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Last updated 22:56 |
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Borrell calls for talks to resume in Cyprus
European Parliament President Josep Borrell, who was in Cyprus for an official visit on Wednesday, called for talks to resume between the two leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Borrell first visited Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos before traveling to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to hold meetings with TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat and called on both leaders to resume talks on the basis of the Annan plan in order to find a lasting solution over the Cyprus issue, something which Talat said the Turkish Cypriots are keen to achieve. |
 Britain silenced Greek Cypriots ahead of EU entry talks |
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Tense words from opposition in Ankara:
They have no idea what they are doing
Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition Republican People's (CHP) Party, has claimed that he and other opposition forces in Ankara have been completely left out of the circle of activity surrounding the EU accession talks process with Turkey. Complained Baykal, "Administration supporters have taken up these important subjects in the AKP headquarters, without the presence of government bureaucrats. The Turkish Parliament was left completely out."
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Vatican rep: These accession
talks are not right
Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Vatican's Cultural Department, has criticized the start to EU accession talks with Turkey, opining that it is a country where "Christians are treated as second class citizens." Noting that "There are very many domestic problems in Turkey," Cardinal Poupard said "It is ridiculous for a future EU country to have weakness on the subject of religious freedom, and to treat Christians as second class citizens. I would be pleased if there could be some sort of agreement on these problems during the talks. But an agreement on these problems would have to be absolutely concrete, and not just verbal." |
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Interior Minister promises: Istanbul's traffic problems are a temporary discomfort
The subject of the massive tangle-ups being experienced in Istanbul traffic day in and day out since the beginning of school made its way to the floor of the Turkish Parliament (TBMM) yesterday. Standing up to speak, Republican People's (CHP) Party MP Mehmet Sevigen said that misdirection and too much digging had slowed Istanbul traffic down to a standstill recently. |
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Die Welt: 22 billion Euro annually will be needed to help Turkish farmers
An article carried yesterday in Germany's Die Welt newspaper addressed agriculture and village life in Turkey, and what the realities of these arenas will mean for the just-started EU talks. According to an analysis featured in the article, 22 billion Euro annually would be the cost to the EU to bring Turkey's poor village populations up to EU standards. The analysis then points out that enormous annual payments on this level would quickly destroy the EU economy. |
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Russia's domestic argument:
What to do with Lenin's body?
New arguments over what to do with the embalmed body of former premier Vladimir Lenin, which lies in state in Moscow's Red Square, have heated up again in Russia. The controversial question of whether or not to bury Lenin's body was debated during the early 90's, when Boris Yeltsin was in office, but was never resolved, due to strong protest reactions from Russian Communist Party members. |
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German Prime Minister Schroeder
to visit Turkey next week
It has been announced that German Prime Minister will visit Turkey on Wednesday, October 12 to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. German spokesperson Bela Anda said that PM Schroeder wanted to signal his support for the start of Turkish-EU accession talks by timing his visit at this juncture. Anda also noted that full membership was the goal for the accession talks, and that a vote from all of the countries in the EU showed that all the member countries were obligated to back this goal. |
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Arab press: "We are now neighbors
with Europe"
There has been wide reaction to the start of Turkish-EU accession talks throughout Arab countries, which sent a combined enormous cadre of media representatives to follow the start of the talks in Luxembourg on Monday night. While Syrian newspapers have carried headlines like "We are now neighbors with Europe," Lebanese and Jordanian newspapers have referred to Turkey as "the Middle East's European neighbor." |
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Turkey braces for possible
suicide bomb attacks
The Russian news service Pravda is reporting that al-Qaida has trained 50 female suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Turkey during Ramadan, according to United Press International. Turkish special services have determined that al-Qaida trained the women to carry out the attacks during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar during which the faithful are expected to fast from sunrise to sunset, according to the source. |
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Georgian PM in Ankara
to strengthen regional ties
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli in Ankara on Wednesday to hold talks on how to improve trade, military and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Addressing the press after the meeting, Erdogan voiced his hopes that the two countries would strengthen economic and trade cooperation and increase their trade to $2 billion a year. Turkey and Georgia already have strong economic ties with Turkey being one of Georgia's principal trading partners. |
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BBC reports Turkey's drug transit problem
An article published on the BBC website addresses Turkey's drug trafficking problems and states that according to the British Foreign Office "as much as 80% of all heroin used in Britain has come through Turkey". While calling Turkey a "drug-smuggling crossroads", the article also commends Turkey for it's increasing ability to seize drugs coming across the borders, stating that "Turkey's record on drug busts is strong and improving". |
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