PRESIDENT GUL TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN
President Abdullah Gul, accompanied by State Ministers Kursad Tuzmen and Nimet Cubukcu and a group of businessmen, will fly to Azerbaijan today. Gul is scheduled to meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Parliament Speaker Oktay Asadov and Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and to address the Azerbaijani Parliament. During the visit, the two presidents will sign several agreements and discuss bilateral relations along with regional and international developments. Gul will later proceed to Gence, Azerbaijan's second-largest city. /Cumhuriyet-Turkiye/
ERDOGAN MEETS WITH BUSH IN WASHINGTON
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday met with US President George W. Bush at the White House. Afterwards, Bush said that they had had a long discussion about the terrorist PKK, calling it an enemy of Turkey, a free Iraq and the United States. "I made it very clear to the prime minister that we want to work in a close way to deal with this problem," Bush told reporters. "We talked about the need to have better intelligence sharing." He added, "In order to chase down people who murder people, you need good intelligence. We talked about the need for our militaries to stay in constant contact." After his meeting with Bush, Erdogan delivered a speech at the National Press Club. "On Oct. 17, almost all members of the Turkish Parliament gave a mandate to the government to launch an operation," he said. "This is a mandate for a cross-border operation that solely targets the PKK, not civilians." Turkey will exercise its right to protect itself and the nation against terrorism if necessary international support and cooperation are not provided, he added. "We have come to the point of using our rights under international law, against the separatist terrorist organization which threatens our territorial integrity, public order, security and peace, by deploying in northern Iraq," said Erdogan. "This is an authorization granted by international law and we will use it." Erdogan stressed two vital issues in Turkish-US relations, namely a resolution regarding Armenian allegations on the incidents of 1915 and the presence of the terrorist PKK in northern Iraq. /Star-Sabah/
AMBASSADOR WILSON: "TURKEY, THE US AND IRAQ CAN SHARE INTEL TO DEFEAT THE PKK"
Turkey does not want northern Iraq to continue to be a safe haven for terrorist groups, said US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson yesterday. "As Iraq hasn't reached the required stability, we don't want any developments causing a new crisis," he told Aksam daily. "The US administration wants to find a common solution to the problems of its strategic partner Turkey caused by the terrorist PKK. Adding new troubles to the problems of the Middle East would run counter to the interests of the US, Iraq and Turkey. We can share intelligence to defeat the terrorist PKK. Using the tripartite mechanism would benefit everyone." /Aksam/
EU TO RELEASE TURKEY PROGRESS REPORT TODAY
The EU Commission is set today to release its annual progress report on Turkey along with an accession strategy document and financial assistance framework for the next four years. Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn is expected to hold a press conference to mark the report's release. In the report, the Commission assesses political and economic developments in Turkey over the last year. /Turkiye/
ONE YEAR LATER, STATESMAN ECEVIT COMMEMORATED
On the first anniversary of his death, the late Bulent Ecevit, founder of the Democratic Left Party and a two-time prime minister, was commemorated yesterday in a ceremony at his gravesite in the Turkish State Cemetery. /Milliyet/