Category: Regions

Russian Military to End Their Use of Kazakh Space Site This Year

Posted on: Sunday, 20 July 2008, 15:00 CDT

Text of report by corporate-owned Russian military news agency Interfax-AVN website

Baykonur (Kazakhstan), 16 July: The discontinuation of military units and the transfer of [Russian] Defence Ministry facilities located at the Baykonur space launch site to enterprises of the Russian space rocket sector will be completed in the autumn of this year.

“The transfer of Defence Ministry facilities has begun this month and should be completed in late November 2008,” a source at the Baykonur space launch site has told Interfax-AVN.

The source said the schedule of transfer of launch site facilities from the military to enterprises of the space rocket sector and the town administration had been agreed at meeting of representatives of the Defence Ministry and Roskosmos [Russian Federal Space Agency] held at Baykonur on Tuesday [15 July].

Under the agreements reached [at the meeting], the source told the agency, the Krayniy aerodrome will be transferred to the centre for the use of ground space infrastructure, while the facilities of the missile test units of the launch site (the inhabited area and the launch silos for UR-100N (RS-18) missiles will be transferred to the NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Machine-Building Research and Production Association).

The remaining facilities, i.e. the buildings and structures of the Russian Defence Ministry, will be accepted by Roskosmos enterprises and the town administration, the source told the agency..

The Fifth State Space Test Launch Site of the Russian Federation Defence Ministry (the Baykonur space launch site) will be discontinued by 1 January 2009. After that date, about 250 servicemen of more than 1,000 currently serving at Baykonur will stay on at the space launch site. Some of them will be transferred to the reserve, while others will be moved to new service postings in Russia.

Once the military structures at the launch site have been discontinued, it will operate purely as a civilian enterprise.

Originally published by Interfax-AVN military news agency website, Moscow, in Russian 1158 20 Jul 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

July 21, 2008
Turkey stands by its offer to give Greek Cypriots water on drought-hit island

The Associated Press

Published: July 19, 2008

NICOSIA, Cyprus: Turkey’s offer to provide drinking water to Greek Cypriots on ethnically-divided Cyprus still stands, even though it has been publicly rejected, the Turkish Cypriot leader said Saturday.

Mehmet Ali Talat said Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, “made it very clear that Turkey is ready to help” to alleviate a water crisis lashing the island.

Talat told a news conference with Erdogan that he has made the water offer to Greek Cypriot officials “on different channels.” He said although they have publicly spurned the offer, “no official answer” has been given yet.

The Turkish Cypriot leader said water tankers making the 75-kilometer (45-mile) trip from Turkey to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north would be shared with Greek Cypriots in the internationally-recognized south, if they accept the offer.

Greek Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou has said water diplomacy is not possible as long as the Cyprus issue remains unresolved. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece. The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey which does not recognize the Greek Cypriot-dominated government.

Many U.N.-led reunification efforts have since failed, including the most comprehensive bid in 2004 when Greek Cypriots rejected — and Turkish Cypriots approved — a U.N. plan.

Talat and Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias agreed in March to revive the dormant peace process after a preparation period.They are scheduled to meet on July 25 to decide a date for the start of full-fledged negotiations.

Erdogan said Saturday that he hopes a reunification deal based on “a new partnership” between “two equal peoples” and “two constituent states” would be found soon.

A rainless winter has dwindled dam reserves to crisis levels, forcing the government to ration water to Greek Cypriot households and import quantities from Greece aboard tankers.

Fresh water produced from two desalination plants is not enough to cover a 17 million cubic meter (600 million cubic feet) shortfall in water reserves. The south needs 66.7 million cubic meters (2.35 billion cubic feet)of water a year to meet its needs.

Erdogan said work to build an undersea water pipeline linking Turkey to the north would begin in 2009 and be completed three years later.

The Turkish prime minister is midway through a three-day visit to the north to attend invasion [sic.] celebrations on Sunday. The Greek Cypriot government condemned the visit as illegal.

Source: International Herald Tribune, July 19, 2008

July 20, 2008
INTERVIEW-Turkey, Syria to create a joint oil company

Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:34pm IST

By Orhan Coskun

ANKARA, July 17 (Reuters) – Turkey and Syria’s state owned oil companies will establish a joint firm this year to develop their oilfields, the head of Turkey’s state oil company TPAO told Reuters.

“The completion of the company’s establishment is targeted for 2008. The purpose of the company is to produce oil from fields in Syria, Turkey and third countries,” said TPAO general manager Mehmet Uysal.

He added the company will first look for production opportunities in Syria before Turkey and third countries.

Private sector energy experts say they are still trying to determine the extent of Syria’s oilfields. Existing fields are in need of investment for development.

TPAO plans on exploring extensively in the Black Sea, where it already has operations, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea.

Uysal also said Turkey, during Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s trip to Iraq earlier this month, won approval to form a consortium to bid for oil exploration rights in Iraq.

“We have ongoing talks to make an deal with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) regarding exploration,” said Uysal.

Iraq’s oil ministry has finished negotiations with oil majors on six short-term oil service contracts and hopes to sign the deals in July.

