Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

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Rony
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rony »

Erdogan want to rebrand the country as 'Turkiye'
Turkey’s authorities have launched a bid to rebrand the country as ‘Türkiye’. Official communiques from president Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the move was to best represent the Turkish nation. But it has been claimed the change is to distance the country from links to the bird – as well as the Cambridge Dictionary definition of ‘something that fails badly’. :rotfl:

The change will be implemented in official communications and on export products. A statement said: ‘The phrase Türkiye represents and expresses the culture, civilisation and values of the nation in the best way.

‘In this context, the phrase “Made in Türkiye” is now being used instead of “Made in Turkey” on export products.’

The country adopted the name Türkiye after it declared independence in 1923 but ‘Turkey’ stuck among Western nations.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Dilbu »

Turkish inflation seen above 30% in December amid lira weakness
ISTANBUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Turkey's annual inflation rate is expected to have hit 30.6% in December, according to a Reuters poll, breaching the 30% level for the first time since 2003 as prices rose due to record lira volatility.

The 30.6% median forecast of 13 economists would be the highest since May 2003 - with forecasts ranging from 26.4% to 37.3%.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by vimal »

Meh , that inflation figure needs to hit 72% to be really pure. Turks and Pakis are in the race to reach that djinn magical figure soon.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Manish_P »

And when that happens the sultan will simply remove a zero from the end of the lira and rename it ('Gira' - my humble suggestion)... zero was invented by the kufr baniyas anyway
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Ambar »

After the record appreciation of lira against USD last week, it has now restarted its downward journey . Since Friday the turkish lira has lost over 20% of its value against USD. Hope in a month's time it will breach 15₺/1 USD once again.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Vips »

Dilbu wrote:Turkish inflation seen above 30% in December amid lira weakness
ISTANBUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Turkey's annual inflation rate is expected to have hit 30.6% in December, according to a Reuters poll, breaching the 30% level for the first time since 2003 as prices rose due to record lira volatility.

The 30.6% median forecast of 13 economists would be the highest since May 2003 - with forecasts ranging from 26.4% to 37.3%.
Looks like Turkey is reclaiming the moniker of "Sickman of Europe". Infact Er(duh)gan is poised to take Türkiye to greater glory and make it the Terminally Sickman of Europe. :rotfl:
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by anupmisra »

Rony wrote:Turkey’s authorities have launched a bid to rebrand the country as ‘Türkiye’.
It should be called Anatolia. Turks are the invaders/outsiders. This is equal to naming Aryavarta/Bharat after the mughals - mughalistan. Before the arrival of the invading nomadic Turks who originated from Central Asia, the original indigenous inhabitants were Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and Kurds.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rony »

anupmisra wrote:
Rony wrote:Turkey’s authorities have launched a bid to rebrand the country as ‘Türkiye’.
It should be called Anatolia. Turks are the invaders/outsiders. This is equal to naming Aryavarta/Bharat after the mughals - mughalistan. Before the arrival of the invading nomadic Turks who originated from Central Asia, the original indigenous inhabitants were Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and Kurds.
Hardly any 'Turk' in Anatolia has any turkic genes. Most of them are turkified greeks/kurds/armenians/persians/arabs/albanians etc. They have invented a fake history and ancestry for themselves like pakis.

DNA-based tests shake Turks’ beliefs in their “Turkishness”

'Popular DNA tests are troubling Turks and shaking belief in their “Turkishness” as they find that, instead of being direct descendants of the Seljuk and Ottoman hordes who surged into Anatolia from Central Asia a millennium ago, they are instead part of the kaleidoscope of peoples who have lived in what is now modern Turkey and migrated there since time began'.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Ambar »

For once the Pakis seem to be following the correct "abbu jaan" this time, and Turkey seems to have learnt a thing or two from its ghulam Pakistan. After spending the last decade or so pretending to be the new Ottoman empire, ignoring the gulf kingdoms, self-proclaiming as the leader of Ummah, and making enemies of everyone from Greece to Israel to US to UK to India, Erdobhai Tarboozwala now spends his time running from pillar to post asking for bailouts. If it was UAE last month, it is KSA this month. As the lira begins its slide again, Turkey reported that Erdogan will soon be travelling to Saudi Arabia . What could be the reason ? After all, under Erdogan Turkey was to be the "leader of ummah" and those nasty arabs were illiterate desert camel jockeys who did not deserve the new caliphate's time or attention. Well, such is the cycle of time, looks like Erdo is going to beg for some nice green petro-dollars and free oil this time from KSA. Don't be too surprised if he plans a trip to India too in future , if he survives politically i.e.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rony »

