07 13 13

Memorable
music for
‘commemorable’
times

Turkey will be one of the nations to Turkish-German film maker Fatih

come out of the economic crisis the Akn's movie ‘Edge of Heaven’ among
fastest, says Prime Minister Erdoan the top 10 movies of the decade

Yo 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, DECEMBER 28, 2009 WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM TL 1.50

page10 Search for answers after US plane attack

MILITARY HQ UNDER SCRUTINY

TODAY'S ZAMAN

Cvlan prosecutors conduct

PHOTOS

search at mltary command

Eight soldiers were detained on Saturday in an investigation into allegations of an assassination plot against the deputy
amil Tayyar Mehmet Baransu
prime minister. Military officers erected obstacles in the way of civilian prosecutors when searching military headquarters,
despite the existence of a warrant. The search was carried out, albeit with difficulty, the first of its kind in Turkish history
LEGAL ACTIONS URGE
JOURNALIST TO ENGAGE SEDAT GÜNEÇ / METN ARSLAN, ANKARA
TODAY’S ZAMAN, AL ÜNAL

IN SELF-CENSORSHIP,
The probe into an alleged plot by ar-
my officers on active duty to assassi-

PUNDITS SAY
nate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent
Arnç has deepened, albeit with difficulty
caused by Special Forces Command officers
EMNE DOLMACI / METN ARSLAN, STANBUL/ANKARA who resisted the search of their facilities by
specially authorized civilian prosecutors on
Legal actions like those taken against two Saturday. The search took place despite resis-
journalists last week for covering ground- tance and continued yesterday.
PHOTO

breaking stories such as Ergenekon, a clandestine Last week two officers of the Tactical
crime network which has alleged links within the Mobilization Group of the Special Forces
state, and a military action plan which included Command were captured as they stood watch
shady plots to kill non-Muslims in the country, near the house of Arnç in Ankara's
are urging journalists to impose self-censorship Çukurambar neighborhood. On Saturday, eight
out of fear of arrest, pundits have said. more Turkish soldiers were detained in the
Star daily columnist amil Tayyar, who is same investigation. The General Staff said in a
among the dozens of journalists covering the Er- statement that the soldiers were taken to
genekon case, received a 20-month suspended Ankara central command headquarters in the
prison sentence last Thursday because of his book morning after state prosecutors searched a mili-
on Ergenekon, titled “Operasyon Ergenekon” tary base in the capital. The names of those un-
(Operation Ergenekon). The sentence will be der detention have not yet been released, but
dropped if Tayyar does not commit a crime in the reports said head of the Tactical Mobilization
next ve years. Some Ergenekon defendants led Group Col. Y.A. was among them.
a criminal complaint against Tayyar, claiming The military released a statement earlier
that he had violated the confidentiality of the this week saying two officers in the car near
Ergenekon investigation and had attempted Arnç's house had been running security
to affect the court with his book. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 checks on a military official living in the neigh-

15 LAWS IN TCK RESTRICT FREEDOM borhood who was suspected of leaking infor-
mation. However, more detentions came on
OF EXPRESSION PAGE 17 Friday, and civilian prosecutors suspecting that
Civilian prosecutors searched military offices over the weekend in what was a first in Turkey, where the military has toppled four governments to date. there could be attempts at obscuring evidence
at the Special Forces Command had a search
INQUIRY
warrant issued on Friday night. According to

IMAGES OF Turkey braced Tension is running high ahead of today's National Security Council (MGK) meeting, which comes after a civilian inspection of
the General Staff offices on Saturday and Sunday in what was a first in Turkey, a country where the military has so far toppled four
reports, Special Forces Command personnel
strongly resisted the prosecutors during the

HANDCUFFED SUSPECTS for the tensest governments. The MGK comes at a time when distrust between the government and the military is at its peak. The police search of first search on Friday night. Newspapers on
General Staff buildings, conducted this weekend as part of an investigation into an alleged assassination plot against Deputy Prime
Sunday wrote that the Ankara 11th Higher
MGK meeting of Minister Bülent Arnç, something that had never happened before in Turkey's history, has contributed to the confidence problem.

HURT KURDS, GOV’T the year

Arnç, who also participates in the MGK meetings, is expected to make a speech today regarding the latest developments following
the civilian search of the General Staff's Special Forces Command and the Tactical Mobilization Group, where two officers initially
Criminal Court issued a search warrant on Friday
night after the two men who were captured

LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION detained in the investigation as they kept watch outside Arnç's home last week serve. By ERCAN YAVUZ CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 near Arnç's house were released. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

AYE KARABAT, ANKARA

ERGENEKON LT. COL. TATAR SPOKE WITH VICE ADMIRAL BEFORE HE DIED, SAYS BROTHER BY ABDULLAH YAVUZ ALTUN PAGE 05
The Ministry of the Interior has launched
an investigation into the handcufng of
35 suspects, including some mayors, alleg-
Talat worried about
04 negotiations falling 11 says 4 dead in 06 and
edly linked with the urban arm of the terrorist Iranian opposition Sezgin says gov’t
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The hand-
cufng of the suspects in Diyarbakr while they BDP should
victim to elections rally, police deny have dialogue
protest

monday talk
cyprus

were on their way to give testimony to public

prosecutors also led to outrage among some Although there is still a con- An Iranian opposition Web Writer Enver Sezgin has said
segments of society. “They were trying to play siderably long time until presi- site said four people were with the closure of the pro-
with our minds, but with these pictures they dential elections in April, there killed in clashes between Kurdish Democratic Society
played with our feelings, too. I felt so offended, is already an “election atmos- protesters and security forces Party (DTP), the Kurdish initia-
like many Kurds,” Sezgin Tanrkulu, the for-
phere” in the KKTC, Turkish in Tehran but the capital's tive entered a new phase
mer chairman of Diyarbakr Bar Association
Cypriot President Talat has police chief denied the which carries uncertainties
told Today's Zaman. The Diyarbakr Bar is also
said, expressing concerns that report. Unrest also spread to with it, especially if the sides
planning to apply to the legal authorities for a
such a mood might negatively other parts of Iran, including of the conflict do not position
crime report on the handcufng. CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
affect the ongoing talks. the holy Shiite city of Qom. themselves well.

Featuring news and articles from

‘ 02 TODAY’S ZAMAN

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

‘ Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
‘ MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009

WORDS OF WISDOM
PRESS REVIEW

colu m ns
The full suspension of settlement They [Europeans] do not understand that Life is a shipwreck Does the gov’t know
construction is the only way to restart the minarets do not make belief but it is the belief but we must not forget what it is doing?
negotiations from the point they stopped at. of the people that makes the minarets. to sing in the lifeboats.
FEHM KORU YEN AFAK
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Voltaire You may possibly know what has
happened to Star daily columnist
amil Tayyar: He has been given
an 18-month suspended prison
sentence on charges of writing a
book about Ergenekon. This con-
dition simply turns the penalty into a “not writing
CROSS READER about Ergenekon” punishment. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoan probably has negative feel-
ings and opinions about the media for personal
FATMA DL ZIBAK pr ess rou n du p
f.zibak@todayszaman.com reasons. Unlike the way some people think, he

AA, MUHARREM AKSAKALLI

has not categorized media organs into “opposi-
tion media” and “advocate media,” and it is clear
that he sees every media organ and its members as
equal to each other. If it was not so, the sword of
Arnç assassnaton Damocles would not be hanging over the hands of
the columnists of the Star and Bugün dailies, but
plot can no longer over the heads of others, and the necessary leg-
islation would have been passed to help those in
be covered up newspapers who fly from one courthouse to an-
other trying to convince people they have not bro-
Just as there were heated debates in Turkey about an assas-

PHOTO
sination plot against Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arnç, ken the law. It seems as if the government’s right
which was discovered with the detention of two military hand is not aware of what its left hand is doing.
officers around Arnç’s house last weekend, police teams
searched the offices of the two officers over the weekend,
and eight soldiers were detained in the same investigation. The initiative of New
When the police teams, accompanied by five prosecutors,
were not allowed to search the Tactical Mobilization Group,
Year’s surprises
the judge who gave the order for the search came to the area. AKF BEK RADKAL
It was reported that the judge sealed the archive room in the If I tell you some news about the future like for-
office when military officers refused to allow the search. On tune-tellers on Christmas Eve, would you receive
the same day, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan had it as good news? For example, if I said in the new
an extraordinary meeting with Chief of General Staff Gen. year big surprises are expected and that some
lker Babu that lasted for three hours to most probably talk parts of the preparations will be completed in the
about the assassination plot. An earlier statement from the last National Security Council (MGK) meeting
General Staff that said the two military officers who were and that we will see the opening of the surprise
caught around Arnç’s house had been assigned by the packages gradually starting from the beginning of
General Staff to gather information about a member of the 2010... For instance, the Makhmour refugee camp
military who was accused of leaking military information to will be evacuated, the headquarters of the Kurd-
third parties falls short of being convincing. The latest de- istan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kandil Moun-
velopments were promising in that the assassination plot tains will be removed and the PKK will lay down
against Arnç is a serious one, and it cannot be covered up. their weapons, former DTP members will learn to
In consideration of the fact that the Tactical Mobilization take part in politics independent of mral Island
Group is one of the most critical units of the General Staff and the Kandil Mountains. In short, the new year
and is being searched for the first time, Zaman’s Mustafa will be better than the one that has passed. We
Ünal says if the prosecutor made a request for a search there The 95th anniversary of the passing of thousands of Turkish will not miss the last year in the new one, will we?
and that his request was approved by the court, this means soldiers who froze to death in the Allahüekber Mountains
the situation is serious and that the evidence found regard-
ing the plot is important because neither the prosecutor nor
during World War I was commemorated with a ceremony held Noah’s pudding-like
the judge would normally have dared to make a search in in the village of Sarkam in the Kars province on Sunday. initiative
such a critical unit. The detention of eight military officers in-
ERGUN BABAHAN STAR
cluding the two who were caught around Arnç’s house and
the searches, according to Ünal, refute the General Staff’s bugün: “Law could not enter dark room,” the daily of simultaneous operations on Thursday in several prov- Elected mayors and party members
statement that said the two officers were around Arnç’s said in the headline of its main story yesterday, reporting inces against the Kurdish Communities Union/Turkish who are trying to engage in politics
house to gather information about a military spy. “If the that five prosecutors who were investigating an assassina- Council (KCK/TM), an organization that allegedly func- were lined up as they were hand-
case had been limited to the surveillance of a military spy, tion plot against Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arnç were tions as the urban arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Work- cuffed like university students who’d
there would be neither searches nor detentions,” says Ünal. not allowed to search the Tactical Mobilization Group ar- ers’ Party (PKK). The 23 were arrested on Friday. Various been staging a protest. It must be the
Bugün’s Erhan Bayurt focuses on the military officers’ chive in Ankara on Saturday. The prosecutors sought to protests were held in the Southeast to protest the arrests, “prison initiative.” On the one hand,
resistance to allow the prosecutors to search the archives search the workplaces of two military officers who were with demonstrators demanding either the release of their the party (the Democratic Society Party [DTP]) was
of the Tactical Mobilization Group and wonders whether caught near Arnç’s house in Ankara last weekend. When friends or to be arrested as well. closed, its chairman was barred from politics and the
there are documents in that room that are hidden from the they were not allowed to search the unit’s archive, the judge mayors were arrested. On the other hand, the pro-
law. “Although Gen. Babu frequently stresses the impor- who issued the search order came to the area and sealed the sabah: In a front-page story, the daily yesterday posals for resolution were discussed. This is another
tance of respect for the supremacy of law and democracy, doors of certain parts of the unit when military officers re- reported on a message released by Prime Minister Recep indication of how confused people’s minds are in
are there some under his command who disregard his or- fused to give prosecutors permission to conduct their search Tayyip Erdoan on the day of Ashura, the 10th day of Mu- Turkey. At this point the Kurdish initiative looks
ders? Why should the archives of Gladio not be opened there in an effort to prevent the destruction of evidence. harram, considered by Alevis as the most sacred month. In like a marriage without consummation. Everything
to prosecutors in Turkey when they are open to judicial his message, Erdoan said Karbala was a common pain of is allowed, but political engagement is forbidden.
inspection in Italy and many countries of Europe? At the radikal: Thousands of Peace and Democracy the entire nation. Karbala is the site of a massacre in which But one should not be surprised by these develop-
end of the day, the search order was made by a judge,” Party (BDP) members flocked to a courthouse in the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husain and his sup- ments in a county where soldiers follow politicians,
he explains. From this point on, Bayurt says we will see Diyarbakr, demanding to be arrested following last porters were brutally beheaded. Alevis and Shiites com- ammunition is secreted and journalists who ques-
whether law or resistance to law will prevail. “I hope the week’s arrest of 23 Kurds in the Southeast, the daily re- memorate the victims of Karbala on the day of Ashura. tion all these things are sentenced to prison. One
result of this investigation will not be one that will damage ported in the headline of its main story yesterday. Dozens Erdoan was the first prime minister to release a message can only curse such a scene. There is one fact that
Turkish democracy and the supremacy of law. I hope the of people, eight of them mayors, were detained as a result to Turkey’s Alevis on the day of Ashura, the daily said. should be accepted, namely that no initiative will suc-
Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) will not tarnish its image in the ceed that disregards the will of the people. This is ex-
eyes of the public with a wrong decision,” states Bayurt. actly what is going on in the southeastern provinces.

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 NATIONAL M O N D A Y, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN 03

STANBUL 16° KONYA 13°

ANKARA 13° ÇANAKKALE 15°
ZMR 15° DYARBAKIR 13°
ANTALYA 18° SAMSUN 21°
ADANA 15° BURSA 12°
ERZURUM 5° GAZANTEP 15°
EDRNE 11° ESKEHR 10°
TRABZON 15° MALATYA 11°
KAYSER 12° KOCAEL 13°

BÜLENT

TODAY’S ZAMAN, KÜRAT BAYHAN

KENE
Blind operator knows b.kenes@todayszaman.com
8,500 telephone numbers
ZMT Rdvan Demirciolu, a visually impaired
telephone operator for the zmit Municipality, has
memorized approximately 8,500 telephone numbers Between good
and has proven to be a tremendous success at his
job, even though many people believed he would
fail. Demirciolu, speaking to the Anatolia news
and evl or hope
agency, said he is blind and that he had no
opportunity to attend school because of the situation
and despar

in his village. Demirciolu was trained to be a
telephone operator at a center run by the Ministry of
Health. Following his training, he started working at
the zmit Municipality when he was 19 years old.
“When I first began in the business, I heard of a
phone operator who was also blind, and he was not
successful at his job. So people believed that I
wouldn’t be able to succeed, either. However, I am
very ambitious. I tried for about two years. Then
everybody said, ‘You’re the best person to have done
this job,’ and I became the first person to have
worked for the municipality for 21 years,” he noted.
Sarkam operation commemorated
Kars A ceremony was yesterday held to
commemorate the 95th year anniversary of the
Sarkam operation, in which 75,000 Turkish soldiers
were lost mostly through freezing and without any
contact with the Russian enemy lines, in Kars’s
Sarkam district. The ceremony was attended high
state officials including Defense Minister Vecdi
Gönül, Parliament Deputy Speaker Nevzat Pakdil
and Kars governor Ahmet Kara. The ceremony also
marked the end of a walk, which was held as part of
the Sarkam commemoration ceremony. While
expressing that thousands of young people sacrificed
their lives in order to fulfill the duty given to them,
PHOTO
Turkey is seeing remarkably refreshing, revolutionary
democratic developments. But we are also making
incredible mistakes one after another, perhaps due to
our inexperience stemming from the fact that we do
not experience such large-scale changes frequently.
On the one hand, with historic moves to eradicate
shady networks that include generals and former
commanders of the land, air, naval and gendarmerie
forces under the Ergenekon investigation, the best
examples of how the rule of law applies to everyone
are being given. On the other hand, we can produce
horrifying Guantanamo-like scenes, hurting the very
essence of democracy, with practices against elected
pro-Kurdish mayors despite the historic steps taken
within the scope of the Kurdish initiative, which is vi-
tally needed for consolidating our fragile democracy.
Good and evil, or hope and despair, intermingle.
Similarly, on the one hand, organized crime, con-
spiracies daring to massacre civilians and children and
attempted assassinations are being exposed one after
the other, which are almost certainly planned by anti-
democratic and anti-government forces whose core is
formed by the criminal and illegal networks within the
Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). These scandalous crimes
-- which in the past could not be investigated since if
one tracked them, s/he would nd the inuential illegal
Thousands of Shiites attended ceremonies in stanbul that took place in Halkal’s Zeynebiye neighborhood on Saturday. networks within the army and the state -- and the pow-
erful groups that are perpetrators of these crimes can
today be investigated by courageous prosecutors and

Turkey’s Shiites
Gönül added, “I commemorate our soldiers, public
successfully tried by diligent and fair judges.
who sacrificed themselves in the past and who do not
However, at the same time, tens of journalists can
refrain from sacrificing themselves for development of
face thousands of investigations and trials -- in a way
this country and people who see all kinds of sacrifices
never seen in any democracy or in an open regime with
for this country as duty with gratitude.”

mourn Karbala tragedy

Subway bridge parts arrive
STANBUL A ship carrying 11 piles of the 50 that will be
used in the construction of the Golden Horn subway
bridge, one of the most important sections of the
stanbul subway, arrived in stanbul on Friday at
midnight. The Galata Bridge was closed to both
pedestrian and vehicle traffic to allow the
120-meter-long Norjan, carrying the piles, to pass
through. The piles are 1.8-2.5 meters wide and 65-85
meters long. They are an integral part of a subway
bridge that will allow the Maslak-Yenikap line to
cross the Golden Horn. Thirteen piles that will also
be used in the construction of the bridge were
brought to the Golden Horn last week. More piles
will arrive by the end of January, and construction on
the bridge is scheduled to begin in February.
Milas traffic accident leaves 4 dead
MLAS Four people died in a traffic accident in Mula’s
Milas district on Sunday when driver Salih Kayacan
lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a bridge on
the Milas-Söke road. Kayacan and passengers Ayser
(47), Ercüment (28) and Günser Kayacan (60) all
perished in the accident. It took Milas Fire
Department teams and emergency personnel two
hours to extract the bodies of the four victims.
Thousands of Shiites in prov-
inces including stanbul, Idr
and Kars on Saturday, the 10th
day of Muharram, mourned the murder
of Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet
Muhammad and the son of Imam Ali,
and 72 of his companions in 680 in
Karbala, part of modern-day Iraq.
Ceremonies in stanbul took place in
the Halkal district’s Zeynebiye neighbor-
hood. Arriving in Aure Square, thou-
sands of people in black garb mourned the
tragedy, which took place 1,370 years ago.
The ceremony started with a Holy Quran
recitation. While a play written and direct-
ed by Zeynebiye Youth Theater general art
producer Kasm Alcan, titled “Zeyneb Is
The Name of a Free And Honored Stand,”
was in progress during the ceremony,
many participants broke into tears. Shiites
donated blood as a sign of solidarity with
the people who died in Karbala.
Republican People’s Party (CHP)
leader Deniz Baykal, former Culture
Minister Namk Kemal Zeybek, stanbul
Mayor Kadir Topba, ili Mayor Mus-
tafa Sargül, prominent historian lber
Ortayl stanbul Mufti Mustafa Çarc,
Küçükçekmece Mayor Aziz Yeniay and
numerous political party representatives
attended the ceremony.
Speaking at the ceremony, the leader
of Turkey’s Shiites, Selahattin Özgündüz,
reminded the audience of the Armenian,
Kurdish, Alevi and Roma initiatives and
asked if there would be a “Shiite initia-
tive.” Özgündüz also said today is a day
that unites people. Then he went on to de-
scribe how evil forces killed Hussain and
his companions while a teary-eyed audi-
ence raptly listened to him.
Meanwhile, Religious Affairs Direc-
torate head Ali Bardakolu said we mourn
all our martyrs, particularly the Karbala
the rule of law, freedom of thought, freedom of expres-
sion and of the press -- in connection with news stories
they courageously wrote just to perform their duties
properly, i.e., ensuring that the general public is suf-
ciently informed about events and developments. And
martyrs, in his Karbala message on Sat- some of these journalists could be sentenced to prison
urday. In his statement, Bardakolu said time, while some of them are being repressed and si-
Muslims should learn lessons from such lenced by imposing illegal pressure on them. Or the pro-
tragic events and avoid any behavior Kurdish political parties -- which are supposed to be the
that could damage the unity of Muslims. soundest grounds on which the Kurdish initiative can be
Bardakolu stated that he wants people built -- can be shut down by supreme court decisions,
to live in peace and wants people to have or the members of these parties are detained en masse.
serenity, trust, mutual love and respect for The mayors who are elected to ofce are handcuffed
one another. with plastic bonds as is the general practice implemented
In addition, Prime Minister Recep against terrorists/resistance ghters and their supporters
in Afghanistan or Iraq under occupation. They are lined
Tayyip Erdoan released a “Muharram 10”
up in a Guantanamo-like scene. Good and evil, or hope
letter on Saturday to share in the sorrow
and despair, intermingle once again.
of Muslims. Erdoan said the message for
On the one hand, the shadowy forces -- which
today from Karbala, which represents sac-
people feared to approach until very recently -- are today
rice, justice and nobility against tyranny,
probed in heroic investigations. As seen in a recent ex-
despotism and betrayal, is that we should
ample, an army unit, known to the public as the Special
be united and try to have condence, -
Warfare Command, although its ofcial title is the Tacti-
delity and understanding in one another.
cal Mobilization Group, which is suspected of being in-
“The 10th day of Muharram has always
volved with organized crime and illegal activities against
been a reference for every conscience that
the government and democracy and of overstepping its
has prevailed in protecting justice and
powers and duties, is being raided by prosecutors for the
truth,” Erdoan said. stanbul Today’s Zaman
sake of the rule of law, democracy and security of the na-
tion and the legitimate government. Despite the shield
of protection afforded by the General Staff, the inves-
tigation is shedding light on the dark labyrinths where
illegality rules. On the other hand, certain associations
of lawyers, particularly including the stanbul Bar As-

‘Santa Claus’s bones must be brought back to Turkey from Italy’ sociation, as well as some members of the top judiciary
-- who are supposed to uphold the rule of law -- do not
stand idle but shake trust in the rule of law with the deci-
A scholar from Akdeniz Univer- sources say St. Nicholas were born in bones back to Turkey.” The scholar
AA, HÜSEYN KANBER

sions they give by twisting legal principles. By hiding in

sity has called for the return of the
bones of St. Nicholas, better known as
Santa Claus, from the Italian city of Bari,
where his bones were taken after be-
ing stolen, to Antalya’s Demre district,
where the saint died and was buried.
Speaking to the Anatolia news
Patara, a previous name of Antalya, and
died in 343 in Demre. The saint’s bones
were stolen by Italian craftsmen in 1087
and brought to Bari, where they were
interred in a church dedicated to him.
Çevik reiterated St. Nicholas’s re-
marks in which he said, “I was born
also emphasized the significance the shadow of the laws that they construe at will, they
of St. Nicholas’s grave in terms of can take those considerably controversial decisions that
tourism and said that the number of deeply damage the collective conscience -- like the Con-
tourists visiting the church in Demre stitutional Court’s decisions on party closures and the
will drastically increase when the Council of State’s coefcient decision. At the expense of
bones are returned. shattering trust in the rule of law and hurting true law-
Antalya Museum Director Cu- yers, some associations of lawyers -- which are supposed
PHOTO

