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Turkish Airlines shuns GSA route

Turkish Airlines shuns GSA route

Mihir Mishra / New Delhi May 15, 2011, 0:11 IST

In its global expansion plans, Turkish Airlines has decided to open its own office in India instead of operating through a general sales agency (GSA). InterGlobe Aviation is the GSA for the airline in India.

“We are working out plan for expansion in India,” said Adnan Aykac, general manager of Turkish Airlines in India. Turkish Airlines is the national carrier of Turkey and operates in 139 international and 42 domestic cities of Europe, Asia, Africa and the US.

Aykac said the airline will take delivery of 22 aircraft by the end of the current calendar year and would not need leased aircraft. The airline has taken four Boeing 777s on lease from Jet Airways and the lease period will expire this year. “We will take delivery of 12 Boeing 777s and 10 Airbus 330s this year and may not need to continue operating with leased aircraft,” said Aykac.

Jet Airways, India’s largest carrier in terms of passenger carriage, said it has informed Turkish Airlines that the lease would not be extended. “Jet Airways will induct two Boeing 777 aircraft into its operations and has entered into an agreement with Thai Airways for the lease of the remaining two. The aircraft will be leased for two years with an option to extend for a year,” said an email reply from the airline.

The lease period of the first aircraft expires on July 14, the second on August 12, the third on September 1 and the fourth on October 30.

Turkish Airlines, which is a Star Alliance member and has code sharing with Air India, hopes to strengthen it further after the national carrier joins the alliance in July. “Once Air India joins the alliance, it will help us extend our operations. We expect to get passengers from Kathmandu without actually flying there,” said Aykac.

He said the airline aims to strengthen its network in Europe to provide unmatchable link across Europe. “Our plans are to expand our network in the US after Europe,” he said.

via Turkish Airlines shuns GSA route.

May 15, 2011
Turkey Becomes the 7th Biggest Tourism Destination of the World

Turkey has become the 7th biggest tourism destination of the world.

The World Tourism Organization based in Spanish capital Madrid said that Turkey which drew some 27 million tourists in less than a decade became the world’s 7th biggest tourism destination behind France, the USA, Spain, the People’s Republic of China, Italy and the United Kingdom.

World Tourism Organization Marketing Director Michel Julian told the A.A that there was an annual increase of 2.2 percent in number of tourists visiting Mediterranean countries between 2000 and 2009, adding that countries such as France, Spain, Italy and Greece suffered a decline following the global financial crisis.

He said that Turkey, on the contrary, reached an annual increase of 12 percent in the same period and became a leading country in the Mediterranean region.

Julian said that Turkey increased number of tourists to 25 million in 2009 from 9 million in 2000, adding that increase in number of tourists visiting Turkey would continue in 2011.

Saturday, 14 May 2011

A.A.

May 15, 2011
Hrant Dink Park Opens in Mersin

MERSIN, Turkey (Firant news agency) — BDP’s Mersin Akdeniz Municipality has named a park and built a monument, both in honor of Hrant Dink. Dink, chief editor of the bilingual newspaper Agos, was murdered on January 19, 2007.

Rakel Dink and others at the opening of the Hrant Dink Park

Hundreds of Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Christians and Alevis came together in Mersin for the opening of Hrant Dink Park and monument which were made by the Akdeniz Municipality.

Following a dance performance by primary school students, the opening ceremony was made with the participation of prominent figures, such as Labor, Democracy and Freedom Block’s Mersin Independent Candidate Ertugrul Kürkcü; Dink’s wife, Rakel, and daughter, Delal Dink; BDP Provincial Chair Cihan Yilmaz; Akdeniz Municipality Mayor M. Fazil Türk; Agos Editor Rober Koptas; Armenian writer Vartak Estukyan; representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Mersin; journalists Ali Bayramoglu and Celal Baslangic and several other artists and poets.

Making the opening speech of the ceremony, which drew much interest from the public and media, Türk started off by expressing his pleasure of giving one of the most honorable and meaningful services during his presidency. Türk said: “We are giving this park the name of Hrant who was murdered with an unacceptable malicious attack. We will give a fight for the values peace, democracy and equality that he died for. We will not be afraid of those different us and we will keep take the differences as our richness. Everybody is equal in this country and deserves equal treatment. I once more condemn the dark hands that shadow this brotherhood. Dark focuses will not be able to prevent the breeding ground of the seeds of peace and freedom in our country. Names like Hrant Dink are the cornerstones on this way. We bow respectfully before the memory of our peace dove. We will not forget the name Hrant Dink.”

Emphasizing that Dink is a companion who sacrificed his life for the peoples’ liberty and for the great action of Deniz Gezmis and his companions, Kürkcü said: “While entrusting himself to the conservation of the Turkish people, Hrant wanted to believe in something that was yet not proved. We, however, saw that this vessel head was not that much protective. The peoples cannot exist alone. They lapse into a political statement. And, unfortunately, the state, our political statement, is not on very good terms with its people, other peoples, families and religions. The murder of Hrant Dink is bitter realization of this bitter truth. We now owe an apology to the Armenian people and to our brother Hrant Dink. And what a bitter fate is it that this apology is paid by a Kurdish local official, not by a dominant element of the state. In other words, the Kurdish people, on behalf of Turkey’s peoples, have begun to apologize for the cruelty toward the Armenian people. We need to take this as an example. Turkey cannot put the blame of all happenings on minorities, others and the expelled. Turkey needs to face with its truth and its history.”

Kürkcü who called referred to Dink as “our companion,” was followed by Dink’s widow, who emphasized that this name recalls of cruelty created by discrimination, racism and fascism and said: “My husband gave a fight for truths along his life. He tried to address the unfairness suffered by all peoples but he was responded with death. But the only thing to console us is that his thoughts have expanded and born new people thinking like him. And I can see this picture here today. This idea is just a point to face the past. Our history is full of lots of pains.”

The speeches were followed by concerts from the MKM (Mesopotamian Culture Center) group and Kardes Türküler who showed their support through their songs about freedom, equality and peace. The program ended with the opening of the Hrant Dink Park and monument.

via Hrant Dink Park Opens in Mersin | Welcome to the Armenian Mirror-Spectator.

May 15, 2011
‘Body of Evidence’
24 May 2011

The launch of report by the Medical Foundation, ‘Body of Evidence: Treatment of Medico-Legal Reports for Survivors of Torture in the UK Asylum Tribunal’.
- Tuesday 24 May 2011, 6pm
- Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ
The introduction of the report will be followed by a panel-led discussion of the key findings and recommendations for future practice. The panel comprises:
- Keith Best – Chief Executive of the Medical Foundation
- A senior member of the Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration Chambers) (TBC)
- Dr Juliet Cohen – Head of Medical Services at the Medical Foundation
- Nadine Finch – Barrister at Garden Court Chambers
Please email Jo Pettitt to confirm attendance as space is limited: [email protected].
May 15, 2011
Confronting anti-Muslim hatred
21 May 2011

A conference on anti-Muslim hatred throughout Britain and Europe.
- Saturday 21 May 2011, 11-6pm
- London Muslim Centre Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JX
Speakers include:
- John Esposito – Georgetown University
- Tony Benn – Anti-war campaigner
- Mehdi Hassan – New Statesman
- Robert Lambert – European Muslim Research Centre
- Hiba Aburwein – European Forum on Muslim Women
- Peter Oborne – Daily Telegraph
- Liz Fekete – Institute of Race Relations
- Seumas Milne – The Guardian
- Salma Yaqoob – Respect
- Dr Sabine Schiffer – Germany
- Dr AbdoolKarim Vakil – Muslim Council of Britain
- Les Levidow – Campaign Against Criminalising Communities
- And many others
This is a free event but booking is advisable, for further information, email: [email protected] or phone 020 7650 3006.
May 15, 2011
Internet use lags behind in poorest nations

In figures released this week at the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Istanbul, Turkey, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reported that over the past 10 years mobile connectivity in the 48 countries classed as LDCs had risen by 28 per cent, bringing increasing mobile access to almost 250 million people.

According to the ITU, the steep rise in the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) exceeds the targets previously set by the Third UN Conference on the LDCs in Brussels in 2001, which called for average telephone density in LDCs to reach at least 5 per cent by 2011.

But while mobile phone access in the world’s poorest nations has mushroomed over the past decade, the ITU warned that there are still too few Internet users in the LDCs.

“People ask me if internet penetration is really such a high priority for people who, on a daily basis, face a lack of safe drinking water, rising food prices, and a chronic shortage of health care,” said Hamadoun Toure’, the ITU Secretary-General.

“My answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ Because the Internet – and especially broadband – is an extraordinary enabler which has potential to massively expand the effective delivery of vital services, such as health care and education. Nowhere is this more important than in countries where people are chronically deprived of these services.”

With average internet penetration in LDC bloc countries having reached only 2.5 per cent in 2010, Toure’ pointed out that web access remains well below the 10 per cent target set in Brussels but expressed optimism that the trend would soon improve.

“In the past two years alone we have seen a remarkable surge in national and international bandwidth in developing countries, with several new submarine cables being landed, and new advanced technologies which can help affordably bridge the digital divide,” he said.

Identifying innovative ways to get poorer nations connected to high-speed networks will be one focus of ITU’s upcoming Global Broadband Summit in Geneva in Oct.

via Internet use lags behind in poorest nations: UN.

May 15, 2011