Turkey’s industrial production index in March increased by 10.4 percent compared to the same month the year before. According to data released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) on Monday, the mining and stone quarry sector witnessed a 4.5 percent increase in March over the same month a year ago. The manufacturing sector index increased by 10.4 percent, while the gas and steam production and dis ...

Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek has said the focus of the government’s fiscal policy will be on increasing employment across Turkey, as extra tax revenues to be earned this year will be used to ease employment costs in the country, which has an unemployment rate of some 11 percent. In remarks to the Anatolia news agency, Şimşek said that this is dependent on increasing the state’s ability to collect taxes ...

Denmark, a European nation with one of the most solid regulations against foreigners, has become the first Schengen nation to lift visa regulations. Visas will no longer be required for those going to Denmark to work or to set up a business. The first good news regarding the lifting of visa regulations for Schengen nations has come from Denmark. Visa requirements will be lifted for those traveling to Denmar ...

The Turkish shipbuilding industry has requested government support in striving for a big goal of $10 billion in exports by the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the republic in 2023. Istanbul Ship and Yacht Exporters’ Association suggests the barter trade system, a method that has boosted business in South Korea and China. The Turkish shipbuilding industry, which showed a big rise in exports during the ...

A majority of Turkish people polled in a recent survey has said they believe the government bears the responsibility for the cheating crisis that has erupted around the university entrance exam, or YGS. The results of the survey by MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center were released as the country awaited a possible judicial decision on the test. Some 56.2 percent of those surveyed said the governm ...

The Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, was hit with a third wave of “tape scandal” on Saturday with the release online of more R-rated footage of two senior party members with young female university students. MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli harshly responded to the incident Sunday, saying those who engage in immoral acts and have moral weaknesses would not stay in the party. Speaking at his party’s election ral ...

Kuwait’s Global Investment House, or GIH, announced Sunday it is acquiring a stake in Yargıcı, a leading up-market women’s apparel and accessories retailer in Turkey. The undisclosed investment showed that interest toward the Turkish economy from the Persian Gulf is ongoing, despite the political turmoil in the region. The acquisition was realized through Global Capital Management, the alternative asset-man ...

Turkish Technic, the aircraft maintenance subsidiary of Turkey’s national carrier Turkish Airlines (THY), could transform İstanbul into a regional hub in its field, a top executive of the American aerospace and defense company Boeing has said. “Turkish Technic, together with THY, has very ambitious growth points. It also has an ideal geographical location in the world. I see no obstacle to İstanbul becoming ...

Reviewing the incentive system for Turkey’s poor regions, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said the government would try to implement “more unique models.” Şimşek was in the southeastern province of Batman, as part of his electoral campaign as a parliamentary deputy candidate for the Justice and Development Party, or AKP. “We want to bring textile companies to provinces in this region, to Diyarbakır, Batman a ...

CHP (Republican People’s Party) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News during a break from his campaigning in Istanbul on Friday. The main opposition chief said: “Turkey could not carry out a sustainable policy. At first the prime minister asked, what is NATO doing in Libya? And afterwards Turkey participated in the [NATO] flotilla”. “Turkey could not implement a policy that could stand ...

The patience and tolerance of Kurds in Turkey have run out, says the deputy chairwoman of the Democratic Society Congress. A potential boycott of the June 12 general election was on the agenda of a major pro-Kurdish umbrella organization when it met Thursday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, according to the pro-Kurdish Fırat News Agency. “Kurds have issued their verdict; the solution will come ab ...

The Turkish government does not plan to impose an additional tax hike, according to Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan. Speaking on CNNTürk news channel Friday morning, Babacan said fiscal policy measures do not mean only tax hikes. “We do not plan any increase in any taxes. If there will be some fiscal policy measures, it may mainly be about [increasing] savings,” Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying. ...

A new machinery strategy plan announced by the Industry Ministry earlier this week will boost the leasing sector due to tax cuts, according to representatives of the hiring sector. “The Turkish leasing sector will return to its business volume of $8.2 billion in 2008 with these decisions,” Mehmet Sevinç, marketing manager of İş Finansal Kiralama, a Turkish leasing company, told the Hürriyet Daily News. Comm ...

The French Senate on Wednesday rejected a bill penalizing the denial of Armenian genocide claims, removing a potential extra hurdle before Turkish-French relations. The bill, which was recently rejected by the French Senate Constitution Commission as well, envisioned five years in prison and a fine of up to 45,000 euros for people on French soil who deny genocide claims. The bill was not endorsed by the Fre ...

Just a month away from general elections in Turkey, the İstanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) rallied up to 70,000 points as of Tuesday, marking a five-month high. Experts expect this will gain momentum and reach record highs after the elections. Vice manager of Alan Securities, Inc., Fatih Demir, says that he expects new records for the İstanbul bourse in the days ahead. He notes the recent surge in the stock mar ...

Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) President Tayfun Acarer on Thursday said Internet users in Turkey will not be obliged to choose one of the filtering options proposed in a new regulation that would go into effect in August. Speaking during a press conference he called to respond to criticism against the regulation, which is feared to bring a series of censors to Internet access th ...

Having refrained from accepting IMF aid and maintaining financial discipline despite holding a referendum, Turkey is giving some of Europe’s biggest economies a lesson. While Turkey has managed to bring the budget deficit down to 3.6%, the EU average is at 6.4%. Turkey, which despite the global crisis refrained from receiving IMF help, helped a referendum, and refuses to veer from financial discipline despi ...

Turkey and Iran have signed three agreements over the past three weeks to boost their relationship in almost all fields amid growing pressure from the United States on Ankara to halt ties with its neighbor. Energy ministers from both sides announced late Tuesday the completion of what they called a “road map” detailing their investment projects in the energy field. “It brings us great joy that the road map ...

'Turkey imports two times more machinery than its exports. As a citizen of this country, I cannot accept this picture,' says Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün.  Turkey aims to increase machinery exports to $100 billion by 2023, said Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün, as he revealed a strategy document and action plan on Tuesday that brings new regulations to increase the domestic machine ...

While the world is celebrating “World Press Freedom Day,” a freedom of expression monument was unveiled on Monday in Istanbul in Turkey, a country that currently has 68 journalists behind bars. Two days before the eve of World Press Freedom Day, a Freedom of Expression Monument was unveiled at Maçka Democracy Park in Istanbul’s Nişantaşı district to demand press freedom for journalists sent to jail “because ...

2011 Formula 1 Turkey Grand Prix  is going to take place in Istanbul on May 6-8 The racing circuit is in Tuzla, Tepeören and spreads over an are of 2.215.000 sq.mt. Herman Tilke, the architect of the project, designed the racing circuit as running counter-clockwise and it is 5.378 km long with an average width of 15 meters, excluding runoff areas. The circuit is composed of 14 curves, 6 of which are right t ...

Turkey’s Meat and Fish Institute, or EBK, the state-run meat company which eyes to gain in retail business along with meat production, is seeking franchisees in eight cities across Turkey, according to an announcement by the company Monday. An initial process of collecting applications for 100 branches in 17 cities failed in Istanbul, İzmir, Bursa, Eskişehir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Mersin and Samsun due to lack ...

Turkish automaker Karsan, one of the three finalists in the bid to produce New York taxi cabs, has been rejected, according to a city official who has been informed of the decision, the New York Times reported Monday. The Karsan’s van has been rejected by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, or TLC, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the decision was not yet made p ...