Category: East Asia & Pacific

Japanese doctor Miyazaki’s name given to park in İstanbul

Mayor Osman Develioğlu said the municipality decided to name of the park, previously called the “Trafik Eğitim ve Sivil Savunma Parkı” (Traffic Training and Civil Defense Park) for Miyazaki as a sign of respect for the humanitarian doctor’s memory. (Photo: Cihan)

A park in İstanbul’s Bahçelievler district has been named for Japanese doctor Atsushi Miyazaki, who was killed when his hotel collapsed in a magnitude 5.6 earthquake last week in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, where he had come with Japan’s Association for Aid and Relief to help victims of an earlier earthquake that occurred on Oct. 23.

Talking to reporters at a ceremony held by Bahçelievler Municipality, Mayor Osman Develioğlu said the municipality decided to name of the park, previously called the “Trafik Eğitim ve Sivil Savunma Parkı” (Traffic Training and Civil Defense Park) for Miyazaki as a sign of respect for the humanitarian doctor’s memory.

Pointing out that many people came to Turkey from foreign countries to help victims of the quake, Develioğlu said that Azerbaijani and Japanese citizens worked especially hard in the earthquake zone, rescuing victims from the rubble. Offering his condolences to Miyazaki’s family, Develioğlu added “Miyazaki was one of [the international rescuers], and was killed in the earthquake zone, for which we are very sorry. I want to thank all the people who rushed to Turkey to help the victims of the quake.”

via Japanese doctor Miyazaki’s name given to park in İstanbul.

November 15, 2011
Malaysia and Turkey exploring opportunities in ‘New Silk Route’

By MUSHTAK PARKER | ARAB NEWS

Published: Nov 7, 2011 00:25 Updated: Nov 7, 2011 00:25

In the corridors of power in Ankara, a new thinking is emerging especially among the “Young Turks” of the Turkish establishment.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for the first working session at the G20 summit in Cannes, France. (AP)

A combination of the aftermath of the global financial crisis; the seemingly intractable euro zone debt crisis with neighboring rival, Greece, bearing the brunt of the criticism; and endless obfuscation and simmering opposition by some diehard opponents to Turkish membership of the European Union; and the uncertainty in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region because of the so-called “Arab Spring,” is forcing Ankara to look beyond its traditional trading partners and markets in the EU and the Middle East and to consider alternative ways of raising funds and investments into the country.

Turkish companies are now exploring opportunities and are already active in sub-Saharan Africa; South and East Asia and even further afield in Latin America.

The process is not one-sided. In fact, Turkey and Malaysia, for instance, are forging greater cooperation in trade, investment and especially linkages in the Islamic financial industry between the two markets.

How times are changing. The new “Sick Men of Europe” are Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and possibly Spain — a big enough quorum to form their own unique club.

Turkey on the other hand, with its projected six percent plus GDP growth rate for 2011, is walking tall — politically confident with the ruling Erdogan government recently returned with a landslide in its third successive democratic elections; economically far more stable sustained especially by export diversification and robust domestic demand; and the banking system weathering the global financial crisis far better because it learnt the lessons from its own financial crisis in 2001.

The relatively modest volume of trade and investment between the Turkey and Malaysia currently reflects the enormous opportunity for further growth.

During the recent visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to Turkey, he and his Turkish counterpart, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed a new target for bilateral trade between the two countries from the current $1.3 billion to $5 billion.

Turkish investors and financial institutions could use Malaysia as a gateway to the ASEAN region, while the Malaysian financial community could use Turkey as a gateway to Central Asia and Europe.

The two governments are also working on signing a double tax treaty and a bilateral trade agreement.

Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world; it has a population of 70 million of which the average age is 29, which is the youngest in Europe; it is the 16th largest steel producer in the world; and the country averaged a GDP growth rate of 10.3 percent for the first half of 2011.

While Turkey traditionally has had strong business relations with fellow Middle Eastern countries, its relations with fellow Muslim countries outside the MENA region, has been woefully neglected partly because of the then certainty of the economic relations with the EU and GCC markets and partly because of the inherent conservatism of the Turkish establishment whose focus was membership of the European club and rapprochement with the Middle East for political and economic expediency respectively.

With the emergence of Malaysia as the powerhouse of the global Islamic finance industry, which in the Southeast Asian country has a unique connectivity with real economic activities including infrastructure financing, project finance, trade finance, SME financing, consumer finance and even wealth management and creation, it is not surprising that Ankara is seeking synergies with Kuala Lumpur in this nascent but fast growing industry.

