14
November 2002
1. "Turkey's Mystery Man", how Islamic is Istanbul's new power broker?
2. "Turkey's new leader promises sweeping human rights reforms", Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the party that won a landslide victory in Turkey's general election, yesterday promised sweeping human rights reforms, including zero tolerance for torture, to enable Turkey to start membership talks with the European Union.
3. "No Turkish delight", the person leading the discussions on the future shape of the European Union (EU), Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, has sparked a controversy by saying that admitting Turkey as a member will spell the end of the EU.
4. "Germany's Schroeder says Turkey's future lies with EU", German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday that Turkey's future lay with the European Union, and called on its new ruling party to continue the reform process.
5. "Turkey's poll winner to show EU, US that Muslims democratic", the man likely to be Turkey's next prime minister said Wednesday his party, whose Islamist roots caused concern among allies, would show the EU and the US that Islam and democracy can co-exist.
6. "'Last chance’ solution", Simitis: UN Cyprus plan ‘starting point for constructive negotiation’.
1. - The Time Magazine - "Turkey's Mystery Man":
How Islamic is Istanbul's new power broker?
ANKARA / From the Nov. 18, 2002 issue / by Andrew Purvis
The Turkish politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not look like a
man so dangerous as to have been accused of "inciting religious
hatred." His comfortably furnished offices in Ankara look more
like a banker's suite than a fundamentalist's den. Impressionist prints
adorn the walls, along with a portrait of Turkey's fiercely secular
founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. There isn't a prayer bead in sight.
"I am a Muslim," the beardless Erdogan, 48, dressed in a pressed
blue suit and red tie, said in a recent interview with Time. "But
I believe in a secularist state."
So he claims. But the dramatic victory last week by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (A.K.P.)--which won nearly two-thirds of the seats in the Turkish parliament — has sharpened the focus on a sometimes inscrutable leader. In a country where mixing religion and politics can be a treasonable offense, Erdogan has tested the line dividing acceptable fervor from revolution. His background — he is a onetime Islamic youth activist who sent his own children to study in the U.S.--mirrors a broader contradiction in Turkish society. "He is about to show us," said one senior Western diplomat, "what Islamic politics means in Turkey."
Though Erdogan is positioned to be the focus of power in the new government, under current laws he cannot become Prime Minister. At a rally in 1997, he read a poem: "The minarets are our bayonets. The faithful are our soldiers. God is great. God is great." For that flight of fancy, which he says was meant metaphorically, he was sentenced under laws designed to keep Islamic fundamentalism at bay. He served four months in prison and was barred for life from public office. Nonetheless, his party swept to victory, partly as a protest against Turkey's Old Guard politicians, who have led the country into an economic crisis. But the election was also a vote against the kinds of laws that put Erdogan in jail. "There would be no need for a call for Shari'a," Gulden Sonmez, an Istanbul human rights lawyer said, "if you could practice religion freely."
Born into a working-class family on Turkey's Black Sea coast, Erdogan moved at age 13 to Istanbul, where he joined the youth wing of a party founded by Necmettin Erbakan, architect of Turkey's political Islamic movement. Erbakan, who later briefly became Prime Minister, saw in the tall young soccer fanatic an ambitious orator of considerable charm.
Elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994, Erdogan banned alcohol from city-owned cafes but also managed to resurrect a failing freshwater supply and clear the trash from the city's cobblestone streets. Rusen Cakir, Erdogan's biographer, stresses the politician's provincial upbringing and working-class values. "Unlike Erbakan, who was a spiritual father," he says, "Erdogan is more familiar, like a brother." Aslihan Dede, 21, a student journalist wearing a Muslim head scarf in Istanbul said last week, "He is one of us." He is also, says Cakir, a pragmatist: "He is Muslim, but he is looking for a new deal." Erdogan sent two daughters to Indiana University in part to evade Turkey's prohibition against wearing Muslim head scarves in public universities. But he also admires American education. "He could have sent them to Tehran," notes a Western diplomat. "That says a lot."
