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Turkish Press Review, 02-03-22
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Press
& Information
Turkish
Press
Turkish
Press Review >>
Foreign
Press Guide
Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
22.03.2002
CONTENTS
[01] SEZER TO CHENEY: �DON�T PLAY WITH FIRE IN THE MIDEAST�
[02] WORK CONTINUES ON TURKEY�S POSSIBLE COMMAND OF ISAF
[03] ECEVIT: �TO AVERT MILITARY ACTION, IRAQ SHOULD OPEN ITS DOORS TO UN INSPECTORS�
[04] LINDH APOLOGIZES TO CEM FOR SPEECH
[05] ECEVIT TO ATTEND NATO MEETING IN BUCHAREST NEXT WEEK
[06] YILMAZ: �THE BIGGEST HONOR FOR TURKEY WOULD BE TO KEEP ITS PROMISES�
[07] VERHEUGEN CRITICIZES TURKEY�S STANCE ON CYPRUS
[08] SPANISH AMBASSADOR: �HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS SHOULD BE IMPROVED�
[09] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT TRAJKOVSKI TO VISIT TURKEY
[10] NEVRUZ OBSERVED
[11] BAHCELI CELEBRATES NEVRUZ IN KAZAKHSTAN
[12] TALAY CRITICIZES SEPARATISTS� EFFORTS TO SPOIL NEVRUZ
[13] ANAP ANNOUNCES ANTI-EARTHQUAKE PROJECT
[14] WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS MEET IN ISTANBUL
[15] FROM THE COLUMNS� FROM THE COLUMNS� FROM THE COLUMNS�
[16] THE VICTORY SIGN AT NEVRUZ BY MEHMET Y. YILMAZ
[17] LET�S STAND TALL BY GUNGOR MENGI (SABAH)
[01] SEZER TO CHENEY: �DON�T PLAY WITH FIRE IN THE MIDEAST�
Tacan Ildem, spokesman and foreign policy advisor to President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer, yesterday briefed the press on the president�s meeting this week
with US Vice President Dick Cheney. Ildem stated that Sezer had conveyed
his concerns to Cheney that a US military intervention in Iraq would wreak
havoc on the Middle East peace process and plunge the region into chaos
since the situation was already delicate and unstable. Sezer stated that
Turkey stood opposed to an operation against Iraq since it would deal a
great blow to the recent efforts aimed at making peace in the region.
Recalling the losses Turkey has suffered in the decade since 1991�s Gulf
War, Sezer called on the US not to take any action, which would increase
the ongoing violence in the region. Sezer also criticized the European
countries� double standards in the fight against terrorism, stressing that
international cooperation against the terrorist threat could only be
successful through reaching a common definition of terrorism. Sezer
reiterated that Turkey shared the US� concerns over the threat of the
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and also believed that Iraq should act
in accordance with the United Nations resolutions. For his part, Cheney
remarked that the US would always take Turkey�s concerns and interests into
consideration, some recent press reports to the contrary. /Cumhuriyet/
[02] WORK CONTINUES ON TURKEY�S POSSIBLE COMMAND OF ISAF
Meetings with Turkish, US and British delegations regarding Turkey�s
possible command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan (the ISAF) are
continuing. The inter-delegations negotiations will resume at the beginning
of next week. Although discussions on technical details were reportedly
going well, they have not yet completed. Turkey�s conditions to assume the
command are as follows: The scope of the peacekeeping force�s duty should
be limited to the Afghan capital Kabul, financial support for the operation
should be ensured, the term of the duty should be well-defined, logistical
and intelligence support should be given, and other countries participating
in the force should be required to keep their troops there as long as is
needed. /Turkiye/
[03] ECEVIT: �TO AVERT MILITARY ACTION, IRAQ SHOULD OPEN ITS DOORS TO UN
INSPECTORS�
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said yesterday that he and US Vice President
Dick Cheney had had fruitful talks during Cheney�s visit to Turkey on
Tuesday. Speaking at his Democratic Left Party�s (DSP) group meeting,
Ecevit said that he had told Cheney of Turkey�s concerns over the Cyprus
issue and a possible operation in Iraq. Ecevit told him that the Greek
side�s and the EU�s stance concerning Cyprus were neither constructive nor
positive, and that this stance was preventing a fair settlement which would
satisfy both sides. Ecevit remarked, �If the EU draws its support from the
Greek side, they will accept the reality that there are two states and two
nations on the island.� Regarding Cheney�s statement that the US was not
planning an operation in Iraq in the near future, Ecevit said, �This period
presents a good chance for Iraq to erase the US suspicions that it
possesses chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons. To do that, Iraq
should open its doors to the UN inspectors as soon as possible.� /All
Papers/
[04] LINDH APOLOGIZES TO CEM FOR SPEECH
Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh telephoned Turkish Foreign Minister
Ismail Cem yesterday to apologize to him for a speech she made this week to
a UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. Lindh apologized to Cem for
her allegation in the speech that Turkey�s government constituted a
�dictatorial regime.� Saying that her remarks were in error and had clearly
gone too far, Lindh added that she was sorry. /Milliyet/
[05] ECEVIT TO ATTEND NATO MEETING IN BUCHAREST NEXT WEEK
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit is scheduled to travel to Bucharest,
Romania next Monday to attend a NATO meeting. Ecevit will pay a one-day
official visit to the capital to attend a panel discussion which will be
attended by various heads of state and government. /Cumhuriyet/
[06] YILMAZ: �THE BIGGEST HONOR FOR TURKEY WOULD BE TO KEEP ITS PROMISES�
Speaking to reporters in Brussels yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and
Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Mesut Yilmaz said, �The biggest honor for
Turkey would be to keep the promises that it made to the European Union.
The EU invited Turkey to its Laeken summit last year to discuss the future
of the Union, which shows that they are not distant.� Yilmaz added that he
believed the military was not opposed to the EU but that it thinks the
Copenhagen criteria could divide Turkey. Yilmaz also said that there was no
country which was admitted to the Union before fulfilling the criteria.
Yimaz accused the EU of being �selfish� concerning its stance on terrorist
organizations in its refusal to include the PKK and DHKP-C on its recent
list of such groups. /Hurriyet/
[07] VERHEUGEN CRITICIZES TURKEY�S STANCE ON CYPRUS
European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Gunter Verheugen said yesterday
that the EU wants to see Cyprus take on a �unique international identity.�
Addressing an EU Commission Seminar on enlargement in Athens, Verheugen
also said that Turkey�s attitude concerning Cyprus could stand in the way
of its membership process. �The EU�s enlargement calendar will not be
altered due to the Cyprus talks,� he added. /Hurriyet/
[08] SPANISH AMBASSADOR: �HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS SHOULD BE IMPROVED�
In a speech to the Strategic Research Center yesterday, EU Term President
Spain�s Ambassador in Ankara Manuel de la Camara stated that there was no
alternative to the EU for Turkey. Expressing his belief that Turkey would
not have any serious problems concerning the economic and judicial realms
during its integration with the Union, Camara stated that Turkey�s priority
should be improving its human rights and freedoms. /Cumhuriyet/
[09] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT TRAJKOVSKI TO VISIT TURKEY
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is to visit Turkey on March 26-27 as
an official guest of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The two leaders will
discuss bilateral relations as well as regional issues. /Cumhuriyet/
[10] NEVRUZ OBSERVED
The traditional spring Nevruz festival was celebrated yesterday in Turkey
with largely peaceful celebrations marred by some incidents of violence. In
the Mediterranean town of Mersin, two people died during the observations.
In Istanbul, there were also demonstrations but a much lesser degree of
violence. In southeastern provinces such as Diyarbakir, the Nevruz
celebrations went off peacefully without any violence as compared to
previous years. /Milliyet/
[11] BAHCELI CELEBRATES NEVRUZ IN KAZAKHSTAN
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationalist Action Party (MHP) leader Devlet
Bahceli marked Nevruz in Kazakhstan by attending a joyful celebration by
local people there. Bahceli is currently visiting the country upon a prior
invitation from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. In an address to the
celebrating crowd, Bahceli said that Nevruz, a festival marking the arrival
of the spring, symbolized unity for the international Turkish community.
