Turkish Economy - News & Updates

[Ir.Tab.]

Shale gas reserves ‘enough for 40 years’

Turkey’s estimated shale gas reserve is 1.8 trillion cubic meters and could satisfy 40 years of natural gas consumption with an annual production of 45 billion cubic meters, according to the Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists (TPJD).

“Turkey has considerable shale gas potential, particularly in the regions of Thrace and the Southeast,” said TPJD President İsmail Bahtiyar yesterday. Turkey’s natural gas consumption is around 45 billion cubic meters a year, he said, noting that the estimated shale gas reserve, which is 1.8 billion cubic meters, would satisfy Turkey’s natural gas consumption for the next four decades. “These figures are for only the Thrace and Southeast Regions. We think there are also shale gas reserves in East Anatolia, Ankara, the Toros Mountains [in the south] and the Black Sea region,” he said.

Shale gas does not constitute an alternative to natural gas, it actually has the qualities of natural gas, he said, though as the traditional drilling of wells costs between $2 and $3 million, shale gas production is a higher-cost process. In spite of this, it will lower oil and natural gas prices, he stressed, adding that the Oil Law in Turkey protected risk-profit balances in favor of investors.

Bahtiyar noted that natural gas consumption prices decreased in the United States due to their shale gas production that intensified in the last years in parallel with increases in their natural gas demand. He also noted that Turkey’s natural gas consumption price was four to five times more than the U.S.

Meanwhile, Turkey paid $60.1 billion for energy last year with an 11 percent increase from a year earlier, according to figures of state-run statistic body TÜİK. The figures show that a quarter of Turkey’s $237 billion in total imports last year consisted of energy imports and the IMF forecasts it will surpass $70 billion by 2017.

March/06/2013

Nabucco and TANAP sign MoU for greater technical and strategic co-operation

http://www.nabucco-pipeline.com/portal/page/portal/en/press/NewsText?p_item_id=D71A3323612D839FE040A8C00101696D

Official Notice for the start of NABUCCO WEST Line Pipe Procurement
http://www.nabucco-pipeline.com/portal/page/portal/en/press/NewsText?p_item_id=D4E82D3392DC163BE040A8C001010C79

 

[-SINAN-]

Turkey emerges as true Iraq war victor

The Americans won the war, the Iranians won the peace and the Turks won the contracts.
Turkey, which blocked the deployment of US 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 its relations with Baghdad are increasingly bitter, Turkey’s exports to Iraq have in the past decade soared by more than 25 per cent a year, reaching $10.8bn 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 $2bn a year. Turkish contractors have also been doing rich business, working on about $3.5bn of construction projects last year, according to businessmen and officials.
One company, Calik Energy, boasts 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 $800m 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 per cent 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 make the journey to Kurdish markets. Turkish products dominate the regional capital of Erbil, from the old covered souk to modern showrooms in residential neighbourhoods.
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 nappy sector.
Sales to the country account for 90 per cent of the Altunkaya group’s annual $400m exports and have been rising by 50-60 per cent 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 neighbouring state with an industrial base, rich agricultural heartlands and businessmen undaunted by challenging environments, Turkey has advantages others find hard to match.
“I have sold Turkish goods around the world and the easiest market is Iraq,” says Serif Egeli, a prominent Turkish businessman who has been travelling to the country for 40 years. “We have the same tastes: in other countries you have to make goods to local standards, but in Iraq you just label them in Arabic and they sell immediately. And logistically no one can compete with us.”
With Iraq’s Kurdish region seeking to reduce its dependence on Baghdad, the relationship with Turkey may soon move to another level – but one that is hardly immune to risk.
Turkey has been negotiating a deal with the Kurdish Regional Government to take a stake in the region’s oil and gasfields despite furious protests from Baghdad. It is an agreement Ankara hopes will help satisfy its growing hunger for energy and knit the two territories closer together, a prospect that enthuses some analysts.
The booming economic ties between Iraq and Turkey, however, have a difficult political subtext. After the US pullout from Iraq in December 2011, relations between Ankara and Baghdad have sharply deteriorated, with Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, pronouncing Turkey a “hostile state”. Iraqi officials say Ankara has been meddling in their affairs, tightening its relations with the Kurds and the minority Sunni populations in an effort to undermine the Shia-led government in Baghdad.

