Расширяются и крепнут сирийско-турецкие связи

[Meltonian]

Trade flourishes as Syria befriends old foe Turkey

Syria (Reuters) - Turkish delicacies are unashamedly on display in Syria's culinary capital. Aleppo merchants are switching to imports from Turkey, and buses ferry shoppers to an upscale mall across the border.

A warming of once-chilly Turkish-Syrian ties has unleashed a one-way trade boom. A trade deal activated two years ago has cut tariffs and reduced smuggling. Visa requirements were abolished.

Turkey's popularity in Syria soared after an Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid ships in which nine Turks were killed on May 31.

"Turkey now has a stake in the Palestinian cause, and Syria stands to gain," a diplomat said. "It will be more difficult for Israel to launch any military action against Syria."

The furor over the flotilla interception has also deflected attention from Israeli and U.S. pressure on Damascus over its alleged arms supplies to the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group.

Syrians have traditionally looked askance at their powerful northern neighbor, which ruled them during the Ottoman Empire, but many are now seeing secular Muslim Turkey, a NATO member with an Islamist-leaning government, in a new light.

"It's time to shed the stigma we have had about Turkey. They're no longer Ottoman, but a development model for the Arab East," said Abdelqader al-Deiri, a Syrian businessman who now buys restaurant equipment from Turkey instead of Europe.

"Transport costs are lower, but Turkish goods do not compete on price alone. They make high quality," added Deiri, who often vacations in Turkey. His eight-year-old son is learning Turkish.

"We have to admit that the Turks make better sweets than us. The pistachios and butter are better, so is the workmanship," he said, munching on a baklava slice from Gaziantep.

Viewing Syria as a gateway to the Middle East, Turkey has moved in recent years to solve old disputes with Arab governments while becoming more critical toward Israel.

Ankara mediated indirect Syria-Israel peace talks that were broken off when Israel attacked the Gaza Strip in 2008.

"Syria is an important country as a growing market, a promising economic partner, plus it has an important place in regional issues," Turkish ambassador Omer Onhon told Reuters. "So it's only natural that our relations have improved."

Yet the two countries, on opposing sides in the Cold War, came to the brink of conflict in 1998 over Syrian support for the PKK, a separatist Turkish Kurd guerrilla group. Work on demining the 800 km (500 mile) border began only two years ago.

Syria previously complained that Turkish upstream dams had worsened its water shortage. It long upheld a territorial claim against Turkey, which was awarded the province of Alexandretta (Iskenderun) by France in 1939 when Syria was under French rule.

Syrian maps still show the border province as part of Syria, but the government has indicated that a solution is possible.

Under Western pressure, Turkey has expanded the rights of its Kurdish minority in recent years, although clashes with the PKK continue. Syria has kept its own one million Kurds on a tight rein, denying citizenship to a substantial number of them.

The easing of Syrian-Turkish trade restrictions, however, is helping revive Aleppo, which has a big Kurdish population.

The once-cosmopolitan entrepot had been a prime casualty of the decades of border tensions that cut the city off from its natural hinterland in what is modern-day Turkey.

Turkish businessmen fill Aleppo hotels, eager to sell consumer goods to Syrians starved of them under the country's previous socialist-style economic policies.

Joint ventures, mostly in jeans and textiles, with Turkish companies make up half of the $650 million investments at the nearby Sheikh Najar industrial zone, according to official data, but overall Turkish investment in Syria remains miniscule.

"Syria is a truly virgin market for us," said Bilge Pakis, an engineer at Turkish waterpark specialist Polin, which operates in 70 countries.

ECONOMIC DISPARITY

Syrian presidential aide Hassan Turkmani said ties with Turkey had helped Damascus overcome Western attempts to isolate it, but acknowledged the challenges in befriending a powerhouse with an economy 10 times as big as Syria's.

Turkish exports to Syria, ranging from construction material to white goods and electronics, rose to $1.4 billion in 2009 from $1.1 billion the previous year. Syrian exports in return, mostly of oil, almost halved to $328 million in the same period.

"Syria has the potential and if we can learn from the Turkish experience and adopt the technology we can become competitive," Turkmani said.

The burgeoning relationship with Turkey may also have encouraged Syria to snub an economic deal with the European Union that could have forced the government, controlled by the Baath Party since 1963, to discuss its treatment of political prisoners and reforms to the legal system.

Syria cited interference in internal affairs and potential economic damage as reasons for refusing to sign the deal last year. But not everyone sees this as a good thing.

"What we would have lost to the European Union we are now losing to Turkey," one Syrian businessman said.

Last year the two countries signed 50 protocols ranging from energy to transport, which will consolidate Turkey's push. Turkish officials, keen to see Syria ease container truck congestion at the border, say progress has been slow.

"Trade has been to our advantage. But more Turkish investments will come and Syrian labor is starting to go to Turkey," one of the officials said.

Syrian businessman Fahed Tfenkji said Syrian companies could not rely only on lower labor costs to attract Turkish partners.

"A Turkish company comes and is pleased with the operation for the first six months," he said. "But unfortunately the Syrian partner often cannot sustain the quality."

*http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6533KW20100604*

[Meltonian]

Turkey's diplomatic offensive against Israel gains Muslim steam

Assad: Syria prepared to act against Israel's siege of Gaza; Erdogan: Turkey can give Gaza everything it needs if Israel lifts siege.

By Jack Khoury and Haaretz Service

Israel's storming of the Turkish ship and killing of nine Turks a week ago has loomed over the Eurasian and Middle East security talks in Istanbul, which began on Monday and will move to a full summit on Tuesday. "The time has come to lift the embargo on Gaza," Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a joint news conference with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

"We don't want an open air prison in the world any more," he said.

