Foreign Policy
- Turkish President Erdoğan slams UN Security Council, singling out Russia and China
- Turkish Cypriot negotiator urges suspension of gas drilling
- Gazprom eyes first gas via new route to Turkey by 2017
Economy and Energy
- Turkish Central Bank Considers Extraordinary Meeting to Cut Interest Rates
- Turkey’s foreign trade deficit drops by 15.4 pct upon fall in oil imports, rise in exports to EU
Domestic Politics
- Presidential system tops AKP’s election campaign
- Erdoğan’s presidential system model equals dictatorship: Turkish main opposition
- Bureaucrats begin to resign as deadline to declare candidacy nears
- Turkish gov’t wants PKK to disarm for bolder steps before elections
Foreign Policy
Turkish President Erdoğan slams UN Security Council, singling out Russia and China
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeated his call for reform of the United Nations, saying the U.N., which remains deadlocked over how to respond to the crisis in Syria, is no “longer capable of showing global leadership.”
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Hurriyet Daily News, February 2, 2015, Turkish President Erdoğan slams UN Security Council, singling out Russia and China
Turkish Cypriot negotiator urges suspension of gas drilling
Greek and Turkish Cypriots should both agree to suspend the search for offshore natural gas until they have reached a settlement to reunify their divided island, the chief Turkish Cypriot negotiator has said, as Turkey’s foreign minister expressed hopes of finding a solution to the issue with the new Greek government.
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Hurriyet Daily News, January 28, 2015, Turkish Cypriot negotiator urges suspension of gas drilling
Gazprom eyes first gas via new route to Turkey by 2017
Russia’s Gazprom plans to supply the first gas via a new route to Turkey in December 2016, Chief Executive Alexei Miller said in a statement on Jan. 27. Gazprom said last year that it would build a new pipeline to Turkey with a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year in order to bypass Ukraine.
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Hurriyet Daily News, January 27, 2015, Gazprom eyes first gas via new route to Turkey by 2017
Economy and Energy
Turkish Central Bank Considers Extraordinary Meeting to Cut Interest Rates
Turkey’s central bank is still considering an extraordinary meeting to cut interest rates despite a lira selloff that sent the currency to a record low against the dollar last week, Governor Erdem Basci said Monday.
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Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2015, Turkish Central Bank Considers Extraordinary Meeting to Cut Interest Rates
Turkey’s foreign trade deficit drops by 15.4 pct upon fall in oil imports, rise in exports to EU
Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has fallen 15.4 percent to $84.5 billion in 2014, due to a rise in exports to the EU, dramatic decrease in gold imports and plunging oil prices, according to data released by Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) on Jan. 30.
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Hurriyet Daily News, January 30, 2015, Turkey’s foreign trade deficit drops by 15.4 pct upon fall in oil imports, rise in exports to EU
Domestic Politics
Presidential system tops AKP’s election campaign
A new constitution and the adoption of a presidential system are the two major goals of the ruling party in its pre-election campaign, a senior Justice and Development Party (AKP) has said, suggesting that France’s semi-presidential system was the most appropriate for Turkey.
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Hurriyet Daily News, January 30, 2015, Presidential system tops AKP’s election campaign
Erdoğan’s presidential system model equals dictatorship: Turkish main opposition
The presidential system model proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will make Turkey into a “dictatorship” under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Akif Hamzaçebi has claimed.
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Hurriyet Daily News, January 29, 2015, Erdoğan’s presidential system model equals dictatorship: Turkish main opposition
Bureaucrats begin to resign as deadline to declare candidacy nears
According to the election calendar, bureaucrats have to resign by Feb. 10 at the latest if they want to run in the upcoming general elections, which has accelerated the preparation of lists in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
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Hurriyet Daily News, February 1, 2015, Turkish president’s daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan may run for office
Turkish gov’t wants PKK to disarm for bolder steps before elections
The government has recently been holding talks on planned moves in the administrative and legal fields and is demanding that the PKK lay down arms in Turkish territory prior to the Nevruz festival, which is marked on March 21.
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Hurriyet Daily News, January 27, 2015, Turkish gov’t wants PKK to disarm for bolder steps before elections