Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing – December 13, 2022

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) - Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Türkiye has discovered 150 million barrels of net oil reserves in Gabar Mountain in the country’s southeast valued at $12 billion.

Ankara aims to increase its daily production to 100,000 barrels in the centennial of the Republic of Türkiye, with more seismic research, more drilling and productivity enhancing methods, he added.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated that Ankara will not allow the PKK/PYD/YPG terrorist organization to take shelter in Syria and Iraq.

“No matter what anyone says about it, we will do whatever is necessary," he told parliament in the capital Ankara.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Ankara expects the US to realize the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye as it is important for NATO's deterrence as well.

“Our request for F-16 procurement and modernization is an opportunity to further strengthen our defense relations,” he stressed.

Türkiye's latest drone Kizilelma (Red Apple) will take the country's defense industry to new heights, its manufacturer Baykar asserted.

Carrying on its war on terrorism, Türkiye “neutralized” three YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria.

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al-Marimi, a former Libyan intelligence officer accused of being behind the tragic bombing of a civilian airliner more than three decades ago, made his initial appearance in a US court.

US Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather scheduled Mas'ud's next court appearance for a detention hearing on Dec. 27 to allow him time to hire counsel or accept a public defender.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said they will launch an "internal" investigation related to the arrest Friday of one of the parliament’s vice presidents, Eva Kaili, over corruption charges allegedly linked to Qatar.

In a related development, Greek authorities froze assets of Kaili, reported public broadcaster ERT.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s mission to the EU dismissed "baseless and gravely misinformed" allegations of misconduct.

"Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate it with accusations of misconduct. Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and gravely misinformed," Doha’s mission to the EU said in a statement.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov warned that Armenia continues to fail in fulfilling its obligations to normalize bilateral ties. He remarked that progress achieved in bilateral talks between the two countries remains limited despite their increasing dynamism.

In a related development, during a phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday discussed the implementation of trilateral agreements with Azerbaijan, as well as other issues of the southern Caucasus with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the G-7 group of the world's major economic powers has decided to establish an international Climate Club to address global warming.

“The Climate Club is not intended to be a G-7 initiative; rather, it is to be a global undertaking," Scholz told a news conference in Berlin following a virtual meeting of G-7 leaders.

Referring to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Scholz argued that rebuilding Ukraine after its war with Russia will be a monumental task comparable to the US Marshall Plan which helped revive the western European economies after World War II.

Speaking on the matter, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a joint news conference with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin that Russia has to pay for the reconstruction of war-ravaged Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a weekly press briefing that Russia does not intend to change its nuclear doctrine quickly, when asked whether it could be adjusted in the future.

Russia's crude oil exports to India have increased 14-fold and doubled to China since the start of the Ukraine conflict, with Russia finding new buyers to compensate for the void left by European buyers, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency from real-time energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

The International Energy Agency argued in a report that the European Union needs to take stronger action to improve energy efficiency, deploy renewables, install heat pumps, promote energy savings and increase gas supplies in the face of a shortfall of almost 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2023.

Rapidly deteriorating air quality in the Iranian capital Tehran and adjacent cities has forced the authorities to order the closure of primary and secondary schools Monday and Tuesday.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic urged Serbs in Kosovo to refrain from provocations and to respect the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) and European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) forces.

In a related development, the US expressed concern over the situation in the north of Kosovo and called on all sides to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate action to de-escalate the situation.

Israel’s right-wing Likud Party and the opposition agreed to postpone the election of a temporary speaker for the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, until Tuesday.