THIS WEEK:
FOREIGN POLICY
• Turkish president hosts U.S. group of lawmakers
• Turkey becomes partner of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
• Turkey criticizes Obama’s address on Armenian issue
• Nine from Turkey on list of world’s most influential 500 people
ECONOMY / ENERGY
• Turkey’s trade deficit falls
• Turkey submits bill offering amnesty for repatriation of assets
DOMESTIC POLITICS
• Kurdish rebels to retreat from Turkey to Iraq
• Turkish president approves 4th judicial package
• End is near for Constitution Conciliation Commission
FOREIGN POLICY
Turkish president hosts U.S. group of lawmakers
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate met up with Turkish President Abdullah Gül during their official visit to Turkey on April 29, Anatolia news agency has reported. U.S. House of Representatives Turkey Caucus co-chair Ed Whitfield headed the mission. The representatives also met with Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yıldız.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 30 April 2013, Turkish president hosts U.S. group of lawmakers
Turkey becomes partner of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a “dialogue partner” of Shanghai Cooperation Organization dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia. “This is really a historic day for us,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty after signing a memorandum of understanding with SCO Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev.
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Chicago Tribune, 26 April 2013, Turkey becomes partner of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Turkish Press Review, 29 April 2013, Turkey first NATO state with Shanghai Cooperation Organization ties
Turkey criticizes Obama’s address on Armenian issue
U.S. President Barack Obama used the expression “Meds Yeghern” denoting “Great Tragedy” in Armenian language to mark the incidents of 1915 in a statement released on April 24. The Turkish Foreign Ministry criticized Obama’s message in a statement, saying the U.S. president’s approach only reflected Armenian views. “Issued under the influence of domestic political considerations and interpreting controversial historical events on the basis of one-sided information and with a selective sense of justice, such statements damage both Turkish-American relations, and also render it more difficult for Turks and Armenians to reach a just memory,” the statement read.
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Turkish Press Review, 25 April 2013, Turkey criticizes Obama’s address on Armenian issue
Nine from Turkey on list of world’s most influential 500 people
Foreign Policy magazine publishes names of world’s most influential 500 people, among them 9 are from Turkey.
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Foreign Policy, May 2013, The FP Power Map
Anadolu Agency, 30 April 2013, Nine from Turkey on list of world’s most influential 500 people
ECONOMY / ENERGY
Turkey’s trade deficit falls
Turkey’s exports and imports fell slightly in March along with the foreign trade deficit from the same month a year earlier. The foreign trade deficit was reduced to $7.38 billion with a 1.1 percent fall as the exports coverage of imports increased from 63.9 percent to 64.1 percent in the same period.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 30 April 2013, Turkey’s trade falls “like many countries”
Turkey submits bill offering amnesty for repatriation of assets
Turkey’s government submitted a draft bill to parliament offering an amnesty for repatriation of assets held by Turks abroad.
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Bloomberg Business, 25 April 2013, Turkey submits bill offering amnesty for repatriation of assets
Wall Street Journal, 26 April 2013, Turkey declares amnesty in bid to reclaim $100 billion of offshore wealth
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Kurdish rebels to retreat from Turkey to Iraq
PKK rebels will start withdrawing from Turkey on May 8 and retreat across the border to northern Iraq, a rebel commander said April 25, in an important milestone toward ending the nearly three-decade old fight that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
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USA Today, 25 April 2013, Kurdish rebels to retreat from Turkey to Iraq
New York Times, 25 April 2013, Kurdish rebel group to withdraw from Turkey
Turkish Press Review, 26 April 2013, EU, U.S. pleased with PKK’s withdrawal decision
Turkish president approves 4th judicial package
Turkish President Abdullah Gül approved Turkey’s much debated fourth judicial package, which had passed into law by Parliament on April 11. The package is intended to eliminate rulings against Turkey in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for human rights violations, especially regarding the situation of convicts charged with membership in a terrorist organization.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 29 April 2013, Turkish president approves 4th judicial package
End is near for Constitution Conciliation Commission
The work of Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission is approaching its end, with Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek calling what is widely expected to be a final meeting on April 30. The prevailing opinion at the Commission is in favor of preparing a draft text indicating the propositions of all four parties in Parliament, in which the consensual articles will figure in green while the articles that cause disagreements will figure in red.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 26 April 2013, End is near for Constitution Conciliation Commission
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