TURKISH CYPRIOT AND
TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 139/14 29.07.14
1.The visit of pilgrims from the occupied area of
Cyprus to Hala Sultan Mosque is described as an “important step for peace”
2. Eroglu: We should be patient in politics
3. Yorgancioglu calls on the community leaders to
focus on the solution
4. Polish teachers visit the occupied area of the
Republic of Cyprus
5. Turkey intensifies efforts for lasting truce;
Turkey to send humanitarian aid to Gaza
6. A founding member of AKP ruling party resigned
1. The visit of pilgrims from the occupied area of Cyprus to Hala Sultan
Mosque is described as an “important step for peace”
Under the title “Important step for
peace”, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (29.07.14) reports that for the first time, except for Turkish
Cypriots, people from Turkey visited yesterday the Hala Sultan Tekke in Larnaca
and prayed on the first day of Ramazan Bayram religious feast. According to
the paper, 21 buses carried
approximately 1000 pilgrims to Larnaca where the prayer was performed by
Talip Atalay, the so-called head of religious affairs of the breakaway regime
in the occupied area of Cyprus. The paper writes that people from Turkey, Turkmenistan and Pakistan participated in the visit.
In his statements after the prayer, Atalay said that the opportunity to pray at
the mosque given to other persons than Turkish Cypriots, who live in the
occupied area of Cyprus, is something “magnificent” and a “very important step
for peace”. Atalay described as “important development” the fact that
people from different nations could pray together at Hala Sultan Tekke and
wished for this to become permanent.
“We wish for the environment of
peace existing during the Ottoman period to be reestablished”, said Atalay and
thanked the representatives of the Swedish Embassy to Nicosia, the community
leaders and the negotiating delegations. He went on and wished for the
Archbishop’s stance “to be continuous”. Atalay
noted that they want to organize mass visits to Turkish cemeteries in the
government-controlled area of the island and added that they are ready to do so
in case a proposal to this direction is submitted.
Meanwhile,
Salpy Eskigjian, Coordinator of the
Religious Initiative during the Cyprus Solution Process carried out by the
Embassy of Sweden, said that the main target in the dialogue between religions
is freedom of religion and the right to pray. She noted that this activity was a “good step” in the direction of
increasing confidence between the two communities.
(I/Ts.)
2. Eroglu: We should be patient in politics
Turkish Cypriot
daily Kibris (29.07.14) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said
that it is very important to be patient in politics.
Speaking during
the 54th festival of grapes in the occupied village of Galatia,
Eroglu also said: “It is important not
to get angry. We should carry our political duties quietly. We are people, who
know how bad temper creates difficulties, because we are in politics for years
now. Particularly, we saw it once more
at the leaders’ meeting, which was held on the 24th, how beneficial
it is to be patient while the talks on the negotiation table are being carried
out. I am doing my duty on behalf of the TRNC (translatror’s note: the breakaway
regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus). I perform the
bi-communal talks carrying the title of the communal leader, the President. In
these talks, my real duty is to protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriots. The most important duty is to reach a
result on the negotiation table without handing over the rights of the Turkish
Cypriot people. As a person, who knows from this aspect your rights and
what you want, I will continue to protect them forever, as long as I am in this
duty. Because the demands of the Greek
Cypriot side increase every passing day and in this way they think that they
may get their demands by changing their stance at the negotiating table. I
think that in relation to this, every time patience is the winner.”
3. Yorgancioglu calls on the community leaders to focus on the
solution
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris
newspaper (29.07.14) reports that Ozkan
Yorgancioglu, leader of the Republican Turkish Party – United Forces
(CTP-BG) and self-styled prime minister of the breakaway regime in the occupied
area of the Republic of Cyprus, has
called on the Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu and President Anastasiades to “stop
complaining and accusing each other and focus on the solution” of the Cyprus
problem.
In statements to Kibris TV,
Yorgancioglu argued that instead of continuously accusing each other, the sides should put alternative proposals
for solving the problem. He said that the leaders must want the solution
heart and soul, but he allegedly sees no such a wish in the two leaders.
He argued: “While on the one hand
you propose the equality of the Turkish Cypriot people and bi-zonality, the
things you bring to the table should have the quality of being able to be
accepted and digested by the other side. I am not saying this only for us, but
for the Greek Cypriot side as well”.
