Parliament abolishes the special courts but convet some of their poweers to the Courts for Serious Crimes. But the ongoing Ergenekon and Balyoz cases will not be affected Parliament has adopted a reform abolishing the specially authorized courts but transferring some of their authority to the Courts for Serious Crimes, tasked with prosecuting terrorism-related crimes, while assuring that the ongoing controv ...

Giving her first interview after being sworn in, the Greece’s tourism minister says increasing cooperation with Turkey in tourism will be a priority, adding that Greece sees Turkey not as a competitor, but as a partner Increasing cooperation with Turkey in the tourism sector will be a priority for Greece, Greece’s new tourism minister told the Hürriyet Daily News, promising that the strongest efforts would ...

The capital adequacy ratio for Turkish banks is better than that of many EU countries, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn has said. "Turkey has managed to cut its public debt nearly to half. The banking sector has been revamped, and currently capital adequacy ratios are higher than in many EU member states. The markets have taken note of Turkey's rapid growth and prudent econo ...

Turkish-Arab Economic Forum kicks off in Istanbul The 7th Turkish-Arab Economic Forum (TAF) begins today with an agenda of improving the economic cooperation between Turkey and the Arab countries in the light of the ongoing political upheaval in the region. The forum is held under the auspices of Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and organized by Turkish Ministry of Finance and Al-Iktissad Wal-Aa ...

The Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) on Thursday affirmed Turkey's foreign currency rating as "stable" and revised the country's local currency rating outlook to "positive" from "stable". ISTANBUL- In a written statement released Thursday, JCR said that the Turkish economy which weathered the impact of the global financial crisis without any financial support from the IMF achieved a high economic growth fro ...

Turkey yesterday signed a deal with Azerbaijan to build the $7 billion Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline (TANAP) to carry Azeri gas to European markets. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız and his Azeri counterpart Natiq Aliyev put their signatures on the agreement. “Today we have taken a historic step,” said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his speech yesterday at the signing ceremony. “We firmly ...

The heads of states and political leaders from 12 member countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation convene in Istanbul for a summit marking the 20th anniversary of the organization. The summit will focus on sustainable development, sustainable growth, energy, climate change and political dialogue Leaders of the member countries of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) are set t ...

SIMIT SARAYI (meaning Simit Palace) was launched as a new concept in 2002. Until then, SIMIT  (ring-shaped bread covered with sesame seeds) used to be eaten ON FOOT, consumed in an unhealthy manner. Then, based on a new business model it was promoted into a product eaten "sitting at a table". In a very short period of time, Simit Sarayı showed significant business growth. With the opening of their first sto ...

Bosch to employ 1,700 more in Turkey, focus on R&D German industrial conglomerate Bosch’s Turkish division enjoyed a 17 percent growth in turnover and 20 percent growth in exports in 2011, as revealed at the company’s annual meeting yesterday. The company will add 1,700 people to its 10,000-strong workforce in Turkey during 2012-2013 period, along with EUR 300 million worth of investment in the country. ...

Caterpillar exploring investment opportunities in Turkey Heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar has Turkey on its investment agenda, according to Turkey’s Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Nihat Ergun. Impressed by Turkey’s new investment incentive scheme, the company’s CEO will visit Turkey in the coming weeks for a meeting with the Ministry, said Ergun during his visit to the US for the 2012 ...

Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) has entered the list of world's 100 biggest defense industry companies for the first time in 2012. In a listing made by the Defense News magazine, Turkey's Military Electronics Industry company, ASELSAN, went up four spots in 2012 and was ranked 76th while TAI was ranked 83rd. Speaking to the Anadolu Agency (AA), Director General of ASELSAN Cengiz Ergeneman said that ...

Lars Thunell, the executive vice president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), said that the corporation intends to invest some $2 billion in Turkey in 2012-2015. Thunell said the Turkish economy has proved it is resistant to the global economic crisis at a time when concerns about the euro-zone and global uncertainties have increased, adding that Turkey should ...

Bursa to rival traffic-hit Istanbul in sea transport Following a much criticized ‘flexible pricing’ policy by İDO, the privatized Istanbul ferry firm that also operates to a number of cities by the Marmara Sea, Bursa municipality accelerates efforts to found a competitor The Bursa Metropolitan Municipality has taken action to obtain port permission to transport passengers to Istanbul by establishing a marin ...

Swap deal with Russia to speed up as Sberbank enters Turkey Russian lender Sberbank’s recent entry into the Turkish banking industry may accelarate the implementation of a currency swap deal inked between Turkey and Russia, says Energy Minister Taner Yıldız The recent acquisition of a Turkish bank by a Russian lender will accelerate the implementation of a currency swap agreement between the two countries, ...

A recently introduced government investment incentive program was published in the Official Gazette following the approval of the Cabinet on Wednesday. The program divides provinces into six categories based on their current level of economic development and the investment opportunities they offer.  The first category, mainly Western provinces, is the most developed, while the sixth category includes the le ...

Turkey’s credit rating upgraded by Moody’s International credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service raised Turkey’s government bond rating one notch to Ba1 from Ba2. The statement from the agency cited improvements in the country’s public finances and the increased resilience of the government’s balance sheet to financial shocks. Maintaining the positive outlook on the country, Moody’s also noted the ef ...

Lebanese Edge Capital to invest in Turkey’s realty sector Sabah –Lebanon-based investment fund Edge Capital plans to invest USD 250 million in Turkey’s real estate sector with retail developer Turkmall. The partnership carries the potential to attract USD 1 billion worth of investments in Turkey’s real estate sector over the next 5 years, according to Levent Eyuboglu, Vice President of Turkmall. “Partnershi ...

US pharma company Baxter mulling new investments in Turkey Turkey is increasing its appeal as a center for the development and production of drugs in the eyes of global pharmaceutical companies, Turkey’s Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Nihat Ergun has said. Ergun, currently in Boston, USA, to attend the 2012 Bio International Convention, told reporters that US healthcare company Baxter is cons ...

IDO originally an Istanbul Municipality company has been operating sea transportation services along/across Bosphorus and Marmara Sea, for many years. The company with the biggest fleet of vessels in the world was acquired by TASS, a consortium of AKFEN, TEPE and 2 other companies a short while ago Akfen and Tepe groups are known for their investments in transportation sector as well as construction and sev ...

Speaking at the G-20 summit in Mexico, Prime Minister Erdoğan stated, “The speed of growth, national revenue and foreign trade volume incurred by our nation in 2011, has drawn international attention, making it practically an island of stability.” While in Mexico for the G-20, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan attended the B20 Business Summit on 'Trade and Investment' where he had the opportunity to explain how ...

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced during the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Tuesday, to provide the IMF with $5 billion. The mentioned fund to be provided from the foreign exchange reserve of the Central Bank will be utilized to help to alleviate the worsening crisis in the euro zone. The Central Bank said yesterday that the contribution will be counted of Turkey's international reserves at ...

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan on Friday said that "the euro zone was the core of the crisis". Speaking at a meeting of the heads of state and government of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Serbian capital of Belgrade on Friday, Babacan said that they would continue to follow the impact of the crisis on south-east European countries. "We will continue cooperation to bring ec ...

The leaders of the world's major powers will seek to buy the global economy some breathing space at the G20 summit Monday with new support for an IMF financial firewall and for Greece. LOS CABOS- European leaders were relieved to be able to attend the summit after clearing the hurdle of Sunday's pivotal Greek election, which gave parties that support Athens' EU and IMF-led bailout terms a parliamentary majo ...