agency, Professor Nevzat Çevik,
who leads archeological research in
Demre, said St. Nicholas is a well-
known Christian saint and that he
has become very popular in Europe,
adding that many churches have
been built in Europe in his honor.
“The saint was born and spent his
life in Anatolia,” Çevik said. Historical
here, raised here and I will be buried
here.” The professor added that “we
should respect the wish of St. Nicho-
las. The bones should be brought
back to his grave in Demre.”
Çevik has also urged state au-
thorities to take steps to contact
their Italian counterparts. “The
ministries should work to move the
mali Ayabakan told Anatolia that
Christians visiting the church in
Demre have complained about the
absence of Santa Claus’s bones and
said an empty grave means noth-
ing to them. “If the bones can be
brought to Turkey, they will be re-
turned to the original grave,” he
added. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
to advocate rights of civilians vis-à-vis the despotism of
the state -- may demand military intervention in politics
and hail every anti-democratic initiative. Thus, good and
evil, or hope and despair, intermingle further.
For us, the ordinary citizens living in this beauti-
ful country, where good and bad, hope and despair,
mingle with each other, there remains the resentment
of having spent one more year with these debates that
Officials from Antalya urged to take steps to bring Santa Claus’s bones back to Turkey. we should have left behind already.
 04 TODAY’S ZAMAN
2009 sees bural of past tensons,
rse of ‘golden era’ n US tes
EMNE KART ANKARA
The resonance of the word “model”
within the framework of bilateral rela-
tions between Ankara and Washington
has dramatically changed in a positive way in the
past year, with the decades-old spirit of alliance be-
tween the two NATO allies being held to its literal
meaning with constant contact and dialogue at the
highest level.
Back in June 2004, ahead of arriving in Turkey
for an ofcial visit as well as for participating in a
NATO summit, George W. Bush, US President
Barack Obama’s predecessor, praised Turkey as a
model Muslim democracy -- a description which
has never been embraced by Turkish Prime Min-
ister Recep Tayyip Erdoan or other senior Turkish
leaders and decision makers, along with the deni-
tion “moderate Islamic model.”
Within the stillborn Broader Middle East and
North Africa Initiative (BMENA) presented by the
US in April 2004 as a G-8 initiative, Washington
viewed NATO ally Turkey as a bridge between the
Muslim East and the Christian West. Ankara wel-
comed such a role but rejected being a model and
insistently said reforms should not be imposed on
countries in the region from the outside.
The stillborn initiative, which the United States
had envisioned would bring democracy to Middle
Eastern countries, eventually proved unsuccessful,
and reminiscences of Bush’s 2004 stanbul speech
among the people of Turkey are not quite positive,
with the public’s objections to the Bush administra-
tion’s policies sometimes turning into anti-Ameri-
can sentiments.
Another serious source of tension between
Turkey and the US was the latter’s inaction against
the presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. This tension was
overcome at a considerable level after November
2007, following a White House meeting between
Bush and Erdoan, since which the US has sup-
plied real-time intelligence to Turkey to help accu-
rately pinpoint PKK targets in northern Iraq.
Still, what Obama has brought in bilateral rela-
tions has been substantially bigger and more im-
portant than what was gained after that meeting,
particularly due to Obama’s denition of relations
as well as his approach toward Turkey.
Talat worried
about talks falling
victim to elections
Although there is still a considerably long
time until presidential elections in April,
there is already an “election atmosphere” in
the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(KKTC), Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet
Ali Talat has said, expressing concerns that
such a mood might negatively affect the on-
going reunication talks with the Greek Cy-
priot side.
Talat has been having reunication talks
with Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christo-
as since last September. The United Nations
has announced that the talks will intensify in
January, apparently in an effort to make prog-
ress in reunication efforts before the KKTC
presidential elections. Talat has said before
that he would not run for re-election if there
is no progress in the peace talks. KKTC Prime
Minister Dervi Erolu, who is skeptical about
the prospects of reunication, is expected to
run for the position. Informing people about
the latest developments regarding the reuni-
cation talks during a visit to villages near
the port town of Gazimausa (Famagusta in
Greek) on Saturday, Talat said there is cur-
rently an election atmosphere despite his un-
willingness for such an atmosphere to exist
during the negotiations, and added that “our
biggest worry is the negotiations falling victim
to the elections.”
The use of views expressed during the ne-
gotiation process as election campaign material
would be very dangerous and would eventually
harm the negotiation process, Talat said. “The
most important thing for us is succeeding in
the negotiations. In this regard, it seems that
we will stop the negotiations at a certain period
of time before the elections,” he said. Speak-
ing on Saturday, Erolu, meanwhile, denied
suggestions that his party has been “[avoid-
ing] holding negotiations.” He added, how-
ever, that it was the party that “knows what it
wants.” Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires
[ TURKISH DIPLOMACY IN 2009 ]
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan (L) meet with US President Barack Obama in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Dec. 7.
In April, he chose Turkey as the last leg of his
eight-day-long maiden trip to Europe.
Turning back to the resonance of the word
“model,” while in Turkey, Obama refrained from
employing the frequently used “strategic partner-
ship” term to dene relations between Turkey and
the US, but rather suggested building a “model
partnership” between Turkey and the United
States with a unity based on ideals and values.
In June, in a speech delivered in Washing-
ton, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu, who was
the chief foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister
Erdoan from 2002 until he was appointed to his
current post in May, listed the foreign policy issues
that are on agenda of both Ankara and Washing-
ton: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Palestine-
Israel dispute, Lebanon, Caucasus, Armenia and
Cyprus. He added, “Model partnership is not an
issue of preference, but it is a necessity.”
“The US doesn’t feel a need for Roman Em-
peror [Julius] Caesar, but feels need for Marcus
Convoy participants protested Egypt on a silent walk as it did not allow the Gaza convoy’s entry in Aqaba city on Sunday.
Egypt denies entry to Viva Palestina convoy, Turkish MPs
The Egyptian government on Saturday
prevented the Viva Palestina convoy,
which includes Turkish lawmakers from the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Par-
ty), from entering Egypt. The convoy, compris-
ing at least 450 people from various parts of the
world, left London on Dec. 3 and was expected
to enter Gaza by Dec. 27, the rst anniversary
of an Israeli attack that left nearly 1,500 Pales-
tinians dead and another 5,000 injured.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan
said he supports the convoy and urged Egypt to
allow the Turkish deputies to enter. Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak visited Turkey twice this
year, with his latest visit on Dec. 15. However, an-
alysts say Egypt’s move may raise tension between
Turkey and Egypt. In protest, ve British citizens
Aurelius. Obama’s approach is the approach of
Aurelius, but not of Caesar. You can only proceed
to a certain point via using power. Now a multilat-
eral approach is being used in the US,” Davutolu
asserted. Earlier, in March, in a speech on Turkey’s
foreign policy at Princeton University, Davutolu
had already voiced expectations of “a golden era”
ahead in Turkey-US cooperation
“Our approach and principles are almost the
same, very similar [to the US] on issues such as the
Middle East, Caucasus, the Balkans and energy
security. Therefore, we hope that there is a gold-
en era ahead in cooperation,” Davutolu said at
the time. Messages delivered by Erdoan and
Obama following a White House meeting on
Dec. 7 appeared to esh out the declared “mod-
el partnership” between Ankara and Washing-
ton since those messages had a constant and
vocal harmony over the nature of relations.
This was better observed when Obama clearly
expressed his appreciation of the role played by
went on a hunger strike on Sunday until the con-
voy is allowed to enter Egypt. Other members of
the convoy prayed and lit 1,500 candles symbol-
izing the 1,500 Palestinians who were killed in last
year’s Israeli attack on Gaza.
Around 250 trucks carrying European, Turkish
and Arab aid -- both food and medical supplies
-- arrived in Jordan from Syria this week and was
headed to the Red Sea port of Aqaba for the ferry
journey to the Egyptian Sinai port of Nuweiba. The
convoy teams from the US and the UK said they
would burn their cars if the Egyptian government
does not allow them to enter the country. British
Member of Parliament George Galloway, who
is leading the convoy, issued a statement urging
Egypt to facilitate the convoy’s passage.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu asked for
M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9
REUTERS
PHOTO
Turkey in contributing to the maintenance of
global peace rather than trying to limit Turkey’s
role to that of merely a regional actor. In remarks
by prominent author-journalist Roger Cohen,
the Obama administration has been apparently
“moving methodically to dismantle the Mani-
chean Bush paradigm -- with us or against us in
a global battle of good against evil called the war
on terror -- in favor of a new realism that places
improved relations with the Muslim world at its
fulcrum.” Cohen’s remarks had come just ahead
of Obama’s visit to Turkey.
Such considerable change concerning a
superpower -- whose earlier approach implied
“Don’t get into a knock-down, drag-out ght,
otherwise, we’ll harm you,” or “We have made
a decision, this is the decision, come if you want
to join this decision” -- has certainly nourished
hopes here in Turkey for a “wind of change” in
relations because of the convergence of the two
sides’ understanding of “cooperation.”
diplomatic talks to take place between Turkish
and Egyptian ofcials at the Egyptian Embassy
in Ankara and the Turkish Embassy in Egypt.
Davutolu’s attempts to persuade Egypt to allow
the convoy to enter Gaza were unsuccessful. Egypt
continues to insist that the convoy should return to
Syria and then enter Egypt through the port of al-
Arish. Only after that will Egypt consider allowing
the convoy in. Bülent Yldrm, president of the Hu-
manitarian Aid Foundation (HH), said they have
been waiting at the port of Aqaba for almost three
days and added that Egypt says it stands by Israel.
“The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a
letter to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that
they will not allow the convoy to enter Egypt as it is
a political convoy. Its name has in it the word ‘free-
dom’,” Yldrm said. stanbul Today’s Zaman with wires
NATIONAL
Ankara, Ashgabat
exchange messages
on energy cooperation
President Abdullah Gül recently sent a let-
ter to his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedov, in which he expressed support
for Ashgabat’s policy of diversifying energy trans-
portation routes.
“Turkey supports the policy of the friendly and
brotherly Turkmenistan on the diversication of en-
ergy transportation routes. I am condent that by
pursuing this policy, Turkmenistan, with its abundant
resources, will make a signicant contribution to gas
transit to Turkey and through Turkey to the West,”
Gül said. “There is no doubt that the Turkmenistan-
China gas pipeline that took energy cooperation be-
tween Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and
China to a new level will also have a positive impact
on regional development and stability,” he also said.
Earlier this month, the leaders of China and
three Central Asian nations gathered in Turkmeni-
stan for the opening ceremony of the natural gas
pipeline from the energy-rich region to China. The
leaders assembled at the Samandepe gas eld in
eastern Turkmenistan to open the pipeline leading
through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into China’s
far western Xinjiang region.
The pipeline is the culmination of Chinese ef-
forts to secure energy supplies for its fast-growing
economy. The route will also enable gas producers in
the region to diversify their exports away from Rus-
sia, which has exercised a virtual stranglehold over
Central Asian energy supplies since the collapse of
the Soviet Union. In his letter, Gül also highlighted
Ankara’s expectation that Turkmen gas will be trans-
ported to the West through Turkey, saying such a
choice would strengthen Ashgabat’s energy policy.
Last month, Johann Gallistl, the vice president of
the Nabucco pipeline consortium, said energy-rich
Turkmenistan could become a top supplier to ll the
pipeline. The Western-backed, 7.9 billion-euro,
3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline is aimed at re-
ducing Europe’s dependency on Russian gas. The
pipeline is planned to run from Turkey through
Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and end in Austria,
circumventing Russia.
Meanwhile, Berdimuhamedov initiated a tele-
phone conversation with Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoan on Friday and invited him to at-
tend the opening ceremony of a new Turkmeni-
stan-Iran gas pipeline designed to supplement
the existing Korpezhe-Kurt Kui pipeline, which
transports 8.4 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas
to Iran. The ceremony, expected to be attended
by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is
scheduled to take place in the rst week of January.
On the occasion of the telephone conversation,
Erdoan reiterated Turkey’s expectation that Turk-
menistan will support Nabucco. Süleyman Kurt Ankara
Greek diplomat
returned after
espionage claims
A diplomat at the Greek Consulate in zmir
returned to Greece after the Turkish Foreign
Ministry asked Greece to recall its diplomat over
allegedly handing over Turkish military secrets to
Greece.
The National Intelligence Organization (MT),
following nearly a year of information gathering,
has revealed that a diplomat working at the Greek
Consulate in zmir was working as a spy. The
scandal grew after three suspects were detained on
Thursday in a counterterrorism operation carried
out by the zmir Police Department over charges of
collecting condential information and espionage
on behalf of another country for material gain.
MT followed the three suspects and found out
that the suspects had attended many military and
naval exercises and tried to photograph what was
going on from as close as possible. The suspects
were accused of giving Greece information on state
secrets and military installation plans, military ve-
hicle activity and military exercises. The suspects
allegedly received 500-1,000 euros in proportion to
the value of the information passed on.
MT also closely monitored every step and ac-
tivity of the diplomat for almost a year. It then pre-
sented its ndings to the Foreign Ministry and the
Prime Ministry. The Foreign Ministry then asked
Greece to withdraw its diplomat or have Turkey
declare him persona non grata. Once a diplomat
is labeled persona non grata, his or her diplomatic
career is seen as over because no country would
accept his/her credentials.
The Greek diplomat was found to have links
with the three people who were arrested. An in-
terrogation revealed that one of the suspects, who
worked as a travel agent organizing day trips to
the Greek islands, was threatened by Greek intel-
ligence ofcials, who said they would prevent him
from organizing trips to the Greek islands, severely
affecting his business. Both the diplomat and the
suspects allegedly passed on secret information to
the Greek Intelligence Agency (EYP) at least once
a month. EYP ofcials reportedly promised to pro-
vide a monthly salary of 10,000 euros, but the sus-
pects say they were fooled. stanbul Today’s Zaman
 NATIONAL
One thing changes, everything changes
People feel as though they are in the middle
of a major thriller movie. Deputies from both
the ruling party and the opposition are saying
they have become dispirited over politics and
note that they will not be candidates for the
next term. The inability of political party lead-
ers to reach a compromise and their increasingly
harsh attitudes are producing negative waves
among the public. While junta formations with-
in the military are coming to a halt, the Turkish
Armed Forces’ (TSK) defense that the erosion of
trust stems from the “asymmetric psychological
war” being fought against it sparked strong re-
actions from all segments of society.
The suicide of military ofcers, top manage-
ment investigations, the polarization in the ju-
diciary and most recently the debates about two
senior level military ofcers monitoring Deputy
Prime Minister Bülent Arnç have made the ten-
sion increase even further. A political doyen friend
of mine said: “All these are pains of change. One
thing changes everything. The manifestation of
this as even a possibility means tension.”
Each day people try to change something
as they start their day. I recalled that change
exists in every country but that this level of
pain is peculiar to Turkey. He responded by
saying: “True, but countries that have a rooted
and powerful resistance to change like that in
Turkey can experience the same level of pain
as well. Another unique aspect in Turkey is
that the desire of people that start their day
by making changes to their lives in the name
of social change has always been suppressed.
CHP absence in Parliament
would mean end of status quo
Last week’s Cafe Capital, which pointed
out that the CHP could fail to meet the
threshold in the next elections and not win any
seats in Parliament, attracted a lot of attention.
A political pundit friend of mine who was with the
CHP for one term, said: “If the CHP is left out of
Parliament, it means the status quo is finished,
because this exclusion from Parliament won’t
be like previous ones. The CHP won’t be able to
bend its back and enter Parliament.”
The leftist politician to whom I pointed
out that the contemporary left and the Sargül
movement’s performance would be a deter-
mining factor said: “The power of the deep
state that wants to maintain the status quo
will also be tested. In my opinion, social en-
Images of handcuffed suspects hurts Kurds, gov’t launches investigation
contnued from page 1
According to the law, only suspects who are
aggressive or are suspected of attempting to escape
can be handcuff and according to Tanrkulu hand-
cufng these people is a violation of the law.
After being detained they were brought to the
courthouse in Diyarbakr to give their testimonies.
Until then they were not handcuffed, but outside
the court they were told to line up and the police
tied their hands with plastic handcuffs.
There are also claims that the footage and pic-
tures were taken by ofcials and distributed to the
press but it is not clear who gave the order.
“If you look at the pictures, you can see that at one
side there are no policemen, it is clearly a view deliber-
ately prepared for provocation,” Tanrkulu said.
He added that this image is extremely heart-
breaking for any Kurd. “The people who presented
this image tried to send the message to the nation-
alists that everything is under their control. They
are in charge and while they are doing this, they
did not take into account the devastation that this
will lead to in the hearts of Kurds.”
The security forces last week carried out simul-
taneous raids against the Kurdish Communities
Union/Turkey Council (KCK/TM), allegedly the
urban arm of the PKK. Several suspected KCK/
TM members were detained in Ankara, stanbul,
zmir, Diyarbakr, Siirt, Hakkari, Tunceli, Batman,
anlrfa, rnak and Van. Among them were may-
ors of several predominantly Kurdish cities in-
cluding Batman Mayor Nejdet Atalay, Diyarbakr
Kayapnar Mayor Zülküf Karatekin, Sur Mayor
Abdullah Demirba, Cizre Mayor Aydn Budak,
Suruç Mayor Ethem ahin, Kzltepe Mayor Fer-
han Türk and Viranehir Mayor Leyla Güven.
Human Rights Association Diyarbakr branch
chairperson Muharrem Erbey, other former mayors
and representatives of civil society organizations are
among those who were arrested.
Over the weekend, in front of Diyarbakr Court-
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009
How many other countries are there where
social change is under so much pressure?”
With the desire for urbanization supressed
for a very long time, Turkey was virtually im-
prisoned in the countryside. Democratization
was only allowed on the surface. It was neces-
sary that the idea of becoming a civilian society
did not even enter literature. For a very long
time, instead of a public audit for the sake of
transparency and bringing problems to the
agenda, newspapers investigated and directed
public opinion by covering up problems.
Now a major change is happening in all
areas, for Turkey is facing the problems of its
past and present. In addition to the perception
of the problem, the style for searching for a so-
lution to the problem is also changing.
Voters’ political perceptions are changing,
and the right-left, secular-anti-secular and eth-
nic polarization trend is changing.
Noting that the anti-Justice and Development
Party (AK Party) and pro-AK Party polarization
that formed with the March 29 elections took on
a new dimension with the democratic initiative,
an AK Party executive friend of mine, who spoke
about the current period, said, “The change and
status quo polarization is going to be our society’s
last polarization because the status quo is going
to face an absolute defeat by those who say ‘more
freedom, more wealth, more security’.”
Those who see change as a threat to their
privilege and power are undertaking strong efforts
to maintain the status quo. They seek to set every-
thing back by changing one thing. Juntas, chaos,
coup plans and gang formations are an expression
of the desire to turn everything back to how it was
in the past by changing something. These are use-
less efforts against social change, more freedoms
and more wealth. The effort to keep the status quo
alive by covering up problems is an effort in vain.
gineering will come into play. First, the growth
of the contemporary left and the Sargül move-
ment will be prevented. Then the disillusion of
voters will be prevented by having the entire
left come together under the roof of the CHP.
But this situation will only carry the CHP to
Parliament for another term. If none of these
things happen and leftist voters are not pre-
vented from going to other groups outside of
the CHP, only then will I believe that the deep
state has lost its power.”
Not too long from now, in the next few
months, the contemporary left and the Sargül
movement will turn into parties and make their
way onto the agenda. The situation will become
much clearer by the summer of 2010.
Thirty-five
suspects were
handcuffed while on
their way to testify in
Diyarbakr last week.
house, several thousand people participated in a sit-
down protest. Diyarbakr Mayor Osman Baydemir
and some deputies of the defunct Democratic Soci-
ety Party (DTP) also participated in the protest.
In Yüksekova, Cizre and Silopi there were
protests which occasionally turned into violent
clashes with the security forces.
Crisis goes on over defunct DTP deputies
Meanwhile, the crisis which erupted after the de-
cision of the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court to
authorize the use of police to bring some deputies of
the defunct pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
(DTP) to hearings this week might lead to an in-
crease in the already existing tension.
Kemal Burkay called on pro-peace Kurds to become more active and to accelerate their
efforts for the establishment of peace and the end of the terrorism in the contry.
Pro-peace Kurds to become more
active with return of Kemal Burkay
The now defunct Democratic Society
Party (DTP) was unable to put on a
good performance in the democratic initia-
tive. Not only did they fail to put distance
between themselves and terrorism and
violence, but some party administrators
seemed very happy when saying, “The
initiative is finished.” After the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) assumed responsi-
bility for the attack in Readiye following
demonstrations in the streets in various
parts of the country, people started ask-
ing, “Where are the peaceful Kurds?”
We asked this question to Rights
and Freedoms Party (HAK-PAR) Chair-
man Bayram Bozyel. Noting that for 30
years they have remained steadfast in
their belief that the Kurdish problem
cannot be solved through violence,
Bozyel said they always condemned
violence and promoted peace, even
when they were being tortured in the
Diyarbakr Prison following the Sept. 12
The Ankara court on Oct. 2, decided that the
former DTP parliamentary group deputy leader
Selahattin Demirta, the party’s deputy chair-
woman, Emine Ayna, and DTP stanbul deputy
Sebahat Tuncel should be brought to court for a
judicial hearing slated for Dec. 29.
The same decision was also taken for Chair-
man of the DTP Ahmet Türk and deputy Aysel
Tuluk whose membership of Parliament has been
removed by the Constitutional Court whose deci-
sion it was to close the DTP.
On several occasions in the past the deputies have
underlined that they have immunity and they will not
appear in court. But Tuluk and Türk announced after
the closure of the DTP that they will attend the hearing
TODAY’S ZAMAN 05
Ergenekon suspect
given fine due to
alleged corruption
The Supreme Court of Accounts recently
ned a suspect of Ergenekon, a clandes-
tine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the
CHAN, RAMAZAN KERPETEN
government, due to irregularities in the accounts
of the university of which he used to be rector.
The former rector of 19 Mays University
in the Black Sea province of Samsun, Professor
Ferit Bernay, who was referred to as an “en-
thusiastic coup supporter” in the coup diaries
belonging to the Cumhuriyet daily’s Mustafa
Balbay, was ned TL 800,000.
The inspectors from the Supreme Court of
Accounts discovered that TL 800,000 which was
PHOTO
paid by Vakfbank to the university after the lat-
ter decided to pay the salaries of its personnel
through Vakfbank in 2003 was placed in the
account of the 19 Mays University Foundation,
which was established by the Samsun Rotary
club without any ofcial link to the university.
The money that was paid to the university
as a result of a promotional agreement was
supposed to be put in the university budget
and be distributed to university personnel.
Bernay was detained as a part of the Er-
genekon investigation in April and released in
August. Bernay claimed in his testimony to the
police that he did not know about the money
transfers concerning the university.
A parliamentary investigation commis-
sion was established to investigate the claims
against Bernay, but since the president of the
Higher Education Board (YÖK) at that time,
Erdoan Teziç, did not allow an investigation,
questions concerning the former rector have
been left unanswered. Fatih Yalçner Samsun
‘My brother spoke
military period and when they were tar-
with vice admiral
gets of the terrorist organization.
Noting that people did not pay heed
before he died’
to those who appealed for peace during The elder brother of Lt. Col. Ali Tatar, who
times when violence prevailed, Bozyel
said, “We are always in the same place,
reportedly shot himself last week, claimed
yesterday that his brother had spoken with a vice
next to peace, but where are the journal-
ists and writers who ignored us?”
He explained that once arms are laid
admiral who lives in the same public housing as
the lieutenant colonel just before he died, in an
exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman.
down, HAK-PAR will become the “Demo- Star columnist amil Tayyar also expressed
cratic Party” of Kurds and said those who suspicion that Lt. Col. Tatar decided to commit
are involved in militarist and pro-status suicide on his own but probably made the deci-
quo violence will become the Republican
sion after talks with some generals, saying Tatar
People’s Party (CHP) of the Kurds. The
phoned a general to rebuke him and had a meet-
HAK-PAR leader also noted that Kurdish
ing with four or ve people before he shot himself.
intellectual Kemal Burkay will be returning
The claims have raised suspicions that the
to Turkey in the coming weeks, possibly
vice admiral who talked with Tatar is the vice
in the first few days of the new year, after
admiral identied as C.E., who also attended
years of longing for his country. Accord-
ing to Bozyel, peaceful Kurds will become Tatar’s funeral. As the Vakit daily reported,
more visible with Burkay’s return, and C.E. was the commander who rejected the
support for the democratic initiative pro- promotion of Lt. Col. Tatar to a higher post.
cess will become more dynamic. The name C.E. has been found on docu-
ments seized by the police at the ofce of former
Gen. ener Eruygur, a key suspect in Ergenekon,
an underground organization charged with plot-
ting to overthrow the government.
As the allegations suggest, Tatar was ques-
tioned about whether he had connections
with the Support for Modern Life Association
(ÇYDD), as claimed by the Habertürk daily. Ta-
tar was one of 10 naval ofcers who were inter-
rogated on charges of plotting to assassinate two
TODAY’S ZAMAN
admirals, Metin Ataç and Eref Uur Yiit. When
they were arrested, the allegation emerged in
some newspapers that some of the women who
received nancial support from the ÇYDD lived
with these naval lieutenants to control them and
keep an eye on them for the ÇYDD.
PHOTO
Another allegation about Tatar is that his ac-
tivities in the naval forces are explained in a doc-
ument that was seized by the police during the
investigation into retired Gen. Veli Küçük, who is
currently in Silivri Prison and charged with being
one of the prominent members of the Ergenekon
gang. According to claims in the document, most
of the military personnel employed in the naval
forces were Alevis when Tatar’s job was hiring
new personnel. Abdullah Yavuz Altun stanbul
3 released in second
Ergenekon trial
Three defendants in the second trial
opened as part of the investigation into
Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with
plotting to overthrow the government, have
been released by a unanimous decision of the
of the case against them in which they are accused of panel of the judges hearing the trial.
promoting the terrorist organization. Nationalist Industrialists and Business-
The other deputies who are expected to form a new men’s Association (USAD) former Secretary
parliamentary group this week are insistent that since General Birol Baaran, Lt. Melih Yüksel and
they have immunity they will not attend the hearing. cab driver Süleyman Solmaz were released in
Although the government announced after the 28th hearing of the second Ergenekon trial
the decision of the Ankara court that it was ready being heard by the stanbul 13th Higher Crimi-
for the constitutional changes necessary to pre- nal Court at a courtroom inside the Silivri Pris-
vent similar further crises, it did act. on Complex. This trial is based on the second
According to the related articles of the Constitu- and third indictments prepared so far in the
tion, if a court case was opened against someone for investigation. Release requests from lawyers
crimes against the indivisibility of the country, the of eight other jailed suspects including journal-
trials can continue even if the suspect is an elected ists Tuncay Özkan, Mustafa Balbay and former
as deputy. But the laws are not explicit as to which Türk Metal workers’ union President Mustafa
crimes are against the indivisibility of the state. Özbek were denied. stanbul Today’s Zaman
 06 TODAY’S ZAMAN MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009 INTERVIEW

Sezgin says gov’t and BDP should have

dalogue to solve Kurdsh problem
‘The government should draw lessons from its past experience with the DTP. And it should work toward establishing a
dialogue with the newly formed Peace and Democracy Party. This dialogue should be sustainable. … The new party’s
members should be engaged in dialogue with the government, and they should have the attitude of all or nothing’
Writer Enver Sezgin has said with the closure of the pro-Kurd-
ish Democratic Society Party (DTP), the Kurdish initiative en-
tered a new phase which carries uncertainties with it, especially
if the sides of the conict do not position themselves well.
Sezgin was referring to recent operations in which several
suspected Kurdish Communities Union, Turkey Council (KCK/
TM) members were detained in various cities, among them the
mayors of several Kurdish-populated provinces.
“This KCK operation is different to the previous ones be-
cause there are nine mayors who have been detained. These are
elected people. And those detentions come at a time when the
BDP [Peace and Democracy Party] was established to continue
looking for a solution to the Kurdish problem in Parliament,” he
said. “Apparently, pro-status quo forces do not want a solution.
Those detentions will lead to more street protests.”
Asked about the government’s role in the detentions, Sezgin
said that he would like to believe the operations have been con-
ducted despite the government by pro-status quo forces. He add-
ed that the recent operation was aimed at intimidating the BDP.
The BDP, which the deputies of the now-defunct DTP joined
early last week, denounced Thursday’s operation against suspected
KCK/TM members at a press conference in stanbul on Friday. A
group of BDP members also slammed government efforts for their
democratization initiative to settle the years-long Kurdish question.
For the last Monday Talk of the year, Sezgin, who has high
hopes of a solution to the Kurdish issue, answered our ques-
tions on this problem, which is likely to remain among the hot
topics for debate in 2010.
What do you see ahead in re-
gards to the continuation
of the Kurdish initiative
closure of the DTP, Öcalan had said that the deputies would con-
tinue with another party. After the DTP deputies decided to leave
Parliament, Öcalan claried his message about the DTP deputies’
need to stay in Parliament. Another factor is the demand from
most of their voters. Therefore, the DTP deputies took into con-
sideration those two factors and decided to stay in Parliament.
How do you think Öcalan came to the conclusion that
the DTP deputies should remain in Parliament?
Öcalan had talks with Justice Ministry ofcials to get better liv-
ing conditions in his prison environment. He was given an extra
window and promised a television. As his conditions improved,
his attitude has changed positively in the last couple of weeks. He
also said that he is not against the government’s democratic initia-
tive but that he is against the way it has been handled.
And he was critical of Duran Kalkan, who is responsible
for PKK militants, over a PKK attack in the Readiye district of
Tokat claiming the lives of seven soldiers in early December.
Yes. He told his lawyers that he could not understand the mo-
tivation behind the Readiye attack. He has also been critical of the
DTP leaders in that regard. He had criticized the PKK leader Cemil
Bayk in the past. But he was harsher in his criticism of Kalkan as
he said he had no idea what Duran is doing and what his goal is.
What do we understand from this? Are there leaders in
the PKK who disregard Öcalan?
Öcalan’s fears that some people in the PKK could eliminate
him have increased. For some time, Öcalan has been creating a
support base for himself in urban areas. He has established such
a base in cities. Öcalan no longer depends on armed PKK forces
in the mountains. He uses them only as a deterrent.
Do you see a possibility that one day Öcalan will be a
legitimate negotiating party in Turkey’s Kurdish problem?
There need to be some distinctions made. The Kurdish is-
sue is separate from having people come back home from the
mountains. Regarding Öcalan’s circumstances and for having
people come back home from the mountains, having a dialogue
with Öcalan could be helpful. But considering a solution to the
Kurdish problem is about basic human rights.
In order to have education in Kurdish in Tur-
key or to restore the original names of towns,
icia ls tal k about a you don’t need to negotiate with anyone.
rat party’
Could you talk about this political line in more detail?
What is it about, exactly?
That is the political line of Abdullah Öcalan who spearhead-
ed the Kurdish movement for years. It is the line of the PKK.
That line has changed over the years, but it has always been
there. This political line will not change depending on who
is in a pro-Kurdish party or who is not. It will be the same
for the new party. This is a fact that won’t go away.
It seems like the reactions to that line in Turkish
society will continue. What would change that course?
The most important thing to do will be to accept the
organic ties between the Kurdish party and the PKK
and try to bring their policies to an acceptable position.
Do you think the new party can also come to
the brink of closure under the circumstances?
This is possible, of course. But the new party should
be careful in its policies in order to not come close to that
point. We have seen how the process was damaged when
there were big celebrations, as if there had been a victory,
when a group of people from the Makhmour refugee camp
[in northern Iraq] returned to Turkey. On the other hand, the
government should work on laws to make party closures dif-
cult. If there is going to be victory in the end, everybody will win.
There are no enemies. Turks and Kurds always say that they are
“brothers.” There might be problems between brothers, but not
animosity. Problems can be overcome with dialogue. In a
large part of Turkish society, the thinking is that
Kurds will be given privileges, but the real
issue is about being equal. When
we are equals, we can
have a dialogue.

‘So me CHP off Ku rdi sh

following the closure of red on the
report prepa lly the report
pre- ‘Initiative will continue,
the DTP? ac tua
issue. It is cratic
We have passed the rst Social Demo it steps from gov’t needed’
pared by the P). Even if
s Pa rty (SH Do you think the Kurdish initiative might
phase in that regard. The People’ the CHP
P’s report,
rst phase started with prime were the CH t rep ort come to a halt?
cial democ

far from tha

minister’s announcement stands too tha t the CHP There is no turning back from the initiative.
It is ob vio us ar
that he will address the Kurd- no w. it ca n to we Either the government will pursue the ini-
erything
is doing ev Jus tice and De
-
tiative further, or there will be a civil war or
ish issue, and it ended with the rul ing
down the , an d if po ssible,
closure of the DTP. There have Party military intervention. A military coup is a
velopment of the
been many negatives and posi- hro w it. This attitude lution remote possibility.
overt the so
helpful for
CHP is not
so

tives in that process. First of all, , eit he r. The Why?

the Ku rdi sh issue da ble
the Kurdish issue has been com- of rstan Because the conditions for a military
nce is unde
a

prehensively and intensively dis- MHP’s sta s for na tio nal- coup are not present, either in Turkey
stand
is

cussed for the rst time in Turkish because it P says tha

t it is a or in the world. A civil war is also un-
t the CH -
ism. Bu . I am ab
it

history. It has come to Parliament cra tic pa rty likely because it would greatly harm
social demo t Kurdish
‘CHP says

for the rst time. But the closure
solutely as
of the DTP has not been good. In deputies an
addition, the position of the CHP heads in the stance.’
[Republican People’s Party] against to their party
the Kurdish initiative has been a
negative element in the process. The
process has also been negatively in-
uenced by the street protests.
What is your evaluation of the second phase, as you call
it? Where do the sides stand? Do they have new positions?
The most important step at this stage would be the re-evaluation
of actions by all sides in the conict. The government, for example,
should review its actions to nd out its past mistakes in the process.
What do you think those mistakes are?
Initially, the government tried a method of trial and error in
solving the Kurdish problem. They brought part of the problem
related to the Kurdish issue into the public sphere and observed
how much reaction it received. But it did not work since there
was a great resistance spearheaded by the opposition CHP and
MHP [Nationalist Movement Party]. The government should give
up this method. Instead, it should tackle the problems and work
toward solving them. The government should also draw lessons
from its past experience with the DTP. And it should work toward
establishing a dialogue with the newly formed BDP. This dialogue
should be sustainable because otherwise tensions will continue.
What do you think the BDP members should do in the
new period?
They should be part of the solution to the problem. They
should only seek a solution inside Parliament. Their attitude
should be reconciliatory.
‘Öcalan factor important’
tonished tha the country. Turks and Kurds live
al go vernment
d loc
t react together and interact much more
CHP do no
than before. They are not on
’s
opposite fronts. The possibility
of civil war is too risky to take.
Turkey has its back to the wall re-
garding the Kurdish issue. And it should start
solving the problems by giving them priority.
For example?
For example, there need to be moves in Kurd-
ish-language education. The government should
allow the Kurdish language to be used in public
education. The rst step could be to offer Kurdish
language classes as electives. Secondly, the orig-
inal Kurdish names of towns should be restored.
Thirdly, the people in the mountains should
return home with an amnesty, a PKK amnesty.
Those three steps would be very helpful. Enver Sezgin,
Members of the DTP were not pleased with
the government’s steps. Is there a reason to be- an intellectual
lieve that the BDP will be happy with the govern-
ment’s initiatives? who writes on the
The members of the new party should learn les-
sons from what has happened during the DTP period. Kurdish problem
Expressions like “the initiative is over” are not helpful to
He was born in Kurtalan in the southeastern
the solution of the Kurdish problem. The government is
province of Siirt. He went to high school and
trying to solve the problem, whether it has deciencies or university in Batman. In the second half of the
not. It wants to take some steps. The BDP should take this 1970s, he was involved in the Turkish Com-
into consideration. They can criticize the government, bring munist Party (TKP). He was in hiding for 10 years
more suggestions and offer some other solutions, but saying because of the military regime and its undemo-
that there is no initiative is not helpful at all. The new party’s cratic repercussions in Turkey. He was among
members should be engaged in dialogue with the govern- the founders of the Socialist Unity Party (SBP) in
TODAY’S ZAMAN, MEHMET YAMAN

Is this easy for them to do?
It is not easy. There is the factor of Abdullah Öcalan [the jailed
leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)] in mral
Prison. He was meddling with the affairs of the DTP, and he will
do the same with the BDP. Turkey was waiting for a condemnation
from the DTP regarding the PKK. But there was no point in wait-
ing. The important thing is to watch the political line of the BDP.
Following the ruling on the closure of the DTP, its dep-
uties rst talked about going back to their people and leav-
ing Parliament. But then they changed this attitude and de-
cided to continue under the roof of the BDP. How did they
come to that decision?
ment, and they should abandon the attitude of all or nothing. 1991. In the early ‘90s, he worked actively in Cem
Boyner’s widely respected New Democracy Move-
‘No doves against hawks’ ment (YDH), which later became a political party.
Sezgin has written his memoirs, titled “Batman
Banning moderates like Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tuluk
Boloy” and has another book, “Çözümün
from politics has been criticized. Do you think the harsh
afanda Kürt Sorunu” (The Kurdish Problem
voices left in the legal political sphere will be able to estab- at the Dawn of a Solution), based on his
lish the dialogue that you mentioned? interviews with writer Mustafa Akyol. He is
Even though banned from politics, moderate voices will still working on another book on the Kurdish
have an inuence in politics. And there are a lot of people who want problem predating 1980, this time
peace among the ones who are left in the legal arena. The situation based on his interviews with hsan
is not like doves against hawks. There might be different voices, dif- Aksoy, founder of the Turkish
ferent mentalities. It is obvious that Ahmet Türk and Emine Ayna Kurdistan Socialist Party.
PHOTO

There are a few factors. One is Öcalan’s attitude. Before the have differing mentalities. Besides that, there is a political line.
 BUSINESS MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009 TODAY’S ZAMAN 07

The global and Turksh jobs crses
The great global recession may already be over, but the global job crisis
persists. This crisis is worse than what the still exceptionally high ofcial
rates of unemployment indicate, according to “The World of Work Report
2009: The Global Jobs Crisis and Beyond,” published by the Geneva-based
International Labour Organization (ILO). The 136-page report, which
understandably adopts a pro-labor viewpoint, is divided into four chap-
ters: (1) The Global Jobs Crisis: Patterns and Medium-Term Scenarios; (2)
Making Finance Work for the Real Economy: Challenges for Policy; (3)
Rebalancing Globalization: The Role of Labor Provisions in Existing In-
ternational Trade Arrangements and Development Finance Policies; and
(4) Green Policies and Jobs: A Double Dividend? It frequently references
last June’s ILO Summit on the Global Jobs Crisis and the Global Jobs Pact
issued after the summit. It urges governments to avoid premature with-
drawal of stimulus measures despite the scal pressures now facing them.
The report stresses that since the onset of the global crisis, over 20
million jobs have disappeared. Moreover, as many as 5 million jobs might
be at risk, jobs that are owed to precarious government policies that have
enabled short or part-time work. There is also the risk that globally close
to 43 million job losers as well as new entrants could drop out of the la-
bor market or become structurally unemployed. In developing countries,
higher levels of informal employment could persist well beyond the crisis.
In developed countries, the long-term unemployment rates could remain
much higher than the pre-crisis levels even after the crisis. What is of great
concern, due to their potentially explosive social and political consequenc-
es, are the wide gaps in the state-provided social safety nets for the un-
employed and the underemployed who need income and other support.
The report argues that the jobs crisis largely reects the perverse ef-
fects of excessive “nancialization,” i.e., the increasingly important role of
nancial markets, to the detriment of the real economy. The nancial sec-
tor’s share of total corporate prots rose from 25 percent in the early1980s
to 42 percent preceding the crisis; its prots as a share of total wages and
salaries jumped from 24 percent to 40 percent during 1990-2005. To at-
tract the brightest top business school graduates, it offered rapidly rising
real compensation as real wages in the real economy stagnated in the last
15 years. Furthermore, enticed by the prospects of quick high returns in
Turkey’s growth
ASIM
ERDLEK
a.erdilek@todayszaman.com
nancial investments, pressured to pay more dividends and lured by lu-
crative leveraged buyouts, non-nancial rms invested a decreasing pro-
portion of prots in physical capacity. According to the report, costly gov-
ernment bailouts of the nancial sector, especially in developed countries,
coupled with the huge scal stimulus packages to combat the great reces-
sion, have created gaping budget decits and heavy public debt burdens.
It urges government structural actions to ensure that the nancial sector
supports the sustainable development of the real economy.
The report focuses, in considering how globalization can be
made fairer in the wake of the global crisis, on two crucial issues
with social dimensions: labor provisions in international trade ar-
rangements and the policies of development nance institutions. It
notes approvingly the rising incidence of labor-friendly measures in
both during the last 25 years, assigning much credit for them to the
ILO’s efforts. In its last chapter, the report turns to the controversial
topic of climate change. It advocates strong action to arrest climate
change, based on a 50 percent reduction in global CO2 by 2050.
Although it acknowledges that moving from a high to low-carbon
economy would be costly and painful, it argues that green policies
would also generate many new jobs, mitigating the job losses in
fossil-fuel dependent sectors and rms. These policies, through car-
bon taxes or cap-and-trade systems, could raise substantial public
revenues. Specically, it proposes a tax on CO2 emissions to nance
cuts in labor taxes that would increase employment by 0.5 percent
by 2014, equivalent to over 14.3 million net new jobs globally.
The report’s ndings about the Turkish jobs crisis are presented under
ve headings: (1) What has happened in the world of work? (2) What
are the near-term implications for employment? (3) How has the govern-
New arrangement
set up for used
ment mitigated the crisis impact? (4) More still could be done to strength-
en social protection, and (5) Green policies, not only for a sustainable fu- machinery imports
ture, but also for jobs. The Turkish jobs crisis entailed severe employment
losses, over 2 million jobs during August 2008-February 2009, despite the The Foreign Trade Undersecretariat has intro-
recent modest gains, 40,000 between August 2008 and August 2009. duced a new regulation for second-hand, used
The unemployment rate rose sharply from 10.2 percent in August and remanufactured machinery imports with the
2008 to 13.4 percent in August 2009. (According to the most recent Turk- aim of protecting local manufacturers and facilitating
ish Statistics Institute [TurkStat] data released on Dec. 15, the rate stayed investment for businessmen.
at 13.4 percent in September.) As for the near-term implications for em- While the arrangement allows used machinery
ployment, the expansion of the informal sector and the lower female and that is not manufactured in Turkey to be imported
youth labor force participation rates are of concern. without obtaining permission, businessmen will be
The Turkish government has mitigated the impact of the crisis allowed to import from other countries machinery
by strengthening social protection, providing credit to small and that is also produced in Turkey if there is no signi-
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), boosting domestic demand, and cant objection from Turkish manufacturers.
decreasing working hours while increasing part-time employment With the new arrangement, the trade of used
in state-supported rms and providing incentives for hiring. But the machines has also been prevented. Furthermore, a
government can still do more, argues the report. mechanism has been established to audit imported
It can further strengthen social protection since there are wide used machines after their assemblage. A new “multi-
gaps in unemployment insurance coverage and other benets, such auditing system” has been introduced in the impor-
as old age and widows’ pensions, work injury and disability benets, tation of used machines that are also manufactured in
especially in the expanding informal sector. The schism in the Turkish Turkey. A certicate of permission from the Foreign
labor market is not only between those who are employed and unem-
Trade Undersecretariat General Directorate will be
ployed but also between those who are protected by social safety nets
required to import used or remanufactured machines
and those who are not. The latter problem could become worse as the
that are also produced in Turkey. Noting that many
jobs crisis continues, requiring the government to do even more in
businessmen are forced to import used machines in-
protecting those most vulnerable.
stead of investing in new ones because the prices of
Like other countries, Turkey could benet from green policies for
new machines are prohibitive, ofcials emphasized
a sustainable future by moving from a high to a low-carbon economy,
for example, in encouraging electronic cars. There is signicant po- that machines that are almost new and have a value
tential for the creation of new jobs as new markets open through eco- of up to 60 percent of new ones can be imported
innovation with investments in energy-efcient production methods. without obtaining permission. Ankara Today’s Zaman
But as we learned again from the outcome of the UN Copenhagen
Climate Change Conference 2009 (see my last two columns), green
policies face tough obstacles both nationally and globally, the report’s
ASO head: Real
enthusiastic support for them notwithstanding.
sector needs focus
Economic recovery from the recession will be
very slow in the year ahead, Ankara Chamber
of Industry (ASO) President Nurettin Özdebir has
said, calling for a concentration on the real sector to
speed up the recovery and lower the social costs of

TODAY’S ZAMAN, MUSTAFA KRAZLI

unemployment.
targets ‘modest’ Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday,
Özdebir stated that the government should make

compared to IMF, structural reforms to increase the competitive power

of the real sector, improve the business environment
in the domestic market and pave the way for invest-
OECD projections ment, employment and export. The structural reforms
should be concentrated on the real sector to lower the
Turkey will be one of the nations to come out of effects of unemployment on society and to accelerate
the economic crisis the fastest as predicted by in- recovery from economic stagnation, he added.
ternational organizations, even surpassing the Turk- The worst of the crisis had affected the real sector,
ish government’s growth projections, stated Prime he asserted, citing especially the drop in industrial pro-

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan yesterday.
At the assembly of the Foreign Economic
Relations Board (DEK) yesterday in stanbul,
Erdoan spoke about the 3.7 percent growth rate
predicted by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) for 2010,
saying the government was working to meet the
modest 3.5 percent prediction set forth by the
Medium-Term Economic Program (MTEP).
Erdoan, speaking about the strength of the
Turkish banking sector, highlighted that 158 banks
have closed their doors in the US since the beginning
of the crisis, while Turkey had not had any difculty
with its banking sector, nor did it have any banks close
PHOTO
duction starting from August 2008, which started to
show signs of recovery in October this year. Özdebir,
however, expressed concern over whether this recov-
ery will continue further. He cited the reluctance of
banks to extend loans to small and medium sized es-
tablishments (SMEs) as the main reason behind these
concerns, and added that necessary measures should
be taken to resolve this issue otherwise the drop in
industrial production will continue in 2010, too, he
warned. He remarked that Turkey’s recovery from
the crisis depends on the performance of the global
markets. There is no consensus whether the recovery
from the crisis will be slow but sustainable or a double
Exporters are targeting $111 billion for the new year, citing a rejuvenation in demand globally and a depletion of existing stocks as reasons to be hopeful for 2010. dip recession, he said, stressing the need of being cau-
tiously optimistic about the future. Ankara Today’s Zaman

Exporters see more

its doors due to the regulation reforms of the past sev-
en years. He added that the capital adequacy ratio of
20.4 percent of Turkish banks rivaled those of much of
the West, including the US, Canada, and Germany.
Hunger line rises to
Speaking on the 2010 budget, which was accept-
ed by Parliament on Friday, Erdoan noted that the
TL 795 in December

profitable year ahead

2010 budget was designed as the “recovery budget,” The monthly income necessary to adequately
and that critics tried to take advantage of the effects feed a family of four, referred to as the hunger
of the crisis in Parliament to discredit the Justice and line, has increased to TL 795 this month, according to
Development Party (AK Party), but Erdoan added the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-).
that “the great people of our nation know the realities The monthly Hunger and Poverty Line Survey,
and necessities.” Speaking about the unemployment released on Sunday by Türk-, revealed that the
As signs of recovery from the recent Büyükeki stressed, adding that trade with billion by the year’s end and that their target for
issue that arose in 2009, Erdoan noted that although amount that a family of four must earn monthly in
global nancial crisis have become these markets will continue. Büyükeki stat- 2010 is to raise this gure to $6.5 billion.
unemployment jumped from 10 percent to 13 per- order to pay rent and meet basic needs, such as food,
obvious in the last quarter of the year, ed that they also hope exports to developing stanbul Mineral Exporters’ Union (MB)
cent, other developing nations suffered much more transportation, clothing and education, also referred
exporters feel more optimistic about the year countries will grow in 2010 as the economic President Ali Kahyaolu, stating that the min-
substantial unemployment increases. to as the poverty line, rose from TL 2,533 in Novem-
ahead, Turkish Exporters Assembly (TM) Pres- recovery picks up pace in global markets. ing sector is hopeful about exports in 2010,
Erdoan, touching on the issue of workers laid off ber to TL 2,588 in December.
ident Mehmet Büyükeki has said, revealing a stanbul Textile and Raw Materials Export- said: “We have already achieved a signicant
due to the privatization of the state-owned tobacco Türk- stated that the rise in wages is deter-
goal of $111 billion in exports for 2010. ers’ Union (THB) Chairman smail Gülle also increase [in exports], which we predict will con-
and alcohol monopoly Tekel, reasserted that the clos-
Büyükeki, speaking to the Anatolia news said they expect the textile sector’s exports to tinue into the new year as well,” he said, adding mined to be at a level lower than the increase in
ing down of these factories was announced two years
agency yesterday, stated that exports have increase by about 15 percent in 2010, indicat- that they expect to see $3 billion in total mining expenses, which results in a worsening of the liv-
ago and that talks with the necessary parties, unions
been adversely affected by the latest economic ing deferred demand and depleted stocks as sector exports in 2010. ing conditions of workers and pensioners. “The
and workers took place, warning them of the closures.
stagnation throughout the year; however, he the driving forces behind this rise. The textile Ferit Sünneli, head of the Uluda Auto- living conditions of workers are approaching the
“Roughly 10,000 people were standing around
added, a recovery has started to take place con- sector might achieve $6 billion to $6.5 billion motive and Sub-Industry Products Exporters’ ‘misery’ line with the rises in transportation fees
in tobacco storage warehouses and costing us TL 40
sidering the improvement in macroeconomic in exports by the end of 2010 by exporting $500 Union (UTAYSB), said according to the best within the city and electricity along with expected
million. … We told them two years ago that these
gures, which leads them to be more optimistic million in goods per month, he added. brahim case scenario, they expect auto exports to in- price hikes for natural gas and other basic goods
warehouses would be closed and to get ready. We
about the coming year. “It is clear that we are Burkay, the president of the Uluda Textiles and crease to $20 billion in 2010, on the condition and services,” the survey stated. The statement
told this to the presidents of Türk- [the Confedera-
at the end of the crisis. 2010 will be a year of Raw Materials Exporters Union (UTB), also that incentives for the auto sector in EU coun- said the minimum wage in Turkey is still TL 546.48
tion of Turkish Labor Unions] and TekGda- [the
recovery, and global trade will be rejuvenated said they foresee the textile sector recovering tries continue and target markets see a boost despite these gures, and added that the mini-
Union of Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverage, Food and
with this recovery. Our target for 2010 is to in 2010, adding that the downturn in the sector in business. However, he added that the gov-
Related Industry Workers of Turkey], sat down with mum wage for 2010 is expected to be announced
raise exports to $111 billion.” slowed in October and November. ernment should introduce a cash-for-clunkers
them and told them about the situation. … I do not this week; however, it continued, the new mini-
Underlining that they will continue to Uluda Clothing and Ready-to-Wear incentive and reductions in value-added tax
morally have the right to dole out money for workers mum wage will again be lower than the hunger
seek alternative export markets next year, too, Exporters Union (UHKB) President enol (KDV) for commercial vehicles in a bid to rein-
not producing anything when orphans have a right line just as in previous years. Ankara Today’s Zaman
Büyükeki continued by saying they attach ankaya said 2009 was a grim year and that vigorate the domestic market, which will have a
to that money,” said Erdoan.
great importance to neighboring and regional they expect 2010 to be a better year; however, positive impact on exports, too.
Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Ex-
countries. Since there have been agreements he added that they are not yet expecting a great The worst case scenario, however, fore-
changes (TOBB) President and DEK Chairman Rifat
with some countries on political issues, eco- recovery. “Considering the general picture, we sees exports of the sector to total between $14
Hisarcklolu also spoke at the event, revealing that
nomic cooperation with these countries has don’t envision great gains.” billion to $15 billion in the year ahead, Sün-
DEK was ready for 2010 with more than 100 projects
also been successful, he said, adding that stanbul Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Met- neli said. “Yet the expected scenario is that
and 600 events in 84 different countries. He added
they hope that commerce between Turkey als Exporters Association (DDMB) President if incentives in EU countries continue for a
that competition in the post-crisis would not be for-
and these countries will develop further in Tahsin Öztiryaki, stating that the rise seen in ex- while longer and if the effects of the crisis will
giving and that the private sector would face a much
the year ahead. African countries along with ports in the last quarter of 2009 will continue in be eased to a certain degree in 2010, then we
more difcult globalized system. “We need to try to
Latin American and Far East markets are also the coming year, said ferrous and non-ferrous expect the auto sector to see $17 billion in ex-
understand this system and make the necessary prep-
of great importance for Turkish exporters, metal exports are expected to total around $5 ports in the coming year.” stanbul Today’s Zaman
arations. We need not be optimistic or pessimistic, we
need to be realistic,” he said. stanbul Today’s Zaman
 08 TODAY’S ZAMAN
Agrculture fares well n 2009
despte economc turbulence
MEHMET EFLEK ÝSTANBUL
As the agriculture sector seemed
mostly untouched by a crisis that
looked determined to affect all as-
pects of the economy, it seems that the sec-
tor is smoothly leaving the instability of 2009
behind. Global increases in grain and food
prices seem to have beneted Turkey’s ag-
riculture sector as it enjoyed growth in 2009
amid uctuations in government support
programs, public outcries over food contain-
ing genetically modied organisms (GMOs)
and the establishment of a gene bank.
The sector, employing nearly a third of
the economy, is an important powerhouse
due to its position as one of the main sources
of employment in rural areas, especially in
the lesser-developed regions of the East and
Southeast. Employment, one of the most
important indicators of an economy’s well
being, rose by 6 percent in 2009 in the agri-
culture sector compared to the peak of em-
ployment in 2008. The sector employed 5.97
million people at the height of the season in
July, 2009, compared to the 2008 peak of 5.62
million people. As the rest of the economy
struggled with the burden of unemployment
as the aftereffects of the nancial crisis sunk
their teeth into Turkey, the agriculture sector
enjoyed what seemed to be a boom.
As unemployment was reaching levels of
16 percent in 2009, the agriculture sector, as a
result of the general rise in employment dur-
ing peak months, actually siphoned workers
off from the rest of the economy. The number
of workers in the agriculture sector as a share
of the number of workers in the economy
actually increased, from 25.5 percent in the
peak months of 2008 and 2007 to 26.9 percent
in 2009, signaling that this traditional voca-
tion was once again becoming attractive.
Exports, the rst economic activity to
shrink from a global slump in demand like
the one experienced after the economic crisis,
actually grew in the Turkish agriculture sec-
tor, crossing the $1 billion mark for a month’s
worth of exports for the rst time. Exports
increased by 2.5 percent in October 2009 -–
the height of exports for the year -- compared
to the October 2008 peak. While the aggre-
gate economy was experiencing a slowdown
in exports, a slowdown of about 28 percent
when comparing the rst 10 months of 2009
and 2008, the agriculture sector responded
to the increasing price of food in the global
market by ramping up production. “This is
the sector which is most affected by an ex-
pensive Turkish lira,” said Uluda Vegetable
and Fruit Products Exports Union Chairman
Orhan Gençolu yesterday. “If in 2010, labor,
energy and other resource costs go up, but
the lira does not lose value, then we are going
to have a very difcult time in 2010.”
As agricultural production is highly sea-
TODAY’S ZAMAN, MUSTAFA KRAZLI
PHOTO
‘Our goal was to
create a regulatory
framework that would
control food with GMOs
more tightly. We wanted
to protect the health
of consumers and the
public. Unfortunately,
people calling themselves
‘experts,’ people who had
no prior experience
with the issue, confused
the public to the
fullest extent’
sonal, it is not uncommon to see the sector
shrinking on a quarterly basis as production
takes a hit during the colder seasons. Farm-
ers’ Association of Turkey (TZD) President
brahim Yetkin said in a speech in Ankara
yesterday that an absence of drought and
natural disasters had helped to boost pro-
duction in 2009 compared to the previous
year. Looking at quarterly growth rates for
the sector, he revealed that the sector shrank
by 0.4 percent in the rst quarter of 2009, a
bit better than the second quarter perfor-
mance in 2008 -- a 0.7 percent contraction.
However, the second quarter growth of the
sector in 2009 rivaled 2008, with a 6.4 per-
cent boost to the sector. As a share of gross
domestic product (GDP), however, it seems
that 2009 was a slightly worse year compared
to 2008; the share of agriculture in GDP was
10.0 percent during the peak of the season in
2009, compared to 10.2 percent in 2008. Both
these gures are trumped, however, by the
1983 gure of 21 percent.
‘Noah’s Bin’ commences
The government kicked off the year by an-
nouncing that due to the droughts experienced
in recent years throughout the world, the Min-
istry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs would
be building the third-largest gene bank in the
world, “Noah’s Bin,” in order to protect and
preserve genetic diversity threatened by
global warming. The ministry later an-
nounced that it would be undergoing a
restructuring to consolidate the workload
of several ministries and increase efciency,
and also changing its name to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Nutrition.
The government’s rst step in reorganizing
its subsidy programs to farmers was to unveil a
TL 2.6 billion support program for hazelnut pro-
ducers after revealing that it would cancel pro-
curement orders for hazelnuts in an attempt to
end production on unauthorized land. Turkey,
which is the world’s largest hazelnut producer,
was facing trouble with abundant harvests in
the past few years that put a burden on the Soil
Products Ofce (TMO). The TMO was procur-
ing hazelnuts from farmers -- mostly located in
the Black Sea region -- but found itself quickly
running out of space as farmers produced hazel-
nuts on illegal land. The subsidy program would
encourage farmers to stop growing on unau-
thorized land by providing them with a direct
incentive for hazelnuts currently being grown
on authorized land. However, Turkish Union of
Agricultural Chambers (TZOB) President emsi
Bayraktar stated in July that the state should not
leave farmers to fend for themselves in the free
market and added that it must remain involved
to ensure the establishment and protection of
fair conditions. The president of the Trabzon
Commodity Exchange (TTB), Mehmet Cirav,
speaking on the issue, noted that the absence
of the TMO and the Hazelnut Growers’ Union
(Fiskobirlik), a union that also purchases hazel-
nuts from producers, will only affect 20 percent
of the market and thus not inuence farmers as
seriously as once thought.
GMOs take the stage
In October the Ministry of Agriculture passed
a bill to control the import of foods contain-
ing GMOs. The bill restricted the import of
food items whose ingredients contain more
than 0.9 percent GMO-derived content. The
Turkish farmers enjoyed favorable
conditions in the market this year,
as a lack of droughts led to an
abundant harvest.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009
legislation drew ire as it was seen as allowing
foods containing GMOs to enter the country
freely, while Minister Mehdi Eker struggled to
answer false accusations that his ministry was
allowing the free importation of GMOs. “Our
goal was to create a regulatory framework that
would control food with GMOs more tightly.
We wanted to protect the health of consumers
and the public. Unfortunately, people calling
themselves ‘experts,’ people who had no prior
experience with the issue, confused the public
to the fullest extent,” he noted at a food secu-
rity conference in December.
After the public was riled up about the
possible danger of GMO foods making it to
the dinner table, the Council of State ruled to
prevent parts of the regulation from fully en-
tering into effect. The Ministry of Agriculture
submitted another biosecurity bill to Parlia-
ment in December that prohibits the produc-
tion of foods containing GMOs in Turkey, es-
tablishes a biosecurity commission to control
the use of GMOs in the country and makes
it mandatory to secure permission from the
ministry to transport these products through
Turkey. The original GMO regulation control-
ling the importing of GMO-containing prod-
ucts was accepted near the end of the year by
the Council of State on an appeal led by the
ministry and is currently being implemented.
Sugar reneries auctioned off
The privatization of sugar reneries also creat-
ed much noise this year in Turkey, as the state
speeded up privatization efforts after a Council
of State ruling to halt the sale of sugar rener-
ies. “What we intend to do is to bring a more
rational atmosphere to Turkey’s sugar indus-
try,” Privatization Administration (ÖB) Chair-
man Metin Kilci said in August, referring to
the possible sale of 25 sugar reneries. eker-
, the union representing workers in the sugar
production business, went against the privati-
zations, claiming that they would lead to the
loss of 9,000 jobs. At whispers of Gulf capital
looking to purchase state-owned Turkish
Sugar Reneries Corporation (TÜRKEKER)
facilities in Kastamonu, Krehir, Turhal, Yoz-
gat, Çorum and Çaramba, sugar unions at-
tempted to join forces to offer their own bid for
the factories. In the end, Ak-Can eker Sanayi
Co. won the privatization bid at $606 million,
noting that they would be pursuing other re-
neries in other privatization efforts as well.
Taking into account the dismal perfor-
mance of the Turkish economy in 2009, the
agriculture sector fared relatively well. With
new regulations controlling GMO produc-
tion in place, along with the exposure of the
largest hazelnut industry to the free market,
it remains to be seen whether the sector will
outperform the recovery expected in 2010.
Whatever the case, Turkey’s agriculture sec-
tor’s performance in 2009 showed the world
that it is still a force to be reckoned with.
BUSINESS
imek: exports,
industrial production
to rise in December
Turkey’s exports will increase again and the
rise in industrial production will continue
in December, Finance Minister Mehmet imek
said on Sunday.
Delivering a speech at the Justice and Devel-
opment Party’s (AK Party) Gaziantep Provincial
Advisory Council meeting, imek noted that the
Turkish economy has been facing some prob-
lems for the last four quarters due to the global
nancial crisis; however, he added that recovery
from the crisis has begun. Industrial production
has been on the rise since October, the minis-
ter said, adding that November gures were far
from reecting reality since it was inuenced by
seasonal factors due to the Eid al-Adha (Feast of
the Sacrice) holiday. “Exports will increase again
in December and industrial production will con-
tinue its upwards move as well as capacity utiliza-
tion,” he said.
The increase in energy consumption is an in-
dicator of a rise in industrial production, imek
stressed, adding that the economy has entered
a phrase when employment will be created and
production will rise again.
Responding to critics about the government’s
performance in the face of the recession, imek
stated that Turkey is the only country whose credit
rating was raised by two grades during the worst
economic crisis in the last 60 years, while 54 other
countries saw their credit ratings downgraded.
This upgrade could not have happened if the
government had been unsuccessful in the face of
stagnation, he asserted. stanbul Today’s Zaman
China’s premier
says banks should
curb lending
China’s premier on Sunday rejected foreign
pressure to let its currency rise and complained
that trade protectionism by other governments was
holding back the country’s development.
The complaint by Premier Wen Jiabao, China’s
top economic ofcial, came as the plunge in consumer
demand caused by the global crisis is aggravating dis-
putes between China and trading partners including
the United States and Europe over access to markets
for tires, shoes and other goods.
A key irritant is Beijing’s currency controls, which
Washington and other governments say keep its yuan
undervalued, giving China’s exporters an unfair price
advantage and swelling its politically volatile trade sur-
plus. “The basic stability of the renminbi is conducive
to international society,” Wen told the ofcial Xinhua
News Agency in an interview. “We absolutely reject
all pressure on us to raise its value.” Wen complained
that foreign governments were pressing China to re-
value the yuan at a time as they are raising barriers to
imports. “The essence of this is to hold back China’s
development,” Wen was quoted as saying.
Global leaders have promised to avoid protectionism
in response to the collapse in global consumer demand,
which economists say will delay a recovery. But China and
other governments accuse each other of improperly sup-
porting their companies at the expense of foreign rivals by
subsidizing exports and hampering imports.
Turning to domestic issues, Wen said China’s
banks should lend less, reecting concern that a credit
surge this year to support Beijing’s 4 trillion yuan ($586
billion) stimulus might be driving dangerous overin-
vestment that could leave lenders with bad loans if
unneeded projects fail. “It would be good if our bank
lending was more balanced, better structured and not
on such a large scale,” the premier said. Xinhua para-
phrased him as saying lending “had been growing on
a too large scale.” The government told banks earlier to
restrain loan growth and said it will use credit controls
to favor more energy-efcient industry. Authorities say
they have rejected dozens of proposed industrial proj-
ects in an effort to curb overinvestment. Beijing AP
FTAs boost total
exports in 2009
While Turkey’s total exports decreased by
28 percent in the rst 10 months of the year
compared to the same period of last year, exports
to countries with which a Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) was signed increased by 10 percent despite
the economic downturn.
According to data from the Undersecretariat of
the Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade (DTM), Tur-
key has signed FTAs with 26 countries so far, of
which 12 are currently in effect and four are await-
ing approval. Exports to these 12 countries rose by
491 percent between 2000 and 2008, while during
this term Turkey’s total exports increased by 375
percent. Imports, on the other hand, soared by 299
percent during the same period, while the coun-
try’s total imports were up by 271 percent.
The countries with which FTAs were signed also
saw an increase from $2.1 billion to $12 billion in ex-
ports from 2000 to 2008, accounting for 10 percent
of total exports, which stand at $132 billion. The
share of imports from these countries among total
imports was 5 percent in 2008. Ankara Today’s Zaman
 ALMANAC 2009 MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009 TODAY’S ZAMAN 09

