News Scan for Turkey, March 27th 2017
Latest poll results in Turkey suggest majority of voters in big cities stand against new constitution
Gezici Research Center’s manager Murat Gezici has announced their latest poll results in regards to referendum scheduled for April 16th in Turkey. New poll results on referendum in Turkey: 55.53% against new constitution New poll results on referendum in Turkey: 55.53% against new constitution. Gezici said majority of the constituents in big cities, such as İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Manisa, Antalya, Adana, and Mersin, are against the proposed constitutional amendments that will give the current president Erdoğan expanded executive powers.
According to their findings, ‘no’ votes currently stand at 51.1% and are likely to increase to 53.9% if the voter turnout gets higher. While 70% of the constituents of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are also against the new constitution, 82% of the constituents of the ruling party AKP are ‘surely saying yes’.
http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/latest-poll-results-in-turkey-suggest-majority-of-voters-in-big-cities-stand-against-new-constitution-152682.html
Turkey-UK ties remain strong despite regressing relations with EU
Despite backsliding relations with some European Union member states, Turkey and the U.K. are continuing to strengthen bilateral ties. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the sixth Turkish-British Tatlıdil Forum in the southern province of Antalya on Saturday where he described the U.K. as Turkey’s friend, ally and strategic partner while urging for further cooperation in areas across the political spectrum, including not only bilateral relations but also global peace, stability and prosperity.
Meanwhile, also speaking at the forum, U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson praised Turkey and expressed the U.K.’s support for the country’s efforts regarding the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. This comes as tensions between Turkey and the EU reached a new level after Germany banned Turkish ministers from rallying with Turks living in the country and the Netherlands stopped Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s plane from landing in the country while it also refused to allow Family and Social Affairs Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya from entering the Turkish Consulate General in Rotterdam, deporting her from the Netherlands later on that same day.
https://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2017/03/27/turkey-uk-ties-remain-strong-despite-regressing-relations-with-eu
3 million new migrants could come to Turkey from Iran, Deputy PM Kaynak says
Some three million new refugees from Iran may come to Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said Sunday during an interview.
“According to the information we have received, there are around three million unauthorized migrants in Iran and they are trying to come to Turkey. Unfortunately they are mostly Afghans. They are again trying to come from the east of Iran,” Kaynak said to CNN Türk. He added that a total of 30,000 refugees come in through the eastern Turkish provinces of Iğdır and Ağrı in 2016 alone. “We worry that the Iranian state is ignoring their migration toward Turkey, though not necessarily assisting them,” he added.
https://www.dailysabah.com/mideast/2017/03/26/3-million-new-migrants-could-come-to-turkey-from-iran-deputy-pm-kaynak-says
Price stability needs structural policies: Turkish Central Bank head
Turkey needs a more comprehensive approach to price stability in the light of experience gained in the last 10 years, the country’s Central Bank governor said March 25.
Speaking at the closing session of the Uludağ Economy Summit in the northwestern province of Bursa, Murat Çetinkaya said the Central Bank is attaching higher importance to structural policies, while there is a global concern about sustainability. Çetinkaya stated that many of the problems that had been encountered by developed countries have not been observed in Turkey during the post-global financial crisis period.
“For instance, the accessibility problems to financial tools due to the high levels of financial leverages were not experienced in our country. Also, Turkey does not have any efficiency problem related with aging population. But there are some fields that we can develop ourselves, like price stability,” he said.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/price-stability-needs-structural-policies-turkish-central-bank-head——.aspx?pageID=238&nID=111265&NewsCatID=344
Turkish Central Bank sees ‘gradual and slow’ recovery in 2017
The Central Bank expects economic activity to pick up gradually this year, while acknowledging that data for the first quarter suggests the recovery is not yet widespread, according to the minutes of its latest policy meeting published on March 23.
“Economic activity exhibited a gradual recovery in the last quarter and moderate growth is expected for 2016. Economic activity is projected to display a slow gradual rebound in 2017,” said the Bank.
“However, the course of capital flows in line with uncertainties regarding global economic policies, geopolitical developments, the subsided course of the labor market and the lingering volatility in exchange rates may stand out as factors limiting the pace of growth in 2017,” it added. The Bank also said monetary policy would remain tight until the inflation outlook shows significant improvement.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-central-bank-sees-gradual-and-slow-recovery-in-2017.aspx?pageID=238&nID=111207&NewsCatID=344
27.03.2017
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.
