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Turkish Press Review, 06-06-26
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
26.06.2006
AKP HOLDS POLITICAL RETREAT IN
ANTALYA
ERDOGAN TO ADDRESS PACE MEETING
IN TEHRAN, GUL MEETS WITH
IRANIAN PRESIDENT AND FM
TRNC�S 5th ELECTIONS IN 3 YEARS
TURKEY�S EU SECRETARY-GENERAL:
�WE REJECT GREEK CYPRIOTS� SPOILED DEMANDS�
PM YILMAZ PLANS
POLITICAL COMEBACK
INVESTMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETING TO BE HELD THIS WEEK
MONETARY POLICY COUNCIL RAISES
SHORT-TERM AND LENDING INTEREST RATES BY 2.25
POINTS
ATO HEAD AYGUN: �THE EU WANTS
TO BESIEGE TURKEY�
FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
GUL�S IRAN MISSION
BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)
CONTENTS
[01] AKP HOLDS POLITICAL RETREAT IN
ANTALYA
[02] ERDOGAN TO ADDRESS PACE MEETING
[03] IN TEHRAN, GUL MEETS WITH IRANIAN
PRESIDENT AND FM
[04] TRNC�S 5th ELECTIONS IN 3 YEARS
[05] TURKEY�S EU SECRETARY-GENERAL: �WE
REJECT GREEK CYPRIOTS� SPOILED DEMANDS�
[06] FORMER PM YILMAZ PLANS POLITICAL
COMEBACK
[07] INVESTMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING
TO BE HELD THIS WEEK
[08] MONETARY POLICY COUNCIL RAISES
SHORT-TERM AND LENDING INTEREST RATES BY 2.25
POINTS
[09] ATO HEAD AYGUN: �THE EU WANTS TO
BESIEGE TURKEY�
[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
[11] GUL�S IRAN
MISSION
BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)
[01] AKP HOLDS POLITICAL RETREAT IN
ANTALYA
The ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) yesterday concluded its
Seventh Consultation Meeting in Antalya. On the
last day of the three-day retreat, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a meeting
of the Economy Coordination Council where recent
economic fluctuations and rising foreign
exchange rates were discussed. During a press
conference afterwards, Erdogan told reporters
that necessary steps would be taken on these
issues. Stressing that there would be no change
in the floating foreign exchange rate system,
Erdogan said that Turkey would develop with
reliability and stability. Commenting on recent
early elections speculations, Erdogan said that
the government had no plans for early polls,
adding that next year�s presidential election
would be dealt with when the time comes. After
completing his contacts in Antalya, Erdogan
proceeded to Istanbul. Then the premier met with
visiting Jack Straw, Britain�s former foreign
secretary and current leader of the House of
Commons. /Turkiye/
[02] ERDOGAN TO ADDRESS PACE MEETING
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan will attend the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) meeting to begin
tomorrow in Strasbourg, France. A delegation of
parliamentarians led by Justice and Development
Party (AKP) Deputy Mesut Mercan will represent
Turkey at the gathering. On Thursday, Erdogan is
expected to deliver a speech at the meeting on
the theme of freedom of speech and religion.
/Aksam/
[03] IN TEHRAN, GUL MEETS WITH IRANIAN
PRESIDENT AND FM
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, currently in
Tehran for an official visit, yesterday met with
his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki to
discuss a number of issues, including bilateral
relations. Speaking at a press conference
afterwards, Gul said that there was cooperation
between Turkey and Iraq, two friendly countries.
Saying that the Turkish and Iranian governments
share common views about the development of
Iran�s nuclear program, Gul added, �Ankara
strives for a diplomatic solution to the issue
since it believes that Turkey, the region, and
the world would benefit from this. We also
believe that tensions will fall and new
opportunities for cooperation will be created.
