Turkish navy to help enforce Libya embargo

Ankara offers ships and submarine to help enforce arms embargo on Libya as talks over NATO's role in Libya continue.

23 Mar 2011

Turkey has offered four frigates, a submarine and a support ship to help NATO enforce a UN arms embargo on Libya, the military alliance has said.

Brigadier Pierre St Amand, a NATO military officer, said the alliance had so far received offers of 16 ships from a number of countries to implement the mission.

He said the ships included: a command-and-control ship from Italy; 10 frigates, including four from Turkey and one each from Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, Canada and the US; submarines from Spain, Italy and Turkey; and auxiliary ships from Italy and Turkey.

St Amand said the NATO mission was authorized to use armed force to enforce the embargo.

Turkey, a NATO member, has said the air campaign over Libya led by France, the US and Britain has already gone beyond the scope of last week's UN Security Council resolution to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians.

In a speech to his ruling AK Party on Tuesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country's prime minister, said Turkey "will never point a gun at the Libyan people" and would explain its position to NATO allies.

The BBC reported on Wednesday that Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, had cautioned the international coalition not to follow any hidden agenda over its operations in Libya.

Gul said it was "obvious" that some coalition countries saw the conflict as an opportunity for themselves.

The NATO mission will have the means to intercept and board suspicious ships, and the authority to fire a warning shot across the bow, a NATO official said on condition of anonymity.

"If after inspection, doubts remain as to the legitimacy of the cargo, the vessel will be diverted to a designated port for further inspection," St Amand said.

The operation was officially launched late on Tuesday after envoys of the 28-nation alliance gave the green light.

UK summit

William Hague, the UK foreign minister, said on Wednesday that Britain would host an international conference in London next Tuesday to discuss progress on the Libyan intervention.

"At the conference we will discuss the situation in Libya with our allies and partners and take stock of the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973," Hague said in a statement.

"We will consider the humanitarian needs of the Libyan people and identify ways to support the people of Libya in their aspirations for a better future."

Hague said a "wide and inclusive range of countries" would be invited, particularly from the region.

"It is critical that the international community continues to take united and coordinated action in response to the unfolding crisis," he said.

"The meeting will form a contact group of nations to take forward this work."

Earlier French officials said the meeting would be at foreign minister level and would include the African Union, the Arab League and the associated European countries.

'Technical role'

Meanwhile, NATO ambassadors held a third day of talks in Brussels to decide on the extent of NATO involvement in the UN-mandated mission.

The envoys are trying to reach agreement on who should lead military operations against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, with France saying NATO will have only a "technical role".

The US, Britain and France agreed on Tuesday that the alliance should play a key operational role, but the agreement of all 28 NATO states is needed and they have been split over whether it should also exercise political control.

There was no immediate word on whether Ankara would accept a compromise at the meeting.

France, which launched the air campaign against Libya with Britain and the US on Saturday, argues that having a US-led NATO in charge would erode Arab support because of the alliance's unpopularity in the Arab world.

Qatar has sent four warplanes, the United Arab Emirates has offered support, and David Cameron, the British prime minister, said Kuwait and Jordan had agreed to make logistical contributions to protect civilians in Libya.

France wants to create an ad hoc steering group of member states of the coalition, including the Arab League, to exercise political control.

Laurence Lee, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Brussels, said the US, the French and the British had come to "some sort of accommodation with each other" but that there was still no final agreement.

Lee said: "On one level, the Americans, the British, have their way ... that NATO would run the military aspect of things and in turn the French would have their way, the Nato political command wouldn't be in charge and instead the plan says there would be a different sort of umbrella grouping.

"[This] would take in not just foreign ministers from Western NATO countries but foreign ministers from countries, for example, like Qatar or the Arab League ... to demonstrate a much bigger political umbrella and give a nod to the fact that NATO is acutely aware that this could be inflammatory to Muslim and Arab sensibilities."

One possible model would be the structure of the NATO-led International Peace Assistance Force in Afghanistan, in which non-NATO participating nations get a seat in the political steering group, diplomats said.

"For reasons of efficiency, we want a single command structure to run the coalition action, and NATO has such capabilities, so we must use its resources," Francois Baroin, a French government spokesman, said after a cabinet meeting in Paris.

"We are working to ensure that the coalition continues to retain the political leadership," Baroin said. "Talks with our allies are being finalised. It''s not quite nailed down yet."

Overnight movement

The US, Britain, Italy and Norway all want to put NATO in charge.

Turkey has said the alliance's role should be governed by several conditions, including an end to the military campaign as soon as possible.

NATO diplomats said there was a constructive mood going into Wednesday's meeting, but it was unclear if there would be an agreement.

A European diplomat said there appeared to be have been a shift in the French position following consultations between Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Barack Obama, the US president, overnight that could make a political deal possible.

