Category: Turkey

Turkish FM denies rift between policies of Turkey and EU

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini (L) and Turkish Foreign Minister Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğ u (R) speak during a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara on Dec. 8. AFP Photo

The EU’s foreign policy chief did not raise any criticism or proposals for the alignment of Turkey’s foreign policy with the EU, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, in reply to remarks by Federica Mogherini.

Despite Turkey’s “very important contributions” to the EU’s security and defense policies, the EU had not included Ankara in the decision making processes of those policies, Çavuşoğlu told reporters on Dec. 9.

“If there should be a reproach, it should be from Turkey,” he added.

Speaking during a press conference at the EU delegation in Ankara, Mogherini said on Dec. 8 that the EU candidate nation had signed up to less than a third of the bloc’s recent foreign policy positions, compared to 80 percent in the past.

“We need to improve the alignment on foreign policy and security policy, it’s never been so low and this is a problem for the European Union, though it is mainly a problem for Turkey,” she told a news conference after talks with the Turkish leaders.

Mogherini also said the EU would not be drawn into a “battle with Russia” for influence over Turkey.

“It would be good if in the future we could create more areas for cooperation rather than competition [with Russia] but Turkey is definitely out of this game, if there is a game in this sense,” she said.

A high ranking visit by Mogherini, Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides comes a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Turkey, during which Moscow announced it was scrapping the South Stream gas pipeline project and named Turkey as its preferred partner for an alternative.
December/09/2014

Küfi Seydali

December 9, 2014
US envoy praises restoration of Turkish synagogue after debate

AA Photo

U.S. consular-general to Istanbul Charles F. Hunter has praised the restorations of a synagogue in neighboring Edirne province, after meeting the governor who hit headlines after suggesting that the structure should be turned into a museum in reaction to Israeli policies on the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Hunter met with Governor Dursun Ali Şahin on Dec. 9, and the two exchanged books with each other as gifts.

“In my two visits to Edirne, I had the chance to observe the rich historical and cultural heritage of the city. In my first visit, I visited Selimiye. This morning, we had the chance to see the Jewish cemetery and the Büyük Synagogue. I have observed the restoration work at the synagogue in admiration,” Hunter said.

The envoy also visited the Sveti Georgi Bulgarian church in the city.

Edirne Governor Şahin caused uproar when he told reporters on Nov. 21 that he had ordered the historical Büyük Synagogue, built in 1907 in the village of Kaleiçi, to be turned into a museum, citing the recent Israeli raid on al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.

However, Foundations Director General Adnan Ertem told Anadolu Agency the next day that all decisions regarding the functions of the buildings owned by the Directorate General of Foundations are made by the directorate itself.

Later, the governor offered an “apology” to the country’s Chief Rabbi, claiming that his proposal “had no connection” to the Turkish Jewish community.
December/09/2014

Küfi Seydali

December 9, 2014
Turkey assumes G20 presidency, pledges to fight inequality

The presidency of the G20 is seen by Ankara as a major opportunity for Turkey to showcase its status as an economic and political power.

Turkey assumed the presidency of the G20 group of major economies for the first time in its history on Dec. 1, pledging to fight global inequality during its turn at the helm.

The presidency of the G20 is seen by Ankara as a major opportunity for Turkey to showcase its status as an economic and political power under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Three words will guide Turkey … inclusiveness, implementation and investment,” Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told a press conference in Ankara.

“We aim to make the G20 reach out to low income countries and take care of countries that are not G20 members in an inclusive way,” Babacan said.

“Turkey will bridge the gap between developed economies and undeveloped countries to fight global inequality,” he added, vowing to include poor countries in decision-making.

Turkey took over the presidency of the G20 group of developed and major developing economic countries from Australia. China is preparing to take over the presidency for 2016.

Babacan said the 2015 G20 leaders’ summit, to be held in November in the southern resort city of Antalya, will discuss topics including “strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth,” climate change, global development and the fight against corruption.

“Hosting the G20 summit in 2015 is a big opportunity and a big responsibility for Turkey,” he said.

Babacan noted that global unemployment all over the world is still a major problem and the G20 would prioritize the “most vulnerable segments of society.”

Erdoğan, who became president in August after over a decade as prime minister, wants Turkey to be among the globe’s top 10 economies by 2023 when it celebrates its 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern republic.

