Category: Eastern Europe

Turkey’s Defence Industry Eyes Africa

In аn effort to diversify defence exports аnd increase itѕ economic аnd political imprint іn sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey’s defence industry іs showing а growing interest іn countries like South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya аnd Cameroon.

Once largely dependent on imports оf defence equipment, Turkey hаs expanded itѕ defence exports to thе world — reaching approximately $900m іn 2010, and expected tо exceed $1 billion in 2011.

This new interest in the African market signals a change in Turkish perceptions towаrdѕ thе continent.

“Turkey uѕed tо view Africa аѕ a poor continent with a built-in tendency tо counter аny advancement with thе twісе the number of backward steps,” explains Sidar Global Advisors Managing-Director Cenk Sidar.

According to Lufti Varoglu, head оf thе International Co-operation Unit at the Undersecretariat fоr Defence Industries, the interest in sub-Saharan Africa bеcаme a state policy in 2008.

“There is а goal for all state institutions to havе ѕоmе links with thе countries of thаt region, principally wіth the stable ones,” Varoglu says, acknowledging thаt senior-level visits to thе region aim tо connect Turkish defence manufacturers with high-level contacts in African countries.

Among the major export items to thе continent аrе military electronics and armoured vehicles, areas іn which Turkey haѕ а competitive advantage.

“Turkey iѕ stіll a second-tier arms exporter of medium-tech products with aspirations to graduate tо the fіrѕt tier [high-tech] eventually,” explains Serhat Guvenc, associate professor of International Relations аt Kadir Has University.

By increasing exports аnd diversifying markets, Turkey’s defence industry will be ablе to fund new projects tо advance frоm medium to high-tech products.

“The Turkish defence industry haѕ bеen rapidly expanding — іtѕ success hаѕ bееn increasing in line with the sophistication of іts defence products,” ѕayѕ Sidar.

The new initiative iѕ fоllowѕ the Strategy Document оf thе Undersecretariat fоr Defence Industries, which calls for thе promotion аnd support оf defence and aeronautic products for export.

“In thе light of this strategy document, whiсh will accelerate relevant efforts, іt is natural that thе defence industry eyes thаt [African] market,” sаys Lieutenant General Sadi Erguvenc.

Two advantages thаt make thiѕ trade morе attractive, he adds, arе thаt the products correspond tо local needs, and sub-Saharan Africa hаѕ nо geopolitical restrictions for Turkey іn terms оf defence products’ sales.

Nevertheless, Erguvenc thinks thаt аlthоugh Turkey haѕ sоmе competitive advantages due to its product range, thе country’s effectiveness will bе overshadowed by other countries — such aѕ China, Ukraine and Belarus — thаt аlready dominate thе market.

However, аccordіng to Varoglu, thеre arе ѕomе manufacturing details unique to Turkish exports, ѕо “we саnnоt sаy thаt theѕе countries mеrelу compete wіth us, rаther we аre complementary fоr еаch other.”

Guvenc ѕауs exporting arms leads to a sort of path-dependency and iѕ conventionally believed to provide the supplier wіth political influence ovеr thе buyers. “So, it maу be ѕeen аѕ part аnd parcel of Turkey’s оverall efforts tо secure a role іn that part of thе world.”

But exporting defence products to а continent marred bу conflict аnd human rights violations аlѕо presents a potential risk. Experts emphasise the nееd tо create guidelines, transparency and moral standards іn thіs regard.

“Ironically, іf anything, іt iѕ thе seemingly perpetual military struggles іn thе continent thаt are attracting thе Turkish defence industry. As such, it is easy tо see а conflict оf humanitarian and economic interest,” ѕаyѕ Sidar.

via Turkey’s Defence Industry Eyes Africa | Southern Daily Press.

October 23, 2011
Turkey-Russia relations and missile defence

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) pursuit of a more muscular and independent foreign policy has helped change the perception of Ankara in Moscow over the past ten years from being in step with NATO aims to a more independent foreign policy actor.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul (left) greets Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Turkey-Russia economic relations are a key component of bilateral ties. Reuters
“There have been some remarkable milestones that affected Turkish-Russian relations and paved the way for further co-operation,” Habibe Ozdal, a researcher at the International Strategic Research Organisation, specialising in Russia and Black Sea Studies, tells SETimes.

One of these significant milestones was the Turkish parliament’s refusal to allow the United States to invade northern Iraq from Turkish territory in 2003.

After this decision, “Ankara started to be evaluated as an independent actor in the region. From this standpoint, Moscow began to evaluate Ankara as an important actor that can stand for its national interests, even against a longtime ally,” according to Ozdal.

