Turkish Forum

Category: Eastern Europe

  • Turkey, Russia to work on simplified customs to overcome trade row

    Turkey, Russia to work on simplified customs to overcome trade row

    ISTANBUL – Russia and Turkey are working on a simplified customs system in order to overcome the ongoing trade row between the countries. Russian and Turkish foreign ministers also emphasized the friendship and significant cooperation between the two neighbors.

    The Russian Foreign Minister paid a one-day working visit to Turkey on Tuesday where he met his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in Istanbul. The two ministers had discussed the trade row, recent developments in Caucasus, and Iran and Iraq. 

    Russia was not discriminating against Turkey in the trade relations between the countries, hit by a recent customs dispute, Lavrov told the joint conference with Babacan, adding Russian customs authorities were working to simplify their bilateral customs system.

    Hundreds of trucks transporting Turkish exports to Russia have been held at the country’s checkpoints for up to four weeks, costing exporters billions of dollars in losses.

    The row has triggered speculation that Russia is trying to punish Turkey for allowing U.S. warships carrying aid to Georgia to pass through the Bosporus to the Black Sea.

    Lavrov, however, denied that stricter Russian controls on Turkish imports are politically motivated, underlining Russia’s commitment to reach the 25-billion-dollars trade volume target in 2008.

    He said some countries had breached customs regulations prompting Russian authorities to take more stringent measures.

    Babacan said he believed that trade problems between Turkey and Russia would be overcome with a flexible attitude and the cooperation of Russia.

    “We discussed in a sincere and constructive way the problems caused by keeping and checking Turkish products at Russian customs gates longer than usual,” Babacan told the conference.

    SUPPORT TO CAUCASIAN PLATFORM

    Russia also reiterated its support to the Turkey-sponsored idea of forming a Caucasian stability and partnership platform.

    “We have also agreed to further develop cooperations (in the Black Sea) such as the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)”, he said.

    Turkey had offered to form a Caucasus alliance to contribute peaceful solutions to the conflicts in the region. The alliance is envisaged to bring together Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, though the task seems to be hard given the bilateral issues between these countries.

    Lavrov said some conditions should be met in order to take part in such a formation. A similar comment was also made by the Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili who met Babacan on Sunday.

    CRITICISM FOR NATO

    Turkish and Russian top diplomats also agreed to maintain security and peace in the region, adding that international responsibilities were violated and attacks were staged on South Ossetia.

    “Under those circumstances recognition of independence of Ossetia and Abkhazia was the only way out,” Lavrov added. He said recognition would not only protect the security of Abkhazia and South Ossetia but also it would be the only alternative for those people to pursue their existence.

    He also reiterated Russia’s support for sending an international police mission to Georgia to help maintain security around South Ossetia and the similarly secessionist region of Abhkazia.

    “We are in favor of an international police mission in the security zone, especially in the framework of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe),” the Russian minister said.

    Lavrov criticized NATO members for arming Georgia ahead of last months conflict over a rebel region.

    “International agreements were violated when Georgia was given arms… In practice, it was NATO countries who were arming (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili,” Lavrov said.

    Lavrov said Moscow had no intention of keeping its forces there “forever”.

    STRESSING GOOD RELATIONS

    Both ministers also underlined the relations between two countries based on friendship and cooperation.

    Babacan said the two countries’ have been cooperating on energy, and hoped that new joint projects would be implemented in the future.

    “Turkey has a key position in transferring oil and natural gas of Russia and other producer companies in the region to consumer markets safely and economically,” he said.

    Lavrov said the relations between two countries are intact and acknowledged Turkey’s responsibilities as a NATO member.

    Source : Hurriyet

  • Russian FM denies trade discrimination against Turkey

    Russian FM denies trade discrimination against Turkey

    ANKARA, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) — Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday denied there is discrimination against Turks in trade issues.At a joint press conference in the Turkish largest city of Istanbul after talks with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan, Lavrov said “Concrete approaches were assessed and our customs administration proposed a simplified customs system.”

    Since last week, Turkish exporters began suffering delays at Russian border crossings. Turkey charged Russia as imposing non-tariff barriers against Turkish exports, saying it was against rules of the World Trade Organization and other international agreements.

    Turkey has threatened to retaliate against new Russian import controls that are seen as an attempt to punish Turkey for allowing U.S. warships carrying aid to Georgia to pass through the Turkish straits, which connect the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.

