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As Turkey Targets Militants, War Grips Kurdish Lands Once Again

Photo Officers conducted searches of young people during a security operation this month in the southeastern town of Diyarbakir. Credit Usame Ari/Associated Press DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Across the Kurdish lands of southeast Turkey , a bitter war that had long been stilled by a truce has suddenly come roaring back, threatening to undo a hard-won economic turnaround here and adding a new battlefield to a region already consumed by chaos. Cafes in this city that usually stay open until midnight now close at dusk. Jails are filling, once again, with Kurdish activists and officials accused of supporting terrorism. Residents say they are stocking up on weapons, just in case. In the mountains, Kurdish guerrillas hastily set up vehicle checkpoints and then dissolve into the rugged terrain in a game of cat and mouse with Turkish soldiers. In the countryside, burned and mangled vehicles blight a landscape blackened by forest […]

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Shah Deniz gas pipeline flow halted by explosion in Turkey: officials

Gas flow on the Shah Deniz pipeline carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan was halted by an explosion in Turkey on Monday evening, energy sector officials said, with one saying it was thought Kurdish militants had sabotaged the pipeline. The officials told Reuters that gas flow had been halted on Aug. 3 due to maintenance and had only resumed on Aug. 23 but had not yet reached capacity before Monday’s blast. "Last night there was an explosion in the pipeline on the Turkish side and the flow stopped," one senior official said. Another official said damage assessment was set to begin on Tuesday and that it would not be clear when the gas flow would resume until after the assessment. An explosion had previously hit the pipeline on Aug. 4, after the flow had already been suspended for maintenance. That was days after an attack by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) […]

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U.S., Turkey to launch ‘comprehensive’ anti-Islamic State operation

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu answers a question during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, Turkey, August 24, 2015. Turkey and the United States will soon launch ”comprehensive” air operations to flush Islamic State fighters from a zone in northern Syria… Turkey and the United States will soon launch "comprehensive" air operations to flush Islamic State fighters from a zone in northern Syria bordering Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters on Monday. Detailed talks between Washington and Ankara on the plans were completed on Sunday and regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan as well as Britain and France may also take part, Cavusoglu said in an interview. "The technical talks have been concluded, yesterday, and soon we will start this operation, comprehensive operations, against Daesh (Islamic State)," he said. The United States and Turkey plan to provide air cover for what Washington judges to be moderate […]

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Kremlin: No word yet on Turkish gas pipeline

Turkey aims to exploit its geographical position to serve as an energy bridge for oil and natural gas supplies running from Eastern economies to Europe. Photo by tcly/Shutterstock MOSCOW, Aug. 19 (UPI) — A source close to Russian energy ministry discussions told state media there are no proposals in the Kremlin from Turkey on a proposed natural gas pipeline. A representative in the Russian Energy Ministry told state news agency ITAR-Tass last week the Kremlin has sent two offers to the Turkish government for consideration on a pipeline project dubbed Turkish Stream. On Wednesday, similar sources said there is still no word on the project from the Turkish government. Russia, the source was quoted as saying, was ready for a "phased implementation" of the project. Earlier, the Turkish government said Russian planners hadn’t come forward with route coordinates for the pipeline through the country . The project can’t move […]

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U.S. Consulate in Istanbul Targeted in Terror Attacks in Turkey

ISTANBUL—Turkish police and the U.S. consulate in Istanbul have been hit in a string of deadly attacks starting early Monday, as the two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies deepen their cooperation against Islamic State and Turkey intensifies its fight against Kurdish militants. A police station in the city’s Sultanbeyli neighborhood was struck by a suicide car-bombing at about 1 a.m. local time, injuring three policemen and seven civilians, the Istanbul Police Department said in a statement. Less than six hours later, two assailants and one police officer were killed at a gunfight that erupted when the station drew fire. The U.S. consulate in the city’s Sariyer neighborhood was attacked in shortly after the assaults on the police, with two people opening fire and prompting a clash between the attackers and police. There were no injuries or deaths, and one of the assailants has been caught, according to Turkey’s state-run […]

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Ankara blames Kremlin for gas pipeline delays

Turkey blames Russian planners for delays in momentum of the planned Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline. Photo by Kodda/Shutterstock ANKARA, Turkey, Aug. 5 (UPI) — Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said there were delays in planning on the Russian side in developments of the planned Turkish Stream gas pipeline. Yildiz told the state-backed Anadolu News Agency that Russian planners delayed delivering route coordinates for the pipeline through his country. "Turkey could not begin any construction without these coordinates," he said. Russian energy company Gazprom said in February it surveyed the Turkish land route for the 110-mile section of pipeline from the Black Sea. The Kremlin said the Turkish gas project will help ensure European energy security. South Stream, a longer version of the pipeline, was envisioned as a European network before the Russian government pulled it off the table in late 2014. Russia meets about a quarter of the […]

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Iraq, Turkey: Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline Attacked

Saboteurs attacked on July 29 a pipeline transporting crude oil between the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, halting the flow of oil, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said, Anadolu Agency and Reuters reported. The attack, which took place near the Iraqi border in Turkey’s Sirnak province, comes a day after militants attacked a natural gas pipeline in Agri province, near the Iranian border. The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq relies on part of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline for its own exports. The pipeline has been carrying around 300,000 barrels of oil per day, down from its maximum operational capacity of 400,000 barrels daily, because of other recent attacks, according to Iraqi government figures. As it commits to operations in Syria and Iraq, Ankara is stepping up its fight against the Kurds — a move that could have unintended consequences south of the border . […]

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Pipeline sabotage halts Turkey exports

Turkish gendarme forces patrol the road leading to the jetty at the Ceyhan crude oil terminal on July 13, 2006. (FATIH SARIBAS/Reuters) The export pipeline in Turkey carrying crude from Iraq is expected to restart by Thursday after two acts of sabotage this week, including an incident Wednesday that Turkish officials are calling a bomb attack.Officials from Iraq’s North Oil Company (NOC) and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), as well as industry officials close to the operations of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP), said smuggling operations in Urfa, roughly 370 kilometers from the Iraqi border, took the line d… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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Turkish oil pipeline from Iraq bombed

Turkish struggles with militant campaigns spills over into energy sector, with two pipelines bombed in two days. File Photo by Ebrahem Khadir/ UPI ANKARA, Turkey, July 29 (UPI) — For the second consecutive day, pipelines running through southern Turkey have become the target of militant campaigns drawing attention from NATO. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Wednesday a section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, running from northern Iraq to Turkish ports, was bombed in southern Sirnak province. "Just after the explosion we’ve closed the oil valves to stop extra oil flow," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu News Agency. "We have taken measures and the attack won’t have an effect on oil supply and demand." The pipeline from northern Iraq has a maximum capacity of around 400,000 barrels of oil per day. The bombing comes one day after an attack on a natural gas pipeline running […]

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Turkey: Pipeline Attack Halts Natural Gas Flow From Iran

A Turkish pipeline transporting natural gas from Iran was attacked by saboteurs late on July 27, stopping the flow, Turkey’s energy minister said, Anadolu Agency reported July 28. The attack reportedly occurred in the eastern Agri province, some 15 kilometers (roughly 9 miles) from the Iranian border. There has yet to be a claim of responsibility, Reuters reported, though the attack bore the hallmark of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been targeted in a series of Turkish airstrikes over the past few days . The pipeline carries around 10 billion cubic meters of gas between the two countries each year. Officials with Botas, the firm operating the pipeline, said repairs are underway but that it is unclear when natural gas flows would resume.

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Turkey strikes Islamic State, Kurdish militants in drive for ‘safe zone’

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (C) chairs a security meeting in Ankara, Turkey, in this July 25, 2015 handout provided by Turkey’s Prime Minister’s Press Office. Turkish fighter jets and ground forces hit Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq on Saturday, in a campaign Ankara said would help create a "safe zone" across swathes of northern Syria. The strikes followed Turkey’s first-ever air attacks on Islamic State in Syria a day earlier and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference the heightened security operations will go on. "These operations are not ‘one-point operations’ and will continue as long as there is a threat against Turkey," he said. Turkey has dramatically cranked up its role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, which has seized much of Syria’s north and east, since a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people this week […]

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U.S.-Turkey Deal Paves Way to Set Up Buffer Zone in Northern Syria