2009 IN REVIEW

State opens Kurdish TV channel
The state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
(TRT), under the motto of “We live under the same sky,” began
its Kurdish broadcasting at 5:00 p.m. Prime Minister Recep Tay-
yip Erdoan said, “May TRT 6 be benecial” in Kurdish during
a news conference upon his return from a tour of the Middle
East. He had said the same sentence earlier in an interview with
TRT 6. Kurdish singer Rojin presented the opening program.
40 detained in Ergenekon probe
Nearly 40 people were detained in simultaneous police ope-
rations staged in six cities as part of the ongoing investigati-
on into Ergenekon, a clandestine network of groups and indi-
viduals accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The
new detainees include military ofcers, an academic, the former
head of the Police Special Operations Unit, seven retired gene-
rals and the former head of the Higher Education Board (YÖK).
Erdoan walks out of panel after spat with Peres
During a panel discussion on Gaza at the World Economic Forum
(WEF) held in Davos, Prime Minister Erdoan -- who has so far not
hesitated to voice his anger and feelings of offense due to the disp-
roportionate use of force by Israel leading to the killings of hundreds
of civilians -- walked off the stage in protest of a moderator who did
not allow him to speak in response to Israeli President Shimon Pe-
res, who made remarks supporting the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
AK Party wins local elections, loses strength
Around 48 million voters cast their votes at 177,050 polling stations
throughout Turkey to elect 36,820 people, not including muhtars
(neighborhood heads). The ruling AK Party experienced another
victory in the polls, leaving its rivals in the dust as it garnered ne-
arly 39 percent of the national vote, a gure lower than the sha-
re of votes it won in parliamentary elections in 2007. The Repub-
lican People’s Party (CHP) won around 23 percent of the vote.

Erdoan haled for Davos walkout

Jan. 1
7 students die of gas poisoning
after New Year’s party
Seven university students who gathered
in a at in Ankara for a New Year’s party
were found dead of natural gas poiso-
ning. Veysel Karani Demir, general direc-
tor of the Bakent Doalgaz Distribution
Co., said the accident was most probably
caused by a blockage in the ue outlet af-
ter the carbon monoxide blew back beca-
use of a counter wind.
Jan. 4 -- (1)
Thousands gather to protest
Gaza massacre
Despite cold and rainy weather, stanbul’s
Çalayan Square hosted tens of thousands
of people who gathered to display their so-
lidarity with the Palestinian people after the
launch of an Israeli offensive in Gaza. The
demonstration at Çalayan Square, titled
“Protest for Solidarity with Palestine,” was
organized by the Felicity Party (SP). “Damn
Israel” was one of the slogans shouted at the
demonstration, while many shouted “Intifa-
da,” an Arabic word referring to Palestinian
uprisings in the past.
7
Feb. 24
DTP leader speaks Kurdish 6
in Parliament
Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
(DTP) leader Ahmet Türk addressed lawma-
kers during his party’s parliamentary group
meeting in Kurdish, sparking heated dis-
cussions over whether a politician can spe-
ak any language other than Turkish in Par-
liament. During his speech, Türk recalled
that Feb. 21 is celebrated as International
Mother Language Day, adding that everyo-
ne should be free to use their mother ton-
gues. State-owned TRT 3, which was bro-
adcasting the parliamentary group gathe- 8 1
ring live, immediately stopped its broadcast
when Türk switched to Kurdish.
Feb. 25
THY plane crashes in
Amsterdam
A passenger plane operated by Turkish Air-
lines (THY) carrying 134 people crashed
in a eld while approaching Amsterdam’s
Schiphol Airport, killing nine and injuring
dozens of others. The dead included three
pilots on board identied as Hasan Tahsin
Arsan, Olgay Özgür and Murat Sezer. 5

Jan. 9 -- (2) March 6 -- (5)

Ammunitions found in Gölba
A large cache of weapons, ammunition
and bombs was found buried in Ankara’s
Gölba district as a result of a police search
based on a map discovered in the home of
brahim ahin, a former head of the Nati-
onal Police Department’s Special Operati-
ons Unit. The operation was launched after
ahin recently ordered the assassination of
non-Muslim minority leaders in Sivas.
Jan. 25 (3)
10 mountain climbers killed
in avalanche
Ten mountain climbers were killed and se-
veral others were trapped under the snow
after they were caught in an avalanche in
northeastern Turkey. Gümühane Gover-
nor Enver Saliholu said 10 people had
been killed by the avalanche on Mount Zi-
gana, site of a small ski resort in the pro-
vince of Gümühane, near the Black Sea
coast. Seven people were pulled from the
snow, two of whom were seriously inju-
red. One of them died at the hospital.
Balbay arrested over
links to Ergenekon
A bureau chief from the Cumhuriyet da-
ily, Mustafa Balbay, and the owner of a
news Web site, Neriman Aydn, were ar-
rested by order of stanbul’s 14th High
Criminal Court as part of the ongoing Er-
genekon investigation.
March 10
Additional indictment
in Ergenekon case
submitted to court
The stanbul Prosecutor’s Ofce submitted
an additional indictment in the Ergenekon 4
trial. In the second indictment -- a 1,909-
page document -- 56 individuals are indic-
ted, 21 of whom are suspects in custody,
while 35 were released pending trial.
March 13 -- (6)
First high-speed train begins
running in Turkey
Turkey’s rst high-speed train, running bet-
ween Ankara and Eskiehir, has started to

Jan. 26
carry passengers. Prime Minister Erdoan 2 3
took an inaugural ride at 9:40 a.m. with a host
Union leader detained of other ofcials and journalists following a
in Ergenekon probe ceremony at the Ankara train station.
A union leader detained as a suspect in
the investigation into Ergenekon was ar-
March 16 -- (7)
rested by the stanbul 13th High Crimi-
5th World Water Forum
nal Court, bringing the total number of
kicks off in stanbul
arrests made after last week’s raids to 18.
The 5th World Water Forum, a global confe-
The chairman of workers’ union Türk Me-
rence on water, kicked off in stanbul in search
tal, Mustafa Özbek, was arrested, whi-
of a united commitment for urban water reso-
le research company owner Erhan Gök-
urce management in the face of the planet’s
sel was released by the court despite the
fast-growing water-related problems.
prosecution’s demand for his arrest.

Feb. 5
Turkey approves Kyoto Protocol
The Turkish Parliament approved its
membership of the Kyoto Protocol, the
UN-led pact to combat global warming.
Turkey had in June announced its inten-
tion to sign the accord, which was rst
agreed by world governments in 1997.
The government had postponed signing
it for more than a decade because of its
concerns about the cost to its economy.
March 27 -- (8)
Yazcolu dies in
helicopter crash
A helicopter carrying six people, including
BBP leader Muhsin Yazcolu, which cras-
hed in Kahramanmara in the afternoon on
March 25 was found by villagers with no sur-
vivors. Despite efforts by search-and-rescue
teams mobilized in the area, the helicopter
was found by villagers somewhere between
Sisne and Elmada on Friday afternoon.
 10 TODAY’S ZAMAN M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 WORLD

Croats choose third

PLEA president to lead
Hezbullah asks Egypt
to stop border wall
Hezbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on
Search for answers nation to EU
Croats voted for a new president on Sunday,
with an opposition candidate who pledges to
back the government’s anti-corruption drive seen as
Sunday called on Egypt to stop building a steel
wall along the Gaza border that could obstruct
tunnels which provide a lifeline for the blockaded
enclave. Nasrallah told a crowd of tens of thou-
and tghter securty favorite to win the rst round.
The last surveys released before the weekend
“electoral silence” gave Social Democrat Ivo Josi-
povic, 52, a clear edge over 11 rivals, but the law
sands of Lebanese Shiite Muslim marking the
Ashura religious ceremony that Egypt should be
condemned if it does not halt the wall building.
Tensions between Egypt, a predominantly Sunni
after plane attack professor and composer is unlikely to muster the
50 percent of votes needed for outright victory.
Josipovic, a newcomer with no blemishes in his
career but seen as lacking charisma, is likely to
country, and Hezbullah, a Shi’ite group backed
by Iran, have been running high since last year
The suspect, Nigerian Abdulmutallab, who claimed ties to al-Qaeda has been face a Jan. 10 run-off against either Milan Bandic,
the powerful, populist mayor of Zagreb who was
when Nasrallah accused Cairo of complicity with charged with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound airliner, just a month after his recently expelled from the Social Democrats, or
Israel in its siege of the Gaza strip. “In addition
Nadan Vidosevic, a wealthy businessman and
to the siege there has been news about (build- father warned US ofcials of concerns about his son’s religious beliefs former member of the ruling conservative HDZ
ing) a steel wall … to terminate the thin veins
party. Voting, which also included Croats in

REUTERS, REBECCA COOK

which are giving some life and some hope to
neighboring Bosnia, ended at 18:00 GMT. The
Gaza,” he said. “We call on the government in
HDZ’s candidate, former Health Hinister Andrija
Egypt and the leadership to stop the wall and
Hebrang, will not make it to the second round,
ooding the tunnels and to end the siege other-
according to the surveys, which analysts said re-
wise it should be condemned by all Arabs and
ected the electorate’s deep discontent with ris-
the Muslims,” he said. Egypt is trying 26 men
ing unemployment and low living standards. The
suspected of links with Hezbullah and accused of
winner will replace veteran reformer Stjepan Me-
planning attacks inside the country. Beirut Reuters
sic, whose second ve-year term expires in Feb-
ruary. All leading candidates back Croatia’s ef-

RESCUE
20 whales die on NZ
beach, 43 saved
Twenty pilot whales died on a New Zealand
beach after stranding but holiday-makers and
conservation workers on Sunday managed to
coax 43 others back out to sea.Rescuers moni-
tored the survivors as night fell as they swam
away from Colville Beach on North Island’s Cor-
omandel peninsula, hoping they would not turn
back to the beach. Department of Conservation
workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-
oat the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers
covered the stranded mammals in sheets and
kept them wet through the day. “Some 63 pi-
lot whales stranded ... but it looks pretty good,
we’ve got 43 live ones,” Department of Con-
servation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod
swam out to sea. Bolten said one of the whales
may have been sick, or their sonar may have led
them into the shallow harbor and they couldn’t
nd their way out again. Camper Deanna Pad-
dy and her family spent hours in the sea help-
ing the whales, “trying to keep them as wet
as possible and comfortable,” she told Televi-
sion New Zealand’s One News. Wellington AP
WEATHER
Winter weather
disrupts travel in US
Drifting snow and cold rain that have plagued
much of the US for days stranded drivers and air-
line passengers on Saturday trying to get home
after Christmas. Storms from Texas to the Upper
Midwest that dumped 23.9 inches (60.7 centime-
ters) of snow in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and
18 inches (46 centimeters) near Norfolk, Nebras-
ka, began subsiding, but blowing and drifting
snow hampered visibility in many areas. Several
motorists abandoned their vehicles on snow-
covered roads in northeast Nebraska. Ten to 20
vehicles were stuck near Norfolk, but state troop-
ers do not believe any motorists were stranded.
Warmer temperatures and rains in the East
began melting and washing away last week’s
record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region
with ooding. Authorities in southeast Missouri
were searching for a woman who washed away
in a ditch on Christmas Eve as heavy rains show-
ered the region. Witnesses saw her in the water
and tried to assist her, said Sgt. Omaha, Neb. AP
DETENTION
Pakistan: US men had
maps of nuke site
Police are trying to determine whether ve
Americans detained in Pakistan had planned to
attack a complex that houses nuclear power fa-
cilities. The young Muslim men, who are from
the Washington, D.C., area, were picked up in
Pakistan earlier this month in a case that has
spurred fears that Westerners are traveling to
Paper airplane virtuoso Takuo Toda tests record aloft
Passengers wait to check in their luggage at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, on Saturday. A Nigerian man with possible links to al-
Qaeda militants was in custody on Saturday after he tried to ignite an explosive device on a US passenger plane as it approached Detroit.
The US government tightened airline
security as it searches for answers to
how a 23-year-old Nigerian man elud-
ed extensive systems intended to prevent attacks
like his botched Christmas Day effort to blow up
a Northwest ight from overseas.
The suspect who claimed ties to al-Qaeda
was charged on Saturday with trying to destroy
a Detroit-bound airliner, just a month after his
father warned US ofcials of concerns about
his son’s religious beliefs. Airports worldwide
tightened security a day after the passenger
tried to detonate a device that contained a high
explosive on a ight into Detroit. After that at-
tack, passengers have had to contend with extra
pat-downs before boarding, staying in their seats
without blankets or pillows for the last hour of
the ight and more bomb-snifng dogs.
Aides to President Barack Obama are pon-
dering how terror watch-lists are used after
the botched attack, according to ofcials who
described the discussions on Saturday on the
condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt
possible ofcial announcements. These ad-
justments came after the Justice Department
charged that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will-
fully attempted to destroy or wreck an aircraft;
and that he placed a destructive device in the
plane. An afdavit said he had a device con-
taining a high explosive attached to his body.
Device contained PETN
The afdavit said that as Northwest Flight 253
descended toward Detroit Metropolitan Airport,
Abdulmutallab set off the device -- sparking a re
instead of an explosion.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in
the attack on a Detroit bound US airliner.
According to the afdavit led in US Dis-
trict Court in Detroit, a preliminary analysis of
the device showed it contained PETN, a high
explosive also known as pentaerythritol. This
was the same material convicted shoe bomber
Richard Reid used when he tried to destroy a
trans-Atlantic ight in 2001 with explosives
hidden in his shoes. The investigation stretched
to London, where ofcers from the Metropoli-
tan Police, the force involved in most of the ma-
jor terrorism investigations in Britain, cordoned
off the street outside a white stone apartment
block in a well-to-do area of central London on
Saturday. A police spokeswoman said the force
was carrying out searches in connection with
the incident in Detroit.
University College London said Abdulmu-
tallab was enrolled at the school from Septem-
ber 2005 to June 2008. In Nigeria, the father of
Abdulmutallab said his son had been a student
PHOTO
forts to join the EU, a goal Zagreb aims to achieve
during the new president’s mandate, in 2012.
The election came at a time when Prime Min-
ister Jadranka Kosor’s cabinet has stepped up ef-
forts to ght corruption, with several high-level
investigations in state companies under way. The
president has a say in foreign policy, security and
defence, but no power to veto legislation. Diplomats
hope he will back the government’s renewed efforts
to ght corruption and enforce reforms needed to
complete EU entry talks in 2010.
“Croatia needs a civil, post-war, post-tran-
sition president... who should turn his back on
the legacy of the 1990s,” the big-selling Jutarnji
List wrote this month. Zagreb Reuters
Somali pirates: $4 mln
ransom paid for ship
A helicopter dropped a $4 million ransom pay-
ment on Sunday on to the deck of a Chinese
in London, but had left the city to travel.
coal ship hijacked by Somali pirates in mid-Octo-
US authorities told The Associated Press
ber, a pirate source on board the vessel said.
that in November, his father, a prominent
The De Xin Hai and its 25 crew were carry-
banking ofcial in Nigeria, went to the US em-
ing about 76,000 tons of coal from South Africa to
bassy in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss his concerns
Mundra in India when it was seized in an auda-
about his son’s religious beliefs. One govern-
cious attack by the gunmen some 700 miles east of
ment ofcial said the father did not have any
the Horn of Africa. Heavily armed sea gangs from
specic information that would put his son on
Somalia have made tens of millions of dollars in
the “no-y list” or on the list for additional se-
curity checks at the airport.
ransoms hijacking vessels in the Indian Ocean and
Abdulmutallab appeared on the Terror-
strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia.
Patrols in the area by warships from several
ist Identities Datamart Environment database
nations only appear to have forced the pirates
maintained by the US National Counterterror-
to hunt further from shore.
ism Center, said a US ofcial who received a
“A helicopter dropped the ransom money on
brieng and spoke on condition of anonymity
to the ship. We have received $4 million,” Hassan,
to discuss the ongoing investigation. Containing
one of the pirates on the De Xin Hai, told Reuters by
some 550,000 names, the database includes peo-
telephone to cheers in the background.
ple with known or suspected ties to a terrorist or-
“We hope to disembark in a few hours,” he added.
ganization. However, it is not a list that would
“The crew is safe and, although they will
prohibit a person from boarding a US-bound
not have their freedom for a few more days,
airplane. The effects of the botched attack could
they are all happy now.”
be felt by passengers on many international
The chaos in the waters off Somalia is a reection
ights departing from airports around the world.
of a civil war on land that has killed 19,000 civilians
Passengers getting off ights from overseas
since the start of 2007 and driven 1.5 million from
reported being told that they couldn’t get out of
their homes, triggering one of the world’s worst hu-
their seat for the last hour of their ight. Air Can-
manitarian emergencies. Western security agencies
ada also said that during the last hour passengers
say the drought-ridden nation has become a safe ha-
won’t be allowed access to carryon baggage or to
ven for militants, including extremists, who are using
have any items on their laps. The extra vigilance
it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
compounded delays in a busy holiday travel pe-
The Oct. 19 hijacking of the De Xin Hai, which
riod marked by snowstorms in the Midwest and
is owned by Qingdao Ocean Shipping, a unit of
heavy rain in the East. The TSA security directive
China Ocean Shipping or COSCO, was the rst
applied to US-bound ights from overseas, ac-
known seizure of a coal ship by Somali pirates.
cording to a transportation security ofcial who
Indian coal traders warned at the time that this
spoke on condition of anonymity because the of-
cial was not authorized to speak publicly. Detroit AP
might encourage the gangs to seize other coal ships,
since these dry bulk carriers are smaller and have
relatively small crews. Mogadishu Reuters
AP, KOJI SASAHARA

the South Asian country to join militant groups.
Pakistani police and government ofcials have
made a series of escalating and, at times, seem-
ingly contradictory allegations about the men’s
intentions, while US ofcials have been far more
cautious, though they, too, are looking at charg-
ing the men. A Pakistani government ofcial al-
In the world of competitive paper air-
plane throwing, a 20-second ight is
exceptional, 25 or better is world class.
Thirty is the stuff dreams are made of.
Only one man -- Japanese paper airplane
virtuoso Takuo Toda -- has ever come
close to breaking the 30-second barrier. On
Sunday, he set a world record for a hand-
strictly paper-only craft. His 27.9 record
was set with a plane that had tape on it.
“I felt a lot of pressure,” he said after
his paper airplane y-off at a Japan Airlines
hangar near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. “Ev-
erything is a factor -- the moisture in the air,
the temperature, the crowd.” Toda, an en-
gineer, is the head of the Japan Origami Air-
with a n. His April mark was recognized
by Guinness World Records. He did not
use tape on Sunday, which is allowed by
Guinness. He chose to forgo tape because
he wanted to follow traditional origami
rules. His 26.1 mark was the best ever for
a plane without cellophane tape keeping
it together. Toda had that previous best as
best throw was ruled a foul because it
hit a passenger jetliner parked nearby.
“It’s really a sport,” he said. “The
throwing technique is very delicate.”
Along with breaking the 30-sec-
ond barrier, Toda said his next goal was
to launch a paper airplane from space.
With funding from Japan’s space agency,
PHOTO

leged on Saturday that the men had established

contact with Taliban commanders and planned
to attack sites in Pakistan. Earlier, however, lo-
cal police accused the men of intending to ght
in Afghanistan after meeting militant leaders.
The men had a map of Chashma Barrage, a
complex that along with nuclear power facilities
houses a water reservoir and other structures,
said Javed Islam, a senior police ofcial in the
Sargodha area of Punjab province. Islamabad AP
launched plane made with only paper, but
fell just short of the 30-second mark.
Toda, ying a 10-centimeter-long
craft of his own design, made 10 at-
tempts to break his own record of 27.9
seconds set earlier this year in Hiroshi-
ma but failed to best his previous mark,
settling for a 26.1-second ight. That
was still the best ever recorded for a
plane Association and is virtually unmatched
in his ability to fold paper aircraft. In keeping
with traditional rules of the ancient Japanese
art of origami, he uses only one sheet of pa-
per, which he does not cut or paste.
He ew two variations of his world
record-setting paper airplane on Sunday
-- the one he used to set the duration
record in April and an updated version
well, just over 24 seconds.
“I will get the 30-second record,” he
said. “It’s just a matter of time.”
Toda said that the secret to throw-
ing a paper airplane is to aim upward --
not straight -- so that it has time to gain
altitude and slowly circle back to the
ground. Toda appeared to be on his way
to a record Sunday, but his second and
JAXA, Toda and a team of scientists have
designed a plane they believe can with-
stand the intense heat of re-entry.
One of Toda’s designs was sched-
uled to be released from the Internation-
al Space Station this year, but that plan
fell through in part because of problems
with devising a means of tracking the
planes as they fell back to Earth. Tokyo AP Takuo Toda prepares to release paper plane.
 WORLD M O N D A Y, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S ZAMAN 11

US must resst Israeli PM Netanyahu praises military for killing Palestinians

Russa’s ‘sphere’

REUTERS, MOHAMMED SALEM

Israel’s prime minister warned on
Sunday that Israel would retaliate
“forcefully” against any attacks, and con-
n Europe gratulated the military for gunning down
three Palestinians he held responsible for
OPINION killing a Jewish settler.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Ronald D. Asmus told Cabinet ministers from his Likud Party
on Sunday that one of the Palestinians had
TODAY’S ZAMAN
been freed from an Israeli prison -- high-
lighting the risks of the prisoner swap deal
was closed. He later told his Cabinet he
would y on Tuesday to Egypt, which has
mediated the swap talks along with Ger-
many, to meet with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak. Israel has forwarded
its response to the latest proposed swap
deal to Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers, who
have not yet responded.
“At this point there is no deal, and
it’s not clear there will be a deal,” Netan-
yahu said. Critics have faulted Netanya-
hundreds of roadblocks the Israeli mili-
tary had maintained in the West Bank.
The dismantling of the roadblocks was
meant to ease the movement of Palestin-
ian people and goods in the territory, but
settlers claim it gave militants a license to
strike last week. Netanyahu’s vow to go
after attackers was his rst public com-
ment on the shooting death of the Israeli
settler in the West Bank last week.
Israel will “continue to act forcefully

PHOTO
As Washington and Moscow zero in on a new strategic Israel is negotiating with Gaza militants in a hu for considering releasing as many as against any attack on Israeli citizens and
arms control treaty, it is time to look at what lies ahead bid to free a long-held Israeli soldier. 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange any shooting of rockets or missiles at Is-
in US-Russian relations. The greatest gap between “We want to free captives, but at the for Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was seized rael,” he said at the start of the weekly
Western and Russian thinking today may not be on same time, we want to minimize the risk Hamas-linked by militants in a cross- Cabinet session. Early on Saturday, Israeli
Afghanistan or Iran. It may well be on Europe. The rst to our civilians,” he said, according to a border attack in June 2006 and taken to forces carried out a pre-dawn raid in the
signs of the unraveling of the European security system Palestinians sit outside a tent erected next to their house, destroyed during the three-week
meeting participant who spoke on con- the Gaza Strip. West Bank settlers have northern West Bank that killed three men offensive Israel launched last year, in the northern Gaza Strip. One year after Israel struck
built after the Cold War are evident. dition of anonymity because the session criticized him for removing some of the it accused of killing the settler. Jerusalem AP at the Gaza Strip, Hamas, which rules the enclave, remains defiant and in full control.
Almost unnoticed in the US media, Moscow last
month proposed a new draft treaty on European security
-- thus making good on President Dmitry Medvedev’s
call after the Russo-Georgian war of August 2008 for
changes to the current system. In parallel, Foreign Min-
ister Sergei Lavrov brought forward a second and more Bomb kills five

