Why Turkey Is Lagging

[JStone]

GÜVEN SAK: Why Turkey Is Lagging. Hurriyet, Turkey

Turkey is lagging behind? Sounds perplexing, doesn’t it? Especially when one considers that Turkey’s growth in 2011 has surpassed even that of China. That is when I started hearing questions like “Is Turkey an economic exception amid the global crisis?”

The true economic character of a country, however, can only be portrayed by its experience, and Turkey’s is there to analyze in numbers. The figures indicate that relative to the GDP per capita of the United States, Turkey performs badly when compared to Greece, Spain and Portugal. We only appear invincible because we no longer lag as badly behind Southern Europe as we used to. The culprit behind this misperception, a new study says, was Turkey’s low agricultural productivity in the 1960s and 1970s.

Continued: GÜVEN SAK - Why Turkey is lagging

 

[waltky]

Turkey scrambles jets to Syria border...

Turkey scrambles F-16 jets on Syria border
1 July 2012 - Turkey has put its forces on alert for Syrian military movements close to the border

Turkey has scrambled six F-16 fighters jets near its border with Syria after Syrian helicopters came close to the border, the country's army says. Six jets were sent to the area in response to three such incidents on Saturday, the statement said, adding that there was no violation of Turkish airspace. Last month, Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet in the border area. The incident further strained already tense relations between former allies.

Turkey's government has been outspoken in its condemnation of Syria's response to the 16-month anti-government uprising, which has seen more than 30,000 Syrian refugees enter Turkey. On Friday, Turkey said it had begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along the border in response to the downing of its F-4 Phantom jet on 22 June. The move came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey had changed its rules of military engagement and would now treat any Syrian military approaching the border as a threat.

Syria said the Turkish F-4 was shot down by air defence fire inside its airspace. Turkey insists it was downed by a missile after briefly entering and the leaving Syrian airspace. The plane crashed in the Mediterranean, off the coast of the southern province of Hatay. Its pilots are still missing. Mr Erdogan spoke of Turkey's "rage" at the incident and described Syria as a "clear and present threat". Nato condemned the attack and voiced strong support for Turkey, after Ankara invoked Article 4 of Nato's founding treaty, which entitles any member state to ask for consultations if it believes its security is threatened.

Four of the six jets were scrambled on Saturday from the airbase of Incirlik in response to two occasions of Syrian helicopters flying close to Hatay province, Sunday's army statement said. Later, two more F-16s took off from a base near Batman, in southeastern Turkey, after Syrian helicopters were spotted close to the province of Mardin, it added. The military said the helicopters flew as close as 6.5km (4 miles) to the border, according to the AP news agency.

Regional impact

 

[kirkuki]

turkey spends $100 million a year in its fight against pkk . why not give 15-20 million kurds their autonomy they seek and spend those funds on the country !!??

 

[waltky]

Syria makin' Turkey nervous...

Turkey on pins and needles about Syrian crisis
14 Aug.`12 - Sees possible opening to compete with Iran for influence

WASHINGTON – Turkey’s decision to side with Saudi Arabia in the battle to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has caused Ankara to tread lightly, as it sees an opening to extend its own influence in competition with Iran to become the new regional power, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. The results could be not only turning Syria back to a Sunni-run government but additional influence in Iraq, which has a Sunni population but is led by Iranian-backed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But Ankara has had to proceed cautiously. It backed off recently when Syria shot down one of its jets that had intruded briefly into Syrian air space.

As a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to engage the Western alliance to hasten the ouster of Assad. But there was no stomach in NATO to engage Syria in a military confrontation, especially after it became increasingly apparent that the jet had entered Syrian airspace without permission and was shot down over Syrian territorial waters. The Syrian president eventually apologized for the shoot-down, but the political fallout became apparent when Erdogan decided against pursuing the NATO route. As a result, an emboldened Assad has threatened to unleash the Kurd and Alawite minorities that reside in Turkey.

Now, Turkey is talking about setting up a buffer zone inside Syria with the help of the Turkish military to accommodate Syrian refugee. But officials so far have stopped short of committing the military troops, even though Erdogan has postured by sending Turkish military forces to the border with Syria. Turkey also is being used by the Syrian Free Army opposition to plan and launch attacks against Syrian government forces inside Syria. In addition, Turkey is being used as a source for weapons by the opposition forces in Syria in cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This development has prompted Assad to declare that foreign forces are attacking Syria. With that comment, he has opened the prospect of using his arsenal of chemical weapons against them. Now Ankara is looking at what analysts believe is the larger picture of not getting bogged down in one area but looking to extend its influence as a regional power.

In doing so, however, Ankara is mindful of the prospect of Assad unleashing the Kurdish minority in northern Syria which has linked up with the Democratic Union Party. The DUP is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. For their part, the Kurds in the Turkish southeast sees an opportunity to unite with the Kurds in northern Syria to make a move to set up an independent state called Kurdistan. The area also would include northern Iraq and northern Iran. Turkey, however, doesn’t want to upset Tehran, which has issued a warning to Turkey that it could intervene if it looks like Assad will be ousted, especially if Turkey commits its military.

Source

 

[uscitizen]

Why Turkey Is Lagging

Cause chicken is cheaper.