ISTANBUL // Breaking a long-held taboo, the Turkish leadership has confirmed for the first time that officials have been talking to Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed Kurdish rebel leader and Turkey's public enemy number one, in an effort to find ways to end a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives since 1984.
The revelation came only two-and- a-half weeks before a crucial referendum on constitutional reforms, and amid opposition claims that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, is wooing Kurdish voters to win the poll on September 12.
Mr Erdogan told a television interviewer this week that his government would never negotiate with an organisation such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. That is the rebel group that Ocalan founded and led until his capture by Turkish agents in 1999. But Mr Erdogan added that such contacts were conducted by "the state" if necessary. Asked to be more specific, the prime minister mentioned Turkey's intelligence service. "This is an intelligence job. What is the task of an intelligence service? To open some doors, to find solutions."
In remarks seen as a message of support for Mr Erdogan and the secret talks, Abdullah Gul, Turkey's president, said: "The fight against terror is not only conducted with weapons."
Yalcin Akdogan, a senior adviser of Mr Erdogan, had previously revealed that state officials had held talks with Ocalan on the prison island of Imrali, where the PKK leader has been serving a life sentence. "It is unavoidable that state institutions enter into a dialogue with a prisoner held in a state prison," Mr Akdogan wrote in the Star newspaper on Monday. The PKK leadership also said there had been contacts between the state and Ocalan.
Cevat Ones, who served as a deputy director of Turkey's intelligence service, MIT, until 2005, said the dialogue between the state and Ocalan started several years ago. After Ocalan's capture, the talks were predominantly conducted by military officials, Mr Ones was reported as saying in yesterday's Taraf newspaper. Starting in 2006, talks had been held by MIT and police agents as well as politicians. He did not mention names.
Mr Erdogan insisted that his government, in power since November 2002, was not the first one to oversee contacts with Ocalan. During a speech in Sivas in central Anatolia on Tuesday, Mr Erdogan said the coalition government that preceded his own, and included a nationalist party that is now highly critical of Mr Erdogan's approach to the Kurdish question, had established contacts with Ocalan as well.
"Didn't they talk to the head of the terrorist organisation?" Mr Erdogan asked his audience. "Of course they didn't do the talking themselves. Who does? The intelligence services talk to him, officials of the justice ministry talk to him."
Officially, Ankara rejects demands by Kurdish activists that the PKK or Ocalan be accepted as interlocutors in efforts to find a peaceful solution for the Kurdish conflict.
But in the secret talks with Ocalan, military and intelligence officers tried several times to get the PKK leader to call ceasefires, according to Mr Ones, the former intelligence official. In recent years, the scope of the talks had been widened to include issues such as possible conditions for the disarmament of the PKK, but the dialogue did not reach the level and depth of negotiations between authorities in Spain and Northern Ireland with separatist groups on their territories, he said.
Although 11 years have passed since his imprisonment, Ocalan is still revered by many Kurds. The operational leadership of the PKK has passed into the hands of rebel leaders hiding in northern Iraq, but Ocalan's word continues to carry weight. He is reported to send his messages to the Kurds and the PKK via his lawyers, who are allowed to visit him once a week.
Opposition leaders accused Mr Erdogan of having reached a secret deal with the PKK after the rebels recently announced a ceasefire that is to last until after the September 12 referendum. The Erdogan government rejected the claim, saying the opposition was slinging mud to increase its chances to defeat the prime minister in the referendum.
But Mr Akdogan, the Erdogan adviser, praised the role Ocalan played in getting the ceasefire in place. He also welcomed the fact that Ocalan pointedly refused to support calls by the Party for Peace and Democracy, or BDP, Turkey's main Kurdish party, for Kurdish voters to boycott the vote, thereby indirectly strengthening Mr Erdogan's position.
The referendum was called over a package of constitutional amendments that includes steps to strengthen civilian control over the military and a reform of key judicial bodies. But strong rivalries between the government and opposition parties have turned the decision on September 12 into a vote of confidence over Mr Erdogan's leadership. Polls say the vote will be close. Support from the Kurds could give Mr Erdogan a decisive boost.
At first, the BDP said the package does not take Kurdish demands for more rights into account and asked their supporters to stay away from the voting booths. After Ocalan's refusal to endorse the boycott, BDP officials have softened their rhetoric. Many observers predict that a majority of Kurds will now back the referendum.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
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In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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