What’s the script for Turkey? doing nicely, or could do better?
In these difficult economic times, with disappointing jobs figures in the US and stagnation in the eurozone, the growth story of Turkey tells is a coherent one – or it would be, if all the country’s government signed up to it. Continue reading »
Guest post: Turkey’s peace dividend
By Naz Masraff of Eurasia Group
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has had a very good week. On March 21, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced a ceasefire; the next day, Israel apologized for an attack on a Turkish-led peace flotilla in 2010. The possibility of a solution to its Kurdish insurgency holds out the possibility of real benefits for Turkey through increased trade with Iraq, improved security and political calm. There is a less immediate payoff from the Israeli apology but it is a favorable signal, nonetheless, from a region where there has been little good news of late. Continue reading »
Turkey: the economic consequences of a peace with the Kurds
Daniel Dombey in Istanbul and Funja Guler in Ankara
At least John Maynard Keynes waited a year after the conclusion of World War One to write his The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
In Turkey just a few days have gone past since the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK declared a ceasefire and people are already predicting economic consequences – and they are a lot more positive than Keynes’s gloomy predictions for the post-Versailles world. Continue reading »
Turkey: investors can’t ignore politics
Turkey begins this week with two important developments for investors, officials and ordinary citizens. One is that the country now no longer faces the prospect of being suspended or blacklisted from an international financial body. The other is that a showpiece privatisation has been halted by order of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured). Continue reading »
Turkey kicks off 2013 with grand ambitions and fewer ratings
Plans to proceed with a gigantic infrastructure project; a decision to dispense with the services of an international ratings agency; forecasts of continued growth – there is no mistaking that Turkey has kicked off the new year in bullish fashion.
The country’s headlines are currently dominated by the aftermath of the execution-style murder in Paris of three female activists of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party, or PKK. But the context even for this is not unremittingly grim. Continue reading »
Turkey: jailing journalists
Turkey is the world’s leading jailer of journalists, says a hard-hitting new report on press freedom.
The report, compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and released on Monday, goes into some detail about each of the cases of 76 journalists – 61 who it says are imprisoned for their work, and 15 others held for reasons the investigators could not determine. Continue reading »
Turkey: Erdogan hits speed bump in presidential race
Has political risk in Turkey just gone up a notch or two? Or is the country’s population displaying its deep-rooted desire for stability?
From the look of things, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to move from the prime minister’s to the president’s chair may be facing problems amid cracks within his ruling party. An opinion poll and a split inside the government on economic policy tell the story. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh