Anadolu Agency

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE
PALESTINIAN DEPICTS NEW ‘INTIFADA’ WITH FINGERS
FOOTBALL: 10-MAN BENFICA BEAT GALATASARAY
IN LISBON
WEATHER
BEIJING (AA) - China launched a new communica-
RAFAH, Palestine (AA) – Tesnim al-Gamal, a
ANKARA (AA) – Galatasaray lost to Portuguese side
tions satellite Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite
Palestinianfine arts student, is using her fingers to depict
Benfica 2-1 in their UEFA Champions League Group
Wednesday
Launch Center in the country’s southwest.
scenes of what some are calling a new Palestinian “inti-
C clash at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on Tuesday.
SUNNY
State news agency Xinhua reported that the ChinaSat
fada” (“uprising”), triggered by Israel’s violations last
Benfica broke the deadlock in 52nd minute as Brazilian
2C satellite was sent into orbit to provide radio, TV and
month in East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque
forward Jonas scored in a scramble in the area.
broadband transmission services for the country’s radio
complex. According to al-Gamal, the “international
Six minutes later Galatasaray scored the equalizer when
Thursday
and TV stations and cable networks.
language” of painting represents an effective means of
the Istanbul club’s German forward Lukas Podolski
SUNNY
ChinaSat 2C -- carried into orbit by a Long March-3B
portraying the violence suffered by many Palestinians
smashed the ball into the net.
carrier rocket -- >WORLD
at the hands of Israeli troops. >ECONOMICS
>SPORTS
15 °C
Wednesday - November 4, 2015
Turkey:Referendum may
decide presidential system’s fate
TURKEY’S PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN IBRAHIM KALIN SAID A POSSIBLE
CHANGE TO THE COUNTRY’S SYSTEM OF GOVERNANCE MAY COME BY
THROUGH A REFERENDUM
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has said
that a possible change to the country’s
system of governance may come by
through a referendum.
Kalin told repor ters in A nkara
Wednesday that the discussion about
bringing a presidential system in
Turkey will not be held without
including the people. “If its mechanism
is a referendum, then a referendum will
be held,” he said.
Also, the spokesman said that some
arrangements about the presidential
system could also be done through the
Turkish parliament, but he underlined
that this issue would be “concluded in
discussions and after consultations with
our nation, by taking their views and
convictions”.
Turkish Prime Minister A hmet
Davutoglu said in his post-election
victory speech Sunday night that the
Justice and Development (AK) Party
will pursue constitutional changes to
enhance the role of the president.
“It is obvious that the current system
does not meet Turkey’s needs. This
shirt is too tight for this country,”
Davutoglu said.
The AK Party has sought to turn
Turkey from a parliamentary democracy to a presidential system since the
party co-founder and former Prime
Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
became president on August 10, 2014.
Although it regained its parliamentary majority in Sunday’s election, AK
Party appears to be 13 seats short of the
number (330) needed to push through
a referendum on constitutional reform.
>MORE DETAILS
Turkey: Positive market reaction to election result
EXPERTS EXPECT DECISIVE VICTORY OF JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT (AK) PARTY TO
FOCUS ON REFORMS AIMED AT FIGHTING MAJOR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
ANKARA (AA) – The victory of the
Justice and Development (AK) Party
in Turkey’s parliamentary elections
on Sunday is expected to provide a
window of opportunity for structural
reforms intended to boost growth,
economists said on Tuesday.
The Justice and Development (AK)
Party won a landslide victory, securing over 49 percent of the vote after
the June election saw no party win
a majority and almost five months of
subsequent talks between parties failed
to produce a coalition.
Timothy Ash, emerging market
economist from Nomura said, “It’s
an incredible result, no one really
expected this.”
However, Ash pointed out that the
new government will face long-term
challenges to improve economic
conditions.
“The government faces issues like
rebalancing the current account, inflation, and shape of the new policy team
in the government,” Ash said.
FX & Fixed Income Strategist Manik
Narain from UBS said: ”The market
had a very positive response to the election result, the market interprets this as
a return to stability.”
“The government now has time to
focus on structural reforms which had
been delayed due to poitical uncertainty over the last 5 months after
June election which saw no single
party winning a majority to form a
government.”
Referring to the next credit rating
review by Moody’s scheduled for Dec.
4, Narain ruled out a downgrade. He
said that many investors see Turkey as
an investment target.
“I think most investors expect Moody’s
to keep Turkey’s investment-grade rating,” Narain said.
For William Jackson, senior Emerging
M a rket s econom i s t at C apit a l
Economics, the key for investors to
watch for is for the government to
regain the political credibility it had
during 2000’s, when it achieved an
impressive track record.”
“It’s possible that the government reinvigorate the reform agenda. The government doesn’t need to now worry
about upcoming elections, it will be
perhaps be able to concentrate on
reforms.”
>MORE DETAILS
Russia plans to restore Assad regime’s economy
RUSSIAN COMPANIES WOULD HAVE EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK ON
RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, MPS SAY
ANKARA (AA) - A group of Russian
MPs have put forward a plan to restore
the economy of the Assad regime in
Syria.
The proposal is for the creation of a
bilateral Russia-Syria reconstruction
agency which would spearhead and
fund projects to rebuild the area of
Syria controlled by the regime headed
by president Bashar al-Assad.
Russian Duma member Alexander
Yushchenko, who recently took part in
a parliamentary delegation that visited
Damascus, told the press in a conference at TASS headquarters on Oct. 28:
“Assad supported our idea of creating a
joint body responsible for coordinating
Syria’s reconstruction. He speculated
that such a body might be created at
the government level.”
The Russian delegation discussed
the project with Assad, Syrian Prime
Minister Wael Al-Halqi and with other
government officials.
Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov, who also
was part of the delegation, said at the
same press conference that he expected
the two countries to create such an
agency at the government level.
Gavrilov has been working with a
group of his fellow MPs on a plan for
the agency. The first step would be
to set up an intergovernmental commission which would set priorities for
reconstruction.
For Gavrilov, the first priority would
be rebuilding the oil and gas industry.
“A number of Russian companies have
shown interest in such projects,” he said.
Other sectors under discussion for the
project included phosphates processing,
energy, transportation, agriculture and
perhaps the increase of exports toRussia, Gavrilov said.
“Russian companies would have an
exclusive opportunity to work on these
projects,” Gavrilov said.
According to Gavrilov, the Assad
government is ready to discuss specific
projects; all that is needed is to set up
the framework for the agency.
Gavrilov noted the potential of the
region’s economy, which he said had
been undermined by the long conflict.
“Let me remind you, the economy of
Syria has almost halved – to a GDP of
$56 billion. Unemployment is at 40
percent, and inflation is at 400 percent,” Gavrilov said. He blamed “foreign aggression” for the collapse of the
region’s economy.
“At the same time, the main economic
sectors in Syria continue to be under
the control of the government, there is
a highly qualified population, and there
is the desire of many refugees to return
home,” he added.
The MPs proposed an “institutional
approach” to be established for the
project, which would include project
financing, long-term fundraising and
the issuing of bonds.
>MORE DETAILS
14 °C
US Muslim leaders say Turkish
poll ‘victory of democracy’
WORLD, US MUSLIMS CELEBRATING ‘SUCCESS OF
AK PARTY WHO STANDS AS A VOICE FOR THE
OPPRESSED PEOPLE,” SAYS LEADER OF US MUSLIM
CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP
WA SH I NGTON (A A) American Muslim leaders are
doling out high praise for
Turkey’s citizens and its ruling party for the process of
recently held parliamentary
elections.
“The Turkish elections also
stand as a sample for Muslim
countries, as how an election
can be held successfully and
democratically in the Muslim
world,” Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on
American Muslim Relations
told Anadolu Agency.
“We, as Muslims, applaud
the Turkish leadership for
the role they play for the
Muslims. Turkey is a shiny
example and will continue to
guide Muslims all around the
World,” added Awad, who
leads the largest Muslim civil
rights organization.
He said one of the most important aspects of the elections
was the ability of Turkish
citizens to freely and democratically elect the Justice
and Development (AK) Party
to one more term, with high
voter turnout of 87 percent.
After five months of political
uncertainty following general elections in June, the AK
Party secured victory Sunday
by receiving more than 49 percent of the vote, according to
preliminary results.
The party polled at just 41
percent in the previous election and was unable to form a
coalition government.
“Muslims all around the world,
including those in the U.S. are
celebrating the success of AK
Party, who stands as a voice for
the oppressed people,” Awad
noted.
>MORE DETAILS
EU’s plan to give Turkey funds
for refugees ‘not enough’
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S TURKEY RAPPORTEUR KATI PIRI
SAYS EU’S OFFER TO PROVIDE FUNDS TO TURKEY SHOULD
HAVE BEEN MADE A LONG TIME AGO
BRUSSEL S (A A) – EU’s
offer of funds to Turkey as
part of its plan to deal with
refugee crisis should have
been made a long time ago,
European Parliament’s Turkey
Rapporteur Kati Piri told
Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
“Turkey should have been
given support much earlier
when it comes to financially
coping with providing for
these 2.5 million refugees,” Piri
said, adding “[it] is not enough”.
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, under which
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 seeking to
visit Europe.
Under the action plan, which
was presented by the European
Commission President JeanClaude Juncker to Turkey’s
P re sident Recep Tay y ip
Erdogan in Brussels on Oct.
5, the EU offered €1 billion
($1.13 billion) in humanitarian
assistance for refugees hosted
in Turkey.
The Turkish government,
according to official figures,
has so far spent $7.6 billion on
caring for the 2.5 million refugees it hosts inside the country.
“It’s very much in the interest
of the EU to find good agreements on how to deal with this
refugee crisis,” Piri said.
She said that the EU and
Turkey must discuss ways to
deal with resettlement of refugees, which she called “a sensitive topic in Europe” because
of disagreements among member states on how to distribute
refugees across the 28-nation bloc.
“The solution cannot just
be [that] we pay Turkey in
order to keep the refugees in
Turkey… that is of course not
the solution and it wouldn’t be
fair to Turkey either, “ she said.
“We already have problems
about how to among the 28
[member states] divide the refugees in solidarity with each
other; that is already difficult,
let alone to make an agreement on how we can provide
safe and legal routes for refugees who want to come here
[Europe] through Turkey.”
EU border agency Frontex said
Tuesday that 710,000 asylum
seekers had entered EU within
the first nine months of the
year, with many travelling
through Turkey.
“If we [EU] really want to help
refugees to stay close to their
homes but also help Turkey
and Turkish society which
is on much more pressure
because of a large number of
Syrians in Turkey…it means
we need to live up to what we
say if we want to have better
facilities for refugees in the
region,” Piri said.
“It simply means Europe will
also have to pay for it,” she said.
>MORE DETAILS
UN says 123,000 people
newly displaced in Syria
WAVE OF DISPLACEMENT CONTINUES WITH 700,000 PEOPLE
AT RISK IN HAMA AND ALEPPO, SAYS UN SPOKESMAN
NEW YORK (AA) – More
than 123,000 people have been
displaced in three major Syrian
governorates since last month,
the UN has said.
U N spokesman Stephane
Dujarric told reporters in
New York on Tuesday that at
least 123,842 people had been
forced to flee their homes in
Aleppo, Hama and Idlib governorates between Oct. 5 and 30.
“The road from Hama to
Aleppo has been cut since 23
October, putting at risk an
estimated 700,000 people living in government-controlled
areas of the city,” Dujarric
said, adding: “Aerial attacks
on medical facilities and staff
continued as two hospitals in
Idlib were reportedly hit last week.”
The Syrian civil war has
claimed more than 250,000
lives since 2011 and made
the country the world’s single-largest source of refugees
and displaced people.
Some 3.9 million Syrians have
become refugees and at least
7.6 million have been internally displaced, according to
UN figures.
Neighboring Turkey is now
the largest refugee-hosting
country in the world with
more than two million Syrian
refugees on its soil.
“Humanitarian partners have
scaled up to meet assessed
needs but gaps remain, particularly in provision of household goods and shelter kits,
and provision of health, water
and sanitation and education
services in camps for displaced
people, due to insufficient
funding and access challenges,” said Dujarric.
According to the UN’s aid
agency, about 13.5 million
people in Syria are now in
need of humanitarian assistance and some sort of protection. The new figures mark
an increase of 1.2 million in
just 10 months, UN aid chief
Stephen O’Brien said last
week.
>MORE DETAILS