Creeping Sharia - What trouble looks like in Turkey

[ekrem]

ISE = Stock Exchange Istanbul

In Q1 2011, Turkey became fastest-growing economy in the world with 11% growth:
Turkey's Economy Expands 11% - WSJ.com

http://www.ukti.gov.uk/download/file/174660.html

- According to IMF data, Turkey’s Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) adjusted GDP for the year 2010 was $956 billion, which rose from $305bn in 2003.

- FDI inflows into Turkey during 2001-2010 were 12 times greater than that of 1991-2000.

- Turkey's export volume in 2010 is more than Turkey’s total export volume between 1923 and 1990.

- Turkey has become Europe’s 2nd largest iron and steel maker and the world’s leading producer of construction iron.

- The 5th largest shipbuilding country of the world.

- 65% of industrial exports from the MENA (Middle East And North Africa) region originate from Turkey

- During the global financial crisis net profits of the banking sector rose by 50%

- Turkey has been meeting Europe's Maastricht Criterion (debt-to-GDP below 60%) on public debt since 2004.

- Turkey was one of the few countries whose credit rating was upgraded by two notches by Fitch during the global financial crisis.

- Turkey is the biggest bus manufacturer and the third largest light commercial vehicle manufacturer in Europe

- In terms of motor vehicles, Turkey is the Europe’s 5th and the world’s 15th largest producer.

- In 2009 Turkey was the 7th most visited country in the world

- Istanbul is the 3rd mostly visited city of Europe, after London and Paris.

- Turkey will be the highest growing IT market in the 2009-2014 period, followed by Poland.

- Turkish company Vestel is the largest TV manufacturer in Europe accounting for 16% of the LCD TV, as well as 25% of the digital set-top boxes markets in Europe.

- One in every 6 electrical household appliances in Europe is “made in Turkey”

- Turkey has the 2nd largest telecommunications market in Europe after Germany

- Turkish owned Turkcell is the third biggest operator in Europe in terms of
number of subscribers.

 

[ekrem]

So, thank the "Islamists" we'll hopefully enjoy another decade of Sharia.

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick
worldbank.org/

Turkey is a development success, with a per capita income nearly triple that of 10 years ago.

Till 2016, Turkish economy will grow by cumulative 45.3%
www.imf.org


OECD estimates that Turkey will be the fastest-growing economy after China and India by 2017
uktradeinvest.gov.uk


After "Islamists" are finished with Turkey, we might send them to USA so USA can also have debt-free growth whilst paying off already existing debt.

 

[ekrem]

Video from UK Foreign Minister about restructuring of UK's diplomatic corpse in the world
BBC - Democracy Live - Future Diplomatic Network statement: William Hague

UK will decrease its Diplomats in European embassies.
The "substantial expansion" of the UK's diplomatic strength will be in China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico and Indonesia.
In Turkey the Embassy in Ankara will grow, the Consulate in Istanbul will grow.
And new Consulates in Anatolian cities will be established.

UK to expand its activities in Turkey - Hurriyet Daily News

“This is something that is going to boost our power of influence, particularly in the most powerful economies in the future. Turkey was identified as one of those important countries,”

When PM David Cameron spoke in Ankara about Gaza, he called it a prison camp.
Do you think, he called it that way because he will score back at home in the UK?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlUqy-m2X2E]PM Cameron calls Gaza a Prison Camp - YouTube[/ame]



Obviously, the UK is courting Turkey.
U.K., Turkey Near Military Accord - WSJ.com
Britain aims to double its trade with Turkey

 

[ekrem]

The Western Balkans - Defence Academy of the United Kingdom

Turkey is increasing its regional influence, a matter of concern in the United States if documents released through ‘Wikileaks’ are an accurate reflection of official opinion.
(...)
Brussels and Washington are understandably concerned that the severe economic weakness of Greece and booming Turkish economy will lead to regional security imbalances (...)

http://www.da.mod.uk/publications/library/balkan-series/20110701-Balkans-Series-11-01.pdf



The rise of Turkey in the Balkans
From economics to culture, many see the country taking on the role of a new regional power
Southeast European Times - The rise of Turkey in the Balkans


Turkey’s Balkan Shopping Spree
Ankara is investing in strategic sectors in the Balkans in order to increase its economic and political influence, but what’s on Turkey’s must-buy list?
Turkey’s Balkan Shopping Spree :: Balkan Insight


Turkish economic activity in Balkans signal a comeback
Turkish economic activity in Balkans signal a comeback - Hurriyet Daily News


Turkey uses economic clout to gain Balkan foothold
washingtonpost.com

The EU and U.S., too, are increasingly wary of Turkey's growing clout, particularly in places like Bosnia, Serbia and Albania, which like Turkey itself are stuck in the limbo of a snail-paced EU membership process. Washington, while recognizing Turkey's value as a go-between with Muslim communities, is loath to share influence in a region where it has strong strategic interests.