Erdogan has worked hard to distance himself from the Islamist label. In his campaign, he spoke of fostering human rights and freedom of speech and supporting Turkey's bid to join the European Union. To Time, he bristled at the term Islamic party. "For us," he said "Islam is a supreme value. We see our religion as flawless, whereas the party can make mistakes." But he may find it difficult to accommodate some of his more fervent supporters. At a victory rally outside Istanbul party headquarters, several men shouted "Allahu Akbar" before party workers hushed them for sending the wrong message.
The next day, Erdogan extended an olive branch to Turkey's
military — the same generals who forced Erbakan from power in 1997
for flirting too closely with Islamic rule. "This army is our army,"
said Erdogan. "Nothing should come between us." It was both
a promise and a prayer. 
2. - The Financial Times - "Turkey's new leader promises sweeping human rights reforms":
ANKARA / 14 November 2002 / by Leyla Boulton
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the party that won a landslide victory
in Turkey's general election, yesterday promised sweeping human rights
reforms, including zero tolerance for torture, to enable Turkey to start
membership talks with the European Union.
The former Islamist was speaking in Rome after receiving a positive hearing from Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, at the start of a tour of EU capitals to press Turkey's case for obtaining a date for talks at the EU's summit in Copenhagen next month.
In spite of the electoral triumph of his Justice and Development party (AKP), Mr Erdogan cannot become prime minister until the new parliament, to be sworn in today, revises a constitutional provision banning him for a previous conviction of inciting hatred on religious grounds.
Yesterday, however, he promised a thorough review of the constitution to comply with European human rights standards. Such reform was the first on a nine-point list he spelled out as part of Turkey's efforts to comply with the EU's political criteria for starting membership negotiations.
Mr Erdogan said Ankara believed it was now entitled to a date to start talks since other candidate countries had not fulfilled the criteria in full when they had started negotiations.
He said Turkey, a Nato ally, would serve as "an example to the entire Muslim world that democracy and Islam can co-exist".
Other items on his list included:
* A promise to implement outstanding rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, identified as a serious problem by the European Commission's regular progress report on Turkey.
* Removing restrictions on freedom of expression and conscience.
* Allowing non-Muslim religious foundations to own real estate. He also pledged the creation of a new parliamentary committee to promote Turkey's harmonisation with European Union standards.
Mr Erdogan visits Athens, Madrid, London and Brussels, next week. Back in Ankara today, Mr Erdogan meets Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief. The two men are likely to focus on the new UN plan to reunite the island of Cyprus, the success of which would also boost Turkey's chances at Copenhagen.
The newly elected Turkish parliament's swearing in ceremony today will be followed by the likely formation of a government by Abdullah Gul, the AKP's popular deputy chairman, who is expected to serve as prime minister until Mr Erdogan can take over.
Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the president, is expected to nominate
Mr Gul, who has a degree in economics and foreign policy experience
from his previous time in parliament, today or tomorrow.
3. - The Straits Times - "No Turkish delight":
14 November 2002
THE person leading the discussions on the future shape of the European
Union (EU), Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, has sparked a controversy by
saying that admitting Turkey as a member will spell the end of the EU.
According to him, this is so because, unlike the current 15 members,
or 10 other countries likely to be invited in December to join, Turkey
has 'a different culture, a different approach, a different way of life'.
'Its capital is not in Europe, 95 per cent of its population live outside
Europe, it is not a European country,' he said, presupposing the obvious
question of where exactly Europe's frontiers lie. What he meant was
expressed graphically in a private comment by a European official, who
said: 'It is too big, too poor, and too Muslim.' But it is neither Turkey's
size nor its economy that appears to be at the heart of such reservations.
The simple truth is that Turkey, even though it is a secular state,
is largely Muslim, and Muslims are apparently a source of discomfort
in a Europe with an avowedly different culture and way of life. In short,
Turkey cannot be accepted because it is Muslim.
