Turkey Aids Iran Through Gold Trade

Banks in Turkey continue to send gold to Iran despite U.S. pressure to curb a booming gold-for-gas trade, which helps Iran skirt international sanctions.

This month, Turkish customs grounded a Turkish cargo plane en route from Ghana to Iran that was reportedly carrying a ton-and-a-half of gold.

Tehran has been accumulating huge amounts of the precious metal over the past year as a means of circumventing ever-tightening international financial sanctions over its nuclear enrichment program, which some nations fear is being used to develop a nuclear weapons' capability.

Turkey continues to provide the lion’s share of Tehran's demand for gold, said Attila Yesilada, of the Istanbul-based research firm Global Source Partners.

"Gold sales [to Iran] have been diversified through Switzerland and Abu Dhabi, but the annualized total for last year is something like $11 billion, most of it financed through the gold stock of Turkish people," Yesilada said.  "This gold has become Iran’s main currency in terms [of] securing necessities from abroad."

Turkey's PM Erdogan says won't bow to Kurdish militancy

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday his government would never surrender to Kurdish militants but he was cautiously hopeful peace talks could end a conflict that has brought nothing but "pain, blood and tears" to Turkey.
Late last year Turkish intelligence officials began talks with jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan on how to end an insurgency which has killed more than 40,000 people since rebels loyal to him took up arms in 1984.
The talks drew fierce criticism from nationalist circles which accused the government of going soft on Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and United States.
"Nobody can make us surrender. We did not take a step back in the face of any attack, we will not take any steps back," he told his ruling AK Party in parliament in the capital Ankara.
"Violence and terror has brought nothing to this country but pain, blood and tears. Believe me, we have one goal: that is to halt the mothers' tears," he said.
"We are cautious, careful but hopeful."
The nascent talks were overshadowed last week by the execution-style killings of three Kurdish women activists in Paris, which Erdogan has suggested could be the result of an internal feud in the PKK or a bid to derail the peace talks.
The PKK blamed shadowy elements within the Turkish state or foreign powers and Ocalan issued a call on Monday through his brother for French police to solve the murders. But he gave no indication their killing would disrupt the peace talks.
Ocalan's younger brother Mehmet, who visited him in his jail on the island of Imrali near Istanbul, said the PKK leader did not comment on the peace process but may make a statement later if Kurdish political party leaders visit him.

“Pakistan And Turkey Are Key Actors For A True Solution In Afghanistan” – Analysis

nternational Strategic Research Organization (USAK) hosted at the USAK Workshop Hall Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ankara, H.E. Muhammad Haroon Shaukat, on January 10th, 2013. Within the framework of the conference series entitled “Asia-Pacific in the 21st Century and Diplomacy”, our keynote speaker Mr. Shaukat was ready at the fifth event of the abovementioned conference series to introduce for one and a half hour the foreign affairs of Pakistan and Turkey-Pakistan relations to a distinguished audience.

Mr. Shaukat also elaborated deeply on his country’s prospects for international peace and stability, economic development and further democratization. He explained his country’s attitude and recent practices with respect to its foreign relations with India, Russia, Central Asia, Iran, China and the Middle East. Nevertheless, the main focus of his to-the-point speech and relevant discussions revolved around Pakistani foreign policy perspective, with special emphasis on security and economy, towards Turkey, Afghanistan and the U.S.


Afghanistan
An esteemed delegation consisting of high-level diplomats from the Embassy of Pakistan accompanied Mr. Ambassador during the conference. Among the high-level participants of the conference were top diplomats, scholars, media members and experts from related government agencies. The conference was formally organized by Assoc. Prof. Selçuk Çolakoğlu, Director of USAK Center for Asia-Pacific Studies.

Below is a brief summary of the points raised by Mr. Ambassador in accordance with the official political stance of his country throughout the conference regarding the backbone subjects assertively pronounced.

An Overview: Pakistan’s Foreign Policy
Pakistan’s policy priority is to create a democratic Pakistan that is stable, peaceful, progressive, moderate, forward looking and prosperous. Foreign policy is considered by Pakistani authorities rightfully as an instrument to achieve these aspirations and as a natural prolongation of domestic endeavors aimed at growth and development.

Pakistan’s foremost foreign policy perspective compasses its own region and neighbors. In that vein; Afghanistan, India, China, Iran, Central Asian countries and Russia constitute the priority domain of contemporary Pakistani foreign affairs.

Pakistan is placed in the center of a geo-political energy crescent consisted of the Middle East, Iran, Caspian Basin and Central Asia. The country is also rich with strategic mineral resources. It is surrounded by three emerging economies; namely India, China and Russia.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s foreign policy elbow-room is narrowed by various disadvantages, such as religious extremism and terrorism spreading throughout its territory and neighborhood. The country is located within a complex regional security environment which was subjected to militarism and conflict over three decades. Hence, the historical experiences of the country have unfortunately caused it to become familiar with militancy and an extremist mind-set.

Turkey-U.S. Relations Within The Context Of The Middle East – Analysis

We observe that the external dimension in Turkey-U.S. relations gained more significance. The U.S. used to give voice to subjects such as press freedom, democratization and human rights. But today as we see it, the U.S. has adopted a political approach more inclined toward cooperation with Turkey in the Middle East and some other diplomatic fields.

Two years have passed since the beginning of the historical process called the Arab Awakening. It is observed that throughout the two years behind us, the shift in balances passed beyond the ordinary in the region. Old dictatorships collapsed and a novel historical process began. The ramifications of this process which was initiated in Tunisia and spread via Libya, Egypt and Syria were felt in countries such as Yemen, Jordan and Bahrain as well. It is possible to talk about an era through which bilateral cooperation in Turkey-U.S. relations is accelerated. Hence, we have left behind a two-year process that enabled relations to focus especially on regional and multilateral issues rather than bilateral ones, and therefore further cooperation and coordination was necessitated.


Turkey – United States relations
Turkey has pursued a rather compliant and consultative policy with the U.S. to a large extent, throughout the Arab Awakening. Washington in particular received the coordination in diplomatic subjects with considerable appreciation. Even though the priorities, interests and sensitivities of a regional actor like Turkey may have led to some complications concerning Washington’s policies, by and large a compatible framework with parallel tasks was successfully managed by the foreign ministries and FMs of both countries regarding the main track of foreign policy-making.