ARINC: "WE WILL OVERCOME LEGAL BARRIERS TO REOPENING THE HEYBELIADA GREEK SEMINARY"

The government is working to overcome legal obstacles to reopening the Halki (Heybeliada) seminary, closed since 1971, said Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc yesterday. "There are some legal obstacles," said Arinc, paying a New Year’s visit to the Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and Patriarch Bartholomew. "We will overcome them. This is not something we can grant. We need to do what the law requires us to do." Patriarch Bartholomew said Arinc’s visit had bolstered his hopes, explaining, "We expect our school to reopen. This year is the 40th anniversary of our school’s closure. We hope the government will put its good will into practice." The patriarch added that under the initiative of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, clergymen who live in other countries but who serve the patriarchate have been given Turkish citizenship. "This is a very important step for the functioning of our patriarchate," he said. "We expect Turkey to continue to be successful in the new year and to become a member of the EU soon." Arinc is the highest-ranking government official to visit the patriarchate since the 1952 visit of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. Reopening the seminary has been linked by the EU to improving democracy and human rights in Turkey. /Today’s Zaman/

DAVUTOGLU HAILS TURKISH ROLE IN 21ST CENTURY AS ’WISE COUNTRY’

Turkey should take an influential role in the 21st century by predicting crises before they happen and producing alternative solutions rather than reacting to events, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a meeting of the country’s ambassadors yesterday. "Turkey should be the front-runner on the list of wise countries in the international community," Davutoglu told the diplomats in his opening address to the weeklong meeting, saying their primary task is to carry the Turkish Republic forward into the future as a stronger, more influential country. Comparing diplomats to firefighters rushing to handle international emergencies, Davutoglu said this role would no longer suffice, as the modern era requires that crises be prevented before they break out. Emphasizing that a new era is ahead in which the international system is no longer static, Davutoglu added: "Our current role will no longer do. We must give dynamic reactions to a dynamic world." The meeting, on the theme of "Visionary Diplomacy: The Global and Regional Order from Turkey’s Perspective," is the third gathering of the country’s approximately 200 ambassadors since 2008. The second leg of the meeting will take place in the eastern Anatolian province of Erzurum, where Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will join the participants. Asked if Turkey reacted in the right way to events over the last year, Davutoglu said that it had, and that Turkey is among the top 10 countries that did the most to restructure the global order. Davutoglu also rebuffed political scientist Samuel P. Huntington’s 1993 description of Turkey – along with Russia and Mexico – as a "torn country," saying: "We are not a torn country. We are a country in a torn world trying to unite broken pieces." He also reaffirmed that Turkey’s march toward European Union membership would continue, but warned that it will not choose between the EU and Cyprus. Signaling that Ankara’s efforts to sign visa-free travel and free trade deals with neighboring countries will also continue, Davutoglu said new high-level strategic cooperation councils – a mechanism for holding joint Cabinet meetings and striking cooperation deals – will be set up with Ukraine and Bulgaria, following ones with Greece, Russia, Syria and Iraq. /Hurriyet Daily News/

GUNAY: "TURKEY’S TOURISM GROWTH LAST YEAR STOOD OUT WORLDWIDE"

Turkey is the only country among the world’s top 10 tourist destinations that was able to achieve growth in tourism last year, said Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay yesterday. Looking back at 2010, Gunay told the Anatolia news agency that the Turkish tourism industry’s stable growth shows that the country has been strengthening its place as a leading player in the world tourism market, which is expected to reach total revenues of $1 trillion in a few years. Turkey saw 3 percent growth in tourism even in 2009, when the global market shrank 4 percent due to the global financial crisis, he added. "Back in 2003, 13 million tourists came to Turkey," he said. "Last year, we exceeded 28 million, meaning that Turkey has had over 100 percent growth in the past eight years." At the end of 2010, Turkey ranked seventh in the world in terms of incoming visitors and ninth in terms of tourism revenues, Gunay said. He added that after tourism revenues of $21 billion in 2009, Turkey likely had $23 billion last year. On his ministry’s efforts to boost tourism revenues, Gunay said they are working on strategies to diversify tourism destinations and attract tourists from coastal areas to inland destinations. /Today’s Zaman/

TURKEY SEEKS TO CONTINUE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC ROLE IN IRAQ