Look at the pic of the turkish bride in the report. Does she has any central asian features. hardly any. She looks like Greek or Balkan. Most today's turks in turkey are not turks by genes but are turkified/islamized greeks/albanians etc just like pakis are islamized punjabi/sindhi Hindus who invented fake arab/turk ancestry
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Dilbu »

Turkey spent at least $7.3bn propping up lira in December
Turkey spent more than $7bn on propping up the lira in December, official data showed, as analysts warned that backdoor interventions meant that the true toll of the currency defence was even higher. The country’s central bank announced a return to the contentious policy of selling foreign currency to support the lira in December as president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence on cutting interest rates despite soaring inflation sent the currency plummeting to record lows. Data published on Friday showed that, during its five officially announced inventions last month, the bank burnt through a total of $7.3bn.
The lira rallied strongly after Erdogan’s plans were unveiled, pulling back from a record low of 18.36 against the US dollar to around 11 by December 23. However, it has since weakened to almost TL14.

The multibillion dollar intervention has cast a fresh spotlight on the adequacy of Turkey’s foreign currency war chest in a country that has a large external debt burden, with $170bn coming due in the next 12 months.
Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, warned this week that the nation’s gross reserves had “fallen significantly” in the final month of 2021, declining by about $15bn to $111bn. 

That drop is partly explained by a sale of foreign currency to Botas, the country’s state-run energy importer, that totalled $3.4bn last month, according to new data published on Friday.

But Goldman Sachs said that the figures also suggested that “sizeable [foreign currency] interventions may have been used to support the lira” around the time of Erdogan’s announcement.

It said that net reserves, excluding money borrowed from Turkish banks and from other global central banks, stood at minus $66bn, according to Goldman estimates.
When taking into account inflation that stood at an official rate of 36 per cent in December, the rate cuts have pushed the country’s real interest rate to minus 22 per cent. That has deterred investors from saving in lira and piled huge pressure on the currency, which lost about 45 per cent of its value against the dollar last year.

The new savings schemes unveiled by the government were an attempt to reverse a trend that has led to Turkish savers flocking to foreign currency in a bid to protect their savings from currency fluctuations and inflation.

But initial data suggest that there has been limited appetite for the new products, which promise to protect savers from currency risk through a guarantee that the state will compensate them for any exchange rate losses. Nureddin Nebati, Turkey’s finance minister, said on Tuesday that TL84bn had been deposited in the new accounts. That compares with total banking sector deposits — in both local currency and foreign currency — of TL3.2tn held by individuals, according to data from the banking regulator.

Turks’ foreign currency savings remained largely stable in the fortnight after the announcement — a trend that suggests that most of the demand came from locals switching pre-existing lira savings into the new accounts, rather than selling dollars and euros to buy lira, according to Barclays analysts.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Dilbu »

Now that this plan has failed, Erdo bhaiyya should learn from TSP and resort to Sialkot statistics. That is much easier than this.
Turkey Backtracks on Bill to Use Bonds to Pay Banks in Lira Plan
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is backtracking on a plan to use bonds -- instead of cash -- to pay for banks’ possible losses from a new government tool to bolster the lira.

Under the now-discarded plan, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance was seeking approval to issue specially designed bonds to lenders if they lost money from the newly-introduced lira deposits linked to foreign-exchange rates.

If the plan had been implemented, banks would have been able to use the securities to pay lira deposit holders additional interest should the currency depreciate again. The goal was to preempt pressure on the Treasury’s cash flow but the rapid turnaround suggests the ruling party may have faced strong pushback from lenders.


But the AK Party will now remove the clause on payments in bonds when the bill is discussed at the parliamentary Planning and Budget Committee, according to Cemal Ozturk, one of the governing party lawmakers who drafted the proposal.

The move is aimed at “eliminating uncertainties” in the form of payments to be made to lenders, Ozturk told Bloomberg by phone on Friday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Dec. 20 introduced a new tool to minimize losses on lira savings during times of currency volatility. Under Erdogan’s plan, the government will pay holders of lira deposits the differential if the lira’s decline against hard currencies exceeds banks’ interest rates.

The bill under discussion was meant to allow the Treasury to make those payments in securities that can’t be traded on the bond market. The notes could then be used as collateral to borrow from the central bank via repurchase agreements.

Critics attacked the proposed measure for its inflationary impact. Consumer prices rose an annual 36.08% through last year, compared with the central bank’s official target of 5%.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rony »

Every Turk has a inner Paki in them :rotfl:

"Can happen only in #graylisted #mafiastate. After purging>than 6K judiciary w/bogus charges in #Turkey, 4 “prosecutors” of #Erdogan regime replaced 300kg of #cocaine w/flour in safe & started to sell. Guess who called the Police ? Real mafia whose business was affected by “judiciary”"

https://twitter.com/regpecen/status/148 ... 61955?s=20
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rony »

Turkey becomes Chinese munna

Crisis-hit Turkey survives as an extension of China
Turkish manufacturing doesn’t have much to do with Turkey. It buys Chinese capital equipment and semi-finished goods and sells the finished products to Europe.

Turkey has found a niche in the fast-growing trade relationship between Europe and China as a producer of steel products, chemicals, household appliances and other goods, concentrating on more labor-intensive and environmentally problematic industries.

Its economic dependence on China has increased significantly. This helps explain why Turkey eschewed American efforts for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to protest against China’s treatment of its Uighur minority, even though the Uighurs speak a Turkish dialect and have strong cultural and religious ties to Turkey.

Mao Zedong might have said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, but for Xi Jinping, it is more likely to grow out of the door of a shipping container.
The Turkish lira has fallen by more than 50% against the US dollar since 2018, and the cost of production against default on its foreign-currency debt is more than 5 percentage points, compared to 2 percentage points for Brazil.

Nonetheless, Turkey has managed to more than double its imports from China in the past two years. Turkey runs a trade deficit, so it has to borrow in order to buy more foreign goods.

Turkey’s official data show little increase in foreign debt, but the triangular trade among China, Turkey and Europe allows ways to keep trade credits off the official balance sheet.

Turkey imports in order to export. Consumption and other goods imports fell during 2021, while imports of intermediate and capital goods rose, supporting a 32% overall rise in exports.

The Turkish Statistical Institute’s breakdown of trade by country shows that the lion’s share of the increase in imports came from Russia – mainly due to higher energy prices – and China.

The export picture is markedly different. Europe accounted for more than half the 2021 increase in Turkish exports.

Turkish industrial companies who benefit from this trade boom earn foreign currency by exporting and paying for their imports with foreign currency.
The value of the Turkish currency is of secondary importance to them. That explains why the stock prices of Turkish industrial companies rose as the Turkish lira fell, that is, remained stable in terms of US dollars.
Turkish stock prices are a secondary concern for the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government. The market capitalization of the Istanbul 100 Index is less than US$40 billion.

The dollar value of Turkey’s housing stock, the main repository of middle-class wealth, exceeds $700 billion, I calculated in a 2020 study.

Erdogan’s low interest-rate policy sunk the Turkish lira, but Turkish home prices have more than kept pace with inflation. That is key to President Erdogan’s political staying power.

Unlike the Latin American and African devaluations of the past generation, the collapse of the lira did not take down with it the wealth of the middle class and industrial investors
.
Tensions between China and Turkey flare up periodically over the Uighur problem. Religious conservatives in Erdogan’s Justice and Freedom Party complain about China’s forced assimilation of Muslims into secular Chinese culture, and the nationalist Gray Wolves movement occasionally breaks the window of a Chinese restaurant in Istanbul.

But President Erdogan wants to stay in power, and China controls the means by which Erdogan can do so, namely Turkish economic growth, jobs and asset prices.

American strategists who hope that Turkey will provide a counterweight to growing Chinese and Russian influence in Western Asia may be spinning their wheels. Without China, Turkey’s economy would be a Venezuelan-style shambles, and that gives China enormous pull in Ankara.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rony »

What made Tatas do this ?

Former advisor of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan named new CEO of Air India after Tata’s takeover
Tata Sons on Monday named Ilker Ayci, a former advisor of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the new CEO of Air India. The company said that its board had approved the appointment of Ayci as the CEO & Managing Director of Air India after due deliberations. Ayci will take charge on or before 1 April even though his appointment is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

Ayci was the chairman of Turkish Airlines before being considered for the top job in the new Air India.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by vimal »

^^ I can imagine the Rona Dhona amongst the Pakis.
Last time when Turks were selling us drones Pakis were throwing hissy fits.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by chanakyaa »

