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Turkey
3, China 0 Turkey had beaten China 3-0 Thursday to jump past Costa Rica into second place in Group C - and into the second round of the World Cup for the first time. "This is the happiest event in the whole world," said Naci Orki, a sandwich seller in Ankara. "It makes us forget the crisis and all our problems," he added in reference to Turkey's economic woes, which have led to some 2 million layoffs. Hakan Sas and Bulent Korkmaz scored in the first nine minutes, just about the same time it took Costa Rica to fall behind Brazil on the way to a 5-2 loss across town in the suburb of Suwon. Umit Davala, whose passes led to the first two goals, added a third in the 85th minute, volleying a pass from Sas into the net off the goalpost. Turkey next plays Tuesday against the winner of Group H, either Japan, Belgium or Russia. "We were under pressure in our first two games and we're very glad everything goes according to the plan and we've advanced," Turkey coach Senol Gunes said. "Surely we'll play better football than we have during the group stage."
Sas got his second goal of the tournament with a 22-yard shot off a pass from Davala, and Korkmaz scored when he outjumped Li Xiaopeng for a looping header that goalkeeper Jiang Jin got a hand on. After giving up goals in the last five minutes in a 2-1 loss to Brazil and a 1-1 tie with Costa Rica, Turkey's World Cup hopes had seemed cooked, and there appeared to be dissension in the ranks. Turkey's players, peeved over recent criticism, refused to talk to most of the Turkish press after the win. Midfielder Yildiray Basturk, speaking to German reporters, was angry about playing only 70 minutes. "I am not happy for being substituted once again," Basturk said. China (0-3) was happy to make its first World Cup appearance, but went 0-3, allowing nine goals and not scoring any. "The talent of our team is comparable in Asia," defender Li Weifeng said. "However, on the world stage there is a gap." Coming into Thursday, Turkey needed to beat the Chinese and hope Brazil defeated Costa Rica by a big margin. Turkey and Costa Rica were both 1-1-1, and the Turks finished with a plus-2 goal difference to minus-1 for the Central Americans. China, led by former U.S. coach Bora Milutinovic, played a man short after Shao Jiayi was ejected in the 58th minute for a cleats-up tackle on Belozoglu. The closest the Chinese came to scoring was when Yang Chen clanked a shot off the left post in the 28th minute. He fell to his knees and knocked his head against the ground in frustration.
"If we scored a goal today, it would have had a great effect on Chinese football," Yang said. When they were already up 2-0, the Turks in the largely pro-Chinese crowd at Seoul World Cup Stadium jumped up and down when a Ronaldo shot led to an own goal that put Brazil ahead. When the Brazilians took a three-goal lead 19 minutes into the second half, the thousand or so Turkish fans in one corner of the lower deck began singing, dancing and clapping. The Turks will be missing two players in the next game. Defender Emre Asik and midfielder Emre Belozoglu received their second yellow cards of the first round and will be serving automatic suspensions. In addition, goalkeeper Rustu Recber limped off in the 35th minute, 12 minutes after landing awkwardly on the left thigh he injured in a 1-1 tie with Costa Rica on Sunday. Chinese fans - Seoul is a 90-minute flight from Beijing - cheered any time their team went upfield. China hired Milutinovic, in his fifth World Cup with his fifth nation, to lead them, but his contract expired with his team's final game. He will return with the team to China, then meet his wife and daughter in Japan to follow the rest of the tournament. "After that I'm ready to take several months off," Milutinovic said with a laugh. "Then, who knows, I might start looking for work again."
