Turkish Forum

Category: Asia and Pacific

  • Turkey, Azerbaijan have national morale problem

    Turkey, Azerbaijan have national morale problem

    kocharyanYEREVAN. – Turkey and Azerbaijan have real problems with national morale and political sufficiency, Armenian Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan stated at the presentation of a book on Armenian-Turkish relations.

    This is one more piece of evidence that Turkey is not yet ready to meet European standards in politics. Turkey is not taking any steps showing its willingness to establish relations with Armenia.

    By failing the dialogue, Turkey missed a real chance to normalize relations with its neighbor and to participate in establishing a civilized dialogue in the region. “Moreover, Ankara prefers the role of regional separator stirring up hatred,” Kocharyan said. By rejecting reconciliation with Armenia, Turkey lost the way to as narrow path to Europe.

    via Turkey, Azerbaijan have national morale problem | Armenia News – NEWS.am.

  • Pakistan, Turkey hold naval exercises

    Pakistan, Turkey hold naval exercises

    By Javed Mahmood
    For CentralAsiaOnline.com

    2011-04-21

    KARACHI – Pakistan and Turkey will start three days of naval exercises April 22 to strengthen maritime security cooperation in the North Arabian and adjoining seas as part of the battle against piracy, Pakistan Navy spokesman Capt. Shakeel said.

    Pakistan Navy Frigate PNS Alamgir arrived at Golcuk Naval Base, Turkey, April 21, to carry out a number of harbour and high-seas exercises with the Turkish Navy, he said.

    Shakeel said the navies of Pakistan and Turkey have a history of such joint exercises.

    The Pakistani navy is actively involved in maintaining peace and stability from the Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Oman, including the North Arabian Sea, Shakeel said.

    In support of UN Resolutions, Pakistan is patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast to prevent pirates from seizing ships, he added.

     

  • Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the World’s Most Dangerous?

    Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the World’s Most Dangerous?

    Marianne Lavelle and Josie Garthwaite
    For National Geographic News

    Published April 11, 2011

    This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

    Steam rises from the cooling towers of Metsamor nuclear power station in Armenia in September 2010. One of the last old operating Soviet reactors built without containment vessels, its location in a seismic zone has drawn renewed attention since Japan's earthquake-and-tsunami-triggered crisis.

    In the shadow of Mount Ararat, the beloved and sorrowful national symbol of Armenia, stands a 31-year-old nuclear plant that is no less an emblem of the country’s resolve and its woe.

    The Metsamor power station is one of a mere handful of remaining nuclear reactors of its kind that were built without primary containment structures. All five of these first-generation water-moderated Soviet units are past or near their original retirement ages, but one salient fact sets Armenia’s reactor apart from the four in Russia.

    Metsamor lies on some of Earth’s most earthquake-prone terrain.

    In the wake of Japan’s quake-and-tsunami-triggered Fukushima Daiichi crisis, Armenia’s government faces renewed questions from those who say the fateful combination of design and location make Metsamor among the most dangerous nuclear plants in the world.

    Seven years ago, the European Union’s envoy was quoted as calling the facility “a danger to the entire region,” but Armenia later turned down the EU’s offer of a 200 million euro ($289 million) loan to finance Metsamor’s shutdown. The United States government, which has called the plant “aging and dangerous,” underwrote a study that urged construction of a new one.

    Plans to replace Metsamor after 2016—with a new nuclear plant at the same location—are under way. But until then, Armenia has little choice but to keep Metsamor’s turbines turning. As Armenians learned in the bone-chilling cold and dark days when the plant was closed down for several years, Metsamor provides more than 40 percent of power for a nation that is isolated from its neighbors and closed off from other sources of energy.

    via Is Armenia’s Nuclear Plant the World’s Most Dangerous?.

  • Rioters torch Australia asylum seeker detention centre

    Rioters torch Australia asylum seeker detention centre

     

    Sidney Riots

    Detainees at an Australian immigration detention centre in Sydney have rioted and burnt down nine buildings.

    Rioters at Villawood detention centre threw roof tiles and other objects at firefighters, preventing them from putting out the blazes.

    The riot started with a rooftop protest from two detainees and spread to involve 100 people late on Wednesday.

    Protests at Australia’s detention centres have become more frequent as the number of asylum seekers has risen.

    Immigration Department spokesman Sandi Logan said no injuries had been reported at Villawood.

    Riot police had to be called in to restore order after the centre’s unarmed guards retreated in the face of the riot.

    “It took some time for the firefighters to be able to gain entry,” he said

    “They had had roof tiles and other pieces of furniture being hurled at them by some of the detainees, so it was impossible for them to extinguish the blaze.