    Lavrov said “This is not an action directed against Turkey; Turkey is not being singled out,” stressing “There can be no politics involved in trade.”

    He said that Turkey was the top trade partner of Russia, and the target of relations between Turkey and Russia was “cooperation on basis of advanced multilateral partnership.”

    Lavrov, who arrived in Istanbul for a working visit, said relations between Turkey and Russia had always been friendly and their investments and cooperation were developing each day.

    Meanwhile, Babacan said he believed that trade problems between Turkey and Russia would be overcome with a flexible attitude and cooperation of Russia.

    “We discussed in a sincere and constructive way the problems caused by keeping and checking Turkish products at Russian customs gates longer than usual,” the semi-official Anatolia news agency quoted Babacan as saying.

    Last year, Turkish exports to Russia were only 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 23.5-billion-dollars imports from Russia, mainly oil, natural gas and mineral oil.

    Babacan defined Turkey and Russia as two neighboring countries, and said that Turkey was seeing Russia as not only a friend and neighbor but also as its main trade and energy partner.

    The foreign minister underlined importance of cooperation in energy, and hoped that new joint projects would be implemented in the future.

    “Turkey has a key position in transferring oil and natural gas of Russia and other producer companies in the region to consumer markets safely and economically,” he said.

    Babacan expressed belief that the cooperation between two countries would contribute to energy supply safety.

    Russia is Turkey’s largest trade partner. Trade volume between the two countries was estimated to reach 38 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2008.

    Editor: Mu Xuequan

    Source : China view

  • Georgian, Russian FMs expected in Turkey

    Georgian, Russian FMs expected in Turkey

    ANKARA – The foreign ministers of Georgia and Russia are expected to visit Turkey separately in a few days’ time for talks on the escalating crisis in the Caucasus, a government official said Friday.Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will host his Georgian counterpart Eka Tkeshelashvili on Sunday in Istanbul, two days before he meets Sergei Lavrov of Russia on September 2 in the same city, said the official, who requested anonymity.

    There were no plans for a three-way ministerial meeting, he added.

    Turkey was put on edge as Russia sent tanks and troops into Georgian territory on August 8, a day after a Georgian offensive to retake the rebel region of South Ossetia.

    Tensions increased on Tuesday when Russia recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia — another secessionist Georgian teritory on the Black Sea — as independent states.

    Turkey, which has developed close ties with Georgia, said at the time that it supported its northeastern neighbour’s territorial integrity, but refrained from openly condemning Russia.

    Ankara has in recent years worked hard to improve ties with Moscow, which has become an important trading partner and Turkey’s biggest supplier of natural gas.

    Russia is on the other hand angry that NATO member Turkey has allowed US and NATO warships through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits into the Black Sea.

    Moscow has accused the Atlantic alliance of building up its forces in the Black Sea and has said it was taking “measures of precaution”.

    NATO has denied Russia’s accusations while Turkey says the ships’ passage was in line with the 1936 Montreaux Convention which sets limits for the number and type of military vessels in the Black Sea.

    NATO says five ships are currently in the Black Sea for routine exercises planned before the Georgian conflict while two US warships are in Georgia to provide humanitarian aid.

    han/gk

    Source : Turkishpress

  • Russia-Georgia Conflict Puts Turkey in Vulnerable Position

    Russia-Georgia Conflict Puts Turkey in Vulnerable Position

    The Russia-Georgia conflict has put Turkey in a tight spot. Will Turkey side with the United States, its NATO ally, and let more U.S. military ships into the Black Sea to assist Georgia? Or will it choose Russia which also shares a Black Sea coast with Turkey? As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, ever since Turkey joined NATO in 1952, it has hoped to never have to make a choice between the alliance and its Russian neighbor to the north.

    By Dorian Jones
    Istanbul

    The U.S. Navy coast guard cutter Dallas passes through Bosporus Strait, Istanbul, Turkey, 24 Aug 2008

    Turkey has been playing the role of mediator between various parties in the region: the United States and Iran; Israel and Syria; Pakistan and Afghanistan. But as more U.S. warships pass through the narrow Turkish-controlled strait into the Black Sea to deliver aid to Georgia, a time for choosing sides may have arrived.

    Last weekend, U.S. warships used the Turkish straits to deliver aid to Georgia. A Russian official condemned the move and warned Turkey it was obliged to enforce the rules of an agreement that gives a 21 day limit on any warship from a country that does not border the Black Sea.

    The Turkish government is responsible for policing the 32-kilometer Bosporus, the only route for ships traveling to the Black Sea, under the Montreux agreement of 1936. The Bosporus provides sole access for ships to Georgia’s Black Sea ports.

    International relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Bilgi University said this has put Turkey in a precarious position.

    “Turkey is a NATO member and is also a neighbor of Georgia’s and great supporter of Georgia both economically and militarily,” he said. “And Turkey controls the passage from and to the Black Sea. Therefore whatever happens next Turkey is going to find itself impacted by the developments.”

    Also at stake is Turkey’s trade relations with Russia. Turkey’s trades more goods with Russia than any other country, mostly because of Turkey’s dependence on Russian gas.

    “We have very good economic relations with Russia,” said Ozel. “Our trade is over $10 billion and we are overly dependent on Russian gas at 64 percent and 40 percent for Russia oil.”

    Turkey has been trying to boost trade with Moscow as it struggles with a current account deficit that’s growing as energy costs soar.

    But Russia has introduced new custom regulations which, according to the Turkish trade minister Kursad Tuzmen, could cost Turkey as much as $3 billion. Tuzmen attacked the regulations as political, saying Moscow may be punishing it for allowing the U.S. ships to pass through the Bosporus.

    Tuzman said that on September 1 Turkey will impose curbs on Russian exports and withdraw support for its membership of the World Trade Organization.

    But a Turkish diplomatic source said that Ankara is determined not to be drawn into the conflict. Much of the Turkish media is also calling for a neutral stance.

    With the Turkish prime minister visiting Moscow and Tbilisi, Ankara is now working hard to secure peace. Soli Ozel doesn’t believe such efforts have much chance of success, but still thinks they are important.

    “For the moment I see it as an empty shell and as a good will gesture. If anything comes out of it will be good, and if nothing comes out of it no one will blame Turkey,” said Ozel. “It is better than what the Europeans can and would do anyway.”

    This weekend Georgia’s foreign minister, Eka Tkeshelashvili, is due to visit Turkey, while his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, is expected next week. While few people give little chance of any breakthrough, experts say the real motive behind such efforts is for Turkey to balance its relations between Russia and the West. But with another U.S. warship headed to the Black Sea this weekend, those efforts are predicted to get increasingly difficult.

    Source : Voice of America

  • Turkey in tight spot between Russia and NATO

    Turkey in tight spot between Russia and NATO

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – NATO-member Turkey is treading a fine line between its loyalty to the alliance and its economic interests in its Black Sea neighbor Russia, with some fearing Ankara could find itself at the frontline of a new Cold War.Evidence of Turkey’s dilemma in the standoff between the West and Russia over its action against Georgia was on display last week, when two U.S. ships sailed through the Istanbul Strait on their way to the Black Sea.

    Read the full story…

  • The Montreux Convention and energy — outdated or essential?

    The Montreux Convention and energy — outdated or essential?

    By JOHN C.K. DALY
    UPI International Correspondent
    Published: Aug. 27, 2008 at 4:57 PM
    WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) — The five-day military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the disputed enclave of South Ossetia has thrown into the spotlight a nearly forgotten 72-year-old treaty governing the passage of both merchantmen and warships between the Mediterranean and Black seas through the Bosporus and Dardanelles, collectively known as the Turkish Straits.

    The 1936 Montreux Convention roiled relations between Washington, which wanted to send humanitarian aid on massive vessels through the Turkish Straits, and Ankara, which has steadfastly insisted on the terms of the treaty being respected. The incident is a reminder, if any is needed, that despite Turkey and the United States being close allies and NATO compatriots, the two nations’ strategic interests do not always run in tandem. While America and its NATO allies attempt to cram as many warships as legally allowed up the Turkish Straits, thoughtful analysts should remember that the passage is also a conduit for massive tankers of up to 200,000 tons or more. In 2006, tankers carrying more than 140 million tons of Azeri, Kazakh and Russian oil used the Turkish Straits. Washington’s increasingly aggressive stance with the Kremlin over South Ossetia could have a direct impact on these oil shipments, something that hawks both inside the Beltway and the Kremlin should consider.

