TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 194/14 17.10.14
1. Eroglu on the Cyprus problem
2. Nami thanked Erdogan and the Hungarian Government for the opening of the “TRNC representative office” in Budapest
3. Cavusoglu meets UNSG
4. A “parliamentary delegation” of the so-called assembly held contacts in Brussels
5. Self styled minister of public works and communications in Istanbul
6. Akca: “30% of the gross national product consists of higher education income”; figures on the number of students at the so-called universities
7. The breakaway regime participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2014
8. The 11th International Football-Tennis Championship to take place in the occupied area of Cyprus
9. Turkey was not elected as new temporary member of the UN Security Council
10. Turkey aims to reverse its reputation to the EU public
11. The Turkish Government tries to assures that western standards will be meet with the new security reforms
12. Turkish columnists on Turkey’s European image, ISIL and the new reforms
13. Family of Gezi victim faces 10 years in prison for harassing son’s killer
1. Eroglu on the Cyprus problem
Illegal Bayrak television (16.10.14) reports that the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu claimed that the Turkish Cypriots have never lost their belief or their commitment to achieving a peaceful and comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem despite the suffering they have gone through over the past 50 years.
Eroglu claimed that all efforts to achieve a bi-zonal and bi-communal federal settlement have failed because of the Greek Cypriot side’s lack of political will. He also said that Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades right after his election had postponed the talks for a whole year, citing economic problems as an excuse; Eroglu said it had taken a whole 6 months for him to appoint a special representative and negotiator. Touching upon the latest developments, Eroglu alleged that “while we were expecting Anastasiades to come to the table to start a process of give and take, he was planning ways to suspend the talks.” He also alleged that with the backing of the Greek Cypriot political parties, had preferred to withdraw from the talks, rather than engage in a process of give and take.
“It is openly clear that their intention is not to reach a settlement. They have no intention of reaching a settlement with us. Their intention is to continue to use the internationally recognized “Republic of Cyprus” which they took over with the force of arms to punish us and Turkey. It is they who have walked off the table and now it is they who are putting forward preconditions to return. I told the newly appointed UN Special Adviser Eide that we as the Turkish Cypriot side will not accept any preconditions so that the Greek Cypriot side will return to the negotiating table” he said. Eroglu further alleged that the Turkish Cypriot side remained committed to reaching a settlement on the realities on the island.
In addition, Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (17.10.14) reports that Eroglu also stated that the Greek Cypriot side decided to withdraw from the Cyprus negotiations without even seeing the Turkish ships, using the NAVTEX (maritime navigational broadcast) as an excuse.
2. Nami thanked Erdogan and the Hungarian Government for the opening of the “TRNC representative office” in Budapest
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (17.10.14) reports that self-styled minister of foreign affairs Ozdil Nami inaugurated yesterday the “representative office” of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus in Hungary.
Speaking at the inauguration, Nami described the opening of a “representative office” in Hungary as a concrete step within the framework of a strong vision regarding the opening of the Turkish Cypriot “people” to the world. He added: “This step will be the opportunity to develop the cultural and trade relations, which are gradually increased, with Hungary. I believe that this will be an example for the EU member countries.”
Nami met also with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Hungary, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Hungarian Parliament, and officials from the Turkish-Hungarian Businessmen’s Association.
Meanwhile, Ankara Anatolia (AA) news agency (online, 16.10.14) reports that the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Hungary Dr Vilayat Guliyev and the Turkish Ambassador in Budapest Sakir Fakili were also present during the inauguration.
Nami said that these kinds of openings towards the world have a huge value for them, because as he claimed, the Turkish Cypriots are a community who live reportedly in isolation due to “embargoes”. He also said that Hungary is a friendly and brother country for the Turkish Cypriots and thanked on behalf of the Turkish Cypriots the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Hungarian Government who have enable it.
Turkey’s Ambassador Fakili, in a statement to the AA, said that they are very satisfied for the opening of the “TRNC representative office” in Budapest, adding that they greeted with gratitude the support and contribution of the Hungarian Government to take this step. Fakili also said: “In fact, this is a contribution by the Hungarian side for the solution of the Cyprus problem. We, as Turkish Cypriot side and as Turkey, try with goodwill for a Cyprus settlement; we expect the same goodwill from the other side too.”
Meanwhile, the “TRNC representative” in Budapest Arif Altay thanked also the government officials of Hungary for their understanding, support and cooperation. He also hopes that in the coming days there will be an opportunity for cooperation between Hungary and “TRNC” on the fields of education, economy, tourism and culture.