Once close allies, Israel and Turkey's relations have been on a downward spiral since Erdogan began championing the Palestinian cause after an Israeli offensive in Gaza in 2008.

The Turkish leader has said Israel would have to pay for killing Turks in the botched commando raid.

"Israel has to pay the bill for the blood that has been shed by the martyrs," said Erdogan, who has become a folk hero in the Middle East for his attacks on Israel.

The Syrian leader pledged to support Turkey in action and words in its campaign for an end to the blockade.

"I would like to say Turkish blood is not different from Arab blood," Assad said. "Our blood is one, and this combination will eliminate the blockade of Gaza."

Damascus would stand by "every decision" made by Turkey to see Israel lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Assad said, adding: "We are not just about condemnation, we are about actions."

Assad added his own criticism of the flotilla raid, calling it not "just another crime, but a crime that exposes Israel's true face."

"We came to Istanbul to condemn Israel's crime," said Assad. "We are not just people who talks and issue declarations of condemnation. We are in favor of actions, and we declare that we will support every decision and every step that Turkey requests in order to break the blockade, including support of an international inquiry."

"It is clear to the world that the peace activists arrived with a goal of peace," added Assad. "The whole world, including Israel, knew in advance that it was a Turkish boat, sailing under a Turkish flag. Israel always commits crime, but it has always accused those it killed of terrorism. This time, Israel cannot accuse its victims of terror."

Turkey also received messages from support from other Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar and, of course, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

"Pakistan condemned in the strongest possible terms the unjustified aggression shown towards the freedom flotilla," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. "We stand by you."

It is doubtful whether the final declaration by the Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia forum (CICA) will contain a condemnation of Israel, as the wording has to be reached by consensus, and Israel is a member.

Though it decided against exposing any senior official to Turkey's fury at an international forum, Israel was represented by its consulate-general.

CICA includes a diverse group of 20 countries, but many other countries' leaders – such as Assad - have come as guests.

While not expecting much from CICA, Turkey is using the chance to gather diplomatic support against Israel.

On Wednesday, Arab League foreign ministers are due to meet in Istanbul for talks with their Turkish counterpart.

Israel has rejected a proposal by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for a multi-national investigation and said it had the right to launch its own inquiry. It has said its forces acted in self-defense after they were set upon by pro-Palestinian activists wielding clubs and knives.

Erdogan dismissed Israeli allegations that some of the aid workers on board the Mavi Marmara aid ship had militant links.

"They are like a lying machine. They are making up lies. That's what they are known for," the Turkish leader said.

The diplomatic offensive against Israel has overshadowed other business at the summit, being attended by eight visiting presidents, plus Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map", met with Turkey's President Abdullah Gul on Monday.

According to a Turkish official, Gul urged the Iranian president to show the world that Tehran was ready to cooperate to remove fears concerning its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad criticized Putin last month for backing moves to draft sanctions against Iran last month, and there are no plans for them to meet during the CICA summit.

Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member and a candidate to join the European Union, has sought to raise its international profile in recent years, mediating in issues ranging from Afghanistan/Pakistan ties to Iran's nuclear program.

*http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-s-diplomatic-offensive-against-israel-gains-muslim-steam-1.294662*

[Meltonian]

Turkey signs deal with Arab neighbors to create free trade zone

Turkey signed a deal Thursday with its Arab neighbors of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon to establish a cooperation council to create a zone of free movement of goods and persons among them. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu emphasized that the deal should not be seen as an alternative to the European Union and invited all other interested countries to join .

Turkey is still eager to join the EU, Davutoglu said, but added that the bloc could not and should not restrict the Muslim country's relations with its neighbors.

The four countries signed the deal at the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum, where officials from Arab nations burst into applause as Turkey's prime minister walked to the podium. Turkey's popularity in the Middle East has risen amid disputes over Israel's Gaza blockade and United Nations sanctions against Iran.

Meanwhile, the European Union said Thursday that it planned soon to grant duty-free access for Palestinian products.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said such a deal would "improve the access of Palestinian exports to the EU (and) help revamp the private sector in the Palestinian Authority."

De Gucht's comments were released Thursday after he met with Palestinian Economy Minister Hasan Abu-Libdeh, who said the duty-free access would help the state-building process we are undergoing with the assistance and guidance of close friends such as the EU.

No EU capitals have opposed such a move, likely to take effect within months. The issue carries mostly political significance. EU trade with the Palestinian Authority was only 71 million euros ($85 million) in 2008.

Last month, the EU announced that it would rethink the future size of its 300 million euro aid budget for Palestinians if no progress is made towards peace soon.

The aid is supposed to prepare the Palestinians for a peace treaty with Israel that will give them their own state, but "if that isn't coming then I can see a number of questions", said Christian Berger, the EU's representative in Jerusalem.

The annual assistance given to the Palestinians over the past 16 years represents the EU's highest per capita foreign aid program. The current seven-year budget, part of which funds United Nations support projects, is locked in until 2013.

EU Ambassador to Israel Andrew Standley said discussions on the next seven-year budget would start soon and focus on how best to spend the money.

There was a debate about whether it should be spent mostly on reducing poverty or more should be devoted to projects that advanced EU geopolitical goals, he said.

After 16 months without negotiations of any kind, Israel and the Palestinians began indirect talks last month on a peace treaty via United States mediator George Mitchell.

"If there's a breakthrough then I guess there's a likelihood that our support will be increased," Berger told reporters at a briefing of EU delegation heads.

*http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkey-signs-deal-with-arab-neighbors-to-create-free-trade-zone-1.295349*