Turkish Forum

Category: Eastern Europe

  • Pundit finds Russian leader’s words about Islam ‘surprising’

    Pundit finds Russian leader’s words about Islam ‘surprising’

    BBC Monitoring

    Excerpt from report by Gazprom-owned, editorially independent Russian news agency Ekho Moskvy

    Moscow, 28 August: Statements made by Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev about the necessity to exercise tough control over the young Russians who study in foreign Islamic universities, are strange at the very least, chairman of the Islamic committee Geydar Dzhemal has told Russian Ekho Moskvy radio.

    “It is very strange when President Medvedev, an obvious liberal and an agnostic judging by his persona, makes judgements about what Islam is, what kind of Islam is right or wrong. Even related to his own official confession such judgements would sound too exotic when coming from him, but when he speaks about other confessions, this is extremely surprising,” Dzhemal said. (Passage omitted)

    “One can prevent people from going abroad to study, one can – under an agreement with the administration of other Muslim countries – stage problems for Russian students, like it was in Egypt ahead of (US President Barack) Obama’s visit. But the matter is that Islam is a self-sufficient integral system. For 1,400 years now Islam has easily overthrown attempts of various leaders to use it in their interests, to castrate and adjust it; it remains an efficient concept, which withstands violence, injustice, oppression, corruption and lawlessness. If President Medvedev wants to fight this spirit of Islam, it is useless,” Dzhemal added.

  • President Medvedev Urges Special Youth Program For N Caucasus

    President Medvedev Urges Special Youth Program For N Caucasus

    SOCHI, August 29 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes the North Caucasus needs a special comprehensive program that would prevent youth from going astray.

    “Regrettably, militant groups are still successful in luring young people into the web of their criminal activity, this is a hard fact,” Medvedev said on Friday at a conference devoted to ways of supporting Muslim organizations in the North Caucasus.

    “To my mind it would be appropriate for us to devise a comprehensive program for youth in the North Caucasus,” he said. “Such a program would incorporate educational, enlightenment, morality and ethnic components, as well as measures to create jobs and arrange for normal, up-to-day and decent pastime.”

    “This matches well the decisions we made lately in favor of complementing the school curriculum with the basics of religious culture,” Medvedev said.

    The spiritual and moral development of youth is a major concern of the federal authorities.

    “The Muslim clergy does share this concern,” he said. “In line with the existing legislation the state in every possible way supports religious Muslim organizations and Muslim educational establishments,” the president said. A week ago a new Islamic University opened in the Chechen Republic – a third in the Caucasus.”

    “North Caucasus is a part of Russia that is absolutely unique from the standpoint of its cultural and ethnic diversity,” Medvedev said. “It is a home for 157 ethnic groups of the 182 that there exist in Russia – according to the population census of 2002. The share of those who identify themselves as Muslims is more than two-thirds.”

    Naturally, said the president, the role of the muftis’ councils in influencing the state of the public mind in the region is great.

    Medvedev thanked the leaders of the republics and clergy for their efforts to maintain inter-confessional peace and accord and their readiness to resist extremism, xenophobia and social injustice.

    “I am perfectly aware that you have to work for this goal in adverse conditions, and sometimes to put your life at risk,” he said.

    The Islamic community of the North Caucasus has developed very fast over the recent years. Ever more mosques are built and educational and cultural centers are opened. A hundred new mosques are built in the region every year and over 15,000 Muslims make annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

  • Medvedev Wants True Values Of Islam Explained In Media, Internet

    Medvedev Wants True Values Of Islam Explained In Media, Internet

    SOCHI, August 29 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes that far more active work must be conducted in the mass media and in the world web to explain the true, genuine values of Islam to promote religious education and to create a counterbalance to extremist information products.

    In his statement at a meeting in support of the religious Muslim organizations of the North Caucasus, the Russian head of state said that such work in the mass media and in the internet was a very complex and delicate matter, but at the same time a vital need.

    “So far it looks rather weak, if one compares the influence on people’s minds of the extremist sites and of normal sites that explain the nature of Islam and its dogmas that there exist in our country. Regrettably, the score will not be to the advantage of the sites that have been created here, including those at the universities concerned,” the president said.

    “This work must be stepped up. We shall never persuade anyone to stop using the Internet. Also we are aware that we shall fail to block this sort of extremist sites. There will emerge mirror sites and from there we shall have the same flow of absolutely extremist information and calls,” Medvedev said.

