Anadolu Agency

AA’S INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM
TRAINING PROGRAM BEGINS
EUROPEAN BANK EBRD FINALIZES
STAKE IN BORSA ISTANBUL
Anadolu Agency’s News Academy launched its first course
EURO 2016: TURKEY FACES SPAIN,
CZECH REPUBLIC, CROATIA
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) and Borsa Istanbul have finalized the bank’s purchase of a 10 percent stake in the Turkish stock exchange.
The acquisition, which had been announced about six
months ago, was signed by the bank’s First Vice President
Phil Bennett and Borsa Istanbul’s Chief Executive Officer
Tuncay Dinc in the presence of Turkish Deputy Prime
Minister Mehmet Simsek at the bourse’s headquarters in
Istanbul late Friday. >>ECONOMY
in the “International Journalism Training Program for
Central Asia and North Africa” for Ethiopian participants
in Istanbul Saturday.
In his keynote address, AA News Academy Coordinator
Umit Sonmez congratulated the program participants and
said that Ethiopian people were “industrious and hardworking”. “Ethiopian people are always very hardworking.
They always finish their duties...>> TURKEY
Erdogan says Iraqi UN move
against Turkey ‘not honest’
SundayDecember 13, 2015
Iraq seeks to lodge complaint to UN Security Council
concerning presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Friday that Iraq’s complaint to
the UN Security Council over a recent Turkish troop deployment in northern Iraq
was “not a sincere step”. According to a statement by the Iraqi Prime Ministry press
office, the Iraqi foreign ministry was told to lodge a complaint concerning Turkish
troops’ presence in Bashiqa, near Mosul.
“They can apply to the United Nations Security Council,” said Erdogan on Turkish TV. “This is their natural right, but it is not a sincere step.”
Approximately 150 Turkish soldiers and 20 to 25 tanks were deployed near Mosul
on Dec. 4 to reportedly replace training forces already in the area, leading to tensions between Ankara and Baghdad.
“During a visit to Turkey in 2014, [Iraqi PM Haider al-] Abadi demanded [Turkish
troops] for training,” he said. “After these demands, we set up the Bashiqa camp.
They are aware of all of this.”
“They [Turkish troops] are more a training team rather than a combative force,”
said Erdogan, adding that the training program was part of the fight against Daesh.
“I believe this [Iraq’s complaint to the UN] is based on Russia and Iran’s moves in
the region,” he added. >MORE DETAILS
PM: Turkey could reassess troop
deployment in N. Iraq
Davutoglu accuses third parties of turning Turkey’s troop deployment in northern
Iraq into crisis between Ankara and Baghdad
Turkey’s military presence in northern
Iraq could be re-evaluated depending on
conditions in the field, Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.
Speaking to press members in the capital Ankara, Davutoglu said: “When it
is found necessary, the nature and bulk
of the measure [Turkey’s troops deployment] will be re-evaluated, depending
on conditions in the field.”
His remarks came as tensions between
Ankara and Baghdad have arisen over
the recent deployment of Turkish military troops to Bashiqa, near the northern
Iraqi city Mosul.
Approximately 150 Turkish soldiers
were deployed near Mosul on Dec. 4
to reportedly replace training forces
already in the area. In addition, 20 to
25 tanks were also sent to the region.
Referring to certain media reports
which he accuses of using this recent
deployment of troops to start a crisis
between Turkey and Iraq, Davutoglu
noted: “Showing Turkey as if it is running a secret activity [in Bashiqa] is
totally untrue.” >MORE DETAILS
Assad regime ‘primary consumer
of Daesh oil: US official
Pennsylvania court receives legal complaints relating to US-based
Turkish preacher Fetullah Gulen
A U.S. official has said that behind a
seemingly conflict-ridden relationship
between the regime of the Syrian president and the terrorist Daesh group,
the two, infact, are engaged in a very
lucrative oil trade.
“Asad regime in Syria is the primary
consumer of the ISIL’s oil, withstanding the fact that they are in open
military conflict,” Adam Szubin, US
acting undersecretary for terrorism and
financial intelligence, told the BBC,
using an alternative acronym for the
terror organization.
“Each has something the other one
wants and in this case money on one
side and the oil on the other. They have
been doing quite a bit of oil trade,” he
told BBC Newsnight on Thursday.
“ISIL is sitting on a tremendous amount
of money. We need to be very candid
about the risk as we cut of the access
to its revenues. But the primary tool
sources of funding have been oil sales
and taxation you might call extortion
from the population at the territory that
they control,” he said.
