NOW WE FACE THE KAPLAN PROBLEM
BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met
with Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok. In
addition to Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, also in
attendance at the meeting were Deputy Chief of General
Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s special envoy to Iraq
Osman Koruturk, and Foreign Ministry Deputy
Undersecretary Ali Tuygan. During their three-hour-plus
meeting, the top officials focused on the recent
situation in Iraq, and in particular the security
problems of Turks there, as well as last week’s historic
European Union Commission report on Turkey. /Star/
Appearing on Greek television yesterday, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that though there
were negative aspects to last week’s historic European
Union’s progress report, he was trying to instead focus
on its positive side. “We’ll evaluate the negative
aspects with EU leaders in the leadup to December’s EU
summit and try to reach common ground,” he said. Asked
about the possibility of Greek Cyprus trying to block
Ankara’s accession talks, Erdogan stressed that Greek
Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos had promised him that
he would support Turkey’s EU bid. “He assured me that we
wouldn’t face obstructionism,” said the premier. In
related news, Erdogan yesterday attended the
ground-breaking of a new wing at Ankara’s Esenboga
Airport expected to be completed within two years.
/Cumhuriyet/
A delegation from the Turkish-European Union Joint
Parliamentary Commission traveled to France yesterday
seeking support from their French counterparts for
Turkey’s EU membership. Speaking to a conference at the
Center for French International Affairs, Aydin Dumanoglu
argued that the EU would be more powerful with the
addition of Turkey, adding that the Union, not just
Turkey, needed this membership. In addition, opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Onur Oymen urged
French politicians not to use Turkey’s EU membership bid
for domestic political fodder. /Star/
Energy and Natural Sources Minister Hilmi Guler
yesterday received Igor Yusufov, a special envoy from
the Russian Foreign Ministry, to discuss bilateral
relations, including the subject of oil pipelines.
Speaking afterwards, Guler said that they had discussed
two possible pipelines, one from Samsun to Ceyhan and
the other from Thrace to the Aegean region. “We
discussed the pluses and minuses of both,” added Guler.
/Cumhuriyet/
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Prime
Minister Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday warned that Turkey
would completely lose the cause of Cyprus if Ankara
accepts Greek Cypriot demands for official recognition.
“Turkey must resist the EU on such issues as maintaining
its troops on the island,” he said. “If Turkey gives in
on such issues, it will utterly lose the Cyprus cause.”
/Milliyet/
Alaattin Cakici, who is accused of heading a criminal
organization, was extradited by Austria to Turkey
yesterday. This was the second major extradition in less
than a week, following extremist Metin Kaplan’s arrival
from Germany on Monday. After facing an Istanbul judge,
Cakici was taken an F-type prison in Tekirdag. He will
face charges involving seven separate cases, including
the murder of his ex-wife and corruption in state
tenders. After fleeting from Turkey for a second time,
Cakici was arrested in Graz, Austria this summer.
/Turkiye/
In an interview with German daily Bild yesterday,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair predicted that
Turkey's entry into the European Union would boost
stability and security in the region and bring
advantages to all of Europe. Stressing that he was
strongly in favor of Turkey’s membership although more
reforms lie ahead of it, Blair said that he thought it
would take at least 10 years before it could join. “A
stable, democratic Turkey in the EU is extremely
important for the stability and security of the region,”
he added. “It would be a great win for Europe.” Blair
underlined that anti-Turkey circles, in particular
Germany's conservative Christian Democrats, should keep
in mind that Europe had held out the prospect of
membership since 1963. “Turkey can only join the EU when
it fulfils the necessary criteria,” added the British
leader. “Turkey doesn't want any special treatment and
won't get it. This Turkish government has pushed through
radical changes to firm up democracy, respect human
rights and create stability as a precondition for
prosperity.” At its December summit, EU leaders will
make a final decision whether to start Turkey’s
membership talks, following a green light from the
European Commission last week. /Hurriyet/
German opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
leader Angela Merkel has reportedly abandoned her plan
to launch an anti-Turkey campaign involving a petition
drive against the country’s full membership. German
politics had been rocked by Merkel’s proposed
anti-Turkey campaign, with her move denounced by many as
demagogic populism. Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, head
of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee,
said the proposal had given him “stomachaches.” In
addition, Volker Beck, parliamentary leader of the Green
Party, branded the initiative “foul” and
“irresponsible.” German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
also weighed in, saying that for him, the strategic and
security factors favoring Ankara's EU bid were decisive.
It was in the face of such harsh criticism that Merkel
decided to shelve her plan, a decision which is expected
to be officially announced today. /Hurriyet/
A video showing the apparent beheading of a Turkish
hostage in Iraq yesterday appeared on the website of the
Ansar al-Sunnah Army, an Iraqi militant group. In the
video, the Turkish driver sat blindfolded with four
masked gunmen behind him, one of whom said his group was
sworn to oppose “the crusaders and those who aid them.”