The deal allowing U.S. planes to use Turkish bases to strike Islamic State militants is paving the way for establishment of a de facto no-fly zone in northern Syria, Turkish and American officials said. The broad sketches of the understanding include eventually relying on moderate Syrian rebels to help take control of a buffer zone along the Turkish border, according to a Turkish official who spoke on Sunday. Turkey has pledged to use its F-16 fighter jets to help clear the extremist group’s forces from a safe zone about 55 miles wide and 25 miles deep, the Turkish official added. If rebels can take control, the area would be protected by coalition airstrikes so Syrian refugees, including some of the nearly two million living in Turkey, can return to their country, the Turkish official said. The evolving plans open a risky new front for the U.S. in its fight […]

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Strikes on Kurd Militias Elevate Tensions in Turkey

Photo Sympathizers with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party tried to protect themselves as Turkish riot police officers fired a water cannon at an antigovernment demonstration Sunday in Istanbul. Credit Bulent Kilic/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ISTANBUL — As Turkish fighter jets pounded Kurdish militia targets in northern Iraq late Friday, the implications of the attack weighed heavily on Turks and Kurds across the border in Turkey , as they faced the prospect of being drawn back into a bloody civil conflict after years of relative peace. In 2013, Turkey brokered a historic settlement with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., vowing to grant the long-suppressed Kurdish minority greater rights and autonomy in exchange for a cease-fire after a three-decade insurgency that had claimed more than 40,000 lives. The cease-fire brought calm and stability to Turkey’s volatile, predominately Kurdish southeast region. But the peace process sputtered last month, prompting […]

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Turkey and U.S. Agree on Plan to Clear ISIS From Strip of Syria’s North

Photo The Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. Turkey and the United States agreed on a plan that would create what officials are calling an Islamic State-free zone, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians. Credit Murad Sezer/Reuters BAGHDAD — Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say. The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone, which the Turks say could also be a “safe zone” for displaced Syrians. While many details have yet to be determined, including how deep the strip would extend into Syria, the plan would significantly intensify American and Turkish military action against Islamic State […]

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U.S.-Turkey deal aims to create de facto ‘safe zone’ in northwest Syria

Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a de facto “safe zone” along the Turkey-Syria border under the terms of a deal that is expected to significantly increase the scope and pace of the U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State in northern Syria, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. The agreement includes a plan to drive the Islamic State out of a 68-mile-long area west of the Euphrates River and reaching into the province of Aleppo that would then come under the control of the Syrian opposition. If fully implemented, it would also bring American planes in regular, close proximity to bases, aircraft and air defenses operated by the Syrian government, and directly benefit opposition rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Operations in the targeted area would stop short of meeting long-standing Turkish demands for a full-scale, declared no-fly zone, but the area could […]

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Turkey arrests dozens more in sweep against Islamic State, Kurdish militants

Turkish police detained dozens more suspected Islamic State and Kurdish militants in early morning raids on Monday, local media said, amid a crackdown on the armed groups and air strikes in Syria and Iraq. Long a reluctant member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, Turkey last week made a dramatic turnaround by granting the alliance access to its air bases and bombarding targets in Syria linked to the jihadist movement as well as detaining suspected members in Turkish cities. Turkish jets also attacked Kurdish insurgent camps in Iraq for a second night on Sunday, in a campaign that could end Ankara’s peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Broadcaster CNN Turk said more than 800 suspected Islamic State and PKK members had been arrested in the past week in a domestic crackdown carried out alongside the air strikes. Some 500 police swept through the Haci Bayram district […]

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Turkey Attacks Kurdish Militant Camps in Northern Iraq

ISTANBUL — Turkish fighter jets, which on Friday attacked Islamic State targets in Syria , have launched a wave of airstrikes in northern Iraq , targeting camps of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party for the first time in four years, the prime minister’s office said Saturday. The Iraq incursion, which began late Friday and continued into Saturday, effectively ended an unstable two-year cease-fire between the Turkish government and the Kurdish militants, known by the initials P.K.K. After 30 years of conflict that claimed at least 40,000 lives, the two sides reached a fragile peace in 2013, though there have been a few minor clashes since then. Fighter jets also struck Islamic State targets in Syria for a second night, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s office said in the statement Saturday. The jets entered Syrian airspace to do so, the statement said, unlike during the previous strikes , which the government […]