What made Tatas do this ?
Other than resuscitating Maharaja back 2 life from years of abuse, which he (or any desi exec) is capable of, and keeping geopolitical issues aside (I mean who takes Toorkie and Erdo seriously, he could be out by 2023)...looking at his bkground, can he contribute to Tata’s defense manufacturing capabilities by providing access to people and/or companies? Curious.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Cain Marko »

News on the street is that Turkish govt. Is asking all citizens to turn in their personal gold in exchange for currency. Reserves must be super low. :-o
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by chetak »

chanakyaa wrote:
What made Tatas do this ?
Other than resuscitating Maharaja back 2 life from years of abuse, which he (or any desi exec) is capable of, and keeping geopolitical issues aside (I mean who takes Toorkie and Erdo seriously, he could be out by 2023)...looking at his bkground, can he contribute to Tata’s defense manufacturing capabilities by providing access to people and/or companies? Curious.
He still needs security clearance from the GoI

Has that been given yet....
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by rsingh »

He is good at his job. Simple.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by chanakyaa »

Nothing in the public domain suggesting that he got a green light, but it would be a surprise if tata did not run it by GoI before making a significant move of appointing Ilker Ayci as CEO. Lets see what Ministry of Civil Aviation says.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Cyrano »

What is Ayci's track record? Turkish airlines is no Singapore AirLines or Emirates A, Delta or any big international airline serving Americas, Europe, ME & Asia. Turkish airlines has primarily grown due to Turkey becoming a popular tourist destination thanks to Turkey's attraction, and the general growth in airline travel for the past 3 decades or so. What the Tata's saw in him is a bit mysterious.

AI's problems are primarily an unwieldy workforce, low levels of professionalism, a suboptimal mix of different types of ageing and badly maintained aircraft, poor usage of historically acquired prime landings slots, poor apron side management, poor or nearly zero marketing, pathetic e-commerce, poor customer service, need to attract business and first travellers, long overdue internal process optimisation and IT modernisation - having been run like a PSU for decades. And now the pandemic generated business uncertainty & fuel costs that can break even the best run airlines.

Has Ayci tackled such problems in the past and proven successful? Not sure.

AirIndia still is considered as the national carrier, it has done phenomenal national service during the pandemic bringing expats home (we owe a debt of gratitude to all their staff who risked their own safety to serve us in very difficult conditions), and may need to step up again. They were and could be targets for infiltration, sabotage and hijackings given the security environment we live in, and given so many elected and govt officials, business people and even forces personnel regularly use it.

Will Ayci understand and deliver on this critical aspect and expectations from GoI and the country?

I'm not saying he can't but there is precious little to reassure he has done this elsewhere and he will do it for AI.

Ratan Tata & Chandra are no fools, but this choice is indeed quite surprising, while in the current state of the industry many excellent airline execs could be on the market looking for a change.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by nandakumar »

Cyrano wrote:What is Ayci's track record? Turkish airlines is no Singapore AirLines or Emirates A, Delta or any big international airline serving Americas, Europe, ME & Asia. Turkish airlines has primarily grown due to Turkey becoming a popular tourist destination thanks to Turkey's attraction, and the general growth in airline travel for the past 3 decades or so. What the Tata's saw in him is a bit mysterious.

AI's problems are primarily an unwieldy workforce, low levels of professionalism, a suboptimal mix of different types of ageing and badly maintained aircraft, poor usage of historically acquired prime landings slots, poor apron side management, poor or nearly zero marketing, pathetic e-commerce, poor customer service, need to attract business and first travellers, long overdue internal process optimisation and IT modernisation - having been run like a PSU for decades. And now the pandemic generated business uncertainty & fuel costs that can break even the best run airlines.

Has Ayci tackled such problems in the past and proven successful? Not sure.

AirIndia still is considered as the national carrier, it has done phenomenal national service during the pandemic bringing expats home (we owe a debt of gratitude to all their staff who risked their own safety to serve us in very difficult conditions), and may need to step up again. They were and could be targets for infiltration, sabotage and hijackings given the security environment we live in, and given so many elected and govt officials, business people and even forces personnel regularly use it.

Will Ayci understand and deliver on this critical aspect and expectations from GoI and the country?

I'm not saying he can't but there is precious little to reassure he has done this elsewhere and he will do it for AI.

