Will graft claims hurt German affair with Qatar?

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Wed, 1 Jun 2011 10:28 AM Author: Reuters Corrects value of Deutsch Bahn contract to 17 billion euros in section 2 PDF version: http://link.reuters.com/zub89r * 2022 Qatar World Cup should boost German companies * German building firms already working on infrastructure * Qatar taking strategic stakes in German companies * Political ties boost commercial opportunities By Josie Cox and Regan E. Doherty FRANKFURT/DOHA, June 1 (Reuters) - Crowds in Doha exploded in jubilation when Sepp Blatter announced Qatar had won the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup last December. Almost 3,000 miles away, a much smaller group also celebrated the surprise win. On the third floor of a grey office building in an upmarket residential district of Frankfurt, a team from German architecture firm Albert Speer & Partner GmbH (AS&P) popped champagne bottles and screamed with delight. Founded by the son of Nazi party official Albert Speer, AS&P designed eight of the 12 stadiums Qatar plans to use for the event, as well as the hulking 743-page, 5 kg (11 pound) bid book the country presented to football's governing body FIFA. "We were speechless and had a spontaneous party. It was just before Christmas and the best present any of us ever could have hoped for," AS&P partner Axel Bienhaus told Reuters. The architects were not the only Germans rejoicing that day. Dozens of German companies stand to benefit from Qatar's World Cup win; the successful bid should also help cement growing economic and political ties between Germany and Qatar. "Qatar's victory is in many ways a victory for Germany too," Bienhaus told Reuters. But now allegations by football officials that Qatar bribed FIFA members to give it the World Cup -- claims Qatar has denied -- might spoil the party. On Wednesday, the head of Germany's football federation Theo Zwanziger called for FIFA to re-examine how Qatar won the Cup. "There is a considerable degree of suspicion that one cannot simply sweep aside, and I must expect that awarding this World Cup under these conditions needs to be examined anew," he told German television, referring to Qatar. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ TAKE A LOOK-FIFA corruption scandal [ID:nL3E7GU0IE] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> A PIPELINE OF BILLIONS However it won host rights for the world's biggest sports event, Qatar's ambitions are, by any measure, extraordinary. The government in the gas-rich state has allocated a whopping 40 percent of its budget between now and 2016 to infrastructure projects, including ${esc.dollar}11 billion on a new international airport, ${esc.dollar}5.5 billion on a deepwater seaport and ${esc.dollar}1 billion for a transport corridor in the capital, Doha. It will spend ${esc.dollar}20 billion on roads. Much of that was bound to be built anyway. But according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates, Qatar will spend about ${esc.dollar}65 billion preparing for the tournament, including building nine new stadiums and renovating three at an estimated cost of about ${esc.dollar}2 billion apiece. Much of that is expected to be designed and built by German companies. Deutsche Bahn is already at work on a 17 billion euro, 320-km (200 mile) train line system in Doha, the capital. The project, one of the biggest foreign deals in German industrial history, will link the World Cup stadiums and won't wrap up until 2026, four years after the Cup. Germany's largest builder Hochtief will also construct the country's flagship project, Lusail City. The development, named for a desert flower, is the largest ever in Qatar. Owned by Qatari Diar, the real estate arm of the country's sovereign fund, it will transform a small mountain of sand alongside a highway in dusty northern Doha into a verdant 38-sq km (15 sq mile) city for 200,000 people. Hochtief will also build a separate rail network for Lusail City with 27 train stations, as well as Barwa Commercial Avenue, an 8.5-km (5.3 mile) shopping arcade with around 600 new retail units, 1,300 residential units and offices. Valued at ${esc.dollar}467 million, the project is due to be completed by the end of this year. And Hochtief has provided planning services for a 40-km Qatar-Bahrain causeway, linking the country to neighbouring Bahrain. Though the project has been long delayed, Qatar's successful World Cup bid may provide new momentum, with nearby Bahrain absorbing some of the tourist inflow in its hotels. Other contractors for the project include French group Vinci. When bids to build the new stadiums open, Hochtief "would certainly be interested", a spokesman for the construction group said. In December, Herbert Luetkestratkoetter, then Hochtief's Chief Executive, told Spiegel magazine that there was a "declaration of intent" that the company will be involved in the World Cup. German conglomerate Siemens and steel group ThyssenKrupp are also tipped by analysts and traders to be frontrunners in the race for contracts, up against everyone from South Korea's Daewoo to Luxembourg-based Arcelor Mittal. DOWN THE CHAIN And it's not just the big names. At an industrial trade exhibition in Qatar last month, German firms were the second most numerous after those from Qatar's Gulf neighbour United Arab Emirates. Many were small- and mid-sized companies from the country's famed "Mittelstand" -- firms like Weka, a tiny Stuttgart-based specialist manufacturer of aluminium door handles and locks. "There is huge potential in Qatar, obviously," said Weka's sales manager Matthias Imber, standing behind the counter at the company's exhibit at the mammoth expo. "We met this week with a hotel that will have 600 rooms. All of these rooms will need to be fitted with door handles. This is a great amount to start off with, and hopefully we will move on to bigger projects." At a stand touting the hair and hand dryers made by a company called Starmix, based in the state of Baden Wuerttemberg, sales manager Katrin Kotthaus sketched out the opportunity: to meet FIFA requirements, Qatar will need to increase hotel room capacity to 95,000 from 10,000 by 2022. The new stadiums, which will host an estimated 500,000 visitors, will also need thousands of dryers. "Wherever there is a public toilet, you need an electric hand dryer," she said, adding that Starmix had already supplied hair dryers for Qatari hotels including the Kepinski and the Grand Hyatt. "Everybody wants to come into this market. Everyone knows what is coming up for stadia and projects here. They have big plans," she said. German companies are there to help sell those plans, too. When the FIFA delegation visited Qatar last September to assess the strength of the country's bid, it was Berlin-based event planning firm Atkon that created the 39-minute interactive show to wow the visiting inspectors. Slogan: "Expect Amazing". Little wonder that trade between the two countries has boomed. Up until a little more than a decade ago, Germany lagged in terms of exports to Qatar. Since then it has passed Britain, France and other rivals. Two weeks after the FIFA vote in December, German magazine Der Spiegel predicted Germany AG could see an even bigger financial boost from the Qatar World Cup than it did from its own World Cup in 2006. A few weeks after the host nation decision was announced, remembers AS&P's Bienhaus, a colleague got a phone call from Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani "with a single message: 'I love my Germans!'"