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Turkish jets hit Islamic State positions in Syria: PM’s office

A Turkish Air Force F16 jet fighter prepares to take off from an air base during the Anatolian Eagle military exercise in the central Anatolian city of Konya April 28, 2010. Turkish fighter jets pounded Islamic State targets in Syria early on Friday, the prime minister’s office said, after Turkey said it would take any "necessary measures" to protect itself from Islamist and Kurdish militant attacks. Police, backed by helicopters and special forces, also launched overnight raids on more than 100 suspected Islamic State and Kurdish militant locations in Istanbul, according to media reports. Some 5,000 officers were deployed in the operation. Three F-16 fighter jets took off from a base in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, in the early morning and hit two Islamic State headquarters and one "assembly point" before returning, the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement. "Turkish fighter jets didn’t cross the Syrian border during the […]

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Turkey to Allow Use of Key Air Bases for U.S. Warplanes to Bomb ISIS

AMMAN, Jordan — The United States and Turkey have reached an agreement for manned and unmanned American warplanes to carry out aerial attacks on the Islamic State from two Turkish air bases, Obama administration officials said Thursday. The agreement on the bases, Incirlik and Diyarbakir, was described by one senior administration official as a “game changer” that would significantly strengthen the American military’s ability to strike at ISIS targets in Syria and carry out extended aerial surveillance. It came after months of negotiations that culminated on Wednesday with a phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and President Obama, another administration official said. The development came as Turkish forces were reported to have engaged in the first direct combat with Islamic State forces on the Syrian side of the border. Both developments vaulted Turkey squarely into the broader battle with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS […]

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Turkish Airstrikes Hit ISIS Targets in Syria

ISTANBUL — Turkish fighter jets struck three Islamic State targets inside Syria on Friday in a pre-emptive measure based on intelligence about a planned attack on Turkey , a senior government official said. The airstrikes came a day after Turkish forces engaged in their first direct combat with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, on the border with Syria and gave permission for American warplanes to use two air bases in the fight against the group in Syria. As well as the airstrikes, Turkey also carried out simultaneous raids across 13 provinces on Friday, resulting in the arrests of 250 people suspected to have ties with terrorist organizations. Three F-16 jets launched guided bombs against two command centers and a meeting point for Islamic State fighters across the border from Kilis, in southern Turkey, without entering Syrian airspace, according to the prime minister’s office. “We received […]

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Suspected Islamic State suicide bombing kills 27 in Turkish border town

A wounded man sits on a step following an explosion in Suruc, in the southeastern Sanliurfa province, Turkey, July 20, 2015. An explosion outside a cultural center in the Turkish town of Suruc near the border with Syria killed at least 27 people and wounded many more on Monday, in what senior officials said may have been a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants. Television footage showed bodies lying beneath trees outside the building in the mostly Kurdish town in southeastern Turkey, some 10 km (6 miles) from the Syrian town of Kobani, where Kurdish fighters have been battling Islamic State. "Our initial evidence shows that this was a suicide attack by Islamic State," one senior official in Ankara told Reuters. A second official also said Islamic State appeared to have been responsible and that the attack was a "retaliation for the Turkish government’s efforts to fight terrorism". NATO […]

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Turkey Uneasy as U.S. Support of Syrian Kurds Grows

Photo Kurdish fighters on June 15 near Tel Abyad, a strategic Syrian border town near Turkey that the fighters seized from ISIS control. Credit Rodi Said/Reuters ISTANBUL — The United States has stepped up its military support for Syrian Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State, efforts that have angered Turkey , a longtime ally and NATO member, which is now weighing new measures to contain the ambitions of the Kurds, including a buffer zone within Syria . Ankara sees the Syrian Kurds as a serious national security threat because of their links to Kurdish nationalists in Turkey , who have waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. So it has looked on with growing concern at the expanding cooperation between the Syrian Kurdish militias and the United States military in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. The United States now maintains extensive […]

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Kurds Have Bigger Prize in Mind After Political Gains in Turkey