On the local level, growing bilateral trade and tourism has contributed to the thawing of relations. However, close relations with Moscow are still new, and the two sides are working to build trust at the upper echelons of government.

“It [Turkey] has been a member of NATO since 1952, that together with the EU integration process, has built up a certain level of trust [with the West] … between Turkish policy spheres, state agencies, security, military and business elites,” European Geopolitical Forum founder Marat Terterov tells SETimes.

“They don’t have the equivalent of that in the Turkish-Russian relationship. They are in the process of building it.”

One potential point of contention is Russia’s stringent opposition to the NATO decision to deploy an anti-ballistic missile system, which includes the forward based radar on Turkish territory.

“While [most] Russians generally accept the US and NATO concern about countries with missile capability, such as Iran, they do not see that capability emerging in the near future,” Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Non-proliferation senior fellow Nikolai Sokov told SETimes.

“According to Russian assessments, Iran is still pretty far from long-range missile capability. Hence they suspect that the real reason for missile defence is not the reason that is publicly declared.”

The recently concluded agreements for the launch of the newer Phased Adaptive approach with Turkey, Romania, Poland and Spain has been met with sharp criticism in Moscow.

“This is not about the radar itself — it clearly does not have capability vis-a-vis Russia. It was rather seen as further evidence that NATO proceeded with implementing missile defence plans without co-ordinating with Moscow,” Sokov said.

“People are making the argument that the missile defence would undermine the Russian strategic potential,” Pavel Podvig, director and principal investigator of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project, tells SETimes.

“There is no way the system can be a threat to anyone,” according to Podvig, but “the military and defence agencies [in NATO member states] are using it as a pretext for new programmes and for more money.”

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

October 21, 2011
Kadyrov denies ordering killing of Chechen rebel

By Shaun Walker in Moscow

Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader has denied the triple murder of Chechens linked to terrorism in an Istanbul suburb last month was carried out by a hit squad working on the orders of either Grozny or Moscow.

An investigation by The Independent into the 16 September killings found Turkish police believe a team of up to nine professional killers working for the Russian government was behind the assassination of Berg-Khadzh Musayev, a leading figure in the Caucasus Emirate Islamist terrorist movement.

But Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen President, said yesterday that he had information that they had been carried out on the orders of Doku Umarov, the rebel leader of the Caucasus Emirate, possibly in collusion with Akhmed Zakayev, part of the more moderate wing of the Chechen independence movement who lives in exile in London.

“We have information that this is an internal settling of scores among bandit groups,” said Mr Kadyrov. “It can’t be excluded that Zakayev is also involved in this. It’s possible that it’s all about money.”

There will be scepticism over Mr Kadyrov’s version of such a carefully planned assassination. A source close to the investigation in Istanbul claimed the operation was led by two Russians, travelling under the names of Alexander Zharkov and Nadim Ayupov.

The source also named a Chechen, Ziyauddin Makhayev, who was believed to be aiding the group. Mr Makhayev is known as an aide to Mr Kadyrov, although the Chechen leader’s spokesman has denied the two are close. When contacted last week, Mr Makhayev referred to the allegations that he took part as “propaganda”.

Prior to the killings, three other prominent Chechen exiles have been killed in Istanbul in the past three years. Istanbul is home to around 2,000 Chechens, including members of Mr Umarov’s family and inner circle.

via Kadyrov denies ordering killing of Chechen rebel – Europe, World – The Independent.

October 20, 2011
Turkey detains man in attempted murder of Chechen

By SUZAN FRASER

Associated Press

A Turkish court on Wednesday began questioning a man and three alleged accomplices suspected of attempting to kill a former Chechen separatist leader in Istanbul, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Shamsuddin Batukayev, a 55-year-old Muslim scholar and a leader in the Chechen separatist movement in the 1990s, said this week that his bodyguards had foiled an attempt to assassinate him by overpowering an armed man who came to his home in Istanbul posing as a Chechen seeking his help.

The alleged assassination attempt came weeks after three Chechens were gunned down near a park in Istanbul on Sept. 16. Chechen groups have blamed Russia’s secret service for the killings of the men, who were allegedly involved with Chechen militants. Turkish authorities have refused comment, saying an investigation is ongoing.

The deaths increased to six the number of Chechens who have been killed in Turkey since 2008.

Anatolia said police detained the latest suspect and three other people and seized a gun with a silencer during a search of the suspect’s hotel room. On Wednesday, the four were being questioned by a court that will decide whether to charge them or set them free.

Anatolia identified the suspect as Barhram B. There was no information on the other three.

Anatolia said the man told police during an initial questioning that he was given the task in Russia of killing Batukayev by someone he “did not know” and that another Russian _ whose identity he also did not know _ gave him the gun in Istanbul.

