www.todayszaman.com - September 1, 2008

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Özat, who was rushed to a hospital, said after being released that he felt better because his team won

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World greets Ramadan, a month of bountiful blessings, with joy

Over 750,000 farmers react to the price floor for hazelnut announced by gov’t as YTL 4

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Yo u r Wa y o f U n d e r s t a n d ý n g T u r k e y

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2008 WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM YTL 1.50

MEHMET YAMAN

page05 Four soldiers killed during PKK attack on military base FEARING TRADE WAR WITH RUSSIA, ANKARA SEEKS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUPPLIERS

PHOTO

Cold winter fear grips Turkey ERCAN YAVUZ, ANKARA

Yavuz Mildon

With a looming energy crisis on the horizon with Russia, Turkey has started looking for alternative suppliers for its energy needs, especially in natural gas. Turkey's balanced approach to Russian-Georgian conflict has been put under increasing strain with Russia beginning to utilize economic tools to pressure Turkey. Russia hopes that Turkey will cave in and break with the NATO camp when pressured enough and thus is causing

significant losses in trade in Turkey. Russia may even halt the flow of natural gas, as Turkey depends on Russia to provide 65 percent of its demand for this resource. Yet analysts have urged the Turkish government to remain calm and not jeopardize relations with Moscow by openly siding with the West.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan's statement on the weekend reflected a cautious approach. He said, "We would never want such a thing [cold war] to happen," adding: "America is our ally and the Russian Federation is an impor-

tant neighbor. Russia is our number one trade partner. We are supplying two-thirds of our energy from Russia. Fifty-two percent of our electricity comes from natural gas power plants. We will be left in the dark," Erdoðan said.

The signs of strain between Russia and Turkey reached a new level last week when Russia imposed new customs barriers on Turkish trucks that transport exports to this country. Russia placed Turkey in the category of high-risk countries (for smuggled goods) and started to check all items loaded on

PHOTO

AP

‘Black Sea Euroregion initiative needed more than ever' YONCA POYRAZ DOÐAN, ÝSTANBUL Yavuz Mildon, president of the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRA), says they are planning a second Euroregion in the Black Sea whose bylaws will be open for signature on Sept. 26 in Varna. The congress launched the first Euroregion in Adriatic in 2006, he said, but the task is more difficult in the Black Sea: "The political climate in the Black Sea region is not quite warm as in the Adriatic. So signatures would be collected in more time, not immediately."

Mildon says Turkish and Russian participation in the initiative is uncertain and points out that they do not aim to form a political institution, but an institution to facilitate direct cooperation among the provinces in the region. Referring to the brief war between Georgia and Russia, he says it is important to have Russia and Georgia around the table, because "big conflicts can be solved with the efforts of the local administrations." TALK CONTINUED ON PAGE 09

Turkish delegation to visit Armenia for Caucasus talks A Turkish Foreign Ministry delegation will visit Yerevan this week to discuss a proposed platform for the troubled Caucasus, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan announced yesterday.

Babacan, speaking at a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart, Eka Tkeshelashvili in Ýstanbul, said the delegation will present Turkish ideas concerning the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform, proposed by Turkey as a mechanism to develop conflict resolution methods among the Caucasus countries. The proposed platform is planned to be made up of Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"Next week, a delegation from the ministry will go to Yerevan. They will discuss this issue ahead of a possible visit by our president to Armenia," Babacan said, referring to a visit President Abdullah Gül is expected to make to Yerevan at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, to watch a World Cup qualifying game between the national teams of the two countries on Saturday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 04

Residents cross the Hope River, carrying luggage on their heads, after a bridge connecting Kingston to Eastern parishes was destroyed by Gustav.

New Orleans residents get out of Hurricane Gustav's way

Hurricane Gustav charged across the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday as residents fled New Orleans and the National Guard prepared to patrol evacuated neighborhoods in a city still recovering three years after Katrina struck. Gustav dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm overnight, but forecasters warned it could gain strength from the gulf's warm waters before making landfall as early as today. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

trucks one by one instead of only examining samples from each truck, the normal method in customs.

Foreign Trade Minister Kürþad Tüzmen fired off a warning last week, saying Ankara will consider retaliating against Russia if it continues blocking trucks carrying Turkish goods. Tüzmen said the Russian move is pushing Turkish businessmen into a disadvantageous position in the Russian market. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

RUSSIA INTENSIFIES CONTROL OF TURKISH GOODS SENT FROM EUROPE PAGE 08

EU leaders to assess fraying relations with Russia today European Union leaders will assess the impact of their fraying relations with Moscow at a summit chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy today. But they face limited options to punish Russia for invading Georgia and recognizing the independence of its Abkhazia and South Ossetia provinces.

Taking a cue from the NATO alliance, the 27 European leaders are expected to strongly support Georgia's territorial integrity, to signal that normal relations with Moscow are impossible with Russian troops violating a cease-fire agreement, and to offer more humanitarian, economic and moral support for Georgia, the embattled pro-Western Caucasus state. EU officials said the bloc's leaders will likely opt for diplomatic pressure to isolate Russia as an unreliable partner and neighbor.

"Russia's commitment to a relationship of understanding and cooperation with the rest of Europe is in doubt," Sarkozy wrote in a pre-summit letter to the EU leaders. "It's up to Russia today to make a fundamental choice" and to engage neighbors and partners in settling disputes peacefully, he wrote. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press. Sarkozy, who country now holds the EU presidency, wrote that the leaders must "seriously examine relations between the European Union and Russia," adding that he counted on a "clear and united message" to Moscow. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

V-Day brings protocol debates back to agenda Constitutional Court President Haþim Kýlýç's refusal to participate in Victory Day Celebrations on Aug. 30 because he was given a seat number in a back row, contrary to protocol rules, has carried Turkey's problem with its protocol list back to the agenda. Kýlýç refused to attend the Victory Day celebrations after he was informed that he would be given a seat in one of the back rows, though he normally occupies one of the highest places on the protocol list. Kýlýç's seat was assigned to Supreme Court of Appeals President Hasan

Gerçeker. The top court president said protocol was often violated in official ceremonies and that representatives from the Constitutional Court, Turkey's highest judicial body, were not offered the seats they are supposed to occupy.

"I didn't participate in the Victory Day celebrations as the order of protocol among the legislative, judicial and executive bodies was ignored. The president, parliament speaker, prime minister and the chief of general staff were assigned their proper seats. However, I was allocated a seat in the

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rear. I thought the role of the judiciary in the country was neglected. It is not an issue that is directly related to me. It is something related to the institution I represent," he said.

Kýlýç's reaction to the violation of protocol rules has brought with it a question on whether the judiciary is given less importance than politics and military as this was not the first time the president of the Constitutional Court was offered a seat that was not in compliance with the protocol list. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Haþim Kýlýç

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02 TODAY’S ZAMAN

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F OOD FOR THOUGHT

’

Q UOTE OF THE DAY

She's [Sarah Palin] exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of "me first and country second."

US presidential nominee John McCain

CROSS READER

FATMA DÝÞLÝ

’

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan

Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.

Voltaire

press roundup

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MEHMET KAMAN PHOTO

Such talkatýve generals

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columns

W ORDS OF WISDOM

We never want such a thing to happen [a cold war]. America is our ally and the Russian Federation is an important neighbor.

f.disli@todayszaman.com

Meaningful speeches delivered by generals during last week's handover ceremonies in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) continue to reverberate, with commentators criticizing the messages sent by the generals. While some find the existence of such generals eager to talk so much contrary to the traditions of a democratic state, others direct criticism at the new chief of general staff over his remarks about the role of congregations in social life.

Milliyet's Hasan Cemal expresses his amazement over the talkativeness of Turkish generals in a country which is democratic. He acknowledges that there are certain platforms where the generals should have a say such as the National Security Council (MGK); however, he complains that neither MGK meetings nor the generals' routine meetings with the president and the prime minister satisfy the greed of Turkish generals to speak. "They speak more. They create opportunities for them to speak. Particularly, Aug. 30 Victory Day celebrations are an ideal place for them to speak. The generals see themselves as having a right to talk about every issue regarding the country; they counsel the politicians. And politicians remain silent," he says.

Referring to the change of posts at the General Staff, with former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt handing over his title to Gen.Ýlker Baþbuð, he wonders whether this change will have an influence on the military-civilian relations in Turkey. "Will the civilian-military relations in Turkey be like those in advanced democracies? Will the civilian political powers fulfill their duties to achieve this? Or will politics continue its habit of obtaining the opinion of the military on every issue? I am not very hopeful about this. It seems as if it will take a lot of time for civilian-military relations to normalize," says Cemal.

Zaman daily's Mümtaz'er Türköne dwells on a specific point touched upon by Gen. Baþbuð in his first speech as the chief of general staff last week, when he warned about the increasing influence of religious congregations on society. "Religious congregations are not only a fact of life in Turkey but the entire world. Many nongovernmental organizations accredited by the UN Economic and Social Council are religious congregations. Enemies of congregations should understand that the important thing is the need to form a congregation-like structure, and that religion plays the role of glue, which renders forming of such a structure possible," he explains. Türköne also finds it wrong to view all religious congregations in Turkey as threats to the secular order. "Let's say all the congregations in Turkey dissolved themselves.

Would Turkey's economy, security and its future goals be in a better situation in such a case? As a person who has never been a member of any congregation, who will erase my concerns that a Turkey where congregations disappear will be turned upside down," asks Türköne.

Yeni Þafak's Fehmi Koru also discusses Baþbuð's remarks on religious congregations and disputes his argument about the dangers of the increasing influence of congregations in social life. He argues that being a member of a congregation is a concept related to the urbanization of societies, so it should be encouraged instead of being criticized. "A modern state encourages its citizens to become members of congregations instead of living as individuals so that they will not have to bear the burden of life alone. If Turkey aims to be a contemporary, modern state, its citizens will stop living as individuals and take their places in congregations in the forms of foundations, associations, parties, clubs and interest groups," says Koru.

PRESS REVIEW

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

PKK and ETA SABAH, ERDAL ÞAFAK Arnaldo Otegi, who was once the leader of the Batasuna party, the political wing of the Basque separatist terrorist organization ETA, was released from jail yesterday. The political career of Otegi ended pathetically, which gives some groups in Turkey food for thought. As the closure case against the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) is about to come to an end -- with the verbal defense scheduled for Sept.

16 -- the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has increased both its provocations and its pressure tactics, or so it seems, on Kurdish politicians. They should not forget Otegi and Ahmet Türk's warning, "We have seen many who would act as hawks in the past, but turn into birds with no feathers." If they don't believe, they should have a look at the long list of tools used, but then abandoned, by the PKK.

Strategy STAR, MAHÝR KAYNAK Tactical achievements will not help you reach your target if your strategy is wrong. The economic policy of Turkey relies on making tactical achievements, but it is hard to say this is a correct strategy. Another problem we face is terrorism, but in this field, too, we find solace in tactical achievements such as rendering terrorists ineffective, but fail to discuss whether out strategy is successful.

Each country determines its economic strategy based on its own specific conditions. However, our strategy is not compatible with our conditions.

Turkey sees foreign borrowing as synonymous with foreign capital inflow. Yet these two lead to two different outcomes. Foreign borrowing is used in the financing of consumption, while only a small part of it is directed to investment. One cannot determine a strategy by looking to today or the past. Now, we need to dispense with the microscope in our hands and instead find a telescope.

Victory Day, which marks the 86th anniversary of the Turkish victory over invading Greek forces in the War of Independence, was celebrated Saturday in nationwide ceremonies.

akþam:

Boycott by Kýlýç, read the daily's headline yesterday, reporting that Chief Justice Haþim Kýlýç, who thought the seat assigned to him at the handover ceremony at the General Staff last week was in violation of protocol, boycotted the Victory Day celebrations on Saturday.

During a reception at Gazi Orduevi on Saturday evening, he confirmed that he boycotted the Victory Day celebrations. "The protocol mistake continued on Friday and Saturday.

This was a mistake concerning the equality of the executive, legislative and judicial branches. I will write letters to the relevant institutions so they don't repeat such mistakes," Kýlýç was quoted by the daily a saying.

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star:

Ankara will make a diplomatic move at the TurkeyArmenian soccer match on Sept. 6 in Armenia, said the headline of the daily yesterday. The daily noted that 30 deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) received permission from their party administration to accompany President Abdullah Gül, who will travel to Armenia to watch the match.

Turkey, which has no diplomatic relations with Armenia, is opening channels of dialogue with the country with this move, added the daily.

taraf:

Yesterday's daily in its headline story reported that there was a dominant view in the

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AK Party administration -- which is about to make a decision on whether to dismiss AK Party Deputy Chairman Þaban Diþli, whose was allegedly involved in corruption -- that they trust Diþli; however, allegations about him have damaged the party. Diþli on Friday reportedly told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, "The allegations about me are baseless but I am ready to resign to prevent my party from being harmed over my name." The AK Party Central Decision and Administration Board (MKYK) will make a decision on whether to part ways with Diþli in the upcoming days, reported the daily.

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Environment debate RADÝKAL, HASAN CELAL GÜZEL When Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, speaking in the Black Sea province of Rize, criticized the environmentalists who oppose nuclear power plants, saying: "Being an environmentalist is something they do to pass their free time. I am the real environmentalist, I am the true environmentalist," this raised the ire of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and environmentalists. The prime minister listed what he had done, particularly during his time as mayor of Ýstanbul, on environmental protection. Turkey is currently in a more advantageous situation with respect to the environment than Western countries. Yet we need to develop environmental awareness before it is too late. Several studies have shown that happiness is not only connected to welfare and consumption. Humanity will either find a new form of inexhaustible energy in the future or free itself from the madness of consumption and live in the more modest way of our forefathers.

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NATIONAL

TODAY’S ZAMAN 03

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

ÝSTANBUL ANKARA ÝZMÝR ANTALYA ADANA ERZURUM EDÝRNE TRABZON KAYSERÝ

School year begins for first graders ONUR ÇOBAN

School set to start on Sept. 8 The 2008-2009 school year will begin on Monday, Sept.

8. The year will see 10,870,000 primary school students, 3,245,000 high school students and 600,000 teachers.

Turkey has 14,115,000 students in total.

The Ministry of Education will distribute 165 million books to primary and high school students for free throughout the school year. Teachers will also get supplementary books from the ministry for free. The students' books will be ready and on their desks on the first day of class. This year, the first semester will end on Jan. 23, 2009. Winter break will run from Jan. 26 to Feb. 6. The second semester will begin on Feb. 9 and end on June 12. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires

KONYA ÇANAKKALE DÝYARBAKIR SAMSUN BURSA GAZÝANTEP ESKÝÞEHÝR MALATYA KOCAELÝ

30° 26° 38° 24° 27° 36° 29° 36° 33°

Generals’ speeches

PHOTO

Today is the first day of the school year for first graders and children attending kindergarten.

First graders start school one week before older students and participate in an orientation program in order to better adapt to the school environment.

The brand new students will attend orientation programs at their new schools on Sept. 1-5 and participate in several activities under the supervision of their teachers in order to adapt to their new environments. During this week the first graders will meet their teachers, their schools and their new friends. The students will also be taught about how to go to school and return home safely. In order for students to experience less problems, the parents of the students will be allowed to be at the school from time to time and they will be provided with information by the guidance and counseling services of the schools. Some 1 million first graders and 700,000 kindergarten students will begin school this year.

26° 29° 33° 32° 35° 28° 29° 26° 33°

Although customary for Turkey, I am not sure whether there is such a thing in other countries.

In this country, we live according to a military agenda through one week every year. Indeed, the victory week of the War of Independence, which takes place between Aug. 26 and 30, is full of images that are certain to lead outside observers to conclude that Turkey is not a democracy but that it is ruled by a military regime.

During this week, one can see nothing but generals delivering speeches in the press or military parades on TV. What's more, we, as Turks, apart from criticizing these images, feel pride in this show of power by our military. Of course we do this by assuming that this armed force guarantees the security of Turkey against possible enemies that may pose a threat to the country.

Although we have become inured to these military shows of force, a tradition in totalitarian countries such as the former USSR and today's China, it is not easy to become accustomed to listening to political speeches delivered over and over in these hot days each year. The generals' insistence on delivering manifesto-like speeches to the nation and the political sphere despite the fact that whatever the military wished to see in the political sphere has always been rejected strongly by the nation is not understandable.

However, the Turkish people's primary expectation from the army, which they see as the most reliable institution in the country, is nothing but to provide security from external threats to the country. When the army goes beyond this role and makes a move in this respect, the people react democratically. Turkey's recent history is full of clear examples of such reactions.

Although they are supposed to correctly analyze this clear message from the nation and draw lessons from it, the armed and unarmed bureaucracy still cannot save itself from the desire to engineer the society and politics.

When we take a close look at the political speeches delivered by the military officers during the ceremonies held in general during the last week of August for handing over military titles, particularly the one concerning the handing over of the title of chief of general staff, we surprisingly find that those parts of their speeches that related to external threats are considerably small. On the other hand, with respect to such issues as activities of nongovernmental organizations, the political agenda, globalization, individual freedoms, human rights and democratization, our generals cannot hold their tongues.

Of course, like every mature citizen of this country, our generals may have their own opinions about developments in this country.

Moreover, they may feel obliged to share these

BÜLENT KENEÞ b.kenes@todayszaman.com

profound opinions. However, the fact that one is appointed to lead an armed force should not be sufficient to make judgments without restraint about any issue. More so, this position should prevent them from making such speeches. If our generals want to speak, their speeches should never be about who is more religious and who is not or who is more democratic or secular and who is not or what lifestyles the people should lead, etc. The boundaries of their speeches should start and end with external threats to the country and the security agenda.

If they still insist on talking about other issues, what we, as civilians, expect our respected commanders to do is talk about Ergenekon-like gangs which have penetrated into the military and which are involved in every dark event, as this directly relates to them. They should explain to the public how they will clean the military of these organizations, which use public resources, but employ terrorism as their method.

The foregoing sentences should be taken to mean that we are completely against what new Chief of General Staff Gen. Ýlker Baþbuð and other commanders have said. Of course, there is more that we agree on than disagree in their speeches, but this is not the point. What we disagree on is not the content of their speeches, but the fact that they make such speeches. In other words, what we disapprove of is the military personnel's unrestricted desire to express opinions about political issues and, what's more, to manipulate the course of disputes. Actually, I do think that any public servant or bureaucrat has such a right -- whether he wears a military uniform or civilian clothing. If some generals or bureaucrats are so eager to express their opinions about these issues, then they must resign from office and start their political career to strongly defend their ideas.

They may even be able to find an opportunity to implement their projects by securing popular support as politicians. But, no public office, be it military or civilian, is a position to engaging in politics.

No public office, including the army commander's office, entitles one to manipulate the nation, to rebuke the nation and its representatives or to show it what is right and what is wrong. This is particularly so if these speeches make associations to recent anti-democratic military memorandums and other kinds of interventions, which are still fresh in our memories.

LastProphet.info unites with American Muslims Launched last year with the slogan, "Telling the entire world about Islam's Prophet," Turkey-based Web portal www.lastprophet.info has been forging ties with American Muslims in the United States for the past few days at a booth at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

An important meeting place for significant people and institutions in the Muslim world and in the US, the convention gives a chance to Muslims to discuss and exchange ideas on contemporary problems during seminars, conferences and open sessions.

