Turkish Forum English

Category: EU Members

European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 Dec. 2004

  • Russia and Turkey face 5 year EU tariffs on steel tube fittings

    Russia and Turkey face 5 year EU tariffs on steel tube fittings

    The European Union imposed five-year tariffs on steel tube fittings from Russia and Turkey to curb competition for EU producers including Italy’s Virgilio Cena & Figli SpA.

    The duties as high as 23.8% punish Russian and Turkish exporters of the fittings, which are used to join tubes or pipes mainly in the petrochemical, energy, construction and shipbuilding industries, for selling in the 27 nation EU below cost. That practice is known as dumping.

    European manufacturers that also include Erne Fittings GmbH of Austria suffered “material injury” as a result of dumped imports from Russia and Turkey, the EU said in a decision made yesterday in Brussels and due to enter into force after publication in the bloc’s Official Journal on January 29.

    The five year duties follow provisional anti dumping levies introduced six months ago and confirm those rates of 23.8% on Russian exporters and as high as 16.7% on Turkish exporters. Sardogan Endustri ve Ticaret faces a 2.9% duty, RSA Tesisat Malzemeleri San ve Ticaret AS a 9.6% levy and Unifit Boru Baglanti Elem. End. Mam. San. ve Tic. AS a 12.1% tax, while all other Turkish exporters are subject to a 16.7% rate.

    Russian and Turkish exporters increased their combined share of the EU market for steel tube fittings to 5% in the 12 months through September 2011 from 2% in 2008.

    Source – Bloomberg

  • Heartstopping moment would-be assassin aims gun at Bulgarian Turkish leader’s head and pulls the trigger… but victim survives after weapon misfires

    Heartstopping moment would-be assassin aims gun at Bulgarian Turkish leader’s head and pulls the trigger… but victim survives after weapon misfires

    Ahmet Dogan

    • Ahmed Dogan was giving speech at conference in capital Sofia
    • Dramatic footage shows man storming the stage and attempting to shoot the politician from point blank range
    • Weapon fails to fire allowing Mr Dogan time to escape
    • Security guards and politicians kick and beat attacker to the ground

    A Bulgarian politician today survived an extraordinary assassination attempt when a man stormed the stage and held a gun to his head as he was giving a speech.

    Fortunately for Ahmed Dogan, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the weapon misfired giving him time to react and hit the would-be assassins hand out of the way.

    Before he can attempt a second shot the unidentified suspect is tackled to the ground by security guards and delegates attending the conference in Sofia.

    Television footage showed the man jumping out of the audience and interrupting a speech by 58-year-old Dogan, who has led the party for almost a quarter of a century. 

    Security guards and politicians are then seen beating and kicking the attacker as he is pinned to the ground.

    ‘Ahmed Dogan is in good health. Everything is under control,’ MRF official Ceyhan Ibryamov told journalists.

     

    Police said they had arrested a 25-year-old man from the Black Sea town of Burgas who was also carrying two knives.

    The liberal MRF party represents ethnic Turks and other Muslims who make up about 12 percent of Bulgaria’s 7.3 million-strong population.

    Dogan is seen as one of Balkan country’s most influential political figures. The MRF was a junior partner in the previous Socialist-led cabinet.

    In 1996, former Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov was found shot dead near his home in Sofia, though attacks on politicians are rare.

     

     

    Daily Mail

  • FM: Turkey against unilateral intervention in Mali

    FM: Turkey against unilateral intervention in Mali

    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has stated that Ankara is against the unilateral intervention in Mali, adding that all efforts to restore Mali’s territorial integrity should be carried out under the United Nations umbrella.

    Davutoglu_230811French ground troops last Wednesday pressed northward in Mali toward territory occupied for months by militants in the start of a land assault that came after five days of air strikes that did little to erode rebel gains.

    Speaking as a guest speaker of the semi-official Anatolia news agency Editorial Desk on Friday, Davutoglu assessed current topics from Turkey’s foreign policy, including the Syrian crisis, to the French military intervention in Mali, the latest developments from Iraq as well as Turkish-Israeli relations.

    Davutoglu’s remarks regarding the intervention in Mali were the first comments by a Turkish official since the French-led military operation in Mali, aided by the country’s African neighbors and Western powers to fight against rebels who occupied the northern provinces, began eight days ago.

    Northern Mali fell under rebel control after a March military coup in Bamako triggered a Tuareg-led rebel offensive that seized the north and split the West African nation in two.

    The minister’s Mali remarks came a day after the Foreign Affairs Ministry released a diplomatically written statement with no clear position on Ankara’s stance on the issue.

    Turkey on Thursday said Ankara is closely monitoring the developments in Mali and it will continue supporting international efforts to restore national reconciliation and democracy through free elections as fighting raged on the eighth day of the French-led military intervention to wrest back

    via FM: Turkey against unilateral intervention in Mali – Trend.Az.

  • German Chancellor to visit Turkey on February 25

    German Chancellor to visit Turkey on February 25

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a visit to Turkey on February 25, TRT English reported on Saturday.

    Angela-Merkel

    German Chancellor is expected to meet President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    Bilateral relations, Turkey’s fulll membership process to the European Union, developments in Syria and Patriot missiles to be installed along Turkey-Syria border will be top talking points during Merkel’s visit.

    Besides Merkel, German Interior Minister and members of a German Parliament commission set up to investigate far-right murders, will also arrive in Turkey for an official visit.

    via German Chancellor to visit Turkey on February 25 – Trend.Az.

  • ‘Turkey can contribute to EU’s foreign and security policies’

    ‘Turkey can contribute to EU’s foreign and security policies’

    Bagıs gave a lecture titled “The Future of Turkey-EU relations”.

    110807Turkey’s EU Minister Egemen Bagıs said that if the political blockade before Turkey in the EU negotiation process is lifted, it can open, in the technical sense, 10 chapters in 12 months and 15 chapters in 18 months for negotiations.

    Bagıs gave a lecture titled “The Future of Turkey-EU relations” at Stockholm University during his visit to Sweden.

    Touching on deep-rooted relations between Turkey and Sweden in his speech, Bağış said that today the two countries have good relations.

    Bagıs said that he is pleased with Sweden’s support for Turkey’s EU membership.

    Stating that the EU is going through one of the worst crises in history, Bagıs said that this crisis is not only economic but also political, quoting some experts as saying that this crisis stems from Europeans not having confidence in the “European integration project.”

    “New members, who have high performance, will contribute to EU having a more important place in the global system. Turkey will significantly contribute to Europe’s future” he said.

    Bagıs pointed out that Turkey is an important regional and international player with its gradually increasing power and sound economy, underlining that the Turkish economy is Europe’s fastest growing economy.

    “Turkey can share costs for the Euro zone crisis to be solved” he said.

    Bagıs said that Turkey can also contribute to EU’s foreign and security policies.

    “Turkey represents a new center of gravity stretching from the Balkans to North Africa. Its historic ties and experiences in the recent past with the Balkans, Caucasus and Middle East, can contribute to Turkey’s shaping EU’s policies on these significant and sensitive regions” he added.

    Reminding that Turkey has recently released its own progress report, Bağış said that this report indicates Turkey’s determination.

    TRT

    via News.Az – ‘Turkey can contribute to EU’s foreign and security policies’.

  • Turkey Opposes Letting Greece Name Imams

    Turkey Opposes Letting Greece Name Imams

    Turkish officials have slammed legislation that will enable Greek authorities to appoint imams at state schools and mosques in Western Thrace.

    Turkish_schoolsThe amendment voted this week, which will allow religious teachers to teach the Quran, is expected to curb the influence of the Turkish Consulate, which has funded imams and the Quran teaching centers.

    “Greece has disregarded the legitimate demands of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace, taking an overbearing stance,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Athens only recognizes a Muslim minority.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras rejected the allegations, saying the move is part of Greek efforts to improve the minority’s religious and cultural status.

    Tensions remain in Greece among the Muslim community which has been pressing the government to build them an official mosque instead of forcing them to worship in makeshift halls and basements.

    via Turkey Opposes Letting Greece Name Imams | Greece.GreekReporter.com Latest News from Greece.