Turkey : Part Tres :)

[Exit40]

Turkey warns 15 countries to stay away from Cyprus' gas [Cyprus Mail]
Al Bawaba Ltd.

Author: Stefanos Evripidou

TURKEY has warned 15 countries, including four permanent members of the UN Security Council, not to participate in the second licencing round for the remaining blocks in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), reported Turkish daily Aksam yesterday.

According to its online version, Ankara is "worried" about a second round of drilling in the eastern Mediterranean. Hence, the Turkish foreign ministry issued warnings on a governmental level to 15 countries, including Russia, China, France, the UK and Norway, which expressed an interest to participate in the second licencing round for oil and gas exploration in Cyprus' EEZ.

The foreign ministry reportedly said in its warning: "We do not permit drilling in this controversial zone. If you do not want our ties to be deteriorated, withdraw the tender." ...

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>>>> Tried to find a date on this, but as it is a headline news site, and indications are it was published about two hours ago, let's go ahead and say, 1 August, 2012. D. <<<<

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David

[Exit40]

Turkey's New Ballistic Missile Program Raises Eyebrows and Concerns
By Aaron Stein, on 31 Jul 2012, Briefing

Turkey’s defense procurements to date have focused heavily on defensive systems aimed at the former Soviet Union and offensive systems designed to attack the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Backed by the safety and security offered by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s collective security guarantee, as well as between 60 and 70 American tactical nuclear weapons stationed on Turkish soil, Ankara revamped its national security strategy in October 2010. In a sharp departure from the past, Ankara announced that it was removing old foes Iran, Iraq, Greece and Russia from the list of countries considered to be a threat and embarking on a more inclusive foreign policy.

While the events of the past 18 months have altered Turkey’s security situation, Ankara has not announced any changes to its 2010 defense policy. Turkey remains committed to its long-standing pursuit of defeating its Kurdish insurgency, establishing regional stability and securing economic and political influence in neighboring countries. Therefore, Turkey’s recent announcement that it intends to develop 1,500-mile medium-range ballistic missiles is a bit baffling. The missile is not useful for the fight against the PKK, nor is it entirely clear whom Ankara will aim it at....

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David

[Exit40]

U.K. mediating between Israel and Turkey in bid to end impasse
Britain delivering messages between Netanyahu and Turkey's PM, but no formula has yet been found to bridge the gaps.
By Barak Ravid | Aug.02, 2012 | 1:16 AM | 11

The British government is attempting to mediate between Israel and Turkey in an effort to end the impasse between the two countries, Haaretz has learned.

A senior Israeli official said that in recent weeks, Britain has delivered messages between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but that no formula has yet been found to bridge gaps between the sides regarding an apology for the Israel Defense Forces killing of nine Turkish activists on the Gaza-bound flotilla in May 2010.

Since that crisis erupted, British diplomats, together with counterparts from the United States and Germany, have made efforts to restore positive relations between Israel and Turkey, or at least prevent relations between the two states from going into a tailspin, the source said....

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[Exit40]

Between euro zone and Middle East, Turkey shines
By Sujata Rao and Alistair Smout
LONDON | Thu Aug 2, 2012 8:33pm IST

Aug 2 (Reuters) - Turkish stock and bond markets have delivered world-beating returns this year to investors who have come to see Istanbul as an oasis amid the escalating political tensions of the Middle East and the crisis in recession-hit Europe.

Dollar-based returns on Turkish stocks are over 30 percent so far in 2012, making it the best performing emerging equity market after Egypt. Local bonds have returned 17 percent in dollars, almost double the figure for the broader emerging markets index. Some of these stupendous market gains may be down to a bounce back from a disastrous 2011, when Turkish equities fell 20 percent and the lira plunged 18 percent to the dollar.

But this year's improving balance of payments picture and the perceived success of central bank policies have been the real catalyst. Investors note that Turkey's massive current account deficit has contracted by almost a third this year due to lower oil import costs and a surge in exports. Inflation is expected to end 2012 at almost half last year's levels....

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[Exit40]

Iraq summons Turkey envoy to protest over visit
Fri Aug 3, 2012 10:22am EDT, By Barry Malone
* Turkish foreign minister visits disputed city * Baghdad says its constitution has been violated
* Neighbours at odds since end of last year

BAGHDAD, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Iraq made a formal protest to Turkey's envoy in Baghdad on Friday after the Turkish foreign minister made a surprise visit to an oil-rich Iraqi city claimed by both the central government and the country's autonomous Kurdistan region.

The episode, the latest in a series of diplomatic spats and ***-for-tat summonings of envoys between the neighbouring countries, is likely to worsen already strained relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had travelled to Kirkuk on Thursday after visiting the regional president in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. But Iraq's foreign ministry accused Turkey of violating its constitution with the visit, saying that Davutoglu had neither asked for nor obtained permission to enter Kirkuk....

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[Exit40]

Updated August 2, 2012, 7:05 p.m. ET
Turkey Ramps Up Kurdish Offensive
By EMRE PEKER And JOE PARKINSON

ISTANBUL—Turkey's military escalated its offensive against Kurdish fighters seeking autonomy in the southeast, with warplanes and helicopters pummeling the mountainous region with bombs, forcing many villagers to flee their homes, witnesses and officials said.

A clash between Turkish troops and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, sparked the campaign, which entered its 10th day on Thursday. Turkey's Dogan News Agency broadcast images of Turkish attack helicopters firing into mountains around the town of Semdinli in Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq.

Characterizing the operation as serious and strong, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters in televised comments on Thursday that the military's campaign was continuing, but didn't provide details.....

Snip.... They specialize in hit and run attacks. For them to challenge such a strong army force for 10 days is most unusual. PKK clearly thinks that…regional developments have handed them a golden opportunity," said Atilla Yesilada, a partner at Istanbul Analytics, an Istanbul-based political-risk consultancy.....

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David

[Exit40]

Book review: The New Turkish Republic
By Rene Wadlow on Thursday, August 2, 2012, 9:29am

Graham Fuller has written a very useful analysis of the foreign policy options facing Turkey. Although The New Turkish Republic was published in 2008, the analysis is still solid, and his predictions concerning the trends of Turkish politics have been largely correct. Fuller spent most of his career in the CIA, and the book is an example of good policy writing. There is an understanding of history, but it is used in order to analyse the present. The focus is on Turkey, but Fuller provides a picture of the politics of the broader Middle East context.

1068 Basically, there have been three Turkish Republics. The first was created by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after the First World War. He built on late reform movements within the Ottoman Empire, but centered all his attention on the modernization of Turkey. The Arab lands which had belonged to the Ottomans were by then under the control of France and England while Arabia was taken over by the Saudi family. For Ataturk, modernization was to copy Western European laws, military training and technology while avoiding European political influence. Ataturk’s style of government was authoritarian and reforms were top-down, a policy followed by his successor Ismet Inonu....

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>>>> Brief history of modern Turkey. Fuller was instrumental in helping Gulen get permission to remain in America. D. <<<<

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David

[Exit40]

A Russian-Saudi-Turkish-Chinese alliance to contain the Muslim Brotherhood and Obama?

by David P. Goldman • Jul 31, 2012 at 8:35 pm
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I suggested during our conference call yesterday that the only friend the Muslim Brotherhood has in high places is Barack Obama. I didn't mean that facetiously.

Turkey's application to join the SIno-Russian Shanghai Cooperation Organization following Prime Minister Erdogan's July 19 pilgrimage to Russia is a diplomatic humiliation for the United States, and of the first order. Just when Washington is demanding that Russia withdraw support for the Assad regime in Syria, and when Turkey is the linch-pin for American logistics in support of the Syrian opposition, Erdogan has proposed in effect to joint the Russian-Chinese club (without being compelled to hand in his NATO credentials). As AL Monitor wrote July 19:

The Erdogan government speaks with confidence when it says that the Syrian issue will have no negative impact on bilateral ties with Russia. In fact, there is an expectation in Turkey that Russia will come to understand that it has erred in its Syria policy and that it is time to abandon its support for a dying regime.

That may be so, but Turkey stands to lose if it continues to portray Russia as a wrong-doer. The bilateral relationship is lopsided in Russia's favor because of Turkey's dependence on Russian natural gas.

Moscow, meanwhile, has quietly signaled that it can use its economic leverage over Turkey.....

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David

[Exit40]

As Syrian War Roils, Sectarian Unrest Seeps Into Turkey
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: August 4, 2012

ANTAKYA, Turkey — At 1 a.m. last Sunday, in the farming town of Surgu, about six hours away from here, a mob formed at the Evli family’s door.

The ill will had been brewing for days, ever since the Evli family chased away a drummer who had been trying to rouse people to a predawn Ramadan feast. The Evlis are Alawite, a historically persecuted minority sect of Islam, and also the sect of Syria’s embattled leaders, and many Alawites do not follow Islamic traditions like fasting for Ramadan.

The mob began to hurl insults. Then rocks.

“Death to Alawites!” they shouted. “We’re going to burn you all down!”

Then someone fired a gun....

Snip... “What’s happening inside Syria is the Syrian leg of an international project,” he said, with the Turkish government aligning with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to make this part of the Middle East more religiously “radical.” ...

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David

[Exit40]

Obama strikes out: Photograph of President holding baseball bat while on the phone causes outrage in Turkey
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 22:01 EST, 4 August 2012 | UPDATED: 06:50 EST, 5 August 2012

President Obama struck out with Turkey this week after the White House released a photo showing the leader of the free world holding a baseball bat while talking on the phone with the Turkish prime minister.

The two leaders spoke on Monday to discuss the crisis in Syria, after which the unusual image of Obama seated at his desk, having a phone conversation with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan while holding a bat autographed by baseball great Hank Aaron, was released by the White House.

When asked about possible hidden meanings in the photo, White House secretary Jay Carney said that the president was an avid baseball fan and long-time supporter of the Chicago White Sox....

Snip.... CHP vice president Umut Oran asked through parliament if Erdogan had seen the picture and if he would take action against ‘an implicit insult to Turkey and its citizens.’...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z22gZZUxto

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David

[Exit40]

Turkey PM defends trip to Kirkuk by foreign minister
Monday6/8/2012August, 2012
AFP/Ankara

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday defended his foreign minister’s visit to the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk last week, which infuriated Baghdad.
It is only normal for “a minister bearing a red passport to visit the regional administration (in northern Iraq) and then travel to Kirkuk, 40km from (Arbil) to meet with his kinsmen,” Erdogan told the ATV television station.
Kirkuk province is part of a swathe of disputed territory in northern Iraq that along with oil contracts are the two main points of contention between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in Arbil.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made an unannounced trip to Kirkuk last Thursday while on a visit to Arbil for talks with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.

Davutolgu visited leaders of Kirkuk’s Turkmen community, with which Ankara has long had close ties, as well as religious and historical sites including the city’s Ottoman cemetery....

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David

[Exit40]

The Obama-Erdogan Alliance
Posted by Joseph Puder Bio ↓ on Aug 6th, 2012

Hurriyet Daily News, a major Turkish newspaper, reported on July 31, 2012 that a “senior US official visiting Turkey says Washington does not anticipate an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria and they favor the protection of Syria’s territorial integrity.” The official, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon on a visit to Istanbul, stated that they (the U.S.) did not anticipate an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria’s future, adding that they favored the protection of Syria’s territorial integrity and explained it to Turkey in a clear way. Gordon added, “Syria has a huge priority for both of us (U.S. and Turkey). We are coordinating very well on the question of Syria. I think we have very similar interests.”....

Snip .... Obama’s pro-Muslim proclivities were emphasized in an editorial that appeared in the Turkish daily Hurriyet in April 2009, which reported on the speech he gave in the Turkish Parliament during his first foreign state visit: “But the most striking side of it was that his decency and brilliance was harmonized with the text quite beautifully. Especially as he talked about Muslims’ contributions to the United States, Obama counted himself in as part of the Muslim community living in the United States and claimed his Muslim middle name, Hussein. And it was a sincere sign of his positive approach to the Islamic world.”...

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David

[Exit40]

How the Kurds Have Changed Turkey’s Calculations on Syria, By Pelin Turgut / Istanbul | August 6, 2012

Support for the anti-Assad rebellion has been complicated by Syria's Kurds moving to establish autonomy, raising Ankara's fears about implications for Turkey's domestic Kurdish challenge

For many years, the Kurdish tragedy was poignantly illustrated by the gifts and sweets stuffed through gaps in a barbed-wire fence, the babies held high and the news shared across the closed Syria-Turkey border. Every religious holiday saw thousands of people dressed in their finest line the border at dawn just to see their relatives on the other side of a boundary arbitrarily drawn by Britain and France after World War I. The nation states invented by the war’s victorious Western powers left the Kurds divided between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, each of which sought to deny and suppress Kurdish identity.