Using the theme "Ramadan - A Time for Change" this year, the convention hosts important names such as Jamal Badawi, John Esposito, Ingrid Mattson, Hamza Yusuf, Zaid Shakir and Suhaib Webb as speakers.

Serving its readers in three different languages, LastProphet.info also presented its aims to the nearly 35,000 Muslims mingling among the booths at the conference's bazaar, intended to introduce various publications and products on the contributor's religious, academic and cultural studies.

Not just a social communication and solution platform for Muslims in North America, the ISNA Convention serves to meliorate the condition of Muslims and Muslim organizations, develop projects in the educational and social spheres and purvey communica-

CM Y K

tion among other religious groups and NGOs. Another important fact about the organization is that each year, American government representatives attend to the convention in order to learn and brainstorm solutions to the problems Muslims face in the United States.

The convention is the largest annual gathering of Muslim Americans to discuss their role in society, politics, public media, activism and educational institutions. It began in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 29 and draws to a close today.

LastProphet.info The site was launched in Apr. 17 in 2007 by the Meridyen Support Association in order to tell about the life and personality of the Prophet Muhammad from a fresh perspective, in the full light of history and science.

It is accessible in three different languages -- Turkish, English and Russian -- and is preparing for availability to German readers as well. The Web portal, which has gained worldwide attention, received the mass communication award at the international Al-Mahabba Awards upon its first anniversary for being the best Web site depicting the love of Prophet Mohammed in the world. The project also aims to eradicate the misconceptions about Islam and the Prophet Mohammed that have developed in the West over the centuries and to properly inform the Western public. Rumeysa Kiger Ýstanbul

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T05-01-09-08.qxd

31.08.2008

18:28

Page 1

NATIONAL

TODAY’S ZAMAN 05

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

A new political term starting with Eid al-Fitr The new legislative term political actors are readying for will begin with a first in Turkey's republican history. For the first time, Parliament's Oct. 1 return to session will coincide with Eid al-Fitr.

The opening will be held on the festival day, as per the Constitution; however, whether the president will give a speech at the opening is not yet clear.

Parliament may have a break through the end of the festival -- it's an official holiday -- after the opening session. If Parliament decides not to take a break, the president may deliver his opening speech.

A friend of mine who is an experienced politician hopes that the new term starting with the festival will be of free crises, saying, "If everyone is able to renew themselves by learning lessons from the past, politics may refocus on its real mission: the generation of solutions to the existing problems."

Noting that the opposition parties -- particularly the main opposition -- seem unable to renew themselves, Bekir Bozdað, a leading Justice and Development Party (AK Party) figure, underlines that those accustomed to relying upon irresolution have little chance to adopt solution-oriented politics.

Political actors are making their calculations for the new term and the upcoming local elections in early 2009. The AK Party, whose success in the July 22 elections was undermined by the closure case against it, is eager to secure another victory in the local elections. The leading AK Party names who say that this will not be an ordinary victory attach great importance to local elections for the sake of Turkey's normalization and the provision of uninterrupted services until the general elections. They have a clear goal: to exceed the 47 percent of votes in the July 22 elections by one or two points and to win

Devlet Bahçeli

the local government seats in Diyarbakýr, Izmir, Tunceli and Çankaya. Such a victory would allow the AK Party to expand the sphere of politics in Turkey and give the message to the outer world that it is a ruling party with strong popular support.

AK Party figures who note that a strong message would also contribute to greater economic stability in a relatively shorter time view this goal as part of preparation for the general elections that will be held either in 2011 or 2012. The ruling party attaches importance to the local elections and political stability to reduce inflation rate to one-digit figures, create employment opportunities and to raise per capita income to $10,000.

A leftist friend of mine who notes that the political left will taste a bitter defeat in the elections, says: "For a new leftist movement that will focus on the generation of solutions, the [Republican People's Party] CHP should taste a defeat. Otherwise, the emergence of a leftist party against the political right will be postponed all the time and, as usual, Turkey will pay for the lack of a strong opposition."

There is no visible sign that the CHP, which lost impact because of its tense relations with the army, universities and the judiciary, will develop a new style of politics in the new term. Its recent reaction to proposals by Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) shows that it will stick to its former political line.

Recep Tayyip Erdoðan

Deniz Baykal

The MHP keeps stressing that Turkey needs normalize in an attempt to expand its sphere of supporters. However the party, which succeeded in implementing this policy until March 14, failed to pass the test during the closure case against the AK Party. Proposals voiced by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli -- who said the AK Party should change its leader or clone itself -- met with serious reaction by the party's support base and deputies. Some leading names even assert that Bahçeli will restrict the party's sphere of influence with his proposals.

The MHP has prepared a nine-article package to address the developments that negatively affected the party's image. Though it seems sincere in its proposals, the AK Party is taking a cautious approach toward the MHP's attempts, considering that the cooperation between the AK Party and the MHP in regards to the constitutional amendments brought the former to the brink of closure. For this reason, the new proposals by the MHP are being met with suspicion. Skeptics view the package as a new plot.

However the MHP, which is not plotting, is developing a set of policies in an attempt to ensure normalization in Turkey and prevent a probable election defeat. The Democratic Society Party (DTP) will probably encounter difficult times in the new term. The DTP will have difficulty maintaining its support base because of the discussions that took place during the Ergenekon case process. The DTP will have to deal with the closure case and is uncomfortable with the recently escalated terror.

The party does not want to lose the Diyarbakýr Municipality to the AK Party, but is having trouble because of the lack of a coherent approach visà-vis the terror issue and the Ergenekon case.

Köksal Toptan

Gül's second year in the presidential palace has begun President Abdullah Gül, who has completed his first year in the office, gave important messages at the start of the second year.

Gül, who was elected president following bitter discussions, rendered opposition against his presidency ineffective because of his good performance.

President Gül, whose difference from his predecessors Demirel and Sezer was pretty visible, demonstrated that he paid attention to transparency when he decided to post documentaries on Atatürk on the presidency’s official Web site.

During his term so far, Gül has hosted 19 heads of state and paid 21 visits to 17 countries. His scheduled visit to Yerevan in the first week of his second year in the office is significant in many respects. This visit will carry a number of messages, including that Yerevan should pursue a policy independent of the Armenian diaspora and that both countries need to seek resolution of the bilateral dialogue problems.

Mrs. Paksüt and YARSAV Chair Eminaðaoðlu Ankara, which had been quiet and silent for a while, was rocked by two scandals. The interrogation of Ferda Paksüt, the wife of Constitutional Court Deputy Chairman Osman Paksüt, as “suspect” in connection with the Ergenekon case reminded of some serious allegations regarding to the AK Party closure case.

The second scandal concerns Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV) Chairman Ömer Faruk Eminaðaoðlu, who allegedly dodged the obligatory military service by using a fake health report declaring him unfit to serve.

These two scandals are particularly important because the major actors in these scandals have affiliations with legal institutions.

The active role Ferda Paksüt played during the closure case process undermines the impartial status of her husband. In fact, Osman Paksüt contradicted the image of an honest lawyer when he denied a bilateral meeting with Gen. Ýlker Baþbuð.

Many are now saying Eminaðaoðlu should complete his military service and that Paksüt should resign.

Sale of alcohol not forbidden in Keçiören, says mayor MEVLÜT KARABULUT ANKARA

Keçiören Mayor Turgut Altýnok has said he did not consent to the beating of a grocer by police on the grounds that the grocer sold alcoholic beverages after a certain time, noting that selling alcohol in the district is legal.

The controversy began with two municipal police officers allegedly beating up a grocer in Ankara’s Keçiören district because he was selling alcohol after 11 p.m., which is against regulations in the district. Altýnok stated that the grocer did not abide by the law, even though he was warned many times before this unfortunate event took place.

Discussions were triggered by the incident on how many restaurants serve alcoholic beverages in Keçiören district. Some newspapers reported that a decreasing number of places are offering alcohol in Keçiören, but Mayor Altýnok emphasized that no pressure was placed on restaurants or other establishments serving or selling alcoholic beverages after he became the mayor of the district. He said some people want to tarnish the image of Keçören through such methods. “There is no ban on alcoholic beverage sales in Keçiören. Alcoholic beverages are sold in 163 different places in Keçiören. I

have been the mayor of Keçiören since 1994 and the owners of this grocery store have sold alcohol without any problems since then, and they will continue to do so. We do not put any restrictions on the sales of alcoholic beverages,” he stated.

The beating incident drew a strong reaction from the public after security camera recordings of the event were broadcast on TV. An investigation was started into the municipal police offi-

Keçiören Mayor Turgut Altýnok

cers who were involved in the event. Some TV stations focused on the religious sect of the grocer, who is an Alevi Muslim, and tried to start further discussions over such differences.

Altýnok emphasized that they have been organizing commemoration activities for Hacý Bektaþý Veli, a beloved figure for Alevis who established the Bektaþi order of dervishes, since he became the mayor. “Discriminating against Alevis is one of the

Metin Þahin

CM Y K

worst things that one can do to Turkey. The person who does so should be considered a traitor.”

Altýnok also noted that the grocer had sued the municipality many times in the past, adding that the courts ruled in favor of the defendant, the Keçiören Municipality, in almost all of these cases. Altýnok said the municipality is simply enforcing the laws. “We do not want any of our sellers to be wronged. We are aware of their contribution to Turkey’s economy. We do not want to bother them,” he noted.

Altýnok also emphasized that it was interesting that this incident was being brought to the agenda repeatedly just before the upcoming local elections, adding that the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is manipulating this issue to get more votes in the elections. “We know the reason behind these discussions. They are trying to get the votes that they cannot get from voters in normal ways by using these methods.”

“The municipality has fulfilled its responsibility in this incident by interrogating these two municipal police officers on the day the act occurred. The municipality’s related bodies are working on the investigation. If these municipal police officers violated the law in their actions they will be punished.

No one should be concerned about this,” he stated.

Parliamentary to see new bylaws in upcoming session ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA

Parliament, which will return from its summer recess on Oct. 1, will see alterations to its bylaws, particularly those regarding personnel.

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Bülent Arýnç completed revisions to the parliamentary bylaws over the summer. The changes have the backing of the governing AK Party, which is drumming up support in Parliament to pass reforms as part of Turkey’s European Union accession process.

The alterations to the bylaws will affect the duties of parliamentary personnel. During Parliament’s general meetings, documents will be read by professional announcers instead of deputies. The announcers will have the status of stenographers, who work under oath.

Currently, there are seven clerks who work as announcers in Parliament -- five from the AK Party, one from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and one from the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Another change will require Parliament’s special commissions, of which there are presently 16, to invite related civil society organizations to assess proposed bills. The special commissions will be able to ask for the opinions of such organizations either in writing or in person.

The new regulations also aim at implementing thorough auditing of the budgets and activities of public administrations. The Planning and Budget Commission will send the budget and activity reports of the public administrations to the related commissions.

The Planning and Budget Commission will be required to send the local administrations’ budget and activity reports to the Interior Commission. The commissions will send their assessments on the reports back to the Planning and Budget Commission within 10 days.

The Planning and Budget Commission will also have a role in reviewing the reports of the Court of Accounts, according to the revised bylaws. After the commission forwards those reports to the parliament speaker, the related commissions will be required to submit their assessments in 30 days to the Planning and Budget Commission.

Previously, the reports from the Court of Accounts were submitted to the parliament speaker following review by the Planning and Budget Commission without an evaluation being performed by the other relevant commissions.

The parliamentary bylaws will also be altered in accordance with the changes in the law and the Constitution regarding the lifting of the death penalty. The death penalty was abolished in 2005 following the capture of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan in 2002.

Another change relates to the security measures at Parliament. All areas of Parliament will be under surveillance except the offices of the parliament speaker, administrative supervisors, commission heads and deputies.

In addition, the construction of 40-square-meter offices for the deputies will be accelerated. In the new building, offices and meeting rooms will provide more space for the comfort of deputies. In addition to space, the deputies and their staff will have access to services such as a gym, bank, hairdresser and restaurants. There will be also a 512-car capacity parking area.

Four soldiers dead after PKK attack on military base Four Turkish soldiers were killed and three others injured early on Sunday when outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists launched a rocket attack on a military base in eastern Turkey.

Two PKK terrorists were also killed in the clashes.

The attack occurred around 1 a.m. in the Yedisu district of Bingöl province, where around 15-20 PKK terrorists shot rockets and long range firearms at the security headquarters, the Anatolia news agency reported. The terrorists fled after two of their members were killed in an ensuing firefight with military personnel.

The military has launched a search operation, backed by helicopters, to find the group of terrorists.

The injured soldiers were hospitalized at a military hospital in the eastern province of Elazið.

The soldiers who were killed in the attack were identified as Pvt. Yaþar Kaya, Pvt. Salim Güneþ, Pvt. Bülent Bayram and Pvt. Serkan Özbakýr. The slain soldiers will be buried in their hometowns after funeral services today.

Analysts say the PKK, weakened by Turkey's military attacks on its hideouts in northern Iraq, have stepped up attacks on civilian and military targets.

The PKK launched its bloody war against the Turkish state in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Turkey, like the European Union and Washington, considers the group a terrorist organization. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

T06-01-09-08.qxd

31.08.2008

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T07-01-09-08.qxd

31.08.2008

18:40

Page 1

BUSINESS

TODAY’S ZAMAN 07

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

From Reaganomýcs to Obamanomýcs

MEHMET KAMAN

Last week, making history, the Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama, an African-American and the junior US senator from Illinois, as its candidate for president. His meteoric rise as a politician to become the first African-American to ever be nominated for president has already been the subject of many books and countless articles.

His economic ideology and the economic policies he might pursue as president, referred to as “Obamanomics,” are also being intensely scrutinized by both his opponents and supporters. Is he, as his Republican detractors claim, a diehard liberal, a leftist in disguise of a moderate who wants to irresponsibly increase taxes and government spending and sharply restrict globalization by raising trade and investment barriers and eventually sink the US into a deep recession? Or is he a liberal interventionist and social activist on the surface to appease his leftist Democratic supporters, especially labor unions, to get elected but deep down at least partially a believer in Reaganomics who would emphasize market-oriented policies and limit the role of government in the economy once in office? Or is his economic thinking much more complicated than the way it has been depicted in these oversimplified and caricaturized versions, by combining creatively and effectively elements from both the left and the right in a uniquely pragmatic way?

These questions were the subject of a widely discussed recent article

by David Leonhardt, titled “How Obama Reconciles Dueling Views on Economy” in The New York Times (www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/ magazine/24Obamanomics-t.html). Besides this revealing article, we can also examine the 94-page Democratic Party Election 2008 Platform (www.demconvention.com/the-democratic-platform/) and Senator Obama’s acceptance speech (www.demconvention.com/barack -obama/) at the Democratic National Convention last week for clues to what type of economic policies he is likely to pursue if he becomes president after what now appears to be a tightly contested race for the White House against the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee Senator John McCain.

Leonhardt’s long and insightful article, which was based on an extensive interview with Senator Obama, reflects the complex and

ASIM ERDÝLEK a.erdilek@todayszaman.com

seemingly contradictory ideas and views of the Democratic nominee on economic issues. Although trained as a lawyer, Senator Obama has not only surrounded himself, more than any other recent major presidential candidate, with economic advisors who are professionally trained economists but has also acquired a sophisticated understanding of economics -- unlike his rival Senator McCain, who has openly confessed his lack of understanding. He was able to acquire that understanding while a law school part-time faculty member in constitutional law at the University of Chicago, the citadel of free market economics epitomized by the towering intellectual legacy of the laissez-faire economist Milton Friedman.

The article makes clear that Senator Obama has a healthy respect for markets in allocating resources efficiently, as Chicago School economists do. But he also recognizes that market determined outcomes are not always socially just and ethically equitable -- even when there are no market failures -- requiring government intervention to provide redistributive justice by improving equality of income and wealth. Senator Obama advocates the necessity of government intervention also when markets fail in allocating resources efficiently in such cases as pollution and global warming. He also wishes to expedite through government-supported programs the replacement of fossil fuels with cleaner renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power and a new generation of biofuels.

My overall impression from the article is that Senator Obama has developed a complex and sophisticated synthesis of conservative free market economics, associated with but not always followed by the Republican administrations, and liberal social activism and government interventionism, associated with Democratic administrations. This syn-

thesis accepts the effective elements of Reaganomics but recognizes its serious shortcomings -- such as the widening US income and wealth inequality and the current global financial crisis triggered by the US subprime mortgage meltdown -- in its more than a quarter century domination of the US socio-economic intellectual landscape, even during the eight years of the Clinton administration.

In his acceptance speech, Senator Obama devoted considerable time to his economic ideas and policies, which emphasized the need for more equitable distribution of income and wealth, with a stronger government role to affect such redistribution through fiscal policies and to fix market failures in such areas as healthcare. He discredited the so-called “trickle-down economics,” often associated with Reaganomics, the economic policies of former Republican President Ronald Reagan that emphasized lower taxes on the rich and greater role for markets. He paid tribute to former Democratic President Bill Clinton’s successful economic legacy for improving the average American’s standard of living and attacked the current Republican president, George W. Bush, for favoring the rich and the privileged in his economic policies.

Although the overall tone and the basic message of Senator Obama’s speech was populist, especially in his description of “the American promise,” favoring the lower and middle classes against the wealthy, along the lines of his party’s platform, he did emphasize the role of small business and innovative entrepreneurial activity in driving economic growth. He opposed tax breaks for big business that outsourced American jobs overseas but favored lower taxes for small businesses and start-ups. Moreover, he admitted that not all the problems facing the US economy, especially the poor, were the government’s making. He emphasized that “government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves.” He stressed that the government should guarantee equality of opportunity, not of outcome necessarily, and that “individual responsibility and mutual responsibility” were “the essence of America’s promise.”

In his disturbingly frequent anti-free trade rhetoric throughout the primary campaign against his chief rival Senator Hillary Clinton, espe-

cially in repeatedly criticizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for allegedly hurting US workers, Senator Obama worried free traders like me who could not understand how someone as intelligent and well-educated as he would fail to understand and defend the overall benefits of free trade. But he mentioned the word “trade” only once in his entire acceptance speech, when he attacked the “bigger trade deficits” under the Bush presidency. I now believe that Senator Obama as president would not mistakenly resort to protectionism to reduce the chronic US current deficits. In fact, his economic advisors let it be known quietly during the primary campaign that his anti free trade rhetoric was merely a temporary tactic to neutralize the more brazen attacks of Senator Clinton on open international trade and investment.

Accepting the necessity of sustaining globalization and acknowledging its substantial net benefits, Senator Obama recognized in his speech the importance of education “to compete in the global economy.” The section of the Democratic Party Platform titled “Smart, Strong and Fair Trade Policies” is more detailed in its description of the prospective trade policies of an Obama administration that incorporate some worrisome elements from his earlier anti free trade rhetoric pandering to labor unions, such as “we will work with Canada and Mexico to amend the North American Free Trade Agreement so that it works better for all three North American countries.” I do not such take unrealistic threats against NAFTA seriously, having heard Senator Obama’s economic advisors dismiss them as passing political grandstanding to attract blue-collar votes in the primaries and having listened to his acceptance speech in which he did not mention NAFTA even once.

And overall this section of the platform is actually pro-trade, recognizing that the benefits of trade can be maintained and increased by helping those who suffer from it adjust and cope through an updated and expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Besides, based on experiences in the US and elsewhere, I am skeptical about the role party election platforms or manifestos play in actual government policies, after elected officials begin to confront political realities that force on them the necessity to compromise in order to get things done.

