ANKARA, Turkey — The U.N. chief for refugees says the number of refugees from Syria could increase by “two or three times” the present level by the end of the year if the country’s conflict doesn’t end.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres says the international community should work toward ending the conflict and says there is a “risk of an explosion” throughout the already volatile Middle East region if it continues much longer.
Guterres was speaking in Ankara on Sunday, days after the number of U.N.-registered refugees in neighboring countries topped 1 million.
Guterres also renewed a call for nations to help support Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries shelter the refugees.
via ANKARA, Turkey: UN refugee chief sees increase in Syrian refugees – World Wires – MiamiHerald.com.
Turkcell Group Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Koray Öztürkler and the UN Global Compact Members
Turkcell (NYSE:TKC, ISE: TCELL), Turkey’s leading communications and technology company Turkcell represented Turkey on the panel organized by the UN for the Women’s Empowerment Principles – WEPs event on March 5th. During this event, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Koray Öztürkler presented Turkcell as an example for leading global companies, as well as the first Turkish Technology Company to challenge and reduce the inequalities that women face, through its corporate social responsibility projects with an emphasis on the principle of ‘Empowering the Women’.
The 5th panel, which this year was hosted by the Austrian and Swedish governments, was attended by UN country affiliates, leading businessmen, academic scholars and NGO representatives. Speaking on the panel, Öztürkler stated that: ‘It is an honor to represent Turkey with Turkcell’s pioneering social responsibility projects at an event focused ‘solely’ on Women. Providing better standards for our Women helps guarantee the future of our children. In an attempt to provide equal opportunities in every aspects of life, we stand by the women through our latest technology, and corporate social responsibility projects, as well as by generating employment opportunities. Since the last time we were here 2 years ago for our Snowdrops project, we have continued to support and initiate many other projects such as; Women Power to the Economy, regarding equality at the workplace, and the Zero Tolerance of Violence against Women project, in cooperation with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, as well as Human Resources practices, which position Turkcell as a unique company that cares about Women. Once again, we are honored to represent Turkey at such an event with our vision of ‘Strong Women, Strong Turkey.’
Panel participants were able to see the successful results with impressive numbers achieved by Turkcell:
Snowdrops: The project was developed jointly in 2000 with the Association in Support of Contemporary Living to provide equal educational opportunities for underprivileged girls. So far, over 100,000 scholarships have been granted. Each year 10,000 young Turkish women continue to receive both financial and moral support.
Women Power to the Economy: Together with the Turkish Foundation for Waste Reduction (“TISVA”) and the Turkey Grameen Microfinance Program, Turkcell has initiated the “Women Power to the Economy.” It aims to reach out to 100,000 women within 4 years. Turkcell has made an initial donation of TRY400,000 to boost the economic participation of women. Additionally, Turkcell organized a gala dinner attended by Turkish business leaders where the honorary guest was the Nobel Prize winning Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus to raise an additional TRY400,000 for the campaign.
”Zero’’ Tolerance of Violence against Women: In an attempt to raise social awareness of this sad reality, which damages family unity and hurts society at large, a national 360 degree awareness campaign was launched.
Employment: Turkcell human Resources policies enable women to be promoted to managerial positions, including senior executive level of Turkcell’s executive level managers 42% are women. The total number of women working at Turkcell makes up 49% of our employees overall.
ABOUT TURKCELL
Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company in Turkey, with 35.1 million subscribers as of December 31, 2012. Turkcell is a leading regional player, with market leadership in five of the nine countries in which it operates with its approximately 69.2 million subscribers as of December 31, 2012. It has become one of the first among the global operators to have implemented HSPA+. It has achieved up to 43.2 Mbps speed using the Dual Carrier technology, and is continuously working to provide the latest technology to its customers, e.g. 84 Mbps in the near future. Turkcell Superonline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkcell, is the one and only telecom operator to offer households fiber broadband connection at speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps in Turkey. As of December 31, 2012, Turkcell population coverage is at 99.17% in 2G and 84.02% in 3G. Turkcell reported a TRY10.5 billion (US$5.9 billion) revenue with total assets of TRY18.7 billion (US$10.5 billion) as of December 31, 2012. It has been listed on the NYSE and the ISE since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more athttp://www.turkcell.com.tr
For further information please contact Turkcell
Nihat Narin Division Head of Investor and International Media Relations Tel: + 90-212-313-1244 Email: [email protected]
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.
French 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.
(Reuters) – War-ravaged Syria has accused Turkey of receiving stolen goods from armed groups, who it said plundered some 1,000 factories in the industrial city of Aleppo, and called on the United Nations to condemn its neighbor’s involvement.
Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, released on Thursday, that armed groups “transferred the stolen goods to Turkey, with the full knowledge of the Turkish Government.”
“Syria would like to point out that these unethical acts … are tantamount to direct participation in transnational crime and piracy,” he wrote in the letter dated January 7.
“The Syrian Arab Republic calls on the Security Council and the Secretary-General to condemn clearly these destructive acts of terrorism and do what is required to hold accountable their perpetrators, as well as those states and regional and international powers that stand behind them,” Ja’afari wrote.
The United Nations says more than 60,000 people have been killed during a 22-month-old revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which began with peaceful protests but turned violent after Assad’s forces tried to crush the demonstrations.
Assad’s government has repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United States and other Western governments of supporting and arming the rebels. The government deny providing weapons to the rebels.