Kavkaz Center, a website sympathetic to the North Caucasus insurgency, identified the alleged would-be-killer as Barham Batumayev. It claimed the other detained suspects included Uvais Akhmadov, an alleged associate of Chechnya’s Moscow-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov has relied on ruthless tactics to fight the Islamic insurgency after two separatist wars in Chechnya. Rights activists accuse his black-clad security forces of systematic abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings.

A ballistic examination of the weapon in Istanbul showed that it had not been used in any other previous attacks in Turkey, Anatolia reported. The agency did not cite a source for its report.

Batukayev chaired the Supreme Sharia Court of the separatist Chechen government between 1995 and 1997. In the early 2000s, he was part of the so-called Caucasus Emirate, a group of Islamist fighters seeking to establish an independent Muslim state in the Caucasus region. Experts say the group maintains links to al-Qaida.

Turkey has a large ethnic Chechen community, and hundreds of people fleeing fighting in Chechnya, a restive region in Russia’s North Caucasus, have taken refuge here.

Russian intelligence officials have not responded to allegations about their involvement in the Sept. killings.

A Russian lawmaker said, however, the man detained in Batukayev’s house appeared more like an amateur driven by vendetta rather than a professional killer.

“The job of a sharia judge during a civil war was about making tough decisions,” Maxim Shevchenko, an expert on the Caucasus region, was quoted as saying in Wednesday’s Izvestia newspaper.

“Perhaps, one of the war children grew up and … decided to avenge” his relative’s death, Shevchenko was quoted as saying.

___

Associated Press writer Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow contributed.

via Turkey detains man in attempted murder of Chechen – Taiwan News Online.

October 16, 2011
Russia, Turkey Discuss Use of Ruble and Lira in Bilateral Trade

Russia and Turkey discussed ways to boost the use of the ruble and the lira in bilateral trade.

Central bank and government officials from the two countries met in Moscow Sept. 26-Sept. 28 to consider “proposals on possible ways to increase settlements in the national currencies and measures needed to broaden interbank cooperation,” Bank Rossii said today in a statement on its website. Policy makers asked commercial banks to help them study the most promising industries for trade to shift to the ruble and lira, according to the statement.

Russia has sought to bolster the use of the ruble and other emerging-market alternatives to the dollar in trade, including through the so-called BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Central bankers met officials in Brasilia in August and agreed that using the ruble and real in trade was more “appropriate” than the dollar.

Russia and Turkey traded $17.46 billion of goods in the first seven months of 2011, 26 percent higher than a year earlier, according to Russia’s customs service. Turkey accounted for about 3.8 percent of Russian trade, down from 4.1 percent in the same period last year, customs data show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Rose in Moscow at rrose10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net

via Russia, Turkey Discuss Use of Ruble and Lira in Bilateral Trade – Bloomberg.

October 6, 2011
Turkey and Ukraine Lead the Most Visited Countries among Georgians

Written by Tako Khelaia

The FINANCIAL — 1,793,449 foreign guests visited Georgia during first 8 month of 2011, which is a 43% growth in accordance to last year’s index according to the Georgian National Tourism Agency (GNTA).

For the first 8 month of 2010, 1,258,488 foreigners visited Georgia which is 534,961 less in accordance to 2011. As GNTA notes, for the first 8 months of 2009, 942, 371 foreigners traveled to Georgia and the number of guests in 2009 was 35% less in accordance to the first 8 months of 2010.

The number of Georgian tourists visiting foreign countries has also increased by 4% this year. According to the index of the first 8 months of 2011, 1,415,385 Georgians visited foreign countries, while in 2010 only 1,356,599 did which were 58,786 less comparing to the first 8 months of 2011.

According to the GNTA, Turkey still tops the list of the most visited countries. A total of 28% of Georgian tourists visited Turkey during the first 8 months of 2011. Ukraine holds the second place of the most frequently visited countries. Overall 16% of Georgian tourists visited Ukraine , 15% Armenia, 9% Germany, 9% Azerbaijan, 4% USA, 4% United Kingdom,3% Italy, 2% Egypt, 2% Poland and the remaining 8% to other parts of the world.

Tbilisi has been the most popular tourism destination among foreign tourists. A total of 60% of the total visitors to Tbilisi during the first 8 months of 2011 were foreigners. Batumi was visited by 43% of tourists, Mtskheta by 8%, Kutaisi by 6%, Lagodekhi 5%, Kazbegi 4%, Gori 4%, Kobuleti 3%, Mestia/Ushguli, 2%, Davit Gareji, 2%, Vardzia 1%, Telavi 1%, Bakuriani 1%, Gudauri 1 % and the other 9% belongs to different other destinations in Georgia.

