International News

[bell-the-cat]

This is very interesting; I read somewhere that America was a driving force in pushing EU to consider Turkey's membership; if this is the case, the Turks are certainly (ahem I am one)) not 'diplomatic' enough to atleast "pretend" to like the States...could someone enlighten me regarding the issue? perhaps I'm mistaken but I've always thought that the States and Turkey were allies through the NATO and would therefore sustain friendly relations?

The BBC is pro-EU and pro-EU enlargement. It's typical scare tactics - we must let Turkey in because it is so awfully impolite of us not to; we must let Turkey in because anyone who says otherwise is clearly a ranting racist bigot; we must let Turkey in or Turkey will suddenly become a crazy Islamic fundamentalist state that will do very bad things to us.
As for Turkish anti-Americanism, it is of no more significance than a teenager throwing a moody tantrum, storming out, getting an explicit tattoo, but still being back home in time for dinner. That is the limit of the rebellion and the limit of its intellectual content.

[Steph]

This is very interesting; I read somewhere that America was a driving force in pushing EU to consider Turkey's membership; if this is the case, the Turks are certainly (ahem I am one)) not 'diplomatic' enough to atleast "pretend" to like the States...could someone enlighten me regarding the issue? perhaps I'm mistaken but I've always thought that the States and Turkey were allies through the NATO and would therefore sustain friendly relations?

Jade, to start with, turkey and Greece are both members of Nato but hardly allies.
turkey's usefulness to the US is waning now that the Cold War is more or less over and turkey's refusal for "fly-over" airspace during the assault on Iraq has not put her in America's best books.
It would be nice to think that the US would take a firm lead in recognising true democracies throughout the world regardless of strategic location, alliances or any other reasons that "may rock the American boat", but life's not like that.

[Jade]

This is very interesting; I read somewhere that America was a driving force in pushing EU to consider Turkey's membership; if this is the case, the Turks are certainly (ahem I am one)) not 'diplomatic' enough to atleast "pretend" to like the States...could someone enlighten me regarding the issue? perhaps I'm mistaken but I've always thought that the States and Turkey were allies through the NATO and would therefore sustain friendly relations?

[Steph]

Cry me a river.

EU 'faces backlash from Turkey'
By Ben Hammersley
BBC News, Turkey

Flags of Turkey and the EU in front of Istanbul mosque, Turkey, October 2005
EU caution towards Turkish accession may be a factor
The European Union is risking an Islamic backlash in Turkey, according to the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn.

A survey showed attitudes in the country souring towards the West.

Mr Rehn told the European Voice weekly: "If you look at the current political situation in the Middle East, in Palestine, in Lebanon, not to speak of Iraq, we don't need another nationalist or Islamist problem in the neighbourhood of Europe."

The survey revealed Turkish approval of Europe to be falling rapidly.

Just 27% of Turks have a favourable opinion of the European Union, compared to 58% in 2004, according to this year's annual global survey by the Pew Research Center.

"The ongoing frustration in Turkey over its on-again, off-again membership negotiations with the EU are vividly reflected in these data," Pew said in the poll report.

'More debate'

EU member states this week opened accession negotiations with Turkey on two new policy areas - statistics and financial control. But after French objections talks were delayed on a third topic - economic and monetary policy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also said he wanted to reopen the debate on Turkey's accession when the leaders of the EU member states meet in December.

The French president is not in favour of Turkish entry to the EU, stating that Turkey is not a European country.



Special report on Turkey
But Portugal, which takes over the rotating presidency of the EU from 1 July, is in favour of Turkish membership.

Portuguese Europe Minister Manuel Lobo Antunes said Portugal would be trying to get Turkey's membership talks "back on track".

Earlier this week, Turkey's chief negotiator, Ali Babacan, said Ankara hoped the problems would be overcome in the next six months.

"We are not satisfied with the technical justifications that were given to us and we hope that there will be progress in this matter during the Portuguese presidency," he said.

According to the Pew survey, Turkey is currently the most anti-US country in the world.

Only 9% of the country favours the US, compared to 52% in 2000, putting Turkey below the Palestinian territories with 13% US approval, and Pakistan with 15%. In the United Kingdom, 51% approved of the US.

While 37% of Turks like American science and technology, according to the survey, 81% of Turks dislike American ideas about democracy, and 83% dislike American trade habits.

[bell-the-cat]

He was responding to remarks by Polish Prime Minister
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who said Poland deserved more voting power
in the EU because its population had been decimated by Nazi
Germany and would otherwise be much larger now than 38 million.
"We are only demanding one thing, that we get back what was
taken from us," Kaczynski said in a radio interview this week.
"If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45,
Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country
of 66 million."

