TURKISH CYPRIOT AND
TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 187/13 03.10.13
1. Turkish Foreign Ministry: solution by the end of the year is
possible in Cyprus
2.
Eroglu: a new partnership state should be emerge from the merger of the authorities
of the two “states” in Cyprus
3.
Nami: the sides disagree on how the Cyprus negotiations will resume; “Water
Conference” with the participation of OIC countries in occupied Cyprus
4. Ertug and Maurogiannis held a meeting yesterday
5. Ozgurgun: we want a new model based on two separate founding
states in Cyprus; UBP-CTP “coalition” is not impossible
6. More calls by the Turkish Cypriots to return to the Cyprus
Republic’s village names in the breakaway regime
7.
Bagis says Chapter 22 would be opened in November
8.
Turkey needs to be “encouraged” to reopen Halki Seminary: Bagis
9.
Erdogan: Turkey’s step on education in mother tongues sets example for Europe;
BDP: poor Kurdish families cannot afford private schools
10.
Iraqi FM to visit Turkey as part of rapprochement
11.
Former Turkish minister faces life sentence over murder allegations
12.
Columnists evaluate the democratization package
1. Turkish Foreign Ministry: solution by the end of the year is
possible in Cyprus
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper
(03.10.13) reports that LeventGumrukcu, spokesman of the Turkish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, has said that the visits of the representatives of the Greek
Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides to Ankara and Athens “could create a
negotiations format that might contribute to the solution” in Cyprus.
In statements during his regular press
conference yesterday, Gumrukcu said that the date of these visits will be
determined “simultaneously and at equal level with Greece and the sides in the
island”. “There is absolutely no reason for the negotiations not to be
completed by the end of the year in case political will could be exhibited
after they start”, he argued.
Responding to a question as to whether
Turkey has a road map in the negotiating process expected to resume on the
Cyprus problem, Gumrukcu, who was evaluating Turkish Foreign Minister
Davutoglu’s contacts at the United Nations, noted that Cyprus was an important
subject on the agenda of Davutoglu’s contacts in New York. He claimed that the
stance which Turkey showed from the very beginning is that the negotiations in
Cyprus should start the soonest and be concluded with “determination and
effectiveness”. He said that they have also been stating that the two guarantor
powers should constructively contribute in the process.
Noting that the visits of representatives
of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to Ankara and Athens is something which will
happen for the first time, Gumrukcu pointed out that the position of Turkey
that the actual interlocutor of the Greek Cypriots are the Turkish Cypriots has
not changed. He noted, though, that while they were saying that, at the same
time they have been stating that “we should actively contribute to the process
as sides and facilitate the solution”.
(I/Ts.)
2. Eroglu:
a new partnership state should emerge from the merger of the authorities of the
two “states” in Cyprus
According to illegal Bayrak television
(online, 02.10.13), Turkish Cypriot leader DervisEroglu said that the new
partnership state to be created in the event of a solution, should emerge from
the merger of the authorities of the two “states” in Cyprus. Eroglu also said
that Cyprus President Anastasiades should not speak in riddles.
Evaluating the latest statements made by
the Cyprus President, Eroglu, during a visit paid to him, called on
Anastasiades to be clearer in what he was trying to say.
According to “BRT”, Anastasiades had said
that the Republic of Cyprus had completed its time and that the transformation
of the Cyprus Republic into a federal state was inevitable.
Commenting on the issue, Eroglu said that
any new partnership state to be created in Cyprus must emerge from the merger
of the authorities of the two “states” in Cyprus.
Eroglu concluded by saying that the new
negotiations process was the last opportunity as talks between the two sides in
Cyprus had been going on since 1968.
3. Nami:
the sides disagree on how the Cyprus negotiations will resume; “Water Conference”
with the participation of OIC countries in occupied Cyprus
According to illegal Bayrak television
(online, 02.10.13), self-styled foreign minister OzdilNami, speaking on “BRT”,
said that a joint paper to be prepared by the Special Representatives of the
two sides will be finalized when the UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor
Alexander Downer arrives on the island next week. Nami drew attention to the
fact that differences existed between the two sides on how the negotiations
should recommence and proceed.
Stressing that the talks must proceed at
the leaders’ level, Nami also underlined the importance of conducting the
negotiations within a timeframe.
