Turkish Forum

Category: East Asia & Pacific

  • Turkey nuke decision due by March

    Turkey nuke decision due by March

    Kyodo News

    Japan and Turkey agreed Friday to reach a “certain conclusion” in about three months on whether Japan will build a nuclear power plant on the Black Sea coast, an industry ministry official said.

    nn20101225a4aBuilding ties: Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akihiro Ohata and visiting Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz field questions at a Friday news conference in Tokyo. KYODO PHOTO

    The agreement was reached during talks in Tokyo between Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akihiro Ohata and visiting Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz, who also signed a memorandum on civil nuclear cooperation in the development of human resources and other areas.

    At a joint news conference after the talks, Ohata pitched Japan’s nuclear power technologies as safe and earthquake-resistant, while the Turkish minister seemed eager to seek cooperation.

    “We are expecting that the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey could be achieved under the cooperation of both the public and private sectors of the two countries,” Yildiz said.

    Japan has been trying to export its nuclear power technologies. But there is no guarantee negotiations with Turkey will go smoothly.

    via Turkey nuke decision due by March | The Japan Times Online.

  • Turkey, Japan in Exclusive Talks for Nuclear Plant

    Turkey, Japan in Exclusive Talks for Nuclear Plant

    By Tsuyoshi Inajima

    (Updates minister’s comments in third paragraph.)

    Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — Turkey is holding exclusive talks with Japan to build its second nuclear power plant after failing to reach an agreement with South Korea.

    Turkey aims to conclude a deal with Japan in three months, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said today in an interview in Tokyo. Yildiz is due to hold talks with Toshiba Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Itochu Corp.

    South Korea and Turkey failed to reach an agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Sinop on the Black Sea coast because of “differences in issues including electricity sales price,” South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Nov. 13. Japan, which won a nuclear plant contract in Vietnam in October, plans to spur economic growth by exporting more nuclear reactors and technology products.

    “We have some targets to recover the time we have lost” to build the nuclear plant, Yildiz said. “Within three months, main frameworks should be determined,” including financing, treasury, insurance, partnerships and power tariffs, he said.

    Yildiz said his visit to Japan comes after officials from Toshiba and the Japanese government held two rounds of technical meetings in Turkey on the project. “They told us their first impression is quite positive,” he said.

    Turkey received an offer from Japan to build a nuclear plant in the country, CNBC-e television said on Oct. 7, citing Yildiz. The offer is an “aggressive one,” the Istanbul-based news channel cited the minister as saying then.

    ‘More Aggressive’

    “Major players including Japan are getting more aggressive in the global nuclear market after they were beaten by South Korea last year to the United Arab Emirates’ $18.6 billion order,” said Shin Min Seok, an analyst at Daewoo Securities Co. in Seoul.

    South Korea emerged as a competitor in the global nuclear market after Korea Electric Power Corp. beat General Electric Co. and Areva SA in December last year to the U.A.E. order.

    Yildiz and his Japanese counterpart Akihiro Ohata are due to sign a memorandum of understanding on nuclear power cooperation tomorrow, Japan’s trade ministry said in a statement yesterday.

    On Dec. 25, the Turkish minister is scheduled to visit Tokyo Electric’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world’s biggest atomic power station, according to an e-mailed statement by the ministry. Tokyo Electric officials including Executive Vice President Sakae Muto will meet Yildiz at the plant in northern Japan, company spokesman Norio Takahashi said by telephone today.

    Calls to the offices of the spokesmen for Toshiba and Itochu weren’t answered as businesses and markets are shut for a public holiday today. An Itochu spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a voice message seeking comment left on his mobile phone.

    Russia and Turkey signed a contract in May to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant with four reactors, at a cost of about $20 billion after more than a year of negotiations. Russia’s Rosatom Corp. will operate the plant in Akkuyu for 60 years, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said Dec. 15.

    “My expectation and hope is that the cost will not be higher than numbers we have been talking with Russia and South Korea,” Yildiz said today.

    –With assistance from Shinhye Kang in Seoul. Editors: Amit Prakash, John Viljoen.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Tsuyoshi Inajima in Tokyo at tinajima@bloomberg.net.

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

    via Turkey, Japan in Exclusive Talks for Nuclear Plant – BusinessWeek.

  • [Australian] PM orders review of spy bodies

    [Australian] PM orders review of spy bodies

    australia flagDylan Welch

    December 24, 2010

    THE ballooning powers and funding of Australia’s spy agencies will be investigated for the first time in six years, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard announcing an independent review of their role.
    The review will run in the first half of next year and follows a boom decade for intelligence, with Australia’s six spy agencies enjoying ever-greater powers and funding.
    ”The review will ensure Australia continues to have a well-co-ordinated, appropriately resourced and adaptable intelligence system that supports our national interests,” Ms Gillard said.
    The agencies’ growth has been accompanied by criticism that they have grown too fast, and that the powers of the parliamentary and statutory intelligence watchdogs have not been able to keep up.
    The six Australian intelligence agencies are: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO); the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS); the Office of National Assessments (ONA); and the three Defence intelligence agencies.
    In recent years ASIO has become the country’s wiretap hub, and its budget appropriations have grown by 535 per cent – from $69 million to $438 million annually – since 2001. Over the same period ASIS and ONA have experienced growth rates of 344 per cent and 443 per cent, respectively.
    A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard yesterday said the review was not designed to put the brakes on the spy agencies’ funding.
    ”The aim of the review is to ensure that our intelligence agencies are working effectively together – it is not aimed at identifying reductions in resourcing,” she said.
    The review is the result of a recommendation in the 2004 Flood review of the intelligence agencies, which found they should be independently examined every five to seven years.
    It will be headed by the former secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Robert Cornall, and an ethicist and theologian from Melbourne university, Associate Professor Rufus Black.
    Staff will interview the ministers for defence and foreign affairs, Stephen Smith and Kevin Rudd, as well as the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and the heads of all six agencies.

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/pm-orders-review-of-spy-bodies-20101223-196l8.html, December 24, 20

  • Turkey may develop fighter aircraft with S Korea, Indonesia

    Turkey may develop fighter aircraft with S Korea, Indonesia

    Turkey may develop fighter aircraft with S Korea, Indonesia

    ÜMİT ENGİNSOY

    ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

    Keen to bolster the capabilities of its Air Force, Turkey is interested in developing a new fighter aircraft with South Korea and Indonesia, senior Turkish and South Korean officials have said.

    “There have been some preliminary talks about our possible participation in the KF-X program,” a senior Turkish procurement official told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review over the weekend. “We are investigating the feasibility and possibilities of this program.”

    Maj. Gen. Choi Cha-kyu, director general of South Korea’s aircraft program bureau at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said in September that Ankara was seriously considering taking part in the KF-X program.

    “There will be a requirement [in Turkey] to replace the older fighters with newer ones by 2020,” the daily Korea Times quoted Choi as saying at the time. “Once on board, Turkey is expected to bear the same amount of development costs as Indonesia.”

    The KF-X is a mainly South Korean program to develop an advanced multi-role fighter for the Air Forces of South Korea and Indonesia. It originally was launched in 2001, but then postponed because of financial and technological difficulties. The program will start again next year with the consent of budget authorities.

    South Korea will provide 60 percent of the KF-X development costs worth some $4.2 billion, with the rest to come from other governments or corporate partners. About 120 KF-Xs would be built initially and more than 130 aircraft would be produced additionally after the first-phase models reach operational capability.

    Under a memorandum of understanding signed in mid-July, Indonesia agreed to pay 20 percent of the bill and to buy about 50 KF-X planes when mass production begins.

    South Korea also is seeking to receive technology transfers from Western aerospace firms. One possible corporate partner is Sweden’s Saab.

    Other options

    Turkey already has selected the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II as its next-generation fighter aircraft type. It plans to buy about 100 F-35 aircraft worth nearly $15 billion. Many Turkish companies are members of the nine-nation Joint Strike Fighter consortium of nine Western nations, and are producing parts for the aircraft.

    Lockheed Martin, the U.S. company leading the Joint Strike Fighter program, wants Turkey to increase the number of F-35 planes it plans to buy to 120 from 100. Turkey also will receive 30 F-16 Block 50 fighters from Lockheed as a stop-gap solution until F-35 deliveries begin around 2015.

    But Turkish officials have said they are open to participating in one more future international fighter aircraft program.