Both Malaysia and Turkey are secular states, albeit the former has less sensitivities about Shariah (Islamic legal) applications in finance and in limited personal law.

Malaysia, privately frustrated by the inertia of regulatory and legal developments in the Islamic finance space in most of the Arab Middle East countries, is itself exploring new markets as part of its Malaysia International Islamic Finance Center (MIFC) initiative which aims to make Malaysia the global hub for sukuk origination, fund management, as a platform to raise funds and to effect cross-border transactions. Malaysian Islamic financial institutions, with a proven track record in consumer finance, asset management, fixed-income instruments and sukuk, are keen to impart their experience through advisory and management services to the Turkish market where sukuk origination and fund management is merely set to take off.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the central bank, indeed organized an Islamic finance road show to Istanbul at the end of September 2011 which included bilateral briefings, a business seminar, an address on the future of Islamic finance by former Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamed and panel discussions on capital markets and fund management.

The aim of the seminar was to strengthen economic, business and Islamic financial linkages for the mutual benefits of both countries.

The theme of the road show and seminar, “Malaysia and Turkey: The New Silk Route in Islamic Finance — Strategies for Collaboration, Cooperation and Smart Partnership,” could not be more pertinent.

BNM Deputy Gov. Muhammad bin Ibrahim, in his opening address, reminded that “the emergence of the ‘Silk Route’, a term coined by (BNM) Gov. Zeti Akhtar Aziz in 2006, opens up exciting prospects for countries and businesses.

The new ‘Silk Route’ not only carries traditional trade of goods and services of old but also manufactured goods, technological innovation and know-how, portfolio flows, private equity investment and mobility of human capital and knowledge.

Today, Islamic financial products and services are truly ‘new’ additions to this trade.”

The truth is that Malaysia and Turkey have a natural fit which for various reasons have until recently been overlooked by both countries. Both countries are functional parliamentary democracies enjoying relatively political stability.

Both countries have strong market economies with robust support from the respective governments, and flourishing private sectors, the backbone of their prosperity and progress.

Islamic banking in both countries started uncannily at the same time in 1983 when the Islamic Banking Act under BAFIA was enacted in Malaysia and the special decree establishing Interest-free special finance houses was adopted in Turkey.

As such both countries have established Islamic financial institutions, albeit the Malaysian sector is much bigger and today accounts for 22 percent of banking assets market share compared with almost 5 percent in Turkey.

Turkey today is opening up to participation banking, the Turkish euphemism for Islamic banking. The market has its peculiarities, but it offers genuine opportunities in this space.

It is no secret that politicians in Ankara prefer the dual banking model of Malaysia which sees the Islamic banking system develop side by side the conventional system and offering customers a choice as to which products they prefer, without imposing religious constraints or demands on the secular state.

In a changing world, which is currently experiencing serious financial and economic challenges, the search for new alternatives that could mitigate the contemporary issues and challenges is imperative.

This, maintained Deputy Gov. Ibrahim is where Islamic finance can fit in and play a meaningful role, especially with its emphasis on the attainment of socio-economic goals based on Shariah principles; on a strong linkage to productive economic activity to generate legitimate income; and on accountability, fairness and transparency.

These are the values that could also serve as a resilient form of financial intermediation; as an effective intermediary for the conduct of global business including promoting greater intra-regional trade not only within Asia but between the various regions of emerging markets; and contribute to sustainable global economic growth and financial stability.

He identified five key areas of possible cooperation between the two countries.

The include sukuk origination, cross-border financial activities, fund management, joint product innovation, and Islamic finance education and research.

“Malaysia,” he added, “welcomes the Turkish financial and business community to use its comprehensive and tested infrastructure with its extensive investor network as a platform to raise funds such as sukuk and Islamic syndication financing. The multi-currency Sukuk market in Malaysia is well developed and active with over 60 percent of the outstanding Sukuk in the world originating from Malaysia. Collaboration in issuance of sukuk would benefit Turkey, as the country’s aggressive diversification of its industrial base and services sectors will require huge financing needs that could be partially met through the Islamic financial markets.”

At the same time, Malaysian market players stress the importance of sovereign Turkey issuing a benchmark Sukuk and are keen to participate in arranging and structuring any such issuance.

Turkish financial institutions at the same time could network with Malaysian-based investors, and practitioners to facilitate more business opportunities who could help to structure funds for investment abroad, including into the emerging markets.

Turkish banks and institutions could join Bursa Suq Al Sila’, the world’s first end-to-end Islamic multi-currency commodity trading platform, to facilitate liquidity management in the Islamic financial market.

This fully-electronic platform facilitates sukuk structuring, Islamic financing and investment transactions including inter-bank placements and customer deposits, by applying the concept of Murabaha and Tawarruq.

Since its establishment in 2009, 23 commodity trading participants from Malaysia, the Middle East and Europe have been registered with Bursa Suq Al-Sila’, contributing to the growth in its trading volume where 1370 trades were recorded in Q1, 2011 with a total value of $18 billion as compared to 728 trades in the final quarter of 2010 that totaled to an estimated $11 billion.

Following the launch of the first Participation Bank Index by the Istanbul Stock Exchange earlier this year, the investment products introduced in the Turkish market have been expanded to include Islamic equity funds and products.

Through collaboration and strategic alliances between Malaysian Islamic fund management companies and the participation banks in Turkey, the development and distribution of Shariah-compliant funds across borders could be made possible and new investment options to divest the savings of retail clients, as well as in the development of investment strategies to meet the needs of high net-worth individuals or sovereign wealth funds.

This cooperation would be further enhanced should Bursa Malaysia and the Istanbul Stock Exchange launch a Mutual Equity Index for the two countries; and dual listings on the two exchanges.

Malaysian and Turkish market players and institutions could jointly develop innovative products and investment instruments provide consultation and advisory services to support the development of Islamic finance.

Similarly, collaboration can be explored between the International Center of Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and Turkish universities to develop human capital to support the participation banking sector in Turkey.

November 7, 2011
European Poll: Israel Biggest Threat To World Peace

Results of a new poll commissioned by the European Commission show that Israel is believed by Europeans in 15 countries to be the greatest threat to world peace, greater than North Korea, Iran or Afghanistan.

While the European Commission will release the full results of the poll on Monday, the International Herald Tribune reported that the 7,500 people polled living in the European Union (500 in each of the 15 E.U. member states) were presented with a list of 15 countries and asked if these countries present a threat to world peace. Shockingly, Israel was rated first.

[…]

www.jewishfederations.org

November 3, 2011
Journalist Accuses Israel of Fukushima Sabotage

By Richard Walker –

A leading Japanese journalist recently made two incredible claims about the Fukushima power plant that suffered a nuclear meltdown in March 2011, sending shockwaves around the world. First, the former editor of a national newspaper in Japan says the U.S. and Israel knew Fukushima had weapons-grade uranium and plutonium that were exposed to the atmosphere after a massive tsunami wave hit the reactor. Second, he contends that Israeli intelligence sabotaged the reactor in retaliation for Japan’s support of an independent Palestinian state.

According to Yoishi Shimatsu, a former editor of Japan Times Weekly, these nuclear materials were shipped to the plant in 2007 on the orders of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, with the connivance of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The shipment was in the form of warhead cores secretly removed from the U.S. nuclear warheads facility BWXT Plantex near Amarillo, Texas. While acting as the middleman, Israel transported warheads from the port of Houston, and in the process kept the best ones while giving the Japanese older warhead cores that had to be further enriched at Fukushima.

Shimatsu credits retired CIA agent and mercenary Roland Vincent Carnaby with learning the warheads were being transported from Houston. In a strange twist, Carnaby was mysteriously shot dead less than a year later by Houston police at a traffic stop. He was shot once in the back and once in the chest. He did not have a weapon in his hands. Intelligence sources said he had been tracking a Mossad unit that was smuggling U.S. plutonium out of Houston docks for an Israeli nuclear reactor.

In an even more explosive charge, the journalist says that 20 minutes before the Fukushima plant’s nuclear meltdown, Israel was so upset with Japanese support for a Palestinian declaration of statehood that it double-crossed Japan by unleashing the Stuxnet virus on the plant’s computers. The virus hampered the shutdown, leading to fallout from a section of the plant housing uranium and plutonium retrieved from the warheads supplied in 2007.

While it is impossible to verify some of Shimatsu’s claims, there was a massive cover-up at the time of the Fukushima disaster in March. Explosions at the site were immediately downplayed. While it was subsequently reported that three reactors suffered meltdowns, Japanese authorities tried to rate the disaster as a Level 4 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, although outside experts declared it a 7, which is the highest level.

Something worth noting is how in 2009, two years after Shimatsu says the warheads were secretly moved to Japan, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a veiled warning to Japan not to abandon its anti-nuclear weapons policy.