Szubin said unlike many other terrorist
groups Daesh derives a relatively small
amount of its funding from donors
abroad. >MORE DETAILS
Kasparov: Putin’s Turkey Cavusoglu: Turkey trained
policy is bad for Russia Mosul forces to fight Daesh
World-famous chess champion and Russian
opposition figure Garry Kasparov has
sharply criticized President Vladimir Putin’s
“provocative” policy towards Turkey.
“It’s very short-sighted, very stupid, very
provocative and also bad for Russia,”
Kasparov said in an interview with
Anadolu Agency in Berlin.
“Unfortunately, Putin thinks he can sacrifice
the interests of Russia for his own short-term
gains,” he added.
Kasparov warned that economic sanctions
towards Turkey would soon backfire and
have a serious impact on the Russian economy.
“Putin doesn’t have resources but he
imposes sanctions that hurt the Russian
people. It is quite serious,” he said.
“Putin has been creating a huge crisis in
Russia because Russia already cut economic ties with many European countries.
Now, with these sanctions towards Turkey,
the Russian tourist industry is basically
dead, most of it,” he added.
Following Turkey’s shooting down of
a intruding Russian military jet over
the Turkey-Syria border last month,
the Kremlin imposed a range of unilateral sanctions, including a ban on food
imports, an end to visa-free travel and calls
for Russian tourists not to visit the country.
Kasparov, an outspoken critic of the
Kremlin, criticized Putin for following a
dangerous policy in the region, risking ties
with key players, and presenting himself
as a successful world leader to the Russian
people, using a vast number of propaganda
channels and media outlets.
“It is the same policy he used against
European nations. Putin’s survival strategy in Russia is based on virtual reality. He
should be seen as a leader who reacts… He
made big statements saying that we could
go into war. But of course he is not going
to fight a NATO country,” he said.
>MORE DETAILS
A senior Turkish minister has said
the country is training Mosul forces
in Iraq to destroy the Daesh terror
organization.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu told Turkish NTV on
Friday: “These [Mosul National
Guards] are being trained to destroy
Daesh in Iraq.”
“At the moment, we are fighting
together with the coalition in Syria.
Turkey wants to join the operations
also in Iraq, because the terror organization must be wiped out of the two
countries,” Cavusoglu added.
Cavusoglu’s comments come as tension between Ankara and Baghdad
remains high over the recent deployment of Turkish military troops to
Bashiqa, near Mosul.
Approximately 150 Turkish soldiers
were deployed near Mosul on Dec. 4
to replace training forces already in
the area. In addition, 20-25 tanks were
also sent to the region.
Cavusoglu said Turkey needed to
eliminate Bagdad’s concerns regarding
the issue. In that direction, Cavusoglu
said, Turkey’s defense minister had
spoken to his Iraqi counterpart.
Cavusoglu confirmed that he had also
spoken for 90 minutes with Iraq’s foreign minister and that Turkish premier
Ahmet Davutoglu had sent a letter to
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
“What we all stressed is that Turkey
is the country that advocates and
respects most Iraq’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Cavusoglu said.
Abadi has said the solution to IraqiTurkey disagreement can only be
found by a “full withdrawal of Turkish
troops from Iraqi territory”.
>MORE DETAILS
The 24 nations participating in the 2016 European Championship have discovered who their group-stage opponents
will be next summer.
Turkey will face Spain -- crowned European champions in
the last two tournaments -- the Czech Republic and Croatia in Group D. The Euro 2016 draw was held on Saturday
night in Paris, capital of the host country.
France will compete with Romania, Albania and Switzer-
WEATHER / ANKARA
Sunday
SUNNY
8 °C
Monday
PARTLY CLOUDY
8 °C
land in Group A. >>SPORT
Erdogan calls for global
unity to resolve conflicts
Leaders of Belarus and Kyrgyzstan call on
Russia and Turkey to de-escalate tensions in
wake of downing Russian warplane on Nov. 24
Turkmenistan (AA) – Conflicts with civilian losses and
mass migration incidents
should be resolved immediately through unity, Turkish
president has said.
In remarks made during the
“Neutrality Conference” held
in the Turkmenistan capital
Ashgabat Saturday, Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Conflicts threatening the peace and stability, and
the uncertainties these conflicts
break out are unexceptionally
affecting all the countries.
