Turkish Press Review

ISTANBUL (AA) - Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Turkish newspapers on Wednesday mainly covered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks on an upcoming German parliament vote on a resolution that aims to characterize the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as “genocide”.

“1915 phone to Merkel,” was HABER TURK’s headline, reporting that the Turkish president had expressed his concern over the resolution to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The newspaper also wrote that Erdogan said, speaking to press ahead of his official visit to Uganda: “More than 3 million Turks are living there [Germany]. If Germany is deceived, our relations would be damaged.”

The president was implying, without making specific attributions, that Germany was being fooled into voting said resolution.

The resolution, on which the German parliament is set to vote Thursday, says the Ottoman government of 1915 carried out systematic genocide against Armenians, as well as against other Christian minorities.

Turkey denies the alleged genocide but acknowledges that there were casualties on both sides during the events taking place during World War I.

“Europe’s fear,” was HURRIYET’s headline, claiming that while Germany was set to vote the resolution, other European countries were concerned about the fate of a refugee agreement between the EU and Turkey.

The EU-Turkey deal aims to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. The deal also aims for the acceleration of Turkey’s EU membership bid and visa-free travel for Turkish nationals within the Schengen area.

The newspaper wrote that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier indicated that his party group had recently decided to vote for it, following a debate in which Social Democratic lawmakers expressed different views on the issue.

“Warned Merkel,” was VATAN’s headline, while MILLIYET wrote: “Resolution call to Merkel”.

If approved Thursday, the resolution would be the first passed by a German parliament clearly calling the Armenian deaths in 1915 a “genocide”.

Turkish newspapers also continued to cover the case of a suspected serial killer on the loose.

According to local media, the suspect, Atalay F., allegedly killed a history teacher, Fatma Kayikci, on May 26. He also reportedly killed two other people back in 2013.

“Murderer’s Lisbon secrets,” was HURRIYET’s headline, claiming that Atalay had stayed in a hotel in the Portuguese capital in 2014, after having passed through the Greek islands.

The paper said his mother and sister apparently joined him in Portugal.

According to the newspaper, he came back to Turkey with a fake passport – at least a year-and-a-half ago - and has not used a communication device since.

“Organized serial killer,” was MILLIYET’s headline, featuring a photograph of a table littered with crossword puzzles in the suspect’s room in Istanbul, where he spent the past 18 months.

A manhunt was launched to catch the suspect, the daily added.

“The silence of Atalay” was HABER TURK’s headline, reporting that according to his high school yearbook he was described as “Hannibal”, a reference to the Hannibal Lecter character – a cannibalistic serial killer - from the Thomas Harris novels, made popular in the 1991 psychological horror-thriller film The Silence of the Lambs.

Describing the suspect as a “baby-faced killer”, the newspaper wrote that he was last seen in Turkey’s northwestern province of Edirne, close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders.

AKSAM published a picture of the suspect taken in a bus. The daily claimed that the suspect was wearing a disguise.

In economic news, DUNYA wrote that Turkey tested its defense industry’s 100 percent homemade productions during a military exercise in Turkey’s Aegean province of Izmir.

The daily wrote that 255 representatives from 73 countries including Germany, the U.K., the U.S. and Qatar joined the exercise.

Turkey’s former Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik said earlier that the Turkish defense industry had grown with exports now reaching $2 billion --more than a quarter of which include sales to the U.S. with Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan among other prominent customers.