TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 14/15 22.01.15
1. Eroglu : “I am still at the table, but the Greek
Cypriot side is not”
2. Siber met with the Azeri Speaker at the PUOICM
meeting in Istanbul
3. Eroglu
met with an Azerbaijani delegation
4. More
on the water transferred from Turkey
5. The
breakaway regime among the ten “countries” who buy property in Turkey
6. Ankara will reportedly sent back to Brussels the
EP’s Resolution on press freedom in Turkey, together with a diplomatic note
7. Erdogan urged the Muslim countries to warn Western
counrties against Islamophobia
8. “AKP fails to keep unity over corruption vote”
1.Eroglu : “I am still at the table, but the Greek
Cypriot side is not”
Turkish daily Kibris Postasi (21.01.15-online in
English) reported that the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, in statements during visits he paid at the occupied
villages of Klepini and Agios Epiktitos, has
alleged that his aim is to finish the negotiations at the point where they left
off in 2010.
Reminding of the allegations during the “election
campaign in 2010” that if he would be elected“president”, the negotiation
process would end, Eroglu said that he
is still at the table and added that it is the “Greek Cypriot President”, as he
called the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades who left the
talks.
Accusing
the Greek Cypriot side for saying lies to their public during the past 40
years, Eroglu pointed out that it is the Greek Cypriot side who left the
negotiations despite the fact, as he said ,that he was blamed for being
“non-negotiable”.
Eroglu
continued and accused the Greek Cypriot side that it does not want to share the
wealth of the sea with the Turkish Cypriots and claimed that Anastasiades is
the one insistent on sovereignty.
2. Siber met with the Azeri Speaker at the PUOICM meeting
in Istanbul
According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi
(22.01.15), the self-styled assembly speaker of the breakaway regime in the
occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus Sibel Siber, who heads a “parliamentary
delegation”, is attending the 10th Conference of the Parliamentary
Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States (PUOICM) held in
Istanbul.
Siber attended yesterday a breakfast meeting with the
Turkish Speaker of the Parliament Cemil Cicek and the Azerbaijani Speaker Oktay
Askerov.
Evaluating her contacts at the PUOICM, Siber said that
she hopes with their efforts the “TRNC” will be able to get an observer status
in such kinds of international platforms until the Cyprus settlement. Claiming
that they cannot attend unfortunately the international platforms and meetings
with their own identity due to the unsolved Cyprus problem, Siber said that it
is very important for them to be represented at the PUOICM meeting with the
observer status. She added that they may not have the right of vote, they can
deliver a speech and at the same time they can meet with many Assembly Speakers
of many other countries.
Meanwhile, according to illegal Bayrak television
(online, 21.01.15), Siber, speaking at the occupied airport of Tymbou before
her departure, said that the “TRNC parliamentary delegation” which had attended
the PUOICM conference in Tehran, Iran last year was looking forward to this
year’s meeting in Istanbul.
Underlining the importance of the conference for the
“TRNC”, Siber claimed: “Unfortunately, we are experiencing difficulties voicing
ourselves at international platforms. We have been regularly attending OIC
meetings as an observer since after the 2004 Annan Plan”.
3.Eroglu
met with an Azerbaijani delegation
According to illegal Bayrak television (21.01.15) the
Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu met on Wednesday with a joint
delegation from the Eurasian Economic Relations Society (Eco-Eurasia) and the
Association of Promoting Azerbaijan’s Genocide Realities headed by Hikmet Eren
and Ceyhun Alekbarov.
Speaking during the visit, the president of the association
Alekbarov referred to the similarities
between the Cyprus problem and the situation in Azerbaijan.
He further
said that they were bringing up the Cyprus problem at every opportunity during
their contacts abroad.
Explaining that Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory is
under Armenian occupation, Alekbarov said: “For us the Armenians are what the Greek Cypriots are to you. The
Turkish Cypriots were subjected to similar massacres and genocide. We want the
world to know about what we have experienced but unfortunately we are subjected
to double standards because we are Muslims and Turks.”
For his part, Eroglu drew attention to the close ties
between Azerbaijan and the “TRNC”.
