Turkey eyes Thar Coal for Power Generation

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KARACHI - Turkey is seeking an energy delegation to visit Sindh to further explore investment opportunities in Thar Coal and energy sector of Sindh.

 This was expressed by Sindh Board of Investment Chairman Muhammad Zubair Motiwala while giving briefing on opportunities and investment potential of energy sector in Sindh during a meeting with Ministry of Energy, Government of Turkey at the office of Ministry of Energy Government of Turkey, Ankara.

 Speaking on the occasion, Motiwala said the SBI welcomed the kind cooperation and facilitation from the Turkish authorities. He invited the Turkish investors to come and invest in Sindh which could become future power house of the world due to huge coal reserves, wind corridor and availability of ever-present sunlight to produce solar energy.

 He said Sindh was blessed with the world’s best wind corridor which had average wind speed of 7-8 m/sec. Two companies M/s Zorlu and M/s Fina of Turkey had already invested in wind energy power project in Thatta district of Sindh.

 During the meeting the Turkish government showed keen interest in the Thar coal region.

 The meeting was attended by the representative of Ministry of Energy (Turkey), directorate general of Energy, Investment Planning and Power Generation Corporation (Turkey), general directorate of Coordination of European Union (EU), Turkish Oil Enterprises, Modern Research and Investment Institution (Turkey) and Geological Research Department of General Directorate of Energy.

 Dr. Nevzat Kavakli, Turkish under Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, said Turkey had an intention to increase bilateral cooperation with Pakistan.

 He said his country required huge volumes of coal for electricity and power generation. He said Turkey’s annual coal imports were more than 22.0 million tonnes to cater domestic needs.

 Turkey was producing more than 8000MW of power from lignite coal.

 The Ministry of Energy proposed to enhance cooperation with Sindh through continuous efforts and showed keen interest to explore Thar coal in more detail.

 Government of Sindh Secretary Coal and Energy Development Department Ajaz Ali Khan who is a member of the delegation, briefed the meeting on the quality and quantity of the coal and the opportunities of investment in Thar region.

 He also highlighted the incentives announced by the government of Pakistan to support investment in Thar Coal.

 The Turkish side highly appreciated the technical details of the lignite coal at Thar and reaffirmed that in short time a team of technical experts would visit Sindh to further explore the opportunity.

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Blast Hits US Embassy in Turkey

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In the second deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in five months, a suicide bomber struck the American Embassy in Ankara on Friday, killing a Turkish security guard in what the White House described as a terrorist attack.

Washington immediately warned Americans to stay away from all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey and to be wary in large crowds.

Suicide bombing at entrance to US Embassy in Turkish capital: A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, killing himself and a guard at the entrance gate, officials said.

Turkish officials said the bombing was linked to leftist domestic militants.

The attack drew condemnation from Turkey, the U.S., Britain and other nations and officials from both Turkey and the U.S. pledged to work together to fight terrorism.

“We strongly condemn what was a suicide attack against our embassy in Ankara, which took place at the embassy’s outer security perimeter,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

“A suicide bombing on the perimeter of an embassy is by definition an act of terror,” he said. “It is a terrorist attack.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said police believe the bomber was connected to a domestic leftist militant group. Carney, however, said the motive for the attack and who was behind it was not known.

A Turkish TV journalist was seriously wounded in the 1:15 p.m. blast in the Turkish capital, and two other guards had lighter wounds, officials said.

The state-run Anadolu Agency identified the bomber as Ecevit Sanli. It said the 40-year-old Turkish man was a member of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, which has claimed responsibility for assassinations and bombings since the 1970s.

The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States but had been relatively quiet in recent years.

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Pak-Turk brotherly ties enhance; pledged to expand mutual cooperation

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Pakistan and Turkey on Tuesday agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of energy‚ trade‚ economy‚ culture‚ defence and communication. The agreement came at the second high level cooperation council meeting between Pakistan and Turkey in Islamabad. Turkey has always stood by the side of Pakistan in times of need and despair, indeed the two brotherly countries are bounded together in the ties of love for Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w.w) and Islam. 

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan jointly presided over the meeting. Both the sides pledged to increase the trade volume between the countries to the tune of two billion dollars during the current financial year.

The Council meeting expressed its satisfaction over the increase in the mutual trade activities between the two countries during the last few years. The meeting also reviewed how to increase trade on priority basis between the two countries.

