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Human Development Foundation (INGEV), is to match 24 Syrian entrepreneurs who currently live in Istanbul and in the southeastern city of Mersin with Turkish professionals. To date, more than 130 small businesses in regions hosting large numbers of refugees have benefited from advisory support, the development bank said.
The EBRD has invested over €11bn in 289 projects in Turkey since 2009, including €79mn of financing provided directly to SMEs.
State lender Ziraat Bank, Turkey’s biggest bank by assets, has stopped its dealings with Venezuela’s central bank following the US move to step up sanctions on entities dealing with the Latin American state, Bloomberg reported on August 15. Ziraat Bank reportedly closed its account with the Venezuelan central bank without providing further details. Turkey is a firm supporter of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the first to deliver a message of support when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in January and received backing from Washington. The US has now threatened to extend sanctions to “anyone who supports” Maduro’s government. Ziraat Bank would risk being frozen out of the global finance system if it continued its dealings with Venezuela. “Venezuela’s Central Bank was relying on Ziraat to pay contractors, move money and import products in Turkish liras”, Bloomberg’s report said. Crisis-ridden Venezuela in 2018 increased shipments of gold to other countries, sending more than $900mn to Turkey in 2018, according to Turkish government data and trade reports cited by Reuters. Caracas is using some proceeds from those sales to buy Turkish consumer goods, according to opposition legislator Carlos Paparoni. Turkish pasta and powdered milk are now staples in Maduro’s subsidised food program. Trade between Venezuela and Turkey grew eightfold last year.
The government continues to crack down on anything and anyone linked to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of instigating the failed putsch. For two years after the event, Turkey used a state of emergency to achieve wide-ranging purges of officials and materials not to Ankara’s liking. Many tens of thousands were jailed. “In just three years, the publishing landscape in Turkey has been all but decimated, with 29 publishing houses shut down by emergency decree for ‘spreading terrorist propaganda’,” PEN International and English PEN said in a joint statement.
Kosovo’s Special Prosecution Office is investigating the role of 22 police officers during the arrest and extradition of six Turkish citizens, who were suspected of working for a Gulenist school network, more than a year ago, local media reported on August 15. The deportations, which took place in March 2018, sparked a political scandal in Kosovo. The suspects were detained by Kosovan law enforcement early on March 29, 2018 and were handed over at Pristina airport to a special team deployed by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT). On arrival in Istanbul they were detained by the Turkish police. Kosovo has been under pressure from Turkey to take action against Gulen movement-funded schools.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Ankara on August 8. Bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Ukraine in 2018 was more than $4bn.
Iran and Turkey are in discussions for the launching of a weekly round trip train service between Tehran and Istanbul, Mehr News Agency reported on August 27. The announcement follows the recent relaunching of the Tehran-Ankara train.
26 TURKEY Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com