The IAEA had to know, however, that Japan has long retained the potential to build nuclear weapons. That was made clear as far back as 1996 when a leaked Ministry of Foreign Affairs document exposed how Japan had been promoting a dual strategy in respect to nuclear weapons since the mid-1960s. It would often publicly profess a non-nuclear policy while maintaining the ability to build a nuclear arsenal. The Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated Japanese politics, has always said there is no constitutional impediment to nukes.

A factor that undoubtedly would have encouraged the Bush-Cheney White House to provide Japan with the means to secretly build nukes was the growing power of China. Cheney and Bush sought to arm Japan and India with nuclear weapons as a means of curbing China.

americanfreepress.net, October 14, 2011

October 26, 2011
Iran Khodro to design D8 joint car

Iran Khodro Co. (IKCO) has announced that the Group of Eight Developing Countries (D8) has chosen the company to design the platform for their joint car.

The D8 industry ministers attended a summit in Istanbul from October 4-6, 2011 and appointed IKCO to design the D8 joint car with the cooperation of Turkey and Indonesia, read a statement released by IKCO on Sunday.

D8 members include Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

D8 members also agreed to promote research and development activities in the fields of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) technology, hybrid technology, plug-in cars, new materials and nano-technology.

“Improving the quality, level of technology and also the capacity if supply chain was another issue settled by the D8 vehicle working group,” the statement continued.

IKCO was founded in 1962 and is currently regarded as the biggest automaker in the Middle East.

The company won an award from Tehran’s Third International Nanotechnology Festival in 2010, as the leading company in nano-related auto industry.

HMV/HGH

via PressTV – Iran Khodro to design D8 joint car.

October 17, 2011
IMPERIAL NATIONALISM & TURKISH UNION

Republic of Turkey , born from the ashes of a 600-year Empire and having the character of independence , has pioneered many freedom movements which resulted with the establishment of new free countries within the first half of 20th century . The founders of the Republic under the leadership of Ataturk set up this new state by giving the whole nation , desolated and impoverished , the spirit of resistance and by getting their rights with force against the Western Allies at that time ; therefore , they deserve our feelings of gratitude and respect .

Today , at this point , we , as Turkey , need to follow much more active government policies . Personally , I strongly believe that the nationalism concept taking place among the founding principles of the Republic should be considered as Imperial Nationalism . In other words , Turkey , will exert its power and authority in every piece of land which it already exists or existed before and which it strongly wishes to exist in the future . No need to say , this is not an enlargement basing on the military power , but on the contrary , an enlargement policy by using all the historical and cultural close relations and by creating a land of attraction for other states and people . Military power must always be respected and must create hesitation among the possible enemies .

First of all , I want to start wit a basic fact of creation : every entity in the universe has an energy and the power of this energy is directly proportional to its mass .

If we apply this fact to politics , the way to gain power in world politics goes through creating unity , as our ancestors wisely said “union makes us strong” . Examples are many : USA today , Ottoman & Roman Empires in the past … Of course , the age of empires ended long time ago , but there is always a future for the unions . Even the United States , despite its present power and influence , continuously brainstorms about establishing a One-World-Government under the authority of the United Nations controlled & directed by the USA .

Under the light of the basic reality above , Turkey , in order to be effective in world politics , needs to unite . The candidates for setting up a union stand next to us : Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan and , due to geographical and historical ties , Georgia and Tajikistan . Except the last two , all Turkish origin states … This unification process can first start with the establishment of confederation and may end up with a federation .

Due to its historical experience and the effectiveness in state establishment , Turkey must perform a leadership for establishing “Eurasia Federation” consisting of the eight states above . This new Federation will represent a union covering approximaely 5 million square kilometers and a population of 150+ million , which is hard to ignore .

It is obvious that many of the other actors in the world politics will try every way in order to prevent such a powerful union . Moreover , the present administrators in these eight countries will be reluctant in giving up the power they currently use . However , nobody can claim that it will be easy . I personally do believe that the people forming the nations of those states will look at this unification idea with sympathy .

Finally , the last but not least , this new “Eurasia Federation” will need a technology-creating reliable partner in order to set up a confederation . That partner is JAPAN . Imagine Japan and Turkey with their own distinctive and leading characteristics and , right beside them , all other participating countries with their natural and social wealth . The future lies in the united political and social entities .

Even the idea itself is exciting !… Don’t you think this is worth trying ???

September 22, 2011