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Erdogan hypocrisy, Turkey-Israel trade ties thriving $5.6 billion in 2014

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This file photo shows a port in Turkey.

This file photo shows a port in Turkey.

New figures show Turkey has been boosting its trade ties with Israel in recent years, despite the harsh anti-Israeli rhetoric used by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) showed that the volume of mutual trade between Turkey and Israel exceeded USD 5.6 billion in 2014, showing a nearly 50-percent increase from 2009.

According to TurkStat, Turkey exported more than USD 2.9 billion worth of goods to Israel in 2014, while its imports were USD 2.7 billion during the same year.

The trade volume between Ankara and Tel Aviv stood at USD 2.6 billion in 2009. Report Presstv

The rise in bilateral trade comes as Erdogan has been harshly criticizing Israel over its brutal and repressive policies against Palestinians in Gaza.

Turkey downgraded its ties with Israel after the Tel Aviv regime killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists on a flotilla that was heading toward Gaza in 2010. Another Turkish activist later died of wounds from the attack. Ankara reacted harshly and while Israelis later apologized for the killings, the ties of the former allies remain to be normalized.

Since the 2010 flotilla incident, Turkish officials have taken a more outspoken rhetoric over Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.

Now the Turkish opposition is accusing Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of populism and hypocrisy.

Faruk Logoglu, a senior member of opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), criticized the government for pursuing a “cheap and dishonest” policy in respect to Israel and the West.

“The AK Party acts pragmatically with Israel as well as the US and the European Union,” said Logoglu.

During the 2014 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which left more than 2,140 Palestinians dead, Turkish opposition groups urged the Ankara government to reconsider trade ties with Israel to express solidarity with the Gazans, a demand ignored by Ankara.

Erbil: $1 Million a day smuggling trade between Kurdistan officials and ISIS A committee investigating

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98542Image1A masked gunman guards an ISIS checkpoint in Iraq. AP file photo.

by Saeed Sahen Mufti

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A committee investigating Kurdish officials smuggling cars, food and fuel across territories held by the Islamic State (ISIS) said that the illegal trade amounted to $1 million a day. Report Rudaw.

According to a final report by the committee on the smuggling, a number of officials from the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Peshmerga have been involved in the illegal trade.

Firsat Sofi, a KDP member of the Kurdish parliament said the identities of people arrested for involvement in the smuggling had not been disclosed by the committee.

“We asked about the identity of those detainees. Some of them were tanker drivers, senior political members and merchants. Even if we knew the names we would not reveal them since that would be illegal, since the judiciary must deal with this issue and we will see the verdicts soon.”

Fakhraddin Qadir, another Kurdish MP who is from the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) said:  “We believe that any kind of relationship with ISIS is treachery, and we will hold a meeting in the parliament concerning the smuggling cases if we are asked.”

The investigative committee includes the KRG’s interior minister and natural resources minister.

KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has warned that anyone caught smuggling with ISIS would be punished.

“Anyone caught smuggling with ISIS should be considered a traitor and the government must punish them,” he has said.

The autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq sits on a border with ISIS that is more than 1,000 kilometers long. The insurgent group blazed across Iraq’s mainly Sunni territories in June, capturing a third of the country.

According to US-based Foreign Policy magazine, ISIS has become the world’s richest terrorist group through oil smuggling, theft, human trafficking and hostage-taking.

Intelligence officials and private experts say the group has become a self sustaining financial force and is said to be earning more than $3 million from these activities.

 

Iran, Armenia Form Commission to Boost Trade

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parsqTEHRAN—Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani spoke of “bright prospects” for deepening Armenian-Iranian relations and called on Armenia to join the Islamic Republic in fighting against “terrorism” in the broader region during talks with Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian in Tehran on Monday, reports RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

In an apparent reference to Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria and Iraq, Rouhani was reported to denounce “terrorists targeting civilizations and humanity” and indiscriminately killing both Christians and Muslims.

He said, “Iran and Armenia and all regional states should join forces to fight terrorism because security in the region will become sustainable only through collective cooperation,” reported the official IRNA news agency. “Security is a non-dividable category and if a country suffers from terrorism, other countries will suffer too.”

According to IRNA, Rouhani “called for fully using the existing capacity to expand relations” between Armenia and Iran. He said there are “bright prospect” for doing that because both governments are committed to closer ties.

Senior officials from Iran and Armenia agreed on Monday to establish a high joint commission to elevate bilateral ties in a host of fields, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.

The decision to create the commission was made in a meeting between Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and visiting Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian in Tehran on Monday prior to Abrahamian’s meeting with Rouhani.

Speaking at a joint press conference with the Armenian premier, Jahangiri said the meeting has covered a range of items from economic ties to environmental issues.

He announced that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries stands at $300 million per year and expressed hope that closer cooperation could bring even higher volumes of trade.

“Given the fact that Armenia has recently joined the Eurasian Economic Union, a good opportunity will be provided for the two countries’ private sectors to trade goods and also export them to neighboring countries,” Jahangiri added, noting that Armenia will be an important route for Iran to trade with EEU member states.

Abrahamian, for his part, said Tehran and Yerevan concluded several agreements in various fields, adding that officials from the two sides will devise plans for the enhancement of economic relations through the planned joint commission.

Jahangiri also announced that Iran plans to build a hydropower plant on the Armenian side of the Arax River in order to increase Armenia’s capacity for supplying electricity to Iran in exchange for natural gas, a barter trade deal the two countries struck in 2009.