Soccer-Qatar examining allegations of labour

abuses Source: Reuters - Thu, 26 Sep 2013 03:16 PM Author: Reuters DOHA, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Qatar government authorities are investigating allegations in the Guardian newspaper that dozens of migrant Nepalese workers have died in recent weeks, the committee managing preparations for the 2022 World Cup said on Thursday. The Guardian report, published on Wednesday, said thousands of Nepalese workers were enduring labour abuses as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup. The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee said in a statement it had been informed that government authorities were investigating the allegations. "Like everyone viewing the video and images, and reading the accompanying texts, we are appalled by the findings presented in the Guardian's report," the committee said. "The health, safety, well-being and dignity of every worker that contributes to staging the 2022 FIFA World Cup is of the utmost importance to our committee." Qatar was awarded the World Cup three years ago in a surprise decision. The tiny Gulf state is now in a race against time to complete an extensive amount of infrastructure work that would allow it to host the biggest sporting event in the world after the summer Olympic Games. The world governing body FIFA said it was concerned about media reports highlighting labour rights' abuses and conditions for construction workers in projects at the Lusail City construction site. "FIFA will again get in contact with the Qatari Authorities and the matter will also be discussed at the Executive Committee Meeting under point FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on 3 and 4th October 2013 in Zurich," it said. Qatar's 2022 committee said it was working with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as well as various ministries to address migrant labour issues. (Reporting by Amena Bakr and Brian Homewood; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and John Mehaffey)

