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Murat Yalçýntaþ says Turkey should do more to benefit from increasing Mediterranean tourism
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Nuri Bilge Ceylan ups the ante in Cannes with ‘Three Monkeys’
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Former Beþiktaþ star Nouma: My heart is unconditionally Turkish
Yo u r Wa y o f U n d e r s t a n d ý n g T u r k e y
TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008 WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM YTL 1.50
MEHMET KAMAN
page04 Babacan defends EU right to comment on Turkey
PRESIDENT GÜL APPEALS FOR CALM IN RECENT ROW BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY
Erdoðan: impacts of case costing Turkey blns in investments
principles of our Constitution, our national interest and reputation, solidarity, unity and economic and political stability, and to assume the attitude, manner and sophistication the situation calls for." The president's statement came after a series of fiery exchanges between the Supreme Court of Appeals Board of Chairmen and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. The row started last Wednesday, when the Supreme Court of Appeals said the AK Party sought to influence the judiciary. Government members quickly responded by saying the court's comments were politically motivated and accused it of trying to bolster legal moves to close the party.
"As in all democracies, it is not only natural but also necessary and good for every issue to be openly and widely discussed by all segments of society; [this is also true] in our country, which has a dynamic democracy," the president's statement further said, also asserting that the wrong and right parties in the discussion would ultimately be decided by the public's common sense. In the statement Gül also recalled that in the past few months he had taken part in a series of meetings with representatives from various state agencies, leaders of political parties represented and not represented in Parliament, civil society groups, and economic and social associations as well as press agencies. "In these meetings I have already expressed
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PM Tayyip Erdoðan
President Abdullah Gül issued a warning yesterday to the parties in a recent row between the judiciary and the government, advising them to avoid allowing the quarrel to grow to a level that could harm Turkey's reputation, solidarity and stability. Gül's statement, released through the presidential press center, announced that he had been closely following the political and legal discussions of the past few months. His statement read: "It is a duty for all individuals and agencies with a sense of responsibility to show the utmost care to keep these arguments from reaching a level where they run the risk of damaging the fundamental
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Gül urges sides to ease tension
MUSTAFA ÜNAL, ANKARA Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has stated that the recent political turmoil in Turkey triggered by a closure case against his party has undermined investors' confidence and cost the country billions of dollars in investment. "We could have attracted $25 billion if these developments had not occurred," Erdoðan told a group of reporters en route from Beirut to Ankara on Sunday night, after attending a landmark election for president in the Lebanese Parliament that ended 18 months of a political stalemate. "When these developments emerged, everyone started to postpone their investment plans. We keep trying to convince them and tell them that continuity is essential in the state administration," he stated. Erdoðan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is facing a closure case at the Constitutional Court on charges of being a focal point of anti-secular activities. The case has puzzled international observers and drew stern criticism from the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join. CONTINUED ON PAGE 04
PRIME MINISTER ERDOÐAN SAYS OLMERT REQUESTED TURKISH MEDIATION WITH SYRIA PAGE 04
German Ambassador: AK Party government is a secular one
Turkish, Greek commanders’ meeting marred by criticism
KERÝM BALCI, ANKARA Europe has confidence in the democratic, secular future of Turkey, German Ambassador to Turkey Eckart Cuntz has stated. Reiterating his position that he has no doubt the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government is a secular one, Ambassador Cuntz told Today's Zaman that the recent success of Turkey in coping with similar political crises indicates the country's capacity to deal with the current closure case. Though very clear about his concerns over the closure case filed against AK Party, the German ambassador does not share a belief in the widespread doomsday scenarios that foreign direct investors are fleeing the Turkish market. Ambassador Cuntz said the faith of German investors in the Turkish market continues to be strong. SEE INTERVIEW ON PAGE 09
Greek Chief of General Staff Gen. Dimitrios Grapsas met with his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt, during a visit to Ankara yesterday, but the visit coincided with a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry criticizing the participation of Greek government authorities in activities held in commemoration of an alleged genocide of Anatolian Greeks during and in the aftermath of World War I. The ministry did not say which government officials participated in the activities. CONTINUED ON PAGE 04
my opinion, concern and recommendations along the lines of my above-stated opinions in a very clear manner." He said that in addition to the meetings, he had shared his thoughts with the public in various speeches and written statements. "I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize once again that in these critical times, when our country is faced with a number of political, economic and security issues both on a regional and a global scale, these political and legal discussions must not be allowed to erode our hardwon stability, prestige and gains and cause irreparable damage to Turkey's strategic interests and goals," he said, adding that he was continuing to hold meetings with the parties concerned. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
Shell to be partner in Samsun-Ceyhan project, deal in June Royal Dutch Shell will become a partner on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline project, which will transport Kazakh oil through Turkey, after signing an agreement next month to that end. Çalýk Enerji and Italy's Eni S.p.A. have formed a 50/50 joint venture known as the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Company (TAPCO) to build and operate the pipeline. Two sources told Reuters yesterday that Shell's purchase of shares from TAPCO has been negotiated and that feasibility studies have almost been completed for the project. The same sources said an agreement on the partnership is expected by the end of June. Shell could buy either from Eni or Calýk's shares, according to sources. Indian Oil had revealed at the end of 2006 that it would have a 12.5 percent share in the project, but the company has not yet been listed as part of TAPCO. Running north-south across Turkey, the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline saw construction begin in April of last year, and its aim is to reduce oil tanker traffic on the Bosporus. Expected to cost $1.5 billion, the pipeline will be 555 kilometers in length. The TAPCO project is expected to produce 1 million barrels of oil per day when operations begin and as much as 1.5 million barrels per day by 2010. CONTINUED ON PAGE 07
Cýtýng drought, Iraq asks Turkey for more water Iraq has requested that its neighbor Turkey send more water from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, which rise in eastern Anatolia, saying it is facing severe drought this year. "Irrigation in Iraq depends entirely on water from the Euphrates and the Tigris," said Abdullatif Jamal Rashid, the Iraqi minister for water resources, after talks with Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Kürþad Tüzmen. "In the past years, Turkey has given us enough water, even more than enough water.
But this year we are having some difficulties. We are faced with a drought that has turned out to be more severe than expected. Therefore, we are asking for more water to ease our problems." Turkey, Syria and Iraq have recently decided to bury the hatchet over water issues and cooperate by establishing a water institute that will consist of 18 water experts from each country to work toward the solution of water-related problems among the three countries. Turkey adopts a fair-share model for the
surface waters that leave its borders and suggests that the problems it has with Syria, Iraq, Iran, Bulgaria, Georgia and Greece over water management should be solved through bilateral talks. Ankara says it does not want third parties to get involved in the settlement of water issues. Rashid said he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan when he met with him later in the day. Officials confirmed the issue was on the agenda of the talks, but did not disclose
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details. They said efforts to sustain water resources and joint projects to that effect were discussed at the 40minute meeting. A planned agreement on water sharing among the countries whose territories are crossed by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers was also discussed. Rashid said he was also bringing Erdoðan a message from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, adding that Iraq wanted to establish a high-level committee, to be chaired by al-Maliki and Erdoðan, to discuss issues of common concern. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
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02 TODAY’S ZAMAN
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F OOD FOR THOUGHT
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Q UOTE OF THE DAY
[I hope] obstacles facing the Israeli prime minister and the American preoccupation with elections will not obstruct the peace process. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
CROSS READER
FATMA DÝÞLÝ
f.disli@todayszaman.com
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columns
W ORDS OF WISDOM
These political and legal discussions must not be allowed to erode our hard-won stability, prestige and gains. President Abdullah Gül
Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
press roundup
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Turkýsh judýcýary’s ýmage problem The interference of the supreme judiciary in politics through a harsh statement directed at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has greatly damaged the image of the Turkish judiciary, which had already been suffering from an image problem for years. The fact that one of the democratically elected prime ministers of the Turkish Republic, Adnan Menderes, was executed following a military coup on May 27, 1960 by a hastily formed ad-hoc court on the grounds that he had violated the Constitution, although the perpetrators of the military coup did so, provides some idea of the widespread suspicion over the judiciary’s impartiality. Describing the ongoing fight in Turkey between the government and the establishment -- which includes the military, judiciary and certain university professors -- in the guise of the latter’s bid to protect secularism, Bugün’s Mehmet Metiner states that secularism is actually a tool used by the military-civilian bureaucracy, which does not have to give an accounting to the public of their actions because they are not elected, to perpetuate this fight. “The bureaucratic elite believe that they can intervene when the elected, who they have to put up with as an obligation of democracy, act outside the lines they have drawn. The reason coups in our country are equated to revolutions is because of this,” maintains Metiner. He says it is not surprising for those with a mentality that can still support the court that ruled to execute Menderes to accuse the AK Party of realizing a “counter-revolution.” What he finds most saddening about this pro-coup segment is the fact that they define themselves as defending secularism and the republic and that some people fail to notice that they actually exploit these principles. “The fight is neither between secularism and religion nor between secularists and religious people. The fight is one over sovereignty in the real sense,” remarks Metiner. Star’s Ahmet Kekeç criticizes those who defend the Supreme Court of Appeals’ latest statement against the AK Party, which called the party’s efforts to defend itself in the wake of a closure case futile. “How can you correlate such an approach with a state of law?” he asks them. Referring to the silence of certain members of the supreme judiciary over the Ergenekon gang, a crime network that has alleged links within the state, he questions how these members who, while failing to do their duty, feel so free in taking a stance against Parliament and politics. “In which democratic country of the world are there supreme judicial bodies that are equipped with extraordinary powers like those in Turkey and that function as a political force above Parliament? Why can’t the generals who attempted to carry out a coup be brought before the court? Is the power of your law only sufficient to hang prime ministers?” asks Kekeç, recalling the execution of Prime Minister Menderes. Eser Karakaþ, also of Star, supports the view that the Turkish judiciary is suffering from an image problem. He associates this with the judiciary prioritizing the state and official ideology instead of the individual and liberties. “I take this image issue seriously; I wish the members of the supreme judiciary would do so. If I had studied law and had the honor to be a judge at a top court, I would be proud of my court’s decisions that expand freedoms and that take into consideration the current situation of the country. The opposite of this would not be a good legacy to leave my grandchildren,” he states.
PRESS REVIEW
MEHMET KAMAN
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MEHMET YILMAZ, ZAMAN I saw them at Kýzýlcahamam, where they were staying in their camp before the big competition. The traditional national costumes they were wearing attracted nearly everyone's attention. Four young girls -- one Iraqi, one Sri Lankan, one Vietnamese and one Malaysian -were sitting next to each other and talking. What kind of shared platform is it that can bring together an Iraqi, whose country is currently under occupation, with a Sri Lankan? This year is the sixth such competition of its kind, and there are exactly 110 nations from five continents represented in this contest. The students who arrive here after succeeding in the preliminary rounds in their own countries are both competing to be first in the Turkish finals as well as promoting their own cultures at the cultural fair preceding the competition. There should be another title for the successful Turkish Olympics, which manages to bring together students from so many different countries under one roof.
What is Gül thinking these days? ÝSMAÝL KÜÇÜKKAYA, AKÞAM
Hundreds of foreign students in Turkey for the 6th International Turkish Language Olympics participated in a cultural festival to promote their countries at Ankara's Altýnpark Congress Center over the weekend.
zaman:
More and more private sector companies are investing in the impoverished eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey, Zaman announced in its top story yesterday. The report noted that the government had long been focusing on encouraging private sector investment, saying the effort had finally paid off. The daily also noted that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan was set to visit the southeastern city of Diyarbakýr on Tuesday to announce details of a new scheme to resume the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), a stalled development project intended to bring Turkey’s Southeast to a reasonable level of development. Representatives from GSM company Avea and banks Garanti, Ziraat and Finansbank as well as Turkey’s largest family company, Koç Holding, and giant food producer TAT, told Zaman about their planned investment in the region.
bugün:
The government has plans to pass a law allowing the sale of deforested areas, known to the public as “2-B land,” Bugün’s top story reported yesterday. The daily said the expected revenue from these sales was estimated at $25 billion. According to the plan, Article 170 of the Constitution, which says forests are possessions of the state, will be amended and a new law will be passed regarding 2-B land. Under this law, the land will be allocated to mass housing, and 370 million square meters of 2-B land already
in use by individuals will be sold to the current users. The daily quoted Environment and Forestry Minister Veysel Eroðlu as saying the amendment would be submitted to Parliament in the near future.
radikal: An unusual Article 301 case made it into Radikal’s lead story yesterday. The daily reported that a person, identified only as Y.Y., was facing charges under Article 301 for “defamation of the government and the police” in sentences the person allegedly said to a passenger on the next seat on an intercity bus. According to the report, another passenger, a plainclothes officer, overheard the conversation and filed a case with a prosecutor in Denizli.
sabah:
The prime minister’s words “Keeping silent in the judiciary row would be a betrayal of our voters” uttered on Sunday were the headline of Sabah’s main story yesterday. The prime minister said that had the government failed to respond to a memo from a top court accusing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of trying to form a pro-executive branch judiciary, it would have betrayed the 16 million who voted for it. “I don’t mean to offend anyone, but if a declaration is released about a party closure process, letting that slide without an answer would be betraying our 16 million voters. I cannot let such a thing go without a response,” he said.
Fýnancýal Týmes
Los Angeles Týmes
Tibetans losing faith in talks, says Dalai Lama in the UK with the Financial Times, he indicated that more radical Tibetans, who urge violent confrontation with China, are increasingly losing faith in his strategy of securing autonomy through peaceful dialogue. Asked whether he was losing control over his followers, the Tibetan spiritual leader, said: "Yes, naturally. My efforts have failed to bring concrete results, so this criticism is becoming stronger and stronger." He repeatedly rejected calls for the Tibetan cause to be pursued through violence.
Just as there have been those in the political corridors of Ankara who have whispered after the filing of the case aimed at shutting down the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), "If only Gül had not become president, none of this would have happened," there have also been those who have noted, "If the administration had not brought about changes to the headscarf rules, this case would not have been opened." But how does the Çankaya presidential palace view this criticism? Does President Gül, on whom much blame is being laid, have no objections to this? Gül, due to the seriousness of the office he holds as well as the need for him to remain objective, does not have the luxury to appear before the public and respond to this criticism. The real reason driving the process that has led to the opening of this closure case against the AK Party is a complete enigma, which is why we need to question just how fair it is to search out and declare one particular reason or one particular guilty party. What do you think? Would history really have been written differently had Gül not become president or had there been no changes made to the headscarf laws or if Gül had vetoed the proposed changes or even if there been attention paid to Gül's warnings?
Scrutinizing the reasons for our anger MEHMET BARLAS, SABAH Why is it that the decisions rendered by the Turkish justice system are so often overturned in the European Court of Human Rights, with Turkey being ordered to pay damages afterwards? Is it true that tension exists only between our justice system and the office of the prime minister? Are the "management" and our justice system really all that much more in harmony? Ahmet Nazif Zorlu put faith in the possessions of the "management" of Turkey and thus purchased freeways in a tender for $850 million. Later, this tender was rendered invalid by a court decision. Now, if you were a foreign investor, would you still have faith in this system and continue investing in Turkey? If those who were so angered by Menderes, Demirel and Özal in the past are angered on the same level by Erdoðan today, is the unifying factor in this anger really "secularity"?
What is Þerif Mardin saying? TAHA AKYOL, MÝLLÝYET
news from the foreýgn press
The Dalai Lama has given a stark warning that he is losing the support of many of his followers inside Tibet because of the Chinese government's refusal to strike a deal with him over the territory's future. As he continues a tour of European cities to rally support for Tibet's autonomy from Beijing, the 72-year-old Nobel laureate has expressed hope that China will begin serious negotiations with his representatives over greater autonomy for the region in a few weeks' time. But in an interview
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Iraq violence falls to four-year low, US says The US military said Sunday that the number of attacks by militants in the last week dropped to a level not seen in Iraq since March 2004. About 300 violent incidents were recorded in the seven-day period that ended Friday, down from a weekly high of nearly 1,600 in mid-June last year, according to a chart provided by the military. The announcement appeared aimed at allaying fears that an uprising by militiamen loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr could unravel security gains since 28,500
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additional American troops were deployed in Iraq in a buildup that reached its height in June. Navy Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a military spokesman, credited the decrease to a series of operations launched by the Iraqi government in the last two months to extend control over parts of the country that have been under the sway of armed Sunni Arab and Shiite militants. They include crackdowns in the southern oil hub of Basra, the northern city of Mosul and Baghdad's Sadr City district.
Þerif Mardin is our greatest social scientist. The fact that this Turkish professor mentioned something called "mahalle baskýsý," or societal pressure, was used as immediate proof of the imminent "danger of Shariah." Despite the fact that Mardin has himself expressed his discomfort with the fact that this concept of societal pressure is being used in this way, the distortions continue. Mardin reiterated that this is a matter which deserves to be researched through the perspective of "cultural changes." And again, just as Mardin himself has said, the real meaning of "societal pressure" is an "eye" that does not look warmly on the movement toward "individualism" or "differentiation." This is an eye that is strongly felt within the secular factions of Turkey; everything that this faction sees as different it then proclaims enmity for. The essential question from both sides of this matter is whether or not this faction will be able to move toward individualism and differentiation and in doing so arrive at the truth of what liberal freedom means.
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NATIONAL
TODAY’S ZAMAN 03
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ÝSTANBUL ANKARA ÝZMÝR ANTALYA ADANA ERZURUM EDÝRNE TRABZON KAYSERÝ
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First Ottoman bazaar back in business BÜNYAMÝN KÖSELÝ BURSA
Balibey Han, open to the public now that restoration has ended, is a concrete example of a successful restoration of a historical monument. Located in the center of Bursa on Atatürk Boulevard, the historical building was the first multi-story inn and bazaar of the Ottoman period and provided accommodation to travelers. Restoration began two years previously and finished only a couple of months ago; the building now stands as it did when it was first built. The before and after of the historical inn has surprised many visitors and locals. Photographs showing how the inn looked before restoration depict a building in ruins; the stairs had collapsed and bands holding the building together had severely deteriorated. Water from the hill above the inn had seeped into half of the structure. The Greater Bursa Municipality completed the restoration in two phases. In the first phase, the buried part was unearthed while in the second phase, the stairs were rebuilt and the bands were replaced. Restoration began in 2006 and carried a final price tag of YTL 3.5 million. The three-floor inn is located under the city walls in Bursa's Tophane district and overlooks the city. It was considered among the most important trade centers because of its location on the Silk and Spice roads. Built in the 1500s by
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Balibey Khan, the son of Niðbolu flag officer Hamza Bey, the inn would have fallen into total ruin had it not been restored. It was originally built to finance mosques and schools in Bursa's Yeniþehir district. The 64-room inn also served as a caravanserai, hosting travelers from other cities.
A package of economic reforms for southeastern Turkey is to be disclosed today and is expected to include mobilizing significant funds to the poverty-ridden eastern region of the country as well as a clear target: completing the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) within five years. That is a courageous target, but we have seen in the past that a single party government is able to speed things up to unbelievable levels -- remember the EU reforms that shocked not only the Turks, but also the Europeans who asked for them. GAP is development project known worldwide, but its image is more attractive than its current realities. Almost 40 years of energy, planning and dreams were poured into the project; two generations in the region were made to believe that things would change when GAP is completed. The hopes and future plans of people were betrayed by political calculations. The project that would give new life to the fertile crescent of the past was delayed, in some cases because of economic inability and in others because of mistrust of the people in the region. Speculation has it that once water from the dams reaches the dry lands of the Southeast, the locals' income will increase fivefold. Who does not want that? Those who do not want the votes of the region; those who do not regard the problem as stemming from cultural or linguistic differences, but instead as a problem arising from the very existence of the Kurds; those who do not even try to appeal to the people of the area have and had been ignoring the needs and efforts of the region for half a century now. In the July 22 elections these people were pushed out of the region, and it seems that they will see a similar fate in the rest of the country in the next elections. GAP needs more than just money. The relationship between peace and development is complex and mutual. You need peace for more development, and economic welfare brings about more peace. But neither is necessary. There is relative peace in northeastern Turkey, and the economic situation is no better than south of there. There is relative economic welfare in cities like Batman in the East, but no peace. The correlation between the two is based on human capital. Together with funds, the government must mobilize human capital, better governors, more active civil society organizations, better-equipped religious officials, schools, libraries, reading houses and a restrained security establishment. Those who didn't trust the people of the region didn't trust their
500 year-old inn hosts contemporary art center Balibey Inn also exhibits various arts and artists. Thirty-six rooms on the second and third floors have been consigned to the Greater Bursa Municipality Arts and Crafts Training Courses (BUSMEK), which have turned the place into an art gallery. Ebru (paper marbling) artists, tezhip (illumination) artists and painters all exhibit their work here. Rooms on the second and third floors serve as exhibition rooms in which traditional clothes, relief works, chinaware, shadow puppet shows, handcrafts, embroidery, patchwork, gilding and calligraphy are on display. Bursa Mayor Himmet Þahin says the recently restorated Balibey Inn livens up the city. Noting that Bursa had been a center of commercial activity for centuries, the mayor shows Balibey Inn as proof of this. ?ahin says two years ago the inn was on the verge of falling apart but that "the situation is different now. At the center of the city, both a center of attraction and a historical building have been revived for future generations."
Red Bull’s aviation event makes good weekend entertainment About 85,000 people attended the first Red Bull Flugtag Ýstanbul event held on the Caddebostan coast on Sunday. The contest was a test of the top distance participants' handmade flying machines could achieve. Despite scorching heat, thousands of people gathered along the Caddebostan coast and watched many interesting handmade vehicles jump CÝHAN
KONYA ÇANAKKALE DÝYARBAKIR SAMSUN BURSA GAZÝANTEP ESKÝÞEHÝR MALATYA KOCAELÝ
The sun rýses from the East
Balibey Han, the first multi-story inn and bazaar of the Ottoman period, provided accommodation to travelers.
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from a pier into the sea. Thirty-two teams participated in the contests, with the Flying Turkeys coming in first. Over 500 people from 23 Turkish provinces applied to try and get a chance to participate in the first Red Bull Flugtag, but only 32 teams qualified for the finals. The teams showcased projects on which they have been working for months on a six-meter-long platform built on the Caddebostan shoreline. Their performances in the flying vehicles they had designed gave people who came to watch the event an unforgettable time. Among the 32 teams that attended from Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Ýstanbul, Ýzmir, Sakarya and Samsun, the Flying Turkeys came in first with 42 points, followed by Ýzmir's Delta Havacýlýk Kulübü with 30.4 points and by Kýr Kartalý with 29.9 points. The Flying Turkeys managed to fly the longest distance, going 26.9 meters (88.25 feet) after leaving the platform. The Flying Turkeys were given an award certificate and free airline tickets for a trip across the world, while the second-place team will be able to watch the Red Bull Air Race in Budapest. The inventor of Flugtag is Red Bull beverage company boss Dietrich Mateschitz. The first Red Bull Flugtag was held in 1991 in Vienna, Austria and since then more than 35 Flugtag events have been held and watched by over 300,000 people around the world. The record for traveling the long distance is 59.4 meters (195 feet), set in the Austria Flugtag in 2000. Baran Taþ Ýstanbul
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KERÝM BALCI k.balci@todayszaman.com
own officials to confine potential clashes and thus preferred not to open the gate of opportunities to the region -- better poor people than more money to the terrorist organization, right? Human capital is not only about peacemaking or peacekeeping; it is about preservation of the species, ancient sites, the creation of a healthy urbanization and the safe introduction of this global age's tools to the region. I visited the region 20 years ago. The huge Atatürk Dam had begun to collect water, and engineers there told us that increasing humidity would kill hundreds of plant species in the region and cause illnesses that had never been seen there before. "Departments dealing with bone diseases, particularly rheumatism, should be instituted in the hospitals of the region. The frequency of these illnesses will increase immensely," I was told. Others mentioned the creation of new jobs that necessitated expertise lacking in the region. Fishing needs prior knowledge, as does rowing. GAP would create gigantic lakes and opportunities connected with them. Most of the energy-related aspects of GAP are already complete. The dams are working at full capacity and are providing Turkey with a badly needed supply of energy, but irrigation-related aspects of the project continue to wait. The project's current level of operation works to the benefit of the country as a whole, but not to the wealth of the Southeast's population. If within five years this second aspect of GAP is realized, it will not only facilitate a stable peace in the region, but also load a burden of apology on the people who intentionally or because of their weak governance delayed this realization. I hereby apologize to the people of the region for the fact that most of us in the western regions have not done our best to remove insincere governments from their posts.
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Babacan defends EU right to comment on Turkish politics Comments by European Union officials on political disputes in candidate Turkey are natural Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said yesterday, a day before the EU is to call for an impartial and independent judiciary in the candidate country. The European Union's foreign ministers gave the final approval yesterday to a document that will be on the table during a key meeting with Turkey today. The ministers endorsed the document without debate as it was earlier categorized as an "A point," meaning it could be approved without discussions. The document, to be presented by the EU at the Association Council meeting, supports plans for reform of the Turkish judicial system and calls for an "impartial, independent, reliable and transparent" judicial system. Babacan will attend the meeting to represent Turkey. "It is natural that the EU makes comments, prepares reports or position papers on develop-
ments in Turkey," Babacan told journalists at a press conference with his Tunisian counterpart, Abdul Wahhab Abdullah. The Turkish judiciary came into the spotlight after a top state prosecutor launched a closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on charges of its having become a focal point of anti-secular activities. The EU criticized the case in strong terms and even warned that closure of the AK Party might result in a halt in Turkey's accession process. Last week, the judiciary sparked another controversy on its political impartiality when the Supreme Court of Appeals issued a powerful statement targeting the government in what many described as a "judicial memorandum." The 17-page document, entitled "46th Meeting of the EC-Turkey Association Council: Position of the European Union," says that "the EU trusts that the outcome of these cases will be compatible with
the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the guidelines established by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe," which stipulate that political parties should not be closed down unless they incite violence. "The EU invites all Turkish political actors to resolve divisions of opinion in a spirit of dialogue and compromise, while respecting the rule of law, the fundamental freedoms of all citizens, the constitution and democratic secularism," the document says. Despite earlier French objections, the word "accession" appears throughout the document. Babacan suggested last week that he might shun the Association Council meeting if the word is taken out in line with the French demands and urged the EU to keep its membership promises to Turkey. The document was earlier approved by representatives of the EU countries and forwarded to the EU foreign ministers as an "A point."