3. Cavusoglu meets UNSG
Illegal Bayrak television (17.10.14) reports that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the UN Chief Ban Ki-moon met yesterday in New York where the two men took up the Cyprus problem and other regional issues.
The United Nations Secretary General has expressed during the meeting the need for the continuation of the negotiations process in order to reach a solution in Cyprus.
Cavusoglu for his part claimed that the Turkish side had never left the negotiating table and that it always supported a solution in Cyprus. Bayrak reports that according to information obtained from diplomatic sources, the UN Chief also said that a fair campaign was carried out for the non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and added that Turkey could serve on the Council for the next term.
Stressing that there was a lack of strategy among the international community on the issue of ISIL, the UN Chief said that problems in Iraq and the region could only be solved through cooperation and a joint strategy.
Cavusoglu for his part said that democracy was the winner of the UN Security Council elections and added that Turkey will continue to work with the UN.
4. A “parliamentary delegation” of the so-called assembly held contacts in Brussels
Turkish Cypriot daily Bakis newspaper (17.10.14) reports that a “parliamentary delegation” of the so-called assembly which is composed by Armagan Candan, “deputy” with the Republican Turkish Party-United Forces and Fikri Ataoglu, “deputy” with the Democratic Party-National Forces, held contacts in Brussels.
According to the paper, the delegation met with European Parliament officials and officials of the Permanent Representations of member countries in the European Union.
The delegation briefed the officials on the Cyprus problem, the Turkish Cypriots’ ties with EU organizations, about the benefits the Turkish Cypriot will have with the development of the Green Line Regulation and the halloumi (cheese) issue.
According to a statement issued by the so-called assembly, the delegation met with the Christian Democrats Group, the Liberal Group, the European Conservative and Remormist Group, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group and the Green Group.
At the same time, the delegation held contacts with the Committees of Foreign Affairs and Regional Development. The delegation also met with the cabinet of the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. The delegation, according to the statement, has asked from the European Parliament to intensify its efforts regarding the representation of the Turkish Cypriots.
(AK)
5. Self styled minister of public works and communications in Istanbul
Illegal Bayrak television (17.10.14) broadcast that the self-styled minister of public works and communications Hasan Tacoy is in Istanbul to attend the IFTE 2014 fair.
Flight training schools are attending the two day fair which is the only aviation training fair in Turkey. Tacoy will deliver a speech at the fair which will be attended by numerous training schools from Turkey and abroad. As part of his contacts in İstanbul, he will also meet with Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Lutfi Elvan and the General Director of Turkish Civil Aviation Bilal Eksi.
6. Akca: “30% of the gross national product consists of higher education income”; figures on the number of students at the so-called universities
Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan newspaper (17.10.14) reports that the so-called ambassador of Turkey in the occupied area of Cyprus Halil Ibrahim Akca in statements yesterday during the opening ceremony of the new academic year 2014-2015 of the occupied European University of Lefka (LAU), referred, inter alia, to the occupation regime’s economy and said that the “economy” of the occupation regime is based in a great extend to the higher education.
“At the moment, the 30% of the gross national product consists of the higher education income together with the direct and indirect effects”, said Akca.
Referring to the total number of students in the “universities” of the occupied area of Cyprus, Akca said that since yesterday this number was 72,053 and predicted that this number will reach to 73.000. Stating that last year the total number of students at the “universities” was 63,453, Akca added that there is an increase of 13%. Comparing with the figures of the 2011-2012, he said that an increase of 67% has been observed.
Stating that the increase of the number of students at “LAU” university was 100%, Akca described this increase as a remarkable development.
On the other hand, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (17.10.14) reports on official figures concerning the total number of students who study at the eight “universities” in the “TRNC” and writes that this number has reached to 62, 726 since the academic year 2013-2014.
Regarding the registration of new students at the “universities” in the occupied area of Cyprus during the period of 2008-2014, the paper publishes the following figures:
Academic year Number of new registered students
2008 8,143
2009 4,273
2010 3,940
2011 5,063
2012 5,798
2013 6,929
2014 9,203
In statements to Yeni Duzen on the issue, the “director” of the “department of higher education and foreign relations”, Ziya Ozturkler said that they expect the total number of students during the academic year 2014-2015 to reach to 70.000.
Ozturker explained that from the students who studied at the occupation regime’s universities last year, 13.000 were “Turkish Cypriot citizens” and added that 15.000 were from third countries and 35.000 from Turkey.
(AK)
7. The breakaway regime participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2014
According to Turkish Cypriot daily Bakis (17.10.14), “TRNC” (translator’s note: the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus) participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2014 with its own kiosk between 8-12 of October.
8. The 11th International Football-Tennis Championship to take place in the occupied area of Cyprus
Turkish Cypriot daily Volkan newspaper (17.10.14) reports that the occupation regime’s “football-tennis federation” will host the 11th International Football-Tennis Championship which is to take place between October 20-23.
As the paper writes, the championship will take place in occupied Keryneia with the participation of teams from 25 countries.
The paper does not refer to the countries that will attend the championship. It however underlines that the Football-Tennis National Team of Romania together with the occupation regime’s “national team” will be responsible for the coaching and the refereeing.
(AK)
9. Turkey was not elected as new temporary member of the UN Security Council
Ankara Anatolia news agency (17.10.14) reports that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu commented on Turkey’s failure to be elected as new temporary member of the UN Security Council and said that “Turkey will continue to be the voice and conscience of countries that have those expectations from it”.
"There may be some countries disturbed by our principled stance, and there have always been those, who, after some time, confess that Turkey's position was right. So, we could not abandon our principles for the sake of getting more votes," said following the U.N. Security Council election of five new temporary members.
Congratulating the elected countries, Cavusoglu said that Turkey would continue to maintain its cooperation with international and regional institutions. "We cannot relinquish our responsibilities in the U.N. just because we were not elected," he said.
Turkey lost its bid for a seat on the Council in a runoff vote against Spain after both countries failed to garner the required number of votes in the first two rounds. Spain won on the third ballot by receiving 132 votes to Turkey’s 60 votes.
10. Turkey aims to reverse its reputation to the EU public
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (17.10.14) reports that Turkey launched a new European Union communications strategy on October 16 to repair its broken perception in the eyes of European citizens, prioritizing as targets countries that support Turkey’s accession process the least.
“In recent years, a picture in which facts and perceptions on Turkey do not correspond has grown, together with a negative perception about our country in the European public opinion. Thus it will be our priority to provide the overlapping [of facts and perceptions] in this period,” Turkish EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said at a press conference in Brussels as he disclosed the new communication strategy.
Bozkir, who revealed Turkey’s new EU strategy in Brussels three weeks ago, said all the efforts aimed to further accelerate the Turkish accession process for EU membership. “The new EU Communication Strategy will endorse the first two dimensions of our EU Strategy by internalizing recently adopted political and socio-economic reforms by our people and will help establish a healthy perception of Turkey in EU public opinion,” he said.
Bozkir said the new strategy would be "participatory and proactive" as already existing communication means, methods and targets would be updated and improved. The objective of the new strategy is to increase the support for Turkish accession in the eyes of EU public opinion, he added, emphasizing that the highlight of the strategy would be “Strong Turkey, Strong EU.”
Turkey’s new strategy has two legs, one for the Turkish public opinion and the other for the EU. The strategy for Turkey is expected to “inform the public about the benefits obtained as a result of the EU accession process; increase support and grassroots advocacy for Turkey’s EU membership and facilitate the transformation of the mentality in Turkey during the EU accession process.”
The new strategy will deliver key messages to citizens of Turkey and the EU to shape the correct picture on Turkish accession to the bloc. “The EU is a peace project that is based on human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights,” he said, noting that these were the top messages to be given to the Turkish public opinion.
11. The Turkish Government tries to assures that western standards will be satisfied with the new security reforms
Turkish daily Sabah (17.10.14) reports that Turkey’s Government officials have assured the public that no practice that differs from the legal rules of western democratic states will be brought under the new security reforms that seek to give broad powers to security forces to stamp out protests.
A group of Deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) submitted a draft bill to Parliament Tuesday evening that will empower security forces by expanding their powers of search, seizure, detention and arrests. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking at a meeting at the Interior Ministry, said the envisaged changes were necessary in order to avoid similar instances of vandalism and street violence, referring to the deadly protests that claimed 39 lives.
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay also commented on the recent controversial security reform and said the country will continue to be run by laws. "We are a country who carries out negotiations in accession to the European Union, and thus we seek to adopt the norms of the European Union concerning our domestic affairs as well," Atalay said.
12. Turkish columnists on Turkey’s European image, ISIL and the new reforms
The issue of Turkey’s image in the EU and its role to the Middle East after the recent developments with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are evaluated by of two columnists of Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (17.10.14).
Under the title: “Europe’s poker over Turkey”, Ahu Ozyurt writes the following:
“As a part of group of journalists and academics, I have spent the past week in Germany as a guest of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, which has close ties to the Free Democrat Party. One big headline that emerged from the trip is that Europe has learned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s game and is eager to play it. Before coming to Hamburg and Berlin, we were expecting support for freedom of the press and expression from our German friends. Instead, most of what we heard was the “geopolitical importance of Turkey.”