Turkey in turn accuses Mr Maliki of sectarianism. Mr Maliki’s government has moved to bar Turkish companies from further large contracts with Iraqi authorities. TPAO, the Turkish state oil company, was last year expelled from an exploration deal in the south of the country.
“It is a kind of hidden boycott,” says Mr Egeli, while noting that Mr Maliki’s writ does not run in Northern Iraq.
Some exporters worry Turkish goods could also be affected – for now perhaps a third of Turkey’s exports to the Kurdish north are sold on to the rest of Iraq and many Turkish companies have their eyes on the Iraqi market as a whole.
“There will be less construction and fewer exports this year,” says Ercument Aksoy, chairman of the Turkish-Iraqi Business Council. He argues that now there is a rare opportunity for Turkey, since if the country becomes more stable competitors from around the world will flood in.
“Turks are used to risky situations,” Mr Aksoy says. “But when it becomes a normal country without security issues, the UK will be there, the Dutch will be there and our figures will go down again.”
At present, however, tensions are increasing over Turkey’s plans to invest in the northern Iraqi energy sector. Mr Maliki says such an agreement would be unconstitutional. The US warns that a deal in defiance of Baghdad could further splinter Iraq, push Mr Maliki closer to Iran and shut off Turkish companies from 80 per cent of Iraq’s markets.
As Francis Ricciardone, US ambassador to Ankara, told Turkish media recently: “If I was a Turkish producer . . . I certainly wouldn’t want to jeopardise my access to those consumers.”

Turkey emerges as true Iraq war victor - FT.com

 

[BaybarsHan]

Turkish Airlines flies high with 1.1 bln lira net profit

Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY), posted a net profit worth 1.13 billion Turkish Liras last year thanks to an increase in passenger numbers and occupancy rate, as the company has ordered 117 planes from the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, according to a press release on March 15.

THY’s sales volume reached 14.9 billion liras last year, a 26 percent increase from a year earlier, and its real operating profit jumped to 1.05 million liras with a 192 percent increase, as its net profit increased from 19 million liras to 1.133 billion liras – 265 million liras in the last quarter of the last year – in the same period, the statement said. Its net profit margin rose from 0.2 percent in 2011 to 7.6 percent last year, as its operating profit margin increased from 1 percent to 10.8 percent during this period. THY’s profit was much lower in 2011 due to its expenses for restructuration.

“We were honored as the ‘Best Airline Europe’ by the Skytrax World Aviation Awards last year, and we were in 2011 as well,” said THY CEO Hamdi Topçu, adding that the company had also been named “Best Airline Southern Europe” and “World’s Best Premium Economy Class Airline Seat.”

82 planes certain

THY has decided to purchase 117 planes from Airbus in a period when European carriers face financial difficulties that could even cause bankruptcies. Some 82 of the orders have been finalized and 35 of them are optional, with deliveries scheduled between 2015 and 2020. The company’s fleet size reached 202 planes last year, and it will raise it to 375 by 2020 with these new orders.

The national carrier’s passenger number increased to 39 million with a 20 percent increase last year from a year earlier, as its passenger occupancy rate reached 77.7 percent. It ranked third among the members of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) in terms of number of passengers. However, its passenger number jumped to 6.4 million, a 26 percent increase, in the period of January-February 2013 from the same period last year. The passenger number showed a 15 percent increase in domestic lines and 35 percent in international lines.

The international destination number also rose to 181 with 32 new destinations launched last year, bringing the number of destination countries to 96. Its total flight points, including domestic lines, increased to 217 last year, and THY became the airline flying to the highest number of countries.

March/15/2013

 

[TurAr]

National Geographic Megafactories: VESTEL

Europe's biggest factory at single location.

 

[revojam]

National Geographic Megafactories: VESTEL

Europe's biggest factory at single location.