Nami said that intense lobbying activities
were continuing in the US and 20 other countries, adding that efforts to export
goods produced in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus to other
countries were continuing.
Nami also announced that a conference on
water to be attended by OIC member countries will be hosted by the “TRNC” in
November this year.
4. Ertug and Mavrogiannis held a meeting yesterday
Turkish Cypriot daily Haberdar
newspaper (03.10.13) reports that Osman Ertug the special representative of the
Turkish Cypriot leader DervisEroglu held a two-hour meeting yesterday with the
Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavrogiannis.
Speaking to the illegal TAK news
agency after the meeting, Ertug stated that they worked with Mavrogiannis on
the initial statement that will be announced by the two Cypriot leaders after
their meeting to be held in October. He also stated that the UN Secretary
General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus Alexander Downer will arrive on the island
tomorrow (Tr. Note: today) and that he will meet with Eroglu on October 4. Ertug
also said that Downer will have separate meetings with him and his team and
with Mavrogiannis’ team and that he is also planning to meet with Ertug and
Mavrogiannis over a meal.
He also said that Downer will
hold contacts in Greece before coming to Cyprus.
5. Ozgurgun: we want a new model based on two separate founding
states in Cyprus; UBP-CTP “coalition” is not impossible
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper
(03.10.13) reports that Huseyin Ozgurgun, chairman of the National Unity Party
(UBP), has alleged that the Cyprus problem exists for 53 years and absolutely
no progress has been achieved. In statements yesterday to Ada television,
Ozgurgun claimed that the aim of the Greek Cypriots is to allegedly “patch” the
Turkish Cypriots in the Republic of Cyprus and take away some rights from them.
“As for us, we want a new model based on two separate founding states”, he
noted adding that “for years only delegations change, but the same things are
said”.
Referring to the identity of the Turkish
Cypriots, Ozgurgun argued that it is wrong to make the Cypriot identity an
issue in politics and claimed: “I am a Cypriot and I am proud, but at the end I
am also a Turk, like a person from Trabzon, from Antep”.
He alleged, inter alia, the following: “The
situation in Cyprus today suits everybody. The EU, the USA, Greece, Turkey,
Britain have bases here. And they use them without anyone even knowing
anything. It is a sovereign area. Actually, this suits us as well. Do not see
what it is said. Those who remember the period before 1974 can understand.
Where we have been and where we have come to. A half island with seven
universities, a bed capacity of approximately half a million, Turkey investing
3.3 billion dollar in two years, a people that administrates itself living here
having created its own public system and state even though its income is not
sufficient. Being economically depended changes nothing. Both Turkey and
Britain are economically depended on somewhere. There is no country in the
world which is not depended on somewhere… In the end we are happy. If there is
a change in the Cyprus problem, there will definitely be unpredictable loses.
Everyone has taken a position and does not want to go back…”
Referring to the internal politics in the
Turkish Cypriot community, Ozgurgun said that ten years ago no one could even
refer to a “coalition” between the UBP and the Republican Turkish Party (CTP).
“Today the situation is not like this”, he said and added that serious problems
which need to be solved exist in the occupied area of Cyprus. “A sound
coalition which can do this might come up. The only alternative which has not
been tried is CTP-UBP or UBP-CTP”, he noted.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris
newspaper (03.10.13) reports that replying to allegations that some “MPs” from
the Democratic Party – National Forces (DP-UG) might return back to the UBP,
Ozgurgun said that his party is not in favour of transfers of “MPs”. “The direct
transfer of MPs is problematic. Everyone could resign from his party, but we
are not positive to the issue called transfer”, he noted.
(I/Ts.)
6. More calls by Turkish Cypriots to return to the Cyprus
Republic’s village names in the breakaway regime
Turkish Cypriot daily Haberdar
newspaper (03.10.13) reports that the self-styled minister of occupied Keryneia
Sumer Aygin stated that this is the time the occupied village of Templos, which
is now called by the breakaway regime “Zeytinlik” to return to its former name.
Aygin made these statements during the
“Keryneia olive festival” taking place in the occupied area of Cyprus these
days.
Aygin referred to the democratization
package which was announced by the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in
Ankara on Monday and provides the use of the old names of Turkish villages in
Turkey and wished that the name “Templos” was used for the village as well.
7. Bagis
says Chapter 22 will open in November
According to Turkish daily Today’s Zaman
(online, 03.10.13), EU Affairs Minister EgemenBagis said Chapter 22, one of the
35 negotiating chapters, would be opened on Nov. 5, after months of delay.
An actual date for the start for
negotiations on Chapter 22, “Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural
Instruments”, will be set after the EU Commission releases an annual progress
report on Turkey's membership efforts in mid-October.
Bagis told Turkish reporters on Wednesday
that a meeting between Turkish and EU officials could take place on Nov. 5.
8. Turkey
needs to be “encouraged” to reopen Halki Seminary: Bagis
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online,
02.10.13) reported that EU Minister EgemenBagis has said Turkey needs to be
“encouraged” to reopen the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in Istanbul, calling
on Greece to keep its promise by opening a mosque in Athens.
“The Halki Seminary was closed not by our
government, nor by any political party. It is closed by court order. If some
regulations are needed to overcome the court order, I’m calling on [Greece]
from Brussels to make the necessary arrangements: Encourage us too, keep your
promises,” Bagis said at the opening ceremony of state-run news agency Anadolu
Agency’s Brussels office.
The Minister said they had always
emphasized the need to take simultaneous and well-intentioned steps on the
issue. “This is not reciprocity, but a sign of good will. We have shown many
times that we are in good faith toward Orthodox people,” Bagis said, giving
examples of the government’s steps and drawing attention to Greece’s promise to
open a mosque in Athens.
The reopening of the Halki Seminary was not
included in the Turkish government’s recent democratization package, an
exclusion that has drawn some criticisms.
Bagis said he would make a trip to Greece
on Oct. 7-8 and express these issues to officials. “It is time to keep
promises. If they do so, it will encourage us in other issues,” he said.
9. Erdogan:
Turkey’s step on education in mother tongues sets example for Europe; BDP: poor
Kurdish families cannot afford private schools
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 02.10.13) reported that reforms
that allow students to receive education in their mother tongue in private
schools sets an example to follow for European countries, home to a large
Turkish migrant community, Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan said. The new
policy was unveiled as part of a much-anticipated democratization package
announced earlier this week.
“Those people who contribute to the economy
of the country they reside in by working and [turn an honest penny] for more
than half of a century have become, to a great extent, permanently settled.
However, a large part of those [Turkish] citizens have not been granted
education in their mother tongue despite their great efforts and demands,”
Erdogan said during the informal meeting of the OECD Education Ministers in
Istanbul Oct. 2.
Erdogan stressed that measures foreseeing
the provision of education in one’s mother tongue was included in the European
Union acquis.
“So, this right has not been provided to
[Turkish citizens] despite this falling within the EU acquis. So, we have made
a step that will allow European countries to take an example from Turkey on
this matter,” he said.
Although branded as an important step for
the resolution in granting cultural rights to Kurds, the reform was described
as “falling short” by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
“This is another sort of discrimination.
Poor Kurdish families will not be able to enrol their children in these private
schools,” BDP’s co-chairwoman GultanKisanak said, demanding the measure to also
apply to state schools.
10. The
Iraqi FM to visit Turkey as part of rapprochement
According to Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily
News (online, 03.10.13), Ankara and Baghdad are looking to bury their hatchet,
with the latter’s Foreign Minister expected to pay a visit to Turkey later this
month to help smooth over the neighbours’ strained relations.
HoshyarZebari’s visit, scheduled for late
October, has come in the wake of a message from Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker
Osama al-Nujayfi noting Baghdad’s wish to normalize ties with Ankara.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his
Iraqi counterpart had a meeting in Geneva on Sept. 25 during which both
ministers expressed “eagerness and determination” to mend relations, Foreign
Ministry spokesmanLeventGumrukcu said yesterday.
Undersecretary of Turkish Foreign Ministry
FeridunSinirlioglu met his counterpart twice, in April and July, to search for
ground for rapprochement between Baghdad and Ankara after ties became strained
following Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s accusation that Turkey was
interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
President Abdullah Gul also recently met
with Iraqi Vice President Hudayr al-Huzai in New York on the sidelines of U.N.
General Assembly meetings.
Iran’s new Foreign Minister, Mohammad
JavadZarif, is also expected to visit Turkey in October.
Davutoglu will also pay an official visit
to Greece in the near future for preparation talks ahead of a high-level
cooperation summit between the two countries, Gumrukcu added.
