Davutoğlu meets with Turkey's Alevis and Christians in Germany
04 December 2011, Sunday / BÜLENT KENEŞ, COLOGNE
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-264793-davutoglu-meets-with-turkeys-alevis-and-christians-in-germany.html
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who is currently in Germany on a five-day visit, met with Alevi and Christian people of Turkish origin in Cologne on Sunday.
The minister's decision to meet with Turkish Alevis and Christians living abroad for a long time was welcomed by those communities. Addressing Orthodox and Assyrian communities, Davutoğlu said, "You are the diaspora of the Republic of Turkey." Davutoğlu's first stop was the Antiochian Orthodox parish of St. Demetrius, where he met with local community leaders. Noting that Anatolia was a place where many different religions and cultures stood side-by-side, Davutoğlu said: "This sense of brotherhood and friendship will last forever … there is no doubt of that.
The Turkish state does not see ethnic differences and does not condone any discrimination on the basis of religion, ethnicity or language. Turkish consulates are yours and the Turkish state is ready to serve you."
Davutoğlu then visited the Mor Petrus and Mor Paulus Church, which is attended by many Assyrians. When the religious leader of the church, Father Numan Dağ, introduced him as "a guest from our former homeland," Davutoğlu responded, "Turkey is not your former homeland, it still is your homeland and will always be your homeland."
The Assyrian community applauded the minister's words for several minutes. Declaring that the ancient Assyrian and Aramaic culture is part of Anatolian culture, Davutoğlu vowed that the problems of the property rights of Mor Gabriel Church in southeastern province of Mardin will be solved.
Davutoğlu also visited the Hacı Bektaş-i Veli Cemevi -- an Alevi religious house -- and attended an iftar (fast-breaking) dinner.
He took the time to visit Keup Street, where a neo-Nazi gang carried out a bomb attack in 2004, and he spent some time talking to Turkish store owners there.
The foreign minister also met with the Turkish consulate-general at the Cologne Turkish House. "You will pay attention to anyone who comes from Turkey regardless of their ethnic and religious origin. When somebody is in trouble, you will be involved to solve the problem," said Davutoğlu during the meeting.
إيران تؤكد إسقاط طائرة أميركية على أراضيها و تهدد برد خارج حدودها
Iran confirms U.S. aircraft dropped on its territory and threatens to cold outside its borders
http://www.aksalser.com/index.php?page=view_news&id=3d175f1c48edfc5405d6ca2cafb745b2&ar=897769814
Sunday - December 4 - 2011 - 16:25:44
Reported channel "world" of Iran, quoted an unnamed military source, that Iran shot down a U.S. drone aircraft "Kay R 170" in the east.
Channel did not show a date or place down the plane, but said that the armed forces "captured" on the plane, "after being slightly damaged."
The source added that "the procedures and electronic field of the Iranian armed forces against the aggressor aircraft will not be limited to the country after the flagrant breach of the border."
According to the Fars news agency that the aircraft had violated Iranian airspace flagrant violation of the eastern border.
The Fars News Agency quoted a military source did not reveal that "Our air and electronic warfare units, we have been able to detect and shoot down drone aircraft to spy advanced - R. Kay, 170 - violation of a remote area of the eastern border."
The source added that the drone "landed after it has been damaged slightly, and now under the control of our forces," describing the incident as "a blatant violation of our territory."
R. Kay and -170 aircraft is an aircraft drone modern media disclosed the existence of specialized year 2009, and confirmed by the U.S. Air Force in 2010.
According to some reports, this type of aircraft deployed in Afghanistan to collect intelligence on Iran and Pakistan.
In January, Iran said its forces had shot down two American airplanes drone violated Iranian airspace. She then it will be displayed publicly planes.
It uses the U.S. military and CIA (CIA) aircraft routinely to monitor military activities in the region. Washington is also used to launch attacks in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal region.
نائب وزير الإعلام اليمني يشن هجوما لاذعاً على قطر
Deputy Information Minister of Yemen launched a scathing attack on Qatar
http://www.sana.sy/ara/3/2011/12/04/385923.htm
December 04, .2011
Sanaa - SANA
Yemen's Deputy Information Minister Abdou al-Jundi, a scathing attack on the Emir of Qatar, who accused him of distributing money and arms in Yemen and the legalization of the blood of Yemenis.
The AFP quoted the al-Jundi as saying at a news conference in Sanaa said the Emir of Qatar tire Ahlkh the Yemeni people and through the payment of money, arms and asked, addressing the Emir of Qatar .. Why withdrew from the Gulf initiative .. Adding that this means that you want to mass of the Yemeni people, and which you will earn.
The al-Jundi went to the country by saying, O sons of the Free Sons of Qatar Qatar Arabs and Muslims reviewed Omirkm has permitted our blood and our hunger .. This prince and reviewed Haspuh these funds distributed by the right and left also launched an attack on Al-Jazeera coverage of the events in Yemen and said it represented the Emir of Qatar, who wants to erase from the face of Yemeni land.
Prior to that officials accused of supporting the opposition Yemeni Qatar Qatar was pulled out of the Gulf initiative for the transition of power in Yemen in what is believed to have been inclined to a stronger position against the Yemeni president.
تركي الفيصل: السعودية قد تفكر في السعي لامتلاك سلاح نووي
Turki al-Faisal: Saudi Arabia may be considering trying to have a nuclear weapon
http://www.aksalser.com/index.php?page=view_news&id=b02ddd9466b562f8a6808521fab233b2&ar=807045979
Monday - December 5 - 2011 - 15:11:06
Hinted the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal Monday to the possibility that the Kingdom is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons because the world failed to persuade Israel and Iran to abandon it.
Turki al-Faisal address to the participants in the Conference (the Gulf and the world) in Riyadh "failed efforts and the efforts of the world to convince Israel to abandon its weapons of mass destruction as well as for the armed Iran with the same weapons (...) we must, but it is our duty to our homelands and our people to look at all options available, including our possession of such weapons. "
He added that "the security of any of us is the security of all of us and the stability of any of us is the stability of all, a disaster affecting any of us is the scourge of all."
Furthermore, Al-Faisal said, "We also pay attention to our internal situation in our countries and in the future thinking and action as required stage of reforms at all levels to fortify us," stressing that "there would not be effective without the external within the actor."
He called for "establishing a unified Arab Peninsula, and the Shura Council, elected for one state and the power of one military and one economy and one currency, the curriculum ... and one for the energy and petrochemical industries one."
Royal Court clarifies issue of treasury lands registered in King's name
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=44015
6 December 2011
By Muhammad Ghazal
AMMAN - The Royal Court on Monday said the registration of treasury lands in the name of His Majesty King Abdullah was meant to expedite the implementation of national development projects in the regions where those lands are located.
A significant part of the lands in question has been transferred to the military, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and other state agencies to be invested for developmental purposes, Royal Court officials said yesterday, stressing that the transfer process is still ongoing.
The registration of treasury lands in the King's name was not intended in any manner for material or personal benefit, the officials said.
The process will be completed as soon as new development projects are identified, they said, noting that if no funds are secured for implementing development projects in lands registered in the King's name then they will be returned to the treasury.
At a meeting yesterday, Royal Court Chief Riad Abu Karaki told chief editors of major dailies and reporters that the King had issued directives to clarify all facts related to the registration of treasury lands in his name, in "utmost transparency and openness".
"There has been much talk, confusion and distortions, hence the need to set the record straight with relevant and accurate facts," Abu Karaki said, stressing that the meeting was convened at the instructions of the Monarch.
According to the Royal Court, a total of 4,827 dunums of treasury lands were registered in His Majesty's name from 2000 to 2003, when the King ordered officials to stop the practice.
Of the total area, 1,591 dunums were transferred to the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF), GAM and the King Abdullah Fund for Development (KAFD) for the execution of development projects, Amjad Adaileh, the King's adviser for media affairs, told the press in yesterday's meeting, which was held at the Royal Court.
"The only reason to register those lands in His Majesty's name was to expedite and facilitate implementation of development and service programmes and projects in the regions where those lands are located," Adaileh said.
The vast majority of lands registered in the King's name is outside Amman, he noted.
During the period from 2000 until 2003, concerned officials at the Royal Court proposed to register those treasury lands under the King's name in order to speed up implementation of projects to improve the level of public services and directly benefit citizens in those areas, said Adaileh.
The King's adviser stressed that not even one metre of the treasury land registered in the King's name was ever sold or would be ever sold in future.
The decisions to register lands in the King's name were taken by the Cabinet, which under the Constitution has total discretion in this regard, said Adaileh. "Registering lands in the King's name was not done secretly. It was based on clear decisions by the Cabinet," he said.
The transferred land plots can be identified by consulting the official public records at the Lands and Survey Department, he stressed, adding that journalists have had the chance always to direct any questions on the issue to officials at the Royal Court, the Prime Ministry or the department.
Adaileh added that the JAF, GAM and KAFD enjoy a legal status that entitles them to establish and sustain developmental projects, in partnership with public and private sector entities and for the benefit of local communities, on the lands that were transferred to them.
He said that the KAFD, which has a mandate to establish and sustain developmental projects on these lands in partnership with public and private sector institutions, operates in vital sectors that include human resources development, entrepreneurial promotion, productivity, infrastructure development and extending thousands of scholarships for Jordanian students.