Suicide bombers target Iraq Shi'ites, killing 60

Suicide bomber kills 15 in attack on primary school in Iraq Sun, Oct 06 07:03 AM EDT MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into the playground of a primary school in northern Iraq and blew himself up, killing 14 students and their headmaster on Sunday, police and medical sources said. The attack followed a suicide bombing minutes earlier on a police station in the same town, Tel Afar, about 70 km (45 miles) northwest of Mosul city, where Sunni Islamist and other insurgents have a foothold. There were no casualties in the police station attack. "We were exposed to two big explosions today in which dozens were killed or injured. The first was a truck bomb targeting a police station and the second was detonated inside the primary school," the mayor of Tel Afar, Abdul Al Abbas, told Reuters. No group immediately claimed responsibility for either of the bombings, but such attacks are the hallmark of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, which views Shi'ites as non-believers and has been regaining momentum this year. The majority of Tel Afar's residents are from Iraq's Shi'ite Turkman minority, which in recent years has been the target of killings and kidnappings. "The fingerprints of al Qaeda are clear on both attacks," said an official in the town who declined to be named. More than 6,000 people have been killed in violence across the country this year, according to monitoring group Iraq Body Count, reversing a decline in sectarian bloodshed that had climaxed in 2006-07. Al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate was forced underground in 2007 when Sunni tribesmen found common cause with U.S. troops and fought the group, but it has re-emerged this year invigorated by growing Sunni resentment of the Shi'ite-led government. Relations between Islam's two main denominations have come under acute strain from the conflict in Syria, which has drawn Sunnis and Shi'ites from Iraq and the wider Middle East into a sectarian proxy war. At least 60 people were killed on Saturday in two suicide bombings targeting Shi'ite. (Reporting by Ziad al-Sinjary; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Janet Lawrence) === Suicide bombers target Iraq Shi'ites, killing 60 Sat, Oct 05 17:10 PM EDT By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers targeted Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq on Saturday, killing 60 people on the eve of the anniversary of one of their imams' deaths, police and medics said on Saturday. In the northern city of Mosul, unidentified gunmen shot two Iraqi television journalists dead as they were filming, security sources said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for either of the bombings, but such attacks are the hallmark of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, which views Shi'ites as non-believers and has been regaining momentum this year. In Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a checkpoint, killing 48 Shi'ite pilgrims on their way to visit a shrine in the Kadhimiya district, police and medical sources said. Earlier on Saturday, another suicide bomber blew himself up inside a cafe in a mainly Shi'ite town of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, killing 12 people. The cafe was targeted in an almost identical bombing 40 days ago. "I received the corpse of my cousin. It was completely charred and difficult to identify," said Abdullah al-Baldawi, whose relative was killed in the cafe bombing. Relations between Islam's two main denominations have come under acute strain from the conflict in Syria, which has drawn fighters from Iraq and the wider Middle East into a sectarian proxy war. More than 6,000 people have been killed in violence across the country this year, according to monitoring group Iraq Body Count, reversing a decline in sectarian bloodshed that had climaxed in 2006-07. It was not clear who was behind the killing of the journalists, who worked for Iraqi television channel al-Sharqiya News, which is often critical of the Shi'ite-led government and is popular among the country's Sunni minority. "They shot them in the chest and head, killing them instantly," said a security source who declined to be named. Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. According to the Baghdad-based Journalism Freedoms Observatory, 261 journalists have been killed and 46 kidnapped since 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Mosul, capital of the predominantly Sunni province of Nineveh, is a stronghold for Islamist and other insurgents. A journalist from Mosul said insurgents in the city changed their tactics and targets from time to time, and may now have set their sights on journalists, after previous spates of attacks against traffic police and mayors. "I will leave the city of Mosul and live in the outskirts until things calm down," said the journalist on condition of anonymity. The Journalists' Syndicate denounced the killings as a "criminal act", demanding the authorities track down the perpetrators and do more to protect the media. Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi condemned the killings: "It aims to muzzle the voice of people, the voice of righteousness". Iraq's Sunni community has grown increasingly resentful of a government it accuses of marginalizing their sect since coming to power after the U.S.-led invasion that vanquished Saddam Hussein in 2003. Sunnis launched street protests in December after Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought to arrest a senior Sunni politician. A bloody raid by security forces on a protest camp in April touched off a violent backlash by Sunni militants. The United Nations Mission in Iraq said nearly 900 civilians were killed across Iraq in September, raising the death toll so far this year to well above the total for 2013. (Additional reporting by Raheem Salman and Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Kurdistan Oil Minister: Dana Gas Breached Confidentiality, Owes KRG Significant Sums

Kurdistan Oil Minister: Dana Gas Breached Confidentiality, Owes KRG Significant Sums By RUDAW 2 hours ago “The ongoing breaches of the commitments owed by Dana Gas and its affiliates to the KRG have resulted in significant (and increasing) damage to the KRG,” says Mr. Hawrami’s letter. ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kurdistan’s Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami, has dismissed as “inaccurate and misleading” claims by Dana Gas that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) owes the company millions of dollars in overdue payments. “The statements made in the press briefing are materially inaccurate and incomplete,” says Mr. Hawrami in a letter sent to Dana Gas managing director, Majid Hamid Jafar. A Reuters report on September 26 said that the KRG owed Dana Gas $380-390 million in payments in return for fuel supplied to the autonomous region. “The KRG does not owe Dana Gas the sum referenced or any other sum, and the statement that the sums are “overdue” from the KRG is inaccurate and misleading to investors,” reads Mr. Hawrami’s letter, an exclusive copy of which was obtained by Rudaw. Dana Gas has been operating in the Kurdistan Region since 2007. According to the Reuters report, because of delay in payments in Kurdistan and Egypt, “Dana Gas become the first United Arab Emirates company to miss a bond redemption when it matured late last year,” ((3. The payment of an obligation, as a government's payment of the value of its bonds. 4. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Banking & Finance) conversion of paper money into bullion or specie 5. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Banking & Finance) a. removal of a financial obligation by paying off a note, bond, etc. b. (as modifier) redemption date [via Old French from Latin redemptiō a buying back; see redeem] )) The Kurdish Natural Resources Minister however, says the company’s action is “a breach of confidentiality duties owed by Dana Gas to the KRG,” “The ongoing breaches of the commitments owed by Dana Gas and its affiliates to the KRG have resulted in significant (and increasing) damage to the KRG,” says Mr. Hawrami’s letter. We require, he says, that Dana Gas desist from such breaches in the future. On Thursday, Goran Azad, an MP from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and former member of the parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee told Rudaw TV, “We have got documents that says it’s Dana Gas that has not fulfilled its commitments to the KRG and that it’s Dana Gas that owes compensations to the Kurdish government.” Reuters reported that “The Abu Dhabi-listed company completed repairs to its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facility at the Khor Mor field in Kurdistan in mid July, but it has not restarted production because no buyers have contracted supplies from it yet.” But the Kurdish minister says, “It is Dana Gas and its affiliates that owe the KRG significant sums, not the other way around,” Mr. Hawrami’s letter goes on to say that to compensate losses caused by Dana Gas’s actions, “the KRG will retain the proceeds of condensate sales to protect its entitlement to adequate compensation.” Rich with billions of barrels of untapped oil and natural gas, the Kurdistan Region has become an attractive spot for many international oil giants, chief among them Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Total. - See more at:

Tornadoes touch down in U.S. Midwest causing damage, injuries

Tornadoes touch down in U.S. Midwest causing damage, injuries Sat, Oct 05 01:49 AM EDT By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - A series of tornadoes, some about a mile across, swept through the U.S. Midwest on Friday, causing a number of injuries and significant damage to homes and businesses, officials said. Mile-wide tornadoes were spotted in western Iowa's Woodbury County and more than 150 miles away in the small town of Plymouth, said Steven Weiss, chief of the science support branch at the federal Storm Prediction Center. Large tornadoes moved east from northeast Nebraska into northwest Iowa, he said. Up to 13 people were hurt in Wayne, Nebraska, as a twister moved through the northeast corner of the state, NBC News reported. Several businesses were destroyed and highways in and out of the city were closed for a couple of hours after the storm, said Lee Wrede, a police dispatcher in Wayne. Wrede said there had been a number of injuries but things could have been worse. "We were extremely lucky," he said. "A lot of things worked right." A hazardous materials team responded to a possible gas leak at the Van Diest Supply Co, an agricultural chemical distributor in Wayne County, emergency officials said. Jodie Fawl of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said there were injuries in the state, but could not provide details. Multiple buildings and a softball field were damaged, she said. "Most of the buildings damages are businesses and it was after hours, so hopefully we are OK there," she said. Fawl reported five tornadoes in Nebraska's Dixon County and said three farm houses were damaged in Antelope County. Weiss said forecasters had warned residents to brace for twisters, and that may have led people to take precautions. "It was good forecasts and hopefully the warnings helped people today," he said. "They did not strike towns directly as far as we know of," he added. Damage also was reported in Quimby, Iowa, and Union, South Dakota, according to the National Weather Service. It was unclear how many tornadoes touched down in all, said Billy Williams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. "There has been some significant damage, but we don't have all of the details yet," he said. In an 11-day period in May, Oklahoma was struck by two EF5 tornadoes, the strongest rating assigned to such storms. The first, on May 20, flattened whole sections of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people including seven children at a school. The second, on May 31, was the widest tornado ever recorded in the United States at 2.6 miles. Nineteen people died in that storm. (Reporting By Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis, Doina Chiacu and David Brunnstrom)

