Author: Hovik Karapetian

Daily Sabah
By Basel Haj Jasem
Aug 21, 2020
The political and media circles in the former Soviet countries
continually discuss the issue of establishing a Turkish military base
in the Republic of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. The discussion of
the Turkish military presence in Azerbaijan is always linked to the
coldness or warmth of relations between Moscow and Ankara, especially
when the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict flares up.
Russia is Turkey's biggest competitor in the region. If we take into
account Turkey’s membership in NATO, the establishment of a Turkish
military base in Azerbaijan to ensure military and political balance
would create a counterweight to the Russian military base in Armenia.
When a Turkish military base is established, it directly complicates
the bilateral relations of Russia and Azerbaijan and would also become
a source of concern to Iran.
The bilateral defense cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan
defines two legal frameworks. The first one, which was established in
the early 1990s, enables military training for Azerbaijani personnel
in Turkish military institutions. The second framework is the
"strategic partnership" agreement, which explicitly states that the
two countries will help each other if one of them demanded its right
to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
Although the nature of this "assistance" was subject to bilateral
consultations, the agreement clearly affirmed the possibility of using
military means in emergency circumstances.
On Aug. 13, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Turkish
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Chief of Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler,
commanders of the Turkish land, air and naval forces, and other
members of the high-level Turkish military delegation in Azerbaijan.
On the visit, both sides attended part of a large-scale
Turkish-Azerbaijani joint military maneuver in the Azerbaijani regions
of Baku, Nakhchivan, Kajah, Kordimer and Yulakh. Those exercises began
on July 29 and continued until mid-August.
In mid-July, a high-level Azerbaijani military delegation had visited
Turkey and met with the Turkish defense minister and most of the
military leaders in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
According to Azerbaijani media, very important documents were prepared
between Baku and Ankara, as the two sides discussed the issue of
establishing a Turkish military base in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan's
exclave bordering Turkey.
The Azerbaijani news site Menfal said that if relations between
Azerbaijan and Turkey are not yet able to move toward a deep alliance
due to the absence of certain legal steps, the current documents will
raise the level of the alliance between the two parties to the highest
level. As a result, the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan will
become very close and will not only include military cooperation but
also political cooperation.
Azerbaijani political expert Gabel Husayn Ali said that during the
return visit of the high Turkish military delegation, issues of
establishing a Turkish military base in Nakhchivan (likely to have
reached a joint conclusion), and of establishing another military base
in Absheron Peninsula were discussed in detail.
In light of the close cooperation between Armenia and Iran, Armenians
fear this scenario. Tehran’s relations with Yerevan are stronger than
those with many neighboring Muslim countries. There is a concern in
Armenia about the possibility of Turkey’s participation in the
negotiation process over the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
region.
Ankara declares its position clearly by fully standing by its
"brother" Azerbaijan to regain its "occupied lands," where the two
republics, Azerbaijan and Armenia, have been witnessing a conflict
since the last century, over the Azerbaijani territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is an Azerbaijani enclave occupied by an
Armenian majority.
In 1993, after five years of war, the Armenians controlled areas
within the territory of Azerbaijan, located between Nagorno-Karabakh
and Armenia, with an area of about 8,000 square kilometers (3,088
square miles), or about 20% of the area of Azerbaijan.
Whether Turkey will establish a base in Azerbaijan or not, it should
be noted that, even a few years ago, Turkey did not have military
bases outside its territory, except for its military presence in the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1974, and today Turkey
has military bases in Somalia, Qatar, Iraq and Syria.
 

The Lancet
Multiple authors
Aug. 15, 2020
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as it
was later named, was first identified in Wuhan, China, on Jan 7,
2020.1
Over the following months, the virus rapidly spread throughout the
world. The disease, COVID-19, was characterised as a pandemic by WHO
on March 11, 2020. On the same day, the Turkish Ministry of Health
reported the first case in Turkey.2
According to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data
platform, which analyses the genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, the
disease reached Turkey mainly through Iran, with whom Turkey has
strong commercial and touristic ties, and Saudi Arabia, where
thousands of Turkish citizens travelled to visit the holy places until
mid-March, 2020.3
2 months after the first case, on May 11, 2020, the Turkish Ministry
of Health declared that the number of COVID-19 cases had reached 139
771, with 3841 deaths.2
However, the excess mortality for Istanbul alone during this period
was 4209 deaths. From 2016–19, the average number of deaths that
occurred in Istanbul was 23 232 for the period of March 11 to July 5.4
In 2020, this figure went up to 27 955 deaths. The excess mortality
found between March 11 and July 5, 2020, in Istanbul was 4723 deaths.4
There were at least 1952 unexplained deaths. However, the officially
reported COVID-19 mortality in the same period was 2771 deaths.5
Because no other serious mass health events were recorded at that
time, this discrepancy could be explained by non-compliance with WHO
codes from the International Classification of Diseases (tenth
edition).6
The official reporting system of Turkey only covered PCR-positive
cases. As of July 27, 2020, Turkey ranks fourth in the European region
for cases of COVID-19, with a total number of 225 173 patients and
5596 COVID-19 deaths,7
as reported by the Ministry of Health on the basis of PCR-positive cases alone.8
The establishment of a scientific board and full coverage of
treatment, and the encouragement of research by the Ministry of Health
and funding bodies such as the Scientific and Technological Research
Council of Turkey and the Health Institutes of Turkey were admirable
steps taken by the authorities in the beginning of the pandemic.
However, tension soon started building among the public sector and
medical and scientific organisations due to the Ministry of Health's
lack of transparency, its reluctance to share basic data, and its
refusal to collaborate. There were also concerns about the shortage of
personal protective equipment for health-care workers.8
The final stroke came with the control of COVID-19 research by the
Ministry of Health. Despite the great interest in research on COVID-19
in Turkey by researchers and physicians, the Turkish Ministry of
Health announced a mandatory application for permission for research
on COVID-19, before any application is made to ethics committees.9
This unprecedented decision was against the Constitution10
and laws regulating research activities in Turkey. It appears that
most submitted projects have been approved by the Ministry of Health,
but some projects, including a large, multicentre observational study
by the Turkish Thoracic Society, have been rejected without any clear
explanation.
The regular procedure for research activities in Turkey is well
defined. In keeping with the international regulations, researchers
must get approval from the independent ethics committee. The Turkish
Constitution clearly states that “everyone can learn science and art
freely and has the right to teach, explain, disseminate and research
in these areas”.10
The Science Academy, a member of the International Science Council,
has highlighted this fact.11
The Turkish Medical Association and other professional medical
organisations made a declaration through a press conference and urged
the Ministry of Health to cancel their decision.
In conclusion, we, as respiratory physicians and scientists, are
worried about the restrictions imposed by the Turkish Ministry of
Health on independent research about the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey,
and we sincerely hope that the Ministry of Health's decision will be
taken back in compliance with the Turkish Constitution.
We declare no competing interests. All authors are affiliated with the
Turkish Thoracic Society: HB is the President, NK is the Foreign
Relations Chair, and OE is the Head of the Working Group on Health
Policies, OK is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Turkish Thoracic
Journal, AS is a member of the Auditing Board, and ED is a member.
1-11. References [see article]
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