TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 194/15 13.10.2015
1. Akinci: We have instructed our negotiators to discuss the criteria on the property
2. Turkish Deputy PM: Two suicide bombers carried out Ankara attack
3. Davutoglu: ISIL is prime suspect in Ankara bombing
4. Turkey: AK Party suspends rallies until Friday
5. Turkish Nobel laureate blames Erdogan for bringing country to brink
6. Consequences in tourism after Ankara blast
7. Turkish commentary sees terrorist attacks as due to state failure to monitor radical Islamists
8. Merkel to visit Turkey to discuss terror, Syria
9. Ozersay gives total support to Akinci on the bi-zonality issue
10. Ozgurgun warned that the Cyprus problem and the water management issue might dissolve the “coalition government”
11. Siber due to Geneva for the Crans Montana Forum
12. The biologists association criticized the water project
13. Formulas on the unification of cell phone networks are still being searched
14. Contractors union from both sides call on Akinci and submit proposals
1. Akinci: We have instructed our negotiators to discuss the criteria on the property
Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (13.10.15) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has said that the sides will exert every effort they can to reach a result in the negotiations for the Cyprus problem. In statements after the four-hour meeting he held last night with President Anastasiades at the presence of Espen Barth Eide, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Akinci noted:
“There are agreements reached, there are points of difference, there are different views. The entire issue is to overcome these differences and reach a common result which both sides can approve. This is not an easy procedure”.
Akinci said that last night they firstly held a three-party meeting with Eide and exchanged views on the issues and afterwards they continued the discussion with the participation of the negotiators and the delegations. Akinci added:
“The instruction we have given to our negotiators is to intensively start within the forthcoming days on the issue of the criteria as regards the property. I think that they will start meeting as of tomorrow”.
Akinci recalled that the next meeting between the leaders will be held on 30 October and noted that yesterday they reaffirmed the determination to continue our negotiations more intensively as of November. “We have a serious process before us. It needs intensive work”, he argued.
Replying to a question regarding recent statements made by President Anastasiades and the “red lines”, Akinci noted:
“Nothing such as a red line is discussed […] The discussions are on how we can overcome the differences of opinions […]. That is, both sides are exerting efforts to solve this issue. You know that the one side has unfortunately become an EU member before the solution. Therefore, a little bit more reference is made to the EU laws, but as it is remembered in the joint agreement reached on 11 February 2014, on the one hand it is said that we will remain committed to the EU principles and on the other to the bi-zonal, bi-communal structure which has become a UN parameter and to a federal structure which will include political equality. And it is very clearly and evidently said that this characteristic of the solution will be protected. I think that here our understanding of bi-zonality comes forward. I have many times explained what my understanding is. There is no need for me to repeat it. They are also explaining what their understanding is. You are actually seeing these, they are published in the press. Therefore, now we are not at the position to say that there is an agreement on this point, that is, to say that there is an agreement on the issue of what these concepts mean”.
The paper covers the information regarding the meeting of the leaders last night under the title “The ‘EU preparation’ of the Turkish Cypriot state has started!”
(I/Ts.)
2. Turkish Deputy PM: Two suicide bombers carried out Ankara attack
Ankara Anatolia news agency (13.10.15) reports that Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus stated that two suicide bombers, using five kilograms of TNT explosives each, carried out Saturday's twin bomb blasts in Ankara that killed at least 97 people.
The Deputy Premier did not reveal the gender or identities of the suspects, citing a confidentiality order issued by Ankara’s Chief Public Prosecutor, but said that the investigation was "in its final stage and more or less concluded".
Kurtulmus reiterated that the way the attack was carried out showed "a resemblance to the Suruc bombing", and said that "a large number of people have been detained in relation to the attack", without giving an exact number of suspects in custody.
Noting that investigators were working in a "very meticulous" manner, and considering "both usual and unusual suspects", he warned against any speculations so that necessary steps could be taken that would "produce results".
3. Davutoglu: ISIL is prime suspect in Ankara bombing
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (13.10.15) reports that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is the focus of investigations into a twin suicide bombing that killed at least 97 people in the Turkish capital Ankara and investigators are close to identifying one of the suspects, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated.
Speaking on Turkish broadcaster NTV in a live interview, Davutoglu said the Oct. 10 attack was an attempt to influence the outcome of a parliamentary election on Nov. 1 and that necessary steps would be taken if security failures were found to have contributed to the bombing.
“It was definitely a suicide bombing. DNA tests are being conducted. It was determined how the suicide bombers got there. We’re close to a name, which points to one group,” he said of the worst attack in Turkey of its kind.
Two senior security sources told Reuters on Oct. 11 that initial signs suggested ISIL was behind the attack, and that it bore striking similarity to a July suicide bombing in Suruc near the Syrian border, also blamed on the radical Islamists.
Likening Ankara explosions to 9/11 terror acts in the United States or the attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as all had targeted developed, democratic countries, Davutoglu dismissed the opposition claims that Turkey was attacked because of its wrong foreign policy preferences.
Upon questions whether there were security or intelligence negligence, Davutoglu said Turkey has a very large intelligence capacity but he instructed for an inquiry to find out whether there were shortcomings in preventing the Ankara incident.
4. Turkey: AK Party suspends rallies until Friday
Ankara Anatolia news agency (13.10.15) reports that the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has suspended all its rallies in Turkey until Friday.
AK Party Deputy Chairman Omer Celik told reporters in Ankara on Monday that after Friday Turkish Prime Minister and AK Party Chairman Ahmet Davutoglu would hold “peace and brotherhood” rallies “against terror”.
Celik also said that Turkish officials were trying to nab perpetrators of Saturday's twin bombings in Ankara, which killed 97 people, adding that an administrative investigation was being conducted.
5. Turkish Nobel laureate blames Erdogan for bringing country to brink
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (13.10.15) reports that Turkey's Nobel laureate has warned the country could collapse into sectarian conflict and blamed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the climate of insecurity brutally illustrated by Oct. 10 deadly attacks in Ankara.
Orhan Pamuk, the 2006 winner of the Nobel prize for literature, told Italian daily La Repubblica that Turkey's increasing instability was linked to Erdogan's Justice and Development Party's (AKP) failure to retain a parliamentary majority in June.
"The electoral defeat enraged Erdogan," Orhan told the daily, arguing that the setback, which resulted in new elections being scheduled for November 1, was also behind the recent resumption of hostilities between the army and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.
"He didn't succeed in convincing the Kurds to give him their votes for his plan to create a presidential republic," Orhan said.
"That is why he decided to go to the polls again on Nov. 1. But neither the government nor the army were satisfied with how things were going and they agreed to resume the war against the Kurdish movement."
Asked if he feared a return to civil war, Orhan replied: "Certainly I fear that. Especially in the 1970s the streets of my city (Istanbul) witnessed a real conflict between people of the left and those of the right.
"Anyone over 35 has terrible memories of that period and never wants to go back there. I am worried (for Turkey) because I know that in the end Erdogan wants to govern alone at all costs. He does not want to share power."
6. Consequences in tourism after Ankara blast
Turkish Today’s Zaman newspaper 913.10.15) reports that 14 countries have issued security warnings to their citizens thinking of traveling to Turkey concerning the increased risk of terrorism in the country following Saturday's deadly bomb blasts outside Ankara.
The countries that have issued travel warnings for Turkey are France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Canada, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands and Iran.
In addition, Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (13.10.15) reports that Turkey’s tourism industry may close this year with around $10-11 billion in losses amid a dramatic loss in Russian tourists and a sharp slash in hotel room prices across the country, according to leading sector representatives.
“Turkey’s tourism sector grew in double digit figures in the last 25 years. The sector has, however, faced tough times with the rise in Russia’s economic problems, security concerns especially after the Arab Spring in the region and the Syria crisis,” said the head of the Hoteliers’ Federation of Turkey (TUROFED), Osman Ayik.