‘Foreign, not Turkish, banks should worry about competition’ Ziraat Bankasý General Manager Can Akýn Çaðlar has stated that Turkish banks should not fear competition but that foreign banks in Turkey should be concerned instead.

“We should focus on how the Turkish banking sector can prosper, instead of taking the foreign banks as a competitive threat and worrying that they are grow rapidly in Turkey,” said Çaðlar, speaking to the Anatolia news agency.

He noted that since Turkey has big goals, such as becoming one of the 10 largest economies in the world, it is natural to include foreign funds in the Turkish economy. He stated that the Turkish banking sector has sufficient technologic infrastructure and production capacity to compete with others in the world. “We have the ability to adapt to any technical innovations emerging in the global banking sector and implement these quickly,” said Çaðlar, noting that foreign banks investing in Turkey have to take this fact into consideration. Çaðlar noted that with foreign banks investing more in Turkey, competition will become tougher and this will have positive effects on the Turkish banking sector. “The foreign banks are keen to make money in Turkey and to do this, they grant loans to Turkish banks and they have to take debentures. In this way the sector is revitalized and Turkish banks will not have financial difficulties. The financial crisis in 2001 had also emerged from a set of similar factors, such as a big recession in the economy accompanied by a capital loss in the financial markets,” added Çaðlar.

Also mentioning the privatization process of Ziraat Bankasý, Çaðlar stated that there is not a determined schedule for this. “This is a very important issue and is not simple. There are numerous measures to implement before privatizing a state bank. The Supreme Privatization Board [ÖYK] will make the ultimate decision on this,” noted Çaðlar. He pointed out that they are not in a hurry and will wait for the current fluctuations to cease first.

“However, we have decided that Halkbank be privatized first and then we will start con templating the Ziraat Bankasý privatization,” added Çaðlar. Ýstanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

The total annual revenues of Sanko Holding’s Airfel in split air conditioning last year was $22 million. With a market share of 35 percent in Turkey in 2007, Airfel is the only company that has achieved the highest revenue for MHI in Europe LEYLA BAL ÝSTANBUL

Airfel, a Turkish company specializing in heating and cooling systems and a subsidiary of Sanko Holding, has signed another cooperation agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), one of the major air conditioning producers in the global market.

“We create synergy to produce higher technology,” said Kazunari Kuriyama, deputy chief director of business at MHI. In an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman, Kuriyama stated, “Airfel, with high performance and reliability, has been our most valuable distributing partner for three years,” adding, “I believe, with our cooperation, Airfel will perform even better in the coming years.”

Stressing that MHI is a technologybased company, Kuriyama explained that MHI also manufactures high-tech products for nautical and avionic purposes, as well as air conditioning tools. He added that MHI is known for its energy-efficient technologies.

“One of the oldest technology firms of Japan, MHI has a huge research and development center.

We have been successful in a big market like Japan, and that helped us to be successful in the world market,” Kuriyama noted.

He was quick to point out that “unlike Chinese companies, Mitsubishi gives priority to energy efficiency in response to global warming. We combine high quality with energy efficiency in all our products. We are the biggest producer of turbo coolers for the gas turbines on power plants.”

“We owe our success to the high technology we create,” Kuriyama concluded.

The Airfel agreement with MHI will be limited to split air conditioners. The company plans to set up 40 to 50 showrooms in a network including Anatolian cities and is targeting $200 million in

revenues for 2009. Airfel has a 40 percent market share in gas-fired and multi-system air conditioners.

In a press briefing last week, Airfel General Manager Hasan Önder said the company has been working with MHI since 2005 and that the two firms are looking forward to expanding their collaboration. “Our profession is air conditioning. We are one of the top two firms in Turkey with our technical service abilities, personnel, and products,” Önder stated.

Airfel’s total revenue in split air conditioning last year was $22 million. With a market share of 35 percent in Turkey in 2007, Airfel is the only company that has achieved the highest revenue for MHI in Europe. Önder points out that their goal for this year is to achieve 40 percent market share for MHI in Turkey and to reach $35 million in total revenue. He said he hopes the share of MHI products in the overall product portfolio of Airfel will reach 25 percent. Önder explained that Airfel is using the highest technology in its product line, claiming that they have the most advanced manufacturing plants in Europe. The company has increased the production of the external unit of the split air conditioner to 1.6 million. The country that produces the highest number of split air conditioners is China, with 24 million units per year.

Airfel backs up its sales with technical and after-sale customer service. “If we didn’t support the production with a sales network, there would not be production,” said Önder. The company also focuses on portable window-type air conditioners.

“Our goal is to place air conditioners everywhere, all rooms of the house and even kitchens,” he added.

The company’s goal is to reach $2 million in profit in two years and to acquire a growth rate of 15 percent a year. Airfel is also planning to open Mitsubishi showrooms and start selling Mitsubishi air conditioners.

CM Y K

AA

Ziraat Bankasý General Manager Can Akýn Çaðlar

PHOTO

PHOTO

Airfel expands partnership with Mitsubishi subsidiary

Airfel General Manager Hasan Önder (R) presents a plate to Kazunari Kuriyama, deputy chief director of business at MHI.

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08 TODAY’S ZAMAN

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

Minister Tüzmen (L) shaking hands with Chinese Trade Minister Chen Deming. ister avoided going into details and said, "I believe that explanation is enough for today."

China hopes for notable trade volume increase with Turkey Tüzmen's main agenda, however, was commercial relations with China. He mentioned the revival of the biggest and most vivid trade route of the ancient world, the Silk Road, by creating a modern railway system spanning from Beijing to Mersin.

"This is already the shortest and the most economical path possible," he said.

Turkey really wishes to boost the

trade with Asia's rising giant and is working hard to achieve this, the minister underlined. Turkey officially attended 50 business fairs in China while many Turkish companies followed business opportunities in 500 fairs in the last six years. "We are implementing short and longer term measures for a balanced trade with China. The trade volume between the two countries was $7 billion in 2005 and it edged up to $10.4 billion in 2006. Last year the figure jumped to $14.3 billion. This year we are targeting to record $18 billion," the minister said.

Turkey is opening a "trade office"

in China to help and guide Chinese entrepreneurs targeting the Turkish market while promoting investment opportunities in Turkey. Meanwhile, Tüzmen said, Turkey's president will be visiting this country with numerous businessmen in November.

Chinese Trade Minister Deming underlined that trade rates between Turkey and China increased notably in recent times and that Turkey had become one of China's important trade partners.

Deming said that China wanted to continue its commercial relations with Turkey on a more balanced ground.

Tüzmen said Turkey and China have decided to take initiatives to increase bilateral trade volume. Saying that he and Deming discussed issues concerning investments, tourism, foreign trade and transportation in detail, Tüzmen noted that Turkey and China will implement reciprocal projects soon. Tüzmen stressed that Turkey's trade volume with China, which was $7 billion three years ago, will reach $18 billion by the end of this year. He went on to say that the new projects concerning transportation and tourism will bring in a fresh awakening in the two country's commercial relations. Tüzmen also noted that Turkey had already agreed on a multi-directional strategic partnership with China, adding that the two hope to achieve further improvements and strengthen relations on commercial terms.

TURGUT ENGÝN

Russia has expanded the coverage of non-trade barriers against Turkish exporters to this country by enforcing a complete inspection of Turkish trucks coming from Europe.

Already extremely discontent with the tightened controls on Turkish goods at the Russian border -- as this causes serious losses to Turkish trade - Foreign Trade Minister Kürþad Tüzmen's tone was once more that of anger when commenting on this newest development, saying, "This is clearly a non-tariff barrier."

Speaking to the press after meeting his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming in Beijing, Tüzmen said steps to normalize relations through diplomacy seem to have failed so far. As he announced on Friday, Turkey is poised to initiate a package of measures to counter the Russian obstacles on the basis of reciprocity. In other words, Turkey will place the Russian Federation into the category of high-risk countries and will incur full-fledged inspections to all trucks coming from Russia.

Russia says lengthy inspections of trucks from NATO-member Turkey, which coincide with tensions between Moscow and the military alliance over the Caucasus, where Russia this month fought a short war with Georgia, are due to a new customs law.

The minister said in yesterday's meeting that Russia was a top trade partner for Turkey, with $38 billion in total annual trade volume. Therefore, the two nations have to do everything possible to reach a peaceful solution as soon as possible, he noted.

Many Turkish companies, especially textile manufacturers, are having their goods produced in China or India and packed in several Eastern European nations. These goods are later sold in the Russian market. If Russian customs authorities find goods produced in Turkey among the consignments, they cause difficulties and customs transactions for these goods last longer than usual. This situation will also cause several global companies that use Turkey as a transit point to enter the vast Russian market to step back from their interests in Turkey, fueling losses. This also brings up several problems in the export of famous brands manufactured in Turkey. The Russian move is commonly being seen as further proof that Russia's changed stance is a political one rather than economic.

As announced by Tüzmen, Turkey is starting reciprocal measures today in response to the increased security measures on Russian customs. The measures package will be open, gradual and progressive. Asked whether Turkey will put limits on its energy imports from Russia, the min-

PHOTO

OSMAN EROL BEIJING

OSMAN EROL

Russia intensifies control of Turkish goods sent from Europe

BUSINESS

HIGH WAYS

Road, bridge toll revenue exceeds $298 million Toll booths on the two Bosporus bridges and six other toll roads across the country have continued to earn significant amounts of money.

According to data released by the Highways General Directorate (KGM), Turkey earned YTL 298.1 million in total from the two bridges over the Bosporus and toll roads in Ýstanbul in the first seven months of this year. Of this total, YTL 99.9 million came from Ýstanbul's Bosporus and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges alone, as of the end of July, when 87.3 million vehicles were recorded to have crossed the bridges.

In the same period 184.5 million motor vehicles used both the bridges and toll ways. The total annual income from the two bridges and toll ways is expected to exceed YTL 500 million by the end of this year, considering average monthly revenue is YTL 40 million. Last year, the total revenue amounted to YTL 522.4 million. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman with wires

HURRICANE

Oil companies evacuating Gulf Royal Dutch Shell, BP and other oil companies wrapped up evacuations and shut down production Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Gustav churned toward the petroleum-rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As of midday Saturday, slightly more than three-fourths of the Gulf's oil production and nearly 40 percent of its natural gas output had been shut down, according to the US Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore activity. Shell said it was on schedule to complete the evacuation of more than 1,300 workers from 20 production platforms and other facilities by Saturday afternoon. The task took four days and involved 17 helicopters. BP said it also planned to have its workers evacuated Saturday. Both oil giants said production was being completely shut off -- a process that can involve closing safety valves in thousands of feet of water to prevent the release of oil or natural gas. Houston AP

CRISIS

PHOTO

Spain's PM: economic bad times could drag on

Farmers picking hazelnuts in Giresun. Turkey’s total hazelnut production is estimated to set a record high this year with 751,000 tons, which may lead to lower prices due to excessive supply of products.

Government announces hazelnut prýce: YTL 4 per kýlo ERCAN BAYSAL ANKARA

The government has finally announced the price floor for hazelnut purchases: YTL 4 for this year's harvest -- nearly YTL 1 lower than last year -leading to harsh criticism from more than 750,000 farmers in the Black Sea region, who find the announced price "unacceptable."

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Mehdi Eker publicized the new pricing quotas at a press conference in Ankara on Saturday. Giresun-type utmost quality hazelnut will sell for YTL 4 per kilogram, a price that will increase to YTL 4.5 in October and November and to YTL 5 in December.

This gradual pricing mechanism did not satisfy hazelnut producers, however. Having received YTL 5.15 last year, they were expecting to see at least YTL 5.5 per kilogram.

The government decided on lower prices in light of a record high amount of hazelnuts harvested this year. In 2008 almost 750,000 tons of hazelnut were harvested whereas this amount was just 530,000 tons a year ago.

The Soil Products Office (TMO), vested with the authority to intervene in the hazelnut market

through purchases two years ago upon the failure of the Association for Hazelnut Marketing Cooperatives (Fiskobirlik) to pay farmers their due in return for the hazelnuts it purchases from them. Since then, both the TMO and Fiskobirlik have been acting as market regulatory forces.

The government pricing establishes the lowest price at which the market price is formed. Prices usually drop in a market by time and the gradual pricing is a method exploited to curb diminishing returns in favor of farmers.

The minister has promised to continue previous years' practices as they relate to storage, agricultural aid and education of personnel.

Eker warned the farmers not to hurry to sell their products for better revenues in the coming months except those who have to liquidate their hazelnuts as they are in urgent need of money.

Every farmer will have to make an appointment before visiting TMO offices to sell their hazelnuts. This is to avoid chaos and long queues. The appointments will start on Sept. 1 and purchases on Sept. 2. The TMO will transfer the money to farmers' bank accounts within 25 days following the purchase.

Waiting for the price announcement for months, many Black Sea farmers watched the

minister's press conference, broadcast live, and were disappointed with the low price floor. A farmer from Ordu, Cabir Demir (73), said it was impossible to make ends meet with so low a price and wanted the government to reassess the price.

Metin Çelenk (43) agreed, saying: "This decision will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Had we known the prices would be so low, we wouldn't have even gone to our farms and bothered to pick the fruits off the branches."

Süleyman Altunsoy, another producer, said farmers have to sell their products by September to pay for urgent expenditures like school fees for children, and coal before winter sets in.

"Ramadan is knocking on the door while winter is waiting on the row. Farmers have to make bulk purchases to get ready to encounter them.

Almost everyone will sell their goods without waiting for December to come," he said.

Bayram Kartal, a hazelnut tradesman from Düzce, said some of his friends' blood pressure suddenly dropped upon hearing the prices. The total expenditure of a farmer that cultivates eight tons of hazelnut in a year is nearly YTL 15,000. With these prices at hand, his profits would only be YTL 4,000 -- if he really can sell his entire product at this price in the first place."

CM Y K

Hazelnut Producers' Union (Fýndýk-Sen) Chairman Kutsi Yaþar said the gradual pricing unjustly punishes those small farmers who do not have a chance to wait to sell in December. Giresun Chamber of Agriculture President Özer Akbaþlý said the government's prices were "totally unacceptable."

There were also those who supported the government for its "reasonable pricing." National Hazelnut Council President Sebahattin Arslantürk said the prices were announced largely in line with their expectations. He warned that if the TMO fails to pay farmers on time that the market prices will likely fall far below the price floor.

The TMO is worried about hazelnut purchase since it lacks enough storage capacity in its warehouses, as most of these depots are still full to the brim with last year's hazelnuts.

Around 302,000 tons of hazelnuts are stored in its stocks and it is trying to find a way to sell these products, which can't easily find customers in the world. The TMO is considering sending these tons of hazelnuts to oil producers.

Turkey produces more than 75 percent of the world's hazelnuts and most of them are sold to the world market -- especially to chocolate producers.

Spain faces adverse economic conditions that could last longer than expected, but the downturn should be followed by a strong recovery, Spain's prime minister said in an interview published on Sunday. "This adversity is proving tough, above all, because it came on very fast," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told Spain's El Mundo newspaper. "This bad situation will last longer or last less, but we are going to recover with strength, and social policies are not going to be cut back."

Spain's Socialist government does not expect the economy to contract and sees it continuing to outperform that of the wider euro zone, which shrank in the second quarter. Zapatero argues the bulk of Spain's problems stem from the global credit crisis and high oil prices which have accelerated a domestic slowdown at the end of a decade-long housing boom. He has ruled out recession and sees growth around 3 percent in 2010, up from 1.6 percent in 2008 and 1 percent next year. "The economy is the government's fundamental concern. But I am calm and optimistic because we have a strong country," Zapatero told El Mundo. An increasing number of analysts say the Spanish economy began shrinking in the third quarter, will enter recession by year end, and risks years of stagnation due to high dependence on construction, credit and consumer spending. Madrid Reuters

COMMENT

UK finmin says downturn deeper than feared Britain's economic downturn is likely to be deeper and last longer than originally feared and it might turn out to be the worst for 60 years, its finance minister said on Saturday. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling's frank comments in a newspaper interview suggested concern at the top of the government that the economic slide will make it difficult for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to recover ground and fend off a resurgent opposition Conservative Party.

Brown's Labour government has seen its opinion poll ratings plummet in the last six months and it is now languishing 21 points behind the Conservatives. A national election must be held by mid-2010 at the latest. Darling told the Guardian newspaper that the government had failed to get its message across and would battle to persuade a sceptical electorate it deserved another term in power. The Guardian quoted Darling as saying economic times for the country were arguably the worst they've been in 60 years.

"I think it's going to be more profound and longlasting than people thought," he said. His comments came just days before a planned package of measures designed to buffer the economy and help the government regain the political initiative. "We've got our work cut out. This coming 12 months will be the most difficult 12 months the Labour Party has had in a generation, quite frankly," Darling said. "We've got to rediscover the zeal which won three elections, and that is a huge problem for us at the moment.

People are pissed off (angry) with us." London Reuters

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INTERVIEW

Page 1

TODAY’S ZAMAN 09

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

‘Look at the world during World War II. They were able to make long-lasting peace due to the cooperation of local administrations. And in today's circumstances, it is important to have Russia and Georgia around the table because big conflicts can be solved with the efforts of local authorities’

‘We should not forget that local and regional administrations plus civil society organization are going to carry Turkey to the European Union. It’s not realistic to have expectations only from the government to realize Turkey’s membership in the EU. Municipalities and civil society groups have a major role in this direction’

contýnued from page 1 Mildon, elected president at the end of May by a unanimous vote, elaborated on the role of the local administrations and changes to Turkish laws regarding local authorities in an interview for Monday Talk.

First of all, congratulations on your election as president. Have there been any changes at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities since your election?

Thank you. We brought a 30 percent quota for women at all 47 national representative delegations at the congress. It’s been a great pleasure for me that a step toward increasing women’s political participation has been taken during my term. Following this measure, we should work toward increasing women candidates. I am hopeful to see more women candidates in Turkish local elections next year as well.

At the local administrations level, Turkey’s record is embarrassing when we look at women’s participation. There are 3,225 elected mayors and only 18 of them are women, compared to an EU average of 20 percent women. What can be done to improve this record?

We need special programs geared toward solving this problem. The main problem is that a lot of Turkish women have not gained their economic independence yet. For becoming a candidate in any election, you need necessary financial resources. Except being a mayor, most local positions are voluntary, so you need income from other sources, either from your salaried job or business, to support yourself. Several political party leaders in Turkey are working toward achieving more women’s participation. In addition, the Turkish public expects this as well.

What are the recent trends in Europe at the local and regional administrations levels, and how can Turkey catch up?

Turkey’s municipalities need to develop more strategies at the local level to catch up with all the developments -- because provincial councils are not passive as they used to be -- and start to make their voices heard more and more at the regional level. The EU has funds to support developments, but on a project basis. Therefore, Turkish administrations need to increase the number of projects.

What kind of projects can they develop?

There are many areas, from health and education to environment and culture. Turkey does not have enough projects in that regard, even though the latest changes in the law regarding municipality budgets revenue gave the municipalities more financial power. The municipalities now have about 45 percent more revenue and they should use it to serve the people. The Council of Europe would follow the developments in all member states regarding the issue.

We should not forget that local and regional administrations plus the civil society organization, are going to carry Turkey to the European Union.

