Turkish press 12 May 06

Quotes package from BBC Monitoring
12 May 06
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France and the Armenian issue

Posta (tabloid) “The Armenian Diaspora’s activities regarding the
[alleged] genocide will continue for many more years. For many more
years, (especially as long as Turkey goes on with its current
sleepwalking attitude), there will be big arguments and political
rivalries. If we do not make good calculations from today on and do
not keep our reactions within realistic limits, in the future there
may not be any card left for us to play.”
(Commentary by Mehmet Ali Birand)

Hurriyet (centre-right) “France is not the old strong country of
Europe any more… This trauma is taking democracy, secularism,
freedom of thought and expression champion France away from reason and
logic to such an extent that it is coming into a dramatic
contradiction.” (Commentary by Tufan Turenc)

“In this atmosphere [in France] in which a battle is going on to win
votes, is there any need to point out how vitally important the votes
of over 300,000 French Armenians are? Relations with Turkey? Nobody is
currently minded to think about that. Internal political competitions
may sometimes get in the way of the long term interests of a country.
France is going through such a period.” (Commentary by Ferai Tinc)

Milliyet (centrist) “If Turkey has any importance in the eyes of Paris
as a friend and partner, it has to know that its current attitude will
backfire.” (Commentary by Sami Kohen)

Iran/USA
Yeni Safak (liberal, pro-Islamic) “The world is on the brink of a
dangerous division into camps. The Iran crisis is only one dimension
of this crisis. Very soon we will face new shockwaves. Latin America,
Africa and Asia too are being shaken by anti-American developments.
The USA may come face to face with a crushing geopolitical defeat.”
(Commentary by Ibrahim Karagul)

Kurds/USA
Radikal (centre-left) “Turkey has amassed a [military] force at the
border that will be sufficient for a broad operation. It is
waiting. The USA, Iraq and the [northern Iraqi] Kurds are against
Turkey doing its own business… Not only [the northern Iraqi Kurds],
the USA too is openly using the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] for its
own ends. The US embassy in Ankara denies reports that they are in
contact with the PKK. But if the newspaper archives are checked it
can be seen that these contacts go back years.”
(Commentary by M. Ali Kislali)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress