Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Close Incirlik, not Haydarpasa

Haydarpasa is strategically located on the Bospourous Straits. The Bospourous Straits and the Baltic Sea are two pertinent avenues by which Russia ships oil to market.

I see in this project a similarity with that of a Chinatown to be built right on the Baltic Sea in the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg, a very strategic location with great military potential, in NATO’s face. This thing is huge and it is China’s first such endeavor. The Baltic Sea is important as it is a major expressway for Russian oil very much like the Bosphorus Straits where this new ‘private’ city is to be built.


St. Petersburg, Krasnoselsky

In the following text the protestors chant of closing Incirlik where the United States has stashed 90 nuclear bombs. They also compare the privatization to the invasion of Istanbul in 1918 when military ships stopped at the shores of Haydarpasa.
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Is the privatization of Haydarpasa a means to put this strategically located port in the hands of a foreign entity such as the United States in order to control the Bospourous Straits?

Incirlik was built in 1954 in Turkey's Adana province on the eastern Mediterranean coast

"H.Pasa" is the name of the domestic Istanbul train station (Haydarpasa).



-Am

Close Incirlik, not Haydarpasa

ISTANBUL - A protest rally against the privatization of the Haydarpasa Train Station and its surrounding area brought hundreds of people to Haydarpasa docks under the burning noon sun yesterday.

Participants wore t-shirts reading “We won't let Haydarpasa be invaded.”

The Istanbul branch of the Turkish Union of Engineers' and Architects' Chambers (TMMOB) and the Union of Transportation Employees organized the rally at Haydarpasa Train Station to protest against its privatization. Over 50 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of vocational unions and associations joined the call and participated along with representatives from six political parties.

The Istanbul TMMOB protested about the project, which concerns 4 million square meters of public property, including the Haydarpasa station and docks. If the project comes to fruition then the area will become a “World Trade Center and Cruise Dock” closed to the public. It will house a gated community of 1 million people, and seven skyscrapers will be erected in the area. Protestors also emphasized that 10,000 workers at the train station and the docks would lose their jobs.

The privatization was likened to the invasion of Istanbul in 1918 when military ships stopped at the shores of Haydarpasa. Statements underlined that “The legendary silhouette of Istanbul will be destroyed, and the city will be robbed of its historical and cultural value.”

The special Law No. 5234, widely known as the Haydarpasa decree, bequeaths the immovable public properties of Haydarpasa station and the dock area to the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) without charge. The TCDD was earlier included in the privatization program by the Supreme Board of Privatization (OYAK) by Law No. 5335, widely known as the “bag” law.

The Marmaray project also disconnects Haydarpasa from Istanbul and Anatolia's train and sea routes by connecting Harem to Sogutlucesme.

Under Law No. 5234, the Public Works and Housing Ministry has authority over all planning, approval, and license transactions. The same law states that municipalities will be notified about plans once they're finalized, and that implementation of the plans is obligatory.

Protestors called for Incirlik Airbase in Adana to be closed instead of Haydarpasa. Boats passing by Haydarpasa saluted the group by blowing their horns and received a great deal of applause.

Rail and sea workers and prominent figures from the arts were present at the meeting, where the music group Babazula also performed. Before the concert a member of Babazula said, “The first places to be shut down in war by enemies are docks and railways.”

The New Anatolian, 23 June 2005

Turkey

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=13263



Reference:
Finally, the Turkish government cynically announced that they had "discovered" major environmental problems with letting huge oil tankers pass through the Bosphorus straits--the mouth of the Black Sea which they control. In other words, Turkey is threatening to stop oil-tankers from Novorossisk, which quickly made investors wary of building a pipeline that ended in Novorossisk.

BTC is projected to reach 1 million barrels a day - roughly 1.2% of global production. Compare it with the 500,000 barrels of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which moves crude from Baku to the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

Thus controlling the Bosphorus straits is a major factor in making the only pipeline that seemed practical the BTC and stopping Russia from getting her oil to market.

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