It’s not realistic to have expectations only from the government to realize Turkey’s membership in the EU. Municipalities and civil society groups have a major role in this direction, so they should be in close partnership with each other. The local and regional administrations should open their doors wide to civil groups in order to have a voice in the EU. Just having rules changed and laws passed is not enough. We need to see implementation. … And in the implementation process, we need to see more transparency to comply with the principles of the Council of Europe.

What are those principles?

Human rights, democracy and the rule of law. I want to give an example from Austria. A regional parliament member from Austria -- at the same time an active member of the congress that I am heading -- once had a record as a careless driver, and his driving license was suspended. Next day he was found to be driving again.

PHOTOS

MEHMET YAMAN

CLRA’s Mildon: Black Sea Euroregion initiative needed more than ever

Following that, his party asked for his resignation and he was erased from the political arena.

We know that Turkey has been under observation at the general parliamentary level by the Council of Europe. Is it watching Turkey at the local level as well?

Yes, this is the job of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

Are there any scheduled observations?

Yes, rapporteurs will be in Turkey in October or November to prepare a report. One of the rapporteurs is Anders Knape, president of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities, and the one is Hans Ulrich Stockling, former minister of education of Switzerland.

How often do such rapporteurs come to Turkey?

They may come in response to some complaints as well. In the past, they have come in 2001 and 2005.

What type of complaints do they receive, and from whom?

It’s usually been the southeastern municipalities presenting some written complaints regarding some issues. And Turkey has responded to those. The complaints are usually related to technical issues and there are some big issues related to the circumstances in the Southeast too, but those concern the Turkish government.

Should Turkey expect a lot of criticism in the report that has yet to be prepared?

In the latest report in 2005, the biggest problem was that the law regarding municipality revenues had not been passed, although other laws on municipalities and their responsibilities had passed. The municipalities would have the responsibility to meet demands without resources.

So this main wrong has been corrected, and we don’t expect a major problem.

You also point out the international role of

PROFILE Yavuz Mildon He was elected by unanimous vote on May 27 as the President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which represents over 200,000 communities in 47 countries. He is also the leader of the Turkish delegation to the congress and has been a member of the Provincial Council of Çanakkale since 1994. He joined the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in 1995. He was elected vice president of the Chamber of Regions in 2000 and president of the chamber in 2004.

Occupying a variety of posts, including member of the Standing Committee, he acted as rapporteur on several occasions, particularly on regional democracy in Moldova and Albania.

He was president of the Gelibolu Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1988 to 1992 and a member (2000) then chair (2002) of the Board of the Unions of Seafood and Meat Exporters of Turkey. He runs the Mildon Fish and Shellfish Company in Gelibolu and has been chairman of this seafood export company since the 1980s.

CM Y K

the local administrations. Would you elaborate on that?

Local and regional administrations have started to take on roles in diplomacy. We call that “city diplomacy.” I’ll explain that with an example. After the latest crisis in Georgia subsides, I believe Turkish municipalities will play a key role in helping out with the problems of the municipalities in Georgia. The Georgian municipalities will need support to correct their infrastructure, plus support in strengthening their local democracies. And Turkish municipalities have been good examples for Azerbaijani municipalities and municipalities in the Balkans. I’m planning a visit to both Russia and Georgia in September. I will go to both South and North Ossetia, because from day one of the conflict there have been thousands of people who have moved from the south to the north. We will document the damage to the infrastructure and make sure ways of convening local and regional assemblies remain open.

Are there new international projects of the Congress?

We are planning a second Euroregion in the Black Sea. On Sept. 26 in Varna, we will open its bylaws for signature. We also had our preparatory meeting in [the Turkish Black Sea province of] Samsun.

Where is the first Euroregion?

We launched it in the Adriatic in 2006. It is important that those Euroregions cover both member and non-member states. So all regions around the Adriatic has been members. However, political climate in the Black Sea region is not quite warm as in the Adriatic. So signatures would be collected in more time, not immediately.

What would a Black Sea Euroregion yield?

In the Black Sea, the intergovernmental platform has been represented by the Black Sea Economic Cooperation] BSEC [inter parliamentary platform has been represented by PABSEC

[Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation]. There has not been an inter-territorial platform, and that’s what we are trying to establish. We don’t aim to form a political institution. For example, the northern Black Sea province of Sinop can have more cooperation with Ukraine’s Odessa in the cultural and economic fields within the limits of municipality issues. Look at the world during World War II. They were able to make long-lasting peace due to the cooperation of the local administrations.

And in today’s circumstances, it is important to have Russia and Georgia around the table, because big conflicts can be solved with the efforts of the local authorities.

What are the countries which are likely to support the Black Sea Euroregion initiative?

As EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania want to take an active role in this. Armenia said that it will participate. Ukraine is positive. A region in Georgia will be represented. We don’t know the attitudes of Turkey and Russia yet. I think the Turkish Interior Ministry will participate and some Black Sea provinces of Turkey will be in Varna.

Do you plan to have more Euroregions?

We are planning another in the Baltic.

In various positions on the Council of Europe, you served as observer of elections in many new democracies. What have you seen in those places?

I served as an elections observer in new democracies such as Albania, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The Council of Europe played a big role in the democratic transition of these countries, especially at the local administration level. We base our principles on a document that requires autonomy at the local administrative level. This basic document of the Council of Europe has been signed by almost all 47 countries and has been implemented. Election observation has played a crucial role in the new democracies because they complied with our reports to improve their systems.

Would you give a few examples regarding your observations in those countries?

One thing immediately comes to mind.

The head of the family would come to the [polls] and cast votes for the members of the family. This had widespread application but has been reduced nowadays.

Have you noticed any such cases in Turkey?

Even if there are some, those are few. I should note that the Turkish election system is much better than a lot of Western democracies. I say that especially after seeing what has happened as a result of the election in Florida in 2000. And the Council of Europe has played a key role in Turkey, too. As I mentioned, it prepared a report based on election observations in 2001 and 2005. There will be another one coming up. The 2005 report was prepared after Turkey passed new laws regarding special administration of its provinces.

What are those changes specifically?

Those laws helped Turkey’s democratization process a lot. As a result, the office of the governor has been reformed. Previously, the head of the provincial council was the governor. Now, the head of the provincial council is elected among the members of the provincial council. The [Justice and Development Party] AK Party government was courageous enough to pass those laws that were not previously changed by other governments.

Why? It is not so easy to change established institutions like the system regarding the governor because the system has been there for at least a hundred years. Even the Western democracies have difficulties in doing that, though they often give advice to Turkey.

Could you talk about those difficulties in the West?

Take France, for example. They have a regional structure; first a central government, then regions, then departments and then communes.

There are 36,000 communes in France. They know that so many communes are not necessary but they cannot reform it. In one commune, called Verdun, there are no constituents, but a mayor!

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10 TODAY’S ZAMAN

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

WARNING

Thousands of Mexicans marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against a wave of kidnappings and gruesome murders, putting pressure on President Felipe Calderon to meet his promises to crack down on crime. Holding candles and dressed in white, demonstrators on the capital's Paseo de la Reforma main street carried posters and pictures of kidnap victims and signs saying, "Enough Is Enough." Protests were planned throughout the country, especially along the U.S.Mexico border where increasingly brazen drug gangs are battling each other for control of smuggling routes. More than 2,300 people have been killed in drug murders this year.

"Everything is getting worse. There are more kidnappings and more murders," said Carlos Villasenor, 63, a camera store owner who held a white flower. Long used to violent crime, Mexicans were nevertheless outraged by the kidnapping and murder of Fernando Marti, 14, whose body was found in a car trunk in Mexico City on Aug. 1 even though his businessman father had paid a ransom. That murder prompted Calderon, Mexico City's Mayor Marcelo Ebrard and state governors to hold an emergency crime summit last week and vow to stamp out abductions and violent crime. Mexico City Reuters

AP PHOTO

contýnued from page 1 Long before Mayor Ray Nagin's mandatory evacuation order took effect on Sunday morning for the city's vulnerable West Bank, residents were already streaming out of New Orleans and other communities along the Gulf Coast. Bumper-to-bumper traffic was reported in nearly every direction out of New Orleans, and on Bourbon Street, where the party seemingly never ends, only stragglers toting luggage were sporadically seen on the sidewalks.

Gustav crossed western Cuba on Saturday and has already killed more than 80 people in

the Caribbean. It picked up speed upon reaching the gulf and was moving northwest at 16 mph (26 kph) with winds of 120 mph (193 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center. At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) Sunday, Gustav's center was about 375 miles (603 kilometers) southeast of the Mississippi River's mouth. The storm could bring a storm surge of up to 20 feet (6 meters) to the coast and rainfall totals of up to 15 inches (38 centimeters).

A hurricane warning was issued for over 500 miles (800 kilometers) along the Gulf Coast from Cameron, Louisiana, near the

Jeffrey Vannor carries his belongings while evacuating from the approaching Hurricane Gustav at the Greyhound Bus and Amtrak station in New Orleans as a million people flee dangerous Hurricane Gustav.

Texas border to the Alabama-Florida state line, meaning hurricane conditions are expected there within 24 hours. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley issued a mandatory evacuation order Sunday for some coastal areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff planned to travel to Louisiana on Sunday to observe preparations. And likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were traveling to Mississippi.

In New Orleans, Nagin used stark language to urge residents to get out of the city,

Kýller storm, unknown Palýn loom over US Republýcans

KLEPTOCRACY

Freeze on Suharto son's funds extended A court in Guernsey has approved the Indonesian government's request to extend a freeze on funds belonging to former President Suharto's youngest son, a prosecutor said on Sunday. Hutomo Mandala Putra, or Tommy Suharto, whose business empire included cars, airlines, and property, is under investigation over various deals as the government attempts to recover funds from Indonesia's powerful dynasty. Yoseph Suardi Sabda, an Indonesian prosecutor, said the Guernsey court agreed last week to freeze the funds until 23 May 2009, paving the way for the Indonesian government to recover money deposited overseas by Suharto's youngest son. "The Guernsey decision was made on Aug. 29 to keep freezing the funds until next year," Sabda said. Tommy Suharto's company, Garnet Investment, sued a branch of French bank BNP Paribas in Guernsey in 2007 for refusing to release at least 36 million euros it had deposited. By the time Suharto was forced to step down in 1998 amid a spiraling economic and political crisis, his family and friends dominated virtually every sector of the Indonesian economy, and many owed the country's banks millions of dollars. Last week, the Indonesian government seized $134 million from Timor Putra Nasional, a car company owned by Tommy Suharto. Transparency International ranked ex-President Suharto, who died in January, as the world's leading kleptocrat with a fortune estimated at $15-$35 billion during his 32-year rule. The former president and family members have denied any wrongdoing. Jakarta Reuters

Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin pumps her fist as she walks toward a bus at a campaign stop in Washington, Pa. The Republicans open their national convention juggling two major unknowns: The unpredictability of a killer hurricane timed to lash the US Gulf Coast just as the party opens its festival to nominate John McCain, and the equally difficult-to-forecast effect of his decision to pick little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Current predictions have Hurricane Gustav charging north close to where Hurricane Katrina struck near New Orleans, Louisiana, inundating and devastating the fabled city nearly three years ago to the day the Republicans assemble in St. Paul, Minnesota. The administration of President George W. Bush was permanently blotted for its botched handling of the disaster. Ironically, Bush was slated to speak tonight at the opening of the Republicans' quadrennial gathering shortly after Gustav was forecast to make landfall on the Gulf Coast. McCain suggested the storm might disrupt convention plans.

But the White House said on Sunday morning that it is unlikely that Bush will attend the convention as scheduled today

because of concerns about Gustav. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush's plans would be confirmed later Sunday, which could have him possibly traveling to the Gulf Coast and perhaps speaking to the convention by video.

McCain acknowledged the need to remain flexible.

"You know it just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster, so we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers, too," McCain said in an interview taped for broadcast by Fox television on Sunday. While the ravages of Gustav should be known even before the Republicans leave the Minnesota capital on Friday, the effects of Palin on the Republican ticket's chances of prevailing against Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his seasoned running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden, won't finally be established until election day, Nov. 4.

Palin, who is seen as a maverick reformer in geographically huge but sparsely populated Alaska, is deeply conservative and avidly opposed to abor-

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tion -- a key issue for the Republican base. The 44-year-old carried the last of her five children to term in April knowing the fetus had Down syndrome.

The risks for McCain, however, lay in Palin's lack of experience. She is in her first term as Alaska governor, having served before that as mayor of Wasilla, a tiny community north of Anchorage. Democrats were poised to strike McCain on that issue to counter his repeated attacks on the thin resume of the 47-year-old Obama, a first-term US senator who had served eight years previously in the Illinois state legislature.

McCain and Palin -- who would be the first female vice president -- were planning to travel to Mississippi on Sunday to check on people preparing for the hurricane's arrival, McCain aides said.

Bush was criticized after Katrina struck because he stuck to a schedule that took him from his ranch in Texas on a two-day trip to Arizona and California.

On Aug. 29, as the levees burst in New Orleans, he visited McCain to share a cake with him to celebrate the Arizona senator's 69th birthday. St. Paul, Minnesota AP

calling Gustav "the mother of all storms."

"This is the real deal, not a test," Nagin said as he issued the evacuation order Saturday night.

"For everyone thinking they can ride this storm out, I have news for you: that will be one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your life."

Forecasters were slightly less dire in their predictions, saying the storm should make landfall somewhere between western Mississippi and East Texas, where evacuations were also under way. It is too early to know whether New Orleans will take another direct hit, they said, but city officials weren't taking any chances. New Orleans AP

India floods wreak havoc, 3 million people displaced

AP

Thousands march in Mexico against violent crime

A man stands outside the remains of a house on a flooded street as the eye of Hurricane Gustav passes through Los Palacios, 100 km (62 miles) west of Havana, on Saturday.

PHOTO

RALLY

REUTERS

Two German conservative leaders warned on Sunday that Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition could collapse if the Social Democrats formed a controversial alliance with the Left party in the western state of Hesse. Peter Mueller, state premier in Saarland, and Christian Wulff, state premier in Lower-Saxony, said the Christian Democrats (CDU) would have trouble staying in the federal grand coalition with the SPD if it joined up with the Left in Hesse. Merkel's CDU and the center-left SPD, Germany's two largest parties, have been in a loveless grand coalition since an election in 2005 when neither party won enough votes to form a two-way coalition with preferred junior partners. "If there is a SPD-Greens-Left coalition in Hesse everything speaks in favor of ending the grand coalition," Mueller told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The next election is due in 2009. "I can't imagine how there could be any confidence for any further cooperation in the grand coalition," said Wulff, who is also one of Merkel's four deputy party leaders. Wulff said the election of Andrea Ypsilanti, Hesse's SPD leader, with support from the Left party would mark the start of a vicious election battle one year before the 2009 ballot. Berlin Reuters

Gustav heads for US after hitting Cuba, New Orleans evacuates PHOTO

CDU leaders say German coalition at risk

WORLD

Authorities struggling to provide aid after devastating floods in eastern India said on Sunday they needed more boats and rescuers to help hundreds of thousands of people still marooned in remote villages.

Bad weather and heavy rain over the past few days have hampered rescue and relief operations in the worst-ever floods to hit Bihar state in 50 years, officials said. "I can't say specifically how many people are still stranded in floods," Nitish Mishra, the state's disaster management minister said on Sunday. But their numbers are in lakhs (hundreds of thousands) and we require more resources, more boats, army and rescue efforts to evacuate them.

Floods have killed more than 1,000 people in South Asia since the monsoon began in June, mainly in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where 785 people died, and deaths were also reported in Nepal and Bangladesh.

In Bihar, the toll rose to 90 on Sunday with five more people drowning overnight in separate districts. At least 3 million people have been displaced and those figures could rise as heavy rain continued, officials said.

Television pictures showed villagers holding on to tails of cattle as they crossed flooded roads with belongings on their heads. Some were seen frantically waving at a few boatmen to come and rescue them. "I presented my buffalo to the boatman in exchange for a place in his boat since I don't have any money," Shambhoo Yadav, a rescued villager said. Authorities also complained that thousands of villagers have refused to be evacuated and go to camps, saying they wanted to stay back and protect their belongings.

The latest flooding occurred after the Kosi river burst a dam in neighboring Nepal earlier this month and changed its course, swamping hundreds of villages in Bihar and destroying more than 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of farmlands. Patna Reuters

Strong quake kills 27 in south China Rescue teams headed to China's southwestern Sichuan province after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake killed 27 people and injured hundreds, local authorities said on Sunday.

Saturday's quake killed 17 people in Sichuan and 10 others in the neighboring province of Yunnan, the China Earthquake Administration said in a statement posted on its Web site. Another 361 people were injured by the earthquake that hit 31 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Panzhihua city in the southwestern corner of Sichuan on Saturday afternoon, the administration said. Nearly 400 houses were destroyed in Panzhihua while another 1,000 homes collapsed in the neighboring farming town of Liangshan, the statement said.

The official Xinhua News Agency put the death toll at 25 and said it was not known how many people were buried in the rubble. A woman who answered the phone at Sichuan provincial seismological bureau said the region was hit by about 300 aftershocks on Sunday morning. She declined to give her name, saying she was not authorized to speak to the media. The earthquake administration sent teams and seismic experts to the quake-hit area while the Yunnan provincial civil affairs bureau and the Yunnan Red Cross Society sent 3,400 tents and 2,000 quilts, Xinhua said.

Relief efforts were hampered by heavy rains and the region's rugged terrain, it said. Dozens of evacuees were assembled on a primary school field in Panzhihua, footage from state broadcaster China Central Television showed. Beijing AP

Page 1

Russian offensive hailed in Mideast OPINION

By Ellen Knickmeyer TODAY'S ZAMAN For some in the Middle East, the images of Russian tanks rolling into Georgia in defiance of US opposition have revived warm memories of the Cold War. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew recently to Moscow, where he endorsed Russia's offensive in Georgia and, according to Russian officials, sought additional Russian weapon systems.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's influential son, echoed the delight expressed in much of the Arab news media. "What happened in Georgia is a good sign, one that means America is no longer the sole world power setting the rules of the game," the younger Gaddafi was quoted as telling the Russian daily Kommersant. "There is a balance in the world now. Russia is resurging, which is good for us, for the entire Middle East."

In Turkey, an American and European ally that obtains more than two-thirds of its natural gas from Russia, the reaction was more complex. Turks watched as the United States, NATO and a divided European Union hesitated in the face of Russian military assertiveness, leaving them more doubtful than they already were about depending on the West to secure US-backed alternative oil and gas supply lines.

"This Russian invasion of Georgia is a turning point in the relations of the Atlantic community with Russia, including, of course, Turkey," Ozden Sanberk, a former Turkish ambassador to Britain, said by telephone from Turkey. "There is a change in the paradigm, a change in assessment."

Since Aug. 8, when Russia sent troops and tanks across its southern border in a confrontation with Georgia's pro-Western government, many Turkish newspapers have urged the Turkish government to improve relations with Russia, in pragmatic acceptance of the possibility that Russia could directly or indirectly control most oil and gas supplies from Central Asia to Europe.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the past two weeks has sought to persuade leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia to put their political differences aside in the interest of keeping oil and gas flowing.

Russian leaders, angry at Turkish military aid to Georgia, repeatedly refused to take Erdogan's calls, Turkish news media reported.

Russia has been paying closer attention to the needs of the United States' least favorite Middle East countries, Syria and Iran.

Russia's ambassador in Tehran, Alexander Sadovnikov, told Iranian news media last week that Russia was committed to helping Iran finish work on its Bushehr nuclear plant as soon as possible. At the same time, Iran's oil minister declared his country's eagerness to do more business with Russia's main energy company, Gazprom.

The United States has tried to discourage European countries and Turkey from turning to Iran for oil and gas. With Russia demonstrating its ability to control supplies through Georgia and the rest of the Caucasus, Iran's supplies are going to look more attractive to US allies in Europe, analysts noted.

And with the United States and Russia at odds, Iran also can expect more help from Russia in blocking US efforts at the U.N. Security Council and other international bodies to sanction Iran over its nuclear program, said Flynt Leverett, a former Bush administration Middle East policy director and now a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington.

Especially with Assad's visit to Moscow, Russians are signaling that there is more they can do to undermine US policies, Leverett said.

Syrian officials this week denied reports in Russian news media that Assad had sought Russian ballistic missiles on his visit to Moscow and had offered to host a Russian naval post again, as Syria did in the Cold War to ward off any attack by Israel.

Iranian officials, mindful of a possible US or Israeli strike, also have voiced hopes of obtaining Russia's most advanced antiaircraft missile systems.

In Israel and the United States, there is "definitely rising concern Russia may go ahead and deliver those systems as a way of further indicating how unhappy it is with US policy," Leverett said.

Russia, however, also has been building relations and trade with Israel, and has denied selling its most advanced systems to Syria or Iran. Syria itself is in indirect peace talks with Israel. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia was ready to sell Syria arms of a "defensive character that do not violate the strategic balance of power in the Middle East."

Israel said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert planned to travel to Russia to discuss any Syria-Russia arms deals, amid statements from Israeli officials that the arms could be used to bolster Syrian ally Hezbollah.

Middle East governments have experience with Russian-made weapons, which haven't worked so well, said Abdel-Moneim Said, director of the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. Egyptians still blame their defeats in wars against Israel partly on their Russian-supplied weapons. © 2008 The Washington Post

TODAY’S ZAMAN 11

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

AP

WORLD

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18:34

EU leaders to assess fraying ties with Russia In an article in The Observer newspaper on Sunday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said European countries must adopt a united energy policy contýnued from page 1 He said the EU must insist Moscow pull its troops from Georgia and be ready "to assume a presence on the ground in support of all efforts toward a peaceful and lasting solution to conflicts in Georgia." He did not elaborate.

On Aug. 7 Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia, hoping to retake the province that has had a de-facto independence since the early 1990s. Russian forces repelled the offensive and pushed into Georgia. Sarkozy crafted a cease-fire deal in mid-August, but Russia has ignored its requirement for all forces to return to prewar positions.

Moscow has insisted that the ceasefire accord lets it run checkpoints in security zones of up to seven kilometers (4 miles) in Georgian territory. Possible EU actions against Russia include a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, holding off on talks for a broader economic partnership with Moscow, adding to the 12 million euros (US$18 million) in humanitarian aid to repair Georgia's infrastructure, and contributing to the peace monitoring mission the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe operates there.

Gordon Brown Sanctions appear unlikely. France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said as much on Friday, and one reason is western Europe's reliance on Russia's energy supplies. Russia supplies the EU with a third of its oil and 40 percent of its natural gas -- a dependence the European Commission says will rise significantly in the future. Still, while energy dominates EU-Russia relations, some say its influence is sometimes overstated.

"Russia may pretend, with its petropower and wealth, to be immune from any actions by the West, but beyond the shortterm it is vulnerable," said Michael Emerson, a researcher at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies.

The European Commission has argued that while the EU needs Russia for oil and gas, Moscow also needs EU capital and expertise to develop new energy fields. Russia has vast gas and oil deposits, but output is not growing much because of aging pipelines and monopolistic policies.

The Georgia crisis already is affecting Russia's economy.

In the wake of the war, investors began leaving Russia and stock markets plunged. Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said last week that more than US$7 billion was pulled out of the country in just two days, exposing the fragility of Russia's nine-year economic boom.

Meanwhile, there have been divisions within the EU about how the bloc should respond. Germany relies on Russia for 34 percent of its oil imports and 36 percent of its natural gas consumption. Slovakia, Finland and Bulgaria depend on Russia for over 90 percent of the gas that heats homes, cooks meals and powers factories.

Meanwhile, Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria followed Russia's lead on Sunday by recognising Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Brussels AP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinians, Israelis racing against time

AP

31.08.2008

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Georgian soldiers hold national flags at a funeral ceremony in Tbilisi for Georgian soldiers killed during the Georgian-Russian war.

Thailand’s lawmakers hold emergency session amid crisis Thailand's Parliament convened proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin an emergency session on Sunday Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 at the request of the country's embattled military coup. Thaksin recently fled to prime minister, who acknowledged that Britain to escape an array of corruption his administration was unable to control charges. Opposition lawmaker Jurin spiraling anti-government protests. Laksanavisit summed up the protesters' Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's complaints in comments to lawmakers, People's Power Party said it planned to saying Samak's aggressive demeanor present a compromise in Parliament to had fueled the crisis and urging him to appease the thousands of protesters oc- step down. "I think it is time for the prime minister to look at cupying his official comhimself and decide pound for a sixth day. whether he is still fit to Protest leaders disbe prime minister," said missed the parliamenJurin, a senior member tary session as a "joke" of the opposition and said they will not Democrat Party. "If he back down until Samak still holds onto office, resigns -- which he has the problems of the repeatedly refused to do. country will escalate."

Few expected an immeSamak then took the diate solution from the m i c r o p h o n e . parliamentary session, Samak Sundaravej "Aggressive behavior is which began on Sunday afternoon with heated debate and was my nature -- it is not indecent behavexpected to last for hours. Samak's six- ior," he retorted. "I did not do anything party coalition government controls wrong and have the right to continue more than two-thirds of the seats in the my work as prime minister," Samak 480-seat lower house. The protest or- said. "My behavior has not caused damganizers, the People's Alliance for age to the country." Earlier in the day, Democracy, accuse Samak's govern- Samak said he hoped lawmakers could ment of corruption and of serving as a succeed where he had failed. Bangkok AP

CM Y K

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, hoping to cap his scandal-plagued leadership of Israel with a document of peace understandings within the next two weeks, officials said.

Olmert's Kadima Party votes on Sept. 17 on his successor. Suspected of corruption, Olmert has promised to resign after the ballot, although he could stay on as caretaker prime minister for weeks or months until a new government is formed. Israeli officials said Olmert aimed to persuade Abbas to agree to a document of understandings, serving as a framework for a peace agreement, that they could take to Washington ahead of the Kadima poll. Abbas has been cool to the idea of any partial agreement despite US hopes of reaching at least an outline of a peace deal before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Neither Olmert nor Abbas made any statement at the start of their talks in Jerusalem. But Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Abbas, told Reuters it was premature to speak about a document. He said "the differences on the core issues are still very wide." Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and front-runner in the Kadima race, has cautioned against papering over differences with Abbas in US-brokered talks and rushing toward an accord.

Her comments were echoed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Middle East visit last week.

Olmert spokesman Mark Regev, while acknowledging that Israel would press on with efforts "to reach a historic" agreement, said he was not aware of any time limit. Cabinet Minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party said Olmert, who was questioned again by police on Friday and has denied any wrongdoing in a series of corruption probes, doesn't have "legal legitimacy to negotiate, and certainly not to reach any agreement."

A senior Abbas aide said Rice had proposed several bridging proposals during her 25-hour visit last week and they would be discussed at the Olmert-Abbas meeting in Jerusalem. They included working out a territorial swap and basing the borders of a future Palestinian state on lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war, while taking into account several major Jewish settlement blocs. The issue of Jerusalem would be resolved as part of the borders debate but religious sites and the walled Old City where they are located would be discussed at a later stage, the aide said.

On the fate of Palestinian refugees, the aide said the United States would work internationally to provide them with compensation and discussions would begin on deciding how many could return to what is now Israel. Jerusalem Reuters

PRIVATE SCHOOL English Teachers Needed A private school on Ýstanbul’s Asian side is seeking qualified English-teaching professionals to fill full-time positions for the new school year.

Applicants should be native speakers of English in possession of a bachelor’s degree and teaching certification.

Send your full CV to: mehmedin70@hotmail.com merth2004@yahoo.com Please call +90 537 8302958 or send an sms.

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12 TODAY’S ZAMAN

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

EXPAT ZONE

Red means stop Have you ever been caught speeding? How about running a red light?

Unless speeding on the highway between cities, you are usually not pulled over in Turkey for speeding. Well, that’s not the case in America.

The other day when I was driving in Nebraska, unfamiliar territory for me, I was pulled over by the sheriff, who explained that I was going too fast. Yes, I was speeding -- going 60 mph in what I thought was a 65 mph zone, only it wasn’t 60, but 66 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Road safety has become a major issue in Turkey, and authorities are doing everything they can to make the roads safer. This past year alone many cameras were installed on the road to prevent drivers from driving in emergency lanes, including cameras to prevent running red lights.

Although alarming, it comes as no surprise that Turkey’s accident rates are considerably higher than those of the EU. I heard someone say recently that every two years the number of fatalities on the roads equals the death toll of the 1999 Marmara earthquake. With traffic increasing on the roads, there is no hope in sight of seeing a decline in road accidents.

According to statistics gathered by the World Bank, the death toll will probably dramatically increase in the years to come in con-

nection with an increase in traffic. In just a 10-year period, the number of accidents has been growing at an average 14 percent per year.

Intersection cameras have been installed to help prevent accidents. Americans and Turks alike argue that the cameras have not been effective in preventing accidents but are certainly increasing income for the respective government.

While driving, I noticed my friend’s car had a special rear view mirror that snaps on. This new gadget runs for only $299. It informs you when you are approaching an intersection equipped with a camera.

Although legal to buy, to break even, you need to run at least three red lights. I think in Turkey you could run a few more…

A study carried out in the West indicates that since intersection cameras were installed around the United States and Canada, accidents have increased. As for insurance, although not as relevant in Turkey, it is still worth being mentioned.

Researchers point out that insurance companies benefit from the cameras by increasing the premiums of offenders.

“Rigorous studies clearly show intersection cameras do not work,” said prominent author Barbara Langland-Orban, a professor at the University of South Florida.

CULTURAL CORNER

CHARLOTTE McPHERSON So why have governments installed these cameras if this is the case? Well, many supporters of intersection cameras claim that the cameras have helped reduce the number of more severe crashes. I guess what I don’t understand is why anyone would chance running a red light.

When I was 21, my car was totaled by a drunk who ran a red light. I was fortunate in that I was not seriously injured and was even able to climb out the passenger window. If you have ever been in an accident like that because the other driver ran a red light, intersection cameras won’t affect your driving behavior because the thought of serious injury or death has already convinced you that running red lights can be deadly.

Your worldview comes into play here -- if you believe in

fate (kýsmet), you may not be so concerned about it. You may believe when it is your time, you can’t do anything about it.

I wonder if they have these special gadgets to warn drivers about intersection cameras in Turkey. Your outlook on life could influence whether you think you need to purchase the gadget or not. No doubt, they will soon be available everywhere.

City officials everywhere are convinced that the cameras are installed primarily to make dangerous intersections safer.

Do you think the cameras have changed Turkish drivers’ behavior at intersections?

If I had $299 to spare, I think I would opt to put the money in the bank and slow down at intersections. US retail sales show that many think differently and plan to take a chance at the intersection. How difficult is it to figure out that it is dangerous to run red lights? It could cost a life. That’s worth more than anything.

Slow down! Your family will be waiting for you.

Note: Charlotte McPherson is the author of “Culture Smart: Turkey, 2005.” Email: c.mcpherson@todayszaman.com. Please keep your questions and observations coming.

TURGUT ENGÝN

LEGAL CORNER

PHOTO

BERK ÇEKTiR Are people treated equally ýn Turkey? (1)

The hýgh prýce of beýng a tourýst Many tourists are unaware of the fact that much of the information about sites is contained in a good book or even on the Internet these days. For those who want more in-depth details, hiring a private guide for the entire day or joining a tour group are the best ways to go KATHY HAMILTON ÝSTANBUL

We often have guests arriving from around the world, many for their firstever trip to Ýstanbul. Since I have seen the usual tourist sites too many times to be counted, I generally send friends off for the day with a map and a list of the places that are mustsees for any novice visitor. Nevertheless, last week I went along with a friend and her daughter and spent a day in Sultanahmet, visiting the Hagia Sophia and Topkapý Palace. Since it has been quite a while since I have been to these sites, I was unaware of how much the price of entry fees have risen over the last couple of years.

For me, however, the admission fees did not really matter since I have a MüzeKart (http://www.muzekart.com/). In my opinion, this new pass, released just this year, has got to be one of the best deals in the country. For a paltry YTL 20 a year, Turkish citizens gain access to the majority of historical sites in the country at no additional cost. There are a few places where this handy card is not valid, but even so, while out sightseeing, it can save a small fortune, as I discovered. My friends were required to dip deep into their purses for the required entry fees, while my only outlay for the day was YTL 15 to tour the Harem at Topkapý. Since I first purchased my card

while on holiday in Cappadocia in early July, I have saved a good-sized chunk of money in entry fees around the country. Just having the card in my wallet, and knowing that entry is free to most sites, I have noticed that I am more inclined to get out and sightsee more often. I did notice, though, that many of the Turks in line did not have this deal of a card and were paying the same fees as the tourists. Apparently, word has not gotten out yet about the advantages of the MüzeKart.

My friends, though, did not fare as well as I did on the costs incurred during our day out. For two people, visits to the Hagia Sophia, Topkapý Palace and the Harem ran a whopping YTL 110. While my friends took the costs in stride, I wondered just how much they would have to fork out in order to visit most of the most popular tourist sites in Ýstanbul during the two weeks they will be here.

We went out for our own private day of sightseeing with one of my many, often referenced, guidebooks to the city in hand. There are numerous guide books that offer varying degrees of information about the historical sites and it’s easy to thumb through them at a bookstore before heading out for the day and taking the one that has the best information on what is on the agenda for that particular day. However, after we bought our tickets for the Hagia Sophia and

joined the line to go through the security check, we were approached by one of the many tour guides lingering nearby in hopes of being hired by tourists out on their own. “Excuse, me, I am official tour guide. For 40 euros I will show you and explain what you see inside,” he said to us as we shuffled ahead in the line. I waved my book, declined his offer and told him that I lived here and was not a tourist. Seemingly crushed that we had not jumped at his offer, he lowered his price to 30 euros, which we again declined. This makes me wonder just how many tourists take him up on his offer of a quick trip through the Hagia Sophia for 30-40 euros on top of the YTL 20 they just paid. I suspect that he does get enough business in a day to turn a tidy profit, even though I’m sure that the information he will give out is the same that can be found in any good, detailed guidebook.

The same performance was repeated as we entered the gates of Topkapý Palace, with another tour guide appearing at our side, offering a private tour of the palace and grounds for 40 euros for a group of three. Once again rejecting his offer, we moved on our way, only to be dogged by the guide, who now offered the same tour for 30 euros. A great deal, he said as he promised us information not found in any book. What he didn’t know is that over

the years I too have heard stories of palace life that is not included in the usual tour books.

Acting dejected at first from our rebuff, he then haughtily stormed off in search of other tourists to try his luck with in lining up a tour.

Many tourists are unaware of the fact that much of the information about sites is contained in a good book or even on the Internet these days. For those who want more in-depth details, hiring a private guide for the entire day or joining a tour group are the best ways to go. The costs quickly add up if a guide is engaged at each stop.

For instance, if my friends had opted to hire the guides for Hagia Sophia and Topkapý Palace, with their discounted rates of 30 euros, their payout for the day would have been approximately YTL 210, excluding transportation, meals and the expected tip at the end of the tours.

To help friends save money on their visits to Ýstanbul, I keep a supply of guidebooks at home, ready to be lent out for the duration of their stay. For those who have been here before and who desire more off the well-worn tourist track, I usually take them myself since I enjoy getting out and visiting favorite sites with friends in tow. But, I strongly caution them to not hire a guide for just one location. In addition to the high entry fees, their day could end up costing much more than they had planned.

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.

CM Y K

My initial topic was going to be “Are foreigners and locals treated equally in Turkey?”

Then I suddenly realized that there is no equal treatment amongst locals in Turkey, either. Like what, you ask? For example, you cannot swim in the same river twice, everything may change depending on the time, social statute, the mood of the officer and the like. You may never find a standard process application in Turkey.

As is well known to many of you, you may not be treated equally if you do not dress appropriately.

I am not talking about rules and legislation alone. A small group of people do have prejudiced views that are very difficult to break. Like what? Some believe that foreigners are rich and will pay whatever price you ask of them and others believe that a woman wearing a headscarf should not be allowed in some upscale venues and neighborhoods. I can give thousands of these examples.

If I may go a step further, there are some similarities between being a foreigner and being a lawyer in Turkey.

Being a lawyer in Turkey is a difficult game to play. The reason I say this is the same rule mentioned above is also valid for many official authorities. The practice and enforcement of written legislation might be quite far away from what the respective law says.

If I may give an example, inconsistencies may arise in court. One court may say white and the other may say black on the same topic. Such a contradictory approach can arise even in decisions handed down by a court of appeals. Depending on the time and merits of the case, even courts of appeals grant varying decisions on the same subject. Courts are not alone in this as governmental departments do likewise. This makes life itself more miserable for both foreigners and locals. Since knowing all of these realities does not make your life easier, I guess the proverb “Ignorance is bliss” remains true.

You may be wondering why I turned so melancholy. I am deeply concerned about a story I received from a dear reader. We should think about the way we are prejudiced and what our standards are. I would like to share the reader’s e-mail with you: “Merhaba Berk bey. A quick and slightly overdue comment on the abovementioned article, published on Aug. 6, and your quote, ‘I would like to start with the general rule on equal treatment: There is no difference between foreigners and Turkish citizens in terms of tax rates.’ … I’ve just paid my annual property tax on the house I share with my Turkish husband. In spite of the fact that we co-own the house on the tapu [title deed] and I have had Turkish citizenship since 2001 and paid copious taxes, business rates, etc., in Turkey, our beloved belediye [municipality] has still seen fit to charge me double the property tax to that which my husband has paid.

When queried, the response was that people with foreign names get charged more. I have a Turkish surname and a British surname -- clearly my mistake! We live in a resort area where overcharging foreigners is a local sport, but overcharging citizens due to their [part] nationality really is a low blow.

Incidentally, I didn’t find out about this till long after we had left the belediye office or words would’ve been had with the mayor! Would be interested in your comments. Kind regards.”

My response and further remarks will come on Wednesday.

NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send enquiries to b.cektir@todayszaman.com. The names of the readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner.

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T14-01-09-08.qxd

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14 TODAY’S ZAMAN

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

GRANT HAVERS*

For some time now, the European Union has declared war on “hatred.” That is to say, the EU has made it a crime to express hatred in both speech and action against historically oppressed and vulnerable minorities. If any nation seeks membership in the EU, it had best understand the far-reaching implications of this long-established policy.

Since July 1996, article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union has declared that “public denial” of crimes against humanity as well as statements “contemptuous of” or “degrading to” identifiable groups of persons would be illegal and the perpetrators subject to prosecution. This article is consistent with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which calls for the criminalization of the intent and practice of discriminating against oppressed groups, as well as denial of war crimes and genocide.

