Category: 2021

After consultations with the representatives of minorities, the Turkish government aims to resolve a dispute over board elections for minority foundations. The thorny issue is vital for minorities, from Armenians to Assyrians, whose places of worship and historical importance are run by these foundations.

Burhan Ersoy, head of the state-run Directorate of Foundations, told Anadolu Agency (AA) last week that a new regulation on elections is expected to be implemented in April. “We held discussions with representatives of non-Muslim community foundations and heard their demands, and eventually, a draft text was formed based upon these meetings,” he said. The previous regulation allowing elections was annulled in 2013, with the government promising a better, more comprehensive regulation. However, Ersoy said some minorities asked for the reinstatement of the old regulations while others asked for a new one. He added that the draft regulation would be presented to the government for approval.

Süleyman Can Ustabaşı from the Assyrian community, the representative for all minorities at the Assembly of Foundations, said the structure of foundations and their membership profiles changed over time. “We request the directorate and the government to exchange views with foundations one last time before the regulation is implemented. This is what most foundations ask for. We certainly want elections but the final draft of the regulation should be created after (communities) express their final opinions on the issue,” he said.

Foundations of non-Muslim minorities have a legal status under the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 1923, which granted them equality before laws and freedom to establish and run “religious and social institutions.”

Turkey boosted its outreach to minorities in the past two decades and mostly resolved the issue of properties seized by the state and other entities in the past to minority foundations. Some 1,084 properties were returned to those foundations between 2003 and 2018, while 20 places of worship were restored and handed over to the communities.

A 1936 charter has paved the way for foundations to acquire properties but a 1974 court ruling reversed the process, enabling the state to seize the properties minorities acquired after 1936. Properties were mostly returned to their original owners and in the absence of owners, they were taken by the treasury.

New regulations in the 2000s enacted in compliance with Turkey’s harmonization packages for European Union membership, helped the return of properties to foundations. Turkey is home to some 167 minority foundations. The Turkish Greek community referred to as “Rums” have the highest number of foundations at 77 while the Armenian community has 54 and the Jewish community has 19 foundations.

Turkish defense firm STM will showcase its naval platforms and tactical mini-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems at Expodefensa 2021 being held in Colombia next week.

“Under the leadership of our parent institution, the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), we will be attending Expodefensa 2021 to share our experience in projects in which we are proud to have participated as a trusted solution partner of various world navies, including Pakistan and Ukraine,” STM said in a statement.

The firm said it will introduce its tactical mini-UAV product family – which includes Alpagu, Kargu and Togan – to South America, along with its MILGEM (National Ship) Ada-class corvette as well as the I-class frigate, which is Turkey’s first national frigate project.

Alpagu is a portable fixed-wing strike UAV while Kargu is a portable rotary-wing variant. Togan is a portable rotary-wing spotter UAV.

Kargu, which has been in the arsenal of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), achieved its first export success this year. While the deliveries of the exported drones continue, negotiations with different countries showing interest in the product are also ongoing. This particular UAV, which has managed to prove itself on different battlefields, performs its duties under human control with the principle of “Man-in-the-loop.”

Alpagu, on the other hand, stands out with its light structure, diving velocity, low radar cross-sectional area and speed as well as its ability to cause pinpoint damage to targets. Alpagu, which can be carried by a single soldier and fired from a launcher, has a low weight of 1.9 kilograms (4.2 pounds).

Having already completed test shots, Alpagu is expected to enter the Turkish army’s arsenal in the coming weeks.

The naval platforms designed by STM are also closely followed by South American countries. In addition to the Offshore Patrol Ship (OPV), which is designed to perform surface defense warfare, effective uninterrupted reconnaissance, surveillance and patrol missions in the open sea and on the coast, MILGEM class ships are also turning heads.

The company’s CF3500 frigate, which it has designed in the form of a MILGEM boat for the Colombian Navy, will also be on display at the fair.

“The systems that continue to be used successfully in the field by the Turkish Navy are brought overseas as quality, affordable and modern engineering solutions,” the company statement said.

Expodefensa 2021, one of the most important defense industry fairs in Latin America and the Caribbean, will be held in Colombia’s capital Bogota from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.

