Turkish Forum

Category: Asia and Pacific

  • Turkey and Kyrgyzstan Sign Agreement on Military Aid

    Turkey and Kyrgyzstan Sign Agreement on Military Aid

    Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, 24 July / corr. Trend News R.Meshedihasanli / The governments of Kyrgyzstan and Turkey signed in Ankara an agreement on free military aid and the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry and the Turkish General Headquarters signed a protocol to grant financial aid to the Kyrgyz Armed Forces.

    Abilov, the Kyrgyz Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Turkey, and Major General Alpaslan Erdogan, the head of defense planning and resource management department of the Turkish General Headquarter, signed these documents.

    Within the framework of these international agreements, the Turkish Government issues grant in the amount of 1,312,425 the Turkish liras (more than $1mln) to the Kyrgyz Government, which will be directed to the assistance in development of bilateral relations between two countries,” The Kyrgyz Defense Ministry told Trend News.

    Source: news.trendaz.com, 24.07.08

  • Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan launch joint rail link

    Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan launch joint rail link

    By Hatice Aydogdu

     

    KARS, Turkey, July 24 (Reuters) – Leaders of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan launched a railway project between the three countries on Thursday, building on links already forged by gas and oil pipelines.

     

    At a railway station in the eastern Turkish border town of Kars the presidents of the three countries held a ground breaking ceremony for the $290 million Turkish section of the railway.

     

    The three countries are already linked by the BP-led Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas line but trade links between Turkey and the Caucasus region are limited.

     

    Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili and Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev placed three sections of railway track on a large map of the region in a symbolic launch of the project as confetti showered down.

     

    A tender last September for construction of the 76-km (47-mile) Turkish stretch of the railway was won by the Ozgun Yapi-Celikler joint venture with a bid of $289.8 million, the lowest of 14 bids.

     

    The project involves new track construction and renewal of existing track, and is expected to be completed in 2011. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Boyle)

  • Turkish stretch of railway linking Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan launched

    Turkish stretch of railway linking Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan launched

    ANKARA, Turkey: The Associated Press – The presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan have launched the construction of the Turkish stretch of a railway linking their nations.

    The US$600 million rail line will connect the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, with the eastern Turkish city of Kars, via the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

    The project is one of several linking oil-rich Azerbaijan and Central Asia with Turkey and European markets while bypassing Russia.

    A groundbreaking ceremony in Kars Thursday marked the start of the 50 mile (76 kilometer) Turkish section of the 110 mile (180 kilometer) railroad.

    “We are launching the iron Silk Road,” Turkey’s Abdullah Gul said. “It will link China in Asia to London.”

    The Silk Road was an ancient Asian trading route. The railway will be operational in 2011.

    Source: International Herald Tribune, July 24, 2008

  • Armenian spy killed on Azerbaijan border, says Baku

    Armenian spy killed on Azerbaijan border, says Baku

    20 July 2008 | 00:54 | FOCUS News Agency

    BAKU. Azerbaijani soldiers overnight killed a suspected Armenian intelligence agent who tried to cross the border, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said Saturday in a statement.

    The incident occurred in a village in Azerbaijan’s north-western Tovuz region, the ministry said, adding that two other intelligence agents fled.

    Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a tense stand-off over the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, where ethnic Armenian forces took control during a war in the early 1990s that killed thousands and forced nearly a million people on both sides to flee their homes.

    A ceasefire was signed between the two former Soviet republics in 1994 but the dispute remains unresolved after more than a decade of negotiations, and shootings are common. Up to 16 soldiers were killed in a clash last month.

    Nagorny-Karabakh is a 4,400-square-kilometre (1,700-square-mile) enclave surrounded by Azerbaijan.

    Source: www.focus-fen.net, 20 July 2008

  • Turkish, Kazakh cities twin

    Turkish, Kazakh cities twin

    ALMATY. July 15. KAZINFORM. Businessmen of the Turkish Bursa city will visit Kapchagay region of Kazakhstan on 18 July to study investment opportunities. At the same time, the Kazakh culture days will be held in Bursa city, Dariga Isgendergizi, the deputy chairman of Turkic Nations Culture Foundation, which operates in Kazakhstan, told Trend News. At the Foundation’s initiative, a cooperation agreement was signed between Bursa city of Turkey and Kapchagay city of Almaty region of Kazakhstan a month ago.

    The Kazakh delegation will visit Turkish Republic of North Cyprus at the end of July to organize a scientific conference on ‘Future of Turkic World’ at the Cyprus University, Kazinform cites corr. Trend News R.Meshedihasanli.

    Source: inform.kz, 15 July 2008

  • Union of Enlighteners of Turkic World Established

    Union of Enlighteners of Turkic World Established

    Kazakhstan, Almaty, 11 July /corr. Trend News R.Mashadihasanli / Constituent conference of Union of Enlighteners of Turkic World took place in Almaty.
    The conference was attended by the representatives of Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. Academician Haji Kheyrulla was elected as the Chairman of the Union, and the professor of Gazi University of Turkey, Ismet Chetin, candidate of philological sciences, editor-in-chief of the newspapers TURKEL and Veten, Ramiz Mashadihasanli and professor Murat Tuzunkhan ( Turkish Republic of North Cyprus) were elected deputy chairman.

    The goal of establishing the Union of the Enlighteners of Turkic World is to combine world-known people, being engaged in history, literature, science and skill, to strengthen relations between the Turkic-speaking states.

    The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

    Source: trendaz.com, 11.07.08