The 77-year-old Ecevit, who spent the past month either in hospital or at home with a long list of ailments, was well, but decided to continue resting "in line with the advice of the doctors," an official said. But political observers and the Turkish opposition said Ecevit's absence from the meeting, called by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to break a deadlock over reforms required under the bid to join the EU, showed he was no longer able to run the country. "The summit was the last test of Ecevit's political survival. If he cannot attend such an important summit, it is very hard to conclude he can still run the country," said a European diplomat, who asked not to be named. The five-time prime minister, who heads a fragile three-party coalition including his Demoratic Left party, has not made a public appearance since May 28, missing also a top national security meeting last week. Ecevit is suffering from a neuromuscular disease, a cracked rib, spinal problems and an inflamed vein in his leg. Media reports have said he is also suffering from Parkinson's disease, a claim neither denied nor confirmed by officials. 'ECEVIT
ERA IS OVER' Senior center-right opposition leader Tansu Ciller boycotted the meeting between government and opposition leaders being held at the presidential palace, complaining that Ecevit's ill health had created a "government vacuum". "If the prime minister is not there, it means there is no government. Without finding a solution to the government problem other issued cannot be settled," Ciller told NTV television. Government stability is vital for Turkey at a time when it is battling a severe economic crisis with massive loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which saved the country from the brink of a financial collapse in February. Jittery financial markets, already unnerved over the prime minister's health, plunged after Ecevit's no-show. The national index of the Istanbul stock exchange lost 307.4 points, or 2.9 percent, to close morning trading at 10,181. And business leaders urged the government to take rapid measures to prevent political turmoil. "The prime minister's health is no more a personal problem, but a problem of state. Turkey has very urgent issues to resolve and cannot afford to waste time," said the chairman of Turkey's most influential business group TUSIAD, Tuncay Ozilhan. Fears are rife that Ecevit's departure from office will lead to the collapse of his fragile coalition, already at odds over EU-demanded democracy reforms, and prompt early polls before their scheduled time in 2004. Investors fear that snap elections will impede a three-year austerity program, backed by IMF loans of 16 billion dollars, and result in a halt to the flow of vital IMF cash. Ecevit's absence from Friday's summit delivered a blow to already slim hopes of a breakthrough over controversial democracy reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty and legalizing broadcasts and education in the language of the Kurdish minority. Turkey, the only candidate among the 13 EU hopefuls that has so far failed to open accession talks with the Union, aims to get a date for the start of negotiations by the end of the year. Ecevit's coalition is deadlocked over the reforms due to stiff resistance by far-right partner, the Nationalist Movement Party, which wants to see condemned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan executed and argues that minority freedoms could encourage Kurdish separatism. Friday's summit "was planned to send strong signals of a consensus" to the European Union, but "it's hard to believe it can go on like this," the European diplomat said. AFFECTING
CYPRUS TALKS "There is not a strong voice in Ankara in the decision-making process, so it does affect the talks," government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told AFP here. Papapetrou said that if Ecevit resigns and Turkey calls an immediate election it would leave a power vacuum and place a darker cloud over the talks. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 after Turkish troops under the premier Ecevit [intervened in] the island to protect its Turkish minority following an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia seeking to unite the country with Greece. [TT's Note: Turkey has exercised its legal right as a guarantor power as specified by the Zurich Agreement of 1950.] Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash have been holding regular reunification talks since January but have failed to resolve a host of thorny issues, notably about how to share power between the two communities. The Turkish Cypriots, backed by Ankara, say reunification should be based on a loose confederation of two states, while the Greek Cypriots and the international community favor a tighter bi-zonal, bi-communal federation.
Paper
on Atatürk wins girl DC trip The 12-year-old's paper also caught the attention of an American society dedicated to Ataturk. The group invited Abby to tour the Turkish Embassy and speak Tuesday at a reception at the home of the Turkish ambassador. Abby said last week that she was grateful for the opportunity and a little nervous. "I haven't really given a public speech before," she said. Ataturk led Turkey from 1923 until his death in 1938. Although he is highly-regarded in Turkey for transforming the country, he is unknown to most Americans. "He's so little known in the U.S., but he's accomplished so much," she said. With Americans' attention focused on the Middle East, Abby said she was intrigued by the country because it maintained a secular government and strong Muslim tradition. Abby's uncle, a retired professor of Middle East politics, suggested the idea for her project. She used dozens of history books, experts on Turkish history and the Internet to compile information for the 10-page paper. A Web site for the Ataturk Society of America helped connect her to valuable information for her project. Filiz Odabas-Geldiay, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based organization, said she was impressed by Abby's interest in the leader. "I like very much how much effort she put into doing her research and writing her paper," she said. "For a child of her age to write a paper with such maturity, such understanding is remarkable." The project also led Abby to a new friend, a 14-year-old Turkish pen-pal who helped her learn about the differences between their cultures. Abby is one of 2,000 students nationwide competing in the contest this week at the University of Maryland and one of two Iowa students competing in the junior division for historical papers. She is interviewing this week with judges and will learn Thursday how she placed in the competition.
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Fears
of power vacuum grip Turkey as ailing PM misses key meeting