Turkish Forum

Category: Regions

  • Syria-Turkey launch 18 new development projects

    Syria-Turkey launch 18 new development projects

    The Syria-Turkey Inter-Regional Cooperation Program (STICP) approved 18 services, cultural and economic projects on July 1.

    During a STICP meeting in Aleppo, the program’s committee for selecting projects chose the 18 projects out of 54 nominated for implementation on the basis of their priority and contribution to bilateral cooperation, economic development and employment, as well as the likelihood of long term success.

    The approved projects include a border safety center, renovating the Gaziantep highway, establishing a tourism police station and renovating the al-Soda border checkpoint. They will be implemented over three years.

    Governor of Aleppo Tamer al-Hajjeih said the STICP was an important tool in enhancing Syrian-Turkish ties. “Through such projects, the program is helping to foster the exchange of expertise between Syria and Turkey,” Hajjeih said.

    Turkish State Planning Commission representative Farouq Delk said Turkey is presently implementing 42 projects at a value of USD 7.4m.

    STICP was launched in 2005 between the Syrian governorate of Aleppo and the Turkish governorates of Killes, Onkobinar Gate and Gaziantep at a budget of USD 20m split equally between the two countries.

    Source: Syria Today, 16 July 2008

  • Putin focusing on relations with Turkey

    Putin focusing on relations with Turkey

    Former Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on May 8, 2008.
    (UPI Photo/Anatoli Zhdanov)
    MOSCOW, July 19 (UPI) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke with his Turkish counterpart Saturday in an effort to improve relations between the two nations, a spokesman says.Government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin focused on economic and trade relations while speaking with Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ITAR-TASS reported.
    The two prime ministers also discussed a group of young Russian travelers who endured a litany of problems during a visit to Turkey.
    Erdogan assured Putin a Turkish official was en route to the Turkish city of Antayla to assist the young travelers with any difficulties.

    Peskov told ITAR-TASS that Putin wants Russian Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko to play a more active role in Russian tourism to ensure such international travel problems do not occur in the future.

    Source: United Press International, July 19, 2008

  • China Reports Breakup of More Suspected Terrorist Groups Ahead of Olympics

    China Reports Breakup of More Suspected Terrorist Groups Ahead of Olympics

    China Reports Breakup of More Suspected Terrorist Groups Ahead of Olympics

    By VOA News
    16 July 2008    		  

    Chinese anti-terrorist team during drill to show response to terrorist attack in Xian, northern China’s Shaanxi province, (File)

    Chinese state media says authorities have broken up 12 terrorist organizations in the western region of Xinjiang so far this year.

    Officials in the city of Kashgar says the groups, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and Hizb ut-Tahrir, were linked to international terrorist organizations.

    In recent weeks Chinese authorities have reported disrupting or dismantling several terrorist groups that allegedly posed a threat to August’s Olympic Games in Beijing. The state-run news agency Xinhua announced last week that police broke up five groups in Xinjiang and arrested 82 suspected terrorists.

    Beijing  has repeatedly said that terrorism poses the biggest threat to the Olympics. But human rights groups say the government is using terrorism as an excuse to crush dissent in Xinjiang.

    Xinjiang has eight million ethnic Uighurs, most of whom are Muslims. The Chinese government has cracked down on separatist activity in the area, and accused Uighur activists of trying to make Xinjiang an independent state.

    Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

  • East Turkistan: Munich Uyghurs Protest Executions and Arrests

    East Turkistan: Munich Uyghurs Protest Executions and Arrests

    East Turkistan: Munich Uyghurs Protest Executions and Arrests

     Monday, 14 July 2008

    Over 200 protesters met in Munich on 12 July 2008 to bring attention to the continuing and escalating human rights violations towards the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China.

     

    Below is an article by UNPO:

     

    In Munich this Saturday, 12 July 2008, Uyghur protestors and supporters gathered together at Karlplatz Stachus, a central and highly touristic part of the city, to demonstrate against recent arbitrary arrests and executions in East Turkistan. More than 200 participants attended the demonstration, according to the World Uyghur Congress, but numerous of passer-bys stopped to show support for the Uyghur cause.

    Currently, East Turkestan and Tibet are both in a state of emergency, living in fear of oppression by the Chinese government. On 9 July 2008, police shot to death five young Uyghurs in Urumchi, under the auspice that they were involved in an alleged “holy war training” against the state. Later the same day, there was a mass sentencing in Kashgar where two Uyghurs were executed and 15 others were handed sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to the death penalty. Although charged with terrorism, the accused had no evidence presented against them to substantiate these claims.  

