Tag: Gul

  • Turkish President Gul To Visit Switzerland

    Turkish President Gul To Visit Switzerland

    Turkish President Abdullah Gul will travel to Switzerland on Thursday.

    241110 gul1A statement by Presidential Press Center said on Wednesday that Gul would pay a state visit to Switzerland upon invitation by Doris Leuthard, President of Swiss Confederation, on November 25 and 26.

    “Our relations with Switzerland gained a significant momentum in the recent years. The two parties have sound will and determination to boost bilateral ties and cooperation in the coming period,” the statement said.

    President Gul will be accompanied by Interior Minister Besir Atalay, Enviroment & Forestry Minister Veysel Eroglu, lawmakers and academicians during his visit.

    Gul will hold talks with President Leuthard, the Council of States President Erika Forster-Vannini and other officials.

    AA

  • Turkish president: I don’t have a problem with Israelis

    Turkish president: I don’t have a problem with Israelis

    By JPOST.COM STAFF

    11/15/2010 13:23

    Photo by: AP
    Photo by: AP

    “Jews are praying for me in their synagogues every Saturday, all of them are our citizens,” Turkish newspaper quotes Gul as saying.

    Turkish President Abdullah Gul has said Turkey does not have a problem with the people of Israel, but rather that the problems with Israel stem from the policies that are employed by its government, according to a report by the Turkish daily Hurriyet published Sunday.

    “I have learned that [Turkish] Jews are praying for me in their synagogues every Saturday. All of them are our citizens. Our problem is not with the people of Israel, but with the policies pursued by the government of Israel,” Gül said, in remarks that were published Sunday in another publication, Milliyet.

    Tensions between Israel and Turkey rose in the wake of the IDF raid on the Turkish Mavi Mamara ship trying to break the Gaza blockade, during which nine Turks were killed on May 31.

    However Turkish officials have reiterated that they are committed to maintaining friendly ties with Israel despite ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

  • President Gül says Turkey may join ranks of BRIC countries

    President Gül says Turkey may join ranks of BRIC countries

    President Abdullah Gül has said he hoped Turkey’s economic progress would take it into the ranks of emerging BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — although he made it clear Turkey remains committed to joining the European Union.

    Gül, in an interview with the Financial Times, said the international order was shifting towards the East. “It wouldn’t be surprising if we start talking about BRIC plus T,” he said. The BRIC countries are considered to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development, and their growing influence in the global scene is seen as an indication of the shift in economic power from the developed West towards the developing world.

    Turkey, which has built closer ties with its Middle East neighbors under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, has been accused in the West of turning away from the Western club and cozying up to countries such as Iran.

    Gül, who was on a visit to Britain to receive the prestigious Chatham House Prize, said in the interview that Turkey still saw membership in the EU as a “strategic vision” and wanted to be part of the principles that Europe defends, promising that Ankara would make sure it met all standards required for membership even though large parts of its entry negotiations are frozen.

    But Gül, speaking a day before the European Commission criticized Turkey for restrictions on freedom of expression and over Cyprus in an annual progress report released on Tuesday, also complained of political obstacles raised by some EU member countries. “We see certain political issues being included in the process, which have the effect of slowing down and, to a certain extent, hijacking these negotiations. We are not happy about this,” Gül told the Financial Times on Monday.

    Speaking in Oxford also on Monday, Gül said some EU member states were creating “artificial problems” in Turkey’s EU membership negotiations but said Turkey would stick to the task. “The injection of some political issues of certain member countries in the negotiating process leads to certain artificial problems that in our point of view are not fair and not acceptable,” he said at an event hosted by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. “But Turkey is determined to move forward in the direction of working on the negotiations,” he said.

    Gül declined to name any country when he complained that certain, unnamed, “short-sighted” EU countries had hidden behind the Greek Cypriots to pursue their own objective of delaying Turkey’s membership bid in interviews with the British media. But Turkish officials say some EU countries, such as France, are using the impasse over Cyprus to stall Turkey’s accession bid.

    He also said one cannot say for sure that Turkey will eventually join the EU because there will be public votes in several EU countries on Turkish membership after conclusion of accession talks with Turkey. “When the time comes, those countries will decide whether or not Turkey would be a burden on them. Maybe Turkish people would say, ‘although we concluded the negotiation process successfully, let us not be a member’,” Gül told the BBC’s “HARDtalk.”

    Responding to a question on Turkey’s position regarding a planned NATO-wide missile defense system, Gül was hopeful that the alliance’s upcoming summit in Lisbon will produce a consensus on the issue. “The NATO Summit will convene in Lisbon next week. I think everybody will reach a consensus in the end,” he said.

    Turkey insists that no country should be named as a potential threat in relevant NATO documents, a reference to Turkey’s neighbor, Iran.

    When it was pointed out that US President Barack Obama addressed Muslim countries and relayed messages about peace and dialogue when he first came to power and he was asked whether Obama has caused disappointment since then, Gül said: “No, I think he is kindhearted. He does good things sincerely. However, maybe he could not succeed. Not only Muslims but others should listen to Obama. He should also persuade others, not just one party, to achieve peace in the region.”

    via Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news.

  • Turkish President Leaves For Turkmenistan

    Turkish President Leaves For Turkmenistan

    061110 abdullah gul2Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul flew to Turkmenistan on Thursday upon an invitation by his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.

    Gul will hold formal talks and visit facilities which were constructed by Turkish companies near the Caspian Sea during his two-day visit to Turkmenistan.

    President Gul will discuss Turkish-Turkmen relations as well as regional and international matters during his talks with Turkmen executives.

    Gul will also meet Turkish citizens who are living in Turkmenistan.

  • Turkey’s future: Bric plus T?

    Turkey’s future: Bric plus T?

    Is Turkey the next Bric contender? President Abdullah Gul (pictured) would certainly like to see his country join that club, he told the FT’s Tony Barber and Roula Khalaf in an interview today:

    gul1Mr Gul said the international order was shifting towards the east and made clear he hoped Turkey’s economic transformation would take it into the ranks of emerging Bric countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China. “It wouldn’t be surprising if we start talking about Bric plus T,” he said.

    Gul’s comments come a day ahead of the EU’s latest report on Turkey’s progress toward membership in its own exclusive fraternity. The president remains committed to joining the EU , Barber and Khalaf write, “saying Ankara would make sure it met all standards required for membership”.

    Read the full story here.

    via Turkey’s future: Bric plus T? | beyondbrics: News and views on emerging markets | FT.com.

  • Don’t expect Cyprus gesture from Turkey, Gül tells EU

    Don’t expect Cyprus gesture from Turkey, Gül tells EU

    Turkey has done enough to push for a settlement on the divided island of Cyprus, and no one should expect any more gestures from Ankara now for the sake of progress in its troubled bid to join the European Union, President Abdullah Gül has said.

    The EU opened accession negotiations with Turkey in 2005 but progress has been slow since then.

    The EU suspended talks on eight of the 35 chapters in 2006 due to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. Ankara insists it will not open its ports and airports unless the EU keeps its 2004 promise to allow trade with Turkish Cyprus. The EU made the promise as a reward for the Turkish Cypriots, who voted for a UN plan to reunite the island in 2004. The Greek Cypriots rejected the plan but joined the EU a few days after the vote as representative of the entire island.

    News reports have recently said the EU is now asking Turkey to take a step to overcome the stalemate in its accession process, by opening a few Turkish ports or airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus as a good will gesture to the Greek Cypriots.

    Gül, in an interview with BBC’s Turkish service, dismissed such a move. “I know how it works. Everybody says ‘Turkey should offer a gesture.’ Turkey does offer gestures but gestures would be unnecessary if you don’t see them reciprocated,” Gül said, emphasizing that Turkey made its biggest gesture to resolve the Cyprus dispute by supporting the UN plan for reunification in 2004. “The Turkish Cypriots made a big gesture by voting for the plan but they got nothing in return,” he said, referring to the continued isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. And in 2006, when he was the Turkish foreign minister, he called for “lifting all embargoes of the island” but even that was not accepted.

    09 November 2010, Tuesday

    TODAY’S ZAMAN  İSTANBUL