Category: Iran

Turkey rebuffs U.S. pressure to slash trade with Iran

A top Turkish official says in the U.S. that Turkish firms are ‘free to make their own decisions’ about complying with sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran over its nuclear program. Turkey has rebuffed a U.S. effort to persuade it to scale back its trade ties with Iran despite a persistent U.S. lobbying campaign this week in Washington and Ankara. Ali Babacan, a Turkish deputy prime minister, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that Turkish companies remained “”free to make their own decisions”” about whether to comply with U.S. and European sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran. The sanctions, the latest round of which was adopted in June, were designed to build enough economic pressure on Iran to limit its disputed nuclear program. Turkey is a major trading partner with its neighbor to the east, and its failure to comply with the sanctions is a threat to their success. Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said last month that his country wanted to triple its trade with Iran. The Obama administration this week mounted a major effort to bring Turkey in line. The Treasury Department’s point man on Iran sanctions, Stuart Levey, visited Ankara, the Turkish capital, on Wednesday to urge Turkish officials to cooperate in the sanctions effort, even as American officials in Washington offered to broaden U.S.-Turkish trade ties. Yet Babacan, a founding member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, said Turkish businesses would be unwise to break off ties to Iranian firms when many European, Chinese and Russian companies “”are still doing quite a big business with Iran and finding open doors.”” Turkey receives about a third of its energy from Iran, and their two-way trade, valued at more than $10 billion, is especially important to impoverished areas of Turkey along the border with Iran. Despite the government’s attitude, U.S. and European sanctions may have some bite, including for Turkish banks, which risk losing access to the U.S. market if they do business with companies that trade with Iran. Zafer Caglayan, Turkey’s minister of state for foreign trade, complained this month about U.S. pressure on the banks. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

October 23, 2010
U.S. presses Turkey to enforce sanctions on Iran

By Tulay Karadeniz

and Ibon VillelabeitiaPosted 2010/10/21 at 1:31 pm EDT

ANKARA, Oct. 21, 2010 (Reuters) — A top U.S. government official prodded Turkey on Thursday to enforce international sanctions against Iran, increasing pressure on Ankara to scale back its flourishing trade ties with its neighbor.

“All we want is the sanctions to be imposed throughout the world,” Stuart Levey, the treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told Turkish broadcaster NTV after meeting Turkish government and banking officials for two days to discuss U.S. and U.N. sanctions.

“The purpose of this visit is to maximize our chances that the sanctions imposed on Iran are successful,” Levey was quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News as telling a group of journalists.

“Turkey of course plays an important role given its proximity to Iran as a neighbor. Implementation of the sanctions here is as important as it is everywhere.”

A U.S. delegation visited Turkey in August to deliver a similar message to the country’s banks.

Turkey, a NATO member that aspires to join the European Union as well as a secular Muslim nation straddling Europe and Asia, has deepened economic and financial ties with Iran despite Western efforts to put the squeeze on the Islamic Republic.

The U.N. Security Council, United States and European Union have tightened sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment program, which Washington fears will be used to develop atomic bombs. Tehran says it wants peaceful nuclear energy only.

Turkey is bound by U.N. sanctions despite voting against them along with fellow rotating Security Council member Brazil and has said it is not obliged to follow non-U.N. sanctions.

But under U.S. law, Turkish banks with business in the United States could face U.S. penalties for dealing with Iranian firms blacklisted by Washington.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said last month Turkey wanted to triple its trade with Iran — which is Turkey’s second largest supplier of gas — at a time of growing international isolation of the Islamic Republic.

TURKISH BANKS

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said in Washington that Turkish banks had become hesitant about dealing with Iran, but Turkey had left decisions on whether to pull back following U.S. and European sanctions up to them.

While saying Turkey would comply with U.N. resolutions, Babacan said Ankara had not provided guidelines to its banking sector on how to deal with financial sanctions imposed by the Washington and the EU.

He also reiterated Turkey’s position that only diplomacy, not sanctions, would change Iran’s stance.

Tehran has defied a series of Security Council resolutions demanding that it shelve enrichment and open up to U.N. nuclear inspectors in exchange for trade and diplomatic benefits.

Levey, in the NTV interview, said: “Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Turkey will abide by the decision of the U.N. Security Council. We consider this as significant.”

Despite Ankara’s permissive stance toward Turkish firms dealing with Iran, Mustafa Koc, chairman of Turkey’s largest energy-to-banking conglomerate Koc Holding, said Turkish companies were starting to feel the U.S. pressure.

Tupras, Europe’s fourth biggest oil refiner and 51 percent owned by Koc, announced in August that it was no longer selling petroleum products to Iran.

“Tupras’ banking transactions are made in U.S. We are doing business with American Ford and Fiat, and indirectly with Chrysler. We simply can not take such a risk,” Koc told Hurriyet daily earlier this week.

Mark Fitzpatrick, an Iran expert at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Turkey was out of synch with world powers regarding Iran, undermining efforts to persuade Tehran to comply with international demands.

“I think it’s one point to talk to the neighbors, to have good relations, to have trade that is not restricted by the U.N. sanctions, but it’s another to send signals to Iran that the outside world is split,” he told Reuters in an interview.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

via NewsDailyon Iran.

October 22, 2010
Turkey injects peace hopes into Iran nuclear talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki received a warm welcome from Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in Ankara, where the visiting official discussed his country’s nuclear program with Turkish officials.

Just a day before his country’s chief nuclear negotiator meets with representatives from world heavyweights in Geneva, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki discussed his country’s contentious nuclear program with Turkish officials in Ankara and said he expected progress in the key talks.

Representatives from Britain, China, Russia and France as well as the European Union’s high commissioner for foreign and security policy, Javier Solana, will meet with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in Geneva to discuss Iran’s response to an offer made by world powers last month to encourage it to give up its sensitive nuclear work, which the West believes is aimed at building a nuclear bomb and Tehran says is for peaceful power-generation purposes.

For the first time, a representative from the United States, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, will also attend the talks, signaling a policy change on the part of Washington and raising hopes that a peaceful settlement may be found to an international dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

“The new negotiation process [and] the participation of a US diplomat look positive from the outset, but we hope that is reflected in the talks,” Mottaki told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. “We hope good results will come if the process continues in this way,” Mottaki said. Turkey, which has been mediating between Israel and Syria in recent months, has said it is also involved in talks with Iran and expressed support for today’s talks in Geneva, which could be pivotal in deciding whether diplomacy will succeed.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking later in the day, said Turkey was likely to assume a role in the diplomatic efforts for a solution. Asked whether Turkey’s role could be defined as mediation, he said he wouldn’t go that far. “But the parties may have expectations from us. Turkey may be asked to intervene in difficult times,” he said. Babacan also insisted that while Turkey is against the proliferation of nuclear weapons in its region, it also believes in the right of all countries to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Babacan has said in recent statements that there have been requests from both sides to “see Turkey in the picture” and that Turkey has been having talks with both sides over the past several weeks. Experts say Turkey, which has good ties with both Iran and the West, is well placed to offer credible assistance to help find a solution in the nuclear row, which Ankara fears could result in a new regional disaster.

In an interview with NTV Mottaki praised the role Turkey has played in the process, saying it was pursuing a “constructive stance.”

On Thursday US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley met with President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Babacan during a visit to Ankara. He did not comment on Iran’s nuclear program, but his visit led to speculation in the Turkish media that Turkey was passing his message to Mottaki about a US desire for normalization of relations with Iran.

As part of its diplomatic efforts, the US administration is floating a proposal to open a de facto US Embassy in Tehran. US diplomats would go to Iran for the first time since the countries broke off relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Mottaki insisted on specifically calling a US mission a “US interest-protection bureau,” instead of a diplomatic mission, but raised the prospect of talks on restoring fractured relations between Iran and the United States. “I think there might be an agreement both on the issue of opening a US interest-protection bureau in Iran and on the issue of direct flights to Iran,” he said.

Washington insists it will not negotiate with Iran as it has with North Korea until Tehran halts its enrichment and reprocessing of uranium. But it is supporting an effort led by the EU’s Solana that would allow for early talks with others in the six-nation group before such a step. Iran has rebuffed the attempt to persuade it to stop enrichment and reprocessing, which can produce the key ingredient for atomic weapons, and insists its nuclear program is designed only to produce electric power. Others, particularly the United States and Israel, maintain it is a cover for weapons development.

When asked whether Iran was ready to freeze any expansion of its nuclear program in return for the UN Security Council halting further sanctions against it, Mottaki declined to comment, saying, “Let’s not hurry.” The UN has so far imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Tensions with Iran have particularly intensified since Tehran tested missiles last week, alarming Israel and pushing up oil prices. Washington responded to the tests by saying it would defend its allies against any possible attacks.

Speaking to NTV, Mottaki said he saw almost no possibility of Israel or the United States attacking his country over its nuclear program. “The possibility of such an attack is almost zero,” he said. “It [Israel] is still going through the aftereffects of its defeat in Lebanon,” he said, referring to the 2006 war Israel launched against Lebanon’s Hezbullah guerrillas. There’s nothing left from the [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert period, so the Israelis know what’s going to happen,” he added.

Mottaki announced that the year 2009 would be marked as Iran-Turkey Culture Year, to celebrate the signing of a cultural cooperation agreement between the two countries 50 years ago. The two ministers discussed bilateral ties and Babacan said the two countries aimed to increase their trade volume to $20 billion from the current $10 billion. Mottaki, a former ambassador to Turkey for five years, also displayed his Turkish skills at the press conference, intervening a few times in the translation of his remarks giving brief answers to some questions in Turkish.

October 22, 2010
Turkey Maintains Reservations About US Missile Defense

Turkey Maintains Reservations About US Missile Defense

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 190

October 21, 2010 02:11

By: Saban Kardas

Turkey’s position on US efforts to create a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Europe has emerged as another source of tension in US-Turkish relations. The Bush administration originally contemplated the installment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe, yet failed to achieve its stated objectives in the face of strong Russian opposition. At the time, Turkey expressed a cautious position on such proposals, arguing that it should not proceed in a manner threatening to Russia. Recently, the Obama administration revived the idea as a central component of its policy of containing the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear program.

Turkey has been considered as a possible location for the system, possibly hosting a radar battery on its soil, which would detect missiles launched from its surrounding regions so that they could be intercepted by missiles stationed in Turkey or Eastern Europe. The US also moved to present the revamped program as a joint NATO project, in obvious attempts to garner wider diplomatic support, and perhaps ease Ankara’s concerns. However, given Turkey’s position on the Iranian nuclear issue, which already had pitted it against the US, Ankara has remained lukewarm towards invitations from Washington to join the project. The recent trend in Turkish foreign policy towards pursuing independent policies and growing questions as to whether it is still committed to the Alliance and its traditional relations with the US has made Turkey’s position all the more puzzling.

This issue has been at Turkey’s doorsteps visibly at least since Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Turkey in early September (EDM, September 8). Similarly, during his visit to Turkey in early October, NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, discussed this issue (www.cnnturk.com, October 8). Ankara’s position was again one of the main items when NATO foreign and defense ministers met on October 14 in Brussels to discuss the Alliance’s new strategic concept, which will be adopted at the NATO summit in Lisbon next month. Rasmussen urged alliance members to consider the proposal for adopting a missile shield seriously against threats from rogue states, as underlined in the draft strategic concept.