    In light of the upcoming Olympic Games, starting 8 August 2008, international pressure has intensified concerning the human rights situation in China. Unfortunately, the added attention is not enough to persuade the Chinese government away from its oppressive policy towards ethnic minorities, particularly in East Turkistan and Tibet. The Olympic Charter obliges the host country to a strict adherence to the international standards of human rights, yet the Chinese government has failed to live up to these standards.

    The World Uyghur Congress and UNPO continue to urge Chinese government to end persecution of ethnic minorities in China as well uphold the international standards of fundamental human rights. UNPO stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples in China.

     

  • House Panel Blocks Sharp Cut In U.S. Aid To Armenia`

    House Panel Blocks Sharp Cut In U.S. Aid To Armenia`

     

    House Panel Blocks Sharp Cut In U.S. Aid To Armenia`

     

     

     

     

    By Emil Danielyan

    A key subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives rejected late Wednesday an almost 60 percent cut in regular U.S. economic assistance to Armenia which is sought by the administration of President George W. Bush.

    The administration’s draft foreign assistance budget for the fiscal year 2009 submitted to Congress in February would cut funding to Armenia to $24 million from this year’s level of $58 million.

    In what has been a pattern, the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee raised the proposed allocation to $52 million at the urging of leading pro-Armenian lawmakers. It also approved $8 million in separate direct aid to Nagorno-Karabakh and voted to maintain parity in U.S. military assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan. The armed forces of the two warring nations would each continue to receive $3 million worth of aid.

    Joe Knollenberg, a Michigan Republican co-chairing the congressional Armenian Caucus, demanded that U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan be cut altogether because of its continuing threats to resolve the Karabakh conflict by force. The motion was narrowly voted down by the subcommittee.

    The two leading Armenian-American lobby groups in Washington commended Knollenberg for nearly succeeding in pushing the measure through the panel. “We are confident that Members will be looking at additional steps to address Azerbaijan’s war mongering,” Bryan Ardouny, executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, said in a statement.

    The aid allocations need to be approved by the full House Appropriations Committee before they can be considered by the full chamber. A corresponding committee of the U.S. Senate was scheduled to debate the Senate version of the foreign aid bill late Thursday.

    The volume of U.S. aid to Armenia, which has totaled about $2 billion, has slowly but steadily declined since the 1990s when it averaged over $100 million per annum. U.S. officials have attributed the drop to an overall reduction of its foreign aid budgets and Armenia’s economic growth. They have also pointed to the Bush administration’s decision in 2005 to provide the country with $236 million in additional assistance under the Millennium Challenge Account program.

     

    Thursday 17, July 2008

  • Key Strategic Issues List for US Army on PKK

    Key Strategic Issues List for US Army on PKK

    Key Strategic Issues List, July 2008

    Edited by Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, II.

    Added July 16, 2008
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    170 Pages
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    The Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) offers military and civilian researchers a ready reference of topics that are of particular interest to the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense. The KSIL performs a valuable service by linking the research community with major defense organizations which, in turn, seek to benefit from focused research. It thus forms a critical link in an ongoing research cycle. With the publication of the AY 2008-09 KSIL, the Strategic Studies Institute and the U.S. Army War College invite the research community to address any of the many strategic challenges identified herein. Further information regarding specific topics can be obtained by contacting SSI faculty or relevant KSIL sponsors.

    *************

     

    United States European Command

     

    IV. Kurds (Kongra Gel/PKK):

    1. Case study of the potential impact and implications, both to Turkey

    and to the Kongra Gel/PKK, of the transition of the Kongra Gel from

    an insurgency to a political movement supporting the Kurdish cause

    2. Case study of factors enabling the Kongra Gel, as a Marxist insurgency

    made up of primarily of Muslims, to mitigate pressures to adopt more

    of a radical Islamic agenda and maintain its focus on the basic Marxist

    (secular) tenets of the organization

    3. Case study of Kongra Gel/PKK insurgency from the basis of its ability

    to avoid/prevent serious schisms or splintering, even after its leader’s

    imprisonment, at least up to the current potential split. What are the

    potential implications of the apparent division of the Kongra Gel into

    “reformist” and “hardline” camps?

    4. Case study of the effectiveness of Turkish Jandarma paramilitary

    police forces in combating the Kongra Gel/PKK

    5. Case study of the effectiveness of Turkish military operations against

    the Kongra Gel/PKK inside northern Iraq from the 1990s to present.

    Were these operations successful in disrupting the KGK/PKK, for

    the long term, short term, or has there been little actual disruption to

    Kongra Gel operations?