Commenting on the allegations leaked to the Turkish Cypriot press that
President Anstasiades had abandoned the negotiating table last Thursday,
Yorgancioglu said thatthese allegations were a little bit exaggerated and added: “If you exaggerate
because some things happen, if you said in the past that ‘things go well, we
discussed, we agreed, the meeting lasted eight hours’, if you do this for
presenting the others as not being right, for accusing the others, then you
will be looking for a formula to get out of this issue”.
He noted that abandoning the
negotiating table is not good and no one of the sides should leave the table
without producing a result.
Yorgancioglu said that the Greek Cypriot side
allegedly not accepting the agreements reached in the past derives from an
opportunity created by the Turkish Cypriot side.
(I/Ts.)
4. Polish teachers visit the occupied area of the
Republic of Cyprus
Turkish Cypriot
daily Kibris (29.07.14) reports that Polish
teachers, who are currently in the
occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus as part of the Teachers’ Exchange
Programme among the Turkish Cypriot Teachers Union (KTOS) and Poland’s
Solidarity Trade Union (Solidarnosc), met with the self-styled mayor of
occupied Keryneia Nidai Gungordu.
According to a
press release issued by the so-called municipality of Keryneia, Gungordu
briefed them regarding the historic sites of the town.
5.Turkey
intensifies efforts for lasting truce; Turkey to send humanitarian aid to Gaza
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (28.07.14) reported that Turkey has intensified its
efforts to produce a lasting cease-fire between Hamas and Israel and to open
transportation channels to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza, as the Israeli army
eased its assaults in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
Ankara will send 17
tons of medication to Gaza, in a fresh development that followed rare dialogue between Turkey and
Israel.
“As a
result of our efforts until late [July 27], a temporary cease-fire could be
possible. ... We hope this cease-fire will continue. We will do our best to
extend this cease-fire,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters
early July 28.
Davutoglu said he
continued his phone diplomacy with all relevant parties, U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed
al-Attiyah until
late July 27, adding that his efforts would continue in due course.
“We are calling once again the international
community to be sensitive toward the human tragedy in Gaza and the Muslim world
to stand united in such hard days. We have called the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC) to hold an extraordinary meeting next week,” Davutoglu said.
The Foreign Minister expressed his hope that
Israel would cease its offensive against Gaza as Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
“Turkey will continue to be on the side of Palestine. Their cause is our
cause”, he added.
(…)
Likewise Davutoglu, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also much focused on supplying
humanitarian aid to the Gaza people. When asked about the possibility of
establishing an aerial bridge, Erdogan said: “These are all parts of the cease-fire
[agreement]. From the air, land or sea, all these can be possible [once] a
cease-fire is provided. I want this provided. Mr. Ahmet [Davutoglu] insistently
told Mr. Kerry about this. If this can be done, we can [provide] food or
medication [to Gaza] from Turkey.”
Erdogan, however, did
not appear hopeful that Israel would agree to a lasting cease-fire. “Israel is
constantly changing its position. And Hamas does not believe in them,” he said,
accusing Israel of violating truces it has agreed to.
(…)
6.A founding member
of AKP ruling party resigned
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (28.04.14 in
English) reported that Dengir Mir Mehmet
Fırat, a senior member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has
announced that he will step down from Turkey’s ruling party.
Fırat, one of the founders of the AKP, made the
announcement on his Facebook page. “I am
stepping down from the AKP, of which I am one of the founders, and I will
provide some details for my reasons soon,” Fırat said.
Fırat stepped down as an
AKP Deputy Chairman in November 8, 2008, as a reaction to his party’s policies
towards the Kurdish issue. Until then, he was seen as a senior member of the party alongside
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Speaking to daily Hürriyet, Fırat said: “the
contract between society and the party has now been annulled.”
“When a party is founded, its program is a sort
of social contract with the voters. You put your targets on paper. Everybody
agrees and a political party is formed. Now, if the conditions of this contract
are not realized, then this contract is annulled,” he said.
Fırat added that the
party had listed its targets and ideals in its code, but “failed to meet most
of them, and in fact did the exact opposite of some of them,” citing the “presidential
system,” as an example of the AKP’s failures.
(…)
Despite these claims, Fırat has been critical
of the AKP since the graft probe came to light on December 17, 2013, stating
that the allegations surrounding four former Cabinet ministers and some people
close to Prime Minister Erdoğan, “could not be covered.”
Last week, Fırat
announced he would be voting for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) candidate
Selahattin Demirtas, and not Erdogan, in the upcoming Presidential elections.
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