NEWS SCAN for Turkey – May 18th, 2013
Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites.
PM Erdogan says he is pleased with talks in Washington
Addressing the representatives of Turkish and Muslim societies during a reception at Turkey’s Washington Embassy, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated he had held a series of successful meetings in Washington.
The PM said “We will return to our country after holding a series of successful meetings. We have discussed the political, economic, military dimensions of Turkish-US relations, as well as regional issues, and we will proceed by drawing our roadmap within this new Outlook.”
Economy minister Caglayan refers to Erdogan-Obama meeting as ‘historic’
After a very busy pace in the US capital Washington,Turkish Economy minister Caglayan expressed his impressions about the visit and said the meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama had had a positive effect on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) process of Turkey.
Caglayan said TTIP talks between the US and the EU would continue 2-5 years and Turkey would not stay behind in this process. He also and expressed his hope that joint activities of Turkish Economy Ministry and US Office of Trade Representative would be concluded until the US and the EU would sign free trade agreement.
Azeri state energy firm SOCAR to borrow US$4 billion to build refinery in Turkey
It is reported that Azeri state energy firm SOCAR plans to borrow about $4 billion from foreign banks to finance construction of a refinery in Turkey.
The project is planned to have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons of jet fuel, 6 million tons of diesel, 500,000 tons of petroleum coke, 300,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas and 1.6 million tons of naphtha.
It was stated by SOCAR Vice President Suleiman Gasymov that according to a financing scheme, 65 percent of financing of the Star refinery would be provided by bank credits, while the remaining 35 percent would come from Azerbaijan’s own resources, mainly the state oil fund.
Turkish PM says Palestinian-Israeli peace not achievable without Hamas-Fatah reconciliation
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said “A reconciliation process has been launched. I believe that the negotiations with Israel will move more quickly if they are able to achieve it,” during an event at the Washington-based think tank Brookings Institute.
He said that during his notorious participation at the Davos summit in 2010, where he stormed out on Israeli President Shimon Peres during a panel, he had already told the representative of the Middle East Quartet, Tony Blair, that Hamas should sit at the negotiations table. “I told Tony Blair that no peace can come from a table without Hamas, and he said Hamas should participate to achieve peace,” he said.
US Chemical Company Continental say Turkey is vital when doing business with the Middle East
Omer KarabeyGeneral Manager of US chemical company Continental with 35 years of experience in the sector, said they were happy with their preferred choice of Turkey as their second international office location, and that this decision had already shown benefits. The GM said that they now ran all their Middle Eastern operations through Turkey, and that they currently had offices in Brazil, the Netherlands, Russia, Egypt, India, and China, with sales operations to 36 countries.
He went on to say it was the right decision for them to choose Turkey as the second country after the US, adding “Our Istanbul office has the highest number of employees following our New York office. Also, in terms of business volume, Turkey ranks the second. Turkey’s presence is vital when doing business with the Middle East.”
Turkish PM says Israel must return to ’67 borders
Following his address at Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution Erdogan told press members that Israel should recognize the Palestinian state and return to its 1967 borders. The PM also added this was a requisite for a two-state solution to long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Erdoğan said “The two-state solution was always at the forefront of discussions regarding the conflict, now we see that some of those who accept the Israeli state cannot say yes to a Palestinian state. What is there to talk about peace unless Israel accepts a Palestinian state first?”
18.05.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
