Day: November 9, 2021

Turkey’s Ambassador Ahmet Altay Cengizer completed his tenure as president of the 40th Session of the UNESCO General Conference on Tuesday, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Cengizer, who is Turkey’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, took up the post on Nov. 12, 2019.

Held every two years, the UNESCO General Conference is the UN organization’s highest decision-making body.

The devoted work by Cengizer and his team has “been commended and appreciated by the international community in general, UNESCO and her affiliated institutions,” the ministry said in a statement.

“During his time as the President that our country assumed after 53 years, Ambassador Cengizer ensured that the work of the General Conference continued uninterruptedly in spite of the restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic that affected the world and attached priority to endeavors to strengthen UNESCO General Conference, where all members are represented equally,” read the statement.

Turkey wishes all the success to Ambassador Santiago Irazabal Mourao, Brazil’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, who has started his term as president of the 41st Session of the General Conference, the ministry added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A prominent Turkish party leader on Tuesday urged the government to carry out a cross-border military operation against the terrorist PKK in line with a motion allowing such moves.

“Legitimate use of [military] force will spoil their game, and whoever targets our national security and our national presence and also plots their assassination will pay the heaviest price,” Devlet Bahceli told his Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) parliamentary group.

“The motion is clear, the verdict is fixed, the expectations of our sovereign nation are high, there’s no safe place for terrorist groups anymore,” he added.

Turkey’s parliament on Oct. 26 ratified a motion extending authorization to launch cross-border anti-terrorist operations in northern Iraq and Syria for two more years.

Bahceli called for a military operation on Mt. Qandil, the terrorist PKK’s main base in northern Iraq, across Turkey’s southern border.

“Now there’s no other choice in this matter,” he added.

The motion, referred to parliament by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, allows the Turkish military to carry out cross-border operations in northern Iraq and Syria for two more years, from Oct. 30, 2021, until Oct. 30, 2023.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A former chief justice of Bangladesh was on Tuesday sentenced in absentia to 11 years in jail for money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

Surendra Kumar Sinha, 70, served as chief justice for two years before leaving the country and resigning in 2017.

His abrupt departure came months after a Supreme Court verdict took away the parliament’s power to sack the country’s top judges.

Sinha is currently in Canada and has applied for asylum, sources in Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission told Anadolu Agency.

A court in the capital Dhaka found him guilty of laundering approximately $471,000 in connivance with officials of a private bank.

There were 10 more people indicted in the case, eight of whom have been convicted and handed down varying punishments.

Sinha, a Hindu, was Bangladesh’s first chief justice from a religious minority.

He was once said to be very close to the ruling Awami League party, with the relationship believed to have soured after the July 2017 Supreme Court ruling struck down a 2014 constitutional amendment that gave lawmakers the authority to remove judges.

The court’s decision was widely hailed by rights groups and the legal fraternity as a safeguard for judicial independence.

The government has challenged the ruling and a review petition remains pending with the Appellate Division of the court, but the practice of parliament sacking top judges has since been suspended.

Sinha, who left Bangladesh in October 2017 and submitted his resignation from abroad, claimed in his autobiography that a military spy agency – the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) – compelled him to quit and leave the country.

He wrote that the government had put him under virtual house arrest and DGFI personnel in plainclothes had taken control of the entire Supreme Court premises.

Law Minister Anisul Haq had denied Sinha’s claims, saying his assertions were evidence of the frustration of people who tried to “stage a judicial coup” in Bangladesh.

In a statement after Tuesday’s verdict against Sinha, the minister said the former chief justice’s sentencing has proven that “no one is above the law” in the country.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Oil prices were flat on Tuesday as investors digested the possibility and impact of the US release of oil from strategic reserves, which the US administration said is “on the table” after OPEC+ rebuffed calls to produce more oil.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $83.40 per barrel at 0625 GMT for a 0.03% decrease after closing the previous session at $83.43 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $81.92 per barrel at the same time for a 0.01% loss after it ended the previous session at $81.93 a barrel.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday that US President Joe Biden might respond to rising fuel prices “as soon as this week”.

“He’s certainly looking at what options he has in the limited range of tools a president might have to address the cost of gasoline at the pump because it is a global market,” Granholm said.

With the US suffering from high gasoline prices, the president has been insisting major OPEC+ oil producers increase their combined output. However, the OPEC+ group prefers to keep production unchanged “to provide clarity to the market at times when other parts of the energy complex outside the boundaries of oil markets are experiencing extreme volatility and instability.”

Although the country threatened the group to release oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) or to use other options, including export bans, analysts predict the move may not end up with the drop that the White House expects.

The US on Saturday passed an infrastructure bill, which includes a number of initiatives aimed at weaning the country off oil and other fossil fuels in the long run. The move in the short term boosted hopes of economic growth and demand for oil.

Additional market stimulus came on Friday when Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco announced its intention to boost the official selling price of its Arab Light crude for Asian consumers from $1.40 to $2.70 per barrel.

Investors interpreted this move as strengthening demand on global markets that are still subject to supply pressure.

Source: Anadolu Agency

China urged cooperation on global infrastructure initiatives on Tuesday as the US moved to announce its global mega-infrastructure program, Build Back Better World (BBBW).

“We believe that there is wide room for global infrastructure cooperation and various initiatives don’t have to counter or replace each other,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded when asked if BBBW was seen as a counter to China’s multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Wang said different countries should work to build “rather than tear down bridges, promote connectivity rather than decoupling, seek mutual benefits and win-win results rather than isolation and exclusiveness.”

The administration of US President Joe Biden’s global infrastructure program could be announced as early as January.

“We hope the US will take concrete actions to earnestly boost common development and revitalization of all,” Wang added.

At least 139 countries have joined the BRI.

Wang said the BRI has “followed the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits and the philosophy of open, green and clean cooperation and high-standard, people-centered development,” since launching eight years ago.

Source: Anadolu Agency