11. Former
Turkish minister faces life sentence over murder allegations
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (03.10.13) reports thatan Ankara court has accepted an indictment asking for life sentences for 12 suspects, including former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar and former Chief of Police Ibrahim Sahin, over the murder of Mecit Baskın.
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (03.10.13) reports thatan Ankara court has accepted an indictment asking for life sentences for 12 suspects, including former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar and former Chief of Police Ibrahim Sahin, over the murder of Mecit Baskın.
Prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili filed charges of
“homicide within the framework of activity of an armed organization established
to commit crime.” Baskın was the former head of the registry office in Ankara’s
Altindag district. The indictment accuses the suspects of involvement in the
killing of Baskın by kidnapping him in Ankara and shooting him at night,
Anadolu Agency reported.
AyhanCarkin, one of the 12 suspects and
former special operations police, said in his testimony that a 60-member
special team was established on the order of Agar, who was the chief of police,
with the aim of taking part in a fight against terrorism in southeast Turkey
and educating new personnel. He continued and said the team went beyond its
target and “undertook some executions in Ankara.” Carkin claimed Baskin was
targeted because he was providing counterfeit identity cards to outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants and was a key figure for the terrorist
organization.
Agar previously gave his testimony upon
prosecutor Bilgili’s demand, in which he denied that he had ever been involved
in any illegal activity. He was previously sentenced to five years in prison
for “establishing an armed organization to commit a crime” during the time he
served as the chief of police, as a part of the Susurluk “deep state” case, but
was released on probation after one year and four days in prison.
12. Columnists
evaluate the democratization package
Most of the commentaries agree that the
democratization package is a step forward, but a tiny one. However, it is
generally believed that it has a lot of shortcomings. It is argued that the
democratization package lacks any amendments to the Counterterrorism law or to
the articles of 215, 220 and 314 of the Turkish Penal Code. It is also debated
that the package lacks a timetable of implementing these changes.
Columnist KorayCaliskan, writing in Radikal
(01.10.13) argues that the democratization package was opened “for the sake of
opening it”. No article at regarding the opening of Halki Theological School.
He writes that Turkey has become first country in the world to extend freedom
to letters [referring to lifting the ban on the letters "W,"
"Q" and "X" in the Kurdish alphabet]. He also notes that
the AKP government had thrown the democracy package onto the demonstrators
during the Gezi events, adding that in the aftermath of such events, no one
expects to see democracy emerge from the package. Caliskan also writes that
although, there has been already a consensus by the opposition political
parties in Turkey to lower the threshold to 3%, the AKP is just putting an
alternative to water down the debate, just to pretend that it is giving
something without actually giving it.
SerpilCeviskan, writing in Milliyet
(01.10.13), under the title “Text for transitional period”, argues that this
democratization package announced by Erdogan was not much as manifesto but more
of a text for a period for transition. He writes that the vast majority of the
arrangements in the package are important in terms of Kurd politics and Kurd
voters.
SerkanDemirtas, writing in Hurriyet Daily
News (online, 02.10.13), under the title “We like packages not democracy, we
like processes not reforms”, argues that this package is neither a revolution
nor a betrayal. It’s rather a small step taken in the direction of expanding
the right to education in Kurdish; of liberating those who wear the headscarf
in public offices except for the army, the police and the judiciary; of opening
a debate on the election system; all of which form the three most important
elements of the package.
SedatErgin, writing in Hurriyet (01.10.13),
believes that Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan tried to target many birds to
kill with one stone in the new democratization package he announced on Monday.
According to Ergin, Erdogan, with this package, will try to disperse the
opinion formed to convey that he has drifted apart from Western criteria in
fundamental rights and freedoms. It should not be surprising that he initiates
an ambitious publicity campaign in this direction. He also writes: “If
democratization is the aim, then amendments in laws and regulations are not
enough. Democratization in the real sense should provide for the elimination of
these pressures that stem from several practices and methods that fall outside
of a legislative context. For example, a journalist or a columnist losing
his/her job after being targeted by the government may have nothing to do with
legislation but it is directly connected to the democratic culture and the
level of democracy. For this reason, if real democracy is targeted, then a new
political language and discourse should also be developed with a threshold of
tolerance for different voices - much higher than today’s.”
----------------------------------------------------
TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION
/X.CHR.
