EU opens new chapter in Turkey`s accession talks

SEB-I ARUS COMMEMORATION FOR
RUMI IN TURKEY
SYRIAN REFUGEES MAKE GOOD IN
TURKEY
BESIKTAS BEAT GALATASARAY IN
ISTANBUL DERBY
WEATHER / ANKARA
Whirling dervishes perform during the 7th day of the
With Turkish support, Syrian refugees are starting success-
Istanbul rivals Besiktas, Galatasaray clash in final Turkish
“Seb-i Arus” (The Night of union) ceremony at Mevlana
ful businesses in Turkey Syrian refugees, fleeing a brutal
Super Lig derby of 2015
Cultural Center to mark the 742nd anniversary of the
and repressive regime at home, have not only found shelter
Istanbul’s Besiktas defeated their rival team Galatasaray
in Turkey, but many have turned entrepreneur and started
2-1 in a Super Lig (Turkish for league) derby at the Ataturk
their own businesses. Syrian refugee Duaa Alhusain was
Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on Monday.
19 when she came to Turkey in 2013, fleeing the violent
Galatasaray’s Wesley Snijder scored the first goal in the
conflict and brutal regime repression with her family. ”Our
54th minute, with Besiktas’ Mario Gomez Garcia equaliz-
family used to live in Damascus.. The regime’s pressure and
ing just two minutes later. The third goal came from winger
bombs were everywhere. ... >>TURKEY
Gokhan Tore in the 74th minute. >>SPORT
death of Mevlana Jalaluddin al-Rumi on December 13,
2015 in Turkey’s Konya province where Rumi is buried.
>>PHOTO
EU opens new chapter in Turkey’s
accession talks
Wednesday December 16, 2015
‘Turkey committed to doing whatever it takes to become
full member,’ Deputy PM says
European Union has opened a new chapter on economic policy in Turkey’s ongoing accession talks, bringing the country a step closer to full membership of
the 28-nation bloc.
Chapter 17, which aims at bringing Turkey in line with EU’s economic and
monetary policy and guaranteeing independence of the central bank, is the first
chapter to be opened in two years and raises the total number of chapters opened
so far in the accession talks to 15 out of 35.
“Clearly, we are committed to doing whatever it takes to become a full EU
member,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told a news conference in Brussels on Monday.
“[Chapter] 17 is a significant one because it is about price stability, micro-financial stability; it’s about stable sustainable [and] balanced growth. My government
is committed to solidifying the central bank independency,” Simsek said.
“The quality of institutions is critical to long-term prosperity. That’s why
EU accession is important through the process. We are committed to improving [the] quality of institutions. This chapter sends these strong messages - we are committed,” he added.
The opening of chapter 17 comes after EU heads of government met with
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Nov.29 in Brussels where
they agreed Turkey would stem the flow of refugees coming into Europe
in exchange for visa freedom and re-energizing the accession process.
“European Union needs Turkey as a strategic partner in number of international areas such as migration, terrorism, energy [and] trade,” Luxembourg’s
Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said in remarks made alongside his Turkish
counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir, Simsek, and European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn.
“I am confident we can achieve further progress on opening other chapters; to
sustain such a new dynamic in EU-Turkey relations will be important,” Hahn said.
Bozkir said that the swift opening of chapter 15 on energy, chapter 23 and
24 on judicial and fundamental rights, chapter 26 on education, and chapter 31 on foreign, security and defense policy was “a must”.
The Cyprus issue remains a major obstacle to Turkey’s EU accession plans,
as several chapters, including the chapter on energy and judicial rights, are
blocked by the Greek Cypriot administration.
“We must overcome critical obstacles that have been blocking accession
process; we hope other chapters will open swiftly and [that the] negotiation
process turns to [its] natural course,” Cavusoglu said.
>MORE DETAILS
UN announces cease-fire in Yemen,
peace talks kick off
local time, was postponed to this
morning due to growing signs of
mutual mistrust.
More than 20 people were killed in
Yemen a day before the peace talks in
Switzerland.
