Category: Business

Tanju Babacan puts Istanbul Fashion Week on the map with bizarre ‘fried egg chic’

Tanju Babacan puts Istanbul Fashion Week on the map with bizarre ‘fried egg chic’

Istanbul Fashion Week makes a splash with Tanju Babacan’s odd egg fashion

By Nicola McCafferty | Yahoo Lifestyle – 21 hours ago

Istanbul Fashion Week might not be as highly-regarded in the fashion industry as the likes of London, Paris or Milan.

Istanbul Fashion Week AW13: Fried egg chic was the clear theme of Tanju Babacan’s collection ©WENNBut designer Tanju Babacan has put it on firmly on the map now, thanks to the bizarre ‘fried egg chic’ he showcased yesterday.

[Related: Paris Fashion Week rounds off in beautiful style with Chanel and Dior]

Models for the Turkish designer had jaws dropping during his catwalk show, stepping out in a series of eye-catching looks all inspired by our favourite breakfast food.

Fried eggs were emblazoned across fur coats, dresses, blouses, skirts and even as headgear, making them a very clear, but completely odd theme to a fashion collection.

Bacon and eggs were on the fashion menu at istanbul Fashion Week ©WENNOne model couldn’t contain her grin as she showcased a floor-sweeping black fur coat covered in fried egg appliques, with eggs even on her ear muffs.

Another stepped out in a sheer black tuxedo short with what appeared to be bacon and two egg shorts, which came complete with suspenders and wedge heels.

But probably the most shocking outfit to hit Babacan’s runway was the one-shouldered dress made entirely of fried eggs – something which wouldn’t look out of place on Lady GaGa herself.

[Related gallery: See all the breathtaking looks from Paris Fashion Week AW13 here]

Istanbul Fashion Week: Fried egg fashion anyone? ©WENNThe bizarre dress wasn’t even the only eggy part of the outfit either, as the model wore a black sheer blouse half-covered in the print – with the scoop-necked full-skirted dress covered in dozens of eggs.

The model also had an egg on her head and yolk-yellow gloves as she showed the creation on the runway.

While breakfast foods were the clear theme, the designer did make sure to offer up something else to his fashion fans who may not have found the eggs, eerrr, palatable.

A cobalt-blue halterneck dress covered in cut-out holes was another striking look, although left little to the imagination.

Elsewhere, a black and yellow bold patterned high-necked dress made a real statement, along with some classic mustard coats.

Tell us what YOU think of the fried egg chic at Istanbul Fashion Week over onTwitter, now.

March 14, 2013
Istanbul’s $2.6bn financial centre gets underway

Global design and planning firm HOK has announced that construction work has commenced on the $2.6bn Istanbul International Financial Centre (IIFC) project in Turkey.

Sprawling over a 170-acre site on the city’s Asian side, located between the Atasehir and Ümraniye districts, the IIFC will house the head offices of the country’s financial market governing bodies, state-owned and private banks, and related businesses.

The development includes approximately 4,180,000m2 of office, residential, hotel and park space, and will house four districts, focusing on culture, commerce, civic functions and governance.

The project also includes a transportation system comprising a new rail station and subway line. Utilities and communications are being sustainably integrated into a podium that will be surfaced on top by a new urban park.

The construction of the project is being undertaken by Turkish construction company Akdeniz Group, which has commenced the project with the start of excavation work at the site.

The IIFC, also supported in the Arup in the planning phase, is due to come online by the end of 2016.

via Istanbul’s $2.6bn financial centre gets underway | ConstructionWeekOnline.com.

March 14, 2013
Turkey to enhance diplomatic ties with Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, March 12 (Xinhua) — Turkey is willing to establish an embassy residence in Cambodia in order to promote bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries, the newly- designated ambassador of Turkey to Cambodia, Osman Bulent Tulun said Tuesday.

The Bangkok-based ambassador unveiled the plan during a meeting with President of Cambodia’s National Assembly Heng Samrin.

The permanent residence in Phnom Penh will be easier for Turkey to strengthen and expand bilateral ties with Cambodia, especially in economics, trade, tourism and education, the ambassador said without specifying the exact date towards the embassy establishment.