Babacan is expected to reiterate in talks with EU officials today that Ankara expects the 27-nation bloc not to water down its membership commitments.
Eyes on parliamentary meeting In addition to the Association Council, Turkish and EU officials will also meet at a regular gathering of the Turkey-EU joint parliamentary committee. The meeting comes amid tension between Joost Lagendijk, the committee's co-chair from the EU side, and members of the committee from the Turkish Parliament. Onur Öymen, a senior lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), recently asked Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan to take steps to remove Lagendijk from the post of co-chair, after the Dutch parliamentarian directed bitter criticism against his party. Both Öymen and Lagendijk are expected to attend the meeting. Ankara Today's Zaman
PM says Olmert requested Turkýsh medýatýon wýth Syrýa MUSTAFA ÜNAL ANKARA
Erdoðan says closure case costing Turkey billions in investment
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert requested Turkey start mediation with Syria, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has stated. Erdoðan, speaking to a group of reporters aboard a plane from Beirut to Ankara late Monday, said indirect talks between Syrian and Israeli officials in Ýstanbul last week ended positively but expressed concern that there could be opposition to the peace process from within Israel. "My only concern is that Israel could have troubles. As you know, Mr. Olmert is facing some reactions in this respect," said Erdoðan. The Turkish-mediated talks between Israel and Syria were announced in coordinated statements last week. But the announcement came as Olmert found himself mired in yet another corruption probe -- the fifth investigation into his conduct since he took office in 2006. Analysts and opposition lawmakers suggested the new announcement was designed to divert attention from Olmert's legal woes. Another problem is that a possible peace deal that would require Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria is highly unpopular in Israel. A recent poll revealed that only 19 percent of Israelis are willing to cede the entire Golan Heights, down from 32 percent a month ago. Olmert said yesterday that Israel had made no commitment to Syria to pull out of the Golan Heights in indirect talks that began a year ago. "From February 2007 to May 2008, nothing was said aside from 'you know what I want, and I know what you want -- so let's talk'," Olmert told a parliamentary committee, Reuters reported, citing a senior official who briefed reporters on the closed-door session. "There is no commitment aside from the statement which I made and there will be nothing else," said Olmert. The secret talks began a year ago and several have been held so far. "Olmert himself raised the issue and told me 'you have good ties with Bashar [Assad]. I'm ready for talks if you mediate.' Then Bashar told me that he would welcome Turkish mediation," Erdoðan said. The Turkish mediation drew praise from the United States, European countries and Russia and received wide coverage in the international press. But Erdoðan lamented that the Turkish media had not shown much interest in the talks. "Hundreds of news items were published in the world media, while the issue has almost gone unmentioned in the Turkish media. Turkey set the international news agenda and it's not proper to ignore this," said Erdoðan. Amid heightened political tension at home, the government has received little credit within Turkey for its foreign policy achievements. The announcement of the Turkish-mediated talks coincided with a bitter war of words
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan (R) is seen together with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, in Ankara in early 2007. Erdoðan said on Monday that the request for Turkish mediation with Syria came from Olmert but expressed concern that problems in Israel could block progress in talks. between the Supreme Court of Appeals and the government on Wednesday, which dominated the newspapers' front pages the next day.
Role in Suleiman’s election Erdoðan also stated that Turkey played a major role in a Qatari-brokered deal between Lebanese groups that ended an 18-month political stalemate and allowed election of army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman as president of the country on Sunday. Erdoðan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan were present at the Lebanese Parliament to witness the vote.
The prime minister said Turkey was instrumental in the emergence of Suleiman as the only candidate for president. "There was intense diplomatic traffic. I sent Ahmet Davutoðlu [his chief foreign policy advisor] to Lebanon; we spoke to Lebanese and Syrian leaders on the phone. Our ambassador in Beirut, Serdar Kýlýç, had important meetings while all other ambassadors had withdrawn to their residences due to street clashes," said Erdoðan. While in Beirut, Erdoðan met with Qatar's Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and leader of the majority in Lebanese Parliament Saad al-Hariri.
The AK Party denies the charges and has submitted its defense to the court. Erdoðan criticized his nationalist opponents who are skeptical of foreign investment and of Turkey being more actively involved in international affairs, saying: "There is no iron curtain in the world now, but in Turkey there are attempts to weave one. We have to open up to the world economically and politically. If we open up to the world, then it will come to us." Erdoðan called for a swift conclusion to the closure case against his party so that further instability is prevented. "We want the case to be concluded as soon as possible. We don't want Turkey to be harmed by the process. But this is not up to us. We are using the minimum time given us by the court," Erdoðan said. The prime minister cited upcoming local elections and the fight against terrorism as matters urgently awaiting attention. "Let what is going to come, come, so people can take their steps accordingly," he said. Tension between the government and judiciary reached a peak when the Supreme Court of Appeals released a strongly worded statement criticizing the AK Party government for a series of actions, such as drafting a new constitution and a judicial reform strategy presented to the EU. It also accused the AK Party of making Turkey's judiciary a target in the eyes of the EU. In what was considered to be a very harsh statement, government spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek said in response, "The public statement has no democratic or legal legitimacy." He noted that "this is a political statement, and, as such, it cannot be accepted." He also argued that "the judiciary has interfered with the legislative and executive powers," overstepping its authority. Çiçek also accused the Supreme Court of Appeals of "acting like an opposition political party," intending to influence the pending closure case at the Constitutional Court. Asked how the recent developments in Turkey were seen abroad, Erdoðan said, "Everyone is surprised."
Turkish, Greek top commanders’ meeting marred by criticism contýnued from page 1 It said, however, that official representation in the activities revealed the Greek government's backing for anti-Turkey allegations and harmed "the atmosphere of peace and confidence" that the two nations were trying to build. In 1994 the Greek Parliament endorsed a law backing claims that Pontic Greeks were subject to genocide in Anatolia and instituting May 19 as the official day of commemoration for the incidents. Büyükanýt said politicians of the two neighboring
countries could have a better chance for dialog if the militaries do their part. "People assume that soldiers are there for war, but they are good at building peace as well," Büyükanýt said as he received his Greek counterpart, citing 1933 remarks by the Turkish Republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, during a meeting with the Greek ambassador to Turkey. "If we can provide the security, politicians can have better dialog." "Turkey and Greece are lucky to have had great leaders like Atatürk and [Greek statesman
Eleftherios] Venizelos. They worked hard for peace between the two nations after the war," Grapsas said, adding, "Our duty is to remain on the same path, in their footsteps." After decades of tension, during which they nearly came to war three times over disputes about territorial rights in the Aegean, Turkey and Greece witnessed a rapprochement following a deadly earthquake in western Turkey in 1999 that sparked an outpouring of sympathy between the two nations. In 1996 the two countries
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launched a set of measures designed to boost confidence between the people of the two countries and help tackle their territorial disputes in the Aegean. The measures, announced by then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and his Greek counterpart, Dora Bakoyannis, in Ýstanbul, included the establishment of a direct telephone line between the military chiefs of staff of the two countries and mutual visits and regular contacts between the commanders of the countries' coast guards. Ankara Today's Zaman
NATIONAL
N. IRAQ
‘PKK problem requires political solution’ Senior Iraqi Kurdish official Nechirvan Barzani has said the Kurdish administration is committed to fighting terrorism but claimed the problem of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) requires a political solution. Barzani, prime minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration running northern Iraq, made the remarks in a weekend interview with the Voice of America's Kurdish service during a visit to the United States. Last week, he met with top administration officials including President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Suspecting that they support the PKK, Ankara has long refused to have dialogue with the Iraqi Kurds. Earlier this month, however, two senior Turkish officials broke the ice and had the first highlevel direct talks with the Kurdish administration, meeting Barzani in Baghdad on May 1. Ankara says the dialogue was the result of recent improvements in the Kurds' attitude on the PKK issue and that it is ready for more talks provided that Iraqi Kurds prove their commitment to fighting the PKK with concrete actions. Kurdish statements calling for a "political solution" to PKK terrorism, however, is unlikely to please Turkish officials, who expect the Iraqi Kurds to recognize the PKK as a terrorist group and take action accordingly. The US describes the PKK as a terrorist group and has recently stepped up pressure on the Iraqi Kurds to take measures against the group. Barzani said last week the Iraqi Kurds were serious about their commitment to prevent the PKK from attacking Turkey. Barzani expressed content over his talks in Washington and said in remarks over the weekend that "our relationship with the United States has never been better." During his visit, Barzani also attended the launch of the Kurdish-American Congressional Caucus in the US Congress. "There is an awareness and appreciation in Washington both of our accomplishments in the Kurdistan region and the role that the Kurds are playing in Iraq," Barzani said, according to the Kurdish administration Web site. Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Kurdish administration's department of foreign relations, said the depth of the meetings showed how determined the US and the Kurdish region are to move forward together. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman
DECISION
Saudi authorities set to release Turkish man A Turkish man arrested in Saudi Arabia for "insulting the Prophet Mohammed" is due to be released, the Cihan news agency reported yesterday. Ersin Taze, who owns a barber shop in Riyadh but who is originally from the southern Anatolian province of Hatay, was arrested by Saudi authorities about three weeks ago. Authorities at the Riyadh Governorate have completed an investigation into the matter and decided to release Taze. The Turkish Embassy in Riyadh worked hard to resolve the matter before it went to court, and Turkish Ambassador Naci Koru had appealed to Saudi officials, including Riyadh's emir, to save the Turkish man. Sabri Boðday, another Turk working in Saudi Arabia, was recently sentenced to death on grounds of blasphemy after an argument with a Saudi client and an Egyptian neighbor. An appeals court recently upheld the death sentence against Boðday, who worked in Jeddah for 11 years as a barber. The sentence can be still reversed by a higher legal body or by a royal pardon. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman
VISIT
Talat to have talks with EU presidency Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat arrived in Brussels yesterday for talks with Slovenia's Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Talat is due to meet with Rupel today, following talks with Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis yesterday afternoon. Talat's visit to Brussels came days after meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias on Friday to discuss a stalemate in a new process of reunification on the divided island. The two leaders expressed a commitment to a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation with political equality after their meeting and agreed to get together in early June to review progress in talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriot committees, aimed at preparing the groundwork for face-to-face talks between Talat and Christofias on reunification. The two leaders originally planned to start the reunification talks in late June, but Talat said after the meeting that there was a disagreement on the meeting's date. The Turkish Cypriots are calling on the EU to take measures to end their isolation, in line with an EU Commission proposal unveiled after they voted for a UN reunification plan in 2004. The proposal faces opposition from Greek Cypriots and has been shelved since then. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman
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TODAY’S ZAMAN 05
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Turkish Olympics competitors’ performance touches deputies PHOTO
ALÝ ASLAN KILIÇ ANKARA
Foreign students in Turkey for the 6th International Turkish Language Olympics paid a visit to Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan yesterday.
Students competing in the Sixth International Turkish Language Olympics visited Parliament yesterday, performing for deputies and speaking with top figures in the legislature. Deputies and reporters covering the event said they were moved by the performances, all in Turkish. Several reporters said they were affected by the poem “Mother,” by Homaira Pyae Wen Naing of Myanmar and Raskil Kamas of Pakistan. Speaker of Parliament Köksal Toptan joked with a third competitor, saying, “I hope you’ll recite another poem because if you recite this poem once more, I’ll start to cry.” Toptan spoke while receiving ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Kahramanmaraþ deputy Mehmet Saðlam and his team, saying the war-weary world will experience peace because of the love found in the world’s children. He welcomed the stu-
dents to Turkey and said he was happy to receive all of the 550 students from 110 countries of the world who came to Turkey for the Sixth International Turkish Language Olympics. “In our past, we have hosted all civilizations. We hosted all beliefs, all ideas -- all together within a circle of love,” Toptan said, adding that these students showed Turkey a larger version of this understanding with their gathering in Turkey. The speaker of Parliament continued, saying: “I hope you will maintain the friendships you have made here in your own countries, friends in your countries and you will bring about world peace as a consequence. The world has become a wartorn place due to war, poverty and misery. However, we think that it is possible to re-establish the future of the world, make all people in the future world smile again, considering the potential and the resources the world has. It is possible to use these resources honestly and efficiently. We believe it is you who
will do this. No matter where you are from, we feel the same for all children of the world. We hosted children from 40 countries during our April 23, Children’s Day, and are now hosting children from 110 countries. I hope we will host children from 150 countries next week and the following year children from the entire world. Please convey our greetings and best wishes to your countries.”
Students visit Parliament in traditional dress The students visited Parliament wearing their country’s traditional clothes, creating a colorful atmosphere in the legislature. After Toptan’s speech, each student introduced himself or herself and spoke a little about the country he or she came from. The students brought some presents for Toptan also. Munisai Safoviddin from Tajikistan brought a tea set, and Gülserem Saporova from Turkmenistan carried with her a Turkmen rug.
In recognition of the 48th anniversary of the military coup of May 27, 1960, victims of the military intervention went to the island of Yassýada as part of the “Landing on Yassýada for Democracy” event organized by the Young Civilians on Sunday. On May 27, 1960, the military overthrew the government of then- Prime Minster Adnan Menderes. Menderes and his fellow Democrat Party (DP) members were tried in 14 separate cases on Yassiada. The result was three death penalties, 12 life sentences and hundreds of long-term imprisonments. The commemorative event was attended by Abdülmelik Fýrat, who was arrested as a deputy of the DP after the coup; Emine Gürsoy, the granddaughter of former President Celal Bayar; Emre Oktay, the son of police chief Faruk Oktay, who died in Yassýada; Cahit Ýleri, the son of then-Education Minister Tevfik Ýleri; journalist Nazlý Ilýcak; Sevan Niþanyan, the son of Vaðarþ Niþanyan, who was among those arrested following the coup; actress Lale Mansur; and academic Ferhat Kentel. Fýrat took his two grandsons to Yassýada to show them where he was tortured. Oktay prayed not only for his father but also for the other people who died on the island. Officials did not allow the Young Civilians to land on the island, arguing that there were too many of them. Yet five or six demonstrators placed a banner on the wall of a building on the island that read “Let Yassýada Be an Island of Democracy.” Departing by ferry from ports in the districts of Kabataþ and Kadýköy, about 250 Young Civilians activists reached Yassýada around noon. But because they were not allowed to land on the island, a ceremony was held aboard the ferry. Ilýcak gave an opening speech, recounting her memories of the coup. She said she had been unable to visit her father, who was imprisoned on the island, because she was under the age of 18. “We did not know the seriousness of the situation. We would even wonder, ‘Should we send him a swim suit since he is on an island?’ We had such weird ideas,” she said. Ilýcak noted that the coup had been a trau-
ma for the nation. She called on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to make Yassýada a museum of democracy. Fýrat said he was arrested after the coup and taken to the island, where they were beaten upon arrival. Noting that he faced execution in his trial, he said that the windows of the cell where he stayed were painted black and that the officials would spray insecticide into the ward from the windows. He explained that he had taken his grandsons to Yassýada to raise their awareness of the coup. Fýrat argued that the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and former President Ýsmet Ýnönü paved the way for the coup. “Everyone who was against Ýsmet Pasha was taken to Yassýada,” he said. Fýrat maintained that today the CHP and Deniz Baykal are supporting military coups. Gürsoy stressed that the coup had been conducted against the national will. “Unless we confront May 27, there will always be military coups. May 27 also undermined the judiciary. The Yassýada trial was a disgraceful institution that was set up in advance. The decisions of the court were determined in advance. The court decisions were given by the university lecturers who gave counsel to coup generals,” she said. Gürsoy noted that because all of the coup planners of May 27 had since died, they could not be put on trial. But she added that they could still be condemned. She suggested that the anniversary of May 14, 1960, when the DP assumed power, should be declared as a democracy festival and that part of Yassýada should be allocated as a museum of democracy. Gürsoy also said that Council of State Chief Prosecutor Tansel Çölasan must apologize for saying, “The hanging of Menderes and his colleagues was received with enthusiasm around the country.” Mansur, who acted in “Hatýrla Sevgili,” a TV series that was inspired by the coup, said: “For the series, I read many memoirs and was impressed by them. Several CHP members accused me of promoting the DP. In my opinion, the series did not give exhaustive treatment of the subject. May 27 was a very traumatic experience for democracy. Many things have changed since then. But there have been three memorandums during the last week. I am here to object to this.”
PHOTOS
BÜÞRA ERDAL ÝSTANBUL
ÝSA ÞÝMÞEK
Victims of May 27 military coup go to Yassýada for democracy
Abdülmelik Fýrat, a victim of the May 27, 1960 coup, delivered a speech during Sunday’s commemorative event.
Activists placed a banner on the wall of a building on Yassýada that read “Let Yassýada be an Island of Democracy.”
Drought hits southeastern Anatolia, significantly reducing harvests As southeastern Turkey struggles with drought, farmers in the region are demanding that the government complete its Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) to protect them from the effects of the drought. Meanwhile Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan is set to visit Diyarbakýr on Tuesday to discuss increasing investment in the dam-to-irrigation GAP project. According to the Anatolia news agency, southeastern Anatolia was not affected by the drought that hit more than half of the country, especially central Anatolia and the Aegean region, last year. However, this year drought hit the region and the loss in harvests is expected to reach up to 80 percent, especially in areas that cannot benefit from irrigation. An area of 191,000 hectares irrigated with water provided by GAP’s irrigation system or by
groundwater pumping systems has not been affected by the drought in the region, but rest of the region was severely affected. The farmers who have been affected by the drought are rushing to directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture in their provinces in order to take advantage of financial aids being offered to drought victims -- the drought aids are given to the farmers if more than 40 percent of their fields are affected by drought. Meanwhile the government is gearing up to announce a revitalization of GAP on Tuesday that is expected to include approximately $12 million in aid to the project. Þanlýurfa’s Harran University Agricultural Faculty Dean Professor Ali Çullu told Anatolia that the drought experienced in southeastern Anatolia this year would lead to decreases in the country’s cereal stocks. Çullu said drought hit 40 provinces in
Turkey last year, especially in the Aegean, Marmara and central Anatolian regions, and that this increased wheat and bread prices as cereal stocks bottomed. Çullu said this year it is only southeastern Anatolia that has been affected by drought, adding that there have been serious harvest losses, especially in the provinces of Mardin, Þanlýurfa, Batman, Diyarbakýr, Adýyaman and Þýrnak. Çullu said this year’s rainfall has been much lower than region’s average, adding: “Southeastern Anatolia is one of the most important cereal production centers in Turkey. For this reason the drought in the region will affect the entire country’s cereal stocks. This will affect harvest levels and the family budgets of consumers. The thing we need to do here is to complete the second leg of GAP, namely the irrigation portion. This will
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reduce the effects of drought in the region.” Çullu also asserted it was not correct to correlate this year’s drought directly with global warming. He explained that there is periodical heating in the world that repeats itself in 10-year intervals. He said this year’s drought may have happened for this reason. The drought has hit Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakýr, damaging 90 percent of the fields in the towns of Bismil and Çýnar. Çýnar and Bismil District Governor Hasan Tanrýseven said they had determined that 115,000 hectares if land in Bismil and 62,000 hectares in Çýnar, 90 percent of the area’s farmland, had been affected by the drought. He explained, “There has been a significant harvest decrease in irrigated areas but, unfortunately, this year there will not be any harvesting in non-irrigated areas.” Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
AK Party closure case hinders party's reform plans A closure case filed against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has stymied its plans to press ahead with a number of reforms previously planned to be debated in Parliament ahead of summer recess. The closure case was filed against the AK Party on March 14 by the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals on grounds the party had become a “focal point of anti-secular activity.” The political atmosphere in the country has become increasingly tense since then. The issue gained a new dimension last week when the Board of Chairmen of the Supreme Court of Appeals issued a harsh statement criticizing the AK Party. The government has since had to review Parliament’s schedule in terms of planned work on reforms. The government has postponed plans to bring a draft constitution before Parliament and is not now expected to be able to debate the matter before the conclusion of the closure case. The draft constitution, which the AK Party said would be a more democratic and civilian one, would replace the current constitution, written in the aftermath of a military coup in 1980. Although the AK Party had finalized a proposal to amend Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution, which make party closures harder, it has decided not to go ahead with the reform package at this time. The AK Party will reportedly wait for the conclusion of the closure case again if it gets no support from within Parliament to press ahead with the reform package relating to party closures. The law on protection of personal data and state secrets as well as other laws relating to EU harmonization is not expected to come to Parliament due to the rising tension among political parties there. These laws are now expected to be discussed in Parliament after Oct. 1, when Parliament will reconvene following a summer recess that begins on July 1. Ercan Yavuz Ankara
Tick bite cases surge as temperatures heat up With the weather growing warmer as summer approaches, the number of people bitten by ticks has increased in Turkey as more people head outdoors for recreational activities, with cases of tick-borne disease focused in central Anatolia. The number of people in the central Anatolian province of Yozgat who have gone to hospitals this month with complaints of tick bites is 1,416. However, the total number of people bitten is assumed to be a lot higher as many people simply remove the ticks themselves, though doctors recommend against this practice. The locals of Yozgat are concerned about tick bites as most of the cases of the tick-transmitted Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) have been reported in central Anatolia. Of 39 people who were transferred to hospitals in Ankara for symptoms of CCHF, 31 were diagnosed with the disease. In Ýstanbul, hundreds of Ýstanbulites who picnicked in rural areas over the last two weekends flooded hospitals on the following Monday with complaints of tick bites. CCHF has killed 10 people in Turkey in 2008. Those with tick bites said they went to the picnic areas to spend time relaxing with their families but after coming home they realized they had small, dark-colored ticks attached to their bodies. CCHF is a widespread tick-borne disease with an estimated 30 percent fatality rate in humans. Treatment is primarily symptomatic and supportive, as there is no established course of treatment. In the past five years 94 people have died in Turkey of CCHF. People who have come into contact with a tick should be monitored for 10 days following contact and seek professional medical care if symptoms of fever, headache, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea present themselves. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
Three die in military vehicle accident in Van A private and two sergeants died and six people were wounded on Sunday in the eastern province of Van in a collision between a military vehicle carrying detainees and a truck. Pvt. Suat Bilici was driving the military vehicle through the town of Muradiye when the vehicle was hit by a truck coming from the opposite direction whose driver has not yet been identified. Sergeants Tuncay Ateþ and Gökhan Ýþler and Pvt. Fatih Asrak died in the accident. Those who were injured -- detainee Murat Bakan, attorney Ýdris Saðlam, court clerk Ferdi Alkoç, officer Mehmet Tarlacý and privates Durmuþ Aldýr and Bilici -- were hospitalized. Meanwhile, an officer and four soldiers were wounded as a military car on patrol at night flipped over in the eastern province of Erzincan. The cause of the accident has not been determined. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
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Turkey’s drug trafficking report for 2007 revealed that 31 tons of opium and 13 tons of heroin were seized in Turkey in just one year.
Turkey seýzes 31 tons opýum, 13 tons heroýn ýn 2007; PKK drug lýnks growýng ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA
The Investigatory Commission on Drug Trafficking and Substance Addiction at Parliament has prepared Turkey’s drug trafficking report for 2007, with the data revealing statistics, trends and terrorist links. Experts at the police department’s anti-drug trafficking and organized crime unit testified that 31 tons of opium and 13 tons heroin were seized in Turkey in 2007 alone, while Mustafa Pýnarcý, chairman of the Turkish Center for Monitoring Drug Use and Drug Addiction (TUBÝM), stressed that the amount of illegal substances seized in Turkey greatly exceeded that seized in 27 European countries plus Iran. Necdet Ünüvar, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Ýstanbul deputy who also chairs the commission established to investigate the issue of drug use and drug trafficking, commented that Turkey is in a good position in its battle against drug trafficking. The commission was briefed by Maj. Erkan Alacakurt of the gendarmerie’s narcotics unit. According to Parliament records, 85 percent of the drugs entering Turkey come from Afghanistan; most of the trafficked drugs are then transported to Eastern European countries, the Netherlands and Belgium. Meanwhile illegal substances such as ecstasy and captagon are transported from Western countries to the East and Middle East. Pýnarcý noted that 73 countries were working in cooperation on the drug trafficking issue and noted that Turkey has 38 narcotics liaison officers in 20 countries. Records indicate that 702 kilos of heroin have been seized over the last three years in various countries by gendarmerie units thanks to such information-sharing by the international community. The commission found that drug trafficking remains the number one financial resource for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and that the terror organization cultivates Indian hemp in the mountainous terrain of Turkey. Pýnarcý gave additional information to the commission on the current number of drug addicts in Turkey and noted that there was a visible increase in the frequency of epidemic disease in connection with drug addiction. Pýnarcý underlined that 6,516 Hepatitis B and 1,071 Hepatitis C cases were detected in 2007 and that official records indicate 51 of those who were reported as carriers of the disease had died of drug overdose. Pýnarcý recalled that 44 of these 51 deaths stemmed from opium derivatives and five from ecstasy. The TUBÝM chairman stressed that 0.43
percent of teenagers aged between 15-18 do heroin, while 0.16 percent of this group used cocaine and 0.18 percent ecstasy. Noting that drug addiction is becoming a “grave problem” in Turkey, regardless of the fact that it is far more significant in European countries, Pýnarcý also recalled that 0.4 percent of young people aged between 15-24 and 0.3 percent of the 25 and over group use drugs. Stressing that Turkey has been successful in police measures against drug problems whereas it had failed to raise public awareness with regard to the same issue, Pýnarcý noted that all public institutions should be focused on this particular problem. Noting that the data show hashish is the most frequently used illicit drug in Turkey, Pýnarcý also recalled that ecstasy, a psychoactive drug, had become more common in recent times. With its growing popularity in the early 2000s, Pýnarcý underlined that Turkey is used as a transit country in ecstasy trafficking. Pýnarcý stated that 7,500, 10,000 and 13,600 operations were carried out against drug traffickers in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively, and noted that the number of suspects arrested in the operations was
How does TUBÝM work? The Turkish Center for Monitoring Drug Use and Drug Addiction (TUBÝM) runs its operations and activities in cooperation with 34 national and international institutions as part of the police department’s anti-drug trafficking and organized crime unit. It maintains coordination between all relevant institutions responsible for combating narcotics. Turkey set up TUBÝM in 2006 under the auspices of the police department with the financial support of the EU; the authorities subsequently submitted relevant information on the center as part of a strategy paper to EU organs. The action plan under the strategy paper entered into force on Dec. 31, 2007. TUBÝM is authorized to determine and govern Turkey’s narcotics policy under an international agreement signed in 2007 because it has a direct link to the European Center for Monitoring Drugs and Drug Addiction. The center also hosts several affiliate groups including the Working Group on Drug-Related Epidemic Diseases, the Working Group on Drug-Related Deaths, the Working Group on Narcotics Treatment, the Working Group on Combating Narcotics Supply and the Working Group on Demand Reduction and an Early Warning System.
15,000 in 2005, while it increased to 28,000 in 2007. Noting that the amount of opium seized was 13 tons in 2005 and 31 tons in 2007, Pýnarcý said the amount of seized heroin increased from eight tons in 2005 to 13 tons in 2007. The commission chairman also noted that Afghanistan’s share in the world’s total illicit drug market increased from 75 percent in 2005 to 93 percent following the removal of the Taliban and the subsequent destabilization in the country. About 8,800 tons of opium are produced annually in the world, and 880 tons of this amount is heroin, the commission reported. Recalling that the world’s total cocaine production is 910 tons, Pýnarcý also said that Peru, Colombia and Bolivia were the most popular countries for cocaine production, whereas European countries are famous for synthetic drug marketing. Pýnarcý further brought to mind that the Netherlands and Belgium are top producers of ecstasy. Touching on cocaine traffic in Turkey, Pýnarcý underlined that it experienced a surge in 2004 and that tighter measures were introduced as part of the struggle against it. In particular two operations in Hatay and Istanbul saw large amounts of cocaine seized in 40-kilo packages, further stating that 116 kilos of cocaine were seized in 2007 thanks to the heightened measures. Reports indicate that use of ecstasy peaked in 2005, a year that saw 12 million ecstasy pills seized in Turkey.
PKK cultivates drugs in the mountains Pýnarcý noted the PKK had assumed a greater role in drug trafficking, as evidenced by the large amount of illicit drugs seized in big cities. “Unfortunately, drug trafficking still remains the biggest financial resource for terrorism. The sites where drugs are transported in the country overlap with the spots where the PKK has intensified its activities. About 90 percent of the drugs in Turkey are transported from these points. In other words, it is possible to argue that drug trafficking is more concentrated in the places where the PKK is relatively active. Statements by suspects, illicit drugs seized in the operations and financial sources also confirm this. In 2007, 22 narcotics laboratories, 22 tons of opium, 4 tons of heroin, 5.5 tons of hemp directly connected to the PKK terrorist organization were exposed. The PKK currently cultivates narcotics in mountainous terrains of Turkey. In a statement former PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, noting that the terror organization’s total revenue was around $200 million, said most of this came from socalled taxation on drug traffickers,” he said.
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NATIONAL
Turkey’s first ‘ecovillage’ being built outside Ankara KENAN BAÞ ANTALYA
Ankara businessman Murat Çelikel, who has overseen many large projects in the construction and real estate sectors, is bringing to life his childhood dream of village life in what is set to be Turkey’s first ecovillage, Muratlýköy, where people will find themselves removed from the stresses of the city and live closer to the land. Muratlýköy, planned to be a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable intentional community, is currently under construction 20 kilometers from the town of Polatlý nearby Ankara and will eventually take up an area of 320,000 square meters. This village will be mostly --85 percent -green, and will have 200 homes, with each home on roughly 1,000 square meters of land. Muratlýköy residents will be able to use their land as they see fit, for agriculture or keeping animals. There is to be a village center, including a fountain, a “kahve,” a traditional “tandýr” oven for villagers’ use, and every other kind of opportunity available to villagers living throughout Anatolia. In keeping with the village’s ecological characteristics, the homes in Muratlýköy will be constructed from sun-dried bricks and wood. The project is slated for completion in 2010. Çelikel commented on the process of turning his childhood dream into a reality, and what that means for the village’s future residents: “People who live here will finally come together with nature and will get a chance to work the land. If they want, they can keep goats, lambs or horses. It will be a place that provides the opportunity to escape, if only for a few days a week, from the oppressively false and concrete infrastructure of the city.” Çelikel also spoke about the village’s architectural style, noting that the houses would be made of sun-dried bricks, wood and stone. Noting the proximity that Muratlýköy will enjoy to Ankara, Çelikel said, “We have started a war against global warming, which threatens the whole world now.” Noting that the struggle to combat global warming had spread across a range of different sectors, Çelikel said: “In the food sector, it is organic agricul-
Turkey’s first ecological village will be mostly -- 85 percent -- green, and will have 200 homes, each located on roughly 1,000 square meters of land. ture; in the industrial sector, it is the effort to prevent greenhouse gases from escaping into the atmosphere and to use natural energy; and in the tourism sector, environmental concerns have taken center stage. In short, everyone is struggling as best they can. And so we in the real estate sector also wanted to get involved. Our aim is to leave our children with a cleaner and more inhabitable world. In Anatolia, we are lucky to experience four seasons a year. We want to start off with this ecological project outside of Ankara, but then continue with similar projects near Istanbul, Antalya and the Aegean region.” Çelikel also touted the village’s proximity to nearby towns and cities, noting that the ecological village would be only 20 kilometers from the town of Polatlý and 58 kilometers from Ankara. The 200 homes being built in Muratlýköy will be between 85 and 120 square meters in size, and a full 85 percent of the land on which the village sits will be set aside for greenery. Noting that broad interest had been expressed in Muratlýköy already, even by some members of Parliament and bureaucrats, Çelikel gave a bit more detail about the project: “The homes in Muratlýköy will be single-story. In addition, there will be a 30,000-square-meter village center that will offer traditional village services, like a village fountain, a village coffeehouse, a
Murat Çelikel ‘tandir’ house, a village leader, these sorts of things. Our village will offer its residents a village life that reflects healthy living, clean and fresh air and clean soil. In ecology, there must be harmony between the Earth, the water, the air, plants and animals. But people are disrupting these balances. This is why human relations with the soil, the water and even with animals are so disconnected now. And this disconnection in itself fosters physical and spiritual illnesses in people. With this village project, we aim to recreate these natural balances. We want to offer our children the chance to live in the real world, not some sort of made-up world.” The total project cost is estimated at YTL 50 million, and homes in Muratlýköy will range from YTL 150-175,000 depending on size.
26.05.2008
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BUSINESS
TODAY’S ZAMAN 07
TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
AP
T07-27-05-08.qxd
MURAT YÜLEK m.yulek@todayszaman.com
developing countries turning to import substitution in the 1960s and 1970s. That was because there was a compelling explanation as to why the hypothesis made sense. But now we are going through a different phase of world economic history when primary commodities are becoming more expensive. The reason is mainly related to rapid development of especially East Asian economies. From a material point of view, the phenomenon is clearly helping both the richer and the poorer economies as the purchasing power of their people is increasing relative to the prices of manufactured
products. There was a time when a refrigerator was a luxury item for a UK household. Now two refrigerators can be considered standard equipment in the households of many poorer countries. That is made possible by the diligent low cost workers in East Asia. But the same system put significant pressure on the world's resources. That pressure is now pushing the prices of commodities up. The other pressure is on the workers of developed economies. While becoming more affluent, they are becoming less secure in terms of employment. Made worse by the unfavorable demographics, that process is forcing Western governments to increase the welfare aspects of their systems and is draining their fiscal resources. While the world is hopefully heading toward a new equilibrium, many industrial workers in developed economies will lose their jobs. So will the workers in the "tradable" service sectors (e.g., accountants as opposed to barbers). That is why there are growing fears and resistance to globalization in the developed economies.
‘Turkey should capitalize on growing Mediterranean tourism’ ABDULHAMÝT YILDIZ TUNISIA
Ýstanbul Chamber of Commerce (ÝTO) board chairman Murat Yalçýntaþ has said that current per capita spending for tourists visiting Turkey's Mediterranean region stands at $829, but that this figure should be increased to $2,000 in line with rising tourist numbers. As the number of tourists expected to vacation in the Turkish Mediterranean has been increasing each year, observers warn that Turkey's current infrastructure is insufficient to reap the maximum economic benefit from this developing sector. "The service sector should be improved and offer more to tourists. There should be better marketing. In turn, we could get more in terms of economic gain from tourists," he said yesterday in Tunisia at the MEDITOUR tourism fair organized by the Association of Mediterranean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) in Tunisia.
More than 400 million people are expected to visit the greater Mediterranean region in 2020. Yalçýntaþ, who also holds the chairmanship of ASCAME, said Turkey would not be able to benefit sufficiently from this rising appetite in the region without remedying its shortcomings in marketing and services. "Every country in the Mediterranean basin is yearning for Turkey's advantages in terms of tourism, but they are far ahead of us in terms of revenue, since they are able to market what they have much than us. We have to increase our service quality to convert it into economic value," he said. Underlining that foreign visitors spend three times more in European countries on the Mediterranean than they do in Turkey, Yalçýntaþ said: "When tourists leave their hotels, there are not many services offered to encourage spending. Even Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco have made serious investments to urge visitors to spend outside their places of accommodation." There is, on the other hand, a
handicap vis-à-vis Turkey's goal to attract tourists who spend more in that most tourists prefer Turkey as their holiday destination for its cheap prices and allinclusive accommodation tariffs. A recent survey by Öger Tour, for example, revealed that 85 percent of German tourists favor Turkey as a holiday destination due to allinclusive hotel rates. When a tourist settles into such a hotel, he or she simply does not want to go outside, since everything they need can be found within the confines of the hotel free of charge. Khalil Laajimi, Tunisia's tourism minister, said tourism was important for Mediterranean countries in order to sustain development. He said tourists wanted to be in contact with the local culture and at the same time sought security and comfort. In addition Tunisia Chamber of Commerce President Mounir Mouakhar suggested collaboration among other chambers of commerce from the Mediterranean region to improve services.
‘Turkey should be more outward-looking' Ýstanbul Chamber of Commerce (ÝTO) chairman of the board of directors Murat Yalçýntaþ said Turkish investors should follow developments in the world tourism sector closely: "We should always watch developments outside Turkey. This is a competitive world where nobody has any mercy for anybody else. Turkey is sometimes is too inward-looking."
Tunisian minister calls for investments Tunisian State Minister Chokri Mamoghli, who joined Yalçýntaþ in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of MEDITOUR 2008, invited Turkish businesspeople to invest in Tunisia: "We have developed cooperation with Turkey for more than 200 years. Turkish businessmen could build ports here and they could also invest in the textile sector." Enfidha Airport, under construction by Tepe Akfen Ventures (TAV) in Tunisia, is a good example of cooperation between the northern and southern sides of the Mediterranean, he added.
PHOTO
Globalýzatýon: feared by developed countrýes There was a time when the developed economies fought for free trade. Equipped with the technology and manufacturing power, the UK, for example, was the champion of free trade starting in the 18th century. In that century, the UK fought, and won, the "Opium Wars" with China to force the latter to allow British opium exports (from India) to the country. As a developing country, the newly established US was, on the other hand, the champion against free trade. Alexander Hamilton, as US treasury secretary, published the "Report on Manufactures," which advocated protection based on infant industry arguments. The Prebisch-Singer hypothesis that was well-known in the 1960s and 1970s proposed that the "terms of trade" between manufactured goods and primary commodities (prices of manufactured goods divided by those of commodities) would worsen over time. In other words, more commodities would be necessary to buy a given amount of manufactured goods. Prebisch-Singer's idea became a primary reason for many
George Soros
Soros blames speculators for skyrocketing oil prices Famous multibillionaire investor George Soros, notorious for his speculative transactions in global markets, has accused speculators of manipulating oil prices, which have recently reached record levels. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph published in Monday's edition, Soros also warned that the record oil prices now look like a bubble. Crude oil prices surpassed $135 per barrel last week to mark a record high and, for many experts, they may head to $200 per barrel in the current climate. Soros noted that the weak dollar, ebbýng Middle East supply concerns and soaring Chinese demand partly explain the increase. But a significant effect comes from speculation, he added. Although he was concerned about the future of oil, Soros claimed the oil bubble would burst if the US and Britain fell into a recession, after which prices could fall dramatically. "You can also anticipate that [the bubble] will eventually correct but that is unlikely to happen before the recession actually reduces the demand," he said, adding, "The rise in the price of oil and food is going to weigh and aggravate the recession." Soros expressed his worries about the British economy as well. Britain is facing its worst economic storm in living memory, dwarfing those of the 1970s and early 1990s, with a housing slump and a serious recession, he noted. "The dislocations will be greater [than in the 1970s] because you also have the implications of the house price decline, which you didn't have in the 1970s," he said. The warning undermines predictions that Britain will suffer only a brief and relatively painless recession, unlike the precipitous dives of previous years, the newspaper commented. Soros also emphasized that a recent inflation report by the Bank of England represented a "Faustian pact," obliging it to keep interest rates high to control inflation, even as the economy is starting to slump. "You had the nice decade," he said. "Now that is over and you are in a straitjacket." Ýstanbul Today's Zaman
Free zones provide lucrative boost to Turkey's trade figures
Ýstanbul Chamber of Commerce Chairman Murat Yalçýntaþ receiving information about an airport project undertaken by Tunisair.
Shell to partner in Samsun-Ceyhan project, deal in June contýnued from page 1 Shell and Eni are also partners in the Caspian Oil pipeline consortium, which was established to carry oil produced in the Kashagan region of Kazakhstan. The daily oil production of Kazakhstan is more than 1.3 million barrels and its export volume exceeds 1 million barrels per day, with most of this transported via the Black Sea, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Sources said a "throughput guarantee" would be provided by the multi-member consortium, including Shell, Eni and the Offshore Kazakhstan International Operating Company (OKIOC). The consortium had struck oil at Kashagan, well off Kazakhstan's
Caspian coast and a region said to be the most important oil discovery in the world in the last 30 years. For analysts, the TAPCO project was strategically a very important step to render Turkey an energy hub while reducing the density of traffic on the crowded Bosporus Strait. It is also seen as an effort to create an alternative to Russia's increasingly dominant position in supplying Europe with vital energy resources. Russia is said to be aiming to thwart this effort by implementing an alternative project -- the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline -which will carry Russian natural resources to the Aegean Sea, bypassing Turkey, through Bulgaria and Greece.
The US is also backing the TAPCO project, which it sees as diminishing Russia's importance in European politics. On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony for TAPCO last year, the US Embassy issued a written statement praising the initiative and wishing it success. The statement said the US strongly supported the concept of multiple pipelines to enhance global competition and to ensure the diversity and security of energy supply. "We wish the Samsun-Ceyhan project well in gaining oil throughput commitments to achieve its commercial success. Building on the success of the Baku-TbilisiCeyhan oil pipeline, we are supportive of the development of Ceyhan as an energy center," the statement noted. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires
CM Y K
Turkey's free trade zones enjoyed a significant leap in trade volume in the first quarter of 2008, engaging in $6.5 billion in transactions, a jump of 17.2 percent over the same period last year. The largest share in total trade belonged to the Ýstanbul Leather Free Zone, which recorded $1.6 billion. The Aegean Free Zone saw $983.8 million in trade and was followed by the Ýstanbul Atatürk Airport's duty-free services with $938.5 million. According to figures provided by the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat the Ýstanbul Leather Free Zone saw $1.4 billion in trade in the first quarter of last year, the Aegean Free Zone's trade score was $992.1 million and that of the Atatürk Airport $741.2 million. The Mersin Free Zone's trade volume saw a 32.2 percent increase over the previous year, jumping to $716.6 million. Ýstanbul's Thrace Free Zone, on the other hand, suffered a 7 percent decline in the given period and fell to $530.6 million. Turkey's sixth largest free zone, Bursa, however, enjoyed a 10.8 percent rise and reached $456.5 million in trade. Trade deals in the free zones were usually finalized with companies from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and the European Union, amounting to $2.5 billion. Other European countries had only a $7.5 million share, whereas members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) did $469.8 million worth of business with companies operating in Turkey's free zones. Turkey's newly rising customers in North Africa and Middle Eastern countries bought and sold $345.2 million of goods in these privileged areas. The free zones' contribution to employment is notable as the facilities in these reserved districts employed 46,764, with 38,323 as workers and 5,269 as office staff. The remaining 3,021 were employed for other reasons. Free zones, also known as free trade zones, are special districts and adjoining ports reserved solely for trade of goods that are intended for reshipment free of any charges, including those of customs, taxes, duties, etc. National standards of quality are also not applied for goods traded in these areas. Ankara Today's Zaman
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08 TODAY’S ZAMAN
T U E S D AY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 0 8
Iraq replaces southern oil chiefs in major shake-up dustry provides more than 90 percent of government revenues and is seen as crucial to rebuilding an economy shattered by decades of war and sanctions. The local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused the government of making politically motivated appointments, saying the incoming general directors were linked to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party. "Bringing officials close to Dawa to take key posts in the Southern Oil Company is a clear plan to have control over this vital sector before the provincial elections," said one senior provincial official aligned with Fadhila. The Oil Ministry defended the shakeup on Monday, saying the officials had been re-
move could trigger fresh violence in the unstable but strategic area, home to Iraq's main oil reserves. The head of Basra airport has also been replaced by the Transport Ministry in the shakeup, and the local officials said the head of Basra port could be next. The officials told Reuters the move was an attempt by the central government in Baghdad to take advantage of the improved security situation in Iraq's second city to wrest control of the industry from the locally powerful Shi'ite Fadhila party. Iraq, which wants to boost oil exports this year to a post-war high, exports the bulk of its crude through Basra, its gateway to the Gulf, at an average of around 1.5 million barrel per day (bpd). The oil in-
The Iraqi government has replaced some of the top officials in state-owned oil companies in southern Iraq, tightening its grip on an industry that fuels the economy but has been outside of its direct control. The shake-up, which has largely escaped public notice, affects industries in the southern oil hub of Basra, where 30,000 government troops were deployed in March to clamp down on Shi'ite militias and criminal gangs that dominated the city. The Baghdad government has removed the heads of the South Oil Company, which is in charge of exports, the South Gas Company and the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company since mid-May, local officials and the Oil Ministry told Reuters. Analysts warned the
moved under the ministry's "right man in the right place policy." Control of Basra and its oil will be a key prize in the elections due on Oct. 1. Fadhila will be competing with Dawa Party ally the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and supporters of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "The move should be recognised as a major development in the intra-sectarian conflict," Babak Rahimi, a professor at the University of California in San Diego, told Reuters. "The move by Maliki's government is risky because its going to upset many local Shia factions, potentially leading to another major military conflict in the port city, where security is still unstable." Basra Reuters
Another dýffýcult year for housýng ýndustry expected
BUSINESS
WELFARE
Hunger line rises to YTL 720 for a family of four The Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions' (Türk-Ýþ) monthly "Hunger and Poverty Line Survey" for May 2008 shows that a family of four has to earn YTL 720 to avoid the hunger line, indicating an increase of YTL 5 over the previous month. It also said the poverty line has risen to YTL 2,346, up from YTL 2,329 in April. The hunger line is a limit beneath which people are considered malnourished. The poverty line, on the other hand, refers to the amount that a four-member family should be making monthly in order to pay its rent and meet its basic needs such as transportation, clothing and education. The survey shows the minimum amount necessary to avoid malnourishment has increased by 15 percent on a 12-month basis. Türk-Ýþ issued a statement to comment on the results of the survey, saying volatility in food prices was reflected in the survey results this month. Due to a worldwide drought, food prices, led by rice and wheat, have increased everywhere in the world over the last two months. The statement pointed to the increase in meat and chicken prices as well. "The survey shows that a family of four has to spend YTL 306 more on food, rent, electricity, transportation, water and fuel needs over the same month of the previous year." Ankara Today's Zaman
CALENDAR
AT A GLAN
CE
Although no end is in sight for the US housing crisis, real estate agents are beginning to see signs of life among people looking for homes to purchase. Yun said, noting that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.92 percent in April, down from 6.18 percent in April 2007. Sales should also be helped in coming months, Yun predicted, by the reappearance of more mortgage products as lenders reopen the tap for certain loans. That supply had been closed following the credit crisis that hit last August, triggered by rising defaults in subprime mortgages. Other economists are not so optimistic, noting that the Realtors' latest report showed the number of unsold single-family homes jumping to a 23-year high, reflecting, in part, a rising tide of mortgage foreclosures, which are dumping more homes on an already glutted market.
slump was continuing. The Realtors reported Friday that existing home sales fell 1 percent in April, the eighth drop in the past nine months, with the median home price falling 8 percent compared with a year ago, the second-biggest drop on record. So just how much worse will things get? Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, sees some hopeful signs. Some parts of the country that have been hammered with sharp declines in sales and prices, such as San Diego, California, and Fort Myers, Florida, are now reporting sales increases, as buyers are being lured back into the market, looking for bargains. "Lower prices and low interest rates are starting to generate results,"
Yearly Change (%)
YTD Change (%)
MCAP (million YTL)
1-Y Av.Volum
39.439
-1,3%
-9,5%
-14,6%
-29,0%
200.435
1.292
Hang Seng
İMKB-30
47.957
-1,7%
-12,2%
-16,7%
-31,9%
143.777
987
Nikkei 225
İMKB-IND
35.872
-1,0%
-1,7%
-5,6%
-11,6%
72.704
360
Cac 40
Daily Monthly Change (%) Change (%)
İMKB-BANK
71.537
-1,8%
-17,5%
-21,5%
-40,4%
74.031
693
DAX
DJIMT
11,15
-0,4%
-0,9%
-2,6%
-5,9%
112
0,54
FTSE 100
TurkDEX EU€/JP¥
REUTERS
Brunei partly leaves full fuel subsidies
İMKB-100
US$/JP¥
Foreign companies have pledged to invest $15.3 billion in Vietnam in the first five months this year, more than double from the same period last year, an official said Monday. About 320 projects have been licensed this year, and investor have pledged $15.329 billion so far, said Nguyen Viet Cuong, an official with Vietnam's ministry of planning and investment. That's a record amount for January-May. Vietnam has experienced a significant surge in foreign investment since it joined the World Trade Organization last year. "This is far more than we expected," Cuong said. "Therefore we are confident to say this year will be a very optimistic year for Vietnam in attracting foreign direct investment." Investment in 132 existing projects has been increased by $605 million. Hanoi AP
SAVING
Close
ex 27-May A Con Confidence Ind ex of CB Of US n. Confidence ind USA of GDP and Co les sa me Germany Ho 27-May EY ASSOCIATION EU - TURK(poss.) COUNCIL 28-May 1 COREPER any (leading) CPI of Germods order in USA Durable go2 COREPER
FDI in Vietnam reaches $15 billion in Q1
PHOTO
INVESTMENT Like spring flowers, the "For Sale" signs are sprouting in front yards all over the United States. But anxious sellers are facing the most brutal environment in decades, with a slumping economy, falling home prices and rising mortgage foreclosures. And even the faint promise of better days ahead might not come true, given all the headwinds the housing industry is facing at the moment. "This is going to be another difficult spring," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "I think we are at the beginning of the end of the housing downturn, but it is going to be a long and painful end." The devastation is certainly a far cry from the boom years from 2001 to 2005 when sales of new and existing homes were setting records for five straight years. During that time, home prices were soaring, luring thousands of investors into the market, hoping to buy homes and flip them for quick profit. But since 2006, the country has been mired in a housing bust which, in many ways, is the worst since World War II. Construction is expected to drop to the slowest pace since the 1940s and prices are expected to decline by the largest amount since the Great Depression. Housing has shaved more than a full percentage point off economic growth, trimming the gross domestic product for the past two quarters to a barely discernible 0.6 percent rate and raising the threat that the country could topple into a full-blown recession. The National Association of Realtors reported that 46 states saw sales decline in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2007. Two-thirds of 149 metropolitan areas saw prices decline during the same period, the largest percentage of cities reporting price drops in the history of the NAR survey, which goes back to 1979. The state with the biggest sales decline was Maryland, with sales down 38.6 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2007. The drop nationwide was 22.2 percent. The price decline nationally was 7.7 percent in the first quarter, with the biggest plunge a 29.2 percent decline in the Sacramento, California, area. As the spring sales season got under way, the
48.775 1,266
Country
Change (%)
Level
H.Kong
-2,37
24.127,3
Japan
-2,30
13.690,2
France
0,16
4.941,8
Germany
0,13
6.953,2
UK
-1,53
6.087,3
Dow
USA
-1,15
12.471,0
NASDAQ
USA
-0,30
1.959,0
USA
-1,32
1.375,9
Brasil
0,35
71.704,4
S&P
-0,91% 0,04%
BOVESPA
Adding to the foreclosure problem is the weak economy, which has resulted in four straight months of job layoffs, an indication to some analysts that the country has already fallen into a recession. Rising job layoffs and higher gasoline and food prices have sent consumer confidence plunging -- not a great environment to mount a rebound in housing. And then there is the problem of the huge overhang of unsold homes generating further declines in prices, which seem to be keeping more prospective buyers on the fence. "Right now a lot of people are staying away because they don't want to buy an asset that might lose value right away," said Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight. Washington AP
70.32 57.68
52.9 42.32 29.68
22,3 6.83
9.3
Native
Foreign
Number of Shares
Native
M.cap
Brunei's government has lashed out at citizens who waste energy resources after public subsidies to keep the sultanate's fuel prices extraordinarily low quadrupled between 2004 and last year. The Prime Minister's Office revealed Sunday that 202 million Brunei dollars ($151 million) was spent to subsidize gasoline and diesel prices for motorists last year. It was the highest figure since the subsidies were introduced in 1978. Energy Minister Awang Yahya said that subsidies in 2004 totaled 50 million Brunei dollars, but the figure has since skyrocketed as Brunei maintained retail gasoline prices at 53 Brunei cents ($0.40) per liter despite soaring global prices. "We must study and be envious of the lifestyle of people living in developed countries where energy efficiency and conservation have long been given priority," Yahya said. Brunei AP
COMMENT
US economist says calm returning after crunch A US Treasury official said Monday the global credit crunch is gradually calming following efforts by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. Clay Lowery, assistant secretary for international affairs at the US Treasury, said the Fed and other central banks have coordinated their actions to protect the financial system from possible disruptions after the US subprime mortgage crisis surfaced last year. As a result, the availability of credit has improved "modestly," Lowery told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. He said US financial institutions reported more than $300 billion in subprime-related losses, but that was alleviated by the raising of an additional $200 billion in capital. Lowery also urged Japan to do more to prove its openness to foreign investment. Tokyo AP
Foreign
Number of Shares
M.cap
SCANDAL Ticker
Price (YTL) Daily Change (%)
Ticker
Price
Daily Change (%)
Ticker
Volumes
Daily Close Change (%)
Price (YTL) Yearly Change (%)
Monthly Change (%)
Yearly Change (%)
US$/JP¥
103,44
PEGYO
1,68
20,00%
GOLDS
1,66
-9,29%
VAKBN
154,0
2,0
-50,97
YTL / €
1,958
0,6%
-2,1%
9,9%
EU/JP¥
163,22
YKSGR
16,20
11,72%
VAKBN
2,03
-7,31%
GARAN
111,9
5,5
-47,62
YTL / $
1,243
0,4%
-3,1%
-6,3%
EU/US$
1,578
TRCAS
8,25
20,40
6,45%
MIGRS
-7,27%
ISCTR
69,4
5,0
-29,17
PETKM
7,35
5,00%
CIMSA
5,50
-5,17%
AKBNK
51,3
5,4
-35,29
HALKB
7,00
4,48%
AYGAZ
4,40
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HALKB
34,6
7,0
-36,76
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ÝMKB 30
ÝMKB IND
P.CHEM.