New power transmission line to be constructed between Iran and Armenia
Similarly, on Saturday, the Iranian and Armenian energy ministers agreed on the construction of a new power transmission line from Armenia to Iran in line with the two country’s efforts to boost energy ties, Tansim News Agency reported.

In an hour-long, closed-door meeting in Tehran on Saturday evening, Hamid Chitchian and his Armenian counterpart Yervand Zakharian held talks on ways to boost electricity for gas trade, based on which Iran supplies gas to Armenia and receives electricity.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chitchian said during the talks it was agreed that the third power transmission line between the two countries and two hydroelectric power plants be constructed in a bid to increase the potential for energy exchange.

He said that over the past two decades, the two countries have had good cooperation in the area of energy and the Saturday meeting was an emphasis on the continued cooperation between Iran and Armenia.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian had said that the two sides have recently held meetings with Armenian officials and, based on agreements, are constructing new power transmission lines from Armenia to Iran.

In May 2009, Iran and Armenia started trading gas and electricity. According to a contract previously signed between the two countries, Iran was set to supply gas to Armenia until 2029 with or without exchanging electricity with the country.

Falahatian also said that the amount of gas that has been exported to Armenia and the amount of electricity imported from the country did not match the agreed amounts based on the contract between the two sides.

The financial resources for the new transmission line have been supplied by Export Development Bank of Iran, he added.

Turkish PM & FM hypocrisy calling Israel Genocide of Palestinians yet Trade with Israel in full swing, hits $5 bln

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Report TODAY’S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL

188626_newsdetailTurkey’s mutual trade volume with Israel is expected to reached over $5 billion this year, the government said on Tuesday, representing a nearly 50 percent rise over 2009.

Mutual trade volume was $3.4 billion in 2009.

“We have a balanced trade with Israel … our mutual trade volume has reached $5 billion,” Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi said on Tuesday in Ankara. The minister’s statements come on the heels of opposition calls on the government to revise trade ties with Israel in response to ongoing bloodshed following Israeli air, naval and ground strikes in Gaza. Zeybekçi said much of Turkish sales to Gaza and the West Bank also go through Israeli customs.

When criticism over Turkey’s growing trade ties with Israel first surfaced two weeks ago, some government figures rushed to deny a boost in trade with Israel. Figures, however, show Turkey and Israel are enjoying a boom in mutual trade, especially after the deadly Mavi Marmara attack in 2010 which nearly brought diplomatic ties to a halt.

Figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) indicate that exports from Turkey to Israel doubled between 2004 and 2013. Common exports included iron and steel, electrical machinery, vehicles, minerals and textiles. Turkey sold goods worth a total of $2.65 billion to Israel in 2013. This was 1.7 percent of Turkey’s total $151.8 billion in exports in 2013. According to data from the Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade, imports from Israel increased by 3.5 times from 2004 to reach $2.4 billion last year.

Kurdish oil sent to Israeli port

Ankara’s alleged involvement in crude oil supply to Israel is also being scrutinized.

A report published on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Tuesday said an oil tanker, United Emblem, loaded with a $100 million in cargo set sail from Turkey’s Ceyhan port in late May. After zigzagging in the Mediterranean the tanker met another tanker, the SCF Altai, off the Malta coast. The United Emblem transferred its crude to the Altai, which eventually brought the Kurdish oil to Israel’s Ashkelon port on June 22. According to WSJ, Baghdad, which objects to third parties being involved in selling Kurdish oil on international markets, had nothing to do with the transaction after the crude reached Ashkelon because it had no diplomatic relations with Israel.

Iraq’s Kurds have prospered since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, while ruling themselves under a settlement under which all Iraqi oil was sold by the government in Baghdad, and the Kurdish region was given a fixed percentage of the total income.

A report from the Aydınlık daily entitled “Israeli planes using fuel from Tayyip to strike Gaza” was released earlier this month, alleging that Turkey had exported jet fuel to Israel. Energy Minister Taner Yıldız subsequently rejected the claim, saying that Turkey had made no such exports.
“As the Turkish Republic, we have not sold Israel any sort of oil or jet fuel. We have transit sales that are conducted with other firms and other countries; the oil that is shipped through BTC (the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline) goes to those countries,” said Yıldız.
However, recently released figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) indicate that Turkey did in fact export 124 tons of jet fuel to Israel during the month of March.

A report in the daily Taraf on Monday claimed that SOCAR, an Azerbaijani firm that owns 50 percent of the pro-government daily Star, has been selling Azerbaijani oil to Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

A recent article by energy expert Tuğce Varol Sevim claimed that nearly 30 percent of Israel’s oil needs are met via shipments sent through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

Document reveals arms purchase from Israel

Former National Defense Undersecretary Murat Bayar stated in April of 2011 that Turkey was no longer purchasing arms from Israel, and that Turkey had weapons-purchasing arrangements from several other countries but Israel was no longer among them.
However, a document sent from the Turkish Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE) to the Turkish Chamber of Shipping (DTO) dated September 3 of last year revealed that an order of more than 31,000 rounds of tank ammunition was to be sent from Israel’s Haifa port to İstanbul.
Israel Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization President General Aiveli told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz last year that weapons exports to Turkey had never completely halted.

Turkey has been known for purchasing defense systems technology from Israel, purchasing dozens of F4 modernization and radar systems from Israel costing hundreds of millions of dollars. In another purchase, Turkey bought 170 M60 tank modernization units at a cost of $680 million. In 2005, Turkey purchased 10 Heron aerial vehicles from Israel at a total cost of $183 million.

Source: TODAY’S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL