PM ERDOGAN VISITS SITE OF GERMAN FIRE, URGES THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
Primer Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday traveled to Germany to hold a series of talks and to attend the Munich Conference on Security Policy, as well as to visit the scene of a deadly fire from earlier this week. Before leaving, when asked about statements by the Intercollegiate Board (UAK) and Turkish Bar Association on the controversial headscarf issue, Erdogan said those groups do not represent all academics or all lawyers, adding that only Parliament has the authority to speak for the people. At the scene of the fire, Erdogan was accompanied by State Minister Said Yazicioglu and Kurt Beck, the premier of Germany 's state of Rhineland-Palatinate. During his visit, a group of local Turks held a protest of the fire, which some suspect was caused by arson. German authorities told Erdogan about the investigation of the blaze. "Both the German police and the firefighters did their best to save lives in the disaster, but we are expecting a thorough investigation," Erdogan told a crowd gathered outside the apartment building after meeting the victims' families. "The grief of our nation is great. But our German friends I spoke to are also grieving." He added, "We hope that our grief will lead towards a fresh beginning." Erdogan also visited the Turks who were injured in the fire. /Star/
ERDOGAN: "THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IS ALSO A KIND OF CORRUPTION"
There has never even been the smallest question that Turkey 's current government would show the slightest tolerance towards corruption in either the public or private sector, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. "Corruption is as old as human history, and as the economy has gone global, so has corruption," Erdogan told a meeting in Ankara on a new anti-corruption initiative. Erdogan also criticized the private sector over the informal economy, calling this another kind of corruption. /Star/
EU: "THE HEADSCARF IS TURKEY 'S OWN ISSUE"
The headscarf issue is Turkey's own issue, to be discussed by the Turkish people, and does not concern the European Union, said a European Commission spokesperson yesterday. Asked about Foreign Minister Ali Babacan's remark that the headscarf controversy is harming Turkey's international image and that it needs progress in rights and freedoms and political reforms to achieve EU membership, Krisztina Nagy, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn's spokesperson, said, "This is a multidimensional issue. There is no standard in EU law regarding headscarves. The Turkish people will discuss this issue. The EU hasn't asked to Turkey to make any change on this issue, and the EU has no position on it." /Hurriyet/
US AMBASSADOR WILSON: "THE US DOESN'T PROVIDE WEAPONS TO THE PKK"
The US does not provide weapons to the terrorist PKK or to any other terrorist group, reiterated US Ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson yesterday. During a visit to Hatay Governor Ahmet Kayhan, he added, "Weapon traffickers in the region have been selling weapons from the US without knowing how these were acquired." /Turkiye/
US JOIN CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: "US-TURKISH MILITARY COOPERATION HAS REACHED AN UNPRECEDENTED LEVEL"
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen yesterday said that over the past few months US-Turkish military cooperation has reached an unprecedented degree. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee on next year's proposed military budget, Mullen said that he had recently met with Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ergin Saygun. "There's a delicate balance," he said. "I think not only the military but the leaders of the two countries understand that we reached a balance and it should continue." /Sabah/