And by the same standards, Britain's voting power should be at least 4 times bigger - since, if it weren't for those French-backed American terrorists back in the 1770s there would be at least another 300 million British citizens living in North America today!

[Joseph]

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/de...ay&link=115468

SI questions CHP's commitment to democracy
A committee of the Socialist International (SI), currently convening a council meeting in Geneva, proposed an investigation into Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) commitment to democracy, a process that might result in eventual expulsion of the CHP from the world gathering of social democratic parties.


The Ethics Committee of the Socialist International decided at a meeting on Thursday to call for a report on "how the CHP acted when it comes to support for democracy," Anne Ludvigsson, a Swedish politician and Socialist International member told Today's Zaman in a phone interview. She said the committee's decision had been unanimous.

The Council of the Socialist International will discuss the call from the Ethics Committee today. If it gives the go-ahead for an investigation into the CHP's conduct, then a group of officials from the SI's secretariat will prepare a report.

That report will be assessed at the next meeting of the Council of the Socialist International. Whether the CHP should be expelled from the Socialist International will be made on the basis of this report.

Ludvigsson said she expected the council to back the Ethics Committee's call to report on the CHP's compliance with Socialist International norms, thus paving the way for an investigation.

The CHP has received much criticism from Socialist International members, who say its "nationalist rhetoric" is in violation of universal democratic standards. Ludvigsson said she was annoyed when the CHP took a supportive stance towards what appeared to be a military intervention in politics during Turkey's failed presidential election process.

The military issued a powerful statement hours after the first round of presidential election on April 27, expressing concern over secularism debates in the context of the election and warning of intervention. Earlier the same day the CHP took the election to the Constitutional Court, which cancelled it, saying in a controversial ruling that there should have been at least 367 deputies in attendance.

CHP leader Deniz Baykal, a vice president of the Socialist International, is attending the council meeting in Geneva. Asked whether he has been notified of the measure discussed at the Ethics Committee, Ludvigsson said it was very likely that he has been informed about Thursday's decision.

Baykal, Kurdish leaders spar over terrorism

Baykal, a harsh critic of the government for not adopting a sufficiently tough stance against Iraqi Kurdish leaders concerning the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq, was given a cold shower at the Socialist International meeting, where he had to share the same dinner table on Thursday night with both Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, who heads the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq.

In his speech at the council, Baykal accused Iraq of exporting terrorism and providing legitimacy for the PKK, following which Talabani walked out in protest. Baykal's speech was interrupted with noise inside the meeting hall when a huge crowd of journalists left their chairs to follow Talabani.

Earlier in the day, Baykal refused to listen to Talabani at seats reserved for senior officials of the Socialist International and took a chair among the audience in protest of the Iraqi leader, a Kurd. Baykal and Talabani both attended a dinner on Thursday night but there was no conversation between the two.

In his speech Baykal said the Iraqi administration had failed in "treating organizations that constitute a threat to neighbors as terrorists" and added that explosive materials smuggled from Iraq into Turkey have been used in several terrorist attacks inside Turkey.

Baykal also complained that what happened in northern Iraq, where the PKK terrorists enjoy freedom of movement, was unique in the world, complaining that the terrorists were trained there to attack Turkish targets, but that the Iraqi security forces were not doing anything to stop them.

Addressing the council before Baykal, Barzani noted that the Turkish military reinforced troops along the border and emphasized that the Iraqi Kurds pursued a policy of friendship. "We reject rhetoric of threat and embrace rhetoric of dialogue," he said.

Ironically, Barzani also touched on the threat of terrorism in his speech and said Iraq has turned into a training ground for terrorists worldwide. Talabani also said Iraq had been inundated with terrorists coming from Arabic countries ever since its liberation from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, calling for help from the Socialist International.

Talabani refused to respond to questions from Turkish journalists.

Attempt to excommunicate CHP from Socialist International

Ethic committee of Socialist International took excommunication of CHP on its agenda upon the attempt of Swedish representative. The issue will be discussed at today's session.

Before the meeting of Socialist International starting in Geneva yesterday, Swedish member of Ethic Committee of the institution attempted to excommunicate CHP from Socialist International membership. Swedish member accused CHP of "not behaving like a socialist democratic party".

The committee unanimously resolved to gather proof regarding the accusations about CHP by the next meeting. Anne Ludvigsson, the chairman of Turkish Human Rights Monitoring Committee and Swedish deputy, said: "I am ashamed of calling CHP social democrat. I do not want to be at the same platform with a party with such perspective. A political party relying on army's power can not be social democrat. In democratic regimes, the elected govern the country."

Ludvigsson added: "such criticisms were made against CHP in the past, too; however, it is the first time this issue is handled so seriously at Socialist International."

Publish Date: 30.06.2007
Link: http://english.sabah.com.tr/9D9067D3...3A7D26A3D.html

[Joseph]

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=115468

SI questions CHP's commitment to democracy
A committee of the Socialist International (SI), currently convening a council meeting in Geneva, proposed an investigation into Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) commitment to democracy, a process that might result in eventual expulsion of the CHP from the world gathering of social democratic parties.


The Ethics Committee of the Socialist International decided at a meeting on Thursday to call for a report on "how the CHP acted when it comes to support for democracy," Anne Ludvigsson, a Swedish politician and Socialist International member told Today's Zaman in a phone interview. She said the committee's decision had been unanimous.

The Council of the Socialist International will discuss the call from the Ethics Committee today. If it gives the go-ahead for an investigation into the CHP's conduct, then a group of officials from the SI's secretariat will prepare a report.

That report will be assessed at the next meeting of the Council of the Socialist International. Whether the CHP should be expelled from the Socialist International will be made on the basis of this report.

Ludvigsson said she expected the council to back the Ethics Committee's call to report on the CHP's compliance with Socialist International norms, thus paving the way for an investigation.

The CHP has received much criticism from Socialist International members, who say its "nationalist rhetoric" is in violation of universal democratic standards. Ludvigsson said she was annoyed when the CHP took a supportive stance towards what appeared to be a military intervention in politics during Turkey's failed presidential election process.

The military issued a powerful statement hours after the first round of presidential election on April 27, expressing concern over secularism debates in the context of the election and warning of intervention. Earlier the same day the CHP took the election to the Constitutional Court, which cancelled it, saying in a controversial ruling that there should have been at least 367 deputies in attendance.

CHP leader Deniz Baykal, a vice president of the Socialist International, is attending the council meeting in Geneva. Asked whether he has been notified of the measure discussed at the Ethics Committee, Ludvigsson said it was very likely that he has been informed about Thursday's decision.

Baykal, Kurdish leaders spar over terrorism

Baykal, a harsh critic of the government for not adopting a sufficiently tough stance against Iraqi Kurdish leaders concerning the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq, was given a cold shower at the Socialist International meeting, where he had to share the same dinner table on Thursday night with both Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, who heads the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq.

In his speech at the council, Baykal accused Iraq of exporting terrorism and providing legitimacy for the PKK, following which Talabani walked out in protest. Baykal's speech was interrupted with noise inside the meeting hall when a huge crowd of journalists left their chairs to follow Talabani.

Earlier in the day, Baykal refused to listen to Talabani at seats reserved for senior officials of the Socialist International and took a chair among the audience in protest of the Iraqi leader, a Kurd. Baykal and Talabani both attended a dinner on Thursday night but there was no conversation between the two.

In his speech Baykal said the Iraqi administration had failed in "treating organizations that constitute a threat to neighbors as terrorists" and added that explosive materials smuggled from Iraq into Turkey have been used in several terrorist attacks inside Turkey.

Baykal also complained that what happened in northern Iraq, where the PKK terrorists enjoy freedom of movement, was unique in the world, complaining that the terrorists were trained there to attack Turkish targets, but that the Iraqi security forces were not doing anything to stop them.

Addressing the council before Baykal, Barzani noted that the Turkish military reinforced troops along the border and emphasized that the Iraqi Kurds pursued a policy of friendship. "We reject rhetoric of threat and embrace rhetoric of dialogue," he said.

Ironically, Barzani also touched on the threat of terrorism in his speech and said Iraq has turned into a training ground for terrorists worldwide. Talabani also said Iraq had been inundated with terrorists coming from Arabic countries ever since its liberation from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, calling for help from the Socialist International.

Talabani refused to respond to questions from Turkish journalists.

[Steph]

Poland's view of their neighbours


EU to Poland: don't mention the war
Streg

By Ingrid Melander
BRUSSELS, June 21 (Reuters) - Don't mention the war.
That was the message many European Union leaders had for
Poland on Thursday as they arrived for a summit on the division
of power in the 27-nation bloc.
"The idea of basing today's decision on voting rights ... on
World War Two is absurd," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh
Rasmussen told reporters.
He was responding to remarks by Polish Prime Minister
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who said Poland deserved more voting power
in the EU because its population had been decimated by Nazi
Germany and would otherwise be much larger now than 38 million.
"We are only demanding one thing, that we get back what was
taken from us," Kaczynski said in a radio interview this week.
"If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45,
Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country
of 66 million."
Poland is isolated in asking to reopen the so-called double
majority system in a proposed treaty to reform EU institutions.
The system requires 55 percent of member states representing
65 percent of the EU population to approve a decision. Warsaw
says this gives too much power to big countries, especially
Germany, largely at Warsaw's expense.
Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said aloud what many
EU leaders fear privately. He told a German newspaper he feared
Poland's ruling Kaczynski twins were determined to deny German
Chancellor Angela Merkel a success at the summit.
Merkel has avoided responding to Poland's references to
their tortured history.
But Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, close to
the German leader, voiced the exasperation of many when he said:
"Demography is demography. The bitter arguments on the Polish
side are not acceptable."
"Germany has never been a better neighbour to Poland than it
is today, and all German chancellors since Helmut Kohl have done
a lot for Poland," he told German daily Handelsblatt.

CALLS TO LOOK AHEAD
Berlin was the biggest supporter of Polish membership of the
European Union, pressing for Warsaw to be included in the first
wave of enlargement after the end of the Cold War when some
Western European partners were far less enthusiastic.
The leader of the Party of European Socialists, former
Danish prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, urged the Poles to
look forward and not dwell on history.
"To all the Polish citizens, please think of the future and
not of the past. Understand that we have more in common now than
we have had ever," he told reporters.
Poland's neighbours in central Europe, some of which share
its history of having been invaded by Germany and then by the
Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, said they hoped to
persuade the Kaczynskis to overcome their resentments.
"Poland right now is in dispute with Russia as well as
Germany. That's nothing new if you know history," Czech Deputy
Prime Minister Aleksandr Vondra said this week.
"I think it's in our vital interest that Poland and Germany
find a mutually acceptable way into the future."
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Axel Bugge and Yves
Clarisse)
((writing by Paul Taylor, editing by Timothy Heritage; Reuters
Messaging: [email protected]; +322 2876801))
Keywords: EU TREATY/POLAND

[Joseph]

An interesting an accurate view of the Armenian electorate dilema in Turkey.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/

MEHMET KAMIS [email protected]


Who should Armenians vote for?

Turkish Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan told Germany-based Der Spiegel magazine he would vote for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
His announcement sparked nationwide debate, and some circles and columnists upset by the announcement argued that Armenians should be aligned with the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and vote for them.
Although it is unclear whether Mesrob II will really vote for the AK Party or was simply trying to avoid conflict with the leading party, it’s certain that his statement conflicted with some of the settled views in the country. According to these views, a Christian Armenian should support and vote for the pro-laicist CHP instead of the pro-religious AK Party. Islam is considered a rival to Christianity. Hence Christians or any other minority group should naturally be closer to a laicist party.

But in reality, this view does not hold true in Turkey because laicism in our country does not allow religious freedom; especially the CHP’s understanding of laicism, which is identical to positivism.

In Western democracies, people from different religious and ethnic groups usually support social democrats because these parties are less conservative and more respectful toward religious freedoms. Minority rights and freedom of religion is fundamental to them. They are strong advocates of freedoms, including religious freedom.

In Turkey however, social democrats favor restrictions and limitations. They favor the republic more than democracy, but they don’t trust the leader of the republic too much. They believe the military can resolve all problems and perceive both minorities and majorities as potential threats to the nation.

The CHP has embraced a Jacobin culture since they day of its founding. It is a party that imposes and determines. After a columnist suggested Armenians should vote for the CHP, they said “Turkey is a laicist state, a religious man should not interfere in politics,” and applied to a prosecutor’s office. History has no records of the CHP’s efforts to expand freedoms, democracy and human rights. Westernization for the CHP means laicism, which is the only concern of the CHP, and laicism for CHP means pushing religion out of social life, instead of incorporating it.

The CHP is an anti-EU, anti-globalization, anti-development, anti-social values and anti-rights social democrat party. Throughout history conservative groups have never been disturbed by minority groups, and as for the attacks against non-Muslims in recent years, it is certain that the source behind them is different. A Muslim with a religious education knows they must protect the rights, life and possessions of different religious members living in their country.

That said, why should any minority group in Turkey vote for the CHP?

09.06.2007

[Gavur]

A country where the "left' is terrorist,"right" is fascist (they must be facing south) ,it is no wonder people like to identify political leanings by saying they are left or right of center ,safe and a polite way?