Turkish Forum

Category: Turkey

  • Al-Sadr’s visit to Turkey- end to Iran’s influence in Iraq

    Al-Sadr’s visit to Turkey- end to Iran’s influence in Iraq

    al_sadr_muqtada1Azerbaijan, Baku, May 5 /Trend News, U.Sadikhova, R.Hafizoglu/

    The visit of the leader of Shiite resistance of Iraq Muktada Al-Sadr to Turkey will strengthen Al-Sadr’s position as a political leader and weaken the influence of Iran on the Shiite party of Iraq, experts say.

    “With his position, Al-Sadr showed that he moved from the level of a religious figure to the political level, Turkish leading analyst on the Middle East, Mustafa Ozcan told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Istanbul. – Al-Sadr seeks to strengthen in the internal policy of Iraq, therefore, it is not excluded that he wants to weaken the influence of Iran.

    In the end of last week, former Head of Mahdi Army, Al-Sadr, who has resisted the U.S. presence in Iraq, discussed with the Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Rajap Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara the question of establishing stability in Iraq, as well as the upcoming elections in Iraq in December 2009, TRT Russian website reported.

    Al-Sadr’s visit to Turkey was the first public appearance of the leader of the Shiite resistance since 2007, supporters of whom – “sadrities” – took 28 out of 275 seats in the Iraqi Parliament.

    Al-Sadr was the top of the list of persons searched by the USA after a series of explosions, organized by his supporters in the Iraqi cities. He also opposed the agreement on security between Baghdad and Washington, envisaging the stay of the American troops in the country by the end of 2011.

    Analysts believe that Al-Sadr is interested in strengthening ties with Ankara, which maintains the same attitude towards all political and religious groups in Iraq.

    Al-Sadr supported preserving the unity of Iraq and non-division of the country into autonomies, said Joost Hiltermann, an analyst on the Iraq policy.

    “The forces inside Iraq that save a stronger central state and the national Iraqi identity are more eager to meet with neighboring states that also saver to Iraq staying as a single country,” Hiltermann, deputy director of the Middle East program at the International Crisis Group, told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Istanbul.

    He said that it is not excluded that this visit is directed against some Iraqi Shiites, who focused on the decentralization of Iraq.

    Analysts regard al-Sadr’s position as his move from the category of religious leaders to the political category, given the dissolution of the religious Shiite movement Mahdi Army, which is based in major cities Mosul and Kerbala.

    Ozcan believes that al-Sadr wants to create a political party like the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah.

    Al-Sadr’s interest in the upcoming elections in Iraq and the presence of 30 supporters in parliament show a desire to strengthen its position as a political leader, experts said.

    His visit to Turkey will help to join the ranks of political leaders of Iraq, to which Ankara maintains a neutral attitude, said a leading analyst for the Middle East Husni al-Makhally.

    “Visit [Al-Sadr], in Sunni country [Turkey] is very important to most of Iraq’s internal problems,” al-Makhally told Trend News over phone from Istanbul.

    He did not rule out that the visit is aimed at weakening Iran’s influence in Iraq, which is among the Shiite political and religious factions.

    Iran has close ties with Shiite communities Kerbala and Najaf, and also liaises with the Government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the Shia by the origin and leader of Al-Dawa party.

    Sadrities seek to weaken Iran’s influence and consider communications between Baghdad and Ankara as important relations with Tehran, believes al-Makhally.

    Mustafa Ozcan also does not exclude that the United States welcome the visit of al-Sadr to Turkey, as it puts off Iran from the internal politics of Iraq.

    Al-Sadr himself is not enthusiastic about the influence of Iran, and therefore wants to put an end to Iran’s influence on domestic politics of Iraq “-said Ozcan.

    In March, President of Turkey Abdullah Gul traveled to Iraq – for the first time over 33 years of relations between the two countries. Ankara, receiving Sadr after President Gul’s visit to Baghdad, once again proved how important it for political unity and territorial integrity of Iraq

    Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: trend@trend.az

    Source:  news-en.trend.az, May 5 2009

  • Islam and democracy can – and do – coexist

    Islam and democracy can – and do – coexist

    logo_csmonitorJust look at successes in Indonesia and Turkey.

    By John Hughes

    from the May 8, 2009 edition

    Provo, Utah – Over the years American presidents have preached the power of freedom to the un-free nations of the world.

    In recent times, the focus has been on the Arab world, where democratic progress has been scant. President George W. Bush’s efforts – from candid speeches to Arab leaders to a costly war in Iraq – have yielded mixed results.

    President Obama is pursuing a different course, using a blend of personal charm abroad and efforts at home to burnish America’s image as a democratic example.

    Throughout all this, skeptics have argued that this is a lost cause, and that democracy and Islam are incompatible.

    So it is heartening to see the integration of democracy and Islam taking place in three huge countries whose Muslim populations make up somewhere between a quarter and a third of the world’s entire Muslim populace.

    Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population (205 million), is undergoing national elections that will strengthen its steady democratic progress. India, which has a minority population of some 150 million Muslims, is finishing up month-long elections for a nation of more than 1 billion people. Turkey, with a Muslim population of 77 million, is a working example of a secular democracy in a Muslim country.

    These examples may not offer a blueprint for the mostly undemocratic Arab world. But their success does offer welcome evidence that Islam and democracy can coexist, maybe even integrate.

    Indonesia’s emergence as a peaceful democracy is notable because its past has not always been free of violence or manipulation. When I worked as a correspondent in Indonesia in the 1960s, the Army put down a communist-triggered coup and wrought terrible vengeance across the Indonesian archipelago.

    Estimates of the death toll rose as high as 1 million people. My own estimate was about 200,000. An investigating commission reporting to President Sukarno listed 78,000 people dead – a dreadfully inaccurate figure that was offered up, a source told me, because “We gave Sukarno the figures we thought he wanted to hear.”

    Indonesia’s travail continued under the man who deposed him, General Suharto. Yet today, Indonesia has become a country of order and promise.

    India is currently conducting its 15th national election since achieving independence in 1947. Indians proudly proclaim the process to be the “world’s biggest exercise in democracy.” Though India is predominantly Hindu, the Muslims who live there tend not to vote as a religious bloc, but spread their votes across a multiplicity of parties with differing policies.

    Months ago, Mr. Obama said he wanted to make a major address in an Islamic capital early in his presidency. He hasn’t done that yet, but it is no surprise that he chose Turkey for his “the US is not at war with Islam” speech. Turkey has proved, as Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, once said, “that you can have a democracy in a Muslim-majority country.” In free elections, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has successfully maintained Turkey as a secular, free-market society since 2003.

    There have been spats between Turkey and the US. Turkey barred US forces from using its territory as a launching pad for the war against Saddam Hussein. Its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been a blistering critic of Israel over Gaza. But Obama’s visit was well received, and the US considers Turkey a useful potential interlocutor in the various challenges of the Middle East – a role that Turkey appears ready to assume.

    Though Indonesia, India, and Turkey, each in their different ways, present welcome examples of compatibility between Islam and democracy, it is often democracy molded to accommodate local cultures and customs. It is freedom, but not necessarily democracy as defined in Washington or the capitals of western Europe.

    John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for his coverage of Indonesia. He writes a biweekly column for the Monitor Weekly.

    Source:  www.csmonitor.com, May 8, 2009

  • DEBKAfile Exclusives in Week Ending May 7, 2009

    DEBKAfile Exclusives in Week Ending May 7, 2009

    Untitled Document

    Cairo asks Interpol to extradite three Hizballah operatives 29 April: The three Hizballah operatives are wanted in Egypt for subversion, terror, espionage against Egypt, Jordan and Israel. DEBKAfile names one of the trio as Mohammed Qabalan, chief of Hizballah’s clandestine “Israel Perimeter” division.

    International Hariri tribunal self-destructs by freeing 4 leading Lebanese suspects. Assad wins after all 29 April: By setting the key witnesses, four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals, free, the pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen Wednesday, April 29, effectively scrapped the international tribunal’s mission to pursue the murderers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

    The four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals, now under “under strict security for their own safety,” were held in custody for four years on suspicion of complicity in the 2005 Hariri murder in close alignment with Syrian military intelligence, which then ruled Beirut, and with figures close to Syrian president Bashar Assad.

    Their release “for lack of sufficient evidence”, according to Fransen, rewarded Assad for the extraordinary efforts he made to quash the international legal proceedings for fear of compromising his close circle in one of the most outrageous political crimes in recent Middle East history.

    Our counter-terror sources note that the chance of ever bringing any of these assassins to justice has just been reduced to zero by the international judge’s action. He has cut the main sources of evidence leading to the culprits in Damascus.

    A major barrier to Bashar Assad’s international rehabilitation has been removed.

    April 29 briefs– Human rights NGO slams Palestinian court’s sentence to death by hanging of man who sold West Bank land to Israelis.

    – Obama greets Israel on 61st Independence Day.
    He promises to promote shared interests including peace.

    – President Peres awards certificates of excellence to 120 outstanding officers and soldiers.

    – George Brown visits Auschwitz, lights candle at Wall of Death.
    He promises UK participation in project for preserving the site of the death camp as permanent memorial.

    Arab Israeli gang plotted kidnaps of Israeli soldiers during Gaza operation 30 April: Seven Israeli Arabs and two juveniles were arraigned at Haifa district court Thursday, April 30, on charges of plotting terrorist attacks and kidnapping Israeli soldiers during Israel’s Gaza operation four months ago.

    Nine bombs ready for detonation were found in their homes and manuals on bomb-making and abduction techniques. The suspects had been practicing those tactics and were apprehended shortly before they went into action. The defendants were charged with aiding the enemy in time of war, communicating with foreign agents, namely Palestinian West Bank terrorist organizations, possession of means of war and producing weapons.

    May 1 Briefs French gang leader Youssouf Fofana on trial in Paris for torturing, killing 23-year old Jewish Ilan Halimi in 2006.
    He shouted “God is Great” in Arabic in courtroom.
    – Jerusalem court sentences two Israeli border guards to eight-and-a-half and five-and-a-half years in prison for unlawful killing of Palestinian in Hebron 7 years ago.
    – Dual Saudi-Qatari national Ali al-Marri pleads guilty in US to supporting terrorism as al Qaeda sleeper.
    – Iran is most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world – US State Department —
    Its role in planning and funding terror-related activities in ME and Afghanistan threatens peace efforts.

    Covert Palestinian Authority-Iranian get-together in Caracas
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report     01 May: Sources in the Venezuelan capital have told DEBKAfile that Monday, April 27, Iran’s foreign minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar and intelligence chiefs secretly got together with visiting Palestinian Authority officials, led by Palestinian foreign minister Riyadh al-Maliki. The matchmakers were Hugo Chavez and the Qatar ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, following on the former’s visits to Tehran and Qatar in late March.

    If true, this would signal a drastic policy turnabout by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas away from Cairo and over to the radical Tehran and Damascus. This could help bury the hatchet between the Fatah and Hamas and pave the way for a Palestinian unity government governed by rejectionist ideology, thereby shutting the door to peace negotiations with Israel.

    Caracas sources say the Iranian-Palestinian meeting lasted about four hours and ended with a decision to continue the encounters in Moscow, Doha and Ankara, where Iran and the Palestinians both maintain large diplomatic legations.

    Israeli leaders face Washington crunch on Palestinian, Iranian issues
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis     02 May: The Obama administration is preparing to welcome president Shimon Peres on May 4 and prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu May 18 in Washington with pressing demands to follow its new line with regard to Iran, the Palestinians and Syria.

