TURKPULSE No:102ECONOMY
SETTLES IN ALONG WITH FOREIGN POLICY
TURKPULSE No:102ECONOMY
SETTLES IN ALONG WITH FOREIGN POLICY
After a rather prolonged negotiation period with the IMF, the Government has finally made arrangements for a $11.3 billion debt repayment relaxation in the next two years and received a $500 million loan disbursal from the Fund. This arrangement is a great relief for the Treasury about debt servicing in the next few years. As usual, the Disinformation Mechanism presented the IMF facilities as proof of Turkey’s coming round to Washington’s line about sending Turkish soldiers to Iraq, but the reality was somewhat different. When Ankara, bursting with foreign exchange reserves and deposits, threatened the IMF that it would repay its debts to the Fund before they are mature and thus get rid of the standby arrangements immediately, Washington had second thoughts about pressing Turkey too much for the price of these arrangements lest it lost its last leverage on Turkey. As for Turkish troop shipments to Iraq it will hang in the balance as long as Washington refrains from satisfying Ankara in every field especially about massive Turkish economic existence in the Gulf and its political and military assurances. About the reasons for the precariousness of the Turkish troop shipment to Iraq even in that case please see the article below.
TURKPULSE No:103
HAS THE
INFLUENCE OF THE MILITARY BEEN WEAKENED?
It is extensively claimed in the Turkish and world media that the influence of the military has been weakened in Turkey especially after the legislation of the “seventh parcel” concerning the constitutional amendments passed before the parliamentary recess, with the end in view of conforming to the Copenhagen criteria for accession to the EU. The main point in these amendments was reducing the number of military members of the National Security Council, terminating the executive functions of the NSC and making it merely a consultative body on national security issues. Washington was particularly keen on curbing the NSC’s influence and the military’s role in Turkey, as evidenced by Rumsfeld’s letter to PM Tayyip Erdogan concerning the Suleymaniye events in July, but how realistic was this external ambition? For an impartial analysis of the situation in Turkey about the NSC please read the article below.