The country saw around a 25 % decrease in the number of tourists from Russia and its neighbours, although a 9 % increase was seen in the number of German and European tourists, he noted.
“The rise in the number of European tourists cannot, however, enable the sector to compensate its losses from the Russian market. In this vein, we expect a loss in income. The losses will differ across the regions, but we most probably won’t close the year with positive growth,” he noted.
7. Turkish commentary sees terrorist attacks as due to state failure to monitor radical Islamists
Turkish daily Radikal newspaper (12.10.15) published an article by Ezgi Basaran under the title: “The State found those perpetrators, and there was no failure! Think again!”
“I am going to relate it to you item by item. Have the state authorities truly found those responsible, and was there any security and intelligence failure? You will decide. The largest terrorist attack ever to have taken place in Turkey. Right in the heart of Ankara. […]
[…]
So what happened? On the third gathering by Kurds and socialist young people, two suicide bombs blew up in the heart of Ankara. Although the figures are not firm, we lost almost 120 of our fellow citizens, our friends, and our brothers and sisters.
[…]
When you look at the scene I sketched out above item by item, it is not possible to avoid seeing the disasters that virtually foretold their arrival.
If the young men going from Turkey to become "jihadis" since 2013 had been monitored, or in other words, if Syria had been looked at in this way…
We might not have experienced these sufferings.
Is the state unable to find what we journalists know, and have found through investigation? Is it not keeping track of the young men from Adiyaman whom we have written about repeatedly for the past year, and who passed through the "formative experience" of the Islam Teahouse?
Does it not know that those young men went to Tal Abyad and Jarabulus [in Syria]?
Does it not know that, in Syria, they went through the "training" of the individual named Mustafa Dokumaci?
Does it not know that there are two youths from Adiyaman who had joined ISIL who are now in the hands of the YPG [People's Protection Units]?
Has contact been established with these individuals, and has information been obtained from the YPG?
For God's sake…
Prime Minister Davutoglu says that the perpetrators of Diyarbakir and Suruc were captured.
For God's sake…
Does the capture and turning over to justice of the perpetrators of the Diyarbakir and Suruc massacres take place in such a way?”
8. Merkel to visit Turkey to discuss terror, Syria
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (13.10.15) reports that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet in Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for talks on "the joint battle against terrorism, the situation in Syria and managing the refugee crisis.
Merkel had reacted with "great dismay" to the double suicide bombing, the deadliest attack in modern Turkey's history, and had condemned it as "a particularly cowardly act aimed directly against civil rights, democracy and peace". She had sent a condolence letter to Davutoglu and telephoned Erdogan over the weekend.
9. Ozersay gives total support to Akinci on the bi-zonality issue
According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (13.10.15), former Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay gave full support to the latest statements by the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on the issues of clear majority in the bi-zonalities and on the EU primary law.
Ozersay, in an interview to the Turkish private channel NTV, said that Akinci is negotiating on the basis of the UN parameters and the issue of bi-zonality remains within this framework. Noting that while he was speaking on the clear majority in the bi-zonalities, he did not talk in the meaning of a founding state consisting of only Turkish Cypriots in the 21st century, Ozersay argued that however the arrangement that the Turkish Cypriots will keep the clear majority both in population and in the immovable property is necessary. He further alleged: “Besides, this is the Turkish Cypriot side’s demand and it is an established UN parameter”.
(DPs)
10. Ozgurgun warned that the Cyprus problem and the water management issue might dissolve the “coalition government”
Under the title: “Issues such as the Cyprus problem and the water could dissolve the government”, Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris newspaper (13.10.15) reports on statements by the chairman of the United Cyprus Party (UBP) Huseyin Ozgurgun.
Speaking during a visit he paid in occupied Lefka and Mesaoria villages ahead of his party’s forthcoming congress on October 31, Ozgurgun said that issues such as the Cyprus problem and the water from Turkey could dissolve the “coalition government”.