Everyone should do their best for a diplomatic
solution. We hope that common sense will prevail
on this issue.� For his part, Mottaki declined
to comment on Iran�s nuclear program, saying
that they hoped to boost the trade volume
between Turkey and Iran from its current annual
level of $4.5 billion. Later, Gul met with
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. During
their meeting, Ahmadinejad said that he
appreciated Ankara�s positive stance that Turkey
would benefit from an Iranian nuclear program
with peaceful purposes. /Milliyet/
[04] TRNC�S 5th ELECTIONS IN 3 YEARS
Turkish Cypriots on Sunday went to the ballot
boxes for the fifth time in three years for
local and interim elections. Following general
elections, early elections, presidential
elections and a referendum held on the Annan
plan, some 151,000 Turkish Cypriot voters headed
to polls yesterday to elect two parliamentarians
for vacant seats as well as 28 mayors, 234
members of municipalities, 150 village heads and
580 aldermen in the elections. /The New
Anatolian/
[05] TURKEY�S EU SECRETARY-GENERAL: �WE
REJECT GREEK CYPRIOTS� SPOILED DEMANDS�
Oguz
Demiralp, the head of Turkey�s European Union
Secretariat-General, yesterday said that the
harbors and airports issue was part of the
Cyprus problem and that Turkey wouldn�t give
into Greek Cypriots� spoiled demands and
wouldn�t retreat. Appearing on CNN Turk,
Demiralp said that the EU had made a mistake by
admitting Greek Cyprus into the Union and that
as a result of this the Greek Cypriots had
stepped up their spoiled demands. About warnings
that if Turkey doesn�t open its airports and
harbors to Greek Cypriots, then Turkish-EU ties
would suffer an accident, Demiralp said,
�There�s no road between Turkey and Cyprus. So
there won�t be an accident.� /Cumhuriyet/
[06] FORMER PM YILMAZ PLANS POLITICAL
COMEBACK
Former Prime Minister, Mesut
Yilmaz, after ending his trial at the Supreme
Court on charges of corruption, now plans to
return to politics. Yilmaz is expected to hold
rallies in Giresun, Ordu, Trabzon, and Rize to
seek people�s support for his return and lay out
his political program. /Sabah/
[07] INVESTMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING
TO BE HELD THIS WEEK
The third meeting of the
Investment Advisory Council is due to be held on
Wednesday in Istanbul. The meeting will be
chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
International Monetary Fund First Deputy
Managing Director Anne Krueger is also expected
to attend the gathering. /Sabah/
[08] MONETARY POLICY COUNCIL RAISES
SHORT-TERM AND LENDING INTEREST RATES BY 2.25
POINTS
The
Central Bank's Monetary Policy Council, in its
third meeting this month, yesterday decided to
raise short-term interests by 2.25 points from
15% to 17.25%, while it decided to raise lending
interests from 18% to 20.25%. The council also
decided to intervene in foreign exchange if a
need emerges. /Hurriyet/
[09] ATO HEAD AYGUN: �THE EU WANTS TO
BESIEGE TURKEY�
Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) head Sinan
Aygun said over the weekend, �The European Union
wants to besiege Turkey from air, sea and land.�
In a written statement, Aygun said that while
the EU sees the opening of Turkish harbors and
airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes as
free movement of goods, it calls imposing a
quota to Turkish tractor trailers free movement
of services, and that the EU was employing a
double standard. Aygun said that bad intentions
are apparent behind these EU policies, adding,
�Even though it isn�t stated publicly, Turkey is
depicted as an undesirable country. The EU
blocks free movement of Turkish businessmen by
making trouble for visas, while on the other
hand it blocks free movement of goods by
imposing quotas on our tractor trailers.�
/Cumhuriyet/
[10] FROM THE COLUMNS...FROM THE
COLUMNS... FROM THE COLUMNS...
[11] GUL�S IRAN
MISSION
BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)
Columnist Taha Akyol comments on Foreign
Minister Gul�s current visit to Iran. A summary
of his column is as follows:
�The
aim of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul�s visit to
Iran is to start a process of negotiation
between the West and Iran to solve the nuclear
crisis, that is, to make the parties sit at the
table to discuss the Vienna package presented by
the Europeans to Iran. Before Gul left, I met
with him. He didn�t want to talk about it much
and he avoided showing off about his visit. �We
don�t want to do this job in an ostentatious
way,� he said. �We should do this reasonably.�
Therefore, Gul didn�t make a statement about his
meetings with his American, Russian, and German
colleagues and European Union foreign policy
chief Javier Solana. We know that all of them
wanted Gul to take such a mission, because
Turkey is the only country which can convince
Iran to sit down to the table. In addition, the
silent and careful process which was conducted
by Gul up to now shows that he�s the only
foreign minister who can do this critical job.
Gul is respected both in Iran and the West. Gul
emphasized the importance of the nuclear problem
with Iran as follows: �If two tankers sink in
the Gulf, what would happen to oil prices? What
would happen to the world economy? Think about
it.� The world�s most important problems are
always around Turkey! Here is Iraq, Iran, Syria,
Palestine� The Middle East will mark the 21st
century with its oil, political crises and the
conflict between Islam and the West.�
Turkey is harmed by these problems the most.
It�s also the country which could be the most
influential country so long as it can sway its
neighbors. Turkey is the only country which
comes to people�s mind on issues of convincing
the Sunnis in Iraq and persuading Iran to sit
down to the table. The West knows very well that
Iran could have immediately rejected the Vienna
package. However, Turkey prevented it. There�s a
reason why British Prime Minister Tony Blair
telephoned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
to thank him for his efforts. Turkey�s location
at the intersection of three continents causes
both risks and possibilities. Which country was
damaged the most by the incidents in Iraq since
the Gulf crisis? Which country suffered from so
many tensions on its EU path? Of course, Turkey
should continue its friendship and alliance with
the US and its process of membership with the EU
carefully. However, Turkey didn�t move to
another region by turning its face to the West.
The Middle East was important for the Ottomans
and it�s equally important for the republic. In
such a landscape, Gul�s success in his mission
would prevent great troubles for everybody and
open new possibilities. He will show Europeans
that they can�t do without Turkey and how
mistaken they are to follow Greek Cypriot leader
Tassos Papadopoulos. Now there�s a long way
ahead, extending from Iran to Washington and
then again to Iran for the meeting of countries
neighboring Iraq. If he succeeds, it would
benefit everybody.�
ARCHIVE
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