This attitude is deeply troubling. It is also ironical given that Turkey's Muslim population is obviously a source, not of concern but of comfort to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), of which the country is a member. The people of Turkey could be forgiven for asking themselves why they are valuable when it comes to protecting Europe, which is one of Nato's goals, but suspect when it comes to joining Europe. Undoubtedly, there are other issues, such as Turkey's human rights record, which complicate its membership efforts. But progress is being made on those issues. The real problem lies in attitudes such as Mr Giscard's. The EU rejects them officially. A spokesman for the European Commission, when asked if Turkey's entry into the union would mean its end, said: 'The answer is no.' However, a senior official at the commission said that Mr Giscard was expressing what 'many of our elites think', adding that many people were delighted that he said so. What a pity. Of course, the Turkish people do not always make things easy for themselves. 'Even in the worst of times, we were the sick man of Europe, not Asia,' a Turkish official once said. That craving for Europe based on the past is nostalgia that is hardly of much use now because sick memories are not a good recipe for a healthy future.
The larger issue goes beyond Turkey and Europe. To conduct
relations among countries, or a group of nations and a country, on the
basis of culture - in this case, an euphemism for religion - is to engage
in a travesty of the very basis of international politics. If 'the West'
and 'Islam', those two amorphous yet real power blocks, were to adopt
this approach in international affairs, the winners would be the legatees
of Osama bin Laden. These people wish to divide the world into exclusive,
mutually incompatible and contending spheres driven by religion to a
final tryst with destiny. Only one side can win. Globalisation should
be a case of both sides winning in a common game of international co-existence
and peace. The issue of Turkey's membership of Europe is only a small
part of this global drama, but it is a revealing one. If the country
is to be excluded because it falls short of European standards, so be
it. But it should not be kept out because it is Muslim. Those in the
Muslim world who look for common ground with the West have enough of
a challenge fending off the extremists in their midst. They do not need
Mr Giscard.
4. - AFP - "Germany's Schroeder says Turkey's future lies with EU":
BERLIN / 13 November 2002
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday that Turkey's
future lay with the European Union, and called on its new ruling party
to continue the reform process.
Stressing Turkey's "geopolitical significance," he said the European Union did not want to "slide into Islamic fundamentalism."
"The future of Turkey is Europe, and that is why we have paid tribute to the recent reforms" there, he told reporters after talks here with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
He said the first comments of the Islamist-based party set to form the new government in Ankara had been "positive," but it must be "crystal clear" that it would pursue the reform process.
Schroeder added: "Europe is keen that a country as important as Turkey does not slide into Islamic fundamentalism."
The Justice and Development (AKP) party swept to victory in the election 10 days ago, although it has not yet formed a government. It has disavowed its Islamist roots and pledged to make Ankara's bid for EU membership a top priority.
Turkey lodged its bid for membership in 1987 and eventually obtained formal candidate status at a 1999 summit in Helsinki, but the EU has yet to give a date for negotiations.
Last week, former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing -- who chairs a convention mapping out a strategic vision for the EU -- sparked controversy when he said the admission of Turkey and its 68 million citizens would be "the end of the European Union."
Asked if the European Union would give a date for the
start of negotiations at its mid-December summit in Copenhagen, Schroeder
replied: "That depends on what the Turkish government does between
now and then." Germany has one of the largest Turkish communities
outside Turkey, numbering nearly 2.5 million people.
5. - AFP - "Turkey's poll winner to show EU, US that Muslims democratic":
ANKARA / 13 November 2002 / by Sibel Utku and Francis
Curta
The man likely to be Turkey's next prime minister said Wednesday
his party, whose Islamist roots caused concern among allies, would show
the EU and the US that Islam and democracy can co-exist.
"Our mission is to prove that a country with a Muslim identity can be democratic, transparent and compatible with the modern world. We will prove this," said Abdullah Gul, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in an interview with AFP. The AKP, which is poised to form Turkey's first one-party government for more than a decade, is viewed with suspicion by many in this strictly secular country because of its background in a banned Islamist movement.
But party leaders have rejected their Islamist heritage and shifted to a center-right agenda, which promotes religious freedoms as part of democratic norms that Turkey aims to meet to win European Union membership. Gul pledged that the new Turkish government would press forward with democracy reforms. He struck a disapproving note of possible US moves to use military means "to establish democracy in Iraq," Turkey's neighbor.
