NEWS SCAN for Turkey – June 30th, 2013
Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites.
Workers and BDP members march in Istanbul to protest Lice clashes
Turkish public sector workers joined members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in a peaceful march through Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue to protest the killing of a demonstrator by the security forces in the southeastern Diyarbakır province yesterday. Clashes had broken out in Diyarbakır’s Lice district between soldiers and demonstrating villagers who tried to denounce the construction of a gendarmerie outpost.
The group held banners reading, “We don’t want outposts but peace” and “Resist Lice, resist Gezi Park.” BDP deputies Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who was also very active during the early Gezi Park protests, and Sabahat Tuncel also participated in the march.
Protestors also held posters of Medeni Yıldırım, the 18-year-old victim of the Lice clashes.
Turkey wins historic gold medals in women’s tennis
Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay and Pemra Ozgen won the gold medal by defeating Italy in women’s doubles in the final match played on Friday for the 2013 Mediterranean Games being held in Mersin.
Turkey ranks second and Italy remains at the top for medal rankings in the 17th Mediterranean Games.
At the end of the eighth day of the 2013 MedGames, Italy kept the top ranking with 63 gold, 47 silver and 60 bronze while Turkey is in second with 38 gold, 36 silver and 30 bronze medals.
France maintained its place in third while Egypt has surpassed Spain to advance to the fourth place ranking.
Taiwanese company to invest $1 billion in Turkey
A Taiwanese motor company, TECO, announced it will invest around $1 billion in different Turkish sectors.
The company, which is operating in a wide range of sectors, announced its plans in the country which it has decided to lay more emphasis on, and shook hands on its first move during a press meeting on June 28 at which Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and top executives of the company were present.
TECO will take its first step in Turkey, hand in hand with a Turkish company Dalgakıran Machines, by investing in the energy sector.
“Turkey is a very important country in strategic terms and a very important location for us,” TECO Group Chairman Theodore MH Huang said during the meeting, expressing his regrets about disregarding Turkey for a long time. “We skipped Turkey and invested in Europe. However now, we want to bring investments in Turkey forward,” he said.
Turkish NGOs & civil society reach consensus on necessity of EU membership process
Turkish nongovernmental sector and civil society reached a consensus on the absolute necessity of the membership process and a crisis with the EU over the impact of the Gezi Park protests in Turkey on its membership bid resulted in a decision on Tuesday to continue the accession talks with a delay in the opening of a new chapter.
It was commented by many opinion leaders that despite a serious crisis, both the EU and Turkey needed each other and that Turkey’s best answer to the criticisms would be undertaking reforms as in the first term of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.
On Tuesday, the EU General Affairs Council, bringing together ministers from member states, agreed to open accession talks with Turkey on Chapter 22, one of the 35 negotiating chapters, but delayed an inter-governmental conference that marks the actual start of the talks by at least four months.
Istanbul Jazz Festival starts on July 2nd
From July 2-18, the Istanbul Jazz Festival will be hosting famous greats of the jazz world as well as a number of acclaimed international pop, rock, folk and world music artists. Garanti Bank, which has been sponsoring the event for 16 years in a row, will continue the tradition this summer.
Alicia Keys will be performing the opening concert for the 20th annual Istanbul Jazz Festival as well as her first-ever performance in Turkey. The 14-time Grammy winner, singer, composer and songwriter who is regularly considered to be one of the greatest living R&B and soul vocalists of our time, Alicia Keys comes to Turkey as part of her “Set The World On Fire”.
30.06.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
