Highlights from Turkish Islamist Press 31 Oct 06.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

The following are highlights from the Turkish Islamist press on 31 October:

Yeni Safak

Yeni Safak publishes a front-page report entitled "No Governments Could Give Cyprus Away," which quotes Prime Minister Erdogan as saying that Turkey has done everything expected of it to bring about a settlement and that the ball is in the European Union's court now.

In a 750-word article entitled "Am I Too Mean?" on page 7, Yeni Safak columnist Ibrahim Karagul criticizes Foreign Ministry Spokesman Namik Tan for issuing a statement through Anatolian News Agency denying his (Karagul's) claim in two earlier articles dated 31 August 2006 and 15 September 2006 that two teams of officers from "the most secret units in the Turkish Armed Forces" were sent to Israel during the Israeli-Lebanese war to conduct "counter-guerilla operations" and that a secret meeting on Lebanon and northern Iraq attended by five foreigners was held by the same units in Ankara during the same days. Linking the statement to Tan's appointment as Turkey's ambassador to Israel, Karagul claims that the method Tan used to deny the said claims and the "haste" with which he did it indicate that he was more concerned to promote his personal career by maintaining good relations with Israel than to defend Turkish foreign policy interests.

In a 700-word article …