Turkey calls on EU to issue visa-free

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Egemen Bağış. AA photo

Turkey officially called on the European Union to issue visa-free travel rights to Turkish citizens, in line with a number of European courts’ verdicts and bilateral agreements between Turkey and the EU.

EU Minister Egemen Bağış has sent letters to Stefan Füle, the EU’s commissioner responsible for enlargement, Cecilia Malström, the EU’s commissioner responsible for internal affairs, Martin Schulz, the head of the European Parliament and Villy Sonvdal, Denmark’s Foreign Minister and the EU’s current term president, his office said in a statement Monday.

The letter reflects Turkish disappointment with the EU not paving the way for visa-free travel of Turkish citizens, despite the country having met the required criteria. A key meeting will be held on April 26 where Turkish and European officials will again discuss the matter.

“The current Schengen visa regime against Turkish citizens constitutes an obstacle to the strengthening of relations between Turkish people and the peoples of the EU, as it prevents people-to-people contact, which is indispensable for the EU accession process,” read Bağış’s statement. Suggesting that Turkey’s economic achievement in the last decade made the current visa regime redundant, Bağış said that EU countries, which are going through an economic crisis would benefit from the commercial, cultural, educational and touristic visits of Turkish citizens, which would be further enabled by the lifting of the visa requirement.

Meanwhile, British Minister of State for Universities and Science David Willets said they will introduce two programs which will enable Turkish academicians and students to get visa more quickly after meeting witt Industry Minister Nihat Ergün.

Pull troops first, Russia tells Syria

Russia criticizes an Istanbul meeting on Syria for being one-sided and for not contributing to peace, but calls on the regime to pull its troops first

The Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov docked in the Syrian port of Tartus, along the Mediterranean Sea, in this photo provided by Syrian state news agency SANA on on Jan 8. AFP photo

Russia has criticized the “Friends of the Syrian People” meeting in Istanbul for being one-sided and contradicting the objective of reaching a peaceful settlement, but urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to “take steps first and pull troops from city streets.”

“The Syrian government must take the first step and start the troop withdrawal in line with Kofi Annan’s plan,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a briefing in Yerevan. Lavrov added, however, that the opposition needs to reciprocate quickly.

Russian destroyer heads for Syria port: report

Lavrov’s statements come as a Russian navy destroyer will dock at the Syrian port of Tartus in the coming days after setting out on a planned mission to the region, military officials said yesterday. The Smetlivy guided-missile destroyer will arrive shortly at the Russian-leased port in Syria, state news agency Interfax said. The ship will conduct planned exercises near Syria’s coast, navy officials said. In Yerevan, Lavrov said only the U.N. Security Council on which Russia wields a veto power could put any time restrictions on al-Assad’s compliance with the six-point initiative. “Annan has a Security Council mandate and it is up to the U.N. Security Council to decide who is complying with this plan and how,” he said.

In the meantime, NATO’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday the alliance was opposed to providing arms to the Syrian opposition, warning it would fuel a proliferation of weapons in the region. On the ground, a blast ripped through central Damascus near a hotel and a police station yesterday, injuring at least four people and damaging shops, official Syrian television al-Ikhbariya said. Also activists said Syrian troops killed at least three civilians and wounded many as they pounded rebel strongholds in the restive north.

‘One-sided meeting’

Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry had issued a statement saying the “Friends of the Syrian People” meeting contradicted the objective of reaching a peaceful settlement by openly siding with the opposition. “The promises and intentions to deliver direct military and logistical support to the armed ... opposition that were voiced in Istanbul unquestionably contradict the goals of a peaceful settlement … in Syria,” the statement said. The ministry blamed the Istanbul meeting for recognizing the Syrian National Council (SNC) as a “legitimate representative” of all Syrians. “Unfortunately, the meeting in Istanbul was as one-sided,” it said.

Earth Hour will be watched over from space as the lights go out

The event will have live commentary from space as landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Opera House switch off their lights

Europe (France on left and Spain on right) seen at night onboard the ISS. For the first time, Earth Hour will extend to the International Space Station. Photograph: ISS/ESA/NASA

Earth Hour, the environmentally symbolic annual switch-off of lights for one hour this Saturday night, is to extend into space this year, with the International Space Station taking part for the first time. A post-Gadafi Libya will also be a newcomer to the event.

The Dutch astronaut André Kuipers, who this week oversaw the trickier task of receiving supplies from one of Europe's unmanned spacecraft, will share photos of Earth and live commentary as landmarks from the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Opera House switch off their lights. WWF, the event's organizers, say this year will see record participation, with 5,411 cities and towns, and 147 countries taking part, up from 5,251 and 135 in 2011.

Organisations including the International Trade Union Confederation and World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have asked their members to take part, and Unesco has asked World Heritage sites to take part – the Acropolis in Athens, churchs and convents of Goa and Angkor in Cambodia are among those going dark. In the UK, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and Big Ben will all switch off their lights. Green MEPs said that for Earth Hour they were pledging to fight for measures to cut energy use in Europe. This year, Libya will take part as Mohammad Nattah, 19, has decided to organised Earth Hour in Tripoli.

Launched in 2007 only in Sydney, initially as an energy-saving measure, the hour has spread internationally and become a symbolic event to encourage environmental action and awareness. It is a rolling hour at 8.30-9.30pm across the world on 31 March. Despite the event's high profile, it has also drawn criticism, including from green campaigners. George Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach Information Network, has previously written in the Guardian that it sends out the wrong message. "Asking people to sit in the dark plays very well to a widely held prejudice that "the greens" want us all to go back to living in caves," he said.

Andy Ridley, Earth Hour co-founder and executive director, said: "Each and every one us play an important role in making a difference to the world we live in. As the lights go off around globe tomorrow, celebrate your commitment to the planet and inspire those around you to take action."

The Office of National Statistics released data to mark Earth hour this week, showing that while Britons are using less energy they are paying more for it. Energy consumption has fallen in volume terms by 11.3% since the first Earth Hour in 2007, but household spending on it has increased 11.3% in the same period from £28.8bn to £35.6bn.

Over fourth-fifths of the price rises in UK energy bills between 2004 and 2010 was because of the rising cost of gas on international markets, an analysis by the government's climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, found last year.

Syria warned by Hillary Clinton to implement Kofi Annan peace plan

US signals it is losing patience with Damascus at meeting in Istanbul, while confusion lingers over international response

Hillary Clinton speaks at the conference of foreign ministers, in Istanbul. Photograph: AP

Bashar al-Assad has been warned to implement a UN-backed peace plan to end more than a year of violence in Syria, amid growing scepticism at the lack of international resolve to tackle the bloodiest crisis of the Arab spring.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, issued the threat at a conference of the Friends of the Syrian people in Istanbul on Sunday, but there was little evidence of coherent international action if he does not comply.

Syria announced last week that it had accepted a six-point plan being promoted by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, though Assad then demanded that the "armed terrorist groups" he says are supported by an Arab-western "conspiracy" disarm first. According to the UN, 9,000 people have been killed in Syria over the last year.

"Nearly a week has gone by, and we have

to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises," Clinton told the representatives of 83 countries as pro-Assad protesters demonstrated outside the conference venue. "The world must judge Assad by what he does, not by what he says. And we cannot sit back and wait any longer."

Russia and China, traditional allies of Assad, stayed away from the meeting, while Syrian officials and media scorned it. Opposition activists, under pressure to close ranks, appeared less divided than before, but many dismissed the event as a display of impotence or even as an April Fool's Day Joke.

Annan's six-point plan calls for a ceasefire, military withdrawals from towns, prisoner releases, humanitarian and media access and above all a "Syrian-led" political process to negotiate transition to a new government.

On Saturday, the Damascus regime claimed victory over its enemies, declaring an end to the 13-month uprising and th

e start of a new stage of "stabilisation".

But the repeated calls in Istanbul to adopt the Annan plan sounded half-hearted. Annan, who is due to brief the UN security council on Monday, did not even attend. Diplomats suggested he would have to set a deadline for implementation. And the signs are that several countries are already prepa

ring for the failure of the initiative.

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayip Erdogan, said Syrians had the right to defend themselves if the UN was unable to resolve the crisis. William Hague, Britain's foreign secretary, described the situation in Syria as dire and warned that calls to arm the opposition would increase if there was no progress. Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it was a duty to do so – in the face of warnings from the US and others that that would make a bad situati

on worse.

"We're working on co-ordinating our sanctions together and sending a clear message that there isn't an unlimited period of time for this, for the Kofi Annan process to work before many of the nations here want us to go back to the UN security council," Hague told the BBC.

But even a return to the security council would not guarantee a change of attitude by Russia and China.

Practical steps to emerge from Istanbul included channeling Gulf cash to the Syrian National Council to pay the fighters of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the opposition. Payments would also be made to those who dared to defect from the Assad regime, whose senior

ranks have so far remained solid.

Divisions in the opposition were less obvious than during the last Friends of Syria meeting in Tunis, but there was a yawning gap between rhetoric and reality. "We demand serious action," urged Burham Ghalioun, chairman of the SNC. "The Syrian regime will inevitably fall. Don't prolong the catastrophe." But there was no response to his call for the creation of "humanitarian corridors" to channel aid into the country because it smacks of the military intervention few outsiders are prepared to risk.

Building the Syrian State, an opposition group, said it rejected "absolutely" any decision that would fuel the conflict, including arming the rebels. Other opposition supporters reacted with open de

rision to a conference they believed would do nothing to advance the anti-Assad cause. "#TakeAssadOut & spare us your useless meetings," tweeted one activist.

In one practical step, the conference announced the creation of a Syria accountability centre to document human rights abuses and prepare future prosecutions by international or post-Assad Syrian courts. The UK has taken the lead in this area, seeking to learn lessons from conflicts elsewhere.

Underlining scepticism about the prospect for slow-moving diplomacy by an international community wracked by deep divisions, violence on the ground continued unabated. Activists reported 43 killed on Saturday.

On Sunday, clashes were reported near Syria's borders with Jordan and Iraq. Five rebels, four soldiers and a civilian were killed in clashes in the Deir al-Zor area, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Defectors also attacked an army convoy in Idlib province, killing at least four soldiers and wounding 11. Another 21 civilians, rebels and soldiers died elsewhere, including in Deraa and Homs.

Istanbul to host crucial Iran summit

The new round of Iran nuclear talks will be held in Istanbul on April 13, says US Secretary of State Clinton. The US wants concrete results from the talks

Iran’s Ahmadinejad is seen visiting the Natanz nuclear facility in this file photo. REUTERS Photo.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conferred with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about his nuclear discussions with Iran, a day after she declared that nuclear talks between Iran and world powers will take place in Istanbul on April 13.

Erdoğan recently went to Iran on a two-day state visit and held a series of discussions with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Ayatollah Khamanei on its disputed nuclear program. Erdoğan was expected to give Clinton his take on where Iran stands, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity ahead of the meeting.

“Our policy is one of prevention, not containment. We are determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Clinton told a press conference in the Saudi capital after talks with her Gulf Arab counterparts, confirming the venue for the talks will be Istanbul, as Iran prefers. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced the date on March 28. He said at the time that Iran considered Istanbul -- the location of the previous round of talks, which collapsed in January 2011 -- the “best place,” but that other options were still being discussed.

Clinton: Time running out for diplomacy with Iran

Iran’s “window of opportunity” for a peaceful resolution “will not remain open forever,” Clinton said. “It is incumbent upon Iran to demonstrate by its actions that it is a willing partner and to participate in these negotiations with an effort to obtain concrete results.”

U.S. President Barack Obama has made it clear that there is still time for diplomacy to work, “Provided Iran comes to the talks prepared for serious negotiations,” Clinton said. Her remarks followed Obama’s announcement on March 30 that the U.S. was moving ahead with penalties aimed at depriving Iran of oil revenue, while also working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states to ensure ample global petroleum supplies. Clinton prodded Gulf governments to develop a coordinated defense strategy against Iranian missiles.

Erdoğan also warned of serious consequences of a possible military strike on Iran. The outcome of an Israeli air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be “disastrous,” Erdoğan told journalists March 31. “The entire region would be devastated if Israel strikes Iran,” Erdoğan said, adding that he shares this view with Obama, Hürriyet reported. A regional conflict triggered by a possible Israeli strike “would not end up like the war between the U.S. and Iraq. Israel should not attack Iran,” he said.

Erdoğan said Israel was engaging in “disaster-mongering,” with its constant threats of a possible strike against Iran. “Israel has between 250 to 300 nuclear warheads. No one is discussing that. Iran says it will not produce nuclear weapons. They are saying that they will produce a specific amount of enriched uranium rods and stop after that,” Erdoğan said. After his meetings in Tehran, Erdoğan expressed his belief that worries about Iran’s nuclear program can be overcome by diplomacy, in a televised speech.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said March 31, “Whether it is Iran’s nuclear program or the turmoil in Syria, U.S.-Turkish relations are always based on partnership not on coercion.” Ricciardone also said the U.S. and Turkey have “a respected and an effective partnership” in tackling global and regional challenges.