Excellent upload! I was waiting this episode to be released since last week

 

[what]

Really fascinating, I love shows like that.

I'm supposed to write a 20 pages paper within two weeks, but now I'm stuck watching this. Thanks TurAr.

And btw: Manisa, **** yeah

 

[BaybarsHan]

S&P raises Turkey's credit rating one notch to BB+

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s has raised Turkey's credit rating one notch to BB+ in a sign of growing confidence in Turkey's economy.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it raised Turkey's long-term foreign currency rating to BB+. The agency said Turkey's economic outlook is stable.

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, who is in London for an official visit, told the private channel NTV on Wednesday that the decision is encouraging, but added, however, that Turkey deserves a higher grade.

The BB+ rating is the highest speculative grade by market participants.

 

[BronzePlaque]

Good news..It was expected tho, after Fitch`s move..

Here is S&P’s rationale for the upgrade:

LONDON (Standard & Poor’s) March 27, 2013–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services today raised its unsolicited long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on the Republic of Turkey to ‘BB+’ from ‘BB’. At the same time, we affirmed its ‘B’ short-term foreign currency rating. We raised the local currency sovereign credit ratings to ‘BBB/A-2′ from ‘BBB-/A-3′. We also raised the long-term Turkey national scale rating to ‘trAAA’ and affirmed the short-term ‘trA-1′ rating. The outlook is stable.

We have revised the transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-’.

The upgrade reflects our view of a steady and sustained decline in Turkey’s still-sizable net external financing requirements as export performance has improved amid some deceleration in domestic demand. During 2012, Turkey’s current account deficit narrowed by 4 percentage points to around 6% of GDP. Economic growth eased to what we view as a more sustainable level, without undermining Turkey’s relatively strong fiscal performance. In our opinion, policies limiting foreign currency lending, measures to cap nominal credit growth, and the benefits of a floating foreign-exchange regime all facilitate Turkey’s external adjustment. These factors will help the Turkish economy to adapt, should the external liquidity environment worsen in 2013-2014.

The upgrade also reflects progress made on resolving Kurdish issues. We expect this to be more lasting than previous efforts: if so, security-related costs would decline and the regional economy, as well as cross-border trade flows, would be boosted.

During the second half of 2012, capital inflows recovered while the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey adopted a more accommodative policy stance, which saw annual credit growth rebound to nearly 20%. We expect medium-term policies will gradually address Turkey’s low structural savings rate, and will limit risks in the financial sector. The latter appears to us to be currently well capitalized, increasingly benefitting from access to longer dated funding.

However, we see potential risks related to the macroeconomic policy mix given the upcoming elections: municipal and presidential in 2014 and parliamentary in 2015. Savings in the general government deficit in 2012 were mainly due to lower borrowing costs, rather than any improvement in the primary position. We estimate that the general government primary position actually weakened from a surplus of 1.4% in 2011 to near balance in 2012. Although we expect the fiscal deficits during 2014-2015 to remain around 2.5% of GDP, the underlying fiscal stance could weaken further. Historically, economic policies have tended to prioritize growth, with less focus on its composition.

We expect Turkish GDP to pick up over the coming years, reflecting a steady expansion of domestic demand and strong exports. We anticipate current account deficits will return to around 7% of GDP in the next two years, partly reflecting diminishing gold exports.

We believe Turkey’s external debt, net of liquid assets, will remain high at above 100% of current account receipts (CARs). Although banks and corporations recently issued debt at longer maturities, external funding remains mostly short term. Should longer dated debt replace part of the existing short-term borrowing, Turkey’s external liquidity could improve. However, without a significant increase in foreign reserves or further narrowing of current account deficits, Turkey’s gross external financing needs (current account payments plus short-term external debt by residual maturity) are likely to remain high as a percentage of CARs plus usable reserves in the next few years. The banking sector’s growing dependence on external financing is partly offset by the high capitalization of the system (see “Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment: Turkey,” published May 1, 2012).

