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GOVERNMENT READY TO SACRIFICE WHATEVER IT TAKES TO END TERROR PM Erdoan stated that government is determined to end terrorism no matter what the cost, and he also lashed out at the opposition for their accusations of government collaboration with the PKK. TURKEY OFFERS HELP TO OVERCOME CONFIDENCE CRISIS OVER IRAN’S LEU In a bid to resolve the standoff between Iran and world powers over low-enriched uranium, Turkey is prepared to offer escrow service, storing LEU in its own territory under the supervi- sion of the IAEA, Davutolu said. 05 04 Featuring news and articles from Despite the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) frequent recent emphasis on its commitment to democracy and the rule of law, a considerable portion of the Turkish nation does not believe the idea that the TSK does not shelter officers involved in pro-coup and illegal activities, the latest results of a monthly opinion poll have shown. The Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center conducted a survey on the political situ- ation in Turkey to get an idea of what the public thinks about a recently exposed military plot to undermine the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the faith-based Gülen movement as well as the govern- ment's ongoing efforts to settle the Kurdish issue. One of the questions in the survey was on partici- pants' ideas about to what extent the TSK was committed to democracy and the rule of law in Turkey. More than a third of participants in the survey said they did not believe that the TSK doesn't shelter pro-coup officers, despite the General Staff's pledges to the contrary, which is a sign of the loss of the TSK's credibility in the eyes of the public in Turkey, where trust in the military used to be up to 80 percent among the public in the past. The Turkish mili- tary has recently become the center of mounting criticism over a military action plan, bearing the genuine signature of Col. Dursun Çiçek. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 ALEVS UP IN ARMS AGAINST CHP'S ÖYMEN AFTER DERSM REMARKS Turkey's Alevis have continued to slam the remarks of Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen, who on Tuesday referred to the Turkish government's response to a 1937 rebellion in the predominantly Alevi city of Tunceli, then known as Dersim, as an example of fighting terrorism. On Saturday, 43 civil society organizations in the eastern province of Diyarbakr made a joint statement calling on Öymen to resign. Harika Peker from the Diyarbakr Democracy Platform read the joint statement, saying the speech by Öymen has taken its place in history as a disgrace. “We condemn Onur Öymen, who wanted more pain to be experienced through his speech in Parliament and who lacks any conscientious feelings as well as CHP mentality, and those who applauded him.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 03 Poll: Military plot damaged public trust in TSK The release of a colonel on Friday, 44 hours after being arrested on charges of member- ship in Ergenekon -- a clandestine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the government -- has created great resentment among jurists, with a majority of those in the legal profession saying the release was unlawful. Col. Dursun Çiçek, whose signature appears on a military document titled the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism that details a plan to undermine the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was arrested for the first time in the investigation into coup plotting officers in the military on July 18, but was released the next day on the grounds that the original copy of the Action Plan was not avail- able. He was arrested again last week when pros- ecutors conducting the Ergenekon investigation obtained the original copy of the document with Çiçek's “wet signature.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 PLOT COLONEL ÇÇEK’S RELEASE UNLAWFUL, SAY PROMINENT JURISTS Yunus Arkan, spokesman for the world's cities on climate change, has said Turkey can be a key country in ending the deadlock at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) meetings in December in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where the world will try to find a solution to climate change. “Currently, there is a lack of trust between devel- oped and developing countries. Turkey can show the leadership that can narrow this gap in the sense that there are some countries in between these two groups. Turkey can lead the definition of a new group of countries which would have responsibilities that are less binding than those for developed countries but more ambitious than major emitters,” he told Today's Zaman for Monday Talk. The latest round of interna- tional talks on climate change ended on Nov. 6 with- out resolving major disputes over a new global climate pact and how to pay for it. MONDAY TALK CONTINUED ON PAGE 06 YUNUS ARIKAN: TURKEY CAN BE KEY TO OPENING COPENHAGEN DEADLOCK PHOTO AA Intatve pcks up momentum wth new rghts reforms The government, decisively moving for- ward with the Kurdish initiative despite strong objections from opposition parties, has decided to create two new institutions to pro- mote human rights. The government plans to establish a human rights institution and a com- mission on combating discrimination and strengthen legal measures to combat hate crimes. The government has concluded that the Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate is not addressing human rights issues efficiently. The Prime Ministry, in a statement made after a Cabinet meeting in May, announced that a sepa- rate human rights institution would be created. However, steps were not taken to establish the institution at the time because of opposition from civil society organizations. The government decid- ed to take action on this matter after announcing its Kurdish initiative. Interior Minister Beir Atalay plans to ensure that the projected human rights institution is established in 2010. The human rights institution will include repre- sentatives from universities, human rights organi- zations, bar associations and other civil society actors and will operate a separate commission on combating discrimination. The institution will func- tion independently and will be headed by an elect- ed president, who will be appointed upon a recom- mendation from the prime minister and with the final approval of the president. The human rights institution will also have a separate secretariat and staff. The projected system will be supervised by a central institution and include liaison offices in every district and province; the liaison offices will be connected online to make sure that the system will be free of pressure. The human rights offices will hold roundtable meetings with local residents to identify cases of discrimination. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 ERCAN YAVUZ, ANKARA Col. Çiçek was released less than two days after his arrest on charges of membership in Ergenekon. PHOTO CHAN, ZYA PEK YONCA POYRAZ DOAN, ÝSTANBUL ULE KULU, ÝSTANBUL 10 13 Obama says US and Russia will have treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year’s end Pianist Miriam Méndez conjures up musical image of what would happen if Mozart visited Andalusia Your Way of Understandng Turkey MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009 WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM TL 1.50 page04 Turkey, Israel hold search-and-rescue maneuvers Pacquiao stops Cotto to win 7th world title 20 NEWS ANALYSIS TODAY’S ZAMAN By Büra Erdal
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Page 1: todayszaman16.11

GOVERNMENT READY TO SACRIFICE WHATEVER IT TAKES TO END TERRORPM Erdo�an stated that government is determined to end terrorism no matter what the cost, and he also lashed out at the opposition for their accusations of government collaboration with the PKK.

TURKEY OFFERS HELP TO OVERCOME CONFIDENCE CRISIS OVER IRAN’S LEUIn a bid to resolve the standoff between Iran and world powers over low-enriched uranium, Turkey is prepared to offer escrow service, storing LEU in its own territory under the supervi-sion of the IAEA, Davuto�lu said.

05

04

Featuring news and articles from

Despite the Turkish Armed Forces' (TSK) frequent recent emphasis on its commitment to democracy

and the rule of law, a considerable portion of the Turkish nation does not believe the idea that the TSK does not shelter officers involved in pro-coup and illegal activities, the latest results of a monthly opinion poll have shown. The Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social

Research Center conducted a survey on the political situ-ation in Turkey to get an idea of what the public thinks about a recently exposed military plot to undermine the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the faith-based Gülen movement as well as the govern-ment's ongoing efforts to settle the Kurdish issue. One of the questions in the survey was on partici-pants' ideas about to what extent the TSK was committed to democracy and the rule of law in Turkey. More than a

third of participants in the survey said they did not believe that the TSK doesn't shelter pro-coup officers, despite the General Staff's pledges to the contrary, which is a sign of the loss of the TSK's credibility in the eyes of the public in Turkey, where trust in the military used to be up to 80 percent among the public in the past. The Turkish mili-tary has recently become the center of mounting criticism over a military action plan, bearing the genuine signature of Col. Dursun Çiçek. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

ALEV�S UP IN ARMS AGAINST CHP'S

ÖYMEN AFTER DERS�M REMARKS

Turkey's Alevis have continued to slam the remarks of Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen, who on Tuesday referred to the Turkish government's response to a 1937 rebellion in the predominantly Alevi city of Tunceli, then known as Dersim, as an example of fighting terrorism. On Saturday, 43 civil society organizations in the eastern province of Diyarbak�r made a joint statement calling on Öymen to resign. Harika Peker from the Diyarbak�r Democracy Platform read the joint statement, saying the speech by Öymen has taken its place in history as a disgrace. “We condemn Onur Öymen, who wanted more pain to be experienced through his speech in Parliament and who lacks any conscientious feelings as well as CHP mentality, and those who applauded him.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 03

Poll: Military plot damaged public trust in TSK

The release of a colonel on Friday, 44 hours after being arrested on charges of member-

ship in Ergenekon -- a clandestine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the government -- has created great resentment among jurists, with a majority of those in the legal profession saying the release was unlawful. Col. Dursun Çiçek, whose signature appears on a military document titled the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism that details a plan to undermine the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was arrested for the first time in the investigation into coup plotting officers in the military on July 18, but was released the next day on the grounds that the original copy of the Action Plan was not avail-able. He was arrested again last week when pros-ecutors conducting the Ergenekon investigation obtained the original copy of the document with Çiçek's “wet signature.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

PLOT COLONEL Ç�ÇEK’S RELEASE UNLAWFUL, SAY

PROMINENT JURISTS

Yunus Ar�kan, spokesman for the world's cities on climate change, has said Turkey can be a key

country in ending the deadlock at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) meetings in December in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where the world will try to find a solution to climate change. “Currently, there is a lack of trust between devel-oped and developing countries. Turkey can show the leadership that can narrow this gap in the sense that there are some countries in between these two groups. Turkey can lead the definition of a new group of countries which would have responsibilities that are less binding than those for developed countries but more ambitious than major emitters,” he told Today's Zaman for Monday Talk. The latest round of interna-tional talks on climate change ended on Nov. 6 with-out resolving major disputes over a new global climate pact and how to pay for it. MONDAY TALK CONTINUED ON PAGE 06

YUNUS ARIKAN: TURKEY CAN BE KEY TO OPENING COPENHAGEN DEADLOCK

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In�t�at�ve p�cks up momentum

w�th new r�ghts reforms

The government, decisively moving for-ward with the Kurdish initiative despite strong objections from opposition parties,

has decided to create two new institutions to pro-mote human rights. The government plans to establish a human rights institution and a com-mission on combating discrimination and strengthen legal measures to combat hate crimes.

The government has concluded that the Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate is not addressing human rights issues efficiently. The Prime Ministry, in a statement made after a Cabinet meeting in May, announced that a sepa-rate human rights institution would be created. However, steps were not taken to establish the institution at the time because of opposition from civil society organizations. The government decid-ed to take action on this matter after announcing

its Kurdish initiative. Interior Minister Be�ir Atalay plans to ensure that the projected human rights institution is established in 2010. The human rights institution will include repre-sentatives from universities, human rights organi-zations, bar associations and other civil society actors and will operate a separate commission on combating discrimination. The institution will func-tion independently and will be headed by an elect-ed president, who will be appointed upon a recom-

mendation from the prime minister and with the final approval of the president. The human rights institution will also have a separate secretariat and staff. The projected system will be supervised by a central institution and include liaison offices in every district and province; the liaison offices will be connected online to make sure that the system will be free of pressure. The human rights offices will hold roundtable meetings with local residents to identify cases of discrimination. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

ERCAN YAVUZ, ANKARA

Col. Çiçek was released less than two days after his arrest on charges of membership in Ergenekon.

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YONCA POYRAZ DO�AN, ÝSTANBUL

�ULE KULU, ÝSTANBUL

10 13Obama says US and Russia will have treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year’s end

Pianist Miriam Méndez conjures up musical image of what would happen if Mozart visited Andalusia

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

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009 WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM TL 1.50

page04 Turkey, Israel hold search-and-rescue maneuvers

Pacquiaostops Cotto to win 7th world title 20

NEWS ANALYSIS

TODAY’S ZAMAN

By Bü�ra Erdal

Page 2: todayszaman16.11

CMYK

‘F O O D F O R T H O U G H T

We’re fed up with your [Israel’s]time-wasting … We don’t believe thatyou really want a two-state solution.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat

‘Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

Now, we are trying to compensatefor the failures of past politicianswho smoothed over the cracks for years.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an

‘W O R D S O F W I S D O M

Forever is composedof nows.

Emily Dickinson

columns

They might evenrelease him by force

Who else wouldthey wiretap?

STAR MEHMET ALTAN

BUGÜN GÜLAY GÖKTÜRK

While Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an was addressing Parliament, my phone rang. A news station said Col. Dursun Çiçek had been released. Ob-viously, the “junta” members

who prepared the Action Plan to Fight Reacti-onaryism intended to send a message by calcu-lating this coincidence. What was the message? Do not touch my junta suspect. Why was Dur-sun released just 46 hours after he was arres-ted when the forensic report revealed that he had signed the Action Plan to Fight Reactionar-yism? Because he is not a � ight risk. Was there anyone in the past who was arrested on char-ges of “being involved in a coup” and who was then released on the grounds of “having a de� -nite address”? As far as I know, there was not.

This time they are making the same commotion about the wi-retapping of certain judges and prosecutors. If they should not wiretap the judges and prosecu-tors whose names were noted in

the agenda of Veli Küçük, found on the com-puters of Ergenekon defendants or referred to in their phone calls, who should they wiretap? Those who collaborated with the relatives of Ergenekon suspects so that these suspects wo-uld be sent to the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA) for protection, those who ar-ranged the release of some suspects by chan-ging the composition of certain courts with a sleight of hand and those who attempted to in-terfere with the trials of J�TEM by appointing certain prosecutors to oversee the investigati-on, weren’t they all members of the judiciary?

How are Alevi problems connected to me?RAD�KAL HASAN CELAL GÜZEL

Unfortunately, the judicial struc-ture has become highly politici-zed and has unilaterally interfe-red with politics in many cases. In particular, in various stages of the Ergenekon investigation, it

has come to light that certain members of the ju-diciary have intervened in the investigation. Aga-in, some members of the judiciary are believed to be involved in political affairs. During such a cha-otic period, it is not illegal to wiretap members of the judiciary within the scope of duly issued court decisions. However, it is illegal for the vice president of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) to call on judges and courts not to issue decisions that permit wiretapping.

Lack of construct�ve

oppos�t�on once aga�n

shows �ts face

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) democratic initiative, which aims to settle Turkey’s decades-long Kurdish issue, was discussed at length in Parliament on Friday, after heated debates on Tues-day, when the issue was � rst discussed in Parliament. Friday’s session did not lack exchanges and confronta-tions among deputies either, in particular while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an was addressing the de-puties. Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies even walked out of the general assembly when Erdo�an ac-cused some circles, without naming names, of using the death of Turkish soldiers as a means of political gain. The session, despite being a milestone when the past years of ignoring the issue are taken into consideration, has led to pessimism for some as it once again revealed the lack of a constructive opposition in Turkey.

Yeni �afak’s Fehmi Koru recalls a meeting Interior Mi-nister Be�ir Atalay held with some journalists, including himself, to discuss their views on the Kurdish issue. No-ting that Atalay then said they would resolve the issue in Parliament, he says he was the only person who told Ata-lay not to trust Parliament so much. “I said that since I believed that the understanding of ‘opposition’ and ‘go-vernment’ in Turkey is not suited toward the resolution of problematic issues regardless of how sensitive the issue is. I wish I had turned out to be in the wrong. I wish oppositi-on parties had acted to show what constructive opposition is. Democracy in Turkey is perceived as cock� ghting bet-ween the government and the opposition,” he says.

Erhan Ba�yurt from the Bugün daily thinks that the CHP, whose leader, Deniz Baykal, had previously absta-ined from discussing the issue with the prime minister at his party headquarters, insisting on having the meeting recorded, totally closed its doors to compromise during Friday’s session. “Although AK Party deputies listened to him [Baykal] while he was speaking, Baykal and his party walked out of Parliament during Erdo�an’s address, which shows that their camera condition was just an excuse to not to meet with the prime minister,” he says.

While evaluating the CHP’s Parliament walkout, Mahmut Övür from the Sabah daily says the CHP’s re-action was most likely not spontaneous but planned. As-king then why the CHP, which supported the Social De-mocratic People’s Party’s (SHP) Kurdish report in 1989, now walks out of Parliament, he says he asked this ques-tion of some CHP members and even they couldn’t un-derstand it. “There are some within the party who do not like democracy,” he quotes a CHP member as saying.

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Turkey’s chief rabbi, Ishak Haleva (C), was accompanied by Beyo�lu Mayor Ahmet Misbah Demircan (R) during acere-mony in �stanbul yesterday marking the sixth anniversary of bomb attacks against the city’s two main synagogues.

ak�am: “He is seeking an excuse for closure,” the daily said in the headline of its main story yesterday, referring to Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalç�nkaya, who previously � led a court request for the closu-re of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The daily reported that Yalç�nkaya is once again getting ready to � le a closure case against the AK Party following recent reports that the telephones of a chief public prosecutor and some members of the Supreme Court of Appeals have been wiretap-ped for a long time as part of an ongoing probe into the clan-destine Ergenekon organization. Yalç�nkaya accuses the go-vernment of illegally wiretapping members of the judiciary.

habertürk: “All posts to be sacri� ced for a martyr,” read the headline of the daily’s lead story yester-day, quoting remarks from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip

Erdo�an, who said his government was ready to forsake all its posts if it would prevent the death of a single Turkish soldier. On Saturday, Erdo�an was in the eastern province of Malatya, where he addressed the locals and explained his government’s democratic initiative to settle the Kur-dish issue. During his speech, Erdo�an criticized the oppo-sition for � ghting an initiative that aims to strengthen brotherhood and unity in the country.

ak�am: In its top story yesterday, the daily reported that Ergenekon prosecutors would never send the original copy of a document detailing a plot to illegally undermine the governing AK Party to the Military Prosecutor’s Of� ce, which had requested the document a number of times. Erge-nekon prosecutors do not want to send the document, as they are concerned that it could be damaged or modi� ed.

TODAY’S ZAMAN PRESS REVIEWM O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 902

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03TODAY’S ZAMANM O N D A Y, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9NATIONAL

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State deputyIt turned out his uncle was one of those who voted yes for the bill passed in 1935 that led to the infamous Dersim massacre. The massacre of thousands of civilians using warplanes, cannons and heavy weaponry -- which H�fz� Ra�it Rah-man Bey, whom we can describe as a “state dep-uty” since there was no multi-party competitive regime in place at that time, heartily supported -- is today advocated by his nephew, who has managed to remain a “state deputy” despite the existence of a multi-party regime.

During the parliamentary session in which the government’s Kurdish initiative was be-ing discussed, on Nov. 10, the following words, which made the blood freeze, poured forth from his lips without any sign of emotion: “Unfortu-nately, the mothers of this country have wept on so many occasions. Throughout our history, we have had many martyrs. We had 200,000 mar-tyrs at the Battle of Çanakkale. The mothers of all of them cried. But no one suggested ending that war. Didn’t mothers also weep during the War of Independence, at the time of the Sheikh Said Rebellion? Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Dersim Rebellion and during the Cyprus op-eration? Did anyone then suggest stopping the � ght, saying, ‘Let no more mothers cry’?”

However, during the Dersim incidents, the mothers did not cry as they would have for their lost sons who were martyred during the War of Independence or during the Ottoman period. In-deed, they would not cry for their sons who were � ghting against the enemy for the survival of the nation. No, in Dersim, the state and the military of the establishment for which they had worked so hard crushed the heads of their sons. And now, mothers cry for the children of this country � ghting against each other. This is the truth that that emotionless state deputy chose to skip over.

Although it is the most striking of all, this is not, unfortunately, the � rst scandal for this per-son, who spent his life representing the state as a diplomat in foreign missions. In order to under-stand his mood and a mentality that is deprived of any notion of peace or brotherhood, we can take a look at his sentence “You have been in power for so many years, but you have never conducted a cross-border operation,” which he uttered as a criticism of the ruling Justice and De-velopment Party (AK Party) in his same speech.

While Parliament was discussing the re-forms to remove restrictions on property rights of the foundations of non-Muslim minorities, he suggested that the principle of reciprocity must be applied vis-à-vis the rights granted to Turks and Muslims in the country where the ethnici-ties and religions of those non-Muslim minori-ties are dominant so that these ethnic or religious minorities -- who are Turkish citizens -- could be granted some rights.

He is also considerably skillful in portray-ing some historical events as if they never hap-pened: “It is against our constitutional and le-gal system to send away minorities. There is no such event in our civilized country as banishing minorities. ... We have not heard about anyone who was expelled from the country on charges of being from a speci� c ethnicity.” So, accord-ing to this state deputy, neither the forced migration of Armenians nor the exchange of populations nor the incidents of Sept. 6-7, 1955 -- in which a great part of the minorities had to leave the country and which events were later described by some state of� cials as “a perfect organization” -- nor such discriminatory prac-tices as imposing taxes speci� cally on minori-ties were seen in this country.

Given his insensitivity toward the rights of non-Muslim minorities, can we assume him to be utterly sensitive toward the rights of Muslim citizens? I think the following story is suf� cient to demonstrate his stance in this respect: Rumor has it that when he was the Turkish ambassa-dor to Germany, he had visited mosques and asked why the mosques did not have a photo of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and threatened imams who refused to hang Atatürk pictures in their mosques that he would send them back home. Moreover, when the lifting of the headscarf ban

on university campuses -- which had victimized and continues to victimize tens of thousands of young girls -- was being discussed, he had said, “The headscarf is Nazi and fascist apparel,” never realizing that these words had put that apparel on himself.

The deeds and remarks of this person who is the representative of a political mentality that regards representing the state as a typical state nationalist is superior to representing the soci-ety, and who conducts his political career as if it were a state mission, are not restricted to these. In this regard, the response he suggested that Turkey should give to the Armenian genocide claims being discussed in the parliaments of foreign countries is quite interesting: “We must immediately send 70,000 Armenians working in our country back to Armenia. In such is-sues, we must respect national interests; it is no place to be sentimental.”

Now let us hear what this person said about the Turks who held protests of the murder of Hrant Dink, which has now has been estab-lished to have been committed by the shadowy network of the deep state, Ergenekon: “We, as the members of the Turkish foreign mission, gave more than 40 martyrs to Armenian terror. The murderers of many of them have not yet been found. When Ambassador Galip Balkar was murdered by Armenians and his dead body was brought to Turkey, tens of thousands did not walk in protest, and only his family was there. No one shouted ‘We are all Galip Balkar’ or ‘We are all �smail Erz’.”

In a sense, this reaction is perfectly un-derstandable. This is because his person and his party which he guided had fought hard so that the infamous Article 301 -- which paved the way for the eventual murder of Dink -- should not be lifted.

The people who are like this person, who would oppose any move to extend the rights and freedoms of citizens, were also quick to hail every military and judiciary intervention with ci-vilian politics and democracy. This deputy of the state party, who said, “The TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] is a civil society organization,” had af-forded full support to the 367 trickery during the presidential election and also heartily defended the e-memorandum of April 27, 2007, saying, “I agree with every line of the memorandum.” And in the face of the big election defeats that these anti-democratic stances brought about, he had taken refuge behind the illogical statement that “the voters acted irrationally.”

Do you know who this state deputy is? He is the one who said: “Our Constitution allows amendments to the Constitution and amend-ments of its articles. But we fail to see any article of the Constitution that allows the complete abolishment of the existing Constitution and re-placing it with a new one.”

At this point, one cannot agree more with the Freedom Association’s (Özgür-Der) state-ment: “While many were shocked with the proposal voiced in Parliament for pursuing the policy of deportation and extermination in or-der to settle the Kurdish issue with a blind eye to the experiences of the past, it is impossible to say for those who closely monitor Turkish politics that this is a strange proposal. It is really hard to understand why everyone is surprised to hear the ‘solution’ proposed by a party of-� cial who acts as the guardian of the of� cial Kemalist ideology based on his primary refer-ences against political and social issues. In this sense, the mentality of ‘not making compro-mises from the basic principles or functions of the state so that mothers should not cry’ repre-sents is the exact re� ection of the Kemalist and bureaucratic mentality which Onur Öymen represents. There is no inconsistency here.”

In the end, isn’t Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen, to whom we have not referred explicitly so far, an unyielding defender of the status quo in this country, an of� cial of the language of denial, and an eternal representative of the state? Wouldn’t it be unfair for us to expect more from him?

CMYK

Vaccination of chronic disease sufferers, kids begins

Alevis up in arms against CHP’s Öymen after Dersim remarks

Carbon monoxide poisoning kills 5 in �stanbul

Good Samaritankilled by car

Four children and their grandmother died as a result of carbon monoxide poi-

soning from a leak in a coal-burning stove in the Ümraniye district of �stanbul on Sunday.

After returning from a coffeehouse, Mehm-et Kepkin broke the back door of his home since he did not hear any voices inside and discovered a tragic scene. His wife, Vahide Kepkin (54), and grandchildren, Sevda Kepkin (15), Nihat Kepkin (8), Abdullah Kepkin (10) and Mahsun Gerçek (8), were lifeless on the floor. Mehmet Kepkin called the police and an ambulance rushed to the scene.

It was reported that four of the family members had died by the time the ambulance arrived, with one person being rushed to the hospital, where said person later died. All of the bodies were brought to the private Sancak-tepe Hospital morgue.

Sevda, Nihat and Abdullah Kepkin’s moth-er and father, Meysel and Nezir Kepkin, and Mahsun Gerçek’s mother and father, Çiçek Gerçek and Cem Gerçek, were reportedly at-tending a wedding in Siirt.

Meanwhile, three people in the Kiraz dis-trict of �zmir were poisoned by smoke from a bucket of burning coal that they placed in a minibus to keep them warm while sleep-ing on Friday. Ümit Sar�, the son of Turhan Sar�, who died at a hospital in �zmir, asked his friend Barattin Erdem (34) to drive his de-ceased father’s corpse to the funeral home. Erdem, his friend Bünyamin Aydo�an (29) and the father-in-law of Ümit Sar�, Dursun Topalak (48), brought the corpse to the Kiraz district. As the funeral home was crowded, the three people decided to sleep in the vehi-cle. In order to stay warm, they brought some coal from a coal-burning heater in the house and put it in a bucket. They placed the bucket into the minibus where they fell asleep. The smoke from the coal killed them during the night. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

A man trying to help an injured person was killed by another car on the Eski�ehir high-

way on his way to Ankara on Sunday. Two people died and four people were injured in the accident.

A pick-up truck driven by �brahim Ünsal hit highway barriers 35 kilometers away from Ankara. Gül Y�lmaz was ejected from the vehicle onto the highway. Noticing the accident, Mehmet Erkan stopped his car and attempted to help Y�lmaz, who was lying in the highway. Meanwhile, a car driven by Ali Uzun hit Erkan and Y�lmaz, killing both. Uzun was injured in the accident.

Uzun and Ünsal were taken to the Gazi University Medical Faculty Hospital for treat-ment, while Y�ld�z and Gül�ah Y�lmaz, two other passengers in the pick-up truck, were taken to Atatürk Education and Research Hospital by an-other vehicle. None of their injuries are consid-ered life threatening. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

After vaccinating health workers and pilgrims embarking on hajj, the Health Ministry is set to

begin administering vaccines against H1N1 influenza, popularly known as swine flu, to children under 5 years of age and individuals with chronic diseases today.

The vaccinations will take place at local clin-ics (sa�l�k oca��) and family health centers, and individuals within this category must only attest to their diseases or age in order to receive the vaccine. According to the Anatolia news agency, people suffering from chronic organ failure, dia-betes, immune system disorders, chronic lung dis-eases, cancer, leukemia, cardiovascular diseases and asthma will be vaccinated. Children below the age of 5 will be vaccinated upon the permission of their parents. Officials said individuals being vac-cinated are informed about the possible side ef-fects of the vaccine, Anatolia reported.

Experts and the Health Ministry say the best way

for those in high-risk groups to protect themselves from the virus is to receive a swine flu shot. Associate Professor Alpay Azap from the department of infec-tious diseases at Ankara University said children be-low the age of 5 and individuals with chronic diseases should definitely be vaccinated against swine flu as

the illness is more dangerous for these individuals.The vaccination campaign against the pandemic

flu started on Nov. 2 in Turkey with the vaccination of health care professionals and those preparing to go on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. “The campaign is still under way, and close to 250,000 people have been vaccinated. No serious adverse effects have been ob-served in those vaccinated,” said the Health Ministry in a statement on Friday.

