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CONTENTS:
      • Ankara Welcomes UN Panel Proposal on Israeli Raid
      • Turkey Strikes Key Gas Deal with Azerbaijan
      • Turkey, Iraqi Kurds Seek Deeper Ties after Visit
      • Top Court to Discuss Charter Amendments Tuesday
      • Brazil will Oppose, but Respect, Iran Sanctions

Ankara Welcomes UN Panel Proposal on Israeli Raid

Turkey welcomed a proposal Sunday by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for a panel to investigate last week's controversial Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship. Erdoğan, speaking in the western province of Bursa, said Turkey attached great importance to the UN probe: "We hope we will be able to get results."
 
According to a proposal Ban conveyed to the Turkish and Israeli prime ministers on Saturday, a five-member panel would investigate the operation, which has caused an international uproar and intensified calls for an end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The panel would be headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and include a representative from both Turkey and Israel. Two members, one international law expert and one military expert, will be appointed by Ban, Turkish officials said, giving no information on their nationalities. But according to Israeli sources, the panel will include at least one representative from the United States, a key ally of Israel whose participation is expected to address Israeli concerns about the panel's impartiality.

Israel has resisted calls for an external investigation into the raid, saying it is capable of investigating the incident itself. Israel's ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said on Sunday that Jerusalem will reject the idea of an international panel to study the raid. "We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place," Oren stated.

The takeover of the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara in international waters last Monday resulted in the killing of eight Turkish men and one American of Turkish descent. Preliminary autopsy results have shown that they were shot a total of 30 times, some at close range. Israel states the commandos acted in self-defense. The panel's mandate is not yet known, but it is expected to review whether the takeover was in violation of international law and whether the Israeli commandos' response to resistance on the ship was proportional.

The push for an international inquiry puts Israel under further pressure to explain how its attempt to stop the aid ship from breaching a blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza turned deadly. It could also cast light on the motives and plans of some of the ship's passengers, who Israel says were Islamic extremists intent on attacking its troops.

The United States, which dismissed calls for the condemnation of Israel and insists Israel's security concerns must be addressed, is also facing questions regarding involvement in any investigation into the ship raid. Any time an American citizen is killed overseas, the US government has the option to open its own investigation into the case. So far, the US has said Israel was best positioned to conduct a credible investigation.

In his telephone conversation with Ban, Erdoğan repeated calls for an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza and said the UN should take active part in delivering aid materials that would help restore infrastructure. Israel bans entry of cement and other construction materials, claiming that they could be used to boost Hamas' military capacity. Turkey, whose ties with Israel were already strained due to the situation in Gaza, says Israel must end the blockade, agree to an international investigation into the operation and offer an apology to Turkey to open the way for recovery from the crisis.

"Israel cannot find any better friend in the region than Turkey," Turkish Ambassador to the US Namık Tan told a group of journalists in Washington on Friday. "And Israel is about to lose that friend." To prevent such a break between two close US allies, Tan said that "first and foremost" Israel needed to apologize for the deaths. /Today's Zaman/

Turkey Strikes Key Gas Deal with Azerbaijan

Turkey signed three new agreements Monday with regional ally Azerbaijan for the sale of the latter's natural gas and its transportation to European markets via Turkish soil. Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan oversaw the signing of the deals between the two countries' energy ministers, as well as pipeline companies BOTAŞ and SOCAR. The deals were signed on the sidelines of an international security summit in Istanbul.

Turkey said the agreements strengthen the chances of realizing the European Union-supported Nabucco project, which is aimed at reducing reliance on Russian energy supplies. "The signing today will accelerate the Nabucco project," Energy Minister Taner Yıldız told the news conference. It was not immediately clear, however, whether Azerbaijan would join the multi-national Nabucco project as Baku has so far declined to make a firm commitment.

One of the agreements comes following prolonged negotiations between the two countries over the price of Azerbaijani natural gas from Shah Deniz I. Yıldız said the countries had reached an agreement over the price but refused to reveal the figure, however he added that the price would be adjusted according to market conditions, rather than taken at a fixed rate.

A senior Energy Ministry official stated that the price Turkey will pay for Azerbaijani gas would be lower than that of Russian gas. Under the current circumstances, Turkey receives 6 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan, pumping a portion of the figure to Greece. The previous natural gas contract provided Baku with the right to revise the agreement to its own advantage due to rising oil prices all over the world in 2008. With the current agreement, Turkey also agreed to pay back the difference that has accrued since April 15, 2008.