    Turkey also is facing pressure from Italy, a close defense partner, to buy the Eurofighter Typhoon, made by a European consortium including companies from Italy, Britain, Germany and Spain.

    Giovanni Bertolone, executive vice president for operations at Finmeccanica, a top Italian industrial conglomerate, in early December called on Turkey to jointly produce the next phase of the Eurofighter. Finmeccanica is the parent company of Alenia Aeronautica, one of the makers of the Eurofighter.

    Bertolone said the F-35 and the Eurofighter had different functions, and that Turkey could accommodate both fighters. The Eurofighter has been designed mainly as an air-to-air fighter while the F-35 is more suitable for air-to-ground missions.

    In the event Turkey decides to buy the Eurofighter, these aircraft would replace the older U.S.-made F-4E Phantoms, recently modernized by Israel.

    “We’re encouraging Turkey to follow the examples of Britain and Italy, which will have both aircraft,” Bertolone said. “Air-to-air fight capability is important, and we think this situation will gain prominence.”

    Many analysts believe that the planned South Korean-led KF-X also would be suitable for air-to-air fighting.

  • Istanbul and South Korea will organize “World Culture EXPO” in 2013

    Istanbul and South Korea will organize “World Culture EXPO” in 2013

    Both Istanbul and Gyeongsangbuk-do, a province of South Korea signed a “Goodwill Agreement”, which includes cooperation in the cultural field in Istanbul. As part of the agreement, both cities will organize “World Culture EXPO” in 2013.

    Haber Tarihi : 12/3/2010 12:00:00 AM

    Both Istanbul and Gyeongsangbuk-do, a province of the South Korea signed a “Goodwill Agreement”, which includes cooperation in the cultural field in Istanbul. As part of the agreement, both cities will organize “World Culture EXPO” in 2013.

    Both Istanbul and Gyeongsangbuk-do, a province of the South Korea signed a goodwill agreement including cooperation in the cultural field in order to bolster mutual understanding between the two countries. Mr. Ahmet Selamet, the first Deputy Mayor of the Istanbul and Mr. Kong Weon Sik, the deputy governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do  province signed the goodwill agreement at the Saraçhane Municipal Office.

    Mr. Numan Güzey, the head of Culture and Social Affairs Department, Mr. Jong Kyoung Hong, the consul general of the South Korea in Istanbul and  Mr. Sang Jim Kim, the president of  the Turkish- S.Korean Friendship and Cooperation Association attended in the signing ceremony.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Ahmet Selamet, the first Deputy Mayor of the Istanbul, specified that they had historical and cultural ties with the South Korea and he said: “Both Istanbul and Gyeongsangbuk-do will organize the  “World Culture EXPO” in 2013 together and I hope that they would succeed. We are delighted to welcome the delegation of dear governor in Istanbul and look forward to developing new areas for cooperation.”

    On behalf of Gyeongsangbuk-do, a province of the South Korea, Mr. Kong Weon Sik, the deputy governor stated that the South Korean people owed a debt of gratitude to the Turkish people for the brave heroism and brotherhood shown during the Korean War, he continued: “We wanted to improve the further development of bilateral relations between two cities Gyeongsangbuk-do and Istanbul.”

    After the ceremony, Mr. Ahmet Selamet and Mr. Kong Weon Sik, signed the “Goodwill Agreement” which includes cooperation in the cultural field and to organize “World Culture EXPO” in 2013 on December 2nd, 2010.

    via İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi.

  • Turkish Airlines to increase Istanbul-Osaka flights from March

    Turkish Airlines to increase Istanbul-Osaka flights from March

    thy slogoTurkish Airlines will increase flights between Istanbul and Osaka to five round trips from late March to attract more business users.

    There are currently four round-trip flights per week connecting Istanbul Ataturk Airport with Kansai International Airport near Osaka.

    The airline also said the departure time of flights leaving Narita airport, east of Tokyo, to Istanbul six days a week will be moved up by nearly three hours to noon, also from late March, allowing more passengers to make connection flights to Europe within the same day.

    Tuba Toptan Yavuz, head of Turkish Airlines’ Japan office, said at a press conference in Tokyo that the carrier is hoping to increase flights between Narita and Istanbul to one round-trip flight every day.

    Source: Kyodo News