Ahmed urged “all parties to respect
this initiative and work towards establishing a comprehensive and permanent end to the conflict”.
Yemen fell into chaos in September
2014, when the Shia Houthi militant
group overran the capital Sanaa.
Officials from the Yemeni government
and the Houthis will participate in talks
to establish a permanent cease-fire.
Both parties have 12 members and
six advisers for talks in Switzerland.
The government’s delegation is led by
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi while Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdel Salam, will
head his committee in the talks.
The UN noted on Monday that the
talks will be held “at an undisclosed location”.
The talks are expected to last one week,
but the time frame remains flexible and
can be extended if necessary.
Previous Yemen peace talks held in
Geneva in June failed to result in even
a short term cease-fire agreement.
On March 26, Saudi Arabia and its Arab
allies launched airstrikes against the Shia
Houthi militant group in Yemen.
In April, the Shia militia managed
to capture Yemen’s Aden province,
from which President Abd Rabbuh
Mansur Hadi was forced to flee to
Saudi Arabia. >MORE DETAILS
Turkey’s jobless rate
34 Muslim countries
unite to fight terrorism sees slight decrease
year-on-year
Islamic coalition comes within
context of anti-terrorism agreement Number of women participating in
signed by OIC members
Turkey’s workforce has increased by
1.2 percent
Thirty-four Islamic countries decided Monday night to establish an anti-terrorism alliance with headquarters in Saudi Arabia, according to the
Saudi Press Agency.
SPA said the coalition comes within the context of an anti-terrorism
agreement signed by member states
of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The coalition includes Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin,
Turkey, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone,
Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Palestine,
Comoros, Qatar, Cote d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives,
Mali, Malaysia, Egypt, Morocco,
Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and
Yemen. >MORE DETAILS
Unemployment rate in Turkey has
decreased by 0.2 percent to reach
10.3 percent in September compared
with the same period last year, Turkish Statistical Authority said Tuesday.
However, the unemployment rate
saw 0.2 percent increase from August
to September this year, according to
the report.
“We see an increase in line with the
season but less prominent than it
would be,” former Burgan Investment House economist Haluk Burumcekci said.
“Pace of annual employment growth,
which we see as an important indicator for the outlook of domestic demand, rose to 3.8 percent,” Burumcekci said. The employment rate in
the month has remained unchanged
at 46.8 percent, the report said.
Labor force participation rate rose
one percent in September year-onyear to 52.1 percent.
The number of women participating
in workforce increased 1.2 percent
from the previous year to 32.3 percent. Among the labor force aged between 15 and 64, the unemployment
rate also decreased by 0.2 percentage
points compared with the same period previous year. >MORE DETAILS
SUNNY
7 °C
Thursday
PARTLY CLOUDY
8 °C
Israel prefers ‘devil we know’
in Syria: Analysts
Tel Aviv wants a stable regime in Damascus or
the breakup of Syria into manageable statelets,
say experts
Israel would rather see Syria’s Assad regime stay in power as “the
devil we know” than deal with
the specter of increased instability
and the rise of extremist groups
on its northeastern border, according to Israeli and Turkish
experts.
Prof. Eyal Zisser, dean of humanities at Tel Aviv University,
described recent Israeli attacks on
targets in Syria as “controlled”,
saying they were not intended to
bring down the regime.
“Israel fears the departure of [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad,”
he said. “Since the start of the
conflict in 2011, the balance of
power between the warring factions has been balanced, so Israel
has refrained from intervening.”
“Israel has only intervened in Syria to retaliate against rockets that
fall on its territory or to hit Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets near
its borders,” he added. “Thus far,”
Zisser added, “spillover from the
Syrian side [into Israel] has been
mostly accidental; the result of
fighting between the regim.
“Israel fears the departure of [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad,”
he said.
Turkey backs
‘inclusive’ Libya:
FM
Turkish FM calls for protection of
Libya’s territorial integrity with
national-unity deal imminent
Yemen peace talks started Tuesday in Switzerland in order
to establish permanent cease-fire
he UN special envoy for Yemen on
Tuesday announced a cease-fire in
the country before peace talks began
in Switzerland on Tuesday.