TUPRS
PTOFS
PETKM
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--
12.477,7
6.796,0
2.288,9
1.203,2
1.035,4
12,4x
12,4x
11,9x
8,1x
9,4x
12,4x
26,0x
3,1x
P/E 2007/06t
8,7x
11,1x
11,1x
5,7x
7,0x
9,1x
13,6x
1,6x
P/E 2007/09t EV/EBITDA 2006/12
8,2x 8,1x
8,4x 8,4x
8,8x 7,8x
6,1x 6,7x
7,1x 7,4x
8,6x 5,2x
13,6x 6,9x
1,6x 5,4x
EV/EBITDA 2007/03t
7,5x
7,6x
6,9x
6,2x
6,3x
5,0x
5,1x
5,8x
EV/EBITDA 2007/06t
8,3x
7,2x
7,0x
6,4x
6,5x
5,0x
5,5x
6,3x
Mcap YTL
--
P/E 2006/12
CM Y K
Price ($) Light C. Oil Gold Copper
133,01 926,20 3,72
Way
Change (%) 0,62 0,04 -0,39
High 133,46 928,20 3,75
Low 131,59 923,20 3,70
P/E: Share price divided by earnings per share is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the income or profit earned by the firm per share. EV/EBITDA: Enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, tax and amortization; “t” stands for trailer and means the data over the last four quarters. (*) Yesterday's closing (**) Updated at 6 p.m. by GMT+2 Disclaimer: The information in this report has been prepared by BMD, Bizim Securities from sources believed to be reliable. All the information, interpretations and recommendations covered herein relating to investment actions are not within the scope of investment consultancy. Therefore investment decisions based only on the information covered herein may not bring expected results.
Former Siemens manager admits bribery A former Siemens AG manager on trial over alleged corruption and bribery testified Monday that "commissions" were paid to secure orders. Reinhard Siekaczek, a former manager at the ICN fixed-line telephone network division, is the first to go on trial over the company's corruption scandal that came to light last year. Siekaczek, 57, is charged with 58 counts of breach of trust. Prosecutors allege that he set up a complex network of shell corporations that he used to siphon off company money over several years, some of which they contend was used as bribes to help secure contracts abroad. Munich AP
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INTERVIEW
TODAY’S ZAMAN 09
TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
We have confidence in the democratic-secular future of Turkey, says German ambassador MUSTAFA KÝRAZLI
The German Embassy is one of the busiest embassies in Ankara and Ambassador Cuntz is one of the more talkative ambassadors. Today’s Zaman spoke with Mr. Cuntz on Turkey’s domestic politics, energy issues, German investments, his embassy’s cultural activities, the Frankfurt Book Fair to be opened by Orhan Pamuk in October and the Turkish religious officials sent to Germany German Ambassador Dr. Eckart Cuntz has served in Ankara during the tensest years of recent Turkish domestic policy. During his term, Germany held the presidency of the European Union and opened three chapters in Turkey's EU negotiations. His term was not easy but these difficulties made Mr. Cuntz one of the favorite ambassadors of the Turkish press. A source of this magnetism for microphones is likely his readiness to comment on Turkish politics. Today's Zaman spoke to the German Ambassador about the closure case filed against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and economic relations of Turkey and Germany. The European response to the closure case filed against the AK Party was criticized by certain circles in Turkey as an intervention into domestic affairs. How was the issue perceived in Germany? Let me remind you that at a very early stage the German government made a statement making it clear that we were concerned by the situation and that we trusted the court would apply the European criteria for this case. We expressed our hope that the future of democracy would be an important element in the judgment that is to follow. We have expressed concerns, but at the same time also confidence in Turkey's institutions. We have already seen in the past that Turkey has overcome several crises. We believe that the Turkish institutions will be aware of their responsibility for the future of this country. Germany is a very close friend and ally of Turkey. That is why we think that a strong Turkey that is well aware of the importance of its stability is necessary not only for Turkey, but also for the region. We have also said that the proceedings of this court case should not blockade reforms and we encouraged the government to continue being active in the international scene. How do you see the performance of the government in that sense? It may be too early to state and have an analysis of all these reforms, but I think the very fact that the government has expressed their decision to go on with the reforms and that soon after the closure case they made the decision on Article 301 is a positive sign. We have also seen that Turkey did not remain inactive in the international scene. I might quote the efforts of Turkey to mediate between Israel and Syria. This should be considered a most important step and, as it is publicized by both sides, I would also like to say on the behalf of Germany that this is a very positive initiative by Turkey. This has obviously been prepared for some time already, but now it is passing to a more concrete phase. We all know how difficult it is to bring about talks between conflicting sides. Germany is also involved in similar mediations, but we do fully recognize Turkey's role in this one. We also know that Turkey tried to bring about reconciliation in Lebanon, too. We have equally praised Turkey's readiness for dialogue with Armenia and its preparedness to use the window of opportunity for the reunification of Cyprus. Germany is the foremost economic partner of Turkey if we take oil exports out of the figures. Were the economic relations influenced by the closure case? First of all, you are right. Germany is the most important economic partner of Turkey. This is true especially if you take into account that the Turkish goods we import promote the whole industrial sectors in Turkey. Secondly the biggest number of foreign companies investing in Turkey is from Germany. When I arrived here two years ago we had some 2,200 German companies who had invested here; two years later we have more than 3,300. And these are not only big companies like Siemens, Mercedes, Mann, Bosch and Hugo Boss, but also a lot of small and medium-size companies. These companies play an important role in creating new jobs. Total German investment is increasing 30 percent a year and this is not an exception, but rather a rule. The German investments are Greenfield investments. They do not buy existing companies, but they invest money to create new jobs. They also go to areas of the country where other companies do not go. Some of these small and medium-size companies are owned by Turkish-origin entrepreneurs who are willing to go to Diyarbakýr, for instance. When I went to Diyarbakýr, I met two German entrepreneurs working on a project for using renew-
PHOTO
KERÝM BALCI ANKARA
Ambassador Dr. Eckart Cuntz believes Turkey can attract more German investment if it can tackle some minor problems. able energy in agriculture. I think it is very important that we do not just ask the question "How much is invested?" but also "How much is contributed to the development of the country?" I should also say as a German ambassador that we want Turkish investment in Germany. I think that would be an important factor for strengthening the Turkish economy, too. In Germany Turkey has a big Turkish-origin community that can help with such investments. As for the future of the economic relations, there is still room for improvement on investment. I would like to cite the question on working permits, which has been very cumbersome for many years. I have heard some signals that this question will be tackled. The question of privatization in the energy field is another area in which we can improve the situation. There are many German companies ready to invest in energy-efficiency projects, as well as in building up new power plants; and they have billions of Euros in their pockets to invest in Turkey. Germany is a forerunner in the world in alternative energy sources. Turkey is looking for solutions for its increasing energy consumption. Is there cooperation between the two countries? We have already had quite a number of discussions and meetings with various Turkish ministers. The ministers of energy, environment and the treasury all met with the representatives of German companies. With these ministers we have discussed on working in energy efficiency and solar energy. There are also a quite a number of small and medium-size Turkish companies who have also contacted Germany. Last year we opened a little solar energy irrigation project in a village that belongs to the Ankara municipality. This project was run by the German Embassy, Turkish entrepreneurs and German companies. The use of solar energy is good not only for houses, where Turkey already has experience, but also for agriculture. You can very efficiently replace fuel engines with solar energy for irrigation, and that works very well. We had a similar project in Diyarbakýr in cooperation with Dicle University. This was a pilot project on drop irrigation with solar energy. This is important in that part of the
country and it brought modern technology to the villages. I think the diversification of sources is important, but most important is energy efficiency. Turkey and Germany are in similar situations, as we do not have many resources for energy, like fuel. Both countries -- and especially Turkey -- face increasing energy consumption. Energy efficiency is one area in which we should work together and we see the EnVer initiative [an energy efficiency project] as a very positive step. But, of course, Germany has also invested in big power plants like the one in Ýskenderun, which is a coal power plant but with top standards in the world regarding the environmental aspect. Other companies are ready to come for gas-power stations, hydro-power plants and more. So are you saying that German investors are not influenced by the closure case? I do think that the momentum of German investments in Turkey has not been broken. They have confidence in the future of the country; a confidence in the stable democratic secular future of the country. As you see, this is also important for the economic sector and that was expressed not only by the German companies but by TÜSIAD [the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association], TOBB [the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges] and the trade unions. Let me add this: I have no doubt that the current government is a secular government. Last week 51 new religious officials completed their educations at the Goethe Institute in Ankara. This has been an ongoing project for some time and many "imams" have been given orientation courses in the German culture going to Germany to serve. How do you see the results of these courses? I think we have head very fruitful cooperation in that respect. We don't call these people "imams," they are rather religious officials that are trained in cooperation with the Religious Affairs Directorate so as to provide the best services to the Turkish Muslim community in Germany. In engaging in this project, our message is that religious freedom is very important and Islam is a very important factor in religious life in Germany. The religious officials take courses not only in the German language so that they can find their way more easily in Germany
NEWS FROM THE
diplomatic CIRCUIT
Syrian-Israeli talks
Ehud Olmert
Diplomatic circles in Ankara were busy with news about Syrian-Israeli peace talks having started with mediation by Turkey. The talks were supposed to be indirect, but parties to the peace talks preferred to inform their publics directly. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was particularly talkative, but the least talkative, Turkey, received the most appreciation. A press statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry made special reference to the terms of the Madrid Conference as the basis of the talks. The fact that both sides thanked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and Turkey for their role in this process was reflected in the diplomatic meetings of the last week.
Djibril Yipene Bassole
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but also in the culture of the society so that they will be able to communicate with Turkish-origin people in Germany. Unfortunately, we couldn't provide the courses with the same intensity for all the religious officials going to Germany. There are hundreds of them, but we had an intensive program for only a part of them. Others in Bursa also had German courses. We believe the message these religious officials will carry to Germany will be that Islam is a religion of freedom and tolerance. It is important that this message is coming from Turkey to Germany in the hands of religious officials who are fully aware of the values of religious freedom and secularism. Recently Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan invited the Turks of Germany to learn German. Did you detect any change in the Turkish community after that speech? It has just been a few months since the prime minister made that speech and it is too early to measure its effect. But I think we have a joint conviction, and this is important, of both governments that the learning of the German language by people who live in Germany and belong to Germany is a top priority -and not only for those who are older. It should start from the very early ages, maybe from the kindergarten and Prime Minister Erdoðan mentioned that in his speech in Cologne. Germany has a population of 82 million; 15 million have migrated. This is already an important proportion and the biggest part segment of it is people of Turkish origin. They are a part of our society and they should feel that way. They should also take German citizenship to be able to vote at all levels; municipal, federal and European and thus to be able to express their political voice in the country where they live and belong. This does not mean that they should forget their Turkish roots. I think this is an asset for Germany, too. Last year you disclosed a plan for a future Turkish-German university. Has there been any development on that plan? Well, we are rejoicing that next week it will be signed by the two foreign ministers. In Germany it is already in force and in Turkey it should first be brought before Parliament. We hope that it will set in motion very quickly after that. The university will be in Ýstanbul, as far as we know. Is there any particular place already spared for the university in Ýstanbul? According to the agreement, the Turkish government is responsible for the place and the buildings and Germany is responsible for the professors and other services. I do hope that we will have a wonderful place for the university so that it will make it a lighthouse project; that it will be visible to everybody. The university will have five faculties and the emphasis will be on engineering. We are also stressing economics. There will also be departments of German language, law, European studies, cultural studies and, of course, archaeology. The German Embassy is one of the most active embassies in Ankara in respect to cultural and sporting events. You even have a riding club. Can you inform us about your future activities? We have a riding club, indeed. It is on the compound of the embassy. You have to remember that we were among the first embassies established in Ankara in the 1920s and then you could go by horse to all the places in Ankara. The stable and horses were left from that time. Well, we cannot go out of the compound, but the compound is still large enough to have a riding club. The club is open also to members outside the embassy. Of course, we have had a series of charity concerts in this embassy. The next one will be another highlight on June 14. We will host the big band of the Armed Forces Orchestra. And we hope that we will have many guests. We will have other important cultural events. One is in Germany: the Frankfurt Book Fair. This is the largest, most important place for literature. This year the country highlighted at the Frankfurt Fair is Turkey and Orhan Pamuk will make the introductory speech. The embassy is involved in the preparations for the fair, but at that time of the year we shall be very busy preparing the German Cultural Week in Turkey. The motto of the week is Türkiye'de Alman Kültür Esintileri [German Cultural Breeze in Turkey]. This will start on Oct. 7 with a concert, in combination with our National Day reception.
Burkina Faso foreign minister in Ankara
Southeast Europe countries convene
Last week Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation of Burkina Faso Djibril Yipene Bassole paid an official visit to Turkey on May 22-23 upon the invitation of Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. The visit was regarded as a new link in the chain of steps Turkey has taken in order to improve its relations with African countries.
The meetings of foreign ministers and heads of state in the Southeast Europe Countries Cooperation Process, the term presidency of which belongs to Bulgaria, were held last week in the Bulgarian town of Pomorie near Burgas on May 20-21. A delegation headed by Foreign Minister Ali Babacan represented Turkey at these meetings.
Ali Babacan
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Suicide bomber targets US-allied fighters in Iraq PHOTO
Hundreds of Afghans demonstrated Monday in two different provinces against a US sniper in Iraq who used a Quran, the Muslim holy book, for target practice. Demonstrators tore apart an effigy of US President George W. Bush and chanted anti-US slogans. A Lithuanian soldier and two Afghan civilians were shot and killed last week when about 1,000 Afghans gathered in western Afghanistan to protest the incident. Monday's demonstrations in Balkh and Logar provinces involved several hundred people but were not violent, provincial officials said. The US military has said it disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used the Quran for target practice on May 9. Bush apologized to Iraq's prime minister for the incident after several US military officials tried to soothe anger. Qari Abdul Qahar, a cleric who helped lead the demonstration in Balkh province, also called for the death sentence to be upheld against Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, a 24-year-old Afghan journalism student convicted of insulting Islam after downloading a paper from the Internet. Kabul AP
AP
ANGER
Hundreds of Afghans protest Quran shooting
WORLD
US soldiers try to extinguish a US armored vehicle at Al Canal street, near Sadr city, Baghdad, after a roadside bomb exploded next to a US military convoy on Monday.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police and USallied Sunni fighters Monday north of Baghdad, killing four people, officials said. The blast occurred about 200 meters away from the house of the head of the local awakening group, which has joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaeda in Iraq in Tarmiyah, according to a police official and a member of the group. Those killed included a policeman, two awakening council guards and a civilian, according to the police. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. A US soldier also was killed and two others wounded Monday in a roadside bombing in Salahuddin province, raising to at least 4,082 the number of American service members who have died in Iraq since the war started in March 2003. Salahuddin is a predominantly Sunni
province that includes Tarmiyah, Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and other cities. Another roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint on the road that leads to the Baghdad International Airport, wounding five people, including one Iraqi soldier and four civilians, police said. The blast sent up a huge plume of black smoke and caused vendors at nearby kiosks selling soft drinks to run for cover. The attacks came a day after the US military said violence in Iraq had reached its lowest levels in four years. Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a US military spokesman, said Sunday that the number of attacks in the past week decreased to a level "not seen since March 2004," although he did not give specific figures. He also warned that al-Qaeda in Iraq was "offbalance and on the run" but remains a very lethal threat, tempering remarks by US Ambassador Ryan Crocker a day earlier that the terror network was closer than ever to being defeated. Baghdad AP
UNREST
Severe thunderstorms packing large hail and tornadoes rumbled across the nation's midsection on Sunday, killing at least eight people and damaging dozens of homes, authorities said. Seven of the dead were killed by a tornado in northeast Iowa -- five from Parkersburg, 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Des Moines, and two from nearby New Hartford, according to Iowa Homeland Security administrator Dave Miller. At least 50 injuries were reported. "Occasionally we have a death but we have warning system. Seven deaths. It's been a long time since we've had those kinds of injuries and deaths reported," Miller said. Witnesses reported parts of Parkersburg
-- particularly the town's south side -- were reduced to rubble, including most of the town's high school and homes. A tornado also struck just to the east in the nearby town of Dunkerton and elsewhere in Black Hawk County, where there were reports of homes damaged or destroyed. Dunkerton has fewer than 800 residents and New Hartford has about 700 people. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver issued a disaster proclamation for Black Hawk, Buchanan and Butler counties, a move that helps coordination between state and local authorities. Miller said homeland security officials are monitoring reports of storms throughout Iowa. In the Des Moines area, there was
heavy rain and lightning Sunday night with wind gusts of 70 mph (113 kph). At least 20 people were unaccounted for in Minnesota after a swift storm blew through the St. Paul suburb of Hugo, damaging about four dozen homes, City Administrator Mike Ericson said. Many of the residents could be out of town for the holiday weekend, he said. A 2-year-old child was killed and the child's sibling was critically injured and taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said. The children's parents also were hospitalized with injuries sustained in the family home. "It's horrible," Ericson said. "The citizens are very shook and scared." Gov. Tim Pawlenty
announced plans to meet with city officials and tour the storm-ravaged city on Monday. Residents reported a tornado touching down in the area, but that had not been confirmed by the National Weather Service. Emergency crews descended on the town to look for those who had not been accounted for and to assess the damage. Roughly 300 to 400 homes were evacuated in the storm-damaged area because of concerns over hazards including downed power lines and leaky gas lines, Ericson said. The city set up a shelter at an elementary school, but American Red Cross spokeswoman Courtney Johnson said all but one of the families was able to find a place to stay with friends or relatives. Des Moines, Iowa AP AP
Rebels from Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta said on Monday they had attacked a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline and killed 11 soldiers, but the army denied there had been any attack. The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an emailed statement that it had sabotaged the Shell pipeline at Awoba flow station in southern Rivers state in the early hours of Monday morning. "Today's attack is dedicated to the administration of (President) Umaru Yar'Adua and (Vice President) Goodluck Jonathan who have failed after one year in office to ensure peace, security and reconciliation in the Niger Delta region," the MEND statement said. Nigeria's army denied there had been an attack while Shell in Nigeria said it was investigating and had no immediate comment. "The (rebel) claims are mischievous lies deliberately told to gain popularity and mislead the people ... There was no attack on the facility and none of our soldiers were killed," Sagir Musa, military spokesman in Rivers state, told Reuters. The Niger Delta is home to the world's eighth-biggest oil industry, exporting about 2.1 million barrels per day, but rebels have led a campaign of sabotage since early 2006 to push demand for greater local control over oil revenues. Lagos Reuters
Tornadoes kýll at least 8 ýn northeast Iowa and Mýnnesota
PHOTO
Nigeria rebels say oil pipeline hit, army denies
SENTENCE
Japanese gangster gets death for shooting mayor A court in Japan convicted an alleged gangster and sentenced him to death on Monday for the fatal shooting of a popular mayor in a crime that stunned a nation that takes pride in its rigid gun-control laws. The defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to death Monday in Nagasaki District Court, court spokesman Hiroyuki Mano said. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, while the defense had argued that was too harsh. Mayor Iccho Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back at close range outside a train station in April last year while campaigning for re-election for his fourth term. The crime was lambasted as an act of violence that aimed to stifle democracy. It also raised fears about guns on the streets as well as about organized crime in a nation that has long boasted a relatively crime-free record. Tetsuya Shiroo, 60, who police say is a senior member of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, was arrested on the scene. He told police he was angry at the city for refusing to compensate him after his car was damaged at a public works construction site. The assassination was all the more tragic as the second attack in 20 years against the mayor of the southwestern city whose politicians historically have been outspoken pacifists. Tokyo AP A couple walks past destroyed buildings in Windsor, Colo. Tornadoes touched down in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming, damaging buildings and flipping vehicles.
PROTESTS
Argentine gov't, farmers show strength in rallies Argentine farmers and the government held huge separate rallies on Sunday in shows of strength ahead of talks this week aimed at resolving a threemonth conflict over the president's unpopular soy tax. Argentina is one of the world's major suppliers of wheat, soy, corn and beef, and the farmers' rally in the country's No. 2 city Rosario was the biggest assembly by growers since they began a tax revolt in mid-March. Talks between farmers and the government on Thursday did not bring a solution to the conflict, which has hurt Argentina's bond prices, sparked a demand for dollars and damaged the popularity of President Cristina Fernandez. "We want all Argentines to recognize what farmers give to the country, "a woman at the rally in Rosario told TN television. She did not give her name, but said she produces corn, wheat, soy and beef. The government said some 250,000 people heard Fernandez speak in the northern provincial capital Salta on Sunday, which was Revolution Day, one of Argentina's most important national holidays. Buenos Aires Reuters
Democratic candidate Obama urges college graduates to enter public service
UN chief ends Myanmar mission; says he hopes junta will honor aid promises
believe we can be unified in service to a greater After days of hammering at Republican rigood. I intend to make it a cause of my presival John McCain, Democratic US presidency, and I believe with all my heart that this dential candidate Barack Obama struck a congeneration is ready and eager and up to the ciliatory note and urged unity in service of a challenge," Obama told the graduating class of greater good in a speech to college graduates. 2008. Obama spent much of the Obama was filling in for US Sen. week criticizing McCain for opEdward M. Kennedy, who was posing a college aid bill for milidiagnosed with a brain tumor tary veterans, part of a strategy last week and had planned to to link the conservative deliver the graduation address at Republican to the deeply unWesleyan University. Kennedy popular Bush administration. has endorsed Obama in the But he stepped back from the nominating contest against topic in the midst of the Hillary Rodham Clinton and has Memorial Day weekend holiday campaigned for him. "We may honoring fallen US servicemen disagree as Americans on cerBarack Obama and women. Middletown AP tain issues and positions, but I
seen that the Myanmar government is moving UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fast to implement their commitment. My sinheaded back to New York on Monday, cere hope is that they will honor their commitsaying he hoped Myanmar's military regime ment -- that we have to see," Ban told reporters would honor its promise to open up cyclonebefore leaving Bangkok, Thailand, for New devastated areas of the country to foreign aid York on Sunday night. Ban said workers. Ban's mission to knock he would remain "fully, continudown Myanmar's barriers to inously and personally engaged" ternational cyclone assistance in the crisis and return to climaxed Sunday when donor Myanmar "before long." Issuing nations offered more than of visas to aid workers hit an imUS$100 million (63 million eumediate snag Monday when the ros) to help the country recover Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok from Cyclone Nargis. But they - the main gateway to Myanmar warned the ruling generals they -- closed down its visa section will not fully open their wallets after a fire ripped through part of until they are given access to the Ban Ki-moon its main building. Yangon AP hardest-hit areas. "We have
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TODAY’S ZAMAN 11
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China set to blow up debris blocking river to avert flood
Tens of thousands of people protested in Georgia's capital on Monday against President Mikheil Saakashvili, who they said had stolen victory for his ruling party in last week's parliamentary election. Opponents massed in front of the parliament building in central Tbilisi, scene of protests that brought Saakashvili to power in 2003 on a wave of optimism he would reform the tiny Caucasus nation. The US-educated lawyer's democratic credentials are under intense scrutiny after he used riot police to crush protests last November, and the opposition say he has rigged presidential and parliamentary elections, including the May 21 vote. A Reuters reporter estimated that up to 40,000 people attended the demonstration after an Independence Day military parade, making it the biggest protest rally since Saakashvili's January inauguration. Opposition leaders said more than 100,000 had gathered. "We want these elections to be canceled and we want this parliament to be abolished," Salome Zurabishvili, a former foreign minister who fell out with Saakashvili, told the crowd. Tbilisi Reuters
WAR CRIMES
Serbia denies genocide as world court case opens Serbia denied it was guilty of genocide during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia on Monday, opening its defense before the UN's highest court against Croatian allegations of ethnic cleansing. Croatia is seeking reparations from Serbia and Montenegro at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for the murder and torture of its citizens, as well as destruction of property, during the war in which at least 100,000 people were killed. Presenting their opening arguments, Serbia's lawyers said the court had no jurisdiction in the case, because the country was not a member of the United Nations at the time the suit was filed and was not subject to the genocide convention. They also denied that genocide had taken place. "This is a case in which there was no genocide," said Tibor Varady, representing Serbia. Croatia's opening arguments will begin today in public hearings scheduled to last until Friday. Two years ago, the court heard a similar case brought by Bosnia, which relied heavily on the argument that the massacre of 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in the UN safe zone of Srebrenica amounted to genocide by Serbia. The Hague Reuters
TENSION
Russia responsible for downed Georgian drone The United Nations observer mission in Georgia on Monday concluded that the plane that shot down an unmanned Georgian reconnaissance aircraft last month belonged to the Russian military. Russia denied the claim and the report is likely to aggravate already fraught relations between the two countries. Tensions have been high for months over Russia’s support for the Georgian separatist province of Abkhazia -- where the aircraft was shot down -- and Georgia’s drive to join NATO. The observers’ report said both sides had violated an Abkhazia cease-fire agreement -- Russia by shooting down the drone and Georgia by flying it over Abkhazia. The reconnaissance drone was shot down over the separatist province on April 20. A video taken by the pilotless aircraft shows a fighter jet firing a missile in its direction. Abkhazia’s separatist government claimed the drone was shot down by one of its L-39 jets. However, the plane in the video had a distinctive twin-finned tail, and the report concluded it was either a Russian-made MiG-29 or Su-27 _ neither of which Abkhazia possesses. The report of the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia said radar tracking shows that after the missile was fired, the plane headed into Russian airspace. “Absent compelling evidence, this leads to the conclusion that the aircraft belonged to the Russian air force,” the report said. Moscow AP
PHOTO
Thousands protest Saakashvili election win
CÝHAN
RALLY
Two weeks after the strong quake hit central Sichuan province, lakes formed by obstructed rivers clogged by landslides have complicated recovery efforts.
