TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA
REVIEW
C O N T E N T S
No. 187/16
29.09.2016
1. Ban phoned Akinci; He reaffirmed his determination to support the
leaders in their efforts to reach a solution prior to 2016
2. “Eroglu: Akinci started talking like Eroglu”
3. Ozgurgun alleges that an army of 30,000 militia under the control
of the Church exists in the government-controlled area
4. The “Trade Union Platform” evaluated the NY
summit
5. Turkish Cypriot daily argues that Rauf Denktas’ spirit “wanders
around” the “presidential palace” in the occupied area of Cyprus
6. Ertugruloglu continues contacts in Washington D.C
7. Russian President Putin to visit Turkey in
October
8. Turkish Justice Minister: 32,000 arrested in coup
probe
9. Twelve more television channels closed down in
Turkey
10. Turkey sealing Syrian border with giant
wall
11. Turkey's Security Council recommends extending
emergency
12. Iranian FM holds unscheduled talks with Turkish
officials
13. Ataoglu on the occupation regime’s
tourism
1. Ban phoned Akinci; He reaffirmed his determination to support
the leaders in their efforts to reach a solution prior to 2016
Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan newspaper (29.09.16) reports that the
United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held yesterday a phone
conversation with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to whom he
reaffirmed his determination to continue working closely with the two sides for
reaching to a solution on the Cyprus problem prior to the end of the
year.
Ban and Akinci exchanged also views on modalities for this process to
reach a successful result and agreed to be in contact in the coming
days.
(AK)
2. “Eroglu: Akinci started talking like Eroglu”
Under the above title Turkish Cypriot daily Detay newspaper
(29.09.16) reports that former Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has
argued that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci started talking like him.
In statements to Genc TV, Eroglu alleged that the Greek Cypriots put
“excessive demands” at the negotiating table and they will not accept a solution
as long as these demands are not satisfied. He further called on Akinci to
see the “delaying tactics” of the Greek Cypriots and say the “realities” to the
“people”.
Referring to the tripartite meeting with the UNSG in New York, Eroglu
said that he was not expecting anything from this meeting, because he knows the
Greek Cypriot side and predicted what it would do. Eroglu claimed that Akinci created great expectations to the
“people” and is disappointed, because he seems to understand now the
Greek Cypriot side.
Asked to comment on the statements made by Akinci that “if a solution
is not reached by the end of 2016 other alternatives will come onto the agenda,
that the only port [for the Turkish Cypriots] to take refuge is Turkey and that
without the rotating presidency and Turkey’s guarantees there could be no
solution”, Eroglu said: “It means that Akinci has started talking like
Eroglu. However, when I was saying these, those who pretend to be the
so-called supporters of the solution attacked me by saying ‘Eroglu does not want
a solution’. Are they going to attack Akinci now? Mr Akinci wants a solution.
Everyone wants. I signed the joint Declaration on 11 February 2014 with
Anastasiades, but those who pretend to be supporters of the solution attacked me
again. They have always blamed us. However, it is extremely wrong to divide our
people into those who want a solution and those who do not want and this is
harming us. It means that as long as his term at the presidency advances, he
started seeing some things better”.
Replying to another question, Eroglu argued that the Turkish Cypriot
side should definitely succeed the determination of a timetable and both the UN
and the international community should help the Turkish side in this.
Asked whether they should be directed towards the recognition of the
breakaway regime if the Greek Cypriots do not accept an agreement, Eroglu
alleged: “The recognition is a matter of time. However, what should be done is that everyone, both the
right-wing and the left-wing supporters to defend the state and demand the
lifting of the embargoes implemented on us by the world upon demand and pressure
of the Greek Cypriots. […]”
Replying to a question on the guarantees, Eroglu claimed that during
his period Turkey did not make a step backwards on the issue of its “effective
and active guarantees” on the entire Cyprus and alleged that the unilateral
military intervention right is of vital importance for the Turkish Cypriots. He
also claimed that they should not give concessions on the issue of the rotating
presidency.
Referring to the property issue, he alleged that accepting the
“emotional bond” was wrong, because a person who had lived for ten years in a
property is given the priority before a person who has been living in it for 42
years since 1974. He claimed that the “title deeds” granted by the occupation regime
are under the “state’s guarantees” and no step backward could be made on this
issue.
Referring to the hydrocarbons issue, Eroglu further claimed that
President Anastasiades should be reminded of the fact that the Turkish Cypriots
will take parallel steps to the ones to be taken by the Republic of Cyprus and
“definitely reply to the tricks of the Greek Cypriots”.