1923

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – 1st President of Turkey

The president has been credited with turning around the Turkish economy, with GDP per capita almost doubling since he came to power.

But chaos in neighboring Syria and Iraq, where Islamic militants have seized swathes of territory, a pullback in liquidity by U.S. Federal Reserve and the fragile economic recovery in Europe have hurt Turkey’s growth more recently.

Growth slowed sharply to 2.1 percent growth in the second quarter, official data showed in October.

December/01/2014

Küfi Seydali

December 2, 2014
TURKISH FORUM’S NEW INITIATIVE: E-JOURNAL

Turkish Forum, ever since its inception in 1993 and in line with its mission and policies, has always been trying to come up with innovative ideas and lead the way to or be the mouthpiece of the Turkic peoples all around the world. 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli Victory, the war that was nowhere like any other: “There’s nowhere on the Western Front where there’s a continuous line like this. It’s the best-preserved World War I battlefield anywhere in the world.” Gallipoli marked the emergence of the man who would shape modern Turkey, Colonel Mustafa Kemal who would later take the name Ataturk.

Gallipoli proved to be the Turks’ greatest victory of the war. In London, the campaign’s failure led to the demotion of Winston Churchill and contributed to the collapse of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith’s government. The fighting at Gallipoli proved a galvanizing national experience for the Turks . Hence it carries a lot of significance in Turkish History. To make this historical day and event more memorable, Turkish Forum has launched a new project: the E-Journal. The first issue will be dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli Victory.

To materialize our project we would like all the writers, researchers, academics to submit articles to be published in the first issue of the e-journal.

Please find the details in the attached announcement.

We look forward to receiving your articles. And please do spread the word around.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Dr. Kayaalp Buyukataman, President

Turkish Forum and World Turkish Alliance

ENGLISH CALL FOR ARTICLES

November 29, 2014
Greece should bet on Turkish semi-democracy rather than Egyptian dictatorship

I was planning to write a follow up to the latest article I wrote about Turkish-Greek cultural cooperation, which I learned had been translated and published on a number of Greek websites. However, the recent cool winds blowing in the Mediterranean changed the focus of this article.

The discovery of gas in the Mediterranean had raised hopes that diplomatic work to find a solution to the Cyprus problem could be sped up. Unfortunately, it has become an additional obstruction for settlement efforts.

Following attempts to start drilling in 2011 and 2013, both of which triggered a reaction from Turkey, Greek Cyprus once more decided to try its luck in late October, by starting exploration activities just as talks were continuing between the two communities.

It is hard to imagine that the Greek Cypriot leadership was not expecting a reaction from Ankara. Indeed, Turkey sent the Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa scientific ship to carry out seismic surveys around the same area, which was declared an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by Greek Cyprus, disputed by Turkey and Turkish Cyprus.

Antonis Samaras of Greece and Nicos Anastasiades of South Cyprus

Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades then announced that he would not attend the peace talks.

I would not be surprised if many Turkish decision-makers are convinced that the exploration activities were authorized by Anastasiades, specifically at this time, in order to trigger a reaction from Ankara that would give him an alibi to quit the negotiations, which Turks believe he was not incredibly enthusiastic about anyway.

Meanwhile, just as third party players, like the U.N. Secretary General’s representative, were trying to find a way out from the impasse, the leaders of Greece, Greek Cyprus and Egypt recently met in Cairo to pledge greater energy cooperation in the Middle East.

Ankara refrained from making an official statement about the summit, but let their naval forces commander made an announcement that there were more assertive rules of engagement in the Mediterranean.

Now we learn that the trilateral meeting in Cairo will be followed by a new trilateral meeting between Greek Cyprus, Greece and Israel. The time of that meeting is not yet set, but Anastasiades is due to visit Israel on Dec. 2. This visit was preceded by a visit to Nicosia last week of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who lambasted Turkey for intruding on Greek Cyprus’ EEZ.

So the picture that comes around is like this: On the one side is Turkey, whose international standing is not exactly brilliant, and on the other an alliance of Israel, Egypt and Greek Cyprus, each of which have, for the time being at least, very hostile relations with Turkey.

As someone who has been highly critical of Turkey’s foreign policy course in the past, you might think I will talk about how the government’s erroneous policies have landed Turkey in such a situation in the East Mediterranean.

