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Turkey clamps down on Syria border after Kurdish unrest

On Sunday, Turkish troops fired tear gas at the Syrian border, as Mark Lowen reports Continue reading the main story Turkey has begun to close some of its border crossings with Syria after about 130,000 Kurdish refugees entered the country over the past two days. On Sunday Turkish security forces clashed with Kurds protesting in solidarity with the refugees. Some protesters were reportedly trying to go to Syria to fight Islamic State (IS). Most refugees are from Kobane, a town threatened by the advancing militants. IS has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria in recent months. Before the latest influx, there were already more than one million Syrian refugees in Turkey. They have fled since the start of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad three years ago. Some of the new arrivals are being sheltered in overcrowded schools, as Turkey struggles to cope with the influx. […]

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PKK issue complicates Turkey’s role in fight against IS

Turkey Pulse On Sept. 10, US President Barack Obama will outline his administration’s plans for fighting the Islamic State (IS). His secretary of defense,  Chuck Hagel, was in Ankara Sept. 9  to see what role Turkey could take in this US-led coalition of the willing against IS militants in Iraq. Although the Turkish side refrained from making any clear public commitment to this coalition, it agreed to be part of it in principle. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that Turkish officials are worried about a potential backlash that could cost the lives of 49 Turkey’s Mosul consulate hostages held by IS militants since June 11 , and are also concerned about Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members acquiring more weapons. "The weapons sent [to Iraq] should not end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. They should not end up in the hands of the PKK,"  Cavusoglu said Sept. 9 […]

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Turkey Is Courted by U.S. to Help Fight ISIS

ANKARA, Turkey — The Obama administration on Monday began the work of trying to determine exactly what roles the members of its fledgling coalition of countries to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will play, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel huddled with the leaders of the one country the administration has called “absolutely indispensable” to the fight: Turkey . But after hours of meetings here, there were no announcements of what the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might do. In fact, Turkish officials meeting with Mr. Hagel eschewed the news conferences that usually accompany high-level visits from American officials. Rather, Turkey ’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, warned on the state-run Anatolia news agency that weapons sent by Western countries to fight ISIS could end up in the hands of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which Ankara considers a terrorist group. “We have expressed our concerns,” […]

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Kurd Rebels Fighting Islamic State Boost Hand for Turkey Talks

Photographer: Vianney Le Caer/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images Yezidi refugees from Sinjar live beneath a motorway underpass located at the entrance… Read More After fighting the Turkish army for decades, the Kurdistan Workers Party is now confronting a foe that’s shared by its erstwhile enemy, strengthening the group’s hand in talks on a political settlement. Fighters linked to the PKK, as the group is known, are battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, according to Turkish and Kurdish officials and media. The PKK, branded a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and European Union, is also in talks with the Ankara government to end a 30-year armed struggle for autonomy. Moves toward Kurdish self-rule elsewhere in the Middle East have accelerated during the crisis spurred by the Islamic State advance. The Kurds who rule a semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, are receiving U.S. and European weapons to aid […]

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Turkey reviews options for shale gas

Turkey is interested in exploring its shale natural gas potential through a possible joint venture with U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil, an official said. The Turkish national oil and gas company, known by its Turkish initials TPAO, is in talks to form a joint venture with Exxon to explore shale gas. The Platts energy news service said Wednesday it was told by ministry officials in Ankara the work would extend to potential reserves in far western and southeast Turkey. TPAO and Shell started hydraulic fracturing operations in the Dadas shale basin in southeast Turkey in 2012. Dadas is one of two shale basins in Turkey. Combined with the Thrace basin in western Turkey, the country has an estimated 162 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Analysis from Turkish daily newspaper Today’s Zaman in January said the "only reliable" source of information about the country’s shale gas potential comes from […]

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Conflict Shows New, Closer Turk-Iraqi Kurdish Ties

The military posture of northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government to defend itself against advancing Islamist rebels spotlights a reversal in one of the region’s most toxic relationships: Between Turkey and the Kurds. In previous years, Kurdish assertiveness—even in neighboring Iraq—was often countered by Turkey, which for more than a quarter century was locked in a deadly conflict with Kurdish separatists in its own country before launching peace talks in 2012. But since the U.S. invasion of Iraq more than a decade ago, Turkey has built close ties to the Kurdish government in its regional capital of Erbil, Iraq, expanding bilateral trade and coordinating vital policy issues, including the civil war in Syria. Underscoring that trend, Turkey has kept mum on Erbil’s mobilization to defend its borders this past week by deploying its Peshmerga troops into the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk. In past decades, Turkey has fiercely objected […]

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Turkey leans away from Russia with Azeri gas deal

| License Photo Turkey says its move to acquire a stake in the natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan is part of a regional diversification strategy. State-owned Turkish Petroleum Corp. agreed to buy the 10 percent share in Shah Deniz owned by French energy company Total for $1.45 billion. The deal is part of an effort by Turkey to lessen its dependence on Russia, the English-language newspaper Today’s Zaman reported Sunday . Russian energy company Gazprom counts Turkey as its second-largest energy importer. Turkey serves as a major regional energy hub, hosting portions of the second-longest oil pipeline in the world, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Shah Deniz is controlled by a consortium that includes BP and the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic. Michael Borrell, a senior vice president for Total’s exploration and production business in Europe, said in a statement the sale to TPAO was in line with […]

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Turkey to get more gas from Russia

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Monday his country agreed to increase gas capacity through the Blue Stream pipeline by more than 18 percent.Yildiz said Monday from Ankara his country would take on more natural gas from Russia at what he said was an affordable price. "We agreed with Russia on increasing capacity of the Blue Stream gas pipeline from 565 billion to 670 billion cubic feet per year," he said Russian energy company Gazprom counts Turkey as its second-largest energy importer. The 754-mile Blue Stream stretches across the Black Sea. Turkey serves as a major regional energy hub, hosting portions of the second-longest oil pipeline in the world, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Turkey will also host a rival European gas network from Azerbaijan, which the European Union sees as a way to break Russia’s grip on the regional energy sector. The Kremlin says European energy security is at risk because of […]

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Kurdish gov’t takes stake in Miran gas field from Genel Energy

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 24 (UPI) — Turkish energy company Genel Energy said Monday the semiautonomous Kurdish government in Iraq was taking a 25 percent interest in the region’s Miran gas field. Genel said the Kurdistan Regional Government exercised its right to take a stake in Miran production. "Accordingly, Genel’s working and paying interests in the Miran production sharing contract will fall from 100 percent to 75 percent, with the KRG’s working and paying interests at 25 percent," the company said in a statement. No financial terms were disclosed The Miran contract area covers 293 square miles and contains gross resources estimated at 3.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 95 million barrels of oil. Genel said it was working with the Kurdish government on a gas sales agreement for mid-2014. The Kurdish and central Iraqi governments are at odds over who controls what aspects of the energy sector. […]

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Kurdish gov't takes stake in Miran gas field from Genel Energy

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 24 (UPI) — Turkish energy company Genel Energy said Monday the semiautonomous Kurdish government in Iraq was taking a 25 percent interest in the region’s Miran gas field. Genel said the Kurdistan Regional Government exercised its right to take a stake in Miran production. "Accordingly, Genel’s working and paying interests in the Miran production sharing contract will fall from 100 percent to 75 percent, with the KRG’s working and paying interests at 25 percent," the company said in a statement. No financial terms were disclosed The Miran contract area covers 293 square miles and contains gross resources estimated at 3.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 95 million barrels of oil. Genel said it was working with the Kurdish government on a gas sales agreement for mid-2014. The Kurdish and central Iraqi governments are at odds over who controls what aspects of the energy sector. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple