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Alevis say they will apply to the Socialist International for the CHP’s exemption from the organization
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Demirta: If government sends the right message, we guarantee that violence will end within 3 months
Okur-less Utah Jazz subdue Hedo’s Raptors
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page07 Civil servants to go on strike on Nov. 25 DARK PLAN AGAINST MINORITIES
INJUSTICE
Junta planned to dscredt AK Party wth non-Muslm assassnatons
E. BARI ALTINTA, STANBUL
A CD seized in the office of retired Maj. Levent Bekta, an Ergenekon suspect, revealed that a junta nested within the Naval Forces Command detailed a plan, called the Cage Operation Action Plan, to assassinate prominent non-Muslim figures and put the blame for the killings on the governing AK Party
‘CAGE ACTION PLAN’ PUT INTO OPERATION IN KURTULU, ADALAR
A devious plan by a group of members of the Naval Forces Command to intimidate the country's non-Muslim population by assassinating some of their prominent figures, and in this way undermine the power of the ruling party, had been put into operation, recent incidents in stanbul's Kurtulu neighborhood and Adalar district suggest. The plan was exposed at a police raid on the office of retired Maj. Levent Bekta as part of a probe launched after the discovery of a large arms cache in the Poyrazköy district in April. By EMNE DOLMACI CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
Ergenekon
ERGENEKON PROBE EXPOSES SURVEILLANCE OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Balbay of hope for 17 defendant 06 beacon denies accusations exiled writers Democratic move
The Cumhuriyet daily's Ankara representative, Mustafa Balbay, who is accused of “inciting the people to armed revolt against the government” as a member of Ergenekon, has denied all charges directed against him.
Kurdish intellectuals and artists forced to leave Turkey in the aftermath of the country's 1980 coup d'état are hopeful that the AK Party government's democratization initiative will pave the way for their return.
Featuring news and articles from
An anti-democratic formation within the Naval Forces Command planned to destroy the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) by assassinating prominent non-Muslim figures in Turkey and putting the blame for the killings on the party, Taraf daily reported in its headline story yesterday. The plan was detailed in a CD seized in the office of retired Maj. Levent Bekta, who was arrested in April for suspected links to a large cache of munitions unearthed during excavations on land owned by the stek Foundation in stanbul's Poyrazköy district. That discovery came as part of the investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine gang whose suspected members are currently standing trial on charges of having plotted to overthrow the government. Police raided Bekta's office shortly after the discovery and seized a large number of documents and CDs. A technical analysis showed that a sinister plan against the country's non-Muslim population was detailed in one of the CDs, called the “Cage Operation Action Plan.” The plan was signed by Lt. Col. Ercan Kireçtepe and was planned to be put into operation by a team of 41 members of the Naval Forces Command. The hoped-for result from the assassinations of prominent non-Muslim figures and propaganda and would be an increase in internal and external pressure on the AK Party, leading to its demise in politics, according to the plan. The action plan would be implemented to lend support to the suspects arrested so far as part of the Ergenekon investigation; render ineffective socalled psychological warfare waged by the AK Party and its supporters (against the military); change the course of the agenda in Turkey; boost the morale of the junta within the Naval Forces Command; and win the appreciation and support of the public. The blame for each of the assassinations by the junta would be put on the AK Party. CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
The investigation into an alleged illegal network known as Ergenekon has revealed that a civilian who was formerly employed by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had collected detailed information on Turkey's ethnic Armenian population. Ergenekon investigators found that Fatma Cengiz, who is currently a suspect in the case against Ergenekon, collected various dossiers regarding the Armenian community in Turkey. The file included a list of subscribers to the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos. By BÜRA ERDAL CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
meeting 17 Ergenekon at US Congress Ar sponsors pro-
conference
The stanbul Stock Exchange's (MKB) benchmark index (MKB-100) has taken a three-day-long dive due to political developments within Turkey, a 6.4 percent dip that has scared investors into thinking that this might be a sign of a double-dip recession. The index, which hit 51,380.65 in the last week of October, setting a three-month high, had plunged to 46,244.43 at the end of the first session of trading yesterday. According to experts this plunge has its roots in political occurrences within Turkey, especially the recent introduction of the democratic initiative in Parliament and the rumored possibility of a second closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Recent warnings from experts that the global recession could be a double-dip recession and a warning from Templeton Emerging Markets Fund President Mark Mobius that the MKB might fall in the short run due to “necessary corrections” led to the MKB's decline to a two-month low on Thursday. According to Ersagun imek from Tera Stock Brokers "increasing political risks are adding to the pessimism" in the markets. CONTINUED ON PAGE 07
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan and Chief of General Staff Gen. lker Babu held their weekly meeting at the Prime Ministry yesterday. The meeting lasted for one hour and 35 minutes. SEE STORY ON PAGE 17
reform
Second closure case rumors lead to massive MKB drop
trial
ECONOMY
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A hotline set up for Turkish citizens to report difficulties and perceived injustices faced in the process of acquiring Schengen visas, needed to travel to European Union member countries, has within two days of its establishment already provided significant evidence of the arbitrariness of EU visa officials when it comes to issuing the visas to Turks. The hotline, set up on Nov. 17 as a joint effort of the Economic Development Foundation (KV), the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), received 57 complaints in its first two days of going into service. KV President Haluk Kabaliolu says the complaints will serve to document difficulties faced by what he referred to as “visa victims.” Complaints shared with the hotline include a call from three academics whose invitation to a conference in Greece was declared “invalid” by the Greek Consulate. When their counterparts in Greece resent the invitation, the consulate issued them visas. But the academics missed the first two days of the three-day conference. “Even the professors in Greece were deeply surprised,” the caller said. Another complaint showed that the EU's desire to keep Turkish citizens out might easily be exploited as a means to serve the corrupt ways of petty officials and even extortion. In this case, a businessman from stanbul, G.Y., applied for a Schengen visa to the Belgian Consulate, which redirected him to an intermediary agency. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
TODAY’S ZAMAN, AL ÜNAL
Hotline highlights anti-Turkish practices in EU visa issuance
The Ar Foundation, a civil society organization previously known for its liberal stance and contributions to the normalization of civilianmilitary relations, has organized a conference at the US Congress, criticizing the investigation into Ergenekon.
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02 TODAY’S ZAMAN
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
PRESS REVIEW
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
colu m ns
WORDS OF WISDOM
We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate that Guantánamo will be closed next year.
There is nothing I can give to my people, so I should quit. My decision is clear: I will not run in any elections.
An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.
US President Barack Obama
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Martin Buber
Democratic initiative changing everyone SABAH MAHMUT ÖVÜR The “democratic initiative,” much criticized by opposition forces as being “empty on the inside,” has, since it spilled over into Parliament, begun to shake and change many things in Turkey. Perhaps we are not entirely aware of these changes as we are living amidst them, but the fact is that everything and everyone is undergoing change, from our political institutions to our military, and from the justice system to civil society organizations.Turks are learning more about Kurdish matters, of which they did not much know much. As for the Kurds, they are discussing how to create a shared life for themselves without separating from Turkey.
CROSS READER
pr ess rou n du p AA, HÜSEYN HASKAN
FATMA DL ZIBAK
[email protected]
On Wednesday lawyers registered at the stanbul Bar Association held a demonstration in stanbul’s Taksim Square to protest the alleged wiretapping of the telephones of some members of the judiciary despite statements from Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin dismissing the wiretapping allegations. The lawyers taking to the streets reminded everyone of similar protests in 1997, which led up to the Feb. 28 post-modern coup, and the fact that their past record of silence in the wake of anti-democratic and illegitimate military moves have raised suspicions about their motivation to hold such a demonstration. Sabah’s Nazl Ilcak, who is among the witnesses of the Feb. 28 process, says, “We are faced with an attempt at psychological warfare,” again relying on her experience. She says instead of pursuing the case of Col. Dursun Çiçek, who undersigned a military plot to destroy the government and who was released from jail after he was briey arrested last week, and instead of making an effort to uncover the junta within the military, they point a nger at the government as the perpetrator of wiretapping cases. “In brief, the unarmed forces are at work again. Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçnkaya taking action against the government and some members of the judiciary taking to the streets with the excuse of protesting the ‘illegal wiretapping cases’ have caused me think this way,” says Ilcak. Criticizing the bar associations in Turkey, Star’s Ergun Babahan says bar associations and their heads are among the most respected institutions and people in the world, while it is not possible to say the same thing for the bar associations and their heads in Turkey. In his view, the legal wiretapping of individuals where there is evidence that they committed certain offenses should please bar associations because such a move will maintain justice. Talking about the many shortcomings in Turkey’s judicial system and the anti-democratic and illegal steps taken in the country thus far, Star’s Mehmet Altan nds it strange that the bar associations have not yet taken to the streets to protest these shortcomings, such as the existence of a military council of state in Turkey, which exists nowhere else in the world, a coup-product Constitution, the military violating laws by releasing a memorandum against the government in 2007, etc. “Why did the lawyers march yesterday? To protest the legal wiretapping of some members of the judiciary who have suspected links with the Ergenekon terror organization. This is what I call judicial sensitivity. Well done,” quips Altan.
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The regime had Atatürk lived…
PHOTO
Unarmed forces at work agan
BUGÜN NUH GÖNÜLTA In the days that ultimately led Turkey to the Feb. 28 [1997] process, Hasan Mezarc once said, “Turkey is being directed from the grave.” Following this statement, Mezarc was lynched by the whole Feb. 28 media. But in fact, does the whole ongoing conversation about “Had Atatürk lived…” not prove Mezarc right? Whenever either the ruling administration or the opposition is in trouble, they turn to words, “Had Atatürk lived…” So what sort of regime, what sort of order are we looking at? We have an “If Atatürk were alive now” regime. When Necmettin Erbakan was prime minister, he once asserted that “Atatürk would be a supporter of the National View if he were alive.” The response to these words was supplied by the Hürriyet daily: “If Atatürk were alive, would you really have been able to become prime minister?”
Members of the local Human Rights Council in Silifke, Mersin, yesterday listened to Yörüks (Turkish nomads) who sought their help because they want to leave the mountains before the onset of winter.
Turkish-Armenian normalization: Borders, hearts need to open up! MLLYET HASAN CEMAL
star: When his party decided to defend Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen, who drew widespread criticism last week by defending the violent suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in 1937 in the predominantly Alevi city of Tunceli, Kemal Klçdarolu, CHP parliamentary group deputy chairman, who earlier called on Öymen to resign, changed his mind, reported the daily in its main story yesterday. “I am not disturbed about what happened. I am thinking of resigning [in the wake of Öymen’s resistance]. This issue has been closed,” said Klçdarolu, who is also an Alevi.
radikal:
“Shocking request from the FBI,” the daily said in the headline of its main story yesterday, saying head of US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller,
RIXOS PREMIUM BODRUM
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who had talks with several senior Turkish ofcials during a one-day visit to Ankara on Wednesday, requested the biometric data of all suspected terrorists using land, air and sea transportation in Turkey. He said by sharing the information of these suspects, the US will easily pursue suspected terrorists traveling through Turkey. Ankara rejected the FBI’s request, saying it goes against Turkish and international law.
sabah:
A front-page story in the daily reported yesterday that the prosecution demanded 24 years for Cem Garipolu, who killed and decapitated his girlfriend, Münevver Karabulut, in March, and a life sentence for his father, Nida Garipolu, for helping his son in the murder. Since Cem was a minor when he committed the murder, the prosecution could not demand a life sentence for him, said the daily.
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CMYK
Of course the creation of new diplomatic relations and the opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia are very important. And we need to recognize and commend the “political determination” on this front displayed by both Ankara and Yerevan. But still, this is not enough. As the borders open, hearts, too, must open up. And when this happens, we must move beyond being beholden to all the genocide debates. There is one more point I would like to add on this particular front: I believe the creation of more “shared platforms” with regard to history would work to speed up normalization in relations between both Turkey and Armenia as well as with Turks and Armenians.
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NATIONAL
TODAY’S ZAMAN 03
F R I D A Y, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
STANBUL ANKARA ZMR ANTALYA ADANA ERZURUM EDRNE TRABZON KAYSER
CHAN, ORHAN FIRAT
Jenkns s rght, the emperor really has no clothes
PHOTO
From left to right, the late Mehmet Zahir Korkmaz’s, son, Yusuf, widow, Hamide, and daughter, Fatma. The family is receiving state support thanks to the efforts of President Gül following Korkmaz’s killing in a terrorist attack.
Tommy Hilfiger examines an updated version of the Ottoman kaftan at a textile technology contest at TÜ.
Hilfiger ranks sultan’s kaftan first in fashion design contest ORHAN FIRAT STANBUL
Famous designer Tommy Hilfiger chose a modified version of the kaftan, the traditional garb of the Ottoman sultans, as the winner of inhouse design contest this week at stanbul Technical University’s (TÜ) department of textile technology. Hilfiger selected from among eight finalists Nihan Topalolu’s “Timeless Allure” design as the winner of the competition after confessing to having some difficulties in picking an overall winner. “I want to work with young, intelligent and smart brains. This advances the value of the brand,” Hilfiger said at the award ceremony, adding: “When I first started this job at the age of 18, the point I’ve now reached was just a dream. But I have worked very hard and am very ambitious. This is teamwork. The best thing I did is work with qualified people.” Noting that it was very difficult to choose the best work, Hilfiger stated that he noticed the discipline, teamwork, professionalism and talented academics behind the successful designs. “The work by Nihan Topalolu is really impressive,” he added. Topalolu said that she examined every kaftan model on display at Topkap Palace and created a modified design to give the kaftan a modern appearance. Her prize includes a three-month internship at the offices of Tommy Hilfiger in Amsterdam.
Presidency comes to aid of family struck by terrorism BRAHM OKUR DYARBAKIR
President Abdullah Gül has extended a helping hand to the victims of a provocative attack in Hakkari’s emdinli district four years ago in which taxi driver Mehmet Zahir Korkmaz (29) was killed by a hand grenade thrown at a bookstore while he was walking along the sidewalk in front of it. Upon Gül’s direction, the Hakkari Governor’s Office, the emdinli district governor’s office and a social aid foundation are to coordinate in meeting the needs of Korkmaz’s widow and children. The two children’s educational expenses are being paid and in additional to aid already provided to the family, work is in progress on ensuring that a regular salary be paid to the family and a home bought for them. Widow Hamide Korkmaz has tears in her eyes when she speaks of the attentiveness with which her family is now being treated, saying: “For years there was nobody to help me. I thank the president for standing up for us; may God be pleased with him. I am waiting for my husband’s killers to be dealt the necessary punishment so
that the pain in our hearts can begin to ease.” Fatma Korkmaz, who lost her father when she was 7 years old, says that she has a surprise planned for the president. Currently a fifth grader, Fatma says that for years she has cried every time report cards were sent home at school as all of her friends immediately ran to show their fathers their grades. “I would always cry. When there are parent-teacher conferences, my uncle always comes instead of my father. I would cry all night into the morning every time I got a report card. This time I’m going to take the report card to the president. He’s my godfather now,” she says in appreciation of the aid her family is receiving now. Fatma’s little brother, third-grader Yusuf, says that when he grows up and does his military service, he wants to catch the people who killed his father and bring them to justice. According to Hakkari Governor Muammer Türker, in the first phase of aid after the president sent out a directive to help the Korkmaz family, TL 500 in cash was provided to ensure the children remain in school, and they are continuing to speak with the family to determine their needs.
Karakayal and Ahmet Batur for a period of between six months and five years on charges of helping the suspect evade police. Prosecutors are going to request the imprisonment of Garipolu’s mother, Tülay Makbule Garipolu, as she allegedly destroyed, hid and tampered with evidence. Meanwhile, the Garipolu family’s lawyer, Rezan Özdemir, speaking to NTV, stated that she finds the indictments generally “positive” and added that there should be a debate as to whether the sentences demanded are just or not. “If someone who is over the age of 18 commits such a crime, the sentence is life imprisonment, but since Cem was under 18 he will be sentenced to between 18 and 24 years in prison,” she added, implying that this punishment is the maximum possible under the law. stanbul Today’s Zaman
PHOTO
ined by the stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Karabulut’s decapitated body was found in a bin in Etiler in March. Garipolu surrendered to police in September after more than six months on the run. The indictment demands between 18 and 24 years’ imprisonment for Cem Garipolu on the charge of the premeditated murder of Münevver Karabulut. The penalty was reduced from life imprisonment because he was a minor when the murder took place. If convicted, Cem Garipolu’s father, Mehmet Nida Garipolu, faces aggravated life imprisonment on the charge of taking part in the premeditated murder of Münevver Karabulut. Furthermore, the second indictment seeks the imprisonment of Hayyam Garipolu -- who is the uncle of Cem Garipolu -- Habib Kurt, Mehmet
CHAN, MÜHENNA KAHVEC
Prosecutors: 24 years for Cem Garipolu, life for father Two separate indictments have been prepared against the suspects in the murder of Münevver Karabulut (18), who was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend Cem Garipolu in March of this year at his home in stanbul’s Bahçeehir district. In the first indictment Cem Garipolu, the main suspect in Karabulut’s murder, will be tried at stanbul’s 1st Juvenile Court as he was under 18 years of age at the time of the crime. If found guilty, Garipolu faces between 18 and 24 years in prison. The second indictment, prepared for the other six suspects, was accepted yesterday by the stanbul 7th High Criminal Court, which then sent the file to the stanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to decide which court should hear the case. The indictments were prepared by public prosecutors Faruk Esen Ylmaz and Mustafa Öztürk and were exam-
Cem Garipolu faces 18-24 years in prison if convicted of murder.
CMYK
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[email protected]
PHOTO
Turkey is the guest of honor of an education fair that opened in Paris on Thursday. French National Education Minister Luc Chatel inaugurated the European Education Fair yesterday at the Versailles Exhibition Hall. Turkey is the honorary guest at this year’s fair as part of the ongoing “Season of Turkey in France” activities. Information on Turkey is available to anyone seeking to improve their knowledge of the country or to visit as part of the EU’s ERASMUS student-exchange program. French citizens living and working in Turkey were also present to share their experiences with visitors to the fair, which will be open for four days. Turkish educational institutions were also present to provide information on their programs. The “Season of Turkey” activities began in France at the beginning of July with a Fire of Anatolia dance group show and a concert by Mercan Dede. Turkey will be promoted by over 400 artistic and cultural activities in more than 70 cities in France for nine months. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
KONYA ÇANAKKALE DYARBAKIR SAMSUN BURSA GAZANTEP ESKEHR MALATYA KOCAEL
BÜLENT KENE
TODAY’S ZAMAN, BRAHM OKUR
Turkey guest of honor at French education fair
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I think being a journalist in a foreign country should be like this. Being a journalist in a foreign country, it seems, gives one the right to strip oneself of all journalistic qualications and act like a lawyer, a prosecutor and even a judge in the face of the largest ever investigation and trial in that country. I’m talking about Gareth Jenkins. You may know him as the British journalist who has long worked in Turkey as a journalist. Jenkins gave speeches at a meetings organized by the ARI Foundation, a Washingtonbased extension of the ARI Movement, which was inspired by the ideas of former President Turgut Özal and intended to promote liberalism, individual rights, freedoms and a freemarket economy. Thus, we can conclude that the ARI Movement and its supporters have now concluded that free enterprise, the rule of law, rights and freedoms and democracy can be realized in this country only through the agency of the Ergenekon terrorist organization. This is the logical conclusion one can arrive at seeing how they organized a meeting to spread disinformation. Had it not been so, they would not have exerted any effort to promote the ravings of Jenkins, who had written a report decorated with baseless claims with a view to discredit, dilute and distort the truth about Turkey’s most important legal investigation, apparently acting in line with the instructions he gets from those shadowy structures. Also, they would never afford to sully their reputation, which they built with great labor. In any case, we’re not interested in the ARI Movement, but in Jenkins’ fantasy world and illusions. Sharing his fantasies during a meetings, titled “Between Fact and Fantasy: Turkey’s Ergenekon Investigation” and held in connection with the Ergenekon investigation at the Rayburn House Ofce Building and the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI), Jenkins said: “The emperor has no clothes; the investigation has no clothes. There is no organization called Ergenekon. The US should ask Recep Tayyip Erdoan, ‘What do you think you are doing behind closed doors?’” In connection with the investigation into the Ergenekon terrorist organization, whose involvement in an attack on the Council of State and a bombing of the Cumhuriyet newspaper has been proven and which we are almost sure masterminded the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and the massacre of missionaries in Malatya, Jenkins continued to repeat his famous arguments of pro-Ergenekon circles, as if no assassination or conspiracy plots had surfaced and as if hundreds of weapons and bombs to be used to create chaos in the country had not been seized. Claiming that the people who were detained under the Ergenekon investigation had no common characteristic other than being opponents of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Jenkins maintained that these people were well known to the general public and had important positions, thereby making them unlikely members of such an organization. Despite the fact that the investigation and the trial are still under way, he did not hesitate to issue a judgment as if he were a judge: “Fifteen to 20 of the defendants may be guilty. Fifty to 60 are ultra-nationalist hard-liners, but they have committed no crime. The rest are completely innocent.” Responding to a question, Jenkins was smart enough to note that his life is now under threat due to the report he wrote. There is no sign that Jenkins and his like are in danger, but there are a great many people who have lived under immense threat in this country. In other words, the emperor really has no clothes, but not in the sense Jenkins means. Although he did say “I have lived there for 20 years, and this is the most frightening period I have ever seen,” I think he, too, will concede that we are currently living in a time where unsolved, mysterious political assassi-
nations and cases of social conict are at their lowest level, and that “the most frightening period” was the time when such murders and assassinations were at their peak. Now, let us look at what happened in Turkey as Jenkins was talking nonsense in Washington, and let us read from yesterday’s headline story of the Taraf newspaper, which Jenkins frequently criticized in his speeches. “Prosecutors pursued the Ergenekon’s arsenal uncovered in Poyrazköy and discovered that the junta within the Naval Forces Command prepared the Cage Action Plan in March 2009 in order to nish off the AK Party by using non-Muslims. The plan penned by the Special Operation Forces Command, consisting of a 41-member cell within the Naval Forces Command, was undersigned by Lt. Col. Ercan Kireçtepe, who is under arrest as part of the Ergenekon investigation. According to the ve-stage plan, assassinations will be conducted against non-Muslim minorities living in Turkey and bombs will be detonated in neighborhoods where they live in order to increase internal and external pressure on the AK Party. “According to the plan prepared by Lt. Col. Kireçtepe, these actions will be conducted by active and retired military ofcers of the Naval Forces Command who are under arrest as part of the Ergenekon investigation. The plan clearly shows what ofcer is located in which cell. Twenty-seven military ofcers have reportedly testied to Ergenekon prosecutors in connection with this plan during the last two weeks.” The plan, dated March 2009, under the heading “General,” reads: “A public perception that Turkey’s non-Muslims are being targeted by reactionary groups in the country can be created after operations against Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro, the Zirve Publishing House in Malatya and Hrant Dink. But the AK Party, with support from opposition media, conducted intense propaganda campaigns, saying these incidents were organized by Ergenekon.” The report further emphasizes that in order to reverse the course of events, campaigns will be organized to instill fear among non-Muslims, adding: “In order to lend support by the Special Operations Forces Command to those arrested under the Ergenekon investigation and render useless counter psychological warfare activities of the AK Party and its supporters, and to change the agenda, distract attention, boost the organization’s morale and win public support, fearinstilling campaigns will be conducted against non-Muslims. Black propaganda will suggest these activities are being conducted by the AK Party and its evil supporters.” Part of the most frightening “action” part of the plan said: “Bombings will be arranged in various neighborhoods on islands near stanbul. People who fervently advocate about the rights of minorities will be assassinated. Percussion bombs will be detonated in designated places, such as near the Agos newspaper. Packages that appear to be bombs will be planted in various places, and the police will be notied of them so that they keep busy with this. Bombings will be conducted on the docks of ferries shuttling between stanbul and the islands. Provocative attacks will be conducted against non-Muslim cemeteries. Some of the famous non-Muslim businessmen and/or celebrities will be kidnapped. Arson attacks will hit houses, workplaces and cars belonging to non-Muslims. Similar attacks will be conducted in cities with a considerable non-Muslim population. In coordination with the special plan cell leader, these acts of sabotage, kidnappings, and assassinations will be ascribed to some reactionary organizations.” I now have a simple question for Jenkins: What part of this plan -- which also envisages black propaganda -- do you see yourself in with your report and your speeches?