    “But with the riot squad protection they were able to do that.”

    A large gas cylinder exploded and a kitchen, laundry, medical facility and a computer centre were destroyed.

    Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said many of those involved in the riot had had applications for asylum rejected.

    “These are people, in many instances, who are not happy that they have not been accepted as refugees,” he said.

    Villawood detention centre holds both irregular maritime arrivals – people arriving in Australia by boat to seek asylum – and people already on the Australian mainland who have violated their visas or had them cancelled.

    Mental health warning

    In recent months there have been a number of violent riots, suicides and self-harm attempts at Australian detention centres, says the BBC’s Nick Bryant in Sydney.

    Detainees at Villawood have complained of lengthy waits to have their asylum claims heard

    There have been complaints from detainees about overcrowding and the length of time it takes to process their applications, our correspondent says.

    An increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat – mainly from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq – has led to overcrowding at Christmas Island and other detention centres.

    There was another riot at Christmas Island last month following a breakout.

    Last year, rights group Amnesty International warned that the mental health of some of the asylum seekers held on Christmas Island was deteriorating because of uncertainty over their situation and the conditions in which they were being held.

    The Australian government has recently announced the provision of more than 1,900 new beds for asylum seekers to ease crowding in detention centres.

    Four hundred beds will be available in Pontville, southern Tasmania, within a month and another 1,500-bed facility at Wickham Point, Darwin, will open in mid-2011.

     

    AUSTRALIA ASYLUM STATISTICS

    • Irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) in 2010: 134 boats carrying 6,535 people
    • IMAs up to 19 April 2011: 16 boats carrying 921people
    • As of 20 April 4,552 IMAs detained on the mainland, 1,748 on Christmas Island
    • Currently 392 detainees in Villawood of whom 172are IMAs

    Source: Australian Department of Immigration

     

    BBC

  • US supports dialogue between Turkey, Armenia, says Gordon

    US supports dialogue between Turkey, Armenia, says Gordon

    A senior US official said on Tuesday that the US continues to strongly support direct dialogue and the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia.

    Philip Gordon
    Philip Gordon

    Turkey and Armenia made a bold move two years ago to normalize relations and establish diplomatic ties after a century of animosity between the two nations, but the process stalled after both sides proposed a number of preconditions before displaying the political will to implement the vision detailed in the documents.

    Philip Gordon, US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, when asked if Turkish and American officials are going to discuss the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process in their upcoming meetings as he spoke to foreign reporters in Washington on Thursday, said that as a general rule, when Turkish and American diplomats and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, meet, the question of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation comes up “because it’s very important to us.”

    American officials frequently stress the importance of Turkey and Armenia reconciling amid increasing pressure by Armenian lobbying groups in the US on members of Congress and the administration to use sharp language when referring to mass killings of Armenians in 1915, events Armenians term “genocide.”

    Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in 2009 to normalize ties. The protocols called for the opening of their shared border within two months if the two countries’ parliaments ratify the protocols. After Azerbaijan, a key ally for Turkey, expressed its dissatisfaction with the process, Turkey pegged the ratification of the process to a real breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia thus suspended the process on April 22 of last year.

    The administration official said there have been efforts over the past several years to improve that relationship, which the US made clear it strongly supports, adding that those efforts have recently stalled, a development he said the US made clear it regrets. “We believe it’s in the interest of both countries to continue the normalization process, re-establish relations and have friendly relations and open trade from which both countries would benefit,” Gordon said. Gordon stated that American officials bring the reconciliation process up very frequently with their counterparts on both the Turkish and Armenian sides.

    Zaman

  • India, Turkey to discuss FTA to boost bilateral trade

    India, Turkey to discuss FTA to boost bilateral trade

    India, Turkey to discuss FTA to boost bilateral trade

    Press Trust of India / New Delhi April 19, 2011, 19:00 IST

    Turkey today said it will discuss opening up of their markets with India under a free trade agreement (FTA).

    “We will be discussing issues relating to non-tariff and tariff barriers under FTA with Indian authorities,” Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan said here in his address to India-Turkey Business Forum.

    Both the countries are exploring the possibility of FTA to boost bilateral trade.

    The current two-way commerce is $3.14 billion and experts said an FTA between the two would significantly enhance the trade.

    Major imports from Turkey comprise minerals, fertilisers, nuclear reactors and machinery, while exports include pharma, manmade yarn and electronic goods.

    Besides, the visiting minister asked Indian corporates to make investment in Turkey because of its strategic geographical location and potential for economic growth.

    Referring to sectors where investment can be made in Turkey, Caglayan said his country has plans of huge investments in energy sector in the next 10 years.

    About $120 million would be invested in the energy sector, he said.