ANKARA

Turkey on Friday unveiled the details of a major new economic reform package as pledged by the president last November.

"The package aims to grow the Turkish economy on the basis of investment, production, jobs, and exports," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Economic Reforms Introductory Meeting at the Halic Congress Center in Istanbul.

Turkey will raise its potential growth through boosting production efficiency thanks to this reform package, Erdogan noted.

"We aim for a domestic and national economy which break export records with fewer imported input and more value-added production," the president said.

Turkey weathered the 2009 global economic crisis and post-2013 crises in both politics and the economy to keep its 2023 targets within reach, Erdogan stressed.

"We will achieve our goals by working day and night to make Turkey one of the world's top 10 economies,” he said.

The government is determined to defeat the pandemic in 2021, while seeing the year as preparation for entering a period of quality growth in the medium term, Erdogan explained.

"Turkey will definitely create sustainable, strong, and quality growth that will conform to its post-pandemic economic structure," he underlined.

All policies will be implemented with a transparent and foreseeable government approach that will strengthen macroeconomic stability and support efficiency-based competitive investments and production, the president stated.

Saying that macroeconomic and structural policies form the backbone of Turkey's new economic reforms, Erdogan added that Turkey is focusing on public finance, inflation, the financial sector, current account deficit, and employment as part of macroeconomic stability.

Measures to encourage investment, strengthen the institutional structure, facilitate domestic trade, competition policies, and market surveillance and checks are in the reform package as part of structural policies, he noted.

Stronger public finance

Turkey's first target is setting stronger public finance structure to guard against risks, with fiscal discipline the top priority, the president stressed.

"For this purpose, we will be implementing policies covering issues such as spending discipline, public debt management, tax regulations, public procurement tenders, public-private partnerships, and state-owned enterprises," he noted.

The share of foreign exchange in the country's total debt stock will be cut to reduce its sensitivity to external shocks, Erdogan said.

He highlighted that savings in public administration will be expanded such as limiting vehicle rentals and hospitality costs, adding:

"In addition to the central government, we aim to create a thrifty perspective in local administrations as well."

The government will mainly borrow in local currency and use Turkish lira-denominated bills, he said, adding: "We are reinforcing policies that will lower our borrowing costs by lowering our country’s risk premium."

Noting that the government knows of the difficulties small business owners have been struggling with during the pandemic, Erdogan said the reform package also includes a tax exemption for low-income tradesmen.

"We will be exempting approximately 850,000 tradespeople who are subject to small business taxation rules, such as hairdressers, plumbers, haberdasheries, carpenters, lathe makers, tea shop operators, tailors, and repairmen, from income tax, and we will remove their tax filing obligations," he said.

Easing taxes, public-private partnerships

A digital tax office will be established which will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to enable the public to carry out their transactions in the digital environment without personally visiting a tax office.

"We have also included the tax problems faced by international investors within the reforms," he noted, adding that the country is revising double taxation avoidance agreements to prevent possible problems that may arise.

As the country has praised public-private partnership projects, exemplified by city hospitals, Erdogan said a public-private sectors cooperation law will be enacted.

"This will enable us to ensure that investors deal with a single law, to strengthen the legal infrastructure of projects, to introduce priorities among sectors and projects, and to make processes more foreseeable," he said.

Stressing that one of the priority agenda items will be the fight against inflation, Erdogan said Turkey aims to bring inflation down to single digits.

An early warning system will be established that will ensure the flow of data in order for the Food Committee to form policy recommendations and ensure that the market operates effectively.

In order to increase foreseeability in agricultural production and prevent price fluctuations, contractual agricultural mechanisms are being developed, he stressed.

Turkey is preparing uniform legislation that will accelerate the development of the participation financing sector, he said, adding: "A Central Advisory Board for the sector will be set up while the participation financing sector will be gathered under a single roof."

A participation financing arbitration mechanism at international standards will be established, he underlined.

Banks, green bonds

Turkey is working on creating economic, technological, and legal infrastructure for digital currency, Erdogan said.

"We will be making the relations between banks and their customers more transparent by establishing a surveillance mechanism that will protect consumers," he explained.

The government will diversify financing opportunities for investments that are environmentally sensitive, the president stated.

The issuance of green bonds will be encouraged to finance investments such as renewable energy, clean drinking water, and electric or hybrid vehicles that lower carbon emissions.

The government will form a Bonds Guarantee Fund to encourage companies in the real sector to issue bonds at a lower cost, thus spurring investment demand.

Noting that the Individual Private Pension System is being expanded to a much broader segment of society, Erdogan said: "We are removing the barriers for children under age 18, who constitute 25% of our population, from entering the system."

In order to develop an innovative and powerful healthcare industry, a Healthcare Industries Presidency will be established, he said.

"This department will be in charge of the competitive development and production of many strategic materials, from pharmaceuticals to vaccines, from medical devices to biotechnological products, using domestic means," Erdogan said.

Lowering current account deficit

Underlining the need for software technologies to become competitive in the economy, to access the right data, to analyze data and to develop the most suitable solutions, Erdogan said Turkey will found a Software and Hardware Industries Presidency to gain global competitiveness and encourage youth employment.

"These two new structures will nourish the domestic ecosystem and bring a new edge to our country by helping boost rates of domestic goods and services in the fields of healthcare and software, just like the defense industry," he said.

Stating that the government will also focus on the structural current account deficit and promote broad-based exports, Erdogan said effective implementation of policies that reduce foreign dependency in energy will continue as this is the main driver of Turkey’s current account gap.

"Our third and final area is to support the green transformation of the industry," he added.

As the first of the structural reforms is strengthening the institutional structure of the public sector, Erdogan said two new structures will be set up in order to closely monitor and manage all developments in the economy.

"The first of these will be Economic Coordination Council under Vice President Fuat Oktay," Erdogan said, while the second will be a Financial Stability Committee, which will work under Treasury and Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan.

The new structures aim to strengthen communication mechanisms and increase transparency, foreseeability, and coordination in our economic and financial policies, he noted./aa

Political trials and illegal arrests of Tatars is of great concern to Turkey, a senior diplomat said on Friday.

“Turkey sides with Tatar people and it provides the necessary support to improve their living conditions," Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran said at an unofficial meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea.

“The situation in Crimea continues to threaten regional security," he said.

Emphasizing that it is the responsibility of the international community to keep the issue on the agenda, Kiran said, “We adopt a clear and consistent policy in this regard. We strongly support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. We do not recognize illegal annexation.”

"Our approach to this issue is based on both legal and moral foundations. Our cooperation with Ukraine is developing with increasing high-level visits and established new bilateral mechanisms," he said.

Noting that Crimea is very important regarding the historical and humanitarian ties between the two countries, Kiran said: "All communities, including Crimean Tatars, have the right to live in peace and prosperity in their homelands."

He added that more than 3 million Turkish citizens of Tatar descent live in Turkey.

After the illegal annexation in 2014, more than 25,000 Tatars had to leave their homes and those who remained in Crimea face difficulties daily, he added.

Underlining the importance of keeping the demands of the Tatar community’s on the international agenda, Kiran said it is important for the international community to give closer attention to the solution to the issue in accordance with international law.

Kiran said Turkey firmly supported the Crimean Platform for this reason, and the platform will increase the interest of the international community in Crimea.

Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula in February 2014 with Russian President Vladimir Putin formally dividing the region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation the following month.

Crimea's ethnic Tartars have faced persecution since Russia's takeover of the peninsula.

Turkey and the US, as well as the UN General Assembly, view the annexation as illegal./aa

Authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR) must ensure the protection of candidates, voters and electoral materials in the second round of legislative polls and by-elections scheduled for March 14, a UN expert urged on Friday.

“Regardless of political party, all candidates, including independents, should have the protection of the security and defence forces for campaigning, field operations, and polling station representation,” said Yao Agbetse, an expert on the human rights situation in the CAR.

Agbetse urged authorities to ensure that the second round of polls “will be credible, transparent, open and peaceful.”

He also called for all candidates to have equal access to public media.

“I encourage the High Council for Communication to continue its work of monitoring the flow of information on the media and social networks and to ensure that the authors of messages of hatred, manipulation and incitement to violence are identified and brought to justice,” he said.

Agbetse urged the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) and other armed groups to immediately stop what he described as actions aimed at destabilizing the proper conduct of the polls.

At least 100,000 people have been displaced by recent violence. Another 107,000 fled to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Congolese authorities estimated that 92,000 refugees have arrived from CAR after election-linked violence erupted in December.

The situation in landlocked CAR worsened after the rejection of former President Francois Bozize's candidacy for the presidential election last December.

Fighting between a coalition of non-state armed groups and government forces continued in the past two months, plunging the country into a new cycle of violence./aa

It is observed that Greece has become a haven for the members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday. 

Hami Aksoy responded to a question in a written statement and said FETO propaganda was made public in an online event held in Greece.

“It is a grave development that broadcasting the video message of the FETO ringleader [Fetullah Gulen] making terrorist propaganda, which could not be explained by freedom of press and expression,” Aksoy stressed.

“It is observed that Greece has become a safe haven for FETO members. FETO members can roam freely in this country, and so-called NGOs affiliated with FETO can carry out aid activities for fugitive FETO members in Greece,” Aksoy said.