Some of the lands transferred from the King's name for JAF include one in Baqoura that has been used by a veterans' society for agricultural purposes since 2006, he said.
Another plot located in Shafa Badran is being used for purposes of housing projects by the Military Housing Fund while another plot of land in Aqaba is being used by the Military Credit Fund.
The Muwafaq Salti Public Park in Amman's Muqabilain District is one of the lands registered in His Majesty's name despite being turned into a public park years ago. Delay in changing ownership to GAM was a result of bureaucratic procedures and is being processed at the present, Adaileh added.
In addition, some plots of lands that were formerly registered in the King's name are currently used for housing projects, such as housing complexes for judges in areas including Yajouz, Tabarbour and Marka.
At the meeting, Adaileh clarified that a plot of land in Marj Al Hamam, formerly the international exhibition grounds, was transferred to the Royal Hashemite Court upon a decision by the Cabinet in April 2005.
The land was registered in the name of the Royal Court to expedite and facilitate investment in that area, he said.
Late 2005, the plot of land was sold to the Royal Village, a Kuwaiti-Bahraini company, at the price of $39 million. The sum was transferred to the government at the time, Adaileh said.
During yesterday's meeting, Adaileh said the lands of Al Hussein Public Park, which many confuse to be a treasury land, had been private property since the days of His Majesty the late King Hussein and was purchased directly from its owners in the 1970s.
King Abdullah donated this piece of land, the area of which was around 700 dunums, for the establishment of Al Hussein Park, for the benefit of the local community and contributed to the establishment of Al Hussein Mosque, the Children's Museum and the Royal Automobile Museum, among other public facilities, said Adaileh.
The real estate value of the plot, where the park is located, can hardly be matched by any other lands in Jordan as it exceeds JD350 million, said Adaileh.
Setting the record straight
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=44010
6 December 2011
The clarification issued by the Royal Court on Monday on treasury lands registered in His Majesty's name reinforces the principle of transparency and right to access information by the media.
According to the clarification, made by the King's media adviser Amjad Adaileh, the land registered in the King's name in the period 2001-2003 was to be used for development purposes and to serve other aims of public interest.
This issue became a rallying cry for a small minority who used the information in a distorted or exaggerated manner with the aim of causing disturbance, abusing the atmosphere of freedom to shed doubts on the purpose of registering them, which is certainly not to serve the King's personal interests or those of any other Royal family member. To the contrary, the King even donated family-owned land, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dinars, in the Dabouq area to build public facilities that include Amman's largest recreational area, the King Hussein Park, which attracts, at weekends, tens of thousands of Jordanians who enjoy these gardens, playgrounds and promenades. These facilities also include the Kingdom's main mosque, the King Hussein Mosque, and the Children's Museum, which offers a rare educational opportunity for many visiting children and their parents, the Royal Automobile Museum and other amenities.
This 700-dunum piece of land that the Royal family members inherited from the late King Hussein, was donated by King Abdullah and registered in the name of the Greater Amman Municipality.
According to Adaileh, state-owned land was registered in the name of the King between 2001 and 2003, when His Majesty ordered an end to this old practice. During this period, the total area of land registered in the King's name reached 4,827 dunums, most of it outside Amman, and the sole purpose was to speed its utilisation for development purposes once financing was secured, Adaileh told journalists on Monday, adding that of the total, 1,591 dunums were transferred for these purposes and registered in the name of the Jordan Armed Forces, the King Abdullah Development Fund and the Greater Amman Municipality. He said the remaining pieces will soon be transferred to any of the aforementioned establishments once financing was secured, noting that all the registration process took place in a transparent manner, with the approval of the Council of Ministers. He asserted that such information would have been easily obtained by journalists from the Department of Lands and Survey, the Royal Court or the Prime Ministry.
These statements by Adaileh and the Royal Court Chief Riyad Abu Karaki came to clear any misunderstanding in the mind of the public; they should put a stop to all attempts by certain individuals to exploit the issue beyond its intended purposes.
With these clarifications, there are lessons to be learned.
It is good that His Majesty ordered the old practice of registering state-owned land in the name of the Monarch, who in the past was called emir, hence the "emiri lands". This phrase was coined when Jordan was an emirate and it is used until now to describe all state-owned land, making the public believe the emiri lands are the property of the Monarch. The practice of registering land in the name of the Monarch came to an end at King Abdullah's orders in 2003, and should never be repeated.
The King should remain above suspicion and a uniting force for all Jordanians.
In addition, journalists have to understand that they have a role to play in shedding light on facts, using their right to access information to find the truth and disseminate it.
Officials also have to cooperate with journalists because in the absence of truth, the rumour mill is fed, and rumours might become facts in the minds of the public, and can turn into a destructive weapon in the hands of those who want to abuse them.
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