Page 20 - TURKRptJun19

“Turkey does not recognise the unilateral and illegitimate exclusive economic zone claims of the Greek Cypriots,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a letter released by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency. He added: “Third parties should refrain in taking sides in overlapping maritime boundary claims and they should not act as if they are in a court in rendering judgement on bilateral maritime boundaries.” Turkey has deployed its drillship 39 nautical miles off the western coast of Cyprus, the northern part of which is a Turkish-Cypriot breakaway territory which is only recognised by Ankara. The closest Turkish shore lies almost 80 nautical miles away. However, Turkey argues the region is part of its own continental shelf, claiming that its drilling activities can therefore be seen as in compliance with international law. As a country with few natural energy resources on its territory, Turkey faces a huge bill each year for oil and gas imports and is anxious not to miss out on any hydrocarbons it can claim as its own.
Detained Turkish foreign ministry staff allege torture and mistreatment.
Five Turkish foreign ministry staff detained last week on suspicion of links to the failed 2016 coup three years ago have alleged that they have been tortured and mistreated in custody, the Ankara Lawyers’ Bar Association said on May 28.
Turkey now rivals the US and the UK as the world’s most prolific user of killer drones, according to a review by The Intercept of reported lethal drone strikes worldwide, the publication reported on May 14. Efforts by Washington to control proliferation through restrictions on drone exports appear to have failed to slow down a global race to acquire the technology. The Intercept’s report noted that even if major drone developers like the US or China “decide to restrict the sale of armed drones, the genie is out of the bottle—the technology itself can now be replicated. That’s what Turkey has done”. “Turkey,” the report said, “stands out as not only the most advanced new developer of drones but also as the only country to regularly use them on its own soil, against its own citizens.” In 2015, Selcuk Bayraktar married the youngest daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bayraktar Makina is now the preferred drone manufacturer for Turkey. Turkish TB2 drones killed 449 people in northwestern Syria in the first four months of last year, according to officials cited by the report. Since later last year, however, Turkey has had to get used to the reality that the PKK is now also using drones, off-the-shelf models that can even be acquired on Amazon and adopted with improvised bombs. The PKK’s drones are reportedly yet to cause any human casualties.
Turkey objects to US move to designate Muslim Brotherhood “terrorist”.
Turkey’s multi-faceted foreign policy dispute with the US could be set to deepen even further following a White House announcement that President Donald Trump is working to declare the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). The designation would “undoubtedly yield extremely wrong results regarding stability, human rights, basic rights and freedoms in [Middle East] countries,” Omer Celik, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AKP ruling party, said in response to the development on April 30.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, has retained backing from Erdogan since the Egyptian presidential administration it formed in 2012 following the Arab Spring was overthrown by the military. Brotherhood figures have found refuge in Turkey, but the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria and the UAE consider the organisation a terrorist entity. Among the Gulf monarchies, only Turkey’s ally Qatar, backs the Muslim Brotherhood. Ankara’s relations with the Saudis and UAE are brittle given their role in attempting to blockade Qatar over political differences, and Turkey’s aggressive approach to solving the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.
Request from Sisi. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked Trump to make the FTO designation in a private meeting during an April 9 visit to
20 TURKEY Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com