Almost a century later, however, the geopolitical earthquake that began with the U.S. invasion of Iraq and continued through the Syrian uprising has challenged the foundations of the regional political order built by the French and the British, putting the future of the Middle East once again up for grabs. This time, the estimated 30 million-plus Kurds, whose numbers make them the world’s largest stateless people, are better organized. Buoyed by the oil-fueled prosperity of Iraqi Kurdistan — first severed from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq by the U.S. after the 1991 Gulf War, and then formalized as a crypto-state after his fall — they are emerging as the region’s new wild card, nowhere more so than in the turmoil of Syria’s rebellion.

Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/08/06/how-th ... z22mgWSpXd

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David

[Exit40]

Iran foreign minister in Turkey to seek help in Syria
By Tulay Karadeniz
ANKARA | Tue Aug 7, 2012 1:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister flew to Turkey on Tuesday seeking to mend a relationship sorely strained by the Syrian uprising and to secure Turkish help for dozens of kidnapped Iranians.

"Turkey has its links with the opposition in Syria. So we think Turkey can play a major role in freeing our pilgrims," Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters as he arrived in Ankara.

A busload of 48 Iranians was seized in Syria on Saturday. Tehran says they were pilgrims visiting a Shi'ite Muslim shrine, denying suggestions that they were military personnel helping President Bashar al-Assad put down a rebellion.

A Syrian rebel spokesman said on Monday that three of the Iranians had been killed in a government air strike and said the rest would be executed if the attacks did not stop. There has been no word of their fate since then.

The once close ties between the Middle East's two non-Arab powers have been ravaged by events in Syria. Turkey has demanded Assad quit but Iran supports his suppression of the "terrorists" it says are backed by its regional and Western enemies....

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David

[burien1]

A busload of 48 Iranians was seized in Syria on Saturday. Tehran says they were pilgrims visiting a Shi'ite Muslim shrine, denying suggestions that they were military personnel helping President Bashar al-Assad put down a rebellion.

[Exit40]

Turkey issues "frank, friendly" warning to Iran
ANKARA | Wed Aug 8, 2012 7:44am EDT

(Reuters) - Turkey warned Iran "in a frank and friendly manner" against blaming Ankara for violence in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday, a day after holding talks with his Iranian counterpart.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi flew to neighboring Turkey on Tuesday seeking to mend a relationship sorely strained by the Syrian uprising and to secure Turkish help for 48 Iranians kidnapped in Syria on Saturday.

Turkey was incensed by comments this week by Iran's top general Hassan Firouzabadi, in which he blamed Turkey for the bloodshed in Syria and accused Ankara, alongside Saudi Arabia and Qatar, of helping the "war-raging goals of America."

"Such statements have the potential to harm Iran as well," Davutoglu told reporters at Ankara airport before departing on a visit to Myanmar....

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David

[Exit40]

08/08/2012
Altruistic Society or Sect? The Shadowy World of the Islamic Gülen Movement
By Maximilian Popp

Millions of Muslims around the world idolize Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen, who likes to present himself as the Gandhi of Islam. His Gülen movement runs schools in 140 countries and promotes interfaith dialogue. But former members describe it as a sect, and some believe the secretive organization is conspiring to expand its power in Turkey....

Snip.... A Sect Like Scientology

People who have broken ties to Gülen and are familiar with the inner workings of this community tell a different story. They characterize the movement as an ultraconservative secret society, a sect not unlike the Church of Scientology. And they describe a world that has nothing to do with the pleasant images from the cultural Olympics.

These critics say that the religious community (known as the "cemaat" in Turkish) educates its future leaders throughout the world in so-called "houses of light," a mixture of a shared student residence and a Koran school. They describe Gülen as their guru, an ideologue who tolerates no dissent, and who is only interested in power and influence, not understanding and tolerance. They say that he dreams of a new age in which Islam will dominate the West....

>>>> Caution: graphic photo of one finger salute in unrelated article. D. <<<<

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David

[Exit40]

Erdogan slams Iran for supporting Maliki government
7 August 2012, 09:39 (GMT+05:00)

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Iran's support of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, contrary to the aspirations of a large coalition comprising Kurdish, Turkmen and other Shiite groups in Iraq to unseat Maliki Today`s Zaman reported

In his televised remarks to Turkey's A Haber news channel on Sunday, Erdogan claimed that Maliki would not behave "as comfortably as he did before" because of such initiatives from the opposition, while maintaining that Maliki enjoys a good level of support from Iranin clinging to power.

"It is not possible to accept Iran's stance. We conveyed this to them at the highest level of talks. We said to them, 'Look, this has been a source of disturbance in the region'," Erdogan stated.

In June, an initiative by Iraqi politicians to unseat Maliki on the basis of his failure to abide by the clear principles of the Iraqi constitution that envisaged a balance of power between the different sects and ethnicities in Iraq was unsuccessful due to a failure to collect enough votes. The campaign was also supported by Massoud Barzani, the leader of Iraq's autonomous region, and influential Shiite clerics Muqtada al-Sadr and Ammar al-Hakim. Barzani has had long running disputes with the central Iraqi government on territory and the sharing of oil revenues....

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[Exit40]

Kurds prepare militia to fight in Syria
Iranian Guards are fighting for the Syrian government, and former mujahideen for the opposition
By Francis Matthew | Editor at Large Published: 20:00 August 8, 2012

The continuing fighting in Syria is a golden opportunity for foreign governments to put military forces onto the ground and take positions in advance of any political end-game. Syria’s neighbours want to influence events to suit themselves and do not have Syrians’ best interests at heart. Any forces on the ground will be there to influence events in favour of their sponsors.....

>>>> Snip.... The Syrian Kurds are split between those in the Democratic Union Party, which favours a confederation between Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as backing the PKK, the militant Kurdish opposition militia in Turkey; and other Syrian Kurdish groups who want to see a Kurdish autonomous region within a newly reconstituted Syria....

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David

[Exit40]

Turkey and Israel Drifting Back to Each Other?
August 2, 2012 - 10:50pm, by Yigal Schleifer


Two years after the tragic Mavi Marmara incident, in which nine Turks were killed by Israeli commandos who stormed a ship attempting to break Israel's blockade on Gaza, Turkish-Israel relations remain frozen. Ankara maintains that only an Israeli apology, compensation to the families of the victims of the lifting of the Gaza blockade will allow it to restore relations. Israel, on the other hand, is ready to express its "regret" about the incident and pay some compensation, but is most certainly not ready to apologize or to consider changing its Gaza policy in order to appease Turkey.

Still, some recent reports would indicate that, at least on the Israeli side, there is a desire to break out of the impasse (or at least create the impression that such a desire exists). Although it's been clear for some time that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and some top military leaders believe apologizing to Turkey would make strategic sense, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far balked at doing this. But as veteran Israeli journalist David Horovitz writes in The Times of Israel, the news website he edits, this may be changing. Writes Horovitz:...

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[Exit40]

Turkey: Assad supplying arms to Turkish Kurd militants
Thu Aug 9, 2012 7:08pm IST
* Accusation reflects unravelling of Turkish-Syrian ties
* Supply of weapons could exacerbate conflict in Turkey
* Davutoglu says PKK trying to exploit power vacuum

ISTANBUL, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of arming a Kurdish militant group that has fought the Turkish state for decades, potentially exacerbating a conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people. Clashes between the Turkish army and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants have intensified in recent weeks east of the border with Syria in southeast Turkey. Ankara is concerned the PKK is exploiting the chaos in Syria to expand its influence. On Thursday suspected PKK militants ambushed a Turkish military bus in the western province of Izmir, killing a soldier and wounding at least 11 people.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish media while travelling to Myanmar overnight that Assad had given weapons to the PKK, which has established a presence in the towns of Kobani and Afrin in northern Syria. "Assad gave them weapons support. Yes - this is not a fantasy. It is true. We have taken necessary measures against this threat," news websites reported the minister as saying....

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David

[Exit40]

09 August 2012, Thursday
İHSAN YILMAZ
Der Spiegel’s recent strange attack on the Hizmet Movement

Der Spiegel has published a piece about the Hizmet (Gülen) movement. Unfortunately, the piece does not look like a work of journalism.

The wording, selection of so-called experts, and most importantly distortions, misleading points and false information make the piece very problematic. The piece starts with a claim that “Gülen likes to present himself as the Gandhi of Islam”. However, Gülen has never made such a comparison. Without giving any background information about the Turkish politics and law, the piece accuses the movement being secretive. Its readers have a right to know that still in 2012, it is a crime to establish Islamic groups, movements and brotherhoods. These of course exist but they can only exist unofficially and depending on the socio-political situation, the authorities will turn a blind eye to these groupings that would operate normally in any proper democracy. Whenever conditions change, the authorities heavily punish these groups. Thus, as the piece puts the movement does not have an address or bank account but this is not its fault. This does not mean that the movement is secretive. It consists of volunteers, schools, businesses and so on. They operate as loose informal networks that the authorities know about and all these institutions are transparent institutions that regularly inspected by the relevant authorities.....

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David

[Exit40]

Erdogan's Growing Economic Woes
by David P. Goldman • Aug 9, 2012 at 10:21 pm

Some would call this a bubble:

Since late 2009, Turkey has lost $20 billion of foreign bank assets and taken on $50 billion of foreign bank debt

As we reported Aug. 3, Turkey's banks are still churning out consumer loans at a 30% annual rate, probably to capitalize the interest on loans bearing an 18% interest rate. The current account deficit is running at about $70 billion a year, which means that Turkey's banks will have to double their net external debt position to finance it. The Bank for International Settlements data (whence the chart was drawn) show no lending to Turkey from the rest of the OECD. We believe the money is coming from the Gulf states, whose largesse is not infinite.

Worst, exports fell sharply in July year on year:....

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[Exit40]

Turkish aircraft not shot down by Syria, probe reveals
Turkish aircraft not shot down by Syria, probe reveals
August 10, 2012 - 20:10 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - An investigation by Turkish authorities found no evidence that the Turkish reconnaissance aircraft that crashed on June 22 was shot down by Syrian air defense, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on Friday, August 10, RIA Novosti said.

A Turkish Air Force reconnaissance aircraft RF-4E left on June 22 from the Erkhach Air Base in Turkey’s southeastern Malatya Province and disappeared from radar screens a half hour later while in Mediterranean Sea airspace on the western border of Syria and Turkey’s Hatay province....

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[Exit40]

U.S., Turkey to step up plans for Syria's "day after"
Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:03pm EDT
By Andrew Quinn

ACCRA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The United States imposed new sanctions on Syria and its allies on Friday as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to Turkey for meetings as both countries plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fall.

Clinton, winding up an 11-day Africa tour, is due to fly from the small West African state of Benin to Istanbul, where she will meet on Saturday with Turkey's prime minister and foreign minister and hold talks with Syrians who have recently joined the growing exodus of refugees fleeing the violence.

In Washington, the Treasury and State departments announced new sanctions on Syria's state-run oil company Sytrol, saying it had supplied gasoline to Iran, and on Lebanon-based Hezbollah, charging that the group had provided training, advice and extensive logistical support to Assad's government....

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[Exit40]

Energy Resources
Turkey, Turkmenistan discuss energy cooperation
Energy-rich Turkmenistan and energy importer Turkey are deepening their bilateral ties.
Published: Aug. 10, 2012 at 9:46 AM

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Energy-rich Turkmenistan and energy importer Turkey are deepening bilateral ties. Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhammedov is making a two-day state visit to Turkey, visiting Istanbul and Izmir.

Turkey's energy imports of Turkmen natural gas reportedly remain Ankara's biggest immediate concern, but Turkey has also expressed interest in participating in the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline.

Bilateral trade between Turkmenistan and Turkey increased 25 percent in 2011, compared to 2010 levels.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy ... z23AMON2Gl

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David

[Exit40]

Turkey says it will do ‘whatever is required' against Iran
10 August 2012 / ABDULLAH BOZKURT, ANKARA

In a sign of a further rift with its mullah regime neighbor, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç slammed Iran on Thursday, saying that the Turkish government is disturbed by Iran's stance against Turkey.

Speaking to a group of reporters over an iftar (fast-breaking) dinner, Arınç said that Ankara is uncomfortable with the positions the Iranian government has taken recently towards Turkey on a number of issues, not necessarily tied to the Syrian crisis.

“What I mean by disturbing behavior [by the Iranian regime] is not related to Syria,” he said, stressing that Turkey will do ‘whatever is required” to counter Iranian threats.

The Turkish minister implied that a recent surge in terror attacks in Turkey's Southeast has the backing of Iran. “We have received information that Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] terrorists infiltrated from the Iranian side of the border and that they were stationed in the Şehidan camp [in Iran] and crossed into Turkey from the region of Harkuk in northern Iraq,” he said....

