Turkish Forum

Category: Middle East

  • Iran, Turkey Discuss Enhancement of Cultural Ties

    Iran, Turkey Discuss Enhancement of Cultural Ties

    Millet İran’a Yaptırımlara başlıyor, Türkiye ticaretini arttırma görüşmelerinde. Yaptırımlar bize 30 milyara maloldu’nun altyapısını hazırlıyorlar anlaşılan!

    Iran, Turkey Discuss Enhancement of Cultural Ties

    TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Cultural Attaché in Ankara Abulhassan Khalaj Monfared and Turkish Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Abdelrahman Ariji in a meeting in Ankara discussed expansion of bilateral ties, specially in cultural fields.

    		 A0871466

    During the meeting in the Turkish capital on Friday, Monfared and Ariji underlined the necessity for bolstering and reinvigorating cultural ties between Iran and Turkey.

    The two sides also called for holding the second meeting of the joint cultural relations committee in the near future.

    The Turkish side said that it will inform the Iranian side of the appropriate date for holding the meeting in future.

    Last month, Tehran’s Envoy to Ankara Alireza Bigdeli lauded the close ties between Iran and Turkey, and stressed that the relations between the two neighboring countries are moving in the right direction.

    Bigdeli said that he will do his utmost to develop and deepen mutual ties between the two countries.

    He further stressed that “he hopes to be able to accelerate the move to increase trade exchange volume” between the two countries.

    Iran and Turkey have recently expanded their bilateral relations, especially in trade and energy fields. Trade between Turkey and Iran has risen sharply over the past decade.

    Also, Turkey was Iran’s fifth-largest oil customer in 2011, buying around 200,000 barrels per day, 30 percent of its total imports and more than 7 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

    The two countries officials stressed the necessity for stronger relations and pursuing the planned increase of mutual trade to $30bln by 2015.
  • Turks aim to emulate Israel tech

    Turks aim to emulate Israel tech

    By Bloomberg News

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to catapult Turkey into the top 10 of the global economic elite over the next decade. To get there, he may need to spend more time mimicking the country he’s been feuding with.

    While Turkey and Israel have both shifted to manufacturing from farming since the Jewish state was established in 1948, it’s Israel that has succeeded in building high-margin industries. The tech index on Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul has 16 members and a market value of about $790 million. Israel’s TA BlueTech-50 Index, in an economy less than one-third the size, is valued at $16.5 billion.

    During Erdogan’s decade in power, which followed years of unstable and short-lived coalitions, inflation and interest rates plunged from more than 30 percent as the budget deficit and national debt shrank. The gains from that good housekeeping may be running out of steam, with economists and ministers saying Turkey needs an industrial breakthrough to achieve the next stage.

    “Turkey is nearing the limits of what it can do with macroeconomic stability,” said Serdar Sayan, a professor of economics at the TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara. The country “really needs to switch to higher value- added exports” and improve its education system to “compete with innovative countries like Israel,” he said.

    Structural Work

    Bulent Celebi, executive chairman and co-founder of AirTies, an Istanbul-based maker of wireless routers and Internet television technology, is one of the businessmen trying to push Turkey in that direction. While he’s optimistic about Turkey’s 2023 goals, “there’s a lot of structural work to do,” he said, including resolving the current-account deficit and producing energy domestically while economizing on its use.

    Celebi said his company has been developing products with Israeli companies including France Telecom SA’s Orca Interactive Ltd. unit, a maker of software for interactive televisions, because “they are good at innovative solutions.”

    “We are importing many high-tech and low-tech parts,” Celebi said in a phone interview. “We need to be able to produce them locally like China and also increase production of value-added products. Turkey needs to focus on specific sectors, like China, Taiwan and South Korea.”

    Turkish-Israeli ties are in the spotlight after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Erdogan on March 22, in a call arranged by President Barack Obama, to apologize for the killing by Israeli commandos of nine Turks aboard an aid ship bound for Gaza in 2010.

    U.S. Aid

    That incident, and Erdogan’s criticism of the Israeli military operation in Gaza that began in December 2008, strained a decades-old relationship between two of the main U.S. allies in the Middle East. Ties were built around defense, where Turkey benefited from Israel’s technological advances, buying drones and upgrading tanks.

    Israel receives about $3 billion a year in U.S. military aid, of which close to 75 percent must be spent on equipment or services from U.S. companies, a rule that fosters joint technological research by the two countries. Among the largest American suppliers to Israel are Chicago-based Boeing Co., Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. in Waltham, Massachusetts.

    Trade between Turkey and Israel has largely survived the diplomatic standoff, though it declined to $4 billion last year from a record $4.5 billion in 2011, according to Turkish government data. A decline in Turkish imports of chemicals used in manufacturing is one of the reasons, Joseph Avraham, Israel’s consul for economic affairs in Turkey, said in an e-mail.

    Turkey Growth

    In the Erdogan decade, Turkey became the world’s 17th- biggest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. It posted annual average growth of 5.1 percent, compared with 4.1 percent for Israel. That’s reflected in stock-market gains, with Turkey’s benchmark index rising about 700 percent, compared with about 300 percent for the Israeli equivalent. In the previous decade, Israel, whose population is less than one-tenth the size of Turkey’s, was ahead on both counts.

    Turkey hasn’t moved upwards in the global league when measured by per-capita GDP, though. In the 10 years through 2013, Turkey’s ranking by that measure remained at 67th in the world, according to the latest IMF data. Israel climbed six places to 27th.

    Israeli assets are ranked as less risky by analysts, and the country was upgraded to developed-market status in 2009 by MSCI Inc., whose stock indexes are tracked by investors with about $7 trillion of assets. Israeli debt is classed as investment grade by the three main credit-rating companies, while only Fitch Ratings has given Turkish bonds that accolade.

    Hot Money?

    The IMF data highlight the Turkish economy’s biggest weakness, too. Since Erdogan’s party came to power in 2002, Turkey has run up a deficit on the current account, the broadest measure of trade, of about $353 billion, compared with a $32.6 billion surplus in Israel.

    That’s a measure of the greater competitiveness of Israel’s economy. The gap leaves Turkey more dependent on volatile movements of short-term foreign capital to finance growth. When that so-called hot money is flowing to emerging markets, Turkish growth typically outpaces Israel’s. When investors favor safety, the Israeli economy is more resilient.

    Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan says producing higher value-added goods is the only way to cut the current- account deficit. “Last year, for every kilogram of exports, Turkey’s added value was $1.58,” he said in an interview last month. “For Germany it was $4 and for Japan it was $3.50. The solution is there.”

    Ballistic Technology

    Turkey needs to grow at least 6 percent a year to meet the top-10 target by 2023, the centennial of the republic, Caglayan said on April 1. Growth eased to 2.2 percent last year, the slowest since a recession in 2009, after the central bank raised borrowing costs to rein in a credit boom.

    Nurol Holding, based in Ankara, is one of the Turkish companies waiting for better ties with Israel so it can resume partnerships. It was an Israeli company that supplied the ballistic protection technology that Nurol’s unit FNSS Savunma Sistemleri AS used to equip the armored vehicles it makes against land mines, said Feyiz Erdogan, senior legal counselor for Nurol, in an interview.

    “Israeli companies have always came up with innovative technologies,” said Erdogan, who’s no relation to the prime minister. “If relations are normalized, why shouldn’t we benefit?”

    Innovative Companies

    Turkey’s biggest exporters such as Vestel Elektronik Sanayi & Ticaret AS, which has about one-fifth of the European LCD television market, often import some of the highest value-added components to make their products.

    “Israel has a high-tech export-oriented economy,” said Alon Liel, former director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and ex-chairman of the Israel-Turkey Business Council. “Turkey, though also focused on exports, isn’t as technologically advanced as it should be.”

    Government incentives are aimed at shifting some of the production, such as engines for cars, to local industry. Between 60 percent and 85 percent of the parts for Renault SA’s Turkish unit are made locally, according to the company.

    An overhaul of Turkey’s education system is needed to generate more innovation, economist Sayan said. Turkey currently has a “poorly educated population” and a system that doesn’t encourage creativity, he said.

    Even with success in those areas, Erdogan’s 2023 goals may be too ambitious, Sayan said: “It’s good to set targets for the country and it serves to boost public morale.” Entering the top 10, though, is probably “a dream.”

  • Minister: Turkey does not mind cooperation with Israel

    Minister: Turkey does not mind cooperation with Israel

    Azerbaijan, Baku, April 20 / Trend R.Hafizoglu /

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    Turkey does not mind cooperation with Israel following the completion of the process of normalization of relations, Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said, Sabah newspaper reported.

    The minister said this issue could be discussed after the full normalization of relations.

    Earlier, Al Jazeera channel has published information alleging that Turkey and Israel are negotiating on the transportation of Turkish goods through Israel.