04 TODAY’S ZAMAN
F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
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A rare rift between traditional allies the United States and Israel over Jewish settlements is apparently encouraging France’s ambitious leader Nicolas Sarkozy to work harder to expand France’s inuence in the Middle East, but the task seems to be a daunting one because of Arab suspicions that he may not be an impartial mediator. Sarkozy, who has aspired to make France a key actor in the Middle East since he came to power in May 2007, is now trying to revive peace talks between Israel and Syria, bring Israeli and Palestinian leaders together and nd a role for Paris in efforts to solve Lebanon’s internal tensions. This month he offered to host an international summit in Paris to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process. Sarkozy rst raised the proposal in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The proposed conference’s participants do not include Turkey, which mediated indirect talks between Syria and Israel until they collapsed because of a deadly offensive by the Israeli military in Gaza, which killed
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Erdoan doubtful about French role
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad does not want French leader Nicolas Sarkozy to mediate talks with Israel. about 1,400 Palestinians in December and January. Sarkozy’s attempts to establish France as a key player in the Middle East are at the expense of Turkey, a country which has a growing reputation for being a credible mediator in the Middle East due to its open criticism of Israel while still maintaining close ties with the US and Europe. Thus, when he attempted to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Syrian President al-Assad
together in Paris earlier this month, al-Assad said France could help the peace efforts by pressuring Israel to return to Turkish-mediated talks. Netanyahu, on the other hand, signaled readiness for a French role in talks with Syria. Even in Lebanon, a former French colony, Paris’ influence over resolving a crisis due the presidential elections and the troubled process of forming a government was limited.
Speaking in Rome on Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan said he did not think alAssad would accept a French role in mediating with Israel. “Now France is trying to take up the role we had,” Erdoan said. “I’m not sure what kind of stance Bashar al-Assad will take, but from what I’ve heard from him, they’re not going to accept something like this.” Erdoan also said Turkey was ready to resume mediating talks between Israel and Syria, but added that Israel does not trust Turkey. Erdoan singled out Netanyahu for failing to trust Ankara, unlike his predecessor Ehud Olmert. “Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert trusted Turkey, but Netanyahu doesn’t trust us. That’s his choice,” he said.
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Robert Mueller, the director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, had talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Wednesday. captured or extradited to Turkey in order to be tried. No one is saying our demands are unfair, but we want action on this.” In December 2005 Mueller visited Turkey to discuss al-Qaeda and PKK-related activities in the country. Since then, bilateral cooperation between the two countries against PKK activities has increased considerably.
Biometric information A news report in the Turkish Radikal daily, meanwhile, said Thursday that Mueller had asked Turkish ofcials to share biometric information of everyone who uses ports and airports in Turkey -- a request that was rejected by Turkish ofcials, according to the report.
While asking for information regarding all suspected passengers’ route, destination and date of travel, Mueller also asked for the collection and sharing of all biometric data of passengers who travel through Turkey as part of counter-terrorism activities. Yet, the Turkish side rejected this request since legislation in Turkey and international treaties to which it is party, including EU legislation with which Turkey is trying to harmonize its laws as a candidate country, is not comfortable with such data collection methods, Radikal said. “We cannot share people’s personal information with other countries just on the grounds of suspicion,” Turkish officials told Mueller, the daily said. In February 2008, the
FBI announced an award of a $1 billion, 10year contract to Lockheed Martin to develop what is expected to be the world’s largest crime-fighting computer database of biometric information, including fingerprints, palm prints, iris patterns and face images. At the time, FBI ofcials said the system would not expand the categories of people whose prints are collected: known criminals, known or suspected terrorists, or foreign visitors to the United States who have been convicted of a crime or an immigration violation. But additional types of biometric data, such as iris scans and face images, will be collected from criminals and terrorists, the ofcials had said. The system has been subject to criticism by privacy experts.
Erdoan’s Parliament speech resonates among Iraqi Kurds HEMIN H. LIHONY SULAIMANIYA
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan’s popularity has been boosted among Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq after a speech he made at Parliament last week in defense of his government’s initiative to expand rights for Turkey’s Kurds. “When I see the premier of Turkey speaking about our sister country’s caring attitude in Parliament, it is similar to the happiness I experienced the day Saddam Hussein fell in Iraq,” said Bahez Kamil, a university student in Sulaimaniya. The government, which vows to address the Kurdish problem through democratic reforms, sought lawmakers’ support for the initiative in a special session in Parliament on Friday. Following speeches from his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and opposition deputies, Erdoan delivered a long address to the lawmakers, in which
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As for the Israeli-Palestinian track, Paris seems to have limited room to maneuver because the US is seen as the only country that can exert inuence over both Israel and the Palestinians. Arab observers say France is not the most popular choice for Palestinians either because of Sarkozy’s perceived bias for Israel. Palestinian group Hamas and some members of the more moderate al-Fatah believe that France cannot be an impartial mediator with Israel.
US assures Turkey of assstance n capturng top PKK leaders Turkey has received significant reassurances from the United States that it will support efforts to capture commanders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who are largely based in northern Iraq and subject to extradition warrants, a top government official has said. Robert Mueller, the director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was in Ankara on Wednesday. He met with Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Ouz Kaan Köksal, the head of the Security General Directorate, during a one-day visit to the Turkish capital. Turkish newspapers suggested on Thursday that Turkish ofcials asked Mueller for US support for the extradition of Murat Karaylan, the head of Kongra-Gel -- another name for the PKK -- and high-ranking PKK members Ali Rza Altun and Zübeyir Aydar. All three were subject last month to a decision of the US Department of the Treasury’s Ofce of Foreign Assets Control which is expected to deal a signicant blow to the nancial resources of the PKK. The US nancial sanctions targeted three senior PKK leaders after designating them narcotics trafckers. “Why should we just ask for three of them? We want all of them,” Deputy Prime Minister Çiçek told Today’s Zaman on Thursday, denying the aforementioned news reports. “America is now our neighbor in Iraq. Iraq is now under US control and expecting such assistance [concerning PKK leaders] is our most natural right since the US is an ally that listed the PKK as a terrorist organization before all other countries in the world. It also stated that it will help us in that,” Çiçek, who also serves as the government’s spokesperson, said. Çiçek ruled out arguments over sending PKK leaders in northern Iraq to a third country. “We told our counterparts that we want all 113 [commanders], not just three of them. Considering that PKK is a terrorist organization and its members are terrorists, we want all of them to either be tried in the country where they are
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Sarkozy’s Middle East aspirations facing hurdles
he gave details about the content of the initiative and urged the skeptical opposition to support it. In his speech, Erdoan tried to frame the debate in an all-inclusive approach mentioning most ethnic groups represented in the country. The initiative doesn’t only aim at solving the Kurdish problem but also aims at addressing other democratic issues in the country, boosting the hopes of many, including religious minorities and ethnic groups in the country. Erdoan’s speech, translated into Kurdish and broadcast live on various local channels in northern Iraq resounded among the Iraqi Kurds. “This brave speech deserved analysis and coverage,” said Arif Qurbani, editor-inchief of the Aso daily newspaper, which covered the issue on its front page. “The bravery of Erdoan should be a lesson for the Iraqi Kurdish leaders to embrace the Turkmens,” Qurbani added. Relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey
deteriorated sharply following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Turkey accused the Kurdish administration of harboring the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which launched attacks on Turkish targets from its bases in northern Iraq, and threatened to declare war if the Kurds attempted to seize control of the disputed city of Kirkuk -- home to a sizable Turkmen population. But tension is now being replaced by a dramatic rapprochement, and the government’s Kurdish initiative is further strengthening the positive trend in ties. In a speech delivered to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament earlier this month, Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani welcomed the progress made in Turkey’s relations with the Kurdish administration and described Turkey’s initiative to solve its decades-long Kurdish issue as “Prime Minister Erdoan’s brave Kurdish peace initia-
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tive.” Barzani further added that the Kurdish authorities will support Turkey in its efforts to end the conflict with the PKK. The relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey reached its “golden era” after the historic visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu to Arbil late last month. During the visit, Davutolu met with Barzani and Barham Salih, the new prime minister of the Kurdish region. Salih’s return to northern Iraq after many years of service in Baghdad is likely to be a further advantage for better ties with Turkey. “He will be an excellent partner for our government’s ‘democratic initiative’,” Turkish journalist Cengiz Çandar said in a recent interview with the Kurdish media. “We should support Turkey and Erdoan’s democratic battle,” Khlaid Suleiman, one of Salih’s advisers, said.
Al-Hakim met with President Gül in stanbul on Wednesday.
Iraqi Shiite leader holds talks in Ankara, stanbul Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) Chairman Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim was in Ankara on Thursday to hold talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan as part of a several-day visit to the country. While in Ankara, Hakim also attended meetings held at several think tanks. Hakim was in stanbul on Wednesday to speak with both President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu. Gül’s meeting with Hakim was an opportunity for the president to once more express that Turkey has been keeping an equal distance from all segments of Iraqi society, the Anatolia news agency reported, citing sources from the president’s ofce. In line with this stance, Turkey attaches great importance to engaging in dialogue with all segments of its neighboring country, Gül told Hakim. Iraq has entered a critical period with its upcoming elections, Gül said, expressing condence that Iraq will emerge from these elections stronger than before. For his part, voicing pleasure over Turkey’s constant support for Iraq, Hakim cited the recent postings of Turkey’s new consul-generals in Mosul and Basra as a sign of the importance attached by Turkey to Iraq. Turkey has so far played a constructive role in Iraq and Iraq wants to see a continuation of this role, Hakim also said. Earlier on Wednesday, following talks with Hakim, Davutolu underlined the significance of the upcoming Parliamentary elections scheduled for January, 2010, in Iraq. Ankara Today’s Zaman
US needs Turkey’s voice in eastern world, says ATC chief Former US National Security Advisor and outgoing American Turkish Council (ATC) Chairman Brent Scowcroft has said that Turkey’s deep knowledge of the eastern world will be useful for its NATO ally, the United States. Earlier this week, Scowcroft, along with Ambassador Richard Armitage -- who will succeed Scowcroft as chairman in January -- had talks in Ankara with senior Turkish ofcials including President Abdullah Gül, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül and Energy Minister Taner Yldz. The ATC is a business association dedicated to enhancing the promotion of US-Turkish commercial, defense, technological and cultural relations. Wednesday evening, the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEK) and the Turkish-American Business Council (TAK) jointly hosted a dinner in stanbul in Scowcroft’s honor. “We need a voice that will help us in the East. We need a voice like Turkey in a region which we are not able to understand as much as you can,” Scowcroft said. Bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States have passed through many ups and downs, Scowcroft noted, highlighting his condence that a more stable era will develop with these relations from now on. By the completion of his current term on Dec. 31, Scowcroft will have served nine years as chairperson of the board of the ATC. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Christofias: Peace deal still not in sight Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christoas said on Thursday that a deal to reunify the ethnically split island of Cyprus is still not in sight despite more than a year of peace talks with the Turkish Cypriots. Christoas said “important differences” still divide both sides on several key issues. Turkish Cypriot positions conict with an envisioned federation between a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south, he argued. Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey intervened after a coup by supporters who wanted union with Greece. The dispute is undermining NATO and European Union cooperation on security and hindering Turkey’s bid for EU membership. Both sides still disagree on how to settle claims by owners of property lost during the war and about granting Turkey military intervention rights. But Christoas said he remains “cautiously optimistic” that an accord can be reached with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. “We sincerely hope that the Turkish Cypriot side will rectify its stance by submitting more reasonable positions in order to pave the way to an agreed solution,” Christoas said. Talat said the talks have produced “signicant progress” but repeated a call for more active UN involvement to speed up the process. He also endorsed a proposal by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan for a summit of the two sides joined by Britain, Greece and Turkey. Christoas rejected the idea, insisting an agreement must be Cypriot-born. Ankara Today’s Zaman with AP
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TODAY’S ZAMAN 05
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
In addition, there were lists of names and members of Armenian foundations and churches, which were classied as “active” or not, as well as the balance sheets of Agos. Cengiz had been in the limelight before after claims that she gave information to brahim ahin, a former deputy head of the National Police Department’s Special Operations Unit, to establish “S-1 and S-2 teams” to assassinate intellectual leaders in society. According to sources, Cengiz also tracked the names of academics, writers and journalists who participated a two-day academic conference held on Sept. 24-25, 2005, at Istanbul Bilgi University titled “Ottoman Armenians during the Decline of
the Empire: Issues of Scientic Responsibility and Democracy.” The conference openly disputed the ofcial Turkish account of the Armenian massacres. In the les allegedly belonging to Cengiz, who is also known as Asena Öztürk, there are several famous names, with notes next to their names: Halil Berktay, “professor, he had publicly said that Armenians were massacred”; Kazm Aknc, “secret Armenian, he applied to a court to change his religion after Dink [Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink who was assassinated by an ultranationalist teenager in 2007]”; Ece Temelkuran, “she said that if something happens to her the prime minister is responsible for it, she is a graduate of the Ankara faculty of law”; Herkül Milas, “he is not an Armenian”; Sevan Nianyan, “writer at Taraf, maybe
from Agos, needed to be investigated”; Markar Esayan, “Taraf writer, information regarding him will come together with Etyen Mahçupyan”; Aytaç lhan, “he might be a student in Idr, he should be investigated, he had applied to change his religion”; Baskn Oran, Adalet Aaolu and Elif afak. Investigators have also found a PowerPoint presentation which was allegedly prepared by Cengiz, who signed it as Asena Öztürk. In that presentation, pictures of ahin and Korkut Eken, a former ofcer of the TSK Special Operations, are placed side by side. There is also a photograph of former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaar Büyükant, in addition to the expression “Everything is for the country,” written in blood on a background of weapons and the Turkish ag. stanbul Today’s Zaman
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T O D AY ’S ZAMAN , MU ST AF A K RAZL I
Ergenekon investigation exposes surveillance of Armenian community
Hrant Dink
Naval forces junta planned to undermine AK Party with non-Muslim assassinations contnued from page 1 The plan was divided into four phases; “Preparation,” “Raising Fear,” “Shaping Public Opinion” and “Action.” As part of the “Preparation” phase, the names and addresses of the country’s prominent non-Muslims would be determined. Then it would be ascertained to which newspapers and magazines they subscribe; which schools non-Muslims work for or send their children to; which associations or foundations they are members of; which places of worship they frequent; and where they hold their religious celebrations and rituals. Then the action plan would jump to the second phase, which consisted of posting the subscribers of a Turkish Armenian biweekly, Agos, on a number of Web sites, especially the “reactionary” ones. The editor-in-chief of Agos, Hrant Dink, was shot dead in 2007 by an ultranationalist Turkish adolescent. Letters that included threatening messages would be sent to Agos subscribers, and they would also receive threatening phone calls. Similar messages would be written on a number of walls of buildings in the Adalar district, which is home to hundreds of non-Muslim families. In the “Shaping Public Opinion” phase, the list of Agos subscribers would make its way into some newspapers, and fabricated reports on the list would feature in those newspapers. TV debates would focus on the reports and columnists would be urged to write columns on them. The AK Party government would be accused of ignoring the “approaching threat” to the country’s non-Muslim population in the debates. Media would recall the Sept. 6-7, 1955 incidents, a state-sponsored campaign designed to transfer capital from minority businessmen to Muslim Turks and to intimidate non-Turkish communities into leaving their homeland to clear the way for a homogeneous Turkish state. Several Web sites would be established to disseminate propaganda against the AK Party and criticize its domestic policies. The Web sites would have such names as “www.tehditaltindayiz.com” (We are under threat) and “www.agosasahipcikalim.com” (Let’s protect Agos).
In its headline story on Thursday, the Taraf daily reported on an anti-democratic formation within the Naval Forces Command seeking to damage the government by assassinating prominent non-Muslim figures in Turkey.
The most appalling phase of the plan, “Action,” would include the assassination of prominent non-Muslim gures. As part of this phase, bomb attacks would be launched in Adalar; gures who defend the rights of non-Muslims would be assassinated; percussion bombs would be planted in places close to Agos; boats carrying passengers to the Adalar district would be bombed; prominent non-Muslim businessmen and artists would be kidnapped; and their homes and ofces would be set on re. Individuals would claim responsibility for the incidents on behalf of “reactionary terrorist organizations.”
At that point, propaganda would step in, pointing to the AK Party as the cause of the incidents. The party would be accused of falling short of ensuring the security of non-Muslims in the country. The action plan dened Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan as an “enemy.” The action plan called the killings of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, Catholic priest Andrea Santoro and three Christians in Malatya an “operation.” The group aimed at fomenting chaos in society with those killings, but complained that the plan failed when large groups protested the killings in mass demon-
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strations. “The operations created a large public outcry that non-Muslims in the country were the target of reactionary groups. But society stood by non-Muslims with a ‘We are all Armenians’ campaign. Now, we will continue the propaganda, showing that the cause behind the killings was the AK Party and reactionary organizations,” read the plan. The plan also revealed that the anti-democratic formation within the Naval Forces Command was being led by three admirals, identied with their initials F.Ö., K.S. and M.F.. Retired Maj. Levent Bekta, Lt. Col. Ercan Kireçtepe, retired Col. Levent Gökta and Maj. Emre Onat also worked for the junta. All of them were arrested as part of the ongoing Ergenekon probe. Among other members of the formation were sergeant majors Halil Cura, Saddetin Doan, Feridun Arslan; Maj. Emre Sezenler; and Maj. Emre Günay. All of them were employed at the Marmara Regional Command. Other members at the same command were identied by their initials, sergeant majors D.E, T.V.A., H.D. and .B. Among the members of the group at the Marmara Regional Command were Col. M.S., Col. Levent Gülmen, Maj. Erbay Çolakolu, Maj. A.A.S., Capt. B.A., Lt. Gen. B.Ç., Sgt. Maj. M.A., Sgt. Maj. M.A., Maj. G.Y., Capt. Ü.Ö., Capt. B.K., Sgt. Maj. D.M., Sgt. Maj. H.E., Sgt. Maj. M.I. and Sgt. Maj. A.B. The group also had members from the Black Sea Regional Command, including Capt. I.Z.T., Capt. .L.O., Maj. Ö.E., Sgt. Maj. T.D., Sgt. Maj. M.A. and Sgt. Maj. M.K.
Ammunition excavated in Poyrazköy Ten light anti-tank weapons, 20 percussion bombs, three other bombs, 250 grams of C4 explosives, 19 emergency ares, 10 hand grenades, 800 G3 bullets and a large number of cartridges for revolvers were found on the stek Foundation land. The discovery followed the unearthing of similar underground weapons caches in January during digs based on maps found in the homes of two suspects -- former Deputy Police Chief brahim ahin and Mustafa Dönmez, a lieutenant colonel who turned himself in a few days after a warrant for his arrest was issued. stanbul Today’s Zaman
‘Cage action plan’ put into operation in Kurtulu, Adalar contnued from page 1 Called the “Cage Operation Action Plan,” the desired result from the intimidation of Turkey’s non-Muslims and the assassination of prominent ones, was that an increase in internal and external pressure on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) would ensue, leading to diminishing public support for the party. A series of incidents that Kurtulu residents experienced in August suggest that the plan was put into operation by “dark powers.” The neighborhood is home to dozens of non-Muslim families. On Aug. 7, 2009, some non-Muslim residents of the neighborhood found colored stickers on the doors of their buildings, which sparked increased fear among the residents. Police launched an investigation into the stickers, but failed to nd out who was responsible. The stickers disappeared “mysteriously” at night the very same day, leaving unanswered questions behind as to who took them away. Ahmet Günel, the mukhtar or neighborhood head, said the stickers aimed at fomenting unease and fear among the neighborhood’s non-Muslims. Selami Meleme, a lawyer who is also a resident of Kurtulu, said the “sticker campaign” had achieved its objective. “The stickers managed to provoke fear among our residents. I do not think those stickers were placed on doors in Kurtulu ‘just by coincidence.’ Some circles did it on purpose,” Meleme added. The action plan has sent shockwaves across stanbul’s Adalar district, which is home to hundreds of non-Muslim families. Raf Hermon Araks, the chief adviser to the mayor of Adalar in charge of cultural and arts affairs, said some non-Muslims in the district had receive threats to their lives for the past few months. “We experienced such incidents in Heybeliada, Knalada and Büyükada. We thought these were separate incidents, but when we saw the Cage plan, we understood that they were all part of a detailed plot,” Araks remarked. A non-Muslim resident of the district, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he had been told several times by people he did not know to leave the country. “They told me the places I belong to. ‘You do not belong to this place. Muslims will send you away. The order has changed,’ they told me. I was very afraid. My neighbors and relatives experienced similar incidents. We do not wish to experience another Sept. 6-7 trauma,” he added. The Sept. 6-7, 1955 events started after a newspaper headline said Atatürk’s home in Greece had been bombed by Greek militants. In revenge, Turkish nationalists attacked the houses and business places of non-Muslims, destroying 5,300 businesses and houses owned by Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Etyen Mahçupyan, editor-in-chief of the Agos weekly, said the names of the country’s minorities, Alevis and Kurds will be mentioned in many other action plans unless Turkey embraces a stronger democracy. According to Mahçupyan, the Cage Operation Action Plan is a strong indication of a war between “good Turks” and “bad Turks.” “What I mean is, there is a difference and quarrel between those who have a statist and totalitarian mindset and those who are pro-freedom and democrat,” he said and added that such action plans have a single aim: to destroy the AK Party. “To attain this target, non-Muslims get killed; clashes are sparked between Sunnis and Alevis; Turks and Kurds are made to ght; and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK] is lent support,” he remarked. Fethiye Çetin, a lawyer representing the family of TurkishArmenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated in 2007 by a young man strongly inuenced by ultranationalism, said the Turkish military sees some of the country’s citizens as an “enemy” and produces plans against them. stanbul Today’s Zaman
06 TODAY’S ZAMAN
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
‘Either Onur Öymen or Alevis should leave the CHP’ Alevi associations based in Europe have continued expressing their reactions to Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen’s remarks about a 1937 rebellion in the Alevi town of Tunceli depicting a massacre in which 90,000 were killed as an anti-terror campaign. Europe-based Alevi organizations the Alevi Unions Federation (AABF), the European Dersim Associations Federation (FDG) and the European Koçgirliler Union (AKB) released a joint press statement at the AABF headquarters in Cologne yesterday. In the statement, the groups said that they would apply to the Socialist International (SI) for the CHP’s exemption from the organization. “The CHP is an obstacle in the path of democratization,” the statement said. AABF Second President Ali Ertan Toprak, Secretary-General Hüseyin Mat, FDG Chairman Yaar Kaya and AKB President Kudrettin Çimen joined
the conference. Their joint statement noted that Öymen had extended a “half-hearted” apology, which they did not nd sincere. “The CHP administration has seen Alevis as a voter base for years, and has made no efforts to meet their rightful demands. Onur Öymen is the representative in our day of Nurettin Paa the Bearded who administered the Koçgiri massacre [against Alevis] and Nurettin Paa’s son-in-law Abdullah Alpdoan who administered the Dersim massacre. Onur Öymen, who has praised the Dersim massacre, should step down as a member of Parliament. Öymen’s crime is not one committed against the people of Dersim and the Alevi community alone, but one against humanity. No person who so openly defends massacres in his country can continue to serve as a parliamentary deputy anywhere in the world. The CHP should apologize to the people of Dersim and all the Alevi/Kzlba community both for the massacre of
1938 and for Öymen’s remarks. We, as European organizations, will be making efforts to bring this to the attention of both the European Union, the SI and European parliaments.” At home in Turkey, more calls asking for Öymen’s resignation came with the Mersin branch of education sector union Eitim-Bir-Sen joining the long list of organizations voicing this demand. The Mersin branch laid a black wreath in front of the local CHP ofce. A statement made here by a spokesperson for the group referred to Öymen’s statements as a “dark stain on the history of Parliament.” Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arnç also rebuked Öymen for his remarks yesterday, speaking in Adyaman where he was visiting for the day. “The issue here is about legitimizing incidents that occurred in Dersim in 1937 and 1938. Onur Öymen’s words mean only one thing. ‘Bloodshed should continue, and if mothers cry, let them cry. Because that is what happened in Dersim. This is what we
did then, and we want to do the same thing today.’ This is what he said in plain Turkish; there is no need to embellish this in diplomatic language. We now need to see how people with conscience will stand in the face of this.” Meanwhile, Tunceli-born CHP deputy Kemal Klçdarolu, who had earlier called on Öymen to resign but then backpedaled after CHP leader Deniz Baykal’s apparent support for Öymen, released a statement yesterday. In the statement he called on CHP members to be alert against what he called the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Democratic Society Party (DTP) collaboration, topped with the provocation of the “pro-government media.” He said a “systematic attack” against the CHP was part of the AK Party’s efforts to instill fear across the country and suppress all opposition. He also claimed that the reactions shown by Alevis to Öymen were supported by “foreign forces.” stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
Selahattin Demirta, the parliamentary group leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), said it would be easier for the DTP to take responsibility during the democratization process if the government sent the message that “it is taking steps for the sake of the people and the elimination of violence, not only for the elimination of the [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK,” which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. “If government sends the right message, then we guarantee that within three months violence will be removed from Turkey’s agenda,” he told to Today’s Zaman in an exclusive interview. In July the government launched a democratization initiative which aims to solve Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish question. Since the beginning of the process there have been many topics under discussion, but one of the hottest topics is addressing the issue of whom and under which conditions, which party or side should talk to. The government frequently underlined that it will never consider discussing the issue with the PKK, saying the only party with a voice in this process is the nation itself. The opposition parties -- the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) -- claimed that the government is discussing the issue with the PKK. Meanwhile, the DTP was criticized for not taking a leading role in the process, instead saying the government should discuss the initiative with the PKK. Demirta, while explaining the reasons for their stance, said that rst of all there is not even implicit acceptance the DTP should be considered to be party to talks during the process. “The government is not telling us that ‘you might not consider yourself to be the representatives of the PKK, they do not consider you to be their representatives either, but still, by talking to you and by asking for your opinion regarding the solution to the Kurdish question, we will pretend that we are talking to the PKK.’ The government is not telling us that whatever we say, they will be considered our comments to be the words of the PKK, they are not saying that whatever they say to us would be the same as if they were talking to the PKK.”