"There is a less risky way," Gul insisted. "Let's prove that a Muslim country can be democratic and show this as an example. We can do this." Gul spoke as AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Rome, his first foreign stop on a tour of EU capitals aimed at boosting Turkey's chance of obtaining a date for the start of EU accession talks. EU leaders meet in Copenhagen next month to decide on how the 15-member bloc will be expanded.
"I expect we will get a date (for accession talks) because we will make sure after forming the government that concrete steps are taken in a very short time" to implement reforms needed for EU membership, he said. "We are speeding up the process," he added. Gul warned that "if Turkey is left in a waiting room (by European leaders) then the Turkish people will be disappointed."
He also criticized the outgoing government in Ankara for dragging its feet in implementing reforms already adopted by parliament. "There are many concrete steps the government should have taken. You cannot say (to the EU) give us a special status. The rule of the club is very clear," he said. Gul denounced restrictions on freedom of expression, pointing to the case of Erdogan, who is legally barred from becoming prime minister because of a past conviction for publicly reciting a poem deemed seditious.
Gul also criticized a ban on wearing the Islamic-style
headscarf in universities, where it is regarded as a political statement
in favor of Islam. "Basic rights should be guaranteed if we are
claiming to be a candidate for EU membership. It is not only about religion,
of course. It is about expression of opinion, social and cultural rights
and many others. "When we upgrade our standards to the level of
the EU, many problems will be resolved in a perfectly democratic climate.
Not only the headscarf issue but many other discriminations -- be it
religion or the Kurdish problem," he said.
6. - Kathimerini - "'Last chance’ solution":
Simitis: UN Cyprus plan ‘starting point for constructive negotiation’
14 November 2002
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Colin
Powellmet late on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, Annan’s
proposal for a solution to the Cyprus problem. Among the plan’s
provisions are a‘common state’made up of two ‘component
states,’ the return of Turkish-occupied land to Greek Cypriots
and the demilitarization of the island. Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots
said they needed time, beyond next Monday’s deadline, to evaluate
the plan.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis yesterday briefed his Cabinet on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan for a Cyprus settlement, saying this «might be the last chance to find a solution.»
«We are all agreed that the Annan plan constitutes the starting point for a constructive negotiation,» Simitis said at the end of the meeting, according to government spokesman Christos Protopappas. Simitis urged his ministers to «speak with one voice» on the issue. He argued that Annan's proposal was a rare opportunity to solve the Cyprus problem. «It is an unusual act which will not be repeated easily because the UN cannot jeopardize its image with continued failed efforts. This might be the last chance to find a solution in this way,» he said. «Therefore, we must not approach the Annan plan with emotional reactions but rather with an outlook that sees potential and strategy,» he said. «If, in the end, we reject the plan, we must have persuaded the others that our opinions are correct.»
Foreign Minister George Papandreou said: «The discussion in today's Cabinet meeting was excellent. I am sure that this was truly an historical discussion.» He said Greece was committed to helping to find a solution before the EU summit next month. «But if the issue is not closed by December 12, we will fight tooth and nail and will succeed in getting Cyprus into the EU as is,» he added.
However, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country holds the EU presidency, warned, «The question of Cyprus is one of the obstacles on the way» to the EU's enlargement. The EU, he said, would «clearly prefer a reunified Cyprus to be admitted.»
Cypriot Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said that Annan's Monday deadline would not be met. «Under the circumstances, we don't have time to reply by Monday,» he said. «If we reply by Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, I don't know... It's not the end of the world.»
Greece's New Democracy party leader Costas Karamanlis
said the proposed «structure of the State and the system of government
are problematic... it will demand a great effort and and hard negotiations
to achieve its viability, to make it functional and to bring it in line
with European institutions.» The Communist Party declared that
Annan's plan is «unacceptable, dangerous, not viable, and a trap.»
It has organized a protest rally at the Old University on Panepistimiou
Street this evening.