News Scan for Turkey – Dec 11th, 2013

Turkish Parliament greets Balbay, awaiting other jailed MPs

Journalist and lawmaker Mustafa Balbay took office yesterday following his release from prison more than two years after being elected to Parliament, while vowing to fight against injustices and unlawfulness.

“Before I shut the door of my prison cell, I looked at it for the last time. I felt responsible and grieved as if I shut the door in the faces of all imprisoned patriots. Now if my colleagues [in prison] accept, I’m a part of them outside. Their freedom will be part of my struggle from now on,” Balbay, an İzmir deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told reporters during a visit to the Ankara office of daily Cumhuriyet, his newspaper.

Balbay took his parliamentary oath in the afternoon and was welcomed by all four parties in the Parliament.

Congratulating Balbay for being able to take his oath two-and-a-half years after being elected, Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek voiced his hope for the freedom of all those whose rights had been violated.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Turkish Parliament debates 2014 budget

Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, presenting the 2014 fiscal policy and Central Government Budget in the Parliament on Tuesday, said that Turkey has recorded a GDP of 1.7 trilion Turkish Liras, while she recorded 262 billion in importation (CIF), 166.5 billion liras in exportation (FOB), a growth rate of 4 %, a deflector of 6 % and CPI 5.3 %.
Stating that they have prepared the Budget for middle range fiscal policy goals, Finance Minister Simsek described the goals as “decreasing the current deficit by increasing the savings, directing the existing sources to productive areas; sustaining the strong standing of public finance; and increasing growth and recruitment.”

Simsek also said that they estimate the budget expenses for 2014 fiscal year as 436.4 billion liras, interests free expenses as 384 billion liras, while budget income for 2014 as 403.2 billion, tax incomes 348.4 billion liras, budget deficit 33.3 billion liras and non-interest surplus 18.7 billion liras.

The Finance Minister said that they aim to realize budget expenses percentage in GDP at 25.4 %; non-interest expenses at 22.4 %; budget income at 23.5 %, tax income at 20.3 %; budget defict at 1.9 % and non-interest surplus at 1.1 %. In his presentation, Simsek also said that they have allocated 78.5 billion liras for education, 16.9 billion of which is for universities.

AA

Main opposition slams government for missing Court of Accounts reports

Main opposition slams government for missing Court of Accounts reports

During discussions on the 2014 budget in Parliament on Tuesday, the leader of the main opposition party harshly criticized the government for not allowing the yearly audit reports prepared by the Court of Accounts about state institutions to be submitted to Parliament, maintaining that the reports were not submitted to conceal corruption.

“Why are the reports by the Court of Accounts being concealed from deputies? The government does not want to account to Parliament,” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) said, maintaining that the reports contain some “black pages” revealing corruption.

Criticizing the government for attempting to cripple the power of the Court of Accounts so that the corruption in state institutions would go unnoticed, Kılıçdaroğlu called the deputies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) not to “launder” a government that does not respect Parliament’s right to monitor.

Noting that the reports by the court were only submitted to Parliament in a hugely crippled state, providing little worth in terms of Parliament’s monitoring authority, the CHP leader said: “This budget is not a legitimate budget. The legitimacy of a government that is not accountable to Parliament will always be under question.”

Kilicdaroglu also criticized the foreign and domestic policies of the government and said that the zero problem policy of the government was a failure.

TODAYS ZAMAN

Gezi indictment listing 255 defendants submitted to court

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday submitted an indictment regarding the June anti-government protests commonly known as the Gezi Park protests to an İstanbul court.

The indictment lists 255 defendants, seven of whom are foreign nationals. The nationalities of the indicted foreigners have not been released. The İstanbul 55th Criminal Court of First Instance received the indictment in the morning. The court has 15 days to either accept the indictment or send it back to the prosecutors for revision.

The Gezi Park protests in İstanbul began peacefully in late May against a government plan to replace a park in Taksim with a replica of an Ottoman-era military barracks but later erupted into violent clashes with police and spread across the country. The protests brought together large groups of protesters who accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of growing authoritarian tendencies over his 10 years in power and attempts to impose his religious and conservative values on a country governed by secular laws.

According to reports, the defendants stand accused of violating the Law on Public Meetings and Demonstrations, polluting and damaging places of worship, preventing public officials from performing their duties, harboring criminals and damaging public property.

TODAYS ZAMAN

11.12.2013
compiled by Editor BTT,

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.