(I/Ts.)
3. Ozgurgun alleges that an army of 30,000 militia under the
control of the Church exists in the government-controlled area
Under the title “The security issue should never be discussed”,
Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes newspaper (29.09.16) reports that
Huseyin Ozgugun, self-styled prime minister of the breakaway regime in
the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus, has alleged that an army of 30
thousand militia under the control of the Church exists in the
government-controlled area of the Republic of Cyprus. In statements during
one of his meetings yesterday, he claimed that in front of this fact the
discussion on the issue of security should have not even started.
Ozgrugun argued that the Turkish Cypriots see the realities and how
difficult is to reach an agreement with the Greek Cypriots. “We can see with
satisfaction that [the Turkish Cypriot people] search for an agreement by which
they will never abandon security and Turkey’s guarantees”, he added.
(I/Ts.)
4. The “Trade Union Platform” evaluated the NY
summit
Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (29.09.16) reports that
the “Trade Union Platform”, in a written statement yesterday, evaluated the
New York summit.
Reading the statement on behalf of the Platform, Sener Elcil, general
secretary of the KTOS trade union, stated, inter alia, that while they are
expecting a result to come out soon from the negotiation process, the priority
of the solution to be reached, should be to serve the interests of the Cypriots
and not of the foreign powers.
The “Trade Union Platform” reiterated that it supports a bi-zonal,
bi-communal federal solution based on the political equality of the communities,
with a single sovereignty, single citizenship and a single international
identify in the Federal United Cyprus to be.
Stressing the need to illuminate the community about the pessimistic
scene which came out after the tripartite summit in New York, Elcil supported
that if there are difficulties and problems in the negotiation process, these
should be overpassed with constructive proposals by the two sides.
The Trade Union Platform consists of the “Turkish Cypriot Teacher’s
trade union”(KTOS), the Cypriot Secondary School Teachers Union (KTOEOS), the
“Turkish Cypriot Civil servants union” (KTAMS), KOOP-SEN, BES, DEV-IS, TURK-SEN
and BASIN-SEN trade unions.
(AK)
5. Turkish Cypriot daily argues that Rauf Denktas’ spirit “wanders
around” the “presidential palace” in the occupied area of Cyprus
Under the title “Denktas died, but his spirit wanders around in
the presidential palace”, Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika newspaper
(29.09.16) reports the following in its “Letter from Afrika”
column:
“They have asked Dervis Eroglu [the following]: ‘President Akinci is also saying that if a solution is not reached
by the end of 2016 other alternatives will come onto the agenda, that the only
port [for the Turkish Cypriots] to take refuge is Turkey and that without the
rotating presidency and Turkey’s guarantees there could be no solution. What do
you say?’
And Mr Dervis reply was the following: ‘It means that Akinci has
started talking like Eroglu. However, when I was saying these, those who
pretend to be the so-called supporters of the solution attacked me by saying
‘Eroglu does not want a solution’. What will they do now?’
During a meeting we held with Mustafa Akinci when he was a candidate,
we told him that the biggest danger which expects him is ‘to become
Talat’. Talat had become Denktas. And Akinci could become Talat.
However, both resulted to the same conclusion. To becoming Denktas!
Denktas drove in this country and in the mind of everyone such a stake that it
does seem easy to get rid of it. Think. He imposed by force, by threats the
declaration of the TRNC to our opposition. Now everyone supports the TRNC
with heart and soul. Denktas died but his spirit still wanders around that
presidential palace.
Eroglu is right on this issue. Talat had started talking like Denktas. And now Akinci is
talking like Eroglu. Eroglu had also said many times that if there is no
solution we will discuss other alternatives, that Turkey is the only power which
we trust and that we will never give concessions from the guarantees and the
rotating presidency. However, those who never believed that Eroglu supported
the solution attacked him. Whereas, everyone believes that Akinci sincerely
wants a solution and exerts efforts for this. That is, even though they have
reached the same port, there is a difference between them. Eroglu is in
favor of a separate state. He wants the TRNC to live forever. Akinci, on the
other hand, is a federalist. Erolgu is rejoiced when he sees that the Greek
Cypriots are going away from the solution, while Akinci is sad.