    “I do enter the Internet myself from time to time to see what they write there. The stuff is hair-raising. It has nothing to do with Islam or with any ideology at all,” Medvedev said. “I do hope that we shall be able to continue this work with the Islamic clergy in coordination with the presidential staff.”

  • Turkey’s Multivector Energy Hub: Ignore At Your Own Peril

    Turkey’s Multivector Energy Hub: Ignore At Your Own Peril

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    Chums: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) meets with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Ankara on August 6.

    August 31, 2009
    By Alexandros Petersen

    According to Turkey’s popular “Zaman” newspaper, the country can now claim the title of “world’s largest energy hub.”

    While over a decade of government policy has sought to transform Turkey’s energy sector into first a European, then a regional, and now a global energy hub, a rash of recent international agreements, according to “Zaman,” have enabled Turkey to finally attain that status.

    Deals with European Union member states on the Nabucco natural-gas pipeline, with Russia on the competing South Stream project, with Qatar on liquefied natural gas and a possible pipeline, with Azerbaijan on gas supplies for its isolated Nakhchivan autonomous region, and with Syria on a gas-import deal have kept Turkey’s energy aspirations in the headlines.

    These developments should not come as a surprise.

    For those looking at the big picture, Anatolia’s tailor-made to be the geographic center of crisscrossing pipelines, inputs, and outlets for the flow of hydrocarbon resources. Turkey is surrounded by the world’s largest natural-gas reserves — Russia, the greater Caspian region, Iran, Iraq, the Gulf and Egypt — and one of the world’s greatest markets, the European Union.

    Decision makers in Ankara certainly see this big picture, and with projects like Nabucco are pushing to realize Turkey’s potential.

    Their counterparts in Brussels and other European capitals, however, often do not see the same picture.

    Turkey, for European decision makers, is the alternative energy corridor to the resources of the Caspian, a thoroughfare to connect EU consumers with producers such as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, allowing for supply diversification and less dependence on problematic Russian reserves.

    This limited view often leads to incongruent policies between Ankara and Brussels, not to mention already Turkey-skeptical leaders such as France’s Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel. The prolonged and difficult negotiations over Nabucco are just one example. 

    EU Myopia

    European energy policies, to the extent that there has been any unity of focus on reaching alternative reserves, have yet to take into account the enormous potential of genuinely partnering with Turkey as a global energy hub — as opposed to just hammering out a deal with Turkey because it controls the territory between the EU and the Caspian.

    It goes without saying that this myopia has led to complacency in Turkey’s EU accession process. One of the world’s largest markets for hydrocarbons has yet to open energy negotiations with the world’s largest energy hub, right on its doorstep.

    Most regrettably, this limited view of Turkey’s energy role among Western decision makers has contributed to an overall trans-Atlantic sense of “the loss of Turkey.” Ankara’s deals with Moscow on South Stream are seen as undermining the strategic Western-oriented Nabucco project. Turkish policymakers’ openness to including Russia and Iran in projects that are at least partly meant to strengthen the sovereignty of those powers’ smaller neighbors — and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s chummy relationship with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — have more than just raised eyebrows in Washington and Brussels.

    But, again, that view ignores the bigger map on the tables of Ankara. Turkey’s energy ambitions have evolved into a fully fledged multivector policy. And, given Turkey’s overwhelming dependence on Russian natural gas for its own consumption, it is surprising that Ankara is still so open to Western-oriented projects.

    To deny Turkey’s multivector energy policies and potential would be to take Ankara for granted. It is a losing proposition for proponents of Western-oriented projects such as Nabucco to expect not to compete with counteroffers from the other major energy players in Turkey’s neighborhood.

    It behooves Western decision makers to fully appreciate Turkey’s energy big picture or risk upcoming surprises such as Armenian electricity exports to Turkey and a Russia-dominated Turkish nuclear sector. The “world’s largest energy hub” headline is not only aimed at puffing up chests in Turkey, but at turning heads in Europe and the United States.

    Alexandros Petersen is Dinu Patriciu fellow for trans-Atlantic energy security and associate director of the Eurasia Energy Center at the Atlantic Council. The views expressed in this commentary are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.

    https://www.rferl.org/a/Turkeys_Multivector_Energy_Hub_Ignore_At_Your_Peril/1811254.html

  • A Georgian-Armenian Border Dispute?

    A Georgian-Armenian Border Dispute?

    By Ara Khachatourian on Aug 27th, 2009

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    Armenia-Georgia border

    The complicated situation plaguing the Georgian regions bordering Armenia, known as the Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakhk region, is being compounded as Georgian authorities are prohibiting farmers there to work, essentially claiming that the land on which they live is Georgian territory.

