Foreign Policy
- Turkey President Erdogan Defends Detentions, Dismisses EU Criticism
- Putin praises Erdoğan as ‘tough man’ for defying EU over pipeline decision
Economy and Energy
- Inflation expectations improve amid oil drop
- Turkey’s new economic action plans urge savings
- Selling in ruble takes Turkish agro businesses to brink of bankruptcy
- Turkish Petroleum, Shell ‘to explore oil’
Domestic Politics
- Turkish gov’t, HDP herald ‘new phase’ in Kurdish peace process
- Dec 17 graft probe into senior government figures officially dropped
Foreign Policy
Turkey President Erdogan Defends Detentions, Dismisses EU Criticism
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday defended the detention of journalists and security officials as a necessary step to catch traitors, vowing to continue a crackdown while dismissing criticism from the European Union as meddling in his country’s affairs.
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Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2014, Turkey President Erdogan Defends Detentions, Dismisses EU Criticism
Putin praises Erdoğan as ‘tough man’ for defying EU over pipeline decision
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a “tough man,” praising him for not being intimidated by a potential Western reaction against Russia’s decision to scrap the South Stream gas pipeline in favor of replacing it with a route through Turkey.
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 18, 2014, Putin praises Erdoğan as ‘tough man’ for defying EU over pipeline decision
Economy and Energy
Inflation expectations improve amid oil drop
Oil and commodity price falls have helped bring down inflation expectations in Turkey, a Central Bank survey showed on Dec. 19, although economists expect no immediate interest rate cuts.
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 19, 2014, Inflation expectations improve amid oil drop
Turkey’s new economic action plans urge savings
Shortly after announcing the first nine programs of a detailed economic transformation plan, the government has announced an additional set of macro-economic reforms, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu putting particular emphasis on the need to reduce public expenditures.
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 18, 2014, Turkey’s new economic action plans urge savings
Selling in ruble takes Turkish agro businesses to brink of bankruptcy
Turkish agriculture sector producers, who had raised their hopes of taking a larger share in the Russian market due to Moscow’s political rows with Europe, are now paying the price of advanced sales in the ruble, the Russian currency that is currently in free fall.
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 18, 2014, Selling in ruble takes Turkish agro businesses to brink of bankruptcy
Turkish Petroleum, Shell ‘to explore oil’
According to the project filed by Shell Upstream Turkey and Turkish Petroleum, the Anglo-Dutch multinational oil-and-gas company and Turkish Petroleum will start their exploration in the first quarter of 2015 and continue their activities in the region for eight months.
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 15, 2014, Turkish Petroleum, Shell ‘to explore oil’
Domestic Politics
Turkish gov’t, HDP herald ‘new phase’ in Kurdish peace process
Both the government and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have simultaneously announced that the stalled peace process has entered “a new phase,” with the latter emphasizing that the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will assume a more central role in the new phase.
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 22, 2014, Turkish gov’t, HDP herald ‘new phase’ in Kurdish peace process
Dec 17 graft probe into senior government figures officially dropped
A landmark graft probe into senior government figures was officially dropped a day before its first anniversary when the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office rejected an objection to its decision to not pursue proceedings in the case
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Hurriyet Daily News, December 16, 2014, Dec 17 graft probe into senior government figures officially dropped