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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

The PKK is an enemy of Iraq, it's an enemy of the United States, it's an enemy of Turkey; it's an enemy of the region. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

CROSS READER

FATMA DÝÞLÝ

f.disli@todayszaman.com

S AT U R D AY, J U N E 7 , 2 0 0 8

W ORDS OF WISDOM

With this [headscarf] decision the Constitutional Court has exceeded its authority. I see this decision as contrary to the Constitution.

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

AK Party deputy group chairman Bekir Bozdað

Dale Carnegie

press roundup

Hýgh court under fýre for controversýal headscarf rulýng In a move that surprised few, on Thursday the Constitutional Court annulled a reform package introduced by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that would have allowed covered women access to university education. The annulment of the reform package, passed with a majority vote in Parliament, by the top court on the grounds it contradicts three articles in the Constitution, including one that specifies Turkey is a secular republic, has been interpreted as a clear violation of the court's authority. With this ruling, many said, the court hijacked Parliament's legislative authority and violated the Constitution. Sabah's Ergun Babahan terms the court's ruling a highly controversial one, similar to that which it made last year during the presidential election process, making the presence of 367 deputies in Parliament mandatory for presidential ballots. Babahan also argues that the court violated the Constitution by defying the principle by which the court can examine the constitutional amendments only on procedural grounds, not according to their content. "Some forces that are afraid of expansion of some freedoms have taken the initiative again, and they are trying to reshape Turkey through the hands of the judiciary," says Babahan. As regards the signal that the court's ruling on headscarf reform has sent concerning a closure case filed against the AK Party on grounds it had become a "focal point of anti-secular activity," Babahan says it is obvious that with this ruling the court showed it will close down the AK Party. "Yes, we are seeing a period similar to the Feb. 28 process, a post-modern coup in 1997," says Babahan. Following the AK Party's closure and the banning of its senior members from politics, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, he says the AK Party will be divided and new movements will be established -signs of which have already appeared. "I do not have anything to say other than expressing my regret to the young women who are even deprived of their fundamental right of access to higher education," says Babahan. "This is not a positive development for the Constitutional Court. Its headscarf ruling is far from being judicial and seems more political," states Zaman's Mustafa Ünal, expressing his disappointment at the court's decision. In his view, the court will always have difficulty in explaining the rationale behind this ruling in the future, and it will be history that will make the correct judgment in this case. Ünal is also certain that the court's headscarf ruling will negatively influence the AK Party closure case. "Not only the AK Party, you can even close down Parliament. It is evident that the court ignored the nation's will and Parliament," notes Ünal. Regarding the future status of the headscarf issue, he says it has become almost impossible to conduct politics regarding this problem. "Turkey's record on democracy, liberties and individual rights is taking steps backwards. Are you aware that Turkey is slowly becoming a country of fears and prohibitions?" asks Ünal. Star daily's Mustafa Karaalioðlu says June 5, the day the court made this ruling, is a very significant turning point in the history of the Turkish Republic because the links between society and the state, society and law and law and the system have been broken. "With this ruling the Constitutional Court gave authority to itself to be above all other authorities. It hijacked Parliament's authority and turned the judicial order upside down," he states.

PRESS REVIEW

06.06.2008

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The honor of being Kurdish NAZLI ILICAK, SABAH Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal has said, "Ethnic identity is a personal honor." This comment, within the context of its ties with the CHP, will make it easier for further steps to be taken on the Kurdish problem. There has, after all, been much said, but little done, when it comes to the Kurdish problem. In her book "The State's Kurdish Film," author Belma Akçura lists a few of the better known statements made in the past about this issue. Former President Turgut Özal: "I will definitely solve the Kurdish problem, this be my final act of service to the people of my nation." Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan: "If you believe that there is a problem, then there's going to be a problem. What you have to do is refuse to believe that there's a problem." Here what Melik Fýrat, the grandson of Sheik Said, once said to me on the subject of identities in Turkey: "I am a poplar tree. And you insist 'No, you are a sycamore tree!' But have you ever heard of a poplar tree turning into a sycamore tree?"

Headscarf day MEHMET ALTAN, STAR

President Abdullah Gül, left, and his wife, Hayrunnisa, are escorted by Japanese Empress Michiko, center, to a photo session with Japanese Emperor Akihito, right, at the imperial palace in Tokyo. Gül is on an official four-day visit to Japan.

taraf:

"Sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the judges," read the daily's headline yesterday, criticizing a decision from the Constitutional Court that on Thursday annulled a reform package which would have allowed covered women access to higher education. The daily said that while annulling the reform package, the court violated the 148th and 153rd articles of the Constitution by exceeding its authority. The court's ruling, based on the argument that allowing women to wear a headscarf at universities is against the principle of secularism, has increased the prospects of the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which stands accused of being a "focal point of anti-secular activity."

ruling, while Mustafa Þentop, a law expert, accused the court of losing its legitimacy and being Turkey's most serious legal problem from the day it made this ruling, Zaman reported.

radikal:

"Bad news for the AK Party," read the daily's headline yesterday, again referring to the top court's annulment of the headscarf reform package, initiated by the AK Party government. The government's move to abolish the headscarf ban at universities was among the main arguments of the prosecutor who wrote the indictment asking for the closure of the AK Party. Some circles even speculated that the government's headscarf move was what triggered the closure case, reported the daily.

zaman:

The daily's headline yesterday also dealt with the annulment of the headscarf reform package by the Constitutional Court and the reaction of legal experts and opinion leaders to the ruling. Associate Professor Serap Yazýcý termed the court's decision political rather than judicial, while expressing her disappointment. Taha Akyol, a columnist for Milliyet daily, said the high court hijacked Parliament's legislative authority with this

sabah:

"It is banned, my daughter," read the daily's headline yesterday, appealing to the covered women who want to have access to higher education after the top court's ruling on Thursday. Referring to President Abdullah Gül, who was asked to comment on the ruling during an ongoing visit to Japan, the daily reported that Gül chose not to comment, saying it was the result of a legal process.

The New York Týmes

The Guardýan

Turkey’s high court overturns headscarf rule showdown between Turkey's secular elite - its military, judiciary and secular political party -- and Erdoðan, an observant Muslim with an Islamist past. The court is one of Turkey's most important secular institutions, and liberals see the ruling as largely political. It bodes ominously for Erdoðan: The same court is considering a case that would ban him and 70 members of his party from politics. A decision is expected in the summer.

We waited around all day, guessing and debating what kind of decision the court would hand down. As it turned out, it was a complete "headscarf day" in the end. When a nation decides to banish universal law and legalities, when it decides to discount basic rights and freedoms, then there is no escaping the fact that symbols sit at the center of social debates. Should the headscarf be allowed, or not? Let there be laws, let there be basic rights and freedoms and let there be democracy. There should be no doubt about it; the antidote to political Islam is dependant on the bringing to life, at least in a basic fashion, of the abovementioned concepts. But the frightening thing right now is that there appears to be no one around in Turkey these days who can make this happen. As I finish this column, the expected news has emerged in an unexpected fashion, and it turns out that the Constitutional Court has in fact voided the constitutional changes eliminating the ban on headscarves in Turkish universities. What has taken place is a coup of authority.

Top court has violated the Constitution BUGÜN, AHMET TAÞGETÝREN The Constitutional Court has annulled the changes made to the 10th and 42nd articles of the Turkish Constitution that were designed to lift the ban against headscarves on university campuses. The court based this decision on Articles 2, 4 and 148 of the Turkish Constitution. What this really amounts to is a complete and total cancellation of the Turkish Parliament's authority, with any future opportunities for the Turkish Parliament to make changes to the Constitution being effectively eliminated. Thus, what we have witnessed is a complete infraction against the Constitution itself. With this decision and the bending of various articles of the Turkish Constitution, the Constitutional Court has shown that it is not actually tied to the Constitution.

Court ruling is contrary to the law itself TAHA AKYOL, MÝLLÝYET

turkey ýn the foreýgn press

Turkey's highest court dealt a stinging slap to the governing party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan on Thursday, ruling that a legal change allowing women attending universities to wear headscarves was unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court said in a brief statement that the change, proposed by Erdoðan's party and passed by Parliament in February, violated principles of secularism set in Turkey's Constitution. The ruling sets the stage for a

columns

Fears for AK Party as court overturns scarf law Turkey's highest court n Thursday overturned a politically controversial law allowing women students to wear the Muslim headscarf at university, dealing a blow to the country's Islamist-leaning government and its chances of survival. In a decision with significant implications for Turkey's future, the constitutional court upheld an appeal from opposition parties that the law -- passed by Parliament in February -- posed a threat to its 85-year-old secular system. The headscarf issue has become one of the most

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highly charged in Turkish politics, with the ruling AK Party seeing it as a question of religious freedom, while opponents portray it as a potential gateway to a more Islamic society. Hijab-wearers have complained of being expelled from classes by professors, while others have worn wigs to get around the ban. The ruling was a setback for the AK Party, which is embroiled in a separate case -- also before the Constitutional Court -to outlaw the party and ban its officials from politics for alleged anti-secular activity.

The decision rendered Thursday afternoon by the Constitutional Court canceling constitutional amendments that would have given women who wear the headscarf the opportunity to receive a modern education at Turkish universities applies to everyone, but it is a decision that runs contrary to the law. This is because the 148th article of the Turkish Constitution explains that the high court of this nation can only examine changes made to the Constitution in terms of the form of these changes. Placing itself above the Constitution, however, the Constitutional Court gave itself the authority to examine and issue a ruling on the changes from the perspective of the very basis and existence of these changes. Using authorities not actually granted to it by the Turkish Constitution, the court annulled the changes. The Constitutional Court has basically taken the entire Constitution under its guardianship, interpreting the concept of "inalterable articles" as applying generally to the entire Constitution.

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Ancient settlement to gain protective roof AA

tanbul-based Atölye Architecture firm charged with the task of building the roof, told the Anatolia news agency that Çatalhöyük was a major tourist attraction as well as a scientific site and that it was essential to keep it in good condition. He said wood was being used in the construction to fit with the general aesthetic of the site. "We decided that the material we would use for building had to be environment-friendly, such as wood instead of steel. The type of wood we have imported from Austria is extremely durable and sound, yet very light. Last summer the concrete foundations for each of the wooden pillars were laid. The roof will be nine-meters high and construction will finish in July. But despite the ongoing roof construction, archeologists are able to proceed with the excavation work according to plan," he said. The top part of the roof will be covered with polycarbonate tiles and the new protective structure will be internally and externally appealing upon completion, he noted. Konya Today's Zaman with wires

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Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest known sites of human settlement, animal domestication and wheat cultivation, will soon be sheltered from the elements by a large protective wooden roof, currently being constructed. Excavation work on the Neolithic site under the expertise and leadership of British archeologist Professor Ian Hodder began in 1993 and has continued intermittently since. Discoveries made so far at the 9,000-year-old mound include wall paintings, seals, and cooking and eating utensils decorated with various painted and carved figures. The first excavation at the mound was in the 1960s, conducted by a team led by British archaeologist James Mellaart. Except for its southern area, the mound does not have any protection against the harsh weather conditions characteristic to the Central Anatolian region. As part of the current excavation, sponsored by Boeing and Yapý Kredi, a giant roof is being built upon Hodder's advice. Sinan Omacan, an official from the Ýs-

Çatalhöyük will soon be sheltered from the elements by a large protective wooden roof, currently being constructed.

Georgian first lady praises Turkish schools in Georgia Georgian First Lady Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs has praised the activities of Turkish schools in Georgia. Speaking to the Cihan news agency at the Dialogue Academy in Rotterdam, where she was introducing the Turkish translation of her autobiography, "The Story of an Idealist," the Dutchborn wife of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said, "The best example of friendship and brotherhood is the Turkish schools, which provide extensive educational services in Georgia." Both the Turkish community in the Netherlands and Dutch nationals have shown great interest in her book, which was originally written in Dutch. It has now been translated into Turkish on the initiative of the Georgian Foundation to Support Education and Solidarity in Business (GIEV) and the Time Media Group in Rotterdam by Sadýk Yemni, a Turkish novelist living in Rotterdam. Asked what had changed in her life following the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia, Roelofs said: "I try to live in the way that I used to live before the revolution. Donation activities, my family, friends, sports and music. It is really difficult to spend time on each of these activities, but I try to do it. Unfortunately, I cannot go everywhere I want because the guards have to know where you are going in advance." Roelofs said Georgia was proud of the

Turkish schools in the country, adding: "These schools belong to all of us. Children from all nations are educated in these schools. These schools show the best examples of friendship and brotherhood. I visit these schools as often as possible. I am satisfied with the studies they are conducting. We are continuing our successful cooperation with the administrators of these schools." Roelofs also spoke about the Turkish community in the Netherlands. She said the community should be competent in Dutch and integrate with the local people, adding: "The Turkish community living in the Netherlands is a part of the country. We know that they are very successful, especially in the business world. I think they need to spread this success to the field of education a little bit more." The Georgian first lady also said the Turkish community in the Netherlands needed to solve their problems rationally and consistently without being afraid of anything. Roelofs noted that she had been to Turkey before. She said the places she liked the most were Pamukkale in Denizli and the Princes' Islands in Istanbul. She also said relations between Turkey and Georgia were fairly strong, adding: "Georgia is a friendly country for Turkey. This friendship will be a long-lasting one. No one should doubt this." Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires

Ýstanbul’s ninth women’s shelter to be opened in Zeytinburnu MUHAMMED ÇÝMEN ÝSTANBUL

The ninth women's shelter in Ýstanbul will be constructed in the city's Zeytinburnu district, opening its doors in one year, district mayor Murat Aydýn has announced. Aydýn, who participated yesterday in a program to publicize a project that will increase the number of women's shelters across Turkey, said the first women's shelter to be constructed within this project will be opened in Zeytinburnu. "Violence against women is a serious problem around the world. It is a violation of human rights. We are attempting to contribute to the solution of this problem, but we should also do our utmost to

Boeing donates computer labs to Turkish schools

deal with the issue before it spins out of control," he said. Aydýn, recalling that there are already eight women's shelters in Ýstanbul, noted that there are a total of 38 shelters in Turkey. "We would like to see this number reach 205. We should do our best to help resolve the issues faced by women, who are the cornerstones of families in our country," he remarked. Ýstanbul Deputy Governor Mustafa Altýntaþ said the objective of the project is to eliminate violence against women. The construction of the new women's shelter, to be funded by the Interior Ministry, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the European Union, will cost 11.8 million euros.

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As part of its Global Corporate Citizenship project, US aerospace giant The Boeing Company has sponsored the construction and outfitting of seven computer labs at schools located throughout Turkey. Boeing built computer labs and donated 147 computers to seven schools: Ýstanbul Gen. Emin Alpkaya Primary School, Tokat Yeþlýrmak Primary School, Eskiþehir Yýldýrým Bayezýt Primary School, Trabzon Çatak Primary School, Kayseri Alaybeyli Primary School, Diyarbakir Nuri Zekiye Has Primary School and Þanlýurfa Gazipaþa Primary School. The fully equipped computer labs include computers, computer tables and chairs, projection equipment, printers and educational software. The opening ceremonies for the computer labs at the schools were attended by local administration officials, government officials, students, parents and teachers last week. US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson, at the opening of the computer lab at Yýldýrým Bayezýt Primary School, underlined the importance of US-Turkey relations: "The United States and Turkey have been close allies for a long time. We show our friendship throughout the work we carry out together. The United States and Turkey are working together to maintain peace, welfare and freedom. These are the things that our states and governments do. But we also have special ties." Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, who attended the opening of the computer lab at N. Z. Has Primary School, thanked Boeing for its support in education. Boeing-Turkey President Greg Pepin, who attended each opening ceremony, underlined the importance of the support given to education. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires

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TODAY’S ZAMAN 05

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AK Party plans next move following headscarf decision AA

Following the Constitutional Court’s Thursday annulment of a reform package that would lift a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan on Friday cleared his schedule and convened his party’s Central Executive Board to lay out a roadmap of future moves contýnued from page 1

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The AK Party is considering calling for a referendum on the annulled constitutional amendments as well as other reforms. Another option is to call for early general elections. The AK Party’s senior administrators believe that the party has been besieged by the judiciary, with the headscarf amendment cancellation on one side and an ongoing court case to shut down the party over alleged antisecularist activities on the other. The deputy leader of the AK Party’s parliamentary group, Bekir Bozdað, told Today’s Zaman: “This decision by the Constitutional Court is trampling democracy and the law underfoot and putting a new constitution in their place. This decision has simply deprived Parliament of the authority to draft laws or a new constitution. If you see this as an act against the AK Party, then you are wrong. This is a gross injustice against Turkey. There is no way Parliament can function normally after this point.”

Gross violation of the law Legal experts say the Constitutional Court’s decision is a major violation of the law because Article 148 of the Turkish Constitution states very clearly that the Constitutional Court can review constitutional amendments only on procedural grounds. However, the changes made by the AK Party to Article 10 and 42 of the Constitution were annulled on the grounds of their “content” in Thursday’s ruling. This is why not only the AK Party, but also a large number of politicians and legal experts are reacting strongly against it. Every political party in Turkey -- with the exception of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the two parties that appealed the amendments in the first place -- has stated that the court’s ruling is a severe violation of the principle of separation of powers, one of the cornerstones of democracy. The decision is reminiscent of, albeit more significant than, an earlier ruling the court made on Apr. 27, 2007, when the court ruled to annul a parliamentary presidential election, saying at least 367 legislators had to be present at the time of the first round of the vote; a rule that had not existed previously. “The ruling means that no law can go into force unless the Constitutional Court allows it,” said Yusuf Alataþ, a former leader of the Human Rights Association. “Unfortunately, what we feared has happened. The Constitutional Court obviously does not see it-

Reporters direct questions to deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek, on his way to a meeting of the Justice and Development Party’s Central Executive Board on Friday. self as bound by the provisions of the Constitution. It sees itself as superior to the Constitution. A parliament that cannot even make partial constitutional changes would be forced to renounce its power to make a constitution. Turkey will lose a lot from this decision. The principle of the separation of powers is gone. There is no possibility left in Turkey of making Constitutional changes.”

Referendum considered foremost, early election last resort The AK Party is considering taking the amendments to a referendum, adding more constitutional changes to accelerate democratic reform. Although up until now the prime minister had dismissed the idea of holding early elections, they are now on the table, sources say. The AK Party’s senior legal experts are

concerned that Turkey is rapidly becoming a “juristocracy” and they have proposed a large, comprehensive democratization package that would balance out the power the judiciary has over the legislative and the executive branches. The new package could include -- along with the constitutional changes on the headscarf issue -- amendments modifying the rules of political party closures in Turkey. Currently, the AK Party and the pro Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) are facing closure cases; the former over accusations of anti-secularism and the latter over alleged links with separatist terrorism. The AK Party is also considering introducing amendments that would change the structure of the Constitutional Court. A draft prepared by former Constitutional Court President Mustafa Bumin is seen as the basis for this option.

The best method to pursue such reforms, according to the AK Party’s senior legal experts, would be to take the package to a referendum. But an early general election could also help decrease tension in the country. Some others still believe that starting off with a referendum on the constitutional changes would eventually lead to an early election and that this is why it might be better to have a referendum and an early election on the same day. The AK Party’s Sadullah Ergün said he believed Parliament cannot possibly fulfill its legislative duties after this point. “It is rather difficult at this point for Parliament to carry on with its legislative functions. The summer recess is around the corner, anyways. We think we might start recess on July 1, once Parliament finishes working on its current agenda,” he told Today’s Zaman. Ercan Yavuz Ali Aslan Kýlýç Ankara

Turkish citizens have been filing fewer maltreatment charges against the police, but more against prosecutors and judges over various breaches of professional conduct. Turkey’s EU reform process, launched in 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) first came to power, has considerably changed Turkey’s public agencies over a relatively short period of time. Turkey’s attempts to harmonize with the European Union’s Copenhagen criteria have resulted in a zero-tolerance policy on torture and maltreatment of prisoners. The results have paid off, according to statistics from the Justice Ministry that show a significant drop in the number of mistreatment cases. At the same time, complaints against members of the judiciary have increased, with the average person becoming more aware of his or her rights and more committed to protecting them. In 2004, complaints were filed against 214 senior-level police officers -- a figure which dropped to 145 in 2005, then slightly climbed to 150 in 2006 and fell to 138 in 2007. In 2004, 71 of the complaints were found worthy of investigation versus only 27 such complaints in 2007. The number of cases in which an investigation was deemed necessary has also consistently fallen over the years. The number of complaints registered in 2007 against prosecutors and judges, however, showed

According to Justice Ministry statistics, complaints against members of the judiciary have increased since 2002.

a sharp rise from the previous year. In 2007, 4,151 complaints were filed against a judge or a prosecutor versus 3,148 such complaints in 2006. The number of complaints processed in 2007 was 5,290, along with 1,139 complaints from previous years that had not been processed in a timely manner. Of these complaints, 1,937 were not processed, while 1,626 were dismissed on grounds of an investigation being unnecessary; furthermore, disciplinary action was taken against 136 prosecutors, and both investigations and dis-

ciplinary action were launched against 43 others. In the years of 2005, 2006 and 2007 combined, 11,622 files were opened at the Judges and Prosecutors Complaint Office; of these complaints, 3,764 were on charges of abuse of power, 3,034 for dereliction of duty, 1,113 for breach of impartiality in ruling, 1,251 of breach of impartiality in court, 622 on charges of verbal insult, 468 on charges of behavior in violation of professional ethics, 115 of abuse of power in return for favors, 89 on failing to take necessary measures in a timely manner and

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CÝHAN

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causing injury, 119 on dragging out a case unnecessarily and 1,047 on various other charges.

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Fewer complaints about police, more about judiciary Public servants commit less crime The EU reform process has also brought about improvements related to human rights in the public sector. Justice Ministry figures show that 36 mistreatment or torture-related complaints were made in 2004, which fell to 220 in 2005, 16 in 2006 and 13 in 2007. An investigation was opened regarding all of these cases. According to statistics from the Prime Ministry’s Human Rights Department, the highest number of complaints regarded violations of patients’ rights, the right to property and the right to work. In 2002, torture and maltreatment accusations topped the list of complaints. As of 2007, there were 118 complaints of maltreatment and 13 claims of torture.

Statistics in public sector According to data from the Justice Ministry, 16 people were barred from public service on charges of embezzlement in 2005, 21 in 2006 and 19 in 2007. In prisons, three guards were fired in 2005 for bringing illegal material into prisons, while that number was 10 in 2006 and eight in 2007. Three public servants were fired for theft in 2005, increasing to seven in 2006 and dropping to one in 2007. In 2005, six people were fired for unaccounted for absence, two in 2006 and three in 2007.

Many demonstrators attend a protest against the Constitutional Court's verdict about headscarves.

Headscarved women march against top court ruling Hundreds of headscarved women protested in Turkey on Friday against a court ruling to cancel a reform which would have allowed students to wear the Muslim garment at university. About 500 women demonstrated in the southeastern city of Diyarbakýr after Friday prayers, and hundreds more in colorful headscarves chanted slogans in Ýstanbul. “I’m crushed and feel hopeless. I really don’t feel equal to anybody else in this country anymore,” said Esra Altýnay Özbecetek, 29, who ditched university when she was 19 because she was not allowed to wear her headscarf to class. “For 10 years I’ve watched people enter and graduate from university and I’ve just sat by and watched,” she said. Like Altýnay Özbecetek, thousands of women have not gone to university because of the ban, which has been enforced strictly since 1997, or have gone abroad to study. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party), passed the amendment earlier this year to allow students to wear the headscarf at university -- angering the secularist establishment which sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam. The Constitutional Court, which like the armed forces is a bastion of secularism, cancelled the reform on Thursday in a ruling which analysts say has increased the chances that the AK Party will be banned for Islamist activities in a separate case. “Damn those behind the judges’ coup,” shouted protesters in Ýstanbul. According to recent surveys, some twothirds of Turkish women wear some form of the headscarf and about the same proportion supported lifting the ban for students. “It means we are not equal. Headscarved women will continue to suffer discrimination and that will [be enshrined in] the law,” said Neslihan Akbulut, head of rights group Akder. “If there is civilian politics, if there is democracy ... they can’t ignore [women who cover their heads],” she said. The headscarf debate goes to the heart of the officially secular but predominantly Muslim country’s identity. Turkey, which has seen four governments pushed from office by the arch-secularist military since 1960, is struggling to balance the demands of an increasingly prosperous but pious part of society with those of a traditionally proWestern sector whose values have long been represented by the secularist elite. Ýstanbul Reuters

EU urges respect for freedoms in headscarf debate contýnued from page 1 Speaking at a press conference yesterday at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Nagy reiterated that the EU did not have any regulations concerning the headscarf and noted that the member states currently had different practices.In a highly controversial verdict, the Constitutional Court declared the constitutional amendments “null and void,” apparently reasoning that the legislation contravened constitutional principles defining the Turkish state as secular. The verdict, however, came despite another constitutional provision that the Constitutional Court cannot deliberate on the substance of constitutional amendments passed in Parliament. Critics said the Constitutional Court overstepped its authority by in effect turning itself into a lawmaker and thus raised questions about the state’s democratic nature. “This ruling confirmed once again that Turkey needs modernization and a new constitution that will put basic freedoms at the center of the judicial system,” Ria Oomen-Ruijten, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, said in reaction to the ruling. She said the new constitution should guarantee democracy, supremacy of law and separation of state and religion. Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, also said a constitutional reform was a necessity after the verdict. “This situation offers the government an opportunity to draft a brand new constitution in which freedoms are offered to entire Turkish nation, not only to a certain group,” Lagendijk said. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

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06.06.2008

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06.06.2008

19:44

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BUSINESS

TODAY’S ZAMAN 07

S AT U R D AY, J U N E 7 , 2 0 0 8

Auto industry threatened by tire workers strike MEMDUH TAÞLICALI ÝSTANBUL

An ongoing strike by major tire production companies has begun to threaten Turkey's automotive industry, which is expected to export over $20 billion of motor vehicles and spare parts this year. The strike began after a collective bargaining dispute between the Turkish Petroleum, Chemicals and Tire Workers Union (LastikÝþ) and tire producers Brisa (the Sabancý Holding-owned Turkishbased arm of Bridgestone), Goodyear and Pirelli Turkey. It is estimated that since May 31, YTL 10 million daily -- calculated on a 80,000 tire production average -- has been lost as the strike continues. The automotive industry may face a shortage of vehicle tires. Brisa Marketing and Business Development Director Gökhan Cüceloðlu said on Friday that not only tire companies in

Turkey, but the Turkish government was losing money from the strike: "The government loses approximately YTL 1 million a day due to a lack of tax from the tire manufacturers." The Turkish automotive industry is expected to export 75 percent of its production to the world market in the coming years and if this supply loss continues for much longer its trade agreements may be seriously hindered. Some fear that if tire production does not stabilize, Turkey's share in the global automotive market will be affected. "If an agreement is not reached within the next month or so, serious problems are likely to follow," Cüceloðlu said, adding: "[Turkey will export] 950,000 automobiles to the global market next year; if we lose a part of that market by not being able to produce quickly and efficiently, we will lose out on a lot of revenue. Tires do not keep in storage for a extended period of time -- if this grievance does not go away and stay away, then we will be in a serious bind."

Cüceloðlu said tremendous efforts had been made during collective bargaining to avoid a strike, noting that workers at the Brisa plant in Turkey currently making YTL 2,400 a month had been offered YTL 2,650 a month by employers, but workers demanded the wage be increased to YTL 2,800. "This is not feasible -- relatively speaking, this wage would be more than people [Brisa employees] are making in the US, Japan and England." He elaborated, saying that the workers' demanded wage would mean that on average, Turkish Brisa employees would make around $48,000 a year compared to an average $46,000 for Bridgestone workers in those developed nations. Cüceloðlu also expressed that many multinational tires companies had invested in cheaper labor markets, like Romania and Egypt, instead of Turkey, adding that Pirelli was a good example of this.

Markets ambivalent, seeking removal of uncertainties contýnued from page 1

to adjust the price for new expectations," he said. Yýldýrýmtürk said once these uncertainties are clarified, markets would once again head upwards. Yýldýrýmtürk emphasized that an increase in the value of the euro was a result of a parity change between the euro and the dollar in international markets. He said the rise in interest rates were mostly because of the Turkish Central Bank's revision in 2009 year-end inflation targets from 4 percent to 7.5 percent, as this increased the expectations of a possible rate hike in benchmark interest rates. He also said fluctuations in the market had stemmed from changes in the global markets up to a point as the market primarily comprises foreign investors. "Markets are waiting for the AK Party's move after the decision," said Cumhur Örnek, a manager at Denizbank. AK Party management is expected to gather on Friday afternoon. He said there was a possibility of an emergency action plan by the AK Party. A bonds and bill trader told Reuters that the Constitutional Court's move signaled the closure of the AK

Party and that the process may even end up in an early parliamentary election. He said local investors were pessimistic but that foreign investors' stance was not yet clear. Young Businessmen's Association of Turkey (TÜGÝAD) President Lütfü Küçük released a written statement yesterday in response to the Constitutional Court's decision. He said tension in the country should not be raised and added that the decision of the top court should be respected, though it had increased the possibility of the AK Party's closure. "That is why we are entering a politically critical period," he said, adding that under these circumstances all sides should act with common sense and politicians should stay away from initiatives that could disturb economic and social stability. On the other hand, Anatolian Lions Businessmen's Association (ASKON) President Mustafa Koca said in a written statement yesterday that the court's decision did not contribute to peace and solidarity in the nation. He said Turkey was heading to a point at which democracy, pluralism and separation of powers no longer matter.

PHOTO

KÜRÞAT BAYHAN

However, the decision still affected the market negatively as investors began to consider the closure of the AK Party to be more likely. The ÝMKB benchmark index, ÝMKB-100, declined by 818.42 points from Thursday's closing to 39,645.54. The average loss in stocks was 2.02 percent. Interest rates for bonds with a maturity date of Jan. 13, 2010 in the ÝMKB bonds and bills market increased to 21.79 percent in simple return and 20.54 percent in compound return, the highest rates since the beginning of 2007. The US dollar traded in inter-bank markets at YTL 1.2470 in the early morning but then headed downwards. Gold and money markets specialist Mehmet Ali Yýldýrýmtürk said investors were already prepared for the closure case of the AK Party, leading to very little change in related stock prices and exchange rates. He said investors care more about the closure case than the headscarf decision and that all these uncertainties had already reflected on prices. "They now await the removal of uncertainties and are trying

BDDK creates finance map of Turkey contýnued from page 1 BDDK Chairman Tevfik Bilgin told Today's Zaman that the agency is providing all kinds of financial data in a transparent manner and that the system will allow close monitoring of these statistics. "This is an important project that will boost competition in the sector. Each bank will be able to monitor the performance of others closely. Furthermore, the statistics will be a significant help to academics working on books or reports," he said. Bilgin noted that the system was completely designed and established by BDDK employees and that in the past a company had demanded $4 to 5 million for establishing such a system. Fintürk provides a distribution of financial data related to the banking sector for each province and aims at making financial statistics and information available to public institutions, local and central decision makers, financial sector executives, academicians and other interested parties. The Fintürk application processes sector statistics and presents them on a thematic map. The map makes available information including statistics on loan distribution, deposits, individual banking, sector loans and branch numbers.

Energy watchdog approves electricity price hike The Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK) yesterday approved a 12.7 percent hike in the price of electricity sold by the Turkish Electricity Trading and Contracting Company (TETAÞ) to the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company (TEDAÞ). In determining the rate hike, TETAÞ had taken into consideration the rising cost of power generation due to increases in natural gas prices, deciding upon a hike from YKr 9.53 to YKr 10.74 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), or 12.7 percent. Meeting yesterday, the EPDK discussed the increase proposed by TETAÞ and decided to approve it. The increase will go into effect on July 1, when an automatic electricity pricing scheme will also begin. TETAÞ will sell electric power to 21 distribution zones based on the new rate. TEDAÞ will decide upon the rate of increase to be implemented in the transition to the automatic pricing system. This will also be the rate of increase that is applied to end users. However, in an informal process, the new tariff will be approved by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, following which it will be officially approved by the Supreme Planning Board (YPK) before it goes into effect. Ankara Today's Zaman

Newsweek to launch Turkish-language edition Newsweek plans to launch NewsweekTurkey, its eighth non-English language edition. This new edition will be published in collaboration with the Ciner Group, Newsweek CEO Tom Ascheim and Ciner Media Group President Kenan Tekdað announced yesterday in a press release. Newsweek Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Washington Post Company, and the Ciner Group companies recently signed the Newsweek licensing agreement. "We are delighted to be joining with Ciner to launch a high-quality news magazine for today's Turkish audience," Ascheim said. "We welcome the opportunity to expand our foreign-language editions into Turkey. We are excited that the launch of NewsweekTurkey is now getting close to reality." The launch was originally scheduled for 2007, but was delayed. The weekly magazine will have its own staff of Turkish reporters and editors and will cover significant developments in Turkey and the world. Selçuk Tepeli will be the magazine's editor. "The first issue is expected to hit news stands this autumn," said Mehmet Erden Demirel, president of Ciner Magazine Group. "I and my editorial team feel honored that we will have the chance to be part of the world's most prestigious news magazine," Tepeli said. "NewsweekTurkey will be able to draw upon both its own editorial staff and Newsweek's international network of correspondents as it looks for the human stories behind the news, bringing a fresh perspective to its Turkish audience." Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires

Unakýtan: Lower growth rate trend to persist

Turkey earns $2.5 billion from Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline Turkey has taken in revenue of $2.5 billion over the last two years from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, which carries Caspian oil to world markets. Officials from BOTAÞ International Limited (BIL), which operates the Turkish section of the BTC, told the Anatolia news agency that the amount of oil loaded on 490 tanker ships from the Haydar Aliyev Terminal in the Ceyhan district of Adana province in the June 2006-June 2008 period reached 385 million barrels, providing Turkey with $2.5 billion. BIL officials said the BTC has been transporting Caspian oil to world markets for the last two years without any problems. According to BIL statistics, $2.2 billion of the total revenue went to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), while $134 million was paid to BIL for its operational services. Furthermore, $77

million was paid to the Treasury as tax and $15 million was allocated to port services. The pipeline successfully completed trial runs at a processing rate of 1.05 million barrels daily; however, currently the line is carrying 750,000 barrels a day as production in the Caspian Basin is limited to this amount for the time being. The oil pumping capacity in the Caspian Basin is planned to reach 840,000 barrels a day by the end of the year. Increasing the capacity of the pipeline to 1 million barrels a day would depend on the production potential in the Caspian Basin, but the infrastructure studies on increasing the BTC's capacity to 1.2 million barrels a day continue. Approximately $3.4 billion was invested in the BTC project, which carries crude oil from Azerbaijan to the port in Ceyhan via Georgia; 1,076 kilometers of the 1,776-kilometer BTC passes through Turkey. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires

Economic Policy Research Foundation: Fiscal complacency could cost YTL 45 bln The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) has estimated that the cost to the government arising from Housing Provision Aid (KEY) payments, funds allocated to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) and local governments, and a new regulation directing extra payments to public contractors to cover cost overruns will amount to YTL 40-45 billion. TEPAV's Stability Institute has released its March-April Budgetary Results Report as part of the Fiscal Monitoring Report for 2008. Apart from budgetary results, the report focuses on the likely consequences of what it says appears to be slackened fiscal discipline. It floats YTL 45 billion as its estimate of total payments that would have to be made if certain presuppositions became reality vis-à-vis a number of recent decisions increasing government expenditures; these decisions

regard KEY payments, fund allocations for GAP, reserving funds from the unemployment fund in line with a new employment package and making extra payments to public contractors through an amendment to the Public Tenders Law. It was noted in the report that the central administration's budget had an account deficit of YTL 4.4 billion as of the end of March and YTL 5.4 billion as of the end of April. "This situation points to a 31.2 percent rise in the budget deficit in comparison to the same quarter of last year. The deviation in the budgetary balance increased by 1.3 percent compared to the same period last year. A divergence from the first two-month period of the central administration's relatively good budgetary performance was observed in March's results. However, this divergence was reversed to an important degree in April," the report said. Ankara Today's Zaman

Minister of Finance Kemal Unakýtan has said that the Turkish economy's annual growth will remain around 4 percent and that the growth rates of nearly 9 percent seen in previous years will not make a reappearance for the next few years. Unakýtan was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Turkish Business and Investment Summit, briefing participants on the subjects dwelt upon in a recent ministerial meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) He said there had been some changes in expectations and that growth estimates were lowered because of the developments set off by a crisis in the American subprime mortgage market that later turned into a global financial crisis. This crisis will challenge even the Chinese and Indian economies despite their high growth rates, Unakýtan said, adding: "It seems that the situation that began in the second half of 2007 will continue through 2008 and into 2009. The growth rate for 2008 is 4 percent; it will be 4.5 percent and a little higher in the coming years. However, the previous growth rates that reached almost 9 percent will not be seen again for the next few years." The minister also pointed out that increases in oil and food prices were adversely affecting some underdeveloped countries: "It is good for food producers in those countries that produce food, but it constitutes a negative development for consumers," he stressed. Unakýtan also emphasized that nearly all the world's economies were shrinking and seeing rising rates of inflation. "Developing countries like us and those who import oil and some food items are also importing inflation. Seventy percent of the inflation in Turkey stems from fuel and food." Ýstanbul Today's Zaman

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08 TODAY’S ZAMAN

S AT U R D AY, J U N E 7 , 2 0 0 8

ATÝF ALA

Tajikistan appeals to Russia for help building hydroelectric power plant PHOTO

Akil Akilov

Tajikistan has asked Russia to help it complete a giant hydroelectric power project seen as a substantial boon to the impoverished Central Asian country, the government said Friday. The request will be seen as a desperate aboutface by cash-strapped Tajikistan, which canceled a cooperation deal on the Rogun dam project with Russian aluminum giant UC Rusal in September. The annulment of the contract over disagreements about how the project would be implemented threw the fate of the dam into doubt. Widespread power shortages in recent winters have severely hindered Tajikistan's industrial output and left most of the population

The Rogun dam project started when Tajikistan was part of the Soviet Union, but stalled in the economic chaos that followed the 1991 Soviet collapse. It remains only half completed and has cost $800 million to date. Tajik authorities have resorted to increasingly desperate measures to meet the cost of completing the project. Mayor Makhmadsaid Ubaidullayev of the capital, Dushanbe, appealed to the city's residents earlier this year to give up a month's salary to help build the dam. Tajikistan's economy was ruined by civil war in the mid-1990s. It is now among the world's poorest countries, with an average monthly wage equivalent to around $50. Dushanbe AP

without electricity for days on end. Prime Minister Akil Akilov last month wrote to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, with the request for assistance, the Tajik Foreign Ministry said. "The letter did not specify under what condition Russia's participation in the consortium would take," ministry spokesman Davlat Nazri said. The Moscow-based business daily Kommersant on Friday cited unidentified Russian officials as saying the project could be taken over by electricity trading firm Inter RAO UES.Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of RAO Unified Energy Systems, confirmed the proposal but said no agreements had yet been reached, Kommersant reported.

CALENDAR

AT A GLAN

d June 9 n - 1st perio Expectatio -Survey of 08 (TCMB) et - May 20 dg Bu sh 17:30 Ca (HM)

PHOTO

the $45 trillion is equal to 1.1 percent of average annual global gross domestic product over the period. "Carbon emissions must be cut. Costs of about 1 percent of GDP are not outrageous, so this target is realistic," said Go Hibino, a senior manager at Mizuho Information & Research Institute. About 190 nations are racing to craft a framework by the end of 2009 to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which binds 37 advanced nations to cut emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.

World governments must quickly start a $45 trillion "energy technology revolution" that could drive up the cost of producing carbon ten-fold, or risk emissions surging by 2050, the West's energy watchdog warned on Friday. The world would need to build dozens of nuclear power plants a year and bury carbon emitted from dozens more gas and coal plants, plus cutting the carbon intensity of cars, trucks, buses and planes eightfold, to halve emissions by mid-century, the International Energy Agency said in a new report. Without taking action on government policy, emissions would surge by 130 percent and oil demand would rise by 70 percent by 2050, the IEA said, far beyond the level that many experts believe the world is capable of sustainably producing. The report, commissioned by the Group of Eight three years ago, lays down the gauntlet for G8 leaders gathering in northern Japan next month, where Tokyo is expected to urge them to agree on a target of chopping greenhouse gases in half by 2050. "There should be no doubt -- meeting the target of a 50 percent cut in emissions represents a formidable target. We would require immediate policy action and technological transition on an unprecedented scale," Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA, said in a statement. "It will essentially require a new global energy revolution which would completely transform the way we produce and use energy... We need to act now." The IEA said halving emissions by 2050 would require all options up to a cost of $200 per ton of CO2 -- and in the worst case $500 a ton -- giving a rare long-term forecast that suggests a sharp rise from the 27 euro ($42) a ton price for carbon emissions rights trading in Europe. "You would have to see one of the biggest rises in a commodity price in history to get $500 a ton," said Tom Luckock, a lawyer with international law firm Norton Rose. Scientists say that the world must brake and reverse annual increases in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change including rising seas and more extreme weather. But governments are at odds over how to split the costs of funding cleaner energy technology, particularly in the developing world. The IEA said

Oil demand curbs

Aviva to cut up to 1,800 jobs at British insurance business

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1.299

Hang Seng

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142.960

995

Nikkei 225

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74.536

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TurkDEX US$/JP¥ EU€/JP¥

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14.489,4

France

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6.844,5

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5.956,3

Dow

USA

-0,97

12.495,0

NASDAQ

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USA

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Brasil

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Insurance company Aviva PLC said Friday it plans to slash up to 1,800 jobs at Norwich Union, its British general insurance business, by the end of 2010 as part of a structural overhaul. Aviva said it was streamlining Norwich Union's business after a series of mergers and acquisitions. It also is attempting to adapt to increased demand for insurance services online. "It is estimated that this approach, combined with the two-year implementation period, will mean that there will be around 1,500-1,800 redundancies by the end of 2010," Aviva said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. Aviva currently employs 59,000 worldwide. Norwich Union Insurance has offices in 52 British towns and cities, and almost half would be affected by the changes, with some closing down entirely. "I am convinced we are on the right course and that we have the best people working on delivering the right products and processes to service our customers and partners well," Norwich Union Insurance chief executive Igal Mayer said. London AP

Nobuo Tanaka

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ÝMKB 30

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12,1x 6,1x

1,5x 5,2x

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7,5x

6,8x

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4,8x

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6,4x

4,9x

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P/E 2006/12 P/E 2007/06t P/E 2007/09t