    The agreement on normalisation of relations between Turkey and Israel was reached last Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, apologised for violations committed during the maritime operation that resulted in the deaths of Turkish citizens.

    The government heads agreed to restore normal relations including the return of ambassadors and Turkey’s refusal to legally prosecute Israeli servicemen.

  • Syria opposition must distance itself from “terrorists:” Germany

    Syria opposition must distance itself from “terrorists:” Germany

    Reuters
    Syria opposition must distance itself from “terrorists:” Germany
    Sat Apr 20 16:29:00 UTC 2013
    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Saturday the Syrian opposition must distance itself from extremist forces and he said Germany was skeptical about supplying weapons to the rebels.”We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces,” Westerwelle told reporters in Istanbul at a meeting of Syrian opposition leaders and their international backers.

    “We are skeptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union.”

    A U.S. official said on Friday Washington planned to provide about $100 million in new non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition that could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles.

    Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to announce the new aid package, which would mark a recalibration of U.S. policy toward Syrian rebel groups at Saturday’s meeting. Fresh U.S. humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees is also likely.

    The new assistance would stop short of supplying weapons to rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is also far less than what is sought by Syrian opposition leaders, U.S. allies Britain and France and some U.S. lawmakers.

    The 11-nation “core group” of the Friends of Syria, including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been deadlocked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011.

    Syria’s opposition has said it hopes the Istanbul meeting will give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel groups is the best way to end Assad’s rule.

    More than 70,000 have been killed in the revolt and subsequent civil war. But a military stalemate has set in and much of Syria is left in ruins because of a divided and ineffective opposition, a lack of action by foreign allies and Assad’s ability to rely on support from Russia and Iran.

    (Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Stephen Powell)
  • Syrian rebels told by West to unify and reject extremism

    Syrian rebels told by West to unify and reject extremism

    Syrian rebels told by West to unify and reject extremism

    Syrian rebels were told by their western backers on Saturday they had to present a united face and reject extremism in return for a major new package of non-lethal assistance.

    The West has been reluctant to provide even non-lethal aid to rebel fighters Photo: Reuters

    By Richard Spencer, Istanbul

    4:05PM BST 20 Apr 2013

    Foreign ministers of nations backing the Syrian opposition, including William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, met opposition leaders in Istanbul to thrash out a major new aid package.

    They continue to reject directly supplying the opposition with arms, despite fighting reaching a bloody stalemate across the country, but the US was on the verge of announcing up to $200 million in “non-lethal” military aid – equipment such as body armour and night-vision goggles.

    Diplomatic sources told The Daily Telegraph that in return the allies were demanding an end to internal wrangling in the opposition Syrian National Coalition, the Western-recognised political front for the rebels.

    The SNC was being asked to sign up to a three-pronged pledge. They had to reject extremism and present an inclusive face to the world that included religious minorities, secular groups and women as well as the dominant Islamist faction.

    Several secular members of the coalition have walked out in the last month, following the election of Ghassan Hitto, who is seen as close to the Muslim Brotherhood, as an interim prime minister for the rebels.

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    They are also being told to commit to secure Syria’s chemical weapons, a major security concern, and to present a detailed plan for “the day after” – how basic services will be run whenever President Bashar al-Assad is forced from office, assuming he is.

    Anti-Syrian regime protesters chant slogans and wave the Syrian revolutionary flag during a demonstration in Aleppo (AP)

    Time is running out,” one diplomatic source said, adding that the Coalition needed to show unity to be recognised as a credible leadership by those doing the fighting inside Syria.

    On Thursday, Mr Kerry told congressmen: “We want to make certain that the people we’re working with are committed to pluralism, diversity, to a democratic process. There have to be a series of guarantees.”

    The West, represented in the “Friends of Syria” group, has been reluctant to provide even non-lethal aid to rebel fighters, keen not to get sucked into another Middle Eastern war and afraid of bolstering the many jihadist forces among the rebels.

    But America is believed to be coordinating with Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia, which are sending weapons, and the SNC on Saturday called for more direct intervention. “While humanitarian aid is a dire necessity, the Syrian opposition is also looking for support that will enable the immediate fall of the regime and an end to the suffering of the Syrian people,” a statement said.

    Underlining their demands, fierce fighting claims scores of lives on Saturday. Activists and the regime confirmed major battles in the Damascus suburbs and between Homs and the Lebanese border.

