From The Hudson Institute:
Regional Free Zone Attempt Nixed With Turkish Sanctions on Syria
And more from the Turkish Press
by AK Group
December 5, 2011 at 3:00 am
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2641/regional-free-zone-attempt-nixed-with-turkish
Send Comment RSS Share:
Be the first of your friends to like this.
"Shamgen," a step toward creation of a free trade area between Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, officially came to an end due to the rising tensions between Turkey and Syria, according to a Central Bank official.
The plan, inspired by the European Union Schengen Agreement, was launched eight months ago.
"Shamgen included the development of close bonds between Central Banks of the member countries including Syria, but as part of the sanctions imposed on Syria it came to an end officially," the Central Bank source told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The Turkish Central Bank has suspended all ties with the Syrian Central Bank within the scope of Turkey's economic sanctions unveiled by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Wednesday.
Taking its name from the word "Sham," the classical Arabic name for Syria, the ambitious project began with Turkey signing free-trade and visa-exemption agreements with Syria, Jordon and Lebanon in 2007, 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Turkey's Central Bank had organized the Enhancing Shamgen Banking conference in Istanbul on March 28 and 29, bringing together top officials of central banks from the Shamgen member states.
"Although this conference is a step toward improving relations between the banking sectors of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the short term, it is expected to contribute to the formation of a single market with the inclusion of other countries in the region in an area circumscribed by the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the Mediterranean," Turkey's then-Central Bank Gov. Durmuş Yılmaz said at the conference.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/regional-free-zone-attempt-stillborn.aspx?pageID=238&nID=8276&NewsCatID=344
Government Under Fire for Syria Policies
Turkey's main opposition Friday charged that sanctions slapped on Syria would deal a blow on trade and raised questions over Syrian refugee camps as news emerged that they had been equipped with winter-proof tents that the quake victims lacked in Van.
In a written response to a parliamentary question, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said the tents initially erected for the Syrians had been replaced with new carpeted ones "that can withstand all climate conditions [-20 degrees Celsius]," and that the refugees had been provided with winter clothes and extra blankets.
Winter temperatures in Hatay vary between eight and 12 degrees Celsius during the day and between three and four degrees at night, even though they can sometimes fall to below five degrees, Şahin said. The expenditure for the refugees is provided by the Disaster and Emergency Fund, which has so far allocated 20.7 million Turkish Liras, he said.
Ali Özgündüz, the Republican People's Party, or CHP, lawmaker who submitted the question to Şahin, said: "Cold-proof tents are being sent to Hatay, even though the weather there is mild, while the poor people in Van are freezing in summer tents."
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, he said the government appeared to cater to the members of the Syrian opposition, who are also taking shelter at the camps in Hatay.
"I wonder whether they are providing all that comfort to the dissidents who are being trained in the camps so that they can go to Syria and do their mission easily," he said.
Slamming the government's approach to Syria after Ankara announced a series of sanctions against Damascus, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu renewed charges that Syrian dissidents were receiving military training in Turkey as part of policies dictated by Western powers.
"Why are we meddling so much in someone else's problems when we have so many problems of our own?" he said. "Does it suit Turkey to have armed forces being trained in Turkey to make trouble in another country? It is not right."
CHP lawmakers representing Hatay warned that the population of the border province would suffer the most because of Ankara's sanctions as they hit commercial relations.
"You cannot just ignore the 2 million Hatay citizens in the name of being a U.S. sub-contractor," Hatay Deputy Mevlüt Dudu said. "There is no guarantee that the internal strife that is being staged in Syria today will not be put in action in our country too."
Hatay Deputy Mehmet Ali Ediboğlu said the investments of Turkish businessmen in Syria "have been thrown in danger" and major financial losses could follow. He rejected suggestions the CHP was siding with Bashar al-Assad and said all parties in Syria must renounce violence and go to elections to decide the country's rulers.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/govt-under-fire-for-syria-policies-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=8294&NewsCatID=338
Flood of Sanctions Fails to Halt Syrian Bloodshed
The embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday pressed on with a deadly crackdown on dissent even as a flood of fresh sanctions further isolated Damascus.
Activists said Syrian forces in the flashpoint provinces of Idlib and Homs killed 14 civilians, while in the southern Daraa province, the cradle of eight months of anti-regime unrest, a blast killed seven security forces.
The latest violence came as the world's largest Islamic body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, urged member Syria to cooperate with the Arab League and allow a team of observers to visit the country.
The League imposed sanctions on the Damascus regime Sunday after it defied an ultimatum to accept observers under a plan to halt the crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March.
After emergency talks on Syria, a statement by the OIC urged Damascus to "immediately stop using excessive force against civilians" and to "respond to the decisions of the Arab League."
Speaking after the meeting OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the group "urged Syria to stop violating human rights and to allow Islamic and international human organizations access to Syria."
Turkey, following the lead of Arab states, also announced Wednesday a raft of sanctions against Syria winning praise from Washington which said the action will further isolate al-Assad's embattled regime.
