Turkish Forum

Category: Main Issues

  • CYPRUS: Jack Straw – ‘Accept the division of Cyprus’

    CYPRUS: Jack Straw – ‘Accept the division of Cyprus’

    Jack Straw

    Jack Straw, the former British Foreign Secretary snubbed by the late President Tassos Papadopoulos for meeting in the north with a Turkish Cypriot leader in 2006, is calling on the international community to accept the division of Cyprus.
    Straw has often in the past brought up the issue of two states in Cyprus, and in an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolu in London on Tuesday he said the island’s division needed to be accepted as a reality.
    “If it had been possible for there to be a happy, united island, well, that would be the best solution, with a bi-zonal, bi-communal constitution. But the majority of people living on the island in the Greek-Cypriot part don’t want to accept that,” Straw said.
    He referred back to the 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan, which was rejected by the majority of Greek Cypriots saying the failure of negotiations was not the fault of the Turkish Cypriots.
    “So my view is the international community should accept the reality that there is division and that you have partition,” he said. “And then these two rather small nations would be able to develop their own relationship and I think it would be a cleaner system.”

     

     

      Küfi Seydali

     

  • Letter to Harut Sassounian, “Countries selling weapons..”

    Letter to Harut Sassounian, “Countries selling weapons..”

    Dear Mr. Sassounian!

    Having read your most recent article “Countries selling weapons to Azerbaijan are just as guilty for attacks on Artsakh = Karabag”, I must say that your leading article is simply an unworthy attack on Azerbaijan. Your article, Sir, not written with a journalistic style but with the genetic lines of a propaganda Minister of a country at war, is, slowly but surely killing off your credibility.

    You are forgetting, of course, who is the aggressor and occupier of land belonging to Azerbaijan! Just to refresh your memory:

    “ … By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control approximately 9% of Azerbaijan’s territory outside the enclave. As many as 230,000 Armenians from Azerbaijan and 800,000 Azeris from Armenia and Karabakh have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

    Current Situation:

    “In the years since the end of the war, a number of organizations have passed resolutions regarding the conflict. On 25 January 2005, for example, PACE adopted a controversial non-binding resolution, Resolution 1416, which criticized the “large-scale ethnic expulsion and the creation of mono-ethnic areas” and declared that Armenian forces were occupying Azerbaijan lands.[187][188] On 14 May 2008 thirty-nine countries from the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 62/243 which called for “the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” Almost one hundred countries, however, abstained from voting while seven countries, including the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group, Russia, the United States, and France, voted against it.” ).

    These are the facts Mr. Sassounian. Furthermore, don’t forget that; you are the master of your evil thoughts, the moulder of your character, and the shaper of your condition, environment and destiny. An ignoble and bestial character is the result of the continued harboring of gravelling thoughts.

    Your call for retaliation, revenge and disproportionate use of force shows what a sick character you are! You , Mr. Sassounian, sitting in the comfort of California have no idea of life in poor Armenia, and what it means to make war and suffer the destruction as such! There are no winners in a war, only loosers. The only winners are the ones (Israel, Russia) supplying the expensive weapons. Wake up Mr. Sassounian and rid yourself from your evil thoughts. As soon as you have done that, and your thoughts become healthy and beneficial to all man kind, joy will soon follow you as surely as your shadow follows you on a sunny day.

    Regards

    Küfi Seydali

  • Davutoglu: you can’t do what you want with the gas

    Davutoglu: you can’t do what you want with the gas

    US Vice President Joe Biden and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

    TURKISH Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday that hydrocarbons could not be used as a weapon by anyone, adding that if Greek Cypriots unilaterally continued to claim Cyprus’ natural resources for themselves, Turkey would reciprocate on behalf of the Turkish Cypriots.

    Addressing the Atlantic Council summit in Istanbul, the Turkish Premier said there must be a settlement immediately, arguing that if negotiations stall the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots should form a joint committee to manage Cyprus’ natural gas reserves.

    “In Cyprus, if everyone agrees that natural resources around the island belong to the entire island and use these resources in a shared vision towards peace, everyone stands to gain,” he said.

    “If [the Greek Cypriots] are seeking to offer these resources, to which Turkish Cypriots also have a right, to international markets unilaterally, then by the same right we will conduct research in the same area along with the Turkish Cypriots,” he added.

    Davutoglu said that if the two sides sit together and negotiate with a will to reunite the island as soon as possible, Cyprus would become a country on the rise.

    “In such a case, the happiest of countries will be Turkey,” he said.

    He called for the immediate return to the negotiations, which were interrupted last month when President Nicos Anastasiades withdrew in protest when the Turkish seismic vessel’s Barbaros began conducting exploratory research in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

    “The Greek Cypriots can’t claim that the Eastern Mediterranean is an area closed to Turks and Turkish Cypriots and conduct research wherever they want,” he asserted.

    This doesn’t happen in politics, nor in matters of international energy reserves, he added.

    He argued that Turkey is the easiest destination for the natural gas to be unearthed from the areas around Cyprus.

    “Turkey is also the international market easiest to open,” he said.

    “Therefore, no one should use energy as a weapon. If [the Greek Cypriots] were to say that they will impose the peace they want on the other side through control of the gas, then that will be the greatest blow to the Cyprus problem negotiations. Let us use energy as a tool for peace.”

     

    Remarking on the transport of water from Turkey to Cyprus, Davutoglu said that Turkey’s plan was to share it with Greek Cypriots.

    “But while we were thinking of sharing our water with the whole island, one side can’t claim the natural resources, which belong to the whole island, for itself,” he said.

    He added that in the coming days he would be visiting Athens “to share these prospects with the Greek government.”

    In his speech, US Vice President Joe Biden said Eastern Mediterranean countries should cooperate, and energy offers a tool for promoting regional stability, security and prosperity, citing the example of Baltic countries to illustrate the potential gains for the region.

    According to Eric Gehman, Assistant Director for Publications and Communications at the Atlantic Council , Biden stressed the need for Europe to prioritise energy security with the help of their allies and friends. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin uses energy as a weapon,” he said, to undermine the security of neighbouring countries.

    Only by diversifying supplies and improving transport networks across the country could Europe curb Russia’s abuses, said Biden. “Now, now, now is the time to act… What’s happening in Ukraine only serves to underscore this.”

    Biden pointed to the eastern Mediterranean as a critical strategic resource for bolstering Europe’s energy security. The development of the Southern Corridor and new projects in Turkey and Cyprus could make the region into a key hub for European energy markets that Biden called a “major asset.”

    Biden credited the Baltics for the work they have already done to reduce their dependence on Russian oil, praising a new Lithuanian gas interconnector aptly named “The Independence.” He called the Baltics’ efforts a model for the rest of Europe.

    Biden concluded his remarks by pressing the European Commission to act quickly to identify and support key infrastructure projects that will accelerate European energy independence. “Energy can and should serve as a tool for cooperation, for stability, for security, and prosperity,” he said.

    The Cyprus problem was also on the agenda of a meeting Biden had on Friday with Davutoglu.
    “Vice President Joe Biden met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, the Cyprus settlement talks, and energy security,” the US State Department said in a statement. Biden was expected to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later yesterday within whom he would also discuss Cyprus.

    Turkish Cypriot Energy Minister Hakan Dinçyürek (R) poses for photos with Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız. AA photo

     

    Meanwhile Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the Barbaros would like complete its surveys by the beginning of next month. Turkey had issued a NAVTEX for surveys from October 20 to December 30. Yildiz said the Barbaros had a planned survey area of 2,700 kilometres. “If the weather is good, it will finish by early December,” he was quoted as saying.

      Küfi Seydali

     

  • Turkey needs post-2015 strategy on Armenian genocide claims, says Turkish diplomat

    Turkey needs post-2015 strategy on Armenian genocide claims, says Turkish diplomat

    Armenian institutions are working hard as 2015 approaches, says Cengizer. HÜRRİYET Photo / Emre YUNUSOĞLU

    Armenian institutions have engaged in a campaign to blame Turkey on the centenary of 1915 Armenian killings, and Turkey should have a strategy in the event that it fails to counter the claims, according to a senior Turkish diplomat.

    “I have just come back from Washington, and I saw the preparations there,” Ambassador Altay Cengizer, who currently holds the position of director-general for Policy Planning at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, told daily Hürriyet in a recent interview. “Their aim is to leave Turkey with a past it cannot deal with; that is why they are targeting 2015.”

    Cengizer has recently written a book, “Adil Hafızanın Işığında” (In the Light of Just Memory), which deals with the process that led to the Ottoman Empire joining World War I and the collapse of the empire, while trying to make a humanistic approach to the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenian in 1915. Although he is an active diplomat, Cengizer notes that the book reflects his own views as a historian, not the ministry’s official stance.

    According to Cengizer, one of the worst scenarios for Ankara in 2015 is the recognition of what many around the term the Armenian genocide by the United States.

    “Turkey will do its best to tell what it believes is right against these claims that target its own identity,” said the diplomat. “But time will show how successful it will be. If we fail, there will be need to develop a post-2015 strategy, there is no other way.”

    Cengizer likened to situation to a penalty kick in football.

    “If I were an Armenian, I would have continued to say what I have been saying,” he said. “Because the 100th year is in a way a penalty shot. We challenge the shot, but they [Armenians] will take it. They see the 100th year as a penalty shot rewarded to them and they will try to convert it into a goal. Our biggest problem here is the belief that the Armenian explanation brings a moral superiority – which in fact is not the case.”

    In his book, Cengizer uses “Meds Yeghern,” an Armenian term meaning “great calamity” that is also used by United States President Barack Obama, to define the Armenian killings, and believes that wording is important.

    “Insisting on the term genocide stands in the way of getting to the humanitarian nature of the issue. Genocide is a political term, and Turkey does not deserve to be presented to the world as a nation that has committed genocide. How can a government that is about to commit genocide place Armenians in its most important ministers’ posts, such as Communications Minister Oskan Mardikyan?” he said.

    “The Holocaust was proven with over 15,000 pages of documents. They sent telegraphs even to Japan, saying ‘there are 15,000 Jewish people in Shanghai, detain them.’ When asked about documents, we are accused of being ‘document fetishists.’ Will they give us a silver or bronze medal in a game won by the Germans?” he said.

    According to Cengizer, the government “was forced by the circumstances” to deport the Armenians.
    “My thesis is to go to the humanitarian nature of the problems,” said the diplomat. “I accept what those poor Armenians went through. When one sees the photographs of those children, he sure thinks about those who led them to that suffering. But, as I prove in my book, Turkey did not deport the Armenians with joy and determination. The decision was taken with a major problem; there was no other way, unfortunately.”

    November/10/2014

    Hurriyet Daily News

      Kufi Seydali

     

  • Turkish Navy authorized over oil crisis with Greek Cyprus

    Turkish Navy authorized over oil crisis with Greek Cyprus

    Naval Forces Commander Adm Bülent Bostanoğlu arrives on board the TCG Büyükada in a helicopter for a briefing during the Blue Whale military drill. The Turkish navy has been authorized to act on the crisis in Cyprus, Bostanoğlu said.

     

    The Turkish Navy has been authorized by the government for the full implementation of recently amended rules of engagement in the eastern Mediterranean in the face of growing tension between littoral countries, including Turkey, Greek Cyprus, Egypt and Israel over oil and natural gas drilling projects.

    “The Prime Ministry handed over the rules of engagement to the Chief of General Staff and the Chief of Staff handed them over to the Naval Forces Command. We will act in line with these rules of engagement in the event we face a situation over this issue,” Adm. Bülent Bostanoğlu, the naval forces commander, told reporters Nov. 9 in Muğla as he participated in the Blue Whale-2014 naval exercise.

    “Our naval forces elements will continue their mission of situational awareness in the region.”
    Bostanoğlu’s statement came after a question on which rules of engagement the Turkish Navy would follow if Turkish vessels confront Greek or Israeli warships in the eastern Mediterranean.

    Tension between Turkey and the Greek Cyprus-Greece duo has increased recently after the Greek Cypriot government issued licenses for oil and natural gas exploration in its claimed economic exclusive zones in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey strongly criticized the move, saying it was a clear breach of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots’ rights and sent a seismic exploration vessel to the region for its own drilling purposes and one warship for the surveillance of foreign platform vessels being used for oil exploration.

    “The Turkish Naval Forces is providing support and close protection to the Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Research Vessel. On the other hand, it continues to keep the drill ship hired by the Greek Cypriot administration under surveillance from nine kilometers’ distance. The order given to us for the moment is not to enter into this nine-kilometer area. That’s why no incident of harassment or disturbance has occurred,” he said.

    The Turkish naval commander said the ongoing Blue Whale exercise had nothing to do with ongoing tension and that it was a biannual exercise whose preparations started two years ago. “The objective of the exercise is to improve cooperation with our allies and particularly to perform anti-submarine defense operations,” he said.

    The tension between Turkey and Greek Cyprus has recently turned into a regional one as the latter took advantage of the former’s worsening relations with Egypt and Israel, which both have similar claims in the eastern Mediterranean. Greek, Greek Cypriot and Egyptian leaders came together at a tripartite summit in Cairo where they discussed regional security and economic cooperation.

    Geek Cypriot Leader Nicos Anastasiades, Gen. El-Sissi of Egypt and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Cairo (08.11.2014)

    Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Nov. 8 accused Turkey of “provocative actions” that he said Ankara was hindering the island’s peace talks and compromising security in the eastern Mediterranean.

    “Turkey’s provocative actions do not just compromise the peace talks, but also affect security in the eastern Mediterranean region,” Anastasiades said at a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

    “For the [Cyprus peace] negotiations to succeed, Turkey needs to show a positive intention and adopt a constructive stance through positive and effective steps in this direction,” he said.

    Ankara issued a notice that a Turkish seismic vessel would carry out a survey until Dec. 30 in the same area where the Italian-Korean energy consortium ENI-Kogas is operating. Ankara opposes the Greek Cypriot government’s exploitation of offshore energy reserves before a deal is reached to solve the decades-long division of the east Mediterranean island.
    November/09/2014

    Hurriyet Daily News

     

      Kufi Seydali

     

  • CYPRUS: GREEK CYPRIOTS AND GREECE PLAYING WITH FIRE

    CYPRUS: GREEK CYPRIOTS AND GREECE PLAYING WITH FIRE

    In this photo provided by Egypt’s state news agency MENA, Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, from left, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras shake hands to pose forphotos after a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014.

     

    Greek Cypriot Leader Nicos Anastasiades on Nov. 8 accused Turkey of “provocative actions” that he said are hindering the island’s peace talks and compromising security in the eastern Mediterranean.

    Last month Greek Cyprus suspended its participation in UN-led peace talks with Turkey amid tensions over Ankara’s determination to search for oil and gas in the same region where the Greek Cypriot government has licensed exploratory drills in an exclusive economic zone.

    “Turkey’s provocative actions do not just compromise the peace talks, but also affect security in the eastern Mediterranean region,” Anastasiades said during a visit to Cairo.

    “For the (peace) negotiations to succeed Turkey needs to show positive intention and adopt a constructive stance through positive and effective steps in this direction,” he said, according to a translation.

    The Greek Cypriot leader was speaking at a joint news conference in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

    Since Oct. 20 a Turkish survey vessel has encroached Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone off the island’s southern coast, according to Nicosia.

    Ankara had issued a notice that a Turkish seismic vessel would carry out a survey until Dec. 30 in the same area where the Italian-Korean energy consortium ENI-Kogas is operating.

    Ankara opposes the Greek Cypriot government’s exploitation of offshore energy reserves before a deal is reached to solve the decades-long division of the east Mediterranean island.

    Anastasiades, Samaras and Sisi were at a summit in Cairo on Nov. 8 to discuss regional security and economic cooperation.

      Kufi Seydali

    Comment:

    The Greeks are once again playing with fire! It should not be forgotten that General Sissi of Egypt is a military dictator. It is also worth remembering that in 1974 it was the military Dictators in Athens who overthrew Makarios with the aim of declaring ENOSIS (Union with Greece). What disaster that brought upon all Cypriots is well known. The Greeks should also decide on which side they stand! On one hand they claim to be  strategic partners of the USA (Joe Biden) and on the other hand play Roulette with Putin. They recently carried out joint exercises with  Israel and now sign security agreements with Egypt! Common sense tells us that such a complex game is bound to go wrong.

    KS