News Scan for Turkey – Dec 5th, 2013

AK Party spokesman confirms MİT profiling of faith-based movements

A Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesman has confirmed that the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) profiled some movements and groups, but rejected allegations that the government had taken action against those groups upon MİT profiling.

AK Party spokesperson Hüseyin Çelik raised the issue of the government profiling of a large number of individuals who are believed to be followers of certain religious and faith-based groups, a subject that has caused public outcry over the past three days, leading to mounting questions over the state of individual rights and freedoms in Turkey.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Çelik addressed the delicate issue of profiling in what seems to be an attempt to assuage public concerns over the state’s encroachment on social and faith-based groups, and confirmed that MİT indeed profiled certain groups. He denied, however, any government wrongdoing and assigned the blame on the entrenched institutional habits of MİT, the country’s main intelligence organization.

TODAYS ZAMAN

Turkey and EU agree to sign historic visa deal

Turkey and the European Union have agreed to sign the much-anticipated Readmission Agreement on Dec. 16 in Ankara in return for launching visa liberalization talks for Turkish citizens, after nearly two years of arduous negotiations.

The decision for the signing of the Readmission Agreement was announced in Brussels on Dec. 4 after Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held meetings with Cecilia Malstöm and Stefan Füle, European commissioners for home affairs and enlargement, respectively.

“It’s a historic day. We have reached the agreement today. We will officially launch the process of visa freedom on Dec. 16 and we’ll sign the Readmission Agreement,” Davutoğlu told reporters during the joint press conference in Brussels, citing that the processes would go forward in parallel. “Visa exemption for Turkish nationals will be introduced in three and a half years’ time at most, in line with the completion of necessary procedures. But maybe it will be completed much before than this,” he stressed.

Füle, for his part, thanked Davutoğlu and the Turkish government for their contribution to the process. Füle said the agreement was part of the positive agenda on which Ankara and Brussels have agreed.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Malaysia Airports, Turkey’s TAV in talks to buy 40 pct stake in Sabiha Gökçen airport

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Turkey’s TAV Havalimanları Holding are in talks with India’s GMR Infrastructure Ltd about buying its 40 percent stake in Turkey’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport, sources close to the negotiations said on Tuesday.
Sabiha Gökçen is one of İstanbul’s two airports, located on the Asian side of the city, and handled 15.7 million passengers in the first ten months of 2013.

Malaysia Airports, Turkish firm Limak and GMR Infrastructure acquired the operating rights of the airport in 2007 for 20 years for 1.93 billion euros ($2.62 billion).

TAV, GMR and Limak declined to comment, while officials from Malaysia Airports could not immediately be reached.

TODAYS ZAMAN

Turkey aims to serve as energy corridor: Minister

While energy supply security is an issue on many countries’ agendas, Turkey is working to meet its own demand and to become an “energy corridor” through the European and global markets, Turkish Trade and Custom Minister Hayati Yazıcı has said.

Yazıcı was speaking at the opening ceremony of the third Caspian Forum in Istanbul late Dec. 4. “The research on the energy sector shows global energy demand will increase by 60 percent by 2030. Europe’s energy demand will rise by 45 percent in the next 20 years as the European countries’ dependency on natural gas will rise from 51 percent to 70 percent by 2020,” Yazıcı said at the forum organized by Istanbul-based think tank Caspian Strategy Institute (HASEN).

The minister pointed out that 73 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves and 72 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves were located in the Caspian Region, Middle East Region and Russian Federation, which all surrounded Turkey.

“This situation makes Turkey a ‘bridge’ between energy-rich countries and Europe that spends $300 billion on energy imports. For this reason, while Turkey develops projects for meeting its own energy demand, it also aims to serve as the most appropriate [energy] route that opens to Europe and global markets,” he said.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Over 15,000 people to work to build TANAP

Some 30-35 working sites will be created to undertake preparation and construction for the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project, shown by the environmental impact analysis documents for the project.

The document also shows that approximately 500 people will be employed in each site, in addition to 50 people in each of the eight compressor stations.

The sites will be established on the most logistically suitable areas spanning some 2,000-kilometer-long route.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Al-Qaeda in Syria targets Turkmen minority

As al-Qaeda-linked fighters push for control over northern Syria, they have singled out a new and vulnerable target: the country’s small Turkmen minority. Over the past two months, the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has been menacing a cluster of Turkmen villages wedged between the Turkish province of Hatay and the Mediterranean Sea. The Turkmen call the area “Bayir,” which means “cliff” in their native Turkish. On a recent night, I stood with a group of Turkmen fighters on the Turkish side of the border and watched a Syrian army tank positioned on a nearby mountain shell the villages at a slow but steady pace.

Summary⎙ Print Syrian Turkmen feel Turkey has abandoned them.
Author Amberin ZamanPosted December 3, 2013
“We used to live in peace in our orchards, now we are being attacked from all sides,” said Omar Abdullah from the Omar al-Mokhtar brigade. “The regime bombs us with MiGs [Russian-made fighter jets] from the air, with tanks from the land and with ships from the sea, and now we are being attacked by ISIS,” he said.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/syria-al-qaeda-targets-turkmen-minority-isis-jihadist-kurds.html#ixzz2maBfyn5o

AL MONITOR

UNHCR Representative praises Turkey’s leadership, calls for int’l support on Syrian refugees

Refugee protection is the responsibility of the entire global community, not only Turkey or other neighboring countries, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative to Turkey Carol Batchelor has said.

“We need a more robust response from the international community to help us address the challenges of refugees,” said Batchelor.

She said Turkey has been unwavering in its commitment to refugees’ protection as the numbers continue to grow. Turkey hosts over 500,000 registered Syrian refugees, and over 200,000 of these are in various refugee camps. Thus, over 300,000 registered refugees are living outside of the camps.

With its 900-kilometer border with Syria, Turkey has said it will maintain its “open door” policy to those fleeing the Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011, although it has closed the border crossings from time to time following clashes near the frontier.

According to UNHCR figures, 6.5 million people are displaced inside Syria and there are 10 million people who require aid. The total number of Syrian refugees in the region is over 2 million.

TODAYS ZAMAN

05.12.2013
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.