“For the purpose of leisure and recreation, 34% of foreigners visited Georgia during the first 8 months of 2011. For visiting friends and relatives, 26% of tourists visited our country and 20% of foreign guests were on their business and professional trips in Georgia during the first 8 months of 2011. 10% of foreign tourists visited our country for the purpose of transit, 3% due to education and training and 3% for employment,” the GNTA notes.

“2 % of foreign guests visited Georgia during the first 8 months of 2011 for the purpose of shopping, 2% for health and medical care, 0.2 % for religious reasons or pilgrimages and 0.1 % of foreigners were on diplomatic missions,” GNTA notes.

The majority of tourists are business travelers and transit travelers (31%) who stayed for one day in Georgia. According to the statistics 26% of tourists stayed for just 2-3 days, 12 % for 4-5 days, 8% for 6-7 days, 10% for 8-14 days, 4% for 15-20 days, 5% for 21-30 days and 4% for 31 or more days. The average number of nights spent in Georgia was 8, while for the purpose of leisure and recreation the average length of a visit to Georgia was 6 days. While visiting friends and relatives in Georgia, the average length of a visit was 11 days and for the purpose of business or professional duty the average length of a visit was 13 days.

According to the GNTA, 42% of tourists preferred to stay with their families, 38% used hotel accommodation, 9% guesthouses or cottages, 8% hired a flat, 5% stayed in transport facilities, 1% stayed in camping or trailer park and 0.3% were in Airport s or in railway stations. The average expenditure of one tourist during 8 days spent in Georgia was 1,470 GEL.

The number of domestic tourism for the first 8 month of 2011 has as well increased in Georgia and in accordance to the same period of last year the number has raised by 20%. For the first 8 months of 2011 the number of domestic tourists was 866,551, while in 2010 there were 721,382, which is 145,175 times less in accordance to this year’s index.

“The region of Adjara was visited by 1,006,319 tourists during the first 8 months of 2011, of which 655,419 were Georgians and 350,900 were foreign tourists. The number of tourists visiting Adjara has increased by about 36% this year. During the first 8 months of 2010, 741,475 tourists visited Adjara from which 498,393 were Georgians and 243,082 foreigners,” the GNTA notes.

“Among the purposes of domestic tourists for traveling within the territory of Georgia, visiting friends and relatives was the most prioritized. A total of 49% of domestic tourists visited their friends and relatives, 39% were visiting different parts of Georgia for leisure and recreation, 6% for business and professional purpose, 3% for Health and medical care, 2% for pilgrimage, 1% for employment, 1% for shopping and 0.3% for education or trainings,” GNTA officials note.

According to the GNTA the average length of domestic tourists’ visits to different parts of Georgia was 5 days. 23% of domestic tourists stayed for one day, 35% for 2-3 days, 10% for 4-5 days, 12% for 6-7 days, 12% for 8-14 days, 3% for 15-20 days, 3% for 21-30 days and 1% for 31 or more days. 75% of domestic tourists preferred to stay with their families, 5% stayed at guesthouses or cottages, 4% in hotels, 2% hired a flat, 1% stayed in different transport facilities, 1% went for camping or staying in trailers, 1% in monasteries, 0.4 % in hospitals and 12% didn’t spent the night at all.

“The most attractive tourism destination for Georgians was Tbilisi which was visited by 13% of tourists during the first 8 months of 2011. Batumi was visited by 8% of Georgian tourists, Kutaisi/Motsameta/Sataplia by 6%, Tskneti/Manglisi/Tsavkisi/Kodjori by 3% Mtskheta/Armazi/Akhatani/Saguramo by 3%, Kobuleti by 3%, Khashuri/Surami/Kvishkheti by 3% and Bakuriani by 2%,” the GNTA notes.

“Zugdidi was visited by 2% of Georgian tourists, Gori by 2%, Sighnaghi/Bodbe by 2%, Zestafoni by 2%, Telavi by 2%, Chiatura, Kaspi, Lagodekhi, Samtredia, Borjomi and Ozurgeti were also visited by 2% of Georgian tourists. The other destinations in Georgia were visited by 42 % of domestic tourists,” the GNTA notes.

The average expenditure of Georgian tourists in Georgia was on average 581 GEL during 5 days. The average expenditure of domestic tourists on residence for 5 days was 211 GEL, on food and drinks 117 GEL, on souvenirs and gifts 53 GEL, on transport 43 GEL, on train fares 26 GEL, on transport 46 GEL and on other important goods and products 85 GEL.

October 4, 2011