Athens. Greece finds itself in an urgent need of 1 billion cubic meters of gas, Greek BHMA newspaper writes.
The newspaper states that Turkey turns to be the big obstacle for the natural gas supply from Azerbaijan to Greece. According to diplomatic sources, the recent visit of Greece’s Minister of Development Christos Folias to Baku assured that Azerbaijan is ready to sell 3 billion cubic meters of gas by 2010 but pointed at the difficulties caused by Ankara. The key that opens the gas.
The information note listed these areas as some parts of Sirnak, Siirt, Hakkari and Van.
The Turkish General Staff declared on Thursday some regions as temporary security zones.
Turkey’s General Staff announced some areas in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions as temporary security zones, an information note posted on the General Staff’s web-site said.
The information note listed these areas as some parts of Sirnak, Siirt, Hakkari and Van, and said that these areas would be temporary security zones from September 13th to December 13th.
The leader of Malaysia’s resurgent opposition has declared that he will take power on September 16
Anwar has said he will claim power by September 16. Photograph: Ahmad Yusni/EPA
The Malaysian government has tried its utmost to keep Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia’s resurgent opposition, from power ever since he fell out of favour a decade ago.
In the late 1990s, Anwar looked set to take over from Mahathir Mohamad, who guided Malaysia over 22 years to economic success. But mentor and protege had a bitter falling out over Malaysia’s response to the Asian economic crisis in July 1997.
Mahathir favoured currency and foreign investment controls. Anwar, who was then deputy prime minister and finance minister, implemented an austerity programme that slashed government spending and deferred infrastructure projects dear to Mahathir.
The rift became irreparable, when Anwar — named by Newsweek as man of the year in 1998 — went on a campaign against corruption and cronyism that rankled many of the elite, including Mahathir’s son, Mirzan who had myriad business dealings.
In 1998, Anwar was accused of sodomising his wife’s driver, convicted in 2000 and sentenced to nine years in prison amid widespread international protests. Anwar remains grateful to the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, among others who pleaded his cause and in 2004 Malaysia’s supreme court overturned the verdict, although corruption charges against him stood. He was released later that year but was barred from standing for office until April this year.
Following his release, Anwar held teaching posts at Oxford University and Georgetown University in Washington and pursued his campaign against corruption through his post as honorary president of AccountAbility, a London thinktank advocating better corporate governance.
In his capacity as a campaigner against corruption, Anwar strongly criticised Britain’s decision to halt a major corruption investigation into BAE, Britain’s biggest arms company, in its dealings with Saudi Arabia. What signal did that send leaders in developing countries, he argued, as he submitted a letter to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development that was scathing of the government’s decision.
Even as he spoke out against international corruption, Anwar was plotting a political comeback. In an interview early last year he said was getting round his ban on speaking at public forms by addressing the public at funerals and feasts. He made it clear that he was ready to challenge the Malaysian political elite that sacked and imprisoned him.
“I am committed to a reform agenda, I believe in a democratic process and a more accountable government,” he said then. “I can’t reasonably expect this to happen without political involvement. If I chose to submit, then I would give credence to the government and support their repressive measures.”
It was not just brave talk. First he helped the disparate opposition parties make huge inroads in parliamentary elections in March. The Barisan Nasional, a coalition of three racially based parties led by the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) that has dominated Malaysian politics since independence from Britain in 1957, saw its two-thirds majority evaporate. By contrast, the opposition parties saw their seats in the 222-member parliament jump to 82 from 19.
Anwar’s march back to power seemed unstoppable when he easily won a seat that he had previously held for 17 years. Out of the blue came new sodomy charges, when a 23-year-old aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan, accused Anwar of sodomising him, a charge that a prison sentence of 20 years in Malaysia, even between consenting adults.
Despite the accusations, which he maintains are a transparent attempt to stop his political comeback, Anwar has raised the stakes by declaring that he will take power on September 16, Malaysian national day, by persuading enough government MPs to defect to the opposition. The government was rattled enough to send 50 MPs on a trip to Taiwan due to last more than a week to forestall such a move.
As the government goes into political contortions to keep Anwar at bay, the opposition leader says he can get the 30 MPs he needs to bring down the government. If — and it remains a big if as the ruling party will do all it can to cling on to power — Anwar finally gets to lead Malaysia, what will this multi-racial country look like?
Raja Petra Kamarudin, fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, wrote on Malaysia Today, a website the Malaysian government is trying unsuccessfully to block: “Anwar has to balance the aims of the parties in his coalition, and we will see compromises being made. That is the reality in Malaysia. But I think a culture of dialogue will be developed under his watch and that will be a great achievement indeed. I think at least that can be accomplished by him.”
Like Turkey, another Muslim country with its interplay of democracy and Islam, Malaysia will be closely watched to see how it copes with forces for change. Anwar firmly rejects the notion that Malaysia’s “democratic deficit” has anything to with the fact that it is Muslim.
“The newly independent Muslim states were democracies,” Anwar said. “Indonesia had a free election in 1955 until it was hijacked by Sukarno. Iran had democratic elections only to be hijacked by the CIA, British intelligence and the oil companies. Seventy five to 80% of Muslims are familiar with the democratic process.”
UNITED NATIONS – A Turkish diplomat has opened an underwater photo exhibition titled “Colors of Seas from Lens of a Diplomat” at United Nations building.
Cagatay Erciyes, undersecretary in Turkey’s permanent representation at UN, told reporters on Tuesday that he had been diving since he was a child, and he started to take underwater photos six years ago.
This is the first ever underwater photo exhibition opened at UN.
The photos were taken in Aegean and Mediterranean seas in Turkey as well as in Caribbean.
The exhibition will remain open till September 19th.
Temel Kotil, the director general of the Turkish Airlines (THY), said that the bid would be concluded within two weeks.
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Turkey’s national airline company has submitted a bid for the airline company of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a senior executive of the company said on Wednesday.
Temel Kotil, the director general of the Turkish Airlines (THY), said that the bid would be concluded within two weeks.
“We will be a partner to a European company and it will be a good beginning,” Kotil told a press conference in Hamburg, Germany.
Kotil said that THY was also interested in the Austrian airline company.
Talking about the targets of the Turkish Airlines, Kotil said THY would start flying to new destinations and announced that the number of THY fleet would climb to 123 aircraft by the end of this year.
Kotil also said that THY aimed to carry 23.5 million passengers in 2008, and expressed belief to surpass this figure in 2009.
“We had a profit of 11.4 percent last year, and we believe we can also climb over this figure in 2009,” he said.
Kotil said Turkey was a transit country in aviation due to its geographical location, and therefore THY’s transit growth was around 42 percent, which he defined as a significant figure.
The director general also said that the company gained a great deal of its revenues from its foreign offices, and forecast this year’s revenue from foreign offices around 3 billion USD.
Water must be managed carefully as it is likely to become more valuable than oil and will have important repercussions for Turkey’s long-term interests, the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) has said.
The association held a conference on “Sustainable Water Management” yesterday to introduce a report titled “The Status of Water Management in Turkey: Problems and Solutions.” The main theme of the report was that the value of water will exceed the value of oil in the future, highlighting the importance of managing water resources in Turkey.
The report argued that the water situation in Turkey is ringing alarm bells. It said Turkey’s net renewable surface water potential is 234 billion cubic meters but, for technological and economic reasons, only 40.1 billion cubic meters of this can be used. “Seventy-four percent of this total volume is used in agriculture, 15 percent is used as drinking water and 11 percent is used in industry,” the report explained. In Turkey, annual water consumption per capita is about 1,500-1,735 cubic meters.
The report classifies countries according to water reserves. Countries that have water resources of less than 1,000 cubic meters per capita are called water-poor, those with 1,000-3,000 cubic meters are said to face water scarcity and those with above 10,000 cubic meters are water-rich countries.
The report said the most important reasons for water shortage are population growth, expanding agricultural and industrial use and increasing consumer demand as standards of living rise. By the year 2030 Turkey’s population is expected to be around 100 million, at which point its water per capita is likely to fall below 1,000 cubic meters.
The report stressed the importance of technological investments as a solution to water shortages. “To limit the adverse effects of water shortage, usable water resources must be protected and improved by means of technological conservation tools. … There must also be policies put in place to lower demand,” it said. On top of the list of possible measures was the implementation of population and immigration controls on a large scale.
Another issue the report highlighted was related to the laws regulating water management. The report drew attention to a lack of laws on water management despite there being too many laws on the books related to the water issue. “Despite the need for such a law, Turkey still has no comprehensive water law,” it said. The report also emphasized that there should be coordination between the central government and local administrations when laws regarding water are enacted.
Head of World Water Council makes call to all to conserve
World Water Council President Loïc Fauchon has called on everyone to use water wisely, noting that water consumption has tripled worldwide compared to a century ago.
Fauchon’s remarks came yesterday during a press conference in İstanbul, where he is working on preparations for the 5th World Water Forum, which is scheduled to take place on March 16-22, 2009.
“If we do not want a war to break out for water, there are things we need to do. As citizens, we should pay attention to water conservation. Actually, there is predicted to be an increase in rainfall by 2.5 percent every decade; however, this does not mean that the water needs of the world will be met. So, we need to develop measures to transfer water to the parts of the world where there is water shortage,” he stated.
He noted that more efficient methods will be developed in the future to utilize sea water as drinking water and that these methods will be used by countries which suffer from a shortage of water.
Fauchon also talked about the 5th World Water Forum, noting that Turkey, which applied to host the forum two-and-a-half years ago, was chosen as the next venue for the conference because it is a country with abundant water resources. He said close to 20,000 people from more than 150 countries are expected to attend the forum, which is held every three years. Mühenna Kahveci İstanbul
