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European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 Dec. 2004

  • France seeks better security and defense ties with Turkey

    France seeks better security and defense ties with Turkey

    Thursday, July 24, 2008

    In a move to repair defense and military ties, Paris dispatches a high-level ambassador to Ankara to inform Turkish officials of Sarkozy’s newly announced White Book. ‘Turkey is one of the few countries that we have chosen to present our new defense and security strategies to,’ says D’Aboville

    SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ/Analysis
    ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

    A top French diplomat yesterday brought Turkish officials up to date on the recently published White Book on defense and security strategies, a move that is being interpreted as Paris’ intension to seek to mend damaged bilateral ties in the military field.

    “Turkey is a very important country for us. Turkey is one of the few countries that we have chosen to present our new defense and security strategies to,” Benoit D’Aboville, chief advisor at the National Audit Office, told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

    Turkey and France have experienced bitter times in recent years after Paris recognized the 1915 deaths of Armenians as genocide and tried to pass a law punishing the denial of the genocide. The harshest reaction came from the Turkish military, which still affects bilateral military ties. Turkey excluded French companies from defense procurement tenders and even closed its airspace to French military aircraft.

    D’Aboville admitted that there were still some difficulties in bilateral military ties but said the two countries have an excellent cooperation in NATO, especially in the operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia and in Kosovo. “Our troops are working together in some very dangerous zones in Afghanistan,” he said. Turkey and France rotate the command of the NATO’s ISAF mission in Kabul.

    On June 17, French President Nicholas Sarkozy unveiled the White Book, a blueprint for France’s short term and strategic planning in the field of domestic and foreign security, detailing new threats stemming from globalization, introducing new structures to better organize and better finance its cost. Another dimension of this security understanding is France’s full participation in the structures of NATO, after nearly four decades of its withdrawal from the alliance’s military command.

    Return to NATO

    “In fact, we have not much need to return to NATO,” a high-level French diplomat said. “But President Sarkozy considers NATO as a family and he believes that France should be side by side with the other members of the family,” the diplomat added.

    However, Paris has not yet officially announced its decision to return to NATO. There are a number of countries which welcome Paris’ intension, according to diplomats. “Our return will let our officers get better positions in the command structures. Nothing more. We’re already very active and efficient within NATO. More than 4,000 French troops are serving for the alliance, which makes 10 percent of all 29 countries’ contributions,” another diplomat added

    No need for approval

    A French return to NATO has been on Turkey’s agenda for some time as well. According to unconfirmed reports in the Turkish press, Ankara was seeking to bargain with Paris to allow the latter’s full participation in NATO in return for compromises such as less resistance to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

    Turkish diplomats never confirmed such intensions but some academics strongly advised it to the government. “I think Turkey should veto a French return. France recently decided to put Turkish entrance in the EU to a referendum. Therefore Turkey should show that it also has some cards to play,” Çağrı Erhan, an academic and foreign relations expert said.

    But according to French diplomats, there will be no process of approval in the NAC, the highest decision-making body of the alliance, if France decides to fully return. Furthermore, a French diplomat stated that there was no uneasiness on the Turkish side on a French return to the alliance. “Why would Turkey be against of it?” a diplomat asked.

    “We have not heard of any uneasiness from Turkish diplomats on our full return to NATO,” a French diplomat said. “Such a thing would only make French taxpayers happy.”

    Source: Turkish Daily News, July 24, 2008

  • Cyprus Peace Operation Ended Pain Of Turkish Cypriots, Erdogan

    Cyprus Peace Operation Ended Pain Of Turkish Cypriots, Erdogan

    ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday “the Cyprus Peace Operation of July 20th, 1974 ended the pain suffered by Turkish Cypriots.”

    Speaking at a group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in the Turkish parliament, Erdogan said, “the Cyprus Peace Operation helped protect the Turkish Cypriots from a possible genocide in the island.”

    Reminding that July 20th was a day of celebrations for peace and freedoms in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Erdogan said, “the Cyprus Peace Operation ended the violence perpetrated towards the Turkish Cypriots. The Peace Operation was a proof that the motherland, Republic of Turkey, would stand by the Turkish Cypriots at all costs. The Peace Operation was based on international agreements and helped Turkish Cypriots attain freedom and peace. The whole world must understand this reality. Those who are resisting to understand the realities would see the facts sooner or later. We have always been on the side of peace in Cyprus. Both before and after the Peace Operation, we maintained our posture supporting peace and dialogue.”