In Brussels, Turkish foreign and defense ministers, Ahmet Davutoglu and Vecdi Gonul, respectively, held a separate meeting with their US counterparts Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates. They conveyed Turkish concerns, especially its uneasiness with the proposed system being perceived as targeting Iran and Syria. They emphasized that the project must proceed as a defensive system, without designating any country as a potential aggressor. Otherwise, it could make these countries feel encircled and heighten tensions in the region. Turkey also reportedly expressed its desire to place the system under NATO’s command, and have it cover the entire territory of NATO members. Regarding the use of Turkish territory as a possible site for the system, the Turkish side apparently maintained its reservations (Dogan, October 14; Cihan, October 16).

Speaking to reporters upon his return to Turkey, Gonul, however, did not rule out Turkey’s participation. Gonul rejected labeling Turkey’s stance as simply putting up objections, noting that the two sides were negotiating, which will continue until the Lisbon summit. Interestingly, Gates also denied speculation that the US was pressuring Turkey and said they were simply continuing negotiations with an ally. Gonul preferred to highlight the potential benefits of the missile shield for Turkey’s own security. Referring to some smaller scale defense systems Turkey is undertaking, Gonul maintained that if a future NATO missile shield also covers Turkey, it might help the country save huge costs (Zaman, October 16, October 17).

Gonul apparently sees some opportunity for Turkey to participate in the missile shield project, since most of the costs would be borne by the United States. Turkey has considered missile defense systems since the 1990’s, but has failed to build an operational system, given its inability to shoulder the enormous costs of such a project and its limited technological know-how. One Turkish defense expert, Mustafa Kibaroglu, stressed that Turkey might opt to benefit from this project by seeking to gain a say in the decision making processes of the system and sharing technological expertise (Hurriyet Daily News, October 20).

During his trip to the US where he attended the 29th annual American-Turkish Council (ATC) conference in Washington, Gonul, accompanied by Turkish government officials and diplomats, continued the talks on the issue with their American counterparts. “Contrary to some press reports, we are not pressuring Turkey to make a contribution. But we do look to Turkey to support NATO’s adoption at the Lisbon summit of a territorial missile defense capability,” Gates said, underscoring the ongoing difficulties in bridging the differences of opinion (Today’s Zaman, October 20).

Unlike Davutoglu, who has been the architect of Turkey’s controversial Iran policy, Gonul might be less concerned about Turkey’s Iran portfolio and more sympathetic to the idea of benefiting from the missile shield project. Nonetheless, Ankara’s reservations over the ramifications of the project for its relations with its neighbors still run deep. Davutoglu has emphasized on many occasions that Turkey does not perceive any threats from the Middle East, and recently added that regional countries do not pose a threat to NATO, either (www.cnnturk.com, October 20).

Turkey might increasingly find itself between a rock and a hard place. Irrespective of whether NATO designates any targets, Iran, whom the US has already dubbed as a “rogue state,” might nonetheless perceive the missile shield as a threat. Turkey, thus, will find it hard to explain its support for the missile shield to its Middle Eastern neighbors, especially as it pursues a “zero problems with neighbors” policy and forges deeper regional integration in the Middle East. In contrast, given the deep-running problems currently bedeviling US-Turkish relations, caused by the row over the Iranian nuclear issue and Turkey’s disputes with Israel, Turkey might not afford to be the deal-breaker at NATO. Ankara already sparked the ire of the US and other NATO members, when it contemplated vetoing Rasmussen’s election last year (EDM, April 6, 2009).

Nonetheless, it may still be too early to determine the conditions under which Turkey could give its consent. Indeed, Turkey might prefer to continue “negotiations” on this issue until the Lisbon summit, and perhaps beyond.

https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-maintains-reservations-about-us-missile-defense/

October 21, 2010
Turkey: Iran sanctions affecting banking decisions

By DESMOND BUTLER

Turkey said Wednesday that U.S. and EU sanctions have led to hesitation by Turkish banks on doing business with Iran. But Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told reporters in Washington that he expects overall Turkish trade with Iran to increase.