“I desire these conflicts, which
have a humanitarian dimension with civilian losses and
mass migration incidents, be
immediately resolved within
international law and cooperation,” the president said.
He called on the international community and institutes
to take responsibility, adding
that the world could overcome
future conflicts through unity.
Erdogan also highlighted
Turkey’s “special importance”
to its ties with Turkmenistan.
The “Day of Neutrality” recognizes and supports the declared status of permanent
neutrality of Turkmenistan.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the event.
Turkey was the first country to
recognize Turkmenistan when
it declared its independence on
Oct. 27, 1991, and appointed an
ambassador first to Ashgabat.
“Rooted history and our joint
values we have with Turkmenistan set a strong ground
of our relations and I believe
these relations will continue
with reinforcing in the future
period,” Erdogan added.
Turkmenistan’s
President
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow said that his country’s
neutrality policy was based
on “peace, noninterference in
other states’ affairs, and respect
for their independence and
territorial unity”.
MEP says Turkish
EU bid now linked
to refugee issue
EP rapporteur
Kati Piri ends
five-day visit to
Turkey in
Istanbul
Although the European Parliament’s rapporteur to Turkey is not happy about the
recent linking of EU membership talks to the refugee
crisis, she has claimed it may
be an opportunity to mend
ties between Ankara and the
28-member bloc.
Kati Piri was speaking to reporters in Istanbul on Friday
at the end of a five-day visit
to Turkey.
The Dutch MEP traveled
to Izmir, Diyarbakir, Istanbul and the capital Ankara
as Turkey’s relations with
the EU enter a new phase
following a summit in November.
When asked about the conflation of accession talks and
the refugee crisis, Piri said:
“I was not happy with this
linkage.
“But it is clear that if the two
parties sit on the table, both
have their own demands,”
she said, adding: “I think
[Turkey] wisely used this in
order to again put accession
talks on the table.”
“We can use this as an opportunity to really build a
better relationship; more
constructive, high-level relationship between Turkey
and the EU,” she added.
Faced with the worst migrant crisis since World War
II, the EU is in the process of
negotiating with Turkey on
a refugee action plan.
The 28-nation bloc has offered Turkey funds to reduce the flow of asylum
seekers coming into Europe in
exchange for easier visa travel
rules for Turkish citizens.
Turkey has spent about $8.5
billion since 2011 supporting
more than two million Syrian refugees in the country.
Describing as “regrettable” that the refugee crisis
was needed in order to restore momentum to stalled
EU-Turkey relations, Piri
added: “Now it is a fact that
in this joint agreement, this
has become an obvious link
to the refugee question.
“Taking that as a starting
point, I think we should welcome the fact,” she added.
The draft agreement states
that both the EU and Turkey have agreed to re-energize accession talks and the
opening of chapter 17 on the
economy in December.
Since negotiations on Turkey’s accession into the
European Union began in
2005, 13 out of 35 chapters,
which must be completed in
order for the country to join
the 28-nation bloc, have
been opened.
Noting that Turkey still
needs to fulfill standards set
for EU membership, Piri
said: “Important reforms
will [need to] be made especially in the field of fundamental rights and the rule
of law.” >MORE DETAILS
On Dec. 12, 1995, Turkmenistan gained the status of permanent neutrality with the
support of Turkey and 185
other countries.
Berdimuhamedow said that
Turkmenistan
would
do
everything through the UN
to reinforce peace, stability and security in the world.
“Turkmenistan will continue
to fight against international
terrorism, separatism, international crime organizations and
drug trade,” he added.
Meanwhile, leaders of Belarus
and Kyrgyzstan called on Russia and Turkey to de-escalate
tensions in the wake of downing the Russian warplane over
breaching Turkish airspace on
Nov. 24.
Gambia now ‘
an Islamic state’:
President
Jammeh
Gambia is now an Islamic state,
the west African country’s
president has declared.
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh made the declaration in
the country’s coastal town of
Brufut on Thursday.
Climate change
draft deal
agreed in Paris
The final draft of the climate
change deal has been agreed in
Paris, French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius announced Saturday following a two-week
UN summit in the French capital.
“If adopted, this text will mark
a historic turning point,” Fabius, who is also the UN Climate Change Conference in
Paris (COP21) president, said
at a press conference attended
by UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon and French President
Francois Hollande.
Fabius said that the overall goal
written in the deal would be
“to have a mean temperature
[increase] well below 2 degrees
- and to endeavor to limit that
increase to 1.5 degrees”.
>