Demirta claimed that the government should recognize the cultural rights of the Kurds instead of acting as though their main aim is to eliminate the PKK. “How can you eliminate something? Either you kill it, or it surrenders. They are saying that their aim is to eliminate the PKK and they are asking to the DTP to cooperate in this elimination process. To ask the DTP to cooperate in eliminating the PKK actually means telling the DTP to climb up to the gallows, put a noose around its own neck and kick away the stool. We are a political party, we are not an association created to support the AK Party [Justice and Development Party],” Demirta said. According to Demirta, the crucial question is if the process is aiming to eliminate the PKK or solve the Kurdish question. “If the aim is to solve the Kurdish question, we as the DTP have suggestions to help achieve this. We suggest strong local administrations, a new Constitution and education in the mother tongue. If we are listened to on these matters then the DTP can take the responsibility alone, without making the PKK intervene in the process. If we are listened to then the PKK will lay down its arms. This is what we are saying and we are even giving guarantees on this. We are that sure, we are that self-condent. If the government takes these steps and if the PKK still talks about an armed struggle then the PKK will have no support bases,” Demirta argued. According to Demirta, if the government takes steps to give more rights to Kurds, the side effect will naturally be the elimination of violence, not only the elimination of the PKK. “The government should talk about eliminating violence as a whole, not only the PKK, because many Kurds consider themselves to be the ones who were called ‘terrorists’. If the government says it aims to eliminate violence it will not irritate Kurds because this is what they want anyway,” he said. Demirta underlined that if the government makes giving Kurds the rights they deserve as human beings their priority, the natural outcome will be the elimination of violence and then the DTP will be a party the government can talk to. “If the aim is the elimination of the PKK then we are saying that under these conditions the party to talk to is the PKK. Despite this, in order to not to block the process, we are saying we only support the part of this process which gives people more rights,” he said.
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AYE KARABAT ANKARA
TODAY’S ZAMAN, AL ÜNAL
DTP condtonally ready to talk
The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party’s Selahattin Demirta spoke to Today’s Zaman in an exclusive interview about the government’s democratization initiative.
Democratic initiative beacon of hope for exiled writers TANJU ÖZKAYA STANBUL
Kurdish intellectuals and artists forced to leave Turkey in the aftermath of the country’s 1980 coup d’état are hopeful that the government’s democratization initiative will pave the way for their return. Despite the disapproval of opposition parties, the details of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) democratic initiative to solve the long-standing Kurdish problem were discussed in Parliament last week, months after the government announced its intention to formulate the plan. Along with the revelation has come increased hope on the part of Kurdish writers, politicians and artists -- and their requests to return to their homeland are back on the agenda. Speaking with Today’s Zaman, Kurdish intellectuals and artists expressed a desire to return home and said they were looking to the democratic initiative to make this possible. Why shouldn’t we, who were declared guilty and stripped of our citizenship due to the things we wrote and said, be allowed to return to our country, they ask. The road to exile for many Kurdish writers convicted of disseminating terrorist propaganda because of the lyrics to a song or poem they wrote or recited passed through Diyarbakr Prison, now infamous for the torture inicted upon its inmates. Following their time there, they were forced by varying circumstances to ee the country. Among them are writers, politicians, intellectuals and artists, names such as Kemal Burkay, Ylmaz Çamlbel, Günay Aslan, ükrü Gülmü, Vildan Tanr Kulu, Garip Dost and ivan Perver -- and most of them are still
Kemal Burkay
ivan Perver
waiting for the right time to return to their country. Kemal Burkay, an important Kurdish political gure who lives in Sweden, draws attention to the legal roadblocks preventing their return, saying: “I certainly want to return to my country. If the necessary conditions were only in place, I would have returned long ago. Our political work was pacist; we weren’t involved in any violence. But we were still outlawed. Because of our views and demands, we were under the threat of heavy punishment. For this reason, we were forced to go abroad.” Ylmaz Çamblbel, who lives in Germany, wants Parliament to amend laws to allow people like himself to return to Turkey. He spent six years at Diyarbakr Prison following the 1980 coup and becomes emotional when he speaks about his longing to return to his home province of Ar. The 75-year-old writer says his greatest desire is
to see Ar again before he dies. “I try to alleviate the longing I feel for my home, which I’ve been away from for 23 years, with pictures. This longing has settled into my subconscious, so much so that I dream about Ar, about Mt. Ar, the shak Paa Palace, the tomb of Ahmet-i Hani…” he says. “No matter how comfortable life is here, a person still wants to return to their own country.”
‘AK Party’s initiative a good move’ Another Kurdish writer living in Germany for the past 30 years, Vildan Tanrkulu, says it is the most natural right for Kurdish intellectuals to be able to return to their homeland of Turkey and says the AK Party’s democratic initiative is a step in the right direction. “I think the democratic initiative the AK Party started is valuable, and it gives us hope. The Kurdish intellectuals [in Europe] will return to Tur-
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key with great social and cultural contributions to offer. This will speed up the initiative’s progress. The anxiety-free return of intellectuals to Turkey from Europe will strengthen the AK Party’s hand as much as it will promote peace,” Tanrkulu says. “At the end of the day, we’re all underneath the same sky, and there’s enough room for all of us.” “Of course, I want very much to return to Turkey. A life in exile is no different from living in an open-air prison. I’m not asking for a pardon from anyone, and I’m not asking for help from anyone because I’m not guilty,” says Kurdish politician Yaar Kaya, who currently lives in Iraq. Referring to members of deep-state crime gangs responsible for innumerable atrocities committed against Kurds in Turkey over the years, Kaya added: “Those who have committed crimes are the Ergenekonists, the JTEM members and the perpetrators of unsolved crimes. My yearning is for Turkey. It’s the shared homeland of Turks and Kurds.” Striking the same note on the nature of the crimes and allegations against Kurdish intellectuals that prevent their return to Turkey, ükrü Gülmü, a Kurdish writer living in Sweden, says: “The intellectuals living abroad aren’t people convicted of murder. They have been convicted or accused due to their writings or speech. There should be an announcement made that says, ‘The Kurdish diaspora in Europe and everyone whose distance [from Turkey] is attributable to political conditions may return.’ There’s only so much a government can do; the AK Party is doing what it can. Legal changes are necessary to allow such returns.”
NATIONAL
German NGO to dissect civilian-military relations in Turkey MUSTAFA GÜRLEK STANBUL
A German nongovernmental organization will examine civilian-military relations in Turkey at a conference to be held this weekend in stanbul. Conference organizer Ulrike Dufner, a representative from the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey ofce, said the conference, “Türkiye Siyasetinde Ordunun Rolü: AskerSivil likileri, Güvenlik Sektörü ve Sivil Denetim” (The Military’s Role in Turkish Politics: Military-Civilian Relations, the Security Sector and Civilian Supervision), is going to help break taboos in Turkey. “Institutions established by the military tutelage in Turkey do not exist in any European country. Institutions such as the National Security Council [MGK], the Supreme Military Council [YA], the Turkish Armed Forces Assistance Center [OYAK] and separate civilian and military judiciaries are the biggest obstacles in front of democracy as they are also examples of interference in politics,” she said. She noted that people on Turkey’s streets would denitely know that lker Babu is the chief of General Staff of the Turkish military. But this is not the case in Europe. “If it is not part of one’s special interest area, no one in Europe would know who the chief of general staff is,” she added. In Turkey’s military-dominated society, she said, it is possible to see marks that past coups d’état left on the society. She recalled that they had previously organized a conference in zmir when the military issued an “electronic memorandum,” or the e-ultimatum of April 27, 2007, to express its reservations during the presidential election. “We saw at the conference that participants who had experienced the 1980 coup suddenly felt sick” -- as if they had been traumatized by their past experience, she said. Regarding Turkey’s process of democratization, she said it is an opportunity for Turkey and marks the end of an era of coups in Turkey. “Apparently, the government is following a good strategy as the democratic initiative has been discussed at all levels and at Parliament,” she said. Dufner also mentioned the sins of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) as it did not take more steps to change the Constitution of the 1980 military era. In addition, she said, the government should have done more in the case of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was fatally shot outside his ofce by an ultranationalist teenager. She also touched upon the emdinli bombing and the government’s silence. In 2005 two noncommissioned ofcers were caught red-handed by residents of emdinli, in Hakkari province, while planting a bomb at a local bookstore owned by a former Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) member. The land forces commander at the time praised one of the ofcers, saying, “I know him, he’s a good kid.” Four years after the incident, it appears that the two men are still on active duty, despite being in and out of court over the intervening period. During the process, Van Prosecutor Ferhat Sarkaya, who prepared the indictment, was disbarred for indicting then-Land Forces Commander Gen. Yaar Büyükant. Dufner also pointed out that some opposition parties in Turkey do not display a democratic stance. She said the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is not perceived as a socialist or leftist party in Europe. “Our European friends know the CHP as a nationalist party which protects the status quo,” she said. About CHP leader Deniz Baykal, she said he seems to be a dictator who cannot accept the fact that there might be alternatives to him. She added that Turkey needs a democratic opposition. She emphasized that most civil society organizations in Turkey are under the direction of the military, which uses universities and the media to create an environment suitable for a military coup. In the conference, to be held Nov. 21-22 at the Larespark Hotel in Taksim, participants will discuss how military control over civilian politics has established itself and how it is changing. Among the participants are writer and academic Ali Bayramolu, writer and journalist Cengiz Çandar, socialist monthly Birikim Editor-in-Chief Ömer Laçiner, human rights activist Ylmaz Ensarolu, senior advisor to Sabanc University’s stanbul Policy Center Joost Lagendijk, former diplomat Akn Özçer and journalist and writer Lale Kemal.
BUSINESS
TODAY’S ZAMAN 07
F R I D A Y, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
Life to halt one day next week as civil servants stop working Many Turkish civil servants are set to take part in a work stoppage next Wednesday ahead of Eid al-Adha, in a move meant to warn the government of the need to listen to the demands of its civil servants. Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-Sen) President Bircan Akyldz announced that civil servants will not work on Nov. 25 “to cause life to stop for one day,” so that the government understands how serious the civil servants’ demands, including higher wage increases and improved social welfare conditions, truly are. Akyldz called a press conference yesterday in Ankara with Kamu-Sen managers and repre-
for civil servants but to struggle for their rights in the streets, Akyldz argued. “The knife has reached the bone [a Turkish idiom meaning the last straw]. The words have come to an end, our leniency has been ignored with no proper response and the dialog between the government and civil servants has sustained a harsh blow. Now this action is our last resort. We are organizing on Nov. 25 to express our rights, to remind the government of the fact that Turkey is a democracy and the basis of democracies lies in the protection of the rights of all segments of society and in ensuring a fair allocation of the state’s resources among the people,” he said. He said the government will need to assume
responsibility for the hitches and problems that may arise due to the lack of civil servants’ services on the action day. Akyldz threatened that “the trains will halt with all other public transportation and commuting vehicles, teachers will not go to schools, planes will not take off, bridge tolls will not open and no tax will be collected” on the action day. Legally, civil servants do not have the right to strike for any reason, and such an action is grounds for ring. In light of this fact, the civil servants are using tactics such as taking a day of casual leave for a variety of reasons including illness or a relative’s death. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires
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AA, FIRAT YURDAKUL
‘MKB is inflated, real sector stagnant’
sentatives of Kamu-Sen member unions to provide details about the labor action. Akyldz said, “The failures of inept governments and the fecklessness of evil-minded managers have burdened civil servants for years.” Civil servants come under criticism both in times of crisis and during economic prosperity, he claimed, and accused the government of breaking its promises made during earlier collective bargaining and dodging its obligation to fulll the decisions made in the mutual talks. “At the current point, civil servants have lost condence in the government entirely,” he asserted. Despite earlier attempts to nd common ground, the government has left no alternative
Turkish Exporters Assembly (TM) President Mehmet Büyükeki has said a signicant recovery would not take place within the nancial sector or stock exchange without a serious improvement in the real sector. Speaking on Thursday at a meeting of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSAD), Büyükeki stated that the stanbul Stock Exchange benchmark index (MKB-100) increased from around 23,000-25,000 to above 50,000 and that the Turkish lira gained value. Now, Turkey, like the rest of the world, is considering adopting the same policies of the last six to seven years despite the absence of any real recovery taking place in the real sector, he remarked. “The bourses are inating, even though there is no improvement in economic indicators like industry production, exports, capacity utilization or the unemployment rate.” Büyükeki recalled that the companies which made the most prots were the banks in the third quarter of this year with a 30 to 60 percent increase in prots, while the real sector suffered a loss in prots in the same period. MÜSAD Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan speaking at the meeting said Turkey won the approval of several countries for its economic performance during the recent crisis compared to its performance in the previous crises of 1994, 1999 and 2001. The increasing trend experienced in the country’s export levels in terms of both value and quantity played an important role in this performance, he remarked. Turkey’s exports, which were once about $30 billion, managed to increase to some $130 billion; however, with the crisis this gure declined to some $100 billion, Vardan stated, stressing that recovery from the crisis has started to take place. “Turkey’s foreign trade strategy in line with its recent foreign affairs policy has undertaken a very important role in this recovery process,” he said, continuing that in previous terms Turkey’s exports were dependent on European Union countries with nearly 60 percent of the country’s total exports going to Europe. This situation then resulted in the loss of Turkey’s foreign trade elasticity, he remarked, adding that now diversity has been achieved and that 48 percent of Turkey’s exports go to the European Union. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
CarrefourSA, a French retail chain working in partnership with Turkey’s Sabanc Holding, is planning further growth through opening new stores and by capitalizing on all potential opportunities presented by acquisitions in the Turkish domestic market. Guillaume Deruyter, the director general of CarrefourSA Supermarkets, said on Thursday that the company will open three supermarkets along with a hundred express markets in 2010, all of which will offer work for 5,600 more people. Deruyter spoke with the Anatolia news agency during a visit to Tarsus, Mersin province, to inaugurate the 160th CarrefourSA store. CarrefourSA opened 55 express markets and four supermarkets in Turkey in 2009. Carrefour owns 58.2 percent of shares in CarrefourSA while Sabanc Holding controls a 38.8 percent stake. The rest of the shares are traded on the stock market. The third-largest food retailer in Turkey, rst in Europe and second in the world, the Carrefour group has over 15,500 stores, either company operated or franchised. Deruyter said Sabanc Holding has always offered full support in opening new stores. “We want to acquire companies if we encounter proper opportunities,” Deruyter noted. “We want to grow more and increase our share in the market. Our aim is to be number one in every area we are involved in.” He also said the company aims to increase its number of employees in Turkey to 19,000 from the current 7,600 by 2012. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
Second closure case rumors lead to massive MKB drop contýnued from page 1
Economy Minister Ali Babacan (R) is shared his assessments of the economy on Thursday during his presentation of the 2010 budget of the Treasury undersecretary at a parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission meeting. The meeting was also attended by Kemal Madenolu.
Babacan says economy to start growng agan n fnal quarter Economy Minister Ali Babacan said the contraction in the Turkish economy will likely continue in the third quarter but that the economy will begin to grow again starting with the last quarter of 2009. “We forecast that Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 3.5 percent and 4 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and the economy will grow by 5 percent in 2012,” Babacan said. The minister shared his assessments of the economy on Thursday during his presentation of the 2010 budget of the Treasury undersecretary at a parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission meeting. Along with the growth of the economy, unemployment will also start gradually declining by 2010, the minister asserted. Unemployment, which was 11 percent in 2008, will probably end this year at 14.8 percent due to the harsh conditions of the global economic crisis, he estimated. However, thanks to spe-
cic polices favoring the labor market as set out in the government’s Middle-Term Economic Program, Babacan claimed employment levels will steadily rise again. “Recent developments point to a moderate recovery in the global economy,” the minister argued, but didn’t forget to call on politicians and businessmen to remain cautious by recalling past experiences with recoveries lasting long after such deep nancial crises. Babacan also mentioned the government’s plans to increase the effectiveness of state economic enterprises (KTs) by introducing a new governance method for these corporations. Within this context, the government will determine priorities among public investment projects and allocate public expenditures accordingly, he said. “We will complete the legal infrastructure for well-operating cooperation between the public and private sectors in 2010,
to increase the volume of investments and accelerate them,” Babacan asserted. Babacan claimed that the adverse effects of the global economic crisis on the Turkish economy remained restricted and the structural reforms of public nance and regulations in the banking sector implemented after 2002 played an integral role in the resilience of the economy. “Turkey, which has the 15th largest economy in the world, possesses the adequate infrastructure and equipment to reach a higher level of prosperity in the period ahead. What really matters now is to be aware of the potential Turkey has and to implement policies to stir and develop that potential. I believe the policy framework that we have recently shared with the public in the Middle-Term Economic Program and the Middle-Term Fiscal Plan will signicantly help in realizing this potential,” Babacan noted. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires
imek: Constitution must reflect strict stance on taxes
Mehmet imek
CarrefourSA plans further store openings in Turkey
Minister of Finance Mehmet imek has explained the administration’s tough stance of refusing to forgive tax debt, adding that the punishment for tax fraud was not sufcient to prevent the commission of such a crime. Speaking at a panel titled “Tax Administration, Tax Justice and Reform” at TOBB Economics and Technology University, organized by the Turkish Strategic, Social and Economic Research Foundation (VAKIF 2000), imek stressed the importance of not creating incentives by pardoning tax obligations, adding that “even though we currently need the ag-
reement of a qualied majority within the ministry to pardon tax debts, I still think this isn’t enough. Maybe we need to add it to the Constitution under the unchangeable articles that tax pardons will not be given.” imek continued by noting that to increase adherence to tax laws, there need to be heftier punishments for tax fraud, noting that they’ve increased the time in prison for tax fraud from one year to one-and-a-half years and that it would no longer be possible to pay only a ne. The minister also spoke about his position on tax fraud, saying that he didn’t view it as a nancial offense
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but rather a “crime against public order.” imek continued: “Tax fraud is a crime against public order because it leads to budget decits, public debt, the weakening of the Turkish economy and other problems for the Turkey. … This is my perspective on the issue, and thus I view tax fraud as something that needs a heavier punishment.” On this note, the minister added that they have taken the rst steps to solve the issue of tax fraud but that more is needed to completely solve the problem. He added that the punishment for tax fraud should be more onerous, which will help curb any incentives to commit tax fraud that may exist. Ankara Today’s Zaman
Political concerns, such as the heated arguments in Parliament regarding the recent democratic initiative put forth by the AK Party and a “legal investigation of political parties” by Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçnkaya that could lead to another closure case against the AK Party, have scared away investors, according to experts. While Russia’s stock market rose by 0.78 percent on Wednesday along with other increases in global markets, the MKB-100 dropped by nearly 2 percent in a single day. The rst session of Thursday’s trading closed at 46,244.43, a 10 percent drop from the three-month peak. The unexpected drop in US home construction and residential building permits, revealed yesterday, also sent US and international stocks plunging. Experts say that this drop along with the weak performance of European stock markets had a detrimental effect on the MKB index. imek has stated that investors need to be “vigilant” regarding their investments and that there are “vague implications” for an economic recovery. stanbul Today’s Zaman
TCDD bids for operation of MeccaMedina high-speed rail Turkey’s state-owned railway company is set to submit a bid in a tender to operate a Mecca-Medina highspeed train, Turkish railway ofcials said on Thursday. A Turkish State Railways (TCDD), Siemens and Saudi BinLadin Group consortium is one of the four consortia competing to sign a deal for the superstructure project of the railroad. The railroad’s substructure is being constructed by a Chinese rm. The consortium will offer a technical bid for the project in January and a nancial bid will be presented in June, said the ofcials. According to the plan, Siemens will set up the signalization system, the Saudi BinLadin Group will undertake the superstructure construction and the TCDD will operate the high-speed train for a period of 12 years on a 450-kilometer track from Mecca to Medina, an area only Muslims can enter. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
08 TODAY’S ZAMAN
F R I D A Y, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
Communication needed to resolve longstanding problems
PHOTO
REUTERS, CHARLES PLATIAU
‘Incentives needed to reinvigorate auto market’
ing that this situation should be resolved, continued by saying: “Turkey is entering a period of rapid growth. It will be a bright era in both the middle and long term. In order to best benet from this growth, we should focus on resolving the longstanding problems of the country by making use of more communication.” World Bank Turkey Director Ulrich Zachau, speaking at the symposium, noted that Turkey has large regional discrepancies and the country is exerting signicant efforts to overcome this situation. Zachau expressed approval of projects currently under way in the southeastern Anatolia region. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
close this gap, which is actually accurate, the minister said, adding, however, that the new concept of “regional competitiveness” has also started to gain importance. The power of competitiveness should be increased in the country as a whole, Ylmaz said, adding that this can only be achieved by mobilizing local dynamics. The minister went on to call for the creation of a platform to coordinate participation at the national and regional level, noting that communication is key to effective governance. Behind all of the longstanding problems of Turkey lies either a communication failure or an institutional conict, he asserted. Ylmaz, stress-
ments of society will be equal. Ylmaz stated that the process of development cannot be completed solely with growth but should also take into account social and environmental dimensions. Otherwise, he added, the reection of growth on social welfare will be limited. “Our primary goals are to raise the quality of life and boost social welfare. In order to achieve these goals we should create policies to pursue. We should implement these policies at both the national and local levels.” Regarding regional policies, there is a traditional mindset that there are large inequalities between the regions of Turkey, and we should
Turkey has entered a period of rapid growth and should best benet from this period by focusing on solving its longstanding problems with the use of much more communication, State Minister Cevdet Ylmaz said on Thursday. Delivering a speech at the Regional Development and Governance Symposium, jointly organized by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and Middle East Technical University’s (ODTÜ) social policy department yesterday, Ylmaz noted that Turkey should achieve a rapid growth rate and assure sustainable growth while ensuring that the distribution of growth in different regions and seg-
Nissan Otomotiv A Deputy Director General klim Sancaktarolu has said that the automotive market has started to suffer from a recession after the expiration of a cut in private consumption taxes (ÖTV) that was introduced in March and was in effect until the end of September. Speaking in Antalya, where he attended Auto Show 2009, Sancaktarolu said that while demand for private cars was relatively high, the amount of commercial vehicles sold had decreased by some 15 percent compared to last year’s gures. Noting that as the sector had entered a slowdown with the expiration of the tax incentives, Sancaktarolu stated that the sales gure was 21,000 last month and that the projected gure for November was some 30,000. “We were predicting approximately 100,000 automobile sales for the last quarter of the year, however sales have decelerated.” Expecting a contraction in the market in the year ahead, Sancaktarolu said that the Automotive Distributors Association will present a plan to the government envisioning cuts in taxes along with decreasing vehicle costs. According to the situation, the market value of the sector will increase to $1 million, he said. The number of vehicles sold in Turkey remains low due to the relatively low average income, and Sancaktarolu warned that the sector will have no option but to contract by some 20 percent in 2010 unless an incentive is introduced. In order to ensure continuous auto production, the domestic market should be kept alive, he said. Recalling that the sector was about to stop operations at the beginning of this year he said that the sector managed to overcome this situation by the help of the incentives introduced in March. Nissan managed to raise both its sales and market share despite the crisis, Sancaktarolu said. Nissan’s current share in the overall auto market is 1.5 percent, and this gure is expected to be increased to 2.5 percent in the near future. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
OECD Chief Economist Jorgen Elmeskov
OECD: Recovery n global economy gatherng pace Recovery in developed economies will accelerate next year due to “substantial improvements” in nancial markets and fast-growing Asian countries, but is likely to remain fragile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday as it doubled its 2010 growth forecast. The Paris-based watchdog’s chief economist, Jorgen Elmeskov, told a news conference that the recovery has been mostly driven by government stimulus measures and interest rate cuts. Those beneted nancial markets, whose recovery is “considerably faster and stronger” than anticipated in the June economic outlook, he said. Still, the recovery will remain modest next year, with the US and Japan outpacing Europe, the OECD report said. Elmeskov warned banks not to use the “fat margins” they have accrued thanks to government policies designed to keep money owing to the real economy to line their own pockets. He said the margins “are the result of both weak competition in the sector