The bright side of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) crisis is that it has put Turkey on the map of ordinary Europeans again. Germans are following the events in Mursitpinar and Suruc even more closely than Turkey’s own citizens. Der Spiegel’s cover story about ISIL featured six reporters, two from the field. Not a single day passes without a front-page story in the German papers about Turkey joining the coalition to fight ISIL.
With all this, Turkey’s domestic worries go backstage. Europe wants to view Turkey as it saw it when it was the Cold War’s last frontier against communism: A solid NATO ally, a not-so-democratic-but-who-cares-anyway kind of neighbour.
But there is always a flip side to this story. Dr. Gunter Seufert from Germany’s influential think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWF) believes that it is actually the right time to open up more negotiation chapters for Turkey's EU accession process. However, Seufert also said during a meeting with us that "we know Erdogan does not want Turkey to be a member of the EU.”
“Mevlut Cavusoglu, Volkan Bozkir, Ali Babacan, all of these names have very favourable ratings in Brussels, Berlin, etc. But when you look at the party program, or the Cabinet program, you see very little about the EU reform process. So just in order to challenge Erdogan and Davutoglu to do more, the EU should open two new chapters for negotiation,” he said.
Seufert’s proposal was to open the chapters on judicial reform and freedom of expression. He also said no EU member could or would drag its feet to stop Turkey’s membership talks anymore.
[…]
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), as well as Erdogan personally, has played the EU game in a very clever way, by adapting a softer approach in European capitals while bashing all Western leaders on the domestic scene. Ironically, the EU capitals have learned the game well and are now using it against Turkey. In closed meetings, they support the intelligentsia that is pushing for reform, but in public they almost appear to cherish the AK Party’s anti-democratic laws.
In a huge U-turn compared to a couple of months ago, most German politicians and experts have now refrained from openly criticizing Erdogan. “Despite all the corruption charges, all the anti-democratic practices, you still go and elect him,” one said. “After Gezi, he won two more elections. So we look and say, why worry for Turks if they are happy with this guy? It is their problem. We look at Turkey like Putin’s Russia. Big, important but never a member of the EU.”
So once again, we - the supporters of a more secular, more pro-Europe, more democratic Turkey - are left in the dark with our dignified loneliness. The people who we are trying to reach for a better Turkey are simply too busy or no longer there.”
Under the title: “Looking for ‘worst European practice’ in rights”, Murat Yetkin writes the following:
“According to Volkan Bozkir, Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs, Ankara has adopted a new communications strategy, in order to win the hearts and minds of European citizens and EU governments. […]
Bozkir’s statement about achieving a more popular image among European citizens faces a real challenge nowadays. This is the case for two main reasons above the usual difficulties between Turkey and the EU, such as over Cyprus.
Meanwhile, call it a Freudian slip or not, but the words of Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus in defence of recent judicial adjustments, when he said the government was “not looking for a police state,” say something about the concerns. Originally, these reforms looked like a positive attempt to enhance the financial and social rights of judges and prosecutors. […]
[…] the government also wants to bring back the criteria of mere “suspicion,” rather than having evidence, in order to legally tap telephones, read e-mails, or the bank accounts of citizens. The necessity that targets be allegedly linked to terrorist action is not in the draft either. Simply being involved in “anti-government activities” could be reason enough for police action, which could even go as far as confiscating private assets.
Indeed, the government was very careful in finding the “worst practice” in European police measures, without caring much for the “best practice” in rights, as it should be.[…]”
13. Family of Gezi victim faces 10 years in prison for harassing son’s killer
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (17.10.14) reports that members of the Sarisuluk family, whose son Ethem Sarisuluk was shot dead during last summer’s Gezi protests, could face up to 10 years in prison following a criminal complaint by the man’s convicted killer.
Ahmet Sahbaz, who was sentenced to seven years and nine months in prison last month for Sarisuluk’s murder, has filed a complaint against members of the victim’s family after they knocked off his fake wig and beard during an altercation outside a court hearing on Sept. 23, 2013.
Sahbaz’s lawyers have opened a case against members of the Sarisuluk family on allegations of premeditated injury and defamation, demanding up to seven years and nine months for the murder victim’s mother, Sayfi Sarisuluk, and two of his brothers, as well as 10 years and five months for another brother, İkrar Sarisuluk – almost three years in excess of the duration of the murder sentence.
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