Chinese soldiers prepared Monday to blow up earthquake debris blocking a river where rising waters threatened to inundate disaster victims. Two weeks after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit central Sichuan province, lakes formed by obstructed rivers clogged by landslides complicated the recovery efforts that were already strained to find shelter for millions of homeless. One of the most powerful aftershocks since the May 12 quake killed at least eight people Sunday, the Cabinet said, adding to the death toll that the government has said would surpass 80,000. To fight the flood risk, 1,800 soldiers arrived Monday on foot at the new Tangjiashan lake in Beichuan county, each carrying 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives to blast through the
debris, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The lake is 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) upstream from the center of Beichuan county. Thousands of people who remained there after the initial earthquake have been evacuated in recent days as a precaution. With weather clearing that had prevented helicopter flights, an earth mover was also lifted in the area to help remove debris, in footage shown on state TV. But thunderstorms were forecast for parts of Sichuan later Monday and Tuesday, the China Meteorological Administration said, adding they “could increase the risks posed by river blockages in some quakehit areas.” The backed-up lake is one of several dozen in Sichuan. In Anxian country, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the south of Beichuan, a
Poland: EU should help east prepare for membership tion as they adapt to EU standards. Sikorski compared the new initiative with creation of the Visegrad Group for cooperation in central Europe formed in the early 1990s by Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. “You create a trademark of good behaviour, of working among yourselves. Thereby countries self-select themselves for membership of the EU,” he told Brussels think-tank. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the region was strategically crucial for Europe. “It is time to look to the east and see what we can do to strengthen democracy, increase the European perspective and improve cooperation,” he told reporters before a meeting to present the plan to EU counterparts. European perspective “is the term frequently used to refer to a country’s long-term chances of winning EU membership.” Several ministers said the project was necessary to balance the EU’s relations with its neighbors at a time when it is about to launch, at France’s initiative, a Union for the Mediterranean to bolster its southern dimension. “We need to balance. This year is Mediterranean year, next year is the year of the east,” said Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country will hold the EU’s rotating chair in the first half of 2009.
REUTERS
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, backing the idea, told reporters: “It’s no sin to go to the south and the east at the same time.” Ferrero-Waldner, who is responsible for the ENP in the European Commission, said the EU executive was generally supportive of any regional cooperation initiative. “I am not against it at all,” she told a news briefing. However, it’s essential that new initiatives build upon, complement and add value to existing frameworks. She stressed too that while the European Commission had taken note of Ukraine’s membership aspirations, the time was “not ripe to go a step further.” The new initiative would not involve Russia, the biggest eastern neighbor, with which the EU agreed on Monday to launch long-stalled negotiations for a strategic partnership agreement. Sikorski made clear that unlike most Mediterranean states, the EU’s eastern partners were mostly entitled to apply to join. “To the south, we have neighbors of Europe. To the east, we have European neighbors -- countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova whose entire territory lies in Europe. By the provisions of the Treaty of Rome, all have the right to one day fulfill the criteria and perhaps become members,” he said. Brussels Reuters
LEGISLATION
Egyptian parliament extends emergency law Egyptian parliament on Monday acted swiftly on a request by President Hosni Mubarak and extended the country's emergency law, a lawmaker said, despite the president's 2005 campaign promise to abolish the controversial legislation. The law has been in place for 27 years - since Mubarak took power after Islamic extremists assassinated his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, during a military parade -- and has been renewed every two years since then. It gives the government broad powers to arrest and detain suspects. The United States has called on Mubarak to lift the law, which human rights groups and Egypt's opposition say is subject to abuse. According to the state-run MENA new agency, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told parliament ahead of the vote that an extension was necessary to protect Egypt from terrorists. This drew protests from opposition lawmakers who claimed the Cabinet was using the measure to stifle opponents. Mohammed Mustafa Sherdi, of the opposition Wafd liberal party, said during a debate that preceded the vote, that it was "illogical" for the country to live under such a measure for so long. The bill then passed with a 305 vote in favor, while 103 lawmakers voted against the measure, including legislators from Mubarak's ruling party, according to opposition lawmaker Hassan Hamadi. Cairo AP
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Jonathan Wright
Former Soviet states are already linked to Brussels through the European Neighborhood Policy, which offers countries better trade access, economic assistance and visa liberalization as they adapt to EU standards Poland and Sweden proposed on Monday that the European Union build an Eastern Partnership to help former Soviet republics prepare for eventual membership by cooperating more closely with the EU and with each other. A joint proposal submitted to EU foreign ministers did not mention the membership prospect, opposed by some west European states, but said: An offer of more profound integration with the EU should be extended to all eastern partners. It also called for a permanent formula for multilateral cooperation with ministerial and parliamentary meetings. EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner broadly welcomed the step but noted the time was “not ripe” to advance the membership hopes of a country such as Ukraine. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the long-term aim was to help Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus prepare themselves to join the EU, once western Europe has overcome its current bout of “enlargement fatigue.” Those states are already linked to Brussels through the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), which offers countries better trade access, economic assistance and visa liberaliza-
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, right, listens to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini at the European Council HQ in Brussels on Monday.
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landslide blocked the Chaping river, submerging Shuangdian village. Residents say the lake has been rising by about 2-1/2 yards (meters) a day. “The water was covering the road, and two days later I could not see the roof of my house anymore,” said Liu Zhongfu, 31, a truck driver who built his two-story wooden house himself, standing on a mountain overlooking the new lake. A sofa and bits of wood that were once part of houses could be seen floating among the debris in the milky green water. Liu was working away from home when the earthquake hit. His wife, 3month-old daughter and 60-year-old mother were all unhurt. “I thought I could go back but I have nothing now. My village, it’s all become a sea,” he said. Anxian AP
Mideast states increasingly ignore US views
AP
26.05.2008
PHOTO
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The governments of the Middle East, from Iran to Israel and beyond, are increasingly ignoring the wishes of a US administration which has only eight months left in office, going their own way in regional diplomacy. US President George W. Bush’s latest speech on Middle East policy, made in the Egyptian resort of Sharm elSheikh last week, shows how the gap has grown between what Washington would like and what is happening in the region. It is part of a wider picture of Washington’s declining clout, accelerated by its debilitating deployment of more than 100,000 troops to Iraq for the past five years. France has had contacts with the Palestinian movement Hamas, for example, and Israel has had indirect talks with Syria, which Washington is trying to isolate. Bush said in Sharm el-Sheikh that all nations in the region should stand together against Hamas, a group which he said was attempting to undermine efforts at making peace. But the Egyptian government, his host and a longstanding friend of the United States, was simultaneously, and with US consent, trying to mediate a truce between Gaza and Israel. Israeli commentators said the Egyptian mediation amounted to indirect negotiations between the Israeli government and Hamas, a group with which the United States refuses to have dealings. The organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, was offering Israel a long-term truce which could make it easier for the rival Palestinian group Fatah to reach an agreement with Israel -- a goal which the United States says it is promoting. In his Sharm el-Sheikh speech, Bush also attacked the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbullah, calling it “terrorists funded by Iran” and “the enemy of a free Lebanon.” Three days later in the Gulf state of Qatar, Hezbullah and other Lebanese groups reached an agreement ending the political crisis that had paralyzed Lebanon for months. Hezbullah had defeated its rivals in Beirut in short order this month when Washington’s allies in the Lebanese government tried to challenge some of the privileges it enjoyed as the force which helped drive Israel out of south Lebanon. The new political arrangement in Lebanon, symbolized by the election of Michel Suleiman as president on Sunday, tilts the balance of power significantly in Hezbullah’s favor and underscores its central role in Lebanese politics. Bush maintained his confrontational attitude towards Iran and Syria, saying: “Every peaceful nation in the region has an interest in stopping these nations from supporting terrorism.” On the same day of the Lebanese agreement, Israel and Syria disclosed they had held indirect talks mediated by Turkey -- the closest they have come to serious negotiations since talks brokered by the United States collapsed in 2000. The Bush administration walked away from high-level contacts with the Syrians after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005. The United States says it suspects Syria of the killing, a charge Syria denies. Bush’s audience included Gulf Arab officials whose governments have maintained working relations with Iran, defying to some extent Washington’s attempts to isolate Tehran. Years of US policy, including sanctions and a debate about the possibility of military strikes, have not persuaded Iran to abandon its ambitions to produce its own enriched uranium. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that in his talk about Iran’s nuclear program Bush had again failed to address the nuclear activities of Israel. It is widely believed to have some 200 nuclear warheads.
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EXPAT ZONE
Daydream belýevers I get anywhere near the Devrent Valley where everyone spots a veritable zoo hunkered down amid the cones. That’s all very well and fanciful, but some of my neighbors go in for rather more useful dreams of an architectural nature. While I was restoring my house, my friend Ali was building a hotel behind his pension. I had taken him to task in somewhat pompous fashion for demolishing a small stone house that had stood on the site to make way for the new building. Then one day I rounded the corner and found myself face to face with one of the prettiest little stone balconies I’d ever seen. Through the long months of winter when I’d been lying low and devouring books, Ali had been pondering the empty space and how to fill it. This was his answer, a beautiful take on the vernacular architecture that played with motifs in old stone to create something entirely new and original.
CAVE LIFE PAT YALE Recently I was visiting Kelebek again and noticed a hole in the ground for a new swimming pool. It was a curiously jagged shape, which I assumed was necessary to make it fit the available space. Then Ali leant over my shoulder. “It’s going to have a reproduction of the Piri Reis map in the bottom,” he purred. The Piri Reis map is a 16th century document that may or may not show Antarctica. It will be a tough call to reproduce
PHOTOS
KEREM OLGAÇ
I have a friend who writes crime novels set in Turkey. Her subjects are intriguingly obscure, their presentation graphically gory, and I love watching how she takes things we have seen or done together and lets her creative juices come up with scenarios I would never have dreamed of if I lived to be 100. Here in Cappadocia the crazy rock formations are enough to bring out the fantasist in even the most down-to-earth people. On a day-to-day basis we find ourselves “seeing” the most unlikely things in the rocks. Isn’t that George Washington whose profile juts out Mount Rushmore-like from a corner of my own mahalle (neighborhood)? Isn’t that Mr. Potato Head standing beside the road to Ürgüp? And isn’t that a Buddha with a spiral topknot lurking in the field near the Yusuf Koç church? I’ve “seen” Noddy down the back roads. I’ve imagined a giant paintbrush beside the road to Uçhisar. And that’s before
The Maltepe 10k A better turnout ýn 2009? JOHN CROFOOT*
Officials at Ýstanbul’s Maltepe University had expected more than 2,000 runners at this year’s 10k Coastal Road Race (held on May 18). As it happened, fewer than 500 people ran and completed the course. Is this success, failure or something in between? What does it say about road running in Ýstanbul? Success “I loved the race; it was a beautiful day, said Roger Bejjani, a Lebanese trainer and consultant living in Ýstanbul. In his view, the race organizers did everything right. “The race started on time,” said Bejjani, “the road was clear of traffic and the water and Powerade station at five kilometers was proper.” And Ünal Soðut’s seven-piece Latin Brass Band was especially popular with runners, helping them warm up before the race and cheering them on in the final stretch. The Maltepe event also succeeded in bringing Turkish and international elite runners together to boost competition. Youssef Banniz, from Morocco, won the men’s division in 0:29:51. Alemitu Bekala Degf of Turkey won the women’s 10k in 0:33:18. Runners from Ethiopia, Russia and Moldova, as well as Turkey, also finished in the top 10 in both the men’s and women’s races. The good turnout of elite and competitive runners was another sign of success. Eighty elite male and female athletes, many of them representing universities or amateur clubs, finished in less than 40 minutes. A total of 171 “competitive” runners completed the race in 40-50 minutes. Disappointment One might expect slower runners to outnumber elite and competitive athletes. Unfortunately, the casual and leisure runners were in the minority, suggesting that Maltepe’s organizers failed to reach the
More than 400 runners (380 men and 58 women) completed the Maltepe 10k race on May 18. Youssef Banniz (above), 27, of Morocco, won the men’s division of the Maltepe 10k in 0:29:51. Eleven wheelchair racers (eight men, three women) also competed. broader population of recreational runners with adequate publicity. A total of 132 “casual” runners had finish times between 50-60 minutes. More surprisingly, only 54 “leisure” runners finished in more than 60 minutes. So what lessons might be drawn from this year’s turnout and what steps might organizers of Ýstanbul’s next 10k road race take to ensure that more people sign up and complete the course? The answer: focus on women and casual runners. Promote running as a sport for women Many women in Ýstanbul walk as their main form of recreational exercise. With time and encouragement people who walk briskly can begin to run slowly. Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests that many women in Turkey see no reason to exercise other than losing weight. “They say that to me too,” says marathoner Ülkü Coþkunoðlu Abadan, 36. “’Why do you run?’ [they ask], ‘You don’t need to lose weight!’” Are these attitudes changing? “Definitely,”
says Abadan. “Now,” she adds, “when I run by, they say, ‘Ah, Sureyya Ayhan’!” Because of the female Turkish runner’s fame as a world champion, people are beginning to recognize running as something women do and do successfully. What does it take to attract more women to sports? “You have to have a role model,” answers Abadan. Also, “You have to have your parents encourage you ... for women and men alike, for girls and boys alike... you need to be pushed.” Find the casual runners Groups like the Ýstanbul Masters Athleticism Club, Adým Adým and Nike’s “Run Turkey” have growing numbers of participants. Public sports complexes and private health clubs have tracks and treadmills that fill up in the early mornings or evenings. Recreational runners also take advantage of city parks, particularly in the morning. The trick is to attract these less competitive runners to road races, which are currently dominated by serious amateurs.
Road races are governed by international track and field standards, which is necessary to attract elite, competitive runners. Most runners, however, will sign up for a race not for a chance to win but to spend time with friends, meet new people and have a good time. At the Maltepe 10k, the Latin Brass Band, refreshments and sunshine made for a happy balance between serious competition and light-hearted fun. Road races afford everyone -- not just elite athletes -- a chance to test limits and reach new levels of accomplishment. The Maltepe race marked Bejjani’s re-entry into running following knee surgery. “This race,” he said, “boosted my morale, and I expect to improve and get back to my previous shape.” For Abadan, running becomes easy “once you get the taste, feel yourself improving and start feeling better ... you encourage yourself.” Develop more places to run In addition to role models, encouragement and broader publicity, the success of road races depends on the public infrastructure for recreational activity. Can Korkmazoðlu, a runner and public relations manager of the Eurasia Marathon, says: “One could hardly participate in a running event if he does not train at least on the weekends. That surely depends,” he adds, “on the availability of the running areas.” Speaking, no doubt, from experience, he concludes, “The more areas, parks, pathways for running, the more entrants we have in the events.” Where do they run? The runners interviewed for this article also noted their favorite places to run: Abadan runs in Yýldýz Park, in Beþiktaþ, and along the Bosporus. Korkmazoðlu heads for Niþantaþý’s Maçka Park in the mornings. Bejjani runs in Kalamýþ Park in Fenerbahçe, the Burhan Felek Track in Üsküdar and the Belgrade Forest. * John Crofoot is a runner and freelance writer in Ýstanbul.
NOTE: Today's Zaman intends to provide a lively forum for expatriates living in Turkey. We encourage you to contact us at voice@todayszaman.com and share your experiences, questions and problems in all walks of life for publication in Today's Zaman.
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its detail, but so much more imaginative than just lining the base with off-the-shelf turquoise tiling. A few nights ago I was dining out with friends and we were running over new developments in the hotel world, as is our wont. “X is thinking about creating a mini Aya Sofya inside one of the caves,” I was told. “Whatever for?” I asked. “He thinks it would make a great conference center,” came the unexpected reply. Good luck to him, I say. There will be many rivers to cross before that one will make it off the drawing board, especially given the ban on cutting the caves. But in the land of the daydream believers, believe me, anything is surely possible. Pat Yale lives in a restored cave-house in Göreme in Cappadocia.
{{ old groaner {{ Dress optional JOHN LAUGHLAND FETHÝYE
We are planning a trip to Europe in about three months, which gives me plenty of time to learn how proper people dress and to buy proper clothes. I have new shoes already but will have to practice wearing them, say one hour a week to start and building up from there. This change is a result of Die Frau reminding me of our last visit to Germany, when I had not made the same effort. When we walked down the street people stared and even pointed. I think we were suspected of being illegal immigrants recently washed ashore in Italy and having scrounged a ride north in a cattle truck. See, we have lived in this valley for so long that we have lost all sense of normal dress. Standard garb for men here may include trousers held up by a rope with flies nearly closed by a safety pin. My own trousers are of the baggy cotton style with no fly, very comfortable but in that way spoiling. Now I cannot stand the discomfort of a decent pair of jeans. Shoes here will be either sandals of the plastic flip-flop variety or YTL 5 rubber galoshes. A few men wear proper shoes, but with the heels trod down so that the shoes become de-facto flip-flops. In the winter we wear layers of anything we can find on the upper body and the layers can be clearly seen and counted through holes and tears. As the summer arrives layers are removed progressively like onion skins, and the final item, which may be a pajama top, remains for the summer season. My final layer is a Tshirt, but something happens to the neck opening of my Tshirts; I just cannot look like a cool dude. Frau dresses a little better, but it’s still baggy trousers and ethnic shoes. She specializes in silly hats but that habit is due to other influences, her passage through teenager-hood, for instance. Our village ladies of course wear headscarves. It took us a few years to learn that everyday clothes are quite suitable for weddings and funerals; our villagers only dress up for important holidays. Thankfully there is now a charity shop in town, run by expats and sadly until recently it was mainly frequented by expats. Just now and then, however, we see a villager who has obviously discovered the shop and come away with a bargain. Up on his tractor he sits, resplendent in a pinstriped three-piece suit over a white dress shirt. Perhaps the vision is spoiled by the grubby flat cap, but I have not yet seen a bowler hat at the shop. Who would bring a bowler to Turkey? Back to the pajamas; it is quite acceptable around here for a man to sit in the street near his house dressed only in his PJs. There is a lane in our nearest town where it is not unusual to see three or four men dressed thus, sitting on their doorsteps chatting. Now and then one of them may stroll down to the corner shop for cigarettes. That can be any time of day or possibly night. We call it Pajama Lane. Chicken Çetin stood out from other villagers due to his unique style of dress. He had once been a wealthy man up in Izmir but had taken to drinking and gambling. He then moved south to here and set up a small shop and drinking den in the village center. He was his own best customer as far as the drinking went, probably putting away two bottles of raký every day until his inevitable demise. Once a year a 10 ton lorry would arrive from the bottle factory to take away the mountain of empties from behind the shop. Çetin had to carefully inspect every bottle for dregs and would occasionally drain one into a jug. Lemon cologne was sometimes added to the jug. His breath smelled delightful. Çetin still owned a white linen suit that had previously graced the casinos and clubs of the big cities, and several times a week he would don it to parade through the village. By this time it was far from pristine, having multiple interesting stains and being badly crumpled. In one curly lapel he wore a red rose but, possibly because of the raký fumes, the rose was invariably badly wilted. I need hardly say his shirt was rather unruly and the bowtie always askew. Travolta he was not and Tom Wolfe would turn in his grave. We were once invited to lunch by Çetin, but when we arrived at the appointed time he was sound asleep in a nearby field. His long suffering wife, who knew nothing of the invitation, roused him, and for her troubles was dispatched to the kitchen to prepare our lunch. By the time she returned he was asleep again, this time in his disgusting armchair, head thrown back, mouth agape and drooling onto the suit.
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CULTURE&ARTS
TODAY’S ZAMAN 13
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De Niro sends up Hollywood and Cannes in new film
Teatro Colon marks centennial in scaffolds
are waiting on me to make a decision to go or not," said De Niro, who added that he would like to be head of the Cannes jury some time. As well as having a light-hearted dig at Hollywood, Cannes comes in for some mockery. One character explains how the movie De Niro's character is producing made it into the program at the world's biggest film festival: "The festival only took the film because they want the stars. They only saw a 10-minute clip." Reporters and critics at a screening applauded loudly, underlining the feeling among many that Cannes bends over backwards to accommodate star-studded films and ensure a glamorous red carpet while sidelining experimental pictures. Cannes Reuters
South America's most famous opera house celebrated its centennial Sunday amid metallic scaffolding and plastic sheeting. The Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, considered one of the world's best acoustic halls, is closed for restoration and two years behind schedule, unlikely to reopen until 2010. But on Sunday, it teemed with fans who toured exhibits and watched a free children's concert to commemorate the landmark's 1908 start. The 2,478-seat, gold-trimmed theater has carried the vibrato of opera stars Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Enrico Caruso and the tangos of Astor Piazzolla. It has also drawn ballet greats Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Its stage went dark in 2006 amid a $25 million renovation to repair its majestic facade, courtyards, wooden stage and balconies -- and its famed acoustic tiles, which are said to give the theater a sound as good as that of the Teatro alla Scala in Italy and the Vienna State Opera in Austria. Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri has blamed restoration delays on unspecified financing and contracting problems. But while the curtain was still down at the theater last week, its lower levels hummed with many of its 1,200 employees, rehearsing for an upcoming performance of "Swan Lake," to be held in a neighboring theater. Artists are as much a part of the theater's cultural heritage as the building, said Enrique Arturo Diemecke, director of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra. "The magic of the opera house isn't just its acoustics or the walls or curtains or seats," said Diemecke. "What matters is the audience, the orchestra. Everything is complementary and it's an institution that's going to live on." Buenos Aires AP
Robert De Niro plays a movie producer whose professional and personal life lurches from crisis to crisis in a new comedy on the cutthroat world of Hollywood and its relationship with the Cannes Film Festival. The final scenes of "What Just Happened" played out in the Riviera resort where De Niro's picture had its premiere, making it a fitting closing film for the festival on Sunday. Sean Penn and Bruce Willis also send themselves up in the satire based on the memoirs of veteran Hollywood producer Art Linson and directed by Barry Levinson, who made "Rain Man." De Niro plays Ben, who must juggle two exwives and their families, a pill-popping bi-polar director, a ruthless studio boss demanding radi-
cal changes to his picture and Willis steadfastly refusing to shave his beard for an action hero role. The film casts an ironic eye on the process of getting movies made, how cash outweighs quality almost every time and how no one in Hollywood is safe from the whims of studio bosses, superstar actors and the movie-going public. "It really is a place where most people are not doing well," said Linson, when asked about how Hollywood was perceived. "I know it's hard to believe. Most people are there doing their best not to be asked to leave. I don't care if you're Steven Spielberg or some new director, everybody is like a snail on a glass trying to hang on and not to slip down and lose their standing."
De Niro said he enjoyed playing Ben, because the troubled character combined the comic and dramatic. "I like a mixture of both [styles], and I think with this movie there is a sense of the two together kind of like Italian movies," he said. "Some great Italian movies have the comedy and the drama." While admitting he was in a better position professionally than most actors and directors, De Niro added: "I have my own anxieties and certainly nothing is perfect by any means. When you're there [in Hollywood] ... there's an anxiety about whether you can deliver, whether you can get another movie made, whether you can get the actor." "Sometimes it's hinging on one actor, like in my case that's happened many times, they
PHOTO
Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan tripled his honors in Cannes Sunday night with his latest feature, "Üç Maymun" (Three Monkeys) at the closing ceremony for the 61st edition of the prestigious film festival, where a French film won the festival's biggest prize for the first time in 21 years. Having beaten 21 other filmmakers from across the world to clinch the best director title in the festival's main competition, Ceylan was calm and humble in his acceptance speech, dedicating his award to his "lonely and beautiful country which he loves passionately." Congratulatory remarks poured in shortly, with President Abdullah Gül, Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan all praising Ceylan for his international success. Toptan said in a message to Ceylan that his success, in which all the nation took pride, was proof of the recent developments in Turkish cinema. "My heartfelt belief is that this grand award you have won with 'Three Monkeys' has an enormous effect in making Turkish cinema and our beautiful country gain recognition around the world," Toptan said. Ceylan, with this latest title, has upped the ante in his personal Cannes history: The director's debut short, "Koza" (Cocoon), was screened in the festival's official selection in 1995. His third feature, "Uzak" (Distant), received the Grand Prix and the Best Actor prize at the 2003 festival, and his 2006 feature "Ýklimler" (Climates) won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award. Starring Yavuz Bingöl and Hatice Aslan in its title roles, "Three Monkeys" follows a family's struggle to stay together despite being torn to pieces after small weaknesses of the family's members turn into huge lies that they intentionally overlook. "Three Monkeys" received mixed reviews from film critics and the French media when it had its Cannes premiere at a gala on May 16, with most reviewers praising Ceylan for his unique approach, but some also agreeing that the film was a very dark piece. Some reviewers likened Ceylan's style to that of late French filmmaker Maurice Pialat, whose films are known for a rigorous style that emphasizes a tough worldview, and to late Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, who frequently employed bleakness and despair in his explorations of the human condition. The film was up against the works of 21 other directors in the main competition, among them such heavyweights as Clint Eastwood,
AA
Ceylan ups the ante in Cannes; France wins first Palme d’Or in 21 years
Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan salutes the audience after receiving the Best Director prize at the closing ceremony for the 61st Cannes Film Festival.
