What Happens

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Like everyone else with money-invested, I am worried about the current financial turmoil. Now I want to be more local and Turkey-centric scanning the latest news, lets see..

POLITICS::

• Turkey and Switzerland marked on Tuesday the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries at a ceremony held in capital city Ankara.
  

# A different kind of celebration rather than we all used to have;) It should be the nicest way to say ironclad rules and nastiest things if there is still.

• Turkish cypriot leader and his Greek cypriot counterpart met under the full-fledged talks aiming at finding a permanent solution to the Cyprus issue.

# Nothing can stop talking about peace as it's the onliest way.

• ''Turkey is central to the future development of European Union.'' said in a recent report by the Foreign Policy Center. The report ''Turkey in Europe: The Economic Case for Turkish Membership of the EU'' included several articles from prominent politicians and academics such as Olli Rehn's statements. EU Enlargement Commissioner Rehn said Turkey's emerging industrial economy, information society, dynamic workforce and geographical location were the country's assets to the EU, adding deeper economic integration of Turkey in the EU would make both sides stronger. He added Turkey needed to make further efforts on chapters on competition policy, taxation, social policy, and employment in order, 'to maintain a steady momentum in accession negotiations.'

# No doubt, Turkey's membership will be a win-win situation.

• The Aegean resort city of Izmir hosted the Turco-Italian meet, being first such event to be held between two countries. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a darling of Turkey was the co-chair. High level officials from the Turkish and Italian governments met at this intergovernmental summit yesterday. ''As a part of the strategic partnership established between the countries, the Italian Gov't will hold regular summits with Turkey.'' said by the Italy's Ambassador to Ankara, Carlo Massili.

# To reiterate Italy's support to Turkey's EU accession process and to demonstrate Turkey's importance for Italian foreign policy with the summit are noteworthy movements.


FINANCE::

• Predictions made by the IMF for the period 2008-2013 showed that Turkey would be the world's 17th largest economy until 2013. Turkey's gross domestic product would reach $798.8 billion in 2008 while it was estimated to fall to $789 billion in 2009, the IMF said.
  

# I think that economical stability is one of the most important indicators for a healthy political life existing in Turkey.

• As natural gas prices rose 60% over the last 10 months for both residential and industrial use, some people are planning to replace natural gas heating systems with coal or wood-burning stoves.
  

# It is still warm outside. The news say that stove sales have increased a little. When the weather becomes colder it's expected a greater increase in stove sales. I can understand low-income earners and retirees will choose to burn coal and wood this winter but some people leading to use cheaper and poorer quality fake coal will inevitably hit our health, that is bad.

• Turkish industrial production posted its biggest decline in September since 2002 as the global credit crisis curbed domestic demand and sparked halts in production at auto manufacturers. Industrial output fell 5.5% from the same month last year after declining a revised 4.1% in August, the Turkish Statistical Institute said yesterday. It's inevitable to see a contraction in output in this fourth quarter and it'll remain weak in the first half of new year 2009. ''The shrinking of the European market which accounts for 90% of our exports began to show its impact on our exports in October with the cancellation of orders.'' said by Turkey's Automotive Industry Association. Production suspending for:
  

- Toyota Motor Corp. is stopping production at its Turkey plant for 2-weeks because of lower demand in Western Europe.

- Ford Otosan -where I've worked-, Ford Motor Co.'s unit here is stopping production for 14-days this month because of a decline in domestic and int'l markets.

- Tofas, which makes Fiat cars here announced a 6-day pause.

# The automotive sector in particular is crucial in Turkey. Same boat as this is Global and it hurts us too.


TOURISM::

• Turkish Tourist Office nominated for the World Travel Awards 2008, also known as the ''Oscar of Tourism''. France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK are other candidates, which will be held on Dec 5th in the Caribbean. The selection of nominees is made by thousands of professionals working in tourism who choose their favourite destinations each year.
  

# I am anxious if political reasons will affect the result... Oh Bestest Luck Turkey!