In the absence of a long-delayed national oil law, Baghdad has been negotiating short-term technical service contracts. The deals are worth around $500 million each.

Five of the deals that have been under discussion are with Royal Dutch Shell, Shell in partnership with BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Chevron (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in partnership with Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

Source: Reuters, July 17, 2008

July 20, 2008
Iran, Turkey seek stronger energy cooperation

Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki on Saturday held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on ways to expand comprehensive cooperation especially in energy sector.

“Fortunately, the train of bilateral relations is moving in a good condition. Joint agreements on energy and building an electricity power plant are underway and the memoranda of understanding on cooperation in South Pars gas filed are in the final process,” Mottaki stated.

He expressed hope that the implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution which calls for the privatization of state-run economy will provide the ground for further cooperation between the two neighbors’ private sectors.

Erdogan, for his part, said political, economic, and cultural relations between Tehran and Ankara have considerably improved over the past years.

“We hope that the implementation of power plant and refinery projects in Iran by Turkish companies will provide the ground for further expansion of relations.”

Iran announced in early July that the construction of a 600-million-euro pipeline to transfer Iran’s natural gas to Turkey and Europe will begin soon.

“”A 56-inch-diameter pipeline will be extended to Iran’s border point of Bazargan to boost gas exports to Turkey and Europe,”” Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Reza Kasaeizadeh said.

Kasaeizadeh expressed hope that the project would soon be put out to tender, saying that the 420-kilometer pipeline is of paramount importance for Iran.

Turkish prime minister said, “We believe that the Iran-Turkey-Europe gas route should be on the top agenda of the two countries.”

Source: Tehran Times, July 20, 2008

July 20, 2008
Azerbaijani political scientists are sceptical about that Turkey will establish relations with Armenia

[ 19 Jul 2008 12:23 ]

Baku. Tamara Grigorieva –APA. “I don’t think that contacts between Turkey and Armenia can reach a level of negotiations because usually negotiations have concrete subject”, political scientist Rasim Musabeyov told APA.

Commenting the secret talks between the Turkish and Armenian diplomats in Switzerland, Musabeyov said level of representation of the sides was not clear. “I think the press overstates the weight of this meeting. The countries continue such contacts for almost 15 years”. Musabeyov said there was no ground for the serious progress in the Turkish-Armenian relations today. Political scientists Rustam Mammadov said Armenia was seeking alternative gateways to Europe now. In his opinion triangle game between Armenia, Iran and Russia gives no result for a long time and significance of Armenian-Turkish factor is increasing in this plan. The expert doesn’t believe that Turkey will establish relations with Armenia without solution of the problem of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. He said probably the issue was put on agenda in such a manner at the meeting. Deputy Executive Secretary of New Azerbaijan Party, political observer and member of the parliament Mubariz Gurbanli said it would negatively impact on Azerbaijani-Turkish relations if Turkey began negotiations and signed documents with Armenia. He is doubtful of any official meeting between Armenia and Turkey. Gurbanli said he was against establishing relations between Turkey and Armenia without solution of Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh problem. The expert emphasized that problems between Turkey and Armenia existed before the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Source:

July 20, 2008
Son of Mountains

‘Son of Mountains’ is an extraordinary book that charts its course through one of the most poignant and disturbing memoirs of recent years.

Written by Kurdish/American Yasin Aref, ‘Son of Mountains’ was published in 2008 and is already entering its second print run. It is a memoir of Aref’s life from his days as a Kurdish child living in Iraq; fleeing to Syria where he worked as a gardener; to emigrating to the US through UN approved channels. Tragically for Aref and his family, that is not where the story ends.

‘Son of Mountains’ was written by Aref while in custody in a New York State prison. Arrested on charges of ‘terrorism,’ the book took shape in the six months he spent in detention between his conviction in Oct 2006 and his sentencing in 2007.

Born the son of a farmer, Aref recounts vividly his early years working as a labourer in Kirkuk, the influence of the poetry of Omar Khayyam—recalled from memory— on his own idealism and the abject poverty he and his kin experienced. We follow his trials and share in his frustrations: while Kirkuk was “one of the largest centres of the oil industry in the world…we had to wait for hours in line to buy smuggled gasoline.”

After being granted UN refugee status, Aref and his family arrived in the US in 1999. Although life was tough, it was relatively peaceful. Aref struggled to support his young children, working several jobs. Finally he was asked to be the Iman [sic.] of a mosque in Albany and he accepted, feeling that this was a calling for him.

In 2003, it all started to go against him. The alleged discovery of his name and contact details in a notebook in Iraq triggered a protracted FBI ‘sting’ operation which culminated in his arrest, hearing and sentencing on March 8 2007 to fifteen years in jail for: ‘support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy with a weapon of mass destruction, money laundering and lying to the government.’

Aref remains in custody, his future uncertain. For his family too, the future is uncertain and potentially treacherous for all of them. If you ever had doubts that the ‘War on Terror’ did not also signal a war on personal freedoms, a war on common sense and a war on cultures and identities you must read this book.

‘Son of Mountains: My Life as a Kurd and a Terror Suspect‘ by Yassin Aref

Troy Bookmakers, Troy, New York, 2008.

Source: What’s On Syria

July 20, 2008