Anadolu Agency

FEAR OF $30 A BARREL HAUNTS
OIL-DEPENDENT ECONOMIES
CHINA: BURGLAR WHO LEAVES SORRY
LETTERS CAUGHT SLEEPING
FOUR DEAD AS REFUGEE BOAT SINKS
OFF TURKISH COAST
Falling prices impact major oil producing countries’ budg-
A burglar who left a series of apology letters after breaking
Four children have drowned off the west coast of Turkey af-
ets, while OPEC members continue to raise output
into apartments in northern China has been captured after
ter a boat carrying refugees sank Wednesday, officials said.
Due to a 65 percent fall in prices since mid-2014, econo-
being spotted sleeping on the 11th floor of a building.
The fatalities included three babies, the Turkish Coast
mies of oil producing countries that are highly dependent
The Hong-Kong based South China Morning Post report-
Guard said. The 15-meter day tripping vessel was packed
on oil sales for revenues are likely to be affected next year
ed Tuesday that the suspect was caught sleeping on a land-
with refugees seeking to reach the Greek island of Kos
if prices reach $30 a barrel. Goldman Sachs announced in
ing in Hubei province, before it took policemen six hours
when it sank in Bodrum Bay, Provincial Governor Amir
January this year that it anticipated oil prices would fall
to apprehend him when he climbed outside between the
Cicek said. The coast guards saved 60 from the sea near the
as low as $30 per barrel due to oversupply and low global
10th and the 11th stories. “Please don’t blame the security
small Turkish island of Kara Ada, including three women
demand. >>ECONOMY
guards, they have it tough,... >>WORLD
and five children.... >>TURKEY
Daesh not representing Islam,
Turkish PM says
Thursday December 17, 2015
Davutoglu says extremists
no more represent Islam than
racists represent Christianity
Daesh does not represent Islam, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said
Tuesday in a speech to NGOs and dignitaries in Bulgaria.
“We came from a tradition that [people] lived in peace together with everyone,”
he told his audience in capital Sofia.
Groups such as Daesh does not represent Islam any more than racists represent
Christianity or Bulgaria, he added, calling for societies to stand against both.
“Positive Turkish-EU relationship is essential. It is essential not just for the
two parties but [for] the region as a whole,” he added. >MORE DETAILS
New law allows Russia to overturn
human rights rulings
Putin approves law allowing court to declare international
court decisions unconstitutional
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday
approved a law giving Russia’s Constitutional Court the power to overrule international human rights law if
it contradicts the constitution.
The law would allow the Russian
court to overturn decisions made by
the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) and follows a 2014 decision by
the Strasbourg-based court that Russia
should pay 1.87 billion euros ($2.09
billion) to shareholders of the defunct
Yukos oil company.
In July, the Constitutional Court decided that judgments of the ECHR
could not be implemented if they contradict Russia’s constitution. The decision also said the constitution would
take priority over international law.
Human Rights Watch noted that the
change could have widespread consequences and threaten pending Rus-
sian cases at the ECHR.
The group noted that Russia is a signatory to the Vienna Convention,
which prohibits countries from invoking domestic law to justify failure
to implement a treaty, and the change
would “bring much uncertainty and
opacity to the domestic legal system”
and further hinder Russia’s international relations.
Iraq’s Kurdish ruling party slams
terrorist PKK group
KDP accused KCK of causing trouble for the Kurdish people and questioned its goals.
“Why do you not solve your problems with Turkey if you do not have
enmity against it?” KDP said.
KDP added that KCK’s policies are
wrong and cause instability in regions where the Kurdish people live.
KDP said the terrorist PKK group
Turkey to get 3
billion euros for
refugees within year
EU minister says ‘privileged partnership’
short of full EU membership no longer on
agenda
Turkey will receive 3 billion euros
($3.27 billion) from the EU within the next year to spend on Syrian
refugees, Turkey’s EU minister said
Wednesday.
Volkan Bozkir said Turkey is negotiating with the EU on how to spend
the money. “We want to decide in
our own where to spend it. Talks are
underway about that,” he said at a
meeting of Anadolu Agency Editor’s
Desk in Ankara.
The minister, who also acts as Turkey’s chief negotiator with the EU,
said the suggestion of “privileged
partnership” status for Turkey was no
longer an option.
Germany had previously suggested
Turkey could adopt this model instead of full EU membership.
Under the EU-Turkey deal for Syrian refugees, Turkey has also been
promised visa-free travel for its nationals within Europe. Bozkir said
Turkey is expected to introduce 72
“adjustments” before this can be implemented. >MORE DETAILS
ruined hundreds of Kurdish villages,
forced residents to flee their homes
and prevented the Kurdish Regional
Government from providing services
in the affected areas.
The PKK – designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and
the EU –renewed its armed campaign
against the Turkish state in the aftermath of the July 20 suicide bombing
in Suruc that killed 33 activists.
In response, the Turkish government
has been conducting an extensive anti-terrorism effort by bombing PKK
camps at home and in northern Iraq,
including the Qandil Mountain, and
by striking Daesh in Syria.
>MORE DETAILS
Structure of Turkey’s
‘parallel state’ revealed
Security sources detail how units within
‘parallel state’ organization operate
Several details regarding the structure and operational methods of the
“parallel state” or Gulen movement
have been revealed by Turkish security sources.
The parallel state, known also by the
initials FETO/PDY, designates a clandestine group of Turkish bureaucrats
and senior officials, allegedly embedded in the country’s institutions, including the judiciary and the police.
Since early 2014, investigations into
the parallel state have seen hundreds
of civil servants, including police and
public prosecutors, arrested or reassigned.