    “A comprehensive solution in Cyprus should be based on the political equality of Turkish Cypriots. The new partnership should be bi-zonal and based on political equality and be under the active guarantee of Turkey,” Erdogan said.

    “Despite their peaceful stance, the Turkish Cypriots have been subject to unfair isolations. The Turkish Cypriots voted for the Annan Plan on April 24th, 2004. While the Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan Plan, they got rewarded by the European Union (EU) with full membership. The Turkish Cypriots got punished although they had approved the Annan Plan,” Erdogan said.

    “Closing eyes to the isolations imposed on Turkish Cypriots in the 21st century is a shame for all of humanity,” Erdogan said.

    “We expect all parties, including the EU, to fulfill their promises made to the Turkish Cypriots,” Erdogan stressed.

    “Regardless of what the conditions may be, the AK Party government would continue to stay on the side of the TRNC and our brothers and sisters living there,” Erdogan said.

    “Cyprus is our national cause. We would carry this matter on our shoulders at all costs,” Erdogan said.

    Touching on the water need of the TRNC, Prime Minister Erdogan said that Turkey would build an underwater system to carry 75 million cubic meters of potable water from the southern town of Anamur to the island soon.

    “Water is essential for the Turkish Cypriots and this project may turn into a ‘peace water’ project. With God’s help, we would complete this project by the end of 2008,” Erdogan also said.

    Source: www.turkishpress.com, 22.07.2008

  • Last chance for peace in Cyprus

    Last chance for peace in Cyprus

    Costas Pitas
    guardian.co.uk, Wednesday July 23, 2008

    “Cyprus is entering its most critical stage” is a phrase I have heard ad nauseam over the last decade. It feels as if the “Cyprus Problem”, as it has been dubbed, is characterised by a jolty movement from one crucial moment to another. However, at each turn a solution is always thwarted. It thus comes as no surprise that the proposed face-to-face negotiations between Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will once again be “critical”. However, for the first time, the talks may well be the last chance for peace.

    Cyprus gained its independence from Britain in 1960. Inter-communal violence between the two communities blighted the 60s and early 70s and in the summer of 1974, a coup, backed by the ruling military in Athens, overthrew the democratically elected President Makarios. Turkey attacked a week later in what the international community see as an illegal invasion and subsequent occupation. For Turks the same events were an act of liberation, establishing a Turkish Cypriot state, albeit one which is not recognised by anyone except Turkey.

    Thirty-four years later, anyone under the age of 45 has no recollection of the two communities living harmoniously together. There is a concern that by growing up separately, it is becoming ever more difficult for a future reunification to succeed. Further, Greeks look on anxiously as holiday villas and hotels begin to crop up across the North, despite deep uncertainty as to the legality of purchasing such property. These were among the concerns that prompted the election of Christofias in the spring of this year. His victory centred on the promise to end his predecessor’s freeze on negotiations.

    Although history is important, Cyprus must now look forward and the acrimony of the past must be put to one side. Fundamental to this process is to build trust between the two sides. Many Greek Cypriots will point to Turkey’s military prowess (it keeps an estimated 40,000 troops on the island making it one of the most militarised places in the world) and conclude they cannot believe Ankara’s promises will be fulfilled.

    Many Turkish Cypriots also have concerns that a future solution must guarantee them equal standing with the far more populous Greek Cypriots. They do not want to be a minority whose concerns are overridden. Having said that, there is also grave concern that Turkey has already contributed to Turkish Cypriot marginalisation. Tens of thousands of settlers have been brought in from Anatolia to alter the demographic balance. This is of great concern to the many Turkish Cypriots who feel increasingly alienated in their own country with large numbers choosing to leave. It is all too often ignored that the culture and attitudes of both Greeks and Turks in Cyprus are frequently more similar to each other, than they are to the two “motherlands”.

    This demonstrates the problem of the guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and Britain. It may not have escaped your notice that Cyprus is in the ultimate strategic position. It is perfectly poised in the eastern Mediterranean to monitor happenings in the Middle East. This is why Britain will fight tooth and nail to preserve its bases on the island and why others will not want to relinquish their influence. Somehow, Cypriot leaders will have to pry the hands of various foreign powers from the island if a solution is firstly to be found, but equally as important is to work in the long term; Cypriots should decide their own future.