and public policy interventions. It is important that these fat margins do not just end up as higher bonuses, dividends or buybacks.” While banks have started to loosen lending conditions -- a vital condition for the economy to grow again -- there are still some concerns about the health of their balance sheets and their ability to provide credit to fund the economy, he said. The OECD more than doubled its estimate for 2010 growth in its 30 member countries -- which include the US, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom -- to 1.9 percent, compared with 0.7 percent forecast in June. The projections are based on the assumption that by the middle of next year, nancial conditions will have returned to normal. The OECD publishes its economic outlook twice a year, although it updated some 2009 forecasts in an interim assessment published in September. The US economy has been boosted by stimulus measures, improving nancial conditions, demand from the fastgrowing non-OECD economies of Asia
-- especially China -- and the stabilization of the housing market, the OECD said. It predicted unemployment will start to ease after peaking in the rst half of 2010. The OECD predicts the US economy will expand at a rate of 2.5 percent in 2010, up from a June forecast of 0.9 percent. It also expects a smaller contraction this year: a 2.5 percent fall in output compared with an interim September forecast of a 2.8 percent drop. In Europe, the economies of the 16 countries sharing the euro are now expected to grow by 0.9 percent next year compared to a June forecast of zero growth. However, the OECD predicts a greater contraction of 4 percent this year, more than the 3.9 percent it calculated in September. Unemployment is not set to peak before the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011, and is likely to sap the strength of recovery, the OECD said. Elmeskov said central banks should keep interest rates low and should beware of the dangers of deation, while governments should work on plans to reduce debt levels as the economy recovers. Paris AP
BUSINESS
Gulf capital head-tohead with co-ops in sugar refineries bid Yesterday was the last day to submit bids on state-owned Turkish Sugar Reneries Corporation (TÜRKEKER) facilities in Kastamonu, Krehir, Turhal, Yozgat, Çorum and Çaramba, in a privatization auction that attracted interest from both Gulf interests and local cooperatives. Offers for the reneries, which are being sold as part of a larger plan to privatize 25 TÜRKEKER reneries, were being accepted through last night. TÜRKEKER’s total production for 2010 is expected to be 10.4 million tons of sugar; however, only 61 percent of the reneries’ capacity is expected to be utilized. The Turkish Agriculture Credit Cooperative Central Union (TTKKMB) will make a joint offer with Saudi Arabian-based Savola Group and Nesma Holding, also a Saudi company. The partnership, if the offer is accepted, would give the TTKKMB and Savola Group 40 percent ownership of the reneries apiece, with Nesma Holding receiving 20 percent. The Savola Group currently holds a 68 percent market share in the Saudi sugar industry, while Nesma Holding has a diverse portfolio, including business activities in advertising and logistics. The bid has drawn criticism from many groups, especially from the individual reneries themselves, which have raised concerns about foreigners buying Turkey’s sugar reneries. Ali Özk, chairman of the Kayseri Sugar Reneries, which are also being privatized in a separate lot, claimed that “[these foreign companies] would not be able to meet the needs of our farmers.” To make a counteroffer for the lot, the S.S. Beet Farms Cooperative Union (PANKOBRLK) joined forces with other sugar reneries and farming cooperatives in the Central Anatolian region to form the Northern Anatolia Sugar Reneries Joint Venture. They hope to buy the reneries on offer with their own capital. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Technology does not kill jobs, academic study shows The negative impact that technological change has on employment is being counteracted by another effect -- an increase in production, Associate Professor Aykut Lenger of Ege University’s department of economics has said. Speaking during a seminar held to promote his recent study, “Analysis of Inter-industry Effects of Technological Change on Employment,” at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), Lenger said: “The rst perception is that technological change increases unemployment. However, there is another mechanism that replaces the negative impact of technological change on employment: Decreasing costs lead to an increase in production. Employment created by increasing production cancels out the loss of labor due to technological change,” he told Today’s Zaman. When asked about how this positive impact seen in one sector inuences other sectors, Lenger responded, “As inter-industry relations are not very strong in Turkey, I found in my research that this positive impact remained limited to only the sector where the technological change took place.” Even though production in Turkey is mostly labor intensive, the country still has a serious unemployment problem, Lenger said, adding that this situation has given rise to questions such as whether adopting a more technology-intensive production model would lead to increased unemployment. “However, we can say that technological change, by increasing production, eliminates its negative impact on employment,” he explained, calling on rms to invest more in technology. Ali Aslan Klç Ankara
Turkmenistan seen as top gas supplier for Nabucco Close
Daily Monthly Change (%) Change (%)
İMKB-100
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İMKB-30
58.595
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34.066
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İMKB-BANK
103.125
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DJIMT
10,05
-2,0%
Yearly Change (%)
-2,0%
YTD Change (%)
MCAP (million TL)
1-Y Av.Volum
97,6%
72,8%
269.478
1.544
Hang Seng
95,3%
67,4%
219.632
1.171
Nikkei 225
83,7%
72,2%
72.114
478
Cac 40
118,7%
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126.209
724
DAX
57,0%
41,6%
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ANCE
Change (%)
H.Kong
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22.840,3
Japan
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3.822,1
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AT A GL CALENDAR pected No data ex
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67.513,8
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58,925
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EU€/JP¥
1,4925
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BOVESPA
66.33 52.97
51.9 47.03 33.67
26,4 9.7
8,6 Native
Foreign
Native
Foreign
Number of SharesM.capNumber of SharesM.cap
Daily Change (%)
Monthly Change (%)
Yearly Change (%)
Daily Change (%)
Ticker
US$/JP¥
89,20
EGGUB
64,00
12,28%
GRUND
0,52
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93,7
5,5
50,94
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2,200
0,0%
EU/JP¥
133,47
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0,55
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15,50
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73,2
5,6
116,07
TL / $
1,473
-0,1%
EU/US$
1,4961
Ticker
Price (TL) Daily Change (%)
Ticker
Price
Volumes
Price (TL) Yearly Change (%)
9,17%
IHLAS
0,50
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VAKBN
45,8
3,4
192,31
AFYON
1.510,00
2,37%
KRDMD
0,56
-1,75%
KOZAA
38,8
4,9
456,82
AKGRT
4,54
2,25%
RYSAS
3,42
-1,72%
AKBNK
29,5
8,6
83,46
CLEBI
13,10
ÝMKB 100 Mcap TL
--
ÝMKB 30
RETAILER
BIMAS
CARFA
BOYNR
--
ÝMKB IND --
6.657,2
4.592
1.205
100
KIPA 760
P/E 2006/12 P/E 2007/06t
14,4x
13,6x
11,5x
242,4x
63,8x
-89,1x
15,9x
-20,4x
P/E 2007/09t
10,3x
9,8x
8,7x
300,2x
56,9x
-507,7x
6,2x
-10,5x
EV/EBITDA 2006/12* EV/EBITDA 2007/03t*
9,9x 6,3x
9,5x 5,0x
8,7x 7,7x
327,9x 29,1x
50,7x 42,2x
-193,4x 14,8x
5,2x 6,3x
-9,1x 41,5x
EV/EBITDA 2007/06t*
7,0x
5,6x
7,7x
30,6x
39,3x
17,9x
5,7x
74,7x
6,7x
5,4x
7,7x
27,9x
37,2x
18,4x
5,0x
35,7x
CMYK
Close
Price ($) Light C. Oil Gold Copper
79,71 1146,00 313,50
Way
Change (%) 0,9% 1,3% 0,9%
High 80,11 1146,00 317,20
Low 79,17 1146,00 309,45
P/E: Share price divided by earnings per share is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the income or profit earned by the firm per share. EV/EBITDA: Enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, tax and amortization; “t” stands for trailer and means the data over the last four quarters. (*) Yesterday's closing(**) Updated at 6 p.m. by GMT+2 Disclaimer: The information in this report has been prepared by BMD, Bizim Securities from sources believed to be reliable. All the information, interpretations and recommendations covered herein relating to investment actions are not within the scope of investment consultancy. Therefore investment decisions based only on the information covered herein may not bring expected results.
Energy-rich Turkmenistan could become a top supplier to ll a Western-backed natural gas pipeline aimed at reducing Europe’s dependency on Russian gas, a top executive on the project said Thursday. The planned7.9 billion euros Nabucco pipeline would run 3,300 kilometers from to Turkey through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and end in Austria, circumventing Russia. “We hope and expect Turkmenistan to be one of the main suppliers of gas to various markets through Nabucco,” consortium Vice President Johann Gallistl told an investors conference in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. The remarks highlighted the crucial role that Western politicians and energy executives see the isolated Central Asian nation playing in ensuring European energy supplies over the coming decades. Construction of a trans-Caspian pipeline could be indenitely stalled by differences on how to divide the sea between ve littoral nations, including Russia and Iran. Talks have dragged for years without an end in sight. Gallistl said alternative options included moving gas through Iran, liquefying it, and then transporting it by sea. He also suggested it might be possible to deliver gas from offshore Turkmen elds to Azerbaijan, which lies across the Caspian from Turkmenistan. Other potential suppliers for Nabucco could include Azerbaijan, Iran and Iraq, Gallistl said. Ashgabat AP
REUT
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TODAY’S ZAMAN 09
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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an ems neither s Athich ha which ha its nation w r Togo, African t te es en W n Faso as is a u ca Burkina rkey. Yo -- Togo nin, and LOME ate in Tu hana, Be a consul . G r er d no rd an y s bo r by the bass astline visa at its se and then late cean co ng a $20 ue tion was lantic O e Portug purchasi coloniza th by n by s, ig d or re lonize for exam neighb te of fo Ghana, as rst co French. This fa tions though Togo w many na ighbors, then the ne d ith te w an ia s ed nd as fcult German go’s imm stead. A ith the di ed by To British in to deal w one shar h chaos. has had d by the uc ze go m ni d To lo , an co al e past , coups ple, was its ofci zed in th l unrest e coloni of , though uded civi that wer in 1960 amount has incl icant ndence h, which gn pe at si de a rm , in te . af ch fact eved en In . hi Fr ch ac in has Fren Togo ucted remains e cond ate, Togo o ge still phosph w ports ar langua ucer of and im Thirty-t e . od ad 60 pr tr t $3 ign th larges around its fore level. of just ld’s four y e or rt m w ve e co Atin Th w the po ne along the capita es belo nal per astli ing. e tion liv a natio meter co of earning a liv ts at th popula ilo its -k 56 of Merchanh market and has a percent t means tis eir nets , which importan with th sewa fe os an ng In Togo is od ni Ak hing the mor cean, fis catch. wn early in lantic O g for a get thro ad out y waitin . nets that boats he them in ss: The of the da Fishing ll ne rt si pu pa bu to good easy em 5 people spend a is not an event th ast 14-1 se, this ore to pr ed at le Of cour om the on the sh aters ne nets in fr to trees ean’s w ng d , oc lli tie e pu e th ug Just e ca ht into nets ar waves. e sh ar es these right too far by hours. After th Sometim is occurs lled out lf Th pu ha . g ald in dso an from be they are to onerally. kes up d before for the ht, gene percent water ta and cure ations are caug , with 65 smoked g celebr used re they in Togo he e w m ffee and e e durin they are co ,” (this in in cacao, co ce of shorel in Lom ise Day ur e of wer be so th rt om n to to po pr ai om e ex em se to po next pen C ri th Th . ap d . e is ts h th nd re an u o la pr If yo sary of capi“Peace you will Agricultu e working the l export anniver named years), the Togo e d re go’s tota forc 38 th y an k To r tl and s er or of n of fo s w t en rd rece led ation of the percen parade hana bo ent, citiz who ru e celebr ake up 40 een the Togo-G military tal agreem e border Faure ident, to be th cotton m ere are us pres vernmen betw esident, at th io Th go s ce pr . ev to rd an ts pr se ks st ca gh tity gole ite a Than The di of the e city. azing si ow iden rrent To ry short. is also qu le of th me am ly to sh me is ve e cerSo there e peop d the cu see so h, sellhave on tal of Lo e other. ing thes ches, an t to wave to th and fort and Togo e country to th rs watch rs back cial mar ie ou fi to g in the ld si es of . so vi m ; on ch re of Ghana mar in ench e, co from ywhe of this Fr rs er gb e me a ng e ie n ev us si ar ld si ca os ds e so as be d ol in Lo idered Gn crow when cr that ther is cons e border y bearde ish scho yelling, d man their aos at th We note so notice man outing, at a Turk bit of ch a bearde grow on al wares, sh tudents e r as S ds ei W ar at th s. of be th ie ng ad emon iers let with lots ers carryi derstand coast ro any sold e stage, l coast nd 1,200,000. Theaches, palm parade and un course. here, m s take th ag, of , dancer strength ou beautifu be Togolese urs in Togo e th Lome’s tion of Lome is arulevard. There areocean stretching symbol offter the military show of ing rene av ep e w tr la h A e bo en s. pu of uc l e fu ish is Lom of th chin and m The po e middl t beauti by Turk s vista front. Th d music ds in th e’s mos opened ing in e endles ainst d boasts color an is Lom that stan urse, th h school escent ag wav ting ag year an l is ue co gh rk at na of st io na Tu le d, at A cr hi A atio l trees an died w ar and 007 educ can see. e Intern own st the eye ked ose who e 2006-2 e called th has its ence. Lome ar ol is stoc up for th as far as orates th e. 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Yo hi s, fe at co an et ar f a m or tim t O ye es an . er the quite so market, r you w t by eye prepared : the nds ov here is here, bu the selle already ts school these la weight by telling the seller has en marke ady Turkish matoes wellgs is new these op re ba th al at e s e th your to ie ar e most of s pharmac by date ts out one ise Day tribes es in Togo, and reth. Each of these t se usen picking ointmen nd roving ho re to w Comprom so fe rs of al ib e ace and 37 dif 37 different tr e, Mina and Kab e. Around half You can pain kille out boxes. Of es, som during Pe medicin ur ng from ith e ts lt hi w ar Ew up an cu yt e es . ip e ts er ev icin n they Ther Partic distinct e are th seller se religions hs n nd and med out whe ge and of thes l tribal d you ca ation ab in boxes yout known gh this n langua practices loca past, an edicines is to see no inform tes, thou s its ow ere are m out boxes have g in Togo e small , ese-by da ibes ha pulation lin on tr us r em po ve r fo th here. 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To one min built by ch arriv phone, the Fren e church nd 8, ancs. the re rg fr st ou fo la re ar A FA Be te ds use the . of 50 stan at . of in tion. 18 n ican C ot za in fr tio sp ni A g r lo za t in ni anothe or Wes under co is church go, arriv an colo rant set g Lome, sited th nized To period of Germ vi air restau lo II en co go of In tourin ul op y To as Pa who istr the the pe John ken from the Min s during might be were ta 1985, Po people onal e next to for you German ville. In ople who there are many of traditi ady grov go s pe sh rt To e e so th of l th ” Togo. In up in center n nd al many of in Haiti, “akume, s left from s made en now y. You ca said that in cluding Ev is ra in to It ti. st , in ai re Econom ith to H ound -- w que sacrice food he ere sent been gr at a mos ices -- Vodou practiced, with ith Togolese at has slaves w ese sacr l prayer religion rved w maize th rationa strongly ater, se ve actice a of life. Th which is with w who pr s. Congreg aspects ligion is . If you ha ew re nt ed ly l st ix re on k ca m ic ffe m lo , d ly th ect di t com place rprise our an Togoville e actual ats, mos who prot that take may su which ar ns or go us gods monies ts that “sauces” to vario Lome of chicke e religious cere around music. the sigh Capital: ge: French the form th ar much standing in of ty demohe ds e y One of d be th an ow n an s g ca e cr multipar langua to read to witnes e lots of dancin go is th Official der transition to trying ere. se e chance , you in To th th ill ds un w ng an ic u di publ er st le ville, yo st stan ent: Re ed; it cratic ru GNASSINGBE newspap in Togo foot ju Governm happen ers on ssarily t: Faure meters s. newspap Presiden 85 square kilo 7 * has nece the new g t in ge th ,7 to No, no trying Area: 56 lation: 6,019,87 .13 billion** e crowd $5 ) pu th PP st Po lam (20 (P ju t is produc (29 percent), Is t) mestic en Gross do ns: Christianity liefs (51 perc io be lig us re Main indigeno percent), ate 09 estim *July 20 estimate **2008 MAP
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FACTS] [QUICK
CMYK
10 TODAY’S ZAMAN
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
Russian court extends moratorium on death penalty
CONFERENCE
Kosovo stll poor and dle, despte bllons n ad Thaci came to power in 2007 promising jobs, less poverty, better roads, 24-hour power and water. But while Kosovo elected local ofcials on Sunday in its rst vote since independence from Serbia in 2008, many are pessimistic about the future REU T ERS, H AZI R REK A
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday the alliance must not turn its back on Afghanistan as this would raise the threat from al-Qaeda and lead to insecurity throughout central Asia. “I have absolutely no doubt that if we were to walk away and turn our backs on Afghanistan al-Qaeda would be right back,” Rasmussen told a conference in Budapest. ”And if we were to walk away, just imagine the pressure on nucleararmed Pakistan and the way instability would spread like wildre through central Asia.” Rasmussen said that, although the cost of the NATO operation in Afghanistan might appear high, the cost of walking away would be far higher. NATO wants more troops to be sent to Afghanistan to step up training of Afghan forces so they can take over responsibility for security, a process NATO hopes to start in some areas next year. Rasmussen said Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was sworn in on Thursday for a second ve-year term, should use his new mandate to pursue reforms and ght corruption. Budapest Reuters
PHOTOS
‘NATO must not forsake Afghanis’
POLL
Berlusconi’s party stronger despite split
Air gun found at Taiwan leader’s event Taiwan authorities arrested a man who tried to take a BB gun, a type of air gun, into a campaign event led by President Ma Ying-jeou, the president’s ofce said on Thursday. Authorities at a late Wednesday campaign rally in southern Pingtung county, where Ma’s ruling party seeks to unseat the opposition in an election for magistrate next month, found the gun during a routine security check shortly before the president arrived, his spokesman Tony Wang said. A 19-year-old man who brought the gun was arrested, he said. A BB gun shoots small metal balls with enough force to puncture the skin and eyes. “He might have had the intent to kill or injure,” Wang said. “We need to do further checks.” Ma was unfazed by the incident and grateful for event security’s early detection, he said. Elected last year on pledges to improve relations with political rival China, Ma has angered citizens who support Taiwan’s formal independence. China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949 and vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary. Taipei Reuters
DISMISSAL
Serbs bid farewell to Patriarch Pavle A Kosovo Albanian cycles through the ruins of the Roma Mahala, which was destroyed after the 1998-99 war, in northern Kosovo in this May 5, 2005, file photo. FATOS BYTYCI DRENICA VALLEY
Nezir Jonuzi sips black tea, stares at Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s boyhood home and wonders whether he can get a job to feed his family. Thaci came to power in 2007 promising jobs, less poverty, better roads, 24-hour power and water. But while Kosovo elected local ofcials on Sunday in its rst vote since independence from Serbia in 2008, many are pessimistic about the future. In the heartland of the ethnic Albanian rebellion against Serb rule 10 years ago, people like Jonuzi and his ethnic Albanian family are among the 15 percent of Kosovo’s two million people living in extreme poverty, making less than 93 cents a day, according to the World Bank. “I know there will be nothing, no work during the winter,” said Jonuzi, 42, who has done odd jobs at construction sites. For decades the poorest part of socialist Yugoslavia, Kosovo is weighed down by the destruction of the 1998-99 war and a legacy of waste and corruption, illustrating the limitations of international help. Over the past decade it has received 3 billion euros in aid, according to the World Bank, and is expecting another billion by 2011. Yet ofcials in Pristina say they may need more. The government has talked with the International Monetary Fund about a loan of $200 to $300 million and hopes to conclude a deal this month, according to the central bank governor. In Kosovo, unemployment is 40 percent and average per capita income is 1,760 euros. That compares with average joblessness of just under 10 percent in the Eu-
Two Albanian brothers collecting scrap metal sit in a horse-drawn cart in the town of Mitrovica. The World Bank says half of Kosovo’s population live under the poverty line and 15 percent are “extremely poor.”
ropean Union and an average salary of about 24,000 euros ($35,930). The government hopes big public projects will pull the roughly 45 percent of the population who earn up to 1.42 euros a day out of poverty. “If nothing improves in the next two years there will be social unrest from those who have no jobs and those working in the public sector but are not paid well,” said Alban Hashani, an economist working for development and research group Riinvest. Its lack of exposure to nancial markets, the unilateral use of the euro, scal stability and a balanced budget has saved Kosovo some of the woes of the global economic crisis. Deputy Economy Minister Bedri Hamza says energy, roads and the private sector will fuel future growth. The country is expected to grow 4 percent in 2009, down from 5.4 in 2008. But years of high growth will be needed
to gain ground on even the poorest EU states. “To reduce poverty and unemployment we need to have economic growth of more than 8 percent for the next six or seven years,” said Hamza. Economists are skeptical. An investment boom, widely expected after independence, has not materialized. This week Kosovo abandoned a project to build a 2,000 megawatt power plant due to lack of investor interest, a problem in a country where water and power shortages happen every day. With a budget surplus, privatization and pension revenues this year, Kosovo has a billion euros in unused cash, but ofcials are unsure how to use such funds effectively. Hashani said government should use it to create jobs. ”The country with the highest unemployment rate in Europe has a surplus? This is an economic phenomenon that does not happen anywhere in the world,” he said. Reuters
Medvedev sacks his senior adviser Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed an inuential Kremlin media adviser for breaching government rules, the rst such sacking of his presidency, local media reported on Thursday. The Kremlin announced the departure of Mikhail Lesin, who founded Russia’s main TV advertising company in 1990 and held senior posts in news, television and the government, on Tuesday in a terse statement saying Lesin left “at his own request.” But Interfax news agency, citing an unidentied Kremlin ofcial, reported that Lesin was sacked for using “his position to resolve questions not related to his ofcial duties.” It quoted the Kremlin ofcial as saying Lesin, 51, had breached discipline and rules on state service. Other Russian newspapers also ran stories on Thursday saying Lesin, who looked after media, information technology and intellectual property issues in the Kremlin administration, was sacked for conicts of interest with his own businesses. A Kremlin spokesman refused to comment on the reports but the inuential Kommersant newspaper said such harsh comments are rarely made by senior Kremlin ofcials without the president’s permission. Moscow Reuters
Hundreds of thousands of people joined a somber funeral procession Thursday for Patriarch Pavle, who led the Serbian Orthodox Church through its postCommunist revival and the bloody Balkan ethnic conicts in the 1990s. White-robed church elders led funeral prayers in Belgrade’s Saborna Curch, where Pavle’s body covered by green-and-gold embroidered cloth lay surrounded by ickering candles in an open casket. Pavle, a highly popular patriarch known for his modesty and humility, died over the weekend after being hospitalized for two years with heart and lung problems. He had led the 7 million-member church since 1990. The casket was placed on a hearse-drawn caisson as crowds joined Serbian leaders and clergy in a solemn procession to the St. Sava Temple, the biggest Orthodox Christian church in the Balkans. The nal liturgy, led by stanbulbased Patriarch Bartholomew I -- the spiritual leader of world’s Orthodox Christians -- was held there. The state TV estimated that about half a million Orthodox believers, many from neighboring Bosnia and Montenegro, attended the funeral procession through downtown Belgrade as bells tolled from churches. Pavle is to be buried later Thursday at a monastery in a Belgrade suburb in a private ceremony attended only by church leaders and Serbian ofcials. “I come to bid last farewell to the best man who ever lived,” said Gojko Ljubovic, 53-year-old teacher from the southern town of Vranje. “He has done so much for the Serbian nation.” The frail-looking Pavle, known here as “the walking saint,” had called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan wars. But critics say he had failed to openly condemn extreme Serb nationalism of former President Slobodan Milosevic, which triggered the clashes with Catholic Croats and Bosnian and Kosovo Muslims in the 1990s. Belgrade AP
At least 19 killed in courthouse bombing in NW Pakistan A suicide bomber killed at least 19 people on Thursday outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan, the latest attack in an onslaught by extremist militants ghting back against an army offensive in the nearby Afghan border region. The bombing was the seventh attack in less than two weeks in and around Peshawar, the largest city in the northwest. The attacks have killed more than 80 people. The bomber, who arrived in a taxi, was being searched by police ofcers at the gate of the city’s lower court when he detonated explosives on his body, government ofcial Sahibzada Anees said. Several damaged motorbikes were strewn about the site, and reghters sprayed water on a charred, smoking white car. Dr. Saib Gul of the city’s Lady Reading Hospital said 19 people were killed in the attack and 51 had been wounded. At least three of the dead were police. “These attacks will not deter us in our ght against these beasts who are killing our children,” said Bashir Ahmad Bilour,
senior minister of the North West Frontier Province. The army launched its offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan in mid-October. It has retaken many towns in the region, but the militants say they avoided ghting and will now begin a guerrilla campaign. The United States has welcomed the assault, but wants the army to do more against the insurgents in the border area blamed for violence across the border in Afghanistan. Pakistan ofcials agged the offensive in South Waziristan several months before it actually began, something Bilour claimed allowed the militants to escape and plan the current wave of terror. “Unfortunately the announcement of the operation in Waziristan prior to the actual operation caused this problem,” he said. “They [the militants] are hiding in villages surrounding Peshawar and make their way in despite security.” Since the beginning of October, more than 300 people have been killed in bombings and militant raids on government, civilian and Western targets in the country, most of them in the northwest. Peshawar AP
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Russia’s Constitutional Court extended a 13-year-old moratorium on the death penalty on Thursday, just weeks before it was due to expire. Russian society is divided between those who back complete abolition of the death penalty those who believe it deters serious crime. Capital punishment remains part of Russia’s criminal code but it has observed a moratorium since 1996. “A sustainable constitutional legal regime guaranteeing the rights of a person to not be subjected to the death penalty and aimed at the gradual abolition of capital punishment has formed in Russia,” the Constitutional Court said in Thursday’s ruling. For the death penalty to be abolished, the Duma, or lower house of parliament, must ratify it. The last formal obstacle in bringing back capital punishment will be cleared at the beginning of next year. On Jan. 1, Russia’s turbulent Chechnya region, on the country’s Muslim-dominated southern fringe, will become the last region to replace traditional panels of judges in courts with juries, a requirement for the death penalty to return. Surveys show that between 65 percent and 74 percent of Russians favor resuming executions, carried out before the moratorium by a pistol shot to the back of the head. Russia committed itself to scrapping the death penalty in 1996, when it signed a protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights but it has never ratied the document, citing public opposition. St. Petersburg Reuters
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Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative People of Freedom (PDL) coalition has bolstered its popularity despite judicial problems dogging the Italian prime minister and splits among its leadership, according to an opinion poll on Thursday. The survey, carried out for the pro-government newspaper Libero by the respected Piepoli institute, showed the PDL increasing its share of voting intentions to 38.5 percent, versus the 35.3 percent it garnered in July’s European elections. The poll was carried out before this week’s talk of early elections. Pollster Nicola Piepoli said, however, that when the poll was taken political parties were focused on regional elections due in March. The main opposition Democratic Party (PD) also saw its popularity rise to 27.5 percent from 26.1 percent. The main losers were smaller coalition partners on the left and right and independent parties, according to the survey. The gures contrasted with a survey by pollsters ISPO, published in late October in Corriere della Sera newspaper, which showed the government’s popularity slipping. Rome Reuters
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Policemen and rescue workers stand near a vehicle which was damaged by a suicide bomb blast outside a court house in Peshawar on Thursday.
