ANKARA: Turkey’s economy has overcome cyclical challenges emanating from regional and in-house political developments, the Turkish economy minister has said, vowing to implement the world’s most assertive incentive policies to push the private sector to produce and export more.
“The Turkish economy has overcome challenges that have affected its performance. The world has also realized this positive trend in the Turkish economy,” Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci told the Hürriyet Daily News on Oct. 21 in a visit to the Doğan Media Center in Ankara. Four factors that had a negative effect on the Turkish economy were political instability, the fight against terror, the Russian crisis and ongoing unrest in Syria and Iraq, the minister said.
“The issue of political instability was removed after the government took full control in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt. The world is now seeing a long-term political stability and vision in Turkey,” he said. The second concern was whether intensified clashes with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the east and southeast of the country could cause the division of Turkey, the minister said. “This concern was also successfully eliminated thanks to the positive steps taken by the government [against the PKK],” Zeybekci said.
The normalization of ties between Turkey and Russia has been seen as an important development to increase the efficiency of the Turkish economy, the minister said. “On Syria and Iraq, recent developments have brought some optimism that the fight [against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] will soon be won. All these have helped the outlook on the Turkish economy.”