At first glance, it may seem reasonable and even necessary to outlaw “hatred,” given the bloody history of Europe in the 20th century. After all, did not totalitarian movements rise because their hateful speech was tolerated by weak democratic regimes? Defenders of hate speech laws occasionally cite the Weimar Republic in Germany (1919-1933) as a prime example of tolerance gone too far: This liberal democracy was allegedly too liberal in permitting the hateful speech of far right and left parties who used their democratic rights to destroy democracy.

On a regular basis, defenders of article K.3 insist that these laws are needed to prevent another tragedy. In 1999, Beate Winkler, the director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, warned of a new “Holocaust” if the EU did not revamp its attempts to combat discrimination and prejudice.

Laws against extremist political movements are a postwar phenomenon in Europe, and no EU nation has gone farther than Germany in giving the state awesome powers to enforce them. After World War II, newly elected democracies moved quickly to “de-Nazify” German society with measures that took out of discussion any idea or party that might threaten the new liberal consensus; for this reason, Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was banned. Although these laws were originally intended to prevent a resurgence of the far right, the Cold War of the 1950s and the rise of leftist terrorism in the late 1960s led governments to clamp down on the left: In 1956 West Germany banned the Communist Party and in 1969 emergency laws were passed to allow police to spy on and arrest (without habeas corpus) leftists suspected of terrorism.

Since the end of the Cold War, there have been renewed attempts to target the far right for the crime of hate speech. To be sure, the defenders of hate speech laws insist that these measures must be consistent with the rule of law and democratic respect for freedom of speech. In theory, these laws are supposed to apply to all violators across the political spectrum.

What actually happens in practice is another question.

Apparently, some forms of hatred are more threatening than others.

In January 2000, leftist parties in Italy passed through the House of Deputies a remembrance of “Nazi-fascist” atrocities. Rightist parties insisted that the bill extend remembrance to all victims of “political tyranny,” a demand that the leftist parties rejected as a desperate attempt to divert attention away from the threat of anti-Semitism. Apparently, the crimes of communists (including Stalinists) did not rate as highly as those of fascists and Nazis.

In February 2007, the EU decided to put extra teeth into the criminalization of hate speech on the right by prohibiting not only the “public denial” but even the act of “grossly trivializing” crimes against humanity, war crimes and the Holocaust. When the EU states of Estonia, Poland and Slovenia insisted that the denial and trivialization of all totalitarian crimes, left as well as right, be subject to prosecution, this demand was dismissed in high quarters.

Slovak Minister of Justice Stefan Harabin asserted that the crimes of fascism and communism could not be placed “on the same level.”

Why does the EU fear the far right so much and the far left so little, despite the fact that so many ex-communists govern many EU nations in the East? Why is it unlikely that a citizen of the EU who trivializes the horror of the Soviet Gulag will be subject to prosecution for hate speech? The politically charged nature of hate speech laws is not unique to Europe. In my own country, Canada, “Human Rights Commissions,” court-like bodies who penalize practitioners of “hate speech,” have never punished individuals on the

The EU’s hatred of

‘hate’ Why does the EU fear the far right so much and the far left so little, despite the fact that so many ex-communists govern many EU nations in the East? Why is it unlikely that a citizen of the EU who trivializes the horror of the Soviet Gulag will be subject to prosecution for hate speech?

Daðýstan Çetinkaya

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left. Instead, Canadians who hold orthodox Christian views on homosexuality are far more likely to be prosecuted than secular leftists who hate Christianity and liberal democracy.

As American political scientist Paul Gottfried has argued, the EU attack on the right has far more to do with hostility to the idea of autonomous nation states than fear of a resurgent fascism on the march. To date, the political parties in the EU who are most worried about the erosion of national sovereignty tend to be on the populist right. The EU’s attempt to forge a new cosmopolitan regime has steadily centralized meaningful political authority in the Brussels parliament. Anyone who complains about the consequent loss of national sovereignty is likely to be portrayed as a dangerous xenophobe.

A problem related to the regulation of hate speech is the challenge of dealing with whole nations, as well as individuals, who resist the EU’s policies. Since the end of World War II, European elites have concluded that the nation-state is a destructive instrument responsible for the conflicts that have plagued the history of the continent. In this context, the enforcement of “universal human rights” has been seen as absolutely essential, even if individual freedom of speech is curtailed in the process. Most significantly, political parties who raise concerns about the loss of national control over welfare, taxation, immigration and borders are subject to isolation. The EU has forced a dualistic choice on nation states: Either become universalistic, or risk becoming a pariah state.

Ironically, the move to combat “hate speech” on the right has origins far beyond Europe’s borders. While most Europeans see the United States as a right-wing nation (especially under the leadership of George W. Bush), postwar American influences on European elites bear some responsibility for the campaign against the right. Although America has a longstanding reputation for traditions of individual liberty and small government, the American “de-Nazification” program in West Germany after World War II provided the template for the regulation and criminalization of speech.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, many prominent postwar American intellectuals worried about the rise of a “radical right” in the United States and elsewhere, unless drastic steps were taken to nip it in the bud. What began as an attempt to prevent the return of Nazism in postwar Germany has spread across all the borders of European nations and encouraged the identification of national pride with right-wing extremism.

Despite the anti-American posturing of the European left, the American love of “universal” credos of liberty and equality has received a favorable hearing on the leftist side of the political spectrum. While EU leftists have opposed the Iraq war, they have enthusiastically supported the postwar American ideal of bringing liberal democracy to all peoples on the continent, even if that means the marginalization of the ideas and influence of the populist right in the process.

Few leftists would dispute the view of American neoconservative Francis Fukuyama that the only people who oppose the universalization of liberal democratic credos are on the right today.

Like “hatred,” the term “universal” can mean different things to different people. While European civilization rests in part on the universal morality of Christianity, it is fair to say that this version of universalism is not favored in Brussels; the original preamble to the EU Constitution didn’t even mention Christianity as a central influence in Europe’s history. Rather, the new “universalism” is rooted in the minds of mandarins in Brussels who are bent on opposing any attempt to preserve national sovereignty, whether in Ireland, Holland or Poland. A historically rooted “Christian” universalism, which once respected the rights of nationstates, is presumably an intolerant atavism that must go the way of the dodo bird. Any nation that seeks to preserve its religious identity should be prepared to live with the subordination of its historic faith to an artificial universalism.

For this reason, the former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky has warned that the EU is gradually becoming a new version of the Soviet Union.

In this wider context of integrating both the economy as well as the consciousness of European peoples, the EU has set itself the task of combating “hatred,” or any attitude that might question the wisdom of surrendering national autonomy to a universalistic ideology. Every nation-state aspiring to join the EU should ask the simple question: Is it worth it? *Dr. Grant Havers is a professor of philosophy and politics at Trinity Western University in Canada. E-mail: havers@twu.ca

Established on January 16, 2007 NO: 0557 Monday, September 1, 2008

Executive Editor Managing Editors

OPINION

ABDULLAH BOZKURT OKAN UDO BASSEY FATMA DEMÝRELLÝ EMRAH ÜLKER KERÝM BALCI YONCA POYRAZ DOÐAN ÝBRAHÝM TÜRKMEN YASEMÝN GÜRKAN PINAR VURUCU HELEN P. BETTS FARUK KARDIÇ YAKUP ÞÝMÞEK BEYTULLAH DEMÝR HAYDAR DURUSOY ALÝ ODABAÞI

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CM Y K

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COLUMNS

TODAY’S ZAMAN 15

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

Normalýze relatýons wýth Armenýa The war between Russia and Georgia has put Turkey in a difficult situation. Russia is Turkey's foremost energy supplier and a major market for its goods and services. Georgia provides Turkey access to the energy resources and markets of the Caspian Sea region and Central Asia. The conflict between the two has led to tensions between Turkey's Western allies, with the United States in the lead, and its increasingly important neighbor Russia. Neocon-inspired analysts in Washington argue that Turkey must either side with the US or against it, as they did in the days leading to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. This is nonsense.

Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952 and undoubtedly would abide by the decisions of the alliance. The US is surely Turkey's most important ally, and Turkey has a vital interest in having as close relations as possible with Washington.

Turkey, however, did not blindly follow Washington even in the coldest days of the Cold War, and is much less likely to do so now. That Turkey will not side with US policies that are incompatible with its national interests was clearly demonstrated on March 1, 2003, when the Turkish Parliament refused the deployment of US troops on Turkish soil for the illegal invasion of Iraq.

YAVUZ BAYDAR

ÞAHÝN ALPAY s.alpay@todayszaman.com

Irrespective of which party is in charge, Ankara is today more likely than ever to adhere to a policy that is defined by its national interests, many of which are not compatible with US policies, particularly those pursued by the George W. Bush administration. Graham E. Fuller, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, has made this point most succinctly: "Washington's policies are broadly and fundamentally incompatible with Turkish foreign policy interests in multiple arenas. … We had better get used to the fact that Turkey, strengthened by its popular democracy, is going to pursue its own national interests, regardless of Washington's pressure. Few Turks want it any other way." (LA Times, Oct. 19, 2007) One of the arenas where Washington's policies are incompatible with Turkish foreign policy interests is Russia. As Fuller puts it:

"Although there is some rivalry over the routing of Central Asian energy pipelines to the West -- whether via Russia or Iran and Turkey -- Ankara values its ties with Moscow, and opposes US efforts to bait the Russian bear in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe on NATO expansion and missile issues."

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the US policy has aimed at exploiting Russian weakness to help establish pro-Western regimes in Eastern Europe and wherever possible. The Bush administration has given priority to the expansion of NATO to include these countries, abrogated the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, and is intent on placing missile defenses in Russia's neighboring countries, to begin with the Czech Republic and Poland, supposedly to guard against an attack from Iran. These policies have led Russia to conclude that it is being encircled by the US. There is also little doubt that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has found encouragement in Georgia's ever-closer ties with the US to start the military operation to regain control over South Ossetia, which had declared its independence from Tbilisi in 1992, and has ever since been increasingly assimilated into Russia. US policies that have provoked Russia are partly to blame for triggering Moscow's disproportionate military response and continued occupa-

No Comment

tion of Georgia and the dangerous regional crisis that has ensued.

The next US administration would be well advised to reconsider its stance towards Moscow and adopt a policy that aims at engaging rather than isolating Russia. Russia surely does not have a Western regime and is definitely looking for ways to broaden its sphere of influence, but is not in any respect the "evil empire" the Soviet Union was. The West (including Turkey) needs Russia as much as Russia needs the West. Peace and stability in the world require that the two use diplomacy to resolve their differences.

Turkey's policy of establishing good relations, promoting economic interdependence with neighbors and using diplomacy and negotiation as the main tool to resolve differences -- whether dealing with the Greeks, Syrians, Iranians or Russians -- serves Turkey's interests, and surely also those of its allies, whether the US, the EU or Israel. One glaring failure in Turkey's policy is, however, the lack of diplomatic ties and open borders with Armenia. Its well-intentioned Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Pact can succeed only if Ankara can normalize relations with Armenia, and thereby also help Azerbaijan and Armenia make peace. Yerevan seems to be more ready than ever for reconciliation with its neighbors.

AP, MEXICO CITY

o.taspinar@todayszaman.com

y.baydar@todayszaman.com

Isolatýon of Turkýsh Cyprýots: a crýtýcal ýssue for negotýatýons How "legal" is the international isolation of Turkish Cypriots? How "moral" is the stance on insisting to keep it?

How should the topic of isolation be dealt with as serious talks begin between Dimitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat, the leaders of the two communities?

The issue of isolation is expected to come to the table, though the Turkish Cypriot side believes it may not be helpful at all for the eventual success of the talks. But, it seems, it is not only an "issue of belief." The Turkish Cypriot side this time has some very strong arguments -- based on law -- for the lifting of the isolation.

Those interested may want go to liberal Turkish think tank the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation's (TESEV) Web site (www.tesev.org.tr) and on the home page will easily find a new publication called "A Promise to Keep: Time to End the International Isolation of the Turkish Cypriots." It is a study written by six (all but one experts in law) researchers which argues that there is no legal justification for the discrimination against and isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. The lengthy report also puts forth the argument that lifting of the isolation will serve as a tool for confidence building and may facilitate the impending negotiations by building trust.

Furthermore, it suggests that it can also break the deadlock in Turkey's EU accession negotiations (because the Turkish government, which in January 2006 established a linkage between the isolations and the sanctions on the Greek Cypriots, can move to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels and aircraft).

It is a study mainly focused on legal-technical analysis and some recapitulation of pre- and post-2004 referendum conditions. Its premise is the following: There is absolutely no relationship between isolation and recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).

The experts, two of whom are co-founders of the new independent Global Political Trends Center (GPoT), director Mensur Akgün and deputy director Sylvia Tiryaki, met with representatives of European Parliament recently, and a decision was made to send the study to the Legal Service of the European Commission -- which may, in turn, recommend it to the assembly for consideration.

As the talks begin this week, it may be useful to have a look at what the study recommends, in eight points: There are no legal obstacles to lifting the ban on trade, so the ban should be lifted.

Since lifting the isolation would not go against UN Security Council resolutions No. 541 and No. 550 (as Kofi Annan also reported to the UN Security Council), the isolation must be immediately lifted.

It is legally possible for the international community and for the individual states to give up the isolationist practices without jeopardizing their position toward binding legal documents such as the reports of the Security Council.

There is no prohibition under general international law to enter and leave seaports in the northern part of Cyprus.

International law does not create obstacles per se against direct flights, so -- as in the case of Taiwan -- regulations can be expanded to start direct flights to northern Cyprus.

It must be understood that de facto policy of isolation that has been developed is mainly a political choice -- and nothing else.

Lifting the isolation should be seen as a measure that would build mutual confidence toward any settlement attempt between the two communities.

"A Promise to Keep" is a serious study, with very strong arguments for the Turkish Cypriots, and following the example of the Legal Service of the European Commission, it should be taken seriously and studied carefully.

There are questions, naturally. Would the Greek Cypriot side go as far as lifting the isolation, even partially, as the talks begin?

For Christofias it would be seen as a big challenge to face the emotionally loaded "domestic crowd." Although a lot of resistance will have to be voiced by that camp, it is reasonably clear that Greek Cypriots will face the crucial test of using or abusing their upper hand either to open the gates to a solution, albeit slowly, on the island, or go on tramping on the same old ground of fundamentalist legalism. The second choice, as understood clearly by a considerable number of EU members, is a dangerous tool for keeping Turkey from EU membership, with a deep impact on regional security and political stability in a volatile world.

We shall, therefore, see whether the "old thinking" will prevail or the "new thinking," judging by the progress of talks.

ÖMER TAÞPINAR

McCaýn’s gamble

Why Turkýsh generals oppose globalýzatýon ÝHSAN DAÐI i.dagi@todayszaman.com

Political debate and cleavages in Turkey today are between those who hold favorable views of globalization and thus work toward greater integration in the global system, and those who perceive globalization as the "number-one threat," who thus employ all possible means to stop pro-globalization groups.

Last week two top Turkish military commanders gave important speeches outlining their views on Turkish politics as well as global developments. The statements of Chief of General Staff Gen. Ýlker Baþbuð and Land Forces Commander Gen. Iþýk Koþaner revealed that the top military brass oppose globalization, global actors and global values.

Well, they may have a point. Though globalization does not have a particular problem with Kemalism, it shakes the fundamentals of all ideological states. An ideological state controlled by a vanguard elite including the military, in the name of Kemalism in the Turkish case, is not sustainable in a globalized world.

With globalization also come transparency, competition and interconnectedness, all problems for an ideological state and its vanguards. It is impossible to govern a society that is integrated in globalized world through commands from the top. People, economics and politics will be under the influence of diverse networks, ideas and interests. Such a society will no longer rely on "official truths" imposed on them and the welfare/ liberties gifted to them by the state elite. Instead, a society integrated with the world is empowered to seek its truth, its welfare and its liberties. Obviously, such features of globalization make it very difficult to control state and society. Thus the military naturally prefers a closed society with controllable social, political and economic agents.

For last six years, the average annual foreign direct investment (FDI) increased considerably, reaching $20 billion in the last couple of years, more than 20 times higher in comparison to earlier periods.

Moreover, billions of dollars are traded in the stock exchange and in the banking system. All these make the "management" of the economy difficult from a "nationalist" point of view that prefers a centralized national economy that is not "vulnerable" to global trends.

CM Y K

Would a military hostile to global trends and actors be happy with the current inflow and activities of foreign capital? Who is inviting foreign capital and "selling out" Turkey's national assets to them?

These are key questions to understanding the underlying reasons for the power struggle in recent years.

To Turkish generals, international organizations, transnational civil society organizations and multinational corporations all pose threats to Turkey, Turkish security and Turkey's political regime.

What they really mean is that the globalization threatens the Kemalist regime that provides them with discursive justification for the military's power and privileges in the system.

In the generals' speeches a deep-seated hostility towards transnational actors, ideas and movements is clearly visible.

Turkish civil society is targeted as being designed by "transnational actors." Democracy and human rights are evaluated as disguise to divide the country and change the regime. How come these ideas willingly support Turkey's democratization process? "Too much democracy threatens secularism," they argue. So we should conclude that "Western democracies went too far and turned into theocracies." A fear of not only globalization but also of democracy prevails throughout the speeches of the top two military commanders. In fact globalization is feared because it encourages democratization.

The generals speak of a "global system" that wants to take over Turkey. But thanks to the "Atatürkist thought system," Turkey has not surrendered to the hegemony of the global system. I really wonder if Turkey is an ally of Chaves' Venezuela or the West. These are old-fashioned Third Worldist generalizations with no correspondence to the reality on the ground.

The problem is that the Turkish military used to be the forerunner of modernization in this country. It is also the military of a country that has been a member of the Western alliance for over 50 years. As such, it is supposed to be an institution that is integrated in an international security community, NATO, with close links and cooperative international arrangements. Unfortunately, it turns out now that a reformist and pro-modernization military with international experience and supposedly culture has turned into a pro-status quo institution resisting change.

Yet the reasons are understandable: The "power monopoly" of the bureaucracy, including the military, is being eroded by globalization. This is the bottom line for their fear of globalization and resistance to democratization.

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old Alaska governor, appears to be an act of desperation.

With this unexpected pick, McCain is clumsily trying to show that his presidency will not be a third term of the Bush administration. If Barack Obama's main message is "change," now McCain can also claim he represents change. As the governor of far-flung Alaska who rose to prominence by attacking corruption in state government, Palin will be cast as a Washington outsider who will reinforce McCain's maverick reputation. But with his choice of Palin as running mate, McCain is rolling the dice toward the unknown.

In many ways the choice of Palin is irresponsible.

Her executive experience consists of less than two years as governor of a sparsely populated state, plus six years as mayor of a city with 9,000 inhabitants. Except for a semblance of knowledge of the energy and natural resource issues (mainly of Alaska), Palin has barely been heard from in the broader national debates over economic policy. She has absolutely no record on foreign policy and national security. She has no experience and no proven track record of good judgment.

The choice of Palin is also a blatantly transparent attempt to woo female voters, especially those in the Democratic camp who have been disappointed by Obama's victory. Now McCain can say he is giving voters a chance to make history by electing the first woman to be vice president. He is also hoping Palin will appeal to those workingclass Democrats, especially women, who voted for Senator Hillary Clinton in the primary.