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*Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former professor of journalism at Princeton University. © Project Syndicate, 2009
AP, AHN YOUNG-JOON
unlimited amount of time, likening the Iranian nuclear issue to years of stopand-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions. “We weren’t going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue,” said Obama. He has advocated a policy of increased engagement, rather than confrontation, on thorny international issues. In apparent response to Obama’s comments, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated in a speech in Tabriz that Iran would respond positively to a change in big powers’ policy. Seoul/Manila Reuters
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TODAY’S ZAMAN RAMALLAH –- A political leader’s decision not to seek reelection usually triggers fervent discussion about potential heirs. Yet, President Mahmoud Abbas’s withdrawal from the presidential election scheduled for Jan. 24, 2010, has produced nothing of the kind in Palestine -- not because of a dearth of leadership or a reluctance to mention possible successors, but because the presidency of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has become irrelevant. Abbas’s withdrawal comes at a time when Palestinian frustration with the political process has rendered suspect the entire rationale behind the PA, established in the mid1990’s, following the Oslo Accords. The main component of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) agreement with Israel was a ve-year interim period during which negotiations were expected to lead to an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Sixteen years later, it has become clear that the Israelis have made no effort to come to terms with Palestinian national aspirations -- and that no effective effort has been made to convince them. The number of illegal Jewish settlers in Palestinian areas has doubled, leaving Palestinians increasingly convinced that negotiations are a waste of time. Many recall the preferred strategy of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir: “I would have conducted negotiations on autonomy for 10 years, and in the meantime we would have reached a halfmillion people in the West Bank.” Initially, the ve-year interim agreement called for the election of a Palestinian Legislative Council and an executive leader whom the Israelis wanted to call a “chairman,” spurning the word “president.” Because Arabic makes no distinction between chairman and president, the Israelis accepted use of the Arabic word rayyes in the ofcial English text. Palestinian refugees in exile and other Palestinians living in the diaspora were not allowed to vote. East Jerusalem Palestinians were allowed to vote only at the post ofce or at booths outside the citty limits. Abbas’s withdrawal merely conrms the obvious. Another such election in the near future, including the one set for January, is unlikely to occur, mainly owing to the continuing rift between the PLO and Hamas, which controls Gaza. Hamas participated in the 2006 legislative elections which followed Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza. But for years Hamas and other radical Palestinian groups have rejected the Oslo process, on the grounds that free elections under Israeli occupation would be absurd. Hamas has the power to stymie the vote and has indicated that it would do so. Moreover, Abbas has not given up his positions as head of the PLO and leader of its biggest faction, Fatah, which remains in control in the West Bank. Abbas cannot resign from his post for the foreseeable future, lest the Hamas-backed speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council take over. At the same time, no PLO ofcial is likely to seek the presidency without Abbas’s approval, which he will withhold until a new mechanism for ending the occupation is found. The PLO will likely gain much from Abbas’s decision, because it de-emphasizes the status of the PA president and raises the prole of his post as chairman of the PLO’s executive committee. That shift, in turn, clears the way for a generational change in leadership -- and, more importantly, a transition to post-Oslo politics. The PLO’s old guard -- men like Yasser Arafat and Abbas, who led the liberation organization from exile and returned home with the Oslo Accords -- dominated the Palestinian political landscape up to now. After they depart the scene, Palestinian leaders who were born under occupation and spent time in Israeli prisons will most likely ll the vacuum. The most prominent such gure is Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the student movement at Birzeit University in the 1980s and one of the main organizers of the First Intifada, resulting in his deportation by Israel in the late 1980s. In 2002, he was arrested and sentenced to a long prison term on charges that he led the Second Intifada, which had begun two years earlier, and ordered some of its military attacks. Despite being imprisoned, Barghouti was recently elected to Fatah’s central council, and a number of others who spent time in Israeli prisons will join him. One is Jibril Rajoub, imprisoned for 19 years and deported in the First Intifada, only to return to lead one of the security services after the PA was established. Another is Mahmoud Dahlan, also an ex-prisoner and former security ofcial, although the loss of Gaza to Hamas, for which many Palestinians hold him partly responsible, has dimmed his leadership prospects. Finally, there is Nasser al-Qudwa, the former PLO representative at the United Nations. Qudwa is a dark-horse candidate to succeed Abbas -- a possible compromise gure who has never been directly involved in security or military activities. For many Palestinians, Qudwa, a soft-spoken, multi-lingual nationalist (and Arafat’s nephew), presents an acceptable face for Palestine both locally and internationally. The coming months will reveal whether we are, indeed, witnessing the dawn of the post-Oslo era in Palestinian politics, and whether a new leader, with new supporters, will be required to revive the Palestinian cause. Whoever emerges on top will have to present an effective strategy to end four decades of military occupation and bring about a truly independent state that a majority of Palestinians can embrace.
country of most of its rened uranium stock. Under the plan brokered by the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran would ship some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be converted into fuel plates for a Tehran reactor that makes isotopes for cancer treatment. “Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal ... and so as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences,” Obama said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul. He said Iran would not be given an
US President Barack Obama speaks to American soldiers at Osan Air Base in Osan, South Korea, on Thursday.
Karzai sworn in as Afghan president, vows to fight graft Karzai was sworn in as Washington decides whether to send tens of thousands more troops to ght an increasingly unpopular war. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was among foreign ofcials at the ceremony Afghan forces should be ready to take over security in Afghanistan in ve years, President Hamid Karzai said at his inauguration on Thursday, and pledged to tackle graft which has left his reputation in tatters. Karzai was sworn in as Washington decides whether to send tens of thousands more troops to ght an increasingly unpopular war. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was among foreign ofcials at the ceremony. Karzai, 51, also called for a “loya jirga,” a traditional grand assembly, which under Afghanistan’s constitution can take precedence over all government institutions, including the presidency itself. His inauguration for his second ve-year term came against the backdrop of a rising Taliban insurgency, doubts over his legitimacy after an election tainted by fraud, and complaints his government is riddled with corruption and mismanagement. “We are determined that by the next ve years, Afghan forces are capable of taking the lead in ensuring security and stability across the country,” Karzai said. He said Afghanistan’s security forces should be able to assume responsibility of unstable areas in three years. US ofcials say Afghan forces must be able to take over security across the country before foreign
troops can leave. There are nearly 110,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 68,000 Americans, more than half arriving this year. Despite an announcement this week that Afghanistan would set up an anti-corruption unit, Clinton, in her rst visit as secretary of state, earlier criticized Karzai for not taking enough measures to combat graft. “They’ve done some work on that, but in our view, not nearly enough to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to tackle corruption,” she told reporters en route to Kabul on Wednesday.
‘Very dangerous issue’ Clinton said Washington would support the new government but expected serious results in building an “accountable, transparent government.” Karzai said corruption was “a very dangerous issue” and pledged to appoint competent and professional ministers. A decision by US President Barack Obama on whether to send up to 40,000 troops to combat a resurgent Taliban partly depends on whether Karzai can be trusted to press ahead with reforms. Obama said on Wednesday he sought to bring the conict to an end before he leaves ofce. A UN-backed probe found that nearly a third of votes for Karzai in the Aug. 20 election
were fake. While Karzai had been expected to win anyway, the extent of the fraud in his favor severely damaged his credibility at home and among Western and other nations with troops ghting to support his government. He has since faced tough pressure from Western leaders to clamp down on widespread corruption and replace former guerrilla leaders and cronies with able technocrats in his new government.
REUTERS
Daoud Kuttab
World powers could have a package of measures against Iran “within weeks,” US President Barack Obama said on Thursday, warning Tehran of consequences for its failure to respond to an offer of a nuclear deal. But Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed talk of further punitive sanctions, saying the West had learnt from past failures. Iran on Wednesday rejected a deal to send enriched uranium abroad for rendering into fuel for medical purposes in Tehran, defying world powers which regarded the offer as a way to delay Iran’s potential ability to make atomic bombs by at least a year by divesting the
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OPINION
US warns Iran of consequences over nuclear standoff
Streets deserted Karzai had been set to take on former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in a Nov. 7 runoff before his opponent withdrew, citing more fraud fears. Despite pressure from the West for a power-sharing deal, Abdullah has ruled out joining Karzai. “I have no intention of taking part in Karzai’s government,” Abdullah told Afghanistan’s Tolo television on Thursday. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, the most prominent foreign leader at the ceremony, watched Karzai’s inauguration with foreign ministers from Britain, France and Turkey. Kabul’s streets were deserted early on Thursday with armored vehicles blocking off major roads. Security ofcers even stopped people from walking on the streets. Kabul Reuters
REUTERS, JERRY LAMPEN
Palestne after Abbas?
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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after Karzai was sworn on Thursday.
Davutolu attends Karzai’s inauguration Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu represented Turkey at a ceremony in Kabul where Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term, after being returned to power despite a fraudtainted poll in which more than a quarter of his votes were invalidated. Karzai was returned to power after election officials cancelled a needless run-off vote that was to be held on Nov. 7. A UN-backed probe had earlier invalidated tens of thousands of his votes from the Aug. 20 ballot. World leaders have since congratulated Karzai on his win, but the fraud-marred poll has hurt his reputation among Western countries that have nearly 110,000 troops defending his government from a growing Taliban insurgency. Earlier this month, Ankara congratulated Karzai on his re-election, with the Foreign Ministry expressing hope to see that those groups who opposed Karzai in the elections will support the new administration. Ahead of the inauguration, Davutolu attended a breakfast meeting hosted by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for foreign ministers of the countries which have supported the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Davutolu was scheduled to visit the Kabul Regional Command later in the day. Turkey had already been supporting ISAF with around 800 non-combat troops in Afghanistan, but gradually increased this number to 1,600 after assuming the Kabul Regional Command’s rotating leadership. Turkey has constantly voiced its determination to refrain from sending any combat troops to Afghanistan. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires
Afghan President Hamid Karzai (C) is flanked by his vice presidents Mohammad Qasim Fahim (L) and Karim Khalili, as he takes the oath in Kabul on Thursday.
Spanish opposition queries alleged ransom payment to Somali pirates
Palestinian leader Barghouti wants popular, diplomatic action
Spain’s conservative opposition called on Thursday on the country’s intelligence chief to testify over whether ransom was paid for the release of a hijacked Spanish trawler by Somali pirates. Popular Party spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said they want the director of the National Intelligence Center, Felix Sanz Roldan, to testify behind closed doors at parliament. The Spanish trawler Alakrana was released on Tuesday after an alleged ransom payment of $3.3 million. Somali pirates held the ship and its 36-member crew for 47 days. The Spanish government refuses to say if a ransom was paid, although Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has done little to
Peace talks with Israel have failed and the Palestinians must launch popular and diplomatic campaigns to achieve statehood, Marwan Barghouti said in an interview from his prison cell. Still popular and articulate despite ve years behind bars, the 50-year-old activist is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanize a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel. With US peace diplomacy at a standstill, Barghouti said, there is no justication for the split between the Fatah movement he belongs to and the Hamas Islamists who control Gaza. “I do not see that there are fundamental
deny it, saying the government “did what it had to do.” The Popular Party has refrained publicly from criticizing the alleged payment, but it has assailed the government’s handling of the crisis. “We want to know what happened in order to take measures and help in any way we can,” Saenz de Santamaria said in a television interview. She was answering a question as to whether she thought the government or the ship’s owner had made the reported ransom payment. The party said Zapatero has ignored repeated calls from it and other parties for troops be stationed on Spanish shing boats in the Indian Ocean after a series of hijackings or attempts over the past year. Madrid AP
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political differences between Fatah and Hamas,” said Barghouti, a leading gure in the two Intifadas, or uprisings against Israeli occupation, waged by the Palestinians since 1987. Convicted of murder for his role in attacks on Israelis, Barghouti was jailed for life by Israel in 2004 during the second Intifada, which broke out in 2000. From his prison cell he responded in writing to questions from Reuters delivered by his lawyers. Before his arrest, Barghouti had been seen as a contender to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian leader -- a position assumed by current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after Arafat’s death in 2004. Ramallah Reuters
12 TODAY’S ZAMAN
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Parent of a chld wth specal needs
homeland and not be different from their peers at university. For one reason or another, not every child adjusts to other cultures. Mom and dad have expressed concerns that when they moved as a family overseas they wanted to encourage their children to get involved in extracurricular activities such as sports and music. They also say it is important that they talk with their children at the end of each day and recognize that parental involvement with the school is essential. Parents who have children with special learning disabilities face an even greater challenge: Here is a letter from one parent who requests to remain anonymous:
TODAY’S ZAMAN, MEHMET YAMAN
heard my requests rst time around. The rest was relatively simple -- I taught as I had always taught in the UK: topic-based work with lots of stories, games, creative activities and play, the only difference being a massive use of exaggerated gestures, tone of voice and play-acting. And yes, the children did progress through the language learning stages. Firstly, they quietly absorbed a growing vocabulary, then they began to repeat my words and next my phrases. Before long they were able to answer questions with an appropriate word and soon to combine two or three words. At last came the eureka moment -they were able to string enough words together to express their own ideas. Of course, there are many blips in the learning process. For example, rather than answering my question “What color is this?” with “Red,” “blue” or “green,” some kids will just parrot back, frustratingly, my own question. In every area of learning, children progress at their own speed, but I have learned that certain factors make a huge difference to how quickly a child acquires a new language. Those who learn English the quickest are those who are already bilingual; unfortunately, this is not an option for most kids. But almost as important is the attitude of the parents to other languages -- the more positive the better. The ability of young children to learn never fails to amaze and fascinate me. Young children, given the right motivation and input, can learn a whole new language in a relatively short period of time. The satisfaction and pleasure of hearing these children speak to me in English, together with their parents’ delight, never fails to give me a huge buzz. So despite my initial worries and lack of condence, my new career has been a hugely rewarding experience.
Note: Charlotte McPherson is the author of “Culture Smart: Turkey, 2005.” Please keep your questions and observations coming: I want to ensure this column is a help to you, Today’s Zaman’s readers. Email:
[email protected]
stanbul from the one-meter and below perspectve
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“Hello. What is your name?” How many times had I heard these words from kids of all ages during my years of traveling through Turkey? Then, when I nally moved to downtown Antalya some four years ago, no prizes for guessing the rst question I was asked by the neighborhood kids! I soon learned that while it was ne to give a straight “My name is…” reply, anything else would bring nothing but the blank look of incomprehension. The English most kids learned here was by rote -- which is all very well when answering teachers’ questions or marking the correct answer in a multiple-choice test -- but next to useless out on the street when faced with a real live foreigner. I’d been taught French at school in exactly the same way, so I could easily empathize with the exuberant neighborhood kids. It meant, though, that I started my new job in an Antalya crèche with some trepidation. How could I succeed in helping my class of multinational 3-year-olds learn to speak a new language uently? Firstly, all kids need to be motivated. In the UK, praise for a child’s efforts, making learning a fun and positive experience and, as a last resort, dishing out reward-stickers was usually sufcient. But here I had a much more powerful tool -- my own very obvious inability to speak their language -whether it be Turkish, Dutch, Russian, Hebrew or whatever. This proved a fantastic incentive. The kids soon learned that if they wanted to communicate with their teacher and their classmates they would have to learn English -- and fast! The rst job was to establish some familiar and catchy rhymes and songs with which to gain their attention and encourage some listening skills. My rst attempt was to launch into a rendition of “Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool,” etc. Needless to say this was met with a wall of total blankness -- even after I had found the toy sheep from the farm box and some wool with which to explain the lyrics. I fared better with the “Five Little Monkeys” -especially with the chosen few acting out the monkey parts.
In every area of learning, children progress at their own speed, but I have learned that certain factors make a big difference to how quickly a child acquires a new language. Those who learn the quickest are those who are already bilingual
Circle games such as “Ring a Ring of Roses” and “The Farmer’s in His Den” became popular, too. But what sense could these children possibly make of any of these, where the language and allusions are beyond the comprehension even for native speakers? Ask any English 3-year-old to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and they will -and they’ll even be able to tell you that it is about a star. But what’s in it for a child who, initially at least, has no idea what the song or rhyme is about? Well, there’s the rhyme, the rhythm, the simple tunes and the joy of communal singing. They soon learned to love these and many more rhymes and songs, belting them out with an ever increasing gusto. “What is a bobbin?” asked the mom of one of my charges at my rst parents’ consultation. I was a little taken aback until I realized where she’d picked up that rather obscure English word -- from the rhyme “Wind Your Bobbin Up.” Her child had been singing it incessantly at home, probably driving them, if not to drink, at least in search of a dictionary. (A bobbin, by the way, is a small reel on which threads such as cotton or wool are wound.) Having been alerted to the problem, I began to send copies of the words to each rhyme/song home with the children. Next strategy -- repetition -- and lots of it. Within a week, all the children understood the “Go to the toilet and wash your hands” phrase, along with the “Tidy up time,” “Change your shoes” and “Line up” instructions. With the three meals and three trips to the garden per day, these were generally the rst English words the parents would hear their offspring utter. Not only did the kids quickly learn these phrases, they very soon understood them and would echo my words and pass the instruction on to those who hadn’t
“Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” -- Christopher Reeves
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3-year-old linguists
ALISON KENNY ANTALYA
homeschooling her. Dear Anonymous: You are very courageous. Many schools may have a speech and linguist specialist on staff, but most schools are not equipped to offer a diagnosis of dyslexia as this should be done by a certied professional. Although it seems that usually Turkey is later than others in forming specic organizations to support and help in special cases, in this case, you will be glad to know that there is an organization in Turkey based in Lefkosa, called North Cyprus Dyslexia Association and approved by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who are determined to help teachers and parents better understand dyslexia. There are many Web sites to help parents learn more about dyslexia. I was impressed with one that provides a good denition of the learning disability and spells it out by age groups. You can visit it at: http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/dyslexia.htm
JOHN FOSTER STANBUL
It is said that Muhammad liked cats. He said dogs, hearing the word of man, obeyed him; but cats, hearing God’s word, would not obey man, only God. Dogs are purported to be un-Islamic. Don’t tell that to most Turks. They love their dogs, dogs are everywhere, well-cared for, even the strays. That blue chip you may see in a stray’s ear means someone’s seeing to it that that dog is getting his shots. You see Turks walking their dogs all the time. They will not let them in the house, wanting the house clean and it is ritual to forbid dogs from the home, but many Turks OWN dogs, they just keep them outside, in kennels. Not dog houses -- fenced-in multi-dog apartment dwellings. But the strays are always around too, especially at night, so around 2 a.m., it’s like listening to all the late-night bark shows. “My next guest [single dog, running through woods, is announced from a kilometer away], ROWR ROWR ROWR, my next guest ROWR is, well you all know him, he’s the sultan of the neighborhood, cur of the caddesis, a big WHOOF warm stanbul welcome BARK BARK BARK for Mehmet!” And the entire local dog audience erupts from multiple homes, RAWR RAWR BARK BARK ROWF ROWF RAWRF RAWRF BARK! Until 10 minutes later, when after his gig, Mehmet runs to his SECOND show of the night, ROWR ROWR ROWFFF! and it starts all over again. I hardly notice it anymore. stanbul’s cats, they are everywhere, many very beautiful and striped. Most of ‘em look contented and will come over if you ask, although they’ll be annoyed if you don’t have food. Or if they want petting and you try and stop, “MRRRowll!” Hey, petting to continue, please! If you’re a hit, the cat will follow you. A big orange tabby, he is my new friend by the gym; I like that cat. I would say there’s mutual interest. I am doing a heck of a lot better with cats than with women, although the similarities are obvious. The cats are a comfort, and they encourage me in the other. Except I know how to talk to a cat. That’s been true as long as I can remember; with cats and dogs, I get them to come over when no one else can, and then they don’t want to leave. Some part of me is always amazed not everyone knows how to talk to dogs and cats. I once made new friends in a bar with this acquaintance’s roommates’ dog; he was dogsitting. The guy was there with his German boss. Poor little girl, a young orange pit bull, she was neglected and lonesome, and we talked about it a long, long time and I let her tell me her whole story. Much petting and cuddling and looking her in the face, she whined, she was so sad. I let her know we were pals. We wrestled some on the oor. The German fellow, who’d been formal and stiff when we were introduced, stared in amazement. “What is zis? You say he does not know ze dog? That is ridiculous! He does not know the dog? But look at him! He … the dog … obviously he knows zis dog, anyone can see it, or how … how is it like this then with the dog?” I didn’t want to interfere with the bossemployee meeting, but I had to answer. “She’s just lonely,” I said. TODAY’S ZAMAN, MEHMET YAMAN
CULTURAL CORNER
CHARLOTTE McPHERSON
Dear Charlotte: We have a daughter in year 5 at a private school. She suffers from a learning disability -- dyslexia. Before we knew it was this, we were told by the school that our child should be held back in school and placed into a class with students a few years younger, which would help her do better. There was concern for her low self-esteem and low self-condence. We were aware of these traits because we had read that this can be a symptom of dyslexic children. We did not feel comfortable with the school’s recommendation that our child, age 9, should be in a class with children that young. We refused. Because private schools are not just an educational institution but also have to operate as a business, we believe that the lack of feedback on our child’s performance in her earlier years has now created a worse problem for us to deal with. We have paid the school a fortune. We are disappointed that we have not been given more advice and support. We can’t help but think that they were more concerned in keeping us as their customer than risk telling us something that we may have not wanted to hear. The scary thing is that if sufcient help is not available in private schools I cringe to think what happens to children in government schools who have special needs. We have taken our child out of the school and are now
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Parents raising their children in another culture often feel overwhelmed with all the challenges. A few Turks have made comments to me, saying they think that resident foreigners have a superiority complex and try to transplant their own culture in the host country by their choices of where they live and how their children are educated. Education is a particularly touchy subject for most parents, regardless of nationality. Turks who can afford to do so also send their children to private Turkish schools where they are sure their children will receive the best education they can afford. Often Turks seem to observe that foreign kids are sent to international private schools where children may only enroll if they hold a foreign passport. Although these schools range in price, they are usually the most expensive ones. Not every foreigner who lives in Turkey is someone who basically thinks that if you keep out of my life, I’ll keep out of yours and is somebody who feels no obligation to integrate into the host culture’s way of life. Many foreign parents would like for their children to make friends with local children and learn about the host culture, but their primary concern has to be about the quality of education that their children receive. They want to be sure that their children can go back to their
Stray cats and dogs make up a sizeable community in the city of stanbul. NOTE: Today’s Zaman intends to provide a lively forum for expatriates living in Turkey. We encourage you to contact us at
[email protected] and share your experiences, questions and problems in all walks of life for publication in Today’s Zaman.
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CULTURE&ARTS
TODAY’S ZAMAN 13
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
Onay Akba’s Lyon exhibition, featuring 23 canvases, represents a continuation of the concepts behind his previous exhibitions in stanbul and Ankara. Altogether, the series is an outcome of three years of work.
Onay Akba confronts demons and angels RUMEYSA KIGER STANBUL
45-year-old artist eventually moved to Paris and still continues his work there. “In the beginning, it was all because of curiosity and in order to go on an adventure,” he says about his move to Paris. “Our generation and the previous generations were washed in French culture and art and Paris was an inevitable direction of our 150 years of modernization. Of course I was affected by all these and I was 24 years old at the time. I believe that I am now living in a city that helps its residents in their existential challenges, having all the possible cultural facilities, such as museums, galleries, libraries and collectors; a place that is totally integrated with the century and a cultural and economical center. I believe all these things keep an artist more
TODAY’S ZAMAN
Turkish artist Onay Akba, who has been living in Paris for the last 21 years, is currently exhibiting a collection of his paintings as part of the Season of Turkey in France. Titled “Mes inachevés,” the show represents a continuation of the concepts behind his previous exhibitions in stanbul and Ankara. Altogether, the series is an outcome of three years of work. The current show includes 23 canvases that are both thematically and aesthetically parallel to his earlier paintings. Every artist and artwork has its own adventure and story, Akba says in an interview
with Today’s Zaman. “In this adventure, your own existence and studies accompany you. My paintings also have their own stories, of course. The ground of art consists of challenge, but despite rejecting the art that came before, contemporary art is nevertheless constructed on it. Thus, it is not a result of tradition. My calling myself ‘the spoiled kid of the history of art’ is also related to this. It is an important thing if a student who received a classical education in the academy challenges this education and nds his own authentic artistic language. This was also my story,” he explains. Akba was born in Turkey’s Black Sea region and graduated from the department of painting of Marmara University in stanbul. The
alive and lead him to question himself and the things around him,” he emphasizes. Akba notes that his work has gone through various periods, starting with a baroque period and then passing into an impressionist period marked by a strong relationship with nature. Then he passed on to a new type of representation related to comic art, though it lacked the third dimension and failed to integrate space, which is very important in painting. Asked about his creative process, Akba says he has to have a reason in order to paint. “I am not one of those people who wake up in the morning and say, ‘I have to paint today and feel better.’ Even if I acknowledge the therapeutic aspect of painting, the tendency of art
is an intellectual one, I believe,” he stresses, adding, “It is an act of releasing demons and angels in the deepest parts of your existence.” He continues: “I pick a concept that I think suits the time and start working on that concept inch by inch. From all these studies I produce sketches, designs and compositions, and I do not touch the canvas in this process until I am psychologically, philosophically and technically ready to paint.” Despite this rigorous process, not everything is under his control, the painter confesses. “I do not really know what I am supposed to do. It is a time open to all kinds of surprises.” “Mes inachevés” will run through Dec. 12 at Galerie Regard Sud in Lyon.
Ezel Akay’s movie premieres at Bursa festival
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The Turkish premiere of Ezel Akay’s latest movie, “Yedi Kocal Hürmüz” (Hürmüz’s Seven Husbands), was held on Wednesday during the fourth Bursa International Silk Road Film Festival. The premiere brought together the movie’s director, Akay, cast members Gülse Birsel, Erkan Can, Müjdat Gezen, Öner Erkan, Aral Seskr and several members of the crew with cinema lovers at the Korupark Cinetech movie theater. The premiere was attended by a large audience, who applauded the lm enthusiastically. “This movie was miraculous for me. We wanted to make something different and we wanted to show this movie to an audience for the rst time in a place other than stanbul,” Akay said before the premiere. Noting that they had fun during the making of the movie, actress Birsel said: “The three weeks were so fun. The cast and crew were in harmony and the director was not tense, no matter what happened on the set. I already loved the play version [of Hürmüz’s Seven Husbands]. It was a nice experience.” Erkan Can, an actor in the movie who was born in Bursa, said the movie’s script was already quite old but it would retain its popularity even after 100 years. “Hürmüz’s Seven Husbands,” featuring prominent Turkish actors including Nurgül Yeilçay (as Hürmüz), Haluk Bilginer, Mehmet Ali Alabora and Cengiz Küçükayvaz, will open in Turkish theaters today. The movie tells the story of Hürmüz, who marries six men illegally and then falls in love with a doctor. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Prominent Turkish author Ömer Lütfi Mete dies Ömer Lüt Mete, a 59-year-old journalist, author and scriptwriter, passed away on Wednesday due to heart failure. Mete experienced a heart attack last year and had since been in outpatient care. Upon going into cardiac arrest on Tuesday at his house, he was taken to Acbadem Kadköy Hospital’s intensive care unit, where he died on Wednesday. Mete worked as an editor, manager and author at Sabah, Bizim Anadolu, Tercüman, Türkiye, Yeni Haber, Orta Dou, Yeni afak, Ayyldz and the Yeni Binyl dailies. He also contributed numerous articles to the Türk Edebiyat, Boaziçi and Çarm journals. Mete was buried yesterday at the Çengelköy Cemetery in stanbul, following a funeral prayer at the Marmara lahiyat Vakf Mosque. Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali ahin released a statement offering his condolences over Mete’s death. “Mete, having long served our media as a journalist, also contributed to Turkish cinema by writing scripts for lms and television shows. I believe Mete will live in the heart of our public through his works,” he noted. Professor skender Pala, author Mahir Kaynak, journalist and poet Olcay Yazc, author Dursun Gürlek, journalist and author Abdurrahman en, and journalist and author Beir Ayvazolu also expressed their condolences over Mete’s death. Highlighting that Mete is an irreplaceable artist, Pala said, “His death is a loss for Turkey.” Stressing that Mete will live another lifetime through his works, Gürlek said he knew Mete for over 30 years and added he was a productive author. Yazc, who worked with Mete at a journal of Turkish literature, said Mete created his own style by synthesizing the East and the West. Noting that Mete was also a prominent scriptwriter and an intellectual, he added: “He was not an admirer of foreign cultures like other intellectuals. He was aware of the values of the soil where he was born.” stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
stanbul and Venice exhibition opens An exhibition highlighting the interaction between stanbul and Venice from the 15th century to the 1990s in the diplomatic, military, commercial and artistic spheres opened yesterday at Sakp Sabanc Museum in stanbul. Titled “Osmanl Döneminde Venedik ve stanbul: Nam- Dier Ak” (Venice and stanbul During the Ottoman Era: In Other Words, Love), the exhibition showcases items from a number of museums in Venice and stanbul, including the Topkap Palace Museum, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, the Pera Museum and the Yap Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum. Speaking at the opening event on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu said the exhibition on stanbul and Venice tells the love story of water with nature and history. “We will get the chance to see different examples of a centuries-old cultural relationship between Italy and Turkey,” he added. Davutolu’s Italian counterpart, Franco Frattini, thanked the organizers of the exhibition. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
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14 TODAY’S ZAMAN
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CIHAN, BURÇN SELÇUK DOKGÖZ
-3
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
S T N S E [SIL NALI O I T NA EY URK
Many justications may be found to defend a counter argument, but how Turks perceive the notion of “nationalism” (milliyetçilik) is different from the widely accepted denition of nationalism and from the popularly held idea of racism. Perhaps that’s why nationalism is so widely accepted by the general public. This strand of nationalism, which is predominantly based on patriotism, can also coexist peacefully with Islamic sentiments. In other words, this nationalism is not built on any sort of racism. Since this main strand of nationalism, which preaches such sentiments as love of country, respect for the ag, etc., does not approve of xenophobia, it is wrong to equate it with today’s neo-nationalism or regard the people who consider themselves to be nationalists -- particularly in Anatolia -- as racists, and this is an observation made from a strong outsiders’ perspective . The fact that people can assume nationalist, conservative and religious identities all at the same time indicates that nationalism, in its general sense, does not correspond to a racist or fascist mindset. Islam strongly prohibits racism, and this prohibition has been implemented in practice since the advent of Islam, tailoring nationalism into a more reasonable and more mature form. It is this group of nationalists who opt for silence in this muted Turkey. In other words, it is the main strand. The groups who today regard themselves as neo-nationalist and Kemalist and secular, etc., at the same time have nothing do with Anatolia’s nationalist vein. Nationalism has recently suffered two major breaks. The rst and the most tragic of these occurred in 1980. The oppression of the idealist (ülkücü) young people at the hands of the military rule of Sept. 12 was not something that one would expect in return for their toil for the good of the country. The urge to “protect the country against threats,” which peaked in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, had garnered sympathy among the general public toward the nationalist struggle. The terrible fate of Afghanistan might become true also for Turkey; therefore, it was necessary to “protect the state” and “ght against the collaborators within.” This mentality also sought to “protect the country” and to “do services to the state.” It was a generation of dynamic young people who would not criticize the army in the least and would carry signs reading “The army, the nation hand-in-hand” during rallies. The military coup of Sept. 12 not only devastated these childish feelings but also caused major trauma. The young people who strove for the “survival of the state” were tortured by the most cruel and degrading methods. This great disappointment was translated into a self-critique of “what was our mistake” among the nationalist groups, and
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EKREM DUMANLI
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they arrived at the conclusion that “the state could protect itself, but it chose to use and then discard us.” Indeed, after the coup, these groups gave a big, unexpected “no” to the requests from the state to conduct some illegal work “for the sake of the state.” Another break was experienced in the 1990s. The idea of fusing and coexisting with Islam that started in the 1980s was being discarded 20 years later. Of course, not among the base. This alienation, observable among the politicians of this mentality, signied a certain distancing away from the “Turko-Islamic idea” discourse and from the “Dervish and veteran,” or “Alperen,” characterization. At the peak of this alienation, the Red Apple (Kzl Elma) alliance was proposed. The tight-knit relations between certain gures that were considered “problematic” for the nationalist groups, such as Dou Perinçek and lhan Selçuk, disturbed mainstream nationalists. This was a serious shift in orientation. The people who cautioned that it was too risky to ally oneself with the groups who politically tended to lend support to military coups or juntas and who regarded nationalism as an enemy were not heeded, and when the allied teams -- who were rst said to be retired military ofcers and then corrected to be retired public servants -- attempted to conduct an operation inside the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), this led to the separation of many nationalists from the party. And this was a good development. Otherwise, they would send the idealist (ülkücü) youth to the streets to use them as a tool for their operations and make them part of the psychological warfare “to pave the way” for their ends. At this point, the resistance conducted inside also intended to maintain authority and balance therein. Could the neo-nationalism virus be contained without contaminating the main body? It is not easy to give a quick “yes” to this question. Unfortunately, the aftershocks of the Red Apple alliance still continue, and there is a serious shift in orientation in the political movements which claim to represent nationalism. More clearly, nationalism in some groups is shifting toward neo-nationalism and coming closer to the left wing and Kemalism. In other words, the Islamic side of the nationalism and religion scale is being emptied out. As such, we can witness a series of chain reactions ranging from
the support of Ergenekon to a cold attitude toward Islam. The masses, who have long regarded themselves as “nationalist, patriotic, conservative,” etc., tend to remain silent in the face of these developments and wonder what the outcome of this alienation will be among the elites. The breaking away of the constituencies that are regarded as typical “strongholds of nationalism” such as Erzurum and Yozgat from the party elites is the rst sign of things to come in Anatolia. Nationalism’s shift toward neo-nationalism has driven some political parties from Anatolia and toward coastal regions where the Kemalists left are traditionally stronger. There is also an added danger: The rise of the MHP in the cities receiving an inow of people migrating from the Southeast and the concerns that some reactions in these cities may be translated into racism imply that the progression is toward an unhealthy structure where social peace may be violated. Nationalism is under the threat of neo-nationalism. Neo-nationalism referred to such values as “homeland, country, national assets,” but at the same time, it advocated xenophobia. In this structure characterized by ultra-nationalism and militarism, the cold stance toward Islam did not go unnoticed. It was not without reason that senior members of Ergenekon worked hard to provoke nationalists while seeking peace at the Turkish Orthodox Church (a group whose members include some Ergenekon suspects), and longing for the pre-Islam era of Turks was for a reason. The minds of the people who regard themselves as automatically nationalist since they are patriotic were confused in the face of these intricate relations because the neo-nationalist wave transmitted some dirty information to these people. There is a strong link between the popularity of conspiracy theories and the penetration of pro-coup neo-nationalists among nationalists. There were developments that created concerns among the religious people --religious communities, religious orders, civil society organizations -- whom they treated with sympathy in the past and which would sympathize with them. The mainstream nationalists have not severed their ties with Islam or with devout Muslims, while the political elites within this group are increasingly distancing themselves from devout Muslims through both their harsh rhetoric and aggressive discourse. The ability of the current elites to understand the mainstream nationalists, who in the past garnered everyone’s sympathy for their dignied and sincere struggle for the good of the homeland, is dependent on whether they have come to the current position from among the grass roots. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
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Fat accompl strategy aganst non-Muslms Michel Foucault says you can understand a society from what it excludes. We generally tend to look at what a society includes, what they are willing to embrace. But Foucault draws our attention to a different angle. I agree with him. When it comes to Turkey, I believe, not only what it excludes but also how it does this are important factors to look at in order to have a better understanding of this country. What does Turkey exclude? Without any doubt it excludes non-Muslims. This non-Muslim identity is rejected by secular state elites who are the founders of the Turkish republic. This is another tricky part which confuses outsiders and they have a serious difculty to understand. In Turkey so called “secular people” have a much stronger allergy towards non-Muslims than devout Muslims have towards non-Muslims. This is important to understand because of the complex policy towards non-Muslims developed by the secular elites and so called secular state apparatuses. Today’s so called “secular elites” are just the inheritors of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) which orchestrated massacres against Armenians. If devout Muslims could play a quite dynamic reformist role in Turkey, they can do that because they do not have any historical linkage with this political movement. On the contrary, the same political movement has always oppressed them in Turkey. While the Ottoman Empire was collapsing, the CUP decided that they should create a homogenous society in the remaining part of the empire. Because they believed if they did not do that they would have lost more territory, even Anatolia would be broken into smaller pieces. On the orders of Talat Pasha, in 1915, Armenians were forcefully expelled to the Syrian deserts, massacred and all their belongings were seized. Turkey’s history of getting rid of non-Muslims is also the history of the Turkication of capital. It is not a coincidence that the richest Turkish families in Turkey are from the cities and regions in which the biggest massacres were carried out; Adana, Kayseri and so on. This may also explain why we have such an obedient bourgeoisie in Turkey. After this initial and brutal blow, a certain policy was vigorously and relentlessly applied towards non-Muslims during the Republican era in Turkey. If you look at the history of non-Muslims, you can clearly see the repetition of certain patterns. Sudden and unexpected attacks followed certain periods of inaction and after a while, another unexpected attack followed this inactive period. This is called a ‘fait accompli’ strategy. A fait accompli strategy works like this: You want to get something. You take it without discussion or warning and you give your enemy/opponent a choice, they will either ght back or accept the loss. You also act upon the conservative attitudes of your opponent; you know that they will act to protect what is left to them rather than ghting for what has been taken from them. After a while what you have taken becomes a part of the status quo. Sooner or later you take something else from your opponent, but again they do not react believing that they have a lot to lose if they ght back. These actions and waiting periods follow each other; after a while your opponents start to see the pattern, but this time, if they react, they would have lost most of their material possessions and freedoms when you set out for a new attack; they think it will not be worth ghting back because they did not ght while most things were taken from them. This is exactly what happened to non-Muslims during the republican era. They were scared away with pogroms. They were condemned to poverty by wealth taxes. Their properties, their foundations were taken from them one-by-one by carefully calculated legal tricks. They were never given any legal status and they suffered from this ambiguity. Their schools were closed and so on. Attacks followed inaction. Inaction was followed by new attacks. The so called Lausanne minorities suffered from these policies a lot and they have come to the verge of extinction. I have already explained the plight of the ecumenical patriarchate in this column before. And as I said earlier, minority groups are also a part of this game with their submissive and passive attitude. They never sufciently use and benet from existing remedies; they have never developed any strategic litigation to gain new rights to loosen the noose around their necks. This fait accompli strategy has been applied on automatic pilot since the republic was established. Its aim is obvious. It will be repeated until non-Muslims completely vanish. This strategy is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to democracy in this country. We need to develop awareness, an understanding of it rst and then a serious struggle for its eradication can be started. There is no place for fait accompli in any democracy!
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COLUMNS
TODAY’S ZAMAN 15
F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
Turkey’s new axs Turkish-EU relations feed on a tradition of mutual uneasiness. The establishment’s adventures in this country are characterized by the events that led to the creation of a great distrust toward the West. Still, the real reason is the lack of sincerity in the attitudes of both sides toward each other. This, in return, can be attributed to the remnants of the anti-Christian foreign policy of the Ottoman Empire on one side, and to the colonialist and domineering policies of the Western powers on the other. The emotional perception in Anatolia is that “Westerners will never accept ‘us’ among themselves” and that “they will never favor ‘our’ good.” In addition, there is an established reference to “barbarism” based on years of experience, and the expectation that potential harm can be expected from the East and “Turks.” Therefore, relations between Turkey and the EU cannot be discussed with reference to a simple mechanism of accession. There is a confrontation at hand that goes deeper than the tension between France and Germany or the repressed conict between the UK and continental Europe. So, we can safely argue that if it were not for Turkey’s candidacy for EU membership, bilateral relations would be much softer and the parties would treat each other with much more understanding and tolerance. However, when the ancient “other” came closer and the distance between them decreased with the likelihood of it becoming part of the same identity, this created discomfort on both sides which is hard to dene.
ETYEN MAHÇUPYAN
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Thanks to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Turkey is quickly overcoming this uneasiness. This is because having its roots in social groups with increased Islamic sensitivities, the AK Party has pursued policies that are openly pro-EU, and this has greatly mitigated the anti-Western attitudes of the conservatives in the country. Yet, the main dynamics are on the reverse. The new middle classes of Anatolia, who seek to integrate with the world and who have become secularized while preserving their religiosity, no longer regard the West as the “other.” This is mostly attributable to the selfcondence that the religious groups have built since the 1990s as modernity began to lose its luster. As the salient elements of this foreign policy, we can list the new dynamics of the global world, the room for maneuver in this world, and the dialogue-based method for settling issues -- which was embodied by US President Barack Obama, and in general, extensions of a democrat mentality. On the other hand,
YAVUZ BAYDAR
I would also like to note that the AK Party has moved away from the Turkish Republic’s ethnicity-oriented vision and come closer to the Ottoman Empire’s multi-cultural mindset. The Western world, on the other hand, has not yet been able to come up with a perspective to understand Turkey. Western observers, though they are EU members, still have nationstate-based analytical perspectives. Accordingly, they fail to grasp the real changes as they try to place every development on the past’s typical foreign policy framework. In this case, they cannot realize that the new relations Turkey established with its neighbors are prerequisites of “global harmony” and rather, they tend to view it as an “axis shift.” Those who want to understand Turkey should never forget this simple truth: Turkey seeks to become a global player in the world and to this end, it is eager to fulll attitudes, behaviors and actions that being a global player requires, and more. While doing this, it also tries to integrate two different understandings: its proximity to religious identity and to the Muslim world on the one hand, and the democratic politics and the opportunity to become a global player thanks to this, on the other. In the past, the merger of the two was not possible. For many Westerners, this is probably still not possible. This is because although the great majority of Westerners are the natural carriers of globalization -- and perhaps due to the convenience this has created -- they are far
EMRE ÖZDEMR
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‘Fcton of cton’ and ‘the deep state’ Those who read the latest shocking story in daily Taraf yesterday would possibly not have been able to help smiling ironically. While the attempts to inject further confusion amongst ill-informed, distracted and already confused “Westerners” -- particularly those in Washington, D.C. -about the Ergenekon trial seemingly intensify, Taraf revealed why dozens of naval ofcers a short while ago were arrested and interrogated: A large cell within the navy -- Taraf describes it as a “junta” -- has been planning a comprehensive action plan with Turkey’s non-Muslims as the target. The plan (decoded from the contents of a CD belonging to a mayor who is a detained suspect of Ergenekon) called “kafes” (cage) contains, in four phases, a large set of directives, including the ling of non-Muslims’ whereabouts -- work places and where their children study, community registers, etc., -- and identities; the systematic exposure of them in public places and on the Internet; the massive usage of media with the aim of discrediting the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) as “indifferent” to those secret threats and accusing the government of being the culprit of all these campaigns. In the nal phase, called “action,” it gives details of bombings on the Princes’ Islands near stanbul (where the nonMuslim density is higher) and kidnappings and assassinations on which the responsibility will later be claimed by fundamentalist organizations. As of the Malatya slayings of Christian missionaries (a key case which contains all the elements of how the Ergenekon network operates), Priest Santoro’s murder in Trabzon and Hrant Dink’s assassination, this plan (which also contains allegations of assassination plans to murder a former commander of the navy, and a commander of the eet) has aimed to kill two birds with one stone: it would scare the hell out of the non-Muslim minorities by telling them, simply, “you have no place in this country” and, more importantly, it would send the “strong” message to the world that “Islamo-fascism is now on the full offensive” in Turkey. The shocking details in this deep investigation may be yet another slap in the face for those who desperately try to make us believe that Ergenekon is closer to ction than fantasy. For people like Ahmet Aras, it is an insult. An elderly Kurdish socialist, a staunch anti-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) gure, who served as a founding member of Turkey’s Workers’ Party (TP) in the sixties and suffered massive oppression, Aras welcomes all the revelations with pleasure. I had invited him onto the TV program “ROTA” that I present to talk about the Dersim uprising/massacre (during which some 15,000 Alevi Kurds were indiscriminately slaughtered in 1937). Almost in tears, he told me: “I had never imagined that I would live to see these days, where a prime minister speaks of crimes of humanity and incredible cruelty.” After years of prison and exile, Aras lives in zmir, researching Kurdish history. “I am also very, very glad to see now who was serving Ergenekon and who was not,” he said, referring to his “leftist” comrades. “Some were not leftists or socialists at all, they were only disguised Kemalists; they were part of the big lies that were repeated, year after year.” It is clear why people like Aras, who had once believed that the struggle of the left could be conducted though free elections and paid dearly (his party, elected to Parliament in the mid ‘60s, was forced out of the political scene by constant physical harassment), feel truly insulted when one mentions the efforts to discredit the “real content” of Ergenekon. They feel closer to justice, more than ever before. Meanwhile, as I predicted, Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), taking Onur Öymen under his protective wing, without blinking an eye, continues as if the latter’s Dersim gaffe has no signicance. The “pale hope” of the party, deputy Kemal Klçdarolu of the same party, who also happens to have his origins in Dersim, also switched his rhetoric, saying “the case is closed.” I asked a knowledgeable retired military judge what the “deep state” (the state within) in Turkey actually is: “It is the chief of general staff and the higher judiciary” was his brief and swift response. He went on: “The executive power, the governments, have never had control over the higher judiciary and never will. Everyone should keep this in mind. The issue is, therefore, to separate forever the higher judiciary from the generals and move it to its independent and impartial position, as is necessary for any democracy.” Today, Turkey may look as if it is sinking deeper into a crisis. It could very well be to the contrary, at the end of the day. What will happen is this: All the dirty linen is put on the table for cleaning, taboos are broken (the latest approaching rmly to that of Atatürk himself), a nasty struggle is staged in order to separate and “liberate” the judiciary from “the state within” mentality and the “politicized” military is pushed back to its barracks, possibly out of the cities.
from the democratic mentality that today’s world requires. As a result of the modernist perspective, they think that secularism is a categorical constant and, and what’s worse, they nurture the non-secular assumption that the Muslim identity cannot be categorically secularized. Yet, the success of the dynamics of change in Turkey is not independent from the developments in the West. The current amalgamation of Muslim sensitivity with democratic politics -which would have been impossible in the past -- is still attributable to the emerging critique of modernism in the West and, more concretely, the collapse of the Bush world. Many people are uneasy about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan’s position about Iran’s nuclear energy policy. The Turkish prime minister does not think it is ethical to block Iran from developing nuclear power while allowing every other country to do so. Still, his position cannot be explained by merely resorting to solidarity among Muslims because Turkey is as uneasy as any other Western country concerning how Iran will use this power. But there are ethical norms which we want to dominate the world of the future. These days, the world is being re-established. Not every country may feel this renewal at the same rate. The societies that have Western Europe’s established political culture, and its habits may not even be aware of such a change. But in Turkey, we can feel this new world to our core because we live in it.