    The Turkish Straits consist of two waterways connected by the landlocked Sea of Marmara. The 17-mile-long Bosporus, which debouches into the Black Sea, bisects Istanbul with its 11 million inhabitants, and its sinuous passage is only a half-mile wide at its narrowest point at Kandilli and has a convoluted morphological structure that requires ships to change course at least 12 times, including four separate bends that require turns greater than 45 degrees. At its southern end the Bosporus empties into the Sea of Marmara, which in turn connects to the 38-mile-long Dardanelles. Under good conditions merchant vessels currently canpass the 200 miles of the Turkish Straits in about 16 hours.

    Under Montreux, Turkish sovereignty is recognized over the entire channel, but while the agreement guarantees merchantmen unhindered passage, the passage of warships of non-Black Sea nations is tightly regulated, which has led to the current friction between Washington and Ankara. Disputes over the waterway date back to the dawn of European history. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey recount the struggles of the Trojan War, which is assumed to have occurred in the 13th or 12th century B.C.; modern archaeology has placed Troy at the entrance to the Dardanelles.

    The Turkish Straits now carry 50,000 vessels annually, making the passage the world’s second-busiest maritime strait, whose volume of traffic is exceeded only by the Straits of Malacca, and the only channel transiting a major city. The development of the former Soviet Caspian states’ energy riches has led to an explosion of tanker traffic through the Turkish Straits; in 1996, 4,248 tankers passed the Bosporus; a decade later 10,154 tankers made the voyage, a development that Ankara, worried about a possible environmental catastrophe, views with growing concern as the Turkish Straits have become a tanker superhighway. The tankers transport Russian, Kazakh and, until the 2006 opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Azeri crude to increasingly ravenous foreign markets.

    Under the terms of Montreux, Turkey cannot even charge tankers transit fees or require them to take on pilots to traverse the treacherous waterway.

    Montreux is quite explicit on the passage of foreign warships through the Turkish Straits, however, limiting non-riverain Black Sea forces to a maximum of 45,000 tons of naval vessels, with no single warship exceeding 30,000 tons.

    Washington originally proposed to send to Georgia two U.S. Navy hospital ships, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy, but both are converted oil tankers displacing 69,360 tons apiece, and the Turks demurred.

    Four ships belonging to the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 — Spain’s SPS Almirante Don Juan de Borbon, Germany’s FGS Luebeck, Poland’s ORP General Kazimierz Pulaski and the USS Taylor — last week passed into the Black Sea to Romania’s Constanza and Bulgaria’s Varna ports to participate in a NATO maritime exercise scheduled in October 2007 to conduct joint operations with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. The Bulgarian navy currently has one Koni-class, one Wielingen-class and three Riga-class frigates, one Tarantul and two Pauk-class corvettes, three Osa-class missile boats and a Romeo-class submarine, while Romania has three frigates, four light frigates, three Molniya-class corvettes, three torpedo boats, one minelayer, four minesweepers and 16 auxiliary ships. In contrast, the Russian Black Sea Fleet has 40 warships; its flagship is the guided missile cruiser Moskva. According to the Russian General Staff, these soon will be joined by an additional eight NATO warships, even as the Moskva dropped anchor in Abkhazian waters.

    The Pentagon finally got its chance to fly the flag when on Aug. 22 the USS McFaul (DDG-74, 8,915 tons) guided-missile destroyer loaded with humanitarian aid passed the Bosporus headed for Georgia with supplies such as blankets, hygiene kits and baby food, to be followed two days later by the USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716, 3,250 tons) cutter passing the Dardanelles, which eventually will be joined by the USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20, 18,400 tons), now loading supplies in Italy.

    The Kremlin is not pleased by the foreign show of naval force; Russian General Staff Deputy Chief Anatoly Nogovitsyn observed of the NATO exercise, “From the Russian point of view … the usefulness of this operation is extremely dubious,” later labeling the deployment “devilish.”

    The Turkish press is now full of speculation that Washington will pressure Turkey to revise Montreux, but is it really in America’s and its allies’ interests to be provocatively flying the flag in waters through which pass a number of tankers fueling European and Asian needs? As Turkey is allowed under Montreux to shut the Turkish Straits completely in the event of conflict, it is a question to which hawks in Europe and Washington ought to give more consideration.