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani asked the Turkish Companies to invest in Communication and Housing sectors in Pakistan where enormous incentives are being offered to the investors. He thanked Turkey for its cooperation in the rehabilitation of the flood affectees and in construction of houses for them.

Turkish Prime Minister said the hearts of two people of Pakistan and Turkey throb in unison and that Pakistan is his second home. He assured to continue his country s cooperation to Pakistan. Earlier during the one on one meeting between the two Prime Ministers they discussed bilateral relations and cooperation in different fields.

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Pak-Turkey Joint Military Exercise ATTATURK-VII concludes

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CHERAT: Closing/Wing Exchange ceremony of a week long Pakistan-Turkey Joint Training Exercise ATTATURK-VII-2011 was held at Cherat on Thursday. Major General Farrukh Bashir, General Officer Commanding Pakistan Army's Special Services Group (SSG) was the chief guest on occasion. Major General Farrukh Bashir congratulated the Officers and Soldiers of Turkish Special Forces and SSG of Pakistan Army on successful completion of this joint training. Major General Farrukh Bashir said that the main aim of the joint exercise was to further strengthen the military to military relationship and share experience of counter terrorism.

Turkish Soldiers with Pakistan Army

Head of Turkish Special Forces decorating a Pakistani SSG Soldier

Head of Turkish Special Forces decorating a Pakistani SSG Soldier

He said that exercise began with learning and sharing of individual skills and culminated at a joint Air Assault Field Exercise. The aim and objectives set for the exercise had been achieved to its best, he concluded. A large number of officers and soldiers of Turkish Land Forces and SSG of Pakistan Army attended the ceremony. It may be noted that Special Forces of Pakistan and Turkey conduct joint training exercise each year, held alternately in Pakistan and Turkey. The exercise held in Pakistan is named as ATTATURK and that held in Turkey is called JINNAH.

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Turkey to double size of its army

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With Prime Minister Erdogan’s Islamist AK party having seized its third landslide election victory in Turkey, many throughout the international community have been watching to see what will be next on the Turkish agenda. Now there are strong indicators in the Turkish media that Turkey is planning on literally doubling the size of its army – this coming from the nation that already has the largest army in Middle East and the second-largest army in NATO, second only to the United States. Presently, Turkey’s army has over 500,000 troops. Its army is larger than France, Germany and England combined. And now Turkish media are reporting that they are planning on adding another 500,000 paid soldiers.
 

According to Egemen Bağış, a state minister and Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, the purpose of the army is to kill two birds with one stone, overcoming two of Turkey’s biggest challenges: terrorism and unemployment. This move would create half a million new jobs for Turkey while answering once and for all Turkey’s problem with Kurdish separatist terrorists in the southeast. Bağış spoke to journalists at the Turkish ambassador’s office in Brussels. “The government is prepared to hire 500,000 people. … This structural change will also contribute to our struggle with unemployment”, he said. Interested in how current events relate to biblical prophecy? Watch Joel Richardson’s powerful, 4-Session, 2-DVD set “Understanding the Times”.

Turkey’s nation defense minister, Vedci Gonul, stated that the new army is “the future of Turkey”. But he also said that the actual number of paid soldiers is yet to be determined pending a government study. According to Gonul, the creation of such a large army could take several years to complete. A poll conducted shows that 80 percent of Turks support the idea while only 9 percent are opposed. Despite the government’s claims that the purpose of the army would be to address terrorism, skepticism concerning such a massive force is well-deserved. First of all, creating an army this size merely to address Turkey’s terrorism problem, primarily from the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group in the southeast, would be like trying to kill an ant using a nuclear warhead. Secondly, such a move certainly will only reinforce the concerns of those who believe that Turkey has broad-ranging neo-Ottoman regional aspirations.

The silence of the Western media has been surprising. Imagine Israel announcing an expansion of its forces by 500,000 men to address its Palestinian terrorism problem. Yet the Western media has yet to comment regarding Turkey’s grandiose plans. Such an expansion would be particularly concerning in light of the Turkish government’s recent swing toward Islamist political alliances. They have worked to significantly reinforce strategic alliances with both Iran and Syria, two of the most well-established state sponsors of terrorism globally, while significantly cooling its relationship with Israel and the United States. Despite this, the Obama administration this past January, sold the Turkish Air Force 100 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets. Turkey already manufactures it’s own F-16s.

