News Scan for Turkey, April 25th 2016

Dutch journalist arrested in Turkey for criticising Erdoğan

A Dutch journalist was blocked from leaving Turkey on Sunday following her arrest on Saturday night for tweets deemed critical of president ERDOGAN.

Ebru Umar, a well-known atheist and feminist journalist of Turkish origin, recently wrote a piece criticising Erdoğan for the Dutch daily Metro, extracts of which she then tweeted, leading to her arrest. After her arrest in the resort town of Kusadasi in western Turkey, where she was on holiday, Dutch officials said, she was brought before a judge. She later said she was “free but forbidden to leave the country”. Dutch blog Geenstijl said it received a message from Umar saying that she had been arrested after someone reported her tweets on a hotline set up by Turkish officials.

Funding costs of Turkish banks likely to decline after Central Bank’s rate cut

Turkish banks’ funding costs are likely to decline after Central Bank’s rate cut, but if the Turkish Lira is pressured by expectations of a further rate cut, it could reverse the benefits to the cost of funding, said Moody’s in a note on April 25.  On April 20, the Central Bank had cut its overnight lending rate 50 basis points to 10 percent.

“Turkish banks will likely benefit from lower funding costs on Turkish lira short-term borrowings, which are pegged to the Borsa Istanbul interbank rate [BIST] and which the banks use to fund their loan portfolios,” said Moody’s.   The 10 percent overnight lending rate marks the upper end of Turkey’s so-called interest rate corridor and its reduction will narrow the corridor for the BIST, the key reference rate for Turkish banks.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/

EU Council President Donald Tusk: ‘Turkey best example of how to treat refugees’

After a visit to the refugee camp in Nizip next to Syrian border, EU Council President Donald Tusk has told a conference in Gaziantep that Turkey is the “best example in the world of how to treat refugees”.

Speaking during a visit that seeks to bolster a controversial EU-Turkey deal, Mr Tusk also said “no-one has the right to lecture Turkey on what they should do.”

BBC

Industrial investments continue to stagnate

The loss of appetite in the Turkish economy since 2012 continues to be a problem, even if there was a slight recovery in 2015. The slippage especially in industrial investments is remarkable and, simultaneously, a warning.

Why is industry more important? The reason is that the share of industry in gross domestic product is relatively small at 16 percent but industry constitutes the bulk of exports. The intermediate goods in imports and investment goods are also linked to industrial production. Thus, all the service sectors associated with foreign trade feed on industry. In short, because the manufacturing industry is a sector that has a small share in production but a big role in sustainability, the decline of investments in this sector means a decline in the economy.(go to link for more)

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/industrial-investments-continue-to-stagnate.aspx?pageID=238&nID=98260&NewsCatID=344

Thousands of travellers hit with flight cancellations to and from Turkey this summer amid terror fears

Airlines are cutting back on flights to some destinations in Turkey so they can switch aircraft to more lucrative destinations, especially in Spain. Thousands of passengers who have paid in full for summer trips to Turkey are being told “Your flight is cancelled” – but are not always being properly advised about their options.

Demand for holidays in Turkey has slumped because of fears of terrorist attacks on tourist resorts and the largest city, Istanbul. As a result, airlines are cutting back on flights to Bodrum, Dalaman and Antalya so they can switch aircraft to more lucrative destinations, especially in Spain.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/thousands-of-travellers-hit-with-flight-cancellations-to-and-from-turkey-this-summer-amid-terror-a6999056.html

This is a news-scan from major Turkish papers and internet sites. However, we do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.

25.04.2016
compiled by Editor BTT