Eroglu expressed regret over the fact that
Azerbaijan’s Nagorno Karabakh region is under Armenian occupation. “I hope that
one day soon these areas will once again be free of occupation”, he said.
Pointing
out that the “TRNC” was experiencing difficulties being only recognized by
Turkey; Eroglu said that the development of ties with brother “countries” such
as Azerbaijan is extremely important.
Meanwhile,
according to Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes (22.01.14) Alekbarov said during his
meeting with Eroglu that the Armenian’s occupation and the fact that the “TRNC”
is not recognized, causes uneasiness and a painful situation.
AK
4. More
on the water transferred from Turkey
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi newspaper
(21.01.15) reported that the “municipal council” of occupied Geunyeli
municipality tried to stop a manhole from being erected in a river bed near the
village aimed to accommodate the water project to bring water from Turkey.
When
the “local council team” went to the site, the company officials involved in
the structure told them that “neither the council nor anyone from the
government could stop them”. A quarrel occurred after the incident and the
structure has since been sealed.
Reporting on the issue, Halkin Sesi (22.01.15) reports
that “prime minister” Ozkan Yorgancioglu stated that everyone must obey the
rules of the “country”. Yorgancioglu stated that every “municipality” has
regulations that must be followed by any firm undertaking projects in the
breakaway regime, despite how big the projects are.
In addition, Kibris Postasi newspaper (22.01.15)
reports that the self-styled minister ofenvironment and natural resources Hasan
Dincyurek stated that the Alakopru Dam will be tested on Sunday to see if it
can hold water. The dam is being used for the water project.
5. The
breakaway regime among the ten “countries” who buy property in Turkey
Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (22.01.15) reports
that according to the Land Registry and Cadastre of Turkey, the
breakaway regime is among the ten “countries” the “citizens” of which own
property in Turkey.
According to the paper, the breakaway regime comes 7th
since its “citizens” bought a land of 196.268 square m of land in Turkey in
2014. First comes Saudi Arabia, following by the UK, Germany, Kuwait, Russian
Federation, United Arab Emirates, the breakaway regime, USA, Holland and Iraq.
The paper writes that this is the first time the
breakaway regime enters the list and notes that the majority of the Turkish
Cypriots who buy property in Turkey does not come from the occupied area of
Cyprus but from the UK.
6.Ankara will reportedly sent back to Brussels the
EP’s Resolution on press freedom in Turkey, together with a diplomatic note
Turkish daily Today’s Zaman (21.01.15) reported that the government has instructed the Permanent
Delegation of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels to return the European
Parliament's (EP) Resolution, which condemns police raids and the detention of
a number of journalists and media representatives on December 14, without even
opening it, a Turkish daily reported.
According
to a report from the Hurriyet daily published on Wednesday, the Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) government doesn't find it appropriate that the
detailed Resolution be delivered to Ankara.
“You
don't need to send the EP's resolution when you receive it. Return it with a
[diplomatic] note even before opening its cover in a way that is suitable for
diplomatic practices,” Ankara reportedly told its diplomats in Brussels.
Last week, in a strongly-worded resolution unanimously
voted on by political parties, the EP condemned the Turkish government's
December 14 attempt to silence critical media by launching raids on media
institutions and detaining journalists, saying the steps taken by the Turkish
government against the media, raises questions about the rule of law and
freedom of the media in the country.
The Resolution,
seen as a harsh warning to Turkey in terms of press freedom, was approved with
551 votes for it, 11 against it and 31 abstentions in Strasbourg.
The government-backed operation against independent
media outlets, which resulted in the detention of dozens of individuals
including Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı, Samanyolu TV network top
executive Hidayet Karaca, script writers, producers and directors, caught the
attention of the European Union. The detentions sparked reaction across the
world, from Canada to France. Foreign government officials and human rights
watchdogs defined the media crackdown as another blow to freedoms in the
country and called on Turkey to respect media freedom.
7. Erdogan urged the Muslim countries to warn
Western counrties against Islamophobia
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (21.01.15) reported
that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Muslim countries
yesterday to warn Western countries against a rise in Islamophobia.