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[Exit40]

Turkish FM Holds Talks in Jeddah

Monday, 13 August 2012

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attended a meeting in Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah of foreign ministers of nine countries participating in summit meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

According to information received from diplomatic sources, Davutoglu held bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Djibouti, Sudan, Senegal, Egypt and Jordan who attended a meeting of Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

In the meeting of foreign ministers, developments in Syria, Myanmar and Somalia were discussed and Davutoglu mentioned about his contacts he had held in Myanmar. Davutoglu also stressed that the pace of transition and changeover in Somalia should be put into fast track and he pointed the latest developments in Syria....

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[Exit40]

UPDATE 3-U.S. and Turkey weigh no-fly zones for Syria
Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:32pm EDT
* Washington, Ankara to consider all measures to aid rebels
* Clinton says hears Syrian refugees' "terrible stories"
* Turkey fears Syria arming Kurdish militant group PKK
* Turkish PM Erdogan says militant attacks rising in Turkey
By Andrew Quinn and Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The United States and Turkey are looking at all measures to help Syrian rebel forces fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, including a no-fly zone, as the conflict there deepens, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday. Clinton told reporters after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that their countries needed to get into detailed operational planning on how to assist the rebels and bring a halt to the violence.

Overnight Syrian and Jordanian forces clashed along the border in an incident that highlighted international concerns that the civil war in Syria could ignite a wider regional conflict. The clashes also emphasised the urgent need for planning on what could follow Assad's fall. "Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that," Clinton said....

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[Exit40]

When Will Turkey Join the European Union?
Published: Monday, 13 Aug 2012 | 12:55 AM ET

The history of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union (EU) is as long and convoluted as a Turkish epic poem, and this seems unlikely to change any time soon.

“For the 25 years I’ve been in Turkey, EU accession has been 10 years away,” said Hugh Pope, Turkey/Cyprus project director of Crisis Group. “At the moment, the process is dead in the water. That doesn’t mean it can’t be revived.”

For many years, the prospect of Turkey joining the EU was not taken very seriously, despite its geographic proximity and membership in NATO. Then, at the turn of the 21st century, Turkey embarked on a series of economic and political reforms, such as the abolition of the death penalty and reforms in the area of women’s rights, which would make it more palatable to EU members.

In 2005, it started formal negotiations to enter the group of nations. These stymied on the old bugbear of Cyprus, a Mediterranean island that both Greece and Turkey have fought over. ...

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[Exit40]

Turkey builds significant ties with Asia
Monday, 13 August 2012 12:01

Since its days as the capital of the Eastern Roman, Latin and Ottoman empires, Constantinople has historically been known as the “gateway to the east.” Centuries later, modern-day Turkey is building significant bridges with Asia, most recently by joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a dialogue partner.

Analysts point out, however, that while Turkey forges new partnerships internationally, its European aspirations remain unaffected. Turkey has over time integrated with Europe to a significant extent, having been part of the Council of Europe since 1949, Nato since 1952 and the EU Customs Union since 1995. Turkey is also the sixth largest trade partner of the EU. “However, other tools and cooperation platforms can be used along with the EU to strengthen Turkish international policies,” said Turkey expert Onur Eryuce, the Brussels-based secretary-general of the Association of Social Democratic Municipalities of Turkey.

In sharp contrast to its rocky EU bid, Turkey’s admission into the SCO as a dialogue partner has been smooth.
Now a high-profile regional group covering about three-fifths of the Eurasia land mass, the SCO has served as a pivotal mechanism for regional security cooperation since it was established 10 years ago....

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[Exit40]

Kurdish offensive in Turkey has indirect Syrian backing
Posted on Thursday, 08.16.12
By Roy Gutman McClatchy Newspapers

SEMDINLI, Turkey -- Kurdish militants, who’ve been at war with the Turkish state for the past 30 years, tried out a new tactic this summer. As they cut the main road from the Iran and Iraq borders to the southeast Turkish market town of Semdinli, they declared that it wouldn’t be the familiar “hit and run” operation. This time it was “hit and stay.”

Hoping to set a trap for the Turkish army garrison here, rebel fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party placed 50-caliber heavy machine guns and rocket launchers on high ground to ambush the motorized units the army was certain to send. But the army avoided the main road and destroyed the heavy weapons from the air. It lofted drones to spot the guerrillas, then pounded them with long-range artillery.

Twenty days into the operation, the Turkish high command announced Sunday that it was over. It claimed that 115 guerrillas had been killed, and that only six Turkish soldiers and two village guardsmen had died....

Snip.... Turkey denounced the “baseless accusations and unworthy threats made against our country.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, went on to urge Iranians to protest their government policy: “I ask the Iranians. Is there a place in your religion for defending a regime that kills its people, or not? If Syrians are fleeing their country, shouldn’t Iran be brought to account?”.....

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/16/2 ... rylink=cpy

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[Exit40]

Steel is Turkey's latest helping hand to Iran
Thu Aug 16, 2012 8:47pm IST
By Silvia Antonioli

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Turkey's importance as a trade conduit to Iran has widened to include supplying most of its steel as Turkish banks are among the very few still willing to arrange financing for the sanctions-hit country.

Despite sometimes strained political ties, trade between the two neighbours has risen sharply over the past decade, with Turkey regarded by some as a possible weak link in international sanctions imposed on Iran over Tehran's suspected development of nuclear weapons.

Iran is Turkey's biggest export market for gold while Turkey is Europe's only remaining importer of Iranian oil.

Now traders say steel bound for Iran is on the rise, after plunging earlier this year as toughened U.S.-led sanctions left Iranian buyers without access to major currencies.....

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[Exit40]

Syria mediator Brahimi needs UN Security Council unity: Turkish FM
Xinhua | 2012-8-18 15:06:09

Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, will need consensus in the UN Security Council if he is to succeed in his mission, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.

The United Nations earlier confirmed that Brahimi would replace former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the international mediator on Syria as the 17-month-old conflict slides deeper into civil war.

"Brahimi's appointment is significant but the UN Security Council needs to back him up in unity ...," Ahmet Davutoglu told a joint news conference with visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in the Turkish capital of Ankara.....

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[Exit40]

U.S. and Turkey warn nationals against traveling to Lebanon
Friday, 17 August 2012
By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES

The United States and Turkey on Friday warned their nationals against travelling to Lebanon, following mass kidnappings which included the reported abduction of another Turkish citizen.

The warnings came after around 20 people including one Turk were taken hostage in Beirut on Wednesday and another Turkish national on Thursday, according to the ministry.

On Wednesday, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim clan had claimed it had kidnapped a group of Syrians and the Turkish man after a family member was kidnapped this week by a Syrian rebel group which accused him of being a Hezbollah sniper.

