Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at May 16th, 2008

The third Turkey-Africa Trade Bridge opened this week with a lively celebration and record participation, but it was marked with sadness due to the tragic sudden death of İstanbul Gold Refinery Chairman Ömer Halaç, a 38-year-old Turkish businessman who had just returned from a trip to the Central African Republic.

His family and friends remember him as a young man with great dynamism and the intellectual courage to venture out into the wilderness of Africa to set up a mining operation. He contracted malaria in a remote area 200 kilometers from the capital of Bangui. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 16th, 2008

Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) President Ahmet Ertürk said yesterday the fund has preliminary plans to announce the conditions, price and schedule for the sale of Adabank next week.

Responding to questions from the press after giving a speech at the first KPMG Turkey Financial Risk Management Conference in İstanbul, Ertürk said the TMSF is in the final preparatory phase for the Adabank sale as there remain no further legal obstacles after courts rejected all requests for a stay of execution on the sale. The TMSF had confiscated Adabank and İmar Bankası in 2003 to cover the losses that the former owners, the Uzan family, had imposed upon the state from their mismanagement of the banks. “We don’t want Adabank to stay in the system as a small bank, and we want a quick solution,” Ertürk said, noting that there will be sufficient demand for Adabank, including from certain foreign banks. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 15th, 2008

Turkish Airlines (THY) will launch promotional flights this month starting from 75 euros to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding.

THY, which is preparing to celebrate its anniversary on May 20, has planned a promotional campaign in which its passengers will enjoy discount prices to several destinations. Airfare for flights originating in İstanbul to destinations including Baku, Tbilisi, North Africa and the Middle East will start from 75 euros, taxes excluded. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 15th, 2008

The construction of the 76km long section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project in Turkey will start in July.

Ministry of Transportation officials said on Thursday that presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia will lay the foundation of Turkish part of the railway, in June.

Turkey has allocated 380 million YTL for to the project that will revive historical Silk Road as “Iron Silk Road.” The railway, which consists of 3 phases, will connect Turkey with Azerbaijan and other Turkic republics in Central Asia. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 15th, 2008

Istanbul is preparing to host the 64th General Assembly of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

A press release issued by IATA said the General Assembly would begin with major celebrations.

Stating that financially it had been an important year for the air transportation industry, Concil said overall air carriers globally earned $5.6 billion. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 15th, 2008

Azeribaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev said Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece and Italy will sign an agreement at the end of May allowing the transportation of Azeri natural gas to the European market through Turkish territory, the Azeri Trend Capital magazine reported yesterday.

Aliyev was speaking at a meeting with Robert Lombardi, head of the EGL Group — a well-known Swiss energy and construction conglomerate that is also working with StatoilHydro on a trans-Adriatic pipeline project to carry natural gas from Greece via Albania to Italy. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 15th, 2008

The Mediterranean Business Partneria, a business matchmaking event, will take place on May 15-18 at the Antalya Expo Center.

The State Planning Organization (DPT), the Treasury, the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat and the Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) are expected to participate. The private sector will also have a heavy presence at the meeting, which will host 300 international and 1,000 Turkish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). (more…)

Posted by meb at May 15th, 2008

Witnessing the sight of 3,500 business professionals from Turkey and 45 African countries networking to strike a deal is like watching the National Geographic channel featuring bumblebees that pollinate plants and flowers as they forage for food.

One might sense such a resemblance while observing the third Turkey-Africa Trade Bridge, a gigantic business expo taking place May 13-15 at the İstanbul WOW Convention Center and organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON). Just as it is a welcome sight for gardeners to see bees in flight carrying large loads of pollen into and around their flowerbeds and gardens, TUSKON organizers seem to have been very pleased with the activity on the exhibition floor yesterday. (more…)