Pregnant women in Turkey will receive a special form of the swine flu vaccine that does not contain an adjuvant. Turkey plans to import 1 million doses of adjuvant-free vaccine, set to arrive in December.

Turkey reported its first case of swine flu on May 15. Turkey’s first swine flu death occurred on Oct. 24, when Mustafa Güne� died at Ankara’s Atatürk Sana-torium, where he had been receiving treatment. The death toll has rapidly increased over the last 20 days and reached 60 as of Friday. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

During a speech criticizing the govern-ment’s Kurdish initiative, which seeks

to extend the rights of Kurds in Turkey to al-leviate and ultimately end the separatist terror-ism of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in Parliament on Tuesday, Öymen said: “Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Sheikh Said Rebellion? Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Dersim Rebellion?” in response to the government’s used of the phrase “Let no more mothers cry” as part of its efforts to end the PKK’s campaign of terrorism.

The rebellion took place in 1937 in Der-sim, which had historically been a semi-autonomous region. Dersim was renamed Tunceli after the rebellion. The rebellion was led by Seyyid Riza, the chief of a Zaza (Kurdish) tribe in the region. The Turkish government at the time, led by �smet �nönü, responded with air strikes against the reb-els. Thousands were killed in the campaign. Öymen’s reference to the Dersim rebels as an example of terrorists continued to draw anger and resentment from the country’s Alevis and Zazas.

A group of Alevis in the Aegean province of �zmir, a city among the strongholds of the CHP, also gathered on Saturday to protest Öymen and the CHP. Holding banners read-ing “Racist Öymen will give account” and “Racist CHP go away Dersim,” the group also called on Öymen to resign.

Another harsh reaction to Öymen came

from the southern province of Mersin, where various NGOs, including the Fed-eration of Tunceli Residents, marched on Saturday. Democratic Society Party (DTP) members also held a demonstration in the city, holding posters showing Öymen with a Hitler-like toothbrush moustache. The group also chanted slogans protesting Öy-men. Group spokesperson and DTP Provin-cial Chairman Serhat Ölmez said Öymen’s remarks are evidence of the CHP’s years-long policies of denial and destruction. The group laid a black wreath in front of the CHP’s local of� ce. The group then held a moment of silence to remember those who were killed in the Dersin rebellion.

In the eastern province of Batman, a group of people including representatives of political parties and civil society groups also laid a black wreath in front of the CHP’s local of� ce. Association of Human Rights and Sol-idarity for Oppressed Peoples’ (MAZLUM-DER) Batman branch head Murat Çiçek said in order for the democratic initiative to be successful Turkey should shed light on the past’s unfortunate events. “We condemn Onur Öymen and the mentality he repre-sents and we want everyone in favor of peace to show their reaction,” he said.

Following Öymen’s remarks, residents of Tunceli, a predominantly Alevi city, also put up posters throughout the city showing Öy-men with a Hitler-like toothbrush moustache to protest Öymen. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

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The Ministry of Health will today begin to vaccinate chil-dren under 5 years of age against H1N1 influenza.

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Alevis across Turkey held demonstrations to protest CHP deputy Onur Öymen’s reference to the Dersim Rebellion as an example of terrorism. They laid black wreaths in front of CHP’s local offices.

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04 TODAY’S ZAMAN M O N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 NATIONAL

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Turkey, Israel, Jordan hold search and rescue maneuversTurkey, Jordan and Israel reportedly held joint search and rescue maneuvers almost

two weeks ago in Ankara’s Gölba�� district at the Special Forces Command’s training range.

This signals an improvement in the currently strained Turkish-Israeli relations, as Ankara ex-cluded Israel at the last minute from the Anato-lian Eagle international maneuvers which were planned to take place between Oct. 13 and 23 in

Turkey’s central Anatolian town of Konya because of Israel’s assault on Gaza against Hamas militants early this year which killed more than 1,500 civil-ians. A Turkish TV series named “Ayr�l�k” (Separa-tion), which contained anti-Israeli elements, fur-ther fuelled the deterioration in ties.

In protest over the Turkish exclusion of Israel from the exercises at the last minute, the United States and Italy also withdrew from the maneuvers.

Reliable sources told Today’s Zaman that due to the nature of the search and rescue operations held

over three days in the Gölba�� district, jet � ghters were not used in the maneuvers.

During his remarks to the media last month, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto�lu highlighted Turkey’s sensitivity about the fact that Israeli jets used during Gaza assault were also going to take part in the maneuvers, hinting at the reason for Turkey’s exclusion of Israel from the exercises.

In a related development, technical prob-lems that have caused a more than two-year-long delay in the delivery of Israel’s Heron un-

manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Turkey have reportedly been overcome. According to the lo-cal defense industry sources, the Turkish and Is-raeli sides are now negotiating over the amount of compensation to be paid for the Israeli delay of Heron UAVs.

In another sign of repairing the damaged relations between Turkey and Israel, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of Israel, who was formerly the defense minis-ter, is scheduled to visit Turkey on Nov. 24.

Turkey offers help to overcome

conf�dence cr�s�s over Iran’s LEU

Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders is among members of a del-

egation from the Netherlands House of Representatives which will pay a visit to Turkey in early January, the Anatolia news agency reported over the weekend.

Wilders has outraged Muslims by com-paring the Quran to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and calling for an end to Muslim immigration to the Netherlands. He has de-fended his right to criticize the actions of a minority he says poses a threat to society.

During European Parliament elections in early summer, running an anti-Muslim and anti-Turkey campaign, Wilders got 17 percent of the vote, and his Party for Freedom became the second-largest party after the Christian Democrats and before the Socialists in what was once known to be one of the most liberal countries on earth. In his victory speech Wilders said: “Should Turkey as an Islamic country be able to join the European Union? We are the only party in Holland that says it is an Islamic country, so no, not in 10 years, not in a million years.”

In its report, posted from Amsterdam, Anatolia said that the delegation from the Dutch House of Representatives is expected to be in Turkey between Jan. 4 and 9, while noting that Wilders most recently visited Turkey in 1983. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires

The Turkish capital has firmly re-jected recent news reports which

have suggested the presence of an agreement between France and Turkey that would establish an alternative to the latter’s European Union membership prospects and has presented Turkey-France bilateral relations as “free” from Turkey’s EU membership issue.

“Turkey considers its bilateral relations with its friend and ally France as a whole, not solely connected to one issue. Turkey’s acces-sion process to the EU is, without a doubt, one of the most important elements of these relations,” said a statement released by the Foreign Ministry over the weekend.

Last week, French Minister for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche was quoted as say-ing that his country and Turkey had recently reached an “implicit agreement” concern-ing bilateral disagreements surrounding Turkey’s EU membership process.

Brie� ng members of the French National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee, Lel-louche said an implicit agreement had been reached during President Abdullah Gül’s meeting with French President Nicolas Sar-kozy in Paris last month, noting that the agreement aimed at “easing” problems concerning Turkey’s EU membership pro-cess, the Anatolia news agency reported.

“Therefore, such a mutual understanding as cited in those news reports has not occurred and it is not possible for it to occur either,” the govern-ment’s statement, which came in the form of an answer by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Özügergin to a journalist’s question, said. “In addi-tion to groundless news reports, the use of careful language by all related of� cials is extremely impor-tant concerning the course of affairs in Tur-key-France relations,” Özügergin also noted.

Sarkozy believes that Turkey does not be-long in Europe and proposes instead a privi-leged partnership that falls short of membership in the 27-nation EU, while the Turkish leader-ship categorically rejects any formula that does not include full membership in the European bloc.

Gül paid an of� cial visit to Paris last month, where he and Sarkozy together opened an exhibi-tion at Paris’ Grand Palais as part of the Season of Turkey in France. During their meeting last month, the French and Turkish presidents reached an un-written agreement based on “mutual compromise on three issues for easing problems stemming from the parties’ positions,” Lellouche told the foreign affairs committee last week. The first compromise was an unde-clared acceptance that France continues to oppose acces-sion of Turkey into the EU, he said. Ankara Today’s Zaman

Anti-Islamic Dutch lawmaker to visit Turkey

Ankara denies ‘implicit deal’ with France on its EU bid

Turkey’s strong desire to end the decades-old Cyprus conflict does not mean it will

accept a resolution at any price, Turkey’s Dep-uty Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek said on Sunday, warning that nobody should force Turkey to make a choice between its own European Union aspirations and its support of the Turkish Repub-lic of Northern Cyprus’ (KKTC) right to exist.

In a speech delivered at a ceremony held in Lefko�a on Sunday marking the 26th anniversary of the KKTC’s declaration of independence, Çiçek reit-erated Ankara’s support for the ongoing United Na-tions-led reuni� cation negotiations between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders. Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christo� as broke a four-year stalemate on talks in March 2008 and have been engaged in face-to-face negotiations with the goal of reunifying the island.

“This has to be known by everybody: We want a resolution, but not a resolution at any cost. A resolution which can be reached through Turkish Cypriots’ giving up their legitimate rights is not a resolution which we will back,” Çiçek said, warning that the negotiations cannot go on forever and the existing

window of opportunity cannot remain open inde� nitely. “The comprehensive resolution which we

aim for should emerge as a new partnership un-der which the island will be reunited as based on the principles two equal community, bi-zonality, political equality and two constituent states with equal status,” he said, underlining

that Turkey’s security guarantees for the Turk-ish Cypriots will continue.

“We will never let the integrity of the reso-lution to be breached within the EU,” Çiçek said. “If some are planning to say ‘Either Cy-prus or the EU,’ [then] Turkey’s choice will forever be to stand next to the Turkish Cypri-

ots. Everybody should understand this.” Talat, speaking at the same ceremony, said

the declaration of the KKTC’s independence was aimed at “reconciliation and peace.”

Addressing the Greek Cypriots, Talat said: “The Turkish Cypriot people are ready to share this beautiful island with you. Come and con-tribute to our reconciliation efforts; do not pre-vent our beautiful island from becoming an is-land of friendship and cooperation.”

Ankara does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government, which entered the EU in May 2004 as the of� cial representative of the entire island after the Greek Cypriots in the south rejected the UN re-uni� cation plan in twin referendums held in 2004. In 1983 the KKTC unilaterally declared its indepen-dence, though it is only recognized by Ankara.

Turkey’s refusal to implement a trade pact between Turkey and the EU that requires Ankara to allow Greek Cypriot vessels to use its air and sea ports has already prompted the EU to freeze eight chapters in Turkey’s accession talks and the bloc may consider fresh sanctions at a summit in December. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires

Turkey vows to choose Turkish Cypriots over its EU bid

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Talat (front) is seen during a ceremony on Sunday marking the anniversary of the KKTC’s independence.

In a bid to resolve the standoff between Iran and world powers over low-enriched uranium (LEU), Turkey is prepared to

offer escrow service, storing LEU in its own ter-ritory under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a top Turkish dip-lomat said on Saturday. “We have a lot of political capital in Tehran, and we helped diffuse tension between Iran and world powers in the past,” For-eign Minister Ahmet Davuto�lu told Today’s Za-man over the weekend while traveling to Spain to meet with his Spanish counterpart. He signaled that Turkey is willing to take up the IAEA suggestion that Iran send its LEU to Turkey, a friendly third country.

Recalling that Turkey had convinced Iran to send a delegation headed by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili to meet with European Union High Representative for the Com-mon Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, who presided as moderator of the 5+1 group (the UN Security Council’s � ve permanent members and Germany) delegation on Oct. 1, Davuto�lu said the dialogue process has reached this point because of Turkish efforts and that talks should continue.

He stated that he held telephone conversations with both IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Irani-an of� cials last week to con� rm Turkey’s willingness to act as a mediator on the issue in a major drive to prevent the disagreement from escalating into a full-blown crisis and help allay concerns on both sides.

The issue originated when Iran realized it was running out of special fuel to operate a Tehran research reactor that produces radioactive iso-topes for cancer treatment. On Oct. 1, the meet-ing between Iran and world powers resulted in an agreement that Tehran would send the bulk of its LEU to Russia and France for further processing and conversion into fuel for the research reactor.

The agreement, however, was stalled over the timing and logistics of how Iran will part ways with its LEU, which some in Iran see as a vital strategic asset. The objections that were raised later by Iranian of� cials about sending the LEU to France or Russia prompted the UN to suggest that a friendly third country such as Turkey could act as escrow holder until the fuel arrives for the Tehran reactor.

From a technical standpoint, Turkey has the capability to store the LEU under watchdog agency supervision, Turkish of� cials said last week. “There is no problem from the side of Tur-key with Iran storing its LEU in Turkey,” Energy Minister Taner Y�ld�z told reporters. The UN plan requires Tehran to send 1.2 tons (1,100 kilograms) -- around 70 percent of its stockpile -- of LEU to

Russia in one batch by the end of the year for fur-ther enrichment, a move that would ease inter-national concerns that the material could be pro-cessed for a bomb. After further enrichment in Russia, France would then convert the uranium into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran for use in a reactor. Fuel rods can-not be further enriched into weapons-grade material.

Turkey, which has very close political and trade relations with Iran, has said in the past it is willing to mediate between Iran and the West over Iran’s nuclear program. Turkish of� cials had com-prehensive talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian Foreign Minister Ma-nouchehr Mottaki, who were both in �stanbul to attend an Organization of the Islamic Con-ference (OIC) economic summit last week.

Turkey against all nuclear armsDavuto�lu reiterated Turkey’s policy regarding the nuclear arms issue, saying Ankara is, and has been, against all nuclear weapons, especially in the Middle East. “No matter who possesses these deadly weapons, we are against it,” he said, add-ing, however, that every country has a right to de-velop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, such as meeting legitimate energy needs.

“Countries should be able to produce enriched uranium for civilian purposes, but the process must be transparent and for peaceful goals,” Davuto�lu underlined. “We are not doing this to favor Iran as our approach to nuclear arms and nuclear energy is-sues is valid for other countries as well,” he added.

The Turkish foreign minister also balked

at more sanctions targeting Iran, saying Tur-key would be most adversely impacted in the case of a possible expansion of embargo and trade restrictions. “We suffered immensely when the UN Security Council imposed an embargo on Iraq during Saddam’s rule. The sanctions have a way of punishing those who were not intended to be punished in the first place. The Iraqi embargo affected not only Turkey but also the Iraqi people,” he said.

Davuto�lu emphasized that Turkey prefers negotiations to resolve outstanding issues be-tween Iran and Western powers, noting that military means fall short of accomplishing goals and complicate matters worse. “Let’s give talks a chance and stick to negotiations,” he added.

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Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto�lu said Sunday he is “very optimistic” about Spain’s upcoming presidency of the European Union, while his Spanish counterpart, Miguel Angel Moratinos, pledged to doing their best to move Turkey’s EU accession process to an “irrevers-ible path.” The two ministers’ remarks came in the Andalusian city of Cordoba following official talks be-tween Spanish and Turkish delegations led by the two

within the framework of Davuto�lu’s three-day official visit to Spain. Spain will take over the six-month rotat-ing presidency of the EU from Sweden in January. Be-fore wrapping up his visit today Davuto�lu will deliver a speech titled “Turkey and Spain, Two Sides of the Mediterranean: Joint Contributions to Global Peace and Security,” at a breakfast meeting to be held at the Madrid-based Nueva Economia Forum. Cordoba Today’s Zaman

Davuto�lu ‘very optimistic’ for

Spanish EU presidency

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto�lu (R) shaking hands with his Spanish counterpart,

Miguel Angel Moratinos, on Sunday in Cordoba.

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Ending terror easier said than done, says Ar�nç

State Minister and Deputy Prime Min-ister Bülent Ar�nç has said that there is

a simple formula to end terror: preventing new recruits to the terrorist Kurdistan Work-ers’ Party (PKK), and enabling those who are already in it to return, but he also noted that this would not be easy to achieve.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Political Academy convention of the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Afyon provin-cial presidency, Ar�nç said unemployment and fear of the future were the two major reasons behind new recruits’ joining the PKK. He said there were other reasons as well, such as an in-ability to express oneself and a lack of educa-tion. “I know that region really well. If you can’t give them another option than joining the PKK when they ask you, ‘what will become of us?’, there is no meaning to your words of patrio-tism. There are no investments; you issue in-centives, but nobody applies for them.”

Ar�nç said solving the terror problem would mean a brighter future for Turkey. “If you solve terror, Turkey will make leaps of improvement. We would stop wasting our own resources and use them for the wealth of our people. Our repu-tation in the international arena would rise. Be-fore anything else, this problem is one of national security. Without it, we could spend the money we pour into this on improving our country.”

He said civil society organizations and professional groups have contributed their opinions to the democratic initiative project of the government to end terrorism, noting that the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) have opposed the initiative from the start and therefore did not share their views.

He said: “Our people in that region want to speak, sing, read and publish in their language -- which they have been doing since 2002. This is what the people want, not what the PKK wants.” He said the government was working to meet all the demands of the region’s residents.

“As long as there are returnees, we will also be preventing new recruits,” he said. “This is a psychological move. They will think, ‘those ones are coming back, why should I join?’”�stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

Osman Öcalan, more PKK members to surrender

Signi� cant progress has been reached within the democratic initiative as Patriotic

Democrat Party (PWD) leaders and 100 terrorists, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist organization leader Abdullah Öcalan’s brother, Osman Öcalan, and Nizamettin Ta� are expected to surrender to Turkey in the near future.

The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has held top secret meetings in Suleymaniye and Arbil with President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani to urge PKK members to surrender and address details of how such a step would proceed.

Öcalan and 200 followers reportedly broke away from the PKK’s conservative wing, led by Murat Karay�lan, Cemil Bay�k, Mustafa Karasu, Fehman Hüseyin and Duran Kalkan, in 2004 due to a difference in opin-ions and left the Kandil Mountains.

It was noted that Öcalan has asked for guarantees that his group will not be arrested when they return to Turkey. A group of PKK members who returned to Turkey last month were released following a brief interrogation by prosecutors. However, an unclear answer was given to Öcalan: He apparently was in-formed that he and his followers will be dealt with in full accordance with all applicable laws, including the law of repentance. So far, nearly 1,000 PKK members who were not involved in any acts of terror have bene� ted from the law and have been exonerated and freed.

Senior security sources say the surrender of Öcalan and Ta� is very important to the progress of the democratic initiative. The out-come of the terrorists’ surrender to Turkey will be closely watched by those still in the Kandil Mountains, thus Öcalan’s surrender could ac-celerate the democratic initiative process.

After Öcalan and his followers arrive at the Habur Border Gate, judicial action will proceed at the Diyarbak�r Court, instead of the Silopi court.

Claiming that armed � ghting should be ended, and thus quarrelling with the armed wing of the PKK, Öcalan and Ta� left the Kan-dil Mountains � ve years ago.

Öcalan established the PWD with Ta� in northern Iraq. Öcalan and Ta� are reported to live in Kuysanjaq, a town between Suleymaniye and Arbil in northern Iraq. Karay�lan and Bay�k coordinated assassination attempts on both Öcalan and Ta� after they left the Kandil Moun-tains. Öcalan was supposed to be killed by poi-soned coffee and Ta� with a weapon, yet both attempts failed miserably. Sedat Güneç Ankara

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Democratic initiative crosses important threshold

Political executives are taking a deep breath after a critical week. Last week was important for the government, the opposition and the Ergenekon case. The week began with two critical questions: The � rst was what the atmosphere would be like in Parliament dur-ing the discussion of the democratic initiative. The second ques-tion was related to the investigation of a junta within the military. Would legal action be taken against Col. Dursun Çiçek, who avoid-ed going to the prosecutor’s of� ce to testify for two weeks despite evidence that he signed an action plan to discredit the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the faith-based Gülen move-ment? What would the government’s stance on these issues be? Would Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an take a step back in re-sponse to the opposition’s harsh criticism or would he continue to argue for “more democracy and more freedom for everyone”? The Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voiced the same criticism in different words. While CHP leader Deniz Bayal called the initiative an “�mral�-government cooperation” -- suggesting that it was prepared in line with the wishes of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdul-lah Öcalan, jailed on the island of �mral� off of �stanbul -- MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli made the same point by calling the initiative a “PKK-AK Party cooperation.”

The government maintained a clear stance in both cases. Erdo�an emphasized once again that they were determined to take new steps in pursuing the initiative. The � rst step had to do with the junta issue. While Col. Çiçek went to court to testify several days later, Erdo�an summoned Chief of General Staff Gen. �lker Ba�bu� to the Prime Ministry and reiterated that the junta in the army should be eliminated. The lengthy meeting was different from their regular weekly meetings in terms of both its timing and its content. It is commonly accepted that Çiçek, who was later released pend-ing trial, did not commit the crime of planning a coup by himself.

Çiçek’s denial that he signed the plan is considered to be evidence that he committed the crime upon an order from a superior. Those who ordered the crime are now ordering him to deny signing the document. As for Çiçek, who is denying that the signature on the plan is his, he is saying nothing more than “the gods want a sac-ri� ce.” The public is waiting for those who ordered Çiçek to draw up this plan to be revealed. Carrying out an order that constitutes criminal activity is de� ned in the Constitution as a crime. But order-ing an action that constitutes a crime is even a bigger crime.

The general sentiment is that Erdo�an, who called Ba�bu� to the Prime Ministry to meet a day earlier than their scheduled week-ly meeting, does not want junta supporters to be protected.

Refusing to back down on eliminating junta supporters from the army, Erdo�an is equally determined to proceed forward with the democratic initiative despite opposition. He did not pay heed to objections against holding the � rst parliamentary discussion on the initiative on Nov. 10, which marks the anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. In-stead he argued that discussing peace on Nov. 10 would be a good way to honor his memory on that day. After heated preliminary talks on Tuesday, Erdo�an acted like a captain steering his ship during the discussions held on Friday. Recalling the importance Atatürk placed on Parliament and peace, he asked, “Can we ensure peace in the world without ensuring peace at home?” To prevent the anticipated atmosphere of tension from the opposition, the AK Party leader managed his group very well. Despite harsh criticism, the AK Party did not show any reaction to Baykal or Bahçeli.

During his own speech, Erdo�an warned Baykal and Bahçeli to control their groups when their members starting making ob-jections. This was an important move. It was critical that images of tension did not overshadow discussion of the initiative. Interior Minister Be�ir Atalay, who spoke on behalf of the government, gave the � rst hints on what the initiative would entail and noted that this was a process that was still continuing. Although the steps that will be taken were not of� cially outlined, the leaders of all four major political parties in Parliament were in agreement on the steps that would absolutely not be taken. While this weakened the hand of the CHP and the MHP, which were both giving the impression that they were staunchly opposing for the sake of opposition, the demo-cratic initiative successfully completed its � rst stage.

NATIONAL M O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN05

CHP warned about failing 2011 elections

The CHP is experiencing difficult days. Its negative attitude on the democratic initia-

tive is gradually manifesting the troubles within the party. When CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Öy-men said, “No one said let’s not make mothers cry during the Gallipoli Campaign or the Dersim Rebellion” -- referring to the slogan “Let no more mother’s cry,” used by the government to defend its Kurdish initiative -- his words came as a shock to his party. Reactions from the party’s grass roots have lowered the morale of deputies. Öy-men, who spoke on behalf of the CHP during the preliminary talks on the initiative on Tuesday, be-came the focus of criticism during the discussion on Friday. While Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader Ahmet Türk criticized Öymen for “politics that incite racism,” Erdo�an said only a person lacking humanity could defend the Dersim mas-sacre. It was obvious that Öymen, who preferred not to enter the general assembly during the dis-cussion, was quite upset. He allegedly entered the general assembly at one point and asked Baykal if he could take the podium to respond to criticism. But he walked out of the general assembly with the same upset demeanor when Baykal responded in the negative. Dersim is a sensitive subject for Alevis, and Alevi organiza-tions are strongly criticizing the CHP. �stanbul deputy Ufuk Uras, former leader of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), issued the first warn-ing that the CHP would fail in the 2011 election. Uras, who is involved in a movement to unite the contemporary left, states that constituents are coming to realize that the CHP does not have the ability to represent the left. Another factor that will lead to the CHP’s election failure is a party being formed by �i�li Mayor Mustafa Sar�gül, who already has more than 10 percent of the left’s support even though he hasn’t set up a party yet.

Ergenekon crack in DPPolitical circles compare the merger of the Motherland Party (ANAVATAN) and the

Democrat Party (DP) to the mixing of olive oil and water. There are claims that Süleyman Demirel’s pro-status quo line and Turgut Özal’s reformist line will not be able to work together. The first sign of incompatibility came not from former ANA-VATAN members, but from DP leader Hüsamettin Cindoruk’s close friend, former Deputy Chairman Ça�r� Erhan. Erhan competed against Süleyman Soylu to become the party’s leader after Mehm-et A�ar resigned as chairman but lost the elec-tions by a small margin. Erhan, who challenged Soylu again after the local elections, persuaded him to choose Cindoruk as candidate for chair-man of the unification process. But the return of Demirel-backed Cindoruk to politics led to specu-lation that he was probably the third partner of a CHP-MHP coalition needed to end the Ergenekon process. Cafe Capital had reported that Erhan, who denied this claim, said they would not participate in that kind of a coalition. Erhan se-verely criticized claims that Cindoruk was an Er-genekon supporter during the congress in which the two parties merged. “We must be against coups and alongside democracy,” he said. It’s clear that in order to ensure harmony within the DP someone will have to constantly stir the wa-ter and olive oil. It’s also clear that the party has a long road ahead for democratization.

Government ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to end terrorPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an stated that his government is determined to end ter-

rorism no matter what the cost, and he also lashed out at the opposition for their accusations that the government was collaborating with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), speaking on Sat-urday in Malatya to a party convention.

The prime minister said to emphasize his gov-ernment’s determination to end the Kurdish prob-lem: “We are ready to be stripped of all of� ces, titles we possess. All we want is that not another drop of martyrs’ blood is shed.”

The prime minister’s remarks were a continu-ation of a verbal � ght that started in Parliament on Friday as the General Assembly discussed the gov-ernment’s democratic initiative aimed at alleviat-ing and ultimately ending Turkey’s long-standing problem with separatist violence by extending more rights to Kurds. Opposition leaders Deniz Baykal of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Devlet Bahçeli of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) referred to the democratic initiative as a destructive plan and accused the Justice and De-velopment Party (AK Party) government of serving the goals of the terrorist PKK.

Erdo�an criticized the opposition in a very harsh tone on Saturday. “In the past 25 years, terror has formed its own lobby and market. There are those who earn their bread from this bloody market.” He repeated his earlier accusation that the opposition was exploiting the terror problem and expecting po-

litical gain from the deaths of soldiers. He also said the PKK was exploiting the same terrorism market, referring to the festive homecoming celebration for 34 PKK returnees in mid-October as a result of this exploitation. “When the bullets are silent, when there are no more martyr funerals, when there are no more youths joining [terrorists], when there are no more tears, winners of this bloody market will be jobless. What we saw in Habur, Diyarbak�r [during the reception of PKK returnees] was a result of this

exploitation,” he said.He referred to Nov. 13, which saw the debate

on the democratic initiative in Parliament, as a mile-stone. He also denied accusations that his govern-ment was talking to the PKK. “No honored govern-ment of this country has negotiated with terrorists. Nobody can debate the borders of this country, its secular, democratic structure as a social welfare state governed by the rule of law,” he said.

The prime minister also criticized some media

outlets for attempting to undermine the democratic initiative process. “Some media agencies are slyly try-ing to undermine this process of brotherhood with the images they publish and with untruthful news stories they report. They are trying to axe the process.”

In his criticism of the CHP, he accused the party of betraying Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. “‘This party is Atatürk’s party,’ they sometimes say. No, Atatürk did not leave you such a party. The � rst betrayal started as such. When Atatürk died, you [the CHP] erased his pictures from the bills and placed �nönü’s pictures instead.”

Meanwhile, CHP leader Baykal also contin-ued to criticize Erdo�an and the democratic ini-tiative. He reiterated his earlier statement that the initiative was a common project of the AK Party and the PKK. He said the democratic initia-tive will inevitably bring ethnic separation to the country. “The PKK has neared obtaining what it has failed to get with armed struggle in 25 years with the cooperation of this government.”

Speaking during a visit to the Karamanl� Mu-nicipality in Burdur, Baykal said when a group of PKK terrorists returned to Turkey, prosecutors had rushed to their feet. “Which law, which article al-lows that. The man [returnee] openly says, ‘I am not an enemy. I am a member of the PKK. Keep that in mind when taking my testimony.’ Who made this possible? How can [PKK leader] Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and our government work to-gether in this project?” �stanbul Today’s Zaman

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an was warmly welcomed by residents of the Aegean province of �zmir, where he inaugurated the newly built �zmir-Ankara highway.

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Tension was high during a session in Parliament on Friday over the government’s Kurdish initiative.

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The new agreement is a follow-up to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set binding targets for industrialized

nations to cut their carbon emissions by a collective 5 per-cent below 1990 levels during the � rst commitment period from 2008 to 2012.

“Everybody knows that the current deadlock will be re-solved by political leaders, not by bureaucrats,” Ar�kan said.

But he added that it is not enough for Turkey to say that it wants to maintain its current status, which frees it from reduction commitments. Turkey, South Korea and Mexico are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), widely considered to be a group of industrialized nations, but do not have emission reduction commitments under the current Kyoto regime until 2012.

“Turkey should be proactive and specify in which group of countries it will be classi� ed in the new setup after the end of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Otherwise, it will be vulner-able to surprises that could occur in Copenhagen,” he said.

Per capita annual emissions in Turkey are 4.5 tons com-pared to 23.5 tons in the United States and 11 tons in Den-mark. But its emissions are increasing fast as the country continues to grow.

The US refused to adopt the treaty, even though it was the world’s largest carbon emitter. Japan and the European Union have announced cuts of 25 and 30 percent, while the US target is a less ambitious 7 percent cut, pending the passage of climate legislation in the US Senate.

Thousands of of� cials, advisers, diplo-mats, campaigners and media personnel from about 200 countries will be joined by heads of state on Dec. 6-18 in one of the most signi� cant gatherings in history.

Ar�kan elaborated on the issue when answering our questions. We talked last week on Nov. 12 at the “Climate Change, Global Threats & Low Carbon Prosperity toward Copenhagen” con-ference in �stanbul, at which climate experts from academia, civil society and relevant ministries were present to discuss where Turkey and other coun-tries stand. The conference was put together by the Turkish Parliament and an EU parliamentary initiative, Globe EU, based in Brussels. It was hosted by Haluk Özdalga, chair-man of the Turkish Parliament’s Environment Commission.

You say Turkey can end the Copenhagen deadlock. How did you reach that conviction?

Currently, there is a lack of trust between developed and developing countries. Turkey can show the lead-ership that can narrow this gap in the sense that there are some countries in between these two groups. Tur-key can lead the de� nition of a new group of countries which would have responsibilities that are less binding than developed countries but more ambitious than major emitters.

Such as?China, Brazil and India, which are home

to billions of people. The question has been whether or not they would be able to adapt to a low-carbon economy. Actually, China has made extensive and often dramatic efforts to do so. However, China and other developing countries are rightfully asking, “Have the OECD countries done their job of reducing their emissions when you are asking us to do it?” And there is the Unit-ed States [which was responsible for 36.1 percent of the world’s 1990 emission levels], which has not rati� ed the Kyoto Protocol. And there are countries such as Turkey, South Korea and Mexico, which are members of the OECD but at the same time do not have emission reduction commitments under the current Kyoto regime until 2012.

Do you expect a change of direction at the meeting in Copenhagen from developing or developed countries?

No. Developing countries will continue to say that they cannot bear the burden if the de-veloped world does not take more responsibil-ity. Mexico and South Korea, who are members of the OECD but do not have commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, have already set vol-untary targets for themselves. So who is left? It is Turkey, a country which does not have a mitigation commitment. And it is not clear how Turkey will be categorized in the new regime.

‘Turkey shouldn’t be left outside’What are the possible scenarios?

There are a few things that could happen. If Turkey is included as a developed country with strict commitments, it might not want to ap-prove this new proposal as it might be exposed to political and economic pressures which will force Turkey to accept commitments which are not economically feasible. The worst sce-nario is that the world is heading toward a low-carbon economy, where even China and the United States are involved, but Turkey is outside.

Why do you think Turkey should not stay outside?

Turkey is among the top 20 countries in terms of its economy and population. Like the rest of

the world, it cannot depend on fossil fuels for its en-ergy needs. Turkey has renewable energy resources such as wind, sun, bio-mass and hydro energy. There is a huge ef-

� ciency potential in Turkey as well. If these resources can be mobilized in collaboration with the rest of the world, it will be easier for Turkey to shift to a low-carbon economy.

Do you think the Turkish leadership can do what you have just said?

When I was proposing that Turkey be a party to the Kyoto Protocol without a reduction commitment four years ago, ev-erybody at home and abroad was laughing at me. Now that Turkey has rati� ed the Kyoto Protocol, the critical issue is what Turkey wants to do in the post-2012 period. Once again, I hear similar responses when I say that Turkey is the key to ending the Copenhagen deadlock, but there is not a better proposal at the table, neither for Turkey nor for the world.

Turkey says it aims to reduce its emissions by 11 per-cent by 2020. How do you evaluate this?

The � gure is not so important. The important thing is how you come to this conclusion. What is the scienti� c background? Which institution is politically accountable for this decision? What is the stakeholder contribution in this speci� c target? What is the strategy to negotiate it with the international community? I doubt that whether all these es-sential elements are clear.

Do you think today’s [Nov. 12] meeting can change this situation?

Yes. Today’s meeting was of historic importance because it was hosted by the Turkish Parliament, which kicked off Turkey’s accession to the Kyoto Protocol in 2007. Remem-ber, until 2008 and even in 2008, Turkish of� cials were say-ing that Turkey should forget about the Kyoto Protocol until the year 2030. But in June, this position changed.

‘2007 was a historic year for Turkey’How did it happen?

The year 2007 was a historic year because politicians were forced to discuss the drought and climate change. Then Haluk Özdalga, chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s Envi-ronment Commission, worked hard to convince the political

and bureaucratic community to approve the Kyoto Protocol. It was Özdalga, Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdo�an and the Foreign Ministry who took the risk. With today’s con-ference, Parliament’s Environment Commission saw a new picture regarding Turkey and the world as far as the climate issue is concerned. It is also true for the international par-ticipants, that they saw a different Turkey than the one they already knew. Turkey has until midnight on Dec. 18 to state its position. It is very important that the chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s Environment Commission be in Co-penhagen. Everybody knows that the current deadlock will be resolved by political leaders, not by bureaucrats. And it is not enough to say that Turkey just wants to keep its current status. Turkey should be able to de� ne how it wants to take part in the new regime after 2012.

It was Sedat Kad�o�lu, deputy undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, who said today that Turkey’s emission reduction target is 11 percent by 2020 if current reduction efforts continue, and he said they will know more about this after a meeting of the Climate Change Coordination Board in Turkey on Nov. 18. Do you think the � gure is likely to change?

Everything can change. The chairman of the Environ-ment Commission will not be indifferent to that meeting. We all heard Özdalga saying today that Turkish industry was extremely opposed to the approval of the Kyoto Proto-col and the bureaucracy was not much different. Therefore, Turkey has already taken a leap forward and can do so again. Even if there is no progress at the Nov. 18 meeting, Turkey’s presence in Copenhagen with its Environment Commission chairman or the prime minister would help Turkey take an-other political risk, but at the same time show the spirit of collaboration at the global level.

You had said Turkey’s role is known by the outside world. In that regard, what is the position of the Euro-pean Union, which Turkey aspires to be a member of?

The European Union supports that advanced develop-ing countries should take more ambitious action. But the EU has come a long way, too. The EU’s environmental report in 2007 said Turkey should have emission reduction commit-ments before 2012. But after considering Turkey’s situation, they changed. So negotiating is possible if you really have a point. Turkey can be a driving country to take other similar countries in the OECD along.

‘Turkey can be key to open the

Copenhagen deadlock’‘Currently, there is a lack of trust between developed and developing countries. Turkey can show the leadership that can narrow this gap in the sense that there are some countries in between these two groups. Turkey can lead the de� nition of a new group of countries which would have responsibilities that are less binding than those for developed countries but more ambitious than major emitters’

Yunus Ar�kan, spokesman for the world’s cities on climate

cont�nued from page 1

Based in Bonn, Germany, he is the manager of the Cities Cli-mate Center for Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), which is an international association of local governments as well as national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development. In that capacity, Ar�kan is both the secretary for the World Mayors Council on Climate Change (WMCCC) and spokesman for lo-

cal governments and associations of mayors that participate in the meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as observers. Ar�kan used to be the senior project manager for the Turkey office of the Hungary-based Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). Ar�kan’s lobbying work at REC was instrumental in Turkey’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol this year.

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Özince: TL-based assets make money, but profits will slip in 2010

Turkish banks, having been mostly shiel-ded from the effects of the economic crisis, have made record pro� ts according to third

quarter � nancial results. �� Bankas� made TL 2.21 billion in the � rst three quarters of the year, whi-le Garanti and Vak�fbank made TL 2.1 billion and TL 940 million, respectively. �� Bankas� CEO Ersin Özince noted that these pro� ts would continue into the new year, stating that “according to the data, banks will experience pro� ts in the new year similar to those of the second half of this year. Pro� ts will fall by a bit, but they will not disappear completely.”

At a tree planting ceremony at the �� Banka-s� Memorial Forest in Antalya, Özince answered questions from the press regarding the third qu-arter � nancial statements of banks. Özince stated that these pro� ts helped banks dealing with non-performing loans and therefore made it easier to

make loans. Regarding the fall in interest rates this year, Özince highlighted that institutions with strong positions, including banks, would make high pro� ts due to the low interest rates. “Those who have invested in TL-based assets are making money and will continue to do so. There is, howe-ver, a misconception that only banks are making money. This is simply untrue.”

The CEO also underlined that accusations that banks were not giving credit because of the low in-terest rates were provocative statements, and said, “We don’t have the luxury of not giving loans.” He continued by stating that �� Bankas� had adopted a long-term strategy that included risky loans, and that even with the non-performing loans origi-nating from individuals and small businesses, the banking sector did not limit the amount of credit in the market. He said: “There was a TL 7 billion to TL 8 billion decrease in international sources of credit. The credit-deposit ratio decreased from 83 percent

at the end of 2008 to 81 percent. So the banking sector did not narrow credit lines to the real sector.”

Regarding the 2010 expectations for the ban-king sector, Özince revealed that “pro� ts may shrink because we don’t have a macroeconomic si-tuation that allows for savings. 2010 revenues may not be as strong as this year’s and expenses may increase. Today, the whole world is saying, ‘If you are going to take any precautions, it’s best to do it now when business is going well’.” Özince conti-nued by stating that the Turkish economy “speeds up and slows down very quickly. So if we have a favorable environment, then the banking sector’s pro� ts will continue to accrue.”

When reminded about the double-taxation agreements that Turkey has with Switzerland and Luxembourg, Özince underlined that “these types of agreements are needed with all countri-es. For the problem of tax fraud to be solved, soci-al government fundamentals need to be in place.”

BUSINESS M O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN07

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EPDK investigates hydroelectricity producers

Trade in free trade zones drops 34.3 pct in first 10 months

The Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK) has begun to investigate 142 � rms

licensed to operate hydroelectric power plants over their failure to � le progress reports.

The agency last week requested that � rms that haven’t � led progress reports with the agency submit written statements defending their acti-ons and � le the belated progress reports within 15 days. Under the agency’s decision, � rms that do not � le a progress report will be � ned, while � rms found not to have ful� lled their obligations will have their licenses revoked. The agency will carry out similar investi-gations of � rms opera-ting wind and thermal power plants.

EPDK President Hasan Kökta� anno-unced that they plan to prevent “misuse of li-censes by � rms,” high-lighting that the agency has revoked the wind and hydroelectric licen-ses of 17 � rms, adding: “Firms that are licensed to produce energy from renewable energy so-urces are required to � le progress reports re-garding their investments every January, May and September. There are � rms who have yet to do this, and we’ve requested a written sta-tement defending their positions. In order to make sure the licenses are given to good hands that will make the necessary investments, we’re investigating � rms’ progress.”

Kökta� emphasized that 2009 was an espe-cially successful year for electricity production investments by the private sector and revealed that as of the end of September, 88 projects to-taling 2,546 megawatts (MW) have been accep-ted and connected to the infrastructure. He ad-ded that this is the largest investment in the last seven years and greater than the investments in electricity production made in the last three years combined. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires

Trade volume in Turkey’s free trade zones, continuing to decline in October, totaled

$14.2 billion in the � rst 10 months of 2009, a 34.3 percent fall over the same period of last year.

According to data from the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, during the January-October period of this year the �stanbul Leather Free Tra-de Zone saw the greatest level in trade volume among all the free trade zones in Turkey. Trade volume decreased by 41.4 percent compared to the same period last year, falling to $3.1 billion.

The trade volume in the Ege Free Trade Zone declined by 35.8 percent over the January-October period of last year, totaling $2.18 billion this year. The free trade zone at �stanbul Atatürk Airport suffered a 23.9 percent drop in trade vo-lume in the � rst 10 months of this year compared to same period of 2008, falling to $2.32 billion.

The Kocaeli Free Zone and the Scienti� c and Technology Research Council of Turkey (TÜB�-TAK) MAM Technology Zone, on the other hand, saw an increase in their trade volume during this period despite the crisis. The Kocaeli Free Zone enjoyed a 13.7 percent increase in the � rst nine months of the year over the same period of last year, reaching a trade volume of $681.12 million. Trade volume from commerce in the TÜB�TAK MAM Technology Zone also rose to $129.2 milli-on, accounting for a 65.2 percent increase.

The greatest trade was done in Turkey’s free trade zones with countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union in the � rst 10 months of this year, with a total of $5.1 billion, declining by 36.1 percent over the same period of last year. Trade volume between Turkey and 27 EU countries decreased by 34.2 percent in this period over the January-October period of 2008, falling to $4.25 billion. Trade with OECD countri-es also suffered a drop of 44.1 percent during the same period, decreasing to $859.45 million.

The employment level in free trade zones overall, which totaled at 45,149, also suffered a 15.4 percent decline in the same period compa-red to last year. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

Gold’s grow�ng luster for central banks

As the value of the US dollar falls and is expected to fall further, gold’s lus-ter is growing not only for private investors but also for central banks as in� ation hedge and for portfolio diversi� cation. This year the dollar has depreciated against all major developed countries’ currencies and almost all emerging markets’ currencies, including the Turkish lira, with the major ex-ception of the Chinese RMB, which has been re-pegged to the dollar since mid-2008. On Friday, the dollar DXY spot price index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six major currencies, closed at very near its 52-week low. Since 2002, the US dollar DX futures price index has followed a sharp downward trajectory, with a cumulative decline of about 35 percent from its peak, interrupted brie� y during the � rst three months of this year, when rising global risk aversion bene� ted the dollar as the safe-haven asset.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics has projected that if the US’s gaping budget de� cits continue, the current account de-� cit will rise from a previous record high of 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006 to over 15 percent, in excess of $5 trillion annu-ally, by 2030. The US’s net debt will jump from the current $3.5 trilli-on to $50 trillion, amounting to 140 percent of GDP. The critical issue now is not whether the dollar’s downward trajectory will continue, but whether its orderly decline might turn into a rout with a sudden massi-ve depreciation, ending in yet another global � nancial crisis. This is still an unlikely doom scenario. Gold, on the other hand, has appreciated sharply from $734 to $1,116 per troy ounce in spot trading since the be-ginning of the year. Since 2002, the US dollar gold price has followed an upward trend, rising from around $300, but with signi� cant cyclicality.

The dollar is depreciating due to the combined loose US � scal and monetary policies, worsened by the heavy overhang of the huge US dollar net foreign liabilities, denominated almost entirely in US dollars. The practically zero short-term US interest rates, courtesy of the overly generous Federal Reserve, have turned the US dollar into a funding cur-rency for carry traders, who borrow lower-interest currencies to invest in higher-interest currencies, practicing risky uncovered interest rate arbitrage. By borrowing and then selling US dollars for other higher-interest currencies, carry traders contribute to the dollar’s depreciation.

The dollar’s role as the primary of� cial global reserve asset is under increasing scrutiny as its value declines relative to other major currencies as well as gold. Since last March, when the Chinese central bank gover-nor questioned the dollar’s reserve currency role (see my column “China challenges US dollar’s dominance,” March 30, 2009), the global primacy of the dollar has become more controversial. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a study titled “The Debate on the Inter-national Monetary System,” which underlines the inherent weakness of the present reserve-currency based system that relies heavily on the US dollar: The US runs � scal and current account de� cits to satisfy the growing global demand for of� cial reserves but without a mechanism to force either the US or current account surplus countries, such as China, to adjust. This inherent weakness has been exacerbated by the tendency of emerging market economies to increase their foreign re-serves sharply as a self-insurance against the balance of payment crises that had bedeviled them earlier. The IMF study considers and compares several reform options that range from multiple reserve currencies to multilateral assets such as the SDR or an actual new global currency.

But realizing that a fundamental reform of the present system would be dif� cult if not impossible in the near future, many countries are anxious to diversify their foreign reserves away from dollar-denominated assets, mostly in US Treasury bills. (The estimate of global foreign exchange re-serves, at 2008-end, was around $7.5 trillion, with the dollar accounting for about two-thirds.) Their objective is to minimize their future capital losses from the depreciating dollar. Last month, India’s central bank purchased 200 metric tons of gold, worth $6.7 billion, from the IMF, which had put 403.3 tons of its gold stock up for sale in September, to strengthen its � nan-

cial position and to increase its subsidized loans to poor countries. India’s purchase gave the strongest signal yet of the inclination of central banks and sovereign wealth funds to build up their gold reserves by selling dol-lars. It signaled the end of the anti-gold position prevalent among central banks, which had been net sellers of gold during the last two decades, re-ducing gold’s share of global of� cial reserves from 33 percent to 10 percent. Actually, the Chinese central bank, which still has less than 2 percent of its close to $3 trillion reserves in gold, almost doubled its gold holdings earlier this year. Several other central banks have also bought gold in re-cent months. There is speculation that China, which is believed to hold 70 percent of its reserves in dollars, could buy the rest of the gold on sale from the IMF. The countries with rapidly rising foreign exchange reserves such as China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, India, Singapore, Brazil and South Korea, also hold a much lower proportion of their reserves in gold than most ad-vanced countries. (Turkey holds about 5 percent of its of� cial reserves in gold.) Therefore, they have relatively high potential demand for gold as the ultimate global reserve asset. That demand, rising faster than supply, is bound to put continued upward pressure on the price of gold in the years ahead. Except for gold bugs, it would be wild speculation, however, to say we are witnessing the gradual de facto return of the gold standard, frustra-ting US efforts during the last 65 years, especially since ending the dollar’s gold convertibility in 1971, to demonetize gold.

But the growing dissatisfaction with the dollar’s reserve currency role is also fueled by deep resentment toward the exorbitant US privile-ge of being able to borrow in its currency and to earn seigniorage (pro� t from money creation) from the global use of the dollar. With its foreign assets primarily in foreign currencies but its liabilities almost entirely in its own currency, the US not only bene� ts asymmetrically from � nancial globalization by attracting the lion’s share of global capital in� ows but also reaps net capital gains from dollar depreciation, which has been estimated in excess of $1 trillion cumulatively between 2002 and 2007. Sooner or later, the free lunch enjoyed by the US, as the issuer of the principal global reserve currency since 1944, during and after the Bretton-Woods system, will end, with or without the return of the gold standard.

ASIMERD�LEK

[email protected]

Public expenditures are estimated to be TL 415.54 billion for the year

ahead, while public revenue is expected to be TL 366.9 billion, creating an antici-pated de� cit of TL 48.15 billion in 2010.

According to the government’s 2010 General Economic Goals and Investments Program, public expen-ditures covering the total money al-located for the budgets of the central administration, local administrations, institutions with working capital, the unemployment insurance fund, so-cial security institutions and the ext-ra budgetary fund will be TL 415.54 billion in 2010, accounting to 40.3 percent of the gross domestic pro-duct (GDP). Fully TL 353.55 billion of total estimated expenditure for the year ahead is predicted to be on non-interest expenses, accounting for 34.4 percent of the GDP. The remaining TL 61.51 billion expenditure will be on interest expenditures.

With an anticipated amount of TL 196.69 billion, transfer expenses are foreseen to make up the largest share in government expenditures in the year ahead. Looking into sub-categories of transfers, current trans-fer expenses will be TL 190.46 billion and capital transfer expenses will be TL 6.21 billion in 2010, according to the program.

The money spent for investment purposes is estimated to be TL 33.93 billion in 2010, of which TL 33.68 billion will be for expenses related to � xed capital and TL 244 million for inventory variation. The program fo-resees current expenditure to be TL 184.44 billion in 2010.

Public revenues, on the other hand, are estimated to be TL 366.9 billion in the coming year. Of the total revenue, TL200.51 billion is ex-pected to come from tax revenues, ac-counting for 19.5 percent of the GDP. Direct tax and indirect revenues are predicted to be TL 59.84 billion and TL 133.33 billion while TL 7.34 billion of revenue will come from wealth tax collected in 2010.

According to the program, TL 21.63 of total public revenue will come from tax-free income, while TL 55.15 billion is expected to be from factor income. Revenues from social funds and privatization, on the other hand, are foreseen to be TL 79.21 billion and TL 10.4 billion in 2010, respectively.

The program envisions a need of public borrowing of TL48.15 million in 2010. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

2010 public deficit to be more than TL 48 billion

Hasan Kökta�

�� Bankas� CEO Ersin Özince planted trees in Antalya in the �� Bankas� Memorial Forest. After the event, Özince spoke about the future of the Turkish banking sector.

AR�F BAYRAKTAR, �ABAN GÜNDÜZ ANTALYA

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08 TODAY’S ZAMAN M O N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 BUSINESS

CMYK

Brown vows tougher bank regulation in new law

US official: Climate deal will take time

Iraq: 2nd round to see competitive bids

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday that the government will announce

new legislation next week to toughen banking regulation and let customers take collective ac-tion against errant � nancial institutions.

In a podcast on the 10 Downing Street Web site, Brown said the government “will ensure that the banking crisis we have experienced over the last two years should never again come at a cost to the taxpayer.” “This means a transformation of the way the � nancial sector is policed, with banks them-selves and not the taxpayer made to pay for bank failings,” he said. Brown said consumers would be empowered “to hold banks to account by taking collective action to get redress when many people feel that they have been badly treated.”

Brown said the reforms will be announced as part of Wednesday’s Queen’s Speech, in which the government lays out its plans for the next session of Parliament. Treasury Chief Alistair Darling said the Financial Services Bill announced in the speech would give regulators the power to stop bankers from pock-eting big bonuses that could destabilize the � nancial system. Darling told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the bill will allow � nancial watchdogs to cancel pay packages that reward undue risk-taking.

Darling was quoted as saying that the legislation would give the Financial Services Authority the power to cancel contracts that breach a banking remunera-tion code agreed by the Group of 20 nations earlier this year. The regulator could � ne banks that fail to comply.

“Bonuses have been a symptom of the excessive behavior of some banks over the last few years and even over the last few months,” Darling was quoted as saying. He said he would be “giving the FSA powers if necessary to tear up contracts that would result in pay-ments being made that would cause instability.”

The new rules would apply to British banks and to the British operations of global investment banks like Goldman Sachs. They have already agreed to abide by the G20-approved rules, which link bo-nuses to long-term performance

The bill must be approved by Parliament before becoming law, and could be derailed if it is not passed before the next national election, which must be held by June. London AP

World leaders agree that next month’s much-anticipated international summit on

climate change will be a preliminary step that will require subsequent efforts to tackle global warm-ing, a senior US of� cial said Sunday.

President Barack Obama and other leaders agreed the December summit in Copenhagen will try to keep nations on track for steps to re-duce heat-trapping gasses, national security aide Michael Froman said. But he said the summit will be followed by at least one more major gathering designed to nail down speci� c commitments.

The leaders agreed a full international, le-gally binding agreement cannot be negotiated before the Copenhagen meeting begins in three weeks, Froman said. Froman briefed reporters after Obama met with more than a dozen Asian leaders Sunday at an Asia-Paci� c Economic Co-operation forum in Singapore. Singapore AP

Iraq’s oil minister expects “good competitive offers” from international oil companies in a

second round of bidding due to be held next month on the country’s lucrative oil � elds.

Hussain al-Shahristani said Sunday the per-barrel-produced fee will be “studied carefully” to reach a “fair price” to develop 15 oil � elds offered in 10 projects. Iraq’s � rst postwar auction in June � opped after most foreign oil companies rejected Baghdad’s terms. Only one contract was awarded out of eight oil and gas � elds on offer.

Two international consortiums have since re-vised their bids and were awarded two contracts, which still need the government’s � nal approval.

Iraq sits on the world’s third largest reserves with at least 115 billion barrels. Baghdad AP

APEC leaders call for ‘fresh

model of econom�c �ntegraton’

Stimulus spending and other emergency measures have set the stage for global economic recovery, but nations must

push ahead with free trade and investment to ensure growth, President Barack Obama and fel-low Asia-Paci� c leaders said Sunday.

Obama and 20 other leaders, meeting in Singapore for the annual Asia-Paci� c Economic Cooperation forum, rejected protectionism and agreed to develop long-term strategies that take into account the diverse needs of economies in a region stretching from Chile to China.

Recovery is not yet on solid footing and the re-gion ”cannot go back to growth as usual,” Singa-pore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, read-ing from a joint statement by the APEC leaders.

”We need a new growth paradigm. We need a fresh model of economic integration,” they said. “We will pursue growth which is balanced, inclusive, and sustainable, sup-ported by innovation and a knowledge-based economy, to ensure a durable recovery that will create jobs and bene� t our people.”

To that end, APEC members pledged to maintain economic stimulus policies until a du-rable recovery has clearly taken hold.

Nations must work toward “strong, sustainable and balanced global economic growth” with policies that expand opportuni-ties for all, including women and small business owners; take better care of the environment; and promote development while reduc-ing poverty and ensuring security, they said.

There was no mention of currency rates in the � nal statement, despite � nance ministers’ calls earlier in the week for maintaining “mar-ket-oriented exchange rates.” That was a refer-ence to the Chinese currency, the yuan, which critics say is kept arti� cially undervalued, mak-ing exports of other countries less competitive.

Asked if leaders discussed the argument that controlled exchange rates such as China’s con-stituted a form of protectionism, Lee said: “Some leaders expressed their concern about the pos-sibility of currency movements that could be-come unstable and the potential problems that could arise if governments had to continually intervene in order to manage their currencies.”

A push for concrete goals for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions was omitted from the statement. A previous draft had pledged a 50 per-cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050, but the � nal communiqué committed only to working to-

ward “an ambitious outcome” at climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.

Obama and other world leaders agreed Sun-day that the Copenhagen summit will be merely a way station, not the once hoped-for endpoint in the drive for a new global climate-change treaty.