He said the YPG/PKK and DHKP-C terror organizations also continue activities in Greece.

Underlining that FETO is a putschist international terror organization, he said FETO is a threat to countries where it carries out activities.

“Turkey expects cooperation from all countries in the fight against this criminal organization,” he said.

He urged Greece to meet Turkey’s demands for the return of FETO members, freeze assets, prevent making its propaganda, financing and recruitment activities and end activities of terror organizations in Greece.

Gulen sent a video message to an online promotional event in Athens for a book written about him.

"Greece is a sister country," Gulen said. “Thanks to this brotherhood, we remember them with gratitude and appreciation. [What Greece did] will be written on the glorious pages of history with gold and silver.”

The book, Fethullah Gulen: A Life of Service, was written by US historian Jon Pahl and translated into Greek by Papazisis Publishers in Greece.

FETO and Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and 2,734 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

Thousands of FETO members fled to Greece after the coup attempt./aa

UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday warned that more than one-in-three health districts in the Central African Republic (CAR) “are now on alert for a child malnutrition crisis due to recent violence.”

“The situation is extremely concerning,” UNICEF Representative in CAR, Fran Equiza, said in a statement.

“Without urgent access to the care they need, severely malnourished children are at imminent risk of death. We must be able to safely reach all children in need as soon as possible, particularly in the areas most affected by recent violence, where families have been forced to flee and access to food is scarce,” said Equiza.

The WFP CAR Country Director Peter Schaller said in the statement that “the spiraling nutrition situation is a consequence of recent post-electoral violence and needs an immediate and adequate response to save lives and avoid catastrophe.”

“We cannot sit back and watch this catastrophe unfold before our eyes. We need safe access to these children, girls and women to prevent the worst,” he said.

Equiza urged all parties to the conflict to allow UNICEF and its partners safe access “to the most vulnerable children.”

The situation in landlocked CAR worsened after the rejection of former President Francois Bozize's candidacy for election last December.

Fighting between a coalition of non-state armed groups and government forces has continued for the past two months, plunging the country into a new cycle of violence.

At least 100,000 people have been displaced by recent violence.

Another 107,000 fled to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)./a

The family of George Floyd talked about what they have lost and what the nation will gain, on the announcement that the family will receive a $27 million dollar settlement from the city of Minneapolis. 

Floyd died in police custody last year, in an arrest infamously caught on cell phone video, with ex-police officer Derek Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.

The settlement was hashed out over several months, but became final on Friday, coincidentally, four days after the start of Chauvin's trial. The settlement is separate from the trial.

"My brother is here in my heart," said Philonise Floyd, George's brother, at a Friday press conference. "If I could get him back, I would give all of this back. I know he's with us now.. in our heart."

Philonise Floyd dabbed his eyes repeatedly after he spoke at the press conference, which included the mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey, some city council members, and Floyd family attorney Benjamin Crump.

"He wasn't posing a threat!" Crump bellowed, as he described the arrest of Floyd in May of 2020.

"George Floyd had more witnesses to his death than any other person in American history. Once you see that video, you can never un-see that video."

But Crump and the Floyd family at the press conference, which included a second brother and a nephew, praised Mayor Frey and the city council, which unanimously signed off on the settlement.

"We applaud you and are grateful for showing this leadership... to show that the life of George Floyd mattered", said Crump.

Philonise Floyd also praised the demonstrators who have come out in Minneapolis and around the world.

"I want to thank all the protestors for standing up. You put your lives on the line. There's nothing I can do to re-pay you. America needs to heal. Our family needs healing."

Mayor Frey said the racial and social justice reckoning that came out of Floyd's death "struck Minneapolis like a thunderbolt."

"Our black community has endured deep trauma. I cannot begin to thank the family enough. Amid unprecedented pain, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to effect change."

Crump called the settlement the largest pre-trial civil rights settlement in American history and got fiery as he said "The settlement means the taking of black life will never (again) be written off as trivial."

The family, Crump and the mayor all praised a bill in Congress now, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would crack down on police departments that hire officers with abusive pasts in law enforcement, among other things.

They also praised the fact that $500,000 of the $27 million dollar settlement will go toward improvements in the neighborhood where Floyd died, as the family had requested, and said the settlement sends a message to cities and police departments around the country that financial pain could be severe where ever police departments don't police their own.

But Crump's fellow attorney, Chris Stewart, said that the settlement should not adversely affect the prosecution of Derek Chauvin, which is their main goal now. The judge in the Chauvin case has said that the settlement should not be mentioned during the trial, since jurors could see that as a sign of Chauvin's guilt.

