Turkish press 05 April 05
BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom
Apr 05, 2005
The following is a selection of quotes from editorials and
commentaries published in 5 April editions of Turkish newspapers
available to BBC Monitoring
Turkey/ USA
Hurriyet [centre-right, largest circulation] “Iraq will continue to
be the most sensitive subject in our relations with the EU… We
should not wait for the USA to launch an operation against the PKK
[Kurdistan Workers’ Party] militants in Iraq… Despite that, our
[Turkey and the USA’s] interests match each other in terms of the
protection of Iraq’s territorial integrity, because the USA does not
want to allow any event that will increase Iran’s influence in the
region.” (Commentary by Ilter Turkmen)
Milliyet [centrist] “The government is getting ready to give a
positive answer to the US demand to use Incirlik [military base in
southern Turkey] as the main logistics base [of the USA for
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan]. This phase is basically over…
Work on [specifying] the rules of the undertaking and explaining
logistic equipment is almost finished… According to official
statements, detailed clarifications are being made to prevent any
future disagreements, as to allow the use of the base except ‘war
planes and war equipment’.” (Commentary by Fikret Bila)
Cumhuriyet [secular, Kemalist] “…Last week, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan implied that perhaps not all but at least some of the
US demands on Incirlik [base] might be met… Without the approval of
the parliament, which vetoed the 1 March motion, how will the
government give the USA permission to use Incirlik with a written
decree? Will this not cause a new division in the AKP [as it has
already lost a number of its MPs]?” (Commentary by Ozgen Acar)
Aksam [centre-right] “The amount and the type of changes that have
taken place in Turkish-American relations only in one year is
surprising. In a very short time, Ankara and Washington have
unexpectedly experienced heated discussions. Still, the two capitals
are waiting and staring at each other. There is only one determining
factor of what have been experienced and what will happen afterwards:
‘Whether the expectations will be met satisfied or not'” (Commentary
by Ismail Kucukkaya)
Turkey/ EU
Hurriyet “With regard to the Armenian and Kurdish issues, the EU and
the USA have put the Wilson principles on the agenda again. After the
Cyprus issue is resolved in the way the Greek Cypriot and Greek side
desires, the Kurdish issue will be put on the table ‘under the cover
of federation’ during the EU-Turkey talks, and then if the federation
bait is caught, towards the end of the talks, the Armenian issue will
be put on the table.” (Commentary by Ozdemir Ince)