The World Wildlife Fund’s Global Climate Initiative said leaders must begin taking stronger action. ”Deleting rather than strengthening emis-sion reduction targets in their leaders’ declarations -- like they did here in Singapore -- is certainly not a solution,” spokeswoman Diane McFadzien said in a statement. “Leaders have to take the bull by the horns, and � nally tackle the dif� cult questions, instead of constantly avoiding them.”

APEC, which accounts for 40 percent of the world’s population and 54 percent of global out-put, was created 20 years ago to promote trade and

integration among Paci� c Rim nations. Pledges are nonbinding, and the forum’s scope has expanded to encompass issues such as climate change, en-ergy and food security, and politics.

One key APEC goal is the creation of a free-trade area covering all 21 APEC economies -- an ambition that many acknowledge is years away.

There had been concerns that the US, the world’s biggest economy, and other nations might turn inward as they grapple with the worst global � nancial crisis in decades. Wash-ington has been sitting on free-trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, and is embroiled in a dispute with China over tariffs slapped on Chinese-made tire imports.

But Obama added his voice to calls for ex-pansion of free trade rather than resorting to protectionist measures. Leaders pushed hard

for progress on talks to liberalize world trade and supported studies on the bene� ts of a fu-ture Asia-Paci� c free trade area.

They also pledged to make it 25 percent cheaper, faster and easier to do business in Asia-Paci� c by 2015.

Later Sunday, Obama -- holding Wash-ington’s � rst-ever summit with Southeast Asian leaders -- told Myanmar’s prime min-ister that the military junta must free pro-de-mocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. A joint statement, howev-er, made no mention of political prisoners or the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has spent the last 14 of 20 years in detention.

Singapore was Obama’s second stop on a tour of Asia that began in Japan and will take him to China and South Korea. Singapore AP

‘Trade with Morocco can be increased by reducing customs duty’The high levels of customs duty, sometimes up to 30 percent, levied on industrial goods traded

between Turkey and Morocco impedes commerce between the two countries, Ahmet Ci�er, president of the Marmara Business Life Associations Federa-tion (MAR�FED) has said, calling for a reduction of the customs duty to a reasonable level.

Speaking to reporters on the � ight home from Casablanca, where he attended the Trade and Invest-ment Bridge between Turkey and Morocco, orga-nized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), which ended on Satur-day, Ci�er said that the high levels of taxes levied on Turkish exports to Morocco have a negative impact on Turkish businessmen, who would like to trade more with the country. Unless these taxes are re-duced, Turkey might lose its advantage to European countries in Morocco, Ci�er remarked. Underlining that Turkey is unable to compete with China on pric-

es of goods, he said that Turkish busi-nessmen can compete with European countries and the US without any dif� culty, both of which make up the largest share of imports to Morocco. In order to boost commerce between Turkey and Morocco, the free trade agreement between the two countries which was signed in 2006 should be broadened, the MAR�FED president added. Economic relations with Morocco should not be considered only export-oriented, he contended, remarking that Turkish businessmen, making use of the free trade agreement between Morocco and Eu-rope, the US and African countries, should also make investments in the country.

Ci�er said that more than 2,000 meetings took place between businessmen of the two countries at the event, which was attended by 62 business-

men from Turkey and 417 Moroc-can businessmen, along with In-dustry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün. One hundred and sixteen of these talks had successful results, he said. Giving Daha �n�aat as an example, Ci�er explained that Daha �n�aat and a Moroccan company had agreed on the construction of a 1,500-unit housing project; the Mo-

roccan company will come to �stanbul in December in order to sign the deal. Morocco plans to launch 180,000-unit housing projects per year addressing middle and low-income groups, he stated, continu-ing, “As Moroccan construction � rms are unavail-able to meet this demand, they want to establish cooperation with Turkish constructors.” According to the plans, the Moroccan construction market’s size will increase to some $6 billion, he said.

Morocco has a $9 bln solar energy marketCi�er, noting that Morocco is turning towards renew-able energy in order to meet its energy shortage, stated that the Moroccan government has allocated a signi� -cant portion of its budget to investing in the renewable energy sector, especially wind and solar energy. This situation offers lucrative opportunities to Turkish inves-tors, he remarked, continuing by saying: “Hundreds of � rms are still waiting for securing a license from the Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK), while Mo-rocco is ready to grant licenses immediately, enabling � rms to start to produce instantly. The Moroccan gov-ernment allocated a budget of $9 billion for � rms who want to invest in solar energy. Sun � eld stations, which are yet to be built in Turkey, are also planned for Mo-rocco. Turkey can take advantage of investing in Mo-rocco’s renewable energy sector.” Serkan �ahin Casablanca

Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria marks easing of dependence on Russia

Swiss banks consider tax pledge for foreigners, daily reports

Bulgaria and Azerbaijan signed a deal Friday for the delivery of Caspian gas,

which will mark the � rst easing of Bulgaria’s dependence on supplies from Russia.

The agreement, which provides for an-nual supplies of over 1 billion cubic meters of gas starting in 2011 or 2012 was signed in So� a, the Bulgarian capital, during a brief visit by Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev. No � nancial details were released.

“Supplying gas from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria makes us an energy partner of the EU, and we hope that this partnership will develop further,” Aliyev told reporters. Bulgarian Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said Azeri gas will be trans-

ported to Bulgaria through a future link to the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy, or ITGI, pipeline, which is planned to carry Caspian gas via Turkey and Greece to Italy. The new pipe-line has been strongly supported by the United States as a way to give countries an alternative to Russian gas. The Greek-Turkish section of the pipeline was inaugurated in late 2007.

Traikov said that under the agreement Bul-garia and Azerbaijan will also look into trans-porting compressed Azeri gas through Georgia and then by tankers across the Black Sea.

Bulgaria was among the countries most severely hit by the gas dispute between Rus-sia and Ukraine in January. Sofia AP

Swiss banks are considering asking some foreign clients to sign a pledge de-

claring they aren’t breaking tax laws at home, a Swiss newspaper reported Sunday.

The chairman of the Swiss Bankers Associa-tion, Patrick Odier, told weekly NZZ am Sonntag that the industry group is examining various ways of forestalling demands for an automatic ex-change of client information with other countries.

Odier said one option would be to make cus-tomers from nations that have a tax agreement with Switzerland sign a written declaration that they are conforming to their country’s tax laws.

The SBA also favors an anonymized tax on interest earned that would be handed over

to the foreign client’s government.Odier told NZZ am Sonntag that the pro-

posals have yet to be � nalized.Over the past year, Switzerland has come

under sustained pressure from the US and other countries to stamp out tax evasion by foreigners hiding funds in Swiss vaults. Earlier this year, the government agreed to relax its strict banking secrecy laws to allow legal help for foreign governments in cases of suspected large-scale tax evasion by their citizens.

Odier said existing fortunes that have been stashed in Switzerland but not declared at home could be legalized with tax amnesties, a process he said could take several years. Zurich AP

The Indonesian delegation (R) and the US delegation look on as President Obama meets with Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Singapore.

Ahmet Ci�er

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FOOD M O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN09

CMYK

Fries served in a cone have been around for about the last six months in Turkey. Some of the most popular

spots for this snack are currently Be�ikta�’s Max4all and Istiklal Caddesi’s Patata.

As for the potatoes themselves, they are fried in different ways depending on

where you go to eat them

Baked, grilled, pureed. We have seen practically every form of potatoes. But now, one of Turkish cuisine’s

most popular ingredients is being eaten from a cone. Potato sellers of all kinds who claim to have the crunchiest, tastiest and most ap-pealing french fries of all have people com-ing from all over to eat their fare from cones.

Potatoes, which can be eaten during almost any meal due to their lightness and delicious-ness, are no doubt one of the most indispens-able ingredients in Turkish cuisine. They can be eaten on their own, as an ingredient in a com-plicated dish or simply as a garnish. Sometimes they are a main course, sometimes just a side dish. But fried potatoes are no doubt one of the most popular children’s foods. Though fried po-tatoes have traditionally been served alongside pilav (rice) and köfte (meatballs) on Turkish menus, the spread and popularity of fast food in recent years now means french fries are often seen as a snack food, too -- so much so that you can now � nd spots selling fries in many corners

of �stanbul. And what’s more, in a cone! Interestingly, it was the Netherlands where

serving fries in a cone became popular. In a nation of 16 million people, there are a full 6,000 spots selling french fries in a cone. As for Turkey, fries served in a cone have been around for about the last six months. Some of the most popular spots for this snack are currently Be�ikta�’s Max4all and Istiklal Caddesi’s Patata. As for the potatoes themselves, they are fried in different ways de-pending on where you go to eat them.

The underlying aim of both of these french fry locations is, of course, to provide their cus-tomers with the tastiest, healthiest, hottest and fastest-served potatoes possible. Max4all is a Dutch-owned restaurant that uses a spe-cial technique to fry up its potatoes in just 90 seconds. This method results in much less oil being absorbed by the potatoes than during the more normal � ve-minute frying session. And the amount of trans fat in these potatoes is zero. Of course, serving the potatoes up while they’re still hot is very important. And sauces are also crucial. There are nine different hot and cold sauces available at Max4all. Turks

tend to prefer the hot ones, their favorites be-ing the Cafe de Paris sauce, made with 42 dif-ferent spices, and the cheese sauce. Some of the cold sauces available at Max4all are basil sauce, a garlic mayonnaise sauce, salsa, fajita sauce, ketchup and mayonnaise. These sauces, it should be noted, are made daily by Unilever and contain absolutely no additives.

The price for potatoes in a cone, depend-ing on the size of the cone, is TL 3.50, 4.50 and 5.50. Max4all has been in service for about a month, and its owners are quite pleased with the level of customer interest.

As mentioned above, another popular spot to pick up your fries in a cone is Istiklal Caddesi’s Patata. At Patata, potatoes are fried in two stages. When the � rst stage is completed, the french fries are set aside for a bit to allow the oil to drip off. The second stage of frying takes place at a higher temperature. Thus the oil level of the potatoes is lower, and the potatoes themselves are crunchier and more delicious. At Patata, the oil used is com-pletely natural and is not allowed to burn. There are 13 sauce varieties available at this spot, with some of the popular ones being cheddar, salsa

and again, Cafe de Paris, as well as many oth-ers including the ever-popular mayonnaise, bar-beque, mustard, dip sauce and curry sauce. Prices are TL 3.95 for a small cone, TL 4.95 for a medium cone and TL 6.95 for a large cone of fries.

Ice cream from a coneNo matter how many new things people might be trying to sell from cones, the � rst thing that comes to mind when we see cones is ice cream. Scoops of brightly colored ice cream atop a crunchy cone are a sight that excites everyone, especially chil-dren. There is nothing like a big cone of ice cream on a hot summer day to make a child happy.

Pasta from a cone?Yes, pasta from a cone, though it may seem unbe-lievable, is available. In the wake of the popular-ity of corn from a cup, entrepreneurs have helped make pasta from a cone popular in countries such as Japan, Malaysia and China, and they have now brought this trend to Turkey. Even classic Kayseri mant� has been sighted being sold from a cone. Not long ago, shopping centers throughout Turkey started featuring this unique style of “fast food.”

ASLIHAN KÖ��EKO�LU ÝSTANBUL

Chicken soup for the flu-ridden soulIf you are fighting the flu, but want to avoid taking a panoply of medicines,

experts advise natural ways of strengthen-ing your defenses. Chicken soup, experts note, can be the perfect food to eat when you have a cold and is very comforting when you have the flu as well.

A delicious bowl of hot chicken soup with lots of black pepper and lemon juice has a healing effect on the body and will help you get through your illness more easily than you might expect.

These days, with cold weather approaching, the � u is on everyone’s minds. Just the normal � u? Nope, swine � u, too. Though it has been a topic on the world agenda for months now, swine � u has rapidly spread across Turkey in re-cent weeks, and now people are carefully listen-ing to advice from experts on how best to protect themselves. We try to erect barriers between ourselves and the H1N1 virus through vaccines, gels and many different kinds of disinfectants. At the same time though, we are forgetting to

soothe our sinuses and our tonsils, which be-come irritated as a result of illnesses.

The � u is an illness we have always had to worry about with the arrival of colder weather. And we have dealt with it fearlessly over the years, using our own methods. How? With soup, an easy-to-digest food full of nutrients. There is one soup in particular so powerful in this realm that experts label it “a homemade remedy for the � u.” This soup is chicken soup, a dish many of us are familiar with from our own mothers, who would make it and serve it to us the moment we got ill. Even now, many experts advise having chicken soup as the � rst recourse for those struck down by winter ill-nesses. The medical world has con� rmed the health bene� ts of this miraculous dish, one that grandmothers have known about for ages.

Making your own chicken brothAyfer Ünsal is a food expert who offers up advice on special ways of making your own chicken broth. Here’s what to do:Ingredients: Two chicken thighs, with skin;

one carrot, roughly chopped; one onion, quar-tered; a cinnamon stick; and two bay leaves.Preparation: Place the chicken thighs, carrot, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and onion into a li-ter of water in a large pot. Boil this for around one hour. Then remove the chicken and other ingredients from the broth. You can place the chicken broth you now have in the freezer to be used later, which means that when the cold

weather really arrives, you’ll have a hot, deli-cious and healthy broth to serve up at your table.

A good recipeIngredients: One chicken breast and one chicken thigh, with skin; two onions, quar-tered; two tablespoons of � our; three heads of garlic, crushed; two tablespoons of butter; and salt and black pepper to taste.Preparation: Cook the chicken breast and thigh in water along with the onions. Remove the chicken meat after it’s boiled and chop it up � nely. Sauté the � our and butter in a sepa-rate soup pot for around four minutes. Add the chicken broth bit by bit to this mixture. Then add the crushed garlic and the � nely chopped bits of chicken meat. Boil this for another 15-20 minutes, and serve up with salt and pepper.The bene� ts of chicken soup�Opens up the sinuses.�Helps you to breathe when your nose is blocked.�Reduces coughing.�Soothes joint pain.�Helps rid the body of aches.

SEV�M �ENTÜRK ÝSTANBUL

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A NEW FOOD TREND: FRIES IN A CONE

Patata on �stiklal Street

Max4all in Be�ikta�

One place is Pangalt� Süti�, where you can find a bowl of traditionally made

chicken soup. A bowl of this delicious, healthy soup is only TL 4.

Tel: 0212-248 58 52Another spot to enjoy chicken soup

alongside other homemade foods is Hünkar. Tel: 0212-287

47 70 Shorba is a soup spot where you’ll feel right at home. Soups here are

TL 6.75 Tel: 0216-360 89 97

Good chicksoup spots in �stanbul

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CMYK

TODAY’S ZAMAN WORLDM O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 910

ONSLAUGHT

French troops launch Afghan offensiveHundreds of French and Afghan troops pushed into a volatile valley east of the Afghan capital on Sunday in an attempt to gain control of an area that has long been a haven for militants who launch quick attacks and then fade back into hillside vil-lages. The force of about 700 French and 100 Af-ghan soldiers launched the offensive into the Tagab valley before dawn, one part from the north and another from the south, according to Col. Francis Chanson, head of the French marine infantry regi-ment. Just 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Kabul, the Tagab valley is seen as a launching pad for attacks in the capital. The area also needs to be secure for a planned road that would bypass the capital for moving supplies from neighboring Pakistan to the north of the country, Chanson said. Construc-tion has already begun in one of the safer parts of eastern Kapisa province. NATO forces have bases in the valley, but have had dif� culty securing the mountainous area connected by small footpaths. In a neighboring valley last year, militants killed 10 French troops. The joint force moved in with more than 100 armored vehicles as US and French attack helicopters roared overhead. Tagab Valley AP

THAW

Colombia seeks peace with VenezuelaColombia captured four members of the Venezu-elan National Guard on Colombian soil and said on Saturday it would send them home in a gesture aimed at lowering diplomatic tensions between the neighboring countries. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week ordered his army to pre-pare for war, warning that a new US-Colombia military cooperation agreement could set the stage for an invasion of Venezuela. Bogota and Washington dismiss the claim, saying their pact is limited to � ghting drug-runners and rebels in Co-lombia. “They should carry back the message that here there is brotherly affection for Venezuela and that affection is unbreakable,” said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, referring to the Venezue-lans captured on Friday. The four were stopped by the Colombian Navy while traveling by boat on a river in the border province of Vichada. The long-simmering spat between conservative Uribe and leftist Chavez has reduced bi-lateral trade, which amounted to more than $7 billion last year, and increased tension along a border already beset by the smuggling of drugs and other contraband. But analysts are not predicting war. Bogota Reuters

BLAZE

South Korea probes shooting range fireSouth Korean police and � re of� cers on Sun-day investigated what caused a blaze that raced through an indoor shooting gallery killing 10 people, including eight Japanese tourists. The � re on Saturday occurred in a � ve-story building in the southeastern city of Busan, where a group of Japanese tourists visited as part of their tour of the port city, about 200 miles (325 kilometers) from Seoul. The 10 dead included eight Japanese tourists and their South Korean tour guide, the Busan Fire Department said in a statement. The 10th victim was believed to be a South Korean employee at the shooting range. Six people were also seriously injured. Department spokesman Lee Young-chul said all 10 bodies were severely burned. South Korea’s tourism minister offered an apology to the Japanese victims and their fam-ily members. “I’m offering my words of sincere condolence,” said Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yu In-chon in a statement. Police and � re of� cers examined the site on Sunday with National Institute of Science Investigation of� -cials, local � re of� cer Lee Jung-min said. Seoul AP

SENTENCE

Iran condemns man to death over unrestA court has sentenced a man to death for involve-ment in street unrest after Iran’s disputed election in June, and for membership of an exiled opposi-tion movement, an Iranian rights group said on Sunday. The group, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, said on its website that Reza Khademi was the � fth person to receive the death sentence in connection with widespread unrest triggered by the presidential poll. There was no immediate comment from Iranian of� cials. In Oc-tober, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported that a court had sentenced three people to death on similar charges. It quoted a judiciary of� cial as say-ing the sentences could be appealed. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, last month urged Iran’s appeal courts to review the three death sentences carefully. The pro-reform opposition has said the vote was rigged to secure hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election. Iranian authorities have rejected election fraud charges and portrayed the street protests that erupted after the vote as foreign-backed efforts to undermine the Islamic Republic. Tehran Reuters

US Defense Secretary Gates blocks release of detainee abuse photosUS Defense Secretary Robert Gates has blocked the public release of any more

pictures of foreign detainees abused by their US captors, saying their release would endan-ger American soldiers.

The Obama administration � led a brief with the Supreme Court late on Friday saying that Gates has invoked new powers blocking the release of the photos.

The American Civil Liberties Union had sued for the release of 21 color photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq be-ing abused by Americans. Federal courts had rejected the government’s arguments to block their release, so Congress gave Gates new pow-ers to keep them private under a law signed by President Barack Obama last month.

Gates’ order speci� cally cites the 21 pictures sought by the ACLU, plus 23 additional ones cited in a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for

the 2nd Circuit. However, Pentagon spokes-man Bryan Whitman said the order covers all photographs from investigations related to the treatment of individuals captured or detained in military operations outside the United States be-tween Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 22, 2009.

Gates’ new powers were included in a bud-get bill for the Homeland Security Department.

“Public disclosure of these photographs would endanger citizens of the United States, members of the United States armed forces, or employees of the United States government de-ployed outside the United States,” Gates said in his order blocking release of the photos.

The release of photos showing prisoners being abused by US soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq sparked international outrage.

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said the group will continue to � ght for the release of the photographs, arguing

that Gates’ order was overly broad.“We think the photos are an important part

of the historical record. They are critical to the on-going national conversation about accountability for torture,” Jaffer said. “It sets a bad precedent for the government to be suppressing informa-tion that relates to government misconduct.”

Obama initially indicated he would not � ght the release of the photographs, but he reversed course in May. The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger US troops there.

The photographs at issue were taken by ser-vice members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show ”soldiers pointing pistols or ri� es at the heads of hooded and handcuffed de-tainees,” Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in an appeal to the high court. Washington AP

Obama and Medvedev see

nuclear pact progressWhile publicizing progress with Russia on arms control -- part of Obama’s agenda to advance nuclear

disarmament -- the US president and other leaders bowed to the obvious on climate change

President Barack Obama said Sunday the United States and Russia would have a replacement treaty on reduc-

ing nuclear arms ready for approval by year’s end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Paci� c leaders.

While publicizing progress with Russia on arms control -- part of Obama’s agenda to advance nuclear disarmament -- the president and other leaders bowed to the obvious on climate change. They discussed a compromise agreement for a 192-nation gathering next month in Copenhagen, indirectly admitting that the meeting would not produce a new global treaty to reduce the heat-trapping car-bon emissions that are warming the planet.

Nearing the end of his two days in Singa-pore, Obama also attended a second summit with leaders of the 10 Southeast Asian countries that make up the ASEAN group. Obama was the � rst US president to sit in on the meetings, that included a senior leader of Myanmar -- part of a shift in US policy away from isolating the repres-sive Myanmar military government.

The whirlwind of summitry is part of Obama’s � rst presidential trip to the re-gion. Its emphasis on big issues like climate change, disarmament and the economic cri-sis is part of Obama’s approach to persuade new emerging powers like China -- where he headed later on Sunday -- to share in the bur-den of managing global challenges.

The change in emphasis has helped Obama shift relations to a more positive footing, away from disputes over human rights and the Chi-nese military buildup that have unsteadied ties. In Shanghai today, Obama will address an au-dience of students from several universities and � eld questions from them and from submis-sions to the US Embassy’s Web site.

Russian-US meetingObama and Russian President Dmitry Medve-dev met on the sidelines of the Asia-Paci� c sum-mit of APEC nations to announce good progress in negotiations on an updated pact to replace the START nuclear arms agreement that expires on Dec. 5. Sitting, gesturing and leaning toward his Russian counterpart, Obama said the pair dis-cussed a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and described “excellent prog-ress over the last several months.”

“I’m con� dent that if we work hard and with

a sense of urgency, we’ll be able to get that done,” Obama said, adding technical issues remain. Medvedev said he hoped negotiators would “� -nalize the text of the document by December.”

Obama and Medvedev agreed in April to reach a new nuclear arms reduction pact to replace and expand upon the one that was signed by former President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev.

During a July summit in Moscow, Obama and Medvedev further agreed to cut the num-ber of nuclear warheads each nation possesses to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years.

US of� cials say the two nations now have agreed on the broad outlines of a new treaty, which could be signed during Obama’s travels to Europe in early December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. It still was not clear if Obama would use that same trip to attend the Copenhagen cli-mate summit, given that any agreement reached on cutting greenhouse gas emissions would serve only as an interim, political document.

“There was an assessment by the leaders that it is unrealistic to expect a full interna-tionally, legally binding agreement could be negotiated between now and Copenhagen which starts in 22 days,” said Michael Froman, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for international economic matters.

The prime minister of Denmark, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, the UN-sponsored cli-

mate conference’s chairman, � ew overnight to Singapore to present a proposal shifting the goal of the meeting to a “politically binding” agreement, in hopes of breathing life into the struggling process. A fully binding legal agree-ment would be left to a second meeting next year in Mexico City, Froman said.

Obama backed the approach, cautioning the group not to let the “perfect be the enemy of the good,” Froman said. A major bill dealing with energy and climate in the US Senate, a domestic priority of Obama’s, is bogged down with scant hope of completion by next month. That would leave Obama little to show in Copenhagen.

Time running outDuring his Asia trip, which continued later on Sunday to China, Obama also pushed for con-tinued pressure on Iran and its nuclear pro-gram. Appearing with Medvedev, Obama said “we are now running out of time.”

“Unfortunately, so far it appears Iran has been unable to say yes” to the proposal on uranium reprocessing, Obama said.

Medvedev continued: “We are prepared to work further and I hope our joint work will reach a positive result. In case we fail, other options re-main on the table.” He has said further sanctions against Iran were possible if it did not open its nuclear program to inspections to prove it was not trying to build a bomb. Singapore AP

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

President Obama meets with Russian President Medvedev on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Singapore.

Members of the ASAEN 10 link hands for a group photo in Singapore on Sunday. From left to right, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Myanmar PM Gen. Thein Sein, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, US President Barack Obama, Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung, Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Laotian PM Bouasone Bouphvanh.

Obama calls for Suu Kyi’s release at ASEAN summit

US President Barack Obama called for the release of Myanmar opposition leader

Aung San Suu Kyi when he met the country’s prime minister at a meeting with other South-east Asian leaders in Singapore on Sunday.

Obama did not speak or shake hands with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein at the meeting in Singapore’s Shangri-la hotel with the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the � rst with a US president.

He joined the ASEAN tradition of link-ing arms at the start of the meeting, looking a bit bemused, before the leaders sat down around a circular table for the talks.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama reiterated his call for Suu Kyi to be freed, although a statement to be issued after the meeting does not demand her release or that of other political prisoners ahead of elec-tions in the military-ruled country next year.

The meeting in Singapore marked the � rst time in history a US leader had met with his counterparts in the 42-year-old grouping, founded at the height of the Vietnam War. It took place after an Asia-Paci� c summit.

For the � rst time in decades, the United States and ASEAN are singing from the same hymn book when it comes to Myanmar.

Washington has recently taken a two-prong approach to the former Burma, en-gaging the junta while keeping sanctions on the resource-rich nation that shares borders with India and China.

For years, ASEAN was heavily criticized in the West for its own fruitless engagement policy with Myanmar’s generals. Now it is hoping that with US support, Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, can be guided back to democracy.

The draft statement said the leaders hoped the new policy “would contribute to broad po-litical and economic reforms.”

“We also underscored the importance of achieving national reconciliation and that the general elections to be held in Myanmar in 2010 must be conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community.” Singapore Reuters

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11TODAY’S ZAMANM O N D A Y, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9WORLD

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Castro’s

long goodbye

On July 27, 2006, Fidel Castro nearly died dur-ing emergency intestinal surgery to stem internal bleeding caused by chronic diverticulitis. Since then, Cuba-watchers and obituary writers have been on high alert awaiting his demise.

Yet, more than three years later, Castro soldiers on, approaching his mortal end with the same zeal he lavished on his life. The 83-year-old appears to have adjusted to his medically mandated retire-ment, enduring various surgeries and their atten-dant complications. A state-of-the-art convalescent suite has been installed in his principal residence, Punto Cero, where he is surrounded by family and Cuba’s � nest doctors. On his good days, he enter-tains well-wishers -- among them, Harry Belafonte and Oliver Stone. And he continues to intervene in the thorny politics of Cuba.

In 2007, while still hospitalized, Castro began a transition from being Cuba’s commander-in-chief to its pundit-in-chief, penning columns he calls “Re� ections” in the state-run newspaper, Granma. Late last year, he offered some personal introspec-tion. “I have had the rare privilege of observing events for a very long time,” he wrote. He then acknowledged the gravity of his illness. “I do not expect I shall enjoy such a privilege four years from now -- when President [Barack] Obama’s � rst term has concluded.”

But until Castro is in the grave, we will be hear-ing from him. While his brother Raul and the Cu-ban army are running the day-to-day affairs of the country, Castro retains and exercises veto power. And Cubans continue to feel the strongman’s sting.

In March, more than a dozen of the most senior members of the Cuban regime were purged from the government. While Raul Castro had initiated the internal coup, Fidel was quick to weigh in and assail its casualties, all former members of his inner circle. The men had succumbed to “the honey of power,” he wrote in his column. Their replacements have dodged the limelight and tread far more carefully.

Castro’s reluctant leave-taking -- with its pe-riodic near-� nales -- � ts into a long tradition of Hispanic “caudillos” or dictators. Consider, for ex-ample, the life -- and death -- of Francisco Franco, Spain’s dictator of almost 40 years. Both Castro’s father and Franco hailed from the rugged north-ern countryside of Spain, a region renowned for its � erce and stubborn citizenry. And notwithstanding divergent political ideologies -- Franco was a zeal-ous anti-communist -- the two men had a good deal in common. Both were willing to forge un-palatable and unpopular alliances with totalitarian states to shore up their power -- Franco with Nazi Germany and Castro with the Soviet Union.

And Franco’s shrouded last days neatly fore-shadowed Castro’s. Franco became grievously ill in 1974 and was forced to turn over his rule -- “tem-porarily,” he insisted -- to Prince Juan Carlos. Cas-tro also initially ceded control to his brother only “temporarily.” Like Castro, Franco had an unex-pected recovery, although his lasted only a year be-fore he died at 82.

Although it is generally believed that Franco died days earlier, his death was announced on Nov. 20, 1975, the same day on which Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of Franco’s fascist Fa-lange party, died 40 years earlier.

Some people assert doctors kept Franco alive under orders from the dictator that he would live until the ordained date. But Franco’s scheming to die with gravity and splendor back� red, and his protracted departure became a joke that would long outlive him. “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead,” Chevy Chase would intone with mock so-lemnity on “Saturday Night Live” as a running gag for nearly two years.

Castro’s long goodbye is proving equally irre-sistible for late-night comedians. “He ran Cuba for almost 50 years,” began Jay Leno in one riff. “And political analysts are now debating what kind of changes the Cuban people will hope for. I’m gonna guess: term limits.”

Castro’s untidy leaving also has kept the news media in an inde� nite state of high alert, as they formulate and reformulate coverage and obituar-ies. The veteran Spanish Civil War reporter Mar-tha Gellhorn found herself in a similar pickle three decades ago. In 1975, she accepted an assignment from New York magazine to write about post-Fran-co Spain. “This thrills me, the sort of journalism I love,” she wrote her son. “I am waiting for the old swine to die; but obviously he is being kept breath-ing [no more] while the right tightens its hold on the country.”

When I asked Castro in a 1994 interview when he would retire, he snapped: “My vocation is the revolution. I am a revolutionary, and revolutionar-ies do not retire.”

*Ann Louise Bardach is the author of “Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana, and Washington” and “Cuba Confi dential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana” and serves on the Brookings Institution’s Cuba Study Project. © The Los Angeles Times, 2009

OPINION

TODAY’S ZAMAN

Ann Louise Bardach*

Kosovo went to the polls on Sunday for the � rst time since declaring independence from

Serbia last year, with parties pledging to tackle un-employment, corruption, poor infrastructure and weak foreign investment.

Facing a key democratic test, Kosovo’s leaders have urged citizens to vote peacefully after violent incidents marred the last week of campaigning, including the stoning of the prime minister’s car and an attack on a mayoral candidate. Few expect the winners of the local elections to change the 40 percent unemployment rate and create jobs for 30,000 young people who enter the job market every year. Many of them continue to leave the country to � nd work abroad.

“We need water, better roads and elevators in our apartments, which are the municipality’s job,”

said Hasim Canolli, 60, after voting in the capital Pristina. “The independence issue is over, and people need jobs now.” Turnout among Kosovo’s small Serb minority was minimal after Serbian leaders in Belgrade warned voters not to “legiti-mize Kosovo’s independence.”

“When my president, my government and my [Orthodox] Church in Belgrade told me not Tto vote, of course I will not vote,” said Snezana Mar-kovic in the Serb stronghold of Mitrovica in north-ern Kosovo. But some voters from the Serb minor-ity in southern parts of the country were voting for their new municipalities, as foreseen in the Kosovo independence plan drafted by former Finnish presi-dent Martti Ahtisaari.

“Today we are showing that our country and its citizens have deserved independence, de-

mocracy and the European Union perspective,” said Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. The dominant groupings are Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and President Fatmir Sejdiu’s Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which are coalition partners in the government.

Around 1.5 million people are eligible to elect mayors and local councils in 36 municipali-ties. Clear winners will emerge only after sec-ond-round mayoral run-offs in a month’s time. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nine years after NATO bombing drove out Serb forces to stop the killing of ethnic Albanians in a two-year counter-insurgency war. More than 60 countries, mainly western, have recog-nized Kosovo’s independence, but not Serbia, its former ruler, or Russia. Pristina Reuters

Kosovo holds first local election since independence

Palestinians threatento declare independence

Palestinian of� cials said Sunday they are preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent

state without Israel’s consent because they are losing hope they can achieve their aspira-tions through peace talks.

The announcement drew a harsh rebuke from Israeli of� cials. Chief Palestinian negoti-ator Saeb Erekat told Israel’s Army Radio that frustrated Palestinians had decided to turn to the UN Security Council after 18 years of on-again, off-again negotiations with Israel.

“The purpose of such a move is to keep hope alive in the minds of the Palestinians,” he said. US efforts to restart Israeli-Palestin-ian peace talks are deadlocked. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the Palestinians to negotiate with him but they refuse, saying Netanyahu must � rst stop building settlements on lands they claim.

Even if the UN endorses the Palestin-ian idea, it would be virtually impossible to implement while Israel remains in control of the West Bank and east Jerusalem _ captured land where the Palestinians want to build their state. The Palestinians already declared independence unilaterally on Nov. 15, 1988. The move was recognized by dozens of coun-tries, but never implemented on the ground.

In the meantime, the Palestinian prime minister has launched a two-year develop-ment plan mean to lay the groundwork for independence. Erekat declined to say when the Palestinians would make their appeal to the UN But Nimr Hammad, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said they “have no intention of rushing” to the Security Council.

“We are going to have to prepare for this well and to hold political and diplo-matic talks. We want the Security Council

to discuss this only after we’ve been given assurances,” he told the Israeli daily Maariv. “There is no point in rushing just so that we collide with an American veto.” As one of the � ve permanent members of the Security Council, the US wields veto power over any resolution. Israeli media predicted that the US, Israel’s key ally, would veto the move.

Hammad said Abbas would travel to Cairo Wednesday to discuss the plan with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. There was no immediate reaction from Security Council members. But Erekat said Russia, another permanent member of the Security Council, and unspeci� ed European nations are “on board” with the Palestinian plan.

Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, warned the Palestinians against taking any one-sided action. “I think the Palestinians should know that that unilateral actions will not lead to the results they hope for,” he said on Sunday.

Hamas makes U-turn over national day On Saturday, Hamas authorities did an about face and dropped a plan to keep schools in the Gaza Strip open on a Palestinian holiday founded by the rival Fatah faction. An of� cial with Gaza’s Education Ministry said schools would shut down on Sunday, designated as an “independence day” for Palestinians, “in order to avoid misinterpretation of the deci-sion to keep it a regular school day.”

A ruling issued on Friday to keep the schools open drew criticism from non-Hamas factions in Gaza as well as ordinary people who have been living under the movement’s administration since it seized control from the Western-backed Fatah in the territory in 2007.

Fatah still holds sway in the Israeli-occu-pied West Bank and enjoys U.S. recognition, while Hamas is largely isolated in Gaza over its refusal to accept permanent co-existence with the Jewish state. Jerusalem AP/Reuters

Serbian OrthodoxChurch head Pavledies of cardiac arrest

Patriarch Pavle, who led Serbia’s Christian Orthodox Church through its post-Com-

munist revival and the turbulent 1990s marked by ethnic con� icts in the Balkans, died on Sun-day. He was 95. Pavle, who took over the church in 1990, had been hospitalized for more than a year. He had heart and lung problems. The church said he died of cardiac arrest.

Bells tolled from Serbian churches after the news of Pavle’s death and the state-run televi-sion aired documentaries about his life. A re-spected theologian and linguist also known for personal humility and modesty, Pavle took over the dominant Serbian church just as the collapse of communism ended years of state policy of re-pressing religion. He also headed the church dur-ing the turbulent years of the Balkan wars in the 1990s and the collapse of former President Slo-bodan Milosevic’s regime in 2000.

President Boris Tadic said Patriarch Pav-le’s death is a “huge loss” for the nation. Tadic said Pavle was “one of those people who by their very existence bring together the entire nation. “His departure is my personal loss too,” Tadic said, explaining he had often con-sulted with the patriarch about crucial nation-al decisions. Tadic added that Patriarch Pavle was respected worldwide by both the Ortho-dox Christian churches and the pope.

The news about patriarch’s death was � rst announced by in� uential Bishop Am� lohije, who has served as the acting head of church during most of Pavle’s hospitalization. State TV showed Am� lohije breaking into tears as he told a gath-ering of believers that Pavle had died. A sobbing Am� lohije then said a prayer for the Patriarch.

The church said its highest body, the Holy Synod, is expected to meet early Monday, pos-sibly to choose Pavle’s successor. There have been reports of a power struggle within the church over who will succeed Pavle. The fa-vorite for the post among several candidates is Am� lohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and nationalist stands.

Pavle often spoke against violence in the ethnic wars Orthodox Serbs fought in the 1990s against Catholic Croats and Bosnian Muslims during the bloodiest con� ict in Europe since World War II. “God help us understand that we are human beings and that we must live as hu-man beings, so that peace would come into our country and bring an end to the killing,” Pavle had appealed -- mostly in vain -- in 1991 as � ghting raged between Serbs and Croats over disputed territories in Croatia.

“It is only the will of the devil that is served by this war,” the patriarch was quoted as saying in 1992 but stopped short of nam-ing names, notably not going explicitly against Milosevic. The Serbian Church eventually broke with its tradition of formal neutrality in 2000, openly urging the Serbian strongman to step down after the regimes humiliating de-feat in 1999 following NATO bombing that ended Milosevic’s crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. Belgrade AP

Palestinian children walk between tents set up for people who had lost their homes in Israel’s latest incursion into Gaza at the devas-tated area east of Jebaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, in this May 13 file photo.

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Patriarch Pavle, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, died on Sunday at the age of 95.

A Kosovar Albanian votes at a polling station in the Kosovo town of Lipljane on Sunday.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Israel’s Army Radio that frustrated Palestinians had decided to turn to the UN Security Council an independent state without

Israel’s consent for after 18 years of on-again, off-again negotiations with Israel

Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat (R) speaks with President Mahmoud Abbas.

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TODAY’S ZAMAN EXPAT ZONEM O N D AY , N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 912

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When my aunt Syble turned 95 I decided, even though it was an in-ternational phone call, that I would try to call her about four times a year -- that would be major holidays and her birthday. Just less than two years ago, she turned 100. She informed me this summer when I went to visit her that old age has its blessings and curses.

Even though my aunt had misplaced both of her hearing aids, which meant she could not really hear me, I thought it was important to just sit beside her and chat with her like usual. She looked at me in-tently and appeared as though she understood everything, but I could tell she really didn’t. My sister Jean lives near the nursing home where my aunt lives and visits her daily and carries on this charade. I admire her for her faithfulness.

Back in July, Jean told me a lot about what she knew on the sub-ject of elderly people. She seems quite informed about it all. Rightly so, as she has taken care of her husband’s mom and now our aunt. Jean told me that the oldest person she knew of in the world lived in Los Angeles and died at the age of 115.

Centenarians used to be non-existent, but not anymore!The number is increasing signi� cantly, and more and more indi-

viduals have to look after their parents in their old age.The trend in Turkey used to be that grandparents, parents and

children all lived under one roof. In recent decades, this has been changing. In some of the more posh neighborhoods in �stanbul you can even � nd a Huzurevi (rest home). This concept is a very new trend in Turkey.

In the West you’ll come across some baby boomers who are ap-proaching retirement age and have great plans for the future. Many will tell you they want to live to be 100 or more! They are the ones who want to do the things they have dreamed of doing -- travel the world, skydive, whatever. These are the elderly, gray-haired tourists who visit Turkey to tour the Grand Bazaar, Topkap� Palace and Ephe-sus, traipsing around in jogging out� ts and trainers. Turks � nd them endearing and marvel at their enthusiasm.

Then there are those of us who are not keen to live so long. After all, longer lifespans are not an unalloyed blessing.

In this economic climate, how far will your pension go and your savings last? Whether you are in Turkey or somewhere like the United States, you may wonder just how you can afford to get ill or retire. Calculations for US health care costs have been based on shorter lifes-pans, and now we are living longer.

In Turkey, retirement programs have faced insolvency. Being very logical, the Turkish government has been gradually raising the retire-ment age; America also faces this same issue and has contemplated raising its retirement age for able-bodied workers.

As individuals live longer, we experience more signi� cant social and � nancial costs.

A couple of Turkish friends whose mother passed away at the be-ginning of the summer shared with me how in the � nal year or two of life her medical expenses in Turkey ran about the price of an apart-ment. They were fortunate in that they had real estate to sell to pay the medical bills.

My aunt Syble’s medical expenses since she moved into the nurs-ing home three years ago have now exceeded the cost of her home and have nearly run down her savings.

Similar to elderly people in the West, Turks who are retired usu-ally live on � xed incomes. Maybe you have noticed the long queues outside the state banks at certain times of the month? Utilities have increased considerably, in excess of in� ation, and use up much of a pensioner’s budget. According to an AARP Bulletin from last winter, I read that as heating prices rise in the US, the burden of heating costs will be disproportionately heavy on elderly Americans.

In the building where I live, there are a number of elderly people. Their children are grown and live in their own homes elsewhere. One elderly woman said to me that even though her children do not live with her, they help her � nancially. She admits that without their help she would not be able to make ends meet. “I’d freeze,” says one el-derly neighbor. Similar comments are said back home.

Sadly, when the cold winds blow this year, they will bring an extra chill to millions of elderly individuals.

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, ques-tions and problems in all walks of life for publication in Today’s Zaman.

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]

Row�ng old:

Bless�ngs, curses

Broadcast�ng �n local languages and d�alects (1)

Parliament on Friday discussed the government’s democratic ini-tiative aimed at ultimately ending Turkey’s long-standing prob-lem with separatist violence by revising its policy toward minori-ties. In the latest session of Parliament, the government and the opposition entered with drastically different expectations, but the government is taking action to implement its policy and hopes to collect the immediate fruits of this initiative.

In line with the initiative, the government has launched an amendment, which is, in my humble opinion, very important. The new legislation came into force just recently, on Nov. 13. The reason I am interested in this particular legislation is that it directly affects the social and cultural life of local Turkish people. The legislation is not a law but a communiqué. The government already noti� ed the public and the opposition that most of the regulations that need to be implemented are already in force but some minor administrative changes have to be made. The gov-ernment also added that these regulations will be implemented

without the interference of Parliament. The following regulation is made in this sense, and it is a communiqué.

The communiqué concerns television and radio broadcasting regulations, and the of� cial name of the legislation is “Radio and Television Broadcasts Made in Various Languages and Dialects Traditionally Used by Turkish Citizens in Their Daily Lives.” In-deed, in this age of communication, technological advances and

innovations have made it possible to overcome many prohibitions regarding broadcasting. You can see big antennas on the roofs of houses in the eastern part of Turkey. These antennas allow viewers to watch or listen to programs from different countries.

The preamble of the communiqué states the scope, purpose and de� nitions. The purpose of the legislation is to regulate broad-casting companies other than the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) that broadcast in different languages and dia-lects that are used traditionally in the daily life of Turkish citizens.

The plural form used in the de� nition of the scope of the communiqué indicates that the regulation is not addressing only a single language, Kurdish. Indeed, the initiative is not address-ing only Kurds; it is one of the steps to � x the long-standing problems faced by all minorities who are Turkish citizens. In other words, the legislation should also include broadcasting in all languages and dialects other than Turkish, including, but not limited to, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, the Karapapak

dialect, Turkmen, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Chechen, Armenian, Greek, etc. All minorities who are Turkish citizens and who tra-ditionally speak their own language will be able to broadcast programs in their own language or dialect.

Therefore, this communiqué encompasses a huge population and geographical area. The question in my mind is: Will Turkish citizens with foreign roots be able to have their languages broad-cast on television and radio in Turkey? In the next article, I will mention the other details of this new regulation.

NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send en-quiries to [email protected] The names of the readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender.DISCLAIMER: The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner.

CULTURAL CORNER

McPHERSONCHARLOTTE

As an English teacher of some years’ experience, I am always interested in what other people, especially outside the profession, think and say about the lan-

guage and the way it is taught, learnt and written. These are fundamental issues that need to be addressed and updated on a regular basis as those of us in the profession seek to impart the knowledge and skills required, not least because living lan-guages are in a constant state of � ux and, in the case of English in particular, evolving at an ever-increasing rate. It was with an-ticipated pleasure, therefore, that I began reading veteran BBC broadcaster John Humphrys’ book “Beyond Words” (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006), the sequel to his “Lost For Words.” The subheading for the more recent of the two is “How Language Reveals the Way We Live Now.” Humphrys expands on this in his introduction by saying: “Language is more than a tool for expressing ourselves. It acts as a mirror to our world, re� ecting back to us the way we live. Our choice of language and the new words we create reveal an enormous amount about how we lead our lives today and how society is changing.”

The grammer dilemmaOne of the dilemmas that has faced teachers of English for some considerable time relates to the teaching of grammar. This has applied not only in the world of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) but historically from the decision made in the UK in the 1970s to abandon the formal teaching of grammar to students in English classes in England. My generation was the � rst not to have been “burdened” with formal grammar lessons. Humphrys summarizes what his � rst book on language was about: “In ‘Lost For Words’ I was not saying that language should never change [because of course it always does] but that grammar matters. One of the daftest things we ever did to our schools was to stop teach-ing it to children. Academics who should have known better came up with the absurd notion that rules somehow con-� ned children, restricted their imagination. I argued that the opposite is true. Understanding the basic workings of gram-mar -- even if you don’t observe all the rules to the letter -- can liberate. If you don’t know how to construct a sentence, how can you express yourself?”

In my general introduction to the advanced level courses, I always ask my students this question: “What constitutes � u-

ency in a foreign language and how do you know when you have got it?” I always get a variety of fairly predictable answers, especially from Turkish students, used, as they are, to rigorous and repetitive teaching methods in their schools and universi-ties: correct and appropriate vocabulary; correct use of gram-mar (aha!); pronunciation; near native listening and reading skills; being able to speak without hesitating and internally translating everything; and so on. All of these are true, but I surprise them by repeating what one linguist once said: � u-ency in a language is knowing how and when to break the rules. Rather like driving a car, for example, to drive safely yet be able to have some fun and use different techniques requires a full knowledge of the rules in the � rst place so that break-ing them doesn’t involve breaking your car, yourself or, God forbid, someone else. The same idea is revealed in comedy. One of the hardest things to understand and to carry off in a foreign language is telling jokes. Because verbal comedy has al-ways depended on playing with words, meaning, context and syntax, comedy quintessentially demands a rock-solid founda-tion in the structural grammar and vocabulary of the language used. Jokes translate very badly from one language to another for this very reason.

Many of the expats working in Turkey are teaching Eng-lish in state schools, private schools, universities or private language schools. Most of them have studied at university but not necessarily English and have taken a TEFL or CELTA course to obtain a certi� cate to teach English as a foreign language. These courses range from a few hours online, to a mixed online and real teacher training to an intensive month-long program in situ with real students in real class-room situations. Pedagogical skills and techniques aside, the majority of those I have worked with admit that their weak-est link is their knowledge and use of grammar. Most of the questions I was asked by staff related to grammar, although the Turkish teachers generally outshone their foreign col-leagues by their in-depth understanding of grammar.

So does grammar, which includes punctuation, really mat-ter? Professor David Crystal (www.davidcrystal.com) is con-sidered to be the expert’s expert in linguistics, with more than a hundred books on the subject to his name. He believes that so long as we are intelligible we can be as cavalier as we like with the rules and conventions of language, including punctuation. In a sense, this may be true. Here is an example from a for-mer head of English in a comprehensive school: “Aoccdrnig to

rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson’t mttaer in waht order the ltteers in a word are, the only iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sittl raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the human mind deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?” Try that on your students! The head of English explains, however, that it is the knowledge of the rules that makes understanding of this piece possible: “What is not made clear, of course, is that in order to decipher the jumble, your own mind has to have a semblance of order in the � rst place. This is exactly why we need rules and conventions.” (Quoted by Humphrys, ibid p. 26)

Punctuation mattersTo observers and users of English, such as Humphrys, punc-tuation also matters. Most English teachers are, I imagine, familiar with Lynne Truss’ best-seller on punctuation “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” (Pro� le Books, 2003). The title comes from the following story: “A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun a � res two shots in the air. ‘Why?’ asked the confused waiter, as the panda makes to-wards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. ‘I’m a panda,’ he says, at the door. ‘Look it up.’ The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, � nds an explanation. ‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves’.” You get the point.

If our students are to have any hope of progressing to the Nirvana of � uency they so crave, then we are going to have to ensure that we are fully up-to-speed on the rules and conventions of modern English grammar and are able to explain and demonstrate them in as comprehensible, ac-cessible and enjoyable way as possible. Many of you may be like me insofar as you learnt grammar not from your Eng-lish lessons in school or university but by studying other languages. In my case it was Latin and French, which were taught in a traditional manner and thus forced us to come to terms with the nuts and bolts of the language. In Latin we did exercises called parsing which involved deconstructing sentences into their individual grammatical parts. Turkish teachers of English do this and know how to pass the knowl-edge on to their students. How many of us could say the same? And Turkish students appreciate this. It answers their perennial question, “Why?” Let’s see if we can get it write.

ASHLEY PERKS NORWICH

Getting it writeMany of the expats working in Turkey are teaching English in state schools, private schools, universities (state and private) or private language schools. Pedagogical skills and techniques aside, the majority of those I have worked with admit that their weakest link is their knowledge and use of grammar

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LEGAL CORNER

ÇEKTiRBERK

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CULTURE&ARTS M O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN13

CMYK

A monthly � lm program titled “A New Look at Tur-kish Cinema” at �stanbul’s Tar�k Zafer Tunaya Cul-ture Center features � lms by Reha Erdem in its � rst edition. Erdem’s “Korkuyorum Anne” (“What’s a Human, Anyway?” 2004) and “A Ay” (“Oh, Moon” 1989) will be offered in the last two weeks of the program, running through Nov. 29. There are three showings every day except Monday, at 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Ticket price: TL 3.50

Reha Erdem’s films at Tar�k Zafer Tunaya Center

Turkish alternative pop singer Cem Adrian, pra-ised by critics and audiences alike for his voi-ce range of almost 4.5 octaves, is scheduled for a live performance this week at Ankara’s If Perfor-mance Hall. The 29-year-old singer will be per-forming songs from his four albums, including his most recent, “Emir” (Commandment), relea-sed in December 2008, at the concert, which will take place Thursday night. Ticket price: TL 17.50

Cem Adrian to perform live for fans in Ankara

A new collection by famous Turkish artist Bih-rat Mavitan is on view at the Selvin Art Gallery in �stanbul’s Arnavutköy district. The 61-year-old ar-tist, a career sculptor who graduated in 1973 from the prestigious �stanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, showcases his newest set of unique works, which he calls “sculptures to hang on a wall,” in the exhi-bit, scheduled to run through Dec. 12. The gallery is open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday.

Mavitan’s ‘sculptures to hang on a wall’ on display

Azerbaijani jazz singer, pianist and composer Azi-za Mustafa Zadeh, dubbed the Princess of Jazz, is in Antalya this week for her eagerly anticipated appea-rance at this year’s Antalya International Piano Fes-tival. Accompanied by Ralf Cetto on bass and Simon Zambardo on drums, Zadeh will take to the stage 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Antalya Culture Center (AKM) to present a program of pieces by Verdi, Puc-cini, Gershwin and Ravel as well as her own songs.

Princess of Jazz to grace Antalya piano festival stage

Adana’s annual 13 Kare International Art Festival opens today, unveiling the

11th edition of the southern city’s second-largest art event.

Organized by the Adana Metropolitan Mu-nicipality, the festival will feature numerous art exhibitions, concerts and panel discussions with artists, before wrapping up on Nov. 24. Among the festival’s events will be the award ceremony for the annual Golden Camera Pho-tography Competition, organized by the Ada-na Amateur Photographers Association.

The festival will open with a ceremony at 8 p.m. at the Adana Municipal Theater. The ceremony will be followed by a performan-ce of the renowned Turkish operetta “Lü-küs Hayat” (Luxurious Life), which marked its 25th anniversary in April. Two exhibitions by sculptors Mutluhan Ta� and Tayfur Öztürk also begin today. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

Adana’s 13 Kare art festival opens today

Contemporary �stanbul, an annual interna-tional art fair that has become one of the

major events of the city’s art scene, is preparing to launch its fourth edition early next month at �stanbul’s Lüt� K�rdar International Convention and Exhibition Center.

This year’s fair, scheduled to run Dec. 3-6, will have an invitation-only preview on Dec. 2 which will feature a live performance of two acts from famous Turkish choreographer Ayd�n Teker’s “aKab�.”

The four-day fair offers a wide range of works in many disciplines, such as painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video and new media art.

CI’09 will bring together 73 art galleries, art institutions and artist initiatives to showcase works of art by 306 artists from Turkey and abro-ad, the fair’s director, Emin Mahir Balc�o�lu, said in a written statement.

This year the fair’s organizers are aiming to widen the scope of the event with the additi-on of 12 established art institutions such as the �stanbul-based Sak�p Sabanc� Museum, the Ak-bank Art Center, �stanbul Modern, the �stanbul Foundation for Culture and Art (�KSV) and the Do�ançay Museum, founded by renowned Tur-kish contemporary abstract artist Burhan Do�an-çay, the Anatolia news agency reported.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of �stanbul and Berlin being declared sister cities, Contemporary �stanbul will also offer a special exhibition space for Berlin-based art galleries and art collectors. The fair’s “New Horizons” section will feature contemporary art from Syria. Organi-zers say they expect this year’s fair to attract more than 50,000 visitors. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

Contemporary �stanbul ready for fourth edition

The Antalya International Piano Festival is marking its 10th anniversary with 10 con-certs by very special performers, including

Faz�l Say, Michel Camilo, Pavel Kaspar and Aziza Mustafa Zadeh.

The festival is almost halfway through and ge-aring up for the end. Festivalgoers in Antalya must be impatient for this year’s closing concert, as it will feature Spanish pianist Miriam Méndez. Known by Turkish concertgoers for her unique blend of classi-cal piano with tunes from her native land, Méndez will present her most recent project, “Mozart, Sueño Flamenco,” on Saturday, the festival’s clo-sing night, at the Antalya Culture Center (AKM).

Released toward the end of 2008 on the he-els of the massive success of her debut recording, “Bach por Flamenco,” Méndez was inspired to cre-ate “Mozart, Sueño Flamenco” by an imaginary jo-urney of Mozart to Andalusia, where the roots of � amenco lay. In an interview ahead of her visit to Turkey, Méndez spoke about her music.

What are the major differences between your previous work and this newest one?

In “Mozart, Sueño Flamenco,” every track is an episode of an imaginary trip Mozart made to An-dalusia, the south of Spain and the root of � amen-co music. On his trip to Italy, he discovered opera. The question that I ask in this show is what would have happened if he had the opportunity of disco-vering the Andalusian culture traveling to the so-uth, to such places as Seville and Cádiz.

If Mozart had visited Andalusia, what tra-its of � amenco would have attracted him the most?

Flamenco is a passionate musical expressi-on where the extremes are very strong. In or-der to express joy and happiness you dance and sing until you faint, [like] in the “Fiestas por Bulerías” in Jerez. When you want to express pain, you do it in a very radical way, for examp-le with a soleá. Mozart had both in his persona-lity: joy, like in “The Magic Flute,” and pain, like in the “Requiem” and Symphony No. 40. So I think that everything would have been fascina-ting for him, but to be honest, in a private party “por Bulerías,” I think he would have � ipped out and he would have stopped dancing. (laughs)

You say that the idea of Mozart meeting � amenco is very natural. How so?

Naturalness is something that de� nes Mozart’s personality and his music, and � a-menco is a spontaneous and natural music, too.

When you reinterpret Mozart’s “Tur-kish March,” what do you think this piece communicates about Turkish people?

The nobility, the power and positivity whi-le looking toward the future.

Is it Bach or Mozart who suits � amen-co most?

Both, I think. Occidental music evolved in different ways, but mostly under the same fee-ling, and this is universal.

How do you interpret Baroque music through � amenco?

By being spontaneous and free. Imagine Mozart discovering the spontaneous � amen-co expression in Cádiz, Bulerías and Alegrías.

Flamenco music is the result of different cultu-res and civilizations living together for centu-ries in Andalusia. As you know, in Andalusia, for eight centuries, there were Muslims, Jews, Christians, Gypsies from India living together; it was like the present-day New York. I think that there’s something common in every cul-ture and to � nd this joint point, this “gene,” makes me break my own limits when I relate Mozart or Bach with � amenco music or myself

and Bach or Mozart or � amenco music. The entire human race is one.

How do you feel about Turkey?I love Turkey. The diversity and enormous

cultural legacy you can � nd in every corner there, it’s fascinating. And I love the food! I have many things to discover yet, and I hope to come here more often to keep on learning more. I really feel home, and it’s probably because of the Turkish people, that’s why I have this nice feeling.

CENK ERDEM �STANBUL

MOVIE

CONCERT

EXHIBITION

CONCERT

Italy opens new contemporary arts museum in RomeItaly is opening its � rst national museum for con-temporary arts and architecture in a bid to shed

its image as merely a keeper of a glorious artistic past. The 150 million euro ($223 million) Maxxi cul-

tural center opened Saturday for a limited wee-kend run before its full-� edged opening in a few months. Located in a residential area of Rome, the museum was designed by Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, the � rst woman to win the prestigio-us Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004.

The Culture Ministry decided to build the muse-um in 1998, recognizing that the country that produ-ced Giotto, Michelangelo and Bernini -- avant-garde artists of their times -- must continue to promote contemporary creativity if it wants to have a cultural heritage in the future. “It is inconceivable for this very long � ow of Italian creativity to be interrupted and do without the promotion and support which, over past

centuries, have generally kindled it,” said Pio Baldi, head of the foundation that runs the museum.

The center, of� cially called the National Muse-um of the XXI Century Arts, is the latest in a series of cutting-edge architectural projects to be built in the Eternal City, which is better known for its Roman ru-ins, Baroque basilicas and Renaissance palazzi.

Renzo Piano’s Auditorium opened in 2002, giving Rome its � rst major-league concert hall. More re-cently and controversially, Richard Meier’s Ara Pacis museum, which houses a 2,000-year-old altar, ope-ned in 2005. Critics complained the box-like shell was a modern blot in Rome’s historic center -- to some, a gas station blocks away from the Spanish Steps.

No such protests sullied Hadid’s design for the museum, built on the grounds of a former mili-tary barracks in Rome’s Flaminio neighborhood, far from the cobblestoned streets of the center but

close enough to be reached on public transport and near the new concert hall.

Hadid said she intended the space to be an “ur-ban cultural center,” an arts campus with indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces. The building itself -- a sleek, windowed box on top of a box -- is made of cement walls, steel stairs and a glass roof, giving the galleries a neutral backdrop illuminated by � lte-red natural light. Black staircases offer sharp cont-rast to the white walls. “I see Maxxi as an immersi-ve urban environment for the exchange of ideas, fe-eding the cultural vitality of the city,” she said.

Guests at Friday night’s festive preview descri-bed the museum as essential to Rome’s living fully in the present. “Surely a museum of contemporary art in such an ancient city is a passage from the an-cient to the future, a voyage in space and time,” said Vincenzo Di Stefano, a manager for a publis-

hing group. “Art is always a message that unites the contemporary, future and past.” Artist Mari-anna Masciolini, an Umbrian who works in Rome, said: “The city needs to enter the 21st century.”

Maxxi technically is two museums: Maxxi Art and Maxxi Architecture, which includes the � les of architecture designs. The campus -- which covers 29,000 square meters -- also includes an auditori-um, library, media library, study rooms, laboratori-es, a bookshop, cafe and spaces for live events and commercial activities. Rome has several other mo-dern and contemporary art spaces, but the Cultu-re Ministry says Maxxi is the � rst national museum devoted to contemporary arts.

While Maxxi museum opened to the public of� -cially on Saturday, it was a limited two-day opening. The museum will formally open its � rst exhibits in 2010, when � ve shows are planned. Rome AP

MIRIAM MENDEZbrings Mozart’s flamenco

dreams to Antalya

Golden Globe organizers last week said they will honor director Martin Scorsese

with their Cecil B. DeMille award at their up-coming ceremony, signifying his contribution to entertainment.

Scorsese, director of classic � lms such as “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas” and Oscar and Golden Globe winner “The Departed,” is widely considered among the best directors of his generation which gai-ned notoriety in the 1970s. But his contribu-tions don’t stop at making blockbuster movi-es. Earlier this decade, the 66-year-old direc-tor � lmed a documentary series about music called “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues,” and he founded non-pro� t organizations The Film Foundation and the World Cinema Fo-undation, which are dedicated to � lm preser-vation and restoration.

The Golden Globe Awards, which honor the year’s best � lms, US television shows and perfor-mances, are given out by members of the Holl-ywood Foreign Press Association in a gala ce-remony held annually in Beverly Hills and seen on television in some 160 countries around the world. The 67th Golden Globe Awards will take place on Jan. 17, and nominations for awards will be announced on Dec. 15. Los Angeles Reuters

Martin Scorsese to receive DeMille Award

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CMYK

[email protected]ðýstan Çetinkaya

´Thýnk tank cafe

Wh�le putt�ng the

law through hell

Is there any other country in the world other than Turkey where the judiciary is debated every day? Everyone, espe-cially lawyers, are fed up with this situation. No offense to anyone, but unfortunately it is some members of the ju-diciary who placed the judiciary in the center of a politi-cal � ght. They portray an image that leads to suspicions in the public’s mind that some members of the judiciary are collaborating and even partnering with junta members. The fact that scandals that would no be seen in any other countries in a hundred years are seen in this country every week increase concerns that the issue is not just about an image, but that there are also some problems based on con-crete data. Taking a look at just the events that happened this week and the debates over the judiciary are enough to understand this. Col. Dursun Çiçek, whose signature on a junta action plan that plots a conspiracy against the society and politics has been con� rmed, appeared before the civil-ian judiciary after nearly 20 days of resistance, and of course he was arrested. Çiçek had appeared before the judiciary before but was not arrested. He was released 18 hours after being held in custody because the document was a pho-tocopy. After the original of the document was sent to the prosecutors leading the Ergenekon investigation in a letter written by an anonymous military of� cer and the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) determined that the signature on the document was produced by Çiçek’s hand, it became necessary for the colonel to give another statement to the prosecutors. But he did not go for a long time. Even the privates accused of destroying the documents were not re-ferred to the prosecutors for a long time. The General Staff also didn’t send the surveillance tapes from the day certain documents were destroyed according to the informant’s letter to the court, either. But anyways. This time Çiçek was released 43 hours after being held in custody. Why? Be-cause there was “no suspicion of him running away.”

Unfortunately, the decision to release him has led to the question of whether there is a connection between the judiciary and some junta supporters. In fact it has increased suspicion of whether some deep structures are being protected by the judiciary. It is for this reason that a signi� cant number of dailies have not been able to understand the reason behind this odd decision. It is for this reason that the Milliyet daily referred to the situa-tion as “Çiçek Taxi,” (an apparent reference to the speed at which the decision was made) and Radikal said, “He went in and out.” The headline “Arrested for 18 hours for photocopy, arrested for 43 hours for original” is indic-ative of the impression the event has left in people’s hearts. Frankly, reaching this decision despite so much evidence has undermined the faith people have in justice once again.

The public conscience will ask, “What is the rea-son behind persistently releasing someone despite so much concrete evidence against him?” The potential answer(s) to this question leads to serious implica-tions that complicate the judicial mechanism. Ac-cording to the image that has been portrayed, people are either going to say, “The justice system functions differently for civilians and differently for military per-sonnel and grants privileges to military of� cers,” or they are going to say: “Çiçek is in such a critical spot that if his position is exposed, all junta work will unravel. Therefore, special atten-tion is being put on this position, and there’s no harm seen in putting the law through hell.”

We cannot look at this as a personal hostility be-cause we don’t know who Dursun Çiçek is. Besides, the issue is not about if someone is arrested or re-leased. It is about how someone can be protected despite the fact that his signature was confirmed by forensic medicine on a document which actually lays a trap for the whole society. The judiciary has once again been damaged seriously. That is because the lat-est decisions taken by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) are involved in the event, and it feels like once again there is pressure and favoritism.

During that week there was a juridical debate that was funnier than a comedy movie. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

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Established on January 16, 2007 NO: 0917Monday, November 16, 2009

TRAVELS BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN: BEFORE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

EKREMDUMANLI

[email protected]

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall much has been written about the signi� cance of this event and how it changed the political and ultimately economic world order. As politics never was, and probably never will be, one-dimensional, I am questioning the predominantly “Western”-oriented outlook of de-bating the year 1989. Let me embark on a very personal journey, nevertheless giving a balanced account of this rather turbulent era.

Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin WallI was 27 years old in 1989 and many of my generation had been exten-sively involved in East- West or “All European”-youth politics.

Looking behind what was commonly referred to as the Iron Curtain; I visited the Soviet Union, Budapest, Prague and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the years 1985 to 1989. Perhaps surprisingly and unbeknownst to many outside observers things had begun to move forward, not by external pressure but through internal determination. However, change does not happen overnight and what I was able to witness was perhaps only gradual change, but nevertheless it was quite sig-ni� cant. Let me talk about a number of meetings which made me believe that a new generation of leaders, carefully groomed by the politburo’s of the time but much more open to accept-ing change as a necessity, would over time come to terms with new realities and granting extended personal freedoms to their emerging civil societies, including themselves.

We met with representatives of the ruling socialist/communist party’s youth movements, powerful in their own right and perceived to be the future leaders of their countries whilst no one from my generation was certain to ever being elevated into higher political office.

In 1985 I participated in a 500-strong “Western” delegation attending the Moscow World Youth Festival. Under Mikhail Gor-bachev the � rst signs of an easing of restrictions that hampered so many aspects of Russian everyday life became visible. We visited private homes of ordinary citizens, ate in Moscow’s � rst pizza res-taurant and roamed freely all over town without anyone looking over their shoulder. We brought a famous rock star along too, who was allowed to give public concerts -- a � rst for him and a prec-edent for what was to come in the near future. Had I landed on a distant totalitarian planet, heavily policed? Not really. I rather felt disheartened by realizing that what many of my fellow West Eu-ropean youth-representatives took for granted back home and of course did not � nd in Russia and de� ned as “freedom” came down to comparing levels of economic development, material matters. Still, we knew about human rights violations and restricted free-dom of speech. For us it was a delicate balancing act to say the least.

I flew back to Russia one year later in 1986, this time with 10 or so of my colleagues. The meetings were part of a cross-border, cross-systems youth dialogue aimed at the future political party and NGO leaders on both sides of the Iron Curtain getting to know each other. The message we carried with us and heard from our hosts was one of peace, not war.

We continued to Baku, where we received a very warm wel-come indeed. The � rst place our hosts took us to visit had been the local mosque, followed by a fascinating indoors-outdoors museum and then the impressive oil platforms located offshore in the Caspian Sea. We were told that there were no unreason-able demands being levied upon them from Moscow, that reli-gion could be practiced relatively freely and that they were hoping more tourists would be able to come and visit. Although we had been accompanied by two leading members of the communist party’s youth organization � ying down with us from Moscow there was no big-brother type of atmosphere. Even our guides from central of� ce started to relax and unwind once in Baku; Moscow’s corridors of power seemed to be light-years away.

Talking about the environment, Hungary 1987I had heard a lot about Hungary trying to implement a more inclu-sive set of policies and in late 1987 was keen to see with my own eyes whether this held true or not. Hungary would rank � rst if mea-sured on a scale of alternative topics we were able to discuss. Yes,

we had of course a local party of� cial “accompanying” our delega-tion (the “interpreter”). We met student representatives who had been “selected” beforehand but nevertheless gave a fascinating insight into what was about to happen in that country soon. The environment had become a focus of attention, so had the role of women in society and addressing the gender imbalance. A visit to Prague the same year underlined my observations -- Eastern youth leaders asked for dialogue, best practices and support.

Germans were simply Germans -- whether East or WestCompared to a certain “laissez-faire” attitude as witnessed in Russia, Prague and Budapest, meeting East Germany’s Socialist Unity Par-ty (SED) youth leaders was an altogether different story. Not simply because the GDR was one of Russia’s satellite states, always afraid of falling out with Moscow; socialism was more pure, or perhaps simpler than the version we had encountered in Russia. A youth festival or large scale event was to be held in the form of a “camp,” and not in posh hotels. I visited East Germany three times between 1987 and 1989 -- once for the above mentioned “camp” near Berlin, once on a special three city tour focusing on the emerging computer revolution and meeting young fashion designers and � nally for the Jung Königswinter Conference. We were able to listen to a mes-sage of communication, trying to arrange for more meetings and slowly but steadily opening the door to increased youth and student exchange programs. I sensed that our East German partners were afraid that perhaps socialism would one day cease to exist; our view was that the final generation of East German youth leaders was interested in keeping a state they could actually manage instead of being the permanent un-derstudy for their “rich” West German neighbors.

During the above mentioned 1988 Jung Königswinter Confer-ence youth representatives from both the United Kingdom and East and West Germany came together to acquaint themselves with each other, relate to issues of mutual concern and above all learn about respect for each other. Visiting our British army representa-tion as part of the Allied Forces in West Berlin on that occasion one year before the fall of the Berlin Wall no one would even think of that being a possibility with Berlin politics being the art of the possible, normalization was the top item on the agenda.

It would be wrong to state that the Berlin Wall was the last of its kind. Walls can be physical and they can be psychologi-cal too. A wall can resemble an unjust border or separation.

Think the two Korea’s, think Israel and Palestine. Besides, we can distinguish between walls made out of concrete and less obvious ones which are nevertheless as harmful. A wall can exist in politics, perceptions, minds and even hearts. Peace-ful coexistence is not possible as long as we continue to erect various types of barriers, obstacles and manifestations of ha-tred. Think apartheid, racial discrimination, oppression and gender imbalances. Think wars -- any war really. If the Eu-ropean Union has achieved one thing even the staunchest Euroskeptic could not wish away it is the fact that it has brought lasting peace to its member countries, initially start-ing out with France and West Germany.

1989’s communist youth leaders were no warlordsMy very own and personal opinion is that I would have pre-ferred that East and West would come together having had much more time to get to know each other � rst. I sometimes think that what had really happened was nothing more than transforming “good communists” into “good free marketers.” I am not convinced though whether any of the two scenarios is what the citizens of the eight former soviet satellite states plus the former GDR, by now all proud EU members, really wanted. What I recall 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall is above all the fact that I had the chance to meet face to face with the soon-to-be members of the leading political circles of four different countries, only that this soon-to-be became a “not any longer” after 1990. None of my partners appeared to me to be “totalitar-ian” or inclined to happily engage in nuclear warfare. A lot of momentum and intellectual capital was lost by not tolerating most former socialist youth activists to at least continue in an-other capacity, resulting in more or less declaring them outcasts.

Civil society can not be exported, imported or mastermindedI am not saying this because my father’s family hails from one of the Baltic Sea nations, but if I had been a citizen of any of the countries I was able to visit during 1985-1989 I would have felt rather intimidated by the approach of so many Western politi-cians telling me what would be best for me and my country! I am not saying I would have come to another conclusion, as after all civil liberties are what really matters -- but I probably would have preferred to achieve this according to my own methods and in my own time.

KLAUSJURGENS

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Locals walk along the former border in Berlin during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989.

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CMYK

COLUMNS M O N D AY , N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN 15

Turk�sh m�racle of

the 21st century

Who �s ready for a kurd�sh solut�on?

M�sery of the

oppos�t�onal m�nd

Pragmat�c popul�sm or Islam�c extrem�sm?

It appears that the Kurdish initiative will not receive any backing from the main opposition parties. The latest debate in Parliament last Friday showed once more how some poli-ticians approach the initiative as an opportunity to fan the heat of Turkish nationalism instead of contributing to the so-lution of a long-standing problem of the country.

This is a pity, but also the reality. What are left in Parliament are the governing party and the Democratic Society Party (DTP). It is cer-tain now that these two political parties alone will work together to � nd a solution to the Kurdish question.

Anyway, it is not realistic to expect anything positive from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose leader, speaking in Par-liament, declared democracy a threat to the existence of the Turkish state. So with the ultranationalists, who do not accept even democ-racy as a decent ground to address a question, what can be expected?

For that matter, the main opposition party is no different. Deniz Baykal equates any solution on the Kurdish question to a concession made to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Again, it was the dep-uty leader of this party who applauded the Dersim massacre of 1938

in his speech in Parliament. With the Kemalists, who are still suggest-ing Dersim-model massacres to “resolve” the Kurdish question, what kind of cooperation can be established? They would always argue for what they know and do best: oppression.

Thus the responsibility falls on the ruling party and the DTP (and or for that matter the PKK) and on all the progressive forces of the country in and outside Parliament.

The solution cannot be sudden, it will take time and progress as the public’s con� dence and support is continuously being built.

The government seems committed. I have never seen the prime minister this determined on any other issue. He has been consistently and continuously talking about the Kurdish opening

wherever he goes and whatever the agenda is, acting like a public educator on the Kurdish question.

Democratic reforms, some of which were outlined by Interior Minister Besir Atalay, will be introduced by the government, which has a parliamentary majority and executive power. On these, no help is needed except positive public opinion.

Yet this is only one aspect of the question and the solution. The second part involves disarming the PKK. Unless some posi-tive developments emerge on this side, it may be hard to keep up the momentum for democratic reforms for long, given the need for at least some degree of public support, which will only come through if the PKK seems to be disarming.

This must materialize. The PKK, whether willingly or unwillingly, in contact with Turkish government agencies or not, should contrib-ute to this process if it claims to be a party in the Kurdish question.

The � rst thing the PKK should do is denounce violence and de-clare its intention to engage in nonviolent political struggle. Second, it should surrender its arms, for example to the UN authorities in Iraq or the Iraqi Kurdish administration, in a gesture of goodwill. Such sur-

prising gestures of goodwill would certainly help democratic reforms pursued aggressively in Turkey and win over the support of the over-whelming majority of people in Turkey.

The question of course will emerge: why should the PKK act like this? My answer is very simple: If the PKK rejects claims of being an organization of self-interest-seeking people and feels responsible for the well-being of the Kurds in Turkey, it should not torpedo the pro-cess but be constructive.

In short, while on the one hand the government should be pushed for bold democratization initiatives, on the other hand the PKK must be continuously pressured to lay down its weapons. These two must be synchronized in order to carry on with the process successfully.

The friends of the Kurds and the Turks, and those who think that the region and the world would be a better place without the Kurdish question, cannot refrain from contributing to the new Kurdish initiative. Otherwise neither the democratic rights of the Kurds nor peace in Turkey and its region will be forthcoming. This is a scenario in which the mindset and policies of 1925 and 1938 will prevail, destabilizing the entire region.

Last Friday I had lunch with a close Kurdish friend of mine that I had not seen for a while. We had come to know each other in the mid-1960s as young activists working in the ranks of the Turkish Labor Party (T�P). We have kept in touch ever since, and our political views have evolved much in the same direction throughout the years, bringing us to the conclusion that nothing is more valuable than political freedom. Over lunch we dis-cussed the recent political events taking place in the country. He was full of ideas and said a lot of things. But the most remarkable statement he made was the following: “Devout Muslims in Turkey have � nally fully un-derstood that they cannot liberate themselves without liberating all who have suffered under the current authoritarian regime, that is the Kurds, the Alevis, the non-Muslims and others. That is why I am quite hopeful that the ‘democratic’ or ‘Kurdish opening’ the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government promises to pursue may succeed.”

In the evening I listened to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an ad-dressing Parliament in Ankara on the government initiative to further de-mocratize the regime and solve the Kurdish problem that has caused so much suffering not only since the beginning of the Kurdish insurgency led by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) 25 years ago, but ever since the founding of the republic. I was truly moved by Prime Minister Erdo�an’s speech. I was so happy to see that what the liberal-minded Turkish and Kurdish intellectuals had been advocating for a solution to the Kurdish problem for at least the last two decades had � nally become the government discourse as expressed by the chief executive. Prime Min-ister Erdo�an said the parliamentary debate on the Kurdish question held that day should be taken as a milestone in history. Nov. 13 may indeed become a milestone in republican Turkish history because with the initial reforms announced by Interior Minister Be�ir Atalay on that day, Turkey may be embarking on a road towards a solution to the Kurdish problem and bringing an end to the PKK insurgency, which has cost the country at least 40,000 lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.

I felt so elated that when Erdo�an concluded his speech I phoned close friends to share with them my thoughts and feelings on what we were wit-nessing. Later I sat down and contemplated. The Kurdish friend I met dur-ing the day was absolutely right. A very important aspect to consider of what we are recently witnessing in Turkish politics is surely the highly remarkable ideological evolution or transformation observed among the politicians in the AKP leadership since their appearance on the political scene in the early 1990s.

These politicians were among the leading cadre of the national vi-sion (or if you like the Islamist) movement led by Mr. Necmettin Erbakan whose Welfare Party (RP) was banned by the Constitutional Court in 1998. There were serious doubts about the RP’s commitment to secularism. It was advocating a highly statist and nationalistic economic philosophy that strongly opposed the liberalization and globalization of the Turkish econ-omy. In foreign policy it promised moving Turkey away from the West and the severing of ties with NATO and the EU. Its approach to the Kurdish problem was not much different from the of� cial authoritarian line.

This is what Mr. Erbakan was recently saying about the AKP govern-ment’s initiative: “Where does this Kurdish problem come from? Outside forces are inciting Kurdish nationalism to dismember Turkey. They want to have Turkey � ght within itself and then swallow it. They want to turn Turkey into a province of Israel …” This is how Mr. Erbakan called on AKP followers: “So what if you have taken off the ‘National Vision’ shirt? You are left naked … You are following the Jews. You said ‘one minute’ and then apologized … The road you are taking is not the right way. Return to your roots …” (At a Felicity Party meeting on Oct. 29.)

There certainly are a number of factors that explain the AKP leader-ship’s ideological transformation from “National Vision” to “Conservative Democracy.” The principal factor may be the rise since the 1990s in Anato-lia of new business and professional elites who are culturally conservative but pro-democracy and pro-liberal in their general political and economic orientations. Another factor may be prospects for greater freedom and prosperity, which the start of the EU accession process at the end of the 1990s opened up for Turkey. Yet another factor surely is the impact of the critical discourse of liberal-minded intellectuals directed towards the re-gime dominated by state elites with the military at the helm. But perhaps more important than any of these factors is the one my Kurdish friend pointed to, that is the realization by devoutly Muslim politicians that they cannot liberate themselves without liberating all who have suffered under the illiberal and authoritarian regime.

The AKP, with roots in the National Vision or (if you like the Is-lamist) movement, going through a radical ideological transformation and assuming leadership towards greater freedom and broader democ-racy in Turkey, even without any encouragement coming from the EU after the appearance of Sarkozys and Merkels, and despite military and judicial coup attempts and foul opposition from rival parties and main-stream media, is truly the Turkish miracle of the 21st century.

When the stormy, historical session in Parliament on Friday evening ended, I crossed the uncrowded border gate into Greece with some friends into the region called Western Thrace, where a less concerned minority of some 100,000 Turks have lived for ages. My intention was not to draw analogies between Turkey’s bleeding issue with its large Kurdish segment and that of Greece’s still annoyed, but placid, Turks, but when I saw yesterday’s road signs, I asked my road companion, a former deputy of the Turkish minority in the Greek Parliament, why there was a lack of Turkish names for the villages and towns besides the Greek ones.

He was bitter, of course, and it was clear to him that the majority would be very happy to wipe out the history of his people. “Peacefully, we have to keep asking,” he said. “Otherwise, our mouths would not be served by their spoons. We call ourselves Turks, not Muslims, here. Yet, they are trying to teach us that we are Muslims. We hope that they will learn someday that you are whatever you say you are.”

Denial and harassment have long been the common realities in this part of the world as elsewhere. Deeper into the millennium, on the other hand, dynamics clash. Societies raised in the hope of keeping everything static and unchanged drag behind.

There are now several conclusions from last Friday’s historic ses-sion on the Kurdish issue in Turkey. The � rst is that the dynamic of moving rocks from where they have stayed seems to have superiority over the other. The leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the head of the government, the key � gure in the whole pro-cess, Recep Tayyip Erdo�an, is unfazed in his resolve. The interesting part of this is the phenomenon of “swimming against the tide.” The AKP has, according to late polls, lost some further percentage points in handling the process, and it displays clearly in surveys that there is dismay felt by the Turkish majority on the way Kurds turned the PKK militants’ return into a victory. The pain and the memory of it will have to be taken very seriously by all involved.

The second conclusion is that the process will be long, slow and de-mand a lot of passion. Simply because it has been deeply rooted in the collective mind and the violent industry created will be resistant on all levels. Yet it will have to be measured by the quantity of concrete steps taken by the end of this year. The priority, it seems, will be on the native tongue -- Kurdish -- and its freedom and gradual normalization (yes, it will include the Kurdish names of towns and villages!).

There was a touch of realism in Erdo�an’s address on Friday. He stated that “we should not hope that everything will be problem free. The hope is that we leave a Turkey with less problems for our children.”

The third and � nal conclusion should be on the misery of the op-positional mind in politics. I wrote a long time ago that despite moves toward � nding a common ground, the AKP government will in the end of the day be “alone.” Last Friday’s showdown, reaching a peak when the Republican People’s Party (CHP) left the general assembly en masse, should have dispersed leftover hope that there will be any meeting of the minds on the bumpy road ahead.

The rhetoric exercised by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) was of no surprise. But I wonder whether any serious politician of the Left Bloc in the European Parliament or any member of Socialist International (SI) would, at this stage, take the rhetoric and behavior of the CHP as “business as usual.” With its performance, the CHP burned almost all its bridges with Turkey’s poor and politicized East and Kurdish Southeast. When seeing the pictures of in� uential party � gure Onur Öymen de-picted as Hitler (and, surprisingly not as Joseph Goebbels), displayed in windows and on walls in the province of Tunceli, it is no wonder where in politics the CHP has steered itself into. The next stage will be Alevis seeking another address for their votes.

When I am asked about the differences between parties such as the AKP and the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on one side and the MHP and the CHP on the other side, I always begin with the most important element, which is completely absent from the latter two: conscience. If a prime minister for the � rst time in the history of the republic can talk about the pain of having one’s village burned and sons killed and of people mysteriously vanishing, this illustrates a major change in Turkish politics since it tells of the power of conscience.

“Those in the opposition do not have the strength or the heart to talk about a solution today,” wrote my Kurdish colleague, Bejan Matur, in her latest article -- which I recommend strongly for my readers -- here in Today’s Zaman. “Old men are banging on their desks in Par-liament. What they want to kill is Turkey’s future. The future in which there will be no blood shed between Turks and Kurds. From the lectern in Parliament they are defaming the pain of mothers. They are listening with the deaf ears of a person who has never felt the pain of losing a child. Perhaps their souls are not touched. They are adding poison to the clear waters of the future,” she concludes.