    Barack Obama is set to be the first US president in decades to risk colliding directly with the Israeli government and the bulk of US Jewry. Peres and Netanyahu will be informed that Washington is setting up two trilateral peace commissions to hammer out peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel with the Syrians. American chairmen will step in with ideas to prevent any deadlocks.

    The US president and his team have convinced themselves that the Palestinian problem is the main obstacle to accommodations for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. They would place Israel in the first line of fire.

    Israel would first be made to freeze settlement activity on the West Bank and construction in East Jerusalem, pushed into abandoning large tracts of the West Bank, removing authorized communities as well as unauthorized outposts and quitting the historic parts of Jerusalem.

    Finally, Netanyahu would be made to accept an independent Palestinian state, even one dominated by the rejectionist terrorist group Hamas.

    Peres and Netanyahu will find the US president no longer prioritizing the suspension of Iran’s nuclear aspirations, but bent on establishing a new Persian Gulf order that formalizes Iran’s rising power.
    Israel will have no say in this process. By elevating Iran to premier regional power, America is sidelining its longstanding friends, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and setting aside their security interests.

    Israel has not abandoned its option of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear installations.

    Belarus fronts Russian Iskander-M surface missile sales to Iran, Damascus 03 May: DEBKAfile’s Moscow sources disclose that the Russian, Iranian and Damascus governments have cooked up a scheme to get around Vladimir Putin’s undertaking as president to refrain from selling Iran and Syria advanced Iskander-M cruise missiles: The transaction will go through Belarus.

    Sources in Moscow and Minsk confirmed Sunday, May 3, that the Iskander-M sale to Tehran has gone through and negotiations are ongoing with Iran and Syria for another transaction: the sale of Russia’s advanced S-300 anti-air anti-missile multi-targeting shield systems as well.

    Western military sources have reported in the past that Israel cannot afford to allow this high-performance hardware enter operational service in Iran and Syria, because it would dangerously destabilize the Middle East arms balance.

    		 May 3 Briefs:

    – An Israeli soldier in serious condition after a Palestinian stabbed him in the neck as he stepped off a bus.
    Palestinian charged with stabbing the soldier remanded with two accomplices in court.
    – Obama sends high-ranking Feltman and Shapiro on second trip to Damascus Thursday.
    – Cabinet creates three new ministerial departments for strategy, intelligence and nuclear affairs and public diplomacy and Diaspora —

    Peres tells AIPAC conference: Peace tops Netanyahu’s concerns 04 May: Israel’s president Shimon Peres addressing the AIPAC conference (Israeli lobby) said: “Iran is developing a nuclear option “even though it is threatened by no-one.” The Iranians are arming Hizballah and Hamas “to impose its alien and violent agenda on the Middle East.”

    The first Israel official to call on President Obama, Peres will emphasize the urgency of dealing with the fast-progressing Iranian nuclear weapon program.

    Obama’s advisers’ recommendation of a “more pragmatic approach” to the rejectionist rulers of Gaza, the Palestinian Hamas, is one of several points at issue between the Washington and Jerusalem.

    Avigdor Lieberman’s first European tour as Israeli foreign minister launched Sunday will undoubtedly run into controversy. After meeting prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who sees eye to eye with Israel, he heads for tough talks with his opposite numbers in France, the Czech Republic (which currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency) and Germany.

    Before Lieberman took off, Israeli officials warned EU ambassadors that calls to freeze the upgrade of its ties with Israel over the disputed two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict could lead to Europe’s exclusion from future peace diplomacy.

    Gates sets out to convince Egyptian, Saudi rulers that Obama’s détente with Tehran is no sell-out 04 May: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on a trip to the Middle East, where says he will tell Egyptian and Saudi leaders the Obama administration will not abandon long-time U.S. allies, if it manages to improve relations with Iran.
    Gates also said he wants American friends in the Middle East, like mostly Sunni Muslim Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to work more closely with Iraq’s Shiite-led government.

