Sweden’s Bildt hears criticism from the opposition on EU’s support to government. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
Turkey’s main opposition leader has told the Swedish foreign minister that the European Union holds responsibility for growing government control of the judiciary and the persecution of journalists because of the support it gave to last year’s constitutional amendments, party sources said.
“The government has taken control of the judiciary following the constitutional amendments of 2010,” sources quoted Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as telling Carl Bildt when the two met behind closed doors yesterday.
The leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) criticized the latest EU report on Turkey’s accession progress, saying it failed to sufficiently highlight “the anti-democratic actions” of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), sources said.
“The EU did not put enough emphasis on this issue. The EU also holds responsibility for the anti-democratic environment in Turkey,” Kılıçdaroğlu was quoted as saying at the meeting.
Bildt, however, described the progress report as “balanced” and said Turkey must undertake further reforms.
Kılıçdaroğlu also advised the EU against high expectations from the new constitution process, arguing that even the current constitution was frequently violated.
“A new constitution will not solve every single problem for Turkey. For instance, the right to privacy is being violated, although it is enshrined in the current constitution,” he said, according to sources.
Without elaborating, Kılıçdaroğlu told Bildt the CHP was ready to support any “reasonable” proposals by the AKP on the Kurdish issue.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Bildt tacitly confirmed media reports that the Friends of Turkey group in the EU was working on a plan to end the deadlock in Turkey’s accession talks.
“There are some challenges and difficulties and it requires discussion both between the different countries of the EU and between the EU and Turkey,” Bildt said. “It’s hardly new in that particular aspect, but of course we are working on the different items that can keep the positive momentum on certain issues.”
via CHP holds EU responsible for democracy in Turkey – Hurriyet Daily News.
The Ottoman-era Topkapi Palace, foreground, one of landmarks of Turkey's largest city and the country's cultural and economic capital, Istanbul (file photo)
Hard economic times in Europe is hitting the tourist industry in Turkey. But the country is enjoying a rather surprising dividend in the growing popularity of its prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan across the Middle East. It is proving an increasingly popular destination for Arab tourists.
When he arrived in Cairo last month, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the sort of welcome usually reserved for rockstars.
Thousands of cheering Egyptians turned out to see Mr. Erdogan who has strongly supported the Arab Spring uprising and waged a diplomatic war against Israel.
And, as a result of his popularity in Middle Eastern countries, Arab tourists are now choosing to visit Turkey.
Here in Istanbul on the city’s main street, Istiklal cad, throngs of Arab tourists are now a common sight. Its predicted nearly 2 million Arab tourists will visit Turkey this year, nearly double last year’s number.
For many, like Ahmet from Kuwait, the almost cult status of Mr. Erdogan was a reason why he chose to spend his vacation in Istanbul.
“Erdogan , nice guy,” said Ahmet. “You know there is a relation between all Muslims. Because I heard about Erdogan I came here, nice country. Before I go U.K. and U.S., Malaysia.”
Shops are adapting fast to this new trend. In this shopping mall, signs in Arabic have appeared everywhere next to the customary English one.
And that’s not surprising. Arab tourists, many of whom are from oil rich countries, have a reputation for having much deeper pockets than many of their cash-strapped European counterparts.
That means a major boost to the economy, according chief economist Emre Yigit from the financial trading house Global Securities.
“If you go out on the streets in Istanbul, one can very safely say one has never seen as many Arab tourists in Turkey, and we know that overall number of tourists is also increasing rapidly in 2011,” said Yigit. “So it looks like its going to be a bumper year for tourism. And there is circumstantial evidence that the Arab tourists are relatively good spenders as well. So they are supporting the economy it appears.”
Turkey is cashing in on its growing prestige, aggressively targeting Middle Eastern tourists.
And, Arab tourism is more than a welcome boost for many of Istanbul’s hotels.
At the CVK hotel in central Istanbul, Manager Edip Celick says Arab tourists are now the main source of customers.
“European Union for crisis, no came from Greece no came from Spanish,
Celick. “But all hotel 60 or 70 percent Arabic people stay in hotel. And the for Arabic people like the shopping mall and their first question [is] ‘Where is the shopping mall?’”
But its not only shopping and Turkey’s growing regional prestige that attracts tourists. It’s also Turkish television soaps that air in several Arab countries.
The highly produced programs, many with their comparatively risque story lines, by conservative Arab standards, are proving so popular that many Arabs come to visit the film locations.