Following the completion of official contacts, Bahceli headed for Almati,
the former Kazakh capital, and finally to Turkestan, where he attended the
Nevruz ceremonies. /Turkish News/
[12] TALAY CRITICIZES SEPARATISTS� EFFORTS TO SPOIL NEVRUZ
Addressing the Turkish Parliament yesterday to mark the spring Nevruz
festival, Culture Minister Istemihan Talay said that those who try to turn
March 21�s �day of fellowship� into an occasion for violence were acting
�treacherously.� Saying that Turkey�s citizens preferred peace and
brotherhood to provocation, Talay added, �Those who try to spoil this
festival have nothing at all to contribute to society.� Taking the podium
to speak after Talay, Motherland Party (ANAP) group deputy leader Yasar
Dedelek said that it was wrong to try to exploit Nevruz and to turn it into
a separatist event. Agah Oktay Guner from the True Path Party (DYP) told
the parliamentarians that the land on which Turkey�s citizens live was
indivisible and that it was important for everybody to accept the fact that
Turkey�s flag was the flag of all its citizens. Meanwhile, Romania and
Bulgaria held up convoys of terrorist organization PKK partisans at their
borders, preventing the separatists from infiltrating Turkey and trying to
ruin the ceremonies. Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen, who is
currently holding contacts in Romania, thanked the Romanian government for
acting against the terrorist PKK and for prohibiting a protest which the
group wanted to hold in Bucharest. /Aksam/
[13] ANAP ANNOUNCES ANTI-EARTHQUAKE PROJECT
The Motherland Party (ANAP) announced yesterday that it was initiating a
project called �We Will Protect Istanbul� under the behest of ANAP leader
and Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz. Under the project, ANAP members
will discuss Istanbul�s problems, and in particular the threat of
earthquakes, and propose and support possible solutions. ANAP will
reportedly request that a ministry or undersecretariat be established for
Istanbul and also suggest anti-earthquake measures, including an amnesty
for unauthorized buildings. Yilmaz, spearheaded the project by meeting with
Kandilli Observatory Director Ahmet Mete Isikara and is due to be briefed
by Istanbul Governor Erol Cakir tomorrow. ANAP will also reportedly work to
enact laws to make Istanbul�s buildings stronger and more earthquake
resistant. /Sabah/
[14] WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS MEET IN ISTANBUL
The Southeastern European Women Parliamentarians� Conference sponsored by
the Strasbourg-based International Democracy Institute begins today at
Istanbul�s Pera Palas Hotel and will last for two days. The subject of the
conference will be �the Prevention of Conflict and Woman�s Role in its
Resolution.� It is expected that 50 women parliamentarians from 12
countries will attend the conference. Delegations from Greece, Romania,
Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, and Bosnia-Herzegovina arrived yesterday and
were welcomed by leaders of domestic women�s organizations. /Star/
[15] FROM THE COLUMNS� FROM THE COLUMNS� FROM THE COLUMNS�
[16] THE VICTORY SIGN AT NEVRUZ BY MEHMET Y. YILMAZ
Columnist Mehmet Yilmaz writes on Nevruz celebrations and how and why it is
celebrated by different societies. A summary of his column is as follows:
�In Persian, �Nevruz� means the �new day.� It is the first day of the first
month on the Iranian calendar. In other words, it is the first day of the
New Year ... This day when the sun enters the sign of Aries has been
accepted as the day God created the universe and also humans. It is a well-
known fact that before adopting Islam, Turks in Central Asia celebrated the
advent of spring and that this day has taken on a religious meaning
following the acceptance of Islam under Arab influence. This day is still
being celebrated in many Central Asian cities as an official holiday and
festival. For the Alawites and Bektashi, Nevruz is the birthday of Caliph
Ali and the day he married Fatma, the Prophet Mohammad�s daughter ... As
for the Sunni (orthodox) Turkish traditions, it is the day when the spicy
�mesir paste� is distributed ... It is also celebrated in Egypt and Iraq
as a tradition. For the Kurds it is the day, as legend has it, when
blacksmith Kawa defeated the cruel tyrant Dehhak ... In other words there
are various stories about the day. It is a day celebrating nature, nurtured
by legends and taking on religious elements over time. It is one of the
common aspects uniting the Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Iranians, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs,
Uzbeks and Turcomans. Two scenes attracted my attention when looking at the
photos of yesterday�s Nevruz celebrations. One was taken in Kabul, where
