Expat Turks begin voting in presidential elections

July 31, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turks living abroad began voting Thursday to choose Turkey's first directly elected president. It is also the first time expatriate Turks are voting in their countries of residence for Turkish elections.

Close to 2.8 million expatriate Turks in 54 countries — about half of them in Germany — are eligible to vote. Only about 250,000 of them however, have registered to vote, according to Turkey's High Election Board. Polls opened in Germany and several other countries on Thursday.

In Berlin, hundreds of Turks went to a polling station inside the city's Olympic stadium to vote. A large Turkish flag was put up over the door. "I think it is a great thing for us Turks that we can also vote," said Duygu Yapar, a 23-year-old woman from Berlin.

Many of those holding Turkish passports in Germany are the children or grandchildren of immigrants and have never lived in Turkey. Seven polling stations were set up across the country. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the strongest contender in the elections to be held in Turkey on Aug. 10. The former head of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas are also running.

Previously, parliament elected the president, a largely symbolic post. But Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, has suggested that he could rule with almost as much authority as the prime minister by activating latent presidential powers, including the right to call Cabinet meetings.

A Pew Research Center poll published Wednesday found Turks are evenly split on how they feel about Erdogan, with 48 percent saying he has a good influence on the country and the same percentage saying he has a bad one. The survey polled 1,001 people from April 11-May 16 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Erdogan's party won around 43 percent of the votes in local elections in March, despite a government corruption scandal and last year's crackdown on anti-government protests. If no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first round, a run-off will be held on Aug 24.

Markus Schreiber in Berlin contributed to this report.

Germany: 1000s protest Yazidi persecution in Iraq

August 16, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of people in Germany have protested against the persecution of the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

Police say at least 10,000 people attended a demonstration in the north German city of Hannover on Saturday. Protesters carried banners demanding that the international community protect the Yazidi people and other minorities from the Islamist extremists.

Smaller demonstrations were also scheduled in other cities across Germany, which has one of the biggest Yezidi diasporas worldwide. The Yazidis are a centuries-old religious minority viewed as apostates by the extremist Islamic State group in Iraq.

The protests occurred as the German government considers whether to provide military equipment, possibly including weapons, to Kurdish fighters battling the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

South Sudan's civil war entered its ninth month

2014-08-15

JUBA - South Sudan's civil war entered its ninth month Friday with rebels and government troops engaged in heavy battles, diplomats said, days after UN warnings of sanctions if the conflict continues.

Fighting was reported around the town of Bentiu, capital of the northern oil state of Unity, as well as in Jonglei state.

Rebel spokesman Lul Ruai Koang claimed it was the start of a "long awaited government offensive", reporting clashes to the east and south of Bentiu.

He also said there was fighting in the remote village of Ayod in the eastern Jonglei state, one of the areas hardest hit by a growing hunger crisis.

Aid workers also reported heavy shooting around Bentiu.

The army was not immediately available for comment.

The British ambassador in Juba, Ian Hughes, said the reports of fighting was "disappointing", coming just three days after UN Security Council envoys warned both the government and rebel leaders of "consequences" on a visit to the troubled nation.

"The situation there is desperate enough already," Hughes said. "Leaders need to control their fighters."

UN envoys met with President Salva Kiir in Juba and also spoke with rebel chief Riek Machar, urging them to stick to peace after three failed ceasefire deals.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than 1.5 million have fled civil war sparked by a power struggle between Kiir and his sacked deputy Machar, with battles between government troops, mutinous soldiers and ragtag militia forces divided by tribe.

The United Nations has said the food crisis is the "worst in the world", with aid workers warning of famine within weeks if conflict continues.

The United States and the European Union have already imposed penalties on three senior South Sudanese army commanders from the government and opposition, while nations in the regional bloc IGAD have suggested they could follow suit if progress was not made.

East African leaders from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development are due to hold talks at the weekend in the Ethiopian capital to discuss the war in South Sudan.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67621.

Ethiopia earns $456 million from gold exports

16 August 2014 Saturday

Ethiopian earnings from gold exports have dropped during the last fiscal year, earning over $456 million from the metal, an Ethiopian official said Saturday.

"The revenues decreased by over $122million compared to the amount the country earned during the same period in the previous year," Abdurahman Se’id, spokesman for the Trade Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

He said that Ethiopia earned over $456 million from exporting gold during the last fiscal year, which ended in July.

"The decrease in the revenues resulted from the plunging gold price in the world market," he said.

He, however, said that Ethiopian gold exports rose to 12.35 tons during the reported period compared to 12.32 in the previous year.

Ethiopia exports gold to the world market through traditional miners and big companies as MIDROC Gold Mine PLC, which is owned by the Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi, ASCOM, an Egyptian company, and NYOTA Minerals Ltd. an Australian-based company.

While MIDROC is working in southern Ethiopia, NYOTA Minerals Ltd is working in western Ethiopia. A domestic firm called Ethiopian Mining Company is also engaged in gold mining in the northern Tigray State.

ASCOM has recently found gold reserve in Benishangul Gumuz regional state, southwest of Ethiopia.

