S12-27-07-08.qxd
26.07.2008
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12 SUNDAY’S ZAMAN
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ALMANAC
Event of the week
July 19 Ten members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in clashes with Turkish military forces in the southeastern provinces of Siirt, Hakkari and Bingöl late on Friday, security sources said. Turkey supports the reunification of Cyprus as a federation of two communities, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan said ahead of talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots on the divided island's future. A solution to the Cyprus problem devised under the auspices of the United Nations will be based on the realities on the island, Erdoðan said after a meeting with Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat. The Democratic Society Party (DTP) held a congress that concluded with the election of Ahmet Türk to the party's chairmanship. Türk was the sole candidate and is considered a moderate.
Ergenekon suspects Kuddusi Okkýr (L), retired Col. Fikri Karadað (C) and retired Capt. Muzaffer Tekin pose together in this file photo.
July 20 Three Germans seized by the PKK during a climbing expedition on Mount Aðrý (Ararat) more than a week ago were released in good condition, authorities said. The three will be handed over to German authorities after a routine medical check, Aðrý Governor Mehmet Çetin told reporters. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, met with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan in Ankara, who reiterated Turkey's position that Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. "We believe every sovereign country has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful aims and to have that technology," Babacan said at a joint news conference with Jalili. July 21 Former Trabzon Gendarmerie Command head Col. Ali Öz gave a deposition on the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink at a Bursa court. He denied allegations that he had been tipped off about the plot to shoot Dink before the murder was committed. "I don't remember being previously informed about the plot to shoot Dink," Öz reportedly said. Two Turkish engineers, Gökhan Gül and Erhan Gündüz, kidnapped in western Afghanistan last week, were set free and returned home. Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan called for closer ties with Turkey, 15 years after the two nations severed diplomatic relations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The improvement of ties between Armenia and Turkey is mutually beneficial. "I think we should improve our relations," Sarksyan said at a news conference. French lawmakers narrowly approved a package of constitutional changes that contain a clause making holding a referendum on the accession of new countries into the European Union, including Turkey, obligatory. The vote was the final approval for the constitutional amendment package, which was earlier voted on separately in the National Assembly and the Senate, the two chambers of the French parliament. German police arrested a Turkish man suspected of leading a branch of the banned PKK, state prosecutors said, just days after the terrorist group released three Germans taken captive in Turkey. Police arrested the 47-year-old in the western city of Detmold, Germany's Federal Prosecution Office said. The man, identified as Hüseyin A., is suspected of having been responsible for the PKK's operations in Germany until June, it said in a statement. July 22 The Constitutional Court decided to begin hearing a closure case filed against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on July 28. Azerbaijan is not concerned by secret talks between Armenia and regional ally Turkey, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Khazar Ibrahim said. He said that the Azerbaijani government was interested in Turkey's official position, which Ankara said has not changed. An Ýstanbul court ruled against a demand to start an investigation into Ýstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah and
Court to deliberate Ergenekon case, dozens face terrorism charges An Ýstanbul court agreed on Friday to deliberate a case relating to Ergenekon, a criminal network suspected of plotting a coup against the government, in a move that will begin the trial process for dozens of suspected gang members, including retired army officers, academics, journalists and businessmen. Prosecutors demanded that retired Brig. Gen. Veli Küçük, Cumhuriyet daily columnist Ýlhan Selçuk, Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate press spokeswoman Sevgi Erenerol, former Ýstanbul University rector
seven other police officers, including former Police Department Intelligence Bureau Chief Ahmet Ýlhan Güler, all accused of having disregarded intelligence information regarding a plot to kill Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink, who was shot dead outside his office in January of last year. Both the Trabzon police and the gendarmerie were negligent in not preventing Dink's assassination, a subcommittee of Parliament's Human Rights Commission announced. In a 180-page report on their investigation, Dink murder subcommittee head Mehmet Ocaktan said the commission had reached the conclusion that "there has been negligence, fault and poor coordination both on the part of the police department and the gendarmerie." Three people died and two were injured in an accidental electrocution at a hotel foam party in southern Antalya province. July 23 More than a two dozen people were detained in raids carried out in five cities in connection with an in-
Kemal Alemdaroðlu and Workers' Party (ÝP) leader Doðu Perinçek -- believed to be key members of the gang -- be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and an additional 164 years in jail each in an indictment presented for review to the Ýstanbul 13th High Criminal Court on July 14. The five suspects will face various charges, including but not limited to "establishing a terrorist organization," "attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey by force or to block it from performing its du-
ties," "inciting people to rebel against the Republic of Turkey," "openly provoking hatred and hostility," "inciting others to stage the 2006 Council of State shooting" and "attacking Cumhuriyet daily's Ýstanbul office with a hand grenade." The indictment against Ergenekon took 13 months to prepare and was filed by Ýstanbul Chief Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin. The investigation into the gang began last summer when police discovered a house full of explosives and guns in Ýstanbul's Ümraniye district.