According to the details gathered
by Anadolu Agency from security
sources, the organization’s structure
consists of several top-level units,
some of which are responsible for
collecting money, others for appointing
members to key positions within the state.
Decisions taken by these units are
reportedly communicated to other
members through religious leaders
that the organization calls “imams”.
Whether the members obey the decisions taken by the units or not is monitored by dedicated “supervisors”.
A separate set of teams are reportedly in charge of selecting members
for the organization and allegedly
arranging where they will stay, appointing them to high positions in
state institutions and organizing
their social life. In addition, other
groups are allegedly set up to interfere in court trials.. >MORE DETAILS
Thursday
PARTLY CLOUDY
3 °C
Friday
PARTLY CLOUDY
4 °C
US says Russia ‘behaving
unprofessionally’ in Syria
Secretary Carter says they want all anti-Daesh
partners to focus on terrorism
Russian forces have been behaving unprofessionally in Syria,
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton
Carter said Tuesday.
In remarks made during his visit
to the Incirlik Airbase in southern Turkey near the Syrian border, Carter said: “They [Russia]
said they came to fight against
Daesh, but they struck the opposition forces. They are behaving unprofessionally. It has to be
changed.”
Russia began air operations in Syria
on Sept. 30 with the aim of supporting the embattled regime of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
While the Kremlin says the airstrikes target the Daesh militant
group, some members of the
western NATO alliance believe
Russia is targeting groups opposed to Assad, including some
that enjoy U.S. and Turkish support.
Carter said that the U.S. hoped
Moscow would do the right
thing on the Syrian issue. “But
I am not sure if they will do or
not,” he added.
He said that the U.S. remains focused on doing more in the fight
against Daesh and urged other
Nuclear watchdog
closes Iranian
weapons probe
countries to do the same.
On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama said he was sending
Carter to the Middle East to work
with coalition partners “on securing more military contributions”
to the fight against Daesh.
Carter also met pilots and military personnel at the base where
nearly 400 U.S. soldiers serve
in the anti-Daesh mission. He
hailed the U.S. soldiers for their
effort and self-devotion.
Turkey opened the Incirlik Airbase in August and began strikes
on Daesh targets inside Syria in
late August after Turkey and the
U.S. finalized a deal on Turkey’s
involvement in air operations
against the militant group.
>MORE DETAILS
Ukrainian
lawmaker
says Russia
oppressing
Crimean Turks
International Atomic Energy
Agency finds no credible indication
of nuclear weapons program since
2009
Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party accuses PKK of creating
problems for Kurdish people
Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party
(KDP) strongly criticized the political wing of the terrorist PKK terrorist group, the Group of Communities
in Kurdistan (KCK).
“KDP is used to statements by KCK
that aim to undermine its reputation,”
KDP, which is headed by Kurdish
President Masoud Barzani, said in a
Tuesday statement.
WEATHER / ANKARA
The world’s nuclear watchdog on Tuesday announced
the end of its investigation
into Iran’s suspected nuclear
weapons program.
The declaration by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which
found no evidence of Iran
trying to develop nuclear
weapons in the last six years,
paves the way towards lifting UN, EU and U.S. sanctions against Iran.
IAEA Director General
Yukiya Amano said Iran’s
weapons program had not
gone beyond “feasibility
and scientific studies” and
the acquisition of technical
equipment.
He added: “The agency has
no credible indications of
activities in Iran relevant to
the development of a nuclear
explosive device after 2009.”
The possibility of lifting
sanctions was agreed between Iran and world powers in Vienna in July and
hinged on the IAEA’s findings.
Amano said the next step
would be to implement the
Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action ( JCPOA) signed
between Iran and the P5+1
countries - the U.S., Britain,
France, Russia, China and
Germany.
“Much work lies ahead of us.
All parties must fully implement their commitments
under the JCPOA,” Amano
said. “Considerable effort
was required in order to
reach this agreement. A similar and sustained effort will
be required to implement it.”
Iranian officials welcomed
the announcement. “Finally, after 12 years... the issue
of military dimensions of
Iran’s nuclear program now
belongs to history,” Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif said,
according to Tasnim news
agency.
In Washington, Secretary of
State John Kerry welcomed
the decision, saying it set the
stage for the full implementation of the nuclear accord.
“The focus now appropriately moves toward full implementation of the JCPOA
and its enhanced verification
and transparency regime,”
he said.
However, he warned it
would not preclude a future investigation “if there
is reason to believe Iran is
pursuing any covert nuclear
activities in the future, as it
had in the past”.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas
Araqchi said the JCPOA
will begin to be implemented within three weeks.
The IAEA called on Iran to
continue to cooperate over
access to nuclear facilities.
>MORE DETAILS
Mustafa Dzhemilev says Russia stepped up persecution after
downing of Russian plane by
Turkey
Russia has been persecuting
Turks living in Crimea since
the downing of a Russian warplane, a Ukrainian lawmaker
said Tuesday.
“Russia has initiated wild anti-Turkism,” Mustafa Dzhemilev said. “It is putting families
of Turkish marriages in Crimea
into exile and oppressing businessmen.”
Ahead of the
Fed, interest
rate hike due
on Wednesday
Although all of the targets set
by the Federal Reserve for an
interest rate hike have not been
met, the central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 0.25
percent on Wednesday – the
first rate increase in seven years.
The benchmark federal funds
rate is expected to go from 0.25
percent to 0.50 percent.
The move by the Federal Open
Market Committee, which will
make the decision, is forecast
by a vast majority of economists despite moderate growth
and low inflation in the U.S.
Over the last 12 months, the
inflation rate has reached just
0.5 percent annual rate in November, according to a report
by the Labor Department on
Tuesday. The Fed’s target for
inflation is close to 2 percent.
>