Western drug agencies need to step up cooperation to head off a repeat of the recent scandal over tainted heparin and protect patients from counterfeits, the head of the European Medicines Agency said on Friday. "Heparin is a classic example of how things can go wrong," Thomas Lonngren told reporters at the organisation's London headquarters. "We have to see how, on an international level, we can cooperate in order to ensure that those regulatory agencies in Asia and China are up to standard in order to control their market and their manufacturing." Part of the answer may be joint programmes of inspections of foreign factories by Western watchdogs. Lonngren said the US Food and Drug Administration had agreed this week to join a pilot project with Europe, Canada and Australia to work together in inspecting overseas plants making active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs. APIs are the basic chemical ingredients of medicines, many of which are now made cheaply in China and India. Chinese-made heparin, a blood thinner, has been blamed for fatalities and adverse reactions in US and German patients. In the United States, tainted heparin from China was used by at least 81 patients who died, prompting a recall by Baxter International Inc. Much lower -- and generally safe -- levels of impurities have also been found in some batches of SanofiAventis's drug Lovenox. Baxter's heparin recall was the latest in a string of problems with Chinese-made products that have highlighted oversight gaps in China, causing worries in the West over how drugmakers control foreign manufacturing. London Reuters

The US unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May -- the biggest monthly rise since 1986 -- as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs. The latest snapshot of business conditions showed a deeply troubled economy, with job opportunities dwindling in a time of continuing hardship in the housing, credit and financial sectors. With employers worried about a sharp slowdown and their own prospects, they clamped down on hiring in May, said Friday's report from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate soared from 5 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May. That was the biggest one-month jump in the rate since February 1986. The increase left the jobless rate at its highest since October 2004. The big jump in the unemployment rate surprised economists who were forecasting a tick-up to 5.1 percent. Payroll losses, however, weren't as deep as the 60,000 that analysts were bracing for. Still, job losses in both March and April turned out to be larger than the government previously reported. Employers now have cut payrolls for five straight months. The 5.5 percent rate is relatively moderate judged by historical standards. Yet, there was no question that employers last month sharply cut jobs in manufacturing, construction, retailing and professional and businesses services. Washington AP

-7,6%

İMKB-100

EU urges more collaboration after heparin scandal

US unemployment jumps to 5.5 pct, biggest rise since 1986

The report, which comes just ahead of a G8 energy ministers meeting this weekend in Japan, highlighted the security benefits of cracking down on carbon. "Oil demand by 2050 would be 27 percent below the level of 2005. Yet massive investments in remaining reserves will be needed to make up for the shortfall as low-reserve provinces are exhausted," Tanaka said. A massive research and development effort will be needed in the next 15 years costing about $10 billion to $100 billion per year to develop technology to cut CO2 emissions, the IEA said in the Energy Technology Perspectives report. It said the power sector would need to be "decarbonized" by installing CO2 capture and storage (CCS) at 35 coal- and 20 gas-fired power plants a year from 2010 to 2050 at a cost of $1.5 billion each. The sector would also need to build 32 new nuclear plants and install 17,500 wind turbines a year. Germany's RWE Supply and Trading said on Wednesday that CCS, often regarded as commercially impossible, could be viable with carbon prices of less than 100 euros. The report comes ahead of a weekend meeting of G8 energy ministers and their China, India and South Korea peers in Aomori in northern Japan, where they will try to agree on the role of consumer nations in stemming oil's five-year price rally. Tanaka said non-IEA members such as China, India and other developing countries must conserve energy to achieve the target as they are already big emitters and are likely to emit more. Some kind of financial facility or some scheme is needed to help developing countries participate more easily, Mizuho's Hibino said. It would be hard for the IEA to achieve the goal without the participation of developing countries. Tokyo Reuters

Daily Monthly Change (%) Change (%)

REUTERS

IEA urges $45 trýllýon ‘energy revolutýon’ to halve CO2

BUSINESS

CM Y K

Price ($) Light C. Oil Gold Copper

134,11 891,60 3,61

Way

Change (%) 4,95 2,27 1,71

High 134,68 895,50 3,61

Low 127,81 877,70 3,57

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.

Russian Parliament ratifies write-off of most of Syria's debt Russia's parliament on Friday ratified an agreement to write off nearly three-quarters of Syria's roughly $14 billion debt from the Soviet era. The State Duma, the lower house, registered its approval of the 2005 deal and a 2007 supplement in a 401-40 vote. According to the law passed by the Duma, Russia is writing off 73 percent of the debt. Part of the remaining $3.6 billion is to paid in a single sum and part over a decade. Russia has written off large portions of Soviet-era debts owed by several Middle Eastern nations -- much of it for military equipment -- as it has moved to bolster relations in recent years. Moscow AP

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CINEMA

TODAY’S ZAMAN 09

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

This week in theaters

‘Death Defying Acts’ While on tour in Scotland, the world's most famous magician, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce), sets out to prove whether psychics can really communicate with the dead. He still mourns the death of his beloved mother and offers $10,000 to anyone who can contact her from beyond the grave. His offer catches the attention of a beautiful psychic named Mary McGregor (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her young daughter, Benji (Saoirse Ronan).

Actors Jim Sturgess (L) and Kevin Spacey (R) share the leading roles in “21.” The film, directed by Robert Luketic, opened this week in theaters across Turkey.

‘21’: The house doesn’t always win EMÝNE YILDIRIM ÝSTANBUL

Adapted from Ben Mezrich's book "Bringing Down the House," based on the real-life story of six Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students who took Vegas for millions, the new film "21" offers some extra-light entertainment in these scorching days where we are in full need of air conditioning, which thankfully will be provided by your local movie theater. Other than that I can't really think of a reason why anyone should watch "21" unless they know how to play blackjack, and furthermore its especially ironic that the story of six college students who have IQs close to that of Einstein's should be portrayed in such a juvenile manner by director Robert Luketic, who had actually presented some real wit and gusto with his "Legally Blonde" creation. Meet Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, who could be Toby Maguire's long-lost brother), a whiz kid MIT senior lacking in self-esteem who has already been accepted into Harvard Medicine. The only problem is, he doesn't have the money to pay for

his Harvard tuition unless he gets selected for the Robinson scholarship. We watch him in his initial interview where the Harvard professor, unimpressed, says, "You've got all the academic background Ben, but you have to truly dazzle me to get this scholarship position!" So how can "poor" Ben dazzle Harvard Med? He's a good kid but carries the burden of having a boring, uneventful life. On the first day of his advanced math class, charismatic Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) realizes that Ben is really good with numbers. (No way, how did he ever get into MIT, I wonder?!) Rosa invites him to his secret club, including five other brilliant students, who go down to Vegas every weekend to play blackjack. How come I never had a professor like this? Now the group doesn't gamble, they count cards, and with a simple mathematical formula along with some good teamwork, they make barrels of money. This seems like a good opportunity for Ben, who needs about $300,000 to pay for his tuition if he doesn't get the scholarship. Before long, the dull Ben, under Rosa's tutelage, becomes a high roller on the weekends; he earns an

abundant amount of cash, he learns how to dress smart, he gains self-confidence and he woos his pretty teammate Jill (Kate Bosworth). But for how long can this go on? Ben has pretty much given up on his courses, dumped his geeky best friends and started leading a double life. And of course the Vegas casinos don't like people who count cards, so eventually the team will get caught by no other than Mr. Morpheus himself, Laurence Fishburne, who acts here as the head security guy for one of the big houses. Now the problem with this movie is that if you do not know how to play blackjack, like me, for example, you're not going to catch on to anything that's going on in the Vegas sequences except that the team is winning thanks to the smarmy smirks of its members. The camera swooshes over the cards, dice and tables every 10 minutes to remind us viewers how excited we have to be about playing cards. But the best part is, while the team knows that they should be rotating through different casinos in order not to draw attention, for some odd reason, they always end up in Fishburne's establishment. Like many other "moving on from university

into the real world" genres of Hollywood, "21" tries to illustrate Ben's growth as he learns that nothing is as simple as it looks and there is always a cost to whatever you get, and mainly, that life is not about getting into Harvard but becoming an honest human being, even though everyone manages to get into Harvard law or medicine in these movies. This is where "21" is especially weak. It uses the most clichéd of story arcs when Ben realizes that he's lost everything towards the end and has to find a way to put his life back in order with his friends, family and education. Plus, there's no real Ivy League humor of clever one-liners that made a movie like "With Honors" such a genuine favorite among the 20-something generation of the late '90s. Running over 120 minutes, "21" will not leave you dazzled, but mildly refreshed thanks to the multiplex air-conditioning systems. It's definitely good to see Spacey in his customary intense performance leading the film's "Dead Mathematicians' Society," but other than that, there's not much to it. Let's just hope that no one makes a film about gin rummy.

Directed by: Gillian Armstrong Genre: Drama Cast: Guy Pearce, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Timothy Spall, Saoirse Ronan

‘Superhero Movie’ After being bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly, high school loser Rick Riker (Drake Bell) develops superhuman abilities such as incredible strength and an armored skin. Rick decides to use his new powers for good and becomes a costumed crime fighter known as "The Dragonfly." However, standing in the way of his destiny is the villainous Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald). After an experiment gone wrong, Lou develops the power to steal a person's life force and in a dastardly quest for immortality, becomes the super villain, "The Hourglass." With unimaginable strength, unbelievable speed and deeply uncomfortable tights, will the Dragonfly be able to stop the sands of the Hourglass and save the world? Directed by: Craig Mazin Genre: Comedy Cast: Drake Bell, Christopher McDonald, Sara Paxton, Pamela Anderson, Tracy Morgan, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Simon Rex, Leslie Nielsen, Marion Ross, Kevin Hart, Jeffrey Tambor, Ryan Hansen, Brent Spiner, Keith David

MOVIE GUIDE

21 Ýstanbul: Ataköy Galleria Prestige: 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Bakýrköy Cinebonus Capacity: 12:15 13:45 16:30 19:15 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Beyoðlu Emek: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Etiler AFM Akmerkez: 11:00 13:40 16:20 19:10 22:00 Ýstinye AFM Park: 10:45 13:30 16:20 19:10 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:30 24:30 Maçka Cinebonus G-mall: 11:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Mecidiyeköy AFM Profilo: 10:40 13:30 16:20 19:10 22:00 Niþantaþý Citylife: 13:30 16:15 17:30 19:00 20:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:00 24:30 Þiþli Megaplex Cevahir: 11:00 12:15 13:30 14:45 16:00 17:15 19:40 22:00 Altunizade Capitol Spectrum: 11:15 14:00 16:30 19:10 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Caddebostan AFM: 10:40 13:30 16:20 19:10 22:00 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:15 13:45 16:30 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Þaþkýnbakkal Megaplex M&S: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Kozyataðý Bonus Premium Cinecity Trio: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Ümraniye Cinebonus Meydan: 11:00 13:45 16:30 19:15 20:45 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Ankara: AFM Ankamall: 10:50 13:35 16:25 19:15 22:00 Cinebonus Bilkent: 11:00 13:30 16:15 17:35 19:00 21:50 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Ata On Tower: 11:15 13:45 16:30 19:15 21:00 22:00 Kýzýlay Büyülü Fener: 11:15 13:45 16:15 18:45 21:15 Cinebonus Panora: 11:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 20:30 21:50 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Armada: 11:15 13:45 16:15 18:45 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:45 AFM Cepa: 10:45 13:30 16:20 19:15 22:05 Ýzmir: Cinebonus Balçova Kipa: 10:45 12:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:30 AFM Bornova Forum: 11:00 13:40 16:20 19:00 21:40 Çiðli Cinecity Kipa: 11:00 13:45 16:30 18:30 19:15 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:30 Konak AFM Passtel: 10:45 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 AFM Maviþehir Ege Park: 11:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45 Cinebonus YKM: 10:30 13:15 16:00 18:45 21:30 Antalya: Lara Prestige: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Meltem Megapol: 13:00 15:30 18:00 20:30 Cinebonus Migros: 11:15 13:45 15:00 16:30 17:45 19:15 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:15 AFM Laura: 11:00 13:30 16:15 19:00 21:45

DEATH DEFYING ACTS Ýstanbul: Bakýrköy Cinebonus Capacity: 12:00 14:15 16:30 18:45 21:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:15 Ýstinye AFM Park: 11:15 13:45 16:15 18:45 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 12:00 14:30 17:00 19:30 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:30 Maçka Cinebonus G-mall: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Altunizade Capitol Spectrum: 11:00 13:15 15:30 17:45 20:00 22:15 Fri/Sat: 23:40

Caddebostan AFM: 11:20 13:40 16:00 18:40 21:00 Fri/Sat: 23:20 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Þaþkýnbakkal Megaplex M&S: 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 Kozyataðý Bonus Premium Cinecity Trio: 12:00 14:15 16:45 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Ümraniye Cinebonus Meydan: 11:15 13:30 14:45 16:00 18:30 21:00 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Ankara: Kýzýlay Büyülü Fener: 12:30 14:45 17:00 19:15 21:30 Cinebonus Panora: 11:00 12:50 15:00 16:00 17:15 18:15 19:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 AFM Cepa: 11:35 14:00 16:45 19:25 21:40 Cinebonus Arcadium: 11:00 12:45 14:00 15:00 17:15 18:45 19:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Ýzmir: Cinebonus Balçova Kipa: 10:30 12:45 15:00 17:15 19:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00

AFM Bornova Forum: 11:30 13:50 16:10 18:40 21:10 Çiðli Cinecity Kipa: 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:15 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Cinebonus Konak Pier: 10:30 12:45 15:00 17:15 19:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00

SEX AND THE CITY: THE MOVIE Ýstanbul: Akatlar AFM Mayadrom: 11:45 15:30 18:30 21:30 Ataköy Galleria Prestige: 11:00 13:45 16:30 19:15 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Bakýrköy Cinebonus Capacity: 14:15 15:00 17:45 18:30 21:15 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Beyoðlu CineMajestic: 12:00 14:45 17:45 21:00 Etiler AFM Akmerkez: 11:30 15:00 16:50 18:30 20:10 21:50 Ýstinye AFM Park: 10:45 12:30 14:15 16:10 18:10 20:05 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:55 Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 11:30 12:30 14:30 15:30 18:00 19:00 21:30 22:30 Fri/Sat: 23:15 24:30 Maçka Cinebonus G-mall: 12:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 21:00 Fri/Sat: 23:00 Niþantaþý Citylife: 11:00 12:30 14:00 15:30 17:00 18:30 20:00 21:30

Fri/Sat: 23:00 24:30 Þiþli Megaplex Cevahir: 11:00 14:00 17:00 18:30 20:00 21:30 Altunizade Capitol Spectrum: 14:15 16:10 18:00 19:50 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:20 Caddebostan AFM: 11:30 14:40 17:50 21:00 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:30 13:15 15:00 18:15 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Þaþkýnbakkal Megaplex M&S: 11:00 14:30 18:00 21:30 Suadiye Movieplex: 11:00 12:30 14:00 15:30 17:00 18:30 20:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:00 24:15 Ümraniye Cinebonus Meydan: 11:30 14:45 17:00 18:30 20:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Ankara: AFM Ankamall: 11:50 15:00 18:20 21:40 Bahçelievler Büyülü Fener: 12:15 15:15 18:15 21:15 Cinebonus Bilkent: 12:50 14:35 15:50 18:50 20:30 21:50 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Ata On Tower: 11:00 13:00 14:30 16:15 17:45 19:30 21:00 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Kýzýlay Büyülü Fener: 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 Cinebonus Panora: 12:00 13:10 15:45 18:45 20:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:30

SUPERHERO MOVIE Ýstanbul: Ataköy Galleria Prestige: 11:45 13:45 15:45 17:45 19:45 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Bakýrköy Cinebonus Capacity: 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Beyoðlu CineMajestic: 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 Etiler AFM Akmerkez: 11:30 14:00 16:30 18:50 21:20 Ýstinye AFM Park: 11:00 13:50 16:15 18:40 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:35 Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 Þiþli Megaplex Cevahir: 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 Altunizade Capitol Spectrum: 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 Caddebostan AFM: 11:40 13:50 16:25 18:40 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:25 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:30 19:45 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Kozyataðý Cinepol: 11:45 13:45 15:45 17:45 19:45 21:45 Suadiye Movieplex: 11:45 13:45 15:45 16:45 17:45 18:45 19:45 20:45 21:45 Fri/Sat: 22:45

23:45 Ümraniye Cinebonus Meydan: 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:15 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Ankara: Ankamall: 11:45 13:55 16:10 18:25 20:40 Cinebonus Bilkent: 11:45 13:45 15:45 17:45 19:45 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Kýzýlay Büyülü Fener: 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 Cinebonus Panora: 11:45 13:45 15:45 17:45 19:45 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Armada: 11:45 13:45 15:45 17:45 19:45 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:45 AFM Cepa: 10:40 12:50 15:00 17:15 19:30 21:45 Ýzmir: Cinebonus Balçova Kipa: 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:30 AFM Bornova Forum: 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 Çiðli Cinecity Kipa: 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:30 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Konak AFM Passtel: 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 AFM Maviþehir Ege Park: 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00

Armada: 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 AFM Cepa: 12:00 15:15 18:30 21:50 Cinebonus Arcadium: 11:00 12:45 15:45 18:45 20:30 21:45 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Ýzmir: Cinebonus Balçova Kipa: 11:15 13:00 14:30 17:45 19:30 21:00 Çiðli Cinecity Kipa: 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Cinebonus Konak Pier: 14:00 15:30 17:00 18:30 20:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 23:00 AFM Maviþehir Ege Park: 11:15 14:30 17:50 21:15 Cinebonus YKM: 11:15 14:30 17:45 21:00 Antalya: Lara Prestige: 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 Meltem Megapol: 12:00 15:00 18:15 21:00 Cinebonus Migros: 11:00 12:15 15:30 18:45 20:15 22:00 Fri/Sat: 23:45 AFM Laura: 10:45 13:30 16:45 20:00 21:30

88 MINUTES Ýstanbul: Ataköy Galleria Prestige: 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Bakýrköy Cinebonus Capacity: 15:15 17:30 19:45 22:00 Beyoðlu Atlas: 12:00 14:15 16:30 19:00 21:30 Etiler AFM Akmerkez: 11:00 13:30 16:10 19:00 21:40 Ýstinye AFM Park: 11:00 13:30 16:10 18:50 21:30 Levent Cinebonus Kanyon: 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Maçka Cinebonus G-mall: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Mecidiyeköy AFM Profilo: 11:40 14:10 16:40 19:20 21:45 Niþantaþý Citylife: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 22:00 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Þiþli Megaplex Cevahir: 11:00 13:10 15:20 17:40 19:50 22:00 Altunizade Capitol Spectrum: 11:45 13:50 16:10 18:45 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:30 Caddebostan AFM: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:50 Kadýköy Cinebonus Nautilus: 11:30 16:15 18:45 21:15 Fri/Sat: 23:45 Kozyataðý Bonus Premium Cinecity Trio: 14:45 19:30 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Ümraniye Cinebonus Meydan: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:00 Ankara: AFM Ankamall: 11:20 13:45 16:15 18:45 21:20 Kýzýlay Büyülü Fener: 12:15 14:30 16:45 19:10 21:25 Cinebonus Panora: 12:00 14:35 17:00 19:25 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Armada: 12:00 14:15 16:30 18:45 21:00 Fri/Sat: 23:15 AFM Cepa: 11:05 13:40 16:10 18:45 21:20 Cinebonus Arcadium: 12:00 14:15 16:45 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00

Antalya: Altýnova Deepo: 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 Lara Prestige: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:45

Cinebonus Migros: 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Antalya Plaza: 13:00 15:30 18:00 20:30

Ýzmir: Alsancak Ýzmir: 12:15 14:30 16:45 19:00 21:15 Cinebonus Balçova Kipa: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 Fri/Sat: 24:00 AFM Bornova Forum: 11:10 13:30 16:00 18:30 21:20 Çiðli Cinecity Kipa: 12:15 14:30 16:45 19:00 21:45 Fri/Sat: 24:15 Konak AFM Passtel: 11:45 14:15 16:45 19:15 21:30 Ýzmir Þan: 12:15 14:30 16:45 19:00 21:15 AFM Maviþehir Ege Park: 11:15 13:40 16:10 18:40 21:10 Antalya: Altýnova Deepo: 11:00 13:10 15:20 17:30 19:40 21:50 Cinebonus Migros: 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30

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10 TODAY’S ZAMAN

S AT U R D AY, JUNE 7 , 2 0 0 8

WORLD REUTERS

T10-07-06-08.qxd

REACTION

PLOT

Pakistani police thwart suicide bomb attacks Pakistani police foiled planned suicide attacks on the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, arresting six suspects and seizing three vehicles packed with explosives, officials said on Friday. The arrests came days after al-Qaeda carried out a suicide car bomb attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad on Monday that killed six people, all of them Pakistani. The arrests were made late on Thursday in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, the city neighboring the capital. "We have arrested suspected suicide bombers," said Rao Iqbal, Rawalpindi police chief. He said police had also seized three vehicles laden with a large quantity of explosives from Dhok Kala Khan, one of the city's congested neighborhoods. The arrests triggered a high alert in the two cities. Security was tightest along Islamabad's Constitution Avenue, the duel carriageway leading to the presidency building, National Assembly, Supreme Court, various ministries and the diplomatic enclave where many embassies are located. Concrete barriers were placed across the broad avenue, and regular entry points to the enclave were closed, while razor wire was laid around the perimeter of key buildings. Islamabad Reuters

Egypt has so far failed to broker a truce to curb rocket and mortar attacks by militants on Israel and Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas. The group seized the territory from secular Fatah a year ago Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Friday a major military operation into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip was looking more likely. Hours after troops killed two Palestinian gunmen during an incursion into the Gaza Strip, the latest of many, Olmert said Israel might have to carry out a major action in the territory to counter cross-border militant rocket fire. “At this moment the pendulum is swinging closer to military action in Gaza than anything else,” Olmert said after returning from a three-day trip to the United States where he met President George W. Bush. Egypt has so far failed to broker a truce to curb rocket and mortar attacks by militants on Israel and Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas. The group seized the territory from secular Fatah a year ago. The violence along the Gaza border has marred peace talks between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Hamas said in response to the comments that Olmert’s comments were a sign that Israel had received US permission to carry out actions in Gaza. “Olmert’s threats are proof that the US has once again given ... a green light to launch a new round in the war against Gaza ... We take Olmert’s threats seriously but they do not frighten us,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Olmert, who is enmeshed in a corruption scandal that could force him to step down, has faced mounting pressure at home to launch a

large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip to stop the Palestinian militants’ attacks. Abu Zuhri said that an operation in Gaza would lead to Olmert’s downfall “not because of the scandals but because of the graves of his soldiers that will have to be dug.” Olmert has

‘Israel will attack Iran unless enrichment stops’ An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks “unavoidable” given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bombmaking potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s deputies said on Friday. “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,” Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the masscirculation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. “Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable,” said the former army chief who has also been defense minister. It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert’s government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should UN Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end. Jerusalem Reuters

Pope meets with PM Berlusconi at the Vatican

INFORMER

President Medvedev (R) shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart Yushchenko.