He also pledged to increase scholarship to Cambodian students to study in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Heng Samrin spoke highly of good relationship and cooperation between Cambodia and Turkey, saying that the two countries should create closer ties in trade and tourism for mutual benefits.

The two countries’ bilateral trade is relatively small. According to the record of Cambodia’s Commerce Ministry, the total trade volume was only 6 million U.S. dollars last year.

On tourism side, some 3,400 Turkish visitors came to Cambodia last year, up 4 percent year-on-year, said a tourism report.

via Turkey to enhance diplomatic ties with Cambodia — Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 — English Window to China New.

March 13, 2013
airBaltic switches airports at Istanbul

airBaltic’s daily flights from Riga to Istanbul will fly to Sabiha Gokcen from March 31, swapping from Ataturk Airport to add connections and cut journey times to the centre of Istanbul.

By swapping to Sabiha Gokcen airport, airBaltic will improve its schedule and connections via Riga for the Baltics, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS, said airBaltic COO Michael Grimme.

“Furthermore, the move also helps to reduce travel time for our customers between central Istanbul and the airport,” he said.

Over the first month of the new route, passengers arriving on airBaltic’s B737-300s to Sabiha Gokcen can hop on a complimentary shuttle bus from the airport to Istanbul’s Taksim Square.

For summer 2013, airBaltic has introduced six destinations: Prague (Czech Republic), Heviz-Balaton (Hungary), Olbia (Sardinia), Rijeka (Croatia), Larnaca (Cyprus) and Malta.

via Routes News – airBaltic switches airports at Istanbul.

March 13, 2013
Turkey is economic winner of Iraq war

By Daniel Dombey | Financial Times, Published: March 12

ISTANBUL — The Americans won the war, the Iranians won the peace and the Turks won the contracts.

Turkey, which blocked the deployment of U.S. troops through its territory during the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, is emerging 10 years on as one of the prime beneficiaries of the battle for the Iraqi market.

Although Turkey’s relations with Baghdad are increasingly bitter, its exports to Iraq have in the past decade soared by more than 25 percent a year, reaching $10.8 billion in 2012, making Iraq Ankara’s second-most valuable export market after Germany.

Ozgur Altug, an economist at BGC Partners in Istanbul, predicts that as Iraq grows richer because of its oil reserves, demand for Turkish goods will keep climbing — by more than $2 billion a year. Turkish contractors have also been doing rich business, working on about $3.5 billion of construction projects last year, according to businessmen and officials.

One company, Calik Energy, boasts that it is building the two biggest projects in the Iraqi power sector, two gas turbine plants in the Mosul and Karbala regions, earning more than $800 million from the Iraqi government in the process.

While Iran is seen as the most influential outside power in Iraq today, on Baghdad’s streets Turkey’s presence is more visible than that of any other country, with everything from malls to furniture stores to pavement bricks bearing a Turkish trademark.

But it is the Kurdish-governed north that accounts for the bulk of Turkey’s business, absorbing about 70 percent of Turkey’s exports to Iraq. In contrast, Ankara’s relationship with the rest of the country is becoming more poisonous, with political disputes leading Baghdad to hold back on giving new government contracts to Turkish groups.

As Ankara’s economic and diplomatic ties with the Kurdish government expand, about 1,000 Turkish businesses are working in the north, including some of Turkey’s best known banks, retailers and hotels.

Hundreds of trucks a day clog up the land border between northern Iraq and Turkey as a flow of goods makes the journey to Kurdish markets. Turkish products dominate the regional capital of Irbil, from the old covered souk to modern showrooms in residential neighborhoods.

Less obtrusively, other groups are carving out markets for themselves. From his base in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, Adnan Altunkaya says his family-owned company commands two-thirds of the Iraqi diaper sector.

Sales to the country account for 90 percent of the Altunkaya group’s annual $400 million exports and have been rising by 50 to 60 percent a year for the past two years. It has also just taken the leading position in the Iraqi olive market.

“Our business with Iraq is increasing constantly,” he says. “But of course it is affected by political tension.”

In large part, the success story represents Turkey’s return to its natural market, from which it was shut out since the 1980s by war, sanctions and instability. As a neighboring state with an industrial base, rich agricultural heartlands and businessmen undaunted by challenging environments, Turkey has advantages others find hard to match.

via Turkey is economic winner of Iraq war – The Washington Post.

more : http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-is-economic-winner-of-iraq-war/2013/03/12/ec046746-8b47-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html

March 13, 2013
Why Turkey belongs to transatlantic economy

Why Turkey belongs to transatlantic economy

By Bahadir Kaleagasi and Baris Ornarli, Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD) – 03/12/13 03:30 PM ET

At the President’s Export Council meeting on Tuesday, President Barack Obama reiterated the importance of achieving a U.S.–EU free trade agreement. He said, “Europe is our largest trading partner – the EU as a whole – and we think that we can expand that even further.”

The need to expand the economic partnership was conveyed to Secretary of State John Kerry during his trip to Turkey two weeks ago. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership “is of crucial significance for Turkey,” and that he and Secretary Kerry spoke about the free trade agreement that was announced by President Obama in his State of the Union address in February. “We believe that Turkey needs to play a significant role in that structure,” Foreign Minister Davutoglu said. Secretary Kerry confirmed that they had reached an understanding on this issue: “The Foreign Minister and I talked about ways in which we can grow our significant economic partnership. He mentioned… the Transatlantic Investment Trade Partnership. This is a huge opportunity for all of Europe, for all of us… And I know the Foreign Minister looks forward to working with me, and we actually arrived at an understanding of a couple of ways in which we intend to continue to do that.”

The exchange was under-reported. The U.S.–Turkey relationship involves multiple difficult and urgent regional issues. The civil war in Syria, stability in Iraq, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Turkey’s relations with Israel all demand the attention of Turkish and American policy-makers. However, the opportunity that has presented itself with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership announcement should not be overlooked.

The U.S. and EU account for nearly half of world GDP and 30 percent of global trade. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that “a complete elimination of tariffs would increase combined U.S.–EU GDP by $180 billion in five years.” But there is room for more.

Turkey’s dynamic economy and integration with many European institutions make it a natural partner. Associating Turkey with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would strengthen the transatlantic economy, enhance the policy convergence capability within the G20, and bolster prospects for Turkey’s accession to the European Union. Turkey is the 16th largest economy in the world and Europe’s sixth largest trading partner. It is a part of the European single market through a customs union since 1996, and remains in accession negotiations with the European Union for full membership. Over 55 percent of the European economic legislation is already transposed to the Turkish legal order. Thus, Turkey technically belongs to the European economy.

Moreover, the Obama administration has been keen on expanding the U.S.–Turkey economic relationship. In 2009, Turkey and the United States established the Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation (FSECC) – a cabinet-level structure charged with improving bilateral commercial and economic relations. The U.S.–Turkey Business Council was launched to invite private-sector input. Along with the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, bilateral investment and tax treaties, and the Economic Partnership Commission the two governments have institutionalized bilateral mechanisms to enhance economic ties. The Turkish and American business world has been eagerly supporting the effort. This commitment has yielded results: In 2011, bilateral trade reached record levels, increasing by 35 percent to $20 billion. However, this is far below potential.

Turkey’s customs union membership precludes it from negotiating bilateral free trade agreements with those counties that do not already have an arrangement with the EU. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership announcement provides a turning point. While Turkey may not be able to have a seat at the table, an observer status would have a very positive effect. Washington should also pursue a parallel track with Ankara. Unless an arrangement is made, as a customs union member, Ankara must take on all the obligations associated with the free trade agreement without requiring the United States to extend any trade privileges to Turkey, which would further the trade imbalance. The EU, on the other hand, has already concluded a free trade agreement with NAFTA member Mexico and negotiations with Canada are ongoing.  Involving Turkey in the emerging economic agreement between the United States and Europe would not only improve U.S. – Turkey economic and political ties, but would also strengthen the trilateral partnership. It would also generate significant political and geo-strategic energy for the strengthening of Western democracy. The economic and strategic value of this enterprise is self-evident and well worth the effort.

Kaleagasi is international coordinator and representative to the EU of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD). Ornarli is the Washington representative of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD).

via Why Turkey belongs to transatlantic economy – The Hill’s Congress Blog.

March 13, 2013