The 15-member Security Council has been deadlocked on how to try to end the violence. The United States and European council members blame Russia, a staunch Syrian ally, and China for the council’s inaction. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed three resolutions condemning Assad and reject the idea of imposing sanctions on his government. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
via Syria accuses Turkey at U.N. of receiving stolen factory goods | Reuters.
In a classic provocation reminiscent of the Gulf of Tonkin fairy tale that “legitimized” the Vietnam War, and Hitler’s bogus rationale for invading Poland, the Turkish war criminal gang “led from behind” by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are trying to do the impossible. Impossible, if one has half a brain. They are trying to convince the world that Syria, besieged for over a year by its once friendly neighbor, Turkey, its cities ravaged by terrorists based and financed in Turkey, wants to provoke an even wider, bloodier conflict.
A miniscule border village, Akcakale, was hit by a solitary shell of undisclosed origin. It defies logic that it came from the Syrian army. The Syrian army has no control over Syrian borders thanks to the relentless subversive efforts of the Turkish government. Its army is certainly not so incompetent as to try to defend an indefensible border when the real battle is in its interior cities. So dispense with the idea that there are such things as borders between Syria and Turkey. They have been effaced by Turkish subversion. The gates are wide open. Syria has no control. And the non-Syrian “Free Syrian Army” is a rabble under arms, undisciplined and unscrupulous.
It is widely known that Erdoğan’s motley gang, with headquarters in Adana, Ankara, and Istanbul, has been raining havoc via over-the border raids from the Hatay province in southeastern Turkey. (See my writing of 29 June entitled America’s War-Horse Harlots for the grim, deceitful details.) Surprised by the horrific violence inflicted by the Orwellian “Free Syrian Army” in Aleppo and Damascus? Don’t be. Convoys of Turkish trucks have been supplying the explosive ingredients for car bombs over the Turkish border for months. Syria has been long under a medieval siege, courtesy of its treacherous neighbor.
Is it logical that Syria would lob a single shell into a Turkish village to prompt a massive response from NATO, the bloody-handed “savior” of Libya? Hardly. Besides, the Turkish prime minister has been lusting for NATO support. And the Turkish army is itching to prove its manhood after being purged of its command and general staff by the Turkish prime minister, Turkey’s new sultan. It’s a perfect storm for a catastrophe by incompetents. The Turkish media is the functional equivalent of Pravda during the Stalin era. And the Turkish people are either under deep anesthesia or, sadly, suffering from a fatal indifference. In short, Turkey is the perfect puppet for doing America’s bidding, that is, to be “led from behind.” And America is the perfect coward to do its deceitful bloody work while hiding under the capacious skirts of Turkey’s Allah’s Boys.
The “Free Syrian Army” gangsters have been lusting for heavier weapons, a no-fly zone, and stinger missiles. So why would Syria provoke a wider war? Answer… it wouldn’t. Only if you believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and Colin Powell’s infamous UN presentation would you echo the craven chorus now being orchestrated by the likes of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Hillary Clinton, and the American stooges in the apparent form of the UN and NATO. Listen to Erdoğan shout that Syria has “breached Turkey’s borders” and one wants to laugh out loud (or vomit) at the hypocrisy. Only if you are congenitally stupid would you believe the hypocritical bilge being spewed by these ever-outraged killers from the west and their henchmen. What is infinitely more logical is that the shell was fired by the criminal elements in the employ of Turkey and America. They are the ones with the clearest of motives. And by doing so, they got what they wanted all along, NATO and UN legitimacy for their rape of Syria. But regardless of who fired the shell that hit the house in Akcakale, Turkey and its patron, America, by their actions, have fomented all the violence in Syria. Turkey has funded, plotted and armed a phony civil war in direct contravention of international law. (See my Letter to The Honorable Abdullah Gül, president of Turkey dated 9 Sept. 2012.) The onus for the death, chaos and destruction is theirs. So why should Turkey and the Turkish people be exempt from suffering the consequences of their misdeeds?
So when you hear the orchestrated script of outrage over the errant or not-so-errant shell, when you hear the barrage of adjectives like “atrocious” (Erdoğan), “depraved” (the Pentagon), “flagrant” (NATO), and the ever popular “outraged” (Clinton) remember the following. This hype is an old, dirty trick. The truth lies in using our brains to examine what is logical and what is not. The truth lies in clear reasoning, devoid of influence from the spewers of propaganda and outright falsehoods. And remember this. The likes of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has yet to explain the killing of scores of his own people by his own military because of false intelligence rendered by his friends in the Pentagon and the CIA. Moreover, he has yet to explain the downing of the Turkish reconnaissance jet that so obviously violated Syrian airspace. This latter event has given Turkey the rationale for the recent blather from the Turkish foreign minister about “rules of engagement” as if Turkey has followed any rules in its extended attempt to overthrow the duly constituted government of Syria. This arrogant, criminal activity by America and Turkey is what is truly ATROCIOUS, DEPRAVED, FLAGRANT, and OUTRAGEOUS.
James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.
Founder, West Point Graduates Against The War
Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas has said that Istanbul would be a UN island soon.
Topbas as the president of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA), met with Turkish journalists at the Turkish House after participating in a high-level panel of dignitaries regarding developments after 2015.
He told the press members that with their efforts for opening of directorates and regional representation offices of UN in Istanbul would make Istanbul a UN island, and bring prestige to the city.
He added that they want to be a solution partner of UN Millennium Development Plan and host the 3rd UN Habitat Meeting.