Describing as wrong the quarrels taking place in the occupied area of Cyprus concerning the management of the water, Ozgurgun said: “I have discussed this issue with Talat and we both realized that this issue could dissolve the government. The municipalities demand the management of the water. But they are in a position of bankruptcy. We should protect this water for all our youth. And we owe a debt of gratitude to our Motherland for this”.
On the Cyprus problem, Ozgurgun said that UBP has not altered its positions and views and underlined that the EU’ Primary Law and Turkey’s effective guarantees in Cyprus are a sine qua non for the UBP in a possible solution of the Cyprus problem. “I have said that both to Akinci and Talat”, Ozgurgun added.
(…)
(AK)
11. Siber due to Geneva for the Crans Montana Forum
Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes newspaper (13.10.15) reports that according to a statement issued by the “parliament”, the “speaker” of the so-called assembly Sibel Siber will be travelling to Geneva, Switzerland between October 14-16 in order to attend the meeting on “ Migration and Global Security” organized by the Crans Montana Forum.
Siber will return to the occupied area of Cyprus on October 16.
(AK)
12. The biologists association criticized the water project
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (13.10.15) reports that the biologists association in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus described the “water supply project” as the “mistake of the century” instead of the “project of the century”.
Hasan Sarpten, the general secretary of the biologists association, in a written statement, said that the process has proved them right; all the society can see now the negative aspects. He argued that the water problem cannot be solved with the water transportation but with an intelligent water policy. Sarpten added that the water coming from Turkey is not the remedy for their water problem. He explained that if they had a healthy water administration and used their current water deposits in a clever way, they would not have had a problem. He added that they could solve their water problem with the correct use of their water sources. Sarpten further said that with this water supply project a great natural destruction will be caused, the water will be sold as a trade measure, the price for this will be heavy and finally it will increase more their dependency by decreasing more their right to speak.
(DPs)
13. Formulas on the unification of cell phone networks are still being searched
Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (13.10.15) reports that Fikri Toros, chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, has said that formulas which could be mutually accepted are being developed on the technical and commercial issues regarding the use of the cell phones on the entire island, but the legal agreement has been submitted to the Greek Cypriot side pending for approval.
In statements to the paper, Toros noted that they are at the stage of evaluating the legal content of the agreement between the mobile phone operators in both the occupied and the government-controlled area of the island. He argued that they have not quitted their efforts.
Meanwhile, the former chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, Gunay Cerkez told Yeni Duzen that they are trying to find alternative formulas to solve the issue and alleged that “south Cyprus”, as he described the Republic of Cyprus, has some problems with its own laws. He added that the issue will be discussed this week at a meeting of the economy and commercial affairs committee.
(I/Ts.)
14. Contractors union from both sides call on Akinci and submit proposals
Illegal Bayrak television (13.10.15) broadcast that a joint delegation from the “Turkish Cypriot Contractors Union” and the Federation of Associations of Building Contractors Cyprus from the Republic of Cyprus submitted to the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci a list of the confidence building measures and concrete steps the two organisations have agreed to undertake in order to contribute to the on-going efforts to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem.
The two organisations aim to protect the interests of construction companies, particularly in the event of a settlement.
Speaking to reporters after the 45 minute long meeting, the president of the “Turkish Cypriot Contractors Union and the President of the Federation of Associations of Building Contractors Cyprus Costas Roushas described the meeting with Akinci as positive.
The proposals include, the participation of representatives of both organisations in the technical committees related to the construction industry, the operation of a public service office in the buffer zone, near Ledra Palace, to represent both contractors` federations, the restoration of all historical structures and buildings in the buffer zone by a construction company to be set up jointly by the two communities and to ensure that reconstruction work following a settlement will be carried out by Cypriot contractors despite all legal obstacles created by the EU acquits.
The president of the “Cyprus Turkish Contractors’ Union” Cafer Gurcafer said that the operation of a public service office in the buffer zone, near Ledra Palace, to represent both contractors` federations was is of the most important concrete steps they are taking.
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TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION
http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio
(CS/ AM)