“The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed announces the start
of a cessation of hostilities in Yemen
and considers it a critical first step towards building a lasting peace in the
country,” the UN said in a statement
on Tuesday.
A cease-fire in Yemen which was
planned to start at Monday midnight
Wednesday
Turkey is in favor of an inclusive political solution in
Libya, Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said in
Rome on Sunday.
His remarks came at an international conference in
the Italian capital, which
was attended by ministers of
17 countries as well as representatives from the United
Nations, European Union,
the Arab League and the
African Union.
“The current situation in
Libya is not sustainable.
Turkey supports an inclusive political solution which
would bring stability to Libya and the region,” Cavusoglu said. He pointed out
that the territorial integrity
of Libya should be protected and added that there was
no other way but a political
solution to ease the current
situation in the country.
Cavusoglu suggested that
a countrywide cease-fire
should be declared as soon as
possible.
The conference in Italy
came before an expected
peace agreement on Dec. 16
between Libya’s divided political factions.
Later, Cavusoglu said that
the agreement would indeed
be on Dec. 16 unless a technical handicap occurred.
Speaking in Rome, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry also said a deal to create a
national-unity government
would be ready on Wednesday, Dec 16.
Saying that the leaders of
both entities in the country “know the unacceptable
price that rivalry and personal ambition and/or strife
are inflicting”, Kerry added:
“So we expect -- based on
today’s meeting -- we expect
that Libyan officials will indeed proceed on Wednesday
to formalize their support by
signing the agreement, and
more importantly, starting
to implement it, putting together that government.”
Israel and Syria have engaged
in three major conflicts,
in 1948, 1967 (when Israel occupied the Syrian Golan
Heights) and 1973. While the
two countries have held onagain, off-again peace talks,
these have failed to result in
any breakthroughs.
Breaking up
Syria
Oytun Orhan, a Middle East
analyst at the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies
(ORSAM), a Turkish think
tank, said Israel was not opposed to the breakup of Syria
-- >MORE DETAILS
Turkey to
secure
interim gas
supplies with
FSRU
Months after the first official
translation of the Quran in
Kurdish language was released
in Turkey, Kurds are now hoping the state-run religious affairs body, Diyanet would also
launch translations of Tafsir
books in their language.
Tafsirs are basically interpretations and commentaries on
the Quran by leading Islamic
scholars.
Like most Kurds in Turkey,
Mahfuz Acikgoz, an imam at a
mosque in eastern Bitlis prova...
Kurds call
for Tafsir
after Quran’s
Kurdish
translation
>MORE DETAILS
Treating Turkey as
enemy does not
benefit Iraq: Oil Min.
Treating Turkey like an enemy state...will not help Iraq to
defend its sovereignty, Iraq’s
Oil Minister Mahdi says
Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said Sunday that
treating Turkey like an enemy, due to its military presence in northern Iraq, will
not benefit his country.
On Dec. 4, approximately 150 Turkish soldiers and
about 25 tanks were sent
to a camp near the town of
Bashiqa - located northeast
of Mosul in Iraq’s northern
Golan Heights
Nineveh province - to provide training to Iraqi volunteers as part of the fight
against the Daesh militant
group.
The deployment led to the
current tension between
Ankara and Baghdad, with
the latter asserting that
Turkey violated Iraqi sovereignty. Last week, Baghdad demanded that Ankara
withdraw the recently-deployed troops.>MORE DETAILS
Months after the first official
translation of the Quran in
Kurdish language was released
in Turkey, Kurds are now hoping the state-run religious affairs body, Diyanet would also
launch translations of Tafsir
books in their language.
Tafsirs are basically interpretations and commentaries on
the Quran by leading Islamic
scholars.
Like most Kurds in Turkey,
Mahfuz Acikgoz, an imam at a
mosque in eastern Bitlis province, was full of praise for the
release of the official Kurdish
translation of Quran in May.
“It was a significant, but a delayed action,” Acikgoz said.
>