WHAT WOULD ATATURK SAY ABOUT THE
FLOOD IN ISTANBUL?
BY MEHMET BARLAS (SABAH)
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is set to host his
Chilean counterpart Ricardo Lagos, who is scheduled to
arrive in Ankara today to pay an official visit. Lagos’
visit will be the first-ever from Chile at this level.
During his four-day stay, bilateral and international
issues are expected to be taken up with Turkish
officials. /Hurriyet/
There is one road that Turkey can choose as a modern and
developed nation, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan in an address at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace to
the Bogazici University Association over the weekend.
“The real struggle is now upon us,” he said. “Turkey is
working hard to promote understanding between
civilizations. We must cooperate to take the necessary
steps on our path, because the cost of failure would be
grave not only for us but indeed for all of humanity.
We’re trying to prevent any possible clash of
civilizations.” /Star/
In the runup to a population census in Iraq expected to begin soon,
Turkish officials called on Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic
Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani to visit Ankara to
hold a series of meetings on the situation in Iraq.
Barzani arrived in the capital last evening and is set
to meet today with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Barzani is expected
to be warned mainly about attempts to change the
demographic makeup of Kirkuk and recent intelligence
concerning cooperation between Kurdish peshmerga and the
terrorist group PKK/Kongra-Gel in northern Iraq.
/Turkiye/
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman
Deniz Baykal over the weekend lashed out at the ruling
Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) economic policy,
accusing the government of opening Turkey’s markets so
much that foreign manufacturers can now sell whatever
they want without any restrictions, hurting Turkish
producers in the process. Baykal said that those who
voted for the AKP were now disappointed with it. “The
government has failed to find solutions to the problems
of farmers, tradesmen and pensioners,” he added. /Sabah
Hours after ordering his release due to lack of evidence, a court
issued an arrest warrant for alleged mafia boss Sedat
Peker, his brother Atilla Peker and 22 other
individuals. Peker and several of his men were arrested
last week under charges of forming and being members of
criminal organization, aiding and abetting, kidnapping,
seizing goods with force, and making false
documentation. After a lengthy interrogation, the judge
of the 12th Night Court decided to release him early
Saturday morning. The police search to find Peker and
his associates after the new warrant was issued is
continuing. /All Papers/
Arab news network Al Jazeera yesterday reported that 10 Turkish workers
taken hostage in Iraq 40 days ago have been set free. It
stated that the 10 employees of construction company
Vinsan had been released after company officials
announced that it was suspending operations in Iraq.
/Turkiye/
Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday that it
wouldn’t be easy to block Turkey’s European Union
membership bid. “We will decide at the December EU
summit whether or not to veto Turkey beginning its
accession talks,” said Papadopoulos, adding that while
Greek Cyprus could support Ankara’s EU bid, first
certain obligations had to be fulfilled. /Cumhuriyet/
Greek President Costis Stefanopoulos said yesterday that Athens would
support Turkey’s European Union membership, adding,
however, that there were obligations it had to fulfill
under international law, including recognizing Greek
Cyprus. “When Turkey becomes an EU member, it will act
in accordance with international law,” he said. “Under
international law, first Turkey needs to recognize Greek
Cyprus.” /Cumhuriyet/
Speaking to German magazine Der Spiegel for this week’s issue, European
Union Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen
said that despite some risks, Turkey’s EU membership
would be beneficial to the Union. “With Turkey’s
membership, the EU will play an important role in world
politics,” he predicted. Verheugen stressed that the
Cyprus issue should be resolved for Turkey to join the
Union, adding that the Turkish Cypriots should not be
punished for accepting a UN reunification plan earlier
this year. /Milliyet/
France reserves the right to veto Turkey's entry into
the European Union, French President Jacques Chirac told
French state television over the weekend. “The French
Parliament would be consulted on the issue of Turkey's
membership,” said Chirac. “At any moment France can
withdraw, apply a veto, or refuse. We are totally free.
It is the French people who have the last say through
the method of referendum.” In related news, French Prime
Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said over the weekend that
his government was in favor of having a parliamentary
debate on Turkey's entry. /Hurriyet/
In a guest op-ed written for Austrian daily Kornen,
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel yesterday urged
his fellow European Union leaders to very carefully
consider Turkey’s possible entry into the European
Union. Schuessel argued that the current data on Turkey
was insufficient to fully analyze the impact of its
entry, stressing in particular the migration issue and
the price tag of Turkish integration. “The cost of
Turkey’s entry has been calculated at 10-28 million
euros, but nobody knows how to pay for this,” wrote the
chancellor. “Turkey’s qualifications are inadequate to
start its membership talks but if the EU decides to do
so, then the talks must be very open and clear.”
Schuessel had previously said that his party would favor
beginning talks only if the outcome was something less
than full membership. /Sabah/
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said yesterday
that the nation’s high growth rate had recently begun
creating new jobs and bringing down unemployment.
