TURKISH CYPRIOT AND
TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 02/14 03.01.14
1. Turkish Cypriot daily: UNSG’s report on extending UNFICYP’s mandate
shows the way for resumption of negotiations in Cyprus
2. Turkey hopes Greece
will continue supporting its EU bid
3.
DP Congress to be held on February 2 ;Şonya will be running for party’s
leadership
4. “Adabilim
Educational Foundation” claims that it will not offer theological classes in
the occupied area of Cyprus
5.
KTOS: The existence of religious schools is not accepted
6. Turkish Deputy PM Atalay denies list of 2,000
people within 'parallel state' given to PM Erdogan
7. Turkish columnist highlights the main points of the
Turkish crisis
8. Egypt says has no plans at present to return envoy
to Turkey
9. USD hits new historic peak against Turkish Lira
1. Turkish Cypriot daily: UNSG’s report on extending UNFICYP’s mandate
shows the way for resumption of negotiations in Cyprus
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (03.01.14)
writes that the report prepared by the
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon as regards the extension of the mandate of
the United Nations Peace-Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has shown the way
for the resumption of the negotiations in the island. According to the
paper the report, a draft of which has been shared with the sides, encompasses
the developments within the period 21 June-15 December.
According to the paper’s information, the report expresses the view
that contacts between the communities in
the fields such as the economy, sports and culture would positively influence
the resumption of the negotiations for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem.
The UN Secretary-General, writes Kibris, thinks that such contacts would strengthen trust between the two communities and
this would answer the concerns of the Turkish Cypriots regarding their
so-called isolation. Referring to the hydrocarbon exploration in Cyprus’
exclusive economic zone, the report calls on the sides to cooperate.
Noting that the report does not include a political part which in past reports
had been given under the subtitle “Observations”, the paper cites “diplomatic
sources”, who said that this means that the
political report will be submitted later by Alexander Downer, UN Secretary
– General’s special adviser on Cyprus. The fact that the negotiations could not
resume is shown as the reason of this development.
(I/Ts.)
2. Turkey hopes
Greece will continue supporting its EU bid
Turkish daily Hurriyet (03.01.14) reports that Turkey’s
newly appointed EU Minister MevlütÇavuşoğlu
expressed hope that Greece, the bloc’s new term president, would continue to
support Turkey’s membership bid and that new chapters would be opened during
its presidency.
“We aspire to open at least one chapter, but
prefer more than one, during the Greek term presidency,” Çavuşoğlu said at a
meeting with Greek Ambassador KyriakosLoukakis, whose country has taken over
the six-month-long rotating presidency of the EU on Jan. 1. “Greece supported Turkey’s EU process in
the last 10 years, under all conditions,” said the Turkish Minister.
“Turkey welcomes Greece’s priorities for its six-month-long presidency
including financial issues and structural reforms,” Çavuşoğlu said.
Çavuşoğlualso said they hoped this support
would turn into concrete steps with the opening of new negotiation chapters.
Loukakis congratulated Çavuşoğlu on his new post and assured that his country’s
support would continue. Meeting with EU ambassadors two weeks ago, Foreign
Minister AhmetDavutoğlu expressed that
Ankara wanted to open chapters 17, 23 and 24 during the Greek Presidency.
3. DP Congress to be held on February 2 ;Şonya will
be running for party’s leadership
Turkish Cypriot
daily Kibris newspaper (03.01.14) reports that
the Democratic Party-National
Forces’ Party Assembly (DP-UG)
convened last night and decided that the
party’s ordinary congress will take place on February 2, insteadof
January 26.
The paper also
writes that DP-UG Secretary General BengüŞonyastated
that he will be running for the party’s
leadership in the congress.
4. “Adabilim
Educational Foundation” claims that it will not offer theological classes in the
occupied area of Cyprus
Turkish
Cypriot daily YeniDuzen newspaper (03.01.13) reports that the “Adabilim
Educational Foundation” issued a statement noting that it will not offer
religious education inthe occupiedarea
of Cyprus.
The foundations of a primary school building belonging to “Adabilim
Educational Foundation”,was laid some weeks ago in occupied Famagusta.
According to the paper, the target of schools belonging to the Foundation is to
“breed idealist generations” by offering lessons of “education on values”,
Koran, the life of Mohammed and basic knowledge on religion. The paper also
notes that no application has been submitted to the “ministry of education” for
granting any “license”.
The chairman of the
foundation’s board of trustees is SunalpTurkel, vice president of the Turkish
Cypriot Businessmen’s Council and director of YeniSafak newspaper in Turkey, who
stated that the school will not offer religious and theology classes.
5. KTOS:
The existence of religious schools is not accepted
Turkish
Cypriot daily YeniDuzen newspaper (03.01.13) reports thatTurkish Cypriot Primary School Teachers Trade Union (KTOS) stated that
it will not accept the existence of theological schools in the occupied area of
Cyprus adding that religious schools are not accepted at any level of the
education system.
KTOS’ organization secretary Burak
Mavis stated that the opening of theological schools is behind the primary school project of the “Adabilim Educational Foundation” and
said that this is a product of the
religious spreading project of the ruling in Turkey Justice and Development
Party (AKP). He also said that AKP views the island (of Cyprus) as a strategic base and
violates the political will of the Turkish Cypriots in its efforts to serve the
party’s political and other interests.
6. Turkish Deputy PM Atalay denies list of 2,000
people within 'parallel state' given to PM Erdogan
Turkish daily
Hurriyet Daily News (02.01.14) reported that Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister BeşirAtalay denied claims made by his
party's Deputy BurhanKuzu that a list of 2,000 names allegedly involved in an
organization within the state had been submitted to Turkish Prime Minister
RecepTayyipErdoğan.
"There is
no such thing," Atalay told private news channel HaberTürk in response to
a question over the list given to Erdoğan.
Deputy Kuzu said
that a list of 2,000 names allegedly involved in an organization within the
state was submitted to Erdoğan via his Twitter account on Jan. 1.
7. Turkish columnist highlights the main points of
the Turkish crisis
Under the title
“Power fight within Ankara in escalation”Murat
Yetkin writes the following in Hurriyet Daily News (03.01.14):
“If you look at
it too closely, you can get lost in details.
What is actually
happening is trying to stop, or limit a major corruption claim with political
links by intervening in the judicial procedure by the government.[…]
It is true that
there is an inner-fight dimension too. Prime Minister TayyipErdoğan does not
want to share its power supported by 50 percent of voters with once-close ally
FethullahGülen and his “Hizmet” movement. Gülen, the U.S.-resident moderate
Islamist scholar having a huge network of English-language schools in and
outside Turkey used to be a close ally of Erdoğan, mainly for two reasons:
Well-educated and silently-working Gülen sympathizers had held key positions in
certain government departments, but especially in Interior and Justice
ministries; in other words within the police and judiciary. When Gülen felt that Erdoğan’s power giving
comfort to pious and conservative voters of Turkey was threatened by military
and secularist faction within the judiciary over the election of Abdullah Gül
as President in 2007 he not only asked his supporters to vote for Erdoğan’s
Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) but through his sympathizers within
police and judiciary helped Erdoğan a lot to carry out the Ergenekon and Balyoz
probes and court cases to deter them. So Gülenists claim that they have a share
in that 50 percent. But Erdoğan thinks if he lets his power be shared that
could lead to losing control over his supporters which he might need for the
presidential elections in August 2014 for himself.[…]
In the meantime,
the government is getting prepared to change Turkey’s justice system in order
to allow the executive power to have more control over the judiciary, which is
something already under criticism by the European Union.
But the real story here when you take a few steps back
to see the bigger picture, is to distract the public attention from a major
corruption probe, with alleged links to government and the biggest ever in
Turkey if it is true, by intervening in the judiciary and trying to change the
rules of the game in the meantime. This is neither good for the future of
Turkish democracy nor for the record of Erdoğan’s government.”
8. Egypt says has no plans at present to return
envoy to Turkey
Turkish daily Today's
Zamannewspaper (02.01.14) reported that Egypt, which downgraded its diplomatic
relations with Turkey and declared the Turkish Ambassador persona non grata in
late November because of Turkey's frequent criticisms of the July 3 coup, has no plans at present to return its own
envoy to Turkey, according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bader
Abdul-Ati.
The statement is
an indication that Egypt has resolved to maintain its firm line on relations
with Turkey unless Ankara shifts its stance first, the paper wrote.
9. USD hits new historic peak against Turkish Lira
Ankara Anatolia
news agency (02.01.14) reported that the
Turkish Lira amounts to $2.1827, a historic low against the US dollar (USD) on
Thursday.
The USD hit a
new historic peak against the Turkish lira after the US's 10-year fixed note
reached an all time high in a two and a half year period as global markets'
demands on the USD increased. The
Euro/Turkish Lira parity also came up to 2.9944 at midday.
Analysts predict
that the USD's rise against the Turkish Lira will continue in the second half
of the day as global interests will be decisive.
In addition,
Hurriyet Daily News (03.01.14) reports that Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan has said that the on-going corruption
probe aimed to disrupt Turkish markets, echoing the Prime Minister's
suggestions that foreign interests were involved in the crisis.
However, the Minister
in charge of the economy also argued that the impact of the political crisis on
the economy would be temporary. The Turkish economy, however, was strong enough
to compensate for these challenges, he said.
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