Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites
Minister Bağış releases statement on Turkey’s progress report
Turkey’s EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış released a written statement on Saturday in which he stated that the progress report released on Turkey was a “certificate of Turkey’s determination to enact reforms” adding that Turkey is now closer than ever to European Union standards in democracy, human rights and economic development.
Noting that as is the case every year, Turkey will be paying close heed to the reasonable and constructive criticism offered up in this year’s report, Bağış stated, “However, it should be well known that progress reports are not a report card for Turkey. The sole authority to give our government a report card is the nation.”
Explaining that the EU has acted as a compass for Turkey during a number of dark times, Bağış said that the EU accession process has always blocked Turkey from deviating from the country’s path towards modern civilization. Bağış said that during the past decade of AK Party rule, the EU accession process has truly become a benefit for the country as this has been a period of time which has long deserved to be considered one in which EU membership has become a concrete and realizable target. “It is due to our government’s determination for reforms that the past train wrecks in the EU process have been forgotten,” said Bağış.
SABAH
Scale of destruction in Istanbul forests increasingly visible
One of the few projects that environmentalists say will be the end of Istanbul’s last green forests has been under way since June of this year, but the great extent of the damage already caused by the onslaught of the bulldozers has only recently become visible.
Sunday’s Zaman and a few other national newspapers have written extensively about the grim consequences awaiting İstanbul’s northern forests because of several projects planned in the area.
The city has long been a victim of unplanned and ruthless urban development, but the worst has yet to come, according to environment scientists. The city’s northern forests, which have miraculously avoided development until now, are being razed to make room for the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which will be the third bridge over the Bosporus, and a main highway that will connect it to the rest of the city.
Aerial photographs of the city’s northern parts, which were until recently covered with lush forests, clearly show the level of havoc the bridge and highway project have already caused. Environmentalist groups also say that little plots here and there, in addition to the bald serpentine dirt road that marks the route of the new highway, have also been destroyed. Officials, who initially promised that there would be no developments in the area other than the highway, are keeping quiet on what is planned for these areas. In fact, they are so secretive that photographing the site from the air was recently forbidden.
TODAY’S ZAMAN
Turkish Chief of General Staff breaks silence after coup case verdict
Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel has released a statement concerning the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) verdict, underlining that he was just a public servant whose duty was defined by laws following the questions over his silence after the coup case verdict was released.
The verdicts of such historic cases should be discussed by experts, evaluated by legislative and executive bodies, and the soul-searching for the verdicts should be done by the nation, Özel said. “Due to my corporate identity, I think I don’t have right to comment on subjetcs that were submitted to the court,” Özel said.
Özel also slammed the recent stories that said most of the acquitted suspects in the coup case were members of the Land Forces, describing them as moves to break the peace and to make discrimination in the Turkish Armed Forces.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
Central Asia mining summit to be held in Istanbul
The first ever Turkey and Central Asia Mining Investment Summit will be conducted in January 2014 in Istanbul with the goal of determining how to best capitalize in the two regions’ mineral potential.
The summit will feature the area’s leading explorers, producers, legal experts, bankers and investors. “Professionals such as us, possessing so many experiences, should share our best practices for the benefit of all. The program provides a great opportunity for those who like to understand what’s happening elsewhere in the industry, what has worked and what has failed,” said Zehra Marangoz, the human resources director of Alamos Gold, Turkey.
Turkey is home to some of the world’s largest gold deposits with a resource potential of up to 23 million ounces of gold, according to the Turkish Gold Miners Association data. Of the known deposits, there are currently four active gold mines and a further four planned mines within the near future.
Media
Turkey’s 1st nuke plant may be completed by 2023
The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant’s four units to be completed by 2023, one of the senior executives has said, although some sources said many bureaucratic hurdles hamper the $20 billion project
An environmental report (ÇED) by Rosatom, which the Turkish authorities require, is expected to be resubmitted to the Environment Ministry soon, months behind the planned schedule.
“We have taken the first questions about the ÇED from the ministry. After we translate all the documents, we’ll send them to Moscow, and then we’ll work on these questions. All of the questions are submitting to us part by part, but we have asked for these questions to be sent altogether to shorten the process,” an official has stated.
The also added they wouldstart working to take construction licenses and power generation licenses. Without environmental approval, the company cannot launch tenders for an estimated 8 billion worth of subcontracts.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
Number of Syrian refugees in Turkey exceeds 600,000: Turkish official
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has exceeded 600,000 and more than 400,000 of them are living outside refugee camps, the Turkish disaster management agency said on Monday. “We conducted a study before the Eid (al-Adha) holidays and the numbers have increased above 600,000,” said Mustafa Aydoğdu, spokesman for the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD).
Turkey, which shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria, is a strong critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a main supporter of the rebels fighting against him. It has said it will maintain its “open door” policy to those fleeing the Syrian civil war, now in its third year, although it has closed border crossings from time to time following clashes near the frontier. About 200,000 Syrians were living in 21 refugee camps, mainly near cities near the border, Aydoğdu said, while the rest chose to live in rented accommodation outside the camps.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in August Turkey has already spent around $2 billion sheltering the refugees. The United Nations expects another 2 million Syrians to become refugees in 2014 and 2.25 million more to be displaced within the country.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
21.10.2013
compiled by Editor BTT,
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