At the end of the press conference, a reporter asked the family if they could speak to what the financial settlement means to them.

Crump interjected, and waved off the question, saying that it was unseemly for the Floyd family to be asked about receiving millions of dollars, after the loss of a loved one.

White people, he said, "aren't asked that question."/aa

The Turkish Coast Guard Command announced on Friday that 72 asylum seekers in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas were nabbed. 

Acting on a tip, the Turkish Coast Guard in coordination with provincial gendarmerie forces and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), rounded up 51 asylum seekers on a yacht off the coast of Cesme district in western Izmir province.

Two Ukrainian human traffickers were detained in the operation.

In a separate operation, and also acting on a tip, a Turkish Coast Guard Command operation nabbed 21 asylum seekers on a boat off the coast of Mersin province in the Mediterranean Sea.

A Coast Guard boat from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) participated in that operation.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

It hosts nearly 4 million refugees, including over 3.6 million Syrians, more than any other country in the world./aa

The US-based leader of the FETO terror organization on Friday praised Greece for becoming a haven for its members. 

Fetullah Gulen sent a video message to an online promotional event for a book written about him in Athens.

"Greece is a sister country," said Gulen. “Thanks to this brotherhood, we remember them with gratitude and appreciation. [What Greece did] will be written on the glorious pages of history with gold and silver.”

The book, Fethullah Gulen: A Life of Service, was written by US historian Jon Pahl and translated into Greek by Papazisis Publishers in Greece.

The director of Papazisis Publishing House, Katerina Marku, described FETO’s terror activities as “a religious education.”

Thousands of FETO members fled to Greece after the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, in Turkey which was orchestrated by FETO and Gulen. It left 251 people martyred and 2,734 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary./aa

Just over a year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, a new World Economic Forum/Ipsos survey on Friday found notable increases in COVID-19 vaccination intent, with a majority wanting to be vaccinated as soon as possible. 

Over 13,500 adults under 75 participated in the survey between Feb. 25-28 on the Ipsos’ Global Advisor online platform.

The previous study was conducted between Dec. 17-20, 2020.

“The trends are good, but new variants are more contagious, and with vaccination intention rates as they are currently reflected in the study, we would not reach herd immunity,” said Arnaud Bernaert, WEF’s head of health and healthcare.

He noted that experts suggest between 70% and 85% of a population be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, France, Mexico, Canada, and Germany have seen the most significant uptick in vaccine intent, rising by more than 20 points in just three months, said WEF.

“Communication and education efforts are more critical than ever. We are on track but should not relax our efforts,” said Bernaert.

Adults who strongly or somewhat agree they would get a vaccine against COVID-19 make up a majority in all but one of the 15 countries surveyed.

Very high confidence was reported in Brazil (89%), Italy (85%), China (82%), Spain (82%), Mexico (80%), and South Korea (80%); while fairly high in Canada (79%), Australia (78%), Japan (74%), and Germany (74%).

The US saw 65%, South Africa (65%), France (59%) and Russia (42%) of people intending to be vaccinated.

Breaking down the data further, the percentage of those who answered “strongly agree” has increased in every one of the 15 countries since a similar survey was conducted in December.

Since then, within this “strongly agree” category, eight of the 15 countries saw an uptick in vaccine intent of more than 20 percentage points.

In 11 of the 15 countries surveyed, most plan to get the vaccine immediately or within one month once it is available to them.

The countries showing the most negligible gains are Russia (+2 to 16%) and the United States (+3 to 41%)./aa

The World Health Organization on Friday listed the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) for emergency use in all countries, saying that more than 335 million jabs have been safely administered worldwide to date.

The decision followed the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorization a day before and made it the fourth vaccine to receive WHO emergency use approval.

"More than 335 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally so far, and no deaths have been found to have been caused by COVID-19 vaccines," said WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus at a bi-weekly webinar hosted by WHO.

He, however, noted the pandemic has killed 2.6 million people on the planet.

"Every new, safe and effective tool against COVID-19 is another step closer to controlling the pandemic," said Tedros.

"But the hope offered by these tools will not materialize unless they are made available to all people in all countries," he added.

Tedros urged governments and companies to meet their commitments and use all possible solutions to ramp up production so that these tools become "truly global public goods," available and affordable to all, and a shared solution to the global crisis.

Emergency use listing is the green light for a vaccine to be procured and rolled out by COVAX.

COVAX Is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by UNICEF; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the WHO; the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI, and others.

"The J&J vaccine is the first to be listed as a single-dose regimen," said Tedros.

WHO has also listed the Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca-SK Bio, and Serum Institute of India’s vaccines for emergency use./aa