PUTIN'S LESSONS TO BUSH ON
STRENGTH BY OSMAN ULIAGAY (MILLIYET)
Speaking at a meeting of his
party in Agri over the weekend, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented on a recent rise
in terrorist attacks in which 13 soldiers were
killed by the terrorist PKK over the past week,
saying that this caused him great sorrow. "I
hope my emotions will not overshadow my mind,
knowledge, and experience," he said. Stressing
that everyone should help in the fight against
terrorism, Erdogan added that the PKK was
continuing to kill Turkish soldiers. "We were
always patient about the issue and want to solve
it through democracy," said Erdogan. "But the
PKK killed eight soldiers overnight. Last week
five soldiers were killed by the terrorist PKK.
There many things to discuss at tomorrow's
Cabinet meeting." Erdogan stated that it was
necessary to end the nation's terror problem,
and peace should be ensured in the country. The
premier further said that the government had
made investment in the eastern and southeastern
Anatolia regions and added, "We will be happy
when these regions have the same modern
structure as the west of the country." He added,
"We're against ethnic nationalism. There are
more than 30 ethnic groups in Turkey. We should
give the necessary response to those who want to
divide our country." Later, speaking in Igdyr,
Erdogan said that those who supported terrorism
should know that terror would strike them too
one day. /Turkiye/
The High Anti-Terrorism
Council chaired by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
yesterday gathered extraordinarily upon the
directive of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. During the meeting, urgent measures for
stepping up the fight against the terrorist PKK
were discussed. After yesterday's meeting, the
Cabinet today will discuss cross-border
operations, air operations including Iraq's
Kandil Mountains, tightened inspections at the
Habur border gate with Iraq, diplomatic
initiatives to Baghdad and Washington, an urgent
meeting among Iraq, the US and Turkey, and
renewing the "hot pursuit" agreement between
Turkey and Iraq. /Sabah/
Ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) deputy leader Akif Gulle
was seriously wounded in the head yesterday when
his car collided with another near the Merzifon
district of the central Anatolian province of
Amasya. Gulle was traveling with Merzifon Mayor
Hayati Incekul and local AKP local officials in
the same car. Incekul died en route to hospital,
while others in the car as well as two people
traveling in the other car involved in the
accident were wounded. /Turkish Daily News/
At
a Socialist International (SI) meeting on the
Greek island of Samos over the weekend, main
opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
leader Deniz Baykal spoke on the recent
developments in the Middle East. After a SI
working group meeting yesterday, Baykal told
reporters that they had discussed the recent
situation of the Middle East and evaluated the
speech of Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki, who also attended the meeting. Baykal
also said that he felt a deep sorrow for the
fallen soldiers killed in a clash with the
terrorist PKK late Saturday night and called on
the government to do its duty. /Star-Milliyet/
The leader of the Motherland
Party (ANAVATAN) said yesterday that the country
is gripped by fear due to unprecedented ethnic,
sectarian and economic problems. ANAVATAN leader
Erkan Mumcu said people are being pushed into an
abyss of fear that is deepened by ethnic,
religious and economic problems the country has
been recently facing. Speaking at a press
conference before his party's advisory board
meeting, Mumcu also extended his condolences to
the families of soldiers killed in an armed
struggle with the terrorist PKK on Friday near
Siirt's Eruh province. /The New Anatolian/
Speaking at a meeting of his
party yesterday, Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli commented on rising
tension in the Middle East and criticized the
Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC) for not taking a stance against
the aggressive stance of Israel. Bahceli further
criticized the United Nations for delaying
action to stem the crisis, saying that the UN
was no longer a global institution. "Countries
should reorganize this institution or set up
another one," he added. Also commenting on
recent developments in Turkey, Bahceli that
Turkey was facing new threats every day.
/Turkiye/
State Minister Kursat Tuzmen
is expected to travel to the US in September.
After preparing strategies on Africa, the Far
East, Russia, and neighboring countries, the
Foreign Trade Undersecretariat has now prepared
a "US Strategy" aimed at boosting exports.
During his stays in New York and Chicago, Tuzmen
will be accompanied by a group of businessmen.