Nicos Anastasiade, Antonis Samaras and Abdel Fatah el-Sisi

Indeed, Turkey is partly responsible for the picture in which you can see Egypt’s former military leader, now President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi standing between Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Anastasiades.

I can understand Greek Cyprus’ futile effort to forge an alliance with Egypt and Israel up to a certain point, but Greece? Tension in the Aegean has never served Athens. The last decade is a testament to how Greece has benefited from engaging with Turkey.

Let’s suppose Turkey’s policy on the issue is totally wrong. Even so, is it the right course for Greece to go and pose together with a coup leader just to support Greek Cypriots? Does the Greek government seriously think an alliance with Israel and Egypt will frighten and deter Turkey? Couldn’t Greece surprise us and work as a silent mediator to defuse the tension?

Greece has more to benefit from cooperating with a semi-democracy like Turkey than a dictatorship like Egypt, or Israel, which is increasingly being isolated by the European Union.

In addition, Turkey may have temporary strains in its relations with Israel and Egypt, but the moment is there for normalization; both Tel Aviv and Cario have ties with Ankara that will always outweigh those with Greece and Greek Cyprus, as was rightly underlined in a comment published yesterday in the Cyprus Mail titled “Realism needed on the power of regional agreement.”

I am still optimistic that the Turkish-Greek reconciliation will stand strong against this new wave of tension.

It’s good to know that just as the foreign ministers of Greece, Greek Cyprus and Egypt were meeting in Nicosia to prepare for the Cairo summit, the Greeks were attending a Turkish film week in Athens. Meanwhile, just as the two countries’ naval officers issued statements over the weekend about new rules of engagement in the Mediterranean, Turks were attending the Athens marathon on Nov. 9. In addition, the Turkish economy minister and the Greek development minister will be attending a business forum this week in İzmir; while as Israel prepares to welcome Anastasiades on Dec. 2, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is set to visit Athens on Dec. 4.

November/11/2014

BARÇIN YİNANÇ

barcin.yinanc@hurriyet.com.tr

Kufi Seydali

November 11, 2014
Masked protestors fire fireworks at the Houses of Parliament

Russell Brand talks to thousands of demonstrators outside parliament this evening as part of the “Million Mask March” organised by activists Anonymous. Photo: Rick Findler

Million Mask March protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks bring central London to a standstill

According to The Telegraph, hundreds of anti-establishment masked protesters marched through rush hour traffic bringing Whitehall to a standstill.

With placards and banners saying “Destroy Capitalism”, the protesters chatted “Revolution” as they occupied Parliament Street and marched from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square.

Demonstrators sat in front of traffic trapped in the melee refusing to move and set off orange smoke bombs.

The high police presence saw Parliament Square barricaded with wire fences and in lock down as protesters attempted to penetrate the circle of steel.

Wearing white Guy Fawkes masks, protesters fired fireworks at the Houses of Parliament as police helicopters circled above.

As Big Ben chimed seven more fireworks were attempted to be thrown at it.

In the crowd protesters set of loud rockets.

Protesters walked to Buckingham Palace where fireworks were thrown at the feet of police officers guarding the palace gates.

More rockets were fired at the statute opposite and into the crowds.

A number of arrests were made as they made their way to the palace.

The protesters then left and continued into Central London.

A statement on the Anonymous website said the group would have “bigger banners, louder voices, more people and a louder system”.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said they had attempted to contact organisers of the event “without success”.

And it added that they have imposed Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 across Westminster between 5pm today and 2am tomorrow, which provides powers to remove masks when police fear a crime will be committed.

Scotland Yard said: “The Met Police deals with around 4,500 protests and events every year. These can range from a single protester to hundreds of thousands of people walking through the capital’s streets.

“Officers work with organisers to ensure that people are able to carry out their right to peaceful protest whilst ensuring Londoners can go about their daily business.”

Anonymous says it is protesting against austerity, infringement of rights and mass surveillance.

Last year’s Million Mask March saw a handful of protesters charged after hundreds descended on Buckingham Palace and Parliament Square.

Officers made 15 arrests during last year’s protest, which saw demonstrators clashing with police and a fire started near the palace, as well as damage to Nelson’s Column and the Victoria Memorial.

November 6, 2014