NEWS SCAN for Turkey – Sept 11th, 2013

Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites

PM Erdoğan to announce the content of a new democracy package

Following a meeting of various government members on Wednesday, in which the course of the settlement process the government launched to settle the country’s decades-old terrorism problem and the democracy package were discussed, Hüseyin Çelik, deputy chairman of the ruling party, said via his Twitter account that a second meeting would be held on Friday. The package also aims at eliminating the deadlock in the settlement process, as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has recently stopped its withdrawal of terrorists from Turkey.

The democracy package the government is working on is expected to be finalized during the second meeting of leading government members on Friday. Emphasizing that the democracy package will contain topics concerning the whole society, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay said to reporters following the meeting at AK Party headquarters “I hope we will finalize the package on Friday. If we can’t, we will continue to work.”

The package is also expected to contain articles to remove some restrictions regarding the dress code for civil servants and also make it possible to get public services in one’s mother tongue rather than just in Turkish as well as open way for cemevis (Alevi houses of worship) to serve under a foundation status. A bill paving the way for those PKK terrorists who haven’t been involved in any crime to return home after laying down arms is also expected to be included in the democracy package the prime minister will announce.

Turkey’s economy continues to grow by 4.4 percent in 2nd quarter

Turkey’s economy continues on its growth track for the 15th consecutive quarter, expanding by 4.4 percent in the second quarter of 2013, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

The 4.4 percent growth rate exceeds forecasts and makes the country the highest performing economy in Europe and the third fastest grower in the world. Meanwhile, TurkStat revised the country’s first quarter growth down to 2.9 percent from 3 percent, which, combined with the newly released figures, corresponds to a 3.7 percent growth for the first half.

Commenting on the news, Turkey’s Minister of Economy, Zafer Caglayan, said that the 4.4 percent was admirably positive given the status of the world economy. “Despite the regional uncertainties, Turkey has been growing at an annual average rate of 5.3 percent in the last decade. Our second quarter performance indicates that annual growth rate will be slightly below 4 percent.”, he remarked.

Turkey’s annual GDP growth stood at 2.2 percent in 2012, following impressive growth rate figures of 9.2 and 8.5 percent in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The country aims to reach 4 percent of GDP growth rate in 2013 as per the government’s medium term program.

Turkey has fastest growing tourism in the Mediterranean

Turkey has the fastest growing tourism industry in the Mediterranean basin, hosting 19.1 million foreign tourists over a period of seven months in 2013, marking a 10.6 percent increase compared to last year’s figures for the same period.

According to the data issued by the Union of Mediterranean Tourist Hotels (AKTOB), Spain leads in the ranking of Mediterranean basin countries with 34 million tourists between January and July, a 3.9 percent rise compared to last year. Turkey follows Spain with 19.1 million foreign tourists, achieving a growth of 10.6 percent in the seven-month period.

Having witnessed a steady increase in foreign arrivals in recent years – with an annual average of 8.2 percent between 2007-2012 – Turkey is the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Tourism Highlights 2012 Edition. The country attracted a total of 31.8 million foreign visitors in 2012, achieving a total revenue of USD 23.4 billion.

FDI inflow to Turkey expected to reach USD 110 billion over the next 6 years

Speaking to a group of journalists in Ankara, the President of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT), said that the uncertainties in the region did not deter foreign investors from investing in Turkey, which aims to attract USD 110 billion of FDI over the next 6 years.

“When investing in a new market, foreign companies plan 20-30 years ahead, taking into account many different factors and aspects. No investor would consider relocating a plant because of momentary turbulences.  The Agency is working around the clock to promote Turkey’s investment environment in every corner of the world. ISPAT is in contact with sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and Malaysia. We plan to hold talks with these funds that control trillions of dollars.  Turkey has drawn two thirds of FDI channeled into the Middle East. We aim to enter the Top 20 of FDI recipient countries by 2015 “ the ISPAT President told journalists regarding the Agency’s upcoming investment promotion efforts, adding that Turkey aimed for a total FDI amount of USD 110 billion over the next 6 years.

Turkey attracted USD 12.4 billion of FDI in 2012. The country is the 24th most popular investment destination in the world according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) ‘World Investment Report 2013’ report.

Some 131 power plants have gone online in Turkey with an installed capacity of 4,100 megawatts (MW)

“Turkey’s installed power capacity reached 61,151 MW in August 2013, a 10.4 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year,” Yildiz said, adding that the total number of power plants had increased by 17 percent to 861.

The power plants that became online in August 2012 had the installed capacity of 367 MW. “This figure increased to 870 MW this year. This is good, but what is better is that there was a six-fold increase in the share of the installed power from local and renewable sources in one year,” he noted.

Around 150 MW of this 870 MW of installed power was guaranteed by foreign sources, and the remaining 725 MW was guaranteed by local sources. “While the share of the private sector in power generation was just 34 percent 10 years ago, it rose to 62 percent this year,” Yildiz said.

Turkey aims to have 100,000 MW of installed power, a third of which will be generated using renewables, by the year 2023, the centennial of the Republic.

11.09.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA

We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.