The U.S. warned that its nationals face increased threats to their security in Lebanon, including the possibility of targeted kidnappings or terrorist attacks.....

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[Exit40]

Analysis: Can Israel, Turkey Climb Down From the Tree?
By Carol Halavi First Publish: 8/19/2012, 6:32 Pm

An Israeli delegation is quietly welcomed to Turkey to discuss finding ways for the two nations to climb down the diplomatic tree.

Turkish-Israeli relations have never been at a lower ebb, despite the rise in trade volume, and the professed strong cultural ties binding the two together. Business is brisk, but people are concerned. And there's no tourism, where once there was plenty.

For the past several months, Turkish journalists have been meeting off and on with Israeli leaders and lawmakers to hear the latest proposal from Jerusalem for a solution to the freeze between the two nations. Each time, the encounter is scrutinized to determine whether this might be “the one” to lead the two former allies back to each other, and back down the tree they both seem to have climbed.

Now an Israeli delegation was invited finally to Turkey, albeit secretly and by interfaith organizations....

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[Exit40]

Turkey suggests need for UN safe haven in Syria
ISTANBUL | Mon Aug 20, 2012 4:55am EDT

(Reuters) - The United Nations may need to create a "safe zone" within Syria to accommodate a growing number of refugees from the fighting there, Turkey's foreign minister was quoted as saying on Monday.

Turkey, already hosting nearly 70,000 Syrians fleeing the 17-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, may soon be unable to cope, Ahmet Davutoglu told the Hurriyet newspaper.

"If the number of refugees in Turkey surpasses 100,000, we will run out of space to accommodate them. We should be able to accommodate them in Syria. The United Nations may build camps in a safe zone within Syria's borders," he was quoted as saying.

Syrian rebels have expanded the territory they hold near the Turkish border in the last few weeks and opposition groups have said they need the protection of no-fly zones and safe havens patrolled by foreign forces....

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[Exit40]

How to Read Today's Unbelievably Bad News
by Claire Berlinski August 20, 2012 at 6:03 am

An unshocking admission: I've made some ungodly-embarrassing retraction-worthy journalistic mistakes over the course of my career. Almost every journalist does. It's hard to write about complex events at once quickly, without boring your readers witless, and without making mistakes. One example in particular embarrasses me; I'll share it with you at the end of this piece. For now, I point this out to set the stage: When I criticize my colleagues, as I am about to do, I hardly mean to suggest that I do so from a platform of unblemished faultlessness.

But criticize I must. Something has gone very wrong in American coverage of news from abroad. It is shoddy, lazy, riddled with mistakes, and excessively simplistic.

Above all, it is absent.

Many things are to blame for this. In 2009, I wrote a piece for City Journal observing the disappearance of international news from the American press. It is a long-term trend. A number of studies suggest a roughly 80 percent drop in foreign coverage in print and television media since the end of the Cold War. it seems to me—based upon my casual perusal of the American media—that the trend is accelerating.

I asked, in that essay,

Why has the U.S. increasingly forgotten that a wider world exists?....

Comprehensive article

>>>> I've noticed what this writer is talking about. Increasingly, and especially within the last year or more, it's has become difficult to get any real news. Always it seems the news comes from clearinghouses, all reporting much the same thing, with the reader left to try figure what is being said between the lines. The bias becomes the agenda, and with the internet, as the writer points out, we pick and choose the news that appeals to our own agendas, reinforcing our own bias and agenda so much so the real truth becomes obscure to our own 'facts' which are confirmed by what we read. One thing to add, the mainstream news is a misnomer, as I think they do not represent anything that resembles main stream American thinking, but bias and agenda geared to attract those who want to read this stuff, which is mainly America bashing, as we think what we want to know about America. Bad news sells, especially with that bias and gearing that piles up the numbers of readership, with much of the reporting supporting blame for wrong doings by the 'some' who caused this, and almost always turned into a sociopolitical issue that in most cases refuses to portray anything negative about islam.

For instance, the report about Egyptians crucifying Christians. The reports state it's not really Christians who are subject to this, but the Presidents dissenters. Reality is though, Morsi wants sharia law according to the koran, which states crucifixion of Jews and Christians, infidels as well, is allowed and in most cases required. So does anyone think Christian and Jewish Egyptians are going to complain about this ? Of course they will, and be slaughtered because of it. Doesn't take many deaths in this manner to quiet them down, and they must leave the country if possible to escape this persecution because regardless how quiet they become it will come to them as national policy, sharia style. Where is the outrage for this religiously fomented religious persecution from the religion of peace ? Or child marriages ? Or female genital mutilation ? Or sex slaves, young girls and women stolen from other nations ? How about gang rapes because their women deserve punishment for mistakenly stepping out of their man's possession alone to go to the corner store ? Or because their hair was not properly covered ? Homicide bomber didn't really catch on, nor did murder in the name of allah, as these are just disturbed individuals who are painting the wrong picture of islam, even though their book explicitly states they are to do this. But if a mass murderer in Norway uses the name of Christians in his deeds he somehow represents mainstream Christianity, regardless the absolute fact and truth he is clueless about the Faith. Where is the outrage in the West over all this misrepresentation of the truth ? Ain't there because our national/corporate/social/PC policy is to not say anything that would cause them to be outraged, like the truth about what they are really doing, lest they become further outraged and maybe cause the fragile oil based world economy a deeper issue and affect our comfortable lifestyles, and our money tied up in retirement accounts. Never mind the rioting muslims who kill and maim over a perceived insult, burning embassy's and consulates, or homes and businesses owned by infidels. Especially in the West where they are just disaffected peoples with legitimate complaints against their misrepresentation and mistreatment by their respective governments.

So why no outrage ? Because the nations drink the wine ( oil ) of their fornication, real and spiritual, sharing in their idolatry, placing their security in their money and economies for the sake of sustainability, and in their greed for wealth which they think is power they get theirs and to hell with the rest. I'm beginning to believe the MOB is not about buying and selling goods, but people and their souls. Buy into the system, or get sold down the river. Agree and prosper, disagree and what you have is taken from you and given to those more deserving, and eventually they will be the brotherly muslims who only want to save humanity and take from them everything that the True God would give us.

The Truth is being cast to the ground, it is practicing and prospering, just as was written. But sadly, that is not in the news. [/rant]

God Bless

David

[Exit40]

Politika, Serbia: Turkish PM determines BiH a Turkish province
20 August 2012 | 10:22 | FOCUS News Agency
Home / Southeast Europe and Balkans
Belgrade. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan determined Bosnia and Herzegovina the 81st Turkish province and said that it was his duty as prime minister to take care of Sarajevo, writes Serbian Politika daily.
According to the newspaper, Erdogan’s statement incited wild commentaries in Belgrade. Analysts said that when Erdogan mentioned Sarajevo, he was definitely thinking about Belgrade, too..

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>>>> He's just trying to help out his brotherly muslims, not take over. D. <<<<

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David

[Exit40]

Study: English Language Rooted in Turkey
Rosanne Skirble August 24, 2012
The beginnings of the English language are rooted in Turkey, a new study suggests.

The Indo-European language family - which includes English, French, Russian, Persian and even ancient Greek - is one of the world’s largest language groups and extends from Iceland in the West to Sri Lanka in the East.

The common origin of all those languages, scientists say, must be somewhere on the European continent.

One hypothesis suggests it emerged 6,000 years ago from a semi-nomadic horse-riding people in the Russian Steppes north of the Caspian Sea.....

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[Exit40]

Turkey’s Garanti Loaned $400 Million by U.S. Development Bank
By Mark Bentley and Sibel Akbay - Aug 24, 2012 5:32 AM PT

Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (GARAN), Turkey’s biggest bank by market value, borrowed $400 million from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the development-finance arm of the U.S. government.

The loan is over a 14-year period and will be used to finance small-and-medium sized enterprises, the Istanbul-based lender said in a filing today.

“Garanti has become the Turkish institution receiving the highest amount in loans from OPIC with this latest transaction,” Deputy Chief Executive Officer Ali Fuat Erbil said. “We worked on our own and didn’t require the help of a foreign bank on this and that is a first in Turkey.” ...

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[Exit40]

Turkey accuses Syria of 'state terrorism' as death toll spikes
Published September 05, 2012 Associated Press

BEIRUT – Turkey accused Syria of "state terrorism" Wednesday after a sharp spike in the death toll from the Syrian civil war, and Iran came under new scrutiny with the U.S. alleging that Tehran is flying weapons to President Bashar Assad's regime across Iraqi airspace.

With violence escalating in the nearly 18-month-old crisis, strains rippled across the region as Egypt's president urged Assad to take a lesson from the Arab Spring uprisings that deposed other leaders and step down.

There appears to be no end in sight for the conflict, however. Neither side seems to be able to gain a significant advantage in the fighting that has killed 23,000 people, according to activists' estimates.

Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of Assad and is host to Syrian opposition groups as well as about 80,000 of the more than 200,000 refugees who have fled to surrounding countries to escape the bloodshed.

"The regime has become one of state terrorism," said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Syria is going through a huge humanitarian saga. Unfortunately, as usual, the international community is merely watching the slaughter, massacre and the elimination of Muslims.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/09/05 ... z260CPpmFK

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[Exit40]

Barack Obama asks Turkish PM Erdogan to speak out against violence over Mohammad movie
15 September, 2012 | 17:22

US President Barack Obama sent a personal message to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asking him to speak out against the rising violence against US embassies across the Arab nations over Muhammad movie.

Washington – Ankara / NationalTurk – Barack Obama has vowed to ‘ stand fast ‘ against spreading anti-US violence raging in the Arab world, as he mourned four Americans slain in Libya after their remains were flown home.

In a heart-rending homecoming, four transfer caskets draped in American flags were slowly borne Friday from the belly of a giant C-17 transport plane by Marines in dress uniform, and set down in a hangar.

US ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other Americans died Tuesday when a mob furious over an anti-Muslim Internet video made on US soil torched the American consulate in Benghazi, part of a region-wide eruption of violence....

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[Exit40]

Saudi Absence Overshadows Syria Meeting

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Saudi Arabia stays away from a meeting on the Syria crisis convened by regional powers, Turkey, Iran and Egypt. FM Davutoğlu stresses that the participation of Riyadh to the meeting would be crucial.

The meeting of the regional contact group on Syria - consisting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Egypt - was overshadowed by the absence of Saudi Arabia, with the sides agreeing to hold a second round of talks in New York in September on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings.

There are conflicting statements coming from Egypt as to why Riyadh stayed away from the meeting, which was initiated by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr said after the meeting that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal “had previous commitments.” However, Egyptian presidential spokesman Yasser Ali and an Arab League official both said the Saudi minister had stayed away for health reasons....

Snip.... Before meeting his counterparts, Davutoğlu met with Morsi and Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. Speaking after meeting Qandil, Davutoğlu said they both aimed to build a “new Middle East.” “Cooperating with Egypt and other states we will build a new Middle East,” the foreign minister said, adding that Ankara was ready to share its experiences with Cairo.....

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[Exit40]

MIDEAST DEBT-Turkey embraces Islamic finance with sovereign sukuk
Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:00am EDT
* Political, economic factors behind policy shift
* Bank, corporate issuers gain pricing benchmark
* Islamic banks can strengthen funding structures
* First non-financial issuer possible next year
* Tax treatment will be important
By Seda Sezer and Bernardo Vizcaino

ISTANBUL/DUBAI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Turkey's issue of its first sovereign sukuk this week paves the way for Turkish companies to raise money through Islamic bonds, and may help the country become a major market for Islamic investors from the Gulf and southeast Asia.

After coming to power a decade ago, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, which espouses Islamic values, largely shied away from Islamic finance for fear of opening itself to charges that it was trying to roll back state secularism.

This prevented the world's eighth most populous Muslim nation from participating fully in rapid growth of the industry. Islamic financial assets globally hit $1.3 trillion in 2011, a 150 percent increase over five years, according to an estimate by lobby group TheCityUK's UK Islamic Finance Secretariat.

The Turkish government's issue of a $1.5 billion Islamic bond this week, which drew heavy bids totalling about $7.5 billion from global investors, is a step towards bringing Turkey into the mainstream of Islamic finance, potentially giving it more access to tens of billions of dollars of Islamic investment funds from other Muslim nations....

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[Exit40]

“PM Erdoğan Believes Religious Education Will Breed Obedience”

Education specialist Assist. Prof. Cem Kirazoğlu said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent comments on the status of theological Imam Hatip schools reflect his underlying belief that religious education will breed obedient generations.
Ekin KARACA
ekin@bianet.org
Istanbul - BIA News Center
18 September 2012, Tuesday

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent remarks on the status of theological Imam Hatip schools reveal his underlying conviction that religious education breeds obedient generations, according to Assist. Prof. Cem Kirazoğlu, a researcher in the field of educational studies.

"What harm have Imam Hatip schools brought upon you that you [decided to] shut them down? What have Imam Hatip [graduates] ever done to you? Did you shut them down because Imam Hatip schools do not breed terrorists [and anarchists?..] Did you shut them down because [their graduates] are aching to serve their country?" Prime Minister Erdoğan said during the inauguration ceremony of the Cedide Abalıoğlu Anadolu Imam Hatip High School in the southwestern district of Denizli.

The government believes in the significance of Imam Hatip schools because they think these institutions breed religious generations that comply with authority and which nurture sentiments of gratefulness rather than inciting rebellious behavior, according to Assist. Prof. Kirazoğlu....

Snip..... "Obedient generations that conform to the authorities"

"People turn into 'terrorists' and 'anarchists' in the eyes of the authorities when they begin to act unruly. This reflects a discriminatory language on the part of the authorities. We see this language at the work place and in the family. Those who have power employ this language against those who lack it. When those who lack power [refuse] to obey and [choose] to criticize instead, then they are labelled as such," Assist. Prof. Kirazoğlu said.

Religious people cannot be "bad persons" according to the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) which defines "bad persons" as those people who do not seek their rights, fail to obey the authorities and identify with certain political views, he said.

"The prime minister believes in the significance of religious education because religious education permits the breeding of obedient generations that do not rebel or question. In reality, the [terms] 'terrorist' and 'anarchist' in his lexicon" signify people who do not entertain sentiments of gratefulness," he added....

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[Exit40]

Turkey's Erdogan to consolidate grip as ruling party renews
By Nick Tattersall and Can Sezer
KONYA, Turkey | Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:38am EDT

(Reuters) - Surveying the street lights sparkling like jewels on the plain below, Tahir Akyurek looks back with satisfaction on his first eight years as mayor of this central Turkish city. Two-lane highways have been widened to six, a fast train line has put Ankara just an hour and a half away, and there is a new park where students and the elderly chat over tea or wander among pristine lawns in the shadow of elegant minarets.

More so than the teeming streets of cosmopolitan Istanbul, the ordered avenues of Ankara or the resorts of the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, this conservative industrial city on the Anatolian plateau epitomises the reformist ambitions of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

"Konya is connected with its traditions and embraces the new ... Being conservative, being devoted to tradition, does not mean being reactionary," Akyurek told Reuters, sipping tea and chewing almonds on a cafe terrace overlooking the city. His sentiments reflect the self-image of the Islamist-rooted AK Party as it prepares for its biggest overhaul since sweeping to power in Turkey a decade ago. Critics are less charitable, viewing it as a threat to the modern secular republic founded by Kemal Ataturk on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago.

The party's September 30 congress is unlikely to offer any sign Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, viewed by many Turks as their strongest leader since Ataturk, is loosening his grip on a heavily-centralized party or on the country as a whole. AK, its initials spelling out the word for purity, is Erdogan's child....

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[Exit40]

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6ac625c0-07c6 ... z27h5PxOfO

September 27, 2012 6:23 pm
Tradition of the Prophet must be upheld

By M. Fethullah Gülen

Muslims pray each day: “O Lord! Keep us on the straight path.” It is a prayer to help us move away from the extremes and maintain balance in our lives. We must neither be hostage to our reactionary instincts, nor must we remain completely silent in the face of the systematic defamation of our values and beliefs. This balance has been upset by the violent response to the insults targeting the legacy of beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The violent response was wrong and strayed from the straight path.

Muslims should not be indifferent with respect to the attacks on the Prophet (PBUH). On the contrary, they must show the utmost sensitivity and caution. Those insulting Islam might be seeking to depict a negative image of Muslims, and hence justify discrimination, isolation, persecution or deportation. The deliberate instigation and creation of turmoil in the Muslim world is not new. Our sacred values were attacked in the past through cartoons, today it is done through a movie and cartoons in a French magazine, and tomorrow other means may be used. Muslims must not be beguiled or enticed but instead must speak out to prevent those who are more easily provoked from resorting to violence..

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David

[Exit40]

Turkey PM tells Syria allies to stop backing regime

(AFP) – 1 day ago

ANKARA — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday urged China, Iran and Russia to end their support for the Syrian regime, warning that "history will not forgive" their stance in the face of mounting bloodshed.

"Please rethink your current attitude. History will not forgive those who have sided with these brutal regimes," Erdogan said in a speech at a congress of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)....

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[Exit40]

Gulen's False Choice: Silence or Violence
by Stephen Schwartz October 5, 2012 at 4:00 am

The imam and his army should follow their own advice: respond to insults against Muhammad or other non-violent attacks by presenting a better example of Islam, rather than by attempting prior restraint on free expression.

When the enigmatic Turkish Islamist leader, M. Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the U.S., published, in the September 27 London Financial Times, an op-ed column with a clumsy turn from benevolent moderation to hard Islamist ambitions, he revealed his authentic character.

The topic was, probably predictably, the latest outburst of terrorism in Muslim countries, along with the pretext of indignation against a crude video made in the U.S. and which insulted Muhammad. The op-ed, entitled, "Violence is not in the tradition of the Prophet," emphasized, in the first seven (out of nine) paragraphs, that Muslims should not react to insults against Muhammad by destructive protests: "The violent response," he wrote, "was wrong… Muslims …must speak out [against] violence… The question we should ask ourselves as Muslims is whether we have introduced Islam and its Prophet properly to the world. Have we followed his example in such a way as to instill admiration?... [A Muslim] should respect the sacred values of Christians, Jews, Buddhists and others as he expects his own religion and values to be respected." So far, so good.

The true outlook of Fethullah Gulen, however, was revealed in his last two paragraphs: "Hate speech designed to incite violence is an abuse of the freedom of expression... [W]e should appeal to the relevant international institutions, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC] or the UN, to intervene, expose and condemn instances of hate speech. We can do whatever it takes within the law to prevent any disrespect to all revered religious figure, not only to the Prophet Muhammad. The attacks on the Prophet we have repeatedly experienced are to be condemned, but the correct response is not violence. Instead, we must pursue a relentless campaign to promote respect for the sacred values of all religions," Gulen proclaimed.

Gulen proposes, in so many words, adoption of international laws against blasphemy as an alternative to homicidal outbursts. And what would a "relentless campaign" involve other than disrespect for free speech? Presenting terrorist mobs and blasphemy codes as the principal alternatives for redress of offended Muslims' grievances is hardly reasonable, and conflicts with the reputation Gulen has sought to construct for himself and his followers as dedicated adherents to interfaith dialogue and tolerance of religious differences.....

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David