Turkish-Greek economic ties expand

Capital.gr

The Turkish market has become a major export destination for crisis-stricken Greece, as Greek companies find it harder to sell in the domestic market due to worsening financial conditions of the average Greek household.

Greek exports to Turkey surged to $3.5 billion (2.6 billion euros) in 2012 from $1.1 billion in 2009, according to Turkstat data. During this period, the average year-on-year increase of Greek exports hovered around 50 percent, while Turkish exports remained flat at around $1.5 billion each year.

This eye-catching shift in trade relations left Turkey as a net importer from Greece, whereas in 2007, before the Greek debt crisis, Turkey had a positive trade balance with Greece of $1.7 billion.

Archontis Pantsios, a professor of economics at The American College of Thessaloniki, said that since the onset of the crisis in Greece, Turkey has become a more suitable market for Greek companies.

"They are looking to lower the costs and exporting to Turkey is an effective option for Greek companies," Pantsios told SETimes.

Turkey΄s vibrant domestic demand and large market is seen as another reason for the increase in Greek exports to Turkey.

Young Turks Return Home: The Brain Gain

Joe PARKINSON   THE WAL STREET JOURNAL

Many well-educated Turks used to look abroad for their career opportunities. But now many think the best opportunities lie at home.

ISTANBUL—Zeynep Dagli never expected to come home so soon.

A graduate of elite universities in the U.K., she worked for four years as a high-flying investment banker in London until 2009, profiting at the height of a boom that made the U.K. capital the center of world finance. Three years later, the 28-year-old Ms. Dagli is making waves back home in Turkey, two years after founding start-up gift-box company Momento, which is forecast to post a turnover of up to 3 million lira ($1.7 million)—a 230% rise—this year.

"In the U.K. or the U.S. I couldn't have had this success and certainly not this quickly. I also couldn't have had this network—it just wouldn't have worked," Ms. Dagli says, explaining the year-and-a-half journey to build the company from scratch after returning from London. "The trend of young Turks returning home to seek opportunities here is going to grow as people now believe that they can make a sustainable fortune here away from the political and financial instability they were used to in the past. If you're a young Turk and you're not going to make it here, where are you going to make it?" she says.

Arab spring fuels tourism boom for Turkey

Constanze Letsch        The Guardian

Tourists from Gulf countries prefer Istanbul and Black Sea coast over usual summer destinations of Egypt and Syria.

The Arab spring is fuelling a Turkish summer as Saudis, Kuwaitis and other tourists from the Gulf states who would have previously spent summers in Syria or Egypt look further north.

Figures from the Turkish ministry of culture and tourism show bookings from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are up by 75% and, with the beginning of Ramadan days away, hotels in Istanbul and the northwestern city of Bursa are fully booked.

Turkey's new wave of Arab visitors in part attribute their presence in the country down to the instability in their usual summer holiday destinations.

"We come here now because there is so much trouble in other Arab countries," said Muhammad al-Menhali from Abu Dhabi, who was in Turkey for the first time with his wife Imad and baby son. "We usually go to Egypt, but we feel safer in Turkey."

Iran warns the west that Istanbul meeting is last chance for nuclear deal

Julian Borger                 The Guardian

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's ambassador to the IAEA, says time is running out for it to export enriched uranium

Iran warned that international talks planned for next week in Istanbul could be the west's "last chance" to negotiate a deal over Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the country's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran's progress in enriching uranium, and its plans to make its own fuel rods for a reactor, meant it might lose interest in negotiations if next Friday's talks in Istanbul fail.

"It might be the last chance because by installing fuel rods produced by Iran in the core of the Tehran research reactor, probably parliament will not allow the government to negotiate or send its uranium outside the country and the Istanbul meeting might be the last chance for the west to return to talks," Soltanieh told journalists during a visit to France.