AP
worrying document in the NATO-Russia Council. This is
the latest in a series of Russian moves to alter how Euro- Shiite pilgrims in

pean security is run, to constrain NATO and, above all,
to stop any further enlargement of the Western alliance.
Both documents suggest that we are on different
planets when it comes to thinking about Europe’s fu-
ture. Rather than moving into the 21st century, a revi-
sionist Russia seems determined to revert to a 19th-cen-
tury policy of “spheres of inuence.” With the Obama
administration understandably focused on the war in
Afghanistan and the looming challenge of Iran, Moscow
may hope that a West in need of Russian cooperation
on these issues could be willing to acquiesce to Russian
claims of such inuence on its borders, allowing it to
stop further encroachment of Western institutions.
The Charter of Paris for a New Europe in 1990, and
the Istanbul Charter for European Security in 1999,
were supposed to establish a kind of “bill of rights”
designed to create the political foundation for a post-
Cold War peace. These rules rejected spheres of in-
uence, recognized the right of all countries to equal
security and to choose their own alliances as part of
a new cooperative security structure. Moscow agreed
to the rules at a time when it, too, wanted to shed its
imperial past and join an enlarging Western commu-
nity. But as the pro-Western drive in Russia waned and
the imperial impulse began to return in the late 1990s,
Moscow concluded that these rules were encouraging
Western enlargement at its expense. I saw this thinking
rsthand as a US negotiator for the Istanbul Charter of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE)
in Europe. At a dinner with my Russian counterpart in
1999, I explained our concept of strengthening a uni-
versal set of norms and rules covering the entire OSCE
says 4 dead n protests,
area, including Russia. But the deputy foreign minister
drew a line through my sketch of Europe and claimed:
“That is your half and this is ours. And the problem is
that yours is getting bigger.”
Today these charters are dead letters in Moscow’s
eyes. Russians are almost unanimous in their belief that
the West exploited the rules to expand its sphere of inu-
ence. But the enlargement of NATO and the European
Union were not some geopolitical gambit by the West
to humiliate Russia. It was our response to the affected
countries’ legitimate wish to undo an articial separa-
tion and become part of the West to secure a democratic
peace. The problem has worsened as Russia has taken
a more aggressive nationalist and revisionist path. This
was a major factor underlying the Russo-Georgian war.
That war’s origins did not lie in the unresolved conicts
in Abkhazia and South Ossetia but rather in Tbilisi’s de-
sire to align with the West and Moscow’s determination
to stop it. Moscow ignored or broke nearly every core
OSCE rule, including the cardinal one -- that borders in
Europe cannot be changed through force.
Let’s remember why those clauses are in the Charter
of Paris. Europe’s bloody history illustrated that spheres
of inuence do not produce real security, that compel-
ling nations to align with countries against their will is
a recipe for conict and that changing borders by force
only sows the seeds for future conicts. We wrote those
clauses to protect small states from the predatory be-
havior of more powerful ones. We were convinced that
democratic integration was the best foundation for future
peace on the continent. Perhaps we should also recog-
nize that Russia’s failure to align with the West may be
The picture shows an Iranian demonstrator throwing stones at anti-riot police officers as their bikes are being set on fire by protesters during an anti-
government protest at the Enqelab (Revolution) St. in Tehran on Sunday.
Iranan opposton
polce deny report
The violence underlined escalating tension in the Islamic Republic six
months after a disputed presidential poll plunged the oil producer into
turmoil and exposed splits within the clerical and political establishment
An Iranian opposition Web site said
four people were killed in clashes
between pro-reform protesters and
security forces in Tehran on Sunday but the
capital’s police chief denied the report.
Violence erupted in Tehran for a second
day during a Shiite Muslim religious mourn-
ing ritual and unrest also spread to other parts
of Iran, including the holy Shiite city of Qom,
the opposition Jaras Web site said.
It underlined escalating tension in the
Islamic Republic six months after a disputed
presidential poll plunged the oil producer into
turmoil and exposed widening splits within
the clerical and political establishment.
Jaras, in reports that could not be inde-
pendently veried, said police shot dead three
protesters in central Tehran. It later said a
fourth demonstrator was killed in clashes in
the capital, without giving details.
“Three people were killed and two
others were wounded when police opened
re at protesters,”
fabad, Mashhad and Babol, Jaras said.
It said anti-government demonstra-
tions would continue in various Tehran
squares on Sunday evening.
“The opposition has decided to hold
protests in Vanak, Mohseni, Enqelab and
Tajrish squares in Tehran as well as in
main public parks,” it said.
English-language state television report-
ed sporadic clashes in Tehran and said a bank
and bus stop were set on re.
The semi-ofcial Fars News Agency said
supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein
Mousavi and pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi
“followed the call of the foreign media” and
took to the streets -- a reference to the govern-
ment position that the unrest is being stoked
by foreign enemies of the Islamic Republic.
It said the group of “deceived hooligans”
damaged public and private property and
“disrespected” the holy Shiite day of Ashura,
without elaborating.
PHOTO
northeastern Iraq
A blast in northeastern Iraq killed ve people
Sunday in a crowd of pilgrims who had gath-
ered for the most important Shiite religious obser-
vance of the year, authorities said.
It was the latest in a string of attacks targeting
Shiites during the 10 days of religious ceremonies that
reached their high point on Sunday. The roadside
bomb in the town of Tuz Khormato, 110 miles (180 ki-
lometers) northeast of Baghdad, wounded 28 people,
police and medical ofcials said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to re-
lease information. Sunday’s commemorations marked
the climax of Ashoura, the yearly mourning period in
which Shiite Muslims remember the seventh century
death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam
Hussein, in a battle in the central city of Karbala.
Pilgrims traveling to the holy city and others pre-
paring for commemorations elsewhere in Iraq over
the past week have come under repeated attack by
insurgents seeking to re-ignite sectarian violence
that brought the country to the brink of civil war two
years ago. Dozens have been killed and more than
150 injured. Othman al-Ghanimi, the Iraqi provin-
cial police chief in charge of Karbala, said he was
expecting up to 3 million visitors, including foreign
pilgrims from other Muslim countries, such as Iran,
Bahrain and Kuwait.
Ashoura processions, when men beat them-
selves with swords and chains to demonstrate their
grief, were banned under former dictator Saddam
Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime. Publicly mark-
ing the holiday -- despite the threat of attacks -- has
become a demonstration of strength for Iraq’s major-
ity Shiites. The Iraqi government has ooded the area
in and around Karbala with 25,000 extra security per-
sonnel. The government is eager to demonstrate that
the withdrawal of American forces will not leave a
security vacuum for the insurgents to exploit. Ameri-
can forces provided explosives-detecting equipment
and were offering air support, al-Ghanimi said. He
tions since the June election.
added that the city was encircled by four rings of se-
Jaras said protesters set one police motor-
curity. Al-Ghanimi said Iraqi authorities had already
bike on re. A plume of black smoke could be
thwarted some attempted attacks against pilgrims.
seen above the city centre as police blocked
“Our security efforts led to the arrest of four ter-
streets and clashes intensied.
rorist groups who were intending to launch terrorist
Jaras later said police were refusing orders
attacks against pilgrims and also the arrest of a ter-
to shoot at protesters.
rorist with an explosives belt on the Baghdad-Hillah
“Some of them try to shoot into the
road who was about to detonate himself among visi-
air when pressured by their command-
tors,” he said. The road between the capital and the
ers,” it said.
city of Hillah to the south is a main route for pilgrims.
A witness told Reuters there was a
But as security has been tightened in Karbala
heavy presence of both security forces
over the years, insurgents have expanded their
and opposition supporters in central Teh-
targets, often attacking pilgrims as they travel to
ran, a city of around 12 million people.
and from Karbala or in smaller processions that
“Police prevented groups of protesters
take place around the country. Another security
from joining each other,” she said.
ofcial said around 400 processions had begun
Other witnesses said thousands of pro-
moving toward Imam Hussein’s shrine. Tele-
government Iranians had gathered in central
vision images and pictures of the men showed
Tehran. Despite scores of arrests and security
them using swords and chains to beat them-
crackdowns, opposition protests have ared
selves. Some had blood spilling down their faces,
repeatedly since the June poll, which the oppo-
staining their white robes a bright red. Baghdad AP
sition says was rigged to secure hard-line Presi-
dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
REUTERS, MUSHTAQ MUHAMMED

less about our lack of will or imagination in embracing the Web site said. Mourning for dissident cleric Reformist Web
Moscow and more about Russia’s own choice not to take It was the rst re- Foreign media have been banned from re- sites said there
advantage of the partnerships we offered, and its inability port of killings in street porting directly from opposition demonstra- had also been
to respect the sovereignty of its neighbors or to honor its protests since wide- clashes in Tehran
commitments from the past 20 years. spread unrest and vio- on Saturday, with
President Barack Obama is right to try to “reset” lence in the immediate baton-wielding
relations with Moscow. Dealing with a revisionist Rus- aftermath of the June poll in
An Iranian flashes the victory sign
riot police ring tear
sia requires engagement. But we must rst be clear during an anti-government protest at
which the opposition says the Enqelab on Sunday. gas and warning shots
about which Russian interests we consider legitimate
more than 70 people died. to disperse Mousavi sup-
and which we do not. Moscow has a right to equal se-
The authorities have esti- porters. The authorities
curity and to ensure that no new threat appears on its
mated the post-vote death toll at had warned the opposition
borders. It does not have the right to interfere in the
PHOTO

about half that number, including against using the two-day Shi-
affairs of its neighbors, to seek to topple their govern-
pro-government militiamen. ite Muslim Tasoua and Ashura
ments or to deny their foreign policy aspirations. On
Tehran police chief Azizollah Ra- festival on Dec. 26-27 to revive pro-
those issues our position must also be clear. Resetting
jabzadeh, speaking about Sunday’s pro- tests against the clerical establishment.
relations with Moscow must include the Kremlin re-
tests, said “So far there have been no re- This year’s Ashura on Sunday co-
turning to the principles of the Charter of Paris.
ports of killings and no one has been killed up incided with the traditional seventh day
*The writer, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the to now,” according to the ISNA news agency. of mourning for leading dissident cleric
Clinton administration, is executive director of the Brus- Tens of thousands of demonstrators had Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri,
sels-based Transatlantic Center at the German Marshall packed the streets of Tehran and clashes also who died a week ago at the age of 87 in
Shiite pilgrims run between the Imam Hussein and Imam
Fund of the United States. The views expressed here are erupted in the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan, Naja- the holy Shiite city of Qom. Tehran Reuters Abbas shrines in an Ashura ceremony ritual at Kerbala,
his own. © The Washington Post 2009 about 80 kilometers southwest of Baghdad on Sunday.
 12 TODAY’S ZAMAN M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 EXPAT ZONE

Navgatng your way

Being mayor of stanbul has more responsibility than being head of tense trafc congestion -- and for good reason. they developed their roadways. Both cities are divided by a water-

CULTURAL CORNER
some nations. While most of the residential development in stanbul Bullock in 1948 spoke of London having traffic congestion; way, the Thames River and the Bosporus Strait.

is multi-story and multi-unit, detached housing is being built
on the periphery, sprawling towards bordering provinces to
the east and west. The challenges of providing sufficient public
transportation and roadways are great.
A recent trend in stanbul and Ankara, like urban areas
around the world, is that many who can afford it prefer to have
a car and a detached house in the suburbs. Luxury villa commu-
nities are popping up everywhere.
While visiting London over the Christmas holidays, I chose
for my evening read a book off the shelf in the room where I
slept, “The Children’s Book of London” by L.G. Bullock (first
published 1948). The book starts off with these lines:
“The trouble about London,” said Christine, “is that it
looks so simple on a map. I can see the river, the streets
with their names, the bridges and interesting buildings all
at the same time. But when I go to London there are so
many people, so many buses, cars and other traffic rush-
ing about that it is difficult to notice anything else. It is so
big that I don’t know where I am, what to look out for and
CHARLOTTE
McPHERSON
how to find the way to places…It is so crowded and full! I
wonder how it all happened…”
Sometimes I feel that way about stanbul now as it grows
and sprawls.
Turks visiting from smaller cities such as Gaziantep and many
other smaller towns such as Tokat and Rize are probably over-
whelmed when they rst arrive in stanbul (or Ankara or zmir).
Foreign tourists and visitors who have come to live in stanbul
are perplexed by it all -- that is, guring out the maze of roads, the
suspension bridges, the ferryboats and sea bus routes, and the many
other options of public transport the municipality provides.
When you come to stanbul, you will be rightly warned of in-
in recent years it has gotten worse. In fact, London now im-
poses what they call the Central London Congestion Charging
Zone. The mayor of London started congestion charging (CC)
just in the past few years. The purpose is to help prevent con-
gestion. Americans call it traffic jams.
When you rent a car in London, on the rental car counter there
is information about CC so you do not drive into the CC area and
get a ne. Of course, you have to read the material rst, which is
a 33-page booklet giving every detail about how it all works. I am
not surprised at all that it is all very thorough.
In any urban area with such high density like London or
stanbul, you have to expect you are going to have trafc delays.
Over the years, stanbul’s roadway system has improved and is
generally good, but it is simply not up to the task of accommodat-
ing the need of people to travel by car.
It’s surprising to see the number of cars on the road considering
the price of gasoline, which is not cheap. It has cost as much as $12
or so, and when it was considered cheap it ran about $8 per gallon.
London and stanbul in many ways faced similar challenges as
I’d say that stanbul’s most daunting trafc problem is that it is
divided by a waterway. The nearly 20-mile length of the Bosporus
coast has only two crossings, suspension bridges. You have the
two main freeways and a number of wide arterial streets and lots
of narrow roads. Clearly illustrated maps like the ones in Bullock’s
book (1948) have only more recently become available of stanbul.
Getting around stanbul is complicated by the many hills,
which appear to have limited the connectivity of the arterial road-
ways and streets. If you like mazes and puzzles, you’ll enjoy it.
However, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices are now avail-
able on the market, but they have not caught on yet.
You’ll probably nd that when driving around stanbul, trying
to go from Point A to Point B requires depending more on your ob-
servations, imagination and gut feeling than signs or anything else.
Aren’t cats amazing in how they seem to be able to navigate
awlessly and roam freely and still nd their way back home?
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: c.mcpherson@todayszaman.com

[ LEARNING TO LIVE IN ANTALYA ] LEGAL CORNER

BERK
ÇEKTiR

TODAY’S ZAMAN, KÜRAT BAYHAN

Living in Antalya can
be both challenging Publc lablty
and frustrating for nsurance for property
a foreigner, but one managers (1)
advantage over many Questions about living in an apartment complex now form a sig-
Western nations is that nicant part of the e-mails I receive. On the other hand, there are

PHOTO
almost no e-mails about purchasing a property and this may give
getting things xed -- you some idea of the Turkish property market.
instead of replaced -- is One of the questions regarding this matter is from a reader
who has a property in Didim and the e-mail reads as follows;
generally both quick “Good Morning, We have bought property in an apartment
and cheap. Shoes, elec- complex in Altinkum, Didim and are trying to get to enjoy our
holidays there while getting all the complexities sorted out. We
tronics, you name it -- have had a very bad management company who let us down
an usta who can solve badly, and as so many other people have said, it was the devel-
opers who looked after the property maintenance and did not
any problems that do it properly. We now have a small private company looking
after the maintenance and we are talking about public liability
crop up is often right now. We, the committee, were wondering if property manage-
around the corner ment companies in Turkey are required to have public liability
insurance or is it up to the owners of the apartments to arrange
it. Would love your advice and thank you in advance.”
It is good to hear that somebody at last has established an
independent property management company which is only car-
rying out property management and nothing else. My rst advice