Turksh modernzaton and lacsm
An openng for chldren, too? NICOLE POPE
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Nov. 20 marks the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Right of the Child. All around the world, children still suffer numerous forms of abuse, but I thought this anniversary was a good opportunity to look at the situation of children here in Turkey. It seems particularly timely since one of the most egregious violations of the convention activists complain about bears a direct connection to -- and appears to be in agrant contradiction with -- the democratic opening promoted by the government to solve the Kurdish issue. Turkey is party to the convention, which came into force in this country in 1995. But since the counterterrorism legislation was amended in 2006, hundreds of children -- dened as under 18 -- have been arrested, prosecuted and sentenced as adults for taking part in demonstrations in the Southeast. A report published by the Justice for Children organization in April mentioned a gure of 500 children aged between 12 and 18 who had been charged for “making propaganda on behalf of an illegal organization” or “being a member of an organization.” Further charges are frequently added for throwing stones or damaging public property. Amendments have been introduced as part of the recent democratic initiative to allow sentences to be suspended or converted into nes. But when I recently spoke to Canan Atabay, a lawyer from Diyarbakir who specializes in children’s rights, she told me that 80 percent of the teens who are being prosecuted remain outside the scope of this new provision because they face cumulative charges. Here is the irony: On the one hand, the government
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is encouraging militants to lay down their weapons, and some of them have been released upon their return to Turkey. At a time when Turkey is discussing the rehabilitation of former Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ghters, it seems strangely counterproductive to create a new generation of militants by putting youngsters behind bars. Children should simply not be tried as terrorists. Revisiting the Convention on the Rights of the Child is also needed in other areas. Turkey must be one of the few countries in the world that celebrates Children’s Day. Although under 18s are feted on April 23, it is not always obvious in everyday life that adults see them as worthy interlocutors who have a right to express their views and be consulted. Too often, young people are simply not heard in this society. States have a responsibility to promote the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but the notion that parents or elders know best and youngsters should just follow their orders still holds rm. In fact, the Civil Code even contains an article stating that children have to obey their parents. Although corporal punishment is banned in schools and state institutions, incidents are still frequently reported. At home, it is not banned and surveys suggested parents use is widely. Many young girls stay at home to look after siblings or are forced into early marriage. Progress has been reported in several areas. School attendance, of girls in particular, has increased. The Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK) is working on improving the situation of children in state institutions but many challenges remain. According to a report published last year by NGOs monitoring implementation of the convention, more than 3,850,000 million children are working, more than half a million of them between the age of 6 and 14. In rural areas, they are often hired out for back-breaking labor during the summer months and face not just exploitation but also potential abuse. In short, on the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Turkey still has plenty of homework to do.
Most probably, for the rst time man, in reliance with the thoughts of the Enlightenment and modernity that is based on its fundamental assumptions, has assumed the inherent right to interfere with religion. At least the classical era of the Enlightenment period provides concrete examples of this. Said interference is still in effect in Turkey in an exaggerated form; this interference is embedded in the legal and educational system as well as daily culture. Strangely, this policy attracts support from politicians, scholars, writers and intellectuals. Serdar Turgut, at a time when he was serving as a columnist at the Hürriyet daily, responded to complaints from individuals regarding restrictions over religious freedom by stating that they had no option but to change their religion. After pointing out this fundamental matter, it is possible to argue that the Turkish style of laicism is actually based on such a conceptual framework because of some historical reasons. I think this is closely related to the Turkish modernization project. Turkish modernization is not a recent phenomenon; it did not come to the forefront with the arrival of a republican regime. It was formulated in the 19th century rst. The Turkish modernization project designed by Mahmud II seemed to appear as the choice of the state; it was subsequently dened as Westernization and based on a non-religious concept. The three basic assumptions of the Turkish modernization project may be summarized as follows: It emerged as the preference of the state, and because of this, the state and state actors acquired a dominant position in the determination of its content. This also led to the ignorance of the democratic rights of the masses and the people. Maybe modernization was a requirement and a need, and maybe it is still able to respond to some important needs. But this is the case because the state makes its choice towards this end. Modernization was the choice of the administration in the Ottoman era and then it became the preference of the state. Secondly, modernization was viewed as purely a Westernization attempt, and this attempt sought to make sure that social life was adapted to the Western lifestyle. This was the primary assumption of Mahmud II. This is the leading factor that led to the perception of modernization as a modernization process. Modernization has always been seen as a form, a formal change and a combination of symbols. Within the context of modernization policies, the state assumed a dominant position and mission to impose modernization by relying on this position. Thirdly, modernization was seen as a non-religious process. Attributing the retreat of the Ottoman state in the elds of military, economy and politics to religion is the primary reason for the negative stance of the ruling elite vis-à-vis religion. The state elites viewed religion as contrary to development, progress and modernization. In consideration of this assumption, they sought to make religious scholars ineffective in the administration of the state and replace them with a new group of intellectuals. In other words, according to the jointly held conviction of state actors and intellectuals, religion was against development and modernization; for this reason, it should have been purged from not only public affairs but also from daily life. At this point, a problem fairly different from the one encountered in the West should be recalled: In Islam, there is no clearly dened boundaries of a religious clergy and a church representing the body of God. Islamic theology rejects reference to an organized class of religious clergy and a body of religious leaders. Because it lacks a class of religious clerics that constitute the fundamentals of historical theocracy, the secularist claims have turned into a program to purge religion from social and individual life. The historical dichotomy that created laicism led the state to look for an enemy or opposition in the absence of two different and opposite actors (church and state); and in such a case, the state found its enemy in religion that it held responsible for underdevelopment and lack of progress. In conclusion, if laicism fails to acquire democratic content, the historical clash that Turkey has been going through for over a century will repeat itself in the Middle East, in case Turkey seeks to present itself as a model to this region.
16 TODAY’S ZAMAN
LEISURE
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Gregorian Calendar: 20 November 2009 C.E. Hijri Calendar: 03 Dhul-Hijjah 1430 A.H. Hebrew Calendar: 03 Kislev 5770
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“The Watercolor”
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stanbul: Esentepe Cinebonus Astoria 11:00 12:45 14:30 16:15 18:00 19:45 21:45 23:45 Maçka Cinebonus 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 23:30 Kozyata Cinebonus Palladium 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 Ankara: Bilkent Cinebonus 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30 23:45 Cinebonus Gordion 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 zmir: Balçova Cinebonus Kipa 11:00 12:45 14:30 16:15 18:00 19:45 21:30 23:15
THE TOURNAMENT
stanbul: Bakrköy Cinebonus Capacity 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:30 19:45 22:00 Esentepe Cinebonus Astoria 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 23:15 Kadiköy Cinebonus 11:00 15:30 17:30 19:45 22:00 00:15 Ankara: Cinebonus Panora 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:30 19:45 22:00 00:00 zmir: Balçova Cinebonus Kipa 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00
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Host Hugh Jackman speaks on stage during the 81st Academy Awards in Hollywood on Feb. 22.
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Sudoku
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HOW TO PLAY? : The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 by 9 square Sudoku game:
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39 Like easily repaired things 40 Food fish 42 Letter made with two fingers 43 Bounce to the surface 45 Type of funds 46 Money earned 49 Draw out 50 Chopper spinner 51 Smelled to high heaven 52 “Go no further!” 53 Birthday party staple 55 Debarking point 56 Spanish 101 word 57 Letters on baseball scoreboards 61 Word of advice
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Mr. DploMAT! Japanese ancestry Vertical tie in a roof truss Sandwich with cheese Targets of social reform “___ Hilda” Variety of poker 1051, to Nero Ready for anything Tropical forest vine Brilliant display Stockexchange membership Commits a faux pas “Boo” accompaniment Wind in a pit Large venomous snake
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paired comedian Steve Martin and comic actor Alec Baldwin to boost the laughter. Mechanic’s co-producer Adam Shankman, who directed “Hairspray,” said Hamilton “will bring enthusiasm, experience and a fresh eye to the table.” Organizers also unveiled their list of 15 films that will vie for a best documentary nomination, including well-known titles such as “Food, Inc.”, which looks at the food industry, and “The Cove,” about the capture of dolphins in Japan. The other 13 documentaries up for consideration are: “The Beaches of Agnes” “Burma VJ” “Every Little Step” “Facing Ali” “Garbage Dreams” “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders” “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and The Pentagon Papers” “Mugabe and the White African” “Sergio” “Soundtrack for a Revolution” “Under Our Skin” “Valentino The Last Emperor” “Which Way Home” Los Angeles Reuters
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Oscar organizers joined the MTV generation on Wednesday, naming Hamish Hamilton as director of March’s movie awards ceremony, and they also unveiled their shortlist of films vying for a best documentary nomination. British-born Hamilton, 43, is a first-time Oscar director, but he is a veteran of numerous live-event programs including this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, and the MTV Europe Music Awards and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2008. “His approach definitely won’t feel like ‘business as usual;” said one of the show’s co-producers, Bill Mechanic. The Oscars, given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, are the second most-watched US television show after professional football’s Super Bowl. The ceremony also is seen in some 200 countries worldwide. But viewership has been in a general decline for many years due to the growing number of honors programs, among other reasons. As a result, Oscar organizers have tried to liven up their show, especially for younger movie fans. For February’s show, they brought on songand-dance man Hugh Jackman to host, and for the upcoming program on March 7, they have
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Bloom 43 Ashtray fill 44 Division into parts 47 Helped with a line 48 Jazz players, e.g. 52 Bagpiper, often 54 Quick impression 58 Web address feature 59 Forbidden perfume? 60 South African Nobel Peace Prize winner 62 South side? 63 Wings hit “___ In” 64 Touchscreen image 65 Bell emanation 66 Eliminate 67 Corporate benefit DOWN 1 “The Mikado” locale 2 Get ___ start (run behind) 3 Carpenter’s pin 4 Evening, in an ode 5 2007-08 NBA Rookie of the Year 6 TV deputy from Hazzard 7 “Benevolent & Protective” group 8 Walk dizzily 9 Like elastic 10 American of
07:00 One True Thing 09:10 Once Upon A Forest 10:25 The Godfather III 13:10 Good Morning, Vietnam 15:15 Doctor Zhivago 18:30 Wild West Comedy Show 20:15 Lolita 23:00 Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights 00:50 The People vs. Larry Flynt
Oscars pck drector, unvel documentary shortlst
STANBUL: Ataköy Galleria Prestige 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 00:00 Beyolu Alkazar 12:00 14:00 16:15 18:45 21:00 Maçka Cinebonus 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:30 19:45 22:00 00:15 Altunizade Capitol 11:00 15:30 17:40 19:50 22:00 00:10 Ankara: Bilkent Cinebonus 11:00 13:10 15:20 17:30 19:40 21:50 00:00 Cinebonus Panora 11:00 13:00 15:15 17:30 19:45 22:00 zmir: Afm Forum Bornova 11:00 13:10 15:50 18:30 21:00 23:45 Cinecity Kipa Çili 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 23:45
ACROSS 1 Easily carved gem 5 Harts and does 10 640 acres (Abbr.) 14 Body lotion ingredient 15 Available for occupation 16 “Clan of the Cave Bear” author 17 Hockshop proprietor 19 Dudley DoRight’s girl 20 Pigged out 21 Go to the mat, hillbilly style 22 Tennis units 23 South Africa’s Mandela 25 Revenuers, for short 27 Astronomical phenomenon 33 Utter nonsense 36 Chinese fruit (Var.) 37 “... ___ the fields we go ...” 38 “How much am ___?” (auction query) 39 ___-mouthed (insincere) 40 “Terrible” title 41 “___ of Frankenstein” 42 “High Plains Drifter” actress
CNBC-E 17:55 How I Met Your Mother 18:50 The Jay Leno Show 20:00 Merlin 21:00 One Tree Hill 22:00 The Host 00:45 The Jay Leno Show 01:45 Merlin 02:30 One Tree Hill
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E2 08:00 Gossip Girl 10:00 The Martha Stewart Show 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 12:00 Desperate Housewives 14:00 The Martha Stewart Show 15:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 16:00 Gossip Girl 18:00 The Martha Stewart Show 19:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 20:00 Family Guy 21:00 Heroes 22:15 Later With Jools Holland 23:00 The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien 24:00 Later With Jools Holland 01:00 Family Guy 01:30 The Jay Leno Show 02:30 The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien
On this day in 1985, Microsoft released its first version of Windows. This 16-bit graphical operating environment was the first attempt to implement a multitasking graphical user interface-based operating environment on the PC platform. Today is the anniversary of the birth of Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953), the American astronomer who made the “most spectacular astronomical discovery” of the 20th century. Hubble discovered and developed the concept of an expanding universe. Out of appreciation for his contributions to the field of astronomy, an asteroid, a crater on the Moon and a space telescope were named after him. On this day in 1916, the Turkish cities of Adakl and Ki (Bingöl) were liberated from Russian occupation. Also, the city of psala (Edirne) was liberated from Greek occupation on this day in 1922.
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neiro, this day commemorates the beheading of Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695), a legendary fugitive slave settlement leader. Zumbi was regarded by the fugitive slaves as an immortal leader who was ordained to free all black slaves. Today is Revolution Day in Mexico. This day commemorates the Mexican social revolution that was started by Francisco I. Madero in 1910. This revolution lasted until 1917 and cost the lives of more than 1 million people out of a total population of 15 million. Today is the anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg War Crime Trials. The first session of the trials was held in Berlin against 24 former Nazi leaders. Later sessions were held in Nuremberg, starting on Nov. 20, 1945. It took 10 months to finish the trials, at the end of which 12 defendants were sentenced to death. Today is the birthday of Microsoft Windows 1.0.
Today is Universal Children’s Day as observed by the United Nations and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In 1954 the UN declared that this day be observed as a day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children. Since then, several critical UN resolutions relating to children have been passed on this day, including the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Today is Africa Industrialization Day, declared by the UN in 1989. The day is intended to mobilize the commitment of the international community to the industrialization of Africa. It also serves as a reminder that more than 30 of the world’s 48 least-developed countries are located in Africa. Today is Black Consciousness Day (or Zumbi Day) in Brazil. Observed in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Ja-
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Ambulance: 112 Fire: 110 171 Police: 155156 Maritime: 158 Unknown numbers: 118 Turkish Airlines: 444 0 849 U.S. Embassy: 0312 455 5555 U.S. Consulate: 0212 2513602-3-4 Russian Embassy: 0312 439 2122 Russian Consulate: 0212 244 1693-2610 British Embassy: 0312 455 3344 British Consulate: 0212 293 7540 German Embassy: 0312 455 5100 German Consulate: 0212 334 61 00 French Embassy: 0312 455 4545 French Consulate: 0212 292 4810-11 Indian Embassy: 0312 438 2195 Pakistani Embassy: 0312 427 1410 Austrian Embassy: 0312 419 0431-33 Austrian Consulate: 0212 262 9315 Belgian Embassy: 0312 446 8247 Belgian Consulate: 0212 243 3300 Egyptian Embassy: 0312 426 1026 Egyptian Consulate: 0212 263 6038 Israeli Embassy: 0312 446 3605
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00:00 Identification and Programming 00:25 Music 07:25 Identification and Programming 07:30 Music 08:30 News (English, French, German) 08:40 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 10:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 10:45 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 12:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 12.45 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 15:00 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 15:15 Live Broadcast (English, German, Russian) 18:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 18:45 Live Broadcast (English, French) 21:30 News (English, French, German, Greek, Russian) 21:45 Live Broadcast (English, Greek) 23:58 Identification
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CONTINUATION
TODAY’S ZAMAN 17
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
Ergenekon defendant Balbay denies accusations The Cumhuriyet daily’s Ankara representative, Mustafa Balbay, who is accused of “inciting the people to armed revolt against the government” as a member of Ergenekon -- a clandestine network accused of plotting to overthrow the government -has denied all charges directed against him. Giving his defense testimony yesterday to the judges of the stanbul 13th Higher Criminal Court, which is hearing the Ergenekon trial, Balbay said the indictment was riddled with inconsistencies. He said, “I deny all accusations. I haven’t incited people to revolt unarmed, let alone inciting them to armed revolt.” Stating that he is a secular democratic journalist, Balbay claimed that the prosecutors had failed to nd anything linking him to any terrorist organiza-
going to present his defense statements tions in the over 5,000 essays and 23 boin two parts; one focusing on the legal oks he has written. He also accused the aspect and the other one focusing on the prosecution of holding back documents specics of his profession. “A journalist that the prosecution used as evidence in is the witness of the age he lives in. The the indictment against him. prosecutors want to turn me into a susBalbay also said that journal entries pect of the age. These notes [entries] are allegedly kept by him had been modithe professional bedroom of a journaed, claiming the entries were not written Mustafa Balbay list. They never have any value as docuin the order in which they were listed in ments. They have been kept by the journalist to althe indictment. He said the media was acting as a low him to recollect things. These entries in no way court. “The indictment is, in a sense, an execution are qualied to be evidence in a trial. They have been warrant,” he said. Using Turkish wordplay, he said, clipped and tweezed out and put together in a spe“If I say this courtroom is too narrow [which sounds cial way. There is nothing I cannot account for as a like the Turkish word for ‘coup’], they will say, ‘Oh, journalist,” Balbay said. He also accused the prosehere he said it, he wants a coup’.” He said he was
cution of smearing Cumhuriyet as the headquarters of a terror organization in the indictment. “In the indictment, Cumhuriyet is a terrorist base and lhan Selçuk and Balbay are its chiefs. My contacts with 10th President Ahmet Necdet Sezer are included in the indictment. There is no evidence to prove that I have ever relayed Sezer’s messages to [Ergenekon] suspects. The indictment implies that the Presidency was in control of a terrorist organization. I have had 11 meetings with Sezer. The president occupies the highest rank in the state. If he is to send a message to an agency, he can do so without using an intermediary. Meeting with the president is the power of a journalist. I would not think in a million years that this would be counted a crime.” stanbul Today’s Zaman
AL ASLAN KILIÇ
Ar sponsors pro-Ergenekon conference at US Congress The Ar Foundation, a civil society organization previously known for its liberal stance and contributions to the normalization of civilian-military relations in Turkey, sponsored a conference on Wednesday at a US Congress ofce building, criticizing the investigation into Ergenekon, a gang classied by prosecutors as a terrorist organization that attempted to stage a coup against the government. Ergenekon is known as a terrorist organization in Turkey, suspected of countless atrocities, all committed in the hope of overthrowing the democratically elected Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, but its supporters are trying to brand the trial of suspected Ergenekon members as the government’s attempt to suppress its opponents. The Ar Movement, known up till now for its liberal mentality favoring freedoms, may be joining these efforts on an international level, as its afliated Ar Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., sponsored a discussion on the Ergenekon investigation at the Rayburn House Ofce Building of the US Congress on Wednesday. A keynote speaker attending the conference was British journalist Gareth H. Jenkins, the author of a report on Ergenekon titled “Between Fact and Fantasy: Turkey’s Ergenekon Investigation.” Jenkins’ report has been found by many pundits to be too one-sided in its criticism of how the investigation is being handled. On the same day, Jenkins talked at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI), part of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University at a forum titled “From Rhetoric to Reality: Prospects for Turkey’s Future and the AKP’s Authoritarian Tendencies.” In his speeches, of which Today’s Zaman had a Turkish translation, Jenkins defended the idea that the US administration should pressure the AK Party regarding Ergenekon. “It’s pretty much like a children’s story; the emperor has no clothes. The investigation has no clothes. The emperor is naked. There is no such organization,” Jenkins said, claiming that Ergenekon was not real. He said he believed 15 or 20 of the suspects might be guilty of certain crimes. He declared his verdict saying, as translated into
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AL ASLAN WASHINGTON
Gareth H. Jenkins
‘Government does not pressure judiciary through Justice Ministry’ Claims that the government is pressuring the judiciary through Justice Ministry inspectors are not true, Justice Ministry statistics have shown. According to statistics from the last 11 years, Justice Ministry inspectors handled only 2,180 of the 25,515 complaints about judges and prosecutors between 1999 and 2009, and the rest of the complaints were handled by senior judges and prosecutors. In 2003, senior judges and prosecutors handled 3,103 investigations into judges and prosecutors while Justice Ministry inspectors handled only 208. The gures were similar in 2009, as senior judges and prosecutors handled 2,431 investigations into judges and prosecutors while Justice Ministry inspectors handled only 202. When there was a closure case against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2007, only 155 complaints were investigated by Justice Ministry ofcials compared to 2,204 complaints investigated by senior judges and prosecutors. Judges and prosecutors who are being investigated can also appeal the decisions of Justice Ministry inspectors. According to Justice Ministry statistics, judges and prosecutors who were being investigated led 217 lawsuits in 2005-2009 against the ministry’s inspections. The statistics also showed that the Justice Ministry did not launch an investigation into all of the complaints about judges and prosecutors. In 1999, the Justice Ministry did not start an inspection process for about 77 percent of the complaints, which totaled 1,636, while this gure was 47 percent in 2005 when the number of complaints reached 3,655. The number of complaints was 4,530 in the rst 10 months of 2009, while the percentage of inspections remained at 47 percent. In 2007, the year the AK Party closure case occurred, 47 percent of 4,151 complaints about judges and prosecutors were not inspected. In 2005, a change in Article 97 of the Judges and Prosecutors Law made ling a complaint about judges and prosecutors harder in order to reduce pressure on those professionals. Duygu Koç stanbul
‘No evidence that Deniz Feneri misused funds’ A prosecutor’s ofce has declined to investigate the directors of the Deniz Feneri charitable foundation in response to a criminal complaint by the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The Bakrköy Prosecutor’s Ofce on Oct. 7 decided that there is no reason to open an investigation into the issue due to a lack of evidence showing the foundation uses its income for purposes other than for the public good. Main opposition CHP leader Deniz Baykal had led a complaint alleging Deniz Feneri misuses its funds. In September of last year a German court convicted three Turks of funneling $26 million in charitable contributions raised by Deniz Feneri to conservative companies in Turkey. The case sparked a bitter polemic between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan and Baykal, who accused the government of pressuring the Capital Markets Board (SPK) to suppress a case against the conservative Kanal 7 television station, which was accused of being one of the companies Deniz Feneri’s funds were illegally forwarded to. Baran Ta stanbul
Gareth H. Jenkins, the author of “Between Fact and Fantasy: Turkey’s Ergenekon Investigation,” which many pundits find to be too one-sided, spoke yesterday at a conference in Washington on the Ergenekon trial sponsored by the Ari Foundation.
Turkish, “Fifty to 60 are ultranationalists, but they have not really committed any crimes. And the rest are completely innocent.” Jenkins said Turkey has a long history of secret organizations, dened as “deep state” structures and Gladio-like organizations, but said there was no evidence to back the allegation that Ergenekon was part of the “deep state.” He said most of the perpetrators of thousands of killings -- organized by an illegal and secret organization inside the gendarmerie known as JTEM -- of Kurds in the Southeast in the 1990s have not been apprehended as part of the Ergenekon investigation. In both of his presentations, Jenkins stated that the indictments against the Ergenekon suspects were poorly drafted; adding his opinion that the evidence presented was ina-
dequate. He said for this reason, Turkey had missed the opportunity to have its own “cleanhands,” the name of an extensive corruption operation into the remnants of the Gladio in Italy carried out in the 1990s. He also expressed the opinion that it is not Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan’s government that is the driving force behind the trial, but the Gülen movement. He also criticized the Zaman and Taraf newspapers, which have provided extensive coverage of plots against democracy. Jenkins claimed that the “main factor” in the Ergenekon investigation was to “damage the reputation of the government’s opponents.” During the conference held at SAIS, the institute’s research director, Svante Cornell, raised the question of what the US co-
uld do to reverse the situation in the Ergenekon case. In response to this question, Jenkins said the US administration openly criticizing the Ergenekon trial could be “twisted” and lead to new conspiracy theories, suggesting that the best way to talk to the Turkish government was behind closed doors, and not directly to Erdoan -- who he said, according to what was translated into Turkish, is a “short tempered” character -- but to others who are more likely to listen. Dr. Cornell also spoke at the SAIS meeting. In his speech, he said there was no system of checks and balances in Turkey to prevent the AK Party from developing authoritarian tendencies. Jenkins said he was deeply worried about the future of democracy in Turkey.
