EU opens new chapter in Turkey`s accession talks
Transkript
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. >