Babacan that the Turkish government has let Turkish banks make their own decisions in the face of sanctions aimed at isolating Iran from the global financial sector. The sanctions target individuals and institutions deemed to be helping Iran develop its nuclear and missile programs.

“Turkish banks are hesitating,” he said. “Some of them are doing business with Iran, some are pausing to decide what to do.”

The U.S. Treasury Department’s point man on Iran sanctions, Stuart Levey, is visiting Turkey and Azerbaijan this week to discuss the sanctions with government officials and business leaders.

Babacan said that the sanctions were hitting the Iranian economy but doubted that they were making Iran rethink its nuclear program. Turkey has opposed sanctions as ineffective and damaging to the Turkish economy, since they target an important neighbor. Babacan stressed the importance for Turkey of trade with Iran, specially in the energy sector. He pointed out the volume of Turkish exports to Iran is about the same level as exports to the United States.

Babacan expects that trade with Iran, excluding oil and gas, will grow at a moderate pace. His boss, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said he would like to triple trade volumes in the next five years while still respecting the limits set by United Nations sanctions. That push, along with Turkey’s vote against sanctions in the U.N. Security Council has fed tensions with the West.

But with a booming economy, Turkey has growing energy needs, particularly for natural gas. It has said it plans to boost domestic consumption of natural gas from Iran and to export Iranian gas to Europe.

Read more:

October 21, 2010
Turkey, spurning U.S., says companies free to trade with Iran

WASHINGTON – Turkey on Wednesday rebuffed a U.S. effort to persuade it to scale back its trade ties with Iran, despite a persistent U.S. lobbying campaign this week in Washington and Ankara.

Ali Babacan, Turkey’s deputy foreign minister, told reporters in Washington that Turkish companies will remain “free to make their own decisions” about whether to comply with U.S. and European sanctions aimed at cutting off trade with Iran.

The sanctions, adopted last summer, were designed to build enough economic pressure on Iran to persuade its leaders to limit its disputed nuclear program. The United States and many other countries believe the program is aimed at obtaining know-how to build nuclear weapons, while Iran insists it seeks only peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Turkey is a major trading partner with its neighbor to the east, and its failure to comply with the sanctions is a major threat to their success. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month that his country wanted to triple its trade with Iran.

The Obama administration this week mounted a major effort to bring Turkey in line. The Treasury Department’s point man on Iran sanctions, Stuart Levey, visited Ankara on Wednesday to urge Turkish officials to cooperate in the sanctions effort, even as U.S. officials in Washington offered to broaden U.S.-Turkish trade ties.

Yet Babacan, a founding member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development party, said Turkish businesses would be unwise to break off ties to Iranian firms when many European, Chinese and Russian companies “are still doing quite a big business with Iran and finding open doors.”

Babacan, though acknowledging that the Iranian economy is coming under “more and more pressure,” said he still doubted whether Iran’s leadership — which had faced decades of sanctions — would fold. “It is very difficult to expect them to move just because they’re under pressure,” he said.

Turkey receives about one-third of its energy from Iran, and the two-way trade, valued at more than $10 billion, is especially important to impoverished areas along the border with Iran.

Despite the government’s attitude, the U.S. and European sanctions may have some bite, including for Turkish banks, which risk losing access to the U.S. market if they do business with companies that trade with Iran.

Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan complained this month about U.S. pressure on the banks, saying, “We cannot tolerate it.”

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is also trying to sharpen pressure on Chinese companies, whose behavior is the greatest threat to the sanctions. As other companies cut ties with Iran, Chinese firms appear to be snapping up energy, financial and arms business.

Philip Crowley, the chief State Department spokesman, said Monday the administration has given China the names of companies it suspects are violating sanctions rules, and have received promises that China will investigate.

paul.richter@latimes.com

Source: ctnow

October 21, 2010