Steven Soderbergh and Wim Wenders. However, French director Laurent Cantet ended up grabbing the coveted Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for his "Entre les Murs" (The Class) in what has become a nice surprise for French cinema. "The Class," a film set in a tough Parisian high school and based on an autobiographical novel by François Begaudeau, was the first French winner in Cannes since 1987, Reuters reported. It is likely to be a popular choice with critics, who praised its
naturalistic portrayal of the energy and high tension of the classroom as well as its exploration of universal themes of race, individuality and truth. "The Class" comes at time when problems in overcrowded French schools and youth violence have become hot political issues. "I think it would be good for all those people who claim to be able to judge youth ... in two or three aphorisms to learn something new about youth," said Begaudeau, who also plays the central teacher in the film. "It's
essentially a film for adults even though I hope young people will also enjoy the film." Sunday's glamorous red carpet prize ceremony ended 12 hectic days of screenings, interviews and late night revelry for actors, producers, directors and journalists. Big names like Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Penelope Cruz, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford as well as sports stars Mike Tyson and Diego Maradona all trod the famous red carpet this year. The Grand Prix runner-up prize went to Italy's "Gomorra" (Gomorrah), Matteo Garrone's hardhitting film about the world of the Camorra Naples crime network whose empire extends from waste disposal to haute couture. Garrone was lauded for his courage in tackling the subject, especially since the author of the bestseller on which it is based has lived under police protection for the past two years. The second Italian competition entry, "Il Divo," a satire on the life of former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, won the jury award. A special prize was given to Catherine Deneuve and Clint Eastwood, whose film "The Exchange," starring Jolie, was in competition. Benicio del Toro was named Best Actor for his portrayal of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Soderbergh's epic four-and-ahalf hour "Che." "I'd like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara," del Toro said. The Best Actress award went to Sandra Corveloni, who plays an overworked mother in the popular Brazilian drama "Linha de Passe" (Line of Passage), set in the slums of Sao Paulo. Belgium's Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, have won the Palme d'Or twice but this time took away the prize for Best Screenplay for "Lorna's Silence," and Britain's Steve McQueen won the Camera d'Or, given to debut directors, for "Hunger." The visually stunning film portrays Bobby Sands' 66-day hunger strike in 1981 which ended in his death and made him a potent symbol of opposition to British rule in Northern Ireland. Jury president Sean Penn had been expected to favor a film with a social or political slant, and the only big surprise on the night was the fact that Israeli animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir" went unrecognized. Critics believed the film was a contender for the top prize due to its innovative techniques and for its haunting retelling of an Israeli conscript's efforts to dig up buried memories of the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut's refugee camps in 1982. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires
‘Indiana Jones' leaves box office rivals in dust Who says box office superheroes need to sport tights or youthful smirks to win the hearts of moviegoers? The fantasy adventure "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in which 65-year-old Harrison Ford reprises his role as an intrepid archaeologist, unearthed $126 million during its first four days of release in North American theaters, its distributor said on Sunday. Paramount Pictures predicted the long-awaited fourth installment of the adventure series would pick up an additional $25 million on Monday -- the Memorial Day holiday in the United States -- to bring its total to $151 million. The five-day forecast was in line with industry expectations, and falls just $2 million short of the Memorial Day weekend record set last year by "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." The five-day record is held by "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," which opened to $173 million a week before the Memorial Day holiday in 2005. For the traditional Friday-to-Sunday portion of the weekend, "Indiana Jones" made an estimated $101 million, the biggest opening of the year by that measure. The record was set three weekends ago by the superhero saga "Iron Man," which opened to $98.6 million without any holiday boost. "Crystal Skull," directed by Steven Spielberg, is the first movie in the lucrative "Jones" franchise to hit theaters in 19 years. Ford, who delivers a few self-effacing remarks about his age in between some old-fashioned stunt work, is joined by Cate Blanchett and Spielberg's hot new discovery, Shia LaBeouf. George Lucas, who created the franchise in 1981, returned as executive producer. Paramount, along with the filmmakers, shrouded the film in an unusual amount of secrecy ahead of its glitzy world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last Sunday, stoking the anticipation factor among nostalgic fans. It also opened in 61 foreign countries, but the studio said data would not be available until Monday. Los Angeles Reuters
Taiwan museum plans exhibition in Vatican CONCERT
ALBUM
Less than two weeks left before Jethro Tull gigs
Joan Baez to release new album in September
With some of the eagerly anticipated appearances in Ýstanbul this summer by world stars already in the past (such as Chris de Burgh) or impending (Julio Iglesias), there are less than two weeks left before two gigs in Turkey by a world renowned rock act: Jethro Tull will be on the Ýstanbul Arena stage on June 6 and at Ankara’s Hacettepe University Open-air Theater on June 8. Tickets, priced between YTL 165 and YTL 45, are on sale at Biletix.
Folk veteran Joan Baez is readying a new album for fall release, Billboard music magazine reported on its Web site. Titled "Day After Tomorrow," Baez's first studio album since 2003's "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar" is due Sept. 9, the report said. The 10track album, produced by Steve Earle, features three songs written by Earle ("God is God," "I Am a Wanderer" and "Jericho Road") as well as compositions by Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Patty Griffin.
CONCERT
Tamayo to close Guitar Days at Akbank Art Center Cuban classical guitarist Marco Tamayo will be on the stage on May 30 at Ýstanbul's Akbank Art Center in what will be the closing performance of the center's Guitar Days. Tamayo, who started playing the guitar at the age of three, today divides his time between concert appearances and teaching, with master classes at guitar festivals and universities around the world. Tamayo will be taking the stage at 8 p.m. for his concert. Ticket price: YTL 10
AWARD
Nekrosius honored at Ýstanbul theater fest Lithuanian stage director Eimuntas Nekrosius received the Honor Award at this year's Ýstanbul Theater Festival in a ceremony on Sunday at the Atatürk Culture Center (AKM). Nek-rosius, known for his choice of complex and challenging pieces, received his award from Ýstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ÝKSV) Chairman Þakir Eczacýbaþý. Nekrosius and his company Meno Fortas presented their rendition of Goethe's "Faust" at the festival.
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Taiwan's National Palace Museum is planning to lend the works of famed Italian painter Giuseppe Castiglione for a special exhibition in Vatican City, the museum director said Monday. The Palace Museum houses more than 60 paintings by the Italian, who went to China in 1715 as a missionary but spent the next few decades as a painter with the Qing imperial court. Known as Lang Shining in Chinese, Castiglione's works -mostly refined drawings of birds, flowers and horses -- are a blend of European and Chinese styles. Chou Kung-shin, director of the National Palace Museum, said the museum is discussing with the Vatican Museum the possibility of lending the painter's works for an exhibition there, but planning for the show could take three to four years. "Lang Shining was a prolific painter, and most of his works were done in the imperial palace," Chou said. The Palace Museum is a repository of Chinese art works, many of which were originally stored in Beijing's Forbidden City. The Nationalist government shipped the treasures to Taiwan in the months before it fled the Chinese mainland following its defeat by the communist forces amid civil war in 1949. Taipei AP
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TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
Kosovo Turks’ fear of albanýanýzatýon
OPINION
The headscarf: political symbols and constitutionalism CHRISTOPHER VASILLOPULOS*
Kosovar Albanians pressured Turks and other Muslim ethnicities to identify themselves as Albanians with the sole intention of strengthening their own position and numbers. Turks were relieved of such pressure only when Milosevic ended Kosovo's autonomy
Serb nationalists used Turks Serbian nationalists used Turks and other minorities in their political manipulations with Albanians. Serbs favored Turks in order to minimize the position of Kosovar Albanians, who were granted almost equal rights to other Yugoslav national communities and federal units by Tito. In addition to Serbian and Albanian, Turkish was declared the third official language in Kosovo by the new Yugoslav Constitution in 1974. It was considered a disproportionate right compared to the participation of the ethnic Turks in the total population. The same policy continued even during Milosevic's regime, so that many Turks were considered his collaborators. Kosovar Albanians resorted to different kinds of pressure on Turks and other Muslim ethnicities to get them to declare themselves Albanians with the sole intention of
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strengthening their own position and number. It so happened that Turks were relieved of such pressure only when Milosevic abolished Kosovo autonomy. We, the other Yugoslavs, were not aware enough of these delicate relations among the Kosovo ethnic communities. We instead accepted the simplified propagandistic illustration created by Serbians in which Serbs had always been powerful and dominant over the Albanian poverty and primitivism, which the latter inherited from Ottoman times, of course. Sometimes, as happened to me, we would receive indirect input on the Kosovo internal complexities. There were two Kosovar Turks -- one was named Orhan - studying with my brother at Sarajevo University at the beginning of the 1980s, when one of the Albanian national revolts took place. Once they told us they had to leave for Turkey with their families. Serbs were suppressing Albanians by many means, they said, but Albanians "were not gentle with us at all." Due to the extreme pressure from Albanians to renounce their Turkish ethnicity and accept an Albanian
one, a couple of entire villages around Prizren inhabited by the Turkish minority had to migrate to Turkey. More than a decade later, I had a touching meeting with Orhan in Bursa, who was already settled and married there. This was one of the hundreds of thousands of Orhans from the Balkans of Turkish and Slav Muslim origin who had sought refuge in Anatolia from different kinds of pressure and torture. Just between 1956 and 1968 about 175,000 people migrated from the Balkans to Turkey. A few years ago I had another experience in Kosovo itself, where I was a member of a semi-official American mission for promoting the local Kosovo government. We had visited a number of towns, but Prizren was the most interesting: pressed against a mountain, very much like the hamlets of Bursa or Sarajevo. The volume, architectural harmony and a high, slender minaret of the Sinan Pasa Mosque still bore witness to the fact that it was once an imperial city. Next to the mosque were the grimy walls of St. George Orthodox Church, set ablaze during the Albanian-Serb ethnic violence in April 2004.
* Hajrudin Somun is the former ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Turkey.
* Professor Christopher Vasillopulos is an instructor in international relations at Eastern Connecticut State University.
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Kosovar Turks, however, now have their own objections regarding their position in the independent Kosovo. They are generally satisfied. They have a minister, as do the Bosniaks, in the government. They have political and cultural associations, schools and newspapers in Turkish. Their main complaint to the new Kosovo authorities and the international supervisors is connected only to the language issue. They want Turkish to be one of the official languages recognized in the independent Kosovo, as it was stipulated when Kosovo was part of the socialist Yugoslavia. The government as well as the UN and European representatives in Kosovo thinks the Turkish minority should be satisfied that Turkish was accepted as an official language in Prizren and as a working language in the municipalities where a sizable number of Turks live. I do not wonder why Kosovar Turks insist on the language as an essential minority right. The mother tongue is the core of one's identity, and in Kosovo it is the main feature differentiating Turks from Albanians, both belonging to the same religion and tradition. That's why their concerns to preserve the language should be respected by all; otherwise in the future they could lose their distinct identity and become Albanians. However, I agree with Dr. Mandacý that the demographic disadvantage of the Turkish community in Kosovo "deprives them of sufficient political leverage to claim the status of a full fledged party, sharing political power equally with the ethnic Albanians." I would add that this goes for Serbs as well, keeping in mind their historical and present political weight in the region and the fact that Serbs see rudiments of their national identity in the myth created around the Kosovo battle of 1389. The Balkans had been for centuries -and hopefully it will not be so much so in the future - a place of major persecutions, forced migrations and assimilation efforts. The Turkish minority in Kosovo could not be exempted from that rule.
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During our meeting with the local authorities in the municipality, the mayor was joined by his deputy, a Kosovar Turk. Roughly a third of Kosovar Turks live in Prizren itself, while a nearby town called Mamusha is an entirely Turkish place. There were also Kosovar Slav Muslims -- the majority of them identify themselves as Bosniaks. Some of them complained to me that Turks in Kosovo have been given more priority by everybody in spite of their comparatively smaller number. "Look at the Turkish deputy mayor, he is very active," said one Bosniak. "The role of the Turkish government is important in that regard," he noted, adding, "It supports its minority here, while nobody from Bosnia cares about us." I was told as well that Bosniak students from Kosovo are receiving scholarships from Turkey "so that they could become Turks there."
Turks in independent Kosovo
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Ethnic Turks in the Balkans have been a matter of curiosity and more or less forced migrations ever since the Ottomans left the region. Their phenomenon was significant not due to the number of this minority, but because they signified the remnants of a great world power that ruled the European southeast for centuries. The status of the Turkish minority in Kosovo became an issue of argument once again after the former province of Serbia declared independence last February. At that time some Kosovar Turks were expressing certain concerns regarding their minority rights in the new state. Some Turkish newspapers were expressing suspicions, quoting Turkish activists, such as Ýrfan Þekerci, president of the Doru Yol Association in Prizren. He said he personally believed the independence of Kosovo "will be good," while at the same time adding, "Obviously there is a fear of Albanian nationalism." It is estimated that of the approximately 2.1 million population of Kosovo, 92 percent are Albanians. In addition around 5 percent are Serbs, while the rest are Bosniaks, Turks, Pomaks, Goranis and gypsies. Around 97 percent of the population is Muslim. The Turkish minority is estimated at 30-50,000. Is it then possible that 1-2 percent of Turks could harm this absolute Albanian majority in Kosovo and is it really feared that they could be the target of an "Albanization"? There are Turkish scholars and Balkan experts, such as Dr. Þule Kut from Ýstanbul Bilgi University and Dr. Nazif Mandacý from Ýzmir's Dokuz Eylül University, as well as some Western experts on the Turkish and other ethnic minorities in the Balkans. In regard to the Kosovar Turks, there is a common view that they were for many years -- in particular when Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia and of Serbia -"caught between two nationalisms." One was of the majority Serbs and other one of the "major minority" Albanians.
SELAHATTÝN SEVÝ
HAJRUDIN SOMUN*
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." -- Sigmund Freud "We live by symbols." -- US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes My grandfather wore a fez his entire life. He was born an Ottoman citizen near Thessalonica. Although many New Yorkers must have thought that he was a Turk, a Muslim or some sort of Asian, for my grandfather his fez was a symbol of his origins, not his ethnicity or faith. What it meant to him was ultimately personal. Symbols, however, are both personal and public. They proclaim something about ourselves, our public as well as personal identities. When public identity becomes important or tenuous, attitudes toward symbols become intense. In the early stages of national development, they can seem all important. If they represent the past, they must be obliterated; if the future, celebrated and taught in schools. No one understood the power of symbols more than Atatürk; hence, his attack on all the symbols, to say nothing of the institutions, of the Ottoman past. Under difficult and terrible circumstances, he knew he needed to define what it meant to be a Turk. The constitution of the Turkish Republic reflected his conception of Turkish identity as he saw it in the second quarter of the 20th century. It is difficult to believe that a leader as realistic as Atatürk would freeze his views into an ideology, no matter how essential he believed they were at a given moment. Releasing Atatürk's views from an ideological freezer does not tell us what he would think today about this or that. Defrosting his views, however, may help frame the debate on current issues in less dichotomous and demagogic terms. It is useful sometimes to introduce a cool conceptual distinction into a hot controversy. To that end, let me make a distinction between constitutionalism and the constitution. Constitutionalism includes all the constitution's underlying values as well as the constitution as written. In the case of the US, the Constitution allowed for slavery, but the concept of constitutionalism expressed the value that all men are created equal and have other rights of liberty and freedom of political action. The actual document was a political compromise, not a final statement of meaning. It was ratified according the 'felt necessities of time,' to use the famous words of Justice Holmes. When those necessities inevitably changed, the words of the document would change accordingly. It would not change haphazardly, however. It would change in the direction set by the spirit of the document, by its underlying values. Broadly speaking, this is exactly what has happened in American history. If this concept of conceptualism is applied to Turkey, it can be seen that Atatürk's values were set forward in the Turkish Constitution according to the felt necessities of the time at the inception of the Turkish Republic. It is important, however, to recognize that the actual document was not meant nor could it be meant to apply unchanged. The form and spirit of the American Constitution moved in the direction of expanding freedom based on natural rights. Similarly, the Turkish Constitution expresses the underlying values of freedom and democracy, although the content of these values has changed -- and not without agonizing conflict. Authoritarian practices have interfered with the expression of underlying Turkish values. Nevertheless, it is incontrovertible that Turkish democracy and freedom have grown over the decades. Nothing is ever certain in politics. Nothing important can ever be guaranteed. Hard-won liberties are always threatened, as post-Sept. 11, 2001 America sadly demonstrates. The content of the constitution may change as it responds to the felt necessities of the times. Its underlying values, however, should be much more resistant to such temporary influences, fears or panic. As Jefferson said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." In this context the debate on symbols, like the fez or the headscarf, can proceed without ideological excess. Reasonable people can disagree as to whether Turkish democracy has evolved to the point where civilian dress can be a matter more of individual choice rather than a political statement. Reasonable people can discuss whether Atatürk's profound desire to separate religion from politics has become so written on the hearts of the Turkish people that a headscarf can be seen as an expression of personal piety and not an attack on the separation of mosque and state. I can certainly understand why secularists see the headscarf as the camel's nose, the first assault on Turkish nationalism and the beginnings of an Islamic republic, if the headscarf symbolizes the dominance of Islam over the state. If, however, the headscarf is rather a symbol of the importance of religious values within the existing concept of Turkish constitutionalism, which remains secular and includes the fundamental guarantee that no religion will be forced on any Turkish citizen, then the headscarf will not be the camel's nose. It becomes much more like my grandfather's fez, a personal statement of who he was, independent of state, ethnicity or, in his case, religion. It is properly up to the Turkish people to decide such matters. There is no reason to believe that Turkish democracy will not continue to move in the direction of the living nationalism of Atatürk, however the debate on the headscarf resolves itself.
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You are appalled, aren’t you? At the outset I must first state one principle: It is wrong to seek extraordinary implications and meanings in a sentence by a human being irrespective of how important he is. Basing a complicated social reality on a single evaluation would be a denial of the inquiring mind and intellect. Moreover, a reality has different reflections that could be seen differently from different perspectives. Those who acted quickly to make a reference to the notion of "neighborhood pressure," coined by renowned scholar Þerif Mardin, currently have some doubts. However, neither now nor then was it right to take the remarks as undisputable facts. Mardin is a renowned scholar and intellectual who needs to be taken into account; but there is no single explanation for social events and no single authority competent to make comprehensive statements. In the final analysis, every intellectual makes his assessments through his own perspective and reaches a synthesis based on his assessments. When you bring different and even conflicting analyses together, you will have the opportunity to get a better understanding of what is going on. Unfortunately, all are prone to rely on what is beneficial to themselves and, even to use the remarks of
ALÝ BULAÇ
EKREM DUMANLI e.dumanli@todayszaman.com
some authorities, to their own interests. Mardin, in a recent meeting organized by the Association for the Research and Resolution of Social Problems (SORAR), noted that he was uneasy with the attempts to use the said notion by skeptics of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). This statement actually dismisses some headlines and columns that made reference to the notion. This is what would have happened when you politicize an assessment by a social scientist. Mardin makes an analogy between a teacher and an imam. It is possible to witness the flawed approaches in the media vis-à-vis this comparison as well because our media is ambitious to take quick action to interpret any remarks that seem to have backed their position. They simply become hesitant and
doubtful when the owner of these remarks attempts to clarify his intention by the relevant remarks. Take a fresh example: Mardin asserts that Atatürk's remark "Peace at home, peace in the world" is not an outcome of a really philosophical inquiry. Will those who praised Mardin because of the notion of "neighborhood pressure" that he coined remain his admirers or attempt to lynch him as they did when they took notice of his book on Said Nursi? The famous scholar defines Kemalism as a dry ideology. Could you imagine the shock of those who heavily relied on his notion "neighborhood pressure"? I quote what he said verbatim: "You will shortly understand how dry the Kemalist ideology is when you study it thoroughly. This ideology has not done anything good to the society." Can you imagine what would have happened in Turkey if the above remarks had been made by a conservative person instead of an authority like Mardin? It could be said he is a scholar who is entitled to free speech. I will respect this, but in that case I will have to ask why Atilla Yayla was subjected to a lynching campaign by the media and even prosecuted by the courts. What was his crime? Yayla said
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ANDREW FINKEL a.finkel@todayszaman.com
a.bulac@todayszaman.co m
‘Shoddy law’
Secular and antý-secular Secularism is one of the controversial issues that may potentially create tension in Turkey. This tension is most times misinterpreted for the outside world -- particularly the West and Europe. Those who use secularism as a political tool within the domestic political landscape refer to segments of society eager to perform their religious duties in compliance with the laws in effect as a threat to the secular regime. Foreign actors unfamiliar with Turkey's domestic structure get convinced by this simple propaganda and subsequently come to the conclusion that religious people disrespect the lifestyles of others and are involved in conspiracies to introduce a new system that would take the country to the level of medieval Europe. They even stress that the religion itself is the primary reason for remaining underdeveloped; it should be noted that this is not the case. I sincerely believe that people who take their religion seriously have no problem with secularism vis-à-vis the issues of the protection of freedom of religious belief and conscience for all. Nor do religious people have a problem with the prohibition of the introduction of a system based on religion that would make a group of clerics privileged and dominant over the rest of the society and forcing members of other religions or faiths to adopt their own beliefs; in their actions and constructive behavior, religious people do not feel any obligation to hide their original ideas and beliefs and seek the best time to execute their conspiracies. There is no sign that they will have any troubles at all with secularism in the future. Islamic history clearly shows that Muslims have paid utmost attention even in times of their dominance to the preservation of religious freedoms of non-Muslims. Currently, non-Muslims freely observe their religious beliefs and duties in predominantly Muslim countries. There is some pressure on their particular liberties -- i.e., the failure to reopen a seminary on Heybeliada Island off the coast of Ýstanbul and restrictions on foundations of non-Muslims, but these problems stem from secular circles rather than pious people. The view that a positivist and materialist world and lifestyle is envisaged in secular design and that anything with a religious dimension is inherently bad and should be declared harmful is a philosophical approach that has nothing to do with secularism. This approach turns the lives of Muslims and members of other religions into hell in Turkey. For a long time, those who limit secularism to a perspective of materialism and positivism and seek to strip daily life of the influences of Islam have been known as supporters of real modernity and a modern lifestyle. For this reason, they have undeservedly received the greatest attention and support. However, events throughout Turkey's EU bid showed that this was actually a legend. EU authorities and some intellectuals have realized this. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso's frequent reference to democratic secularism is one indicator for the new tendency. No doubt secularism is a byproduct of the experience of European history. Of course, Europe has not given up on the secularism it exported to the world; however, it stresses that the secularism as observed in Turkey, considered an important partner for the future of Europe, is not democratic. According to EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, the ongoing tension will be effectively handled only if a truly democratic secularism is adopted. The EU holds that large religious masses do not pose any threat to the secular character of the country. In this case, there is no option other than making attempts to make the ultra-secularists adopt a democratic republic and secularism. The EU is obviously not fond of religious people and secularists for no reason. In the final analysis, it views Turkey as a dynamic actor that will play an active role in the global world and for this reason pays attention to the probable role of the religious segment of the society. Ultra-secularists who view modernity as nudity and obscenity and freedom to have alcoholic beverages at a restaurant in a fairly conservative small Anatolian town remain out of the sight of Europeans who seek real secularists. The EU is simply asking Turkey to undergo dramatic reforms for the sake of maximizing its own interests.
Kemalism represents backwardness rather than progress. He also asserted that visitors to Turkey would ask why the statutes and photos of this man (Atatürk) are everywhere. Yayla, who serves as the chairman of the Board of the Association of Liberal Thought, was sentenced to one year, three months in prison for this question, which he tried to narrate from a hypothetical situation. What I am trying to say is simple. Every remark is exaggerated in Turkey by fanatics, and subsequently the society is divided into camps because of excessive and exaggerated comments. Every remark has discussable and understandable dimensions and parts. For this reason, no remark is the undisputed evidence of absolute reality. What matters is benefiting from every remark (including the most unusual ones) and being able to look at what is going on in an impartial manner. For this reason, it is necessary to expand the sphere of freedoms and liberties as much as possible. As this sphere expands, unusual and path-breaking comments will be encountered. Only in this way will a pluralistic and participatory democratic order be achieved. No progress is possible by excessively praising or degrading people.
Supportýng the communýty NICOLE POPE n.pope@todayszaman.com
As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan travels to Diyarbakýr to announce the long-awaited government plan to develop the Southeast, the main focus is expected to be on irrigation and energy and on the jobs these sectors are likely to generate. Bridging the huge income gap that still separates the eastern provinces from the western part of the country is important not just for the stability of the impoverished eastern provinces, but for Turkey as a whole, although the political dimension of the Kurdish issue cannot be ignored. How much of the $12 billion said to be earmarked for the region will be spent on the 30 multi-purpose community centers known as ÇATOM scattered across the region remains to be seen, but I hope the government did not forget them when it prepared its regional plans. Founded in the mid-1990s to add a social dimension to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) development project, ÇATOM have proved surprisingly successful, given how little state funding they have received over the years. Women from 14 to 50 years old can attend literacy classes or learn about health issues. Some of the centers also offer language training or run workshops producing carpets or soap and are of great benefit to the community. Income-generation programs teach hairdressing and entrepreneurial skills, sometimes backed by micro-credits that allow women to set up small businesses. In certain places, computer classes are also available, when the computers actually work. People who run ÇATOM complain that work is disrupted by frequent power cuts or that they struggle to pay
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their heating bills in the wintertime. All of them operate on a shoestring, but most of the centers are run by dedicated individuals, who despite being poorly paid themselves, somehow manage to make the most of limited resources. Some of the handicrafts -- traditional knitted socks, embroidered scarves and felt bags and filigree silver jewelry -- produced in these centers were displayed and sold in tents set up in Taksim Square in recent days. The prices were very low, despite the labor-intensive nature of the work involved. These handmade goods could probably fetch better prices if the artisans benefited from some professional guidance in the design and marketing of their wares. It seems a pity that while shops here are awash with sequined and embroidered fabrics from India, the traditional skills of local women are not put to better use, for instance to manufacture high quality souvenirs for the tourist trade. Having visited a few of these centers over the years, I know how important they are to the women who attend them. For many of them, going to a ÇATOM provides a rare opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy the company of other women in a similar situation. The community workers who run the centers often have to go from door to door and deploy huge powers of persuasion, sometimes enlisting the backing of local imams or officials, to convince reluctant husbands and fathers that it is safe to let wives and daughters attend the classes. With the right resources and staffing levels, these centers could play a bigger role in helping the region catch up with the rest of Turkey. The skills and self-confidence that women acquire when they spend time at the community centers are passed on to their children and end up benefiting the entire family. If the government is serious about developing the East and Southeast of Turkey, providing adequate support to the ÇATOM to diversify the programs and reach a wider audience would be a good place to start.