Erdoan, Babu hold weekly meeting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan and Chief of General Staff Gen. lker Babu held their weekly meeting at the Prime Ministry yesterday. The meeting lasted for one hour and 35 minutes. Erdoan and Babu were expected to discuss the latest developments on Turkey’s agenda such as the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s Kurdish initiative, which aims to resolve Turkey’s Kurdish problem. The initiative came to Parliament’s oor last week despite adverse reaction from the opposition parties. Another item which was supposed to be on the agenda of the Erdoan-Babu meeting was a letter sent by an unnamed military ofcer to prosecutors last week, which included subversive military plans to destroy the government. The letter came with a CD attached containing numerous condential military documents which showed that the generals were plotting to damage the AK Party’s image in the eyes of the public. Ankara Today’s Zaman
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Nationalists contnued from page 14
Hotline highlights anti-Turkish practices in EU visa issuance contnued from page 1 He paid TL 45 in fees for this agency, which demanded TL 400 for a health report that it said had to be obtained from the German Hospital in stanbul. “Why are they seeing this as a way to make prot? Why don’t they trust Turkish doctors? Do they think the Turkish public is that stupid? Why is the health report under the monopoly of a single hospital,” G.Y. asked in his complaint. A.G., a senior executive at an stanbulbased construction company, in his call said: “I got an invitation from the Austrian Central Bank, from which I am trying to take out a loan. I took the invitation and applied to the Austrian Consulate, which demanded 23 separate documents for my application, including an ‘inter-
national birth certicate.’ I decided to not go to Austria in protest of this. Do they think Turkey is a banana republic? The Austrian bankers expecting my arrival were also surprised.” A businessman who called from anlurfa identied by the hotline ofcials as M.T. was denied a visa he needed to visit a professional fair in Hanover, Germany. “They denied me a visa without citing a reason despite the presence of previous Schengen visas in my passport.”
Germany tops blacklist Melih Özsöz, the coordinator of the project, says Germany ranks rst on the list of countries most complained about, followed by France, England, Belgium and Greece. According to Özsöz, 30 of the callers complained that their
visa applications were rejected. Twenty-two of these individuals were not informed of the reason why they were denied a visa. The eight people who received statements citing the reason for visa denial had to apply to translators, as these notications were not served in Turkish. Other complaints received include the lengthiness of the list of documents needed for visa applications and questions of visa-issuers about intimate details of a person’s life -- which visa applicants feel is a violation of human rights. Özsöz told reporters on Thursday that the data from the hotline would be relayed to the EU Commission as well as to Turkish authorities. Stating that the highest number of calls to the hotline came from stanbul, followed by Ankara and anlurfa, Özsöz said: “Honestly, we
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weren’t expecting such strong interest when we set the hotline up. The more people know about the hotline, the more complaints we get.” The highest number of complaints so far has been from businessmen, followed by students, academics and housewives. The fact that there is a signicant number of applicants for tourist visas shows that the EU is also being hard on Turkish tourists. Coordinator Özsöz, who pointed out that embassies and consulates are creating superuous difculties for applicants, said EU visa-issuers gave the most difcult time to applicants who would like to visit an EU country for business or on a family visit. The EU visa hotline is active between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. It can be reached at 0 (212) 324 51 88 and at 0 (212) 324 51 99.
Jacobean elites may fail to decode the all-embracing, peaceful nationalism of Anatolia, but it is not a hard guess for the silent majority of grass roots to realize that a return to the nationalism of Nihal Atsz is nothing but a breaking way from the nation. This conclusion is already being implemented, which partially accounts for the silence of the majority. This is because the young people whose nails were removed in torture during the military rule of Sept. 12 tend to adopt a realistic stance to today’s developments, and they see that it is a grave sin to turn one’s back to the nation in return for some shadowy connections. They know best that the entrenched problems of the country cannot be solved by just shouting or making noise. They also know that seeking shelter in mere heroism without offering any feasible solution to problems carries a big price. It is important not only for those who base their policies on nationalism but also for everyone who loves this country to lend an ear to the scream of this silent majority because there is no fault line that can withstand a third shock here. Otherwise, the resulting earthquake will be a great one, with the aftershocks being alienation giving way to the militarism and racism of marginalized groups. Tomorrow: Conservatives.
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F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
TODAY’S LEARNING
TODAY’S ZAMAN, CEM KIZILTUÐ
10th & 11th GRADERS * QUOTE OF THE DAY Purchase not friends by gifts; when thou ceasest to give, such will cease to love. Thomas Fuller
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ILLUSTRATIONS
AP
LAST WEEK’S SUCCESSFUL ESSAY SUBMISSION
Nothing but working Man constantly runs after his goals on this field-like world. Besides, that's the reason why he was created. There is always something to succeed in and something to help him achieve this. Yet, the greatest helper -- except God -- is he, himself. If he waits for someone's help, it means he will wait too long. Because of this, man has to create his own opportunities by working hard. As I am a student, I have to struggle to accomplish my own goals. The more I study, the more I will gain. For another example, if you are an archeologist, you have to get an education, determine the place of excavation and excavate with patience. So, it means you have to work hard. Who on earth could mention that it is possible by chance? As it is said: "The favorites of the Goddess of Chance are those who are hardworking." I want to summarize by saying that it will not be a real matter whatever our profession or our situation is. If we have a target -- that of course we have -- we must try determinedly. Remember: no pain, no gain! (Some minor corrections have been made)
IS LEARNING ENGLISH DIFFICULT? words came from many different sources. English came from two main sources - old French and old Anglo-Saxon. There is a very large vocabulary of words. Watch out for words that seem similar. They may have come from your language and mean the same; these are called cognates, or they may have different meanings, these are false cognates. Idioms -- native English speakers use a lot of idioms; that is, words used in a way which is not their obvious meaning.
Emre GÜRBÜZ -- 11 Language A Yüksel Ilhan Alanyalý Teacher Training High School Kartal, Istanbul
REUTERS
-- there are no different endings to learn. The singular and plural pronoun "you" is the same. There is no need to decide whether to use a polite form, or an intimate form. Q: What are the most difficult aspects of learning English? A: The most difficult things about learning English are: Spelling and pronunciation -- the spelling of a word may not show what the pronunciation is. This is because English
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Q: Is learning English and grammar difficult? A: English is an easy language to start learning because: It has no genders. Apart from people, all objects are "neuter," neither "masculine" nor "feminine." So you say "it" for such things, and do not need to learn any genders. It usually has easy verb endings. Apart from a few "irregular" verbs, verb endings are easy and hardly change. Adjectives remain the same for all words
WEEKLY ESSAY COMPETITION
AP
This week’s essay question:
Essay format and use of formal written English Must be submitted by the following Thursday of each week's English Corner Must have student's full name, school and city
SOME COMMON CONTRACTIONS WITH EXAMPLES AND NOTES
TRIVIAL PURSUIT 1. What is the strongest muscle in the body? 2. Who lives longer, left-handed or right-handed people? 3. Which hand do polar bears use, left or right? 4. How many taste buds does a catfish have? 5. Which living creature tastes its own feet? 6. Which bird's brain is smaller than its eye? 7. Which fish does not have a brain? 8. Which animal kills more people a year than any other animal? 9. What are most dust particles in your house made of?
Did you - didja or 'dja: How didja do it? How 'dja' do it? NOTE : When followed by a word beginning with the letter "e," or "a" 'dja is commonly contracted to ‘dj' :
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Did you eat yet? - 'dj' eat yet? Did you ask her? - 'dj' ask 'er? Does she - dushi : Dushi speak English? Don't know - dunno : I dunno where you live. For - fer : He works fer his father.
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1. stationery / stationary stationery (n.): the items needed for writing, such as paper, pens, pencils and envelopes e.g.: The students spend most of their money on stationery. stationary (adj.): not moving, or not changing: e.g.: The rate of inflation has been stationary for several months. 2. sensible / sensitive sensible (adj.): based on or acting on good judgment and practical ideas or understanding: e.g.: I think the sensible thing to do is phone before you go and ask for directions. sensitive (adj.): easily upset by the things people say or do, or causing people to be upset, embarrassed or angry: e.g.: Her reply showed that she was very sensitive to criticism.
3. affect / effect affect (v.): to have an influence on someone or something, or to cause them to change: e.g.: Both buildings were badly affected by the fire. effect (n.): the result of a particular influence: e.g.: I tried taking tablets for the headache but they didn't have any effect. 4. past / passed past (adj.): 1. used to refer to a period of time before and until the present: e.g.: I've been walking three miles a day for the past 30 years. 2. [before noun] having happened or existed before now: e.g.: I know from past experience that you can't judge someone by their appearance. passed (pass) (v.): 1. to go past something or someone or move in relation to it: e.g.: I passed him on the stairs this morning. 2. to be successful in an exam, course, etc: e.g.: Guess what? I've passed my driving test! 5. economic / economical economic (adj.): relating to trade, industry and money: e.g.: The country has been in a very poor economic state ever since the decline of its two major industries. economical (adj.): not using a lot of fuel, money, etc: e.g.: What's the most economical way of heating this building?
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PAIRS OF WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using technology today. (Talk about television, cell phones, the Internet, etc. in you essay) Requirements of essays: Maximum number of words: 250
NOTE : This also applies to the following words : Forgive - fergive forget - ferget Give me - gimme : Gimme that Going to - gonna : I'm gonna give him a present.
NE’ER CAST A CLOUT TILL MAY IS OUT Early spring in Britain often turns warm for a few days. But if you start leaving off clothes you will run a risk, as it may become very cold again -- right up to the end of May. "Cast a clout" is an old way of saying "leave off clothes."
Last week’s answers: 1 William Wallace, 2 Apartheid, 3 Cambuskenneth in 1297, 4 The Confederate States of America, 5 Joseph Stalin,6 A net, 7 George Bush, 8 Christopher Columbus, 9 Anne Boleyn, 10 China
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SPORTS
Kuznetsova to warm up in Sydney French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will launch her 2010 Australian Open campaign at the Sydney International. The 24-yearold Russian joins Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka as the fifth player in the women’s top 10 rankings to sign up for the Jan. 10-16 event. Sydney Reuters
AA
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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Okur-less Jazz subdue Hedo’s Toronto Raptors Hami Mandral
Rookie Eric Maynor scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and helped the Jazz, who let an 18-point lead slip to one early in the fourth before pulling away for their ninth straight win over the Raptors
No cause for alarm, Hami says after U-21s held
It was a scenario that has played out in Utah’s home arena for many years: a tight game in the fourth quarter, when the Jazz turn to their point guard to make the game’s decisive plays. It just wasn’t that point guard. Eric Maynor, a rookie out of Virginia Commonwealth, ran the team for much of the fourth quarter, while Deron Williams moved over to the two-spot. The move paid off nicely for the Jazz, who blew open a tight game to defeat Hedo Türkolu’s Toronto Raptors 104-91 in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night for their ninth straight win over the Raptors. The Turkish superstar scored 11 points with six rebounds and four assists, but that was not enough to save his team from defeat. The Utah Jazz were without another Turkish star, Mehmet Okur, who was sidelined by the u. His teammates nonetheless did a very good job. “Two words: Eric Maynor,” was how Jazz forward Carlos Boozer loudly greeted reporters for his postgame interview. “Eric’s been playing great, man. He’s stepped in, he’s got swag, he’s got condence. When he comes in the game, he knows what he’s sup-
The Turkish Under-21 national soccer team, beaten 3-1 by leader Switzerland in their 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group qualifying match in Trabzon last Saturday, drew 0-0 with Estonia in a lackluster game at the Yeni Rize Stadium in Rize on Wednesday. Going into this match, only one point separated Turkey (9) and Estonia (8), and so nothing changed for the two teams after their match ended exactly the way it started. The result has only served to strengthen the position of the Swiss, who beat Georgia 1-0 at home position, in the group whereas Turkey’s hopes of qualifying seem to be hanging by a thread. Turkey coach Hami Mandral agrees that the going had gotten tougher after his team dropped four precious points in two home matches. But the former Trabzon and Turkey striker is still optimistic nonetheless. “As you can see, we wanted to appease our fans and so tried to play good soccer but our opponent [Estonia] wouldn’t let us as they resorted to anti-soccer. We had glaring chances but failed to convert them,” he lamented. “Against the Swiss in Trabzon we dominated the one-sided match from the beginning to the end, but lost. Today against Estonia, we did not succeed as a team though there were some commendable individual efforts. Estonia is not a strong team and there is no team we cannot beat. But at times things just don’t go your way,” he further stated. “All in all, it has been a week not to remember. Yes, we are down but by no way out. We have only garnered one point out of a possible six [in two matches], but there are still four games to go and as many as 12 points at stake. And we are still capable of making the impossible possible,” he added. These are words of consolation from a frustrated coach, but the fans are not happy one bit with what is going on. And they made their dissatisfaction abundantly clear by staying away from Wednesday’s match. Only 2,500 fans were in attendance at the Yeni Rize Stadium even though no gate fees were charged. Saturday’s loss to Switzerland had dampened fan enthusiasm, to say the least. Okan Udo Bassey stanbul
Galatasaray Café Crown was caught redhanded after it was discovered that the stanbul side fielded suspended player Cemal Nalga by making him wear the No. 7 jersey of injured player Tufan Ersöz during two warmup matches in Europe. When the scandal broke out, the Galatasaray club management held an emergency meeting and decided to sack the administrative and technical personnel in the men’s basketball branch. The Turkish Basketball Federation sent a notice to Galatasaray demanding an urgent verbal explanation from the club and the team’s head coach as well as Cemal Nalga. The Galatasaray basketball team faces very severe penalties, including being relegated to lower division if these claims are proven. Nalga was suspended for five matches for punching an opponent during the match against Cibona Zagreb on Sept. 16. After the league match on Oct. 17 at stanbul’s Abdi pekçi Sports Arena, Oyak Renault complained to the federation that Nalga’s five-match suspension was still under way. In response, the federation rejected the complaint, listing the five matches in which Nalga had not played on its Web site, and the matches included those against the Skyliners on Sept. 24 and Ludwigsburg on Sept. 25. According to evidence provided on the Web site of Ludwigsburg, Nalga’s name was not on the list while the photos and videos showed that he was there wearing Ersöz’s No. 7 jersey. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Jayawardenes sets new world record Mahela Jayawardene and Prasanna Jayawardene broke a 72-year-old world record on Thursday as Sri Lanka took a 334-run first-innings lead on the fourth day of the first test against India. Sri Lanka declared its first innings at 760-7 -- thanks to a 351-run sixth-wicket stand between Jayawardenes. It is the highest innings total ever scored in India. India, which made 426 in its first innings, was 77-0 in its second innings at tea, with Virender Sehwag making an adventourous 47 and Gautam Gambhir not out on 28. The home team still trails by 257 runs with four sessions remaining in the test. Wicketkeeper Jayawardene dropped Sehwag off a no-ball in Chanaka Welegedara first over before Dammika Prasad found an edge in the next over which flew between the first slip and the wicketkeeper to the boundary. Ahmedabad AP
UAE striker dies of heart attack Turkish star Hedo Türkolu stumbles as he dribbles past Utah Jazz’s Paul Millsap during the second half of their NBA game in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday. AP, STEVE C WILSON
France, with a controversial extratime goal from William Gallas, squeezed into the World Cup finals despite failing to beat Ireland in Paris while Slovenia upset Russia on a nailbiting night of qualifiers on Wednesday. France progressed after a 1-1 draw with Ireland gave the 2006 nalists a 2-1 aggregate victory but they needed Gallas’s closerange goal -- after a blatant Thierry Henry handball in the build-up -- to win the tie. The French go through to next year’s extravaganza in South Africa along with Slovenia, Greece, Portugal and Algeria, which beat archrivals Egypt 1-0 in neutral Sudan to win a tense sudden-death playoff to secure the nal African qualifying berth. Uruguay struggled to tame Costa Rica before booking their place in the World Cup nals with a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg of their South America/CONCACAF playoff. The Uruguayans went through 2-1 on aggregate after winning the rst leg in San Jose on Saturday. London Reuters
where he scored eight straight points. Those eight points gave the Jazz a 91-79 lead. Chris Bosh helped the Toronto Raptors trim an 18-point decit to just nine in the nal three minutes of the rst half. Bosh scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the rst half and the Jazz didn’t look to have anyone that could guard him. Both teams adjusted well defensively after the break. The Jazz nished with a total of 54 points in the paint and Bosh scored 32 points. It was the fourth time Bosh has scored at least 30 points this season, but he got four of them in the nal two minutes with the game already decided. Bosh recorded his NBA-leading 10th double-double of the season with 17 rebounds. Other NBA results on Wednesday: Dallas 99, San Antonio Spurs 94; Houston 97, Minnesota 84; Washington 108, Cleveland 91; Boston 109, Golden State 95; New York 110, Indiana 103; Orlando 108, Oklahoma City 94; Atlanta 105, Miami 90; Philadelphia 86, Charlotte 84; Memphis 106, LA Clippers 91; Portland 87,
Striker Salem Saad of United Arab Emirates club side Al Nasr has died after suffering a massive heart attack at training, the club’s Web site (www.alnasr. com) reported on Thursday. The club said the 31-year-old collapsed on the pitch during a regular practice session and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital but died shortly after arrival. Sydney Reuters
Raikkonen open to Mercedes offers Kimi Raikkonen’s plans for a one year sabbatical from Formula One lasted less than 24 hours before his manager suggested that he might be open to offers from Brawn’s new owners Mercedes. Steve Robertson told the autosport.com Web site on Thursday that the Finn, who failed to reach a deal with McLaren after leaving Ferrari, was not 100 percent certain to be absent next year. London Reuters
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France leads 5 more qualifiers into World Cup
posed to do out there and does a great job of doing it.” The Jazz opened the fourth quarter leading by three and with a seldom-used lineup combination of Maynor, Williams, Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko and Paul Millsap. Maynor quickly took charge, as he made a free throw and assisted on a reverse layup by Kirilenko to put Utah up by four. Boozer had a team-high 22 points and 18 rebounds for Utah, while Williams and Kirilenko each had 20 points. Maynor also hit a jump hook and scored on an uncontested layup -- thanks to an assist from Williams to put the Jazz up 89-79 with six minutes remaining. Maynor scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, including a stretch
GS Cafe Crown caught in act
Leader Efes hosts Galatasaray in TBL ‘match of the week’ A scene from an Efes-Galatasaray game last season. Efes is highly favored over. Galatasaray today.
Men’s Turkish Basketball League (TBL) leader Efes Pilsen entertains Galatasaray Cafe Crown in week six action at the Ayhan ahenk Sports Hall in stanbul this evening. Efes Pilsen, which downed previously unbeaten Beikta Cola Turka 88-84 in a thrilling stanbul derby at the BJK Cola Turka Arena last weekend to take over top spot, is highly favored over scandal-hit Galatasaray Cafe Crown, in what has been dubbed the “match of the week” by the local media.
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Galatasaray outlasted archrival Fenerbahçe Ülker 74-72 in overtime in a troublemarred stanbul derby at Abdi pekçi Sports Arena in game ve last weekend to stay in touch with the league frontrunners. But Efes is a more formidable opponent than Fener Ülker and so Galatasaray Cafe Crown players may need more than a Houdini touch to be able to upset mighty Efes Pilsen this evening. The game kicks off at 8 p.m. and will be aired live on Spormax. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Ivankov quits internationals Bulgaria goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov has announced his retirement from international soccer following his country’s 4-1 win against Malta in a friendly on Wednesday. “I quit and this is my final decision,” the 34-year-old Ivankov told reporters. Ivankov, capped 62 times for his country, was part of Bulgaria’s squad at the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal. He also won three Bulgarian league titles and five Bulgarian cups while playing for Levski Sofia. Sofia Reuters
Bon Jovi comes full ‘Circle’ on US chart Bon Jovi claimed its fourth No. 1 album on the US pop chart Wednesday, despite a sharp drop in sales. “The Circle” sold 163,000 copies during the week ended Nov. 16, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Los Angeles, Reuters WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
and their owner, Hank Risan, from streaming or selling songs by the Fab Four and other popular artists, including Lily Allen and Coldplay. A hearing in the case had been scheduled for today, but Walter decided the issue based on pleadings by attorneys for Risan and the music label. A phone message left on Wednesday evening for Risan’s attor-
ney was not immediately returned. EMI Group sued Risan and the sites earlier this month to stop the sites from streaming or selling its music. It claimed the sites were selling high-quality versions of copyrighted songs, including Beatles music, which has never been legally released digitally. Risan argued in court lings that he had re-recorded the music and inserted artistic touches
based on a technique he pioneered called “psycho-acoustic simulation.” The process involved re-recording store-bought CDs and improving the quality and trying to simulate how a live listener would hear the music, Risan explained in lings. Attorneys for the music label dismissed the explanation in a ling as “technobabble and doublespeak.” Los Angeles AP
AP, RICHARD DREW
Two Web sites that sold songs by The Beatles for 25 cents apiece should remain shut down indenitely, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. US District Judge John F. Walter issued a preliminary injunction against BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com at the request of music company EMI Group. The injunction prohibits the sites
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Stes sellng Beatles songs to reman shut down
Actor Will Ferrell appears on the NBC “Today” television program in New York in this June 3 file photo.
Forbes: Will Ferrell is Hollywood’s most overpaid Star Funnyman Will Ferrell and British actor Ewan McGregor on Wednesday headed a Forbes. com list of Hollywood’s most overpaid stars when looking at the nancial returns of their movies. Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey also made the top 10 tally of actors who cost more to hire than they appear to be worth at box ofces. Ferrell took rst place largely due to the op of his summer 2009 movie “Land of the Lost,” which Forbes said cost an estimated $100 million to make but earned just $65 million at box ofces worldwide for movie studio Universal Pictures. The movie followed a disappointing $43 million box ofce for Ferrell’s 2008 outing “Semi-Pro,” and $128 million for “Step Brothers.” Using a formula that calculated the actor’s estimated salary on each lm, including DVD and TV sales, compared to the lm’s revenues from theater box ofces and elsewhere, Forbes.com said that for every dollar Ferrell was paid, his lms earned an average $3.29. To create the list, the nancial news Web site looked at Hollywood’s 100 biggest stars who had lead performances in at least three widely distributed movies in the last ve years. McGregor, best known for “Trainspotting” and his work in the “Star Wars” franchise, is not among Hollywood’s highest paid actors but has recently proved a poor investment, averaging a return of $3.75. Los Angeles Reuters
Woman leaves $40,000 at shrine A woman quietly left $40,000 worth of rare US coins near a Catholic shrine for safekeeping so the Virgin Mary could watch over her life savings while she was out of town, and apparently it worked: The money was returned to her when she got back a week later. Operators of the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes near Emmitsburg thought they had been blessed with a big donation when a groundskeeper found the two plastic freezer bags lled with gold and silver while raking leaves. But Shrine Director William Tronolone said the woman approached him after a noon Mass Sunday, six days after the discovery, to ask whether anyone had found some coins she had hidden beneath fallen leaves at the site on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University. “I said, ‘Why did you leave it there?’ And she said, ‘Well, I had to go away and I was afraid to leave it and I wanted the Blessed Mother to watch over it for me -- and evidently she did because you found it,’” Tronolone said. Hagerstown, Md. AP
Lost man drives nine hours to get newspaper An elderly man who went out to fetch a morning newspaper ended up driving nearly 400 miles after getting lost and taking a wrong turn onto a major Australian highway, police said on Wednesday. The man, 81-year-old Eric Steward, eventually stopped and asked for directions after driving for nine hours, from the New South Wales country town of Yass to Geelong in the southern Victoria state. Steward, who did not know where he was, eventually approached a policeman at a petrol station and asked for help late on Wednesday. “This little old man came up to me saying he was lost. He handed me his mobile and asked if I could speak to his wife,” said Victorian Police Senior Constable Clayton Smith. Steward, who was reunited with his family on Wednesday, said he took the wrong turn and just kept on going. “I just went out on the road to have a drive, a nice peaceful drive,” he told reporters, adding he did not need a satellite navigation device as he’d only been lost once. Canberra Reuters
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