Aydar Sengec is guiding around the latest group of Arab tourists to visit one of Istanbul’s mansions on the shoreline of the Bosphorus waterway. The building features in one of the biggest Turkish TV hits in the Middle East. Sengec says they are overwhelmed by the interest shown by Arabs.
“The visitors come from Saudi Arabia,” said Sengec. “All these people come from the Middle East also north Africa, from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. There are 3,000 people who came in two months. Especially woman. They like the characters. They like the story. Because the story is familiar, the same family relations.”
One of those visiting is Kuwaiti Asla. She says they just can’t get enough of Turkish soaps and the lifestyle they portray.
“We all love the actors the artists,” said Asla. “The Arab love too much this drama. You see the streets , nobody, no cars, all the house, all see the TV.”
Analysts are predicting difficult economic times for Europe for some time to come. But Istanbul and the rest of the country are now hoping there will be further opportunities to exploit the deep pool of goodwill that observers say exist towards Turkey across the Arab world.
via Turkey Taps Arab World For Tourist Dollars | Europe | English. VOA
TEHRAN — Three Iranian galleries will present national artworks at the Contemporary Istanbul (CI), which will be held from November 24 to 27 in Turkey.
As the most extensive modern and contemporary art event in Turkey, CI will host Assar Art Gallery, Etemad Gallery and Mohsen Art Gallery from Iran.
For four days, Contemporary Istanbul is hosting national and international galleries, artists from all over the world, collectors, museum directors, curators, art critics, members of press and art lovers at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) and the Istanbul Convention Center.
Sculptor Reza Lavasani, whose works are currently on display at the Assar Art Gallery, is one of the most important participants at the event.
A total of 89 galleries around the world will present paintings, sculpture, plastic arts, gravure, photography, installation, video and original graphics at the event.
In addition to the main event, Contemporary Istanbul is organizing several side events and art projects, such as conferences and exhibitions, throughout the year with the aim of contributing to the development of the country’s contemporary art.
SB/YAW
END
via Iranian galleries to participate in Istanbul art show – Tehran Times.
The first meeting of a High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council established between Turkey and Azerbaijan last year is scheduled to kick off in İzmir next week with the attendance of a large number of ministers from both countries at a joint Cabinet session. Turkey is set to hold a joint session for Turkish and Azeri ministers from Oct. 25 to 26 under the chairmanship of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in İzmir.
Erdoğan and Aliyev will also be attending the groundbreaking ceremony of a new İzmir refinery at an estimated investment worth of $5 billion, a joint initiative of national Azeri oil company State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and its Turkish partner, Turcas. The Azeri share in the new refinery to be built on Petkim field is 75 percent, and it is planned to be functional in 2015 and help reduce Turkey’s current account deficit (CAD) by enabling the production of jet fuel and other similar oils.
Aliyev will be bringing along a large number of ministers, including ministers of economy, transportation, energy and foreign affairs, for the joint Cabinet session, a tradition Turkey has practiced with other countries in the past. During the joint session, the two countries are expected to discuss ways of boosting trade relations, and possible fields where ministries may be able to cooperate further will also be investigated. Ankara hopes to reflect the “one nation two states” mentality on trade relations between the country, and the fact that the session will be held in İzmir is perceived as a gesture toward the Azeri government.
Another critical meeting is also scheduled to be held in November in Nakhchivan, where the foreign ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran are to meet in line with a previous agreement in one of the participating countries on a rotating basis to discuss ways of increasing trade volume. The first meeting was held in April in Iran, and the second is scheduled to be held in Nakhchivan, according to diplomatic sources. The main focus of the meeting will be on providing a solution to problems arising at border crossings and issues of businesspeople trading in one of the three countries. Azeri sources also noted that many Turkish ministers will be visiting Nakhchivan in the following days.
The most recent visit from a Turkish minister to Azerbaijan came with the Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz’s visit to the country last week, when he noted that the countries agreed to cooperate and move together to meet the needs of their armed forces and bolster defenses. “We have decided to move, work and produce together to fortify the armed forces of our countries,” Yılmaz was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Friday, as he visited his Azeri counterpart as well as the Azeri minister of culture and tourism, and top Azeri army generals in Baku.
Yılmaz said both countries shared the same promising future and that they were sure to make progress. The minister noted that during his visit countries had reached a consensus to ink agreements on the defense field and the teams from both sides would gather in the near future to come up with solid projects to that end. The foundations of the high-level strategic council were laid in July 2010, when Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan visited Baku in the company of more than a hundred member delegation, which consisted of representatives from companies as well as press members and other government officials. The delegation was engaged in close to 500 meetings and representatives of some of the companies in the delegation signed trade agreement with their Azeri partners at sums soaring beyond $10 million. Çağlayan also negotiated the establishment of the council during his visit.
That was the figure that investors in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange feared was about to evaporate on September 7 when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara was suspending trade ties between Turkey and Israel, and the predictable response was a sharp drop in share values.
The market recovered most of its losses when officials in Ankara issued a clarification later in the day, indicating that Erdogan’s intention was to freeze only direct defense industry contracts between the governments of the two countries, not put a stop to the entirety of civilian trade.
There appears to be little doubt, however, that the tensions between Israel and Turkey can only hamper economic ties. With Turkey having expelled Israel’s ambassador and all diplomats at the Embassy in Ankara above the second secretary level, Israelis traveling to Istanbul being singled out for harsh security measures, and Ankara hinting that more measures limiting bilateral contacts are in store for the future – Israeli businessmen are unlikely to place Turkey high on their lists of potential sites for trade expansion.
Prior to the explosion of official Turkish rage at Israel following the publication of the Palmer Commission’s report on the Mavi Marmara incident, Israeli-Turkish trade relations had been following a multi-year upward trajectory. The two countries attained $3.5 billion worth of economic interaction in 2010, up from $2.5 billion in 2009. The latest figures indicate that, despite more than a year of negative sentiments towards Israel in the Turkish public following the Mavi Marmara flotilla in May 2010, trade gained forward momentum in the past year: According to data collected by the Turkish Exporters Organization, $2.56 billion of trade took place between the countries in the first seven months of 2011, on track to reach $4.4 billion by the end of the year.
Businessmen from both countries have recognized economic complementarities for two decades and moved to exploit them. The Turkish-Israeli Free Trade Agreement, dating from 1996, only accelerated those ties. According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Israel’s main import items from Turkey are iron-steel products, mineral fuels, mineral oils, copper and copper wares. Turkey’s import items from Israel are in mineral oils, organic and inorganic chemical products and electronic machinery. Cross-border investments are also common. Israel’s Ofer Group has a significant shareholding in the Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation, for example, and carpet manufacturer Carmel Carpets has a controlling interest in Turkey’s carpet company Atlas Halı.
Meanwhile, Turkish construction firms have discovered that Israel can be a lucrative market, underscored by the contract signed last year under which Turkey’s Zorlu Holdings is to build four major electric power plants in Israel. And that is before taking into account the immense amount of Israeli tourism to Turkey, totaling 311,600 visitors in 2009. Package tours to Turkey from Tel Aviv were once touted as being cheaper than going to Eilat, but tourism is expected to be the industry that will suffer the greatest contraction as diplomatic relations go frosty.
From the Turkish perspective, cutting trade ties with Israel seems irrational. While the Turkish economy has been growing at a blistering pace of a reported 10 percent a year, the Ankara’s government deficit has ballooned to worrisome 9.5 percent. Its external debt has doubled in the past two years, and the unemployment rate is at 13%.
A period of world economic slowdown would appear to be a particularly inauspicious time to be contemplating restricting economic activity, especially given that Israel is one of the few countries with which Turkey has a trade surplus, with Turkey’s exports to Israel at $2 billion last year while it imported only $1.3 billion from Israel.
It is therefore not terribly surprising that the president of Turkish Exporters Organization, Mehmet Büyükeksi, issued a press statement in early September stating that “we should not mistake business ties for political relations.… These are two completely separate issues. We do not expect trade relations to worsen overnight.”
In parallel, the president of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce, Uriel Lynn, warned that a trade crisis with Turkey could cost hundreds of Israeli jobs.
By all indications, the business communities in both countries would prefer to let the political storms blow over their heads, while they quietly continue with business as usual. Whether or not that will be possible is, at this point, entirely in the hands of the decision makers in Ankara.
THE world premiere of a film focused on Liverpool FC’s historic 2005 European Cup win was showcased in the city.
The cast, including Anfield manager Kenny Dalglish, appeared at the red carpet screening of Will at Liverpool One’s Odeon cinema.
The film follows orphan Will Brennan, who runs away to watch the game in memory of his late father.
Dalglish said: “It was a good laugh making it.
“The film is a further extension of all the good work that’s been done in the city. It’s magnificent.”
Perry Eggleton, who plays Will Brennan, said: “It was great to play a Liverpool fan.
“The movie was a fantastic experience and it was good to work with such great people. Istanbul is an amazing city.”
via Kenny Dalglish attends premiere of latest film on Liverpool FC’s Istanbul victory, ‘Will’ – ECHO Entertainment News – Entertainment – Liverpool Echo.
