Türkiye Cracks Down on Hybrid Car Imports

A Hyundai Motor's NEXO hydrogen car is fueled at a hydrogen station in Seoul, South Korea, August 13, 2019. (Reuters)
A Hyundai Motor's NEXO hydrogen car is fueled at a hydrogen station in Seoul, South Korea, August 13, 2019. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Cracks Down on Hybrid Car Imports

A Hyundai Motor's NEXO hydrogen car is fueled at a hydrogen station in Seoul, South Korea, August 13, 2019. (Reuters)
A Hyundai Motor's NEXO hydrogen car is fueled at a hydrogen station in Seoul, South Korea, August 13, 2019. (Reuters)

Türkiye's trade ministry imposed strict conditions on the import of plug-in hybrid vehicles from some countries, including China, according to a notice published in the Official Gazette on Friday.

The move follows a decision in June to limit imports of electric vehicles.

China has faced widespread criticism over its vehicle exports, which many countries claim are heavily subsidised by Beijing, according to Reuters.

Analysts say Ankara is also seeking to increase pressure on Chinese carmakers with which it is holding talks about investing in production in Türkiye.

The notice, which takes effect in 30 days, says an importer must meet conditions including having 20 authorised service shops in seven different regions of Türkiye, in order to import chargeable hybrid vehicles not produced in the European Union or in countries with which Türkiye has a free trade agreement.

Analysts say no importers meet the conditions.

"All plug-in hybrid vehicles that will come from now on will be blocked, apart from those in stock already. Other hybrid cars are already subject to a high customs tax," Erol Sahin, founder of EBS Danismanlik consultancy said.

He added the government was "toughening its message of hurry up" to the Chinese firms with which it is negotiating over domestic production.

In July, China's BYD agreed with the Turkish government to build a $1 billion plant in Türkiye with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.

Last week, Turkish sources said BYD's investment process in Türkiye continued without any problems, after China's warning to its companies about the risk of overseas investment.

China's Chery and SAIC are also in talks.

In Europe sales of fully electric vehicles have been falling more rapidly than of hybrid cars, data has shown this week.

Türkiye's domestic car and light vehicle market was at 762,000 units for the first eight months of the year, around the same as last year. Imports of Chinese brands jumped more than two fold to 63,000 units, taking 8% market share, according to industry datatu



Germany Charges Syrian with War Crimes against Yazidis

Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo
Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo
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Germany Charges Syrian with War Crimes against Yazidis

Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo
Police in the German state of Thuringia. Reuters file photo

A high-ranking member of the ISIS terrorist group in Syria has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Germany, partly for alleged involvement in the genocide against the Yazidi community, prosecutors said.

The suspect, a Syrian national identified as Ossama A. in line with German privacy law, joined ISIS in the summer of 2014 in the Deir ez-Zor region of eastern Syria, the German prosecutor-general's office said in a statement.

It said he is suspected of having led a local unit that forcibly seized 13 properties, mainly privately owned, which were used to house fighters, as office space or for storage, according to Reuters.

Two of the buildings were used by ISIS to imprison captured Yazidi women so that militants could sexually abuse and exploit them, according to Wednesday's statement, which listed aiding and abetting genocide among the charges against Ossama A.

"This was an integral part of the organization's goal of destroying the Yazidi religious community," it said.

The suspect was arrested in Germany in April 2024 and is being held in pre-trial custody.

Germany has emerged as a key prosecutor of Syrian war crimes outside of Syria under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

In early 2022, a former Syrian intelligence officer who worked in a Damascus prison was jailed for life in a landmark trial where he was convicted of murder, rape and sexual assault.

A senior German foreign ministry official said on Wednesday Berlin supports a UN body set up to assist investigations into serious crimes committed in Syria, particularly now that the long-reigning president Bashar al-Assad has been ousted.

"The IIIM is collecting evidence so that those responsible for these terrible crimes committed against countless Syrians can be held to account," minister of state Tobias Lindner said in a statement.

"What is clear is that the process of investigating and prosecuting these horrible crimes must be pursued under (the new) Syrian leadership," he added.

Opposition factions swept Assad from power late last year, flinging open prisons and government offices and raising fresh hopes for accountability

for crimes committed during Syria's more than 13-year civil war.

ISIS militants controlled swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014-17 before being routed by Western-led coalition forces and defeated in their last bastions in Syria in 2019.

ISIS viewed the Yazidis, an ancient religious minority, as devil worshippers and killed more than 3,000 of them, as well as enslaving 7,000 Yazidi women and girls and displacing most of the 550,000-strong community from its ancestral home in northern Iraq.

The United Nations has said ISIS attacks on the Yazidis amounted to a genocidal campaign against them.