But Clinton stalwarts should take offense at this choice. Apparently McCain decided that, for women disappointed with not being able to vote for Clinton, any woman would do. "Hillary Clinton left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America," Palin said on Friday, referring to the number of votes cast for Clinton in the primaries. "It turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all." Since when do issues no longer matter? Are Clinton's female supporters blind or stupid enough to vote for an anti-abortion, pro-gun die-hard conservative just because she happens to be a woman? Clinton's female supporters will probably be insulted by that assumption. In fact, if there were some possibility that some of Clinton's most ardent Democratic supporters, angered by her defeat, might vote for McCain, that possibility should now no longer exist.

Yet, there is a more important issue that is highly disturbing about McCain's gamble. Is Palin fit to assume the presidency should anything happen to McCain? This was the most important question McCain should have asked, not whether she could help him win the presidency. This is the main issue for any presidential nominee, and it is especially crucial that McCain -- who just turned 72 -- get this choice right. If McCain is elected, he will be the oldest man ever to serve a first term in the White House with probably the most inexperienced vice president in the history of the United States. No wonder Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said: "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency." If she becomes president, this former beauty queen who has never been outside the United States will be the one dealing with the likes of Russia's [Prime Minister] Vladimir Putin, China's President Hu Jintao and the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Palin choice helped the McCain campaign only because it grabbed the news cycle away from Obama and gave the media just a few hours to ponder about Obama's historic speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. But at the end of the day, even at this tactical level, the choice makes little sense. After all, the Republican candidates' main criticism of Obama is his lack of experience. By selecting Palin, McCain has therefore negated his most powerful argument with one stroke. So much for tactical genius.

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CONTINUATION

TODAY’S ZAMAN 17

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

either. Turkey has its own problems with Iranian natural gas, which provides 18 percent of Turkey's demand. Iran had halted or diminished the flow of natural gas last winter because of increasing consumption in the Iranian domestic market. During the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Aug. 18, the issue was left unresolved as the Iranian side declined to provide a guarantee of flow in natural gas for the winter. A senior Turkish official from the Ministry of Energy told Today's Zaman that Iran is also demanding a price increase in natural gas. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said price hikes would likely be around $350-370 per cubic meter. Turkey is currently purchasing Russian gas at $400 per cubic meter.

Pamir points out that there are structural problems with Iranian gas exports. "The pipelines are not ready to transfer large amounts of natural gas from Iran," he says, adding, "The development of infrastructure was prevented by the US." He also noted that the gas sold by Iran is partially coming from Turkmenistan's Körpece-Kurtköy line. "Iran's 111 billion cubic meters of production barely meets its internal consumption," Pamir notes.

Algeria, Nigeria not a remedy to Turkey's gas needs The only viable and long-term solution for Turkey's energy needs is development of a Turkmen gas pipeline to Turkey. Iran objects to such a pipeline as it will negatively impact the Iranian role. The unresolved issues between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan prevent such a line from crossing through Azerbaijan. Interestingly, both countries are selling cheap Turkmen gas to Turkey by marking up prices.

Analysts have advised the Turkish government to keep a cool head in relations with Russia and not to openly side with the US and the West against Russian interests. Pamir reiterated that there aren't any problems in the Black Sea with

Russia and as such Turkey is exploring for natural gas and fuel under the sea.

Pamir does not expect Russia to halt the flow of gas as it produces substantial revenue for Moscow. "But when push comes to shove, they may not act rationally and may use energy as a tool to threaten Turkey," he says.

Increasing the amount of LPG, which is 5-6 billion cubic meters at the moment, being imported from Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria is not an option. Even if Turkey could increase the purchased amount, it does not have any place to store this gas. According to experts the natural gas reserves beneath Lake Tuz will not be in service for another 10 years. Even though the total capacity of the natural gas reserves in Tekirdað and the Sea of Marmara Sea is 5 billion cubic meters, according to official numbers, in reality, this number is no greater than 2 billion cubic meters.

Though the price that Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom applied to Turkey and European countries was $256, this number exceeded $300 in the second half of 2008. This figure is expected to reach $400 in 2009.

The price of gas that Turkey purchases from Russia is determined according to a gas purchase agreement, which is kept in the deposit boxes of the Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAÞ).

According to the agreement, the price of gas that Turkey buys from Russia will be kept secret from other countries. One article of the agreement states that if another country learns the price of gas sold to Turkey, the country that divulged the price will have to pay damages to the other country.

However, Russia had said the price of gas it was selling to Turkey was $260 during the natural gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine. BOTAÞ had been angered by this action, and Russia had said it had only divulged the figure in order to convince Ukraine, which was buying gas from Russia for $110, to buy gas for $230.

If the tension between Russia and Georgia turns into an international crisis and the instability in the Caucasus becomes permanent, Turkey will be the most affected by these developments. The market watchers are worried that oil prices, which fell below $120 recently, will increase to new highs if the tension in the Caucasus turns into a USRussia crisis. Many observers emphasize that even an explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline can affect world oil prices and worry that the tension in the Caucasus and the Black Sea region could do permanent damage to the oil market.

According to political scientist and foreign policy expert Hikmet Aydýn, the tension in the Caucasus will bring about a new Yalta Conference, which was the meeting that ended World War II. Aydýn thinks Russia, which earns a lot of money from gas and oil sales, will not cut gas sales, adding however, that if Russia calls on its citizens not to go to Turkey for their vacations, this would seriously hurt the Turkish economy. Aydýn also argues that former Prime Minister Yýlmaz, who made Turkey dependent on Russia in terms of energy with the Blue Stream Agreement, should be tried for treason.

"The US cannot accept China as a competitor as China has a strong economy and has nuclear weapons. However, the US found a partner similar to itself in order to prevent China from becoming even more competitive. This partner is the US' former rival, Russia, which has a bad economy but is a nuclear power. Enmity is cooperation at the same time. This step is taken not to let other rivals [China or India] compete against them. They are following a strategy in order not to let other countries struggle in the same league with them. They do not want a big enemy.

Russia will never launch a stupid rivalry with Turkey.

Russia's main problem is not with Turkey. Russia's headache is Ukraine. Russia wants to tell the US that if you take Ukraine from my area of influence, then I will leave you a weakened Turkey," says Aydýn.

PHOTO

contýnued from page 1 The Cabinet meeting to be held today, presided over by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, is expected to tackle the issue of imposing sanctions on Russian goods.

Analysts caution, however, that there is not much Turkey can do to Russia. Energy expert Necdet Pamir likens the fight between Turkey and Russia as a toothpick fighting with a baseball bat. He says placing sanctions on Russia at this juncture is ill conceived and likely to backfire. He blames former Prime Minister Mesut Yýlmaz, who signed the Blue Stream agreement with Russia, for making Turkey dependent on Russian gas. At the time, Yýlmaz accused people who voiced criticism of the deal of being traitors.

In the past Russia has used its energy resources to pressure neighboring countries. In 2006, Russia hiked its natural gas price to Georgia from $110 per cubic meter to $230, putting Georgians in a very difficult position. With the help of Turkey, which allocated 800 million cubic meters it bought from Azerbaijan to Georgia, the Tbilisi government was able to cope with the situation.

Whether the gas flow from Russia to Turkey is affected or not, the price increases in gas and fuel oil alone will cost the Turkish economy a substantial sum. The Energy Ministry has already prepared an emergency plan for this winter in case there is a halt in Russian gas or dramatic increases in energy prices.

Turkey considers resources in Azerbaijan and Iran as alternatives to Russian natural gas to meet its energy needs. Pamir argues that the Azerbaijan alternative is not realistic. Pamir explains that "Azerbaijan produces 11 billion cubic meters of gas yearly and consumes nearly as much. What's more, Georgians will also likely put another demand on Azerbaijan now that relations with Russia are in crisis." Turkey probably has no chance of obtaining Azeri gas this year, adds Pamir.

The Iranian option does not seem so promising,

CÝHAN

Cold winter fear grips Turkey

Özat: I felt better upon hearing our team won Ümit Özat, the captain of the FC Cologne soccer team who was taken to a hospital in Karlsruhe after his collapse on the field in the 27th minute of the game between Karlsruhe and Cologne, has been discharged following initial tests. Özat headed to his home in Cologne, along with his wife and kids.

Speaking to the press in Cologne, Özat said he was happy with being home. Stressing that he has been feeling tired since the game, Özat also said: "When I got the news that our team won, I felt relief. I am better now."

Noting that nothing serious came up in the tests done so far, Özat added that a few more tests would be run for a clearer diagnosis. Özat thanked those who called because of his condition and further said: "First of all, I would like to thank Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan. He called me, the national team coach, the president of my former club and my close friends. I am pleased with their close consideration and attention which increased my motivation." Özat also recalled that his physician in the former club presented the EKGs of the last eight years that indicate nothing serious about any probable heart failure.

Özat speaks about the moment of collapse

PHOTO

contýnued from page 1 Kýlýç was assigned a seat next to retired statesmen at a military ceremony on Aug. 28 in which former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt handed over his post to Gen. Ýlker Baþbuð, though he was supposed to take the seventh place in the protocol list. Kýlýç did not conceal his frustration and said he felt the role of the judiciary and the Constitutional Court was undervalued.

"I was given a phone call from the General Staff and was offered apologies. They said they would fix the protocol mistake. I will send notices to all institutions in Ankara in the name of the Constitutional Court and request that no similar mistakes are ma<de," he later said.

The Constitutional Court president is seventh on the protocol list. He is preceded by the president, parliament speaker, prime minister, chief of general staff, leader of the main opposition party and former presidents. However, the protocol list is subject to frequent violations.

Many democratic nations, on the other hand, regard highly top judges who lead the country's prominent courts and place them on one of the highest places in the protocol list. In contrast to Turkey, the chief of general staff is in the lower echelon of the list in the order of dignitaries in many European countries and the United States.

In the US, the chief justice places fourth, right after the speaker of the House of Representatives.

The place of the joint chiefs of staff, on the other hand, occupies the 48th place in the protocol -even after force commanders, who occupy the 42nd place. Retired justices, cabinet ministers,

AA

Victory Day celebrations bring protocol debates back to agenda

Constitutional Court President Haþim Kýlýç (L) was assigned a seat next to retired statesmen at a military ceremony on Aug. 28, though he was supposed to take the seventh place in the protocol list. members of Congress, former presidents, their wives and many other dignitaries come before generals in the order of the US list.

Many European countries show a similar, yet slightly different, order. In Italy, the president of the Constitutional Court sits in fifth place, right after the prime minister. The chief of defense staff sits in 25th place in the protocol list. In France, the chief of staff of the armies is

17th while the president of the Constitutional Council is placed eighth. In Germany, the president of the Federal Constitutional Court occupies fifth place, right after the president of the federal council, bundesratspräsident. In Spain, excluding the royal family, the chairperson of the Constitutional Court comes fourth in the order, preceded by the president of the senate.

The chief of defense forces is 33rd.

In Australia, the chief of defense forces is assigned seat number 23 while the chief justice of Australia is given sixth place. In Israel, the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces occupies seventh place, right after the chief rabbis.

Justices of the Supreme Court of Israel are given fifth place. In India, top judges are honored at 10th place in the order while the chief of staff is given a place in row 15. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman

Turkish hacker had ambitious plans, police discover SEDAT GÜNEÇ ANKARA

The world's number two hacker, Ercan Fýndýkoðlu, who has proven quite a nuisance for many US banks, was about to empty the bank accounts of another 1 million people had he not been apprehended, the police have said. Although sentenced to up to 200 years in the US, he will be sentenced to only two or three years in Turkey.

Fýndýkoðlu was taken into custody by the police after a four-year chase by the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau. When his computer's password was cracked, the police found that he was in possession of credit card information for

1 million people. One file alone contained the account information for 50,000 US citizens.

The investigation, codenamed Virtual Earthquake, targeted Metin C. and Mehmet Ali M., who acted as couriers for Fýndýkoðlu and had considerable wealth as well. The police secretly recorded how Metin C. and Mehmet Ali M. withdrew money from ATMs using replicated credit cards. Metin C. used his share to buy a luxury yacht, named "Drunk," worth 150,000 euros, while Mehmet Ali C. purchased a sports BMW motorcycle for $100,000. The police also found that the couriers participated in the grand yacht race held in Bodrum on May 4-8, 2008,

with this yacht.

Phone calls by the suspects revealed interesting details. In one phone call, Mehmet Ali M. was too lazy to take a bag containing $400,000 to his house on the second floor, but threw it onto the balcony. Then, he called his mother and said: "Mom, I threw a bag onto the balcony. I will come and pick it up tomorrow."

Fýndýkoðlu replaced a Lexus he bought last year from Dubai, saying that its white leather seats tended to become dirty too quickly. The hacker then bought a Range Rover jeep worth $120,000 to replace the Lexus.

US courts have sentenced Fýndýkoðlu several

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times, with sentences totaling 200 years, for the offenses he committed. Last year, the FBI found that Fýndýkoðlu had accounts at five banks in the US and that money in these accounts was seized under anti-money laundering legislation.

Fýndýkoðlu was planning to make fresh investments in Turkey prior to being apprehended.

He bought four apartments in Ýstanbul's upscale Niþantaþý neighborhood, a villa worth $500,000 in Bodrum and an apartment bloc in Kastamonu, in addition to a Range Rover jeep for his brother, Engin, and spouse, Dilek. He was planning to buy two passenger buses for his brother and set up an animal breeding farm in Kastamonu.

Responding to a question from the press, Özat spoke about the moment of his collapse. "I moved forward in position. I began to run quickly. While returning, I felt dizziness like any normal person and I felt my blood pressure drop. I don't remember the rest. The next thing I know I was in the locker room. I said I wanted to continue. Somebody took off the band on my arm, saying that I could not continue. This could be associated with the stress we had because he had only one point in two games. My doctors said some other factors like stress, dehydration and low blood pressure might have played a role in my collapse. We will find out the real factor after a few tests, which will be completed soon."

Asked whether the pounds he dropped over the summer could be the reason, Özat said: "Some say I dropped weight too early because my age was not suitable for this. I lost seven kilograms over the summer. We exercised heavily in summer. Nothing happened. A few friends of mine in Karlsruhe told me that they had such problems; but interestingly, this happened to me on the field."

Noting that he would like to become healthy again, Özat further said: "I like soccer a lot. It is my life. I will make my final decision after the tests. I am waiting for the test results.

Like I said before, I love FC Cologne. I would like to end my soccer career here. My decision will be shaped by my parents and family. We will make the best decision collectively.

Soccer is the second most important thing in my life after my family. I am 32 years old. My kids and wife wanted me to quit soccer and become a trainer; this was their initial reaction. Of course their opinion is important to me, but I would like to become healthy again and join my friends." Özat thanked the press and subsequently excused himself, saying he was tired and needed some rest. Ýstanbul/Cologne Today's Zaman

Paralympics team meets with celebrity supporters Turkey will participate in the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing with 16 athletes, including eight women, with athletes of the Turkish National Paralympic Team meeting yesterday with their celebrity supporters at a press conference at The Plaza Hotel in Ýstanbul ahead of their departure.

Sport Federation for the Physically Disabled President Yavuz Kocaömer said they expect to win multiple medals at 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. "We participated with one athlete in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics and with eight athletes in the 2004 Athens Paralympics. Our goal was to attend with 20 athletes in the 2008 Beijing Games, but because of the change of the quotas, 16 Turkish athletes will compete at the games. Now we plan to take 50 athletes to the 2012 London Paralympics, if nothing gets in our way," Kocaömer said.

When asked about the obstacles, he said: "We want equality. The Turkish community must believe that the disabled can do sports. The education ministers and state ministers of the last 20 years who are responsible for sports are to blame for the failure. Government officials should value sporting activities." He thanked the General Director of Youth and Sports Mehmet Atalay for his support.

All of the members of the National Paralympics Team, except the archers, were present at the conference. Seventeen celebrities were given plaques for their support of the Turkish National Paralympic Team, including actors, actresses, journalists, artists and athletes. Judo athlete Duygu Çete was introduced as the first visually impaired person to do judo. She said it is great to feel like a role model for all the disabled and inspire them.

President Abdullah Gül will receive the National Paralympic Team tomorrow at the presidential residence in Çankaya. The Paralympic Summer Games will see 4,150 athletes from 145 states gather in Beijing. The Games will be held at the Beijing National Stadium from Sept. 6 to 17. The Paralympics have been held following the Olympic Games since 1952. Abdullah Ünal Ýstanbul

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18 TODAY’S ZAMAN

M O N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 , 2 0 0 8

TODAY’S LEARNING TIME QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths.

No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.” MARK TWAIN

OSMAN TURHAN

elementary READING

Annette Kellerman

ILLUSTRATIONS

Annette Kellerman was born in Australia in 1887.

For many years she was a very sick child. She had polio and could not walk easily. She had to wear metal supports on her legs to help her stand up on her own. To make her legs stronger her mother took her for swimming lessons every week.

Swimming made her legs so strong that when she was 15 she was able to throw away her supports.

Her family was poor so she got work acting as a mermaid. She wore a long tail and fish swam around her. People paid to come and see her. She traveled around Australia until she was 17 when her father took her to England. But English people did not want to see a mermaid, so her father made her swim down the River Thames. Lots of people came to see her swim.

In 1900 Annette swam in the Paris Olympics and won two gold medals. Next she tried to swim across the English Channel, the sea between England and France. Six other people swam with her – all of them men. The sea was very cold and Annette and the men soon became tired. One by one the other swimmers had to stop. Annette swam on for six hours, but then she, too, had to stop. Nowadays a lot of men and women swim the English Channel every year but Annette was the first woman to try.

In 1915 Annette went to Hollywood and was the star of two films.

Activity: Food Vocabulary

advanced READING

The ups and downs of a relationship - She is frequently missing in action. If there are long periods in which she is unaccounted for, there could be devilish motives behind her behavior.

Whether it is a run to the library, or constantly working late, a missing wife could mean something sinister.

- Strange phone calls. If you notice mysterious phone calls on your bill, or if she tries to hide the phone bill from you, it may be she has a new love interest. Also, if she is spending more time on the computer, and hides the screen with her hands when you walk in, this is a good sign that she is philandering on the internet.

The best way to learn if your wife has “roving eyeballs” is to communicate openly with her. Share your worries about her infidelity, and try to discuss the matter before you go insane with worry. Things aren’t always as bad as they seem!

In all relationships, there are mountains and valleys. Enjoying the high points and persevering through the low ones are what makes a strong bond.

However, when there are too many nadirs, perhaps it may be time to move on. Maybe your personality isn’t right for her. Maybe you aren’t romantic enough. Or funny enough. These might be the reasons for the suddenly sour relationship. Or it may be something else.

Might she be cheating on you? Does her love and concern lie with another man, and no longer with you? How can you tell if she is cheating on you?

- She has a revived interest in her appearance. If she is spending more time in front of a mirror, it could mean she is trying to impress someone else. If she ditches her jeans and faded blouses for something more spiffy, it may be because she is trying to look her best for a new man.

PART 1: Write T for true F for false.

juice / flour / oil / egg

/

Paragraph 1 ……..

Paragraph 2 …….

tomatoes

Choose the correct word from above complete the sentences.

1. Fannie needs some _____________________ to make the cake.

2. I only have 2 _______________________ for the salad.

3. We didn’t have any ________________________ for the party.

4. Jeff needs some ___________________________ to make the pasta.

5. I usually eat a(n) ____________________________ for breakfast.

Paragraph 3 …….

Paragraph 4 ……

A sick girl whom swimming helped.

Annette Kellerman worked as a mermaid and went to England where she swam.

Annette moved to Paris and lived there for a long time.

Ms. Kellerman became famous in films.