    The recent opening of several border checkpoints between the north and south has been a most welcomed gesture and does demonstrate the good will from both sides to avoid permanent division. Christofias and Talat have a warm relationship, forged through the labour movement, and are eager to resolve the stalemate. The two must seize the scintilla of hope that has been reignited but also recognise that too often hopes have been dashed. We may finally have reached the critical moment.

  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a demande a Nicolas Sarkozy

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a demande a Nicolas Sarkozy

    MELIH ASIK’IN KOSESINDEN

    Tepki çağrısı!

    Fransız Le Figaro gazetesinde Erdoğan – Sarkozy görüşmesiyle ilgili bir haber: Fethiye Temiz (florida)
    “Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a demande a Nicolas Sarkozy, au cours d’un entretien, dimanche matin. Ouverture de chapitres, reaction ‘coordonne’ des 27 et en concertation avec Ankara en cas d’interdiction par la justice du parti au pouvoir AKP.”

    Tercümesi:

    “T.C. Başbakanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, bu pazar Nicolas Sarkozy ile yaptığı gorüşmede AB adaylığı çerçevesinde öngörülen başlıkların açılmasını ve AB’nin 27 ülkesinin AKP kapatıldığı takdirde Ankara ile koordineli (eşgüdümlü) şekilde tepki göstermelerini istedi.”

    * * *

    Yani… Başbakan, Fransa ve AB’yi kendi ülkesinin yargı kararına tepki göstermeye çağırmış… Herhalde cumhuriyet tarihinde bir ilk…

  • Turkey stands by its offer to give Greek Cypriots water on drought-hit island

    Turkey stands by its offer to give Greek Cypriots water on drought-hit island

    The Associated Press
    Published: July 19, 2008

    NICOSIA, Cyprus: Turkey’s offer to provide drinking water to Greek Cypriots on ethnically-divided Cyprus still stands, even though it has been publicly rejected, the Turkish Cypriot leader said Saturday.

    Mehmet Ali Talat said Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, “made it very clear that Turkey is ready to help” to alleviate a water crisis lashing the island.

    Talat told a news conference with Erdogan that he has made the water offer to Greek Cypriot officials “on different channels.” He said although they have publicly spurned the offer, “no official answer” has been given yet.

    The Turkish Cypriot leader said water tankers making the 75-kilometer (45-mile) trip from Turkey to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north would be shared with Greek Cypriots in the internationally-recognized south, if they accept the offer.

    Greek Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou has said water diplomacy is not possible as long as the Cyprus issue remains unresolved. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece. The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey which does not recognize the Greek Cypriot-dominated government.

    Many U.N.-led reunification efforts have since failed, including the most comprehensive bid in 2004 when Greek Cypriots rejected — and Turkish Cypriots approved — a U.N. plan.

    Talat and Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias agreed in March to revive the dormant peace process after a preparation period.They are scheduled to meet on July 25 to decide a date for the start of full-fledged negotiations.

    Erdogan said Saturday that he hopes a reunification deal based on “a new partnership” between “two equal peoples” and “two constituent states” would be found soon.

    A rainless winter has dwindled dam reserves to crisis levels, forcing the government to ration water to Greek Cypriot households and import quantities from Greece aboard tankers.

    Fresh water produced from two desalination plants is not enough to cover a 17 million cubic meter (600 million cubic feet) shortfall in water reserves. The south needs 66.7 million cubic meters (2.35 billion cubic feet)of water a year to meet its needs.

    Erdogan said work to build an undersea water pipeline linking Turkey to the north would begin in 2009 and be completed three years later.

    The Turkish prime minister is midway through a three-day visit to the north to attend invasion [sic.] celebrations on Sunday. The Greek Cypriot government condemned the visit as illegal.

    Source: International Herald Tribune, July 19, 2008

  • Norway’s Nazi offspring claim compensation

    Norway’s Nazi offspring claim compensation

    From Times Online
    March 8, 2007

    David Byers

    They were conceived because of the desire of invading Nazi troops to create an Aryan master race to rule the world — and now they are demanding compensation because of the stigma and discrimination it has caused them.

    In a landmark case, a group of Norwegian war children whose mothers were deliberately impregnated by German soldiers as part of a Nazi plan to build a blond-haired blue-eyed race, are today demanding a payout from Oslo for the suffering and discrimination it has caused them.

    The applicants — numbering 154, plus four Swedes and a German — claim that the Norwegian Government was guilty of failing to protect them from the Nazis’ Lebensborn scheme during the German invasion of Norway in the Second World War between 1940 and 1945. They also claim the state institutionally discriminated against the children of Nazi soldiers for years afterwards.

    Up to 12,000 children with a Norwegian mother and German father were born under the scheme, meaning Fountain of Life, which was founded by Heinrich Himmler, the SS chief, in 1935.

    Norway was the jewel of Himmler’s programme and, if today’s cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) are successful, they are expected to lead to a flurry of complaints from other Nazi children in the country as well as children of German troops from neighbouring Sweden, which was also part of the scheme.

    “We want it to be recognised that the Government of Norway violated the rights of these people, and we are asking for financial damages,” Randi Hagen Spydevold, a lawyer for the group, said.

    The application was lodged with the ECHR after Oslo’s City Court in 2003 rejected a case by seven of the applicants because their claims came too long after a statutory time limit.

    Norwegian courts have always ruled against any compensation claimants in the past, saying the country’s government cannot be held responsible for failing to sufficiently protect the Lebensborn children before 1953, when it signed the European Convention on Human Rights — however, the group of claimants argues that the ill-treatment continued long afterwards.

    “They claim the violations are continuing in the sense that they are still reminded in negative terms of their origin and value,” the ECHR said in a statement.

    The court said that many mothers of war children claimed they had been marginalised, had difficulties in obtaining employment, and their children were often adopted or placed in foster homes or institutions for their own protection.

    Many Norwegian war children, meanwhile, were deprived of their original names and identity, subjected to discrimination, harassment and ill-treatment and left with psychological problems and registered disabled at an early age, the statement adds.

    The cases include that of a woman who was regularly locked up when she was a child, sometimes with a dog chain, by her foster father, and had a swastika marked with a nail on her forehead when aged nine or 10.

    One man, Paul Hansen, claims he was placed in psychiatric institutions until 1965 without his mental health ever having been assessed, while another, Karl Otto Zinken, said he was placed in a school for mentally disabled children where he was raped by two men.

    In an attempt to settle the dispute, the Norwegian Government in 2002 offered to pay the children 200,000 kroner (now worth £16,700), provided they could prove that they had suffered sufficient discrimination. However, the group is now demanding £34,000 per person, and up to four times as much for those who suffered the most.

    The ECHR will hear the group’s arguments today before deciding whether the case is admissible. A decision could take several months.

    One of the world’s most famous Nazi children is Anni-Frid Lyngstad, the brunette member of the pop group Abba, who was one of thousands of Swedish children known to have been born to a German soldier.

    In Sweden the youngsters were often referred to as Tyskerbarnas, or German children, and Ms Lyngstad has spoken in the past of being persecuted and isolated in her own country.

    It is a shame that these children have received no compensation and are discrminated against by their own countrymen. Countries need to admit their wrong doing and begin to make compensation instead of trying to continue the coverup.

    Kay Merrill, Baltimore , United States/Maryland

    I think piggy Kruger needs to brush up on his WW2 History and show some humanity and compassion for his fellow men – two things neither Hitler or Stalin were capable of. Holding the children begotten by this eugenics experiment responisble for the actionsof their fathers is despicable and barbaric . They are as much victims as the thousands of childern murdered by lethal injection through the Nazi’s Euthanasia programme for the disabled and mentally ill.

    island monkey, Shropshire, England

    I never cease to be amazed at how adults blame children for the sins of their parents. The Norwegian state and society should be ashamed for not protecting these children. Their only crime was to be born.

    Finn Olav, Drammen, Norway

    If Hitlerism had succeeded, and these Nazi-fathered children had grown up holding authority in the German empire, would they have been as bestially cruel as their fathers and leaders?. We can only thank God, and Stalin, and Churchill, and all the millions of decent men and women who stood up against fascism, that we never had to find out.

    Piggy Kruger, Bridgwater, UK

    If Hitlerism had not been destroyed, largely through Russian efforts, and these Nazi- fathered children had held the whip, would they have been as beastly as their fathers and leaders?. We can only thank God, and Joseph Stalin, and Sir Winston,and Roosevelt, that we never had to find out.

    Piggy Kruger, Bridgwater, UK