“Unemployment began to fall in the second half this
year,” he stated. “If this trend continues, we will have
fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria concerning
unemployment.” Sener stated that Turkey was among the
world’s 20 largest economies. Touching on the current
accounts deficit, Sener predicted that it would fall by
the end of this year. He also predicted that Turkey
would attract $2 billion in foreign capital by
year’s-end. /Turkiye/
Water issues in the Middle East will be the subject of an international
conference beginning today in Antalya. In addition to
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler, over
150 experts from Middle Eastern countries, Turkey and
Europe are expected to attend the meeting. /Turkiye/
The 41st Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival concluded yesterday with
an awards ceremony. Director Uger Yucel’s “Yazi Tura”
(Heads or Tails) was chosen the best full-length film of
the year.
The 26th Eurasian Marathon was held in Istanbul over the
weekend with the participation of some 100,000 runners
from around the world. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali
Sahin and Greater Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas started
the race. Kenyan runner David Kiptanui and Russian
Swetlana Demidenko won the marathon in the respective
men’s and women’s categories. /Sabah/
Columnist Ferai Tinc comments on Turkish-European Union relations. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“For the first time we’ve had the chance to examine
the progress report prepared by the European Commission
in detail. We’ve read it, asked questions about it and
thought about it. We’ve confronted ourselves. After I
interviewed Romanian President Ion Iliescu, a young tour
guide told me, ‘We can’t become a member of the EU. We
still throw cigarette butts on the streets.’ While
listening to him, I realized how much Romania has
changed. Romanians couldn’t see the difference caused by
the EU membership process, but I did. These days I hear
similar comments in Turkey. People say, ‘The EU won’t
accept us as members.’ However, now I see that we’ve
passed the critical threshold. Now we can face each
other on a rightful basis, one founded on the Copenhagen
criteria, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Aren’t discussions of minority rights a part of this
process? We realize that certain groups are frustrated
in the exercise of certain rights and understand that
that’s why they talk about ‘minority rights.’ When some
people say, ‘Minorities should bow to the majority.
Minorities should believe what the majority considers
appropriate for them,’ certain others fortunately reply,
‘If we live together here, I and those unlike me have
and should enjoy equal rights.’ We’ve been confronted
with our taboos due to our EU membership bid, and this
situation guarantees change in Turkey. Europe is
experiencing the same confrontation.
Turkey was the most important issue discussed by the
European Parliament last week. When the commission said
that membership negotiations could start, everybody had
something to say, but the words of Graham Watson from
the Socialist group were the most interesting: ‘Our
discussions about Turkey’s participation and our
approach towards Turkey will show us the meaning of
being a European in the 21st century.’ Meanwhile, Greens
Group leader Daniel Cohn Bendit told conservatives, ‘You
condemn Turks due to the adultery issue, but we
struggled so much with you on this issue. You spoke with
us to make sure the adultery clause was not removed. If
the adultery issue wasn’t in the final penal code, it’s
because of progressives like us.’ We’re at the beginning
of an exciting adventure with Europe. We’ll change, and
will change others in turn.”
Columnist Mehmet Barlas comments on recent discussions about Ataturk. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“It was inevitable that a discussion would start on
whether Ataturk would be pleased about the prospect of
Turkey’s European Union membership. Would there be such
discussions in other countries? I don’t know. Maybe some
American intellectuals have considered what George
Washington would say about the US invasion of Iraq. I
wonder if British columnists tried to divine William the
Conqueror’s views on Britain’s bid to enter the European
Common Market (ECU), but being rejected twice. Turkish
Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk died in 1938.
World War II hadn’t even begun. Ataturk couldn’t know
that one day France and Germany would use the same
currency (the euro). The World Trade Center in New York
had neither been build nor destroyed the year Ataturk
died. Not to mention nuclear bombs, antibiotics, genetic
engineering, the Internet, the collapse of the Soviet
Union and free trade with China… Mao hadn’t even come to
power in China when Ataturk passed away! Then there was
a British mandate in Iraq, the father of the overthrown
Shah was reigning in Iran, as did Franco in Spain,
Mussolini in Italy, and Chamberlain in Britain.
Churchill wasn’t prime minister. The term ‘Iron Curtain’
entered the dictionaries eight years after Ataturk’s
death and fell out of use 52 years later.
Feeling gratitude towards Ataturk and trying to
understand what Ataturk would think about the problems
of today are two different things. One could try to
answer the questions of what Ataturk would do and act
accordingly, but this has nothing to do with politics or
scholarship. Furthermore, since Ataturk was a
politician, it is also possible to form different ideas
for different situations assuming his views for various
conditions.
Would Ataturk have entered NATO?
Would Ataturk enter into a stand-by agreement with
the IMF?
What would Ataturk say about the recent flood in
Istanbul?
What I want to say is this: Instead of trying to
understand Ataturk’s attitude towards the EU, it is
better to express our own views about the EU. Not even
the UN existed in 1938.”
