News Scan for Turkey – Dec 12th, 2013

Congress to Ankara: No China interoperability with US money

Congress’ budget move to block US funding to make Turkey’s planned China air defense system interoperable with NATO assets could make the Chinese offer more expensive.

A move in Congress’ 2014 defense spending bill banning the use of U.S. funding to integrate a Chinese air and anti-missile defense shield with NATO/U.S. systems was not surprising for the Turkish defense bureaucracy, but it may make the Chinese offer “financially less attractive,” Turkish officials and defense industry sources have said.

A U.S. diplomat said the budget move aimed to block “the silly idea” that a Turkish-Chinese air defense system could be made interoperable with NATO/U.S. assets with the help of U.S. money.

“Why should Washington sponsor something that it views as being against the nature of allied defense. Remember, the U.S. is the top sponsor of NATO money, and it has a right to say where this money is to be used and where it is not,” the diplomat said.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

NATO chief Rasmussen’s term extended

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will stay in office for another year so that he can be in office when the NATO Summit in South Wales takes place on September 4-5, 2014.

Rasmussen will be in office until September 30, 2014 to conduct summit arrangements and to head the meeting which will be held at presidential level.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen became the 12th NATO Secretary General on 1 August 2009, succeeding Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who held the post from 2004 until 2009.

During the final selection process of Rasmussen’s candidacy, only Turkey remained opposed to him because of his handling of the cartoon episode in 2005, when the publication in some Danish newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed caused violent protests.

Another major element of Turkey’s opposition was Denmark’s tolerance of Roj TV, which is an tv channel affiliated to the outlawed PKK.

AA

Deputies exchange swear words on second day of budget discussions

Tensions continued to run high on the second day of budget discussions in Parliament early on Wednesday during which deputies from the ruling party and the opposition exchanged swear words and attempted to fight on a number of occasions.
Swear words voiced by deputies, which used to be recorded in full in the minutes of the proceedings in Parliament, were this time recorded only by their initials in the minutes.

Muharrem İnce, deputy parliamentary group chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said during the session that CHP deputies would sue Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his “impudent guys” remark which the prime minister directed at CHP deputies during Tuesday’s budget session. “We CHP deputies will file a complaint against the prime minister,” İnce said.

Erdoğan, seemingly annoyed by the unending verbal interjections by some CHP deputies when he was on the floor in Parliament on Tuesday to talk about next year’s budget, had said: “[You should] mind your manners. He continually utters something loudly. Did my colleagues [from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] behave in such a fashion when your chairman [Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu] addressed Parliament?”

TODAYS ZAMAN

CAD reaches $52 bln in first 10 months, exceeds 2012 figures

Turkey’s current account deficit (CAD) increased to $51.9 billion in the first 10 months of the year, a figure $3 billion higher than the country’s CAD for all of 2012.

These latest figures undermine a 4 percent growth in the economy over the first nine months of the year. Officials in Ankara acknowledge that there is no time to celebrate growth given the growing vulnerability of foreign cash inflows.

The central bank reported on Wednesday that the country’s CAD had narrowed by $2.89 billion in October.

The report cited a widening gap in foreign trade as the main factor triggering the rise of Turkey’s CAD this year.

TODAYS ZAMAN

Turkey and EU attempt to re-energize ties

Turkey’s ties with the European Union, which go back half a century, have lost their luster for ordinary Turks, as most surveys on the topic show. This is no surprise, since some in Europe have done more than enough to dampen Turkish enthusiasm for EU membership with one excuse or another, including arguments to the effect that Turks are not European and therefore have no place in the union.

The “bicycle,” to use a common analogy with regard to these ties, never fell over since there was just enough pedaling to prevent it. But Ankara’s membership talks, which started in 2005, have nevertheless been moving at a snail’s pace with no end in sight.

Attempts are underway to alter this situation and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Brussels in January for talks with senior EU officials. Under normal circumstances, Erdogan, as prime minister of a candidate country, should have beaten a well-trodden path between Ankara and Brussels. This, however, will be Erdogan’s first visit in nearly four years, and that shows how far back ties have fallen. Fresh attempts to revive these ties also include important decisions taken by both sides on issues where they have been at loggerheads. The most notable ones relate to illegal migration into Europe and visa liberalization for Turks.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/turkey-eu-renew-ties.html#ixzz2nFaHqbJy

AL MONITOR

Turkey closes Syria border gate as US suspends non-lethal aid

Turkey has closed the Cilvegözü border crossing with Syria after a newly established Islamist rebel alliance seized the gate on the other side of the border. The seizure also prompted the United States to suspend all non-lethal assistance into northern Syria.

A statement from the Customs and Trade Ministry said the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian side was recently captured by a moderate Islamic group, referring to the Islamic Front, which was formed last month by six rebel groups that merged with the goal of overthrowing the al-Assad regime and establishing an Islamic state. The statement also added that the Cilvegözü border crossing in the southeastern province of Hatay had been closed to the transit of passengers and vehicles.

Last week the Islamic Front rejected the authority of the mainstream Free Syrian Army (FSA), which was the first major rebel force formed after the outbreak of Syria’s civil war and was made up of army deserters and civilians. The capture of the Bab al-Hawa crossing came after the Islamic Front seized arms depots near the crossing belonging to the FSA at the weekend, heightening tensions among the fractured Syrian opposition. It was unclear why the Islamic Front had seized the FSA premises and it was not known whether any stock had gone missing.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

12.12.2013
compiled by Editor BTT,

This is a news-scan from major Turkish papers and internet sites. However, we do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.