MAKE DO AND MEND -- TURKISH STYLE

ALISON KENNY ANTALYA
I’m in a hurry to collect my 20-some-
thing daughter, Rhiannon, an in-
veterate and impoverished student,
from the airport. Yanking hard on the toilet
ush I curse as it comes off in my hand.
Greeting her in arrivals, I see that the sole
of her Birkenstock is apping loose. Once
home she proudly shows me a pair of de-
signer jeans she has just purchased from a
charity shop. “They’re perfect, aren’t they,
Mum,” she smiles winningly “just a bit loose
round the waist.” Actually they’re a couple
of inches too big and un-wearable. Then
having caught up with each other’s news,
she icks the remote on the TV to discover,
to her horror, the dreaded “sinyal yok” (no
signal) alert on the screen. Meanwhile, I be-
come aware of an eerie and unaccustomed
silence in the kitchen. The fridge, which for
the last few months been making an inter-
mittent noise so loud it drowns out the loud-
est punk CD, is ominously quiet.
In the UK this would ring expensive
alarm bells. Find a plumber willing to
come to the house without rst taking
out a second mortgage -- impossible.
Have shoes mended or clothes altered in
our “throw away and buy new” society?
Forget it. Repair out of warranty electrical
goods? I don’t think so; it’s time to start
searching for a shiny new replacement.
Fortunately, for the moment at least, it’s a
very different story here in Turkey.
Plumbing problems
Having had our house built from scratch
we were able to choose all the bathroom
ttings and to oversee their installation.
In spite of this our plumbing has required
regular maintenance largely, I suspect,
because our original house builder took
NOTE: Today’s Zaman intends to provide a lively forum for expatriates living in Turkey. We encourage you to contact us at voice@todayszaman.com and share your experiences, questions and problems in all walks of life for publication in Today’s Zaman.
advantage of our inexperience and poor
grasp of the language to cut a few corners.
The rst time I needed to call a plumber
I was worried. With my limited Turkish
could I explain the problem? How would
I explain where I live? And how would I
know if I were being overcharged? Then
I remembered the tiny doorway near my
house that I pass every day on my way to
work with “sucu” scribbled on the front.
Calling in on my way home, I managed
to explain that I had a “küçük problem”
(small problem) with my upstairs toilet.
“Tamam, geliyorum” (OK, I’m coming)
replied the affable plumber. “Ne zaman?
(When?) I asked. “Hemen” (right away)
he smiled back. I’m not sure “right away”
is in an English plumber’s vocabulary, so I
tried not to show my shock as he followed
me home, a young apprentice in tow. He
quickly diagnosed the problem, dispatched
the boy back to the shop for a spare part,
xed the new piece, charged me a modest
TL 20 and left. Over the years he has made
similar calls -- each time it has been just as
easy. That’s why when the toilet ush fell
off in my hand as I was about to head off
for the airport I was irritated but not overly
stressed. I knew I could get my local sucu
round in a jiffy. What a contrast to the UK,
where most plumbers won’t turn out for any-
thing less than a full central-heating installa-
tion and if by some chance they do, will turn
up hours late and charge a king’s ransom.
A load of old cobblers (and tailors)
As a student Rhiannon used to return home
on weekends with sack loads of washing for
me. Now I’m living in Turkey, her visits are
less frequent, and fortunately she no longer
brings her dirty laundry with her. She does,
however, have a tendency to turn up with
“work” of a different kind, invariably requir-
ing trips to the ayakkabc (cobbler) and to
the terzi (tailor), both conveniently near my
house. Years spent living on a tight budget,
and with a bulging overdraft and student
loan to repay (and possibly an element of
consideration for the environment) have
encouraged her “to make do and mend”
rather than to throw away and replace. Over
the last four years her shoes (including the
Birkenstocks that were saying goodbye to
their sole the day I collected her from the
airport) have been patched, glued, sewn
and generally given a new lease on life. The
friendly cobbler seldom charges more than
TL 5 and often throws in a free glass of çay.
Rhiannon buys the majority of her
clothes from the fantastic selection of char-
ity shops to be found in the UK. After a few
alterations from our local terzi, her bargain
“nds” provide her with enough suitable
outts for work or play. The nearest tailor,
working out of a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop
in the backstreets behind the cobblers, has
patched up and taken-in tatty jeans, nar-
rowed jacket lapels, sewn up unfeasibly
large non-designer rips and generally over-
hauled her wardrobe. As her doting mother,
naturally, stumps up the airfare and pays for
the repairs, Rhiannon is in a win-win situ-
ation and is free to burn the cash her mum
has saved her in the bars and clubs of Bristol.
A TV hospital
A TV on the blink is no joke for the youth
of today (nor for us older folks on a chilly
winter’s evening) so nding a reliable re-
pairman is essential. Bizarre though the
notion of a televizyon hastanesi (TV hos-
pital) is, I suppose our local TV “Mr. Fix-it”
had to call his dingy workshop something.
Having taken out and replaced the innards
of my old TV several times, I suppose he
is a kind of a doctor, though not many in
would be that you should nd a management company which
only deals with property management, otherwise the company
gets too involved in other things. My experience in this eld has
shown me that property management is not as easy as it looks
and requires skill, respect to the customers as much as the other
services, and careful management. I believe that property man-
the medical profession would be willing to
agement is very important and it cannot be a part of the after-sales
crawl out of a skylight onto the roof and
service like furnishing a house. Property management should be
x the satellite dish in a howling gale as he
considered as a long-term and well-organized service package.
did the other night, just so my daughter’s
viewing would not be interrupted. The reason I am so interested in this question is that I have
also had some disputes with property management services and
White goods man their promises. Maybe I will write about my own story one day.
Electrical appliances are notoriously un- When the guys dared to try it on with me I thought what must
reliable in every country, and unless you it be like for foreign owners who are not aware of legislation,
are extremely condent are best left to don’t speak the language and have no idea about the customs
experts to mend. With the fridge making and bargaining in such matters or how to manage these people?
more noise than a jumbo jet taking off, More than 50 percent of the questions I have been
and on my daughter’s insistence, I nally receiving are about real-estate matters and more than 60
found a local “tamirci” who came straight percent of these questions are related to a problem about
round to see what was ailing my trusty maintenance management, key holding and winter watch
old fridge. This was one job that couldn’t matters. This means that (almost) one out of two real estate
be xed on the spot, but a quick phone problems are about property management or maintenance
call soon saw his mate dispatched to the problems. The increasing number of complaints conrms
stockist’s to pick-up a replacement fan for the lack of service or the poor quality of the services provid-
the freezer compartment. Within an hour ed. In most cases, such as in this letter, the problem is about
the part was replaced and the fridge purr- the after sales services promised but not fullled. Property
ing like a cat approaching a bowl of full- owners are frustrated with the attitude of the developers
cream milk. My experience with white breaking the promises they made before the purchase of the
goods in the UK was seldom so positive. property. The sellers are usually very nice before selling the
They’d always break down the day after property but right after the purchase price has been paid,
the guarantee had expired, then when the attitude of the vendor/developer immediately changes.
the repair man eventually inspected the Many construction companies and developers promise to
item he’d invariably shake his head and manage the property after completion but most of them
say, “‘Fraid it’s going to cost more to either fail to provide the services or make adjustments to
mend than to repair, but we have some the price originally promised. In some cases the manage-
special offers on at the moment on dish- ment services turn into the kind of relationship where the
washers/tumble dryers,” and so on. property owner is threatened and robbed. All those brilliant
ideas and full coverage promises just fade away after the
The result transfer of the title and full payment of the purchase price.
Living in Antalya can be both challenging and
My answer to your question regarding public liability in-
frustrating for a foreigner, but getting things
surance, briey, is “no.” There is no legislation which makes it
xed quickly and cheaply is one of the many
compulsory for property management companies, you have to
joys. Within a few hours, the fridge was hum-
arrange it yourself. I will write a second article on Wednesday
ming softly away in the background, we were
about this matter and give you more on this topic.
secure in the knowledge that the toilet was
fully operational, the TV had all its channels NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer
on display and the shoes and jeans would be questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send enquiries to
b.cektir@todayszaman.com The names of the readers are disclosed only
ready for collection the following day. 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 at-
torney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on
the information in this corner.
 CULTURE&ARTS
Cihat Akn
‘COMMEMORABLE’
times
ALEXANDRA IVANOFF STANBUL
stanbul Technical University’s (TÜ) Cen-
ter for Advanced Studies in Music (MAM)
has become stanbul’s go-to place for
what’s new in new music. In Maçka, and just a few
blocks from the heart of Tevikiye, this hotbed of
musical innovation is housed in the giant histo-
ric military armory that TÜ originally acquired for
its department of foreign languages. It is adjacent to
TÜ’s bustling music conservatory, which offers cur-
ricula in both Turkish and Western music training.
MAM has a state-of-the-art recording studio
and an electronic music composition program that
continues to turn out award-winning graduates and
pioneers in the eld. The faculty is international, and
both Turkish and English are the languages used in
the classes. TÜ events in the building’s two perfor-
mance spaces (ground level and third oor) include
student recitals, faculty concerts, lectures and mas-
ters’ classes given by guest musical artists from aro-
und the world. And all of them are free.
I attended a concert there on Dec. 22 of the s-
tanbul Modern Music Ensemble, comprising gra-
duate students and faculty members who per-
formed pieces largely by living composers, both
Turkish and non. The concert was a musical tri-
bute to Turkish composer Mehmet Aktu, who
died this year at the age of 50. The program cho-
ices were decidedly inuenced by minimalism
(Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass), ambient
and poly-stylistic techniques. Of the latter, Alfred
Schnittke’s somber and surreal “Quintet” for pia-
no and strings was written in 1976 to commemo-
EXHIBITION
Halçnarl exhibition closes
ENKA winter program
The 21st ENKA culture and art winter program
ends with an exhibition of paintings, gravures
and pattern drawings by Desen Halçnarl at
the ENKA Dr. Clinton Vickers Art Gallery. The
exhibition, titled, “lk Günahn Kenti” (The City
of the First Sin), to open on Dec. 29, features
the works of Halçnarl with the theme of co-
lorful chaos and distorted buildings of stanbul.
The exhibition will be on view until Jan. 22.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009
Memorable music for
rate his mother’s death around that time. All had
a common spiritual connection: Each composition
had an unnished quality, as if random heartbro-
ken sounds were ung in the air, never to return.
The exquisitely beautiful “Lullaby” by Ame-
rican composer Marc Mellits began the program
and was repeated at the end. Between were pieces
by Onur Türkmen (Turkish, graduate of MAM),
Kamran nce (Turkish/American, MAM faculty),
Arvo Pärt (Estonian), Schnittke (Russian) and Art-
hur Jarvinen (American). Each piece offered its own
unique way of expressing grief, suspended mo-
ments, melancholy, even crazed confusion, thro-
ugh haunting litanies and repetitive motifs. The at-
mospheric tension was especially searing in Pärt’s
“Fratres,” written for violin and piano in 1980; Ci-
hat Akn, one of Turkey’s supreme concert and re-
cording artists and the current director of the con-
servatory, played the virtuoso violin solo with nce
at the piano. Their mutually superb passion and ex-
pertise was repeated in nce’s own “Partita in E,”
where short emphatic exclamations on the violin,
separated by silence, created stark drama.
Performing in ve out of seven pieces on this
program was graduate student Amy Salsgiver,
whose phenomenal skill at percussion instruments
must be mentioned. She executed endishly dif-
cult music on a variety of drums, bells, xylophone,
vibraphone and an unanchored ratchet that threa-
tened to jump off the table as she played it. I’ve he-
ard her perform on many concerts over the past two
years, and usually percussionists don’t get noticed
because they seemingly make a lot of rhythmic no-
ises in the background while soloists in the foregro-
CONCERT
Clapton, Winwood
tickets go on sale
Tickets for one of next summer’s most antici-
pated major gigs in stanbul, Eric Clapton &
Steve Winwood’s June 13 stanbul appearan-
ce, went on sale last week at Biletix. The con-
cert, the last stop of the European tour of the
two stars, will take place at Santralstanbul.
The tickets for the concert, most of which
have already been sold, are priced at betwe-
en TL 99 and TL 370.
stanbul hosted two
classical music concerts
last week. In the Dec.
22 concert at TÜ, the
stanbul Modern Music
Ensemble paid a musical
tribute to Turkish
composer Mehmet
Aktu, while Boaziçi
University hosted
Szczepan Koñczal on
Dec. 23 to commemorate
the upcoming
anniversary of the 200th
birthday of Chopin
und get all the glory. But Salsgiver is an artist worth
watching. She was the backbone of this concert and
what a strong and dependable spine it was.
Powerful Polish pianist
commemorates Chopin
Boaziçi University’s weekly classical music con-
certs on Wednesday evenings in Albert Long
Hall featured the young Polish pianist Szczepan
Koñczal on Dec. 23 in an all-Chopin program to
commemorate the upcoming 200th birthday of the
great Polish pianist and composer, Frédéric Cho-
pin. Koñczal, a multiple prizewinner at several
prestigious international piano competitions, cho-
se to open the program with a lesser-known étude
and an impromptu and closed with the incredib-
THEATER
Caveman to be
staged at BKM
The Beikta Cultural Center (BKM) will present the
“Maara Adam” (Caveman), a solo performan-
ce staged in 35 countries in 17 languages since 1991.
The comic Rob Becker’s play, which is about the mi-
sunderstandings between men and women, is also
the longest running Broadway solo play. Turkish ac-
tor Alper Kul will perform caveman for the Turkish
audience at BKM on Jan. 9. The tickets, priced bet-
ween TL 35 and TL 45, can be found at Biletix.
TODAY’S ZAMAN 13
Kamran nce
le showstopper, the “Grande Polonaise Brillante.”
Throughout the selections of four mazurkas, the
nocturne, fantasy, étude, impromptu and scherzo,
we not only saw why this young artist is a consis-
tent winner by his incredible prowess and interpreti-
ve sensitivity, but he took us to another land as well.
It was the heady artistic sphere of 19th century Po-
land and Paris, and Chopin’s richly romantic and ex-
pansive emotional drama as expressed through his
ngers. We could feel it was actually 1830 and ima-
gine hearing a glorious polonaise in Czapski Palace
in Warsaw, with Chopin himself at the piano.
Even in the opening C# minor étude, Koñczal
revealed right away how much he owns this mu-
sic: He resisted indulging in attention-grabbing
ash, his soulful rendition rose to the challenge of
the unremitting lyricism that in lesser hands would
have been a disconnected mess. When solid bra-
vura was called for, he applied sweeping grande-
ur and dazzling technical command. In the scher-
zo, a piece with tricky junctures and mood chan-
ges, his exemplary control allowed him to exploit
the spooky drama followed by explosive reworks.
Moments of sweet simplicity in the F minor fantasy
-- only one or two notes idling before the ensuing
blizzard of arpeggios -- revealed how naturally he
intuits the psychology of Chopin’s drama.
After Chopin died in 1849 in Paris, his heart was
shipped to Warsaw by his sister and interred in the
Holy Cross Church. While Chopin’s heart lies en-
tombed in his native city, the soul-twin of this he-
art resides in Koñczal. I predict that as he continues
to mature as an artist, he will be a revered pedago-
gical source for students of this specic piano legacy.
The weekly concert series at Boaziçi Univer-
sity, now in its 13th year, features acclaimed inter-
national musical artists. Founder-Director and Pro-
fessor Evin lyasolu keeps the musical prole high.
Albert Long Hall is one of stanbul’s best concert
halls, with ne acoustics, a resident organ and a
wonderful Steinway grand piano. Check their onli-
ne schedule at www.klasikmuzik.boun.edu.tr.
CONCERT
New album concert
from rocker Ferah
Turkish rocker ebnem Ferah will take the
stage in stanbul, Ankara and zmir after the
release of her sixth album, titled “Benim Adm
Orman” (My Name is Forest). Ferah will ap-
pear in stanbul on the evening of Jan. 9 at the
Bostanc Show Center. Ferah will sing songs
from her new album as well as famous pieces
from previous releases. Tickets, priced at TL
40, can be found at Biletix.
Fifth edition of
Turkish Book
Review released
The fth edition of the Turkish Book Re-
view, Turkey’s rst book review periodical
published in English, has been released.
Displayed at distinguished international
book fairs including the Frankfurt Book Fair, the
periodical aims to promote Turkish literature to
the world and broaden its recognition beyond
Turkey’s borders by including information about
books and writers from all genres.
The fth edition features special articles on
the literature, culture and politics in the Midd-
le East. While George Messo’s article shines the
spotlight on important authors Necip Mahfuz
and Mahmud Dervi, Akif Kireçci explores mo-
dern Arab literature in his article.
The magazine also features two interviews;
one is with Victoria R. Holbrook on the transla-
tion of eyh Galip’s “Hüsn-ü Ak” (Beauty and
Love), while the other one is with Doan Hzlan
on the promotion of Turkish literature abroad.
In addition to several more articles on va-
rious issues, the fth edition also introduces
many Turkish authors, including Mim Kemal
Öke, Talat S. Halman, Muazzez lmiye Ç, s-
kender Pala and Mustafa Balbay.
“[The magazine is] the rst source for publis-
hing houses, agencies and translators who are in
search of books to translate. What is going on in
Turkish literature and culture life? Which books
are worth one’s attention? What are the main
names in Turkish literature? All these questions
are answered in the Turkish Book Review,” says
Bilkent University’s department of history head
Mehmet Kalpakl, who is also an assistant pro-
fessor in the same university’s Turkish literature
department, about the magazine.
Under Editor-in-Chief Arzu Taçolu, the
editorial board of the magazine is composed of
Aron Aji, Walter G. Andrews, Ataol Behramolu
and D. Fatma Türe. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Second Hand Film
Festival becomes
international
The Second Hand Film Festival, organized
by Ankara Ksa Filmciler Dernei (Ankara
Short Filmmakers Foundation), will include in-
ternational movies in its fourth edition, with the
aim of introducing audience members to direc-
tors and lms from around the world.
Film applications for the International Se-
cond Hand Film Festival will be accepted un-
til Feb. 1, the Turkish movie Web site Sadibey.
com has reported. The festival, which will scre-
en all movies submitted, will award the winner
with a trip to the Brussels International Fantas-
tic Film Festival (BIFFF), which is scheduled to
take place in April 2011.
The festival will have a jury of cinema ex-
perts, including Turkish Film Critics Association
(SYAD) member Cumhur Canbazolu, director
of short lms Gökçe Pehlivanolu, stanbul’s
Kadir Has University lecturer Murat Akser, art
director Natali Yeres and media director of the
Altn Koza (Golden Boll) International Film
Festival Zeynep Ünal. The Second Hand Inter-
national Film Festival will run between Feb. 27
and March 7, 2010. stanbul Today’s Zaman
Akn’s ‘Edge of
Heaven’ among top
10 movies of decade
Turkish-German lm maker Fatih Akn’s
movie “Yaamn Kysnda” (Edge of He-
aven), which won the best screenplay award at
2007’s Cannes International Film Festival, has been
featured among the top 10 movies of the last deca-
de by The Washington Post.
While putting the animated movie “Finding
Nemo” to the top of the list, Ann Hornaday, the
writer of the article, said, “I y the little clown-sh
ag proudly, on the grounds that one of the organi-
zing principles of Top 10 lists is not only tolerating
but wanting to watch something over and over and
over again. ‘Finding Nemo’ ts that description.”
Other movies on the list are Kenneth
Lonergan’s “You Can Count on Me” (2000), Flo-
rian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “The Lives of
Others” (2006), Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Loc-
ker” (2009), Alfonso Cuaron’s “Y Tu Mama Tam-
bien” (2001), Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Laby-
rinth” (2006), Christopher Guest’s “A Mighty
Wind” (2003), Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshi-
ne of the Spotless Mind” (2004) and Paul Thomas
Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (2007).
Meanwhile, a list of the most important
blockbusters of the decade was also published
in the paper. According to the Jen Chaney’s ar-
ticle, the 10 most important blockbusters of the
decade include “Shrek” (2001), “The Lord of
the Rings,” (2001-2003), “Spider Man” (2002)
and “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl” (2003). stanbul Today’s Zaman
 14 TODAY’S ZAMAN
AHMET TURAN AYHAN*
Turkey is trying to make sense of why an initiative the
government -- which has been working “sincerely” to
improve things with respect to a number of issues in the
country -- launched and described as a “state project” is being
depreciated by another organ of the state. Today, all analyses
that discuss the decision of the Constitutional Court, which cut
in favor of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by closing down
the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), and that aim
to investigate this error, target the ruling Justice and Develop-
ment Party (AK Party). Pondering where the ruling party made
a mistake, we will eventually have to discuss the reliability of the
state policy mentality. What sort of a state policy is this that when
circumstances were so suitable to purge the PKK completely, the
prison inmate on mral, who is deprived of all sorts of commu-
nication facilities or any ability to monitor the process closely, has
been able to manage the process better than the state.
Whether the decision itself is legal is a technical detail, but
with its repercussions, the DTP decision not only slowed down
the democratic initiative but also made it compulsory to revise
the will to solve this problem. Now, the cards can be reshufed
so that things are to the advantage of mral. Closure of the DTP
has served to cripple a gigantic step towards reassuring the
unity and integrity of the country taken despite all the political
risks for the government and indecisive attitudes and discours-
es of the opposition that favor small party interests in a spiral
of violence. Actually, this decision has showed how a “leading
country” can be toppled with small moves. What has made the
process riskier than ever are the failure to manage it in a con-
trolled manner and the fact that the underground powers that
be have made moves to weaken the Ergenekon process while
the government is losing energy and strength during this time.
The government has undertaken big projects in many ar-
eas, but unfortunately, it is just starting to realize that the very
ground on which it moves is unstable and that other players
have laid an ambush to undermine the Ergenekon process.
While some academics -- like Mümtaz’er Türköne -- have ar-
gued that the recent developments favor the ruling AK Party
and that they can be controlled or managed, things are more
complicated than they may seem. If the democratic initiative
of the AK Party is being used as a savior for the players who
were dealt many blows during the Ergenekon process, this
means that we face great danger. For this reason, what will
allow the democratic initiative to be completed is not only its
ability to maintain its courage to expand freedoms but also its
readiness for a real confrontation with Ergenekon. Indeed, the
government’s democratic initiative is encumbered not only by
the PKK and mral but also by Ergenekon, which has been
found to be a network that controls them.
If public support cannot be
won for the Ergenekon trial
The Constitutional Court’s decision not only dealt a blow to
the democratic initiative but also weakened the government’s
courage concerning this process. Finally, when it was discov-
ered through the Cage plan that the country had been driven
to the brink of a military coup, Chief of General Staff Gen. lker
Babu made his statements to “guide” the judiciary aboard
a warship. Hasn’t this served the understanding of the truth?
Aren’t Babu’s statements -- including his promise to do
something if the original of the anti-reactionary action plan
can be found, his description of the Light Anti-tank Weapons
(LAWs) as mere “pipes” and nally, his offer for cooperation
with the judiciary -- intimidation in reality? Are his remarks
that target the democratic characteristics of the political sys-
tem those sorts of things that can be brushed aside with only
reactions from Mehmet Altan? The reason why these remarks
create concerns for democracy is that the Ergenekon process
is likely to be undermined by this. Indeed, whether we will be
able to eradicate the Turkish Gladio in this trial of the century is
dependent on the success of the democratic initiative.
The government’s attitude of ignoring the harsh remarks
by Babu signies an important fact. The primary source of
the strong popular support for the government was attribut-
able to its unyielding stance concerning the Ergenekon investi-
gation. If the government today takes the risk of backpedaling
from the Ergenekon investigation or if it gives the impression
of failing to properly ght against Ergenekon or more impor-
tantly, if it continues to keep silent vis-à-vis the harsh remarks
from the military, then the government’s credibility may be
damaged in the eyes of the millions supporting it. Such a de-
velopment would imply great risks and dangers, both for the
government and the country.
The social aspects of these risks deserve examination. Today,
the government needs social support more than ever if it intends
to keep on ghting Ergenekon. This is not an unimportant mat-
ter that can be left to the Taraf newspaper or more correctly, the
Altan brothers. Can the democratic struggle of Turkish society
Thýnk tank cafe´
Established on January 16, 2007 NO: 0950
Monday, December 28, 2009
Owner on Behalf of Feza Gazetecilik A.Þ
ALÝ AKBULUT
Chief Executive Officer
EKREM DUMANLI
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009 OPINION
DOES THE
be entrusted to a number of intellectuals? The spiral functions
as follows: The basic stance and struggle against Ergenekon is
conducted only by a paper and its columnists. However, the
DEMOCRATIC
nongovernmental organizations that had sprung into action in
the Susurluk scandal today choose to keep silent about the Er-
genekon investigation. Failure to secure the support of civil soci-
ety for the Ergenekon trial is one of the most obvious dangers. In
this connection, the organization newly established by Osman
Can as an alternative to the Judges and Prosecutors Association
INITIATIVE
(YARSAV) is an important development.
If the Kurdish Ergenekon can be deciphered
The price of any failure in the Kurdish initiative will be paid not
UNDERMINE
only by the AK Party but also by the whole country. If the dem-
ocratic initiative cannot be completed, Turkey will suffer great
agony from Ergenekon, which will be able to use this process
to save itself. But, if the Kurdish Ergenekon can be contested,
could the PKK and its leader engage in the maneuvers that they
carry out quickly today? The main weakness of the PKK, the
THE ERGENEKON
one which we may call the Achilles’ heel of the PKK, is the de-
ciphering of the Kurdish Ergenekon. Nothing would be as ef-
fective as the successful exposure of the Kurdish Ergenekon in
undermining Öcalan’s inuence and credibility over the Kurd-
PROCESS?
ish group’s support of the DTP. Öcalan’s credibility is a matter
of Kurdish reality that deserves more extensive examination and
critical analysis. Although Öcalan has been making references
to Ergenekon inside the PKK in an attempt to avert any attacks
against him from this perspective, his hesitant attitude towards
Ergenekon implies that he would be in a problematic position if
the Kurdish Ergenekon can be deciphered.
Can the ruling party nd a realistic solution to the ques-
tion of whether Öcalan will be regarded as an addressee in the
settlement process without discovering the reality of Öcalan?
While they see him as their unchanging leader, the voters of
CHAN, HÜSEYN SARI
the DTP must face the reality of the Kurdish Ergenekon. To
help them do this, the government must reinforce the pro-
cess of deciphering the Kurdish Ergenekon. In this context,
the massacre of 33 soldiers in Bingöl in the past and the more
recent attack in Readiye deserve special inquiries. Can we
ignore the words of Kurdish intellectual Kemal Burkay, who
said, “Apo [Öcalan] told me that they had been forced to as-
sume the responsibility of the killing of 33 soldiers”?
PHOTO
If the Kurdish Ergenekon can be deciphered, this will
pose a big question of credibility for the PKK and Öcalan. If
the democratic initiative can be maintained in parallel to the
reinforcement of the Ergenekon process and if the Kurdish Er-
genekon can be challenged, then it might be possible to cre-
ate a big internal conict inside the PKK and the DTP. What
will change when the PKK, Öcalan and his supporters see how
they have become toys of the Turkish Gladio?
Here, the basic question is whether the “credibility” question
will lead to the destruction of the concentration of loyalty on a
single leader. Indeed, the PKK has evolved from being a mere
terrorist organization to a structure that creates a sector for its
supporters. Is real evolution possible in all areas, including rheto-
ric to form a political language, so that this sector can be purged?
In connection with the question of credibility, it should also be
noted that the ght against PKK terrorism has led to certain criti-
cal attitudes concerning the methodology of the democratic ini-
tiative. What we are trying to say is that the real support of the
PKK in an urban setting stems not only from the leader’s cult.
Instead, the economic sector thus created must be contested.
Can the state’s credibility issue be one with the PKK’s cred-
ibility issue? Was liberal philosopher Milton wrong when he ar-
gued that in illiberal systems, liberal initiatives do not lead to the
introduction of liberal freedoms? No. Indeed, Turkey is wrong
in trying to solve all other secondary problems without solving
the primary problem, i.e., that of democratization. The ruling
AK Party has given a start to major initiatives without engaging
in constitutional amendments that represent the main switch.
The resulting resistance has shown that all chronic problems
can only be solved through democratic constitutional reforms.
This is a psychological threshold and the complete eradication
of the status quo and its extensions. If the AK Party really in-
tends to make progress in its efforts to solve chronic problems
including the Kurdish issue, it must review its illusions about
the methods it pursues. One such illusion is about the logical
misconception over the implementation of a state project with-
out changing the main switch. Another important question is:
How long will the ruling party be able to maintain its current
position as it draws closer to elections? The government’s road-
map may give clues about Turkey’s future democratic transfor-
mation. The government asserts that it will maintain its stable
positions despite all adversities, but the important thing is not
the empty rhetoric but whether its current performance allows
the implementation of democratic principles. The government
should continue to stand erect without being obdurate.
The BDP picked right up where the DTP left off when shut down by the Constitutional Court. Regardless, the DTP decision has slowed down
the democratic initiative to solve the Kurdish problem -- if the initiative is left incomplete, it will leave the nation at the whims of Ergenekon. *Ahmet Turan Ayhan is a political scientist.
Daðýstan Çetinkaya
dagistancetinkaya@todayszaman.com.tr
 COLUMNS MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009
Don’t waste your tme, you can’t keep us quet!
Three important weekday developments: 1 -- Star daily Ankara rep-
resentative amil Tayyar was given a prison sentence over his book
on Ergenekon. 2 -- Mehmet Baransu, who made press history with
his news pieces in the Taraf daily, was taken to court after an arrest
warrant was issued. 3 -- News emerged that Sabah writer Nazl Ilcak
is facing the possibility of more than two years in jail for calling Sincan
Judge Osman Kaçmaz, whose name comes up right smack dab in the
middle of nearly every political debate, “meddlesome.”
What is going on? And why? Why is a segment of the judiciary
virtually waging a war to cow journalists into submission? Unfortu-
nately, the scene right now looks like a big trafc pileup. A while ago,
following a Cabinet meeting, government spokesman Cemil Ciçek
heralded, of all things, that sentences would increase. After all that
happened last week, I don’t know if he was able to sleep peacefully at
night; but if this period does not begin to progress along a more dem-
ocratic axis soon, everyone in the world will hear about how freedom
of the press was demolished in our country. Can democracy progress
in a nation in which criminal entities are not written about? Never!
Those dealing out the sentences hide behind concepts that
serve as the sword of Damocles being held over journalists’ heads.
The concept of secrecy of an ongoing investigation is seriously
misunderstood and misapplied in this country. It must be under-
stood that even in the most irrelevant of circumstances, a decision
YAVUZ
BAYDAR
y.baydar@todayszaman.com
‘Army of shadows’
The title is borrowed from the masterpiece of French cinema’s
great master, Jean-Pierre Melville, although the content differs
somewhat radically from what has been taking place in Ankara
these days.
The story which unfolded after the revelations concerning
Bülent Arnç, deputy prime minister and outspoken gure of
the Justice and Development Party (AKP), that he and perhaps
some other high level AKP personalities were under the surveil-
lance of some mid-ranking ofcers, took a new turn, with an
unprecedented raid into the heart of the mysterious -- and to
many, notorious -- Special Forces Central Command.
Circumstances that led to the raid by civilian prosecutors
in Ankara and a couple of extraordinary meetings between the
prime minister and the top commanders are, to say the least,
most peculiar.
Initial reports in the midst of the fog of events were confus-
ing. Two ofcers, a colonel and a major, linked with the special
forces headquarters, last Saturday were caught, arrested, “picked
up” later by their commander and released by the military prose-
cutor. The chief of general staff released, after four days of silence
and media speculation, a written statement, stating that the of-
cers were on duty to watch an alleged “mole” within the army.
He was, the statement said, staying on the same street as Arnç.
Then, the fog dispersed somewhat. Reports said the ofcers
were caught and suspected of gathering intelligence about the
president, the prime minister and other AKP top gures. A pri-
vate who allegedly belongs to the same “team” as the colonel
and mayor was recorded -- through wiretapping -- as telling
his father that “we were busy burning many sensitive docu-
ments at the special forces headquarters,” which led to civilian
prosecutors entering the building.
Around 20 people from the ofce, joined later by a judge,
managed to force their way into the building, despite the re-
sistance of military ofcers, but were not allowed to search the
parts where top secret documents were kept. In the crisis that
erupted, a nal “go ahead” was given to the civilian prosecutors
and police to do a search in the presence of military prosecu-
tors. Eight ofcers were arrested, including the ones who were
initially released by the military judges.
This points, clearly, to a crisis. There seems to be no other
reasonable explanation, given the pattern of developments.
The special forces unit is serving under Deputy Chief of Gen-
eral Staff Gen. Aslan Güner. How to explain, then, the extraor-
dinary meeting on Saturday, between Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoan and Chief of Staff Gen. lker Babu and Land
Forces’ Commander Gen. Ik Koaner?
Although it is unknown who actually asked for such an ex-
traordinary meeting (over three hours), it should be noted that
Erdoan discussed -- most certainly -- the image of a perceived
“threat” with the current and prospective top commanders. And
the civilian judiciary is using its recently enhanced powers to the
limits, unseen before, confronting the secretive military. In this
sense, one could argue that the matter is of major signicance.
The arrests of ofcers, it can be said, invalidate the top com-
mand statement of last Wednesday. All data received so far indi-
cate that something was “cooking” in the special forces headquar-
ters. But what? At this stage, it is still covered with fog. A rather
serious claim voiced by some “insiders” is that activities point to
a preparation of a putsch. An ex-military source told Mehmet Al-
tan, columnist for the Star daily, that the “decision has been made
for the numbers of regional commands to double from the current
16” and that “it was a pattern before military coups.”
What to make of that allegation, I do not know. But given
the written and oral record of the special forces, whose history
dates back to the early ‘50s, all is open to serious speculation.
The department, which has been untouchable and surrounded
by deep mystery, has been seen as responsible for triggering in-
ternal havoc with the aim of destabilization simply because of
those characteristics. It is, in other words, regarded as the unex-
posed Turkish “Gladio.”
At this stage, institutional warfare has taken a new turn. The
military is losing, step by step, its status as immune from civilian
control. The deeper the penetration is, the more urgent the need
for an institutional cleansing will be. Until the very latest, we
have seen resistance prevail, but the moment of truth of putting
things in order and even restructuring the army is approaching
the current top commanders. Turkish democracy has suffered
enough from the lethal shadows of its army.
EKREM
DUMANLI
e.dumanli@todayszaman.com
can be made to classify documents. There is no rule that the me-
dia can never publish anything classied! It can even be said that
the media’s main job is to obtain condential documents whose
disclosure would benet the public. Otherwise, we might as well
call all newspapers the Anatolia news agency. In reality, the most
critical points in the world’s history of journalism have revolved
around the disclosure of condential documents.
Without a doubt, the most striking court case in world press
history involved the publishing of classied US military documents
known as the Pentagon Papers. The US Department of Defense
tried during the Vietnam War to implement a press ban on the
documents, alleging that military secrets were contained therein.
The New York Times took the case to the courts. The court found
that the information was benecial to the public and that its pub-
lishing fell within the bounds of freedom of the press, rejecting the
military’s “national security” excuse. This all took place in 1971. Un-
No Comment
Is democracy the only game n town?
HSAN
DAI
i.dagi@todayszaman.com
For Adam Przeworski democracy is consolidated when it “becomes
the only game in town, when no one can imagine acting outside
the democratic institutions, when all the losers want to do is to try
again within the same institutions under which they have just lost.”
Sixty years since the rst free and fair elections, 10 years after
becoming an EU-candidate country and almost ve years since
the opening of accession negotiations with the EU, democracy still
is not the only game in our town. There are powerful people and
institutions searching for a regime other than a liberal democracy.
We have main opposition parties that oppose all kinds of
democratic reforms including the Kurdish initiative, the open-
ing of the Halki monastery, a new constitution, reforming the
judiciary, and so on. As they keep losing elections they look
to the military and the judiciary to do something against their
political opponents. So they support the cases of political party
closures by the Constitutional Court, and were jubilant when
the closure case against the AK Party was opened.
Moreover, they claim to be the advocates of the Ergenekon sus-
pects and in fact do it in practice by sending members of Parliament
with a background in law to the trial. The military’s involvement,
even intervention, in politics is welcomed by these politicians.
Deniz Baykal, more than once, expressed his expectations from the
military to defend “secularism” not with words but deeds.
Instead of trying again within the system, our main op-
position parties call in the military and the judiciary to inter-
vene and eliminate their opponents for them. Democracy is
not recognized as the only game in town even by secular-
ist and nationalist political parties. For them democracy is a
game that they constantly lose. So they look for some other
avenues to power instead of the people’s mandate.
On the other hand, the military is heavily laden with ofcers
fortunately, in today’s Republic of Turkey, the mentalities of those
managing some media organizations are stuck 40 years in the past.
The plan to nish off the Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) and Fethullah Gülen emerged and junta actors were caught
red-handed; some ofcials say, “But don’t write about it because if
you do, you’ll be compromising the secrecy of the investigation.”
While the possibility exists to take those who prepared the plan to
account for their deeds, it is wrong to put the press in the defen-
dant’s chair. The Cage Operation Plan emerged, and those who
should be taken to account for it (beginning with the General Staff)
hide behind the same excuse. There are solid reasons to believe
that individuals were deployed to assassinate Deputy Prime Min-
ister Bülent Arnç, but they hide behind the same chorus. What
was it? The essential nature of secrecy of the investigation. In what
democracy can you nd such outdated implementations in place?!
Just last month, German military and cabinet ofcials were
forced to resign. Why? Because a secret document dealing with an
operation in which many Afghan civilians died was published as
the headline story in a newspaper. No one in Germany stood up
and spoke of a “violation of the secrecy of an investigation.”
A lieutenant made a young man hold a grenade whose pin had
been pulled out, and he was supposedly dealing out a disciplinary
punishment to the soldier; four of our soldiers died when the grenade
TURKEY, AA
with political ambitions. There are numerous juntas within the
military as revealed through Ergenekon and other cases. The latest
incident about the assassination allegations and following search-
es in the Special Operations Unit, known as the counter-guerilla,
discloses again illegal activities within the military.
All these show that Turkey does not have a consolidated dem-
ocratic regime but is in a process of democratization which is not
a stable state of affairs free of tensions and conicts. On the con-
trary, the very nature of democratization carries instabilities, ten-
sions and the lack of societal and institutional consensus. While
democracy is a regime with the stability of democratic institutions,
a high level of consensus on the norms and the rules of political
struggle, democratization is essentially a destabilizing process.
This is so because democratization means a transition of
power and the establishment of rules and norms inspired by
the democratic principles of legitimacy. As such, democratiza-
tion challenges the beneciaries of the “ancient regime” who
are unwilling to give up their power and privileges gained in
their authoritarian political system.
In the Turkish case democratization means the transfer of
power from the Kemalist authoritarian elite to the represen-
tatives of peripheral social and economic forces. In a consoli-
dated democracy the Kemalist elite, with its bureaucratic and
civilian wings, can no longer claim a right to rule by invoking
their loyalty to the founding ideology and the vanguard role
given to them by this ideology. In such a democratic regime,
“popular will” does not reign the will of the Kemalist elite.
Thus the process of democratization prompts resistance among
the forces of the “ancient regime” fearful of losing their monopoly
on power in due course. They invoke secularism, unity of the state
and the nation state to block the process. The end result of this re-
sistance is the societal tension that is currently appearing, political
harshness and inter-institutional conict.
Those with vested interests in the ancient regime have been
struggling. We now have two options: either continue with the pro-
cess of democratization until we reach a place where there is no
game in town other than democracy or give in to the pressures of
the authoritarian Kemalist power elites of the ancient regime.
TODAY’S ZAMAN 15
exploded. Military authorities committed a crime in order to keep the
incident from the public. The media published stories, saying, “Four
of our soldiers were martyred,” right up until the Taraf daily published
the truth of what happened. Is this the principle of condentiality? Or
the information kept classied regarding the attack on the Aktütün
outpost? Or the frightening possibility of what really happened at
the Dalca outpost? Or the horrifying neglect that led to the barbaric
slaughter of 33 soldiers being transported in unarmored vehicles? Or
the disappearance of the murderers who killed seven of our children
at Readiye, virtually vanishing into the earth? Are the media not go-
ing to discuss this? Are they not to investigate and research into it?
This is also the case with the Ergenekon case. We’re face-to-face
with a large organization, of which there is solid proof. The indict-
ment, which is thousands of pages long, testimonies taken, weapons,
bombs, maps and assassination plans seized -- all this and more tes-
ties to the existence of a deep gang. What kind of a justice system
is this? Those setting up smoke and mirrors to intimidate the judge
and prosecutors running the Ergenekon case are also plotting against
journalists who write news stories and columns about the Ergenekon
organization. The government must disrupt their game, and the
members of the judiciary who hold a serious belief in justice must
dismantle this conspiracy. Otherwise, we will no longer be able to
speak of freedom of the press in this country, nor of democratization.
ÖMER
TAPINAR
o.taspinar@todayszaman.com
Iraq’s Kurdsh
predcament
As I argued last week, in both Turkey and Iraq, peace, pros-
perity and democracy largely depend on whether Ankara and
Baghdad can nd ways to satisfactorily integrate their sig-
nicant Kurdish minorities into the national political system.
Having looked at Turkey’s shifting Kurdish dynamics, I will
now focus on Iraq’s own Kurdish question.
At rst sight, it may seem that more than the Kurdish
issue, it will be the Sunni-Shiite divide that will determine
Iraq’s fate as a unitary state. After all, the whole purpose
of the increased American war effort in 2008 was to stop
a Sunni-Shiite fratricide. As Fareed Zakaria argued in the
Washington Post a couple of weeks ago: “The surge in Iraq
was a success in military terms. It defeated a nasty insur-
gency, reduced violence substantially and stabilized the
country. But the purpose of the surge was, in President
George Bush’s formulation, to give Iraq’s leaders a chance
to resolve their major political differences. It was these dif-
ferences -- particularly between Sunnis and Shiites -- that
fueled the civil war in the rst place. If they were not re-
solved, the war might well begin anew or take some other
form that would doom Iraq to a breakup or a breakdown”
Yet, it remains very important to recognize that the
Kurdish issue is potentially more daunting since there is no
shared ethnicity and language between the Arabs and Kurds
of Iraq. To make things even more complicated, Iraqi Kurds
control three of Iraq’s 18 provinces but lay claim to three im-
portant cities just across the border from Iraqi Kurdistan that
have mixed populations. The Kurdistan regional government
has evolved into a quasi-independent state and regularly ig-
nores Baghdad’s central authority regarding oil contracts. It
has negotiated more than 25 oil deals of its own and blocked
the ow of oil out of the Kurdish region. And nally, there
are major disputes over the drawing of boundaries and elec-
tion rules that have for months stalled the election calendar.
It was not a surprise that the Kurdish regional government
remained the most difcult obstacle for the elections now
scheduled for March 2010 until the last minute of negotia-
tions. It took nothing less than a phone call from President
Barack Obama to convince Massoud Barzani, the president
of the Kurdish regional government, to withdraw his objec-
tions to the election legislation, removing the nal obstacle.
America’s involvement at the presidential level is
clearly demonstrated in New York Times’ words that “the
bitter discord between Iraq’s Kurdish regional govern-
ment and the Shiite-Arab-dominated central government
-- over land, oil and the power of the central government
-- is the most dangerous fault line in Iraq today. It was also
an acknowledgment that if these conicts are to be settled,
or at least kept from igniting a new civil war, there must be
deft and sustained American involvement.”
So what do the Kurds of Iraq want? The short answer is
more political power and more land. Kurds claim more than a
dozen disputed towns and villages in three border provinces:
Kirkuk, Nineveh and Diyala as their own.
The most ercely contested is the multi-ethnic city of
Kirkuk and its surrounding province. Since 2004, the regional
Kurdish government of President Barzani has tried to bolster
its claims by encouraging more Kurds to move there. This is
hardly surprising given the oil resources of the region. Iraqi
Kurdistan has already 10-15 percent of Iraq’s oil reserves.
Kirkuk, on its own, has as much as 25 percent of all of Iraq’s
oil sources. In April of 2009, the United Nations briefed Iraqi
ofcials on a report outlining possible solutions, including a
proposal that Kirkuk become an autonomous region run by
Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. Yet, according to the New York
Times, “given the heated environment, the report has never
been made public and American ofcials decided there was
no chance for serious negotiations before the election.”
By all accounts, Kirkuk and the oil are the most
daunting challenges facing Iraq’s future. For Wash-
ington, the clock is ticking. The Obama administration
knows that an orderly withdrawal of American troops
by the summer of 2010 in large part depends on Kurd-
ish cooperation that leaves Iraq with a chance of staying
unied, sovereign and democratic. Time will only tell
whether the Iraqi Kurds will show enough exibility.
 16 TODAY’S ZAMAN M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9
LEISURE