When a man of religion tries to save the souls of prostitutes, he risks emerging with his reputation blemished. And when a posse of high court judges is seized by the temptation to become involved in politics, recent events in Turkey suggest, the majesty of the law is unlikely to survive intact. If one had to give just one reason why the Constitutional Court should have been reluctant to take up the chief prosecutor's case to shut down the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), it is because it was inevitably going to politicize the reputations of the judges. One could argue that no court decision is ever politically neutral, but for the judges to rule on the constitutionality of a party convincingly endorsed by the electorate at a poll not one year old was to elevate the judiciary into the main opposition, a role to which no sensible jurist could aspire. Those urging the courts to get on with the job of retiring the government seem undisturbed by dispatching the judges into these crocodile-infested waters. Michael Rubin, one of the last Washington neocons still standing, believes the case should succeed despite the "prosecutor's legal brief [being] shoddily written and poorly argued." "The underlying legal issues are real," he wrote in a recent issue of the National Review online edition. Yet what greater contempt for the law can there be than to try to impose a serious penalty with a "shoddily written" indictment? Rubin represents a body of opinion both inside and outside of Turkey that believes the AK Party should be tried not for what they have done, but for their implacable inner nature. It is as if the AK Party were condemned by Islamicist original sin. Yet common sense suggests that like most political parties, the AK Party possesses not so much a hidden agenda as a strategy of making things up as they go along. Rubin's argument is that a system of "one wo/man, one vote" cannot be deemed a true democracy if it produces a theologically inclined government. He is also concerned that the government is no true friend of the United States -- strangely ignoring one of the chief prosecutor's bitterest complaints, that the AK Party has sold out Turkish interests to Washington plans for a Greater Middle East. I have over the past few weeks had occasion to speak to some of the people whose names appear on the charge sheet and have listened to the same bewilderment that a remark uttered in an odd time or a strange place could be plucked out of context by some Torquemada listening at the keyhole. This is not so much shoddy, poorly argued law as misuse of the legal system that runs contrary to the whole spirit of Western jurisprudence. It is how the law is practiced in authoritarian states. If I am less than sympathetic to the government's plight, it is because they have themselves turned a blind eye to the 301s and 305s and the whole raft of penal legislation in Turkey used to suppress freedom of expression. Their slowness to consider reform, their belief that they could take charge of the creaky state apparatus and use it to their own advantage has come home to roost. The realization has now dawned that the legal system is in need of root and branch reform, and this in turn has begun to inspire panic among their self-declared opponents. While it may be possible to feel some understanding for the Constitutional Court's dilemma, of being maneuvered into the political arena, it is almost impossible to understand why the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals have decided to jump in, unbidden. In what might be considered an unwarranted attempt to interfere with a sub-judice case were it to come from you or I, the chairmen of the court released a memo last week upbraiding the government for not taking the closure of their party on the chin like a man. The memo also accuses the government of trying to put the courts under political control. It is clearly the work of those with an undeveloped sense of irony, or those who have never looked at their feet in embarrassment as the pot calls the kettle black.
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TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
LEISURE
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Gregorian Calendar: 27 May 2008 C.E. Hijri Calendar: 22 Jumada al-Awwal 1429 A.H. Hebrew Calendar: 22 Iyyar 5768 calendar@todayszaman.com Today is the first day of National Reconciliation Week (NRW) in Australia. This is a week for all Australians to actively support reconciliation, to explore and discover a shared heritage and to understand and respect the local indigenous people’s culture. The NRW falls between May 27 and June 4, both dates referring to two significant dates in the relations between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. May 27 is the anniversary of the 1967 referendum in which 90 percent of Australians voted to remove
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clauses in the Australian Constitution that discriminated against indigenous Australians. On June 3, 1992 the High Court of Australia handed down its judgment in the Mabo case, overturning the concept of “terra nullius” claiming that Australia had been empty of people when settled by the British and acknowledged the preexisting rights of indigenous Australians. Today is Children’s Day in Nigeria and Mother’s Day in Bolivia. In Nicaragua today is celebrated as Army Day, honoring the foundation of the national army.
E2 08:00 Rachael Ray Show 09:00 Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 The Martha Stewart Show 11:00 Rachael Ray Show 12:00 Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 Hollyoaks 13:30 Rachael Ray Show 14:30 The Martha Stewart Show 15:30 Rachael Ray Show 16:30 Ellen DeGeneres Show 17:30 Hollyoaks 18:00 The Martha Stewart Show 19:00 Ellen DeGeneres Show 20:00 Cheers 20:30 Hollyoaks 21:00 Footballers’ Wives 22:15 Big Shots 23:00 Late Night with Conan O’Brien 24:00 Poker Royale 01:00 Big Shots 02:00 Footballers’ Wives 03:00 Dexter 04:00 Poker Royale
On this day in 1960, a military coup in Turkey removed President Celal Bayar along with Adnan Menderes and some other government and party members from office. The coup was staged by a group of radical Turkish army officers against the government of the Democratic Party (DP). The leaders of the coup made General Cemal Gürsel, who had not taken any role in the coup, head of state, prime minister and defense minister upon completion of the military takeover. By Kerim Balcý
‘Deception’
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Show Tracker: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ has resurrectýon season
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL
ÝSTANBUL: Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 11:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:30 24:30 Caddebostan AFM: 10:30 13:10 15:45 18:20 21:00 Fri/Sat: 23:30 ANKARA: Ata On Tower: 12:30 14:45 17:15 19:45 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:00 ÝZMÝR: Cinebonus Konak Pier: 10:45 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:30
WICKER PARK
ÝSTANBUL: Þiþli Movieplex: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Suadiye Movieplex: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 ANKARA: Cinebonus Bilkent: 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 ÝZMÝR: Cinebonus Balçova Kipa: 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 ANTALYA: Cinebonus Migros: 12:00 16:45 21:30
NEVER BACK DOWN
ÝSTANBUL: Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 11:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:30 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:00 13:30 16:00 18:30 21:00 Fri/Sat: 23:30 ANKARA: Cinebonus Arcadium: 11:50 14:20 16:50 19:20 21:50 Fri/Sat: 24:10 ÝZMÝR: Konak AFM Passtel: 12:00 14:30 17:00 19:30 21:50 ANTALYA: Lara Prestige: 12:00 14:15 16:30 18:45 21:00
DECEPTION
ÝSTANBUL: Bakýrköy Cinebonus Capacity: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:15 13:30 16:15 18:45 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:45 ANKARA: Ata On Tower: 12:00 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 ÝZMÝR: Cinebonus Konak Pier: 10:30 12:45 15:00 17:15 19:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 ANTALYA: AFM Laura: 11:00 13:00 15:45 18:30 21:15
Sudoku
PHOTO
MARY MCNAMARA HOLLYWOOD
Like surgeons, television viewers see death on a regular basis. Especially this season. Whether it was the almost instant failure of the much trumpeted “Bionic Woman” or the last-minute tragic demise of “Aliens in America,” TV has had a fairly high mortality rate. So when you see a show, trapped in a potentially fatal spiral, emerge from its coma, blink a few times, then rise from the bed like a wounded action hero, it is worth taking a few moments to rejoice. “Grey’s Anatomy” is totally and seriously back. The lead item for the two-hour season finale would seem to be the much-heralded reunion of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey). But frankly so many wonderful things occurred that the Big Kiss, high on a hillside surrounded by luminaries outlining the house Meredith finally has the courage to envision for them both, was anti-climactic. In the best way possible. How could it not be? It was preceded by some of the greatest moments on television this season. Callie (Sara Ramirez) finally kissed Dr. Hahn (Brooke Smith). Alex (Justin Chambers) broke down in Izzie’s (Katherine Heigl) arms after finally admitting that his Ava/Rebecca (Elizabeth Reaser) is mentally ill, just like his mother. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) turned over the keys to her beloved clinic, acknowledging that even she cannot do it all. George (T.R. Knight) grew a spine, took a stand and got the chance to retake his residency test. Cristina (Sandra Oh) got her groove back, performed a tricky surgery and told Dr. Hahn to back off. Meredith thrashed the Chief (James Pickens Jr.) for abandoning her mother and driving her to a suicide attempt, and the Chief told his wife he loved her and he was coming home. Even Dr. Sloan (Eric Dane) had a moment of glory, giving Callie the final push she needed. I did mention it was two hours, right? In between there was much commotion over a young man encased in cement, and two young lovers, who were also patients in Meredith and Derek’s clini-
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Hallmark Actors (L to R) James Pickens Jr., Sara Ramirez, Katherine Heigl, Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh and Kali Rocha in a scene from the TV series “Grey's Anatomy,” which ended its fourth season with a two-hour episode. cal trials for a new treatment for brain tumors. Some of it bordered on the ridiculous -- moments before brain surgery the tumor couple, er, coupled for the first time; the cement was the result of a bet to impress a (really mean) girl, and in the last three minutes pretty much everyone in the cast was kissing someone. But it didn’t matter because it was such a relief to see the show functioning as the unique hybrid it is. One part “Sex and the City,” one part “ER,” one part “The Paper Chase,” “Grey’s” captured hearts and eyeballs with its comely cast, snappy dialogue and unapologetic search for wisdom, not to mention true love. Then, last season, something went tragically awry. What was effervescent fell flat, what was illuminating became preachy, what was quirky
turned weird and possibly mentally unbalanced. Meredith’s faux suicide, George and Callie, George and Izzie, Derek and Meredith over and over again. Season four debuted with some promise but the writers strike hit too early in the season to really call it. But while other shows sputtered and stalled in post-strike episodes, “Grey’s” kept its shoulders squared and its chin up. Meredith went into therapy and apparently she took everyone else with her. The dark days of Season three? It’s as if they never happened. The final moments of the season finale may have been a bit goopy, but they were intentionally the opposite of a cliffhanger. What “Grey’s” viewers needed was a renewal of vows. And they got them, sealed with the kiss of their choice. © Los Angeles Times, 2008
Cem Kýzýltuð c.kiziltug@todayszaman.com
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HOW TO PLAY? : The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 by 9 square Sudoku game: Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9
00:00 Identification and Programming 00:25 Music 07:25 Identification and Programming 07:30 Music 08:30 News (English, French, German) 08:40 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 10:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 10:45 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 12:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 12.45 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 15:00 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 15:15 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 18:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 18:45 Live Broadcast (English, French) 21:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 21:45 Live Broadcast (English, Greek) 23:58 Identification
Broadcast Areas:
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Comedymax 08:00 30 Rock 08:30 What I Like About You 09:00 For Your Love 09:30 Out of Practice 10:00 Two Guys and a Girl 10:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 11:00 Ugly Betty 12:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos 12:30 The Game 13:00 Still Standing 13:30 American Dad 14:00 30 Rock 14:30 What I Like About You 15:00 For Your Love 15:30 Out of Practice 16:00 Two Guys and a Girl 16:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 17:00 Ugly Betty 18:00 America’s Funniest Home Videos 18:30 The Game 19:00 Still Standing 19:30 American Dad 20:00 30 Rock 20:30 What I Like About You 21:00 Two Guys and a Girl 21:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 22:00 Ugly Betty 23:00 JFL Stand-Up Series 23:30 American Dad
TRT Tourýsm Radýo
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07:30 Ivana Trump's for Love Alone 09:15 McLeod's Daughters 10:00 Escape from Wildcat Canyon 11:45 Recipe for Revenge 13:30 Ivana Trump's for Love Alone 15:15 McLeod's Daughters 16:15 Escape from Wildcat Canyon 18:00 Recipe for Revenge 20:00 Wild at Heart 21:00 Though None Go with Me 23:00 Shadow of a Doubt 00:45 Nowhere to Land 02:30 Shadow of a Doubt
radýo guýde
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Goldmax 07:30 Roger & Me 09:00 Operation Crossbow 10:55 Just Tell Me What You Want 12:50 Tarzan, the Ape Man 14:55 The Border 16:45 Three Fugitives 18:25 Best in Show 20:00 Going in Style 21:45 She's the One 23:20 The Ten Commandments: The Musical 01:25 All Over the Guy 03:00 Tarzan, the Ape Man
Movýemax
Mr. DýploMAT!
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18:10 Married with Children 18:50 Two and a Half Men 20:00 The Simpsons 21:00 Desperate Housewives 22:00 Swept Away 24:00 The Simpsons 01:00 Desperate Housewives 02:00 Swept Away 04:00 The Simpsons
07:55 Second String 09:30 Ira and Abby 11:20 Rusty: A Dog’s Tale 12:55 Pauly Shore is Dead 14:25 Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front 15:55 Secuestro Express 17:20 Tideland 19:20 Inside the Actors Studio 20:30 The Lost City 23:10 Adam and Eve 00:55 Jade Warrior
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REUTERS
ÝSTANBUL: Niþantaþý Citylife: 11:00 12:15 13:30 14:45 16:15 17:30 19:00 20:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:00 24:30 Caddebostan AFM: 10:30 11:55 13:20 14:45 16:10 17:35 19:05 20:30 21:50 Fri/Sat: 23:15 ANKARA: Ata On Tower: 12:00 13:15 14:30 15:45 17:00 18:15 19:30 20:45 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:15 ÝZMÝR: Cinebonus Konak Pier: 10:30 11:45 13:15 14:30 16:00 17:15 18:45 20:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:00 24:15 ANTALYA: Cinebonus Migros: 11:15 12:30 13:45 15:15 16:30 18:00 19:15 20:45 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:45
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CONTINUATION
TODAY’S ZAMAN 17
T U E S D AY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 0 8
Turkey’s judicial standards far behind EU’s ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA
Courts in Turkey suffer from a shortage of judges, handle a larger caseload and lag behind the European Union in terms of salaries of judges, the number of courts serving the public, expediency and other factors. According to statistics provided by the Justice Ministry, a judge has to handle 852 cases a year in Turkey, each averaging 621 days, while in comparison, judges in the EU, which Turkey aspires to join, handle 200 cases a year on average. The chief prosecutor's offices handled more than 2 million cases in 1997 and dealt with close to 5 million cases last year, a 116 percent increase. Similarly, while criminal courts had to handle close to 2 million cases a year in 1997,
they had to handle 2.7 million cases last year. As the former Supreme Court of Appeals head Mehmet Uygun had said, judges have difficult choices to make. They have to work more and earn less. In the United Kingdom, a judge can earn approximately 14,000 euros a month, in Ireland 9,700 euros, in Switzerland 8,333 euros, in Norway 6,756 euros and in Denmark 6,437 euros, compared to 750 euros in Turkey. Another contrast between the European Union and Turkey relates to the number courts of first instance, abundant in Turkey. While there are 2,508 such courts in Turkey, Spain follows with 2,249 and Italy with 1,047. When it comes to the number of judges per court, though, Turkey lags behind numerically. There are 64 judges per court in the Netherlands,
28 in the Czech Republic, 22 in Poland, 19 in Germany, 13 in Sweden, 11 in both Slovenia and Estonia and only one judge per court in Turkey. To free Turkish courts of the backlog, more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors are needed in addition to 14,582 staff members and 1,182 new courts. As general courts suffer from such deficiencies in Turkey, appellate courts face similar difficulties. Hundreds of files of cases -- more than 1 million -- await a hearing in the Supreme Court of Appeals, which decided on about 454,000 cases last year and postponed more than 290 cases to this year. The Council of State is not much different, with an ever-increasing number of cases, from 120,860 in 1997 to 169,924 last year. Another fact concerns the victims or rela-
Rivalry intensifies in DTP as general assembly nears
tives of victims who were subject to such criminal cases as murders. Criminal courts can handle only about 50 percent of the cases in a year.
The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) has embarked on a search for a new party leader after its former leader, Nurettin Demirtaþ, who was incarcerated last year on charges of forging a document to evade military conscription, was released and enlisted in the army last month. Demirtaþ, who is not a deputy of Parliament, became the DTP leader at the party's general assembly in 2007. Ahmet Türk, former DTP leader and current parliamentary group leader, drew the ire of the hawkish wing of the DTP when he revealed that he would like to run for party leadership in the party's general assembly scheduled for May. Türk, a moderate in the DTP ranks, opposed the idea of someone outside of Parliament being elected party leader last year on the grounds that it caused conflict in the party's representation. "If we are a party represented in Parliament, if we believe we can solve our problems here, it is necessary for our leader to be someone from the party [parliamentary] group. Having someone outside Parliament as party leader would harm the party," Türk reportedly told individuals close to him. The party's hawks, led by Mardin deputy Emine Ayna, reportedly want someone outside of Parliament as the party's new leader. The fact that Ayna was hastily elected as the deputy party leader while Türk was on a recent visit abroad drew criticism from DTP deputies such as Aysel Tuðluk, Sýrrý Sakýk, Nuri Yaman, Hasip Kaplan and Akýn Birdal. Ayna opposes Türk as party leader on the grounds that he is old and has some health problems; however, it is claimed that Türk's recent statement during a visit to northern Iraq that violence perpetrated by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is hurting Kurds irritated the party's hawks. Habib Güler Ankara
Figures from Turkish justice The number of cases coming to the various courts rose to more than 5,455,000 last year from 3,725,000 in 1997. A judge had to handle 581 cases a year in 1997 compared to 852 last year. There are 1.5 judges per 20,000 people in Turkey, compared to 5.1 in Germany, 4.3 in Austria, 3.8 in Sweden and 2.4 in Russia. The judiciary spends 69.63 euros per person in Austria, 64.41 euros in Belgium, 53.15 euros in Germany, 28.35 euros in France, 4.62 euros in Russia and 3.66 euros in Turkey.
Gül urges sides to ease tension PHOTO
TARIK ÖZTÜRK
contýnued from page 1 President Gül received Supreme Court of Appeals President Hasan Gerçeker yesterday evening. There was no immediate statement after the meeting. Government spokesperson Cemil Çiçek in a press statement after a Cabinet meeting yesterday said he was not aware of the content of the meeting but added that he welcomed efforts to ease tension.
Exchanges through media cause tension Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan expressed the opinion on Monday that a communications gap between various state agencies accompanied by media reports on issues between them was the cause of tension. "Turkey's fundamental problem lies in not meeting to talk about issues," he said speaking to journalists at Parliament, when he meeting with children visiting Turkey to attend the Sixth Turkish Olympics. Speaking to CNN Türk in a live interview later in the day, Toptan said he believed the right way could be found only through discussion of conflicting opinions and emphasized that the parties in the heated exchanges should get together to talk about the issues. "A sustainable clash of opinions is an important gain for a country; it is tantamount to establishing a sound vision for the future. A clash of opinions that's unmanageable can turn into chaos," he said talking with the host, Yavuz Oðhan. "Why don't we sit down and talk instead of getting our
President Gül and Supreme Court of Appeals’ President Gerçeker shaking hands during a ceremony on May. 19, the Day of Youth and Sports. opinions across to each other through newspapers and TV? This is something we need to question, as we have a serious shortcoming." Toptan also said he found it hard to understand why the judiciary was offended when Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin first shared a draft of a judicial amendment proposal with European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn. "Our Supreme Court of Appeals knows perfectly well that we have worked in earlier assignments with the members of the Supreme Court of
Appeals," he said to emphasize that the judges have never been left out of the process. "Perhaps the justice minister did that spontaneously. There is no sense in looking for an bad intentions," he said. "I find it hard to understand why they evinced such a harsh reaction, but I don't want to go into their relationship with the government." He said the legislative, executive and judicial organs should learn to accept one another without discussing each other's legitimacy. Toptan said the place to correct errors or mistaken legislation
adopted by Parliament was the Constitutional Court. "If you add in additional judicial checks next to the Constitutional Court, then it does not work. We might make wrong decisions, but the Constitutional Court is the place to correct them." Toptan said foreign politicians and diplomats had asked a number of questions about the closure case against the AK Party. "Some people can answer these questions with confidence. When they ask me, I say, 'Turkey has overcome many a crisis like this one. It will overcome this one, too'." Toptan, who had earlier suggested that the Constitutional Court could come up with a new judicial interpretation in the pending closure case filed against the AK Party in a manner that would relieve all concerned with the nation's stability, also responded to questions about his "third way formula." "Regarding the closure case, instead of taking a classic approach to the case by deciding on whether to hear or reject the lawsuit, our Constitutional Court may produce a path-finding ruling in which everyone can discuss and mull over their own mistakes, but in which the country's stability is not impeded. I'm putting forward this idea to Turkish lawyers and political scientists to discuss," Toptan had said. In yesterday's interview Toptan said he believed it would be a healthy contribution to the discussion if politicians, professors of constitutional law and political scientists discussed the possibility of formulating such a third way. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman
Citing drought, Iraq asks for more water from Turkey contýnued from page 1 Relations between Turkey and Iraq were strained following the US-led war on Iraq due to Turkish misgivings over the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. But ties have been on a track for cooperation since the Baghdad government denounced the PKK as a terrorist organization and vowed not to tolerate its presence in Iraq. In March, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd himself, paid his first visit to Ankara since being elected to his post in 2005 and pledged an era of strategic cooperation with the neighboring Turkey. Officials from the two countries are now working on cooperation on economic and energy issues. Ankara wants Iraqi natural gas to be transported to Western markets through its territory. Tüzmen said Ankara had upgraded its targets for annual trade with Iraq from $3 billion to $5 billion. "We are going to double our trade soon," Tüzmen said. "Turkey and Iraq are very close to each other, and our relations continue to flourish every day. We are committed to maintaining this improvement," he added. Ankara Today's Zaman
SPD ignores threats, taps president candidate
PHOTO
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told lawmakers Monday that Israel would not agree to open a key Gaza crossing -- explicitly rejecting a chief condition Hamas militants have set for any truce with Israel. Egypt has been trying for months to negotiate a deal that would end the rocket and mortar fire from Gaza at southern Israel, and the harsh air and ground strikes they provoke from Israel. But each side has set tough conditions. Israel wants progress on negotiations to return an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-allied militants nearly two years ago. And Hamas wants Israel to immediately open blockaded Gaza border crossings, which were closed to all but humanitarian aid after the group violently seized control of Gaza a year ago. On Monday, Olmert told parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border -- Gaza's main gateway to the outside world -- would not be pried open. "We won't be willing to open the Rafah crossing at this point," a meeting participant quoted the prime minister as saying. Another official had no answer when asked if that meant the passage could be opened later. Both Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because panel proceedings are supposed to be confidential. But the proceedings are routinely leaked, and Olmert likely used the platform to make his position clear to Hamas. Israeli officials have previously said they fear that if the border crossings are opened, Hamas would consolidate its rule over Gaza and restock its arsenal. Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan accused Israel of "putting obstacles in front of Egyptian efforts to achieve calm." "The Rafah border must be opened" as part of the calm, Radwan said, repeating Hamas' demand that Egypt open the crossing if Israel doesn't.
AP
Israeli Prime Minister Olmert: Israel won’t open key Gaza crossing
Germany's Social Democrats nominated their own candidate for the ceremonial office of president on Monday, ignoring warnings from some conservatives the move might doom Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition. SPD leader Kurt Beck said party executive boards unanimously agreed to put forth Gesine Schwan, 65, as their candidate for the high-profile office with only limited powers. The university president was narrowly beaten in 2004 by Horst Koehler, also 65. Koehler, the incumbent and a former IMF head, has the backing of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and the Christian Social Union, their Bavarian sister party. Some CSU leaders view Schwan's nomination as a hostile act that could sink the grand coalition. "We're not going to campaign against the incumbent," said Beck, rejecting any notion the move would endanger the grand coalition government. "In a democracy, we view a rival candidacy as a good opportunity for a broad discussion of the issues," Beck said. Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm also dismissed worries of coalition troubles, although he said it would surely not help matters between the two main parties that are already gearing up for parliamentary elections due in late 2009. "The chancellor has made it clear that the SPD decision puts a strain on the coalition but that she as well as the leaders of the SPD and CSU remain interested in carrying on the work on policies in the best interests of Germany," Wilhelm said. The president will be elected next May by a special federal assembly. The SPD's decision not to back Koehler and nominate Schwan is seen as a first possible step towards a coalition with the Left party, now Germany's third strongest political party. Berlin Reuters
Palestinians wait to cross the main border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt May 10, 2008. The main border crossing between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Egypt was temporarily opened on Saturday under a deal between the Islamist group and Cairo. Although the Rafah crossing lies on the GazaEgypt border, the passage has been closed because Europeans monitoring the crossing require Israeli security clearance to operate. That clearance has not been given since Hamas took over Gaza. Hamas wants the crossing reopened and a role in monitoring the border -- a concession that would be tantamount to recognizing the Hamas rule of Gaza. Egypt has rejected that demand, and called for a return to the 2005 agreement that gives
Israel and EU monitors a supervisory role. The breakdown of the indirect truce talks would increase the likelihood that Israel would launch a threatened major military operation there against rocket and mortar squads. Olmert reiterated such a possibility in his remarks before the committee on Monday, meeting participants said. In January, Hamas militants frustrated by the Israeli blockade blew holes in the border wall with Egypt at Rafah, allowing hundreds of thou-
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sands of Palestinians to stream out of Gaza unchecked and stock up on food, fuel and other goods made scarce by the blockade. Egypt sealed the border less than two weeks later. Olmert told lawmakers that Israel would continue to open other Gaza crossings to humanitarian aid. "We won't allow optimal conditions in Gaza, but we won't allow starvation, nor will we prevent medicines from entering Gaza," he was quoted as saying. Jerusalem AP
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18 TODAY’S ZAMAN
T U E S D AY, M AY 2 7 , 2 0 0 8
TODAY’S LEARNING TIME
QUOTE OF THE DAY
OSMAN TURHAN
elementary READING
Bermuda
ILLUSTRATIONS
Bermuda is never boring. There's something for everyone on this fantastic island. There is sun all year round; it shines on the island's lovely beaches all day, every day. Bermuda's famous “pink” sand is fantastic for sunbathing, and there are some wonderful beach walks. Don't be surprised to come across a wedding along your walk -- Bermuda is a popular place for people to get married on the beach! The warm blue water of the Atlantic Ocean is perfect for swimming, too. And of course, many people come to Bermuda for the diving. It's one of the best places to see the beautiful and unusual fish and underwater life. Or you can walk in the quiet forests and gardens. There are many exotic birds and animals there. And away from the sea and the trees, there are towns nearby, like Hamilton. And there are lots of shops and restaurants. You can buy souvenirs and clothes, and you can sit in cafes and write your holiday postcards. So, come to Bermuda. The only thing that works hard here is the sun. But you can just relax and enjoy it.
