Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 09-05-12

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Ozgurgun stresses solution of the Cyprus problem based on an undiluted bi-zonality, equal status and two people

[02] Eroglu announces the government program of the illegal regime. Full membership to OIC, improvement of relations with third countries and PACE the main targets

[03] Talats letter to Ban Ki-moon has been circulated as a UN document

[04] Talat to visit Istanbul today for participating in an event organized by MEF International School of Istanbul

[05] A cooperation protocol agreement was signed by the illegal UKU and the British universities of Sunderland and Wolverhampton

[06] Davutoglu discusses Cyprus issue during his contacts with top diplomats within the framework of the UNSC meeting

[07] Statements by the Turkish-British parliamentary delegation head in London. Reference to Cyprus

[08] Energy: One of the main issue on the current Turkish agenda

[09] Under the hammer

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[10] From the Turkish Press of 11 May 2009

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Ozgurgun stresses solution of the Cyprus problem based on an undiluted bi-zonality, equal status and two people

Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun has said that the National Unity Party (UBP) government will provide full support to a solution in Cyprus which will be found on the basis of an undiluted bi-zonality, equal status of the two people and Turkeys active guarantee.

Mr Ozgurguns remarks came during the visits paid to him by representatives of two public sector unions, Kamu-Is and Kamu-Sen.

The Foreign Minister stressed the importance of efforts put forward by unions towards the solution of the Cyprus problem and said the Ministry is paying a special importance and priority to the solution of the Cyprus problem.

He also added that the government will be in close cooperation both with the motherland Turkey and President Mehmet Ali Talat.

The President of the Kamu-Sen Mehmet Ozkardas, for his part, said that the union wants to exchange views with the Foreign Minister on reforms in the Foreign Ministry and offices linked to the Ministry stressing that they will provide support to every step to be taken by the Ministry.

Evaluating Mr Ozgurguns statement on the Cyprus issue after becoming the Foreign Minister, Mr Ozkardas said they will support a federation which will be based on the political equality of the two people.

Separately, the Secretary-General of the Kamu-Is, Huseyin Akyon, expressed the need for the unions and the government to work together, saying it is important for the Ministry to learn views of the unions on the new laws to be made for working life.

[02] Eroglu announces the government program of the illegal regime. Full membership to OIC, improvement of relations with third countries and PACE the main targets

The new government has submitted its program to the TRNC Parliament today.

The government program was read out in the parliament by Prime Minister, Dervis Eroglu.

Reading out the program, the Prime Minister said that the safeguarding of the unity of the nation will be the main priority of the new government.

He said that a free and active community; a fully functioning free market economy; a state governed by the rule of law which is the guarantee of rights and freedoms; and a bureaucracy serving for the people will be the main targets of the new government.

On the foreign policy, Mr Eroglu said that the new government will work hard and take the necessary steps to bring the Turkish Cypriot people and the TRNC into the place it deserves.

He also said they are aiming to improve relations with third countries as much as the international and regional institutions.

On the Cyprus issue, the Prime Minister said his government will act in harmony with the motherland Turkey and will make every effort for a settlement which will include sovereignty, political equality and unconditional security of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Noting that the improvement of relations with the Organization of the Islamic Conference is among their targets, Mr Eroglu said their final target is the full membership to the Organization.

The Prime Minister went on to say that the necessary importance will be paid to the European Councils Parliamentary Assembly which is the most important institution for expressing the Turkish Cypriot peoples rightful cause.

[03] Talats letter to Ban Ki-moon has been circulated as a UN document

(AK)

[04] Talat to visit Istanbul today for participating in an event organized by MEF International School of Istanbul

(AK)

[05] A cooperation protocol agreement was signed by the illegal UKU and the British universities of Sunderland and Wolverhampton

According to the protocol, the students will be able to choose to attend one of the other two universities for the fourth year of their studies, after studying for three years in their own universities. By doing so they will have the right to receive the diplomas of both universities and they will receive Double diplomas.

(CS)

[06] Davutoglu discusses Cyprus issue during his contacts with top diplomats within the framework of the UNSC meeting

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Miliband as well as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in New York on Monday.