How can a country that is supposedly turning authoritarian at home and Islamist in its foreign policy be pursuing a democratization package for Kurds and an engagement policy with Armenia? The Kurdish reform initiative, which will expand cultural rights for Kurds, is applauded by both the EU and Washington. Such democratic steps aimed at a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem are likely to bolster Ankara’s stalled accession process with the EU. One can thus argue that by tackling the Kurdish issue, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is also trying to improve Turkey’s chances of EU membership. The same goes for the opening with Armenia. Rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia is a crucial priority for the Obama administration. The US president needs a face-saving excuse in order to convince the Ar-menian lobby and the US Congress that genocide recognition is not the way to go with Turkey. He can only to do so by pointing at the progress on the ground. Therefore, by improving its relations with Erevan, Ankara is in fact also improving its relations with Washington.

So where is the Islamic agenda in all these poli-cies? Skeptics will argue that Ankara’s close relations with Iran and recent problems with Israel illustrate the Islamist tilt in its foreign policy. But is Turkey’s Iran policy based on a sense of Islamic solidarity? Would a more secular government in Turkey follow a very different Iran policy? There are major trade and energy contracts, amounting to $10 billion, between the two countries. In my opinion Turkey’s Iran policy is more about economic interests and “realpolitik.”

As far as Israel is concerned, the policies of the AKP government re� ect the feelings of the Turkish

street. In other words, Turkey’s anger with Israel is not an Islamic expression. It is rather a populist expression of frustration and willingness to punish the country for killing 1,400 innocent civilians earlier this year in Gaza.

Do you have to be an Islamist to feel such an-ger? This is why it doesn’t make much sense to talk about an Islamist turn in Turkish foreign policy. Turkey is becoming a country where public opin-ion matters much more than before. Populism and democracy often go hand-in-hand. After all, politi-cians who run democratic countries need to always think about elections and the ballot box. This is why they develop a chronic habit of looking at opinion polls. They do their best to follow the wishes of their constituency. In that sense, the AKP is not any dif-ferent. It is a populist party rather than an Islamist one. If the EU is popular with the Turkish street, the AKP will push for more EU reform. If people are an-gry with the EU, as seems now to be the case, there will be less political will for EU reforms.

Are there, then, no dangers in populism? The answer depends on the social and economic con-text. The street can sometimes turn to extreme ideologies and elect extremist politicians. After all, Hitler was an elected politician, and he was popular with the German street. But any objective observer of Turkey would agree that the Turkish street is pragmatic. Turkish voters, like voters in Western democracies, look at the economic situation � rst. Bread and butter issues are much more important than ideology for them. Therefore, if the AKP is unable to run the economy properly, it will most probably lose the elections. This is why job cre-ation, the economic growth rate, the trade balance and volume with neighbors are such critical factors for Turkey’s democratically elected politicians. No democratically elected government can ignore such issues. For all these reasons, democracies tend to be pragmatic systems. The need to get re-elected has a moderating impact on politicians. There are no reasons to doubt that the same dynamics are at play in Turkey’s own political evolution.

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SPAIN, REUTERS

Page 16: todayszaman16.11

Today is the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO). On this day in 1945, UNESCO was established with the aim of creating peace in the minds of men through education, social and natural science, culture and communication.

Today is the International Day for Tolerance. The UN Gen-eral Assembly established this day to commemorate the adoption by UNESCO member states of the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance in 1995.

Today is the anniversary of the adoption of the Seville State-ment on Violence by UNESCO in 1989. The Seville Statement on Violence was originally adopted by scientists on May 16 of the same year. It refuted the notion that organized human violence is biologically determined.

Today is the anniversary of National Rebirth in Estonia. On

this day in 1988, Estonia declared its sovereignty in internal af-fairs. This initial step toward full independence yielded fruit when the country became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Today is Icelandic Language Day in Iceland. This date was chosen to coincide with the birthday of the Icelandic poet Jónas Hallgrímsson and the announcement of the national Jónas Hall-grímsson Award, which is given to someone who has contributed to the development of the Icelandic language.

Today is Children in Need Day in the UK and Ireland. This day is a charity appeal day organized by the BBC. Each year since 1980 the BBC has set aside one evening of programming on its flagship television channel, BBC 1, to broadcast events aimed at raising money for charities working with children in the UK.

On this day in 1869, the Suez Canal running between Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez on the Red Sea was

opened to marine traffic.Today is the anniversary of the death of Academy Award-win-

ning American film actor Clark Gable (1901-1960). Nicknamed “The King of Hollywood,” Gable was named the seventh greatest male star of all time in 1999 by the American Film Institute.

On this day in 1918, the Hungarian Democratic Republic was created by a revolution that started in Budapest on Oct. 31, 1918. The official proclamation of the republic was Nov. 16, 1918, and Mihály Károlyi became the president.

On this day in 1949, Operation Magic Carpet was launched. Also known as Operation On Wings of Eagles, the operation be-tween June 1949 and September 1950 brought 49,000 Yemenite Jews to the new state of Israel. British and American transport planes made some 380 flights from Aden, in a secret operation that was not made public until several months after it was over.

16 TODAY’S ZAMAN M O N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 LEISURE

E208:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show09:00 Dedikoducu K�z10:00 The Martha Stewart Show11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show12:00 The Rachael Ray Show13:00 Umutsuz Evkad�nlar�14:00 The Martha Stewart Show15:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show16:00 The Rachael Ray Show17:00 Dedikoducu K�z18:00 The Martha Stewart Show19:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show20:00 Family Guy21:00 Heroes22:15 Mad Men23:00 The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien24:00 Mad Men01:00 The Jay Leno Show02:00 The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien03:00 Heroes04:00 Family Guy

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TRT Tour�sm Rad�o

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“The Watercolor”

2012�STANBUL: BEYO�LU AFM F�TA� 11:00 12:50 14:30 16:20 18:00 19:45 21:30 23:30 MAÇKA C�NEBONUS 11:30 12:15 14:45 15:30 18:00 18:45 21:15 22:00 00:15 CADDEBOSTAN AFM 10:30 12:15 14:00 15:50 17:40 19:30 21:20 23:10 ANKARA: ATA ON TOWER 11:00 12:30 14:00 15:30 17:15 18:45 20:30 22:00 23:00 00:00 B�LKENT C�NEBONUS 10:45 12:15 13:55 15:30 17:10 18:45 20:25 22:00 00:00 �ZM�R: C�NEBONUS KONAK P�ER 10:30 12:00 13:45 15:15 17:00 18:30 20:15 21:45 23:45 ANTALYA: C�NEBONUS M�GROS 10:45 12:15 14:00 15:30 17:30 19:00 20:45 22:15 00:00 14:45 18:15 21:45

BORNOVA BORNOVA�STANBUL: Ataköy Galleria Prestige 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 00:00 Beyo�lu 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 Çi�li 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 23:45

THE WATERCOLOR�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: Bak�rköy 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

Hollywood studios are now think-ing twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions

in reaction to the poor economy, but also be-cause of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors.

After buddy comedy “The Hangover,” a movie with a little known cast, made $459 million at global box offices this past sum-mer, several films have shown that a great concept or story can trump star appeal when it comes to luring fans.

“District 9,” a low budget movie in which the biggest stars were space aliens treated like refugees and the lead actor was South African Sharlto Copley, made $200 million. Thriller “Paranormal Activity,” starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, has cash regis-ters ringing to the tune of $100 million.

Next up, on Nov. 20, comes Summit Entertainment’s relatively low-budget ($50 million) franchise movie “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” a sequel to the 2008 hit vampire romance “Twilight” which made global stars of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. On-line ticket sellers report “New Moon” is one of their highest pre-sale movies of all time.

“Nobody says that a big wonderful mov-ie needs to be expensive, it’s just that that’s been the trend, and perhaps the trend is mis-guided,” said University of Southern Califor-nia cinema professor Jason E. Squire.

Last weekend, comic actor Jim Car-rey’s “A Christmas Carol” became the latest

celebrity-driven movie to stumble at box of-fices, opening to a lower-than-expected $30 million. Aside from Jim Carrey and “Carol,” which cost at least $175 million, A-listers who suffered box office flops recently have includ-ed Bruce Willis (“Surrogates”), Adam Sandler (“Funny People”), Will Ferrell (“Land of the Lost”) and Julia Roberts (“Duplicity”).

Hollywood insiders say A-listers current-ly are having trouble with salary demands in the $15 million range or participation ap-proaching 20 percent of gross profits -- deals that were once somewhat common for top

talent. Instead, they are being asked to take less money upfront and greater compensa-tion only if a film breaks even.

Franchise on the cheapIn “New Moon,” actors Robert Pattinson

and Kristen Stewart rekindle their romance between an immortal vampire and a high school girl that they brought to silver screens in last year’s adaptation from Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books. At the time, Pat-tinson and Stewart were unknown stars but that did not hurt “Twilight,” which made

$384 million at global box offices and gave Summit a bona fide franchise.

In recent years, Hollywood has been racked by the recession, competition from video games and the Web, declining DVD sales and fewer licensing deals with televi-sion networks. This week, Disney chief Bob Iger said in a conference call that the sluggish DVD market is one reason the major studio has altered its moviemaking. “It causes us to really reconsider not only what we’re invest-ing in our films, but how we market them and how we distribute them,” he said.

For its part, fledgling Summit has posi-tioned “Twilight” as a franchise for the reces-sion era by keeping the pressure on the costs for “New Moon,” and Hollywood producers are praising them for it.

When director Peter Jackson made his three “Lord of the Rings” films simulta-neously 10 years ago, it was a novel idea that reduced costs because actors, sets, costumes, locations and other items only had to be assembled and paid for once. Similarly, by shooting the next two “Twi-light” movies together, Summit kept the cost of the third film, “Eclipse,” due out June 30, around $60 million, one source said. “What I like is they didn’t have a long window [between films], they went in to make a franchise, they didn’t go in to see if they had a franchise,” said Warren Zide, producer on the “American Pie” and “Fi-nal Destination” movies. Los Angeles Reuters

Mr. D�ploMAT!Crossword

Sudoku

ACROSS 1 Bit of luggage 4 Picture

enhancer 9 Followed a

cannonball’s path

14 Mendes of Hollywood

15 Emergency brake control

16 Excessively resonant

17 Have faith in, as a rumor

20 Meditation goal

21 Poet Aukrust 22 Cedes the

pigskin 23 Unprepared

student’s dread

26 Julia Roberts in “Ocean’s Eleven”

29 Brown quickly

30 Jezebel’s god 31 Abate 32 Be in need

of a sick day 34 The Destroy-

er, in Hindu-ism (Var.)

36 “Coffee or ___?”

37 Think hard 41 “Defending

Liberty, Pursuing Justice” org.

42 Audio technician’s concern

43 Aquarium wriggler

44 Palindromic address

46 Baby newts 48 “Ah, me!”

52 Baby carriage, in England

53 Sidewalk eatery

54 Have a crush on

55 Start over from scratch

57 Heart and soul

59 Participate in a think tank

63 Judgment payout

64 Needed liniment

65 What a retrovirus contains

66 A few bricks shy of a load

67 Animals in a skein

68 Darn it all?DOWN 1 Dances to

jazz, in a way 2 New York’s

Columbus, for one

3 Chief ore of lead

4 Gets the heck out

5 Accelerates, as a hot rod

6 Zoroastrian sacred texts

7 Yankee’s Big Apple rival

8 Ranch closing?

9 Member of the first family

10 Take turns 11 Sporty Chevy 12 Three-toed

ratite 13 Hide the gray 18 Where

office work accumulates

19 ‘Droid 24 Lighten up 25 Unlikely, as

chances 27 “Judge

Judy” figure 28 Place to

refresh oneself

30 Group of nations

31 Disabled, as a horse

33 Agenda element

35 Certain necklines

37 Aspen ascender

38 Control tower figure

39 Earthbound South American bird

40 Like ice

skates 41 It pumps up

the volume, for short

45 Afghan princes (Var.)

47 Acquire pearly whites

49 They’re certainly not company men

50 Known by only a few

51 Playground contraption

53 Wearer of blue

54 Actor’s whisper

56 City slicker, out West

58 Ships’ pronouns

59 Hardly a girl’s dream date

60 Be beholden to

61 Turn tail? 62 Sculpting

medium

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2009 Universal Uclickwww.upuzzles.com

EASY

EASY

HOW TO PLAY? : The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 by 9 square Sudoku game:

Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9

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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. Consu-

late: 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

Gregorian Calendar: 16 November 2009 C.E. Hijri Calendar: 29 Dhul-Qadah 1430 A.H. Hebrew Calendar: 29 Cheshvan [email protected]

936

CMYK

HARD

Hollywood A-l�sters �n trouble

Cem K�z�ltu�[email protected]

HARD

Robert Pattinson (L) and Kristen Stewart share the title roles in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

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Page 17: todayszaman16.11

CONTINUATION M O N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN 17

CMYK

YARSAV accuses gov’t of manipulating judiciary

The honorary president of the Supreme Court of Ap-peals, Sabih Kanado�lu, claimed that the govern-

ment is attempting to create a new judiciary loyal to itself, in remarks at the 2nd General Council of the Judges’ and Prosecutors’ Foundation (YARSAV) yesterday.

In response to questions from the press regarding re-cent allegations of wiretapping of Supreme Court of Ap-peals phones, Kanado�lu said: “The Republic of Turkey is a secular, democratic, social welfare state governed by the rule of law that respects human rights. If it really res-pects human rights, it should ensure that 70 million peop-le do not have to live under the suspicion that their pho-ne conversations are being listened in on. If you are gover-ned by the rule of law, you should ensure that judicial in-dependence survives. If you want to see a democratic re-gime survive, then everything should live up to the stan-dards of contemporary democracy.”

In response to a question regarding Telecommuni-cations Directorate (T�B) President Fethi �im�ek’s deni-al that Supreme Court of Appeals phones were wiretap-ped, Kanado�lu said he had seen a directive from a Jus-tice Ministry inspector to the national police department that clearly tells the police to move records of a wiretap-ped phone number connected to the Supreme Court of Appeals operator to “someplace else” or destroy all re-cords of the wiretapping. “If there was indeed no wire-tapping of the Supreme Court of Appeals phones, then the inspector’s writing is not in line with reality. If that was the case, the T�B president’s statement is not true.”

YARSAV President Ömer Faruk Emina�ao�lu also spoke at yesterday’s general congress, saying the wi-retapping scandal has shown that the government is trying to put the judiciary under pressure. He said YAR-SAV was being attacked by the government and some media outlets for not keeping silent in the face of attacks against the judiciary. �stanbul Today’s Zaman

Initiative picks up momentum with new rights reforms

Military plot damaged public trust in TSK, poll shows

All institutions and organizations whose statutes and charters include provisions on and references to human rights will have a right to representation in the human rights of� ces to be created by the government.

A substantial number of civil society organiza-tions are wary of the creation of the human rights institution. Their cautious approach is mostly due to the fact that the government failed to consult with them while devising its plan. The previous draft prepared by government of� cials provided that the local liaison of� ces would include at least three ci-vil society organizations as representatives; howe-ver, civil society actors said it would not be possib-le to meet this requirement in most districts because there are not enough civil society organizations fo-cusing on human rights issues. Civil society actors also demand that the projected human rights insti-tution be � nancially independent, that its members be protected, that the procedures for the appoint-

ment and removal of of� cers in the institution be publicized, that the right to conduct unlimited and unplanned visits to state institutions be recognized and that it be given the right to make recommenda-tions to the National Security Council (MGK). The government agrees that the human rights instituti-on should be independent, but argues that the exe-cutive branch should be represented in the instituti-on. Human rights organizations argue that the go-vernment representative should not be entitled to cast a vote in the meetings of the institution.

International inspections to prevent tortureThe government will withdraw its reservations to the Optional Protocol to the UN Conventi-on Against Torture. Despite signing the optional protocol, opened for signature in 2005, on Sept. 4, 2005, Turkey did not proceed with rati� cation. The government has recently referred the pro-tocol to Parliament for rati� cation amid ongoing

discussions on the Kurdish initiative.With this move, the government seeks to cre-

ate a system allowing inspection of detention cen-ters by international and national bodies in an at-tempt to put an end to torture and other inhuma-ne, cruel and humiliating conduct. Eager to pursue a zero-tolerance policy vis-à-vis torture, the govern-ment has agreed to international supervision.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Burhan Kuzu, chairman of Parliament’s Constitution Com-mission, said the commission on combating discrimination will take shape in accordance with the Paris Principles and that the commis-sion will address all cases involving hate crimes and will also defend the rights of subjects victi-mized by these offenses. Reports prepared by the commission will be reviewed and assessed by the human rights institution; the � ndings of the institution will be further referred to the go-vernment. The Paris Principles, which relate to the status of national institutions for the pro-

motion and protection of human rights, ente-red into force on Dec. 20, 1993; these principles were recommended by the Council of Europe to its member states on Sept. 30, 1997. Turkey will take a bright and brave step toward EU mem-bership by aligning itself with these principles.

Hate crimes to be monitoredWith the establishment of the commission, the go-vernment will not insert a separate section on hate crimes in the criminal code. The political administ-ration will introduce measures to make sure that sanctions against violent offenses involving preju-dices and stereotypes against a certain group, race or gender are properly implemented. The govern-ment believes problems arise from a lack of imple-mentation of measures included in legislative ins-truments prohibiting discrimination. The projected commission on combating discrimination will add-ress these problems and make sure that these mea-sures are properly observed in relevant cases.

The plot details a plan to destroy the image of the government and the Gülen movement in the eyes of the public, to play down the Ergene-kon investigation and to gather support for mem-bers of the military arrested as part of the inves-tigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine organiza-tion plotting to overthrow the government. The plot, called the Action Plan to Fight Reactionar-yism, made its way into the media in early June. The General Staff, however, denied possession of the plan, saying the document was merely a photocopied version. An unnamed military of� -cer mailed the original copy to Ergenekon pro-secutors last month, which eliminated all suspi-cion surrounding the authenticity of the docu-ment. Since June, Chief of General Staff Gen. �l-ker Ba�bu� has reiterated that his military had al-ways been deeply loyal to democracy and the rule of law and the TSK does not shelter junta groups. However, according to the latest MetroPOLL survey almost 37 percent of the participants said

they do not believe that, while 52 percent of the participants admitted they still believed the mili-tary was loyal to democracy and the rule of law.

In the poll, 33 percent of participants also said their con� dence in the TSK has been dama-ged following the appearance of the military plot, while 42 percent said there has been no change in their con� dence in the TSK and the chief of Gene-ral Staff. Furthermore, 31.7 percent of the respon-dents said the chief of General Staff should resign while 50 percent said he should remain in his post.

Re� ections of democratic initiativeAnother issue respondents were asked about was the ruling AK Party’s democratic initiative to bring a solution to the country’s long-standing Kurdish issue. Asked whether they support the initiative process or not, 51.6 percent said they opposed it while 35.4 said they supported it. As for the question of whether they found the go-vernment successful in managing the initiative process, 59 percent replied “no,” while 28 per-

cent said “yes.” Professor Özer Sencar, the ow-ner of MetroPOLL, said the poll results on the initiative revealed that the government had not explained its plans to settle the issue suf� ciently to the public yet, while the opposition was suc-cessful in making its position heard louder. Pub-lic opinion about the government and Prime Mi-nister Recep Tayyip Erdo�an seems to have been negatively in� uenced by the democratic initiative process, according to poll results. As for the qu-estion of whether their view of the government has been negatively or positively in� uenced sin-ce the initiative was announced, 56 percent of the respondents said negatively and 38 percent said positively. While 30 percent of AK Party suppor-ters also said their views about the government and the prime minister have been affected negati-vely, 77 percent of pro-Kurdish Democratic Soci-ety Party (DTP) supporters said they look the go-vernment more positively with the initiative.

As Sancar says, the enthusiastic reception of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members while

returning to Turkey last month also negatively af-fected public opinion on the initiative. According to the poll, 93.9 percent of the respondents said they found the enthusiastic and joyous reception of PKK members by DTP supporters and others wrong. According to the poll, while 35 percent of the respondents said they support the stance of Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader De-niz Baykal, who strongly opposes the initiative on the grounds that it would lead to separation in the country, it is noteworthy that 23 percent of those who said they voted for the CHP in the latest lo-cal elections disagree with Baykal.

When respondents were asked for which party they would vote if the general elections were held today, 32.2 percent said they would vote for the AK Party, a � gure lower than the 38.3 percent of the vote the party received in the March 29 local elections. While 23.1 percent said they would vote for the CHP, 18.4 percent said they would vote for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). �stanbul Today’s Zaman

cont�nued from page 1

Col. Çiçek’s release after second arrest unlawful, say jurists

However, he was released after a brief detention, with the �stanbul 9th Crimi-

nal Court citing its reason as “the suspect having no possibility of obscuring evidence, and has a permanent address where he can be found,” un-der Article 100 of the Code on Criminal Proce-dure (CMK). However, the same article -- which allows for the release of individuals if they meet the conditions of not having the ability to obs-cure evidence and having a permanent residen-ce where they can easily be found -- also states in its second paragraph that these reasons alone are not good enough for release in crimes against constitutional order.

According to former Prosecutor Gültekin Avc�, such practices might encourage terrorist or-ganizations. Avc� says: “Such a ruling to release him while all of the conditions for arrest laid out in the CMK are there is very surprising. The de-cision is a very serious disappointment. It cannot legally be defended. The judicial mechanism that has ruled this release decision actually paves the way for members of all terrorist organizations to walk free. If this is referred to as a precedent by other courts, this will mean that people will ne-ver be punished because of such documents and their statements in legally wiretapped phone conversations. The judges who made this ruling were appointed recently by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors [HSYK]. It is also inte-resting that the ruling comes one day after HSYK Deputy Chairman Kadir Özbek made the state-ment that the judiciary is now on defense.”

Another former prosecutor, Re�at Petek, said Çiçek’s release for the second time was cle-arly indicative of a settling of accounts going on inside the judiciary. “As it is publicly known, a coup plot aiming to destroy the rule of law and democracy was acquired. A forensic report sho-wed that this document is authentic. According to the law, a person who stands accused based on such evidence should remain under arrest. The HSYK deputy chairman who sits at the top of the judicial hierarchy has given orders to the judges. This has created the impression that the

judiciary is facing a very serious interference. No-body, neither the justice minister nor the deputy chairman of the HSYK or the head of the Sup-reme Court of Appeals can give orders to inde-pendent judges. There is material evidence the-re; this is why he was arrested in the � rst place.”

Ali Ayd�n, the head of the Kayseri Bar As-sociation, commented, saying: “Courts are se-riously losing credibility. This is in no way a decision inline with the law. This is a very un-fortunate ruling.” Süleyman Gürkök, the head of the Anatolia Law Association said: “The type of crime here is very important. Dursun Çiçek was arrested on charges of terrorism. The prosecution in this investigation claims that the crime was not committed by a sing-

le person and that this crime was committed against the majority of the society. This ruling is highly suspicious.” The head of the Associ-ation of Jurists, Kamil U�ur Yaral�, said an of-� cer facing such a serious accusation should not have been released. “This will destroy the trust which segments that have been targeted by the action plan have in the judiciary.”

Civil society protestsPublic protests also took place on Saturday aga-inst Çiçek’s release. A group of 50 individuals who gathered in front of the �stanbul Courtho-use in Be�ikta� held up signs reading, “How did the wet signature dry up in two days?” questio-ning Çiçek’s controversial release. A spokesper-

son for the group said Turkey has seen examples of the General Staff giving brie� ngs to judiciary members in the past. “We have always been aga-inst such intervention in the judiciary by the Ge-neral Staff and we always will be.”

Meanwhile, the General Staff yesterday re-leased a statement denying allegations made by some media organizations that Çiçek had lunch with the force commanders at the General Staff Headquarters on Nov. 10.

All in all, 30 people who are currently on ac-tive duty in the military have been arrested so far for involvement in the Ergenekon organization. Five of these have been released. Currently, 25 of-� cers on active duty are under arrest as suspec-ted members of Ergenekon. �stanbul Today’s Zaman

cont�nued from page 1

Çiçek’s release was condemned in public protests on Saturday by groups who gathered in front of the �stanbul courthouse in Be�ikta�.

cont�nued from page 14

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While putting the law through hell

Ömer Faruk Emina�ao�lu, who is the president of the Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) and continues his duty as a prosecutor in his spare time(!), and a judge from Sincan, most of whose decisions were claimed to be political, put their heads together and started the process that led to a raid on the Telecommunications Directorate (T�B). Right after the raid was carried out, special news deliveries were made to some media organizations. They claimed the judiciary was wi-retapping telephone calls of the judiciary. This is nothing new. Indeed, it is a regular procedure to wiretap someone from the judiciary if he or she is the subject of an investigation. On the other hand much evidence emerged that there was a link bet-ween the Ergenekon case and many judges and prosecutors. Wasn’t it discovered that some members of the judiciary had said, “Do you have an orders for me” to Ergenekon suspects? During this process, didn’t we learn about a prosecutor who re-quested retirement and started to get ready to become a notary after it was revealed that he had invited the president of the As-sociation for the Union of Patriotic Forces (VKGB), who is cur-rently in Silivri Prison, to his room while interrogating a writer?

Didn’t the same prosecutors � le lawsuits against newspa-pers because their names were mentioned with Ergenekon? Moreover, the man is both a prosecutor and the chairman of an association. Even that is understandable. But he is acting as tho-ugh he is defending the Ergenekon suspects and telling them how they need to act when giving testimony. This is the situati-on. Unfortunately, there are suspicions that there is actual coo-peration between some members of the judiciary and deep for-mations. Under the current circumstances which is more cor-rect to say: “Wow, they were actually listening to the judiciary,” or “Wow, some members of the judiciary were supporting il-legal organizations”? Experiences around the world show that dark organization cannot survive without support from the ju-diciary. Therefore, if there is a concrete reason to suspect a link, those who are leading the investigation will start the legal pro-cess and monitor phone calls through the judiciary (even if it is a judicial member). This is not illegal.

Besides, the T�B is not where interceptions are actually made. It is a unit where bureaucratic records of gendarmerie intelligence, police intelligence and national intelligence inter-ceptions are kept and where the interception process is mo-nitored to ensure that it is conducted according to procedure. But for some people that is not important. For them, starting an outcry that “everyone is being listened to” is more impor-tant then the truth. Since there were some media organizati-ons that were in line to spread this message, there was no rea-son not to turn it into a show, and ultimately that is what hap-pened. Some media organizations (especially a news station that appears to be objective but is actually an Ergenekon trum-peter) facilitated the spread of an incorrect perception. Whi-le talking about wiretapping and eavesdropping, we forget the real question: “Why were requests made to monitor the phone calls of some members of the judiciary, and what concrete evi-dence was there that led the judges to respond in the af� rma-tive for the request to intercept phone calls?”

With the position it has taken and controversial de-cisions it has reached, the judiciary has given the ima-ge that it is involved in politics, and this has caused seri-ous damage (although some judicial members don’t care about this). At a time when trust in justice has weakened, we are also experiencing a media problem. Unfortunately, some members of the media continue to directly and so-metime indirectly support junta supporters. That said, it seems there is along way ahead before democracy is fully established in this country. Despite this serious picture we have before us, no one should think Turkey will turn its back on the participatory and pluralistic democracy or-bit it has entered. It will not turn back. Just as juntas are outdated, facilitating juntas is also outdated.

cont�nued from page 14

Page 18: todayszaman16.11

CM Y K

TODAY’S LEARNING M O N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 918 TODAY’S ZAMAN

The recycling processRecycling means to put used objects or materials througha special process so that they can be used again.Recycling starts with people separating recyclable mate-rials from other trash. Next, the separated recyclable ma-terials are collected by recycling programs and processedat recycling plants. These processed recyclable materialsare then sold to manufacturers for use in new products.