It is also essential to once again remind ourselves of the recent accomplishments of the Islamist AK party under Prime Minister Erdogan’s leadership. In just the past several years, the AK party has edged ever closer to establishing a full-blown dictatorship, all in the name of democracy. Since 2002, they have managed to accomplish the following:

• occupy the presidency;
• occupy the seat of prime minister;
• gain a large majority of seats in the parliament;
• fill the judiciary with Islamist-leaning judges;
• behead the top echelons of the military;
• infiltrate the police force (over 70 percent of officers are members the Islamist Gulen movement);
• intimidate and imprison Turkish journalists (there are more Turkish journalists in prison than any other nation in the world – more than China or Iran).

The nation’s leadership is now working toward a bill authorizing them to rewrite the Turkish Constitution, giving them far more sweeping powers over the military and judiciary. In last month’s victory speech, Prime Minister Erdogan couldn’t have made his regional ambitions any clearer:

“Believe me, Sarajevo won today as much as Istanbul, Beirut won as much as Izmir, Damascus won as much as Ankara, Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, the West Bank, Jerusalem won as much as Diyarbakir.”

In a follow up commentary piece, J.E. Dyer, a retired U.S. Naval intelligence officer asked how the world would take it if Nicolas Sarkozy had proclaimed that a victory for him was a victory for Moscow as much as Paris, for Washington as much as Lyon, for Ankara as much as Marseilles. Dyer then very appropriately reminded us that such comments are, “imperialist at worst, absurdly arrogant at best – to speak of your electoral victories as conferring benefits on foreign humanity – especially on those once occupied by your nation in its days of empire”. For years, several others and I have been warning of Turkey’s neo-Ottoman dreams and regional ambitions. And for just as many years, the compliant left-wing media has mocked the notion. Within the next several years, with doubling of the Turkish army, it appears as though there will be 500,000 more reasons to worry about Turkey’s regional ascension.

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Turkey to organize regional conference on Afghanistan

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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Turkey will host a regional conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul at the beginning of November, according to an official statement Tuesday. The statement was released after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hosted a working breakfast for representatives from countries neighboring and surrounding Afghanistan. Ministers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as United Nations (UN) Special Representative for Afghanistan Staffan De Mistura attended the meeting.

The officials agreed to organize a conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul on November 2 while reaffirming their respect to Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

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Turkey upgrading PAF F-16s

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In a very positive strategic move, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has opted for Turkish Aerospace Industrial Complex "TAI" for the Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) of its F-16A/B aircraft fleet in a bid to enhance its operational capability. Pakistan and Turkey signed an agreement in this regard last week and the multimillion dollars project would begin soon. Pakistan has opted for "TAI" - the Ankara-based Turkish aerospace industrial complex - also for the cost-effectiveness since its lengthy negotiations with the USZ manufacturers failed to bear fruits. The USZ manufacturers of the F-16 aircraft were very expensive. And also keeping in mind the lack of mutual trust between the two countries, Pakistan had to opt for Turkey.

Under the agreement the project, that was expected to kick-start within next two months or so, would be executed in phases. The PAF, which currently has more than 40 F-16 A/B multi-roller fighter fleet, would soon start sending its F-16 aircraft to Turkey for the MLU. TAI, established in 1984, is a joint venture of various Turkish companies and had successfully realised the co-production of F-16 fighters, CN-235 light transport/maritime patrol/surveillance aircraft, SF-260 trainers, Cougar AS-532 general purpose helicopters. With its proven experience and know-how, TAI has improved its capabilities in the fields of design, production, modernisation, modification and systems integration of fixed and rotary wing air platforms, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite.Because of the high quality stringent standards including the NATO AQAP-2110, ISO-9001: 2000 and AS EN 9100, TAI has won position of a qualified supplier for Aermacchi, Agusta Westland, Airbus, Boeing, EADS CASA, Eurocopter, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, MDHI, Sikorsky and many more.

This development has immense khair associated to it since this is the first time when two brother Muslim nations as close to each other as Pakistan and Turkey, have started upgrading the aircrafts of each other. Don't forget that Turkey has already shown keen interest in buying Pakistan's JF-17 Thunder aircrafts.


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