Davutoglu and Miliband discussed Cyprus, Caucasus, Afghanistan-Pakistan and Iraq issues. The two ministers also exchanged views about the ongoing talks in Cyprus.

Miliband repeated his support to Turkey's EU membership.

Davutoglu, in his meeting with Kouchner, conveyed Turkey's views about UN Security Council's declaration, and said that Turkey would not blockade the declaration but he would stress Turkey's uneasiness about the humanitarian dimension of the document.

Kouchner told Davutoglu that his country was closely following the developments in Turkey-Armenia relations.

The two ministers also discussed Georgia and Afghanistan issues.

Furthermore, Ankara Anatolia news agency (11.05.09) reported from the United Nations that the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in his office at the UN building on Monday.

Turkish Foreign Ministry deputy undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, Turkey's permanent representative to the UN Baki Ilkin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin and other ministry officials also attended the meeting.

Davutoglu, prior to his meeting with Ban, also held meetings with the Russian foreign minister and the Japanese deputy foreign minister.

[07] Statements by the Turkish-British parliamentary delegation head in London. Reference to Cyprus

The head of a Turkish-British parliamentary delegation said on Monday that the ongoing negotiation process in Cyprus was the last chance to achieve peace in the island.

Suat Kiniklioglu, chairperson of the Turkish-British parliamentary friendship group, delivered a speech at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs, in the British capital of London on Monday.

During his speech, Kiniklioglu said that 2009 was a critical year for Cyprus and the current process in the island should be evaluated well.

Replying to a question, Kiniklioglu said that Turkey's strong regional relations made it an important partner for the European Union (EU).

He also said that Turkey's identity would turn the union into a stronger global player.

Commenting on the relations between Turkey and USA as well, Kiniklioglu said that the new U.S. administration perceived Turkey's regional role better and desired to benefit from such position in a wiser way.

[08] Energy: ne of the main issue on the current Turkish agenda

The paper, referring to an article of the British The Guardian newspaper, reports that Ankara has been driving a hard bargain, insisting on collecting a tax on the gas being pumped and demanding 15% of the transit gas at discounted prices. However, the EU commissioner for energy, Mr Andris Piebalgs, said that the 15% demand has gone.

The paper continues in its inside pages under the subtitle, EU: There is no obstacle on the energy chapter, and reports that the European Commission stated that from their point of view this will not be an obstacle towards the opening of the chapter on energy, regarding Turkey. Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson of the Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, used clear expression in her statements and stated that from the EU point of view there will be no obstacle as regards the negotiations. As the paper writes, however, the Greek Cypriots continue to block the negotiations.

Furthermore, Turkish daily Milliyet newspaper (12.05.09) reports that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to several states for the issue of energy. The Turkish Premiers trip, which begins today, will include Azerbaijan, Poland, Russia and Iran.

First Mr Erdogan will meet with the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and then he will proceed to Poland. After meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Mr Erdogan will proceed to Iran for contacts.

Main issue of his contacts will be the energy projects. Mr Erdogan will be accompanied by officials of the Ministry of Energy and several businessmen.

(EA)

[09] Under the hammer

Well you can imagine after last weeks announcement from the European Court of Justice my inbox has been full with emails from clients old and new, as well as from people I have not previously had any dealings with asking me what this will mean and how it will affect values.

The answer is goodness only knows because, as everyone has said before and continues saying, the property issue here is something that can only be settled by way of a political settlement and not by bullying tactics on individuals.

One thing that has certainly been noticeable is how people are now recognizing that the case in question was perhaps not played on a level playing field from beginning to end, if this had been an international football match there would have been shouts of foul being heard from all corners.

So what effects can this have on the market here? I am sure it will have some effect because it immediately takes the confidence out of the market, not that there was any buoyancy the market was only afloat by way of a life jacket but now even that life jacket has a hole in it.

There had to be some kind of adjustment in values here, particularly on asking prices because in talking to agents, vendors were still expecting to see significant growth in their past purchases or were expecting at least what was achievable in the halcyon days leading up to the referendum on the Annan Plan, when people thought that the problems over the division of Cyprus were about to be solved.