The video warned foreigners against coming to Iraq “to
reap cheap worldly profits through allying themselves
with the crusaders in their war on Islam.” In related
news, Iraqi police announced that two more Turkish
truckers bringing supplies to US forces in the country
had been kidnapped by Iraqi militants. /Sabah/
Camiel Eurlings, a Christian Democrat European
Parliamentarian from the Netherlands, yesterday arrived
in Turkey for a five-day fact-finding tour at the
Strasbourg Parliament’s behest. Eurlings is expected to
visit Mardin and Diyarbakir, and his report is to be
discussed by the EP’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct.
26. The EP’s General Assembly will debate Eurlings’
report on Dec. 2 prior to the EU’s Dec. 17 summit where
a final decision on whether to start Turkey’s membership
talks is due. /Sabah/
Addressing France’s National Assembly yesterday,
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said that the
European Union shouldn’t leave Turkey out of the Union
and thus leave it “without hope.” During his speech,
Raffarin warned of the drawbacks of rejecting Ankara’s
EU bid, adding, however, that neither Turkey nor the EU
was ready for full membership. "Turkey remains very far
from Europe today, politically, economically and
socially," he told the French Parliament at the start of
a parliamentary debate. “I don't think that Europe is
ready for Turkey's entrance to the EU. Europe has just
enlarged, it should integrate its new members before
thinking of another enlargement," he said. For his part,
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier warned that
rejecting Turkey would mean rejecting the Turkish
Republic and looking down on the Turkish nation. /Aksam/
Columnist Ergun Babahan comments on Turkish-European
Union relations and former Democratic Party (DEP) Deputy
Leyla Zana’s recent speech in Brussels accepting the
Sakharov Prize. A summary of his column is as follows:
“Turkey is healing the wounds of its recent past.
Following the events of the last 20 years, the current
situation lends hopes for the future. Former Democratic
Party (DEP) Deputy Leyla Zana was imprisoned for 12
years after she tried to take her Parliament oath of
office in Kurdish, and her recent speech in Brussels
should be evaluated from this standpoint. The speech
might carry certain elements which would disturb
different sectors of society for various reasons. During
this process, the Turkish nation will learn how to live
with views which don’t threaten its existence. Actually
the nation could internalize them. In spite of the
efforts of certain circles in Turkey and during a period
of intensive conflict, there was no Turkish-Kurdish
tension. Everybody cursed terrorism and cried for
martyrs but nobody considered Abdullah Ocalan and his
band to be a nation. When we look at Zana’s speech in
Brussels from this perspective, one of the most
important things was that she didn’t hold any grudge
despite her 12 years in prison. The most striking point
of the speech was Zana’s stance supporting Turkey’s EU
membership process.
Turkey has implemented a series of reforms under the
Copenhagen criteria in order to become an EU member. The
pressure on different sectors of the nation seeking more
democracy, like the Kurds, has fallen greatly thanks to
these reforms. Now European politicians who question and
even oppose Turkey’s EU membership should consider the
situation in terms of these sectors. Will the situation
of Kurds, liberals, etc. be better if Turkey starts
membership negotiations? Now everybody agrees that the
EU is a project of peace. This includes not only
countries living in peace with their neighbors, but also
finding peace and welfare within their own nations. Now
I ask the European politicians if they have the right to
say to Zana, whom they awarded the Sakharov Prize, ‘We
like you and support your efforts, but we can’t admit
you’? Will you support Zana in the struggle for a more
democratic and modern Turkey, or embrace those standing
in her way? The EU is facing a test of its sincerity.”
Columnist Tufan Turenc comments on Germany’s
extradition this week of extremist Metin Kaplan. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“Turkey is ruled by a government whose domestic power
is inversely proportional to its international sway.
Let’s show this through giving examples. The most recent
is Germany’s panicked extradition of Metin Kaplan, the
self-declared ‘caliph’. For years Turkey asked for the
extradition of Kaplan and his late father, because both
were plotting the destruction of the Turkish Republic.
They even formed a so-called ‘Anatolian Federal Islamic
State’ with their expatriate community, and the elder
Kaplan declared himself caliph. After the father’s
death, his son took over the hollow title. All this was
explained repeatedly to Germany, but since giving the
Kaplans refuge and protection was in Germany’s interest,
it didn’t even consider Ankara’s request. So what
happened now to make Berlin extradite the so
called-caliph in such a panic? According to German
Interior Minister Otto Schily, this action symbolized
the self-protection of Germany’s democracy. But why
didn’t the same Germany show any respect for the
self-protection of Turkish democracy?
Another unusual development in Germany is that the
leader of the main opposition Christian Democrats,
Angela Merkel, launched a campaign against Turkey’s
European Union membership bid. And there’s been a very
strong reaction against Turkey’s EU bid in France. Our
government hasn’t even reacted to this.
The same goes for Iraq. The influence of Turkey in
this country is falling. The US, our strategic partner,
cooperates more with local tribes than Turkey. Terrorist
groups don’t hesitate to behead Turks in the region. The
official visits to other countries by Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
are somehow not improving Turkey’s image. This means
that there is something wrong with their policies.”