Medvedev meets leaders of the former Soviet Union

denied wrongdoing in the corruption affair in which an American financier alleged in court testimony last month that he gave cash-filled envelopes to the Israeli leader in the days before he became prime minister. He said the Israeli public would hear him speak on the matter in due course. He has said he would quit if indicted. “When the time comes I’ll have my say,” Olmert told reporters on his return to Israel on Friday morning. Israel has tightened a blockade on the Gaza Strip and often conducts air strikes and raids into the territory which it says are aimed at ending frequent rocket and mortar fire at towns and agricultural communities close to the border. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops operating close to the border east of Gaza City spotted a group of armed men and fired at them. One was killed immediately and another died later of his wounds, Palestinian medics said. An Israeli soldier was also wounded in the exchange, the Israeli spokeswoman said. In an air strike earlier on Friday, a missile destroyed an outpost belonging to Hamas militants, critically wounding one gunman. A number of bystanders were also hurt, Hamas said. A second air strike was aimed at a building suspected of being a munitions workshop in Gaza City. The army spokeswoman said the missile failed to hit its intended target. The attacks came in response to crossborder mortar fire on an Israeli industrial plant near the Gaza frontier on Thursday which killed a factory worker. Ben Gurion Airport Reuters

TALKS

Pope Benedict XVI met on Friday with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi for talks expected to focus on the immigration and family policies of the new conservative government. Benedict greeted Berlusconi as the Italian leader walked into the pope's library for the talks. The pope has recently welcomed what he called a "new climate" in Italian politics, following Berlusconi's election victory and signs that the new premier is open to dialogue with the opposition on major reforms. Berlusconi said before Friday's visit that the Roman Catholic Church, which is often accused of interfering in Italy's domestic affairs, has a right to express its opinion. The church has always rejected any accusation of interference, saying it has a duty to intervene on ethical matters even though it does not take political sides before elections. It is customary for new heads of government in Italy to pay a visit to the pope. The two had previously met at the Vatican in November 2005, months after Benedict's election to the pontificate. Berlusconi, who was then premier, lost power in a 2006 election but returned to office earlier this year. His new coalition no longer includes the Christian Democratic Party that is very close to the Vatican, but Berlusconi has called for dialogue with the Church. Vatican City AP

PHOTO

Israeli raid on Gaza Strip looks more likely, PM Olmert says

Myanmar's junta attacked "unscrupulous" citizens and foreign media on Friday for presenting a false picture of the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis as experts began mapping the extent of the disaster. The New Light of Myanmar, the mouthpiece of the ruling generals, said people had been selling video footage "of invented stories" to foreign news organizations which tarnished the country's image. "The people who are in touch with the situation feel that the despicable and inhumane acts by local and foreign anti-government groups and self-centered persons and their exploiting of the storm victims are absolutely obnoxious," the newspaper said. Bootleg copies of DVDs showing the devastation in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta have been snapped up on the streets of the former capital Yangon and smuggled out of the country. Newspaper, television and radio are tightly controlled by the military government, which also severely restricts international media access to the former Burma. "Those foreign news agencies are issuing groundless news stories with the intention of tarnishing the image of Myanmar and misleading the international community into believing that cyclone victims do not receive any assistance," the New Light of Myanmar said. Police detained well-known activist/comedian Zarganar on Thursday who was involved in a private aid effort for cyclone victims. They also seized his computer, several banned films and records of the cyclone damage. Yangon Reuters

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Myanmar junta slams citizens over reports

A Palestinian woman sits outside a family house that was destroyed in an Israeli army operation near Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on Friday with leaders of a fractious alliance of ex-Soviet republics, ranging from autocratic Kremlin allies to pro-Westerners determined to escape Moscow’s shadow. Medvedev warned the presidents of Ukraine and Georgia not to lead their countries into NATO, saying joining the alliance would hurt their relations with Russia and seriously increase tension on the edges of the former Soviet Union, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Meeting with US-allied Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Medvedev reiterated Russia’s opposition to his push to join the Western alliance, Lavrov told reporters. “The somewhat artificial inclusion of Georgia into NATO will lead to a spiral of very, very negative confrontation,” he said. Medvedev held one-on-one talks with several presidents from the 12-nation Commonwealth of Independent States at the lavish Konstantin Palace in Strelna, on the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg, before what was billed as an informal summit meeting later in the day. The first major CIS gathering for Medvedev since he took over from Vladimir Putin a month ago was being held amid increasing tensions between Moscow and both Ukraine and Georgia, whose leaders are trying to shed Russia’s influence and bring their nations closer to Europe and the United States. Meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Medvedev suggested that Ukrainian membership in NATO would violate a 1997 friendship treaty between the Slavic neighbors, Lavrov said. He said the treaty stipulates that neither nation should pose a security threat to the other. “One-sided steps taken despite the essence of the agreement do not add stability to our relations,” Lavrov said. Russia’s parliament adopted a declaration this week urging the government to declare the friendship treaty invalid if Ukraine takes further steps toward joining NATO. Lavrov indicated that Medvedev had criticized Yushchenko over his suggestions that Ukraine would evict the Russian navy from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol when the lease runs out in 2017. Kiev’s actions “are not what we would like to see from close partners,” Lavrov said. In response to Saakashvili’s push to bring his small Caucasus Mountain into NATO, Russia has stepped up support for Georgia’s separatist region of Abkhazia, drawing Georgian claims that Russia is moving toward annexing the province. Both nations claim the other is preparing for the use of force in the region, creating fears that conflict could erupt. Russia has strengthened peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia that Georgia accuses of siding with the separatists, and recently drew further ire from Georgia by sending railroad troops into the region. Lavrov indicated Russia will not consider Georgia’s demands for their withdrawal and said it is up to Georgia to take steps to improve relations. Strelna AP

Walesa says Polish president should be removed

Two Shiite militia leaders surrender, as Iraqi PM al-Maliki prepares to visit

British Prime Minister Brown faces new criticism over detention plans

Former Polish leader Lech Walesa has called for President Lech Kaczynski to be removed for reviving allegations that he was a communist-era informer, Polish media reported on Friday. Allegations about Walesa's past first surfaced in 1992. He has always denied them and a vetting court ruled in 2000 that the founder of the Solidarity trade union, which ended communist rule in 1989, had never been an agent for the secret police. Kaczynski revived the allegations in a television program. "In the face of facts and law this should be grounds for his immediate removal from office," Walesa, who went on to become Poland's president from 1990 to 1995, said in a letter to media. The president's office declined comment. The animosity between Kaczynski, 59, and Walesa, 64, dates back to the 1980s when Kaczynski questioned Walesa's leading role in Solidarity. Warsaw Reuters

cease-fire order by anti-American cleric Two suspected Shiite militia leaders surMuqtada al-Sadr. Some of the men are berendered Friday during American raids on lieved to have fled recent fighting in the Shiite their homes south of Baghdad, the US military militia stronghold of Sadr City, but others have said. One of the men is suspected of ordering been based for years in swaths of overwhelmattacks on US troops, directing the kidnapping ingly Shiite territory south of the of Iraqis and smuggling Iranian Iraqi capital. The area is home to weapons and Katyusha rockets several of Shiite Islam’s holiest into Iraq, according to a stateshrines. Washington accuses Iran ment from the military. The of arming and training Shiite other suspect tried to flee by militiamen, but Tehran denies wading through an irrigation that. The campaign of arrests was canal, before surrendering. The likely to be on the agenda for US said the men were members talks when Iraqi Prime Minister of Iranian-backed “special Nouri al-Maliki travels today to groups”-- language the Tehran for his second trip there American military uses to deNuri al-Maliki in a year. Baghdad AP scribe Shiite fighters defying a

ty of the prime minister, whose popularity has British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sunk. “I don’t believe that sacrifice of due faced new criticism on Friday over plans to extend the time limit for holding terrorism susprocess (full respect of an individual’s legal pects without charge. Conservative former rights) can be justified. If we are seen to defend Prime Minister John Major said the plan to exour own values in a manner that does violence tend the limit to 42 days from to them, then we run the risk of losing those values,” Major wrote 28 was more likely to boost rein The Times newspaper. “Even cruitment of terrorists than worse, if our own standards fall, it tackle any security threat, and will serve to recruit terrorists more portrayed it as a bigger threat to effectively than their own propaliberty than terrorism. Some ganda could ever hope to,” he members of Brown’s governing Labour Party have threatened added. Major was prime minister from 1990 to 1997. His governto revolt in a parliamentary vote ment was the target of a rocket aton the proposal next tack by Irish Republican Army Wednesday. Defeat in the vote Gordon Brown guerrillas in 1991. London Reuters would further dent the authori-

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JUSTICE

UK's top cop calls for trials for drug-taking stars Britain's most senior police officer said on Friday that pop stars and celebrities who are pictured apparently taking drugs should be put on trial to prove they were snorting talcum powder and not cocaine. London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said he wanted juries to decide whether famous figures caught on film were indeed taking illegal drugs even if it was impossible for police to prove what the substance actually was. A number of well-known stars such as supermodel Kate Moss and Grammy-winning soul singer Amy Winehouse, have been pictured in national newspapers allegedly taking drugs, prompting police investigations that led to no charges. In an interview with the London Evening Standard, he said he had directly asked the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) whether it was reasonable celebrities should go on trial when we can't tell what kind of white powder that is. "My position is that a sensible jury would not expect people to be sniffing talcum powder," he said in the interview, a transcript of which was made available by police. Blair's comments come after his force carried out a nine-month investigation into allegations that Moss had taken illegal drugs. Tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror published photographs in June 2005 which showed Moss apparently snorting large quantities of cocaine. London Reuters

VIOLENCE

US airstrike kills 20 in eastern Afghanistan An airstrike has killed at least 20 militants in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Friday. Capt. Christian Patterson, a UU-led coalition spokesman, said the air strike occurred on Thursday in Paktika province, which borders Pakistan. He said 20 militants were killed, but provided no details. Afghan officials said coalition aircraft attacked a band of insurgents in Orgun, a district close to the Pakistani border where US troops have a base, after dark Thursday evening. Provincial police Chief Gen. Nabi Mullakhel said surviving insurgents removed the bodies from the scene. He said villagers reported that 32 militants died. Ghamai Mohammed Yar, a spokesman for the provincial governor, also put the toll at 32, citing Afghan intelligence reports. He claimed that most of the dead were foreign fighters, including Pakistanis and Central Asians. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing tallies. NATO has reported a surge in violence in eastern Afghanistan blamed on resurgent Taliban militants, some of whom operate out of Pakistan's lawless tribal areas. Kabul AP

REUTERS

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday he intended to stay in power "for a long time," dismissing speculation about a possible succession plan. The 67-year-old leader, who has ruled the oil-rich Central Asian state since 1989, stirred talk about a potential successor this year after saying he did not plan to stay in power forever. But on Friday, Nazarbayev told reporters he had no intention of leaving any time soon. "All the talk about a successor is just gossip. There are no successors," he said. "I am not going anywhere yet. ... We are going to work for a long time to come." A possible change of leadership in Central Asia's biggest economy and oil producer is a worry for foreign investors already alarmed by the government's increasingly assertive oil diplomacy. Nazarbayev had told Reuters in an interview in March he would not stay around forever. "I have been in this job for so many years and after all I might hand it over to the next generation, so to say, when I see that we need new, fresh people..." he said. The Kazakh leader remains genuinely popular in his steppe nation of 15 million after presiding over years of uninterrupted economic growth and rising living standards. Atyrau Reuters

EU treaty in peril as Irish ‘No’ camp surges ahead PHOTO

Kazakh leader wants to stay in power ‘for long'

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen

Ireland could derail the European Union reform treaty in a referendum next week in which a new opinion poll shows voters will reject it. A "No" vote in the only EU country holding a referendum would mean a state accounting for less than 1 per cent of the bloc's 490 million population could sink the replacement for a constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. "Government faces treaty catastrophe" was the Irish Examiner newspaper's prediction in its front page headline as Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen prepares for the June 12 vote. A TNS/mrbi poll published in Friday's Irish Times showed opponents of the pact had doubled their support in the last three weeks, overtaking the "Yes" camp for the first time as opposition among working class voters surged.

The survey of 1000 voters conducted across Ireland showed 35 per cent intended to vote "No", up from 17 per cent in the last TNS/mrbi poll three weeks ago. The "Yes" camp stood at 30 per cent, down from 35 per cent in the previous poll. "I simply hope it will serve as a wake-up call and will consolidate the "Yes" vote and that people will realize just how serious this is," Lucinda Creighton, spokeswoman on Europe for the main opposition Fine Gael party, told RTE Radio. Leaders in the 27-nation EU have been fervently hoping for an Irish "Yes" vote, which would hasten parliamentary ratification elsewhere and help resolve years of wrangling over the bloc's structures. The EU Commission urged the Irish to exercise their right to vote and made no comment on the new opinion poll. The Irish vote is criti-

Clýnton and Obama dýscuss party unýty ýn prývate meetýng Hillary Clinton plans to announce in a speech to her supporters today that she is suspending her campaign and supporting Obama, but Obama has said he will not be rushed into a decision on choosing a vice president Likely Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and partisan rival Hillary Rodham Clinton met privately to talk about uniting the Democratic Party, as her supporters continued to press Obama to invite the former first lady to be his running mate. Clinton plans to announce in a speech to her supporters today that she is suspending her campaign and supporting Obama. Obama said Thursday he will not be rushed into a decision on choosing a vice president. Clinton supporters have promoted a "dream ticket," ramping up a campaign to persuade him to make her his No. 2. "Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November," their campaigns said in a joint statement late on Thursday. The statement included no details of their talks and neither campaign would comment further. Their meeting came hours after Clinton disavowed efforts by supporters urging Obama to choose her as his vice president, and promised to rally support for her onetime opponent in the general election. "She is not seeking the vice presidency, and no one speaks for her but her," Clinton's communication director

Howard Wolfson said. "The choice here is Senator Obama's and his alone." However, the New York senator has told lawmakers privately that she would be interested in the vice presidential nomination. Democrat Charles Schumer, the other senator from New York, told TV network ABC on Friday that Clinton has said she would accept the No. 2 spot if Obama offers it, but "if he chooses someone else she will work just as hard for the party in November." Former US Sen. John Edwards, who earlier dropped out of the Democratic White House race, has ruled out being Obama's running mate, according to interviews with leading Spanish newspapers El Mundo and El Pais published on Friday. Edwards, who is visiting Madrid, endorsed Obama in May after months of courting by both Democratic hopefuls. Clinton was once seen as unbeatable for the Democratic presidential nomination, but her hopes of becoming the first woman US president faded as Obama chipped away at her early lead to become the first black presidential nominee from a major U.S. party. He reached the delegate threshold for the nomination on Tuesday. After a divisive race marred by racism and sexism, Clinton starts her new role as an Obama booster with a lot of angry supporters. Their hard-fought battle sparked rifts that

party leaders hope Clinton's public show of support could help heal. Obama told reporters his search for a running mate will be secret. "The next time you hear from me about the vice presidential selection process will be when I have selected a vice president," he said Thursday. Obama has chosen a three-person team that includes Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of late President John F. Kennedy, to vet potential vice president candidates. If Obama made Clinton his running mate, it might help him tap into her core supporters, who have so far eluded him, including masses of working-class voters in swing states, Hispanics and older voters, especially women. Obama's general election battle against Republican John McCain, a veteran senator who sewed up the Republican nomination in March, is likely to focus on Iraq and McCain's relationship with the unpopular President George W. Bush. Obama hit the ground running on the general election campaign trail against McCain by campaigning in Virginia on Thursday. The state has long voted for Republicans, but Democrats believe they can swing it into their camp for the November election after several years of inroads fueled by growth in the more liberal northern area of the state. Washington AP

ENVIRONMENT

US carbon-capping climate Senate bill dies US legislation that would have set up a cap-and-trade system to limit climate-warming carbon emissions died on Friday after a procedural vote in the Senate. The bill, which had bipartisan support but not enough to overcome opposition, aimed to cut total US global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050. Opponents said it would cost jobs and raise fuel prices in an already pinched American economy. Known as the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the bill's chances of passage were always slim. Even if Congress had approved it, President George W. Bush had vowed a veto. Bush has consistently opposed any economy-wide program to curb the carbon dioxide emissions that spur climate change, arguing that this would hurt the US economy. US greenhouse gas emissions would drop by about 2 percent per year between 2012 and 2050, based on 2005 emission levels, under a summary of the measure by its Senate supporters. Carbon dioxide, which contributes to the climate-warming greenhouse effect, is emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles, coal-fired power plants and natural sources, including human breath. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, the respective Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, were not present for Friday's vote, but both support limiting human-generated emissions that spur climate change. Washington Reuters

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks with Sen. Barack Obama. The two democratic leaders met in private on Thursday night to discuss party unity.

cal because all EU member states need to ratify the treaty for it to come into force. Ireland's three biggest political parties, congress of trade unions, farming lobby and business confederation all back the treaty but Friday's poll showed a loose but vocal coalition of "No" campaigners had strong support among the less well off. "We cannot sign up to a treaty that undermines our position in the European institutions, we cannot sign up to a treaty that undermines public services, that's bad for workers' rights," said Mary Lou McDonald, a deputy in the European Parliament for the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein Party. Sinn Fein, which describes its economic policies as socialist and has 4 deputies in Ireland's 166 seat Dail (lower house of parliament), is the only party represented in the chamber that is campaigning for a "No" vote. Dublin Reuters

Turkey blocks NATO training for Kosovo forces, diplomats say

06.06.2008

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T11-07-06-08.qxd

Turkey is blocking a NATO plan to help launch and train a fledgling Kosovo security force, in the latest setback for troubled international efforts in the territory, diplomats said on Friday. The European Union conceded last month that its separate plan to train Kosovo's police forces was months behind schedule because of a diplomatic logjam in the United Nations, where Russia has resisted Kosovo's Feb. 17 secession from Serbia. The new dispute stems from Turkish concerns over NATO cooperation with the EU in Kosovo. Ankara fears this will mean sharing sensitive military information with non-NATO Greek Cyprus. "We would like to get this resolved before defense ministers meet next week," one alliance diplomat said, adding that NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was leading efforts to find a compromise before the June 12 meeting in Brussels. NATO officials stressed the dispute did not jeopardize the continued presence of some 16,500 NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo, and related only to long-held alliance plans to take on new tasks there, chiefly military training. That was due to entail NATO overseeing the dissolution of Kosovo's existing civil emergency force, the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), and the creation of a 2,500strong, lightly armed Kosovo Security Force (KSF) in its place. Diplomats familiar with Turkey's position said Ankara was insisting a revised NATO operational plan refer explicitly to a six-year-old pact with the EU that allows only limited cooperation between the two bodies. "They say we should respect the existing agreement," one diplomat said of Ankara's insistence that cooperation with the EU be guided by the "Berlin Plus" agreement of 2002, under which the EU can draw on NATO military assets in defined cases.