Similarly a wake-up call had to be sent to some of the developers here who are still marketing properties at prices way over what could be considered a realistic value in todays market.

You may remember I said before I met one developer who proposed putting up his prices because he wasnt selling anything and I tried to explain to him about supply and demand, drawing him a basic supply and demand graph but this was over his head.

But then again if anyone did understand supply and demand perhaps we wouldnt have all the empty shells of shops littering the main roads!

The old fashioned principle of establishing a market value, and one that still stands true today, is to place the property up for auction. This brings all willing buyers together in one place where demand can easily be established and the property sold for what can be considered the open market value.

Weve recently had our first proper auction here where Fraser Meridies sold a property with British Title for over �175,000 when the guide price was set at around �110,000, showing that there is still significant demand here for properties with proper Title, even if there may be some political interference in obtaining a kocan.

Next week another agent is having an auction of a mixed portfolio of properties and this will be a real test of how the market is today and whether developments over the past couple of weeks have played a part in further deflating the market we will have to wait and see.

What I do hope is that for the time being developers take on board what has happened and do not continue to rush into partly building properties in the hope that an unsuspecting purchaser will come along and pay over the odds for it to be finished, because just as we see the shells of shops sadly the landscape here has for some while been littered with shells of partially completed properties.

This in my opinion detracts more from this island than the political situation.

One thing that is apparent from my inbox is there are a number of people who say they have purchased more than one property here in the hope that as property investors their speculation would be profitable. These are the people who are now very worried, most of them appear to live in the UK and are not fully au fait with the island, they appear also to have been misled by agents and developers, they have not had proper advice from advocates and have blindly gone like lambs to the slaughter.

With this ruling making the press in the UK perhaps this will deter those people who havent done their homework, they arrive on the island one day and depart three days later having made their purchase showing little or no due diligence.

Then again it was interesting to see that one company organizing inspection flights have made the best of the recent case and say now is a good time to buy as property values are at their lowest and can only improve significantly, they are suggesting three-fold, once there is a political settlement.

So perhaps this decision may even bring more Brits here on a three day visit looking for their property bargain well have to wait and see!!

But the real test of the market will be the auction where willing buyers and sellers are put together. For anyone considering bidding at auction they should remember that basically the sale will be completed on the day, so if their bid is successful they will be committed to the propertys purchase.

Because of this it is very important that extreme due diligence is exercised, making sure that everything is properly in place and the property does not come with any encumbrances, employing the services of a reliable advocate just as one would employ the services of a solicitor in the UK to ensure the property comes with clean Title.

Past clients of mine, now good friends, called in this morning to tell me that they had found it necessary to contact the auctioneer as included in the forthcoming sale is a property with a Charge on it by the landowner and a further injunction originally made in November of last year and reconfirmed in April of this year.

They tell me the auctioneer is withdrawing this property from the auction but it does give me some concern that it made it to the auction in the first place with encumbrances placed upon it. Lets hope there arent any other bin end bargains there for some unsuspecting purchaser to pick up.

[B] COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

[10] From the Turkish Press of 11 May 2009

a) Ties of Turkey with the EU:

In an article entitled "Ergenekon and the EU: Brussels must not repeat the headscarf mistake", Zaman's Brussels correspondent Selcuk Gultasli criticizes the EU for its "extremely shy" attitude vis-�-vis the Ergenekon investigation in Turkey and warns that Europe's public approval rating in Turkey will be dramatically lowered if it repeats its "mistake" concerning the headscarf issue by failing to provide the investigation with solid support. He also claims that the EU will face the risk of being perceived as an organization that promotes the rights only of minorities in Turkey if it maintains its current stance on the Ergenekon case in the progress report on Turkey to be issued in autumn.

