Iraq, eager to supply natural gas to its overburdened power plants, has signed agreements with Korea Gas, Kuwait Energy and the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, or TPAO, to develop two gas fields. The three companies secured rights to develop the Mansouriya field in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province, while TPAO and Kuwait Energy won a license for the Siba field in southern Basra province, Oil Minister Abdul Kare ...

The car-renting business in Turkey is growing on increasing economic activity, improvement in convention tourism and developments in civil aviation, according to İnan Ekici, vice general manager of local branch of Avis. The branch of luxury car rentals is particularly growing, he says The car rental business in Turkey will double in volume in the next five years due to growing capital, employment and techno ...

The prime minister issued threatened a prominent businessman when he said the man “put his business at risk” by making a bet with journalists that the government would lose the elections, the main opposition has said. “The prime minister is openly saying, ‘You will either be on my side, or nowhere at all.’ He openly threatened [businessman] İnan [Kıraç]. ‘You said that? I’ll show you after the elections.’ T ...

A new portal project allowing for virtual membership in the British Chamber of Commerce of Turkey, or BCCT, is expected to greatly increase the numbers of companies doing business in Turkey, according to the body’s chairman. “The number of BCCT members has risen from 300 to 360 in the last eight months and we expect this figure will [soon] become 600,” Jonathan Beard told the Hürriyet Daily News on Wednesda ...

Based on reports issued by Turkish Statistics Institute in the first quarter of current year exports have exceeded 43,337 billion dollars with an increase of 22,4 percent and imports have reached 77 billion dollars with an increase of 44 percent. Oil & Natural Gas The money Turkey has paid for importation of oil and natural gas within the first three months of 2011 has exceeded USD 15 billion with an in ...

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leveled harsh criticism Friday at the British magazine the Economist for an article urging the Turkish electorate to vote for the main opposition party to improve the country’s democracy. “If they knew a little about the Republican People’s Party [CHP], they would know that democracy and the CHP can’t come together and they haven’t come together throughout history,” Erdoğ ...

India is preparing to realize a giant infra-structure project worth USD 90 billion, in Mumbai. Mumbai city in India which is expected to become one of the two superpowers in the world in the future, has started the largest infra-structure project in the country. Based on the project, a global production and trading center to cover 9 mega industry zones - each 250 square kilometers, fast transportation lines ...

The number of vehicles on the roads  went up by 81,4 percent in the last 10 years. It is reported that trafic density has been increasing in big cities in specific, each day. Provided the increase in number of vehicles keeps same pace, this figure is forecasted go up to 27,4 million within the next 10 years. Big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir have the most crowded traffic. Number of Vehicles in 2 ...

Turkish Energy Minister has said that the Turkish government aims to evaluate all the country's energy resources, by giving priority to domestic and renewable energy resources. He has added "Stays of execution and annulment decisions by Turkish courts cause slowdowns in hydroelectric power plant and wind energy investments". The Turkish government aims to evaluate all the energy resources, by giving priorit ...

Istanbul, which ranked seventh in world congress tourism last year and sixth in Europe, has become an international convention destination, according to Murat Yalçıntaş, chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, or ICOC. “By strengthening its position among the top 10 cities in world convention tourism, Istanbul should target to enter the top five in the next five years,” said Yalçıntaş, who has also be ...

The deadline for MMEKA, a joint venture between Mehmet Emin Karamehmet and Mehmet Kazancı which was the top bidder for the electric distribution grids in Istanbul, to pay the promised privatization amount ends Tuesday. The company requested additional time for the payments of the Boğaziçi and Ayedaş, including one on the European side of Istanbul and another on the Anatolian side. The Privatization Authorit ...

The first quarter’s export expectation index of 122.7 increased to 142.9 for the second quarter this year in Turkey. Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan told the media on Monday that the current registered export orders display seasonal normality, which is a sign of a complete recovery from the global crisis A survey conducted among the 500 leading export and import firms in Turkey has shown that the expo ...

Turkey's yawning balance of payments deficit and an exodus of foreign investors suggest its unorthodox monetary policy experiment may have gone too far, threatening to make Ankara a new flashpoint for risk in global emerging markets. The country's monthly foreign funding shortfall is running at almost $10 billion, latest data shows -- a tough position to be in when confidence in developing markets is shaky ...

Although the current administration paints a very optimistic picture about the Turkish economy, experts need to draw attention to some basic indications to shows the actual situation is not exactly so. The PM has been referrring to the increase in GDP to approx. USD 10,000. However, this increase in wealth although supposed to show in everyday life standards of people and the economical situation of small b ...

Despite the relatively positive outlook of the Turkish economy, Istanbul real estate sales dropped 37.5 percent by the first quarter of the year. The Istanbul property market was going through a “super-saturation of the market,” according to a top professional, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News on Friday. “Many housing projects including luxury accommodation accumulated quickly in the Istanbul property ma ...

The leader of Turkey's main opposition party accused the governing AK Party of a secret agenda to monopolize power and pledged to reinforce democracy if he becomes prime minister after June 12 elections. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), said he had created a "youthful and dynamic team" since taking the helm a year ago at what has long been regarded as a staid pillar of Turk ...

Turkish automotive distributor Doğuş Otomotiv (DOAS.IS), which sells Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) cars, said on Friday that it has commissioned broker Garanti Securities to sell its 16.8 percent stake in car inspection site operator TUVTurk Istanbul. The company said in a filing to the Istanbul stock exchange that the other shareholders, including German technical service corporation TUV SUD AG, have also decided t ...

'We should condemn terror. It is innocent people who have been injured in this incident,' Republican People’s Party, or CHP, chief Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said. Everyone living in Turkey should develop a “joint reflex” against terrorism, the leader of the main opposition said Friday during a visit to victims of the previous day’s bomb attack in Istanbul’s Etiler neighborhood. “We should condemn terror. It is inn ...

The head of Turkey’s leading business group and the country’s deputy prime minister engaged in a war of words Friday over issues of freedom and Internet restrictions. Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç fired the first shot Friday morning, calling the Turkish Industry and Business Association, or TÜSİAD, headed by Ümit Boyner, an “unreliable” organization. “If Ms. Boyner and those who share her sentiments co ...

Chief of Turkey's CHP vows to resign if promises go unkept Kılıçdaroğlu repeated that he would resign as party leader and prime minister if his vows were not fulfilled within four months. Kılıçdaroğlu repeated that he would resign as party leader and prime minister if his vows were not fulfilled within four months. Main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has vowed to quit if he does not fulfill his promis ...

Turkey hopes to become the second largest olive and olive oil producer after Spain, according to the head of the National Olive and Olive Oil Council, or UZZK. “Turkey’s total of olive oil production rose from 112,000 tons to 147,000 tons in the last five years,” said Mustafa Tan, chairman of the board at UZZK, at the meeting in Istanbul. Tan said the annual domestic demand had risen from 50,000 tons to 110 ...

High-speed train projects will connect Turkey’s capital city, Ankara, with the Aegean province of İzmir, the country’s third biggest city, according to information gathered by the Anatolia news agency. The routes, which are planned to pass through the western provinces of Afyonkarahisar and Uşak, will reduce the route between the two cities by nearly 200 kilometers once the project is completed. Traveling b ...

The minister said he had a meeting with the winners of last year’s electricity distribution grids across the country over the weekend as Park Holding announced its decision to withdraw. The government’s expectations of high income from the vast energy privatizations last year have failed to emerge with top bidders unable to afford to pay the amounts promised. Park Holding, the top bidder for Akdeniz Elektri ...