"The line we now have is that NATO should have a key role in the command structure ... that's a little bit short of the lead role, but different from where France was a couple of days ago," the diplomat said.

Key to finding a deal would be to agree a mechanism which would allow for Arab involvement in the political leadership of the mission, the diplomat said.

Obama, under domestic pressure to limit US involvement, said on Tuesday he had "absolutely no doubt" a deal would be reached soon.

The question of who takes over leadership of the Libya mission is crucial for Obama, who has stressed limited US involvement to both voters and politicians worried about US forces becoming bogged down in another Muslim country while still occupied in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/03/2011323142534477747.html.

Syria protesters torch buildings

One person killed as demonstrations in the southern city of Daraa continue for a third straight day.

20 Mar 2011

Crowds have set fire to the courthouse and other buildings on a third straight day of demonstrations in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.

Residents said one person was killed and scores injured when security forces used live rounds against protesters. Witnesses said dozens were also taken to be treated for tear gas inhalation at the main Omari mosque.

Thousands took to the streets on Sunday, calling for an end to corruption and 48 years of emergency law and to protest the killing of five civilians in a similar demonstration two days earlier.

The headquarters of the ruling Baath party was set ablaze as well as two phone company branches. One of the firms, Syriatel, is owned by President Bashar al-Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf, who is under specific US sanctions for what Washington regards as public corruption.

"They burned the symbols of oppression and corruption," an activist said. "The banks nearby were not touched."

An AFP correspondent said protesters also tried to march on the home of the town's governor, but security forces used warning shots and tear gas to stop them.

"No. No to emergency law. We are a people infatuated with freedom," marchers chanted as a government delegation arrived in the city to offer their condolences for victims killed on Friday.

Syrian authorities have announced that they would establish a commission to investigate the deaths.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said the government was trying to contain the unrest, to prevent it from spreading to other parts of Syria.

"They've made very clear indications that they're going to sack and dismiss local security officials who are responsible for those killings, and the governor of Daraa," she said.

Children detained

Friday's protest was fueled by the arrest of 15 schoolchildren detained for writing pro-democracy graffiti inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

The children were arrested in Daraa earlier this month after graffiti appeared on school walls and on grain silos with phrases such as "the people want the overthrow of the regime".

The government said in a statement on Sunday that the children would be released immediately.

Daraa is primarily an agricultural community, and the economy has been hurt by falling water levels in recent years. The region also houses thousands of people who left their homes in eastern Syria because of an ongoing water crisis.

A silent protest in Damascus by 150 people this week demanded the release of thousands of political prisoners. At least one activist from Daraa, Diana al-Jawabra, took part in the protest. She was arrested on charges of weakening national morale, along with 32 other protesters, a lawyer said.

Jawabra was campaigning for the release of the 15 schoolchildren from her home city. Another prominent woman from Daraa, physician Aisha Aba Zeid, was arrested three weeks ago for posting a political opinion on the internet.

Residents say the arrest of the two women deepened feelings of repression and helped fuel the protests in Daraa, close to the border with Jordan.

Smaller demonstrations have also been held in the central city of Homs, and the coastal city of Banias.

The non-violent protests started last Tuesday after calls on Facebook demanding greater freedom in the country, which has been under emergency law since 1963.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011320113138901721.html.

Spain exhibits historical Islamic art

Mon Apr 4, 2011

The Spanish capital of Madrid is hosting an exhibition of a wide range of artistic Islamic works from various historical time periods.

“Over the centuries Islam has embraced many civilizations and is by nature pluralistic. This collection aims to exhibit objects from every region and period, created from every kind of material in the Muslim world,” collection coordinator Mireya Gubarn told Press TV.

The exhibit titled “The World of Islam” was organized by Caixa forum and presents a set of 190 objects made from wood, stone, gold, bronze, ivory, glass, ceramics, fabric, parchment and paper created throughout the past 1,400 years.

The display has been divided into three large sections, with the central unit focusing on “The Qu'ranic Faith”. The other two sections emphasize on Islamic courts and are dubbed “Cordoba to Damascus”, and “Baghdad to Delhi.”

“The exhibition's goal is to reveal the splendor of Muslim culture and its full variety, bringing out the pluralism of Islam, and the variety of styles, materials, and techniques involved in the making of these works,” said exhibition director Concha Gomez.

Many of the art works displayed have inscriptions of the Qur'an. Holy Qur'ans from the 9th and 10th centuries written in gold originating from North Africa, along with a 19th century Indonesian Quran were also among the artistic works exhibited.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173023.html.

Iranian ship rescued from pirate attack

Tue Apr 5, 2011

Dutch marines have rescued the crew of an Iranian fishing ship from pirates in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of the African nation of Somalia.

Marines from the frigate HMS Tromp killed two suspected Somali pirates and captured 16 others on Sunday during an operation to free the hijacked Iranian vessel, a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported Tuesday.

