This week:
Foreign Policy
- Iran’s Rouhani in Turkey in bid to boost ties
- Turkey, US to hold talks on regional, bilateral issues
- Top US diplomat’s special assistant to take Turkey post
- Erdoğan’s ‘agent’ accusation on CNN reporter ‘ridiculous,’ Washington says
- Top American-Turkish Council officials resign over corruption probe row
Domestic Politics
- Head of Turkey’s top business association TÜSİAD resigns
- CHP leader asks for Kurdish parties’ support in presidential elections
- Parliamentary panel begins probing Soma mine disaster
- Turkish President Gül calls for heeding ecological concerns
- Turkey Lifts Ban on YouTube Access
Economy & Energy
- Turkey needs fiscal reforms to sustain growth: World Bank report
- Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan agree on ‘50-year energy accord’
Foreign Policy
Iran’s Rouhani in Turkey in bid to boost ties
Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, has said that, Turkey and Iran are two important countries in the Islamic world and determined to stand against violence and extremism in the Middle East.
Rouhani said the words on a two-day visit to Turkey to discuss energy and trade ties as well as the Syrian crisis which has strained relations between the two neighbours in the recent years.
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Al-Jazeera, 9 June 2014, Iran’s Rouhani in Turkey in bid to boost ties
Turkey, US to hold talks on regional, bilateral issues
High-level Turkish and American diplomats will hold meetings in Washington Monday and Tuesday to exchange views about bilateral, regional and global issues, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on June 7.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 7 June 2014, Turkey, US to hold talks on regional, bilateral issues
Top US diplomat’s special assistant to take Turkey post
The Obama administration has nominated John Bass, the former ambassador to Georgia and a special assistant to Secretary of State John Kerry, to replace the outgoing envoy Francis Ricciardone as the United States’ envoy to Ankara.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 4 June 2014, Top US diplomat’s special assistant to take Turkey post
Erdoğan’s ‘agent’ accusation on CNN reporter ‘ridiculous,’ Washington says
Washington June 3 dismissed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations targeting CNN International correspondent Ivan Watson over his coverage on the Gezi protests. Erdoğan questioned CNN’s impartiality, labeling Watson “an agent” and blasting him for “wanting to stir up trouble in Turkey.”
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Hurriyet Daily News, 4 June 2014, Erdoğan’s ‘agent’ accusation on CNN reporter ‘ridiculous,’ Washington says
Top American-Turkish Council officials resign over corruption probe row
Top executives of the main bilateral business association between Turkey and the United States, the Washington-based American-Turkish Council (ATC), announced their resignation June 1, following government pressure in the aftermath of the corruption probe.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 3 June 2014, Top American-Turkish Council officials resign over corruption probe row
Domestic Politics
Head of Turkey’s top business association TÜSİAD resigns
The chairman of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), Muharrem Yılmaz, surprisingly submitted his resignation June 4 over a labor crisis in his own company. He was elected as TÜSİAD chairman during the business association’s 43rd general congress on Jan. 13, 2013.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 4 June 2014, Head of Turkey’s top business association TÜSİAD resigns
CHP leader asks for Kurdish parties’ support in presidential elections
Turkey’s main opposition leader has called on the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and its sister party, The Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), to provide support in the presidential elections against the ruling party candidate, marking a first concrete appeal to reach out to Kurdish voters.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 8 June 2014, CHP leader asks for Kurdish parties’ support in presidential elections
Parliamentary panel begins probing Soma mine disaster
The parliamentary panel tasked to investigate the fatal mine accident in Soma began its work June 9 with the purpose of submitting a report to Parliament for future legal amendments on labor safety to prevent similar accidents. The May 13 Soma coal mining tragedy was the largest industrial disaster in the country’s recent history, causing the deaths of 301 workers.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 9 June 2014, Parliamentary panel begins probing Soma mine disaster
Turkish President Gül calls for heeding ecological concerns
Turkish President Abdullah Gül has expressed the need to urge for the adoption of a development policy that heeds harmony between the ecology and economy.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on the other hand, praised his government’s controversial environmental and urban planning policies on the occasion of World Environment Day.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 5 June 2014, Turkish President Gül calls for heeding ecological concerns
Turkey Lifts Ban on YouTube Access
Turkey’s telecommunications watchdog lifted a ban on YouTube on Tuesday, ending a two-month blockade that raised concerns at home and abroad that the country was creating a new model for authoritarian censorship.
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Wall Street Journal, 3 June 2014, Turkey Lifts Ban on YouTube Access
Economy & Energy
Turkey needs fiscal reforms to sustain growth: World Bank report
In order to maintain sustainable growth, Turkey needs to introduce necessary reforms to increase national savings and reduce its dependency on consumption-based revenues and short-term capital flows, the World Bank has said in a new report.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 5 June 2014, Turkey needs fiscal reforms to sustain growth: World Bank report
Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan agree on ‘50-year energy accord’
Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have signed a 50-year deal to export Kurdish oil, the prime minister of the administration has announced amid the ongoing spat between Baghdad and Arbil.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 5 June 2014, Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan agree on ‘50-year energy accord’
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