Resistance A NATO spokesman declined to comment on the dispute, saying only that discussions on revisions to NATO's operational plan in Kosovo continued at military and political level. Tensions between Turkey and Greek Cyprus have long held back security cooperation between NATO and the EU, but the issue has come to the head with the EU launching presences alongside the Western military pact in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Aside from protests in March, majority ethnic-Albanian Kosovo has been broadly calm since its Western-backed declaration of independence from Serbia in February. But international arrangements to guide the territory towards stability and statehood have run into resistance. Serb ally Russia has so far prevented the existing UN mission in Kosovo from formally handing over to the EU's planned 2,200-strong EULEX mission to train police forces there. EU officials hope U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will announce a compromise in the next few days that will allow them to get the mission up and running, although they acknowledge it is far from being able to start next week as originally planned. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told reporters on Friday he expected full deployment some time over the summer, while diplomats say late September is a realistic date. Brussels Reuters

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Swept off my feet The average American is convinced that the best healthcare is found in America. When I listen to my British, Australian and European friends discuss healthcare in their nations, I realize other nations offer excellent health care. In fact, it's possible to find better care in Ýstanbul than in a small town back home. A British couple, John and Wendy, dropped me a note sharing how pleased they are to be able to stay in touch with Turkish current affairs through Today's Zaman on the Web. They had a week-long holiday here last summer which became nearly a twoweek stay because of illness. Here is their story: Dear Charlotte, following a serious illness in 2006, my wife and I decided to take a holiday to celebrate her recovery. Only a few days into our wonderful holiday, a package deal for near Fethiye, my wife fell down some stairs that had been left wet after cleaning. As a result of this holiday accident, Wendy injured her back. We were unable to return after the scheduled week and had to remain at the resort for several days at considerable expense. Wendy was unable to enjoy the remainder of the holiday due to restricted movement. The accident could have been prevented. The stairs were marble and became dangerously slippery when wet. There was no sign to warn the surface was wet. Also there weren't

any handrails in place, which might have prevented Wendy from falling. The hotel staff, doctors and nurses and our tour guide were all very helpful and professional, but the hotel's negligence ruined our holiday... Dear Today's Zaman readers, if you plan to take a vacation this summer, let me remind you about what accidents occur frequently among holidaymakers: Accidents in the water: accidents while swimming, taking part in water sports and scuba diving. Road accidents: often involving drivers unfamiliar with foreign roads and signs. Outdoor pursuits/sporting accidents: during activities such as skiing, mountain climbing and hiking. Sunstroke: due to excessive exposure to the sun. Food poisoning: either from poorly prepared or cooked food or from contaminated drinking water. Foot injuries: often sustained by people walking barefoot on beaches and walkways. Many of these holiday accidents can be prevented with careful planning and safety precautions to avoid having an injury or illness in a foreign country. The irony of all this is that you have some folk who want to

CULTURAL CORNER

CHARLOTTE McPHERSON receive medical treatment abroad! As Jessica Anderson, staff writer for Kiplinger's magazine, puts it: "Americans head overseas for five-star care at Motel 6 prices." Anderson is not referring to regular holidaymakers but individuals who go abroad for their medical care and stay in five-star hotels. Jonathan Edelheit, vice president of a large insurance group, draws an analogy between five-star hotels and Motel 6 -- with US hospitals being more like Motel 6. "Overseas hospitals are often nicer than ours and their equipment is as good or better, as are their doctors, many of whom trained in the States before going overseas," he says. Earlier this week I was injured. Before going to work, I was walking my dogs, Ginger and Kila, around the garden. Yes, I am a victim of the last point in my list above, foot injuries.

The sidewalk around the side of the apartment building is stone and uneven with gaping grooves. My left foot caught one of the gaps and my body began to do the twist. Before I knew it I was down on the ground and wondering if I could get up by myself. The dogs stood by, staring at me. I managed to get up and go inside to examine the damage. By mid-morning my foot was black and blue and swollen. A doctor examined me and wrapped my foot and said that I probably had a broken bone. I then went to a hospital near my home to get my foot Xrayed. Yes, a bone was broken. Returning home, a friend and I were trying to get me out of the car and up the sidewalk to the apartment's front door when -- before I knew it -- two young Turkish men who had been delivering something across the street noticed and came to my rescue. They put their arms around me and swept me off my feet! They carried me up the front steps right into the corridor depositing me in front of the elevator. This is one time I was glad to be picked up. Skeptical about going abroad for medical care? The truth is that foreign hospitals often rival or surpass those found in the US. Turks can be angels -- they are usually very caring and helpful.

{{ S P I R I T UA L S I T E S {{

St. Esprýt: a humble cathedral on a busy Ýstanbul street BÜÞRA ÝPEKÇÝ ÝSTANBUL

PHOTOS

BÜÞRA ÝPEKÇÝ

Just off a busy Ýstanbul street is located a humble, 19th century cathedral, hidden behind the walls of the French Notre Dame de Sion high school. While walking from Taksim toward Harbiye, some of you may have noticed a door with metal bars leading to the school's courtyard, beyond which is a statue. Past the door stands the St. Esprit Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. St. Esprit, second in size only to St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral on famous Ýstiklal Street, is one of the main Roman Catholic cathedrals in Ýstanbul. It was built by famous architect Gaspare Fossati under the direction of his colleague Julien Hillereau, another Italian architect. The site where the cathedral stands was chosen because the Vatican had decided to establish its "unofficial" office in Ýstanbul on the same street. This office today serves in an official capacity as Turkey and the Vatican agreed to establish mutual diplomatic representative offices in 1960. Construction took one year, and the cathedral was completed in 1846. Financial difficulties led to poorer quality construction materials and, following an earthquake in 1865, the cathedral was badly damaged. Restoration began in June of the same year and the church was reopened for service a few months later, in December. Architect Pierre Vitalis, with the help of another architect, was supposed to rebuild St. Esprit following the earthquake, but nothing came of this as Vitalis went into retirement. As a result, the cathedral's rebuilding was led by Father Antoine Giorgiovitch, church sources say. According to historical sources, the church was designated a cathedral in 1876. It has undergone several restorations so far, receiving three new bells hammered in Fermo, Italy, in 1922 and having all its paintings restored by the late Bishop Antoine Marovitch in 1980. Following the construction of the cathedral, the Christian community began settling nearby, according to historical sources. In other words, St.

Who is Gaspare Fossati? Gaspare Fossati was a Swiss-Italian architect working in Ýstanbul in the 19th century. He is known as the second European architect to come to Ýstanbul to work when Western-style buildings began to be popular and thus widespread across the city. He built many famous 19th century buildings, including the Russian Embassy, the Consulate of the Netherlands and St. Paolo di Pietro Church, located in Galata. Fossati also worked on the restoration of Ayasofya along with his brother Giuseppe Fossati.

An interior view of the St. Esprit Cathedral, also known as theCathedral of the Holy Spirit, in Harbiye.

Esprit played a leading role in the Christian community moving beyond the Beyoðlu (formerly known as Pera) and Galata areas, predominantly non-Muslim at the time. The cathedral's administrative rights were given to Italian monks in 1989. The architecture of the cathedral, which has a basilica plan with three naves, represents the Baroque style. Some art historians define the cathedral's architecture as the revival of the early Christian basilica type. The main apse and the side apses have a square shape. The gallery rests upon columns separating the naves that line the two sides of the cathedral in rows. The interior of the cathedral is beautifully decorated with frescoes. The richly decorated ceiling runs until the altar, situated just across the main door. The bell tower, at one of St. Esprit's corners, overlooks Ölçek Sokak, which also goes by the name Papa Rocalli Street. The rear of the cathedral has a second door, opening up to Papa Rocalli Street No: 82. This door leads to a staircase that takes you to various rooms in the cathedral as well as the main hall. Access through this door may be restricted, though there is a sign by the main outer door that reads "If you need to enter the cathedral, contact attendant at Ölçek Sokak, No: 82." If you find yourself walking by St. Esprit, take some time to step inside this humble cathedral -- even if you're there outside of service times. Don't forget to ring the bell, as the back door is normally closed. St. Esprit's courtyard houses a bronze statue of Pope Benedict XV (1854-1922), built by the Turkish state in 1922 in remembrance of his support for Turkish soldiers. The statue rests upon a stone pedestal with a plaque that reads: "Benefactor of all people, regardless of nationality or religion." Pope Benedict XV presided over the Catholic Church between 1914 and 1922 and is known for his efforts to stop World War I. He also contributed to the establishment of a hospital on the Turkish-Syrian border where wounded Turkish soldiers were treated. The statue was cleaned by the Ýstanbul Greater Municipality in 2006 shortly before Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Ýstanbul. Sultan Mehmet VI is believed to have contributed to the fund collected for the erection of the statue. The cathedral's burial vaults are said to be very imposing, although I did not have a chance to see them as they are not open to visitors. These vaults, designed with the construction of the cathedral and reached via corridors, house the remains of various members of the Catholic community of Ýstanbul, including nuns from Notre Dame de Sion and architect Hillereau himself. Giuseppe Donizetti, the royal musician during the reign of Sultan Mahmut II, who invited him to Ýstanbul in the first place, is also buried in the vaults beneath the cathedral. He is known for the two military marches he composed for Sultans Mahmut II and Abdülmecit I: the "Mahmudiye March" and the "Mecidiye March." Today, what remains of the Donizetti family's archives, discovered in the 1970s, is preserved at the Topkapý Palace Museum library. Burials in the vaults of St. Esprit continued until the 1920s. Mass is held at 4 p.m. on weekdays and at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. (in French) and at 10 a.m. (in English) on Sundays. The cathedral is open to visitors during Mass. Address: Cumhuriyet Caddesi, No: 205/B Harbiye Ýstanbul. Tel: (212) 248 09 10. Located across from Radyoevi.

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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Zimbalista in Ankara for world premiere Israeli percussionist Chen Zimbalista, known for his dazzling performance of an array of rhythmic sounds from more than 40 instruments, playing some of them simultaneously, is in the Turkish capital this weekend, where he is scheduled for a special performance with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at the Bilkent Concert Hall. Zimbalista and the orchestra, under the baton of maestro Ender Sakpýnar, will tonight perform the world premiere of "Con Moto for Marimba and String Orchestra," which composer Benjamin Yusupov dedicated to the percussion whiz. The concert's program, in addition to Yusupov's two-movement "Con Moto" in which rhythms and melodies from Europe and the East are focused on separately, will also feature a selection of pieces from the soundtracks of the movies "Jurassic Park," "Aladdin," "The Lord of the Rings" and "Hook." Zimbalista and the orchestra will also present Bizet's "Carmen Suite No. 1" in the first half of the concert. Zimbalista, who traces his name to an Eastern European ancestor who played the cimbalom, developed his skills in Tel Aviv after he was inspired by a drummer at a wedding when he was 5 years old. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, with the Detroit Symphony and all the major orchestras in Israel. Zimbalista's music combines the rhythms of genres as diverse as classical, blues, jazz and even rock music. Tonight's concert will start at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Bilkent Concert Hall box office. Tel.: (312) 290 1775 Ankara Today’s Zaman

Bachchan kicks off Bollywood's Oscars

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ALÝ PEKTAÞ ÝSTANBUL

The Ýstanbul International Music Festival got under way yesterday with a concert by the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring violinist Benyamin Sönmez as soloist, at the historic Hagia Eirene Museum. The festival has a packed schedule in its 36th year and will bring more than 500 musicians from around the world together with classical music lovers through June 30. Organized by the Ýstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ÝKSV) with support from Borusan Holding, the festival will realize a first this year by bringing together the musicians with the audience, students and young musicians outside concert halls as part of a new project. The first part of this project was carried out early Friday morning. Renowned Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero visited the Turkish Education Association (TED) Ýstanbul College, gave a brief concert and then improvised on the piano for her young listeners. Yeþim Gürer Oymak, the young director of the festival, prepared the schedule of the festival for the second time for this edition. She noted that the schedule was created with a view to encouraging young listeners to become more acquainted with classical music. Oymak said the interest in classical music has not waned, maintaining that the typical concert programs no longer satisfy listeners. The festival was publicized across the city with huge banners with the slogan, "Classical music benefits everyone." How did you come up with this theme? When I took over as the director of the festival, I was already thinking of how to reach young people with classical music. While brain-

Ýstanbul

Music F estival seeks to expand audience

with new projects storming ideas on how we could create a new audience, we formed educational projects. While saying, "It should be a festival that is able to address everyone," we started talking about the benefits of music. It has been scientifically proven that classical music has benefits for all living things. Our advertising agency came to us with this slogan and it aroused our interest. As a matter of fact, classical music is a type of music that addresses not only all people, but all living things. Classical music is being taken to schools for the first time through an educational project. Is this year's target audience young people? There isn't a certain audience we are targeting; our aim is to enlarge our audience. Classical music is a type of music that is loved and internalized more when people start listening to it at early ages. We cannot expect young people to come to the festival. So, we sought ways of taking this music to their door,

and we came up with the school projects. This year, we are bringing together the students of five schools with the musicians. I hope we will be able to reach a greater number of young people. Will the ‘Festival Encounters’ that were launched last year become a tradition? The idea of carrying out a common project by gathering musicians [from various genres] is really appealing to me. These events are more appealing also to the listeners and are a bit more adventurous. For instance, classical music is being infused with jazz. These are meetings that are very exciting for the musicians as well. As an accomplished figure with regard to teaching classical music and making it reach people, how would you assess the level of interest in Turkey? Classical music always has a certain audience, and I don't think that the interest has dwindled considerably. However, raising young

audiences is a task incumbent on all festivals and concert halls. Popular culture has enveloped us so intensely that we start having difficulties finding listeners after a certain point. Now, ordinary concert programs don't satisfy the listeners; you have to create something different. In recent years, we have seen a surge in the number of projects that blend classical music from different cultures together, and in this year's festival there is a project called "Müsenna," which blends Ottoman and European music from the 17th century in the same performance. The pure classical music concerts always attract attention. But there has been a growing worldwide trend: merging the East with the West. Lately, musicologists have been bringing together different elements to foster dialogue between different societies. These projects draw the audience's attention. [That's why] we attach great importance to the "Müsenna" project. Which events excite you the most in this year’s festival? Our program called "Festival Encounters" excites us a lot. Particularly, Hélène Grimaud's concert [with Renaud Capuçon on violin and Clemens Hagen on cello, slated for June 17 at Hagia Eirene] is very exciting. Venezuelan Pianist Gabriela Montero's improvisation project is very interesting and full of surprises. I'm also looking forward to listening to mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager. It is actually difficult to make that distinction [as to what excites me the most]. We spent time on every single concert. Every year 200 to 300 musicians apply for the festival. We narrow down this number to 20. We are very proud of the end result.

Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan on Friday kicked off a weekend-long Bollywood extravaganza in the Thai capital, where movie stars will dazzle movie fans with the subcontinent's version of the Oscars. "In today's world where there are so many differences, animosity and hatred, cinema is one entity that brings all of us together to love, respect and honor each other," said Bachchan, the brand ambassador of the International Indian Film Academy. Big-name Bollywood stars including Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Zayed Khan and Priyanka Chopra will be parading down the green carpet -- instead of red -- in a bid to spread awareness about global warming. The glitzy award ceremony Sunday will feature colorful, high-energy musical displays by various Bollywood stars including Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif. The event will also feature a premiere screening of Ram Gopal Varma's "Sarkar Raj," starring Bachchan, his son, Abhishek Bachchan, and Abhishek's wife, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan. The first film featuring three members of Bollywood's first family is about a controversial plan to build a power plant, exploring the politics of development against the backdrop of political intimidation and corruption. "Mission Istanbul," the first-ever Bollywood movie filmed entirely in Ýstanbul, will also be screened at the event. Written and directed by Apoorva Lakhia, "Mission Ýstanbul" is the story of a journalist (played by Bollywood actor Zayed Khan) who is offered a job in Ýstanbul. "It is in the darkened hall of a cinema theater when we sit together not wanting to know whether the person sitting next to us is a Hindu or a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Sikh," said Bachchan, who has a massive following among South Asians the world over. "We see the same product. We laugh at the same jokes. We sing the same songs." The International Indian Film Academy awards were launched in 2000 to promote Indian films to an international audience. Earlier ceremonies were held in the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and Singapore. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with AP

Wong Kar-wai to head Shanghai film fest jury Cannes-winning Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai will head the jury at the Shanghai International Film Festival later this month. Wong replaces late English director Anthony Minghella, who died in London in March of a hemorrhage following surgery. According to a notice on the Shanghai festival's Web site seen Friday, the jury will also include veteran Chinese actress Joan Chen, German producer Ulrich Felsberg, Danish director Bille August, Israeli writer Gila Almagor, Japanese director Kaori Momoi and Chinese director Huo Jianqi. The jury will award the festival's top Jin Jue Award. This year's competition lineup includes movies from China, Europe, Japan, Argentina, South Korea, Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic and New Zealand. Known for his moody visuals and melancholy soundtracks, Wong won best director at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for the gay romance "Happy Together." A spokeswoman said earlier that the festival is planning a retrospective of Minghella's work. The Shanghai festival is scheduled to run from June 14-22. Hong Kong AP

AWARD

CONCERT

Altýn Koza Film Festival honors Tuncel Kurtiz

VIP, grandstand tickets for Metallica gig sold out

Turkish actor Tuncel Kurtiz, who has played in over 70 productions in his acting career spanning four decades, was honored with the Master Actor of Turkish Cinema award this week at the 15th Altýn Koza International Film Festival in Adana. A special program of three films featuring the 72-year-old Kurtiz, whose latest big screen role was in Fatih Akýn's critically acclaimed "Yaþamýn Kýyýsýnda" (The Edge of Heaven), is also featured at the festival.

VIP and grandstand tickets for this summer's Metallica concert in Ýstanbul are sold out, the Biletix ticket company announced on Thursday. The band will take stage on the night of July 27 at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Mecidiyeköy in what will be their third live gig in Turkey since 1993. The organizers said they expected the rest of the tickets to sell in the next two weeks. Prices range from YTL 50 for open stand tickets to YTL 350 for front-row seats.

TOUR

Stevie Wonder to tour Europe in September US singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder will tour Europe for the first time in more than a decade, Reuters has reported. The Grammy Award-winning artist will open his tour on Sept. 8 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. The tour is due to wrap up on Sept. 28 at the Bercy in Paris with stops in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy on the way. Tickets went on sale on Friday at www.livenation.eu

CM Y K

EXHIBITION

Artist raises awareness of recycling via photographs Photography artist Ahmet Naim Danýþoðlu is exhibiting his latest collection, entitled "Recycling," at the Leica Gallery in the Ýstanbul Photography Center. Using the idea of "limiting production and reducing consumption," Danýþoðlu aims to highlight the importance of recycling with this show, for which he printed all his photographs on recycled photographic paper he produced himself. The exhibit runs until July 12. Tel.: (212) 238 1160

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14 TODAY’S ZAMAN

PHOTO

ALÝ ÜNAL

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

The Turkish Constitutional Court’s ruling against an AK Party-led reform lifting the headscarf ban at universities is an indicator that Turkey is being dragged away from the rule of law.

Constýtutýonal system collapsýng A well-known newspaper announced the recent Constitutional Court decision with the headline "The türban has been cancelled." The case reviewed by the Constitutional Court was relevant to two constitutional amendments that have expanded the sphere of liberties. In the end, the amendments were sufficient to lift the headscarf ban at the universities. However the Constitutional Court has cancelled the Constitution itself -- and not the türban alone -with its recent decision. To cancel constitutional amendments, it violated the established constitutional rules and standards. The gravity of violation is so visible that the Constitution can no longer be regarded as the main set of rules keeping the political system and order operational and effective.

Constitutional Court now founding authority The sovereignty theory first formulated by French thinker Jean Bodin was developed to fortify and justify the right to govern. This theory, advanced by Bodin to reinforce and defend the king's right to govern vis-à-vis the claims by feudal seniors and the church, was subsequently turned into a theory of popular sovereignty. Sovereignty theory was developed to oppose the church's stance of a divine source of ruling authority. In later times, it was consulted to justify democracy in discussions over whom the core of rule and power belonged to. This theory is still influential in Turkey, where the French tradition is still adored ad followed simply because it serves to formulate the core of rule beyond popular will. Under this thesis, there are two types of power and rule: founding authority and established authority. The limits on the administrations that take power following free elections are determined by the rules set by the founding authority when the state was founded. No democratic power or administration is allowed to take any action contrary to these rules. Second, the principle of separation of powers is highly regarded in Turkey. This principle regulates judicial independence vis-à-vis the legislative and executive branches in parliamentary systems. The founding authority uses its powers in reliance on the principle of separation of powers. Automatically, the judiciary reviews the actions of the executive and legislative branches with reference to laws and constitutional rules; it also enjoys such extensive authorities as checking the popularly elected administrations and parliaments acting as the representative of the people and holder of the founding authority. Sovereignty theory was a thesis developed to offset the rule and power of the church in the struggles for power in Medieval Europe, whereas it has been transformed into a tool used by the bureaucracy to defend the status quo power vis-à-vis dem-

MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE m.turkone@todayszaman.com

ocratically elected administrations. This theory is not important anymore in modern political theory. Power struggle is based on a visible motive of interest in Turkey; for this reason, such an outdated theory is used to explain this struggle and clash. The Constitutional Court is a judicial institution that reviews the laws adopted at Parliament in terms of conformity with the Constitution. It functions like its counterparts in Europe. The rules of the review held by the court are visibly outlined in the Constitution. The question is whether the court's authority to review remains in effect when Parliament amends the Constitution. Under the Constitution, Parliament is vested with the power to amend the Constitution, which is a flexible one, based on the classification of the constitutional rules. It can be amended at Parliament by a qualified majority vote. In the event that the required majority is not attained at Parliament, the amendment proposal may be referred to popular referendum by a three-fifths vote. Within the framework of these rules, Parliament amended articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution. Article 10 accentuated the principle of equality before law; Article 42 said bans introduced at universities should be based on a law. Article 148 of the Constitution states pretty clearly that the Constitutional Court reviews the constitutional amendments with regard to their form alone. The court's recent cancellation decision constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution and creation of a new one. As might be recalled, the amendments in the two articles in question were made in relation to the expansion of fundamental rights and freedoms -- and not the headscarf. The court cancels these amendments in the absence of the authority to do so. There is only one conclusion we can draw from this: Turkey is being dragged away from the principle of rule of law by the judiciary. This decision by the Constitutional Court implies that the constitutional order has collapsed and that the current political system will be unable to operate effectively under these constitutional rules. The political system can only be sustained through negotiations -- and not by reliance on rules - simply because there are no rules that bind all.

