News Scan for Turkey, Aug 05th 2016

Turkey scolds Austria in EU membership dispute

Turkey has angrily rejected Austrian suggestions that its membership talks with the EU should be ended.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said the negotiations were “no more than fiction” and “Europe needs a new path”.

Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said his comments were “disturbing” and “similar to far-right rhetoric”. Turkey’s crackdown since a failed coup on 15 July has fuelled alarm in the EU. Mr Kern said democratic standards in Turkey were far from EU requirements.

Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil has criticised “signs of a dictatorship” in Turkey, and called for an end to its EU accession talks.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36973319

Germany: Number of asylum-seekers from Turkey up in 2016

Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees says the number of asylum-seekers from Turkey has increased sharply in the first six months of this year compared with last year.

The office said Friday that 1,719 people from Turkey applied for asylum between January and June of this year — nearly the same number as in all of 2015, when 1,767 people registered for asylum.

It confirmed a report by the Tagesspiegel daily, which said the majority of asylum-seekers belong to the Kurdish minority in southeastern Turkey.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2016-08-05/germany-number-of-asylum-seekers-from-turkey-up-in-2016

Investors Await Moody’s Turkey Verdict to Move Billions in Funds

The fate of billions of dollars in investments in Turkish bonds hangs in the balance as Moody’s Investors Service prepares to reveal whether it’s handing the country a second junk rating on its debt.

Moody’s, which put Turkey on review for a downgrade immediately after a failed military plot to oust the government last month, currently ranks the nation’s debt at Baa3, its lowest rung within investment grade. A rating review is scheduled for Friday and derivatives traders are already treating it as speculative, with the score implied by credit default swaps at Ba3, three steps into high-yield territory, according to Moody’s Analytics.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/investors-await-moody-s-turkey-verdict-to-move-billions-in-funds

Austria pushes EU to end Turkey membership talks

Austria’s government said Thursday that Turkey is unfit to join the European Union in the wake of the recent post-coup crackdown, calling for the bloc to discuss ending membership talks.

Turkey’s longstanding, and recently revived, bid to join the EU has already been hit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s suggestion that he may reintroduce the death penalty after the July 15 attempted putsch.

“We have to face reality: the membership negotiations are currently no more than fiction,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern told the Die Presse newspaper in comments published Thursday. We know that Turkey’s democratic standards are far from sufficient to justify its accession.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/austria-pushes-eu-end-turkey-membership-talks-144613328.html

Antalya sees worst tourism season ever

Fresh data has shown that the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, once the third largest tourism destination in the world, has seen its worst season in term of tourist arrivals, mainly due to the Russian crisis, escalating security concerns and political problems.

The number of tourists visiting the resort dropped by almost half in the first seven months of the year, according to data from the Antalya Airport.

The resort saw the biggest loss in European and Russian tourists, hosting 1.8 million fewer tourists from these destinations compared to the first seven months of 2015.

While around 5.3 million tourists visited Antalya in the first seven months of 2015, this figure plunged to around 2.8 million this July. The resort saw the steepest decline in the number of Russian and German tourists with a decline of over 97 percent and 29 percent, respectively, in the January-July period compared to the same period of 2015. Antalya lost 1.8 million Russian and German tourists over this year from the last year, the data showed.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/antalya-sees-worst-tourism-season-ever-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=102520&NewsCatID=349

Turkish companies show interest in Azerbaijani privatization policies

Large companies and conglomerates in Turkey have shown interest in Azerbaijan’s privatization polices and are eagerly awaiting the announcement of a new privatization package, Turkey-Azerbaijan Business Council Chairman Selçuk Akat has said.

Speaking at a press conference at the Turkish Embassy in Baku, Akat said Turkish businessmen in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani businessmen in Turkey always supported activities and investments in both countries, adding there was great potential for the development of economic relations between the two countries.

“Both sides are making great efforts for the realization of this potential. There can be significant investments in Azerbaijan from Turkey after the announcement of the package,” Akat said.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-companies-show-interest-in-azerbaijani-privatization-policies-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=102527&NewsCatID=345

Turkey’s economic indicators better than other countries with same rating

ing into consideration Turkey’s negative outlook on July 18 following the Gülenist Terror Organization’s (FETÖ) coup attempt, Moody’s is expected to leave the rating unchanged on Friday.

After Moody’s took Turkey’s “Baa3” credit rating under negative observation following FETÖ’s coup attempt, it triggered questions concerning if the U.S.-based credit rating agency would take back Turkey’s investment-grade status.

Economists do not expect a negative assessment from Moody’s since the markets put themselves back together rapidly in the aftermath of the coup attempt, and they think it is highly possible for Moody’s to pass Turkey’s rating on Friday. Coming together with representatives from Moody’s last week, economy officials said the meeting was held in a very positive atmosphere, by supporting expectations.

http://www.dailysabah.com/economy/2016/08/05/turkeys-economic-indicators-better-than-other-countries-with-same-rating

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.

05.08.2016
compiled by Editor BTT