    Netanyahu ready for peace talks with Palestinians right now 05 May: Addressing the AIPAC Israeli lobby conference by satellite early Tuesday. May 5, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu offered peace talks “the sooner the better” on a triple track – political, economic and security. But peace will not come without security, he stressed: There will be “no compromise on Israel’s security and recognition of Israel as the Jewish people’s nation-state”.

    Israeli elite unit officers in big Indian anti-terror exercise
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

    06 May: India’s biggest ever counter-terror exercise took place this week on the plains of Punjab near the Pakistan border. DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that the three-day maneuver ending May 5 was staged by massed mechanized and parachute units of the elite Kharga Corps trained by Israel military instructors in India and Israel in the arts of operating in areas fought over by Taliban and al Qaeda, possibly even with biological or radiological weapons.

    Dubbed “Hindi Shakti” (Indian Power), the drill testing this crack army corps’ proactive operational strategy, used tanks, combat vehicles – some developed in Israel for striking terrorist targets in open land, artillery guns and a large number of parachutists. These crack Indian units received specialist instruction from Israeli elite and commando forces in tactics for pursuing combat operations behind enemy lines.

    DEBKAfile notes that the Indian counter-terror exercise ended 24 hours before US president Barack Obama headed summit of the Pakistani and Afghani presidents, Ali Zardari and Hamid Karzai, at the White House on their combined strategies against the two terrorist organizations.

    US-Israel rift on nuclear Iran stays unabridged by Obama-Peres talks 06 May: Neither US president Barack Obama and Israeli president Shimon Peres hinted publicly that their conversation at the White House Tuesday, May 5, DEBKAfile left the two governments as out of tune as before on the handling of Iran’s drive for a nuclear bomb.

    After parroting his predecessors’ standard guarantee to uphold Israel’s security, Obama made no bones about his determination to engage in dialogue with Iran – “although this is not the only option.”

    Obama and Peres also sidestepped a clash on the Palestinian question, although his advisers made it clear that the president wanted to see a Palestinian state by 2012.

    Obama left it to vice president Joseph Biden to inform the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee conference where the administration stands: “Israel has to work toward a two-state solution,” Biden said Tuesday night. “You’re not going to like my saying this, but not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts and allow Palestinians freedom of movement.”

    May 6 briefs: – Central Bank governor institutes unprecedented steps to oust chairman of Israel’s largest bank – Hapoalim.
    – Somali pirates seize German cargo ship in Gulf of Aden.
    – Up to 100 civilians killed in US led-air strikes in W. Afghan Farah province.
    – Palestinians step up shelling from Gaza.
    – Hamas claims 5 mortar rounds fired Wednesday.

    Obama’s SOS to Gulf emirs: Invest in US and global economies
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report     07 May: A secret American delegation was sent by US President Barack Obama this week to solicit Saudi Arabian and other Gulf rulers for hundreds of billions of petro-dollars for investment in US and global economic stimulus plans, DEBKAfile’s exclusive Gulf sources report. They came away empty-handed.

    The chilly welcome received by the delegation to Riyadh and the five emirates was generated by wide disapproval of the US president’s policy of engagement with Iran. Two other US missions had just been and gone, having failed to allay Gulf anger and trepidation over this policy.

    Our Gulf sources report that the third delegation, which unlike the first two was unannounced, argued that since US economic recovery was not expected to turn the corner before 2011, Gulf investors still had a unique opportunity to partner the US in helping the world economy out of its doldrums and so cash in on the rewards of recovery.

    They were informed on the quiet that Federal Reserve Governor Ben Benanke had been “premature” in his optimistic forecast of “slightly positive” growth in the second half of this year, particularly in the fields of banking and construction, and a recovery that will “strengthen” next year.

    According to US data, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) would by the year 2018 rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy after the US, China, Japan and the EU. “As major players in the world economy, you cannot stand on the sidelines,” they were told.