    In Damascus, regime troops were attacking rebels who had seized the mixed Sunni and Christian suburbs of Jdeidat Artouz and Jdeidet al-Fadel. The activists’ Damascus media office said 69 people had been killed on the rebel side, including civilians.

    Near the Lebanese border, an area divided between Sunni, Shia and Christian communities, regime forces swept into four rebel-held villages around the town of Qusayr. Earlier in the week, rebels seized part of an airbase north of Qusayr, showing the back-and-forth nature of the conflict.

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  • Kerry to announce more nonlethal aid for Syrian rebels

    Kerry to announce more nonlethal aid for Syrian rebels

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    By Elise Labott

    The Obama administration is set to announce a significant expansion of nonlethal aid to the armed Syrian opposition as the European Union moves closer to lifting an arms embargo to potentially arm rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials told CNN.

    Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to announce the new assistance package at an international meeting on Syria in Istanbul on Saturday, the officials said.

    CNN first reported on April 9 that the administration was finalizing a package of increased assistance. The officials said the exact dollar amount and specific items to be shipped have not been finalized, and will be determined in Istanbul, where Kerry is to meet with other donors to Syria and leaders of the Syrian opposition.

    However, officials said the package is expected to include more than $100 million in equipment such as body armor, night vision goggles and other military equipment that is defensive in nature, but could be used to aid in combat by Syrian rebels battling forces loyal to al-Assad.

    Other options under discussion include assistance to support the expansion of the ongoing, civilian-led programs for delivery of critical goods and services by local councils throughout Syria and additional aid for capacity building efforts, the officials said

    Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday a goal of Friends of Syria meeting is to identify “what accelerants to Assad’s departure might make the most sense.”

    Increasing nonlethal aid to the rebels could help convince al-Assad that he must step down, Kerry said.

    Another aim of the conference is to “get everybody on the same page” with respect to what a post-Assad Syria will look like,” he said. That could “create a confidence level about who’s getting what kind of aid from whom.”

    The move by Washington to expand assistance to the armed rebels reflects what U.S. officials describe as a ramped-up effort to change the military balance on the battlefield in Syria to get al-Assad to step down.

    The move comes as Britain and France are leading efforts to lift a European Union arms embargo on Syria.

    Both have suggested they are prepared to join nations such as Qatar in providing the rebels with weapons, and are urging the United States to do the same. The arms embargo expires in May and diplomats said the EU countries are discussing possibly allowing it to expire or be amended to ban only weapons for Syrian government forces.

    The package being discussed, however, still falls short of the heavy weapons and high tech equipment sought by the rebels.

    Despite pressure from Congress and his own national security team, President Barack Obama has been cautious about increasing direct aid for the armed rebels. Kerry has pushed for more aggressive U.S. involvement in Syria since taking office in February.

    Last month, Obama agreed to send food and medicine to the rebels, the first direct U.S. support for the armed opposition.

    Supporters of expanding the aid argue such a step would strengthen the hand of moderate members of the opposition and make them less reliant on well-armed extremist elements within their ranks.

    “Everybody has now accepted a concern about extremist elements who have forced their way into this picture, and there is a desire by all parties to move those extremist elements to the side and to give support, I believe, to the Syrian opposition,” Kerry said Thursday. “That’s a big step forward.”

    A push last summer from CIA, Pentagon and State Department leaders was rejected by the White House. At least for now, it remains opposed to arming the opposition, fearing that U.S.-provided weapons could wind up in the wrong hands.

    The Obama administration has funneled $385 million in humanitarian aid to Syria through international institutions and nongovernmental organizations.

    In addition, Washington has provided more than $100 million to the political opposition and has pressed it to establish a leadership structure.

    But the Syrian Opposition Council, the main Syrian opposition group, has roundly criticized the United States for refusing to provide badly-needed support to organize a transitional government and broaden its support inside Syria.

    After Istanbul, Kerry will travel to Brussels, where he will discuss the Syria crisis with NATO and EU foreign ministers. He will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Obama administration sees Moscow, one of Syria’s most important backers, as key to a political settlement.

    On Thursday, Kerry said Washington was still open to negotiations between the regime and the opposition but warned “that time is not on the side of a political solution. It’s on the side of more violence, more extremism, an enclave breakup of Syria.”

    The longer the war drags on, Kerry said, the greater the chance of a “very dangerous sectarian confrontation over the long term, and the potential of really bad people getting hold of chemical weapons,” he added.

    Post by: By CNN Foreign Affairs Reporter Elise Labott
    Filed under: Assad • Sec. State John Kerry • Syria