HURRIYET

-- HE DID NOT SAY "GENOCIDE", BUT INSTEAD HE SAID "BIG DISASTER"

U.S. President Barack Obama used the expression "Meds Yeghern", meaning "big disaster" in Armenian, instead of "genocide" in his speech on the Armenian claims regarding the incident of 1915. The executives of the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C. said that Obama's speech was as it was expected but it contained some heavy expressions like "Meds Yeghern". They said that they would draw Washington's attention to those expressions. Retired ambassador Yalim Eralp said, "this definition is genocide." The Armenians are defining the incidents of 1915 as "big disaster." This expression was also used in the petition of some Turkish intellectuals who apologized to the Armenians.

 

-- DIGNITY AND HONOR CASELAW

Hasim Kilic, the chairman of the Constitutional Court, gave clear messages in his historic speech. He said, "people who are declared guilty without any court verdict is being dishonored. This is a crime of humanity."

 

 

MILLIYET

-- WHAT DID GUL SPEAK WITH ALIYEV?

After the announcement of a road map between Turkey and Armenia, all eyes were turned to Azarbaijan. President Abdullah Gul had a long conversation with hisÂAzarbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Thursday. The agreement between two leaders can be summarised as follows: "Both countries will not harm solution processes for problems. Turkey will try to not negatively affect the solution of the Karabakh problem and Azarbaijan will not adopt a stance that would harm Turkey's relation with Armenia and the U.S."

 

-- EU UNDERLINES FREEDOM OF PRESS

The EU once more underlined that the freedom of press was one of the most fundamental values of the EU that required special care, at the EU-Turkey Troika meeting held on the level of Foreign Ministers at in Prague.

 

 

SABAH

-- NUMBER ONE TURK

A Turkish citizen was elected as the top executive of a multi-national company, which is a world leader in its industry. Muhtar Kent became the new president of the Executive Board of Coca-Cola, the biggest beverage company in the world. 56-year-old Kent started his career by selling Coca-Cola by lorries in the United States in 1958. Then, he became the CEO of the company in 2008, and now he became the president of the executive board.

 

-- NETHERLANDS: WE MADE MISTAKES

The Netherlands made a self-criticism regarding the Turkish Airlines (THY) airlines that crashed in that country. The Netherlands said the rescue efforts were a disaster.

 

-- CRISIS TUNING FOR TAXES

The government is planning to reduce taxes of small and medium scale enterprises which have merged and have not dismissed employees, by 25 percent.

 

 

VATAN

-- "MAJORITY GOVERNMENT IS NOT INDEFINITE"

Hasim Kilic, the chairman of the Constitutional Court who has been criticized for being close to the ruling AKP, made important warnings to the government on the 47th anniversary of the establishment of the court. Kilic said, "sovereignty naturally belongs to people in democracies, however the political authority using the sovereignty is not unlimited." Kilic also said, "ensuring counter-balance, which is an obligatory condition of the democratic understanding, will enable social compromise and thus help solution of problems. Initiatives to solve every social problem with numerical majority and by ignoring counter-balances under constitutional norms have caused historic mistakes which are very hard to be corrected in a short time." Kilic also said, "people who are declared guilty without any court verdict is being dishonored. This is a crime of humanity."

 

-- WEAPONS UNEARTHED AS DUG

A new arsenal was found in excavations carried out in Poyrazkoy, Istanbul on Friday. Weapons unearthed on Friday were more than those discovered before. 11 LAW guns, 10 hand grenades, 23 signal rockets, 1,500 M-16 rifle bullets, 500 9 mm gun bullet, 5 bomb mechanisms, 13 smoke bombs were unearthed in excavations.

 

 

CUMHURIYET

-- AUTHORITY OF THE MAJORITY IS NOT UNLIMITED

President of the Constitutional Court Hasim Kilic, who delivered a speech at the foundation anniversary of the Court, said the key function of the democratic constitutions was protecting rights and freedoms of the individual through effective restriction of the political government. "The history is living witness of how unrestricted governments pose a serious threat," said Hasim Kilic, noting that the authority of political majority who exercised the sovereignty was not unlimited. Kilic also commented on the efforts to influence the judiciary regarding Ergenekon case and said, "honours of the people who are announced guilty without a judicial ruling are being destroyed. This is a crime against humanity. Negligence in exercise of laws creates serious wounds on the people's honours, impossible to mend," said Kilic.

 

-- "FENER" PROTECTION TO AKMAN

German prosecutors have requested help from the Turkish Ministry of Justice regarding testimonies of 15 people including Zekeriya Karaman and Zahid Akman (regarding the German Deniz Feneri charity organization). However no action was taken though two months passed since then.

 

 

RADIKAL

-- ARSENAL FOUND AS DUG

Istanbul police found a new arsenal on the fourth day of the excavations carried out in Poyrazkoy after a tip-off. The excavations are carried out under the inspection of Ergenekon case's prosecutors. Here are some of the weapons unearthed in excavations: Five bomb mechanisms, 11 LAW guns, 10 hand grenades and 13 smoke bombs.

 

-- OBAMA'S PREFERENCE "MEDZ YEGHERN"

U.S. President Barack Obama used the expression "Medz Yeghern" (great catastrophe) instead of "genocide" in his traditional speech on the Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915. Obama used this expression twice, but in most of his speech he talked about Turkish-Armenian rapprochement and said he would support it.