NEWS SCAN for Turkey – June 19th, 2013

Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites.

Protestors continue to demonstrate in ESKISEHIR, all night long

The Turkish police ended demonstrations staged by 5,000 protestors in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir, all night long, using gas bombs and water cannons. It is reported that three protesters, a journalist and a police officer were injured.

The protestors shouted slogans such as “everywhere Taksim, everywhere resistance” and “government resign” in front of a mall called Espark in Eskisehir. It is also reported that the police’s heavy crackdown managed to disperse the group; however a group of 500 people stayed in the mall and blocked the way in front of it. The clashes continued until 5 a.m. in the morning.

Eskişehir has been one of the most remarkable provinces in Turkey, attending Gezi Park protests across the country from the very beginning following the Occupy Taksim movement.

Tension between AK Party and EU over Gezi Park protest affects planned meetings

It is reported that Justice Minister Sadullah has Ergin canceled his trip to Brussels on Thursday, where he was scheduled to participate in a conference on freedom of expression and media in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

On the other hand, the delegation from the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs also had to postpone its visit scheduled for this week as it could not secure any appointments from government officials.

Then again, the European Union is set to decide this week whether to delay accession talks with Turkey. Negotiations on one chapter were expected to be opened by the end of this month, but Germany is trying to convince other members to postpone the meeting in a response to Ankara’s crackdown on mass demonstrations, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

All above has been interpreted as “Tension between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the European Parliament over the Turkish police’s crackdown on protestors may have a potential spillover effect on Ankara’s membership talks with the European Union.

Minister of Transportation claims of ban are actually cyber security works”

Turkey’s Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yildirim has said, “Those mentioned works are cyber security works. There are no works towards social media or social networking sites. It is injustice to keep saying that a ban would be placed on social media. We say yes to freedoms however we cannot let others’ life become upside-down” in regards to claims of ban on the use of social media.

Turkish minister replied the questions of reporters following the “Turkey Offshore Energy Conference” organized by Istanbul Technical University (ITU).

Upon a question about news reports over a ban being placed on social media, Yildirim said there was a misunderstanding and added, “Those mentioned works are cyber security works. In the scope of the road map of the Cyber Security Council, a few decisions were taken and in a few days, the president will approve it. As of June 20, we will hold the second meeting of Cyber Security Council. All virtual world topics are related to the cyber security.”

Turkey aims to increase production of shale gas

It is reported that Turkey, which possibly has huge potential of shale gas particularly around Central and Southeastern Anatolia and Thrace, aims to increase production of this item.

Turkey has appeared to accelerate its local energy exploration and production activities, specifically

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız made following explanation yesterday during the share and operations transfer ceremony of the 600 megawatt (MW) Seyitömer thermal power plant;

“Many have said there is huge potential of shale gas reserves in Turkey, specifically in the Central Anatolian cities of Ankara, Konya and Nevşehir, although it is not feasible to give accurate figures about the reserves before the completion of our exploration activities. We have already undertaken a series of shale gas exploration activities around Turkey, for example we have been drilling below 3,000 meters with Shell in the eastern city of Diyarbakır, and planning such activities in the Thrace Basin”.

It is estimated that the Dadaş Shale in the Southeast Anatolian Basin and the Hamitabat Shale in the Thrace Basin contain 163 trillion cubic feet (tcf) (4.6 trillion cubic meters) of risked shale gas in-place, with 24 tcf (651 bcm) as the risked, technically recoverable shale gas resource. In addition, they estimate that these two shale basins also contain 94 billion barrels of risked shale oil in-place, with 4.7 billion barrels as the risked, technically recoverable shale oil resource.

19.06.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA

We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.