STM carries out collaborations, technology transfer and business development activities in more than 20 countries from South America to the Far East. Within the scope of design, construction and modernization activities, STM produces unique and flexible engineering solutions for the surface and submarine platforms of the Turkish Navy, which is a NATO member and also one of the most active navies in the world.

STM also undertakes important tasks in the submarine modernization and construction projects of the Turkish Navy. The firm successfully carried out the modernization of two type 209-class submarines of which it was the main contractor and took part as the leading contractor in the modernization of four Preveze class submarines. STM also fulfills important duties within the scope of the New Type Submarine Project for air-independent propulsion-system, namely Reis Class submarines, which will be an important stage in the realization of Turkey’s National Submarine Project. Accordingly, Section 50, the head section containing submarine torpedo tubes, which only a limited number of countries in the world can manufacture, was produced for the first time in Turkey by STM, marking a historic success.

STM earlier this year started the construction of corvettes for the Ukrainian Navy within the scope of cooperation that includes technology transfer. The company has already built and delivered Sea Supply Ship, PNS MOAWIN, Turkey’s largest tonnage military shipbuilding project, designed for the Pakistan Navy, to Karachi. Continuing its activities as the main contractor in the modernization of Agosta 90B Khalid class submarines, which are also owned by Pakistan, STM has gained the trust of the Pakistan Navy with these successful projects.

Turkish defense giants STM, Aselsan, Machinery and Chemical Industry (MKE) and Otokar are showcasing their latest products at the Expodefensa 2021, one of the largest defense industry fairs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The three-day exhibition in Bogota, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, is organized in association with the Colombian Defense Ministry.

Its aim is to “help governments and armed forces face their operational and capability challenges while playing a role in building a safer Latin America.” International exhibitors present their systems and products to respond to a growing regional demand. Expodefensa’s first edition was held in 2009.

In an earlier statement, the STM said it will promote its naval platforms and tactical mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The firm said it will introduce its tactical mini-UAV product family – which includes Alpagu, Kargu and Togan – to South America, along with its MILGEM (National Ship) Ada-class corvettes as well as the I-class frigate, which is Turkey’s first national frigate project.

Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte visited the STM booth at the event, and was briefed on the ongoing projects.

Colombian President Iván Duque also paid a visit to the fair with an accompanying delegation, receiving information from Aselsan on their products.

“We are proud to host the President of Colombia and foreign delegations in our booth at Expodefensa 2021, Bogota, Colombia,” read a tweet shared by the Aselsan’s Twitter account on Nov. 30.

Otokar, a company of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding, meanwhile has presented its armored land vehicles at the fair.

Otokar General Manager Serdar Görgüç said in an earlier statement that Otokar, which achieves new successes in the world defense industry day by day, continues to make a name for itself with its global knowledge, engineering, research and development (R&D) and technology transfer.

“By participating in fairs held in five continents, we represent Turkey’s defense industry in the best way around the world, and we see these fairs as an important tool to come together with our current and potential users,” he said.

Writing for Sputnik International, British journalist Finian Cunningham portrays U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Karen Donfried’s actions as “poking the bear.” Recently rehabilitated George W. Bush-era neo-con Donfried said that “all options were on the table as far as Russia’s policy towards Ukraine.”

“As you can appreciate, all options are on the table, and there’s a toolkit that includes a whole range of options.”

The term “all options” is a not-so-diplomatic nomenclature for war. Donfried was recently in Turkey and, speaking on tensions between the two NATO allies Turkey and Greece, said she regretted that the U.S. presence in Greece caused uneasiness in Ankara. Like “all options,” the term “regret” in diplomatic parlance is a very subtle way to accuse the other party. You made me put all my options on the table. If you hadn’t threatened Ukraine, I wouldn’t be considering all these options … or – Why are you making so much fuss about our turning practically one third of the dry land in Greece into our military base? See what you did? Now we are so sad, so disappointed in you … Shame, shame…

Donfried has worked at several intelligence and strategy offices and agencies that are open to civilians in the U.S. government. She collected as many academic degrees and honors, awards and praises as possible. Her last stint was at the German Marshall Fund. She belongs to the cohort appointed by U.S. President Joe Biden to the White House and State Department that allegedly represents new American militarism (national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Wendy Sherman the former adviser to secretaries of state Madeleine Albright/Hillary Clinton, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, et. al.)

As all International Politics-101 students around the world know: (a) The U.S. cannot attack Russia as long as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is there as a military doctrine that warrants “a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender” and (b) Russia has nothing to win in occupying Ukraine. Yet Donfried uttered the “all options” idiom, which was not used by the chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, after talking to his Russian counterpart about Ukraine a few days earlier.

Milley, after discussing with Gen. Valery Gerasimov the increasing tensions over the Ukraine conflict and Black Sea region, went back to his business of defusing the tension by saying nothing. But, no! The White House and State Department faction was not satisfied, and Donfried had to bring every option to the table. This is only helping a Kyiv regime that has been amassing $3 billion worth of arms since 2014. They even bought Turkish aerial attack drones and tested them in a provocative assault against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, causing a Kremlin spokesperson to warn Turkey about its arms sales to Ukraine.

Turkey’s only motive in those sales was hot cash; yet its NATO membership was immediately misused by Russian (as well as the U.S.) media as if Turkey was taking part in this new scheme of American militarism, which, unlike Turkey’s policies, has many motives unrelated to foreign trade. They want to poke the Russian bear, as Cunningham points out, by interpreting “the menacing formula of words” that Washington deploys to mean a military attack on targeted nations like Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.

American movie maker Bill Standish used to warn that one should not poke the bear unless one is a grizzly oneself! The U.S. is not a bear, let alone a grizzly, yet. Former U.S. President Donald Trump played along with Bush and Barack Obama’s leftovers for a while, but he never invested billions of dollars in the Pentagon as his predecessors did. Biden himself has been complaining about the overspending in those endless wars that have actually deprived the U.S. of its vital striking power. Biden’s $2 trillion spending bill will eventually restore that power as well as the infrastructure, but the U.S. is not there yet. Besides, the 1998 evaluation of the “flexible response” defense strategy, authored by John F. Kennedy in 1961, showed that the U.S. can hardly fight multiple wars simultaneously. Now, on the one hand, conscripting India and Australia against China, and on the other, agitating poor Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Ukrainian comedian-turned-politician who is still wondering how he became the president against the Russian bear, would be too much for Biden.

It is plausible for the people at the White House and the State Department to ignite the fuse before Vice President Kamala Harris and like-minded progressives take over in case Mr. Biden retires unexpectedly. We know how easily a brushfire on the shores of the Black Sea could easily engulf the entire democratic establishment, liberal and socialist alike; Kamala, the “squad,” even Bernie Sanders and others will be on the war wagon eventually.

But there are grown-ups in the U.S. Senate, the Pentagon and other places who aren’t aware that Ms. Donfried’s reckless rhetoric towards Russia needs to be stopped before it leads to war hysteria. One only hopes that if Biden really has a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that this provocation will come to an end.

Russia is not part of the crisis in Donbass, the Kremlin said on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had indicated Turkey could mediate between Kyiv and Moscow in solving increasing tensions.

“The fact is that Russia is not a party to the conflict in Donbass, it will be impossible to find solutions to the problem at such a summit,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in the capital Moscow, dismissing Ankara’s offer.

On his return flight from an official visit to Turkmenistan, Erdoğan told journalists: “It is our desire that the attitude in this matter develops in a positive direction. There could be a mediation about this, we will discuss this issue with them, we would like to have a share in the solution of this by developing these talks both with Ukraine and with Mr. Putin.”

Ukraine, on the other hand, welcomed the president’s statements.

“We will welcome any efforts that can help us to put an end to this war, to return Ukraine’s territories which are currently under Russian control,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a news briefing.

He also said that if Russia decides to invade, Ukraine is ready to repel any attack.

Ukraine’s military intelligence said last week that Russia had amassed more than 92,000 troops around Ukraine’s borders and was preparing for an attack by the end of January or the beginning of February.

NATO member Turkey has good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, though it opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya. It has forged energy and defense cooperation with Russia, while opposing Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Last month, Moscow said Ukraine’s Turkish-made drones risked having a destabilizing impact in east Ukraine, after Kyiv deployed one to hit a position controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Turkey has said it cannot be blamed for Ukraine’s use of the drones.

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Donbass has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014, according to the United Nations.

The region is one of the several sources of friction between Russia and Ukraine.