International11 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 Putin heads to Turkey for talks on weapons deal, Syria ‘Russia and Turkey cooperating very tightly’

ANKARA: Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday meets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and a key weapons deal, hoping to strengthen an increasingly active relationship that has troubled the West. Despite a regional rivalry that goes back to the DAMASCUS: Newly elected Syrian parliament speaker Ottoman Empire and the Romanov Hammoudeh Sabbagh delivers a speech in Damascus.—AFP dynasty, Russia and Turkey have been working closely since a 2016 reconcil- Christian to head iation ended a crisis caused by the shooting down of a Russian war Syria parliament plane over Syria. “Russia and Turkey are cooperat- DAMASCUS: A Christian legislator was yesterday elected ing very tightly,” Putin’s spokesman speaker of parliament in predominantly Muslim Syria for the Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the first time in decades. Hammudeh Sabbagh, a 58-year-old one-day working visit by Putin to Syriac Orthodox Christian graduate in law and member of Ankara. The two will hold a working President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party from Hasakeh dinner before a one-on-one meeting province in northeast Syria, won 193 votes out of 252 cast, and a press conference at 9:30 pm state media reported. He became the first Christian to hold (1830 GMT) at Erdogan’s palace, the the post since Fares el-Khoury who served multiple terms Turkish presidency said on its web- before and after the French mandate of 1920-1946. site. Turkey and Russia have been on MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a command to destroy the Before the 2011 outbreak of war in Syria, Christians of 11 opposing sides during the more last chemical ammunition from Russia’s chemical weapon stockpile via a video different denominations made up about five percent of the than six years of war in Syria, with conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow.—AFP population. Around half of Syria’s 1.5 million Christians have Russia the key backer of President tourists returning to Turkey and the integrity of Iraq, it “views the Kurds’ since fled, according to Chaldean Catholic Bishop Antoine Bashar al-Assad and Turkey support- two countries working on a Black Sea national aspirations with respect”. Audo. Christians have tried largely to keep their distance from ing rebels seeking his ouster. gas pipeline. “Russia has been trying to abstain the conflict, in which they have been targeted by Islamist But while Turkey’s policy is official- from taking a clear stance on the rebel groups while the regime portrays itself as the secular ly unchanged, Ankara has notably Loaded with contradictions issue and Turkey may be wanting to defender of minorities. The Islamic State jihadist group, for its cooled its attacks on the Damascus Yet analysts say that while both get some assurances and explana- part, has carried out mass kidnappings of Christians and regime since its cooperation with countries share an interest in seeking tions,” Timur Akhmetov, Ankara- destroyed their churches.—AFP Russia began to heat up. Both to discomfort the West by showing off based Turkey expert at the Russian Moscow and Ankara are pushing for close cooperation, their relationship International Affairs Council, told AFP. the creation of four “de-escalation falls well short of a sincere strategic In public, Erdogan has shied away Ukraine and Russia fight zones” in Syria, in line with peace alliance. “Relations between Turkey from attacking Russia’s stance on the over Crimean heritage talks in Astana, to end the civil war and Russia may appear to be friendly, Kurdish referendum, declaring that that has raged since 2011. With but they are loaded with contradic- Israel was the only state that backed SIMFEROPOL: The painting “Moonlit Night” by famed 19th Moscow’s ally Assad now having the tions and set to remain unstable in the poll. Deliveries of the S-400s, century maritime artist Ivan Aivazovsky is a study in tranquili- upper hand in the conflict, Russia will the near term,” Pavel Baev and Kemal meanwhile, could be years away due ty: two boats sailing calmly across a placid sea. But now the be hoping Turkey will bring the Kirisci of the Brookings Institution to orders from China, while Ankara’s masterpiece is caught up at the centre of a storm between rebels it has supported into the politi- wrote in a study this month. insistence on a technology transfer as Ukraine and Russia as the violent feud between the two cal process. Russia’s stance on the non-binding part of the deal may also create prob- neighbors has spilt over into a cultural tug of war. At Ukraine’s Turkey, a NATO member, has Kurdish independence vote is also lems. But both Moscow and Ankara request, last month Interpol added the painting, and 51 oth- signed a deal reportedly worth $2 bil- troubling for Turkey, for whom are, for now, happy to send a mes- ers by artists such as Ivan Shishkin and Isaac Levitan, to its list lion (1.7 billion euros) to buy S-400 air opposing Kurdish statehood is a cor- sage to the West that they are serious of stolen artworks. defense systems from Russia, a move nerstone of foreign policy due to its about defense cooperation. “They are Kiev insists the collection-valued at some $1.3 million — that has shocked its allies in the own Kurdish minority. The Russian trying to utilize the issue of the S-400 was illegally spirited away into Russian-controlled territory as alliance. Economic cooperation is also foreign ministry said Wednesday that for their respective political interests,” Moscow took over and then annexed the Crimea peninsula in beginning to flourish, with Russian while Moscow supports the territorial Akhmetov said.—AFP 2014. The tussle over the artworks-owned by the Simferopol Art Museum in the Russian-held region-is just the tip of the iceberg in a furious dispute over artistic heritage and cultural identity raging between the two foes. Rights watchdog condemns When Moscow seized Crimea, an estimated 1.2 million museum pieces fell under Russian control, according to the Ukrainian culture ministry. “These are incredible losses for abuse in Iraq’s anti-IS hunt Ukraine,” Mykola Yakovyna, the head of the Ukrainian chapter of the Blue Shield cultural protection group, told AFP. BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch yesterday condemned said it had documented cases of screening and torture abuse by paramilitary units fighting alongside Iraqi of suspects from interviews with villagers displaced by Intelligence operation security forces to expel Islamic State group jihadists the latest fighting to retake the northern city of Hawija. Exactly how the Aivazovsky painting and the 51 other works from their last redoubts in the country. “Right now, the Families had given accounts of how Hashed units ended up under Russian control is a murky story shrouded in Iraqi government’s attitude seems to be ‘all hands on had detained and beaten male villagers and taken claim and counterclaim. When Russian troops in unmarked uni- deck’ for these last battles against ISIS (IS),” said HRW’s away four men from Sayhat Othman, 42 kilometers forms fanned out across Crimea to seize key installations in Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson. “While Iraqi northwest of Hawija, who had not been seen again, February 2014 the pictures were on display outside the region forces do need all the help they can get, the govern- sparking rumors they had been shot dead. One of the in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol as part of a touring exhibition. ment should not allow abusive forces to use this oppor- men, who had surrendered to Iraqi forces, was an Ukrainian officials insist that the paintings were then smuggled tunity for even more abuse.” amputee in a wheelchair, who had worked in the local back to Crimea while officials in Kiev were distracted and scram- Despite pledges to the contrary, Prime Minister mosque under IS “and cooperated with the group bling to react as Moscow seized the territory. Haider al-Abadi was allowing the Hashed al-Shaabi while they were in control of the area”, HRW quoted The region’s Kremlin-installed leader Sergei Aksyonov later units “to play a more prominent role not only in the family members as saying. claimed his officials “recruited people” on the Ukrainian side fighting but also in screening and detaining people After the defeat of IS in Iraq’s second city Mosul in to help snatch the pictures, saying his authorities had to act during military operations”, the New York-based rights July and the recapture of adjacent areas, the Hawija like an “intelligence agency”. Earlier this month Ukrainian watchdog said. “Iraqi military forces are taking the law area represents the last enclave still held by the state prosecutors launched a criminal probe against the man- into their own hands, playing judge, jury and execu- jihadists in Iraq apart from a section of the Euphrates agement of the Mariupol museum for allowing the works tioner with captive ISIS suspects,” Whitson said. HRW Valley near the border with Syria.—AFP back to Crimea. —AFP