A FORMULA
BY HASAN CEMAL (MILLIYET)
Turkey’s membership in the European Union would constitute
not a mere enlargement of the EU, but rather a deepening of
it, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday.
Speaking at his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP)
parliamentary group meeting, Erdogan stressed that the EU’s
reservations about Turkey were near an end, adding that its
objections had been reduced to just one or two issues. “The
EU’s need for Turkey has taken on more importance,” said the
premier. Erdogan added that the country was approaching
solutions to problems previously thought unsolvable. On the
Cyprus issue, Erdogan reiterated that Turkey wanted a just and
permanent solution on the island, adding that Ankara continued
to support the goodwill mission of the UN secretary-general.
Meanwhile, Erdogan has reportedly been invited to a congress
of the European Parliament’s Christian Democrat group to be
held in Brussels on Feb. 4-5. Over 60 political party leaders
from across Europe are expected to attend the meeting. /Turkiye/
A delegation from the Shiite Supreme Council for the
Islamic Revolution for Iraq (SCIRI) headed by Abdul Aziz
al-Hakim, the current president of Iraq’s Governing Council,
yesterday met with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to discuss a
possible federation in Iraq. Speaking afterwards, al-Hakim
said that discussions over the federation proposal would be
postponed. “We believe that the Iraqi people should determine
Iraq’s future,” said al-Hakim. For his part, Gul said that no
arrangement which could weaken Iraq’s territorial integrity
should be allowed, adding that Turkey would host an
international conference to prepare an Iraqi constitution
acceptable to all groups in the country. /Milliyet/
Foreign Minister Abdulah Gul met yesterday with Donald J.
Johnston, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD). Following their meeting,
Gul told journalists that as an OECD member of 34 years’
standing, Turkey had made great contributions to the
organization’s activities. For his part, Johnston said that
Turkey had an enormous potential which it should marshal for
its economy and to help attract more foreign investments. In
addition, concerning the use of Turkey’s Incirlik Airbase by
the US to rotate its soldiers into and out of Iraq, Gul stated
that the matter was entirely transparent, with the use of the
airbase allowed under current United Nations resolutions. /Turkiye/
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf
Denktas yesterday gave his approval to a new Republican
Turkish Party (CTP)-Democratic Party (DP) coalition government.
After receiving the CTP and DP leaders, Mehmet Ali Talat and
Serdar Denktas respectively, Denktas told reporters that
Turkish Cyprus’ 17th government headed by Prime Minister Talat
had been officially formed. Stressing that the coalition would
be a conciliatory and solution-oriented government, Talat said
that they would work hard to bring peace and prosperity to all
Turkish Cypriots. The Cabinet was formed by four ministers
apiece from the CTP and the DP, with eight of the eleven
ministers coming from outside the TRNC Parliament. Meanwhile,
in congratulatory messages to new Premier Talat and Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Ankara’s
continued and unconditional support for Turkish Cyprus. /Turkiye/
Speaking to his party’s parliamentary group meeting
yesterday, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
Chairman Deniz Baykal criticized the ruling Justice and
Development Party’s (AKP) bill on public administrative
reform, threatening to withdraw from discussions over the bill
as long as Omer Dincer continues to serve as a Prime Ministry
undersecretary. Baykal charged that Dincer is seeking to
undermine Turkey’s principles of secularism and nationalism
for the sake of an Islamist administration. “The CHP can see
what the AKP is planning to do with this bill, so we won’t
take part in Parliament debates on it or any other forum
prepared by the group which includes Dincer,” declared Baykal.
He also criticized the AKP government for “hypocrisy” in
alleged contradictions between the ruling party’s
proclamations and its policy. /Hurriyet/
Iraq’s two main Kurdish groups, the Iraqi Kurdistan
Democratic Party (IKDP) and the Iraqi Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (IPUK), have agreed to unify their regional
governments, Kurdish sources reported yesterday. The deal was
reached yesterday in the northern Iraqi province of Salahaddin
between the two formerly rival Kurdish groups. Under the
virtual autonomy granted to them by the US after 1991’s Gulf
War, the IKDP rules the northern provinces of Arbil (Erbil)
and Dohuk, and the IPUK controls the northern province of
Sulaimaniya. The chairman of the IPUK delegation to the union
negotiations, Omar Said Ali, said that the two parties are due
to hold a new meeting to distribute the ministerial posts.
Under the deal, while the IKDP will hold the chairmanship of
the government, the IPUK will head the parliament. /Sabah/
In a public notice published in the US government’s Federal
Register yesterday, the US State Department concluded that
there is a sufficient basis to conclude that the PKK has again
changed its name, this time to KONGRA/GEL, a terrorist group
which must be added to the list of international terrorist
organizations. The State Department had previously announced
that the US would not change its stance towards the PKK, a
group which has frequently changed names and used aliases in
an attempt to obscure its terrorist identity. /Star/
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, British Minister
for Europe Dennis Macshane said that while reaching a
resolution on the Cyprus issue was not a condition for
Turkey’s European Union membership, it would ease Ankara’s bid
and make the EU’s approach to Turkey’s membership more
positive. McShane also praised Turkey’s recently passed EU
reforms. In related news, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC) Ambassador to Ankara Ahmet Zeki Bulunc said yesterday
that accepting the United Nations’ Cyprus plan in its current
form was out of the question. “The plan would require Turkish
Cypriots to give up 22% of the TRNC’s land,” objected Bulunc,
adding that Turkey should continue its role as guarantor
nation on the island. /Cumhuriyet/
In a written statement, True Path Party (DYP) Chairman
Mehmet Agar yesterday harshly criticized the government’s
foreign policy. Agar stated that US forces has been using the
Incirlik Airbase for some six months without any approval from
Parliament, saying the ruling AKP should not take such a
critical decision by decree without getting parliamentary
approval. “The government must change this foreign policy
through which it bends democratic procedures in order to
satisfy certain foreign countries,” added Agar. /Turkiye/
Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD)
Chairman Tuncay Ozilhan, due to soon retire from his post,
yesterday paid a farewell visit to Finance Minister Kemal
Unakitan. During their talks, Ozilhan said that in 2004 Turkey
would continue the fiscal discipline it had shown over the
past year. Ozilhan said that he had expressed his views on a
number of issues, including privatization, adding that Turkey
should continue to take necessary steps for its European Union
membership bid. /Aksam/
A credit agreement for the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
will be signed in Baku, Azerbaijan on Feb. 3, reported a
Kazakh news agency yesterday. The agreement is set to be
signed by the BTC consortium and international credit
institutions as well as related commercial banks. The amount
of the credit for the pipeline, which ends in Turkey, is $1.5
billion. /Turkiye/
A consortium formed by Efremov Kautschuk GmbH and the Zorlu
group yesterday submitted the highest bid for the Turkey’s
largest industrial company, the state’s Turkish Petroleum
Refinery Corporation (TUPRAS), by offering $1.3 billion.
Efremov Kautschuk GmbH and the Anatolia Joint Entrepreneur
Group of Cukurova Holding are the remaining two consortiums in
the running for the tender. The former is reported to be
offering $1.1 billion, while the latter’s reported bid is $800
million. /Milliyet/
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB)
Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu yesterday met with his
predecessors at the TOBB helm, former Chairmen Ali Coskun,
Yalim Erez, Mehmet Yazar, Rona Yircali, Fuat Miras, Raif Ongor
and Sezai Diblan. Hisarciklioglu himself is soon to retire and
join their ranks. Speaking afterwards, Hisarciklioglu said
that the group had discussed recent economic developments. “We
talked about what should be done to better Turkey’s economic
situation,” added Hisarciklioglu. /Turkiye/
Columnist Semih Idiz comments on attempts to solve the
Cyprus issue. A summary of his column is as follows:
“No one can beat us in terms of wasting time. UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan presented his solution plan for the Cyprus issue
back in November 2002. There’s no need to mention the well-worn
discussions we’ve had in the 14 months since. So what happened
to make Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President
Rauf Denktas, who once declared the plan a ‘dead document,’
accept that Annan’s plan is on the table? Denktas had said he
would never sign the plan and normally, political consistency
would require him to uphold this stance and so withdraw from
the negotiations.
Now the situation is very different. Nobody cares about
wavering and contradictions. Meanwhile, some people imply that
the Turkish Cypriots are at this point due to the
‘improvement’ of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
government. Of course they are trying to save face in terms of
consistency, but they still have to explain why the plan
should be discussed. Actually where we are now should have
been reached before the Copenhagen summit of December 2002.
This would have created relief for Turkish-EU relations,
prevented the appearance of a political split among the
Turkish Cypriots, and stopped the spread of the widespread
view that a great disagreement divides Erdogan’s government
from Denktas. However, none of these things happened. It’s as
if we have to be late in reaching our goal or else reach it
only after discussions and fights which damage our
international esteem. We see this not only with Cyprus, but
everywhere. So where are we now? We’re at the point of
negotiation. In other words, Annan’s plan will be negotiated
with the Greek Cypriots.
Of course there are many points to negotiate over A new
mode of ‘living together’ will appear, one the details of
which should be determined carefully. Nobody wants to sow the
seeds of new discord. For this reason, we should leave aside
our old discussions and create a balance between the interests
of the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey and those of Greece, the EU
and the US, and try to optimize them.”
Columnist Hasan Cemal comments on Turkey’s European Union
membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
“Yes, Turkey has taken important steps in its European
Union membership bid. More than half of the job has been done
in terms of the Copenhagen criteria. But if the remaining part
of the job is undermined and the government continues to stall,
a disappointment over starting our accession talks could be
lying in wait. The first hurdle is implementing the new
adjustment laws. Turkey must overcome these obstacles.
For example the legal adjustments for Kurdish broadcasts
have already been made but still have yet to be applied,
evidently because the Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK)
prevented it. First the regulation was delayed, then an
insufficient regulation was prepared. The government didn’t
like the regulations and so sent them back to the RTUK. Also
regulations on Kurdish courses were published, but there are
obstacles to implementing the regulations. By the way, some
difficulties regarding non-Muslim Turkish citizens are still
on the agenda. On the other hand, the matter of taking the
General Staff’s seat from the RTUK is also in the government’s
hands.
There are two other issues that need constitutional
amendments and therefore are key in getting a date for
accession talks. The first is abolishing the state security
courts (DGMs) and replacing them with specialized courts. The
second is ending the function of the General Staff’s
representative on the Board of Higher Education (YOK). These
two matters require constitutional amendments, but the
government doesn’t have enough deputies to pass the amendments.
In other words, the support of the opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP) is needed. Does the CHP not want Turkey
to become an EU member? Its program does. Is the CHP not
against DGMs? It’s been against them for years. Does the CHP
favor a General Staff representative on YOK? I don’t think so.
Well then, what’s the problem? But there is a problem. The CHP
is linking this support for the government to the immunity
issue. The CHP is right regarding immunity, but does this
justify its right to block the constitutional amendments?
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the CHP
should agree on a moderate formula regarding immunity because
the AKP also has some requests which are justified. If both
sides want democratization and a date for the accession talks
for EU membership at the end of the year, then this seems to
be the only way.”