The stable outlook balances the risks related to the country’s large net external liability position against improving economic and fiscal fundamentals. If fiscal and monetary policies continue to be implemented independently from electoral considerations, we could raise the ratings further. The peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue could also be a credit positive over the longer term to the extent that it benefits fiscal and trade performance.

Conversely, should rapid credit growth re-emerge, current account deficits widen substantially, or external leverage of the Turkish economy increase, we could lower the ratings. We could also consider a downgrade if Turkey faces a more abrupt adjustment when debt and equity inflows either reverse or become more costly. Additionally, we would consider a downgrade if fiscal policy were loosened significantly in the context of the upcoming electoral cycle.

 

[trajanus]

ANKARA, April 1 — Turkey’s economy grew slower than expected in 2012 at a rate of 2.2 percent, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) said Monday.

According to data released by the TurkStat, Turkey’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012 reached 1416.8 billion Turkish Liras (about 782.5 billion U.S. dollars ), increased by 2. 2 percent from the previous year.

In the same year, Turkish per capita GDP increased to 10,504 dollars.

The data indicated that Turkey’s GDP growth was registered a record low at 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 over the same months of 2011.

There had been a progressive decrease in Turkey’s growth rate last year, from 3.4 percent in the first quarter to 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter.

Turkey expected a growth rate of 4 percent for 2012 at the beginning of the year, and it was later revised to 3.2 percent.

In 2011, Turkey’s economy expanded by 8.5 percent, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies across the world.

The International Monetary Fund previously forecast that Turkey ‘s GDP would grow by 2.3 percent in 2012 and accelerate to 3.2 percent in 2013.

 

[BaybarsHan]

Istanbul hits decade-high in tourist numbers

Some 838,000 foreigners visited Istanbul in the first quarter of the year, marking a decade-high for the city, according to data provided by Istanbul’s Culture and Tourism Directorate.

A 23.8 percent increase was visible in numbers in the first quarter of the year, from October 2012 to March 2013, setting the number of Istanbul visitors to 838,201. The increase came despite the global financial difficulties, especially in Europe, where Turkey’s target tourists are generally found, the Directorate adds.

Istanbul overcame the winter’s seasonal troubles and showed a healthy growth in tourism, the statement said.

The statement released by the Directorate shows that one of every three tourists coming to Turkey visits Istanbul. In 2012, 28.7 percent of all tourists coming to Turkey visited Istanbul, official numbers showed.

The statement further determined Istanbul’s recent attempts to promote its cultural and touristic organizations, art events and efforts towards seminar and conference tourism, as the underlying impetus for the increase.

German tourists topped the list of visitors to Istanbul, accounting for 10 percent of the total number of tourists to the city, followed by Russians with 6 percent. British citizens made up 4 percent of the total, and tourists from the U.S. amounted to 4 percent. French visitors decreased to 4 percent as well.

The top five countries that Istanbul received the most tourists from, Germany, Russia, Britain, USA and France, were the same as in 2012.

The numbers continue to show an increase in Middle Eastern tourists visiting the city as well, the directorate said.

Recent numbers have shown a sharp increase in Chinese tourists visiting Turkey, reaching a 10,000 threshold, equating to the total number of tourists coming to Turkey from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

TOURISM - Istanbul hits decade-high in tourist numbers

 

[Saithan]

Another news, that I think is worth having in this thread.


4 April 2013 /REUTERS, TOKYO/PARIS
Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and France's Areva SA have won an order to build Turkey's second nuclear power plant, a project expected to cost around $22 billion, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday.

Areva shares rose 4.8 percent in Paris after the report, which cited Japanese and Turkish sources. Spokesmen for Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy had no immediate comment.

The Nikkei said Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry had informed Japanese government and corporate officials of the decision to award the deal to build four pressurized water nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of about 4.5 gigawatts at Sinop on the Black Sea.

The paper added that the Turkish government had approached Japan about a summit meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in early May, after which it is likely to officially grant preferred negotiating rights to the Mitsubishi-Areva consortium.

Turkey, which is likely to overtake Britain as Europe's third-biggest electricity consumer within a decade, plans to build several nuclear plants over the next 10 years to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas.

