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Turkish Press Review, 05-08-19
From: Turkish Directorate General of Press and Information <http://www.byegm.gov.tr>
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Summary of the political and economic
news in the Turkish press this morning
19.08.2005
FROM THE COLUMNS�FROM THE COLUMNS�FROM THE COLUMNS�
CONTENTS
[01] IN ATHENS, KARAMANLIS AND PAPADOPOULOS TAKE �WAIT AND SEE POLICY� ON TURKEY�S EU TALKS
[02] FOREIGN TRADE UNDERSECRETARY: �THE CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT DOESN�T POSE A THREAT TO THE ECONOMY�
[03] TURKEY, THE NETHERLANDS SIGNS CUSTOMS AGREEMENT
[04] S&P PREDICTS ANKARA�S EU TALKS WILL BEGIN ON OCT. 3, BUT DIFFICULT PROCESS WILL FOLLOW
[05] TURKISH DELEGATION LED BY FM DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY DUE TO VISIT BRITAIN, FRANCE TO PROMOTE TURKEY�S EU BID
[06] FROM THE COLUMNS�FROM THE COLUMNS�FROM THE COLUMNS�
[07] GAME WITHOUT VETO, AND AN EXAMPLE FROM A NEIGHBOR BY SAMI KOHEN (MILLIYET)
[01] IN ATHENS, KARAMANLIS AND PAPADOPOULOS TAKE �WAIT AND SEE POLICY� ON
TURKEY�S EU TALKS
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday met with Greek Cypriot
leader Tassos Papadopoulos in Athens to discuss a number of issues,
including Turkey�s European Union accession talks. During their meeting,
Karamanlis and Papadopoulos agreed on a common stance and decided to take a
�wait and see� policy concerning Ankara�s talks. Speaking afterwards,
Karamanlis said that Greece would maintain its strategic approach towards
Turkey�s EU bid, adding that it would take recent developments into
consideration. Turkey is scheduled to begin its EU talks on Oct. 3, but
Greek Cyprus has objected to Ankara�s refusal to recognize its
administration before a Cyprus settlement is reached. /Aksam/
[02] FOREIGN TRADE UNDERSECRETARY: �THE CURRENT ACCOUNTS DEFICIT DOESN�T
POSE A THREAT TO THE ECONOMY�
Addressing an economic conference yesterday, Foreign Trade Undersecretary
Tuncer Kayalar said that Turkey�s high current accounts deficit didn�t pose
a threat to its economy. �In the first half of this year, the deficit was
$13.7 billion,� he said, adding that there was no problem since Turkey was
attracting foreign capital and implementing privatization. Kayalar further
predicted that tourism revenues would rise and help to bring down the
deficit. In a separate speech, Independent Businessmen�s Association
(MUSIAD) head Omer Bolat complained that interest rates were still too high,
adding that this was unnatural given low inflation. /Star/
[03] TURKEY, THE NETHERLANDS SIGNS CUSTOMS AGREEMENT
Turkey and the Netherlands yesterday signed an agreement on mutual
administrative cooperation in the area of customs. Deputy Customs
Undersecretary Cihat Ancin signed the agreement on behalf of Turkey, and
Dutch Ambassador Sjoerd Gosses signed on behalf of the Netherlands. Ancin
said that Turkey was aware of the importance of international cooperation
in fighting customs crimes. /Star/
[04] S&P PREDICTS ANKARA�S EU TALKS WILL BEGIN ON OCT. 3, BUT DIFFICULT
PROCESS WILL FOLLOW
International rating agency S&P Turkey analyst Farouk Soussa said yesterday
that Turkey�s accession talks with the European Union are expected to begin
on Oct. 3, but warned that the ensuing process would be difficult. Soussa
stated that there was no need for pessimism about Turkey�s EU bid, adding
that Turkey�s rating reflected its macroeconomic developments. �Increased
investor confidence in Turkey will influence its rating positively,� added
Soussa. /Star/
[05] TURKISH DELEGATION LED BY FM DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY DUE TO VISIT
BRITAIN, FRANCE TO PROMOTE TURKEY�S EU BID
A Turkish delegation which recently paid official visits to Sweden and
Finland seeking further support for Turkey�s European Union accession talks
is due to travel next week to Britain and France. Foreign Ministry Deputy
Undersecretary Ertugrul Alpkan is expected to lead the group. /Star/
[06] FROM THE COLUMNS�FROM THE COLUMNS�FROM THE COLUMNS�
[07] GAME WITHOUT VETO, AND AN EXAMPLE FROM A NEIGHBOR BY SAMI KOHEN
(MILLIYET)
Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the possibility of Turkey facing a veto
over starting its membership talks, and an example from Bulgaria. A summary
of his column is as follows:
�Could Turkey face a veto blocking the start of its membership talks with
the European Union? The possibility of this is gradually weakening. It
seems such a veto is unlikely to come from the Greek Cypriot administration
or France, although Paris said recently that it wouldn�t start the talks
unless Turkey recognizes the Greek Cypriot administration, and the
Papadopoulos administration had threatened Turkey with a veto. However, it
seems that this is just posturing which will come to nothing. We can see
from yesterday�s meeting between Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and
Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos that both of the parties have
elected to pursue a more cautious course. Actually, some believe the
Papadopoulos administration was put in a difficult spot by France�s stance.
Even certain Greek Cypriot and Greek dailies accused France of using Cyprus
as a tool for its own political purposes and agenda. If the Greek Cypriot
administration isn�t planning to bring the issue to a veto, an abrupt
reversal would be no surprise. However, it�s understood that Papadopoulos
is hoping to gain something without having to play the veto card. The EU
permanent representatives will meet at the end of this month and foreign
ministers at the beginning of next month. The Greek Cypriots are likely to
issue something opposing Turkey�s declaration stating that signing the
additional protocol doesn�t mean recognizing the Greek Cypriot
administration, or try to add this to the framework document. In short, the
Greek Cypriot administration doesn�t want to do something to cause the EU
to cut Turkey loose, and also it�s planning to fulfill the requests in the
process of membership talks. This means that there won�t be a veto, but the
game hasn�t ended.
Meanwhile, the political confusion in the wake June�s elections in Bulgaria
finally fell with the establishment of a broad-based government. The three-
party coalition in Bulgaria consists of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the
National Movement Simeon II and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HOH),
the last established by ethnic Turks. Thus, our neighbor is hoping to
implement certain reforms and then become an EU member in 2007. The
interesting part of this development is that the HOH is playing an active
role in the political life of the country. The HOH won 15% of the votes in
June�s elections and 34 seats in the Parliament. This percentage exceeds
the country�s Turkish-origin population, which means the HOH proved itself
to be not an ethnic party but a party with mass appeal. In addition, three
HOH members are part of the new 17-minister government, which shows that
integration and mutual confidence are taking root.�
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