Recalling that a local journalist was beaten by a member of the municipal assembly in Alanya, Hurriyet columnist Ferai Tinc asks whether the prime minister's attack on the media and his calls for boycotting the newspapers have contributed to this hostile stand against the journalists. Underlining that the EU no longer sees the conflict between Erdogan and Dogan Holding as a conflict between the government and a businessman, Tinc cites EU official Olli Rehn as saying that they will take into consideration the principles of the independence of the judiciary, the impartiality of the judiciary, and proportionality when following the developments associated with the tax penalty imposed on Dogan Holding. Explaining that by proportionality, Rehn means that it is impossible to sacrifice the freedom of the press for the sake of collecting taxes, Tinc draws attention to the banned internet sites and, citing Internet Technologies Association chairman Mustafa Akgul as saying that Turkey has declared a war against the world of internet, asserts that when the limit is passed, it is very easy to reach the point of declaring a war against the entire world.

In an article entitled "Appeasing the military by abandoning the EU", Today's Zaman columnist Ihsan Dagi warns that the government is employing a "self-defeating strategy" in slowing down the EU accession process in the name of "accommodating" the Turkish military.

Under the headline, "Europe needs Turkey, its enthusiasm," Today's Zaman runs a front-page report which quotes Portuguese President Cavaco Silva as saying "on the eve of a two-day official visit to Turkey" that his country "wants all the obstacles blocking the opening of new chapters in Turkey's EU accession negotiations to be removed."

b) Foreign policy:

Greece and the Republic of Cyprus are purchasing arms in an unprecedented manner, says Yaman Toruner in an article in Milliyet and, also drawing attention to the arming of Azerbaijan and Armenia, says: "Our neighbors are purchasing arms in an excessive manner. It is noted that there are automatic guns in the homes of 80,000 people in Cyprus. It is possible to understand the arming of governments that are in a state of war, but it is impossible to understand why Greece and Cyprus are spending so much money for purchasing arms. I wonder if calculations about a fait accompli are being made in Cyprus."

In an article entitled "Foreign policy: Too many cooks", Milli Gazete columnist Abdullah Ozkan warns of what he describes as the grave lack of a foreign policy decision-making mechanism in Turkey. He asserts that there are many foreign policy players including the president, the prime minister, and the foreign minister himself, all trying to assert their own superiority instead of cooperating with one another under a single leadership. He claims that it is not realistic to expect Ankara to generate successful foreign polices under the circumstances and calls on Parliament to take steps to restructure Turkey's foreign policy management.

Despite the fact that Erdogan noted that the border with Armenia will not be opened until the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is resolved, Azerbaijan believes that Erdogan will not keep promise because of the pressure that will be imposed by the West, notes Semih Idiz in an article in Milliyet. Erdogan will try to convince the Azerbaijani Administration in this regard during his upcoming visit to Baku, but it is not difficult to guess that Baku which is angry with the rapprochement between Ankara and Yerevan will seek ways to improve its ties with Moscow, explains Idiz and adds that Baku knows that the solution of the Karabakh issue is not urgent in terms of Russia, but wants to ensure the continuation of the status quo in order to avoid further losses. Russia aims to station its troops in the region under the name of "peace force" and the Azerbaijani leadership is aware of the close ties between Moscow and Yerevan, but it will still be very difficult for Erdogan to appease the Azerbaijani leadership which believes that its status has been weakened due to the steps taken by Turkey for the normalization of the ties with Armenia, emphasizes Idiz.

Armenia does not recognize our northeastern border and the PKK does not recognize our borders in the southeast, but the US Administration has instructed Turkey to reach agreements both with Armenia and the PKK, says the chief editorial in Cumhuriyet. Furthermore the Obama administration has asked Turkey to send additional troops to Afghanistan and the ruling party is making preparations in this regard, points out the editorial and draws attention to the fact that the hostile stand that has been adopted by the Islamist understanding against the Turkish Armed Forces, TSK, has begun to spread throughout the country. Referring to former Chief of Staff Yasar Buyukanit's statement to the effect that he is being tapped, the editorial says the following: "Does the wiretapping show that the government that heads the republic does not trust the TSK's chief of staff? For what purpose is this information being used by the center that it taps the TSK's chief? Does this center keep this information in secure places or is this information being used by an enemy force at home or abroad? The answers to these questions are of vital importance."

EG/

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