The New Turkey No One Has the Power to Destroy the Gulen Movement
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2009 In Today's Papers Aslandogan:
"No One Has the Power to Destroy the Gulen Movement" (Papers)
Milliyet, Radikal, Aksam, Cumhuriyet and Zaman report the Washington-based CSIS hosted a meeting on the "Fettullah Gulen Movement." Gulen Institute board member Alp Aslandogan said the Gulen movement has "millions of members," and in the future, it may expand to cover a considerable portion of the Turkish people.
In "Aslandogan Challenges from the US," leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet quotes Aslandogan as saying "No one has the power to destroy our movement." "All Turkish citizens are potential members of our movement," according to Aslandogan. "We provide support to political parties within the framework of issues, values and attitudes. Some businessmen donate at least 10 or 15 percent of their profits to the movement," Aslandogan reportedly said.
Editorial Opinion on Coup Document Controversy
Fikret Bila wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "There is no way to be certain about this controversial document unless the genuine one is available. The one in the prosecutor's file as well as the printed one in the newspaper are all copies. An original copy should be found somewhere, of course, that is if it was not shredded intentionally." Huseyin Gulerce wrote in Islamist oriented Zaman: "I believe the document is real, and all of this tells us something very urgent and important:
Our pride, i.e. the Turkish army should get rid of their coup plotting mentality and stop weakening the military's image as soon as possible." Tamer Korkmaz wrote in Islamist oriented Yeni Safak: "It looks like the perpetrators of this coup plotting document are against General Basbug and TGS's command as well. This is a network working behind the backs of its supervisors." Murat Yetkin wrote in liberal-intellectual Radikal: "It was very important to see good crisis management following the document controversy. Neither the military nor the government made any tension-mounting statements.
If anyone out there hopes for a deepening of tensions between the government and the military, they will certainly be disappointed." Musavi Supporters Continue Protests over Election Results in Iran Media outlets report the supporters of the pro-reform presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi marched in silence in Tehran, demanding the annulment of the June 12 election results. The protestors dressed in black to mourn the deaths of seven protesters killed in clashes over election results.
In "The Mourning March," mainstream Sabah says hundreds of thousands of Musavi supporters marched in Tehran to protest the killing of eight of their friends killed in rallies held over election results. In "Tens of Thousands Mourn in Tehran," leftist-nationalist Cumhuriyet says the reformists continued their protests "uninterrupted" after the poll results are announced. Papers also report Robert Fisk of The Independent made public a "secret letter" sent by the Interior Minister to religious leader Hamanei, which says Musavi won 13 million more votes than Ahmadinejad.
In "What if All is a Coup to Oust Ahmadinejad," Islamist-oriented Yeni Safak quotes The Guardian's Seamus Milne warning that if the outcome is true, then the protests could be a plot to topple Ahmadinejad, since it would be "impossible to explain the 11 million vote difference between Ahmadinejad and Mosavi with fraud." Papers comment the chances of bringing down the mullahs' system appears remote, and that the ruling clerics still maintain strong public support and are defended by the Revolutionary Guard. Papers also report the Iranian government has directly accused the US of "meddling in the crisis."
Editorial Opinion on Iran
ANKARA 00000862 002 OF 003 Oktay Eksi wrote in mainstream Hurriyet: "The ongoing events are an indication of a new Iran even though hasty conclusions can be deceptive. At this point, it will be unrealistic to expect a change of regime, but a new election is still a possibility." Sami Kohen wrote in mainstream Milliyet: "Ankara's position is to work with any winning government in Iran. The U.S. as well as the Western countries on the other hand are neither committed to Ahmedinejad nor fully engaged with the opposition represented by Musavi.
They prefer to wait and see since current situation in Iran has a potential to bring some unexpected surprises as well." AWACS Will Use Konya Air Base Mainstream Sabah reports that Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin confirmed reports that NATO AWACS aircrafts will be stationed in the Konya NATO base to conduct operations in Afghanistan. Ozugergin pointed out that the decision was reached at the NATO Defense Ministers' Summit in Brussels on June 11-12.
Court of Appeals Acquits Four Policemen Who Were Charged with Murder in Mardin Mainstream Milliyet and Sabah report on the Court of appeals ruling in favor of four policemen who were charged with the killings of 12 year old Ugur Kaymaz and his father in a raid in Kiziltepe, Mardin in 2004. The high court said that the police opened fire on the boy and his father in self-defense despite the Forensic reports saying that the boy had nine bullet wounds on his back, he was too young to hold a gun and there were no signs of clashes.
The lawyer of Kaymaz family is prepared to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights. Hilary Clinton Fractures her Elbow Sabah, Milliyet, Hurriyet, Bugun, Star, Zaman: Today's papers report that US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton fractured her right elbow in a fall on Wednesday. Clinton was on her way to the White House when she fell and injured her elbow.
She was treated at the George Washington University Hospital and will undergo surgery in the coming week. Islamist-oriented Zaman and conservative Bugun headlines read that "Clinton argued with Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman about Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and after that she fell and fractured her elbow." At a joint press conference with Lieberman after their meeting at the State Department, Secretary Clinton said "The US continues to want a halt to settlement activity in the West Bank.
No informal agreement on the subject that may have been reached between the Bush administration and Israel is valid." However, Lieberman held firm to Netanyahu's position that settlements must be allowed to grow to accommodate population trends and said "we really don't have any intention to change the demographic balance in the West Bank and can't accept this vision of absolutely, completely freezing settlements. " Standing beside Lieberman, Secretary Clinton politely rejected his comments by saying "we want to see a halt to the settlements.
We think that is an important and essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive peace agreement."
TV News (CNN Turk) Domestic - The Turkish Parliament will debate on Tuesday a motion asking to extend the mandate of Turkish troops within the body of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year. -
The Interior Ministry appointed 37 police chiefs to new provinces. Izmir police chief Huseyin Capkin was appointed as the new police chief of Istanbul. Ankara's police chief Ercument Yilmaz replaced Capkin in Izmir, whereas Kayseri's Orhan Ozdemir became the new police chief of Ankara. - On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and the IMF's first ANKARA 00000862 003 OF 003 deputy managing director John Lipsky are expected to participate in a meeting of Turkey's influential business group TUSIAD. -
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will travel Friday to Russia to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. - At least 100 villagers in the southeastern province of Batman are taken into custody for attempting to stage protests against foreign companies extracting oil in the region. World - Prime Minister Erdogan will visit Athens on June 20-21 to attend the opening of the new Acropolis Museum. On June 25 Erdogan will move on to Albania and from there he will go to Brussels to receive the Crans Montana Forum's peace award Prix de la Fondation. - Russia reportedly delays customs procedures for Turkish exporters in retaliation for a Turkish decision to speed up the Nabucco project. -
The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejects reports that the events for the promotion of Turkey in France were cancelled over France's negative stance over Turkey's EU membership. -
The last summit of the EU's Czech presidency in Brussels discusses proposing Jose Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term as the EU Commission president. - The Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill will visit Turkey from July 4-6.