Ratan Tata & Chandra are no fools, but this choice is indeed quite surprising, while in the current state of the industry many excellent airline execs could be on the market looking for a change.
My take on his appointment is this. He has connections to the ruling establishment in Turkey. Air India or at least the low cost carrier Air India Express is targeting diaspora travel to Europe and the US. If Air India can use Boeing 737/Airbus A320 type aircrafts with a refuelling halt at one of the Turkish airports then more airports in India can offer direct flights to destinations in Europe certainly and possibly even the East Coast of the US without having to bring them to hubs in Delhi and Mumbai and filling up 300 seats on a Boeing 777.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by kit »

nandakumar wrote:
Cyrano wrote: My take on his appointment is this. He has connections to the ruling establishment in Turkey. Air India or at least the low cost carrier Air India Express is targeting diaspora travel to Europe and the US. If Air India can use Boeing 737/Airbus A320 type aircrafts with a refuelling halt at one of the Turkish airports then more airports in India can offer direct flights to destinations in Europe certainly and possibly even the East Coast of the US without having to bring them to hubs in Delhi and Mumbai and filling up 300 seats on a Boeing 777.
AI would also be looking at alternative options to the lucrative middle eastern hubs., Emirates and Etihad had grown exponentially on the back of marked increase in passengers from subcontinent., their connections with Jet was quite useful for them
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by ldev »

rsingh wrote:He is good at his job. Simple.
Absolutely correct. I have flown Turkish Airlines quite a few times in the last 5 years and they are good. Flights are on time, cabin service on board is good, food is also good. Ayci has been CEO of Turkish Airlines from 2014 to the end of 2021. It's a nationalized airline and yet provides efficient service and makes a profit and has the largest network in the world. so as CEO he must have a certain skill set in handling Government as well as the airline business. Also unlike the Gulf airlines that make their money picking up passengers from the Indian sub-continent, Turkish Airlines competes with virtually every carrier in the world given it's large route network.

Turkish Airlines remains at top with largest network
Turkish Airlines served 40.5 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2021 and increased the number of aircraft in its fleet to 373, according to a company statement released on Dec. 30.

Turkey’s flag carrier is flying to 328 destinations in 128 countries as of end-2021, marking the largest flight network of an airline in the world.

In 2014, when company chairperson İlker Aycı took the helm, Turkish Airlines was flying to 261 destinations in 108 countries with a fleet of 261.

During the coronavirus pandemic, which brought global commercial air passenger traffic to a halt, many aircraft in Turkish Airlines’ fleet were allocated for Turkish Cargo.

Increasing its global market share above 5 percent, Turkish Cargo entered the top five air freighters list in the world.
The airline managed to wrap up the third quarter of 2021 with a net profit of $735 million. As for cargo, which marks 28 percent of the total revenue, a 132 percent gain was recorded versus the same period in 2019.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Cyrano »

As per news reports (can't find them today), MHA has not yet completed vetting Aygi's appointment. Unless there are major red flags like anti-india statements or tweets, or established connects/photo ops with shady or extremist elements, he may get a green light. Would be good if GoI reaches out to Israel to double check his background.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Rudradev »

Two articles that thoroughly investigate the vast depth of Turkey-Pakistan cooperation against India using Islamist networks in the West.

We should no more be hiring a Turk to run any Indian corporation (much less a national airline) than we would hire a Paki. However bloody good he may be at his job. The purchase of Turkish drones, which GOI is contemplating, seems even more daft.

As you can see, the ties that bind Turkey and Pakistan are deep and highly ideological. No amount of sending lucrative deals to Turkey is ever going to be seen as more than jiziya.

https://www.meforum.org/63018/turkish-p ... cause-west
Turkish and Pakistani Islamism Finds Common Cause in the West
by Clifford Smith
...

Erdoğan's [anti-India] stance [on Kashmir], while disquieting for US interests and regional stability, represents the kind of shifting alliances and international maneuvering that fall within the realm of "normal" foreign policy. But what is perhaps a little less "normal" is a meeting that happened around the same time between Erdoğan and individuals who have declared themselves to be "American Muslim leadership." This included Dr. Mohsin Ansari, the Chairman of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO).

Ansari is a Pakistani-born American who came to the US in the early 90s. In addition to being the Chairman of USCMO, he is currently the President of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), which a founding member of the USCMO umbrella. Ansari previously led two ICNA subsidiaries: ICNA Relief and Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD).
...

ICNA's network has invited congressional scrutiny for openly partnering with the designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and having its leading fundraising-activists convicted of felonies as part of a terror finance investigations. According to Johns Hopkins Professor Vali Nasr, ICNA is one of the most important franchises of Jamaat-e-Islami, an extremist South Asian Islamist organization that is responsible for, among other things, mass murder during the Bengali genocide of 1971. Its Pakistani branch is a patron of the Kashmiri terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen which has been Jamaat-e-Islami's militant wing since 1990.