The pirates had earlier opened fire on Dutch marines as they came to the assistance of the Iranian ship seized by armed people.

On Monday, Iranian Navy warships foiled a pirate attack on 300,000-ton Najm oil tanker, which was en route from Iran's southern island of Khark to the Egyptian port city of Ein al-Sakhna.

Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made these waters among the most dangerous in the world.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas.

However, attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.

Somalia has been in strife for the past three decades. Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, it has been embroiled in a bitter civil war for years. The country does not have a functioning government and the authority of the so-called Transitional Federal Government is limited mostly to the area around the capital city Mogadishu.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173165.html.

Europe's oldest readable text found

Wed Apr 6, 2011

Researchers say they have found Europe's oldest readable text in an ancient refuse pit near the hilltop village of Iklaina in southern Greece.

The sun-dried tablet was found by the Athens Archaeological Society in the western Peloponnese peninsula and is said to be more than 3,000 years old.

Partly funded by the National Geographic Society, the project began in 2006 and led to the discovery of the tablet which experts say has survived purely by accident when the refuse pit was set on fire and baked the clay.

According to US-based researcher Michael Cosmopoulos, the tablet is a financial record from a long-lost Mycenaean town and is about a century older than the ones discovered before.

"On one side it has a list of names and numbers, on the other a verb relating to manufacture,” the University of Missouri-St Louis archaeology professor told AFP.

"It is the oldest tablet from a stratified deposit from the Greek mainland, and consequently from Europe," Cosmopoulos added.

The inscription is in Linear B, a form of writing that dates back to Mycenaeans, a Bronze Age culture that waged the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad and dominated much of Greece from 1600 BCE.

"The existence of the tablet at Iklaina suggests that bureaucracy and literacy were more widespread and more ancient than we had previously thought," Cosmopoulos went on to say.

"Until now, tablets had been known only from a handful of major palaces -- Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes."

The tablet will be presented at the University of Austin, Texas, by Mycenaean script expert Cynthia Shelmerdine, who first deciphered it, Cosmopoulos announced.

The excavation project has also yielded the ruins of a large building complex with massive terrace walls, frescoes and an advanced drainage system, which archeologists say might have been an early Mycenaean palace and town from 1550-1400 BCE.

According to Cosmopoulos, the site was apparently destroyed around 1,400 BCE and conquered by the neighboring kingdom of Pylos.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173351.html.

Dozens arrested in Syria's protests

Sat Apr 2, 2011

Syrian security forces have arrested dozens of people just one day after another series of violent demonstrations in the country.

Raids have been carried out in the towns of Dara'a, Douma and Homs. Several people were reportedly killed during protests in those towns on Friday.

Authorities denied allegations that security forces were responsible for the deaths and they blame the violence on armed groups.

The protests came a day after President Bashar al-Assad promised reforms that was the main demand of the protesters.

Syrian officials have condemned what they call attempts by various Western-backed groups to divide the Syrian nation.

Meanwhile, Qatar has hailed Syria's efforts to maintain security and stability. A presidential statement said Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has sent a letter saying he fully backs Damascus move to foil foreign plots.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172792.html.

NATO to lead Libya war: Turkey

Thu Mar 24, 2011

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says NATO will take command of the military operation against Libya, after days of debate with the US, Britain and France.

"Our demands have been met on Libya, the operation will be handed over to NATO," the Associated Press quoted Davutoglu as saying on Thursday after meeting his US, French and British counterparts in Ankara.

"The coalition formed after a meeting in Paris is going to give up its mission as soon as possible and hand over the entire operation to NATO with its single command structure," Davutoglu stated.

Prior to the meeting, the marathon talks among NATO countries to end the gridlock over who should take overall command of operations in Libya collapsed on Wednesday when Turkey raised strong reservations about the scope and humanitarian risks of the mission in conflict-torn country.

Turkey brought to the fore the possibility of civilian casualties if the 28-member alliance takes full charge of military operations or take the lead in enforcing a UN-authorized no-fly zone over Libya as the Western coalition continues to bombard pro-Gaddafi forces in several cities.

France emphasized on formation of a committee of coalition countries, including Arab League member states to exercise political control.

Italy had also hinted it would not allow the Western forces to continue using its airfields unless NATO was given the leadership role in the military operations in Libya.

Earlier on Thursday, members of the Turkish parliament agreed on a motion to dispatch naval forces to Libya to help NATO enforce a UN-mandated arms embargo against the North African country.

The US-led military operations in Libya have set off a frenzy of speculations about the real motive behind the move in the oil-rich country, with many analysts saying that under the guise of protecting civilians, as enshrined in the UN Security Council resolution 1973, which permitted the use of force against the Libyan regime, Washington and its Western allies are basically after the North African country's vast oil reserves.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171525.html.