The other agreement with Azerbaijan covers the shipment of some 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Some of this will be used by Turkey while the rest will be transported to Europe. Ankara and Baku negotiated over the terms of re-export for a long time, with Turkey insisting on having the right to re-export gas from Shah Deniz II to Europe. The issue of re-export is thorny and neither side has made a precise statement as to whether Monday's deal gives Turkey the right to re-export the Azeri gas, as Ankara was continuing its efforts to convince Baku to grant it the right to re-export. Officials said the two agreed over the transit fee but refused to reveal the price. The Shah Deniz II project is expected to go into operation in 2018. /Hurriyet/

Turkey, Iraqi Kurds Seek Deeper Ties after Visit
 
In Istanbul Sunday, President Abdullah Gul received Massoud Barzani, the leader of northern Iraqi regional administration. No statement was made after a nearly one-hour closed-door meeting. Barzani was in Turkey for a three-day official visit at the invitation of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. As part of his visit, the northern Iraqi leader was also received by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and had a separate meeting with Davutoglu.
 
During these meetings, top Turkish officials urged Barzani to take further concrete steps against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its bases in northern Iraq. Speaking at a joint press conference after meeting with Barzani, Davutoglu said that Turkey wants to achieve "total economic integration" with northern Iraq, adding that stronger cooperation in the fight against the armed PKK is a must. Barzani's landmark visit to Turkey came just as the PKK said it was scrapping a year-old ceasefire against the Turkish state and resuming attacks.
 
In related news, a weekend meeting between one of Turkey's top business leaders and Barzani focused on expanding bilateral economic and trade relations. "We will start working on developing our trade and investment relations with Iraq by putting our Iraqi Working Group into action," declared Umit Boyner, chairwoman of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD).
 
Amid changing world economic conditions, Turkey has started to seek new markets. "At this point, Iraq holds a huge potential for Turkey," she stated, citing the situation with Syria as a good example. "With the developing of relations with Syria, trade has revived in the border region while the market of the region has also developed. In brief, ameliorating and improving trade relations will help to develop both the Turkish and northern Iraqi borders, which have problems in terms of development," said Boyner. "Northern Iraq holds great potential for Turkey in terms of expanding its trade. We think that improving trade activities will contribute to our regional development." However, she said, the region has a democratization problem. "At this point, we stressed our concerns and also mentioned that efforts against terrorism should continue." /Turkish Press Review/

Top Court to Discuss Charter Amendments Tuesday
 
The fate of the constitutional amendments aimed at restructuring Turkey's judicial institutions in line with the government's demands will be determined by the Constitutional Court Tuesday. The court said it has accepted the main opposition's appeal for the annulment of the amendments.

Government-backed amendments were approved by the Parliament and President Gül, though the final approval will be sought at a referendum on September 12. Three articles out of 27 were found controversial by the opposition who argued that the amendments were aimed at putting the judiciary under the political tutelary.

The court president has already said that the judges will only review three controversial articles as the opposition appeal was only made for these three articles.

The opposition refrained from making a specific statement on the development. "We all have to respect to the ruling of the court. We'll all respect it," Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, chairman of the Republican People's Party, or CHP, told reporters Thursday. /Hurriyet/

Brazil will Oppose, but Respect, Iran Sanctions
 
Brazil's foreign minister said Tuesday that despite the nation's strong opposition to any new sanctions on Iran, it would respect them if they are approved. Foreign Minister Celso Amorim spoke before a Senate committee to explain Brazil's role in an Iranian nuclear fuel-swap deal it helped broker with Turkey. "Brazil meticulously respects the sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council against Iran," he stated. "If there are sanctions, even if Brazil is not in favor, we're going to respect them."

Both Amorim and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, along with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been outspoken in their opposition to potential new sanctions. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, but the West fears it is geared toward nuclear weapons.

Last month, Silva and Erdogan finalized a fuel-swap deal with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that was similar to an agreement the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency had pushed for last October, but which Iran at the time rejected. Under the Brazil-Turkey deal, submitted last week to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran agrees to ship 1,200 kilograms of uranium to Turkey, where it will be stored. In exchange, Iran would get fuel rods made from 20-percent enriched uranium; that level of enrichment is high enough for use in research reactors but too low for nuclear weapons.

The concerns of the U.S. and other opponents of the deal is that Iran has continued to churn out low-enriched material - reportedly doubling its stock since that failed October deal - and is running a pilot program of enriching to higher levels, near 20 percent. Silva and Amorim, however, counter that their deal was never meant to be considered any sort of final accord on Iran's nuclear program, but merely the first step to getting the nation back to the negotiating table, which Brazil says President Barack Obama directly encouraged. "Brazil was urged by President Obama to help in engaging with Iran," Amorim said.

Silva, speaking at a union rally in Sao Paulo, said that he and Erdogan "accomplished more in 18 hours of conversation" with the Iranians than the Americans had managed during the last three decades - a "demonstration that dialogue is the best way of resolving conflicts." /Hurriyet/