...
There has been a clear de facto alliance between Turkey and Pakistan in recent years, and it has manifested itself in many ways. But this meeting between Ansari, and the groups he represents, and Erdoğan, demonstrates a new facet to this issue. Namely, that American Islamists with roots in South Asia are working directly with Turkey to influence US politics.

But while such clear and public displays at such a high level demonstrate the increased confluence of interests, particularly coming after Erdoğan's speech on Kashmir, it is not new. Erdoğan has long expressed support for various Islamist causes in South Asia.

In 2013, Erdoğan actively intervened in Bangladesh's decision to execute senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, who led anti-independence death squads during Bangladesh's 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan. Later, Erdoğan recalled the Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh in protest of that execution being carried out in spite of his protests. This is a cause also important to Ansari, who openly mourned the execution of Nizami, according to a post on his own Facebook page.

Shortly after Erdoğan's initial protest, in 2014, the USCMO was founded. Two of its founding members – the aforementioned ICNA as well as Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA) — were Jamaat-e-Islami franchise groups. Unlike ICNA, which has its roots in what is now Pakistan, MUNA specifically emerged from Bangladesh's branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, which was a leading pro-Pakistan, anti-independence voice that remained loyal to Pakistan during the 1971 war. Nizami's son, Mohammad Nakibur Rahman, is a close friend of Ansari and a member of MUNA's board.
...

All of this is descriptive of the chummy relationship that exists between Turkey and an increasing number of NGOs, particularly of a South Asian origin, but it is neither the only, nor the first, and nor even the most significant example. The Union of NGOs of the Islamic World (UNIW) is a foreign umbrella group founded in Turkey in 2005 with numerous, continuous affiliations with South Asian Islamist diaspora groups. It is a clear tool of the Turkish regime.

Hundreds of NGOs worldwide, including ICNA and HHRD, are part of UNIW's umbrella. But perhaps even more striking is the fact that members include the Kashmiri American Council, a group later shown in court to be funded and directed by the Pakistani Government through its director, Ghulam Nabi Fai, a Pakistani-American who was previously convicted of a "decades long scheme" working an unregistered agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to influence American policy on Kashmir.
Read it all, onlee. Then read this one as well:
https://www.firstpost.com/world/how-rec ... 88911.html
...
But something that has received less discussion is how Turkey’s international propaganda arm, TRT World in particular, is also working for Pakistan’s interests, and against Pakistan’s foes.

When I call TRT World Turkey’s propaganda arm, this is not hyperbole. TRT World, founded in 2015 not long after Erdogan ascended to the presidency of Turkey, is a registered as a foreign agent under the US Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), meaning that, according to the US government, not only it is funded by the Turkish government, but it’s editorial decisions are strongly influenced by it.

The examples of how TRT World has carried Pakistan’s water in recent years are numerous, but a recent article on TRT World on the controversy surrounding Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, is a perfect example.

In an article, “Is the US delaying the Pakistani ambassador’s agrément?”, TRT World staff writer Saad Hasan (listed as a “Senior Producer” as well on his LinkedIn page) writes a fawning article, painting Khan, whose appointment was apparently delayed due to security concerns, as a benign diplomat being attacked by malevolent forces, such as US Congressman Scott Perry (R-PA) and other civil society groups, because of his “strong position on Kashmir”.

Hasan vaguely references a controversy over Khan’s praise of Burhan Wani, who he deems a “Kashmiri separatist leader”, but then blasts Sam Westrop, the author of a prominent article raising this concern, as working for a think tank with a “strong anti-Muslim bias” (Full disclosure: I work for the Middle East Forum, the think-tank in question).

The truth is significantly more complicated. Hasan neglects to mention that Wani was a commander in Hizbul Mujahideen, an organisation designated as a terrorist group by both the US and India, known for brutal murders, torture, and largely responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Kashmir in the early 1990s. He also neglects to mention Khan sharing a stage with Fazlur Rehman Khalil, founder of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. According to the US Treasury, Khalil was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, and both Khalil, and his group, are US-designated terrorists.

While Khan was ultimately allowed to take his post, it seems the mere possibility that Pakistan would be humiliated for choosing someone for a sensitive post with strong sympathies for terrorist groups, was immediately worth TRT World’s (i.e. the Erdogan government’s) attention, and to promote columns like this aimed, not just at reporting on the controversy or defending Khan, but at smearing Khan’s critics.