Akinci is very optimistic. He has been very mistaken by believing
that he would force the Greek Cypriot side to accept everything. Two years ago, Akinci’s close circle at the palace was saying to us
that ‘this job will finish in November’. In November 2015. Honestly, we had not
understood where this optimism was deriving from. Was it so easy? We wish
that Akinci could leave aside what he could not do and do only what he could
do. We wish he took serious steps in the direction of the rapprochement
of the two communities. We wish he visited the mass graves together with
Anastasiades. We wish he exerted efforts in the direction of the establishment
of a ‘Confession Committee’ for the confession of the crimes and the rapes. We
wish that he lifted that flag from the mountains which is a symbol of
chauvinism, like he had once said that ‘olive trees and not flags are
appropriate for the mountains’. We wish that he took the support of the people,
if some circles had opposed to this. We wish that he undertook a serious
initiative for saving Varosha from the snakes and the centipedes. We wish that
he visited the feasts in the south as well and not only the feasts and the
festivals in the north. We wish that he visited the Greek Cypriot villages as
well.
What does it mean now to threaten the Greek Cypriots by saying that
‘if a solution is reached by the end of 2016, very well, if it is not reached,
we will discuss other things’? Are we competing with each other to make Denktas’ spirit
happy?”
(I/Ts.)
6. Ertugruloglu continues contacts in Washington D.C
Illegal Bayrak television (29.09.16) broadcast that self-styled
foreign minister
Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu is continuing his contacts in Washington
D.C.
Within this framework, he held separate meetings with Congress
members Pete Sessions, Randy Weber, Steve Cohen and the member of the US Senate
Tom Udall.
During the meetings, Ertuğruloğlu briefed the US officials on the
latest developments in Cyprus and the Cyprus negotiations
process.
Ertuğruloğlu also gave an interview to the Washington representative
of the Turkish Hürriyet Newspaper Tolga Tanış and attended a dinner given in his
honour by the Turkish American Steering Committee.
7. Russian President Putin to visit Turkey in
October
Turkish daily Sabah newspaper (29.09.16) reports that Russian
President Vladimir Putin is expected to pay an official visit to Turkey in
October, Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President
Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said on Wednesday.
According to reports, Hisacıklıoğlu and a committee consisting of
Turkish businessmen met with the First Deputy Minister of Economic Development
in Moscow.
He said that Putin's visit would focus on a number of issues
including the Turkish Stream, and restoration of business ties between Turkey
and Russia through lifting some restrictions imposed on Turkish businessmen
following jet downing crisis.
The last time Putin visited Turkey was at the G20 Antalya Summit in
November 2015.
Press Secretary for the President of Russia Dimitry Peskov also
confirmed that Putin may visit Turkey in October.
Reporting on the same issue, Yeni Safak (29.09.16) writes that the
meeting will take place on October 10.
8. Turkish Justice Minister: 32,000 arrested in coup
probe
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (29.09.16) reports that around 32,000
people have been arrested as part of the investigation into the failed coup of
July 15, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has announced, while hinting at the
possibility that new courtrooms might be built in some places based on
necessity.
“There are around 32,000 arrests. The process is still continuing. As
there might be new arrests within the scope of evidence, information and
findings in the investigation during this process, there might also be those
among the arrested who will be released on probation or released directly. The
number may increase and decrease since this is a dynamic process,” Bozdağ said
in an interview with NTV on Sept. 28.
Legal proceedings have been launched against a total of 70,000 people
as part of the probe, he said.
The minister also stated that there were shortcomings in terms of
courtrooms in some places, signaling that new ones would be built if required.
Bozdağ also added that more than 1,500 guardians with suspected links
to the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ) had been suspended from their
duties so far.
9. Twelve more television channels closed down in
Turkey
Turkish daily Sozcu newspaper 929.09.16) reports that 12 more
television channels were shut down yesterday in Turkey in the framework of the
measures taken against the media after the July 15 coup.
Among the channels that were closed down are Hayatın Sesi, TV 10, Van
TV, Jiyan TV, Azadi TV and Zarog TV'nin.
(CS)
10. Turkey sealing Syrian border with giant
wall
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (29.09.16) reports that the Housing
Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) has undertaken the construction of
the remaining 700 kilometers of the wall being built on Turkey’s border with
war-torn Syria, after the construction of the initial 200-kilometer-long
concrete wall on the border was completed jointly by the Defense Ministry and
neighboring provinces governor’s offices.
After completing the tender process for a 200-kilometer-long section
of the to-be built wall and preparing works for the remaining section, TOKİ is
expecting to finish the “security wall” in five months, its head, Ergün Turan,
said. The wall is expected to block uncontrolled human passage across the
border.
“As far as our national security is concerned, the increase of border
security with Syria carries huge importance. With the completion of the wall,
our border will become more secure,” said Turan, adding that the concrete blocks
would cover the entire border with their two-meter-wide and three-meter-high
dimensions. Turan said the sections of the walls in the southeastern provinces
of Hatay and Şanlıurfa were mostly completed and work was ongoing on other
sections. He added that the blocks were portable, weighing seven tons each, and
their tops were being covered with razor wire.
“We build the walls in a way that they can be moved away in the
future if needed and as TOKİ they were not only dealing with pouring the cement
and assembling the concrete but are also building a road behind the wall.
Turan said the work itself is very difficult and meticulous due to
conditions at the construction site, as the area has mine-fields. He added that
in all five construction sites, there were 200 to 250 gigantic concrete blocks
being produced for transfer to the border on trucks.
“When we say border, there is no road or anything there. As TOKİ, we
open the roads. The job is not easy, we are working on mined fields,” Turan
said, adding that Turkey was in a special situation as there were few countries
in the world which shared a 900-kilometer-long border with a single
country.
11. Turkey's Security Council recommends extending
emergency
Ankara Anatolia news agency (29.09.16) reports that the National
Security Council, which convened Wednesday in Ankara under the chairmanship of
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made a number of statements on the July 15 coup
attempt, Turkey's Syria policy and counter-terrorism.
During the almost six-hour meeting, the Council offered to extend the
state of emergency beyond its initial three-month period.
"It has been agreed to recommend to extend the state of emergency in
order to ensure the continuity of the effective implementation of the measures
aiming to protect our democracy, the rule of law and the rights and freedoms of
our citizens," read the statement issued after meeting.
The National Security Council also insisted on a "terror-free zone"
and a "no-fly zone" in northern Syria as well as giving July 15 a special
designation.
The statement underlined «the decisive fight against
terrorism».
12. Iranian FM holds unscheduled talks with Turkish
officials
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (29.09.16) reports that Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Ankara on Sept. 28, in an unscheduled trip
to the capital on his way back to Tehran from a visit to New York for the U.N.
General Assembly, and discussed the Syrian crisis with Turkish officials,
diplomatic sources told Hürriyet Daily News.
Tehran is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main allies in
the civil war, putting Iran at loggerheads with Turkey, which insists al-Assad
must leave for there to be peace in Syria.
The Turkish military launched the Euphrates Shield operation inside
Syria last month with the aim of cleansing its frontier of terror groups,
including Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. Ankara is also
pressing for a safe zone inside its war-torn neighbor to shelter
refugees.
Despite the differences over Syria, Ankara and Tehran have worked
hard in recent months to preserve a strong relationship, as Zarif’s visit marked
his third set of talks with Turkish officials in less than one-and-a-half
months.
The visit came amid a flurry of diplomatic contacts between Turkey
and Iran since the summer in the wake of the July 15 failed coup attempt in the
former country. Iran was among the first countries to condemn the coup attempt.
Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani will pay a visit
to Ankara on Oct. 17-18 and participate at the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC) parliamentarian assembly meeting.
13. Ataoglu on the occupation regime’s
tourism
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (29.09.16) reports that the
so-called minister of tourism and environment Fikri Ataoglu, in
statements to the paper, stated, inter alia, that their predictions about the
“TRNC’s tourism” in 2017 is that it will be in a very good point and added that
their goal is to double the number of tourists in 2017, comparing with 2016.
Referring to negative effects on the “tourism sectors” of both Turkey
and the “TRNC” as a result of Turkey’s crisis with Russia and the
15th of July military coup attempt in Turkey, Ataoglu stated that
hotel and flight reservations in the “TRNC” were affected also dramatically. He
added that this matter was discussed in detail during a meeting of the “council
of ministers” recently which it decided for several measures to be taken.
He then went on and explained that during the contacts he held
recently in Turkey, they have launched an important “promotion attack” in 10
different districts and argued that they expect 1 million tourists from Turkey
in 2017.
Ataoglu further referred to the hotel occupancy in the occupied areas
of Cyprus and said that this has reached to 70%.
Meanwhile, according to illegal Bayrak television (29.09.16)
Ataoglu is in Mersin in Turkey to attend the 7th Mediterranean
Tourism Forum (MEDITOUR 2016) which is organized there.
Ataoglu will also hold a series of contacts.
(AK)
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