As the last week was coming to an end, a pretty upsetting report on Turkey by the European Parliament has made it to the top of Turkish agenda. On the other hand, things started to get complicated again when some interesting news appeared on international media claiming that the US is set to take the necessary actions about the perpetrators of Turkey’s failed coup attempt. The phone call between President Erdoğan and the US President clearly shows that the two countries have already begun restoring ties.
Considering all of these, I am noticing the fact that Turkey is ever compelled to maintain an unbalanced relationship both with the EU and the US. When Turkey experiences a problem with one of these parties, the other party that has no current problems with us wastes no time in lending a helping hand… However, European Parliament’s latest report is not very easy to digest indeed. I wonder what will be of the report suggesting EU to freeze accession talks with Turkey. However, we should also remember that the “Privileged Partnership” option still remains in this document signed by Turkey in the late 1990s. The negotiations with Turkey might lead to a privileged partnership.
On the other hand, tensions about oil and gas reserves around Cyprus are rising in the eastern Mediterranean. In his columns in Türkiye Newspaper, Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan talks about the fact that Greece is doing the best possible it could to prevent Turkey from having access to such resources however taking some clumsy actions that might lead to major conflicts and undesired outcomes.
“The British: Who made us do this?”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Europe, the British are doing everything they can to take things slow about the Brexit as they might have noticed the huge mistake they’ve made. While there are news leak suggesting that there is direct opposition to the PM May from the cabinet, Brexit Secretary had to resign on Wednesday evening over the Brexit debates at the Council of Ministers, followed by Work and Pensions Secretary’s resignation and consequently a determined statement by May, “Am I going to see this through? Yes” If you ask me, they have not gone through anything yet. The real struggle begins soon. I guess the British will make every effort to cancel Brexit.
Now, let’s take a quick look at Turkey: It looks like the fact that the latest unemployment data turned out to be higher than expected has gone unnoticed amid Turkey’s chaotic agenda. However, as indicated in the NEP, it will not be possible for Turkey to reduce unemployment to 9,5% until 2021. Happily, according to those who participated in CBRT Survey of Expectations, inflation may remain at 17% within a year, which shows that Turkish Business World still believes that inflation will fall in the future.