Construction is set to start in 2017, with the first reactor slated to come online by 2023, and France's GDF Suez SA will operate the plant, it added.

A GDF Suez spokesman said he could not comment on the report.

Turkey had also been in talks with companies from Canada, South Korea and China regarding the planned Sinop plant.

Russia's Rosatom will build Turkey's first nuclear power station and start construction in mid-2015. It expects the facility to start producing electricity in 2019, its deputy general manager told Reuters in February.

That $20 billion plant at Mersin Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast will also have four power units with installed capacity of 4.8 GW.

source: M'bishi Heavy, Areva win Turkish nuclear deal, Nikkei says

 

[Brutas]

Turkey, which is likely to overtake Britain as Europe's third-biggest electricity consumer within a decade, plans to build several nuclear plants over the next 10 years to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas.

Good to see Turkey moving ahead despite economic turmoils in EU.

 

[-SINAN-]

Defense and aerospace industry product exports of Turkish manufacturers have soared by 11.5 percent in the first three months of the year in spite of the fall in March.

Turkey’s defense and aerospace industry exports in the first quarter have surged by 11.5 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching $272.2 million, with 39 percent of these exports going to the United States. The chairman of the defense and aerospace industry exporters union has said the year-end target is $1.5 billion.

Despite the overall 10.2 percent fall in exports in March on a yearly basis, Turkish arms manufacturers managed to raise their exports by 11.5 percent, thanks to the 33 percent increase in the first two months of the year, according to data provided by the Turkey Exporters Assembly (TİM).

The U.S. received the highest share of defense industry exports with $105.2 million, while Bahrain was second with $24.7 million and Italy followed them with $17.8 million.

$1.5 billion target

Defense and Aerospace Industry Exporters Union Chairman Latif Aral Aliş said the sector had been on the rise in recent years and exports had been steadily soaring. Nevertheless, they still eye even higher rises.

The sector’s exports, which amounted to $600 million between the years 2008 and 2010, rose to $800 million in 2011 and soared to $1.3 billion in 2012.

The target for 2013 has been set at $1.5 billion, as Turkey seeks ways to spread its success in exports of land vehicles, communication systems, as well as electro optical and light weapons.

“After the completion of necessary infrastructure and financial systems, we plan for at least 5 percent of Turkey’s overall exports to be in defense, aerospace and security products, systems, platforms and services in twelve years,” Aliş said.

The share of these industries among Turkish exports was 0.8 in the first quarter of 2013.

The defense industry’s largest export items include plane and helicopter parts, turbojets, tanks and armored combat vehicles, civilian passenger planes, and rocket launchers, Aliş added.

Eyes on Africa

“There are still more grounds to overcome … The important thing is to present the essential solution in various ways and with a wide range of financial opportunities. We repeat this from time to time: the system is globally settled and even trying to challenge this requires a lot of effort,” he said.

Turkey also aims to expand the variety of its export markets to Middle Asia and the Far East. Africa is expected to join the high-priority markets of the defense and aerospace sectors, Alış also said.

Turkey ranked the 24th largest arms exporter in the world in 2012, according to data recording major arms transactions worldwide collected by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Meanwhile, the same data showed Turkey had become the fourth-largest conventional weapons importer in the world.

 

[Yuuki]

Turkey better placed on renewable energy

12 April 2013 15:07 (Last updated 12 April 2013 16:14)

25-26 percent of Turkey's energy production is renewable, Minister Yildiz stressed

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz on Friday said that the source of renewable energy in Turkey was twice as much as the EU average.

Speaking at the Turkish-German Energy Forum in Ankara, Yildiz stated that "25-26 percent of Turkey's energy was renewable and we want to raise it to 30 percent".

" Germany is a country where all stones are on the right place.Germany completed infrastructure works years ago. They have come to an important point not only in Europe but the whole world," Yildiz said.

"Turkey has grown in recent years. Our investments in the energy sector have doubled. Public investments have been shared with the private sector," Yildiz emphasized.

"Turkey has changed thanks to the efforts of the Turkish government in the last 10 years. Energy policies did not get changed according to governments but have became state policies. There are no longer any problems associated with the energy supply security in Turkey," Yildiz noted.

"Turkey may be able to save 20 percent of the energy it consumes by the year 2023," Yildiz pointed out.

"Source of renewable energy in Turkey was twice as much as the EU average. It was around 25-26 percent. At this time, one fourth of our energy needs are met by renewable energy. We plan to raise the level of renewable energy to 30 percent by 2023," Yildiz indicated.

Touching on Turkey's geographical position, Taner Yildiz stressed that they could make crucial cooperation in the region.

Turkey has gained political stability and made it sustainable, Yildiz stated.

Turkey and Germany are determined to turn the decisions taken at the Forum into action, Yildiz also said.

-Germany ready to assist Turkey for renewable energy, said German vice-chancellor-

German Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic and Technology Philipp Roesler on Friday said that conditions were excellent for renewable energy in Turkey.

Speaking at the Turkish-German Energy Forum in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Friday, Roesler indicated that Germany was ready to assist Turkey for renewable energy and that they wanted to contribute to Turkey.

"Of course, legal arrangements (in Turkey) must be made for that purpose," Roesler stressed.

"I have come to Turkey with the representatives of more than 50 German companies. This number could have been bigger if we had more seats. This is my first time ever travelling with such a large delegation. Our visit is an indication of the importance we attach to the Turkish economy," Roesler underlined.

"Turkish economy has achieved great things in the last 10 years and this was no coincidence. We want to see long term relations with Turkey and could cooperate in many fields in this direction," Roesler noted.

"We discussed the issue of modernizing energy power plant parks, handled the issue of energy efficiency and talked on renewable energy," Roesler said.

We would like to make contributions to the Turkish economy in the field of renewable energy, Roesler stated.

"We know that the Turkish government wants to save itself from being dependent on energy. This would make a positive contribution on the current account deficit. We have great experiences on renewable energy. Conditions are excellent in Turkey for renewable energy. It is possible to increase efficiency with the use of wind and solar energy. We are ready to assist in this regard," Roesler noted.

"All legal arrangements must be ready for such a cooperation. We will discuss legal arrangements at the next Turkish-German Energy Forum," Roesler expressed.

"All businesspeople who have come here wish for a stable cooperation. We will work in confidence according to new laws to be made. This would make financing easier. Accordingly, the banks will have more confidence in Turkish-German projects," Roesler stressed.

"Legal arrangements are crucial and we are pleased with the talks we held on the matter," Roesler said.

"We would like to establish long term partnership with Turkey in all fields, including energy. The Turkish side wishes to see Germany's works conducted for energy efficiency," Roesler noted.

"The next forum would take place in Germany in 2014. Germany will hold elections in September and I do hope to host you as a minister in 2014," Roesler stated.

-"We understand Turkey's interests (in Customs Union)"-

Roesler answered questions of the press corps after his speech.

Answering a question on Germany's stance on Turkey's concerns about a possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and the US, Roesler underlined that he had a chance to meet the Turkish Minister of Economy Zafer Cagyalan.

"I listened to Caglayan's criticisms on this issue. It is the European Commission which holds talks with the US. Every bilateral FTA affects the Customs Union," Roesler said.

"I speak while considering the interests of my country. However, I do understand Turkey's interests well. I told Mr. Caglayan that I bring up this issue in my talks within the EU. As a friend and partner, it would be beneficial for us if Turkey's condition is well," Roesler noted.

-"We will be giving up nuclear energy but are ready to assist Turkey on the matter"-

In response to another question, Roesler underlined that they knew about Turkey's works on nuclear energy.

It was Turkey's decision as a sovereign country, Roesler remarked.

Reminding that Germany took a decision to give up nuclear energy by the year 2022, Roesler indicated that they were ready to assist whenever assistance was needed on nuclear energy.

"This assistance is not merely limited to energy but is valid for all other fields. We need to look at which technologies Turkey wants from Germany. We are ready to provide assistance in all fields," Roesler also said.

Turkey better placed*on renewable energy Anadolu Agency

 

[madmusti]