As Ankara readies to work with the new Iraqi administration, officials are expressing confidence that Turkey will continue to play a role in Iraq, politically and economically. "Iraq can’t afford to turn its back on Turkey," said one diplomat familiar with Iraqi affairs. Turkey’s policies in the near future will depend on Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki’s ability to manage a balanced, functional administration. "He has a very difficult job. By trying to reconcile with everyone to form the government, he made everyone unhappy as well," said Bilgay Duman of the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM). Iraq’s population census, expected to be held this year, as well as the Kirkuk issue, a region where a sizable Turkmen community lives, will be two key areas closely monitored by Turkey. While continuing to closely monitoring the political situation in Iraq, Turkey is also expected to push for an increased economic presence in the country, especially in the south, in 2011, following what it considers a "lost year" due to the elections. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are expected to travel to Iraq this month with the aim of reviving the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, bringing together dozens of government ministers from the two countries. Davutoglu has named Iraq as one of four countries whose internal political stability carries great importance for Turkey, alongside Kyrgyzstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lebanon. "We contributed to the formation of the latest composition of the [Iraqi] government," Davutoglu said. "I was told by all groups I met in Iraq that Turkey’s efforts with al-Iraqiyya helped the formation of the new government," he added. "Turkey has started to have its weight felt in Iraq as a result of its policies since 2007. I believe it will continue to play an influential role in all processes in Iraq." /Hurriyet Daily News/

AHEAD OF TALKS IN ISTANBUL, TURKISH DIPLOMAT INCLUDED IN TOUR OF IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES

Iran will allow several ambassadors accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to tour some of its nuclear sites before its talks this month with Western powers in Istanbul, according to Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Diplomats from Turkey, China, Russia, and Brazil will tour Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment center and Arak heavy water nuclear facilities on Jan. 15-16. The move comes just weeks before a second round of nuclear talks with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, and could signal an effort by Tehran to show it is serious about the talks. After more than a year without negotiations, Iran held talks last month in Geneva with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. A second round of talks is due to start late this month in Istanbul. /Cumhuriyet/

TURKISH EXPORTS HIT $113 BILLION IN 2010

Despite the turbulence in the European Union, Turkey’s exports rose to over $113 billion in 2010, according to data released yesterday by the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM). Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, TIM head Mehmet Buyukeksi said Iraq has become Turkey’s fifth-biggest export market. The best-performing sector in exports was once again automotives, followed by textiles and chemicals. Turkey’s exports rose 11.3 percent in 2010 compared to the previous year, to $113.7 billion, according to TIM. TIM said exports in December rose 21.3 percent year-on-year to $11.56 billion. TIM’s press conference was also attended by State Minister Zafer Caglayan and Foreign Trade Undersecretary Ahmet Yakici. Caglayan compared Turkey’s potential to a "300-horsepower car that speeds up to 300 kilometers per hour, but one that needs a convenient highway." Turkey’s exports broke a record in the pre-global crisis period, rising to $132 billion. The driving force of exports was the automotive sector, as car exports rose 16 percent annually to $17.38 billion. The textile sector posted an annual export rise of 10 percent, accounting for $14.64 billion. The third-best performer was the chemicals sector, as its exports surged 32 percent to $12.72 billion. Agricultural sectors accounted for 13.4 percent of overall exports, while industrial sectors accounted for 82.3 percent and mining for 3.22 percent. The figures show that neighboring Iraq has become Turkey’s fifth-largest export destination following Germany, the UK, Italy and France. Exports to "alternative markets" – the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, China, Syria and Azerbaijan – made up 21.5 percent of all exports. Caglayan said Turkey stands as the number seven country in imports to the European Union. "Our exporters are working, not talking," he said, adding that the December export figure is the highest monthly figure in 27 months. "The data show the increases in exports will continue," Caglayan said, pointing to the government’s 2023 target of $500 billion in annual exports. /Hurriyet Daily News/

UK’s OBSERVER: "TURKEY WILL COME INTO ITS OWN OVER THE NEXT 25 YEARS"

Over the next 25 years, Turkey, with its large, educated population, will grow stronger, and the international balances will change, according to predictions for the next quarter-century published in Sunday’s edition of British daily The Observer. "Rivals will take greater risks against the US," predicted the newspaper, adding that the rise of the east will continue. "By 2030, the world will be more complicated, divided between a broad American sphere of influence in Europe, the Middle East and south Asia, and a Chinese sphere in east Asia and Africa," said the paper. "The large, educated populations of Poland, Turkey, Brazil and their neighbours will come into their own." /Turkiye/