"The leadership shown by Turkey in response to the brutality and violation of the fundamental ri
Regional Free Zone Attempt Nixed With Turkish Sanctions on Syria
And more from the Turkish Press
by AK Group
December 5, 2011 at 3:00 am
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2641/regional-free-zone-attempt-nixed-with-turkish
Send Comment RSS Share:
Be the first of your friends to like this.
"Shamgen," a step toward creation of a free trade area between Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, officially came to an end due to the rising tensions between Turkey and Syria, according to a Central Bank official.
The plan, inspired by the European Union Schengen Agreement, was launched eight months ago.
"Shamgen included the development of close bonds between Central Banks of the member countries including Syria, but as part of the sanctions imposed on Syria it came to an end officially," the Central Bank source told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The Turkish Central Bank has suspended all ties with the Syrian Central Bank within the scope of Turkey's economic sanctions unveiled by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Wednesday.
Taking its name from the word "Sham," the classical Arabic name for Syria, the ambitious project began with Turkey signing free-trade and visa-exemption agreements with Syria, Jordon and Lebanon in 2007, 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Turkey's Central Bank had organized the Enhancing Shamgen Banking conference in Istanbul on March 28 and 29, bringing together top officials of central banks from the Shamgen member states.
"Although this conference is a step toward improving relations between the banking sectors of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the short term, it is expected to contribute to the formation of a single market with the inclusion of other countries in the region in an area circumscribed by the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the Mediterranean," Turkey's then-Central Bank Gov. Durmuş Yılmaz said at the conference.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/regional-free-zone-attempt-stillborn.aspx?pageID=238&nID=8276&NewsCatID=344
Government Under Fire for Syria Policies
Turkey's main opposition Friday charged that sanctions slapped on Syria would deal a blow on trade and raised questions over Syrian refugee camps as news emerged that they had been equipped with winter-proof tents that the quake victims lacked in Van.
In a written response to a parliamentary question, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said the tents initially erected for the Syrians had been replaced with new carpeted ones "that can withstand all climate conditions [-20 degrees Celsius]," and that the refugees had been provided with winter clothes and extra blankets.
Winter temperatures in Hatay vary between eight and 12 degrees Celsius during the day and between three and four degrees at night, even though they can sometimes fall to below five degrees, Şahin said. The expenditure for the refugees is provided by the Disaster and Emergency Fund, which has so far allocated 20.7 million Turkish Liras, he said.
Ali Özgündüz, the Republican People's Party, or CHP, lawmaker who submitted the question to Şahin, said: "Cold-proof tents are being sent to Hatay, even though the weather there is mild, while the poor people in Van are freezing in summer tents."
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, he said the government appeared to cater to the members of the Syrian opposition, who are also taking shelter at the camps in Hatay.
"I wonder whether they are providing all that comfort to the dissidents who are being trained in the camps so that they can go to Syria and do their mission easily," he said.
Slamming the government's approach to Syria after Ankara announced a series of sanctions against Damascus, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu renewed charges that Syrian dissidents were receiving military training in Turkey as part of policies dictated by Western powers.
"Why are we meddling so much in someone else's problems when we have so many problems of our own?" he said. "Does it suit Turkey to have armed forces being trained in Turkey to make trouble in another country? It is not right."
CHP lawmakers representing Hatay warned that the population of the border province would suffer the most because of Ankara's sanctions as they hit commercial relations.
"You cannot just ignore the 2 million Hatay citizens in the name of being a U.S. sub-contractor," Hatay Deputy Mevlüt Dudu said. "There is no guarantee that the internal strife that is being staged in Syria today will not be put in action in our country too."
Hatay Deputy Mehmet Ali Ediboğlu said the investments of Turkish businessmen in Syria "have been thrown in danger" and major financial losses could follow. He rejected suggestions the CHP was siding with Bashar al-Assad and said all parties in Syria must renounce violence and go to elections to decide the country's rulers.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/govt-under-fire-for-syria-policies-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=8294&NewsCatID=338
Flood of Sanctions Fails to Halt Syrian Bloodshed
The embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday pressed on with a deadly crackdown on dissent even as a flood of fresh sanctions further isolated Damascus.
Activists said Syrian forces in the flashpoint provinces of Idlib and Homs killed 14 civilians, while in the southern Daraa province, the cradle of eight months of anti-regime unrest, a blast killed seven security forces.
The latest violence came as the world's largest Islamic body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, urged member Syria to cooperate with the Arab League and allow a team of observers to visit the country.
The League imposed sanctions on the Damascus regime Sunday after it defied an ultimatum to accept observers under a plan to halt the crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March.
After emergency talks on Syria, a statement by the OIC urged Damascus to "immediately stop using excessive force against civilians" and to "respond to the decisions of the Arab League."
Speaking after the meeting OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the group "urged Syria to stop violating human rights and to allow Islamic and international human organizations access to Syria."
Turkey, following the lead of Arab states, also announced Wednesday a raft of sanctions against Syria winning praise from Washington which said the action will further isolate al-Assad's embattled regime.
"The leadership shown by Turkey in response to the brutality and violation of the fundamental ri
No comments:
Post a Comment