move gude
“Zombieland”
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS:
THE SQUEAKQUEL
STANBUL: Bakrköy AFM Carousel
11:00 13:15 15:30 17:45 20:00 Etiler AFM
Akmerkez 10:45 13:00 15:15 17:30 19:45
Caddebostan AFM 11:00 12:10 13:20 14:30
15:40 16:50 18:00 20:10 Kadköy Cinebonus
11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 Kozyata
Cinebonus Palladium 11:00 13:00 15:00
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Ankamall 11:00 13:10 15:20 17:30 19:50
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ANTALYA: Cinebonus Migros 11:15 13:15
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Gregorian Calendar: 28 December 2009 C.E. Hijri Calendar: 12 Muharram 1431 A.H.Hebrew Calendar: 11 Tevet 5770 tv gude
calendar@todayszaman.com
E2
08:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Today is Holy Innocents Day, also known as Childer- Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES is an international agree- States and was elected twice, in 1912 and in 1916. Wilson 09:00 Merlin
10:00 The Martha Stewart Show
mas. This day commemorates the massacre of chil- ment restricting international commerce in plant and animal spe- is particularly well known in Turkey and the Middle East 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
dren at Bethlehem ordered by King Herod, who wanted to cies believed to be actually or potentially harmed by trade. because of the Wilson Principles, declared in 1918. The 12:00 The Rachael Ray Show
13:00 Umutsuz Evkadnlar
destroy the infant Christ. Childermas is an alleged episode Today is the anniversary of the 1908 Messina (Sicily) Fourteen Points, as the principles are known in the West, 14:00 The Martha Stewart Show
15:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
of infanticide by Herod the Great, attested to in the Gos- earthquake. The earthquake’s magnitude measured 7.5 hinted at the end of traditional empires, including the Ot- 16:00 The Rachael Ray Show
pel of Matthew 2:16-18 but not mentioned in the other according to today’s Richter scale. It lasted approximate- toman state, the right to self-determination, the establish- 17:00 Merlin
18:00 The Martha Stewart Show
gospels or in most of the early apocrypha. Many scholars ly 30 to 40 seconds and the destruction was felt within a ment of the United Nations and a new world order. 19:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
portray this and other nativity stories as creative hagiogra- 300-kilometer radius. Moments after the earthquake hit, On this day in 1913 Ahmet Mithat Efendi (b. 1844), an 20:00 Family Guy
21:00 Chuck
phy rather than history. a tsunami struck many of the coastal cities with 40-foot Ottoman writer and journalist, died. Apart from writing in 22:15 Mad Men
Today is the anniversary of the Endangered Species Act in waves causing even more destruction. The earthquake and the earliest versions of Ottoman newspapers and maga- 23:00 Heroes
00:00 Mad Men
the US. On this day in 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the the tsunami killed over 70,000 people in Messina alone. zines, Ahmet Mithat served for some time in the Ottoman 01:00 It's Always Sunny in
Endangered Species Act into law. 1973 also saw the creation of Today is the birthday of Thomas Woodrow Wilson Philadelphia
palace as the official historian of the state. He was one of
01:30 The Closer
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of (1856-1924). Wilson was the 28th president of the United the early representatives of Turkish novelists. 02:15 Heroes
03:00 Chuck
04:00 Family Guy
CNBC-E
17:55 The Simpsons
18:50 The Jay Leno Show
20:00 Two And A Half Men
20:30 The Big Bang Theory
21:00 Without A Trace
22:00 The Ballad Of Jack And Rose
00:30 The Jay Leno Show
01:30 Two And A Half Men
02:00 The Big Bang Theory
02:30 Without A Trace
for flmmakers n NYC 03:15 The Ballad Of Jack And Rose
05:00 Without A Trace

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Capacity 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30
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14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 00:00 ANKARA:
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buildings have taken effect with no clear word But he said he spoke out against the fees at a public hearing 14:45 Into The Wild
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on whether it will tarnish the city’s popularity as one of earlier this year because it sets a dangerous precedent that may 18:45 Airplane!
20:15 Eternal Sunshine Of The
Hollywood’s favorite backdrops. cause other city agencies to also impose fees that collectively
Spotless Mind
One critic calls the $3,200 price tag for a permit to would cause productions to look elsewhere to film. Ihle said the 22:05 Flight Of The Phoenix (2004)
00:00 Frailty
film at one of the city’s buildings the highest fee in the city has moved steadily since the 1960s to make it ever more 01:45 Psycho II
nation by a municipality. comfortable for filming in the city, including providing free

PHOTO
04:10 The Last Supper
13:40 15:10 16:20 17:50 19:10 20:30 21:50 05:40 A Girl Like Me: The Gwen
00:15 ZMR: AFM Forum Bornova 11:10 But the city, which attracts about $5 billion in busi- locations to shoot scenes on city streets. She said it does not Araujo Story
13:40 16:10 18:50 21:30 23:30 ANTALYA:
Cinebonus Migros 11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 ness each year through the film trade, defends it as a charge for police officers, permits, or parking and it covers many
21:30 00:15 small increase affecting a slim percentage of produc- of the administrative costs associated with filming.
MOVIEMAX
07:05 South Of Heaven, West
Of Hell
ZOMBIELAND tions in a place that has long been among the friendli- She said productions also receive discounts on pur-
09:20 CJ7
STANBUL: Beyolu AFM Fita 11:40 est filming venues in the country. chases at everything from hotels to lumber yards to restau- 10:55 Max Payne
14:15 16:40 19:00 21:20 23:40 Kozyata The city came up with the fee over the summer as rants along with a 5 percent tax credit and free bus shelter 12:45 Poor Boy's Game
Cinebonus Palladium 11:15 13:15 14:35 Dante 01
15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15 23:15 ANKARA: it looked to cover more costs related to film produc- ads when their production is ready to be advertised. 16:10 The Valley Of Light
Cinebonus Panora 11:15 13:20 15:25 18:00 Soul Men
tions, according to Marybeth Ihle, a spokeswoman for The city has become so friendly that the volume of 20:00 Thomas Kinkade's Home
17:30 19:35 21:40 00:00 ZMR: Cinebonus
Konak Pier 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:15 19:30 the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. films produced in the city has risen considerably over For Christmas
21:45 00:00 ANTALYA: Özdilek Cinetime 21:55 Seabiscuit
The fee took effect Wednesday. “Private locations can the last decade, she said. 00:20 Death Tunnel
11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00
charge $10,000 a day so this is pretty nominal,” she Mark Daly, a spokesman for the Department of City- 02:00 Fall Down Dead
ORADA said, adding that the fee affects only about 5 percent of wide Administrative Services, said the city’s buildings are
04:15 Vice
05:55 Urban Justice
STANBUL: Beyolu Sinepop 11:00 13:00
15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 ili Megaplex productions that shoot scenes in New York City. such popular locations for filming that 160 productions
Cevahir 11:15 13:15 15:00 17:45 19:45 21:45 Among the biggest users of the city buildings is the used them last year. With that much filming, hundreds
MGM MOVIES
07:15 At Close Range
Kadköy Cinema Moda 12:00 14:30 17:00 09:10 Topkapi
19:30 21:30 ANKARA: Kzlay Büyülüfener long-running dramatic series “Law & Order,” which of thousands of dollars can be raised with the new fee. 11:10 Fort Defiance
11:00 13:05 15:10 17:15 19:20 21:25 films frequently inside courthouses and other city Johnston said the fee was unlikely to scare away pro- 12:35 Blue Sky
14:20 Don't Worry, We'll Think
DABBE 2 buildings. NBC Universal did not immediately respond ducers of movies or television shows but might cause film Of A Title
STANBUL: Beyolu AFM Fita 11:00 to a call for comment on reports that the show might students, small independent movie producers and those 15:50 Buy & Cell
13:10 15:20 17:30 19:40 21:45 23:50 Kadköy 17:30 The Greatest Story Ever Told
Rexx 11:20 13:20 15:20 17:20 19:20 21:20 seek to shoot some scenes in other cities. shooting pilots for television series to look elsewhere. 20:45 Barquero
ANKARA: Ata On Tower 11:00 12:45 14:30 “This one thing itself is not going to chase produc- Daly said it did not make sense for the city to vary the 22:40 A Doll's House
16:30 18:30 20:15 22:00 00:00 ZMR: AFM 00:20 A Family Thing
Passtel 11:15 13:15 15:15 17:15 19:15 21:15
tions out of the city,” said John Johnston, executive cost of the permit depending on the size of the production. 02:15 Buy & Cell
director of the New York Production Alliance, which “Administrative costs are the same no matter what 04:40 The Greatest Story Ever Told
23:15 ANTALYA: Cinebonus Migros 12:00 Danny DeVito films a scene from the feature film “When in Rome”
14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 00:00 represents more than half of the 100,000 people em- the size of production,” he said. New york AP on Madison Avenue in New York in this May 7, 2008 file photo. COMEDYMAX
08:00 American Dad
08:30 Gary Unmarried
09:00 The Cosby Show
10:00 According to Jim
11:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
12:00 Reaper
Crossword Mr. DploMAT! Cem Kzltu
c.kiziltug@todayszaman.com
13:00 Everybody Hates Chris
13:30 Curb Your Enthusiasm
14:00 American Dad
974 14:30 Gary Unmarried
15:00 The Cosby Show
ACROSS 52 Theater light- 12 Birth name buy 16:00 According to Jim
1 Salary limit ing-effects signifier 42 Yard filler
4 Warmonger- device 14 Fish eaten at 45 Frontier 17:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
ing bugs 53 Faux bars figure 18:00 3rd Rock from the Sun
8 Teetotaler’s ___ (social 20 Arm-over- 46 Hunting, as 18:30 Everybody Hates Chris
vehicle? misstep) arm swinger for food 19:00 The Cosby Show
13 “Monopoly” 55 Farmer’s 21 Dance 48 Acoustic 19:30 Curb Your Enthusiasm
board abbr. market maneuver organ 20:00 American Dad
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gastropod 56 Cornucopia 25 “Jingle display
15 Economize 60 Majorette’s Bells” 51 Before, in 21:00 According to Jim
on the twirler preposition verse 21:30 Everybody Loves Raymond
wedding 63 Ancient 26 Get leverage, 54 Nibble 22:00 Reaper
16 Was in marketplace in a way between 23:00 Entourage
theaters 64 Outspoken 28 “QB ___” meals 23:30 Weeds
17 Merge champ (Uris novel) 56 Amusing 00:00 Gary Unmarried
18 Relaxed in 65 Guadalajara 29 Diving antic 00:30 Curb Your Enthusiasm
the fitting goodbye eagles 57 Storybook
room? 66 Oil and vin- 30 Lack of monster 01:00 American Dad
19 In perfect egar holder laxness 58 Fair’s 01:30 According to Jim
health 67 D.D.E. was 32 Cause for opposite 02:00 Everybody Loves Raymond
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bonus
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hitter?
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pass
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00:00 Identification and
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2 5 7 4 1 3 6 9 8 Programming
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43 Bottom of a mer sellers 5 8 1 3 4 9 7 6 2
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44 Psychic skill 9 Ingredient in 1 8 5 2 7 7 2 4 6 5 8 1 3 9 12:30 News (English, French,
47 Pass, lotions 3 9 6 7 2 1 5 8 4 German, Greek, Russian)
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49 Title for 11 Covert 2 3 9 8 4 2 3 (English, German, Russian)
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4 9 6 3 8 7 5 2 1
(English, German, Russian)
8 7 3 9 2 6 4 1 5 18:30 News (English, French,
5 6 9 2 7 5 3 1 2 6 5 7 4 1 8 3 9 German, Greek, Russian)
18:45 Live Broadcast
9 4 1 5 3 8 2 7 6
3 7 5 2 1 8 2 5 2 9 1 6 3 7 8 4
(English, French)
21:30 News (English, French,
6 1 4 8 7 2 9 5 3 German, Greek, Russian)
8 5 2 5 3 4 6 1 9 8 7 3 8 4 9 5 1 6 2
21:45 Live Broadcast
(English, Greek)
23:58 Identification

HOW TO PLAY? : The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order Broadcast Areas:
Alanya FM 94.4
with the correct numbers. There are three very simple constraints to follow. In a 9 Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order Ankara FM 100.3
by 9 square Sudoku game: Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9 Antalya FM 92.1
Ayvalk FM 101.1
Bodrum FM 97.4
Fethiye FM 103.1
stanbul FM 101.6
travelers’

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- zmir FM 101.6
Kalkan FM 105.9
late: 0212 2513602-3-4 Russian Embassy: 0312 439 2122 Russian Consulate: 0212 244 1693-2610 British Embassy: 0312 455 3344 British Consulate: 0212
s.o.s

