http://www.flickr.com/photos/slaterman23/4548207324/
found in LOST
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It seems like just yesterday that we were asking ourselves if the United States was Rome. In light of the financial collapse in the other great cradle of Mediterranean civilization, the New York Times’ David Leonhardt poses the inevitable follow-up question:
While I was going through some personal stuff, I missed to watch (or attend) an historical event: A commemoration of the 1915 massacres. The event page is here. This was the first in Turkey’s recent history. It was a small scale event but a giant symbolic step:
Human rights activists hold pictures of Armenian victims during a protest outside the Haydarpasa railway station in Istanbul. Thousands of Armenians have marked the 95th anniversary of mass killings under the Ottoman Empire amid fresh tensions with Turkey over the collapse of reconciliation efforts.? Read more » (AFP/Bulentkilic)
I was expecting a clash btw Sarkozy and Erdoğan but that did not happen so far… Well we still have some to observe a scene:)
Probably trade deals. Turkey-Germany relations are quite dense in fact. But I never liked Merkel who keeps pushing for privileged partnership to Turkey. Negotiations for full membership continues and Merkel still fantasizes with that. What kind of an ally her government is?
Questioning the purpose of Chancellor Angela Merkel?s visit to Ankara is not a rhetorical approach; rather it stems from the visit?s background, which brings up interesting questions.
Abdullah Gül, President of Turkey, has been voted the winner of the Chatham House Prize 2010. This annual award is presented to the statesperson deemed by members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year.
When Turkey and Armenia come closest, third country parliaments interfere. Looks like a calculated provocation….
And I am sure this will boost the sequel of Valley of the Wolves…
U.S. “genocide” resolution casts shadow over Turkey- Armenia normalization process
Newly-appointed Turkish Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan PHOTO from Hurriyet Daily News
Though with less of a majority than expected, the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday again passed a resolution recognizing the mass deportations organized by the Ottoman Committee for Union and Progrss (CUP) as genocide. By a vote of 23-22, the non-binding resolution now waits to be moved to the House floor for a vote by the entire 435-member body, though it is unclear whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will do so.
US congressional move will definitely help US favorability in Turkey (!)
Turkey recalls ambassador over US vote
FILE – In this Jan. 4, 2010 file photo, Turkey’s new Ambassador to Washington Namik Tan, right, and Turkey’s ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, left, are seen during a meeting in Ankara, Turkey. Turkey says it is recalling its ambassador to the U.S. for consultations following a resolution declaring the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I genocide. The move came minutes after the U.S. congressional panel approved the resolution Thursday. A government statement said Ambassador Namik Tan was being recalled with immediate effect.(AP Photo / Burhan Ozbilici, File)
People upset over Armenia’s warming diplomatic relations with Turkey, protest in front of the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California in 2009. Turkey warned US lawmakers Monday against passing a bill that brands World War One-era massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks “genocide,” saying ties between Washington and Ankara would suffer. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Kevork Djansezian) … Read more
What do a Turkish and a Greek Cypriot journalist do when meeting over dinner in Marrakech? Without a doubt, risking torment over the subject, they talk about the fate of the settlement talks between the two leaders of the divided island.
The recommendation adopted by the European Commission on July 15 2009 allows the citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia with biometric passports to enter the Schengen area visa-free from January 2010
Mavi Boncuk |
Pacta sunt servanda L./Ahde vefa TR /agreements must be kept ENG., is a basic principle of civil law and of international law.
( EU must explain this part to Turkey)
In its most common sense, the principle refers to private contracts, stressing that contained clauses are law between the parties, and implies that non-fulfilment of respective obligations is a breach of the pact. The general principle of correct behaviour in commercial praxis ? and implies the bona fide ? is a requirement for the efficacy of the whole system, so the eventual disorder is sometimes punished by the law of some systems even without any direct penalty incurred by any of the parties.
The EU lifted visa restrictions Saturday for citizens from Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, even though these are in the early stages of the EU membership process, while not extending this Schengen privilege to Turkey, which began accession talks in 2005 and has opened 11 out of 35 chapters in its membership negotiations. Turkey protested and has asked to be included in the Schengen regime, pointing out that, of the Balkan states affected, only Macedonia has attained the status of EU candidate. Serbia has yet to submit a formal application and its entry has been stalled due to its failure to arrest ex-Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who has been charged with war crimes in the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo.
Trust in EU drops in Turkey: Survey [ WORLD BULLETIN- TURKEY NEWS, WORLD NEWS ]
He has to be here as the conspiratorial provocations emerge.
Hürriyet comments on the body language of two leaders. Here are 19 photos to comment.
Nabi Sensoy, Turkish Ambassador to the US since 1966, reportedly resigned on Tuesday and asked to be reassigned, three months short of his retirement. No official reason has been given, but Turkish newspapers report that Ambassador Sensoy had been asked by Ankara to forward a request to the White House that the Turkish ambassador also attend the meeting between Prime Minister Erdogan and President Obama, but that Sensoy did not do so. (click here, in Turkish). OR that Sensoy had been asked by Ankara to set up the meeting to also include Ahmet Davutoglu and Hillary Clinton, that the US administration refused this format, and that Davutoglu had blamed Sensoy. (This is all unconfirmed gossip.)
As I was not too excited with his election, I am not too disappointed with Obama’s moves on Afghanistan. In fact, I remember he was repeatingly on Afghanistan instead of Iraq. Now PM Erdoğan will be meeting with President Obama. It is reported that Obama wants soldiers from Turkey. The latter does not intend to give any. I hope TR-US relations will go through another bitter period…
Hugh Pope, the International Crisis Group’s Turkey analyst — who just returned from a two-month fellowship at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington — has a new paper out ahead of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Monday visit to the White House. The paper, published by the Transatlantic Academy, takes a close look at two areas in which Washington has an interest in pushing Ankara along, its normalization process with Armenia and its European Union membership process, and also helpfully unpackages the debate over Turkey’s perceived eastward “drift.”