DAVUTOGLU: "DURING ITS 2 YEARS SERVING ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL, TURKEY HAS MADE ITS MARK"
Turkey made a lasting mark on UN efforts while serving on the UN Security Council for the last two years, said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday. Turkey `s temporary Security Council membership – its first since 1951 – concludes this month. Speaking in New York after attending a council meeting on Iraq , Davutoglu said, " Turkey `s tenure on the council, in which it assumed the highest international mission after many years, was very successful. Indeed, our council membership made its mark on UN history, and we took initiatives on countless issues." Davutoglu added that UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon and other UN officials have praised Turkey `s work. Davutoglu also announced that Istanbul will host the fourth United Nations Conferences on the Least Developed Countries next May. /Turkiye/
TURKEY SET TO BUILD `NATIONAL, ORIGINAL` FIGHTER AIRCRAFT AFTER 2020
Turkey`s top defense procurement committee decided late Wednesday that Ankara would develop and manufacture its next air-to-air fighter aircraft, either by itself or in cooperation with another country, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said. Gonul told reporters after a meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee that the Defense Industry Undersecretariat, Turkey `s procurement agency, would start talks with Turkish Aerospace Industries, the country`s main aerospace company, for a "conceptual design" of a fighter aircraft and jet trainer to be built after the year 2020. Committee members include Gonul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chief of General Staff Gen. Isýk Kosaner, and procurement chief Murad Bayar. Gonul also said Turkey has rejected an offer by the Eurofighter consortium for the sale of Typhoon fighters. "The Eurofighter is off Turkey `s plate," he said. The Eurofighter consortium, Italian government and Italian companies had recently stepped up efforts for joint development and sale to Turkey of up to 60 jets. Turkey already has selected the US-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II as one of its next-generation fighter aircraft types. It plans to buy about 100 F-35 aircraft worth nearly $15 billion. Many Turkish companies are members of the Joint Strike Fighter consortium of nine Western countries, and are producing parts for the aircraft. Turkey also will receive 30 modern F-16 Block 50 fighters from Lockheed Martin as a stopgap solution until F-35 deliveries begin around 2015. /Hurriyet Daily News/
TURKISH DIPLOMAT HONORED BY ALBANIA
Albanian President Bamir Topi yesterday honored Turkey `s former ambassador to NATO for supporting Albania `s successful bid to join the Alliance . Abassador Tacan Ildem, together with Stefano Stefanini and Thrasyvoulos Terry Stamatopoulos, Italy and Greece `s ambassadors to NATO, was decorated with Albania `s medal of honor at a ceremony in Tirana. Topi cited the importance of hearty support from Turkey , Italy and Greece in Albania joining NATO last year. Ildem, currently the Foreign Ministry`s chief of international security affairs, said he was proud to receive the medal, hailing Albania `s contributions to the alliance and to efforts to ensure peace in the region. /Turkiye/
US STATE DEPT REPORT DOCUMENTS TURKEY `S GROWING INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE
Emerging powers such as Turkey are playing a larger and more important role worldwide, according to a new US State Department report released this week. The report, "Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review: Leading Through Civilian Power," presents a blueprint for coordinating diplomacy and development so as to better protect US interests and global security. According to the report, "Emerging powers and 21st-century centers of global and regional influence, including Brazil , China , India , Indonesia , Mexico , Nigeria , Russia , South Africa , and Turkey , define today`s geopolitical landscape. As these states grow economically they are playing more important roles in their own regions and, in turn, their regions are exerting new global influence." The report says that in the years to come, this trend is expected to continue. "While we increase our engagement with emerging powers and centers of influence, we will also deepen our longstanding US alliances and partnerships – Europe, Asia, and the Middle East – which will remain vital to helping secure and advance US interests," it says. /Milliyet/
ITALY BLAMES EU FOR LACK OF PROGRESS IN TURKISH MEMBERSHIP BID
Venting frustration about the progress of beleaguered Turkish talks with the European Union, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Wednesday that "things are not going very well" with what he described as a "European and regional power." During a question and answer session at the Media Forum organized by his ministry, Frattini told a group of Turkish journalists that "bad results have been seen recently [because] we were unable to open a single chapter during the Belgian presidency [in the second half of 2010] despite the efforts of the presidency." It was the first time the EU has failed to open a single negotiating chapter with Turkey during a six-month rotating presidency of any member state since 2005. Frattini said he wants to see at least the chapter on competition policy opened in Turkey `s accession talks. "If not, then the energy chapter, which is also extremely important," he added, stressing that "European interests should be seen as equally important as Turkish interests." Membership, he said, "isn`t a gift to Turkey . It is something of common interest to both Turkey and the Europeans." Reiterating Italy `s support for Turkey `s membership talks, Frattini said, "We`re a friend of Turkey ." He rejected arguments that Turkey should be left out of the EU because it is a predominantly Muslim country. "We focus on dialogue and understanding in the Middle East ," he explained. "Many European states have doubts. They ask how it`s possible for a Muslim state to one day become a member of the EU. I have been one of the strongest proponents [of the EU staying loyal to its] Christian roots. And it is exactly because of this that I say Turkey should become a full member of the EU, provided it fulfills the Copenhagen criteria." /Today`s Zaman/
ISTANBUL MOVING TO BECOME REGIONAL INTERNET CENTER
Internet access provider Superonline – part of mobile telephone provider Turkcell – together with seven other Internet providers across the Middle East will build a fiber optic cable infrastructure 7,750 kilometers long stretching from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul , making the Turkish metropolis an Internet center. Unveiling the project, called Regional Cable Network (RCN), at an Istanbul press conference yesterday, Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv said this is the first step towards making Turkey a regional Internet hub. Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, also speaking to reporters at the event, added, "More than 90 percent of Internet access in Turkey is currently being provided by broadband. Moreover, in the last one-and-a-half years, we have also focused on mobile Internet and started to improve the mobile Internet infrastructure." Under the RCN project, the fiber optic cable will start in the UAE and go through Riyadh ( Saudi Arabia ), Amman (Jordan), and Tartus ( Syria ) before reaching Istanbul . The project will constitute the longest continental fiber optic infrastructure in the Middle East . /Today`s Zaman/
ANKARA TO HOST MEDIA FORUM OF TURKIC-SPEAKING COUNTRIES
Ankara next week will host a media forum for Turkic-speaking countries. Co-hosted on Dec. 21-22 at the Rixos Hotel by the Directorate General of Press and Information and the Foreign Ministry`s Center for Strategic Research, the forum will bring together journalists and media outlet representatives from across the Turkic world. About the forum, Murat Karakaya, the head of the Directorate General of Press and Information, said the directorate wants to make Turkey a reference hub for the press as well as forge media cooperation with neighboring countries. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to deliver a speech on the first day of the forum, which is set to address such issues as the media`s effect on democratization and globalization, the role of the media and nongovernmental organizations in improving economic, social and cultural cooperation in the Turkic world, the media`s position in the Turkic world, and the media`s role in public diplomacy. /Turkiye/