ISTANBUL — Late into the night on Sunday on the shattered streets of Kobani, the Syrian Kurdish city devastated last year by battles with militants affiliated with the Islamic State, residents celebrated the outcome of the recent Turkish parliamentary election results , honking horns, cheering and firing their guns. The election, in which the Kurdish party surpassed a threshold for the first time to enter Parliament, was the latest milestone in a broader trend: As the Middle East unravels, at great human cost, from wars and sectarian strife, the Kurds have moved doggedly through the chaos to secure more rights and autonomy for themselves. Their electoral victory in Turkey was a historic watershed, a moment of political empowerment for the long-suppressed Kurdish minority, which fought a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. The victory was celebrated in Kurdish areas across the Middle East, reverberating in the mountains of northern […]

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Turkish Election Signals That Erdogan’s Power May Have Peaked

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Turkey for a mandate to reshape the country’s political system and give him more power. On Sunday, Turkish voters replied with a no. Preliminary results showed the ruling AK Party, which Erdogan led for more than a decade before becoming president last year, short of the majority needed for a single-party government. The results are a a blow to Erdogan, who turned the vote into a referendum on his rule, and suggest that after more than a decade as the nation’s most influential politician, he may have over-reached. “This is a major defeat both for Erdogan and the AK Party,” Ozer Sencar, head of MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research, said Sunday by phone from Ankara. “It’s a clear sign that his power is in decline.” Erdogan argued on the campaign trail that a strong presidency was necessary for Turkey to become one of the […]

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Americans and Turks Discuss ISIS Threat

Photo Shiite militiamen clashed with members of the Islamic State in Fallujah, Iraq. Turkey wants to clear ISIS from its southern border. Credit Hadi Mizban/Associated Press WASHINGTON — American and Turkish officials are discussing a joint effort to clear Islamic State fighters away from Turkey ’s southern border, a senior State Department official said on Monday. The official did not provide details or explain what role American air power might play, but he said that discussions with Turkish officials had progressed after several rocky months. “We are looking for things we can do in a very material and tangible way,” the official said. “We want to get those extremists off their border. We want to look at a way that we can do that cooperatively with them.” Senior officials from the United States-led coalition that is fighting the Islamic State group are scheduled to meet in Paris on Tuesday […]

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Turkish Blackout Shows World Power Grids Under Threat

A massive power failure that crippled life in Turkey for almost 10 hours on Tuesday highlights the threats facing grids worldwide. Turkey’s most extensive power failure in 15 years, which left people stranded in elevators and traffic snarled, wasn’t the result of a lack of electricity. The prime minister said all possible causes — including a cyber-attack — were being investigated. While the source of the problem is still unknown, recent revelations that a 2008 oil pipeline explosion in Turkey was orchestrated via computer and the high-profile attack last year on Sony Pictures Entertainment demonstrate the increasing ability of hackers to penetrate systems. For power grids, technology being added to make them more reliable and productive is also giving attackers an entry point into vital infrastructure. “Every country, including the U.S., will be looking at it to see what the vulnerabilities were and learn some lessons about protection,” said […]

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Turkey Seeks to Replace Ukraine as Energy Hub

Russia says it will stop sending natural gas to Europe through Ukraine and will start sending it through Turkey. Turkey welcomes the decision. For ten years the country has aimed to be a major energy hub, or distribution center. But some critics say Turkey is not prepared to play such a role. Atilla Yesilada is a senior partner at Global Source Partners, a research group in Turkey. He says Russia’s decision is a major opportunity for his country. “Turkey simply becomes the next Ukraine and Turkey could become a major energy hub that supplies Europe.” But Mr. Yesilada says Turkey has a lot of work to do before that can happen. He says Turkey will need to understand the gas market, know the buyers, predict prices and build places to store natural gas. He says being an energy hub will require a big investment but it may also bring […]

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Moscow: Turkish Stream the new South Stream

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Europe needs Turkish gas project, despite abandoning larger network last year. UPI/Li Tao/Pool MOSCOW, Jan. 21 (UPI) — Moscow said Wednesday a Turkish gas project will help ensure European energy security, the same reason given for the abandoned South Stream pipeline. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the so-called Turkish Stream gas pipeline will do the same as a project the government in Moscow pulled off the table in late 2014. "We expect it to be realized and help enhance Europe’s energy security, therefore freeing it from problem transit states," he told reporters. Russia meets about a quarter of the natural gas needs for the European economy. The majority of that runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine, where lingering debt issues and ongoing conflict present risks to traditional energy routes. Russian officials in mid-December confirmed South Stream, touted as the answer […]