...
According to TRT World, their platform extends to 190 countries with major broadcasting centres in London, Washington DC, and Singapore, and reaches as many as 260 million homes. While it is fair to wonder if TRT World's numbers are exaggerated, it is clear regardless that TRT World has a far larger reach than most state-run foreign media outlets.

However, if this was the only instance, or just one of a small handful, it wouldn’t mean a whole lot. Instead, the examples are almost endless.

Just look at TRT World’s coverage of the issue of Kashmir, the disputed region between India and Pakistan, which is the rallying cry of many terrorist groups in the region. Every few days, a new story, always favourable to Pakistan’s position, pops up. Almost 600 stories on Kashmir since TRT World’s founding in 2015, roughly 100 stories a year, just on this one topic.

This might be “normal” if it were an issue directly relevant to Turkey. But at best, it’s indirectly related. Istanbul is over 3,100 miles away from Kashmir, across multiple other countries. In contrast, The New York Times, a paper with considerable international presence, and hardly a friend of India, has roughly one story a month on Kashmir. While much of The New York Times output paints India in a very unflattering light, many stories also paint Pakistan and their jihadist fellow travellers in a bad light.

I could find no story in TRT World that seems critical of Pakistan’s actions in Kashmir.
...


Perhaps most striking is the continued use of TRT World’s platform to go after Pakistan’s opponents, even in the US. Several recent stories specifically attack the Hindu American Foundation, an American group that supports a strong US/India relationship and has been harshly critical of Pakistan’s treatment of Hindus. Several of these same stories also attack other US groups that work in cooperation with Hindu American Foundation on some Pakistan-related issues, namely, the Armenian National Committee of America, Hellenic American Leadership Association, In Defense of Christians, American Friends of Kurdistan and the aforementioned Middle East Forum.

In the same article, Hindu American Foundation's domestic rivals, the Indian American Muslim Council, a group with open sympathies for the radical Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami movement founded in Pakistan, as well as even worse radicals, is painted as a benign civil society group.

Other US-based Islamist groups and their fellow travellers, such as Stand with Kashmir and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) are similarly treated fawningly by TRT World. This is in spite of Stand with Kashmir’s open celebration of terror and CAIR’s legally documented connections to terror finance.
...

Perhaps even more curious are the commentators that TRT World promotes on its platform that make many of these attacks. Most prominently, CJ Werleman, an aggressive Australian atheist who has a history of picking fights with Christians, and of legitimately shocking bigotry against Muslims, but has since shifted to an anti-“Islamophobia” activist that ignores Islamist-related radicalism and seems vaguely sympathetic to the Taliban. Another is Richard Silverstein, an oddball far-Left anti-Israel blogger with a long history of making unsupportable claims.

'Without government-supported platforms like TRT World, or other foreign funded outlets such as Al Jazeera, it seems unlikely that their views would get much attention. Yet turbocharged by Turkey’s push to promote Pakistan’s interests, they are deemed worthwhile and get a very large audience.
...
GShankar
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by GShankar »

I'd say, not hiring a turk is playing defense. What can we do to play offense? We need more vibhishans and if not shalyas
sumsumne
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by sumsumne »

RSS economic wing urges Centre to reject new Air India CEO

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/r ... 85087.html
hnair
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by hnair »

Dont understand the daftness of dealing with Turkish entities (including the talk of drones and the contract awarding for the vital fast-replenishment ships). Is there some kind of Turkic-origin lobby deep inside the belly of Delhi babudom, like we have a certain persian soft-spot in official circles? Some remnant from those cone-topeed "sultan" jokers from the middle-ages? No easy explanation on why this appointment happened.

Both turks and persians accept our rupee gratefully, but when it comes to serious matters relevant to India, become atavistic poo-hurling monkeys of the ummah

GShankar, there is no dearth of good senior management talent around the world - get some white guy with proven track record and who can open doors in bigger air hubs. Turkish airlines did well, so did middle-eastern ones with gora managers kept on a tight leash
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by GShankar »

hnair wrote:Dont understand the daftness of dealing with Turkish entities (including the talk of drones and the contract awarding for the vital fast-replenishment ships). Is there some kind of Turkic-origin lobby deep inside the belly of Delhi babudom, like we have a certain persian soft-spot in official circles? Some remnant from those cone-topeed "sultan" jokers from the middle-ages? No easy explanation on why this appointment happened.

GShankar, there is no dearth of good senior management talent around the world - get some white guy with proven track record and who can open doors in bigger air hubs. Turkish airlines did well, so did middle-eastern ones with gora managers kept on a tight leash
I was implying, we need to create double-agents in Turkey.

Sure there are many great options. However, I have been following Tata motors back for a while and other than the one who tragically "suicided" (i have doubts whether it was indeed a suicide), did not find good global ceo hires from them. However, this goes both ways since overall TATA is doing well as an MNC.

In airlines industry, all the ventures of TATA has not been very successful. So, they may have a strategy for what they are doing. I assumed they wanted to focus on the specific route turkish airlines is being successful and thus this guy could be a good hire. In any case, I digress.

Bottomline, TATA is a successful company. One can say (in their wisdom) they know what they are doing. But sometimes, they do get things wrong (cellphones, airlines) and course correct in due course. Personally, I think this is worth a try.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by srikandan »

One question to ask is what is the worst damage someone like this Turkish Guy could cause as head of the airline. Airlines are strategic sectors, going by 9/11 and civilian planes. So if this guy has the capability of getting some joker aboard an AI plane and repeat a 9/11 in another country, it would be a bad idea.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by Cain Marko »

I gotta say that a lot of Turks are totally anti Erdogan and his islamist agenda. Liberal types hate him. And this fella could very well be one such fella.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by srikandan »

Cain Marko wrote:I gotta say that a lot of Turks are totally anti Erdogan and his islamist agenda. Liberal types hate him. And this fella could very well be one such fella.
The Brit colonizers created a ruler, liberal class just like in India, and Erdogan took them down. He went on to create his own islamist circus but that alienated the older "liberal" crowd, so this guy could also be one of those, surely.

My question is agnostic about the nationality of who is in charge. Just saying that foreigners and indians (none of whom are immune from being turned after they get the job) who are placed in top positions must also be considered from a security perspective as to what capabilities they have to create damage, so that India can ensure that those avenues are guarded by hounds. Probably the security review the Indian govt. is doing at this time.
Last edited by srikandan on 25 Feb 2022 22:53, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by ldev »

Cain Marko wrote:I gotta say that a lot of Turks are totally anti Erdogan and his islamist agenda. Liberal types hate him. And this fella could very well be one such fella.
Very true. Urban residents are anti Erodogan, the rural population is his traditional support base. Polls as of last May showed Erdogan running well behind his 2 potential rivals in the 2023 Presidential elections. His 2 rivals are the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara. In fact Erdogan built his base when he himself was the mayor of Istanbul.
Results show that 52.5 percent of voters prefer Yavas against Erdogan’s 38.1 percent when asked who they would vote for if a presidential election was held today.

Similarly, 51.4 percent of voters would choose Imamoglu against Erdogan’s 39.9 percent in a presidential election. They would also prefer Meral Aksener, chairwoman of the center right IYI Party, with 45.4 percent, against Erdogan’s 39.1 percent.

The survey, titled Turkey Report, was conducted across 12 cities using 1506 respondents. The polling company recently revealed that popular support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its nationalist partner MHP was down to 45 percent, with the opposition standing at 55 percent.
The average urban Turk is focused on the West, curious about India and Indians and hates the Arabs. The current anti India campaign is an Erdogan speciality. The historical Turkish leaning towards Pakistan was as a result of CENTO and also as a fellow military dictatorship in those days.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by GShankar »

srikandan wrote:One question to ask is what is the worst damage someone like this Turkish Guy could cause as head of the airline. Airlines are strategic sectors, going by 9/11 and civilian planes. So if this guy has the capability of getting some joker aboard an AI plane and repeat a 9/11 in another country, it would be a bad idea.
Probably that is why this guy needs to be approved by GoI. Let's see what happens. Why are we painting all turks with a broad brush? Even ex-pakis are becoming desis. Saw one such getleman (Arif Ajakia I think) in the jaipur dialogues interview.

I think we need to carefully cultivate this. Agreed mistakes could be made. But we need to step out and make the effort.
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Re: Turkey News, discussions, India Turkey Relations

Post by srikandan »

GShankar wrote:I think we need to carefully cultivate this. Agreed mistakes could be made. But we need to step out and make the effort.
Cannot disagree with that.

Just pointing out that there are many such jobs in a country, like CEO of an airline, that can be used to cause a lot of damage if we are not careful who gets that job, and also ensuring that we know what they are up to in terms of causing damage.
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