Addressing the
10th session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation in Istanbul (OIC) in Istanbul, Erdogan said: “We want our friends
in the West to see that Islamophobia has become a serious problem. We also
expect Islamic countries to sincerely warn the West over this issue”.
Erdogan said that the only way to overcome the crisis
in the Islamic world is unity, solidarity and alliance.
(…)
Erdogan lashed out at Islamic State and the Levant
(ISIL) jihadists who have captured large swathes of Iraq and Syria right up to
the Turkish border which he said was “killing Muslims on the pretext of Islam.”
“We must first check and question ourselves. Foreigners are coming, bombing and
killing. Why are we leaving problems to others to deal with instead of solving
them among ourselves?”
Erdogan
also criticized the U.N. Security Council for making decisions on issues that
concern the Muslim world, without having a Muslim member among its permanent
members. “Is there any single Muslim country among the five” permanent members
of the U.N. Security Council? “Is the entire world surrendered to the five
members? Can justice be there?” he asked.
“We are 56 countries. Won’t we question what our
function is? Islamic countries make up almost one-third of the United Nations,”
he told the OIC.
“When
Israel killed more than 2,500 people, including women and children last year,
no Western country or the U.N. condemned Israel for its terrorist deeds as they
condemned the French attacks,” he said.
“There are also several attacks in Nigeria, Libya and
in Iraq; why does the West not react against all these terrorist deeds
equally?” he asked.
“If the West only condemns the killings targeting
artists or journalists, then what about the journalists killed by Israel in
Palestine in the past years?” Erdogan said.
“Terrorists and terrorist groups can never be
representatives of Muslims or the Islamic world … to incite Western countries
against Muslims is really dangerous. The deeds of the terrorists and the
terrorist groups are not the concern of Muslims,” he said.
(…)
8.“AKP fails to keep unity over corruption vote”
In a commentary under the above title, columnist
Serkan Demirtas in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily news (22.01.15) analyses the
Turkish Parliament’s voting against sending ex-ministers to top court over
graft charges and writes the following:
“A historic
vote at the Turkish Parliament that acquitted four former ministers over
corruption claims has revealed a fissure within the ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP), after dozens of its lawmakers broke the party line to send the
accused Ministers to the top court.
The
division over the corruption vote has been interpreted as particularly
significant for the AKP, which is known for its strict party discipline, months
after Ahmet Davutoglu took the helm as party chairman from Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
who is now the President.
The
AKP, with 312 Deputies at parliament, failed to secure 276 votes - the simple
majority required for a vote of confidence - in the votes carried out for
former Ministers Egemen Bagıs, Zafer Caglayan, and Muammer Guler. The exception
was former Environment Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar, who secured 288 supporting
votes.
A
similar division was observed in 2003, when Parliament voted on whether to take part in the
United States’ invasion of Iraq and open its territories to U.S. troops.
The
Erdogan effect: The vote was
made necessary after a parliamentary panel tasked to probe the graft claims
decided not to send any of the four former Ministers to the Supreme Council.
President Erdogan and his right-hand men played a significant role during the
panel’s vote, amid concerns that some of the AKP’s members of the panel would
vote in favor of sending at least one of the Ministers to the court. That is
why the vote was postponed from Dec. 22 to Jan. 5, during which time there was
an intense campaign orchestrated by the AKP urging that the vote was a plot
against the party. Erdogan exercised his full power on the party during this
campaign, as Prime Minister Davutoglu has drawn a slightly different line on
this issue, calling on the Ministers to volunteer to go to the court
themselves.
Davutoglu’s
absence: AKP Chairman and
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in London on January 20, so was absent at
the vote along with five other Ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Ali
Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek. Although Davutoglu could have
postponed his trip to London or departed after the vote, he instead chose not
to attend it. There is no proof that the number of dissidents would have been
lower if Davutoglu had been present at Parliament, but he obviously did not
prefer to witness this scene, allowing Deputy Prime Minister Yalcın Akdogan to
vote for him.
The
“three-term rule” effect:Many of those who voted against the former Ministers
are thought to be Deputies who will not be able to run for Parliament in the
upcoming elections because of the AKP’s strict three-term limit. This may be
the most important reason for such a high number of lawmakers breaching Erdogan’s
line.
(…)”
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