TURKISH
CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW
C
O N T E N T S
No. 21/16 02.02.2016
1.
Colak meets with the Qatari Minister of Economy and
Trade
2. Ozgur: The influence of Cyprus-Greece-Israel summit
on the Cyprus problem is “important and serious”; Bringing electricity from
Turkey should be discussed
3.Candan continues the evaluation of their contacts in
Brussels
4. Kanatli accused Turkey of following a double
standards policy on the Cyprus problem
5. The bloody corpse of a dog is left outside Afrika
newspaper’s offices
6. Plumer Kucuk: “The remains of 1061 missing persons
have been exhumed so far”
7. Sucoglu: “Corendon Airlines plans to bring 30,000
tourists per year”
8. Cavusoglu: “Russia will ‘face consequences’ if
airspace violations continue”
9. Erdogan accused Russia and Western countries of
“double standard” policies
10. Erdogan tours Latin America; “Turkey’s trade
volume with Chile to increase”
1. Colak meets with the Qatari Minister of Economy
and Trade
Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (02.02.16)
reports that Emine Colak, the
self-styled foreign minister of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of
Cyprus who is visiting Doha, the capital
city of Qatar,met yesterday with the Qatari Minister of Economy and Trade,
Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani.
Colak briefed Al Thani on the ongoing negotiations in
Cyprus and noted that with the solution
of the Cyprus problem the positive climate in the Eastern Mediterranean will
create an appropriate environment for foreign investors. Therefore, she
claimed, it would be useful for the Qatari investors on the spot to examine the
possibilities for investments.
Colak said that in
case a solution is reached, the Turkish Cypriot community will be the first Muslim
member of the European Union under the Federal Cyprus roof and described this
development as an “important factor” for the Muslim world.
Moreover, the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber
of Commerce, Fikri Toros, who is participating in Colak’s delegation, explained
in detail the fields and the sectors in the occupied area of Cyprus which could
interest foreign investors. He said that investments by Qatar, which he
described as a “brother Muslim country”, are very valuable for the Turkish
Cypriots.
The
delegation visited also Qatar’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry and met with
its vice president, Mohammed bin Ahmed Twar Al Kovari. Toros and the member of the administrative council
of the Turkish Cypriot “chamber of industry”, Cavlan Paralik, who also
participates in Colak’s delegation, invited
the Qatari chamber’s administrative council to the occupied area of Cyprus,
noting that they want the development of the relations between their chambers.
(I/Ts.)
2. Ozgur: The influence of Cyprus-Greece-Israel
summit on the Cyprus problem is “important and serious”; Bringing electricity
from Turkey should be discussed
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (02.02.16)
reports that Birikim Ozgur, the
self-styled minister of finance of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of
Cyprus, has argued that the influence on
the Cyprus problem of the tripartite summit held last week in Nicosia between
Cyprus, Greece and Israel is “important and serious” and should not be “skipped
over”. Addressing the self-styled assembly yesterday, Ozgur noted that the
Greek Cypriots are cooperating with Greece and Israel to export natural gas
together, adding that in the statements they
made these three countries said that they are ready to cooperate with Turkey in
this field.
Ozgur
noted that the regime should determine a concrete and common policy with Turkey
on this issue and the project of bringing electricity from Turkey with cables
should be discussed.
Ozgur described as “a precondition” the discussion of an interconnected system
and cooperation between [the occupied area of] Cyprus and Turkey in this field.
Referring to the issue of the water which has been
transferred from Turkey to the occupied area of the island through undersea
pipelines, Ozgur said that investments are needed in order for the water to be
used effectively and added that according to the “constitution” of the regime,
the administration of the water belongs to the “municipalities”. He noted that
they have explained this to Turkey and a model in which the “municipalities”
will not be at loss came up.
(I/Ts.)
3.Candan continues the evaluation of their contacts
in Brussels
Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Bakis newspaper (02.02.16)
reports that Armagan Candan, “deputy”
with the Republican Turkish Party-United Forces (CTP-BG), evaluated to the
paper the “parliamentary delegation’s” recent contacts to Brussels and said
that they held around 20 meetings there.
Candan said that during their contacts with several EU
officials, they told them that Cyprus is the only place in the world from which
the EU receives good and positive news.
Supporting
that Brussels is monitoring very closely the developments on the island and the
Cyprus negotiation process, Candan said that Brussels also provides an
important contribution and support. “Together with this contribution and
support to the solution process, the EU Commission sent experts to the country
every week. These experts exert efforts and work with both Turkish Cypriot and
Greek Cypriot officials on the issue of how the unification of Cyprus will be
achieved into the EU”, Candan said.
Candan
added further that during their meeting with officials of the Commission, they
discussed the issue of the Turkish language to become an EU language and they
were informed about the technical work which needed to be done towards this
matter, in order to become realized.
Stating
that they held also a meeting with the European Parliament’s rapporteur on
Turkey, Kati Piri, Candan said that they had the opportunity to discuss with
her Turkey’s EU bid and the paragraph on Cyprus to be included in the next EP’s
report on Turkey. He added that they stressed the need for the EU to support
and put pressure to the Greek Cypriot side towards the opening of new crossing
points in the island and the implementation without any other delay of the
connection of electricity and GSM networks.
Candan stated also that during their meetings in
Brussels, they discussed with the EU officials the issue of their
representation in the European Parliament after the solution and the
preparations that needed to be done toward this issue.
Reminding of the decision of the Council of the EU
dated on June 2014, envisaging that four months after the solution to be, there
will be elections for the European Parliament in the island for the election of
4 Greek Cypriots and 2 Turkish Cypriots MPs, Candan said that they demanded for
this decision to be implemented soon after the solution.
Referring
to the meetings which took place in Davos, Candan described them as very
important for the Cyprus negotiation process and said that Davos’ results had a
positive reflection in Brussels.
(AK)
4.Kanatli accused Turkey of following a double
standards policy on the Cyprus problem
Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Bakis newspaper (02.02.16)
reports that Murat Kanatli, organizing
secretary and member of the executive committee of the New Cyprus Party (YKP)
accused Turkey of implementing a “double standards” policy on the Cyprus
problem.
Issuing a written statement, Kanatli evaluated their
recent contacts in Ankara as well as Turkey’s policies on the Cyprus problem.
Kanatli
argued that even though Turkey exerts efforts and tries to present itself to
the EU as the side which supports the solution of the Cyprus problem, the
policies it follows show exactly the opposite.
Recalling
the recent statements made by the so-called Turkish ambassador in the occupied
area of Cyprus Derya Kanbay on the Cyprus problem, Kanatli said that these
statements prove that Turkey follows a separatist and divisional policy.
Kanatli
went on and called Turkey to withdraw its troops from the island in order as he
said to prove that it honesty desires peace and the solution of the Cyprus
problem.
(…)
(AK)
5. The bloody corpse of a dog is left outside
Afrika newspaper’s offices
Under the title “Hey buddy, who are these?”, Turkish Cypriot
daily Afrika newspaper (02.02.16) reports that an unknown person holding a bag entered into the building in which
the newspaper’s offices are early yesterday morning and left the bag at Afrika’s door. The
corpse of a dog which was still bleeding was found in the bag.
The newspaper’s security camera recorded this person,
the face of whom is not evident. The “police” launched interrogations in
Afrika’s offices and confiscated the camera’s records.
Asked last night by the paper’s reporters regarding
the result of their investigation, the “police” said that they had not found
the perpetrator yet.
“It is
estimated that some circles which are annoyed by the publications of our
newspaper have used this method for threatening”, writes Afrika.
Turkish Cypriot Havadis newspaper (02.02.16) covers
the issue under the title “Disgusting
attack against Afrika”.
In statements to Turkish Cypriot Kibris newspaper
(02.02.16), Afrika’s publisher, Sener
Levent said that this was a message to them that “we will kill you like dogs”.
(I/Ts.)
6.Plumer Kucuk: “The remains of 1061 missing persons
have been exhumed so far”
According to illegal Bayrak television (02.02.16), the
Turkish Cypriot member of the Committee
of Missing Persons in Cyprus Gulden Plumer Kucuk, in statements to the illegal
TAK news agency, evaluated the ongoing works of the Committeeand said,
inter alia, that the remains of 1061
missing persons in Cyprus have been exhumed so far and around 700 have been
identified and returned to the families.
Explaining
that around 100-120 locations were excavated each year since 2006, Kucuk said
that there were currently nine teams working on both sides in the island.
Kucuk
also said that the remains of 116 missing persons have been located in 2015,
the highest figure in the past four years.
Stating
that they are expecting the same success this year, Kucuk added that the
success rate of the excavations is around 20-25%.
(…)
7. Sucoglu: “Corendon Airlines plans to bring
30,000 tourists per year”
Under
the title: “30,000 tourists per year”, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Bakis newspaper (02.02.16) reports on statements by the so-called
minister of tourism Faiz Sucuoglu, who is currently in Turkey for the Eastern
Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel (EMITT) fair, taking place in
Istanbul.
In statements during an event organized there, Sucoglu recalled that Corendon Airlines
will re-launch flights to the "TRNC" as of May 1, 2016 and said that
Corendon’s decision was a result of their fruitful efforts.
Stating
that Corendon Airlines are planning to bring around 12 thousand tourists to the
“TRNC” in 2016 and around 30 thousand in 2017, Sucoglu described the company as
very important for the “country’s tourism sector”.
Referring
to the occupation regime’s participation in the EMITT fair and to the contacts
they held there, Sucoglu said that during their four days stay, they held
around 50 different meetings with officials and representatives of foreign
countries, such as Azerbaijan, Sudan, Palestine, Iran, while, at the same time,
they signed very important agreements.
Sucuoglu added further that Turkey’s Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu and the Turkish Minister of Tourism Mahir Unal were among
those who visited the occupation regime’s stand in the fair and expressed their
support.
(AK)
8.
Cavusoglu: “Russia will ‘face consequences’ if airspace violations continue”
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (01.02.16) reported that Turkey’s Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu warned Russia that it will “face the consequences” if it
continues to violate Turkey’s airspace.
“We
summoned the [Russian] Ambassador [to Ankara, Andrei Karlov] to our Ministry
and protested the act. We clearly told him, ‘If there are similar violations
again you will have to face the consequences,’ because we previously
communicated our rules of engagement to Russia,” said Cavusoglu on January 31 in Riyadh, at a joint
press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir, according to
state-run Anadolu Agency.
(…)
NATO and the United States confirmed the latest
violation, with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg immediately urging
Russia not to escalate tension by continuing its airspace violations.
Russia
has denied that it violated Turkey’s airspace on January 29, just as it denied
the violation on November 24, 2015, which led to Turkey’s downing of the Russian
jet and the death of two pilots. That incident sent relations between Ankara
and Moscow on a downward spiral and led to Russia announcing a raft of economic
sanctions against Turkey.
Cavusoglu
said that this denial was a “typical attitude” of Russia lately and that all
details of the breach had been shared with Russia.
“We
do not only see Russia as a neighbor. We also see them as an important partner.
We want to normalize our relations [with Russia] but one-sided steps are not
enough for this to happen,” said Cavusoglu.
9.Erdogan accused Russia and Western countries of
“double standard” policies
Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (02.02.16) reports that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, commenting on the weapons seized by Turkish security forces during
recent counterterrorism operations in southeast Anatolia, said that these are
Russian-made and blamed both Western allies and Russia for failing to appropriately
fight global terrorism while accusing them of “double standards.”
In statements after arriving in Santiago for the first
leg of a Latin America tour that covers Chile, Peru and Ecuador, Erdogan
presented a detailed account of Ankara’s view on efforts by the U.S.-led
coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the status
of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the
People’s Defense Units (YPG), and the fate of ongoing operations against militants
of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“The
EU hasn’t acted sincerely so far. They are giving the floor to certain
representatives of the PKK in order to make speeches at the European Council.
Look, all of those weapons seized in the latest operations in the southeast are
Russian-made. Previously, we told the West concerning DAESH and warned them
‘not to give weapons to the PYD,’” Erdogan said, using an Arabic acronym for
ISIL. “What did they tell us in response? ‘PYD and the YPG are fighting against
DAESH.’ At the time, we told them that Russians are also fighting. Then will we
call Russia ‘good?’ The Westerners are making serious mistakes about the PYD.
They are saying, ‘Good terrorist, bad terrorist,’” he said.
“Just
as how the PKK is accepted as a terror organization in the European Union and
in the U.S., the PYD and the YPG need to be declared as a terror organization,
too, because these are also terror organizations like DAESH and al-Qaeda,” Erdogan added.
Meanwhile, Erdogan also argued that the anti-ISIL
coalition forces have not been displaying determination on the transfer of
power from the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
10. Erdogan tours Latin America; “Turkey’s trade
volume with Chile to increase”
Ankara Anatolia news agency (01.02.16) reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in
statements at the Turkey-Chile Business Forum in Santiago, said that the
Turkish industry's commodity demand is constantly growing and added that the trade volume between his country and
Chile will increase.
Erdogan
said that the two countries were growing rapidly and their profile in the
international arena was rising. "These positive developments should be
reflected in bilateral relations," Erdogan added.
Erdogan
stressed also that Chile was an important partner for Turkey. "In that respect, we see this visit as a step
at the right time. We can see that the people of two countries, who live far
away from each other, meet along common cultural themes. In this respect, the
acceptance of a Turkish [TV] series in Chile pleased us".
Most of the world’s lithium, an important ingredient
in rechargeable batteries used in electric cars, is produced in Chile. The
country is also major copper producer.
Erdogan
noted that the number of tourists per year from Chile to Turkey was about
17,000. "We will see
some improvements in the near future on that by establishing a direct flight
between Istanbul and Santiago with Turkish Airlines which holds the title of
the airline flying to the most destinations," Erdogan said.
The
trade volume between Turkey and Chile, the first nation in Latin America to
sign a free-trade deal with Turkey in 2011, amounted to around $417 million
last year, a decrease from $562 million in 2014.
Erdogan
said that the trade volume could be increased to $1 billion in the short term.
"All that matters is to believe and trust in each other," he said.
The
two countries also signed a deal on more cooperation between their government
aid agencies.
Erdogan
will head to Peru on Tuesday -- becoming the first Turkish President to visit
the country. He will travel to Ecuador on Wednesday.
---------------------------------------------------
(AK/ LF)