Politicization of the judiciary Contrary to the principle of separation of powers, the politicization of the judiciary implies growing influence by the executive branch over the judiciary. There is a bureaucratic is-

sue in Turkey that makes the judiciary a political actor. The bureaucracy -- apart from its connotation with red tape -- is a notion that refers to the domination of the bureaucrats over the state. Bureaucratization of the judiciary is transformation of the judicial organs into tools to maintain domination over the political administration. A judiciary that creates a new constitutional rule that violates Parliament's jurisdiction declares the domination of bureaucracy. The painful process of change of elites is the primary source of Turkey's current problem. Turkey is changing its elites. The problem is the change of the ruling elite, not domination of conservatism or distancing from laicism. The elites resist this change; the new elites apply pressure and additional actors are called for duty. The ongoing competition between the capitalist elites led by Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TÜSÝAD) and the new elites was deciphered by the former Swedish ambassador. The class interest of big capital circles favors liberal democracy and maintenance of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) rule. But individually, each member is uneasy with the new capital class represented by the AK Party. They individually support closure of the party, considering that there might be a possibility for domination of the emergent capital class. The Constitutional Court blocks domination of the new class and withdrawal of the old one through this decision. The elites that expired under protection of the bureaucracy have once more gained the opportunity to receive share from the state rule and governance. The issues of the political spectrum in Turkey are also reasons behind this decision. There is an ongoing problem of representation in the country. It is impossible that the Republican People's Party (CHP), which represents 20 percent of the society, will acquire power. The reason for the CHP's ineptitude and incapability as an opposition party is related to despair. In this case, the civilian military bureaucracy and the judiciary pressured the people to resolve this issue of representation. The judiciary is eager to see itself as the representative of this group vis-à-vis the administration. From now on, no development will come as a surprise in Turkey. It is now possible that the AK Party may be closed and the president forced to step down from office. Everything expectable in a state of emergency should be expected and taken as normal now. The judiciary supposed to serve as a mediator and remove tension becomes the source of instability and uncertainty. The result compatible with Turkey's political experiences is the striking opposite of this prediction. Things become smooth in Turkey when everything gets messy. The Constitutional Court decision is a grave violation of law; for this reason the AK Party may not be closed down. The court may correct this mistake by acting this way.

b.korucu@todayszaman.com

Özal and strength of change History, which repeats itself because no lesson has been learned, is not the part that we acquire from books alone. Many recent developments have also recurred. The cliché "We have seen this movie" is pretty common. The example in which Temel -- a famous Turkish fictional character from the Black Sea region who is the subject of countless jokes -- bet on a horse in a movie that he was seeing for the second time and defended himself, saying this horse might have won this time around is not an absurd one. We either forget the near past or naively hope that the result will change. From this perspective, I strongly believe that the Turgut Özal years should be analyzed properly; this would greatly contribute to our understanding of today's developments. It is with this observation that I approach, "Turgut Özal (the eighth president)," a documentary that appears on the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) station TRT 2 on Thursday nights. I now better understand the notions that Özal used. He frequently mentioned "transformation," using the difficult word to motivate people for an upcoming age. What he was trying to do was not change, but gradually fix problems or improve the country's situation. Maybe reform would have corresponded to his goal, but he preferred transformation. Özal also wanted to adapt to the coming age and frequently spoke of this. To achieve this, great transformations were needed. What he accomplished in the economy was measurable; for this reason, these achievements gained publicity. While he was in office, a transition was made to a free market economy and the economy's priorities and agenda were changed. Instead of working on outdated goals like heavy industry, he set new goals to ensure integration with information technology. Photos of him standing in front of large screen computers were indicative of his vision and goals. Business practices of capital monopolies, which used to do business in reliance on the state apparatus, were redesigned. Diversification of capital was the major dynamic for the transformation. He knew that competing with the world's holders of capital was only possible through internal competition. In addition to economic progress, Özal also tried to redefine the relationship between the individual and the state. His understanding of this included emphasizing three major components: freedom of entrepreneurship, freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Strengthening the individual vis-à-vis the state was only possible with a strong emphasis on these freedoms and liberties. Özal also made a symbolic, yet influential, move to show that the civilian power holds the final word in a democratic country. He appointed Gen. Necip Torumtay as chief of General Staff instead of Gen. Necdet Öztorun, who held extensive authority in military circles. Özal reclassified politics. This might be seen as the natural outcome of bans stemming from the Sept. 12, 1980 coup. But this does not mean that his efforts and actions were not important or revolutionary. While he expressed his regret over some names like former Prime Minister Mesut Yýlmaz, the figures who became involved in politics upon his encouragement constituted one part of political transformation in Turkey. We are at the crossroads: adapting to the modern age or being subjected to darkness. The world is marching in the direction of freer individuals and more prominent and influential civil society organizations. Özal made Turkey embrace the era, relying on an accurate choice. The actual goal of the current prohibitive approach is to ensure that a straightforward path is destroyed. We are currently dealing with insignificant things -- things like a strong lock on a wide-open door. We have banned access to YouTube with a court decision and have become a country that is mention in the same sentence as China and Iran, but even elementary school students can evade the ban and access the site. Law takes into consideration the notion of impossibility. In other words, making laws that cannot be implemented can result in humiliation. Some have worked hard to prohibit pro-Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) TV stations for years, but have been unsuccessful. We came to the conclusion that we have to have a Kurdish TV station when we realized that we had no other option. I hope that it's not too late. A party that relied on its constitutional right is about to be closed down because it tried to lift a ban on wearing headscarves at universities. Some make fun of a TV commercial that depicts the mothers of the national soccer team's players, asking whether these players would also wear a headscarf. The strength of change and technology make prohibition impossible and I am saddened by all the time we have wasted.

dagistancetinkaya@todayszaman.com.tr

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COLUMNS

TODAY’S ZAMAN 15

S AT U R D AY, J U N E 7 , 2 0 0 8

Welcome to Jurýstocracy The task of covering the cost of the disaster the Constitutional Court has triggered by annulling constitutional amendments approved by 411 deputies, who represent 80 percent of the Turkish nation, will not be easy at all. An institution in charge of protecting the Constitution openly challenging its clear articles is an unusually bizarre situation, like salt rotting or a night watchman thieving. First of all, there are a number of things that first and foremost need to be undertaken by Parliament, whose willpower has been disregarded: the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the two parties which passed this constitutional amendment designed to secure equal opportunities in benefiting from public services and the right to education; the Ministry of Justice, whose duty is to provide the nation with judicial service at the level of contemporary civilizations; and by civil society, whose will has been trampled. However, since the reforms needed to carry our judicial system to the level of contemporary civilizations -- particularly the reforms with regard to the Constitutional Court that knows no boundaries in its partisan attitudes -- will take a long time to realize, there are some more urgent steps that should be taken before these reforms are made. As a pre-emptive step, Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan should replace the word "nation" in the phrase, "Sovereignty un-

KLAUS JURGENS

ABDÜLHAMÝT BÝLÝCÝ a.bilici@todayszaman.com

conditionally rests with the nation," written on the largest wall of Parliament's General Assembly Hall, with "judiciary." The second step should be taken by Minister of Transportation Binali Yýldýrým. He should immediately instruct his bureaucrats to erect a sign reading "Welcome to Juristocracy" at all Turkish borders gates as well as at all air and seaports, as this is the only way of relieving foreigners who suffer from difficulties in understanding what is going on here, thinking that it is a democratic country. In so doing, they would no longer have to feel out of place about the things that have been happening, since they would no longer be expecting attitudes in line with democratic standards from a country of judges, where people are completely disregarded; they would also no longer ask ludicrous questions that would enrage the elite who represent our sublime regime. In fact, in a juristocracy, the interpretative skills of the people who preside over the judiciary and their personal and discre-

tionary adjudications prevail over the entire system and the country is run by laws that are shaped with the subjective interpretations of the judges. A "juristocracy" is not accountable to people for anything and is also politically unaccountable. A juristocracy is actually a type of oligarchy in which an elite minority runs the country. Save three to five years of delusory periods, the strings in Turkey, a so-called democracy, are in the hands of a very small clique of the elite. Is it a coincidence that we have experienced six coups in the nearly 60 years that have passed since we first switched to a multi-party system? The criticisms the world has made about us as well as the problems we have been afflicted with stem from our not accepting this reality. If our civil politicians, just like their foreign counterparts, can come to accept this reality and learn the limits of their legal powers, the entire country will turn into a rose garden! Just like foreigners, they, too, think Turkey is a democratic country; after each attempt they make to fulfill people's demands, they are cut down to size with a blow they sustain right to the head. For this reason, not only Toptan and Yýldýrým, but also Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik has an important duty to take care of. Beginning with social studies, a course taught in elementary school, the minister should update the course book, in which the type of administration in the Ottoman state is accused of being arbitrary and

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where the virtues of the republic are exalted by claiming that sovereignty in the Ottoman state lay "between the lips of the sultan." The minister should get rid of all references made to democracy in all course books. After the elimination of all such references, people will no longer suffer any psychological contradictions since they will no longer be growing up with a democratic conscience. Also, we, the parents, and the teachers would no longer have to answer questions put to us by our children and students, such as, "If sovereignty unconditionally rests with the nation, what do all these military and judicial coups and midnight memoranda mean?" Of course, another task is incumbent on our chief EU negotiator, Ali Babacan. He should stop acting as if Turkey was a democracy and could become a member of the European Union which has democratic standards. Well, what a pity for Europeans… Why do we keep profoundly frustrating them every five to six months by pretending to be a democratic country? As a matter of fact, there is not a slightest divergence in people's preference. A survey conducted in 2006 by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) shows that 77 percent of people called democracy "the best type of administration." But the elite should be a little stouthearted to be accepting of certain things: Let's either become a real democracy now or use the name of the regime that we live in.

ETHIOPIA, REUTERS

b.dedeoglu@todayszaman.com

k.jurgens@todayszaman.com

US presýdentýal electýons: týme to lobby US elections, including preceding primaries and caucuses, are extremely exciting. Without abusing the overused word "historic," I say that the election of the next US president is indeed of historic proportions. The mere fact that the first potential female presidential candidate competed against the first non-Caucasian contender, as well as that the other political party had a likewise interesting -- though lacking most of the suspense -campaign, shows one more time that American democracy works. In 1984 I started analyzing US presidential elections as part of studying government. In late 1986 I had the honor to attend a fact-finding trip to Indiana upon an invitation of the American Center for International Leadership (ACIL) at the time. I visited both Democratic as well as Republican Party campaign teams preparing the early stages for the 1988 presidential elections. I was stunned by the professionalism of these campaign managers and their foresight. Twenty years later, another campaign has reached its final pre-selection stages and since very early Wednesday local time we have known who is competing against whom. What can we learn from US presidential campaigns? It is possible to create impact scenarios on Turkey regarding the outcome of the next US presidential elections. However, my point today is that it would be much more interesting to create foresight studies with regard to who to lobby in the US to make certain Turkish viewpoints are heard in whoever finally emerges as the frontrunner. Instead of waiting until the new president is sworn in, Turkey needs proactive lobbying now to make certain her voices are incorporated into both candidates' strategic plans. The trick is to lobby people as well as institutions before they have been elected or inaugurated, respectively. The US for sure has a functioning lobby structure and many European lobbyists happily agree that they have learned their craft from their North Atlantic peers. Shall we take sides? I reckon that on the one hand, a Republican victory would make life for Turkey and her aspirations to join the EU just a little easier, as when push comes to shove realism prevails over ideology. The EU cannot disregard US support for strategic allies. Turkey is the only "not yet EU member" strategic ally. It would make negotiations with regards to finding solutions for a stable Middle East more viable, hence not forcing prefabricated non-working solutions on both the Palestinians and Israelis. A Democratic victory, on the other hand, would mean the pendulum of power swings in favor of more appeasing solutions, trying to be friends with all but forgetting that there are not only friends, but foes, too, on this planet. The world needs leadership, and until someone better comes along, global leadership by democratic means is best proposed by the US. In Europe, Turkey as an emerging economic and political power, together with the UK and to a lesser extent France, could play the same "leadership" role. There are opportunities in the somewhat diluted approach by Democrats to foreign policy making, as it can perhaps still be shaped in one's favor. However, other countries and their lobbyists might just do the same. At the earliest convenience, Turkey should visit both nominees to make clear that a friend and key ally has demands, too. It is part and parcel of modern nation state management to visit candidates and not only elected office holders. Candidates formulate their final election programs well before election night. Once voters have been invited to cast their ballot on promises made by candidates, it is nearly impossible to change the winner's viewpoints as the electorate is closely watching. Issues I suggest are the fight against terror, the broader Middle East initiative, Turkey's EU aspirations, NATO in the 21st century, minority rights as well as majority rights, transatlantic trade, competition with more cost-effective countries, climate change and human rights. It would be nice to see a similar relationship between the current Turkish prime minister and the new US president as was fashioned by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. However, in this "foresight" scenario, both partners will most likely come from a conservative background. Isn't the constant swing of the pendulum of power fascinating as it guarantees democracy and stability? May the best candidate win!

BERÝL DEDEOÐLU

Gradual fýght agaýnst terrorýsm

Instýtutýonal kýngdom MEHMET KAMIÞ m.kamis@todayszaman.com

I think this is what they call "oligarchic bureaucracy." Or wouldn't it be better if we called it a kingdom? Yes, an institutional kingdom run by 11 people. The kingdom of judges who cannot be audited and who derive their power only from themselves and who set the limits, if any, of their own jurisdiction has announced its independence. This kingdom, which has handcuffed the sovereignty of the entire nation under the pretext of secularism, may handcuff everyone's sovereignty under other pretexts. Imagine a science fiction movie. A sort of living robot has been built and given the duty of protecting the city against external attacks. As it is fulfilling its duty in line with the instructions given to it by the city's inhabitants, the robot starts to define new duties for itself. It adds a new arm and new power sources. This creature, equipped with formidable weapons designed for the protection of the city, has now gone out of control. Acting on its own, it sets its own duties and powers. This most recent action by the judges, which may seem pleasant to some because it is done under the pretext of secularism, may be duplicated with different pretexts. For instance, those who have made such an absurd decision may also opt to regulate private property, the media or business holdings. Even those who support the decision know it has nothing to do with law and cannot be explained with reference to existing laws. Thus, they feel bashful about their support. Even the members of the Constitutional Court could not show the tiniest amount of courage to defend the decision.

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If society is left without any solution, and if even the most reasonable, most innocent and most moderate demands are refused with such strictness and inflexibility, and if this country is forced to live in the 1940s despite the changes in the world around it, where will this lead us? You pass a law with the support of 411 deputies, representing roughly 65 percent of the national vote, but nine men refuse to accept it. Moreover, they use a power not defined under law to annul this law supported by the majority of the country. Where does such a law, such a high judiciary, exist in the world? The demand voiced by millions of people, the mandate they give to their deputies, is meaningless. Several appointed people are above everything. We live at a time when the law is dysfunctional, laws are suspended or everything is done according to words from the mouths of a few people. This decision is a clear proof that the Constitutional Court has become uncontrollable. It has gone beyond its limits taken it upon itself to determine its own limits, just like the robot invented to protect the city. Secularism is not the only inalterable article of the Constitution. How can you make exceptions to the rule of law? Can we suspend all other laws (including those inalterable articles) just for the sake of this freak concept of secularism? Then we should eliminate all other laws and just leave behind an article that says that Turkey is a Jacobin secular republic. We should say that everything can be amended, interpreted or suspended for the sake of the survival of this Jacobean secularism. Can anyone remember when this project of politicizing the higher judiciary started? It began during the presidential term of Süleyman Demirel, but made its peak during that of Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Can you remember how this Sezer, who appointed judges with such ideological obsessions, was sold to us? As part of the campaign to assuage public opinion about his election as the president, Sezer always talked about democracy, human rights, the sharing of powers, the rule of law and other sweeteners. Sezer's legacy still hangs over Turkey as dark cloud.

The strategic cooperation between the United States and Turkey has several different aspects. Beyond doubt, one of these is the joint fight against terrorism. From the US perspective, the fight against terrorism may sometimes necessitate ambitious activities as well. We all remember that even the occupation of Iraq or the existence of the Guantanamo Bay prison were presented as parts of the fight against terrorism. Nonetheless, US counterterrorism cooperation with Turkey has a concrete basis. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and alQaeda were designated as common targets of this cooperation. The US expects Turkey to lend a hand with regard to al-Qaeda while Turkey asks for US assistance in its struggle against the PKK. Accordingly, we have started to witness a gradual process of eradication of the PKK. The first step comprises destroying PKK shelters, logistics bases and armed groups by military means. Turkey still pursues its cross-border military operations with the help of US intelligence and covert political support from northern Iraqi authorities. One of the purposes of this military operation is to prevent the PKK from becoming a powerful threat once again. Perhaps this cannot be accomplished through military methods alone, but some success is already observable. PKK-affiliated groups in Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey are actually in conflict over who will lead the organization. There are also some who have started to realize that using terror is very costly. Many actors involved have already noticed that the PKK will not bring stability or prosperity to Kurds and that besides, this terrorist organization makes Turkey more and more interventionist toward the region. It also appears that some third countries are no longer capable of supporting the PKK. The second phase of the US-Turkey cooperation includes the eradication of the PKK's financial resources. Terrorist organizations' involvement in all kinds of international illegal economic activities is a known fact. The problem is that these illegal economic activities sometimes have links with legal economic entities. The best way to block these kinds of activities is to establish economic transparency, a development related to what we call "democratization" and "reinforcing the rule of law" in Turkey's case. Meanwhile, the US has already adopted a law that labels as "enemies" those who turn a blind eye to the PKK's financial activities. This law may put many "democratic" countries within the category of those who help terrorism. By doing that, the US spurred all democratic states to adopt less ambiguous positions against the PKK and to take, by the way, a pro-American stance. This is a development that impels all countries to make political choices -and the European countries are the main targets here, even if their names are never openly stated. Another step of the US-Turkey counterterrorism cooperation is to assure separation between Turkey's Kurdish issue and the PKK problem and to develop solutions for the former. It's not clear how strong the political will about this matter is, but we can observe two distinct processes about it. The first process is about determining which Kurdish politicians support violence and which do not. The second process includes reforms like the exclusive Kurdish-language diffusion from one of the public television channels or revitalizing the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP). The apparent purpose of this second process is to provide equal economic and social opportunities to everyone who wishes to act in harmony with the system, regardless of their ethnic origins. If this policy succeeds, the end of the fight against terrorism will be closer.

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16 TODAY’S ZAMAN

Edinburgh Fringe to focus on bright and dark sides of the digital era

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

LEISURE

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Gregorian Calendar: 7 June 2008 C.E. Hijri Calendar: 3 Jumada al-Thani 1429 A.H. Hebrew Calendar: 04 Sivan 5768 calendar@todayszaman.com Today is Saba Saba Day in Tanzania. This day celebrates, among other things, the founding of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) political party, established on this day in 1954. Saba Saba means “seven seven” in Swahili, the national language of Tanzania. On this day Tanzania also organizes the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair. Today is Union Dissolution Day in Norway. On this day in 1905 Norway gained independence from Sweden through the Norwegian parliament’s declaration of dissolution of the union with Sweden, in place since 1814. By historical coincidence, June 7 was also the date in 1940 when King Haakon VII of Norway and the royal family, along with the Norwegian Cabinet and Parliament, had to leave the country after escaping

The bright and dark sides of the digital era will be explored at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival, the anarchic sideshow to the world’s largest annual celebration of the arts in the Scottish capital. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown does not get a comic makeover in 2008, but his predecessor Tony Blair has two shows devoted to him. Nearly 19,000 performers, over 3,000 from abroad, signed up to take part in a record 2,088 shows at the Fringe from Aug. 3 to 25 in parallel with the formal international arts festival, both founded in 1947 in the aftermath of World War II. “There’s a strand of work about digital media, the Web, the Internet and social networking sites, both the positive and funny elements of those sites, and some of the negative things as well,” Fringe director Jon Morgan said on Thursday. Justin Moorhouse’s “Ever Decreasing Social Circle” tracks the comedian’s diminishing contacts as he purges his electronic address books, while Dan Marsh relates his MySpace love affair and subsequent offspring. London’s Royal Court Theatre explores relationships in “Free Outgoing.” There are also shows about Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the 20-year struggle for democracy in Myanmar, “so people are really interested in those kind of key political issues,” Morgan told Reuters. Comedy also has a sharp edge. In “Eco-Friendly Jihad,” an environmentalist joins al-Qaeda in a battle to reduce US carbon emissions, while “The Arab the Jew and the Chicken,” written and performed by Arab, Israeli, Jewish and Muslim actors, explores conflict, identity and everyday life in the Middle East. Forty-seven countries are represented, and Morgan said visas for the many performers from outside the European Union were a key issue. He was also hopeful that the credit crunch would not keep audiences away. “The number of artists appearing is our first indication of what the feeling is in terms of whether people want to come or not, and I’m pleased to say that the festival is as big as ever.” The Fringe program and bookings will be available online from June 9 at www.edfringe.com. Edinburgh Reuters

the German forces during the World War II invasion of Norway. It is also the date in 1945 on which the king returned after five years of exile in London. Though June 7 has major significance in the country’s history, this day is not a public holiday in Norway. Today is Sette Giugno in Malta. This is the commemoration of the 1919 riots against the British that paved the way to the declaration of self government in 1921. Four Maltese men were killed in the riots. Today there is a monument in the Addolorata Cemetery for these four brave men. Commemorations are usually kept at official level and include the placing of bouquets at the Sette Giugno monument and marches by the police corps. Today marks the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Also known as Duan Wu or Tuen Ng, this festival

REUTERS

Cast members of “On the Road in America,” (L to R) Lara Abou Saifan, Sanad al Kubaissi, Mohamed Abou Ghazal and Ali Amr. sentiment that pops up in almost all 12 episodes, including when they are barred from Chicago’s Sears Tower because of their nationalities: Egyptian, Saudi and Lebanese. “On the Road” changes tone frequently. At first, the three men and one woman cast, which was selected from an audition pool of more than 400 people, is put in controlled situations. But after cast members rebelled, the producers decided the show should be more spontaneous, said creator Jerome Gary. In the series’ second part, the cast visits a California retreat to discuss Arab

and American identities. In the final segment, the cast and its American crew go to the cast members’ homes in Beirut, Cairo and Dubai, where the Saudi now lives. Cast member Lara Abou Saifan left Beirut in the summer of 2006 to begin the 60-day “On the Road” trip just as Israel invaded her country. When the series begins, she is anxious about friends and family she left behind. Her experience comes full circle when she returns to see the damage, pointing out the window of her mother’s apartment to the rubble that was all that re-

mained of the garden where she used to play. The view moved one of the American producers, who was Jewish, to tears. Producers used the cast’s preconceptions about the US to show how they could, in fact, be misconceptions, said Layalina vice president Leon Shahabian. Abou Saifan, who is Palestinian, said her biggest surprise was meeting Americans who did not support Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories. “I was surprised that people were aware of what was going on,” she said. Washington Reuters

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Mr. DýploMAT!