vestigation into a powerful and illegal organization suspected of plotting to overthrow the government. Twentysix individuals, most of whom are editors and writers of the National Solution journal -- known in the past for its proximity to the Islamist National View movement that produced political groups such as the Welfare Party (RP) and the Felicity Party (SP) -- were detained in the raids. President Abdullah Gül, who arrived in eastern Kars province on the border with Armenia, sent a message of peace to neighboring countries, saying Turkey has always wanted peace and stability in the region. Gül traveled to Kars to attend a ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of the Turkish part of a regional railway traversing Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. German authorities halted an investigation into a tragic fire that killed nine Turks in February, saying the months-long probe had failed to illuminate what caused the blaze. Despite initial fears that the blaze in the southwestern German city of Ludwigshafen could have been a far-right arson attack, investigators found no evidence of a flammable accelerant, prosecutor Lothar
Liebig said in a statement. "No evidence of arson has been found in the very extensive and intensive investigation," Liebig said. "We can almost certainly rule out arson." Professor Yusuf Halaçoðlu, who had served as the president of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) since 1993, was removed from office by a Cabinet decision. The decision to relieve Halaçoðlu of office was published in the Official Gazette. National soccer player Emre Belözoðlu signed a contract with Fenerbahçe to transfer to the Turkish club. He was previously with England's Newcastle United.
ALÝ ÜNAL
Photo of the week
Turkish, Azerbaijani and Georgian leaders gathered in the eastern province of Kars on Thursday to launch the construction of the Turkish segment of a railway that will link the three countries and revive the historic Silk Road trade route that once connected Asia and Europe. President Abdullah Gül and his Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Mikheil Saakashvili, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $241 million Turkish leg of the railway. The three presidents placed three sections of railway track on a large map of the region in a symbolic launch of the project. "A new economic cooperation zone that is yet to be defined as such has emerged in our region," Gül said at the ceremony, referring to expanding cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the fields of energy, trade and transportation. Construction of the railway is planned for completion by 2011. The Turkish section of the railway is 76 kilometers long. In Azerbaijan, a new track will be constructed to be linked to a renewed existing track. Work on the 29kilometer stretch in Georgia between the Turkish border and Ahýlkelek was launched last year. "This project contributes to peace and stability in the Caucasus," Gül also said.
PHOTO
Construction of Turkey section of strategic railway launched
From right to left: Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Abdullah Gül of Turkey and Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia applaud during a ceremony marking the commencement of the construction of the Turkish stretch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
CM Y K
July 24 Turkish, Azerbaijani and Georgian leaders gathered in the far eastern province of Kars to launch the construction of the Turkey section of a railway that will link the three countries and revive the historic Silk Road trade route that once connected Asia with Europe. President Gül and his Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Mikheil Saakashvili, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $241 million Turkish leg of the railway in Kars. Foreign Minister Babacan, in New York to drum up support for Turkey's bid to get a seat on the UN Security Council in 2009-2010, met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding Cyprus, ahead of a key meeting of the Cypriot leaders on Thursday. The military said its fighter jets hit 13 targets belonging to the outlawed PKK in northern Iraq in the latest cross-border offensive against the terrorist group. Ýstanbul was ranked the world's 23rd most expensive city in a recent survey carried out by international human resources and financial consulting firm Mercer. July 25 An Ýstanbul court agreed to hear a case regarding the Ergenekon criminal network, a move that will start the trial process for dozens of suspected gang members, including retired army officers, academics, journalists and businessmen. Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders agreed to launch historic reunification talks on Sept. 3, a new stage in decades-old Cyprus peace efforts after a UN plan collapsed in 2004. "The aim of the full-fledged negotiations is to find a mutually acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem, which will safeguard the interests of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," said Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, the head of the UN mission on Cyprus, after talks between Turkish Cypriot leader Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias in the buffer zone dividing the two communities.