Turkish Forum

Category: Eastern Europe

  • Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute

    Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute

    Turkey has canceled a deal to supply overpopulated Istanbul with Russian gas over a pricing dispute. The cancellation means Turkey loses supply for some 15% of the gas it needs, causing a price hike for consumers. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this article.

    The state-owned Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation Botaş announced on Saturday (1 October) that it had canceled a natural gas supply deal with Russia’s Gazprom after it failed to obtain discounts.

    The gas was meant to be delivered via the West line, a pipeline which passes through Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

    “Price increases should be bearable. We will revise our contracts that are nearing their end. Western Line is one of them. If our demands of price reduction are not met, we will terminate it,” Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said.

    Gas prices had increased by around 39% during the past 29 months, Yildiz indicated.

    The dispute ended a contract for the yearly distribution of 6 billion cubic meters of gas, Gazprom’s press service confirmed Sunday, without elaborating. The West line, which had been supplying gas since 1986, has already caused problems to Turkey because of the recurrent disputes between Russia and Ukraine.

    But Turkey will continue to import gas via the Blue Stream pipeline, which carries gas across the Black Sea from the Beregovaya compressing station in Russia to the Durusu terminal, near the Turkish city of Samsun, the daily Hürriyet reported. Turkey buys nearly 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas via Blue Stream, under a contract which was set to expire 23 years after the pipeline’s construction.

    Turkey’s annual natural gas consumption is nearly 37 bcm. Last year, Turkey imported 18 bcm from Russia, about 60% of its total domestic gas consumption.

    However, Botaş announced on Saturday it would raise residential natural-gas prices by 12.3% to 14.3%, citing increases on international markets and the declining value of the Turkish Lira. The new pricing started taking effect the same day. Fees for industrial clients will go up 13.7% to 14.3%, the company also said.

    Relations to develop nevertheless

    The cancellation doesn’t mean natural gas purchases from Russia will stop, Taner Yıldız said.

    The minister also made it clear that when Russia delivers the documents Ankara requested, the permission to build the South Stream pipeline trough Turkish waters would be granted.

    “There are no problems in this respect,” he pointed out, adding that Turkey’s “strategic relationship” with Russia “cannot be affected by a few contracts.”

    Russia has overtaken Germany as Turkey’s primary trade partner as bilateral trade is expected to surpass $40 billion (€30 billion) by the end of 2011, the daily Zaman reported. As well as a total of more than two-thirds of its natural gas, 20% of Turkey’s imported oil is provided by Russia. Nearly three million Russian tourists visit Turkey every year, and the two countries reciprocally removed visa requirements in mid-April.

    Moreover, Turkey has also removed Russia from its list of external threats. Turkish

    contractors have already completed some 1,200 projects around Russia, representing a total value of $32 billion (€24 billion).

    Russia and Turkey also clinched a deal for the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the coastal town of Akkuyu, in the southern province of Mersin. A consortium led by state-controlled Russian builder AtomStroyExport will construct the plant in Akkuyu, paying all of the construction costs for the plant, which is estimated to be some $20 billion (€15 billion).

    Meanwhile, natural gas expert Alexei Gromov from Russia’s Institute for the problems of Natural Monopolies commented that Turkey was bluffing and gas prices had to be adjusted in relation to the increase in oil prices in May and June, Cihan News Agency reported.

    Positions:

    In a written statement, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said that private Turkish companies had in the meantime shown interest in buying Russian gas directly.

    “We note that gas delivered through the Western line is required by Turkish commercial and industrial consumers. We are ready to deliver these volumes to our existing and new clients- private companies, for further delivery to end users on the Turkish market”, Medvedev said.

    via Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute | EurActiv.

  • Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul

    Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul

    Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul

    By cumhur Ozkaya

    opednews.com

    3 Chechens were killed at Istanbul (Turkey). Prosecutor and police find murder. Murder suspects are 8 Russian agents.

    ::::::::

    3 Chechens ( Musaev Berkhazh , Rüstem Altemirol , Zaurbek Amriev) were killed at September 16 in Istanbul. According to Haberturk site’s news, 3 Chechen who has joined and directed some bloody attacks at Russia were killed by 8 Russian agents. Searching on security cameras by police and prosecutor appeared the murder suspects. Camera visuals appear how 8 agents planned the attack. Police had the information about when 8 agents came to Turkey and when they leaved the country after attack.

    The police control in hotels where murder suspects stayed before attack appeared some interesting materials about one of Russian agents. He is seen naked and with men in a close embrace in his photo album. The claim is these men are his boyfriends. He uses swastikas at motorcycle and computer and he does victory sign often.

    According to news there are 8 people at assassination group. Names of 2 are explained and claimed killers are these two agents. Not only names but also their photos and security videos are watched in Turk news sites again and again.

    Also 2 Afghan citizens were killed in Turkey (Aksaray) 3 days ago but there is any information yet about why they were killed and who might be killers.

    These murders are discussed now by public union at Turkey and people ask how foreign agents could kill someone so simply.

    via OpEdNews – Diary: Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul.

  • Leaked document reveals plans to ‘eliminate’ Russia’s enemies overseas

    Leaked document reveals plans to ‘eliminate’ Russia’s enemies overseas

    Russia ‘gave agents licence to kill’ enemies of the state

    The Russian secret service authorised the “elimination” of individuals living overseas who were judged to be enemies of the state and ordered the creation of special units to conduct such operations, according to a document passed to The Daily Telegraph.

    The directive refers specifically to the European Union and western Europe and appears to be signed by the head of counter-intelligence of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.

    It is dated March 19, 2003 – four years before the killing of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. It sets a provisional deadline of May 1 2004 for the new units’ work to begin.

    It is understood the document is also in the possession of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command which is investigating the Litvinenko case.

    A hearing is to be held next week into whether a full inquest should take place into Mr Litvinenko’s death, as the Russian government has insisted that Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB bodyguard who is a main suspect in the case, will never be extradited back to Britain.

    Labelled “Secret documentation. For internal use only. Do not copy”, the leaked document refers to a law on “countering extremist activities” passed eight months earlier, although that law does not refer to the use of force.

    The objectives, the directive says, are “observation, identification, possible return to the Russian Federation” of their targets.

    But it also allows for “under special directives” the “elimination outside of the Russian Federation in the countries of Near Abroad [former Soviet states] and in the European Union, of the leaders of unlawful terrorist groups and organisations, extremist formations and associations, of individuals who have left Russia illegally [and are] wanted by federal law enforcement”.

    Apparently with leaders of rebellions in the Caucasus in mind, among others, it names the crimes of those sought as terrorism, “extremist activity,” murder, kidnapping and “others classified as especially serious crimes against citizens of the Russian Federation and directed against the Russian state and government”.

    The order sets up the “intensive training of the newly formed groups and units in relation to specific conditions of work in Western Europe and countries of the European Union”.

    It says there will be “in-depth training of individual agent-analysts for work in the countries of European Union”.

    It is signed at the bottom by Col General Nechaev, First Deputy Head of the FSB counter-intelligence branch and also bears the organisation’s stamp.

    Colonel General Nechaev is a former civil and military health minister who was invited to London by the then health minister Virginia Bottomley in 1993 to “see the operation of the NHS at first hand”.

    Vladimir Putin, then the Russian president and now the prime minister, pushed a law on “counteracting terrorism” through the Russian Duma in March 2006 which gave the FSB the power to kill “terrorists” abroad.

    However, the latest document suggests an extensive secret programme was already in place.

    The Russians have conducted controversial assassinations against Chechens in Dubai, Qatar, and Vienna. The latest, in Istanbul, was just last week, when a gunman shot a Chechen rebel leader and his two bodyguards dead in a busy street in Istanbul.

    Mr Litvinenko died in a hospital bed in London in November 2006 after allegedly being poisoned by a former FSB bodyguard using radioactive polonium 210.

    Other potential Russian targets in Britain include the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was the subject of a suspected assassination plot in 2007, and the Chechen dissident Akhmed Zakaev.

    Mr Zakaev said: “I knew anytime that something like this could happen to me. They want to eliminate me before 2012 when Putin comes back to the Kremlin [as president]. They need to solve these ‘problems.’ That is what they call us and it doesn’t matter where we are.”

    Mr Berezovsky said: “I knew this a long time ago and there were several attempts to kill me. I was lucky, I was warned and I am safe.”