The benefits of recyclingMaking new things from recycled ones takes less money,less energy and less of the earth's resources. Because lessenergy is used, factories do not release as much pollutioneither. In addition, recycling conserves energy and rawmaterials needed to make new products. By recycling orreusing plastic, metal and glass items, you can reduce theneed to mine, transport and manufacture natural re-sources to make new products.

What are recyclable materials?Aluminum and steel cans, cardboard, glass, newspapersand plastic bottles are all recyclable. These items can bemade into new products, including cans, the steel usedto build skyscrapers and buses, cardboard boxes, glassjars and bottles, newspaper and office paper, plastic de-tergent bottles, and even playground equipment.

Ways to reduce trashThe best way to reduce the amount of trash is to be acareful shopper. Do not buy more than you need. Asmore and more people buy products that are reusable,refillable or concentrated, manufacturers will take noticeand produce more of these environmentally friendlyproducts. Other ways you can reduce trash are:

Avoid products with excessive packaging.Repair, rather than replace, broken items.Donate unwanted materials to charity.Use re-usable bags.

*Adapted from http://www.recycling-for-charity.com

B. READING COMPREHENSION:Answer the questions according to the text.1. How can the amount of trash be re-duced?

a. By using paper or plastic bags once.b. By throwing away broken objects.c. By buying more than you need.d. By using environmentally friendly products.

2. Which of the following is NOT a benefit of recycling?a. using less energyb. the release of more pollutionc. spending less moneyd. using less natural resources

3. Which of these materials are recyclable (choose ALL correct answers)?a. newspaperb. glass bottlesc. aluminum cansd. leftover food

A. PROCESS:Put the sentences in order according to therecycling process.

a. ----------collection by recycling programsb.-------sorting the itemsc.-------selling to manufacturersd.----------processinge. ---------creating a new item

Recycling

ADVANCED (B1-B2)

INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

ELEMENTARY (A1-A2)

GRAMMAR

PHOBIASPhobia originally comes from the Greek word"phobos," which means fear. A phobia is anuncontrollable and intense fear of a stimulus orsituation. Moreover, phobias are unreasonableand irrational. Although people with phobiasrealize that there is no reason for their fear,they panic when they encounter the feared ob-ject or situation. This fear can be alleviated onlyby avoiding that object or situation. Phobiasinterfere with the person's daily life.

Phobias are divided into three categories:simple phobias, social phobias and agora-phobia. People with simple phobias areafraid of a specific object, animal or situation.These people fear darkness, enclosed placeslike elevators or theaters, snakes and heights.

People with social phobias do not feelcomfortable in social situations like speakingor eating in public. Socially phobic peopleavoid social situations because they are afraidof being criticized or humiliated. Agoraphobiais the most common anxiety disorder. Peoplewith agoraphobia cannot leave their neigh-borhood. They feel upset if they have to do soand are worried that there will be no oneavailable to help them. Agoraphobic individu-als really need professional help.

How are people suffering from phobiastreated? Compared to agoraphobia, simpleand social phobias are much easier to treat.There are basically two ways to treat phobias.First, a drug treatment is a fairly effective op-tion. Second, therapy is another option. Themost commonly used method of therapy isexposure. In this technique, the phobic indi-vidual is treated by facing his phobia.

Most of us are afraid of something; how-ever, it is comforting that your phobias canbe treated if you confront them.

*Adapted and extracted from "Introduction toPsychology" (Atkinson, R.L., Atkinson R.C., Smith &Hillgard 1985)

A. VOCABULARY:Read the definitions and find the word in the text that matches it.

1. _______________: having a very strong effect or felt very strongly (para. 1)

2. _______________: something that makes someone or something move or react (para. 1)

3. _______________: to make something less painful or difficult to deal with (para. 1)

4. _______________: to make someone feel ashamed or stupid,

especially when other people are present (para. 2)

5. _______________: something which is able to be used or can easily be bought or found (para. 2)

6. _______________: to experience physical or mental pain (para. 3)

7. _______________: to deal with something very difficult or unpleasant in a brave,

determined way (para. 4)

B. READING COMPREHENSION:Mark the sentences as T (true) or F (false).

1. _________ Phobic people cannot control themselves when they encounter their phobias.

2. _________ Phobic people are aware that their fear is not rational.

3. _________ Fear of snakes is an example of agoraphobia.

4. _________ People who are afraid of going to places away from their home have agoraphobia.

5. _________ Social phobias are the most difficult to treat.

6. _________ Drugs do not work in treating phobias.

Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

* QUOTE OF THE DAY

Last week's answer key: Advance: 1-was, 2-was, 3-were tearing, 4-didn't have, 5-went, 6-had sold, 7-decided, 8-were sniffing, 9-made, 10-wrote, 11-joined, 12-signed, 13-released, 14-decided, 15-were/had been, 16-went, 17-sold, 18-didn't speak, 19-wasn't, 20-hired, 21-stud-ied, 22-wrote, 23-released, 24-became/has become, 25-sang, 26-is trying, 27-took, 28-studies, 29-founded, 30-has opened, 31-is, 32-has been, 33-has received, 34-has sold, 35-has become. Elementary: A. 1. T, 2. F, 3. T, 4. F, 5. F, B. 1. a, 2. b, 3. b, 4. a, Intermediate: A. 1.e, 2. f, 3. g 4. a, 5. h, 6. d, 7. c, 8. i, 9. b, B. Verb: observe, motivate; Noun: effect, optimists; Adjective: balanced, exhausted, reluctant; Adverb: affective

Read the text and complete it with the correct active or passive form of the verbs in parentheses.

VOCABUL ARY1. What does "passenger" mean?

a. Someone who is walking, especially along a street or other place used by cars.

b. Someone who is traveling in a vehicle.

2. What does "construct" mean?a. o build a physical structure such as a house, bridge or road.b. To form something such as an argument or

system by joining words and ideas.

3. What does "collide" mean?a. to touchb. to hit something violently

4. What does "crew" mean?a. a group of people or friendsb. all the people who work on a ship or plane

5. What does "shipwreck" mean?a. the destruction of a vehicle in an accidentb. the remains of a ship that has been destroyed in an accident

6. What does "inspiration" mean?a. a good idea about what you should do, write or say, especially one that suddenly comes to your mindb. a good idea about what you should do, write or say, especially one which results after thinking for quite a long time

7. What does "protagonist" mean?a. supporterb. the most important character in a play, film or story

The Titanic was a passenger liner. It (1) ___________ (con-struct) at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland in1912. The Titanic was the biggest steam ship in the world.However, on her very first voyage, it (2) __________ (collide)with an iceberg and sank.

As a result of the accident, 1,517 passengers (3)___________ (die), making it the biggest sea disaster in histo-ry at that time. In the construction of Titanic, they used themost advanced technology and it (4) ___________(believe) tobe unsinkable. Despite using the most advanced technologyand having an experienced and trained crew, it still (5)__________ (sink). Thus, many people were shocked to learnof this tragic event. Media coverage of this disaster made theTitanic well known. Finally, when Robert Ballard (6)_________ (find) the shipwreck in 1985, the Titanic became alot more famous.

The story of the very famous ship Titanic provided inspi-ration for many directors over the decades. The most well-known film version of the sinking of the Titanic (7)__________ (release) in 1997. This American romantic dramafilm (8) __________ (make) by James Cameron. It became themost expensive film ever made at the time. It (9) __________(cost) $200 million to make. It also was the most successfulfilm and (10) __________ (win) 11 Oscars. It is also not sur-prising that the protagonists of the film, Kate Winslet andLeonardo DiCaprio, became very popular.

*Extracted and adapted from wikipedia.org

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CMYK

BASKETBALL

Erdemir stuns Tofa� in BursaErdemirspor beat Tofa� 80-88 on the road in a thrilling men’s Beko Turk-ish Basketball League (TBL) match in Bursa. Both teams gave their all in the � rst quarter, and it was no surprise that this quarter ended 22-22. Erdemirspor upped the tempo in the second quar-ter to lead 42-40 before taking a com-manding 65-53 lead in the third and winning the fourth and last quarter 88-80 to carry the day. Sean Denison of Tofa� was the overall top scorer with 18 points, while Hakan Demirel led Er-demirspor with 16. Bursaspor players and their coach Ertu�rul Sa�lam were among the spectators in the stands. Other TBL results: Türk Telekomspor 109, Alia�a Petkim Spor 73; Antalya Büyük�ehir Belediyesi 77, Oyak Re-nault 69; P�nar Kar��yaka 87, Band�rma Banvitspor 82; and Mersin Büyük�ehir Belediyesi 86, Bornova Belediyesi 75. In the Women’s Turkish Basketball League (TBBL) it was: Fenerbahçe 84, �stanbul Üniversitesi 64 and Tar-sus Belediyesi 64, Mersin Büyük�ehir Belediyesi 74. �stanbul Today’s Zaman

ARM WRESTLING

K�zg�n reigns supreme in NY Turkish star Özgür K�zg�n last week won the 32nd Empire State Golden Arm Wrestling Tournament of Champions in New York, the oldest wrestling tourna-ment in the city. K�zg�n’s triumph over Shawn Lattimer, a world-renowned bencher who weights 172 kilograms, almost two times as much as K�zg�n, in only a few seconds was one of the big-gest surprises of the tournament. After the match, Lattimer praised K�zg�n’s might, saying, “You are strong, very strong.” Noting that this tournament is just training for him, K�zg�n said he is preparing for an upcoming tournament that will take place in Las Vegas. “I am happy with the result. Shawn Lattimer and I are not in the same category, but since it was a special event, I competed against him. It was not hard for me. I proved one more time how strong Turkish wrestling is,” said K�zg�n, who also thanked Turkish Airlines (THY) and Turkish American Sports Club for their sponsorship. �stanbul Today’s Zaman

ATHLETICS

Abitova wins in YokohamaRussia’s Inga Abitova won the Yoko-hama Women’s International Mara-thon on Sunday, overshadowing the Beijing Olympic gold and silver med-alists. Last year’s Olympic champion Constantina Dita of Romania trailed in a distant 10th while Kenyan Cath-erine Ndereba � nished third. Abitova, a 10,000-meter specialist, broke clear from the leading group from the 30-ki-lometer mark to win in a time of two hours, 27 minutes, 18 seconds. Japan’s Kiyoko Shimahara, who won August’s Hokkaido Marathon, � nished runner-up up in 2:28:51. Yokohama - Reuters

FIGURE SKATING

World champion Kim sets recordSouth Korea’s Kim Yu-na set a world record for a short program at Skate America, breaking her own mark with 76.28 points on Satur-day. World champion Kim capped the mesmerizing performance to a James Bond medley with a marks-man’s pose that would make Sean Connery or Daniel Craig proud. “I’m trying to do a clean program every time,” she said after blowing away the � eld, grabbing a 17.48-point lead over American Rachael Flatt. “It’s not about the score. I don’t want to think about the score.” Lake Placid, NY AP

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009

SPORTS Tiger puts on a show to win Down Under

James providesspark as Cavaliersdown Okur’s Jazz

Nigerians ridetheir luck to earnberth for S. Africa

LeBron James helped Cleveland resist a late surge from the Utah Jazz by scoring

the Cavaliers’ � nal eight points in a 107-103 NBA victory on Saturday.

Turkish star Mehmet Okur had 13 points with eight rebounds and three assists for Utah (4-6), but that was not enough to save the Jazz from defeat. Carlos Boozer led Utah with 25 points and 12 rebounds, while guard Eric Maynor scored a career-best 24 points.

James, who � nished with 21 points, a game-high nine assists and six rebounds, personally outscored the Jazz 8-4 in the � nal 52 seconds to spark Cleveland to its fourth consecutive victory.

Other NBA results: Indiana 113, Boston 104; De-troit 106, Washington 103; Atlanta 121, New Orleans 98; Portland 80, Charlotte 74; Miami 81, New Jersey 80; Chicago 94, Philadelphia 88; Memphis 97, Minne-sota 87; Milwaukee 129, Golden State 125;Oklahoma City 101, San Antonio 98. �stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires

Who said there is no luck factor in soccer? Going into the � nal day of the African quali-

� ers for the 2010 World Cup � nals, Tunisia led Nigeria by two points in Group B and needed only a draw at hopeless Mozambique to qualify.

Nigeria, meanwhile, faced a more complex situa-tion because its fate was no longer in its hands but in those of Tunisia. In other words the Nigerian Super Eagles not only had to beat Kenya away to make the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, but the Tunisian Carthage Eagles had to lose against lightweight Mo-zambique. On paper, that seemed highly improbable.

But as we have said before, and are saying again now, no game is ever won or lost until it has been played. And so Nigeria overtook Tunisia on the � -nal day of the quali� ers on Saturday by coming from behind to beat Kenya 3-2 and reach the World Cup soccer � nals for the � rst time since 2002.

In Maputo, 25-year-old Al-Kharitiyath defender Dario Khan scored in the 83rd minute as Mozam-bique sent the Tunisians packing and handed the Carthage Eagles, which included 28-year-old Anta-lyaspor forward Ali Zitouni on Saturday, their � rst loss in the quali� ers since their opening Group B game on June 2008. Tunisia has appeared in four World Cups, including the last three.

Twenty-four-year-old Auxerre striker Dennis Oliech put Kenya ahead in the 16th minute when he beat goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama with a low shot. Twenty-� ve-year-old Wolfsburg forward Obafemi Martins equalized for the Nigerians in the 62nd, cap-italizing on a perfect pass from 28-year-old Russian-Nigerian Lokomotiv winger Osaze Peter Odemwin-gie. Nigeria went up 2-1 three minutes later when 26-year-old Everton striker Ayegbeni Yakubu hit a post and converted the rebound.

But 23-year-old Atlético Petróleos Luanda strik-er Allan Wetende again equalized for the Kenyans with a header goal in the 79th. Thereafter the never-say-die Nigerians chased every ball, won all mid� eld battles and were rewarded in the 83rd when Martin scored to make the � nal score 3-2 and give the lucky Super Eagles a ticket for next year’s World Cup after they missed out on the soccer extravaganza in 2006.

Other African quali� ers: South Africa (quali-� es as host), Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon.

Note: Algeria and Egypt will play a sudden death playoff in Sudan on Wednesday to decide who goes through to next year’s � nals in South Af-rica after the two teams � nished their Group C qual-i� ers with identical records. Okan Udo Bassey �stanbul

France, Portugal, Russia eye 2010 World Cup spots Uruguay seized the advantage in the South American/CONCACAF playoff with a 22nd minute goal by 29-year-old Fenerbahçe Diego Lugano to give it a 1-0 victory in Costa

Rica and head back to the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo on Wednesday

Turkish U-21s falter when it matters mostThe Turkish under-21 national team was expected to beat leader Switzerland in their 2011 European

Under-21 Championship Group Two quali� er at Tra-bzon’s Avni Aker Stadium on Saturday, take over the lead and gain a huge advantage ahead of Wednesday’s group match against Estonia in Rize.

But it was not to be, as the Turkish U-21s froze on the big occasion and were beaten 3-1 by Swit-zerland, a result that has badly dented Turkey’s hopes and put the Swiss � rmly in the driver’s seat. The Swiss now lead the Turks by four points, though Turkey has a game in hand.

The writing was already on the wall after only seven minutes, when 20-year-old FC Basel mid� elder Valentin Stocker, capitalizing on a horrendous mistake by 21-year-old Fenerbahçe second-choice goalkeeper Volkan Babacan, headed the ball into a wide empty net.

Stocker was again on target in the 43rd, slot-ting the ball in after another goalkeeping blunder by Volkan to double the score for the Swiss.

Turkey coach Hami Mand�ral� brought in Deni-zlispor keeper Cenk Gönen in the second half to replace error-prone Volkan, and Galatasaray leftie Caner Erkin gave the Turks a glimmer of hope six minutes into the half when he scored with a crack-er of a shot to reduce the tally to 2-1.

Thereafter the Turks threw everything they had at the Swiss but squandered several glaring chances. And 21-year-old Yugoslavia-born AC Bellinzona mid� elder Shkelzen Gashi put the game beyond reach when he

scored for the Swiss from a swift counterattack.The Turks will now try to make amends for this

defeat when they entertain Estonia at the Yeni Rize Stadium on Wednesday, while leader Switzerland will host Georgia that same day.

“There is no justice in soccer,” Hami said af-ter the match. “If we had converted the chances that we had, we could have won by a hatful of goals. You have to score to win, but we couldn’t score more goals and therefore lost. This match is over, so we must now focus all our attention on the match against Estonia on Wednesday,” he added.

Tiger Woods gave a record crowd at Kingston Heath what they wanted to see -- exquisite shots and a closing round of 4-under 68 to win the

Australian Masters on Sunday for his seventh victory of the year. In his first trip to Australia in 11 years, Woods put on quite a

show for his $3 million appearance. Melbourne, AP

OKAN UDO BASSEY ÝSTANBUL

France, Portugal and Russia all moved closer to next year’s World Cup � nals with � rst leg playoff wins on Saturday, al-

though none of them did enough to take victory for granted in the second legs this week.

France, runner-up in Germany in 2006, beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin with a late de� ected goal from Nicolas Anelka, and starts as the favorite to � nish the job in Paris on Wednesday.

Portugal beat Bosnia 1-0 in Lisbon with defender Bruno Alves heading the only goal in the � rst half, while two goals from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov put Russia 2-0 up against Slovenia which scored a vital away goal three minutes from time when substitute Nejc Pecnik headed home to make the � nal score 2-1.

Greece and Ukraine drew 0-0 in the � rst leg of their playoff in Athens, with Ukraine now the favorite to take control of the tie at home in Donetsk on Wednesday.

While Saturday saw the start of the European playoffs, it also signaled the end of New Zealand’s long wait to return to the � nals for the � rst time since 1982. The New Zealanders sealed their place in next year’s � nals in South Africa with a 1-0 win in the second leg of their Asia/Oceania playoff against Bahrain to win the tie 1-0 on aggregate.

Uruguay seized the advantage in the South American/CONCACAF playoff with a 22nd min-

ute goal by 29-year-old Fenerbahçe Diego Lu-gano to give it a 1-0 victory in Costa Rica and

head back to the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo on Wednesday. London Reuters

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Fenerbahçe’s Uruguay defender Diego Lugano celebrates after scoring against Costa Rica in their 2010 World Cup qualifying playoff first-leg match in San Jose.

Turkish U-21 players (in red) are seen in a dejected mood as the Swiss celebrate one of their goals during their match.

Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins (L) is congratulated by Yussuf Atanda following his goal against Kenya.

GROUP B standings P W D L Pts

Switzerland 6 4 1 1 13

Turkey 5 3 0 2 9

Estonia 5 2 2 1 8

Georgia 4 1 2 1 5

Rep. of Ireland 5 0 4 1 4

Armenia 5 0 1 4 1

Page 20: todayszaman16.11

W W W. T O D AY S Z A M A N . C O M M O N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 0 9

Liam Gallagher working on new band Former Oasis guitarist and vocalist Liam Gallagher says that he and the other members of the band -- aside from his brother Noel -- are writing

songs and will perform as a new group. “We’re sort of doing things at the moment,” he said during an Italian radio interview. NY, Reuters

Lauren Bacall and Roger Corman get early Oscars

Michigan fans forgive Springsteen’s goof

Overdue library books returned 51 years later

Manny Pacquiao knocked down Miguel Cotto twice and turned his face into a bloody mess before � nally stopping him 55 seconds into the 12th round Saturday

to win his seventh title in seven weight classes. The Filipino star used his blazing speed and power from both hands to cement his stature as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

Cotto took such a beating that his face was a river of red from the fury of Pacquiao’s punches but he refused to quit even as his corner tried to throw in the towel after the 11th round. The � ght was billed as a 145-pound classic, and in the early rounds it didn’t disappoint. The two went after each other with a vengeance and Cotto more than held his own as they traded punches in the center of the ring.

Pacquiao dropped Cotto with a right hand early in the third round, but he wasn’t badly hurt and came back to � nish the round strong. But after Pacquiao put Cotto on the canvas with a big left hand as Cotto was advancing forward late in the fourth round, the Puerto Rican was never the same again.

No hurry “Our plan was not to hurry but to take our time,” Pac-quiao said. “It was a hard � ght tonight and I needed time to test his power.” Cotto fought gamely but in the later rounds he was just trying to survive as blood � owed down his face and Pacquiao kept coming after him re-lentlessly. In the 12th, Cotto went back out to take even more punishment before a � nal � urry along the ropes prompted referee Kenny Bayless to stop the � ght.

Cotto’s wife and child, who were at ringside, left after the

ninth round, unable to watch the beating any longer. They later accompanied him to a local hospital for a post-� ght ex-amination. “My health comes � rst. I just want to make sure I’m � ne, but I feel great. I’m swollen but that’s all,” Cotto said.

Cotto’s face was swollen, blood was � owing from his nose and his cuts, and he sim-ply couldn’t stop Pacquiao from bouncing inside and throwing both hands at will. “I didn’t know from where the punches were coming,” Cotto said. “Manny Pacquiao is one of the best boxers I ever fought.”

Pacquiao, coming off spectacular wins over Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, added another one against Cotto, who had lost only once and held the WBO version of the welterweight title. Pacquiao did it in trademark fashion, throwing punches in � urries and from all angles until Cotto began to slow down and then pursuing him relent-lessly until the � ght � nally ended.

Floyd Mayweather next? The � ght will likely set up an even bigger � ght against Floyd Mayweather Jr., and many in the capacity crowd at the MGM Grand arena began chanting “We want Floyd! We want Floyd” after the � ght ended. “I want to see him � ght Mayweather,” trainer Freddie Roach said.

Mayweather may have second thoughts after Pac-quiao did what no � ghter has done before and win a belt in a seventh weight class. More impressive, though, is how he has fought, dismantling opponents despite mov-ing up consistently in weight.

The welterweight ranks will be the last ones Pacquiao conquers, though. He said he will not move up any more in weight. “This is the last weight division for me,” Pacquiao said. “It’s history for me and more importantly a Filipino did it.” Pacquiao was credited with landing almost twice as many punches -- 336-172 -- as Cotto. He earned a minimum $13 million for the win, while Cotto got $7 million. Las Vegas AP

CMYK

The Academy Awards won’t be pre-sented until March, but the � rst Oscar

statuettes of the season were handed out at a private, black-tie dinner in Hollywood.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was breaking with tradition and presenting its honorary Oscars away from the televised ceremony. Actress Lau-ren Bacall, producer-director Roger Corman and cinematographer Gordon Willis each received Oscar statuettes at the inaugural Governors Awards event on Saturday night. The winner of this year’s Irving J. Thalberg Memorial Award, producer John Calley, also received his trophy at the star-studded din-ner. Each of the four recipients were chosen by the academy’s Board of Governors.

Annette Bening, Tom Hanks, Kirk Douglas, Anjelica Huston and Quentin Tarantino signed on as presenters for the evening, which included 600 invited guests celebrating at the Grand Ballroom above the Kodak Theater, the same room where the annual post-Academy Awards Governors Ball is held. Morgan Freeman, Alec Baldwin, Steven Spielberg and other guests were ser-enaded by a violin quartet before the cere-mony began in a room decked out in bronze and silver curtains with a giant Oscar statue at the center.

Bacall made her screen debut with Hum-phrey Bogart in “To Have and Have Not”in 1944. She went on to star in more than 30 � lms, including classics such as “The Big Sleep”and “Key Largo.” Corman has direct-ed more than 50 � lms and produced more than 300 during his � ve-decade career, in-cluding “It Conquered the World”and 1960’s “The Little Shop of Horrors.”

Willis is a two-time Academy Award nominee for “Zelig”and “The Godfather, Part III.” Calley’s producing credits include “Postcards from the Edge,”“The Remains of the Day,”for which he earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination, “Closer”and “The Da Vinci Code.”

Other guests expected Saturday include Jeff Bridges, James Cameron, Dennis Hop-per, Ron Howard and Julie Taymor. The event was being taped but not televised. Ex-cerpts will be shown during the 82nd annual Academy Awards on March 7. Los Angeles AP

The curse of Friday the 13th struck Bruce Springsteen in a most unusual

way: it made the 60-year-old rock legend forget where he was. The Boss bellowed “Hello, Ohio!” to his fans at the Auburn Hills Palace in Michigan. Springsteen referred to the neighboring state several times in the following 30 minutes until E Street Band gui-tarist Steve Van Zandt whispered in his ear.A visibly embarrassed Springsteen grinned and said such a mistake was “every front man’s nightmare.” The Detroit Free Press says Springsteen rocked the forgiving audience for nearly three hours with new and old hits including a complete performance of his al-bum “Born to Run.” Auburn Hills, Mich. AP

A high school librarian in Phoenix says a former student at the school returned

two overdue books checked out 51 years ago along with a $1,000 money order to cover the � nes. Camelback High School librarian Georgette Bordine says the two Audubon So-ciety books checked out in 1959 and the mon-ey order were sent by someone who wanted to remain anonymous. Bordine says the letter explained that the borrower’s family moved to another state and the books were mistakenly packed. The letter said the money order was to cover � nes of 2 cents per day for each book. That would total about $745. The letter says the extra money was added in case the rates had changed. Bordine says the money will buy more books, and the overdue books will be re-turned to the shelves. Phoenix AP

The Filipino star used his blazing speed and power from both hands to cement his stature as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Cotto took such a beating that his face was a river of red from the fury of Pacquiao’s punches but he refused to quit

PACQUIAO STOPS COTTO TO WIN SEVENTH WORLD TITLE

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has worked with Muham-mad Ali, “Sugar” Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler but he believes Filipino Manny Pacquiao is the best he has seen. Pacquiao stopped Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto in the 12th round of their title fight in Las Ve-gas on Saturday night to become WBO welterweight champion and win a seventh world title in an unprec-edented seventh weight class.

“I’ve promoted Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leon-ard, Marvin Hagler, and Manny Pacquiao is the best fighter I have ever seen,” Arum told reporters at the MGM Grand after Pacquiao’s win. Pacquiao’s train-er Freddie Roach endorsed Arum’s statement.

“Compared to all those names, he’s as good as any of them,” Roach said. “He’s the greatest fighter

of his era, for sure. 100 percent.” The fighter him-self, however, was reluctant to make comparisons.

“I don’t want to compare my achievement to any fighter,” said Pacquiao, 50-3-2 (38 KOs). “I’m just doing my job, to give a good fight. My goal is to give happiness and enjoyment to the people who are al-ways watching us.”

Cotto began the contest strongly behind a stiff left jab, but his opponent found his range in the sec-ond round and scored knockdowns in the third and fourth. In the second half of the bout, the Puerto Ri-can champion, bloodied and bruised, mostly circled and retreated hoping to survive until the final bell.

But a Pacquiao barrage prompted referee Ken-ny Bayless to halt the fight after 55 seconds of the

12th round. ”Miguel Cotto has always been a coura-geous fighter,” said Arum.

”He was just in with a guy tonight who showed me ... that he is certainly the best fighter of this era and maybe of all time.” Pacquiao had bruising around his eyes and a bandage around his head after his left ear was drained of blood by doctors fol-lowing the fight.

Cotto did not appear at the post-fight news con-ference as he was taken to hospital for precautionary scans. Cotto said in a statement he was OK. “I know I’m cut, I know I’m swollen. I just had a fight, that how I’m supposed to look,” he said. “I did my best. I just fought the best fighter I ever fought. I hope the fans enjoyed a great fight.” Las Vegas Reuters

Pacquiao the best I’ve seen, says promoter Bob Arum

Promoter Bob Arum (R) welcomes Manny Pacquiao to a post-fight press conference after he won the WBO title.

Pacquiao (R) moves against Miguel Cotto during their title fight.

Manny Pacquiao (C) holds his championship belt as he stands with promoter Bob Arum (L) and trainer Freddie Roach after winning the WBO welterweight title.

Referee Kenny Bayless (center rear) directs Manny Pacquiao to his corner after knocking down Miguel Cotto in the fourth round.

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