Compiled from AP, AFP and AA stories by the Daily News staff.

Azerbaijan granted Israel access to air bases on Iran border'

Foreign Policy quotes U.S. diplomats as saying that 'Israel is deeply embedded in Azerbaijan' and says intelligence officials worried that Israel's military involvement in Azerbaijan would complicate efforts to reduce Israeli-Iranian tensions.

Israel has been granted access to air bases in Azerbaijan on Iran's northern border, Foreign Policy reported Wednesday, quoting senior U.S. diplomats and military intelligence officials.

"The Israelis have bought an airfield," a senior U.S. administration official told Foreign Policy's Mark Perry, "and the airfield is called Azerbaijan."

	Israeli F-16I fighter jets

According to the report, U.S. intelligence officials are worried that Israel's military involvement in Azerbaijan would make it more difficult for the U.S. to reduce Israeli-Iranian tensions. Apparently now, military planners must prepare for a war scenario that would also involve the Caucasus.

"We're watching what Iran does closely," said a U.S. intelligence officer involved in assessing the consequences of a potential Israeli strike on Iran. "But we're now watching what Israel is doing in Azerbaijan. And we're not happy about it."

In February, Israel signed a $1.6 billion arms deal with Azerbaijan, committing to sell drones and anti-aircraft missile defense systems to Baku. According to a retired U.S. diplomat, the deal left Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "sputtering in rage," since Israel had previously canceled a contract to develop drones with the Turkish military.

The report said that the Azeri military has four abandoned, Soviet-era airfields that could be available to Israel and four air bases for their own aircraft, quoting the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Military Balance 2011.

U.S. officials told Foreign Policy that they believe Israel has been granted access to these air bases through a "series of quiet political and military understandings."

"I doubt that there's actually anything in writing," said a former U.S. diplomat who spent his career in the region. "But I don't think there's any doubt - if Israeli jets want to land in Azerbaijan after an attack, they'd probably be allowed to do so. Israel is deeply embedded in Azerbaijan, and has been for the last two decades."

The report states that Israel's embassy in Washington, the IDF, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet were all asked to comment on the story but failed to respond. Also, the Azeri embassy to the U.S. did not respond when asked about Azerbaijan's security agreements with Israel.

Earlier this month, Azerbaijan authorities arrested 22 people suspected of plotting to attack the Israeli and American embassies in the capital Baku. Iran's Revolutionary Guards was reportedly behind the plan to attack Israeli and U.S. targets in the country, according to Azerbaijan's national security ministry.

Brotherhood eyes presidency

Reversing its earlier decision not to choose a candidate for president, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood nominates its strategist and financier, Khayrat el-Shater, for the post in a move likely to upset liberals and military

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood says it decided to field the movement’s deputy leader and top strategist as its presidential candidate, el-Shater (L), fuelling the fears of liberals and deepening the crisis with the army. AP photo

The Muslim Brotherhood named its chief strategist and financier as a candidate for president on March 31 in a surprising reversal of earlier pledges to stay out of the race, setting the group on a collision course with Egypt’s military rulers.

The brotherhood already controls about half of the seats in Parliament and had been concerned that contesting the presidency would bring a backlash from liberals and Western countries fearful of an Islamist takeover. But in a dramatic shift that amounted to a political bombshell in Egypt, the brotherhood nominated deputy leader Khayrat el-Shater. The multimillionaire businessman, 61, has played a key role in guiding the group through the tumultuous transition since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

Because of the brotherhood’s success in the parliamentary vote and the reach of its grassroots political organization, the candidate it nominates or backs will be considered the frontrunner in the race for the May 23-24 vote. And if el-Shater wins, the brotherhood would completely dominate the political arena and could push for changes such as stricter adherence to Islamic law. A Muslim Brotherhood government could also result in rockier relations with Israel and the United States.

‘No desire of monopoly’

The decision will likely antagonize the ruling generals, who are worried about shielding their significant business interests and other privileges from civilian oversight and are wary of too much power concentrated in the hands of a single group. “We don’t want to reach a confrontation that affects the path of the nation and we do not have the desire to monopolize power,” Mohammed Morsi, the top leader of the brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The FJP has been pressuring the military to sack the Cabinet – which it accuses of stalling the revolution – and to appoint an FJP-led government. Mahmoud Hussein, the group’s deputy leader, said the decision to run a candidate was made in the face of “attempts to abort the revolution.” The decision will also widen the gap with liberals and secularists, who fear that the brotherhood will implement a hard-line Islamist agenda once it has solidified its political position.

El-Shater joined the brotherhood in 1974. He has been jailed four times for a total of seven years on charges relating to his membership in the group, which was outlawed more than 50 years ago, the Associated Press reported.

He is seen as the group’s iron man, the one who steers talks with the military council, which orchestrates parliamentary elections and negotiates with Arab Gulf countries and the International Monetary Fund over loans.

Clinton to Iran: Show that nuclear arms not sought

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday urged Iran to back up its declaration that Islam bars weapons of mass destruction by agreeing to a plan that would prove it does not intend to develop nuclear arms.

Ahead of international talks April 13 in Istanbul on Iran's uranium enrichment program, Clinton talked strategy with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Tehran last week with other government officials

"They were told that the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) viewed weapons of mass destruction as religiously prohibited, as against Islam," Clinton said at a news conference. "We are meeting with the Iranians to discuss how to translate what is a stated belief into a plan of action," she said. "It is not an abstract belief, but a government policy. That government policy can be demonstrated in a number of ways. ... The international community now wants to see actions associated with that statement of belief."

She mentioned opening Iran's nuclear facilities to international inspectors and shipping out some of Iran's enriched uranium in exchange for fuel for its research reactor. Washington and its allies see Iran's nuclear program as designed to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says the program is for peaceful energy and research purposes.

The upcoming talks, which Clinton said would not be "an open-ended session," have taken on fresh urgency amid speculation that Israel or the U.S. could take military action later this year. Clinton has made clear that time is running out for diplomacy.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, issued a religious decree in 2005 declaring nuclear weapons as "haram" or forbidden. The U.S. and its allies discount Iran's claims. Clinton noted that the Turkish officials had "lengthy discussions" with Iranian officials. But the U.S. and Turkey, a NATO ally, haven't seen eye to eye on the Iranian threat.

Erdogan has built close economic ties with Iran and has tried to act as a go-between on the nuclear program, breaking ranks with world powers in 2010 by attempting to find a separate settlement with Tehran. The international talks have included the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Erdogan's comments upon returning from Tehran suggested further distancing from U.S. and European positions, repeating Khamenei's verdict on weapons of mass destruction. "After such a statement from such a person, I cannot claim that Iran is building a nuclear weapon," the Turkish leader said. "Does it not have the right to implement a nuclear program for peaceful means?"

Clinton gets Iran update from Turkish leader

ISTANBUL (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conferred with Turkey's prime minister about his nuclear discussions with Iran as the United States began intensively preparing for a round of negotiations between Tehran and world powers to take place within two weeks.

The meeting came a day after Clinton announced that Istanbul would host the Apr. 13 talks on Iran's uranium enrichment program, which have taken on added urgency amid speculation that Israel or the U.S. could take military action later this year. Clinton made clear Saturday that time is running out for diplomacy. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently went to Iran on a two-day state visit and held a series of discussions with leaders of the Islamic republic on its disputed nuclear program. Washington and its allies see Iran trying to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says its program is for peaceful energy and research purposes.

Erdogan will give Clinton his take on where Iran stands, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity ahead of the meeting. But Washington and its NATO ally haven't seen eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat. Erdogan has built close economic ties with Iran and has tried to act as a go-between on the disputed nuclear program, breaking ranks with world powers in 2010 by attempting to find a separate settlement with Tehran.

And Erdogan's comments upon returning from Tehran suggested further distancing from U.S. and European positions, repeating the verdict of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that weapons of mass destruction violate Islamic law.

"After such a statement from such a person, I cannot claim that Iran is building a nuclear weapon," the Turkish leader said. "Does it not have the right to implement a nuclear program for peaceful means?"

Clinton said after a security conference in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that time is running out for diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program. With speculation over a possible U.S. or Israel military attack adding urgency to the mid-April discussions, Clinton said Iran's "window of opportunity" for a peaceful resolution "will not remain open forever."

"We enter into these talks with a sober perspective about Iran's intentions. It is incumbent upon Iran to demonstrate by its actions that it is a willing partner and to participate in these negotiations with an effort to obtain concrete results," Clinton said on Saturday. Her remarks followed President Barack Obama's announcement Friday that the U.S. was moving ahead with penalties aimed at depriving Iran of oil revenue, while also working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states to ensure ample global petroleum supplies.