MOSCOW, OCT 19: Special Representatives of Russia, China and Pakistan for Afghanistan met in Moscow today.
Common security concerns and mutual interests for provision of urgent humanitarian and economic assistance to Afghanistan were discussed.
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ATHENS, OCT 19: Greek authorities
suppress the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Muslim Turkish minority in
Western Thrace, the elected mufti (Muslim scholar and legal expert) of Xanthi
(Iskece) has said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ahmet
Mete said the heads of the Muslim Turkish minority in Western Thrace are
"threatened and insulted."
Noting that the mufti institution
in Western Thrace was regulated by the principles in the Treaty of Lausanne, he
said the Greek authorities did not give the rights to the minority group it was
entrusted to.
The appointment of muftis by
Greek authorities weaken the position of muftis in Western Thrace, he said,
adding that a man with a primary school degree was appointed to the position in
Xanthi.
Mete said the Islamic clerics
have an important role for the unity and solidarity of the minority in the
region, adding that they will continue their "rightful struggle"
against moves that divide the society.
Mete and his predecessor Mehmet
Emin Aga have previously been convicted by Greek courts for usurping authority.
The Western Thrace region of
Greece is home to a Muslim Turkish minority of around 150,000 people, where
muftis have legal jurisdiction to decide on the family and inheritance matters
in the local community.
The issue of mufti elections has
been a long-standing problem for the group since 1991.
The election of muftis by Muslims
in Greece was regulated in the 1913 Treaty of Athens with the Ottoman Empire
and was later included in Greek law. Greece, however, annulled the law in 1991
and started appointing muftis itself.
The majority of Muslim Turks in the cities of Komotini and Xanthi do not recognize the appointed muftis and instead elect their own, who are not recognized by the Greek state.
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Courtesy anews
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ANKARA, OCT 19: The 5th TRT World
Forum, with the participation of nearly 100 speakers from 36 countries, has
started with the opening speeches of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,
Communications Director of Republic of Turkey Fahrettin Altun, and Director General
of TRT Mehmet Zahid Sobacı.
President Erdoğan, who has
participated in every TRT World Forum since 2017 and made striking statements
regarding the agenda of Turkey and the world, which have drawn significant
interest in the world press, is expected to make important statements at this
year's event, which will be held with the theme "Power and Paradox:
Understanding Grand Strategy in the 21st Century".
In TRT World Forum, alongside
President Erdoğan, Minister of Foreign Issues Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Communications
Director of Republic of Turkey Fahrettin Altun, and Director General of TRT
Mehmet Zahid Sobacı and experts will address many crucial global issues ranging
from climate and global health crises to international economic development and
from the rise of Eurasia to digital governance.
TRT World Forum 2021 can be followed live from http://www.trtworldforum.com
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COURTESY Anews
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WASHINGTON, OCT 19: The special US envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has resigned, admitting his shortcomings. His deputy Thomas West would replace him.
The resignation comes as the
United States has withdrawn from a session called by Russia on the future of
Afghanistan.
In a letter to Secretary of State
Antony Blinken, Khalilzad defended his record but acknowledged that he came up
short and said he wanted to step aside during the “new phase of our Afghanistan
policy.”
“The political arrangement
between the Afghan government and the Taliban did not go forward as envisaged,”
he wrote.
“The reasons for this are too
complex and I will share my thoughts in the coming day and weeks.”
Born in Afghanistan, the dapper
70-year-old academic turned US diplomat took senior positions as part of the
inner circle of former president George W. Bush, becoming the US ambassador to
Kabul and then Baghdad and the United Nations.
As former president Donald Trump
itched to end America’s longest war in Afghanistan, he brought back Khalilzad,
who led exhaustive talks with the Taliban — without including the US-backed
government in Kabul.
Those talks led to a February
2020 agreement in which US troops would leave the following year.
But peace negotiations between
the Taliban and the leadership in Kabul failed to gain traction, and the
government that the United States built over 20 years crumbled within days as
US troops left.
Rare US figure
Steeped in Afghanistan’s language
and customs, Khalilzad was a rare US diplomat able to develop a cordial rapport
with Taliban leaders whose regime was toppled by the United States after the
September 11, 2001 attacks over its welcome to Al-Qaeda.
Khalilzad, despite his Republican
affiliation, was kept in place when Democratic President Joe Biden defeated
Trump and decided to go ahead with the withdrawal.
Khalilzad soon became a lightning
rod for criticism, with even his superiors in the Biden administration — while
voicing respect for him personally — faulting the diplomacy behind the 2020
agreement.
Blinken said that Khalilzad’s
deputy, Thomas West, would take over as the special envoy.
West is a longtime aide to Biden,
serving on his staff when he was vice president. West has worked for years on
South Asia policy including on the US-India civilian nuclear deal.
US backtracks from Afghanistan talks
Shortly before Khalilzad’s
resignation became public, the State Department said the United States would not
be able to attend a new session called Tuesday by Russia that also includes
China and Pakistan, historically the Taliban’s primary backer.
Russian peace envoy to
Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov had announced last week that his country would host
the United States, China and Pakistan ” to work out a common position on the
changing situation in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban confirmed their
participation soon afterwards. Taliban’s foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul
Qahar Balkhi tweeted that Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy of the council of
ministers in the Taliban government, will lead the delegation in the meeting.
“We look forward to engaging in
that forum going forward, but we’re not in a position to take part this week,”
state department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.
‘Time not on our side’
After Trump ended US opposition
to speaking to the Taliban, Khalilzad was instrumental in Doha talks between
the US and the Taliban.
But pictures of him smiling with
the Taliban earned him heated criticism in Kabul where some in the now-fallen
government as well as newly Western-oriented elite berated him and accused him
of selling out Afghanistan.
In interviews last month,
Khalilzad said that he had reached a deal with the Taliban in which the
insurgents would stay out of Kabul and negotiate a political transition.
But Khalilzad said the deal
collapsed when president Ashraf Ghani fled the country on August 15 and the
Taliban saw a security vacuum.
Speaking to Foreign Policy,
Khalilzad said that the Taliban fulfilled key parts of the February 2020
agreement including not attacking the departing US troops.
“I respect those who say we
shouldn’t have negotiated with the Talibs without the government being there.
But we don’t know how much more fighting would have taken for the Talibs to
agree to that,” he said.
But with no appetite in the
United States for another surge of troops in its longest war, “each year we
were losing ground to the Talibs,” he said.
“Time was not on our side.”
Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington who is now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said that Khalilzad failed in that he “equated US withdrawal with peace.”
“Khalilzad handed the keys of Kabul to the Taliban in return for promises everyone knew the Taliban would not keep,” Haqqani said.
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COURTESY SAMAA
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ISLAMABAD, OCT 18: The 30th anniversary of Independence of Azerbaijan has celebrated in Islamabad on Monday.
Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser was the chief guest on this occasion. He, along with Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadovand and other diplomats have cut the cake.
During the meeting, Speaker National Assembly extended greetings to Azerbaijani ambassador on his Independence day.
Matters of bilateral interest came under discussion at the time of meeting between both dignitaries.
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