Crackdown brings apparent lull in Karachi violence

Crackdown brings apparent lull in Karachi violence 40,000 to 45,000 trader­s and shopke­epers migrat­ed to Punjab as their proper­ty, lives are not safe in Karach­i. By AFP Published: October 5, 2013 Share this article Print this page Email . File photo of Rangers in Karachi. PHOTO: PPI KARACHI: Rampant violence has terrorised Karachi in recent years, but the security crackdown seems to have brought a lull in the bloodshed. Kidnappings for ransom, sectarian attacks and gang warfare have spiralled since 2008, terrifying the city’s 18 million inhabitants and prompting tens of thousands of businessmen to flee to the safety of Punjab. Karachi claimed a grisly record last year as 2,124 people were murdered on its streets, according to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), the highest number since records began nearly 20 years ago. “The merciless killings have turned this ‘bride of cities’ into a city of ghosts and darkness,” said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a political analyst, referring to Karachi’s Persian nickname. But an operation by police and paramilitary government Rangers in the city’s tangled maze of teeming streets, launched early September on the orders of the central government, seems to be having some positive effect. The CPLC said that in September 155 killings were reported – down from 280 in August. With a total of 2,058 murders up to the end of September 2013 it is on course to beat last year’s record, but the crackdown appears to have at least slowed the killings. Aftab Chunar, the head of the autopsy department of the city’s largest state-run Civil Hospital, told AFP that before the operation he was receiving 16 to 18 bodies a day. Now the figure has fallen to three or four. On the streets, there is relief. “After a long time there is a feel of normalcy in the city. Now it seems that criminals are on the run and I pray that the good old times return to the city,” said Aziz Rana, a 45-year-old bank worker. Under the military rule of general Pervez Musharraf, the murder rate hit a low of just 76 killings in 2003 before rising to 777 in 2008, when he was ousted. The figure shot up from 2010 onwards as criminal gangs backed by rival political parties grew in power and sectarian and ethnic violence swelled. Amir Ahmed Shaikh, until recently the police chief of southern Karachi, the worst affected part of the city, said gangsters had held Karachi to ransom. Extortion became a hugely lucrative source of earnings for the gangs, with one intelligence official telling AFP around $14 million a month was extorted in Karachi. Traders and businessmen are the ideal prey for the extortionists, and many have fled the city, which accounts for more than 40 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. “Some 40,000 to 45,000 traders and shopkeepers have migrated from Karachi to the Punjab province as their properties and lives both are not safe and secure here,” said Atiq Mir, chairman of Karachi Traders Alliance, a representative body of the city’s small to medium traders. The crackdown has seen Rangers use powerful motorbikes to chase suspects down the narrow, twisting streets which remained off-limits in previous missions using heavy vehicles. Hundreds of alleged target killers, extortionists and gangsters have been arrested since the start of the operation, Rangers and police say. Fateh Mohammad Burfat, professor of sociology and criminology at the state-run Karachi University, said the crackdown seemed to be working. “Peace seems to have returned to the city and the common man, after a long time, has breathed a sigh of relief ever since the operation began,” he said. “It is the neutrality of the operation which is key to its success and so far the police and rangers are executing the operation indiscriminately and with objectivity.” Others are not convinced the lull will last. Making arrests is one thing, but getting convictions is another. Police say more needs to be done to protect witnesses, currently too scared of reprisals to give evidence. Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a professor at Federal Urdu University in Karachi and a prominent newspaper columnist, said the real proof of the operation’s effectiveness would come with the Islamic holy month of Muharram, due to start in early November. “It seems artificial to me though there are some vital signs as they have arrested criminals even-handed,” professor Tauseef Ahmed Khan said. “But one would like to see how the month of Muharram passes and it would be a good litmus test of the ongoing operation.” Muharram, which culminates with Ashura, the holiest day in the Shia Muslim calendar when the faithful march to mourn the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, is frequently a flashpoint for sectarian violence.