The visit aims to seek ways to boost exports
between the two countries. Delegations from the
US will also be invited to Turkey. /Milliyet/
Columnist Erdal Safak comments on the Greater
Middle East Initiative. A summary of his column
is as follows: "Criticizing the world's sitting
and watching Israel's excessive reprisal, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a harsh
message to the US and issued a warning on the
global threat of terror. Erdogan said that
Turkey could stop supporting the Greater Middle
East Initiative (GME). 'We have supported the
GME so that the Middle East can be peaceful and
prosperous,' he added. "But developments don't
show this. We'll review this situation.'
Erdogan's remarks must have made all the leaders
in the Middle East happy, because they can't
wait to send the GME to history's dustbin and go
back to the status quo. In other words, they're
impatiently waiting for US President George W.
Bush's term in office to end. They're not wrong.
The results of the project developed by the
American neocons have been the opposite of their
stated aims.
* When Bush was introducing the GME to the
world for the first time in February 2003, he
said that the Islamic geography from Morocco to
Pakistan would completely change. But in all the
countries on which there was pressure for a
democratic opening and multiparty elections,
Islamists were inadvertently aided.
* Bush said that the GME would be a model so
Iraq's democratic values will boost the Middle
East and create a 'domino effect.' But Iraq is
about to suffer a Sunni-Shiite civil war and
disintegration.
* Bush claimed that Afghanistan would export
not terror, but peace to the world. But
Afghanistan has turned into a headquarters of
terror. The entire country surrendered to the
Taliban, and even al-Qaeda.
* Bush accused late Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat of stalling democratic reforms and trying
to hinder the GME. But Arafat's successor
Mahmoud Abbas obeyed the rules of the game of
democracy, and his opponent Hamas won the
election.
* The GME's real aim was to revive the road
map signed by Arafat, Itzhak Rabin and Shimon
Perez in 1993, that is, to establish a
Palestinian state and make peace between Israel
and the region. But the dream of a Palestinian
state wasn't fulfilled. Israel was attacked by
two sides, and the Middle East is moving towards
a fourth Arab-Israeli war. What's more, if this
possibility turns into reality, this time the
commanding role will belong to Iran.
* While introducing the GME during the G-8
summit in Georgia in the US in June 2004, the
Bush administration said that it was for the
benefit of everybody so the Middle East can be
saved from ignorance, fanaticism and poverty.
But the GME wasn't even mentioned during
yesterday's G-8 summit in Saint Petersburg. In
sum, the GME hasn't benefited anybody, except
certain Islamic people in the Middle East. When
Erdogan was threatening that Turkey wouldn't
support the GME anymore, I wonder if he
considered this item in the balance sheet."
Columnist Osman Uluagay comments on Russia's
energy policy. A summary of his column is as
follows: "The scene at the joint press
conference with US President George W. Bush and
Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G8
summit was striking. As Bush said that Russia
should take how the US has brought democracy and
freedom to Iraq as an example, Putin smiled
sarcastically and replied: 'Honestly, we don't
want a democracy like the one in Iraq. And we
know better how to strengthen our nation.' Even
those who criticize Putin accept that with these
words he expressed a fact. Putin didn't follow
the way the West offered him but instead took
the natural resources of the country under state
control and strengthened Russian energy firms.
This is the reason why Russia has become an
influential player in the global chess game. The
Rosneft incident is a concrete example of this.
Rosneft, a Russian oil company under state
control, had its IPO in London on Friday, one
day before the G8 Summit. Some 15 percent of the
firm was included in the offering, and as the
shares of the firm went for high prices, the
firm made a profit of about $10 billion. This
will be the fifth-largest IPO in history.
According to these prices, the total value of
Rosneft is $79.8 billion and it became one of
the most valuable firms in Europe. Rosneft took
over the installations of the oil firm Yukos,
which owner Mikhail Hodorkovski is now in prison
in Siberia. Yukos wants this IPO to be invalid
because the property was taken illegally. If
Putin hadn't taken over Yukos' properties,
Russia's role in energy wouldn't be so large
today. According to experienced former US
diplomat Stuart Eizenstat, Hodorkovski was in
touch with US finance groups and oil firms to
determine Yukos' future. If an important part of
a Russian oil company were in the hands of an
international firm, then there would be a
different energy equation in the world (as said
in Friday's Wall Street Journal). I probably
wouldn't want to live in Putin's Russia, but we
have to accept that Putin has strengthened
Russia's hand in the global game, by putting
energy under state control."