Activity: CANADA
PART 1: TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence about Canada. 1. The first Europeans came_____ Canada for fur, fish and forests. a. in
b. at
c. to
2. The two official languages of Canada______ French and English. a. has
b. is
c. are
3. Canada is made up _______ten provinces. a. for
b. of
PART 2: Vocabulary Match the words with their definitions given below.
c. in
4. The capital ______ Canada is Ottawa. a. for
b. of
c. in
5. Canada is the second ________country in the world. a. larger
1. Bermuda is popular for its pink sand. ___ 2. Although Bermuda has beautiful sand, its sea isn't clean enough to swim. ___ 3. Bermuda is a good place to see unusual fish and underwater life. ___ 4. There are a lot of shops and restaurants but they are too expensive to buy something.___ 5. People are eager to marry on Bermuda's famous beach. ___
b. large
c. largest
a. sunbathe __
1. something of sentimental value
b. come across __
2. to expose one's body to the sun
c. unusual __
3. characteristic of another place or part of the world
d. souvenirs __
4. to meet unexpectedly
e. exotic __
5. not common or ordinary
“Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.” Edith Wharton
advanced READING
Beautiful is a popular word In the English language, certain words are popular because they convey different meanings, and can be used in a variety of ways. "Tough" is one word that comes to mind. Tough luck. Tough homework. As tough as nails. That's tough. I think tough is a banner word. Another good word is "gross." Gross national product. That's gross. Don't gross me out. I grossed $500 this week at work. "Gross" and "tough," first-class vocabulary words. One word that I encounter all the time and am totally sick of is "beautiful." The weather is beautiful. Beautiful flowers. That's just beautiful. This word is used to describe anything and everything. It can even be used with bad things -- I've got one beautiful headache at the moment. There are lots of synonyms for beautiful: superb, wonderful, terrific; however, everyone wants to use the "beautiful" word. Webster's Dictionary defines the word as "something that gives great gratification to see, hear, smell, taste or feel." I understand the definition, but don't necessarily see how it applies to certain things. The above headache, for example. Or how about People Magazines "100 Most Beautiful People for 2007"? Now, with my definition, I would think that
certain rich and becoming celebrities would be on the list. Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie. Reese Witherspoon. Pamela Sue Anderson. George Clooney. Was I ever wrong. I guessed 20 names, and didn't get one correct. Here are the top five people from their list for your entertainment. Their definition of beautiful is anyone's guess. #1 - Scarlett Johansson. Wasn't she in a film with Bill Murray? Doesn't she have a CD out? What makes her more beautiful than Angelina Jolie? #2 - Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer Aniston? Isn't she about 50, and didn't Friends go off the air about 10 years ago? #3 - Patrick Dempsey. I know nothing about the guy except he's Irish. And beautiful. #4 - Halle Berry. According to the article, she has never felt happier with herself. I feel happy with myself, but I wouldn't label myself "beautiful." #5 - Jennifer Garner. Isn't she married to Ben Affleck? I guess that makes her beautiful. To finish, I'd like to make one more observation. I had read earlier in 2007 that People Magazine was hoping to increase their circulation with the male gender. Is that why 73 of their top 100 were females?
ýntermedýate READING
Stress in domestic life Are you a working mother? Do you work in a job you dislike? Or do you have a working mother who is stressed by her job? A new report published in the journal Human Behavior suggests that mothers who work in jobs that offer little satisfaction pass their stress to their children. The recent studies show that young children are capable of picking up on their mother's stress and they even become more stressed themselves. According to the report, putting a child in childcare might be a solution. There the child can play and communicate with other kids, and this may help to counter the problem. Co-author Sabrina Barr said childcare provides a shelter for children that protects them from the bad side of their mother's
Activity: WHICH PERSON IS IT? Crossword Puzzle Directions: Complete the puzzle by identifying the occupation or the person with the information given in the sentences in the clues section. ACROSS 4- He hates his marriage. He wants to stay a ______________. 5- Every ______________ in this army should know how to use the new gun. 6- He left his job because his ______________ didn't pay him enough money. 9- I can hear my next-door _____________ playing his trumpet. 10- The ______________ made this
"emotional exhaustion." Ms. Barr claims companies must be encouraged to support both mothers and children. Researchers observed 64 nursery school children aged three and four. In addition, the study team questioned mothers about their working conditions and home life over the course of four months. The results indicated signifi-
cantly higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in children whose working mothers had less satisfying jobs. Cortisol regulates blood pressure and the body's immune function and is released when people are stressed. Further, the study team found that the chemical increased considerably if their mothers were exhausted and fatigued as well as dissatisfied. In many cases, cortisol levels were double those of children whose mothers enjoyed their job. Therefore even if they do not have a satisfying job, and even if they do not have a chance to change their jobs, working mothers should be careful about their attitude at home. Children are more sensitive than we imagine and there is no point in loading them with stress. Instead, working mothers should try to get rid of their stress by focusing their attention on their children.
door badly. I can't close it. 11- If she beats her, she'll be the new tennis ______________. 13- Who is the _________________ of this book? DOWN 1- The ____________ made a lot of noise as they left the party in their cars. 2- Sherlock Holmes is an important ______________ in detective fiction. 3- I hope they find the ____________ who stole the money. 7- The ______________ arrested the thief for stealing the diamonds. 8- The famous ________________ operated on her. 12- It's difficult to be a ______________ of this club.
PART 1: Complete the sentences with a suitable word from the text. First letters of the words are given. 1. When she was given a pay raise at last, she felt s…………………… 2. If you p…….. u… an idea or a feature you acquire it without effort. 3. The government should find a way to c………………… the effects of the last economic crisis. 4. I have been working on this Project for two days and I haven't slept yet; I'm completely f……………….. 5. A mother must be s……………… to her child's needs.
PART 2: True (T) or False (F) 1. Young children rarely know if their mothers are stressed or not. __ 2. If the stress level increases the cortisol level in blood increases as well. __ 3. Childcare may help mother reduce their stress level. __
PART 1: Vocabulary Exercise Fill in the blanks with the correct letters. 1. tough _____ a. unyielding b. difficult c. extreme d. prosperous 2. banner _____ a. easy b. super c. difficult to understand d. foolish 3. gross _____ a. humorous b. disgusting c. funny d. tiring 4. to encounter _____ a. to hear b. to see c. to meet d. to face 5. gratification _____ a. amusement b. arousal c. pleasure d. entertainment 6. becoming _____ a. changing b. growing c. handsome d. ugly 7. to go off the air _____ Refers to: a. the cancellation of an internet account b. the cancellation of a flight c. the cancellation of a TV show d. the cancellation of a holiday 8. circulation _____ a. dispersal b. removal c. attitude d. subject matter
Activity: CAREER Choose the correct word to complete each sentence.
4. Research shows that children can
colorful - modest - varied - distinguished - blossomed
easily pick up their mothers stress. ___
1. I have had a _________ career so far, from policeman to manager.
5. Cortisol levels of the children
2. She has had a __________career with little in the way of achievements.
whose mothers enjoy their
3. He had a ______career in the Ministry of Education before moving to the private sector.
jobs are higher.___
4. My _________ career has taken me to many exciting places. 5. She started out as an office secretary but since then her career has __________.
VOCABULARY Specialized Vocabulary Textiles: Sheer (adjective) when applied to fabric, refers to semi-transparent and flimsy cloth. It is usually a very thin knit and is used to make tights, leggings and stockings. The belly dancer wore a sheer skirt for her dance routine. Tourism: Abroad (adjective) out of one's own country. Shall we stay here or go on holiday abroad this summer? Agriculture: Ram (noun) male sheep of any age. Rams usually live in the mountains. Ecology: Zoology (noun) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. Jane had lots a magazines about zoology that she lent me for my animal project. Sports: Trial (noun) in sports terms it is a preliminary competition to determine qualifications. The trials for the semifinals began yesterday.
Idiom of the Day Bite the bullet MEANING: to make yourself do something or accept something difficult or unpleasant. EXAMPLE: They decided to bite the bullet and pay the extra for the house they really wanted.
Phrasal Verbs Cave in meaning: collapse example: The roof caved in because of the weight of the snow Stand out meaning: be noticeably better than other similar people or things. example: "Good job, Ann! Your work really stands out!" Slang: Cuffs meaning: Handcuffs example: He put the cuffs on the killer. Confusing Words In English
Waist vs Waste Waist is a noun that refers to the middle section of a person's body--below the rib cage and above the hips. For example: Vivien Leigh, the star in the original "Gone with the Wind" film, was famous for her 18-inch waist. Waste as a noun refers to uncultivated or uninhabited land or to discarded material. For example: Please do not throw your empty plastic water bottles into the waste basket. Please put them in the recycle bin. NB Waste as a verb, waste means to devastate or to ruin; to wear away. For example: Ecologists and conservationists are always urging people not to waste anything that is made of a natural product.
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YESTERDAY’S ANSWER KEY:
ELEMENTARY: (Part 1) 1.F 2.T 3.T 4.F 5.F (Part 2) 1.c 2.a 3.b 4.b 5.a (Activity) 1.c 2.b 3.a 4.c 5.a INTERMEDIATE: (Part 1) 1.C 2.D 3.B 4.A 5.C 6.D 7.D 8.A (Activity) 1. b 2. f 3. a 4. i 5. e 6. h 7. g 8. c 9. d 10. j ADVANCED: (Part 1) 1.b 2.b 3.a 4.d 5.c 6.a 7.b 8.c 9.d 10.c (Activity) 1.in jeopardy 2.taking up 3.hunting for 4.created 5.out of
In cooperation with English Time
T19-27-05-08.qxd
26.05.2008
19:06
Page 1
SPORTS
Mickelson triumphs at Colonial with late birdie American world number two Phil Mickelson conjured a magical birdie with a 140-yard wedge approach on the final hole to win his second Colonial Invitational title by a shot. After pushing his drive into the left rough behind a clump of trees, the left-hander struck his second shot to nine feet before sinking the putt for a two-under-par 68 at Colonial Country Club. Fort Worth, Texas, Reuters
AP
TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
BASKETBALL
Spurs roar back into series with win over LA The San Antonio Spurs trounced the Los Angeles Lakers 103-84 in Game Three of the Western Conference finals on Sunday, the NBA champions reducing the series deficit to 2-1 with a solid home display. Guard Manu Ginobili raised his game to pace the Spurs with 30 points, hitting nine-of-15 shots, including five-of-seven from three-point range. The Argentine had averaged less than nine points during the first two games of the best-of-seven series, shooting a combined five-of-21 from the floor. Tim Duncan scored 22, while Tony Parker added 20, giving the Spurs the scoring punch they sorely lacked during the first two games in Los Angeles. San Antonio Reuters
MOTOR RACING
New Zealand’s Dixon celebrates Indy win Scott Dixon of New Zealand held on from pole to win the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, after Danica Patrick was knocked out of the race in a pit lane crash. After stealing the spotlight in the buildup to the race, Patrick overshadowed the New Zealander's victory when she was taken out by Australian Ryan Briscoe during the final fuel stop. While Dixon was speeding towards victory, the crowd stood and watched as an incensed Patrick climbed out of her car to confront Briscoe before being intercepted by track officials. “It's probably best I didn't get there isn't it,” said Patrick, who became the first woman to win an IndyCar race with her victory in Japan last month. Indianapolis Reuters
Nouma: My heart ýs uncondýtýonally Turkýsh ANNE ANDLAUER ÝSTANBUL
Pascal Nouma will never give up the black and white jersey. A 15-minute chat with the former Beþiktaþ striker leaves little doubt as to where his heart lies -that is, on the pitch of Ýstanbul’s Ýnonü Stadium. Nouma, who ended his career in 2005, remains one of the most cherished foreign players who ever performed in the Turkish league. Just before the seventh edition of the Zaman-sponsored Celebrity Tournament on Sunday, he described for Today’s Zaman the unending love that binds a man, a club and a whole nation. At age 17, Nouma entered professional soccer with the Paris Saint-Germain youth team and then played for other prominent squads in the French championship (including Lille, Caen, Strasbourg and Lens). By the time he signed his first contract with the Beþiktaþ Eagles, prior to the 2000-2001 season, Nouma had built a reputation as a bright and prolific striker. After two seasons and a victory in the French League Cup with the “Blood and Gold” -- the nickname of the French RC Lens -Nouma moved to Beþiktaþ where he would soon be acclaimed as a star by the club’s supporters. They composed special chants for him, whose lyrics confirmed the extraordinary popularity the player had gained in only a few games. “He was born in France, but he became a Beþiktaþ man, God bless you Pascal Nouma.” Nouma remembers those words as if it were yesterday that the stadium shook with chants and cheers. “I was the number-one player. I was a king in Turkey. I could do whatever I wanted on the field,” he recalls. But Nouma also remembers some darker days, when he felt overwhelmed by fame and unable to deal with it. “I had experienced celebrity before but never to that extent. I had the life of Madonna or Britney Spears and that was too much for me. I could not go out without being followed, and you know Ýstanbul is a huge city,” he says. The
star player felt locked in a golden cage, unable to fly away or breathe, his life belonging to others. “I am a free human being and I just can’t be followed, photographed, filmed … 24 hours a day,” he notes. “I felt free only when I played. But once the game was over, all I could do was go home, lock the door, close the shutters, play videogames and watch DVDs. Not the kind of life anyone would dream of.” Nouma needed a break and returned to the French championship with Marseilles, much to the despair of his Turkish fans, who signed petitions and inundated him with mail. “In Marseilles, I was trying to get back to normal life but I was burning inside, because I always played for the fans and not for myself.” Those fans wanted him back, and so did the club’s managers. “It took me six months to make a decision,” Nouma says. “I decided I was ready to come back. I knew the country; I knew how the system worked and what the downsides and hardships were. I trusted they would understand what I couldn’t stand and that I would understand them in return.” Nouma referred to the media that had made his life unlivable in 20002001. The second time around, the star player more or less got what he wanted. “In short, they did not take photos when I did not want them to. I can say we found a middle-ground and the second year was more bearable.” A better relationship with the media did not prevent Nouma from being suspended for seven months from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), after an unfortunate gesture intended to celebrate a goal against archrival Fenerbahçe. Much ink has been spilled about that event, on which Nouma now declines to comment. After leaving Beþiktaþ, he played for Qatar, the United States and Scotland, but never forgot Turkey. “My soul is in Turkey,” he says. “I can’t imagine spending a long time out of this country. It is my country, I love its people and my heart is Turkish. I felt the love people gave to me here, to an extent
I never felt in France.” Not afraid of big statements, Nouma declares, “People would die for me and I would die for them.” His unconditional love for Turkey and the phenomenal success he achieved there matches his disappointment and incomprehension at his failure to be called to the French national team. “There were periods when it was not the right time to call me, other periods when I think one or two national coaches could have called me given that I was one of the best European strikers,” he observes, acknowledging some contacts that failed to materialize, notably before the 1998 World Cup. Nouma recalls a particularly heart-breaking episode: “At the time I was playing for Beþiktaþ, there was that one friendly game between France and Turkey at the Inonü Stadium. Many French strikers were unavailable or injured but I was there, in Turkey. And they played on my field without giving me the chance to wear the tri-colored shirt. That was the time that hurt me the most.” The 36-year-old retired player, who declares to be in life just as he appears on the pitch -- meaning, “very laid-back as long as no one bothers me” -- does not exclude the idea of taking up a coaching career some day. “But in that case, I would need special training and I would certainly ask Beþiktaþ to open its doors to me again.” About the Zaman-sponsored Celebrity Tournament, in which he participated for the first time this year, Nouma describes it as a very good idea to bring together players who might not see each other often and who crave to be back on the field to meet the fans they love and who still love them. “Although, I don’t know what I should expect,” Nouma said ahead of the tournament. “Fans may throw stones at us and shout ‘Nouma, get out!’ because we are no longer the players we used to be,” he laughs. “In any case, we will give the best of ourselves so that the winner will be football and the love of sport.”
SOCCER
Zaragoza completes signing of striker Oliveira
Roger Federer makes light work of Sam Querrey Roger Federer's bid for a first French Open title got under way in low-key style at Roland Garros on Monday with an efficient straight-sets win over American Sam Querrey. The world number one, runner-up for the last two years, was rarely required to move out of first gear against his big-serving 1.98m opponent and waltzed through 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 35 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Querrey threatened to make a game of it after breaking the Federer serve in the fourth game of the opening set but it was to be his only success against the Swiss service and the 20-year-old must wait another year for his first win here. On Sunday, Gustavo Kuerten briefly rekindled his Parisian love affair before bidding a tearful farewell to the French Open. The Brazilian has enjoyed a special relationship with Roland Garros since he celebrated his third and final triumph in 2001 by drawing a giant love-heart in the red clay with his racket. He then lay down next to his impromptu artwork and blew kisses to the crowd. Seven years on and struggling with a hip problem, his final hurrah ended with an emotional 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat by local hope Paul-Henri Mathieu. "Here is my life, my passion and my love," a moist-eyed Kuerten told the crowd in French after being presented with a slice of clay court encased in glass. "It's great to be here with my family, my coach. But the most important (thing) is the love you gave me," said Kuerten, who won the trophy in 1997, 2000 and 2001. There were flashes of brilliance from Kuerten, including saving a match point with a rasping forehand winner that drew applause even from Mathieu. But, patched up for one final appearance on his beloved red dust, a hobbling Kuerten could coax no more magic from his weary legs and walked into retirement to a standing ovation with cries of 'Guga' ringing in his ears. "He's a great personality and just everybody loves him. I don't know even one guy who says something bad about him. The sport is going to miss him," said Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic. Paris Reuters
Turkish national team pays penalty for poor defending
Relegated Real Zaragoza have exercised an option to buy on-loan Brazilian striker Ricardo Oliveira from AC Milan, the Spanish second division club said on their Web site. The 27-year-old, who has agreed to a four-year contract, top scored for the club in the Primera Liga last season with 17 goals, despite them finishing 18th on the final day of the campaign to go down. Spanish media reported the deal cost Zaragoza 10 million euros ($15.8 million) and that their plan could be to look for a quick return on their money by selling him or loaning him out to a top-flight club with Atletico Madrid and Villarreal possible destinations. Madrid Reuters
SOCCER
Iraq high on the agenda in busy week for FIFA FIFA officials met on Monday to decide whether to suspend Iraq from international competition as the sport's governing body kicked off a busy week of high-level decision making. FIFA have threatened to ban Iraq from playing international matches unless the government overturns a decision to dissolve the country's Olympic Committee. FIFA President Sepp Blatter said the executive board, which was holding a two-day meeting in Sydney ahead of Friday's annual FIFA Congress, would announce their decision today. Sydney Reuters
Roger Federer
ONUR ÇOBAN
Fenerbahçe Ülker on Sunday beat Türk Telekom in game one of their Beko men’s Turkish Basketball League (TBL) playoff final series after an outstanding performance with 100-72, to take a 1-0 lead. Türk Telekom scored at the beginning of the game with Dudley from underneath but Fenerbahçe answered Dudley’s scores with White and Solomon leading the first five minutes 13-12. After this minute Fener dominated the game with its offensive performance and completed the first period leading 25-18. After Fenerbahçe Ülker began to score with relative ease the Fenerbahçe supporters in Abdi Ýpekçi Hall began to support their team more enthusiastically and shouted “Hundred! Hundred! Hundred!” when the game was about to end in order to motivate their team to score 100. Spurred up by this support Fener scored 100 at the end of the game and did not disappoint the fans. Game two will be played today at 8 p.m. at Ýstanbul’s Abdi Ýpekçi Hall. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman
Exclusýve ýntervýew wýth former Beþiktaþ star
PHOTO
Fener silences Telekom, game 2 at Abdi Ýpekçi
PHOTO
BASKETBALL
Nouma, who ended his career in 2005, remains one of the most cherished foreign players who ever performed in the Turkish league.
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The Turkish national soccer team lost its second warm-up game for next month’s European Championship, conceding a late penalty in a 3-2 defeat to Uruguay. The match played in Bochum, Germany, on Sunday was the first ever encounter between the two soccer-loving nations. Christian Rodriguez beat Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel from the spot in the 85th minute to clinch the win for Uruguay after it had twice trailed. Galatasaray winger Arda Turan put the Turks ahead in the 13th minute when he headed in a cross by Bayern Munich defensive midfielder Hamit Altýntop from the right flank. Luiz Suarez leveled for Uruguay from the penalty spot in the 31st. Real Villarreal forward Nihat Kahveci put Turkey 2-1 up with a curling free-kick in the 51st, but Suarez scored again in the 79th. Turkey midfielder Yýldýray Baþtürk shot over the crossbar in the 22nd, while Maximilano Pereira almost scored for Uruguay with a powerful shot from just outside the area in the 58th. Turkey will play its last friendly against Finland on May 29 before heading to Switzerland for the June 7-29 Euro 2008. Ýstanbul/Bochum Today’s Zaman
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26.05.2008
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Comic Martin, star of 'Laugh-In,' dies at 86 Comic Dick Martin, who starred alongside Dan Rowan in the hit 1960s TV variety show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," helping to launch the Hollywood careers of stars such as Goldie Hawn, has died. He was 86. LA, Reuters WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
October. Concerns have been raised about the safety of the Soyuz because the last two re-entries have not gone to plan: they were so-called "ballistic" landings where the entry into the atmosphere was steeper than usual. In the last landing in April, the crew of US astronaut Peggy Whitson, South Korean Yi So-yeon and Russia's Yuri Malenchenko landed about 420 km (260 miles) off course and they were subjected to twice the expected gravitational
forces.The space industry source, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters faulty bolts were suspected of causing the last two "ballistic landings" and they are also fitted on the re-entry capsule now docked at the ISS. "There are explosive bolts which keep two modules attached to Soyuz capsules," the source said. "They are supposed to go off right before the entry into the Earth's atmosphere." Moscoe Reuters
REUTERS
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) could have a rough return to Earth because their reentry capsule has the same glitch that caused problems on the last two landings, a Russian space industry source said. Russia's space agency would not comment on technical problems but said the Soyuz-TMA capsule was safe to carry Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko and US space tourist Richard Garriott back from orbit in
PHOTO
Space station crew may face another bumpy re-entry
President of the Canadian Space Agency Guy Bujold, Phoenix Mars Lander principal investigator, Peter Smith (L) of the University of Arizona and JPL project manager for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Barry Goldstein (R) pose with a model of the Phoenix Mars Lander after a media briefing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
A small science probe blazed through the salmon-colored skies of Mars on Sunday, touching down on a frozen desert at the planet's north pole to search for water and assess conditions for sustaining life, NASA officials said. The spacecraft, known as Phoenix, landed at 4:53 p.m. PDT after a do-or-die plunge through the planet's thin atmosphere and thruster-jet landing to the Mars surface. It marked the first time that a spacecraft had successfully landed at one of the planet's polar regions. "It was a hell of a lot scarier than the two Mars rovers," NASA's space sciences chief Ed Weiler said, referring to the cushioned landings of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. "I kept thinking, ‘I wish I had airbags.'" Pulled by Mars' gravity, Phoenix was tearing along at 12,700 mph before it entered the atmosphere, which slowed the craft so it could pop out a parachute and fire thruster rockets to gently float to the ground. "It's down, baby, it's down!," yelled a NASA flight controller, looking at signals from Mars showing that Phoenix had landed. Flight controllers and scientists battled nerves as Phoenix wrapped up its 10-month, 423 million-mile journey. In 14 minutes, the probe transformed from an interplanetary cruiser to a free-standing science station. "People got really uncomfortable," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which oversees the mission. Scientists found in 2002 that Mars' polar regions have vast reservoirs of water frozen beneath a shallow layer of soil. Phoenix was launched August 4, 2007, to sample the water and determine if the right ingredients for life are present. NASA attempted a landing on Mars' south pole in 1999, but a problem during the final minutes of descent ended the mission. The US space agency canceled its next Mars lander but successfully dispatched Spirit and Opportunity to the planet's equatorial region to search for signs of past surface water. Phoenix was created out of spare parts from the failed Polar Lander mission and the mothballed probe. Unlike the rovers, Phoenix did not bounce to the planet's surface in airbags, which are not suitable for larger spacecraft. Instead, like the 1970s-era Viking probes and the failed Polar Lander mission, it used a jet pack to lower itself to the ground and fold-out legs to land on. "We haven't landed successfully on legs and propulsive rockets in 32 years," Weiler said. "When we send humans there, women and men, they're going to be landing on rockets and legs, so it's important to show that we still know how to do this." Pasadena, Calif. Reuters
AP
It all starts with a dream...
US spacecraft lands safely at Mars north pole
PHOTO
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This image, provided by NASA, shows a portion of the Phoenix Mars Lander after it landed on Mars on Sunday.
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