German President Christian Wulff on Tuesday urged Turkey to respect the religious freedoms of Christian minorities and offered a conciliatory message to Turks living in Germany. Wulff made the appeal after talks with Turkish leaders in Ankara, dominated by a simmering debate in Germany on whether efforts to integrate Muslim immigrants, many of them Turks, had failed. Wulff, the first German president to visit Turkey in a decade, stressed the freedoms Muslims enjoy in Germany and urged Islamic countries to reciprocate. "We expect that Christians in Muslim countries have the same rights to live their faith publicly, educate new clergy and build churches," he said in a speech at Turkey's parliament. "Religious freedom is part of our understanding of Europe as a community of values," he said. Turkey's non-Muslim communities, mainly Orthodox Greeks, Armenians and Jews, complain mostly of restrictions on property rights and theological education. Several attacks on Christians, including the murders of a German missionary in 2007 and the head of Turkey's Roman Catholic Church in June, have fanned fears that hostility against non-Muslims is on the rise in Turkey. Wulff's remarks came just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany's efforts to create a multi-cultural society had failed and urged immigrants to integrate, learn German and adopt German culture and values. Germany has four million Muslims among its 82 million inhabitants, with 2.5 million Turks forming the largest ethnic minority. While many later-generation Turks have integrated with German society, large sections have never learned German and live in closed communities. Wulff stressed the immigrants' reliance on state benefits, crime rate, machismo and rejection of education as major problems hindering integration. The debate in Germany flared after ex-central banker Thilo Sarrazin said immigrants were making Germany "more stupid." There have also been concerns that Muslim failure to integrate is breeding homegrown Islamist extremists in Germany. Wulff praised Turkey's growing role in regional affairs, but reiterated Berlin's position that the country's EU accession talks were open-ended and did not guarantee full membership. Along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel argues that Turkey has no place in Europe and should settle for a "privileged partnership" instead of membership - a proposal Ankara categorically rejects. Wulff's four-day visit was to take him also to Kayseri, a booming industrial city in central Turkey, the nearby Cappadocia region famous for its cone-shaped rock formations and the historic Saint Paul's Church in Tarsus. He will also visit Istanbul to meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, and lay the foundation of a Turkish-German university before leaving Friday.
II. FINANCIALMIRROR - Direct trade between the EU and Cyprus Turkish occupied areas is wrong
The European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs approved on Monday with 18 votes in favour, five against and one abstention the opinion of the Council Legal Service, that the legal basis of the regulation on direct trade between the EU and Cyprus Turkish occupied areas is wrong and that the proper legal basis is Article 1(2) of Protocol No 10 on Cyprus to the Treaty of Accession of April 2003. The Committee rejected by majority the postponement of the relevant discussion and endorsed the opinion of the Council Legal Service. The decision of the Committee will be evaluated during the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, in view of the political decisions to be taken on the regulation. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island. The Republic of Cyprus joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
III. EXAMINER - President Truman Library is all Greek to them
President Harry S. Truman had a friendly relationship with the Greek-American community. On Friday, that relationship will be celebrated at a reception at the Truman Presidential Library. It will be hosted by the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Kansas City. Archbishop Demetrios, the archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, is coming to Kansas City to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Kansas City. Part of his visit will be the Truman Library reception. “He is going to give some remarks on the historical relationship that Truman had with the Greek community,” said Keith Maib, the parish council president of the Kansas City church and co-chair of the event. Truman had a personal relationship with Archbishop Athenagoras, who later became patriacrh of the entire church. That relationship could be traced to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, two post-World War II U.S. policies that poured significant humanitarian aid to Turkey and Greece to stop the spread of communism.
The European Union has repeated a call on Macedonia to reach a settlement with Greece over their long-standing name dispute, so that the Balkan state's entry into EU and NATO made easier. Addressing a press conference in Macedonia's capital Skopje, after talks with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy urged that country not to miss "a major opportunity to finally come through to the European doors." He pledged the 27-nation bloc's support to the two countries in reaching "a mutually acceptable agreement on the name issue as soon as possible." Although Macedonia became an official candidate to join the European Union five years ago, it has not yet been able to begin EU accession talks. Its efforts to join the NATO and EU have been prevented by Greece, which has a northern province of the same name. Greece is opposed to the neighboring state using what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols since Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991. Gruevski said his government was committed to continue implementing reforms and resolve the name dispute with Greece. More than 120 countries have recognized Macedonia.
The United States and Slovakia are pledging to work together to help Balkan countries despite disagreement over Kosovo. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Slovakian Foreign Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said in Washington Tuesday that they are united on helping Balkan countries integrate into Europe. Slovakia has resisted U.S. appeals to recognize Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian population declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and was recognized by the United States.
Russia's defence chief called Tuesday for the boosting of military ties with Serbia after a decade of decline between the two traditional allies. Gen. Nikolai Makarov arrived on a two day visit, the first to the Balkan country by Russia's army chief of staff in 10 years. Russia's historic ally Serbia has recently shifted its political and military priorities toward joining the European Union, and possibly NATO, despite strong opposition from nationalists in both countries. Makarov called for enhancing military co-operation, especially by the modernization of the Serbian military, which is still predominantly armed with Soviet-era equipment. "The military co-operation between our countries is not developing on a desired level and I think there is a large space for expansion in that field," Makarov said.
The Russian president's proposal for a new pan-European security treaty could work if agreed upon, says the chairman of the Munich Security Conference. Wolfgang Ischinger was speaking at the Moscow session of the forum which attracts politicians, media and scientists from around 40 countries. “The European security system, which we’ve had for the last decade or two, has not worked very well. That was probably the reason why President Medvedev made fundamental proposals regarding an evolution of this security system. I think he is right in addressing these issues,” he said. Ischinger’s comments echoed the recent reaction of Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, who met President Medvedev in Deauville, France, on Tuesday. It was confirmed that Europe is considering the Russian proposals for a new security system in the region. In response, Medvedev said he would visit the NATO security summit in Lisbon next month. The Moscow session of the Munich Security Conference focuses primarily on European security issues. Its participants consider the initiative of President Medvedev for a European Security Treaty and other ideas regarding the unity of the entire Euro-Atlantic space, including materialization of the principle of indivisible security in modern conditions.