    The focal point of this recent flare up is the border city of Bavra, whose residents were issued deeds by the Armenian State Committee on Real Estate from 1992 to 2004. But, because the Soviet demarcation of borders left a legal uncertainty, Georgia has intermittently annexed portions of that land and claimed it as its own by planting trees and vegetation and expanding its “forests.” This move is beeing seen as effectively seizing Armenian territory.

    This has created confusion in the area, with Armenian border guards not allowing Armenian residents of Bavra to cross the border, in an effort to not enflame matters, while on the other hand, Georgian border guards are being granted permission to arrest the people who have been living and working there for decades.

    Bavra community head Koriun Sumbulyan said that Georgian authorities have prevented the farmers to enter a 300-hectar lot on the “legally uncertain” area. This move has affected the economic well-being of the residents, who have appealed to the Armenian Foreign Ministry for assistance but have not received clear-cut answers.

    It is estimated that if the current status quo is not challenged and Georgian authorities are allowed to continue this “restructuring of the border,” Georgia could advance within the current Armenian border to the tune of 400 meters, where the boundaries of the Bavra village end.

    This revelation further enflames an already volatile situation for the majority-Armenian-populated region of Javakhk as a direct result of Tbilisi’s treatment of ethnic groups in Georgia. Javakhk Armenian community organizations have appealed to the central authorities and to the international community, thus far, to no avail.

    The Armenian government has reassured that the proper procedures were in place to address the issue, yet Armenia, since its independence has not had a clear strategy or policy toward Javakhk.

    Aside from the fallout from last summer’s war, which continues to have adverse effects on Armenia, Azeri and Turikic nations are increasing the population in the areas immediately bordering Armenia. In fact, on Wednesday, the Meskheti Community of Azerbaijan announced that it would be disbanding at the beginning of next year, because it has fulfilled its mission of populating the “displaced” Meskheti Turks in Georgia, “per Georgian law.”

    The Saakashvili administration has not learned its lesson from last year’s war and continues to embroil its population in conflicts fraught with intimidation and violation of basic human rights. Unfortunately, this behavior is only encouraged-and Armenian lives further endangered-partially by the flawed policies of the US, which has allowed Georgian authorities to take liberties that are outside of democratic norms.

    At the same time, the Armenian authorities’ unwillingness to engage in matters related to the threat facing the population of Javakhk, as well as Armenia’s border, exacerbates the situation further. It’s high time for a clear and concise policy toward Georgia, and more important a strategy on Javakhk.

  • Russia Gazprom unveils strategies for Turkey

    Russia Gazprom unveils strategies for Turkey

    Published: Friday 21 August 2009   

    Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has acquired a majority stake in the Turkish Bosphorus Gas Corporation, hoping to boost its investment and become a powerful player in the future strategic Eurasian gas hub to be established in Turkey, the Russian press announced on 19 August.

    Gazprom has expanded its share in Bosphorus Gas Corporation A.S. to 51 per cent, writes the daily Kommersant. The company, specialised in sales to final consumers, is expected to become a key player in the process of liberalization of the Turkish market, including the privatization of the gas supply network, the daily adds. 

    Gazprom had until now a 40% share in Bosphorus Gas, through its daughter company Gazprom Germania ZMB. The current share is 51% and the aim is to achieve soon a 71% share, officials said. But the Turkish press reportedly said that Gazprom already controls 71%, as it had acquired the shares of a Turkish key shareholder. 

    An unnamed high representative of Gazprom said that his company’s strategy is to make out of Bosphorus Gas “a powerbase of the Russian monopoly on the Turkish internal market”. 

    According to the source, Bosphorus Gas will boost its gas volume trade, participate in the privatization of pipelines and in building underground gas storages in Turkey. “In the perspective of Turkey becoming a huge world gas hub, Gazprom needs to have here its own companies,” the Gazprom representative told Kommersant. 

    On 6 August the prime ministers of Turkey and Russia signed a series of agreements on energy projects, including on Turkey’s acceptance that the “South Stream” gas pipeline would pass through Turkish territorial waters. As one of the aims of Russia with “South Steam” is to bypass Ukraine, the move would also help bypass Ukrainian territorial waters. 

    The source, quoted by Kommersant, however, dismissed the participation of Bosphorus Gas in “South Stream”, or in EU-favoured rival Nabucco pipeline.