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c.kiziltug@todayszaman.com

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Cnbc-e 08:00 Dora the Explorer 08:30 Go, Diego! Go! 09:00 The Fairly OddParents 09:30 Jimmy Neutron 10:00 Avatar 11:00 SpongeBob SquarePants 12:00 Back at the Barnyard 12:30 The Simpsons 13:00 My Name is Earl 13:30 The King of Queens 14:00 Without a Trace 15:00 24 17:00 Cold Case 18:00 CSI: NY 19:00 How I Met Your Mother 19:30 Scrubs 20:00 ER 21:00 Desperate Housewives 22:00 The Closer 23:00 Dexter 24:00 Ghost Whisperer 01:00 Family Guy 01:30 Masters of Horror 02:30 Desperate Housewives

Hallmark 07:45 The Hound of the Baskervilles 09:30 Back to You and Me 11:15 The Colt 13:00 The Hound of the Baskervilles 14:45 Back to You and Me 16:30 The Colt 18:15 Ambulance Girl 19:45 Miss Marple: Towards Zero 21:30 Mystery Woman: Game Time 23:30 The Devil's Arithmetic 01:15 Sea Patrol 02:30 The Devil's Arithmetic

Comedymax 07:00 The Game 08:30 American Dad 10:00 What I Like About You 11:00 Ugly Betty 12:00 The Knights of Prosperity 12:30 Still Standing 13:30 Miss Guided 14:00 The Game 15:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 16:30 30 Rock 17:00 Ugly Betty 18:00 Til Death 18:30 Samantha Who 19:00 What I Like About You 20:00 Two Guys and a Girl 21:00 Rules of Engagement 21:30 30 Rock 22:00 Ugly Betty 23:00 Curb Your Enthusiasm 23:30 Californication 00:00 Til Death

TRT Tourýsm Radýo

06:40 The Grand 08:35 Locked Out 10:15 Boys and Girls 12:00 The Namesake 14:10 Blood Diamond 16:40 Pauly Shore is Dead 18:20 Beer League 20:00 Bridge to Terabithia 21:50 New France 00:15 The Staircase Murders 01:45 Jekyll + Hyde

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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

travelers’ s.o.s

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The next level of reality TV rolled onto US small screens on Wednesday, covering a topic far from the typical bug-eating and mate-finding: how Americans and Arabs can overcome clashing cultures. “On the Road in America” follows four Arabs in their 20s across the United States, and while its images of fashionable kids on an open highway may have a free-wheeling MTV vibe, much of the show centers on topical debates about US history, its ties to Israel and differences among Arab cultures. The series will air on Sundance Channel and is backed by Layalina Productions, a Washington nonprofit group that wants to use television to foster better understanding between the two worlds. When the series was shown by the Middle East Broadcasting Center in 2007, it attracted 4.5 million viewers an episode from such countries as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Algeria. Egyptian cast member Ali Amr said that “On the Road” provided the Arab world a glimpse into the diversity of the United States’ 300 million people that is vastly different from what they see at home. “They think Americans are spoiled. They spend money for nothing. They are fat,” he said. “After my experience, when I traveled in different places, no, I found the people different.” But what will Americans see in a show about what Arabs see in Americans? Amr hopes Americans see a group of young Arabs who are not potential terrorists -- a

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Goldmax 06:05 Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man 07:50 Hail Caesar! 09:30 Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco 11:00 Marathon Man 13:05 Jane Austen's Mafia! 14:35 Club Paradise 16:10 Conan the Barbarian 18:15 The Truman Show 20:00 Phone Booth 21:30 Junebug 23:20 Freddy's Nightmares: Interior Loft 00:55 Election 02:40 The Appointment

Sundance’s ‘On the Road’ offers Arab výew of US lýfe

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08:00 Cheers 09:00 How I Met Your Mother 09:30 My Name is Earl 10:00 Rachael Ray Show 12:00 The Martha Stewart Show 14:00 Ellen DeGeneres Show 16:00 Hollyoaks 18:00 Late Night with Conan O'Brien 20:00 Two and a Half Men 20:30 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart 21:00 Comedy Night / Chris Rock 22:00 Big Shots 23:00 Late Night with Conan O'Brien 24:00 South Park 01:00 CSI: NY 02:00 The Tudors 03:00 Big Shots

commemorates the attempted rescue and death of Chinese hero and poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. Legend has it that the townspeople were unable to save their hero so they beat drums to scare fish away and threw dumplings or bamboo stuffed with cooked rice into the water, hoping the fish would eat this rather than Qu Yuan’s body. Their actions are today symbolized by races of dragon boats to the sounds of heavy drums. Today is the first day of the week-long Bach Festival in Leipzig, Germany. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) lived in his later years and composed some of his best-known works in Leipzig. The festival was first observed in 1904. By Kerim Balcý

Ambulance: 112 Fire: 110 171 Police: 155 156 Maritime: 158 Unknown numbers: 118 Turkish Airlines: 444 0 849, U.S. Embassy: 0312 455 5555 U.S. Consulate: 0212 2513602-3-4 Russian Embassy: 0312 439 2122 Russian Consulate: 0212 244 1693-2610 British Embassy: 0312 455 3344 British Consulate: 0212 293 7540 German Embassy. 0312 455 5100 German Consulate: 0212 334 61 00 French Embassy: 0312 455 4545 French Consulate: 0212 292 4810-11 Indian Embassy: 0312 438 2195 Pakistani Embassy: 0312 427 1410 Austrian Embassy: 0312 419 0431-33 Austrian Consulate: 0212 262 9315 Belgian Embassy: 0312 446 8247 Belgian Consulate: 0212 243 3300 Egyptian Embassy: 0312 426 1026 Egyptian Consulate: 0212 263 6038 Israeli Embassy: 0312 446 3605

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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: Alanya FM 94.4 Ankara FM 100.3 Antalya FM 92.1 Ayvalýk FM 101.1 Bodrum FM 97.4 Fethiye FM 103.1 Ýstanbul FM 101.6 Ýzmir FM 101.6 Kalkan FM 105.9 Kapadokya FM 103.0 Kuþadasý FM 101.9 Marmaris FM 101.0 Pamukkale FM 101.0 Trabzon FM 101.5

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CONTINUATION

TODAY’S ZAMAN 17

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stance. The report was non-binding on the members of the court. The annulled amendment package was intended to expand freedoms already found in articles of the Constitution, and it included no specific reference to the headscarf. Professor of constitutional law Levent Köker pointed out that in the package Articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution -- regarding the equality of citizens before the law and the right to an education -had been amended, so there had not been a breach of the laws. “The top court’s decision is grave, and it overstepped its legitimate authority. It did not reject the headscarf amendment but the clauses covering equality and the right to an education in the Constitution.” The question now regards the legality of the top court handling the closure case against the AK Party, Þentop added. “It is not possible for the Constitutional Court to do it,” he said, adding that there is no mechanism at the moment to stop the court from ruling. He said Parliament could simply ignore the court’s decision. “It is imperative for the Constitutional Court to respect the rule of law and when it does not, its decisions should not be valid,” he noted. The now-defeated headscarf amendment plays a central role in a separate case that seeks to close the AK Party for anti-secular activities. In February Turkish deputies voted to amend the Constitution to lift the ban on the headscarf in universities by 411 votes to 103. President Abdullah Gül, who helped to found the ruling AK party, approved the amendment package two weeks later. The headscarf vote in Parliament is a mainstay of the case against AK Party, which a top prosecutor wants banned for pursuing an alleged Islamist agenda since it came to office in 2002. He also wants to exclude 71 party members, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, from politics for five years. A ruling is expected in the case soon. Analysts expect the AK Party to be banned, although some say the court could instead decide to punish the party’s leaders given that forming a new political party, were the AK Party to be banned,

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contýnued from page 1 The court on Thursday found the constitutional changes in conflict with Articles 2, 4 and 148 of the 1982 Constitution. However, Article 148 of the Constitution clearly states that the top court has no authority to review constitutional amendments on substantive grounds, but may review them on procedural grounds only. “The Constitutional Court shall examine the constitutionality, in respect of both form and substance, of laws, decrees having the force of law and the Rules of Procedure of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Constitutional amendments shall be examined and verified only with regard to their form. However, no action shall be brought before the Constitutional Court alleging unconstitutionality as to the form or substance of decrees having the force of law issued during a state of emergency, martial law or in time of war,” states the article. Professor of constitutional law Ergun Özbudun said the top court usurped Parliament’s authority and revealed its ideology quite clearly with its latest decision. “Parliament no longer has the power to change the Constitution. This is unheard of in European democracies,” stated Özbudun. Mustafa Þentop, an instructor at Marmara University’s faculty of law, said the top court, which voted 9-2, clearly violated the principle of separation of powers by stripping Parliament of its right to legislate. “We cannot look at the issue only from the perspective of the secularism debate because Article 2 of the Constitution is also about Turkey being a democratic and unified state where the rule of law prevails. With its latest ruling, the Constitutional Court made clear that there is no legislation it cannot block,” Þentop said in a phone interview with Today’s Zaman. Constitutional Court rapporteur Osman Can had recommended last month that the case be thrown out, arguing that while the tribunal had the right to examine whether the passage of a constitutional amendment was procedurally flawed, it could not pass judgment on its sub-

Former Speaker of Parliament Bülent Arýnç lashed out at the court, asking, "Can you describe such a system or regime as a republic?" would be easy under Turkish electoral law. Arslan, who is part of an Özbudun-led committee appointed by the government to draft a more democratic constitution, asked if the top court could change the Constitution. “The Constitutional Court annulled a constitutional amendment for the first time since 1982. The decision is clearly against the Constitution and its spirit. Those who drafted the 1982 Constitution formulated Article 148 to prevent the Constitutional Court’s control over constitutional changes,” he told Today’s Zaman. The AK Party defends the right to wear the headscarf at universities as a matter of religious and personal freedom, saying that some twothirds of Turkish women cover their heads. The CHP claims allowing the headscarf is the first step in creating an Islamic state. The AK Party was swept into office in 2002 and soon secured long-awaited European Union candidacy status. By abiding by International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreements, it has transformed the economy. Erdoðan has been considering early elections as a last resort, and the ruling of the top court left few choices in front of the government.

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Court decision threatens parliamentary democracy Varied reactions to headscarf decision mount President Abdullah Gül said yesterday on Japan's NHK television station that "nobody should be concerned about Turkey's future." As the top court's decision came during Gül's official visit to Japan, he answered questions on NHK about where Turkey is headed. He stated that Turkey continues to negotiate with the European Union for full membership. Asked if the debate related to the top court's decision would influence Turkey's membership, Gül said, "It might, but not in general," according to the Anatolia news agency. Gül was also asked if there is a clash between secularism and Islamic culture in the country. He said the majority of the population is Muslim in Turkey and that people adhere to their traditions while at the same time modernizing. "There is absolutely no clash between secularism and Islamic culture in Turkey," he added. Association of Lawyers President Kamil Uður Yaralý said: "With this decision, the court has violated the Constitution itself. The court declared that it is not bound by the Constitution." Head of the top court Haþim Kýlýç said any comments before the court discloses its justification would be misleading, and asked for patience. In a written statement, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli stated that the top court "pushed the issue toward a stalemate and deepened this bleeding societal wound," adding that everyone should respect the Constitutional Court's ruling. Deniz Baykal, head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), said he hoped that "such initiatives contradictory to the Constitution and trying to circumvent it will not take place again." Meanwhile, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt said everyone should respect the judicial ruling. "There is no way to make interpretations on Turkey's secular, democratic and social state governed by the rule of law. It [the ruling] is a declaration of a well-known fact," he said.

ALÝ ÜNAL

Constitutional court faces questions over legitimacy PHOTO

contýnued from page 1 Most pundits argue empowering a small group of unelected justices to overrule democratically elected representatives of the people raises serious questions of democratic legitimacy. Constitutional law expert Mustafa Þentop said the court had undermined its own legitimacy with its latest decision. “As of today, the top court became the most important legal problem in this country,” he added. He pointed out that no authority exists that can supervise the court’s judicial activism and urged the legislature to disregard the decision as nonexistent and keep the amendment in effect.” He argued that, according to Article 148 of the Constitution, the court has no jurisdiction to overrule the amendment. Many join Þentop in criticizing the Constitutional Court decision which annulled amendments that would have allowed women to wear a headscarf on university campuses. It has raised eyebrows among judicial circles and law professors, stirring quite a controversy on whether or not the top court had overstepped its authority by overruling a popular amendment, endorsed by 80 percent of deputies in Parliament. Political parties have petitioned the court over 300 times since 1982, asking the court to rule on the constitutionality of various legislative acts and amendments. In three-quarters of the cases, the court found some form of breach of and conflict with the Constitution. Since its establishment in 1962, the court has shut down 24 political parties and ruled against 16 closure cases. Several closure cases remain pending before the court, the most prominent being against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The court is expected to make a decision on that later this year. Some analysts point out that the core problem of the top court’s judicial activism was created when the military leaders of the 1960 and 1980 coups felt the need to secure a system that favors an appointed rather than an elected government. The court’s track record seems to prove this argument. It appears that the court sees itself as the guardian of the state’s values against the encroachments of democratically elected institutions and the public. This creates a divided government wherein the opposition party or parties can petition the court to strike down any legislation they don’t like and were

Turkish President Abdullah Gül, left, shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Turkey, Japan eye closer cooperation after Gül visit Turkey and Japan issued a joint declaration yesterday, announcing their readiness to deepen cooperation in the economic sphere and major global issues. The declaration, signed by President Abdullah Gül, currently on a visit to Japan, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, said the two countries should develop a “closer and more dynamic relationship” in order to deal with radical changes taking place at a global level. Turkey and Japan, they said, can cooperate in promoting shared values such as respect for individual freedoms, human rights and a market economy. The declaration cited the Middle East peace process, restructuring in Afghanistan and Iraq, efforts for peace between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the prevention of nuclear proliferation as areas on which Turkey and Japan share a common position. It said both leaders supported efforts to deepen economic relations by increasing trade volume and direct investments. Speaking at a joint press conference with Fukuda, Gül reiterated once again that Turkey offers opportunities for Japanese businessmen, inviting them to invest. “I had the opportunity to note that the economic potential is great, that Turkish and Japanese companies could work together and that there are lucrative opportunities for Japanese companies planning to invest in Turkey,” Gül told reporters at the joint press conference. “We expect economic relations between the two countries to grow stronger,” Fukuda noted. Gül used his trip, the first visit by a Turkish president to Japan, to promote business ties between the two countries and to invite Japanese businessmen to invest in Turkey. The president has said before that Japanese businessmen could take part in Turkey’s privatization tenders and nuclear program. While in Tokyo, Gül met top Japanese officials, including Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace, discussing the historic friendship between the two countries and cooperation opportunities for the future. Gül and Fukuda also had an exchange of views on the situation in the Middle East. The president said Japan sincerely supported Middle East peace efforts and Fukuda said his country would be in closer contact with Turkey to exchange views on the Middle East and to seek more operations to cooperate. The visit, Gül said, will turn a new page in bilateral relations. Before meeting the Japanese prime minister, Gül attended Friday prayers at the Tokyo Mosque and chatted with Turks and other Muslims afterwards. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

Young Civilians announce end of Turkish Republic Critics warn of a juristocracy where judges rule, operate beyond their legal scope and take sides in the political arena becoming a reality in Turkey because the judiciary clearly overstepped its authority by annulling constitutional amendments that would allow women to wear a headscarf. unable to stop in Parliament due to their lack of enough deputies. What we have in Turkey is actually two governing structures perpetually competing with one another. One of the structures is called the “state” and is composed of appointed units such as the military, the bureaucracy and the judiciary, while the other structure is the “government” and is accountable to the public. Since democracy is based on governance by the public through free and fair elections, the government claims the upper hand in legitimacy rather than state institutions, established to serve the public in the first place. A look at the history of the top court shows the Republican People’s Party (CHP) was the first party to call for the establishment of a constitutional court. The party proposed the idea in its 1954 campaign. Its reasoning was simple: Ruling the country unopposed during the single-party period, which stretched from the establishment of the republic until the 1950s, the CHP found itself in the opposition and unable to prevent reform packages passed by Parliament by the ruling Democrat Party (DP). After the military coup

of 1960, leaders drafted a new constitution and established the Constitutional Court, modeled on its German counterpart. However, major differences exist between the German Constitutional Court and that of Turkey. If you look at the continental law and common law legal systems, there are measures taken to protect the court from activism and interfering with the legislature’s law-making powers. Western democracies have thereby ensured the legitimacy of the court and of the government. For example, in the US, the president, with the approval of the Senate, has the power to appoint all federal judges. Some US states even allow judges to be elected. Moreover, Congress has the power to impeach and remove US Supreme Court justices. The continental European model, too, recognizes the problem of the legitimacy and accountability of constitutional tribunals and calls for the participation of elected bodies in appointing the justices of constitutional tribunals. Unlike Turkey, in most European democracies, elected officials, including the president and parliament, appoint the members of constitutional tribunals. The Turkish Parliament has no power

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to appoint a judge to the Constitutional Court nor does it have the power to impeach the top court’s justices. Constitutional Court rapporteur Osman Can recommended last month in his 100-page report to the court that the case be thrown out, arguing that while the tribunal had the right to examine whether the passage of a constitutional amendment was procedurally flawed, it could not pass judgment on its substance. According to Article 148 of the 1982 Constitution, unlike laws, the top court has no authority to review constitutional amendments on substantive grounds, but may review on procedural grounds only. It states that the Constitutional Court shall examine constitutionality “in respect of both form and substance of laws, law-amending ordinances and the standing orders of Parliament.” The Constitutional Court also has the authority to review whether procedural rules concerning constitutional amendments are observed. However, the court disagreed nine to two with the rapporteur and decided to examine the case on substance, ruling against the amendment. Many argue today that it is time to review the Constitutional Court system in Turkey.

The Young Civilians, a Turkish civil society organization noted for its use of sarcasm in its protests, has described the Constitutional Court’s rejection of a government-led reform to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves at universities as “the end of the republic.” A group of about 40 young people, some of them women wearing headscarves, gathered at Galatasaray Square on Ýstiklal Street on Friday. Þengül Çiftçi read a press statement on behalf of the group: “We are moving toward the end in a slow motion movie. We need only one more step for this slow motion coup to reach its goal, which is the closure of the AK Party [Justice and Development Party]. People talk about what the vote will be on the closure case like a sports bet, a ninetwo or an eight-three. Everybody is wrong. The slow motion coup’s real target is the republic founded on Sept. 29, 1923. … It has never been so threatened since its establishment. The real target is the republic because this coup aims at eliminating the public’s sovereignty and Parliament, which established the republic. Don’t be fooled by the words of the coup planners who say that they love the republic. Their love of the republic consists of ‘my way or no way.’” She also said the ruling doesn’t just take away the rights of a group of students to obtain higher education, but also deprives Parliament of its legislative powers: “That’s why this decision is also the end of the republic. But you should be patient, republic! Democracy will come soon and rescue you from this mad lover.” The protest concluded without any incidents. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

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Heat no problem for Big Brown, says trainer Big Brown's quest to become the first Triple Crown winner in three decades will not be affected by the stifling heat predicted for today's Belmont Stakes, the colt's trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. said. Temperatures for the highly anticipated $1 million race are expected to top the 90-degree (32 Celsius) mark. Elmont, New York - Reuters

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

GOLF

Ivanovic eager to face never-say-die Dinara Safina today

Brawl and ejectýons mar Boston Red Sox-Rays game

American Boo Weekley birdied two of the last three holes to grab a one-shot lead in the opening round of the St. Jude Championship on Thursday. Weekley, who missed the cut at last week's Memorial tournament, capped a welcome return to form by shooting a five-underpar 65 on a hot, blustery day at the TPC Southwind. Fellow American Tommy Armour III fired a five-birdie 66 while three-time major winner Vijay Singh opened with a 67. Players champion Sergio Garcia of Spain and Americans Justin Leonard and Davis Love III were in a group of seven bunched on 68. Of the other big names, British Open champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland had a 71, Masters winner Trevor Immelman a 74 and fellow South African Retief Goosen battled to a 75. Memphis Reuters

PHOTOS

Television images showed Crisp landing several punches in response before he was tackled to the ground by catcher Dioner Navarro. The benches cleared and a mass brawl erupted

SOCCER

CSKA Sofia to learn league fate in three weeks The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) will decide at the end of June whether to expel CSKA Sofia from top-flight soccer for failing to meet its licensing criteria. CSKA lost their place in next season's Champions League on Thursday and now face the possibility of being banished to the country's amateur third division. “We'll decide whether CSKA will continue playing in the premier league at an extraordinary BFU executive committee meeting at the end of June,” BFU president Borislav Mihaylov told reporters. CSKA won their 31st league title a month ago but failed to meet the BFU's licencing criteria because of debts to the state and creditors. CSKA, Bulgaria's most successful club, is still hoping to avoid the unprecedented domestic drop. The club said in a statement it had undertaken real moves to redeem the club's debts. It said CSKA would overcome the arising difficulties and defend their league title next season. Mihaylov, however, said that the BFU had asked UEFA for an extension but European soccer's governing body refused to postpone its decision on CSKA. “I've tried anything possible to save CSKA but it was impossible,” Mihaylov said. “Other people should explain why CSKA are in trouble.” Sofia Reuters

Coco Crisp and James Shield were ejected from Thursday's Boston-Tampa Bay game after sparking a bench-clearing brawl at Fenway Park. After being struck on the hip by a pitch in the bottom of the second inning, Red Sox center fielder Crisp charged the mound, where Rays pitcher Shield failed to connect with a punch. Television images showed Crisp landing several punches in response before he was tackled to the ground by catcher Dioner Navarro. The benches cleared and a mass brawl erupted. Tampa Bay designated hitter Jonny Gomes charged from the dugout and jumped on both players before pummeling Crisp to the body. The game was briefly suspended before Crisp, Shield and Gomes were ejected. Boston went on to win the game 7-1. Crisp was also involved in an incident during Boston's 5-1 win over Tampa Bay on Wednesday, when he slid in hard on second baseman Akinori Iwamura. During the fourth inning, Red Sox team mates Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis were seen exchanging words in the dugout. The two were separated by teammates. “Anyone find a full moon tonight? Crazy stuff going on, just a crazy night at the park,” Red Sox first baseman Sean Casey told reporters. It happens sometimes. The home win was Boston's 13th in a row. Elsewhere in the American League, pinch-hitter Jason Giambi connected for a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, rallying the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 9-8.

SOCCER

Mutu ordered to pay 12 mln euros to Chelsea Romania striker Adrian Mutu was ordered by FIFA to pay 12 million euros (US$18.6 million) to Chelsea for testing positive for cocaine in 2004, his lawyer said on Friday. Mutu's lawyer, Cristian Sarbu, said the player would contest the fine in civil court. Sarbu added that the decision was not final and Mutu would not pay any compensation until all legal avenues had been exhausted. “People should understand that this is a decision taken by a sporting tribunal,” Sarbu said. “After this is final, this decision can be taken to a civil court.” Sarbu said the case could be contested in Britain, Italy or Romania, adding that the Fiorentina player has an Italian lawyer who was also dealing with the case. Sarbu said he had spoken to Mutu, who is preparing to play for Romania at the European Championship and didn't want to be distracted. “This is all he needs at the moment,” Sarbu said. St. Gallen AP

The Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox fight in a bench clearing brawl in the second inning of a baseball game on Thursday.

Ana Ivanovic will have to deal with the added pressure of being the favorite if she is to lift her first grand slam title in the French Open final against Russian survivor Dinara Safina on Saturday. The second seed, last year's runner-up, is assured of the world number one ranking whatever happens against the 13th-seeded Safina, who knocked out previous incumbent Maria Sharapova in the fourth round at Roland Garros. For the first time in three grand slam final appearances, Ivanovic will be expected to win. “The other day someone asked me, 'Are you going to forget the (last year's) final and play a different one? No, because it was a great learning experience,” said Ivanovic, who lost 6-1, 2 to the now retired Justine Henin in the 2007 final. “I learned a lot from Justine and the emotions I was feeling going on the court. So I really hope I can work hard on it and play different this year.” Marat Safin's younger sister, who admits she still cries when she watches her brother's 2005 Australian Open semifinal victory over Roger Federer, twice came back from match point down to advance. Against Sharapova and Dementieva, she was a set and 5-2 down before staving off a match point on her serve, rallying back and rolling over her compatriots. Kuznetsova, who had been tipped by Henin as a potential winner in Paris this year, was helpless in the semifinal, losing 6-3 6-2. Safina, nicknamed 'Marata' because of her tendency to lose her temper like her brother, is ready to give her all to clinch her first slam title. “If I have to die, I will have to die on the court, because there is no more point in saving energy for nothing, so I have to give all my energy,” she said. On the men’s side, Spaniard Rafael Nadal withstood a late fightback by Novak Djokovic to beat the world number three 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 at the French Open on Friday and muscle his way into the final for the fourth consecutive year. The three-time defending champion saved a set point in the third set to win in two hours 49 minutes and advance to a final against either world number one Roger Federer or unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils. Paris Reuters

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher James Shields, right, takes a swing at Boston Red Sox's Coco Crisp after Crisp was hit by a pitch and charged the mound. Giambi's drive off closer B.J. Ryan into the right-field upper deck -- just inside the foul pole -- capped New York's biggest comeback win this season. In erasing a 7-2 deficit, the Yankees overcame another poor outing by Wang Chien-ming and a key error by center fielder Melky Cabrera. Brought on to protect an 8-6 lead, Ryan (1-2) got two quick outs in the ninth. But Alex Rodriguez singled, moved to second on defensive indifference and scored on Hideki Matsui's single. Giambi, who didn't start because of a sore left foot, batted for Jose Molina and pulled an 0-2 pitch for his fourth career game-winning homer. In Minneapolis, Adam Jones hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning against re-

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American Weekley forges one ahead in Memphis

liever Brian Bass (2-2) and Baltimore beat Minnesota 3-2. In Arlington, Michael Young homered and extended his hitting streak to 21 games, and Kevin Millwood shook off a bad first inning to pitch into the seventh for Texas as the Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians 9-4. In Chicago, Jose Contreras won his fourth straight decision and Jim Thome homered as resurgent Chicago beat Kansas City 6-2 to complete a three-game sweep. In the National League it was: Philadelphia 5, Cincinnati 0; St. Louis 4, Washington 1, 1st game; Washington 10, St. Louis 9, 10 innings, 2nd game; Pittsburgh 4, Houston 3; Atlanta 7, Florida 5; San Diego 2, N.Y. Mets 1; Chicago Cubs 5, L.A. Dodgers 4. Boston Reuters Ana Ivanovic

SAILING

America's Cup rules in hands of NY appeals court REUTERS

Pierce and Garnett lead Celtics past Los Angeles Lakers PHOTO

The terms of the next America's Cup were again in the hands of a US court on Thursday after lawyers for holders Alinghi and challenger BMW Oracle sparred over how, when and where the prestigious race should be held. Lawyers for the two teams argued before a five-judge appeals panel at the New York State Supreme Court. A decision is expected within weeks. At issue are a series of rulings by Judge Herman Cahn declaring BMW Oracle the challenger of record and saying the America's Cup should be held in March 2009 in Valencia, Spain, or another location chosen by Alinghi. Alinghi, based in Switzerland, appealed the rulings because it preferred a later race date, a separate challenger of record and restoring America's Cup tradition by allowing a larger of field of other challengers. BMW Oracle also filed an appeal, saying October 2008 was the appropriate date. New York Reuters

Paul Pierce

The Boston Celtics rolled to a 98-88 win over the Los Angeles Lakers to win game one of the NBA finals on Thursday, opening another chapter in professional basketball's most storied rivalry. Kevin Garnett, playing in his first NBA finals, had 24 points to lead the Celtics but it was captain Paul Pierce who turned the tide, scoring 15 third-quarter points after injuring his knee and leaving the court in a wheelchair. Boston had been given a scare in the third quarter when their leading scorer collided with a teammate and crumpled to the floor clutching his right knee but Pierce made a dramatic return to finish with 22 points after scoring three in the opening half.

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“I was scared when I saw him down on the floor,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “Obviously it was great to see him come back and obviously we were concerned when he went down. Him coming back lifted us up.” The atmosphere inside a seething sold-out Garden was electric with anticipation when the NBA's two most successful franchises ran onto the famed hardwood as grainy black-andwhite clips of past series played on the scoreboard. Clashing in the finals for the 11th time, the Celtics and the Lakers had not played for the title since 1987 but it quickly became clear that none of the magic and intensity had been lost over the years. Garnett provided the early fireworks, ig-

niting the crowd with a thundering dunk and scoring eight points as Boston took a 23-21 first-quarter lead. But the NBA's top offensive team, led by an 11-point effort from Derek Fisher, began to flex their muscles in the second. They took a 51-46 advantage into the intermission, despite a modest contribution from Kobe Bryant. Bryant, the NBA's most valuable player, got off to a quiet start by scoring just eight points on 3-of-10 shooting but began to find the mark in the second, finishing with a team high 24 points. “I think our rhythm wasn't there, wasn't what we like it to be,” said Bryant. “Still we played well enough to almost steal the game. Some balls bounced their way tonight. Boston Reuters

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TODAY’S ZAMAN 19

S AT U R D AY, J U N E 7 , 2 0 0 8

REUTERS

{{ E u r o 2 0 0 8 k ý c k s o f f t o day w ý t h G r o u p A m at c h e s {{ OKAN UDO BASSEY ÝSTANBUL

matter is that soccer is played not on paper but on the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo is the big star for Portugal, Turkey’s opponent today, and he helped Manchester United win both the EPL and UEFA Champions League crowns this season. But he will find out, maybe for the first time, this evening that Turkish defenders are gutsy and can give as much as they take -- or even more. The Czechs also will be aiming to advance from this group but that will be tough without retired star Pavel Nedved and injured playmaker Tomas Rosicky. Switzerland is hosting the tournament (with Austria) and boasts an underrated squad that will be ready to pounce mercilessly on the aging Czechs, if they struggle like they did in the 2006 World Cup.

Herbert Fandel

German ref says no to electronic system

BÜRKÜK

This year’s European Championship, better known as Euro 2008, kicks off with Group A matches, with Turkey taking on Portugal in Geneva and co-host Switzerland slugging it out with the Czech Republic in Basel. Turkey has some renowned players like Galatasaray’s Arda Turan and teammate Servet Çetin, Bayern Munich’s Hamit Altýntop, Real Villarreal’s Nihat Kahveci, Newcastle United’s Emre Belözoðlu as well as others and so is one the teams with a good chance of reaching the quarterfinals. On paper the Portuguese are the favorites; but the fact of the

PHOTO

Every team is capable of beating the others

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M. BURAK

Roberto Rosetti of Italy will referee today's European Championship opener between co-host Switzerland and the Czech Republic. UEFA announced T that the 40-yearold hospital director from Turin, who also refereed at the 2006 World Cup, will take charge of the Group A game at Basel's St. Jakob Park. “An honor,” Rosetti said. Tournament organizers announced the officials for the first 12 matches, with German referee Herbert Fandel handling the second game of the 31-match championship when Group A rivals Portugal and Turkey play later today in Geneva. Fandel will not use the electronic communication system with his linesmen. “It tried it twice and then I decided it's not for good for me. Because I'm an experienced referee ... I decided not to use that, to use the traditional way of communication to the assistant. That's enough for me,” he said. “I'm very uncomfortable with that. I hate it.” Yvan Cornu, UEFA's head of refereeing, said Fandel was given permission. Pieter Vink of the Netherlands will referee Sunday's first Group B game between co-host Austria and Croatia at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, which also hosts the final on June 29. Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo will take charge of the other Group B match between three-time champion Germany and Poland in Klagenfurt. Vienna AP

Probable teams

PORTUGAL ted from Terim’s final roster and Tuncay should also get some help up from Kazým Kazým (Fenerbahçe). The latter, who was born in England, scored an impressive goal for Fener against Chelsea in the home leg of the UEFA Champions League quarters.

Portugal reached the final in 2004 when it hosted the tournament (losing only to eventual champ Greece). The squad is orchestrated by fleet-footed striker Cristiano Ronaldo, the top goal scorer in the EPL with Manchester United, who is

Portugal (4-3-3): 1-Ricardo; 4-Jose Bosingwa; 15Pepe; 16-Ricardo Carvalho; 2-Paulo Ferreira; 8Armando Petit; 20-Deco; 10-Joao Moutinho; 11Simao Sabrosa; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo; 21-Nuno Gomes. Turkey (4-4-2): 23-Volkan Demirel; 2-Servet Çetin; 3-Hakan Balta; 4-Gökhan Zan; 20-Sabri Sarýoðlu; 5-Emre Belözoðlu; 7-Mehmet Aurelio; 17Tuncay Þanlý; 22-Hamit Altýntop; 8-Nihat Kahveci ; 21-Mevlüt Erdinç. Venue: Stade de Geneve, Geneva Capacity: 30,000 Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)

PHOTOS

Swiss place all their hopes in home crowd

The Swiss (top) and the Czechs (below) during their final training session.

The Swiss probably have a better chance, albeit a very slim one, than cohost Austria of advancing to the second round; but they must first clear the Czech hurdle in Basel today and they are banking all their hopes on the home crowd. Captain and striker Alexander Frei (Dortmund) is back after missing much of the European season with a thigh injury. Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos (who speaks six languages) has yet to find personal success with club or country. Coach Kobi Kuhn has had a hard time drumming up interest and support in what he calls a “tennis and sailing nation.” Tennis, we get it: Roger Federer. But sailing? In a land-locked country? Wait a minute, the Swiss syndicate Alinghi is the defending America’s Cup champion. The Swiss, using a tight defense, did not concede a goal in the 2006 World Cup, winning their group, but were ousted by Ukraine on a penalty shootout. This time around, it is going to take more than guile on defense to progress to the knockout stage, especially since

the creative midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen) is out with an injury. Up front, the most dangerous attackers for the Swiss could be winger Johan Vonlanthen (Red Bull Salzburg) and Valon Behrami (Lazio). The Czechs have a veteran team and this tournament could be its last hurrah. They reached the semifinals of Euro 2004, but failed to get past the first round of the 2006 World Cup. The team has the towering Jan Koller (Nuremberg) and the shorter Milan Baros (Portsmouth) up front, but will be missing a link through the midfield with the absence of Pavel Nedved (Juventus) and Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), who was omitted from Coach Karel Bruckner’s final roster. Goalkeeper Petr Cech (Chelsea) is among the best in the world. In front of him, the backline is anchored by David Rozehnal (Lazio), Marek Jankulovski (A.C. Milan), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina) and Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow). Cech is relishing the chance to try and stop former teammate Frei from extending his Swiss goal scoring record. The pair played together at French club

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Stade Rennes five years ago and will face each other today. “It'll be the first time I have played against him so I'm curious to know what it will be like,” Cech said on Thursday. Before the dissolution of the former Soviet bloc, Czechoslovakia was the one and only winner of a European title on a penalty shootout in 1976.

Probable teams Switzerland (4-4-2): 1-Diego Benaglio; 5Stephan Lichtsteiner; 20-Patrick Mueller; 4Philippe Senderos; 3-Ludovic Magnin; 16Tranquillo Barnetta; 8-Gökhan Ýnler; 15Gelson Fernandes; 22-Johan Vonlanthen; 9Alex Frei; 11-Marco Streller. Czech Republic (4-5-1): 1-Petr Cech; 2Zdenek Grygera; 21-Tomas Ujfalusi; 22-David Rozehnal; 6-Marek Jankulovski; 20-Jaroslav Plasil; 3-Jan Polak ;17-Marek Matejovsky; 4Tomas Galasek ; 7-Libor Sionko ; 9-Jan Koller. Venue: St. Jakob Park, Basel Capacity: 40,000 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

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surrounded by a roster that includes defender Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), midfielder Deco (Barcelona) and striker Ricardo Quaresma (Porto). Brazilian coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil. His contract with Portugal runs out after the tournament and he is one of the many names in the hopper to replace Grant as the manager of Chelsea. But Portugal is without veterans Luis Figo, Pedro Pauleta and Costinha, and has been struggling offensively in Scolari’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

The Turks, the 2002 World Cup semifinalists, are poised to take their place among the elite in Europe when they face Portugal in Geneva in their opening group game this evening. Turkey lost to the Portuguese at Euro 1996 and again four years later, but the Turks today will rely on a stronger midfield that includes Brazilian-born Fenerbahçe midfielder Mehmet Aurelio to try to avenge those defeats and reach the quarters. Faith Terim, 54, is a good coach whose name has popped up as a possible replacement for Avram Grant at Chelsea FC. Turkey’s 35-year-old goalkeeper Rüstü Recber (Beþiktaþ) had an outstanding Word Cup in 2002, but injuries and some uninspired play cost him his place at Barcelona -- and may have cost him his starting position for Euro 2008. His replacement is Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe). Terim and the Turks expect great things from Aurelio, Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan in Russia) and Arda Turan (Galatasaray). Mevlut Erdinç, the 21year-old striker who plays for Sochaux in France, could cause problems for the Portuguese defense, but the key up front will be striker Tuncay Þanlý (Middlesbrough FC). Veteran Hakan Þükür was omit-

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Turkey ready for Portugal challenge

TURKEY

Geneva police unveil temporary prison Police officials in Geneva have showed off a temporary jail built in a vast exhibition hall next to the airport where they plan to lock up Euro 2008 troublemakers. Based on a concept developed by German police and used during the 2006 World Cup, the jail is made up of rows of 54 sturdy wooden cells measuring 6x3 meters (20x10 feet) that together can hold almost 200 people at a time. “Anyone committing an offense can be held for up to 24 hours after which they will have to be released or moved to a regular prison,” said Gerard Maury, chief of the Swiss international security police in Geneva. “The facility has been examined by a commission of local officials and they declared themselves satisfied,” he added before joking with reporters that the cells would make good garden sheds after the tournament. It took 300 army engineers six weeks to build the cells and they cover an area about the size of a soccer pitch. As many as five million fans are expected to attend the finals co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland, leading to one of the biggest security operations seen in the Alpine states. Geneva Reuters

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Black watermelon sold at record price A jumbo black watermelon auctioned in Japan on Friday fetched a record $6,100, making it one of the most expensive watermelons ever sold in the country. In a society where melons are a luxury item commonly given as gifts, the watermelon's hefty price tag followed another jaw-dropping auction last month. Tokyo, AP WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

Celebrities he clothed and designers he inspired gathered Thursday for the funeral of Yves Saint Laurent, a sartorial revolutionary and chronic depressive who changed the way generations of women dressed. Stars, couturiers and President Nicolas Sarkozy filed into the Saint-Roch church in central Paris for a final homage to the renowned fashion designer four days after he died of brain cancer at the age of 71. First lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a former model who strutted the catwalks to show off Saint Laurent's collections, accompanied her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy. Like the sea of mourners, both wore black, the funereal color that also was the designer's preferred shade. Actress Catherine Deneuve, her face drawn, her chin tucked into a black trench coat, bore a stalk of green wheat, which Saint Laurent loved, as she entered. She read a poem by Walt Whitman during the service. Designers Vivienne Westwood, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel and John Galliano were among luminaries in the crowd, as was Farah Diba Pahlavi, the exiled widow of the Shah of Iran. Applause rose among the guests as Saint Laurent's casket was taken into the flower bedecked church near the Louvre Museum and Tuileries Gardens and placed before the altar, draped in a yellow silk cloth decorated with bunches of wheat. "This style, we find it everywhere, maybe not on the podiums but in the streets," said Pierre Berge, his companion and business partner of

Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has won "substantial" damages from the publishers of the Daily Star newspaper over a report that the singer's poor health had thrown a music awards show into chaos. Osbourne sued the tabloid for a story titled "Ozzy's Freak Show," which said the 59-year-old rocker and reality TV star had toppled over twice just before the annual Brit Awards, which he and his family presented on live television. The article also alleged that Osbourne had to be ferried around the February awards show on an electric buggy. "The claimant is a highly successful touring artist who has just completed a sell out world tour," said John Kelly, a lawyer for Osbourne, who was not at London's High Court to hear the conclusion of the action. "The publication of false allegations that the claimant was in such a poor state of health that he was incapable of hosting an awards ceremony .... are extremely serious," he added. Kelly said the allegations had not been put to Osbourne or his representatives prior to publication, and if they had the newspaper would have been informed they were "utterly false." The undisclosed damages will be donated to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program run by Osbourne's wife. The Daily Star's lawyer, Kate Wilson, told the court that the newspaper apologized for the distress and embarrassment caused by the article, and accepted the allegations were untrue and should never have been published. London Reuters

Fashýon world býds farewell to Saýnt Laurent PHOTO

Osbourne wins damages over ‘freak show' slur

French President Sarkozy with wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, at the funeral mass of Yves Saint-Laurent. some 40 years, in a moving homage that recalled Saint Laurent's fashion debut and his extraordinary rise to fame by capturing his era and, notably, dressing women in trousers. Hundreds watched the ceremony from a giant screen outside. Saint Laurent was among the most influential designers during the most important era of

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Parisian fashion. He made changed the way women dressed, most enduringly by making it glamorous and feminine to wear pants. He was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left

Bank, as its elegant headquarters. He got his first break at the tender age of 21, named to head the House of Dior when the master died suddenly in 1957. He opened his own haute couture fashion house with Berge in 1962. The pair later started a chain of Rive Gauche ready-to-wear boutiques. Part of the designer's genius was empowering women without forsaking femininity and in the process changing the way women dress. "It was truly a love story with fashion and, I would say ... a true love story with women," Jean-Paul Gaultier said in an interview with Associated Press Television News. His clothes "were the incarnation of the modern woman. ... His death won't change his work." Saint Laurent's navy blue pea coat over white pants, which the designer first showed in 1962, was another one of his hallmarks. His "smoking," or tuxedo jacket, of 1966 remade the tux as a high fashion statement for both sexes. It remained the designer's trademark item and was updated yearly until he retired. "He changed couture through his art," said the Rev. Roland Letteron, considered a priest of artists, during the service. Saint Laurent used the art of fashion, Letteron said, "to expose the grandeur of life. ... It is more than brocade he prints on silk. It is light." Saint Laurent was born in the Algerian coastal city of Oran. His ashes will rest in neighboring Morocco, at the Majorelle botanical garden beside a villa in Marrakech that he and Berge bought years ago. Paris AP