by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
By Kasim Ileri,
Washington: The U.S. will deliver two more F-35 fighter jets to Turkey in 2019, the military head of the F-35 program said Monday.
Speaking to reporters in Arlington, Virginia, Vice Admiral Mat Winter, the executive officer for the F-35 program, said he expected the warplanes to be delivered in March.
Ankara plans to acquire 100 F-35 fighter jets in the coming years.
Winter said he does not “see any indication of a change” in the delivery of Turkey’s 100 jets.
“The Pentagon must submit a report to Congress within 90 days of the 2019 Defense Authorization Act being enacted,” he added, referring to an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that prohibits F-35 sales to Turkey until the Pentagon issues a report on Turkish-American relations.
The F-35, a stealth jet built by Lockheed Martin, is considered one of the most expensive pieces of U.S. military equipment, with an average cost of around $100 million.
Winter said his office has provided technical and programmatic information for the report and will submit it within 90 days.
Turkey took delivery of its first two F-35 fighter jets in late June at a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas.
Turkey has been in the F-35 program since 1999. The Turkish defense industry has taken an active role in their production, including Alp Aviation, AYESAS, Kale Aviation, Kale Pratt & Whitney and Turkish Aerospace Industries making parts for the first F-35 fighter jet.
*Servet Gunerigok contributed to this story
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Islamabad : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said that Turkey has agreed to support Islamabad’s bid for a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue at the UN.
Qureshi’s comments came at a joint press conference at the Foreign Office with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is currently in Pakistan on a four-day visit.
“Turkey stands by Pakistan during its tough times… It supported Pakistan against the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to place Islamabad on the grey list and wants the best solution for the Kashmir issue,” Qureshi was cited as saying by Geo News.
“At the UN conference, there will be a separate conference on Kashmir on the side. It happens every year but it is different this time because a new UN report has come out which sheds light on the (Indian) Kashmir.
“There has certainly been a surge in the interest of people in the human rights abuses that are taking place there,” said the Pakistani minister.
Cavusoglu said it was Turkey’s wish that the Kashmir issue involving India and Pakistan gets resolved in the UN in a peaceful manner, according to Dawn newspaper.
“In the group that has been formed over Kashmir in the UN, we will stand with Pakistan.”
According to Qureshi, Turkey also supported Pakistan’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
He said that ways to enhance economic and commercial ties with Turkey were also discussed in his meeting with Cavusoglu.
Later, Cavusoglu called on Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
They discussed bilateral ties, regional security including the evolving situation in the Middle East and the management of defence and security cooperation between both the countries, said the military’s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Ankara : Turkey topped the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and ranked second in Europe with its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the second quarter of 2018.
The Turkish economy grew by 5.2 percent to 884 billion Turkish liras ($204.3 billion) in April-June period compared to the same period last year, Turkey’s Statistical Institute said on Monday.
With these figures, Turkey ranked first among the OECD countries, who released their data. Turkey was followed by Poland and Chile (5 percent), Hungary (4.6) and Latvia (4.4), according to data compiled by an Anadolu Agency correspondent.
OECD countries’ average growth rate was 2.5 percent in the second quarter, versus the same quarter of 2017.
On the other hand, the lowest growth rates were seen in Denmark, Japan and Italy by 0.6 percent, 1 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively.
In the first quarter of 2018, Ireland was first among the 36 OECD countries with a growth rate of 10 percent, while Turkey ranked the second with 7.3 percent.
Among 28 countries of the EU, Turkey ranked the second after Malta, whose GDP rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. Poland, Hungary, and Latvia followed Malta and Turkey. In the same period, EU28’s slowest-growing countries were Denmark (0.6 percent), Italy (1.2) and the UK (1.3).
Both EA19 and EU28’s economies grew by 2.1 percent in the April-June period, versus the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries’ average growth rate for the second quarter was 2.7 percent.
Turkey’s annual GDP growth rate was also 7.4 percent in 2017.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Emerging Businesses, SMEs, World
Tehran : Turkey, Russia, and Iran have agreed to use their local currencies for trade between the three countries, according to Central Bank of Iran Governor Abdolnaser Hemati on Saturday.
Hemati told the media a meeting with the administrators of Turkish and Russian Central Banks is expected in the near future and he hopes the agreed topics would rapidly come into effect.
The governor termed the meetings in Tehran that saw the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the trilateral summit on Syria as fruitful.
He said they had agreed on the trade of petroleum, gas, and fundamental products, and also agreed on some banking issues.
The three countries agreed the US dollar should not be used for trade, Hemati said. He added that transactions will be made over designated currency exchange rates.
A trilateral summit on Syria was held in Tehran on Friday by Turkish, Russian and Iranian leaders.
—AG/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Muslim World, Social Round-up
President of Turkey Erdogan, President of Iran Rouhani and President of Russia Putin attend trilateral summit on September 7, 2018 in Tehran, Iran.
By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun,
Ankara: Turkey, Iran, and Russia on Friday called for a political solution to the crisis in Syria in a joint statement issued at the end of a trilateral summit in the Iranian capital Tehran.
“There could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and it can only end through a negotiated political process.
“[They] reaffirmed their determination to continue active cooperation with a view to advancing the political process in consistence with the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi and the UN Security Council Resolution 2254,” the statement said.
The leaders expressed their “satisfaction with the achievements” of the Astana format since January 2017, in particular, the progress made in “reducing violence across the Syrian Arab Republic and contributing to peace, security, and stability in the country.”
Iran, Turkey and Russia “emphasized strong and continued the commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and highlighted that they should be respected by all.”
The leaders “rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism,” while expressing determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and national security of neighboring countries.”
The joint statement said the leaders highlighted the “need to create conditions for the safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their original places of residence in Syria.”
Russia, Iran, and Turkey also called for the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies to help Syria by providing additional humanitarian aid.
The joint statement also welcomed the progress in the work of the Working Group on the release of detainees and abductees, and handover of the bodies as well as the identification of the missing persons, as undertaken with the participation of the UN and ICRC experts.
The next tripartite meeting will be held in Russia, upon the invitation of President Putin.
—AA