In place of distant European dreams, Turkey is offering an immediate embrace. And as Ankara also courts hardline regimes like Syria and Iran, some in the West fear its growing leadership in the Balkans could complicate EU attempts to instill Western democratic and financial standards here.

Free Article for Non-Members | STRATFOR

Turkey wants to use its influence in the Balkans as an example of its geopolitical importance, particularly to Europe, which is instinctively nervous about the security situation in the Balkans. The point is not for Turkey to expand influence in the Balkans for the sake of influence, or for economic or political domination. Rather, Ankara wants to demonstrate that its influence is central to the region’s stability, and that without Turkey, there will be no permanent political settlement in the Western Balkans.

The U.S.-EU Butmir constitutional process, as the most prominent example thus far, failed largely because Turkey lobbied the United States to step away. The message was clear to Europe: Not only does Turkey consider the Balkans its backyard (and therefore Ankara should never again be left out of negotiations), it also has the ability to influence Washington’s policy. STRATFOR sources in the European Union and the Bosnia-Herzegovina government familiar with the negotiations have indicated that the Europeans were caught off guard and displeased by just how much influence Ankara has in the region.

 

[ekrem]

The Next Four Years of Turkish Foreign Policy

http://carnegieendowment.org/files/turkey_election_for_pol.pdf


The Rivalry With France

The outcome of Turkey’s EU accession and even the feasibility of the establishment of a framework of cooperation to supplant the accession process is closely linked to the evolution of the country’s relationship with France. The relationship between Paris and Ankara soured when President Nicolas Sarkozy came to power. He has been adamantly against Turkish accession to the EU. Instead, under his guidance, France offered to decouple the EU from its bilateral relationship with Turkey. The suggestion was to “agree to disagree” on the EU issue but to improve the bilateral relationship. Ankara was never receptive to this message and demonstrated that there will be political and economic costs for a state so intent on blocking Turkey’s path to the EU. This modus vivendi held until the onset of the Arab uprisings. The negative equilibrium broke down with the Libyan crisis, when France decided to exclude Turkey from the list of invitees to the Paris conference on March 19, which established the ad-hoc coalition to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya. Sarkozy’s decision not to invite Turkey showed how deep the rift between Paris and Ankara has grown.

Usually, acrimony in bilateral relations can be addressed through political dialogue and direct contacts between leaders, but reconciliation looks far away. Erdogan was furious about being frozen out of the Paris summit. Davutoglu insinuated that Paris was behind the anti-Turkish protests in Benghazi.

The rivalry could nonetheless extend beyond Libya. France is actively looking for new interlocutors in North Africa, a region in which it has huge political, economic, and energy interests as well as a long history. But, while France may have aspirations, the emerging political constituencies in Tunisia and Egypt find Turkey a more interesting model and a more appealing partner for their transition processes. Like France, Turkey has a difficult imperial legacy in the region, but it offers a successful combination of Muslim traditions, democracy, and rising prosperity. And, in Arab eyes, the dynamism of its economic growth compares favorably with crisis-ridden Europe’s sluggishness.

The rivalry between Ankara and Paris also has an economic backdrop. The growth of Ankara’s influence in the Middle East and North Africa may directly affect French economic interests. In Northern Africa particularly, the French economy had been able to carve out a zone of influence. The traditional model of market entry that relied on privileged relationships with the established authoritarian leadership is, however, fast becoming a liability.
The democratization of the regimes and the ensuing pluralism of the political space are set to alter the dynamics and rules of foreign economic influence. This change of paradigm will present a particular challenge to France, the incumbent economic actor. The challenger is Turkey. Ankara will seek to capitalize on its enhanced image and capture an ever-growing share of the markets of Northern Africa and the Middle East.

The antagonism between Turkey and France can potentially undermine the cohesiveness and the effectiveness of the transatlantic security alliance (...)

 

[ekrem]

Serbian apology for Srebrenica genocide

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/magazine/23davutoglu-t.html?pagewanted=all

In the fall of 2009, relations between Serbia and Bosnia — never easy since the savage civil war of the 1990s — were slipping toward outright hostility.
Western mediation efforts had failed. Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister of Turkey, offered to step in.
(...)
He helped negotiate names of acceptable diplomats and the language of a Serbian apology for the atrocities in Srebrenica. Bosnia agreed, finally, to name an ambassador to Serbia. To seal the deal, as Davutoglu tells the tale, he met late one night at the Sarajevo airport with the Bosnian leader Haris Silajdzic. The Bosnian smoked furiously. Davutoglu, a pious Muslim, doesn’t smoke — but he made an exception: “I smoked; he smoked.” Silajdzic accepted the Serbian apology. Crisis averted. Davutoglu calls this diplomatic style “smoking like a Bosnian.”

www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/06/pdf/turkey.pdf

Turkey’s ambition and capability to reinvent itself as a player in the world is evident in the Western Balkans. This involvement encompasses the whole region, but is most evident in Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose progress toward full stability and membership in NATO and the European Union has stalled dangerously since a return to nationalist politics in 2006.
(...)
Ultimately, Turkey convened five rounds of talks to stabilize bilateral relations between Serbia and Bosnia and restore diplomatic ties. As a result, the Serb parliament passed a resolution last March in which it apologized for the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, during which the army of the Serb Republic killed 8,000 Bosnians.

In April of 2010 a trilateral summit between Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia was held in Istanbul where Turkish President Gül, Serbian President Boris Tadic, and Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic convened. The presidents and their foreign ministers adopted the Istanbul Declaration, which pledged stability in the region and reinforced Bosnia-Herzegovina’s territorial integrity.

 

[ekrem]

Afghanistan

So far only 2 Turkish soldiers have died in Afghanistan... by non-hostile vehicle-accident.
iCasualties | Fatalities By Nationality

Why no hostile acts against Turkish soldiers?
NATO-Video explains what Turks make differently
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dVBISDyCXk]YouTube - Turkey renew commitment[/ame]


German Public-State Radio Broadcaster, Deutsche Welle

Soft Power for Afghanistan

Every day some 900 Afghans are coming to Turkish built hospitals. Each treatment is free.
In the last eight years some 800,000 Afghans could be helped medically.
And in 34 Turkish schools more than 50,000 Afghan children learn reading and writing. Many of them learn Turkish.

Türkische "Soft-Power" für Afghanistan | Europa | Deutsche Welle
Google Translation Link


Turkey was instrumental in establishing the
- military academy
- medical school
- Kabul University and its faculty of political sciences
- the music conservatory
- the public health service of Afghanistan
CSMonitor.com

 

[ekrem]

European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/european_energy_policy/turkeys_energy_strategy_en.pdf

it is anticipated that 6 to 7 % of global oil supply will transit Turkey by 2012 and that Ceyhan will become a major energy hub

People like Annie think, that Turkey is an object which they can move around.
So they think and regularly imply Turkey should be thrown out of NATO or declared some kind of "pariah"-state.

Darling, you gonna re-route those pipelines, too, of which are more to come...?
You think, that Oil and Gas from Iraq will make its long way through Persian-Gulf over Suez-Canal to European markets?

 

[ekrem]

To come online 2017.
Diversifying Europe's energy security from Russia.

The Nabucco project is backed in its design by the European Union and the United States[2][3][4][5] In the Trans-European Networks - Energy (TEN - E) programme, the Nabucco pipeline is designated as of strategic importance.[6][7][8]
The project has been driven by the intention to diversify its current energy supplies, and to lessen European dependence on Russian energy—the biggest supplier of gas to Europe.[12][13]

Nabucco pipeline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ekrem]

Consequentially, Turkish state-owned and private energy companies have directly invested in six gas and oil fields in southern and central Iraq and are major players in oil exploration efforts in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

http://www.usip.org/files/resources/Turkish_Iranian_Competition.pdf

 

[Annie]

This thread furthers the point I made here:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/general-global-topics/177870-trouble-in-turkey-4.html#post3940651

 

[ekrem]

the point I made

Your point is of no interest to me.
If that changes I will let you know.

 

[Annie]

the point I made

Your point is of no interest to me.
If that changes I will let you know.

and you think that is of interest to me, why?

 

[Valerie]

the point I made

Your point is of no interest to me.
If that changes I will let you know.

and you think that is of interest to me, why?

Shh don't disturb ekrem's soliloquy thread!

 

[Annie]

Your point is of no interest to me.
If that changes I will let you know.

and you think that is of interest to me, why?

Shh don't disturb ekrem's soliloquy thread!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Valerie again. I hate that message!

 

[ekrem]

Alcohole production:

Bira = Beer
Viskey = Whiskey
etc.

Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority
http://www.tapdk.gov.tr/TAPDK_Faaliyet.pdf

Numbers are in mA = 100% alcohole.
So for 47.074.563 mA Beer = 923.115.658 Litre

(There is chart in PDF for the different Alcohole groups both in mA and Litre, but that chart doesn't divide into years. So I chose this chart as AK Parti came to power in 2002.)

 

[ekrem]

AKP brought new currency-reform, because AKP brought hyper-Inflation under control:

Before AKP
20 Million paper

After AKP
20 Million became just 20

 

[ekrem]

The owners were chosen by Lottery system from the applicants of low-income families, and they have to pay 254 $ in 15 year payments.
There were 500.000 new houses which were given by TOKI (Housing Administration) to population by Lottery.

Since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revitalized the agency in 2003, it has built half a million homes, 700 schools, 100 hospitals, and a 52,000-seat stadium for one-time European soccer champion Galatasaray.

House Lottery Reshapes Turkey - Businessweek

http://www.toki.gov.tr/docs/yayinlar/TOKI'11_ENG.pdf

 

[ekrem]

In 2008 all children below 18 were given universal healthcare coverage funded by Government.
And 110.000 new health personnel were hired in public sector. (Page 52)

Health Ministry
http://www.saglik.gov.tr/EN/dosya/2-1214/h/htpinturkeyphcs.pdf

Free reproductive health services since 2007 (Page 101)

Still room for improvement, but important things have been made