Kingdom Tower or Burj al Mamlakah (Mile-High Tower) under construction in Jeddah

Kingdom Tower or Burj al Mamlakah, previously known as Mile-High Tower, is a skyscraper currently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at a preliminary cost of SR4.6 billion (US$1.23 billion). It will be the centrepiece and first phase of a SR75 billion (US$20 billion) proposed development known as Kingdom City that will be located along the Red Sea on the north side of Jeddah. If completed as planned, the tower will reach unprecedented heights, becoming the tallest building in the world, as well as the first structure to reach the one-kilometre mark. The tower was initially planned to be 1.6-kilometre (1 mi) high; however, the geology of the area proved unsuitable for a tower of that height. As a direct consequence of this appointment our client has an immediate need for a seasoned planning manager to work in Jeddah == IDB supplies adahi coupons: The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank said Friday that it is the only organization authorized by the Saudi government to issue and market coupons for sacrificial animals (adahi) during Haj.IDB, which supervises the Kingdom’s adahi program, markets five types of coupons for pilgrims to sacrifice animals.The green coupon is for pilgrims who perform Haj through “Tamattu” and “Qiran” methods ... ========== Assad says Turkey will pay for backing Syrian rebels Fri, Oct 04 15:56 PM EDT By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told Turkey it will pay a heavy price for backing rebels fighting to oust him, accusing it of harboring "terrorists" along its border who, he said, would soon turn on their hosts. In an interview with Turkey's Halk TV due to be broadcast later on Friday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan "bigoted" and said Ankara was allowing terrorists to cross into Syria to attack the army and Syrian civilians.

"It is not possible to put terrorism in your pocket and use it as a card because it is like a scorpion which won't hesitate to sting you at the first opportunity," Assad said, according to a transcript from Halk TV, which is close to Turkey's opposition. "In the near future, these terrorists will have an impact on Turkey and Turkey will pay a heavy price for it."

Turkey, which shares a 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria and has NATO's second-largest deployable armed forces, is one of Assad's fiercest critics and a staunch supporter of the opposition, although it denies arming the rebels. It shelters about a quarter of the 2 million people who have fled Syria and has often seen the conflict spill across its frontier, responding in kind when mortars and shells fired from Syria have hit its soil. It has allowed rebel fighters to cross in and out of Syria but has grown alarmed, along with Western allies opposed to Assad, by divisions among their ranks and the deepening influence of radical Islamists in Syria. Last month, the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seized Azaz, about 5 km (3 miles) from the border with Turkey, and has repeatedly clashed with the local rebel Northern Storm brigade since then. "Right now, Syria is headed for a sectarian war," Erdogan said in an interview on Turkish television late on Thursday. "This is the danger we are facing." Turkey has bolstered its defenses and sent additional troops to the border with Syria in recent weeks. Its parliament voted on Thursday to extend by a year a mandate authorizing a military deployment to Syria if needed. Russia, Assad's most powerful ally, pointed to the seizure of Azaz as evidence Islamists are gaining the upper hand and said states that want his overthrow had helped make that happen.

"The balance of power among the opposition fighting forces is stacking up decisively in favor of the Islamists," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. "We are by no means gloating about this - clearly a dangerous new act in the bloody tragedy is unfolding. "We warned of such a turn of events at the very beginning of the Syrian epic, when our opponents, hoping for the regime's swift fall ... were ready to support any forces calling for the government's overthrow."

UNDECIDED ON ELECTIONS Assad accused Erdogan, whose AK Party has its roots in conservative Islamist politics, of having a sectarian agenda.

"Before the crisis, Erdogan had never mentioned reforms or democracy, he was never interested in these issues ... Erdogan only wanted the Muslim Brotherhood to return to Syria, that was his main and core aim," he said.

Erdogan's government strongly denies any such agenda. His aides point to his cultivation of good relations with Assad for years before the conflict and say Turkey does not see Syria's Sunni Muslims and its Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ism to which Assad belongs, as fixed blocs. Assad said he had not yet decided whether to run in presidential elections next year because the situation on the ground was changing rapidly, adding that he would only put himself forward if Syrians wanted him to. The picture will become clearer in the next 4-5 months, Assad said. The United Nations estimates that more than 100,000 people have died since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011 and has been notified of at least 14 chemical attacks. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution last week that demands the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons and endorses a plan for a political transition in Syria agreed on at an international conference in Geneva last year. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after the vote that major powers hoped to hold a second peace conference on Syria in mid-November in Geneva. In his interview, Assad again denied his forces had used chemical weapons and blamed such attacks on the rebels. Asked whether he expected the Geneva process to accelerate if Syria handed over its chemical weapons, Assad said he saw no link. "Practically these issues are not related. Geneva II is about Syria's own domestic political process and cutting neighboring countries' weapons and financial support to terrorists," he said. (Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun in Ankara and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Roche) ==============