PART 2: Match words/phrases to a similar meaning 1. mermaid ___ 2. sick ___ 3. on her own ___ 4. paid ___

a. not well b. gave money c. half woman, half fish d. without help

ýntermedýate READING

George Orwell George Orwell was the pseudonym of British author Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903–21 January 1950). He is among the most widely admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century, as a political and cultural commentator. However, he is best known for two novels he wrote in the late 1940s, the political allegory Animal Farm and Nineteen EightyFour. In Nineteen Eighty-Four. He described a totalitarian dystopia so clearly that the adjective 'Orwellian' is now commonly used to describe totalitarian mechanisms of thought-control.

Eric Blair was born in Motihari, Bengal, in the then British Colony of India, in 1903. During most of his career Orwell was best known for his journalism, both in the British press and in books of reportage such as Homage to Catalonia (describing his experiences during the Spanish Civil War), Down and Out in Paris and London (describing a period of poverty in these cities), and The Road to Wigan Pier (which described the living conditions of poor miners in northern

England). According to Newsweek, Orwell "was the finest journalist of his day and the foremost architect of the English essay since Hazlitt."

Contemporary readers know Orwell as a novelist, particularly with his profoundly successful works Animal Farm and Nineteen EightyFour. Animal Farm is an allegory of the corruption of the socialist ideals of the Russian Revolution by Stalinism, and the latter is Orwell's oracular vision of the results of totalitarianism. In this high-skilled work, he describes a totalitarian dystopia very vividly.

Orwell had returned from Catalonia a staunch anti-Stalinist and anti-

Communist, but he remained to the end a man of the left and, he describes his line as a 'democratic socialist'.

Orwell is also known for his discernments about the political implications of the use of language. In the essay "Politics and the English Language", he denounces the effects of cliché, bureaucratic euphemism, and academic jargon on literary styles, and ultimately on thought itself.

Orwell's concern over the power of language to shape reality is also reflected in his invention of ‘Newspeak’, the official language of the imaginary country of Oceania in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ‘Newspeak’ is a variant of English in which vocabulary is strictly limited by government decree. The goal is to make it increasingly difficult to express ideas that contradict the official line - with the final aim of making it impossible even to conceive such ideas. (cf. SapirWhorf Hypothesis). A number of words and phrases that Orwell embedded in Nineteen Eighty-Four have entered the standard vocabulary, such as "memory hole," "Big Brother," "Room 101," "doublethink," "thought police," and "newspeak."

Activity: Relative Pronouns who

/

which

/

when

/

where

/

PART 1: Vocabulary: Match the words with appropriate definitions.

Reading: Vocabulary Exercise journalist revolution dystopia jargon totalitarianism a. a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator : ________ b. reporter, one who writes for a newspaper or magazine : __________ c. overthrow of the government, with a total or radical change : ___________ d. words used by a specific group or profession : ____________ e. an imaginary place where everything is as bad as possible : ___________

PART 2: Are the following statements true(T) or false(F)?

1. George Orwell is a famous essayist and journalist. __ 2. Orwell satirizes Stalinism in his work Animal Farm. __ 3. In his essay ‘’Politics and the English Language’’, he states the importance of euphemism in bureaucracy. __

whose

Use the suitable relative pronoun to complete the sentences.

1. I asked the woman _____________ cousin was getting married to the wedding.

2. Allen’s Halloween party ______________ is his first party in five years is at the Holiday Inn.

4. ‘Newspeak’ is a dialect of English Language that was spoken in a region in United Kingdom, called Oceania. __

3. Christmas is the time ______________ people like to get together and exchange gifts.

4. Ralph’s parent’s 50th anniversary party is at the restaurant __________ they had their first anniversary party.

5. That man _______________ is my best friend is getting divorced tomorrow.

VOCABULARY Must Have TOEFL Words circulate (verb) To move throughout an area or group; to move along a somewhat circular route The gossip circulated quickly through the small town.

Blood circulates more quickly during physical exercise.

Usage tips: Circulate is often followed by through.

Parts of speech: circulation (noun) corrode (verb) To be slowly weakened by chemical reactions Sitting in salt water, the old coins corroded and became very easy to break.

Usage tips: A familiar kind of corrosion produces rust, the reddish coating on iron or steel that has been exposed to air and water.

Parts of speech: corrosion (noun) derive (verb) To come from, usually through a long, slow process

The Cyrillic alphabet was derived from the Greek alphabet.

Usage tips: Derive is often followed by from.

Parts of speech: derivation (noun), derivative (adjective) detection (noun) Discovering something that cannot easily be found With new medical technology, the detection of cancer is much easier nowadays.

Usage tips: Detection is often followed by an of phrase.

Parts of speech: detect (verb), detectable (adjective) expeditiously (adverb) Quickly and efficiently Using carrier pigeons, the military commanders exchanged messages expeditiously.

Parts of speech: expedite (verb), expedition (noun), expeditious (adjective)

New Meanings for Old Words Acupuncture (noun) a jab well done.

Adult (noun) a person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

5. The words and expressions which Orwell invented and used in his novels entered English jargon. __

Pun of the Day The pun is the ultimate word play. It forms the basis of a large percentage of the jokes we hear every day.

A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was a nurse said 'No change yet'.

Popular Casual Expressions Alky: An alcoholic.

I've never seen him sober; I think he's an alky.

Most Often Misspelled Words In English daiquiri Don't make yourself another daiquiri until you learn how to spell this funny word-the name of a Cuban village. definite (ly) This word definitely sounds as though it ends only on -it, but it carries a silent "e" everywhere it goes.

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Fill in the blanks with the correct letters.

1. to persevere _____ a. to divorce b. to argue c. to laugh d. to survive 2. nadir _____ a. low point b. high point c. comfort d. amusement 3. to move on _____ a. to change homes b. to leave c. to progress d. to disapprove 4. sour _____ a. lemony b. inviting c. disagreeable d. amusing 5. revived _____ a. dead b. difficult c. boring d. restored 6. to ditch _____ a. to throw away b. to buy c. to wash d. to dye 7. spiffy _____ a. expensive b. clean c. fashionable d. timely 8. devilish _____ a. evil b. horrible c. red d. naughty 9. to philander _____ a. to email b. to dally c. to surf d. to read 10. infidelity _____ a. stupidity b. dishonesty c. unfaithfulness d. wealth

Activity: Practice Connecting Sentences Circle the correct answer.

1. Communicating via the internet is quick and free; _____, it can have madly consequences for some.

A. after that

B. for example

C. despite

D. however

2. Teens are aware that danger lurks on internet chatlines; ______, they continue “hot” chats with strangers.

A. next

B. nevertheless

C. likewise

D. in conclusion

3. For example, some people want to first gain the trust of teenage girls; ______, they will try to arrange a meeting.

A. after that

B. however

C. third

D. though

4. _____ warnings by parents and friends, teenage girls are still enticed into meetings with these abhorrent people.

A. Even though

B. Despite the fact

C. In spite of

D. In spite of this

5. People are usually not who they say they are on the internet; ______, a person claiming to be a 23-year-old male college student can be a 55-year-old aimless person sitting in an internet cafe.

A. afterwards

B. on the other hand

C. along with

D. for example

FRIDAY’S ANSWER KEY:

ELEMENTARY: (Part 1) 1.c 2.a 3.d 4.b (Part 2) a.painter b.studied c.showed d.liquid e.dreams f.blood g.melt h.strange i.remember (Activity) 1.d 2.c 3.b 4.e 5.a INTERMEDIATE: (Part 1) 1. a.plot b.sympathy c.trait d.pity e.unique 2.c 3.b (Activity) 1.generous 2.shy 3.reliable 4.jealous 5.lazy 6.friendly ADVANCED: (Part 1) 1.c 2.c 3.a 4.d 5.d 6.d 7.a 8.c 9.a 10.a (Part 2) 1.fix 2.adore 3.departs 4.comprehend 5.Weep (Pop Quiz): (Part 1) 1.arbitrary 2.rate 3.infinitesimal 4.adjust 5.denominator (Part 2) 1.c 2.a 3.e 4.d 5.b

In cooperation with English Time

T19-01-09-08.qxd

31.08.2008

18:43

Page 1

SPORTS

Rossi wins San Marino race, Stoner crashes Valentino Rossi won the San Marino MotoGP on Sunday to move a step closer to the world title after Australian world champion Casey Stoner crashed out of the race early on. The Italian's Yamaha mate Jorge Lorenzo was second, just over three seconds behind the winner, and Toni Elias of Spain finished third on his Ducati. Misano, Reuters

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

SOCCER

BASKETBALL

Efes gets stronger with Mario Kasun Just a few days after the player left his previous team, FC Barcelona, Efes Pilsen has announced the addition of big man Mario Kasun to its squad. Last season, Kasun played 21 Euroleague games with Barca, averaging 9.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in over 17 minutes per game. Kasun made his debut with KK Gorica of the Croatian second division during the 1997-98 season and then signed for KK Zrinjeva until 2001, when he moved to Germany to play with the Cologne 99ers. In the 2002 NBA draft he was picked by the Los Angeles Clippers, but he spent the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons in Germany again with the Skyliners of Frankfurt, taking the German title in the second year. After that, he made his NBA debut with the Orlando Magic but returned to Europe for the 200607 season to sign with FC Barcelona, where he stayed for two seasons. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman

BASKETBALL

Turkey becomes Efes World Cup 2008 champion Host Turkey beat gutsy and gritty Bosnia and Herzegovina 76-70 in the final Efes World Cup 2008 tournament that was played in Konya on Saturday evening. The "12 Giant Men," as the Turkish team is called, had earlier beaten Portugal 75-68 to earn a ticket to the final. In the opening match on Friday the 12 Giant Men bashed Britain 82-58. In the thrilling battle for third place Britain beat Portugal by the slightest of margins -- 80-79. Konya Today's Zaman

OKAN UDO BASSEY ÝSTANBUL

The Fenerbahçe Yellow Canaries got revenge for their 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Ýstanbul Büyükþehir Belediyespor in the opening match of the Turkcell Super League last season after winning by the same score at Ýstanbul's Sükrü Saraçoðlu Stadium on Saturday night.

Old scores settled, yes, but how? That the Canaries won their second match of the 200809 season on Saturday because Ýstanbul Büyükþehir played with only nine men, in a way, reduces the significance of their vengeance. The Canaries, the "European conquerors," who qualified on Wednesday for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League proper, were the pre-match favorites and therefore were expected to completely dominate Ýstanbul Büyükþehir.

But that was far from being the case when referee Süleyman Abay blew the whistle for kickoff at exactly 9 p.m. Apart from some tantalizing Fener moments in the first 10 minutes, the two teams seemed equally matched. And even after Ýstanbul Belediyespor was reduced to 10 men in the 30th minute, when defender Metin Depe was red-carded for bringing down goal-bound Spanish striker Daniel Güiza, the Canaries still could not gain the upper hand.

As so the dull and dreary first-half ended exactly the way it started -- 0-0.

Nothing changed immediately after the break, and the game turned into a ding-dong affair, with both sides trying to outwit each other with long passes. The turning point, though, was in the 47th minute when visiting Ýstanbul Büyükþehir was reduced to nine men, after striker Serhat Gülpýnar was sent off for a second bookable offense following a foul on Fener's Uruguay defender Diego Lugano.

Thereafter Ýstanbul Büyükþehir collapsed literally like a house of cards. The Canaries, exploiting the two-man advantage, took the game to their opponents. This yielded dividends in the 52nd when winger Kazým Kazým put Fener ahead after a fine solo effort from the left flank. Star striker Semih Þentürk sealed the score nine minutes later, heading in a header pass from Güiza. All credit to the Canaries: Roberto Carlos, Guiza and Uður Boral all missed from close range -- but in this sport, near misses do not count as goals.

Nevertheless the Canaries got their first domestic league victory of the new season having lost 1-0 at Antep the weekend before last.

Spanish goal king Güiza, paraded as the best scorer in Europe, again failed to find the

AP

Schalke shook off its Champions League disappointment to beat VfL Bochum 1-0 on Saturday and take the lead in the Bundesliga on goal difference. Hamburg and Borussia Dortmund both won on the road to join Schalke on seven points. Hamburg rallied from a two-goal deficit to win 4-2 at Arminia Bielefeld and Dortmund edged Energie Cottbus 1-0. Hoffenheim, the only team to win its first two matches, lost at Bayer Leverkusen 5-2. Both now have six points.

Werder Bremen, which finished runner-up last season to Bayern Munich, lost 3-2 at promoted Borussia Moenchengladbach and is still without a win after three games. “We played without passion, it was a real setback,” Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said. Frankfurt AP

Whether it was match-weariness, fatigue or heat and humidity -- or a combination of all of these -- the insipid performance against Ýstanbul Büyükþehir was not worthy of the 'Europe conquering' Fener Yellow Canaries

Kei Nishikori

Star striker Semih Þentürk (above) is being hugged by co-striker Dani Güiza (No. 14) after Semih scored the second goal for the Fener Yellow Canaries in their 2-0 league victory over Ýstanbul Büyükþehir Belediyespor. net. And his master and mentor, septuagenarian coach Luis Aragones, came to his defense. "Like any great striker, Güiza needs time," he said in the post-match press conference. But the big question is: How long can the demanding Fener fans wait?

Whether it was match-weariness, fatigue or heat and humidity -- or a combination of all of these -- Saturday's insipid performance was not worthy of the "Europe conquering" Fener Yellow Canaries.

Elsewhere in the Super League

Gaziantepspor, which had a 1-0 home win over Fenerbahçe in week one, continued its winning ways with a 2-0 away victory over Ankaraspor in the capital. The Ankara side remained pointless having been beaten 2-1 in Trabzon in the opening week.

Sivasspor, last season's sensational side, got its first maximum points with a 2-0 road win over newcomer Kocaelispor. In week one Sivas drew 0-0 at home with Kayserispor while Kocaelispor held visiting Gençlerbirliði 1-1.

Beþiktaþ Black Eagles entertain Konyaspor The Beþiktaþ Black Eagles, fresh from their successful UEFA Cup qualifying campaign, will entertain Konyaspor at Ýstanbul's Ýnönü Stadium this evening in the last match in week two of the 2008-09 Turkcell Super League season.

On Thursday the Eagles crushed Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg 4-0 in the UEFA Cup qualifying, second-leg match on Thursday night to advance 6-1 on aggregate to the next round, where they will be facing Ukraine's Metalist Kharkiv. Hence the Black Eagles are brimming with confidence ahead of this evening's clash against Konya.

Real Madrid reacted angrily on Sunday to Robinho's renewed calls for them to stop blocking his move to Chelsea, hitting out at the player and the Premier League club.

The Spanish champions' statement came swiftly after the Brazil forward Robinho held a news conference in a Madrid hotel to state his case again, with little over 24 hours remaining before the end of the transfer window.

“The club refers to an earlier statement on this matter, when it said if the player's final decision was to unilaterally rescind his contract, we would have no option but to accept it,” Real said on their website (www.realmadrid.com).

Real deplore the way Chelsea's directors have acted despite knowing perfectly well the decision not to sell the player, making statements and even going so far as to sell shirts with the player's name on through their official website.

Earlier, Robinho spoke at a chaotic news conference, saying: “The situation has not changed. I want to leave Real and play for Chelsea. I am only thinking of Chelsea and want to play there. Since May I have been trying to renew my contract but they didn't want to know because they were so sure of signing Cristiano Ronaldo.

Now they haven't signed anyone they don't want me to go.” Madrid Reuters

PHOTO

SOCCER

Schalke, Hamburg and Dortmund take the lead

Canaries get sweet revenge over Ýstanbul Büyükþehir, but how?

AYTEN KAYA

Turkey's first away match will be against Armenia on Saturday in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, followed by a home game against Belgium on Sept.

10. Turkey coach Fatih Terim has named a 28man national squad for the match against Armenia and the match with Belgium. Turkey will also play against Estonia, Bosnia and Spain in Group 5. The squad is a follows: Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe), Serdar Kulbilge (Kocaelispor), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor).

Defenders: Gökhan Gönül, Uður Boral (Fenerbahçe), Servet Cetin, Hakan Kadir Balta (Galatasaray), Gökhan Zan (Beþiktaþ), Mehmet Polat (Gaziantepspor), Ugur Kavuk (Antalyaspor), Caglar Birinci (Denizlispor), Ýbrahim Kas (Getafe).

Midfielders: Kazým Kazým, Emre Belözoðlu (Fenerbahçe), Ayhan Akman, Mehmet Topal, Arda Turan (Galatasaray), Serdar Özkan (Beþiktaþ), Selçuk Ýnan (Trabzonspor), Mehmet Topuz (Kayserispor), Gökdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan), Mehmet Aurelio (Real Betis), Nuri Þahin (Borussia Dortmund), Tuncay Þanlý (Middlesbrough).

Forwards: Semih Þentürk (Fenerbahçe), Gökhan Ünal (Trabzonspor), Halil Altýntop (Schalke 04), Mevlüt Erdinç (Sochaux).

Terim did not call Hamit Altýntop, Nihat Kahveci, Sabri Sarioðlu, Emre Güngör or Caner Erkin because of their injuries. Ýstanbul Today's Zaman

Real lashes out at Robinho and Chelsea

PHOTO

Turkish team ready for Armenia game

Beþiktaþ has one of the best strike forces in the land with the likes of Bobo, Filip Holosko, Mert Nobre (if he is fit to play today) as well as Serdar Özkan. Add Argentine captain-playmaker Matias Delgado to this illustrious list and there is hardly any defense in the land the rampaging Eagles cannot tear apart.

But the same cannot be said of the Eagles' defense, which at times leaks like a sieve. No wonder they had to fight back from two goals down to beat newcomer Antalyaspor 3-2 away in week one.

Beþiktaþ coach Ertuðrul Saðlam must have fixed

CM Y K

that leak against the Bosnians and so the Eagles won big on Thursday without conceding any goals.

Visiting Konyaspor is also in an upbeat mood after a 3-2 home victory over Ankaragücü in week one.

Konya will be seeking its second victory in as many matches, or at least a draw, and therefore could prove a hard nut for the Eagles to crack. Kickoff is at 9 p.m. and the referee will be Selçuk Dereli. Okan Udo Bassey Ýstanbul

Live on LÝG TV 21.00: Beþiktaþ vs. Konyaspor

Teenager Kei Nishikori steals show Japanese outsider Kei Nishikori stole the spotlight on another day of shocks at the US Open on Saturday, while Venus and Serena Williams rolled towards a quarterfinal showdown at Flushing Meadows.

Fourth seed David Ferrer was left a punched out wreck as he went down 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 following an inspired performance by Nishikori.

He will next face rising Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, who tamed French 16th seed Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 3-6, 6-3.

Rafael Nadal can expect an easy ride into the semifinals after his draw opened up following the defeats of seventh seed David Nalbandian, ninth seed James Blake and 14th seed Ivo Karlovic.

Argentina's Nalbandian was ousted by 32nd seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 6-2 and hardserving Karlovic was beaten 7-6, 7-6, 6-2 by American Sam Querrey.

Mardy Fish completed a bad night for the seeds when he trampled over fellow American Blake 6-3, 6-3, 7-6.

World number one and Wimbledon champion Nadal, who will not face a top 30 player until at least the semi-finals, blasted into the fourth round by grinding down Serbian Viktor Troicki 64, 6-3, 6-0. New York Reuters and AP

T20-01-09-08.qxd

31.08.2008

15:50

Page 1

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