    He said he had been told again only a month ago not to travel abroad.

    via PIC AND PUB PLS: Leaked document reveals plans to ‘eliminate’ Russia’s enemies overseas – Telegraph.

  • Turkey breaks Russian gas contract

    Turkey breaks Russian gas contract

    Turkish government cancels a contract to buy six billion cubic metres a year of natural gas ‎from Russia after failing to win a discount

    AFP , Saturday 1 Oct 2011

    Turkey has revoked a contract to purchase six billion cubic metres a year of natural gas ‎from Russia, its main supplier, after failing to win a discount, Energy Minister Taner ‎Yildiz said Saturday.

    ‎”The contract on the western routing has been wound up because the request for a lower ‎price has been refused,” Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.

    Yildaz had threatened Thursday to end the contract under which Turkey imports gas ‎from Gazprom Export, a subsidiary of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, via a pipeline ‎passing through Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

    Turkey imported 18 billion cubic metres of gas from Russia last year, about 60 percent ‎of its total domestic gas consumption.

    Yildiz said Thursday that natural gas input prices had increased by around 39 percent ‎over the last 29 months, adding that this would prompt Turkey to revisit each and every ‎expiring contract one by one.

    The agreement on the western pipeline, which feeds Turkey’s biggest city of Istanbul, ‎was signed in 1986 and was due to expire at the end of this year.

    Other Russian gas is supplied by the South Stream pipeline passing under the Black Sea.

    Yildiz said Saturday that the decision to break the contract did not mean that Russian gas ‎supplies would end or cause any problems between Ankara and Moscow, whose ‎‎”strategic relationship cannot be affected by a few contracts.”‎

    via Turkey breaks Russian gas contract – Economy – Business – Ahram Online.

  • Iran Agrees With Russia, Turkey to Build Power Plants, IRNA Says

    Iran Agrees With Russia, Turkey to Build Power Plants, IRNA Says

    Iran reached agreements with Russia and Turkey on sharing know-how and investment in power plants inside the Persian Gulf country, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported, citing Energy Minister Majid Namjou.

    Power stations to be built with Turkish companies will allow the transfer of electricity to neighboring Turkey or to a third country, Namjou said, according to the IRNA report.

    Iran and Russia agreed in separate talks earlier this month to jointly build power plants in Iran for export, Namjou said, without giving details of the projects.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Tehran at lnasseri@bloomberg.net.

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.

    via Iran Agrees With Russia, Turkey to Build Power Plants, IRNA Says – Bloomberg.

  • Russian search giant Yandex expands into Turkey, opens Istanbul office

    Russian search giant Yandex expands into Turkey, opens Istanbul office

    Russian search giant Yandex expands into Turkey with new search portal and Istanbul offices

    Russian search giant Yandex today announced its expansion into Turkey, opening a Turkish version of its search engine and incorporating a range of other services tailored for Turkish users but also opening an office in Istanbul.

    Yandex has made sure to introduce its core search product but also serves pictures and videos, demonstrating small tweaks that can help users find books and poetry just by entering one line from the text itself. On top of its search features, Yandex’s Turkish portal will also offer email services, news, translation and other services.

    Yandex’s CEO Arkady Volozh notes how big a move this is for the Russian search giant:

    “It’s the first time we start offering web search services in a country where almost nobody speaks any Russian. We have considered countries with a well-developed internet market, a growing web user audience and a lot of local language content. Turkey was a clear first choice. Instead of just localizing our services for this country, we custom-built an entirely new product – tailored specifically to web users in Turkey.

    The company has already employed over twenty new staff in its new Istanbul office, making sure that it can add to its technological innovations with a deep understanding of the local culture, the language and the varying preferences of its users.

    In August, Yandex acquired ‘social newspaper’ service The Tweeted Times as part of a push to integrate more social data into its search results. Similar to Paper.li, it generates a ‘newspaper’ on the Web containing stories shared by people that they follow on Twitter. The team behind have now joined Yandex to work on boosting its search and content services with information from social networks.

    In 2010, Yandex generated 64% of all search traffic in Russia and was the largest Russian Internet company by revenue. It floated on the NASDAQ earlier this year.

    via Russian search giant Yandex expands into Turkey, opens Istanbul office.