Nevruz has begun to be celebrated after being banned for seven years under
the Taleban regime ... Reuters reported the news as, �Iranian new year
Nevruz celebrated in Kabul and Mazar-i Sharif.� The second picture was
taken in our Southeastern city of Van. Some foreigners posed under a banner
with the colors yellow, green, and red (the signature colors of the
terrorist PKK). It is evident that they knew nothing about Nevruz, its
historic or religious meaning. If they had known how special a day it was,
they would realize the meaningless of their action. They would have
understood that the day was not directed at dividing Turks and Kurds but in
fact at uniting these people with historic ties. I cannot blame them, as
those who should be embarrassed by these pictures are the ones who declare
this festival as only a �Kurdish freedom day� ... It is the result of
racist fanaticism and ignorance, a responsibility lying with many parties
beginning with Kurdish chieftains and going on with some Turkish
bureaucrats. In many encyclopedias entries for �Nevruz� and neurosis stand
cheek by jowl. This proximity in dictionaries between the psychiatric
disorder neurosis, which leads to physical and social failures in a
continual state of restlessness, and �Nevruz� as celebrated in various
cities explains our state of mind as a society ... Is that what the
foreigners who don�t even know the meaning of Nevruz intend to do when
making victory signs? Do they really want to contribute to pitting the
Turkish and Kurdish peoples against each other? Are they celebrating this?�
[17] LET�S STAND TALL BY GUNGOR MENGI (SABAH)
Columnist Gungor Mengi writes on the debates regarding the European
Convention. A summary of his column is as follows:
�Participating in the European Convention which is discussing the future of
the European Union is an important opportunity for Turkey. We must benefit
from this opportunity to the best of our ability. We have to use this
important organization as means to reach the European people. In general,
we are complaining of the EU�s indifference to ourselves. As it doesn�t
lead to any solution on the issue, it results in the deepening of distrust
towards the EU in Turkey. That is why we are getting farther away from our
goal as we would like to be nearing it. When seen from Europe, the debates
over the issue make it seem as if our ardor for the EU target is cooling.
The just reasons for these debates are not understood. Deputy Prime
Minister Mesut Yilmaz, in a press conference in Brussels where he went to
attend the Convention, explained that the suspicions over the Turkish Armed
Forces� (TSK) opposition to the EU were groundless. Secondly, he underlined
the selfishness of Europe on the issue of terrorism. He added that the
mistrust in the army stemmed from this fact. Turkey had reacted to the EU�s
exclusion of the PKK and DHKP-C from its terrorist organizations list and
than received a reply that the EU was �studying the issue.� What exactly is
the EU studying? Yilmaz said that the studies were looked into whether
these organizations posed a danger to the EU member countries. �The damage
they are inflicting on Turkey is not a criterion for them.� True, even
after the Sept. 11 attacks, Europe has acted in this way regarding the US.
This selfishness will make them bitterly regret these actions in the
future. Yilmaz must use the platform of the European Convention to make
them face their weaknesses in stronger terms and with documentation. Up to
now, we have pardoned Greece and Germany in a sense. It shows that they
don�t understand from politeness. If Europe is saying he who doesn�t touch
us can do whatever he wants, Turkey has the right to say that it will not
be to blame for the things that follow. Such a fight doesn�t mean
excommunicating the European Union. We see membership in the EU as the
meeting point of modern civilization. If this is neglecting the fight
against terrorism out of pitiful self-interest, opposing it is not only our
right but also our duty ... Turkey is moving forward to get in step with
the EU criteria by the debates within the country and occasionally settling
old accounts. It also knows that if Turkey�s membership is not in line with
Europe�s interests, the country will not be admitted to the organization
even if it achieves the impossible. We cannot refrain from pointing out the
faults and shortcomings of a family we would like to enter. If they can say
that �we don�t consider organizations which wage a racist struggle, commit
massacres to this end and finance their actions by narcotics trafficking as
terrorists,� let them say it. Everyone should rest assured that we will not
lose as long as we stand tall. No family can punish a society claiming its
right. If it does so, it punishes itself!�
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