ERDOGAN: “A PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM WOULD BE BEST FOR TURKEY”
Speaking on television this weekend, Prime Minister and Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan advocated the eventual adoption of a presidential or semi-presidential system in Turkey, one based on the US model. “I believe that a presidential system would be best for Turkey,” he said. “All Turkey’s institutions should integrate with the nation, and a consensus must be ensured in order to achieve this aim,” said Erdogan. “Without ensuring consensus, transition [to the system] won’t be healthy. But, if we achieve this, I believe our nation will make a great leap forward.” A presidential system would end the legislature and executive branch from stepping on each other’s toes in “interventions,” he predicted. Turning to other issues, Erdogan said that Turkey would play a role in the postwar reconstruction process of Iraq. “Turkey will definitely take part in both the political and physical reconstruction of Iraq,” remarked Erdogan. “Subcontractor services and building supplies are cheaper in Turkey.” Erdogan added that the United States had a number of requests from Ankara regarding Iraq’s reconstruction and that the Foreign Ministry was evaluating these. /Aksam/

GUL: “SIMITIS’ STATEMENT SHOWS THAT TURKEY WAS RIGHT ABOUT CYPRUS”
A statement attributed to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, if borne out, only proves that Turkey’s stance on the Cyprus issue was the right one, said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday. Turkish media reports over the weekend said that, after Greek Cyprus signed its European Union accession accords last Wednesday, Simitis said, “We have accomplished Enosis,” meaning unification between mainland Greece and the island of Cyprus. Under the accords, Greek Cyprus is due to join Greece in the Union’s ranks in May 2004. “It turns out that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [TRNC] President Rauf Denktas was right,” said Gul. Speaking on television, Gul reiterated that Turkey and Turkish Cypriots were sincere in their desire for a just and lasting resolution on the island. “If a settlement can be reached within the year left before Greek Cyprus’ EU membership, then the Turkish side of the island can also be integrated into the Union,” he stated. “However, if this doesn’t happen, the TRNC could still enter the EU alongside Turkey.” Speaking on US requests from Turkey for Iraq’s reconstruction, the foreign minister said that the government had given a positive reply in principle but that details still needed to be worked out. He also warned northern Iraqi Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani to be “more careful in their statements,” referring to recent provocative remarks by the regional leaders. /All Papers/

US PULLS OUT NEARLY HALF OF PERSONNEL, JETS FROM INCIRLIK
With hostilities in Iraq winding down, last week the United States withdrew 30 out of 80 fighter jets and almost half of its 4,500 personnel from Incirlik Airbase near Adana. The US had been enforcing the northern “no-fly zone,” or Operation Northern Watch, out of the base under NATO mandate. With the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime, however, the US military apparently plans a reduced presence in Turkey, though last week US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to be pinned down. “We have not made final decisions with respect to the footprint of the US in that part of the world, and won’t for months,” he told reporters. Press reports say the US plans to establish four new bases in Iraq under the new Iraqi administration. /All Papers/

NY TIMES: “TURKEY WILL ESTABLISH A NEW SECURITY ARRANGEMENT WITH WASHINGTON”
The United States is planning a long-term military relationship with the emerging government of Iraq, one that would grant the Pentagon access to military bases and project American influence into the heart of the unsettled region, along with establishing a revised US-Turkish security arrangement, said the New York Times yesterday in a news analysis by Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt. “American military officials, in interviews this week, spoke of maintaining perhaps four bases in Iraq that could be used in the future,” stated the writers. “One at the international airport just outside Baghdad; another at Tallil, near Nasiriya in the south; the third at an isolated airstrip called H-1 in the western desert, along the old oil pipeline that runs to Jordan; and the last at the Bashur air field in the Kurdish north.” Quoting an unnamed senior Bush administration official, the Times stated that there would be some kind of a long-term defense relationship with a new Iraq, the scope of which has yet to be defined — whether it will be full-up operational bases, smaller forward operating bases or just plain access. “The US is acutely aware that the growing American presence in the Middle East and Southwest Asia invites charges of empire-building and may create new targets for terrorists,” said the writers. “So without fanfare, the Pentagon has also begun to shrink its military footprint in the region, trying to ease domestic strains in Turkey and Jordan. Turkish officials say a new postwar security arrangement with Washington will emerge.” The US daily also recalled that the US has withdrawn nearly all of its 50 attack and support planes from Incirlik Airbase in the wake of Turkey denying the Pentagon access to its military facilities before the Iraq war as well as the end of the northern Iraqi “no-fly zone.” The writers quoted Faruk Logoglu, Turkey's ambassador to the US, as saying, "These issues will define a new relationship and a new US presence abroad. But the need for an American presence in the region will not be diminished.” /Hurriyet/

US GEN. MOORE: “THE US HAS NOT ASKED TURKEY FOR MILITARY ASSISTANCE IN POSTWAR IRAQ”
Retired US Gen. Bruce Moore, the northern Iraq division head of the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, told the regional Kurdish assembly yesterday that the US had not requested military assistance from Turkey to help establish peace and stability in Iraq. “There are only 15 Turkish military observers within Iraq,” said Moore, who took up his office in Arbil on Sunday. Speaking to the press after his address to the assembly, he added that Iraq’s many ethnic and religious groups must put aside their differences to build a new free and democratic nation. He stressed that all these ethnic groups should have a hand in all spheres of public life, adding that all Iraqis should share the benefits from the nation’s natural resources such as oil. “The immediate task of my office,” said Moore, “is to restore electricity and medical care and pay civil servants' salaries, all of which were disrupted since the northern areas that had remained under Saddam Hussein's control fell to the Kurds and Americans more than a week ago.” /Hurriyet/

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION