not hire women
who wear a headscarf. Covered women are also denied employment at most private
companies despite the fact that there is no law that prohibits the wearing of a
headscarf in private businesses. Headscarved women are not allowed to be
elected in Parliament. A ban on headscarves imposed for many years on university
campuses was only removed in 2010.
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