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Russia Presses Ahead With Plan for Gas Pipeline to Turkey

LONDON — President Vladimir V. Putin surprised the world in December when he aborted long-laid plans for a natural gas pipeline under the Black Sea to Europe, saying Russia would run pipes to Turkey instead. Many in the West thought it might be merely a bluff, to make the European Union reconsider its opposition to the pipeline project, known as South Stream. But in recent weeks, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom has shown signs that it is serious about proceeding with what it calls Turkish Stream. Gazprom quickly bought out its European partners in South Stream Transport, the Amsterdam company that was to build the Black Sea leg of the pipeline. And the chief of that Dutch company has petitioned the Netherlands government to let it keep working with Gazprom, despite European sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. On the Turkish front, Gazprom is actively negotiating with […]

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Kurdish rebels threaten renewed violence in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Kurdish rebel commander has warned that fighting in Turkey’s southeast could resume by June if efforts to end a 30-year insurgency make no progress. Murat Karayilan’s comments came days after Turkish and Kurdish officials declared a "new phase" in the peace process after widespread protests by Kurds in October threatened to derail the talks. Karayilan told Iraq-based Roj News that imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan could be freed from prison by April if the talks make headway. However, he threatened to resume hostilities before Turkey’s June elections if there is no progress. His comments were carried by Turkish and Kurdish media on Wednesday. Turkey began talking to Ocalan in 2012 with the aim of ending the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

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Russia, Turkey Complete Initial Gas Pipeline Talks

By Emre Peker ISTANBUL–Turkey and Russia have held the first round of talks to build a new pipeline between the two Black Sea neighbors as Moscow seeks an alternative to the natural-gas link to the European Union it scrapped earlier this month amid political tensions over Ukraine. The negotiations started Wednesday following the memorandum Turkey signed with Russia during President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Ankara last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Thursday. Mr. Yildiz said final deliberations may last until 2020. It is too soon to say whether a new project will get the green light to replace the South Stream pipeline which Russia’s state-run energy firm Gazprom had undertaken to build, the minister said. The proposed new pipeline–billed "Turk Stream"–would be a major piece of energy infrastructure in its own right and help Turkey become an energy hub with a gas exporting capabilities that […]

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In Diplomatic Defeat, Putin Diverts Pipeline to Turkey

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin said Monday that he would scrap Russia ’s South Stream gas pipeline, a grandiose project that was once intended to establish the country’s dominance in southeastern Europe but instead fell victim to Russia ’s increasingly toxic relationship with the West. It was a rare diplomatic defeat for Mr. Putin, who said Russia would redirect the pipeline to Turkey . He painted the failure to build the pipeline as a loss for Europe and blamed Brussels for its intransigence. The decision also seemed to be a rare victory for the European Union and the Obama administration, which have appeared largely impotent this year as Mr. Putin annexed Crimea and stirred rebellion in eastern Ukraine. Russia had long presented the $22 billion South Stream project as a sound business move. But Washington and Brussels had dismissed it as a thinly veiled attempt by the Kremlin […]

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BP to close TANAP deal by year’s end

BP confirms it will close on deal to take stake in Turkish natural gas pipeline by the end of the year. UPI/Alexis C. Glenn LONDON, Oct. 28 (UPI) — BP confirmed Tuesday an agreement to take a 12 percent stake in a Turkish pipeline carrying Azeri gas to Europe will close by the end of the year. BP-Azerbaijan in January 2013 signed a framework agreement to take on a 12 percent stake in the Trans-Anatolian natural gas project. The State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic has a majority stake in the pipeline. "We expect to take a 12 percent stake in TANAP by the end of the year," a BP spokesman confirmed to UPI. BP has awarded more than $1 billion in development contracts since selecting the Trans-Adriatic pipeline as its option to carry natural gas from the Shah Deniz field off the coast of Azerbaijan last year. The […]

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US to use Turkish bases in fight against Isis

US soldiers stand near a Patriot missile system at a Turkish military base in Gaziantep on February 5, 2013. The United States, Germany and the Netherlands committed to send two missile batteries each and up to 400 soldiers to operate them after Ankara asked for help to bolster its air defences against possible missile attack from Syria. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC ©AFP Turkey will allow the US-led coalition to use military bases on its territory to launch operations into Iraq and Syria and to train Syrian rebel forces, US officials said on Sunday. The decision represents a significant increase in Turkey’s involvement in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Isis, following several days of intense diplomatic lobbying by Washington of its Nato ally. The Obama administration has been particularly keen to conduct air strikes from the Incirlik base in […]

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U.S. Troops to Use Bases in Turkey

WASHINGTON — Turkey will allow American and coalition troops to use its bases, including a key installation within 100 miles of the Syrian border, for operations against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, Defense Department officials said Sunday. Obama administration officials have urged the Turkish government to play a more significant role in fighting the extremists who have seized large parts of Iraq and Syria and driven refugees into Turkey. An American military team will arrive in Turkey this week to work out details of the training program and discuss what kind of missions can be flown from the Turkish bases, administration officials said. The basing and training agreement follows two days of talks in Ankara, the Turkish capital, between the authorities there and John R. Allen, the retired American general who is coordinating the coalition’s response to the Islamic State. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who has been […]

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Turkey Votes to Allow Operations Against ISIS

Turkey appeared to take a big political step toward joining the American-led campaign against the militants of the Islamic State when its Parliament voted Thursday to authorize expanded military operations in Iraq and Syria and to allow foreign forces to launch operations from its territory. But it was far from clear whether the political step would soon translate into military action. In many ways Turkey’s stance is a crucial question mark hanging over the campaign against the Islamic State. Alone among the potential coalition members, it has a large, capable army already on station along the borders of Syria and Iraq, with bases and logistical support close at hand and long experience at working with other NATO members, including the United States. But it has been deeply cautious about intervening against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and the militants have so far been careful not to draw […]

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Turkey to get more Russian natural gas

Turkey to get more natural gas from Russian through Blue Stream pipeline. UPI/Hamid Forotan MOSCOW, Oct. 2 (UPI) — The Turkish government said it reached a deal with Russian energy company Gazprom to receive nearly 20 percent more gas per year from the Blue Stream pipeline. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz met with Gazprom officials in Moscow to discuss bilateral relations. Turkey consumes about 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas annually and more than half of that comes from Russia. During meetings with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller, the Turkish government said the amount of gas sent from Russia though the Blue Stream pipeline would increase by about 18 percent to 670 billion cubic feet per year. Turkey aims to exploit its geographical position to serve as an energy bridge between Middle Eastern and Asian suppliers to the Middle East. The Trans […]

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Turkey Seeks Syria Troop Mandate as Islamic State on Border

Turkey’s government is seeking parliamentary approval for possible military action in Syria and Iraq that would allow its own forces to target Islamic State and permit foreign troops to use Turkish soil. Legislation, also citing security risks from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and Kurdish PKK rebel fighter based in northern Iraq, was submitted to parliament late yesterday to allow foreign troops to use Turkey as a staging post and to renew an existing mandate for military action for one year, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. The bill will be debated tomorrow, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said yesterday after a six-hour cabinet meeting attended by army chiefs. The vote is expected to pass and marks a shift in Turkey’s approach to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State after weeks of failing to publicly back the campaign. Militants in northern Syria have advanced to within a few miles of […]

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Turkey Wants Secure Syria Zone as Militants Strike Kurds

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the establishment of a “secure zone” inside Syria to repatriate Kurdish refugees who fled to Turkey to escape an Islamic State onslaught. Erdogan, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Istanbul last night, said Turkey “can’t stay out” of the U.S.-led coalition against the al-Qaeda breakaway. He said any offensive strategy must also strengthen rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Turkey seeks to oust. His remarks capture the clashing interests that have kept Turkey out of the alliance so far and strained relations with Turkish Kurds that he has labored hard to repair. While Erdogan says he wants to see the al-Qaeda breakaway vanquished, that could come at the cost of benefiting Assad and strengthening the hand of Kurdish separatists on both sides of the border. Kurds in Turkey suspect Erdogan wants to create a militarized buffer zone along part of […]

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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