Kapadokya FM 103.0
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 Kuadas FM 101.9
Marmaris FM 101.0
Embassy: 0312 438 2195 Pakistani Embassy: 0312 427 1410 Austrian Embassy: 0312 419 0431-33 Austrian Consulate: 0212 262 9315 Belgian Embassy: Pamukkale FM 101.0
Trabzon FM 101.5
0312 446 8247 Belgian Consulate: 0212 243 3300 Egyptian Embassy: 0312 426 1026 Egyptian Consulate: 0212 263 6038 Israeli Embassy: 0312 446 3605
 CONTINUATION
Turkey braced for the most tense MGK meeting of the year
contnued from page 1
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan, who
came together on Saturday morning with Chi-
ef of General Staff Gen. lker Babu and Land
Forces Commander Gen. Ik Koaner in a surp-
rise meeting following Friday night’s troubleso-
me search attempt that could only completed the
next day at the General Staff, also held a mee-
ting with those of his ministers who serve on the
MGK board. Erdoan’s three-hour meeting with
Babu and Koaner, which took place at the Pri-
me Ministry, occurred in an atmosphere of extre-
me tension, according to sources close to the Pri-
me Ministry, although the ofcial statement said
anti-terrorism efforts both at home and abroad
were discussed. The same harshness is expected
to be reected at today’s MGK meeting.
Tensions in 2009
Tension between the government and the military
is not new. It was ignited for the rst time when
some retired generals were detained in 2007 as
part of an investigation to Ergenekon, a clandes-
tine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the
government. The retired generals mentioned in al-
leged coup plans devised in 2004 -- ener Eruygur,
Hurit Tolon, Levent Ersöz and Veli Küçük -- were
detained and then arrested in the operation. The
arrests were initially met with silence from the Ge-
Civilian prosecutors conduct
search at military command
contnued from page 1
A group of ve prosecutors led by Pub-
lic Prosecutor emsettin Öcan and poli-
ce squads from the counterterrorism department
arrived at the Special Forces Command’s Ankara
Tactical Mobilization Group facilities. However,
the squads were not allowed to enter the Special
Forces Command property despite a warrant and
were stopped at the gate. A military prosecutor
arrived at the site when the civilian prosecutors
were allowed into the premises. The military pro-
secutor accompanied the civilians during the se-
arch. Only two police chiefs were allowed in from
the police squads. The General Staff only allowed
a search in the rooms of Col. Ylmaz B. and Maj.
brahim G., the two ofcers captured while wa-
iting outside Arnç’s house. The prosecutors de-
manded a general search relying on the warrant
in their hands, but they were physically preven-
ted. At 2:30 a.m., judge Kadir Kayan, who had
issued the warrant, came to the Special Forces
Command himself, demanding that his decision
be obeyed. However, the military personnel also
resisted judge Kayan. After this point, Deputy
Chief of General Staff Gen. Aslan Güner got in-
volved, requesting that the judge stop being per-
sistent. Still unable to do a general search of the
premises, the judge sealed off the doors and win-
dows of those rooms in the building prosecutors
believed might hold important evidence and left
the building. On Saturday, the prosecutors came
back, and this time entered the sealed rooms.
In other developments, Chief of General
Staff Gen. lker Babu and Land Forces Com-
mander Gen. Ik Koaner met Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoan on Saturday after the de-
tention of the eight soldiers. Erdoan had a mee-
ting scheduled with those ministers who serve on
the National Security Council (MGK), which has
a meeting today, but Babu and Koaner joined
the meeting at the Prime Ministry on Saturday at
11 a.m. The prime minister’s ofce said Erdoan
15 laws in TCK block freedom of expression, say NGO data
EMNE DOLMACI STANBUL
As prison sentences have started to be
handed down to journalists and authors
due to their writing in major newspapers and
books about the Ergenekon case, the issue has
again raised concerns over freedom of the me-
dia and freedom of expression in Turkey, parti-
cularly as since the Ergenekon case started, co-
urts have received nearly 3,000 complaints.
According to lawyer Engin Cinmen, Turkey is
violating Article 10 of the European Convention
on Human Rights (ECHR) and claims that the Eu-
ropean Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will nd
Turkey guilty of violating freedom of expression.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009
neral Staff. However, tension rose when dozens of
caches of weapons buried underground were une-
arthed during the investigation.
In April 2009, Chief of General Staff Gen.
Babu called a press conference about the mis-
sing military weapons that were found by the po-
lice during the Ergenekon investigation. He refer-
red to a hollow Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW)
excavated as “just a pipe,” and claimed that we-
apons with similar batch numbers were given to
the police force by Turkey’s only weapons’ ma-
nufacturer, the Turkish Mechanical and Chemical
Industry Corporation (MKE). However, in a sta-
tement responding to this, the MKE said the said
weapons had been produced for and delivered to
the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) alone.
The condence crisis between the govern-
ment and the military reached a new high ear-
lier this year when a document allegedly prepa-
red by the military -- and bearing the signature
of Col. Dursun Çiçek -- called the Action Plan
Against Religious Fundamentalism was leaked
to the press. The document laid out a plan to un-
dermine the Justice and Development Party (AK
Party) government which would make it easier
to oust the government. In a press conference on
the controversy, Babu said the document was
only “a piece of paper.” However, tests run on
the documents at the Forensic Council of Medi-
Civilian prosecutors searched General Staff offices on Saturday and Sunday in what was a first in Turkey, where the military has toppled four governments to date.
was briefed on some domestic and internati-
onal security issues without providing details.
The meeting lasted three hours with sources
close to the prime ministry noting that the de-
tentions of the eight ofcers were also discus-
sed during the surprise meeting, although of-
cial statements did not conrm this.
According to some reports, the prosecutors
insisted on a search after a phone conversation
between a private identied as S.T -- assigned
According to data provided by civil society organi-
zations, there are nearly 15 laws in the Turkish Pe-
nal Code (TCK) that limit freedom of expression.
Noting that the court cases on the reporters
are clear violations of the freedom of the media,
Human Rights Association (HD) President Öz-
türk Türkdoan said the government is the only
body that can change the situation.
Two journalists, amil Tayyar, a colum-
nist at the Star daily, and Mehmet Baransu, a
reporter for the Taraf daily, published impor-
tant documents on the Ergenekon case expo-
sing the games being played on society. Whi-
le the public was enlightened about Ergenekon
by these reports, they have also played a very
cine (ATK) indicated that the document was an
authentic military document, and the signature
under it indeed belonged to Col. Çiçek.
In each of these incidents, Babu announced
that a military investigation was underway into
the supposed perpetrators. But those investigati-
ons never uncovered any criminal offenses.
Recently, the alleged plot to assassinate De-
puty Prime Minister Arnç has brought the alre-
ady existing tension to a new height.
The General Staff said this past Wednesday
that two military ofcers who were detained ear-
lier this week on suspicion of plotting to assassi-
nate Arnç were near Arnç’s house on the day of
their detention not because they were planning
to assassinate him, but because they were moni-
toring another army ofcer who is suspected of
having leaked condential military documents to
the media. The explanation was hardly convin-
cing for the case’s civilian investigators, who ar-
ranged Saturday and Sunday’s searches.
A rst in Turkey
The searches at the Special Forces Command’s he-
adquarters in Ankara’s Kirazldere is the rst ever
police raid on a military facility in Turkey. Although
the civilian prosecutors were met with great resis-
tance, they have still undertaken a historic search.
The Kirazldere command was where politi-
under one of the two ofcers released after being
detained on suspicion of plotting to kill Arnç --
and his father. According to reports, the private,
whose phone had been wiretapped as part of the
investigation, told his father that he and his col-
leagues had burnt a large number of documents
so as to destroy potentially incriminating eviden-
ce in the Tactical Mobilization Group building.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Erdoan yes-
terday made a statement on the weekend ra-
crucial role in shaping public opinion to make
society, the government and political circles
stand behind the Ergenekon case.
Prominent human rights activist anar Yurda-
tapan said journalists are doing their jobs. “The pri-
mary reason behind this is the ght of the oligarchic
state not to lose its privileges. As democracy grows,
they lose their privileges,” Yurdatapan said.
Like Tayyar and Baransu, there is a serious thre-
at to other journalists in Turkey, too, not only to tho-
se writing on Ergenekon but also on similar topics
because the sentences are handed down based on
the anti-freedom laws in the TCK.
Ahmet Faruk Ünsal, the chairman of the Asso-
ciation of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppres-
cians, including Bülent Ecevit, Necmettin Erbakan
and Alparslan Türke, were kept during their ar-
rest during the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d’état. There also
used to be a US base at the location at that time. The
Kirazldere headquarters are believed to be whe-
re clashes between left and right groups before the
1980 coup were masterminded and coordinated.
The Tactical Mobilization Group of the Speci-
al Forces Command is believed to be the equiva-
lent of Turkey’s Gladio. Turkey’s own Ergenekon
is believed by some to be the last living extensi-
on of the Gladio, a code name denoting the clan-
destine NATO stay-behind operation in Italy after
World War II, intended to counter a possible com-
munist invasion of Western Europe. Many (inclu-
ding the Italian prosecutor who conducted Opera-
tion Clean Hands) liken the legal process against
Ergenekon to the “Clean Hands” anti-corruption
operation against Gladio in Italy during the 1990s.
Countless writers, journalists and witnesses
have claimed that the Tactical Mobilization Gro-
up was behind the Sept. 6-7, 1955, pogrom aga-
inst non-Muslim minorities in stanbul. This unit
was formed in 1952 with US support against the
Soviet threat in the north. Witness accounts, past
statements from the General Staff and evidence
obtained during the Ergenekon investigation in-
dicate that most of the arms and ammunition bu-
ried underground were buried by this group.
TODAY’S ZAMAN, AL ÜNAL
PHOTO
ids. He said: “All allegations are being investi-
gated. Individual mistakes cannot be attribu-
ted to entire institutions. It won’t help anyone
to make it appear as if there is a conict going
on between different state agencies.”
He also asked: “Will that status quo will
be changed, or will it remain the same? Will
we just put up with this pain or overcome it?
We as the government have decided to back
the investigation until the end.”
sed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER), said sentences gi-
ven to journalists for their writing were a huge mis-
take as they impinge on citizens’ right to obtain in-
formation. If the system was successful in solving
irregularities through its own mechanisms, Ünsal
claimed, this would not be happening. “Unfortu-
nately, Turkey is not a country of the rule of law,
but a country of the ‘rule of judges’,” Ünsal said.
Court cases on news reporting usually include
charges of the “violation of condentiality,” (Artic-
le 285), “pressure on just judgment,” (Article 288)
and the “violation of intelligence sharing and con-
dentiality of private life” (Articles 132, 133 and
134). Sentences of up to four-and-a-half years in
prison can be given in these court cases.
TODAY’S ZAMAN 17
Legal actions urge
journalist to engage
in self-censorship,
pundits say
contnued from page 1
Some of the claims put forth in Tayyar’s book could po-
tentially work against the defendants’ case, according to the pla-
intiffs. In the indictment, the prosecutor demanded that Tay-
yar receive a sentence of between one-and-a-half and six years.
On the same day Tayyar received his sentence, Mehmet
Baransu, a reporter from the Taraf daily who exposed a suspec-
ted military plot named “Cage Operation Action Plan,” which
aimed to assassinate non-Muslim community leaders, testied
to prosecutors at the Kadköy courthouse on charges of violating
the principle of condentiality of an ongoing judicial process
and was transferred to the stanbul 5th Criminal Court of Pe-
ace for arrest. However, the reporter was released by the court.
Tayyar and Baransu are not the only journalists facing
charges for covering stories like Ergenekon as Justice Mi-
nistry data show that around 3,000 journalists face char-
ges for covering the Ergenekon case.
Disturbed by the cases led again journalists, press orga-
nizations and journalists note that there should be no obstacle
before freedom of the press in Turkey, that laws that restrict this
freedom should be amended and that resolutions of the Euro-
pean Court of Human Rights should be adopted.
Ahmet Abakay, chairperson of the Contemporary Jo-
urnalists Association (ÇGD), characterized the trial and
conviction of journalists for merely performing their pro-
fession as “a very primitive and outdated situation.” He
warned that the trial of journalists gives an implicit messa-
ge to all journalists to be careful about what they are wri-
ting and to engage in self-censorship out of fear of arrest.
“The job of journalists is to uncover news that the public
should know and inform people about it. This is what our col-
leagues are doing. All these punishments and bans now show
that Turkey’s democratization efforts have failed,” said Abakay.
“We should be thanking him”
Derya Sazak, a columnist from Milliyet, said it was necessary to
thank Baransu for uncovering the cage plan, not to punish him
because no one can imagine what would happen in Turkey if
the chaotic plans of the cage plan had been put into practice.
The Cage Operation Action Plan, which was rst expo-
sed by Baransu last month, sought to intimidate Turkey’s
non-Muslims and assassinate prominent non-Muslim -
gures to put domestic and international pressure on the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which would
in turn lead to diminishing public support for the party.
Shortly after the revelation, the Turkish Armed Forces
(TSK) announced that a criminal complaint had been led
against Taraf due to its report on the Cage plan. “A crimi-
nal complaint was led at the Ministry of Justice against
the press organ in question,” Maj. Gen. Ferit Güler said
during a weekly press brieng on Nov. 20.
In early December, Baransu was given the Sedat Si-
mavi Award by the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC)
for his groundbreaking reporting.
“Such legal action against journalists cannot be defen-
ded if we take into account freedom of expression. The-
se acts aim to discourage journalists from covering similar
news in the future,” added Sazak.
Sabah daily columnist Nazl Ilcak is a journalists facing le-
gal trouble for criticizing Sincan 1st High Criminal Court Chief
Justice Osman Kaçmaz in her column for opening the way for
President Abdullah Gül to be tried in a court of law.
“It is possible that the Sincan judge was acting ideologi-
cally or that in his true conscience he believed that Gül did not
have immunity. But, in any case, looking at all the debates swir-
ling around this topic now, I can rmly declare that this seems
to have been the ‘only thing missing from our agenda’ and can
also point out what we can refer to as Kaçmaz’s personal act
of ‘meddling ofciousness’,” she wrote in her May 25 column.
Kaçmaz lodged a case against Ilcak for insulting him. The
journalist now faces a prison sentence of up to 26 months.
Denying the charges, Ilcak said she did not mean to insult
Kaçmaz but only sought to criticize his ruling.
A victim of similar cases in the past, human rights ac-
tivist and publisher Ragp Zarakolu described the trial of
journalists for merely doing their job “worrisome,” as he
explained: “The important thing is people’s right to have
access to information, not to render the state and state
ofcials untouchable. Some articles in the Turkish Penal
Code [TCK] which are used to try journalists are used to
keep the state and the judiciary free of criticism. There
are restrictions on the people’s right to have information
and freedom of the press. Every year we shamelessly ce-
lebrate the removal of censorship, but laws unfortunately
continue to impose censorship of the press.”
These attempts to carry out legal action against journalists
covering the Ergenekon case are usually based on TCK Artic-
le 285, which criminalizes the “violation of condentiality,” and
Article 288, which criminalizes “inuencing the independent
judiciary.” Hundreds of such cases have been led by prosecu-
tors against various press organizations as well.
According to Erturul Kürkçü, editor-in-chief of Bia-
net, journalists should be able to perform their jobs wit-
hout being afraid of anyone and without getting permissi-
on from any authority. He said except for cases of insulting
individuals and hatred and inciting war, journalists should
not face legal action over their work.
“What is meant by state secret? No one tells us about
the criteria that make something a state secret. If a news-
worthy item has been obtained by a journalist, it no lon-
ger becomes a secret. The EU has been asking Turkey for
the past 20 years to remove obstacles before freedom of
expression, but governments fail to take action to achieve
this,” Kürkçü complained. stanbul Today’s Zaman
 18 TODAY’S ZAMAN
INTERMEDIATE
WHO IS SANTA CLAUS?
Does he have another name? Where does he
live? Is he married? How much do you really
know about Santa Claus? Almost everyone has
seen Santa Claus sometime in their life. After all,
he is the most popular and well-known image of
Christmas around the world. Let's learn more
about this famous man!
Santa Claus is also called Father Christmas,
Kris Kringle and Saint Nicolas. The modern idea
of a man who gives presents to children began
with a real person. In the fourth century, there
was a Christian bishop named Nicolas. He lived
in what is today Turkey and was very generous.
He often gave gifts to poor people. He later be-
AP
A. Reading comprehension:
PHOTO
Fill in the blanks with the correct information from the reading.
1. Some refer to Santa Claus as Father _____________ and _____________ Nicolas.
2. Santa Claus is based on the story of a Christian bishop from _____________.
3. Today Santa Claus is fat, _____________ and has a _____________ beard.
4. While nice children get _____________ for Christmas, naughty children get _____________.
5. _____________ help Santa prepare Christmas presents during the year.
ADVANCED
’Twas the
Night Before
Christmas
This is one of the most traditional Christmas
readings in English speaking countries. It
tells the story of Santa's arrival on Christmas
Eve in a typical American household.
To do this task, you need to under-
stand the concept of rhyme. Rhymes are
words that sound similar. They are widely
used in poetry, creating a melodic impres-
sion. In this poem, the rhyme pattern is
AA, BB, CC, DD, etc. That means the last
words in two consecutive lines rhyme with
each other (the first with the second, the
third with the fourth, etc.). Try to complete
this poem by choosing appropriate words
from the list to go in each blank. The first
and the last verses will give you a good
idea of how this poem should work.
Last week's answer key: Advanced: A. insomnia, reluctance, unreal illusions, depression, aggression, brain scan, low standard of living, isolation, dependence, degenerated neurons B. common, widespread; disease, illness; exact, particular; perform, carry out; cure, remedy; ele-
mentary: A. 1-o, 2-c, 3-g, 4-f, 5-i, 6-j, 7-l, 8-d, 9-m, 10-e, 11-b, 12-h, 13-k, 14-a, 15-n. B. 1-b, 2-b, 3-a, 4-b, 5-a, 6-a, 7-a, 8-b, 9-a, 10-b. Intermediate: A. 1-o, 2-c, 3-g, 4-f, 5-i, 6-j, 7-l, 8-d, 9-m, 10-e, 11-b, 12-h, 13-k, 14-a, 15-n. B. 1-b, 2-b, 3-a, 4-b, 5-a, 6-a, 7-a, 8-b, 9-a, 10-b.
M O N D AY, D E C E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 9 TODAY’S LEARNING
CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Christmas is a very important holiday for Christians
AP
that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. You can learn
about Christmas with these activities!
PHOTO
The pope delivers the angelus noon prayer at the Vatican every year on Christmas,
and there are also special ceremonies in the churches across the world.
People living in predominantly Christian countries make preparations
for Christmas. Several Christmas markets open in many cities.
ELEMENTARY
Jingle Bells
came a saint and is the inspiration for the Santa Claus flies around the world with a magical
A. COMPLETE THE STORY:
People all over the world know Jingle Bells. At first it was only a winter song but later it
became one of the most popular Christmas carols. Now you can learn it too!
Chorus: Chorus
Claus of today. sleigh and reindeer. He slides down chimneys Bells on bob-tail ring
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Dashing through the snow
Of course, there have been many changes to with gifts for children, placing presents under Making spirits bright.
Jingle all the way. In a one-horse open sleigh,
Santa's history and image since then. For exam- Christmas trees or in stockings. There's only one What fun it is to ride and sing
Through the fields we go
ple, the modern Santa Claus comes from the condition, only children who behaved well dur- Oh what fun it is to ride A sleighing song tonight.
Laughing all the way.
North Pole, not the warm Mediterranean shores ing the year get presents. The naughty, or bad, In a one-horse open sleigh. O! Chorus (x2)
of Turkey! Also, popular writers Charles Dickens children do not receive any gifts and get a lump
and Washington Irving took these old stories and of coal. Santa Claus checks his list of naughty
made some changes, creating the Santa Claus of and nice children before leaving gifts. Because it's A.VOCABULARY:
today. Santa now almost always appears as a fat, a difficult task to get all the presents ready, elves Match the words to their definitions.
happy man with a big, bushy beard the color of help him. Together they work all year to prepare 1. ____ dashing a- people's emotions
snow. He dresses in red and when he laughs his for Christmas at Santa's toy factory in the North
belly shakes. Pole. And yes, Santa Claus is married. 2. ____ open sleigh b- to ring
Each year on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24), Santa Adapted from www.headsupenglish.com. 3. ____ bob-tail c- going very quickly
4. ____ spirits d- a Christmas song
5. ____ jingle e- a type of vehicle that is pulled by horses over the snow
6. ____ carol f- the horse's tail
B. WORD SEARCH
J I N G L E A B O B
I S J R N C L G G S
G N I H S A D M K G
O T S P I R I T S J
L I A T B O B D E P
O P E N S L E I G H
'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Major Henry Livingston Jr. (1748-1828)
soot, reindeer, VIXEN, cherry, below, jelly, came, flew, hoof, bow, around, quick, sash, teeth, dread, elf, matter, heads, rose, wall, fly, nap, back, work
REUTERS
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and (15) _________;
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; A bundle of toys he had flung on his (16) ________,
PHOTO
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their (1) ________; His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a (17) _________!
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, His droll little mouth was drawn up like a (18) _________,
Had just settled down for a long winter's (2) ________. And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, The stump of a pipe he held tight in his (19) __________,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the (3) __________. And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
Away to the window I flew like a flash, He had a broad face and a little round belly,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the (4) ________. That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of (20) _________.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old (21) _________,
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects (5) _________, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny (6) ___________, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to (22) _________.
With a little old driver, so lively and (7) _________, He spoke not a word, but went straight to his (23) __________,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane (11) __________, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
More rapid than eagles his coursers they (8) __________, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: So up to the house-top the coursers they (12) _________, And giving a nod, up the chimney he (24) _________.
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and (9) __________! With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too. He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN! And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
To the top of the porch! to the top of the (10) _________! The prancing and pawing of each little (13) __________. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!" As I drew in my hand, and was turning (14) __________, "HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"
 SPORTS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009
SOCCER
Celtic scores in each
half to beat Hamilton
Celtic scored a goal in each half to beat Ham-
ilton 2-0 and keep the pressure on Rangers at
the top of the Scottish Premier League. Glenn
Loovens volleyed in from a 14th-minute cor-
ner kick and Celtic missed a series of chances
to make the game safe before substitute Niall
McGinn hit a 20-meter shot in injury time
past goalkeeper Tomas Cerny. The victory
preserved an unbeaten home record against
Hamilton stretching back to 1939. Celtic now
has 36 points, just one fewer than the defend-
ing champions. But Rangers could restore its
four-point advantage if it wins at third-place
Hibernian on Sunday. Also, fourth-place
Dundee United drew 0-0 with Kilmarnock in
its rst match since manager Craig Levein left
to take over the Scotland national side, fth-
place Hearts won 1-0 at Falkirk and St. John-
stone won 3-1 at Motherwell. Glasgow AP
CRICKET
One-dayer abandoned
due to dangerous pitch
A dangerous pitch led to the abandonment of
Sunday’s fth and nal limited-overs interna-
tional between India and Sri Lanka after pro-
tests from the touring team’s captain Kumar
Sangakkara. Sent in to bat rst after losing the
toss, Sri Lanka had crumbled to 83-5 on the dif-
cult Kotla pitch before the third delivery of the
24th over, from India’s rookie paceman Sudeep
Tyagi, rose dangerously and ew past the face
of batsman Thilina Kandamby. It proved the
last straw for Sangakkara, who complained
to match referee Alan Hurst and oneld um-
pires Marais Erasmus and Shavir Tarapore, and
players left the eld. Discussions continued
between match ofcials and local organizers
outside the boundary as spectators shouted
slogans and abuse at the organizers. The teams
were whisked away from the stadium before
the abandonment was announced more than
an hour after the suspension. Baton-wielding
police cleared the stands of spectators, some of
whom had vented their anger by hurling chairs.
India won the series 3-1. New Delhi AO
SAILING
Alfa Romeo leads
Sydney-Hobart race
Leader Alfa Romeo reached the halfway point
in the Sydney to Hobart race on Sunday as
the line honors contenders encountered light
winds and the prospect of a slow sail to the
nish on the island of Tasmania. Alfa Romeo,
skippered by New Zealander Neville Crichton
and taking advantage of an early breeze that
his competitors failed to catch, held a 16-nauti-
cal-mile (20-mile, 32-kilometer) lead over Brit-
ish entry ICAP Leopard about 30 hours into
the race. Wild Oats XI, which is trying to win
line honors for the fth consecutive time, was
in third, 20 nautical miles (24 miles, 37 kilome-
ters) behind the leader in the race which cov-
ers 628 nautical miles (723 miles, 1,163 kilome-
ters). The prospect of little wind on the eld’s
approach to Flinders Island and the Tasmanian
coast meant the winner could nish as late as
Tuesday. Hobart, Australia AP
ICE HOCKEY
Capitals beat Devils
to go top of NHL
The Washington Capitals leapfrogged New
Jersey to the top of the NHL standings with
a 4-1 win over the Devils on Saturday. Alex
Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom each had a
goal and two assists for Washington, which
has 54 points, one more than New Jersey and
Pittsburgh. Washington won its third straight
and ended New Jersey’s ve-game winning
streak. Mike Green and Matt Bradley added
goals for Washington, while Rod Pelley scored
for New Jersey. In Nashville, Tennessee, Chi-
cago maintained its lead in the Western Con-
ference by beating Nashville 4-1. Other NHL
results: Ottawa 3, Buffalo 2, SO; Philadelphia
4, Carolina 3, SO; Montreal 3, Toronto 2, OT;
Detroit 2, Columbus 1; NY Islanders 3, NY
Rangers 2, OT; Tampa Bay 4, Atlanta 3; Min-
nesota 4, St. Louis 3; Phoenix 3, Los Angeles 2;
Colorado 4, Dallas 1; Vancouver 4, Edmonton
1; San Jose 5, Anaheim 2. Washington AP
Why has Fenerbahçe
club parted ways with
defender Önder?
Was it because Belgium-born Önder Turac was no longer playing well or was it
because of his wrist-cutting ‘accident’ earlier this month in which several scenarios
were concocted by the local media? We don’t know for sure, but Yldrm certainly does
OKAN UDO BASSEY STANBUL
The Fenerbahçe club has decided to
part ways with 28-year-old Belgium-
born Turkey central defender Önder
Turac, who has been told in clear and un-
equivocal terms to “go look for a new club.”
Önder’s agent, Doan Ercan, said over the
weekend that three clubs are interested in the
player. “Maybe [Fenerbahçe Chairman] Aziz
Yldrm in a t of rage might have told Önder to
‘go look for a new club’,” Ercan said. “Since then
we have had offers from clubs in Russia, Germa-
ny and England. But these clubs do not want to
pay for the buyout clause,” he also noted.
“They [Fenerbahçe] told Önder to go with-
out giving him his buyout clause or anything
ofcially in writing. We asked for this, but no
reply has been forthcoming. Önder is still a
Fenerbahçe player with a valid one-and-a-half
year contract. If you the tell him to go, then you
must give him his payout clause and pay what
you owe him,” Ercan further asserted.
“Onder still wants to play for Fener. The
fans still love him. But the fact of the matter
is that he cannot stay where he has been de-
clared persona non grata,” he added.
Tell us why
Yes, Önder still wants to play for Fener, and
the fans still love him. So why has Yldrm
told this player to go look for a new club?
As is known, Önder attracted banner
headlines earlier this month for the wrong rea-
sons. Excluded from the Fener squad against
Eskiehirspor, Önder badly cut his right wrist on
the night of Dec. 5 and was rushed by his family
members to the Ataehir Polyclinic and later to
the Kadköy Acbadem Hospital where he im-
mediately underwent a two-hour operation.
Several scenarios have been manufac-
tured about this accident or “no accident.”
The rst was that Önder was trying to
help his mother move a cabinet in the sitting
room, and an accident occurred resulting in
the player cutting his right wrist.
The second was that Önder got into an al-
tercation with his ancée and punched a glass
side table in anger, badly injury the big vein
Rumor mill working overtime as transfer window draws near
The rst half of the Turkcell Super
League has ended and the match-weary
players are enjoying their short vacation ahead
of the Ziraat Turkish Cup matches early next
month and the second half of the league sea-
son that kicks off on Jan. 22.
But behind the scenes, the clubs are busy
trying to ofoad mediocre players and court
new ones as they prepare for the one-month
transfer window that begins on Jan. 1.
Just as its name implies, the term “trans-
fer window” in soccer is a period of time in
which players may be bought or sold between
professional clubs and such a transfer is com-
pleted after registering the player with the new
club through FIFA.
The rumor mill in the local sports media
works overtime during that period, concocting
all kinds of transfer scenarios.
Galatasaray Vice Chairman Haldun Üstü-
nel said over the weekend that they plan to
acquire a defender and a striker during the
transfer window, adding that they are not in-
terested in defender Önder Turac, who has
been sent packing by Fenerbahçe.
Üstünel, however, dodged questions on spec-
Fenerbahçe and Turkey defender Önder Turac lies in his hospital bed after undergoing surgery
at the Kadköy Acbadem Hospital following his wrist-cutting “accident” in this Dec. 5 file photo.
in his wrist.
The third was that he slipped in the bath-
room and his wrist struck the windowpane.
And the fourth was outright attempted suicide.
We don’t know what happened for sure.
Naturally Yldrm, as the Fenerbahçe boss,
knows better. And Önder’s accident, which
happened the week after another Fener play-
er, Kazm Kazm, survived a near-fatal road
crash, perhaps should give us insight into why
the Fener boss has decided to act this way.
“They say Önder got angry with his -
ancé. No such thing happened,” Ercan said
in defense of his player. “Onder has no girl-
friend, let alone a ancée. The accident hap-
pened in the bathroom, that’s it.”
Cabinet, glass side table, window pane
and attempted suicide. Which one is true?
ulations over the transfer of Kayserispor defender
Ali Turan and Bursaspor striker Sercan Yldrm.
The transfer of teenager Yldrm will be a
tough one for Galatasaray because there are
many suitors. That of Ali will be relatively easy
because Kayserispor has its back against the wall.
Simply put, Ali will become a free agent in the
summer so Kayserispor had better sell him now
and make money or else he will be eligible to join
any club for free in only a few months time.
“We will work on the transfer issue in ac-
Haldun Üstünel
Arsene Wenger: Throw out throw-ins
Soccer could be speeded up by replacing throw-ins with kick-
ins, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said. The Frenchman
believes some clubs gain an unfair advantage. “For example at
Stoke, for Rory Delap it is like kicking the ball,” Wenger told the
club’s official Web site (www.arsenal.com). London, Reuters
C  H AN
P H OT OS
Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yldrm
cordance with the report that will be submit-
ted by our coach [Frank Rijkaard],” Üstünel
said. “Time is against us and so we have to
nalize these transfers before the team’s train-
ing camp in Antalya,” he stated.
“However, let me make this crystal clear. I
am not going to tell you the players we intend
to acquire, but the one we won’t. Onder Turac
is not on our list, now or in the future. We have
not made any contact with this player and do
not intend to do so,” he further noted.
“But we intend to keep [our Aussie winger]
Harry Kewell and are talking to his agent,” he
added. Üstünel did not reveal the names of play-
ers on the Galatasaray transfer list, but the rumor
mongers in the local sports media certainly will.
So don’t marvel when you hear that Gala-
tasaray is planning to add Usain Bolt to its at-
tacking because the tall long-legged Jamaican
sprinter can run faster than a cheetah; or that
the stanbul club is talking to Remy “The Flying
Gentleman” Bonjasky because the Dutch-Suri-
namese heavyweight kickboxer and three-time
K-1 World Grand Prix champion will not only be
an asset in the defense but will also kick the hell
out of opposing strikers. Okan Udo Bassey stanbul
AP, STEVE C WILSON
PHOTO
Philadelphia 76ers guard Andre Iguodala (9) los-
es his balance while going to the basket against
Utah Jazz Turkish forward Mehmet Okur during
their NBA game Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Williams, Okur
and Co. lead Utah
Jazz past Sixers
The Utah Jazz made the most of a brief
stop at home. The Jazz traded scoring
runs with the Philadelphia 76ers for three quar-
ters, then shut down the 76ers in the fourth pe-
riod on Saturday night for a 97-76 victory.
Utah held Philadelphia scoreless for nearly
nine minutes to pull away to a blowout in the
Jazz’s rst home game in almost two weeks.
“We got off to a terrible start. The way
we played it was a good thing we had a
chance to make amends a little bit,” Utah
coach Jerry Sloan said. “We have to learn
how to cut the turnovers down because
those things have been killing us.”
The Jazz ended a two-game losing streak,
which appeared in jeopardy of becoming three
in a row with 12 turnovers in the rst half. Utah
cut the giveaways to eight in the second half
and beat Philadelphia for the sixth straight time.
Deron Williams had 27 points and eight as-
sists to lead the Jazz and Carlos Boozer added 19
points and 11 rebounds. Turkish star Mehmet
Okur had 16 points with eight rebounds and
two assists and Wesley Matthews also scored 16
apiece for Utah, which held Philadelphia to just
three eld goals in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz hadn’t played at home since Dec.
14 and play their next two on the road, starting
on Wednesday in Minnesota.
Thaddeus Young scored 20 for the Sixers,
who played much of the game without start-
ing center Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert had
three fouls midway through the rst quarter
and played just 16:24, but still managed to pull
down nine rebounds. Elton Brand and Jrue
Holiday added 10 points apiece for Philadel-
phia, which was outrebounded 49-39 and had
just 11 assists to Utah’s 24.
Other NBA results: Dallas 106, Memphis
101; Atlanta 110, Indiana 98; Houston 98, New
Jersey 93; Oklahoma City 98, Charlotte 91;
Chicago 96, New Orleans 85; Minnesota 101,
Washington 89; San Antonio 112, Milwaukee
97; LA Lakers 112, Sacramento 103; OT Gold-
en State 132, Phoenix 127. Salt Lake City AP
Chelsea held 0-0 at
Birmingham; good
start for Mancini
Chelsea’s stuttering form continued on
Saturday when the Premier League lead-
er kicked off a hectic holiday program with a
0-0 draw at Birmingham City.
Roberto Mancini began his reign as Man-
chester City manager with a 2-0 home victory
over Stoke City and there was good news
for another of the Premier League’s Italian
coaches when Gianfranco Zola’s West Ham
United climbed out of the bottom three with
a 2-0 home win over Portsmouth.
Tottenham Hotspur remained in fth
place after a 0-0 draw at Fulham and the
points were also shared at Sunderland which
drew 1-1 with Everton.
Liverpool moved up to seventh with a
2-0 win at home to 10-man Wolverhamp-
ton Wanderers, while Wigan Athletic against
Blackburn Rovers ended 1-1 as did Burnley’s
home match with Bolton Wanderers.
Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart produced
a string of ne saves to frustrate the visitor, ex-
tending his side’s unbeaten league run to 10 and
leaving Chelsea with just one victory from its last
seven matches in all competitions. London Reuters
 Ivana Trump becomes angry, taken off plane
Ivan
Police say Ivana Trump has been escorted off a plane in Florida after she be-
came belligerent when children were running and screaming in the aisles.
Authorities say the first ex-wife of billionaire Donald Trump cussed at the
children on Saturday on the New York-bound plane. Palm Beach, Fla. AP

WWW.TODAYSZAMAN.COM MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009

‘SHERLOCK HOLMES’ BEATS OUT ‘AVATAR’

AP
PHOTO

Actor Robert Downey Jr. attends the premiere of “Sherlock
Holmes” at Lincoln Center in New York in this Dec. 17 photo.
British director Guy Ritchie’s “Sher-
lock Holmes” set a Christmas Day
sales record at the box office in
North America, taking a narrow lead over
last weekend’s champ, “Avatar,” according
to early estimates released on Saturday.
“Sherlock Holmes,” in which Robert
Downey Jr. reinvents the ascetic Victorian
sleuth as a dashing superhero, earned $24.9
million during its first day of release on Fri-
day, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said.
The record for a Christmas Day open-
ing was set last year when “Marley and Me”
launched with $14.4 million.
“Avatar” earned $23.5 million on Fri-
day, taking the eight-day total for director
James Cameron’s costly 3-D extravaganza
to $160.8 million, said 20th Century Fox.
Fox also released “Alvin and the Chip-
munks: The Squeakquel,” which opened at
No. 3 with $14.5 million. The family-orient-
ed sequel got an early start on the holiday
by opening on Wednesday, and its total
stands at $41.3 million.
Betty Thomas directed the follow-up
to the 2007 live-action animated hit that
grossed more than $360 million worldwide.
Another new release, director Nancy Meyers’
“It’s Complicated,” followed at No. 4 after
earning $7.1 million during its first day on
Friday. The Universal Pictures comedy stars
Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.
“Up in the Air” rose three places to No.
5 in its first weekend of national release,
with Friday sales of $3.7 million. Director
Jason Reitman’s meditation on love and
loneliness in corporate America has earned
$16.4 million since Paramount Pictures re-
leased it in 15 theaters on Dec. 4.
Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner
Inc. 20th Century Fox is a unit of News
Corp.. Universal Pictures is a unit of Gen-
eral Electric Co.. Paramount Pictures is a
unit of Viacom Inc. Los Angeles Reuters

Charlie Sheen
out of jail after
domestic incident
Actor Charlie Sheen, star of the hit sit-
com “Two and a Half Men,” has been
released from jail in the Colorado ski resort city
of Aspen after his Christmas Day arrest on do-
mestic violence charges, police said.
Sheen, 44, was booked on felony charges
of second-degree assault and menacing, and a
misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, all of
which were “coupled with a domestic violence
component,” the Aspen Police Department said.
He was released after posting an $8,500
bond, and faces a court hearing on Feb. 8. Police
declined additional comment, saying a news re-
lease would be issued today with any new details.
Police did not identify the person whom
Sheen was accused of assaulting. But various
websites have said Sheen shoved his third wife,
Brooke Mueller, during a heated quarrel. TMZ
reported that Mueller had been drinking heav-
ily when she dialed 911 about 8:30 a.m. MST
(10:30 a.m. EST), and subsequently recanted
her allegations against Sheen.
A spokeswoman for the Aspen Police De-
partment declined to comment on the TMZ
report, as did prosecutor Arnold Mordkin, the
head of the district attorney’s ofce in Aspen.
Sheen’s Los Angeles-based spokesman,
Stan Roseneld, declined comment except to
say: “Don’t be misled by appearances. Appear-
ances and reality can be as different as night
and day. It would benet everyone not to jump
to any conclusion.”
Sheen and Mueller, 32, married in May
2008. The former actress and real estate agent
gave birth to twin sons in April of this year.
Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen, for-
mer star of the hit TV drama “The West Wing.”
His brother is actor-director Emilio Estevez.
Sheen has two daughters by his second
wife, actress Denise Richards. Their four-year
marriage ended in 2006 in a bitter divorce that
titillated the tabloids for months.
Sheen, whose lm credits include “Pla-
toon” and “Wall Street,” is best known for
his starring role as a wealthy, womanizing
Malibu bachelor on the bawdy CBS sitcom
“Two and a Half Men,” one of television’s
top-rated shows. Los Angeles Reuters

Newspaper
cane goes to
oldest town resident
A western Massachusetts woman who
helped revive the tradition of giving a
cane from The Boston Post newspaper to her
town’s oldest resident has become its latest
recipient. Hazel Burdick turned 101 in Au-
gust. She received the gold-tipped cane this
week in a ceremony in Williamstown, a rural
community of about 8,000 residents in the
heart of the Berkshire Mountains. The pub-
lisher of the now-defunct Boston Post gave
hundreds of the canes in 1909 to towns in
Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and
Rhode Island. It was a publicity gimmick and
a way to honor the communities’ oldest resi-
dents. Williamstown revived its tradition 10
years ago after Burdick pushed ofcials in the
town to nd its lost cane, which was discov-
ered later in a resident’s attic. Burdick says
she’d been hoping for decades for her turn to
receive it. Williamstown, Mass., AP