Page 18 - TURKRptDec19
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2.9 Business and consumer confidence surveys
2.10 Politics - shorts
World’s “undisputed leading jailer of journalists” still has 120 behind bars says International Press Institute (IPI) report. The situation of the media in the country has not improved since the lifting of a two-year state of emergency last year.
French President Emmanuel Macron on December 3 accused Turkey of colluding with Islamic State proxies on the opening day of Nato’s London summit at which officials were discussing how to deal with Ankara’s threat to block a plan to defend the Baltic states and Poland against potential Russian attacks.
He added: “I am sorry we do not have the same definition of terrorism around the table. When I look at Turkey, they now are fighting against those who fight with us, who fought with us, shoulder to shoulder, against Isis [Islamic State]. And sometimes they work with Isis proxies.”
Turkey has said it will veto the plan unless the defence alliance backs its description of the mainly-Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which the Turks are attempting to clear out of a border zone in northeastern Syria, as a “terrorist” group. That is a difficult proposition for Nato because the YPG provided the essential ground forces in the US-led destruction of the so-called Islamic State Caliphate that arose in Syria, losing around 11,000 fighters in the process. Although US President Donald Trump ordered US forces to step aside as Turkey in early October invaded Syria to attack the Americans’ ally, there is still a certain amount of solidarity for the YPG in the Pentagon, US Congress, Nato and among EU states.
The United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) on November 26 released its Emissions Gap Report 2019 which concludes that Turkey has a “weak target” for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The report observed that “the Government has set an ambitious plan for new coalfired power plants, with purchase guarantees and subsidies to investors.
“Among the G20 members, Turkey ranks third for new coal-fired power plant capacity being planned (37 GW), following China and India (as at January 2019). This is twice as much as Turkey’s current operational capacity.
18 TURKEY Country Report December 2019 www.intellinews.com