    President Obama’s discreet approach figured in general terms at the GCC meeting of heads of state and finance ministers meeting in Riyadh Wednesday, May 6, which was convened to establish a regional central bank. But no decisions were taken because of the general rancor over the Obama administration’s policy of favoring Tehran
  • Turkey’s help provides Kyrgyz imams vocational training

    Turkey’s help provides Kyrgyz imams vocational training

    kyrgyzimamsTurkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation says the training program provides imams with fundamental religious knowledge in Quran, Fiqh, hadith, tafsir and imamate.

    Turkey’s IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation said it co-organized a religious training program for Kyrgyz imams in cooperation with grand mufti office of Kyrgyzstan and the Central Asia Youth Foundation.

    “Twenty-eight imams completed training and received their certificates in a ceremony”, IHH said in a statement on its website.

    The IHH says the training program provides imams with fundamental religious knowledge in Quran, Fiqh, hadith, tafsir and imamate in a boarding center in groups of 30 people during the 45-day long training.

    The 13th group of imams completed their training as part of the program that started two years ago. Certificates of the 28 imams were handed to them by Murat Ali Cumanov, grand mufti of Kyrgyzstan. Şemsettin Ünal, an official from Turkey’s religious affairs department, Kyrgyz religion council officials, Hidayet Aydar, dean of the theology faculty, and academics attended the ceremony.

    The foundation distributed cloths to 100 poor students, 62 of them orphans, in the city of Arashan. Another 100 children were circumcised in Issikgol province. The children who were circumcised and their families were brought together at a meal gathering. They were lectured about the significance of circumcision in Islam.

    In Kyrgyzstan, where observance of Islamic rituals was suppressed during the time of the Soviet Union, certain initiatives are underway to help teach the appropriate way of practicing Islam.

    Over 3,000 imams are working in 2,500 mosques across Kyrgyzstan. None of these imams have received any kind of formal training. Imams who posses adequate religious knowledge are appointed to the post by city councils.

    Kyrgyzstan gained its independence on August 31, 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. In Kyrgyzsatn, which has a population of about five million people, Kyrgyz make 65 %, Uzbeks 14 %, Russians 12 %, Dungan 1.1 %, Uighur 1 %, Kazakh, Turks, Tajiks, Tatar, German, Korean and Ukrainians make the rest of the population.

    Source:  www.worldbulletin.net, 08 May 2009

  • Turkey’s Davutoglu leaves for US

    Turkey’s Davutoglu leaves for US

    Turkish FM Davutoglu left for the United States on Saturday.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu left for the United States on Saturday.

    He will attend a meeting on the Middle East at UN Security Council in New York.

    In his first visit to the US as a foreign minister, Davutoglu will hold official talks in New York.

    Davutoglu is expected to hold official talks in UN on Monday.

    He will be back to Turkey on Tuesday. The details of Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s visit is due today.

    AA

    Source:  www.worldbulletin.net, 09 May 2009

  • ‘Italy wants to expand investment in Turkey’

    ‘Italy wants to expand investment in Turkey’

    moz screenshot 16Italian Ambassador Carlo Marsili said on Friday that Italy wants to expand its investments, currently concentrated in the western parts of Turkey, to the entirety of the country.

    Marsili told reporters in Adana that economic relations between the two countries have gradually strengthened, noting that the number of Italian companies operating in Turkey has reached 700. He said Italian investment in Turkey amounted to $5 billion, while the trade volume between the two countries exceeded $19 billion.

    Marsili said Italian companies in Turkey operated primarily in the industrial sector as well as in cement, banking and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Marsili said they wanted to expand Italian investment, which is concentrated in the west of the country, to other parts of Turkey, noting that they were making assessments on cities such as Adana, Gaziantep, Konya and Kayseri.

    Meanwhile, British mobile phone giant Vodafone has vowed to increase its investments in Turkey, reiterating its commitment to continuing operations despite a recent plunge in its subscriber numbers in the country. “Our investments in Turkey are long-term and we are looking forward to presenting our 3G products,” Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said in a written statement on Friday. He added that the company would allocate half of its 2009 revenues to investments.

    Source:  www.todayszaman.com, 09 May 2009