MIDDLE EAST CRISIS TO
AFFECT TURKEY BY SEMIH IDIZ (MILLIYET)
The 83rd anniversary of the signing of the
Treaty of Lausanne between Turkey and the
allied countries and the Soviet Union will
be commemorated today, with leaders hailing
the importance of the treaty in the founding
and growth of the republic. In a statement
released yesterday, President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer said that the treaty showed the
determination of the Turkish people to live
independently. He noted that the Treaty of
Lausanne was the only post-World War I
treaty in force and this was because Turkey
negotiated with the allies as an equal.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the
treaty ensured the independence and
sovereignty of Turkey and was considered one
of the cornerstones of the Turkish Republic.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party
leader Deniz Baykal said that the signing of
the treaty symbolized the defeat of efforts
to divide Turkey. /Turkish Daily News/
Speaking in Sivas, main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz
Baykal said yesterday that next year’s
general elections would have historic
importance, adding that all political
parties whether on the left or the right
should do their best for Turkey. “We won’t
allow circles which try to make Turkey like
Iran,” said Baykal. “Some circles want to
change Turkey’s values, but the foundation
of Turkey is sound. Turkey’s importance in
the world is increasing and this will
continue in the future.” Baykal added that
he hoped next year’s elections would make
him the leader of the party in power.
/Milliyet/
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)
President Mehmet Ali Talat, in a letter send
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan through
UN Undersecretary-General for Political
Affairs Ibrahim Gambari during his visit to
Cyprus earlier this month, expressed the
Turkish Cypriots’ full support for the Annan
plan with efforts to find a comprehensive
solution to the dispute over the island.
/The New Anatolian/
Speaking in the midst of
disputes over a possible cross-border
operation into Iraq to fight the terrorist
PKK, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy
Onur Oymen said yesterday, “The recent phone
call between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and US President George W. Bush is a
positive development, but their messages
amount to saying that Turkey shouldn’t act
unilaterally in the region.” Oymen added
that the US doesn’t say that it will
eliminate the PKK in Iraq. “We don’t see a
satisfactory movement from the US for
eliminating the PKK,” said Oymen.
/Cumhuriyet/
Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani
yesterday met with Aydin Silgin, Turkey's
coordinator responsible for Iraq affairs, to
discuss a number of issues, including a
possible Turkish cross-border operation in
Iraq. During their meeting, Talabani said
that neighboring countries should respect
Iraq’s sovereignty, adding that they
wouldn’t let Turkey carry out a military
operation in Iraq. Talabani further stressed
that he wouldn’t let Iraq to be used for
terrorist attacks against Turkey. /Aksam/
Some 10 trucks dispatched from Ankara to
provide assistance to violence-torn
Palestine yesterday reached the Karni
crossing point between Israel and the Gaza
Strip. The convoy is expected to proceed to
the Gaza Strip today. The trucks' loads are
transferred to trucks used by Israelis after
they are checked. At the Karni crossing
point, they will be loaded onto Palestinian
trucks and sent to Gaza. Turkish Red
Crescent (Kizilay) Chairman Fecri Alpaslan
said that the group was sending the biggest
aid convoy in its history, adding that the
aid would be distributed in both Gaza and
Palestinian provinces in the West Bank.
/Turkiye/
A
troopship of the Sea Forces Commandership
was sent to Lebanon from the port of Mersin
yesterday to evacuate Turkish citizens from
the country. A Foreign Ministry official
said that the ship would return to Turkey
today. According to the Turkish Embassy in
Beirut, 1,200 Turkish citizens applied for
evacuation via ferryboat. In related news,
Mersin Governor Huseyin Aksoy said that in
total about 3,000 people have been evacuated
through Mersin. /Turkiye/
Ankara favors the opening of a Turkish air
corridor for humanitarian aid bound for
Lebanon, but reportedly isn’t willing to
lead a possible peacekeeping force there.
Turkey is one of the countries making
significant contributions to humanitarian
aid in Lebanon. “An air corridor can be
opened which would be appropriate for
Turkey’s position as a balancing factor in
the region,” said a Foreign Ministry
official. But he added that leading a
multinational peacekeeping would hurt
Ankara’s balancing role in the region.
/Cumhuriyet/
The World Bank is working on a new reform
package with the government to help create
jobs in Turkey. WB officials think that a
permanent solution to the employment problem
lies in education reform. According to WB
officials, who believe that rising labor
costs boost unregistered employment, cuts in
wages were among the reasons for
unregistered employment. /Milliyet/
Columnist Semih Idiz comments on the current
Middle East crisis. A summary of his column
is as follows: “It's become clear that
Israel is attacking Lebanon in coordination
with the US. Washington, which supports
these operations, rejected calls for a
cease-fire and said that it wants a
'comprehensive' solution covering the Iran
and Syria issues as well. In short, the Bush
administration believes it can seize the
opportunity to bring the order it wants to
the Middle East. During Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice’s contacts in the region
starting today, she will be considered not
as a mediator, but as an enemy by the masses
in the Middle East. Now we can clearly see
that Washington’s claim to bring democracy
and human rights to the region was a futile
tactic. It gave a green light to the
destruction of Lebanon, which was the
so-called apple of its eye after the
assassination of Lebanon's ex-Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri. Neo-Huntingtonian thoughts are
rapidly spreading in the West, and with it
suggestions that the Islamic world lacks the
necessary social and cultural structure for
democracy and human rights and that Turkey
shows that a Muslim society can only go so
far on these issues. In short, the West is
considering Israel’s attacks with a certain
understanding. Here there is a perception
which started with the Sept. 11 attacks,
strengthened by bomb attacks in Madrid and
London and reaching a climax with the
Muhammed cartoon crisis.
In sum, the Western public generally
supports Israel in spite of its embarrassing
appearance, because it strikes out at
Islamic terror and the fundamentalists who
feed it. In other words, Israel is working
as the subcontractor of the West as part of
the Islamophobia which rose due to various
brutalities committed in the name of Islam.
It knows this and therefore advances without
any bad conscience. Therefore putting all
the blame on the US would mean missing the
larger picture. This situation puts secular
Turkey in a dilemma. It’s making things more
complicated that a party which doesn’t hide
its sympathy for such organizations as Hamas
and Hezbollah is in power in Turkey. In
short, this crisis was deepened by the West
indirectly and by the US directly, and
Turkey will be influenced by this crisis the
most in terms of its foreign and domestic
politics.”
