Tag: WEF

  • Washington’s Celebrity Journalism Hits Istanbul

    Washington’s Celebrity Journalism Hits Istanbul

    Washington’s Celebrity Journalism Hits Istanbul

    David Ignatius handles Tayyip Erdoğan with kid gloves.

    By Elliott Abrams

    pic giant 060912 B

    Washington Post columnist David Ignatius

    Elliott Abrams

    Turkey is a complex country, but there are two key developments there that demand attention.

    One is the increasing repression. Today there are more than 100 journalists in prison, more than in China. The European Federation of Journalists has launched a campaign called “Set Turkish Journalists Free.” Human Rights Watch has reported that “a Turkish court’s verdict on January 17, 2012, that there was no state involvement or organized plot behind the 2007 shooting of the Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is a travesty of justice.” The Committee to Protect Journalists has criticized Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan for his crackdown on independent journalism: “Erdoğan sought to link journalists who cover Kurdish separatist issues with the separatists themselves. In comments directed at those journalists, made at a meeting of the ruling AKP, the prime minister said: ‘Do you have ears? Are you deaf? . . . How long will you make common cause with those who endeavor to turn an easeful country into a restless country?’” CPJ’s European coordinator commented that “we are deeply concerned by Prime Minister Erdoğan’s intemperate statements concerning journalists. Coming from his high office, they are equivalent to instructions to his subordinates to crack down on the independent media.”

    The second key development is the growing trouble the Turkish economy is in. The Economist commented in April that “the danger now is that a few more years of big current-account deficits, and the debt-creating capital flows that finance them, will leave Turkey less resilient when trouble strikes. Few countries that run big external deficits have avoided subsequent stresses. You don’t need to stand atop the Galata tower to see problems ahead.” Others have used stronger language: “Turkey’s high-flying economy, which expanded at a 10 percent annual rate of gross domestic product growth during the first half of 2011, will crash-land in 2012,” said the financier and commentator David Goldman. He explains: “The impetus behind the country’s recent economic growth has been a stunning rate of credit expansion, which reached 30 percent for households and 40 percent for business in 2011.” Where does the money go? Turkey “is running a current account deficit equal to 11 percent of GDP to promote a consumer buying spree while cutting imports of capital goods that would contribute to future productivity.” Goldman notes that “in some respects, Erdoğan’s bubble recalls the experiences of Argentina in 2000 and Mexico in 1994 where surging external debt produced short-lived bubbles of prosperity, followed by currency devaluations and deep slumps.”

    In The National Interest, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey Morton Abramowitz wrote his own analysis of the dangerous situation there: Erdoğan’s “leadership and judgment are being seriously questioned, most recently in regards to whether his ambition is getting in the way of managing critical issues such as Turkey’s unending Kurdish dilemma. Indeed, one prominent AKP supporter last week wrote that ‘The once reformist party of Turkey seems to have developed statist, nationalist, and even Islamist tendencies, which are the likely grounds for a new authoritarian politics. . . . ’ Erdogan’s highly touted Middle East involvement has lost some luster. . . . The much-touted vast Turkish influence in the Middle East seems to have faded. . . . Increasingly, Erdogan’s focus seems to be on creating a presidential system in the new constitution that will allow him to make a Putin-esque move to a more powerful presidency.”

    via Washington’s Celebrity Journalism Hits Istanbul – Elliott Abrams – National Review Online.

  • Istanbul could become regular WEF host venue

    Istanbul could become regular WEF host venue

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    WEF President Klaus Schwab asks if the World Econonic Forum might be held in Istanbul on a regular basis. Prime Minister Erdoğan responds positively saying that Turkey would be pleased to host the event which draws investors and leaders.

    n 22664 4Sabancı Holding Chairwoman Güler Sabancı says no one in Turkey should say ‘we’ve done our job and now it’s over,’ in her closing speech at the WEF. AA photo

    Istanbul could become the yearly host of World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings, EU Minister Egemen Bağış has said amid an improvement of relations between the prime minister and Davos officials.

    Every one or two years

    “[WEF President Klaus Schwab] said he wanted to make the WEF in Istanbul a regular event and asked whether this would be appropriate and whether or not we would allow this,” Bağış told daily Hürriyet on June 6 at the end of the three-day event, noting that the WEF head was considering whether to hold the forum in the city every one or two years.

    “Our prime minister said he would be very pleased to host an event that draws the world’s most important investors and leaders.”

    Bağış also said Schwab had invited Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to return to the regular forum in Davos in 2013 and that the Turkish leader would consider the offer.

    Bağış said such forums fostered investment in Turkey and that such investments spurred employment.

    “Foreign businessmen are looking for an excuse to come to Istanbul.”

    In his closing comments at WEF, Bağış said Turkey had become a model not only for the region, including Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, but for the West as well, including Europe and Russia. “Being a source of inspiration strengthens Turkey’s position … We hope to repeat the WEF in Istanbul. Welcome to Davos.”

    Turkey to be shining example

    Güler Sabancı, the chairwoman of one of Turkey’s largest family holdings, Sabancı Holding, echoed Bağış’s comments in her closing speech, saying she hoped Turkey would be a shining example for the region.

    The chair, however, added that no one in Turkey should say “we’ve done our job and now it’s over.” Instead, she said Turkey needed to continue along its development path while at the same time promoting democracy, human rights and closing the gender inequality gap.

    Erdoğan has not visited Davos since 2009, when he stormed out due to an argument with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

    June/08/2012

    via ECONOMICS – Istanbul could become regular WEF host venue.

  • Erdogan keynotes at WEF hosted in Istanbul

    Erdogan keynotes at WEF hosted in Istanbul

    By Christopher Torchia

    Associated Press

    75561 mainimg

    Erdogan described Turkey as “an island of stability” in a region facing difficulties.

    ISTANBUL: Turkey’s leader Tuesday delivered a keynote speech at a regional meeting of the World Economic Forum, more than three years after he stormed off the stage at a previous meeting in Davos, Switzerland during a debate with the Israeli president – an event that signaled the rising profile of Turkey in its turbulent region.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the conference in Istanbul with an address that highlighted Turkey’s development in the past decade, but also touched on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the way in which he said it had destabilized the region. Without mentioning Israel –onceafirmallyofTurkey– he said Palestinians suffered bombardment and mass killing and were kept in “the largest open-air prison in the world.”

    As a result, Erdogan said, “The whole region is faced with a lot of anger being pumped into it.”

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas followed Erdogan at the podium, sharply criticizing Israel for the deadlocked peace process, and touting his administration’s efforts to lay the economic and legal foundations for a modern state.

    “Today we are neither at war nor at peace [with Israel],” Abbas said. “This condition could extend for decades.”

    The forum holds its main, annual meeting in Davos. Erdogan said he would not return there after the 2009 dispute with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who had passionately defended a three-week offensive against Hamas militants, launched in reaction to eight years of rocket fire aimed at Israel.

    In his speech, Erdogan described Turkey, which has forced the military out of politics but still faces internal challenges such as a Kurdish rebellion, as “an island of stability in a region that is surrounded by major difficulties.”

    In introductory remarks, Klaus Schwab, the head of the World Economic Forum, placed special emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at a time when the world is concerned about the possibility another global economic downturn.

    “It’s a special pleasure to welcome you today,” he said to Erdogan before turning to the Palestinian question. “We are all very eager to hear from you. Is there any hope that this problem will be solved soon?”

    Peres did not attend the Istanbul meeting. Borge Brende, a managing director of the World Economic Forum, said he was pleased to see Israeli business executives and analysts at the meeting, which is aimed at, according to a slogan, “improving the state of the world.”

    “When it comes to interaction on head of government, or head of state level between Israel and Turkey, I think this is something that has to be solved and dealt with bilaterally between the two countries,” he said.

    A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on June 06, 2012, on page 6.

    via THE DAILY STAR :: Business :: International :: Erdogan keynotes at WEF hosted in Istanbul.

  • World Economic Forum to host summit in Istanbul

    World Economic Forum to host summit in Istanbul

    World Economic Forum to host summit in Istanbul

    4939

    WEF’s Istanbul summit will bring together more than 1,000 people from the political, business, civil society and media sectors.

    Turkish Minister for European Union (EU) Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said Saturday that the World Economic Forum (WEF) would host a summit on Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia in Istanbul between June 4 and 6.

    Speaking to reporters in Davos, Bagis said that Istanbul was a bridge connecting the East with West and the North with South.

    WEF’s Istanbul summit will bring together more than 1,000 people from the political, business, civil society and media sectors.

    Participants in the Istanbul summit will discuss economic growth and humanitarian development.

    AA

  • World Economic Forums not to take place in Davos any more

    World Economic Forums not to take place in Davos any more

    World Economic Forums not to take place in Davos any more

    50425Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is changing its format due to changes happening in the world.

    The sources close to WEF report that World Economic Forum will no longer be held in Davos.

    “The new place for holding these forums will become Istanbul. At that terms of the forums will also change- now they will be held in the 4th quarter of each year “, -the source said. The format of the forum will also change.

    “Now they will be not economic but engineer-economic forums which is a recognition of new technologies’ decisive role for development of world economy”,- it was said.

    The engineer part of the forum will focus on construction sector , both industrial and civil construction.

    “That is connected with the fact that presently 63% of global capital expenditures falls on the share of infrastructural projects”,- the source noted.

    via Azerbaijan Business Center – World Economic Forums not to take place in Davos any more.