"Nearly $194 million of the revenue was secured from mining companies while the rest from small-scale enterprises engaged in traditional mining," Bacha Fuji, communication director with the Mines Ministry, told AA.

Bacha said in addition to gold exports, Ethiopia is also exporting gemstone, tantalum and opal to different countries.

"The country is working to export more minerals and earn increased foreign currency during the current budget year,” Bacha said.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/142600/ethiopia-earns-456-million-from-gold-exports.

Turkey calls on UN to intervene against Israel

12 July 2014 Saturday

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the international community to intervene immediately to help stop Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

Erdogan said in a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, that the ceasefire agreement signed between Israel and Palestine in 2012 should be reinstated, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry officials.

He said that the Israeli government needed to understand that national security could only be ensured through a fair and comprehensive peace.

Following the conversation, Erdogan also had a phone conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, during which the two leaders agreed that the Israeli offensive must end.

Erdogan and Rouhani both stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire and provision of humanitarian aid to the Gazans.

'Revenge attack'

The two leaders also agreed that the foreign ministers of both countries would stay in close contact in order to take the initiative in helping halt the attacks and provide humanitarian aid.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 121 Palestinians have been killed and 904 injured since Israel's operation began on Tuesday, following a rise in tensions after three Israeli teenagers were found murdered last month and a Palestinian teenager was killed days later in a suspected revenge attack.

Israeli jets have carried out air attacks while Hamas has reportedly fired rockets into Tel Aviv and as far north as Haifa, 130km away from Gaza.

There have been no reports of Israeli fatalities.

"It is unacceptable for citizens on both sides to permanently live in fear of the next aerial attack," Ban said in an emergency UN Security Council session convened pm Thursday amid fears of a ground invasion by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Embattled enclave

Ban warned of the risk of "an all-out escalation" of conflict in Gaza amid Israel's four-day-old offensive and called for a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians, adding that the threat of an Israeli ground offensive was "palpable", and an escalation was "preventable only if Hamas stops rocket firing (rockets)."

Israeli warplanes have pounded the Gaza Strip over the past four days as part of a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the embattled coastal enclave.

Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire short-range rockets into Israel – without causing any fatalities – in response.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry claimed on Thursday that at least 681 rockets had been fired at Israel from Gaza since 7 June.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/140533/turkey-calls-on-un-to-intervene-against-israel.

Ex-OIC chief launches election campaign in Turkey

July 10, 2014

ISTANBUL (AP) — The former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation kicked off his campaign to become president of Turkey Thursday, highlighting his credentials as a champion of the Palestinian cause and promising to be a uniting force.

Launching his campaign in Istanbul, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu — considered the underdog in the August elections where he will face Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — emphasized the strides he made toward Palestinian reconciliation and their international recognition during his nine-year tenure at the OIC. He promised to be a uniting force, in contrast to Erdogan's often divisive and confrontational style.

Erdogan this week accused Ihsanoglu of advocating "neutrality" and not siding with the Palestinians. "How can one say that I did not serve the Palestinian cause?" Ihsanoglu said during the campaign launch, adding that he was the "first and only Turk" to be decorated by the Palestinians.

Ihsanoglu, a soft-spoken academic and diplomat, was nominated by Turkey's two main opposition parties. Three smaller parties have also endorsed his candidacy. It is the first time a Turkish president is being elected directly by the people rather than by parliament.

Turkish lawmakers on Thursday, meanwhile, voted 237-37 in favor of legislation to push forward troubled peace efforts with the Kurdish rebels, which could help Erdogan win Kurdish votes in the two-round elections on Aug. 10 and 24.

The bill, which needs to be ratified by current President Abdullah Gul, allows the government to take steps it deems necessary to advance the talks, including granting amnesty to Kurdish fighters who lay down arms. Officials involved in talks with the rebel group would be immune from prosecution.

Turkey began talking to the rebels in 2012 in a bid to end the bitter conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

Turkey FM to visit Uzbekistan for first time in 13 years

2014-07-08

ANKARA - Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday he would visit the Central Asian state of Uzbekistan this week, the first such trip by the top Turkish diplomat in 13 years amid efforts to improve troubled relations.

"Uzbekistan is a friendly and brotherly country at the heart of Central Asia," Davutoglu, who will begin his visit on Thursday, told reporters in Ankara.

Turkey was the first country to recognize in 1991 the independence of Uzbekistan, a fellow overwhelmingly Turkic-speaking nation and the most populous state in ex-Soviet Central Asia.

But relations with Uzbekistan took a nosedive in 2005, when Uzbek troops killed hundreds of demonstrators in the town of Andijan, provoking an international outcry.

Turkey had backed a UN resolution condemning Uzbekistan over human rights violations in Andijan, provoking the ire of strongman Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

Uzbekistan has since snubbed a number of regional summits hosted by Ankara in recent years.

Davutoglu said the two sides had demonstrated political will to overcome the "stagnation" in bilateral ties in recent years, hoping that the trip would invigorate dialogue channels and give a boost to relations.

The minister is also due to visit the ancient cities of Samarkand and Bukhara as well as the capital Tashkent.

Ankara has sought to expend its influence across Central Asia in recent years and the region has proved to be a key market for Turkish companies.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67007.