News Scan

News Scan, 27th Jan: French President says EU can help Turkey to transform

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EU can help Turkey to transform:  French President Hollande

French President Francois Hollande expressed his belief that the EU can help Turkey’s transformation thanks to its ongoing accession process, and underlined that France would “not be in a position to stop the negotiation process,” during a first official visit from a French head of state to Turkey since 1992.

His remarks therefore seemed to give the green light for the removal of France’s blockage of four negotiation chapters.

“The opening of new chapters would support Turkey, as some of the negotiation chapters are related to topics – the separation of powers, fundamental rights, the rule of law and the judiciary – that are also connected to the current debate in Turkey’s domestic politics,” Hollande said on Jan. 27, speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gül.

“The opening of new chapters would help Turkey progress,” he added.

Hollande arrived in Ankara early on Monday with a large delegation composed of ministers, businessmen and journalists. He held talks with Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and was also expected to meet with Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu before moving to Istanbul, where he will head a business forum and deliver a speech at Galatasaray University.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Internet censorship growing more reckless in Turkey

In his first televised interview in 16 years, Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen said that the massive corruption investigations that have shaken the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) cannot be covered up no matter how hard the government tries to derail the probes — not even by blaming the scandal on what the prime minister has called the “parallel state,” a veiled reference to the Hizmet movement inspired by Gülen himself.

“It is certain that there is corruption. Everyone accepts this. From the uneducated to the educated to the elites — everyone sees and knows what is going on. And no person has the power to cover this up,” Gülen told the BBC at his residence at Pennsylvania, where he has been living in self-imposed exile since 1999.

Gülen said prosecutors and police are doing what their duty requires them to do when government wrongdoing is detected, but underlined that he has no connection whatsoever to the investigations. “It is not possible for these judges and prosecutors to receive orders from me,” he said, adding, “This situation has nothing to do with me.”

He lamented that the government is acting as if graft and corruption are no longer crimes. “They [government officials] are not talking about wrongdoing such as bribery, about the rigging of state tenders. These things are being presented as normal and acceptable.”

Responding to allegations leveled against the Hizmet movement, Gülen said the government was not happy with the investigations and accused the Hizmet movement of being behind them. “The investigating prosecutors and police did not know that these things [corruption, etc.] were no longer considered crimes and they pursued the matter. This made the government unhappy and as a result they are talking about a state within the state. This is what it is,” he said.b the flow of information, which the government finds, or broadly identifies, as harmful.

TODAYS ZAMAN

Turkish Central Bank calls emergency meeting as lira falls

The Turkish Central Bank said today it would hold an extraordinary meeting on Jan. 27, as the local currency continues to fall against the dollar and the euro. “The Monetary Policy Committee is to convene on January 28 to evaluate recent developments and take precautions which are necessary for price stability,” the bank said in a statement.

The bank, which intervened heavily in the foreign exchange market to support the lira last week, is fighting hard with intervention to defend the lira while under strong political pressure not to raise interest rates.

Last week, the Central Bank ploughed at least $2 billion (1.5 billion euros) into the foreign exchange market in an unsuccessful attempt to prop up the lira.

The Turkish currency has been hitting record lows almost daily this year, under pressure from an escalating political crisis over a corruption scandal roiling the government as well as concerns about the economy.

The lira sank to another low of 2.3616 to the dollar and 3.2345 to the euro in morning trading on Jan. 27.

The currency also saw all-time low against a euro/dollar basket at 2,8246.

The Istanbul stock exchange main index, meanwhile, lost by around 1 percent to reach below 63,800 points.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Turkey to back any initiative to end Syria tragedy: deputy PM

Turkey is ready to support any initiative that will end the tragedy in Syria, Turkey’s deputy PM said Monday.

Speaking to reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting, Bulent Arinc said Turkey grieves like no other over the situation in the country, and the human rights violations taking place there.

He added that Turkey would uphold and help whoever found a way to end the bloodshed.

More than 100,000 people have been killed and over 6.5 million displaced after three years of Syria’s civil war.

Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq are hosting over two million people fleeing the fighting.

An international conference iinvolving the Syrian regime and opposition is presently being held in Geneva, Switzerland, to try and find a political solution to end the conflict.

AA

Internet censorship growing more reckless in Turkey

Vagus.tv, an online Turkish news source founded by journalist Serdar Akinan, reported this morning that access to his web address had been blocked by the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) following a decision by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Following the block, Akinan tweeted: “Were we surprised? No. Vagus.tv was blocked. It can’t be reached. And why? Let’s think for a moment.”

Akinan was likely referring to the recent surge in censorship following the Dec. 17 corruption graft that sent shockwaves throughout Turkey. Three ministers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) resigned after their sons were arrested in conjunction with the graft.

The government is actually in the process of making changes in Law 5651 on the Internet to allow website blocking without a court order and to allow mass surveillance of Internet users. Such preventions of access to websites do not always yield the intended consequences, though, since any user can access any site by changing their DNS numbers in the settings of their connections. But it is rumored that the government will also be introducing some technical barriers making it impossible to circumvent the bans through proxies or DNS number changes. Akinan, too, urged those who haven’t yet reset their DNS numbers accordingly to do so. The number of visitors rose dramatically within several hours of the closure, even twice the usual level. As of 12:00 p.m. on Jan. 27, Vagus.tv appeared to be unblocked and functioning normally.

Vagus has been the most recent victim of the growing tendency of the Turkish authorities to curb the flow of information, which the government finds, or broadly identifies, as harmful.

TODAYS ZAMAN

27.01.2014

This is a news-scan from major Turkish papers and internet sites. However, we do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.

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