’Turk business can turn crisis into opportunity’
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 25, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Turkey could transform the crisis into an opportunity despite the fact that Russian-Turkish economic relations have been negatively effected, said experts, adding that Turkish business can go toward new investments at a time when other foreign capital is leaving Russia
Although Russia has been hit hard by the global economic meltdown, the Turkish business world can still turn the crisis into a business opportunity, experts on Turkish-Russian relations said yesterday.
"If the Turkish business circles in Russia don’t panic and start retreating, there is a serious window of opportunity to benefit from the crisis," Hakan Aksay, President of the Russia-Turkey Research Center, said at a conference organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Council, or DEİK, that gathered representatives of the business world to evaluate the importance of Eurasia for Turkey’s economy.
Aksay said the crisis has started to negatively impact economic relations that otherwise reached record levels with $38 billion worth of trade volume, placing Russia above Germany as Turkey’s No. 1 trade partner and raising Turkey’s place among Russia’s trade partners to fifth. Although there was a 67 percent decrease in bilateral trade volume for January when compared with last year, Turkey remained as the fifth largest trade partner for Russia, Aksay said.
Aksay said the Russian economy has been hit badly by the global crisis, with the ruble losing value and unemployment reaching high levels, but that there is no reason to say Russia will crumble. Recalling that Turkish businessmen did not panic and withdraw during the crisis that hit Russia in 1998, Aksay said the Turkish business world should be persistent. "Turkish business, with its courageous characteristic and calculated risks, can go toward new investments at a time when other foreign capital is leaving Russia," he said. Replacing the ruble or Turkish lira with dollars in bilateral trade could be implemented during the crisis and provide another tool to boost trade, Aksay said.
Ali İhsan Akıskalıoğlu of the Turkish Russian Businessmen Union also asserted that Turkey could transform the crisis into an opportunity. He said over the year the business world has overcome political difficulties from time to time, but that there were still some problems, noting specifically the difficulties that Turkish truck drivers face. "Because of these difficulties, the Russian consumer is getting Turkish commodities with a higher cost but also a lower quality," said Akıskalıoğlu, adding that creating difficulties at the border does not benefit Russian people.
Turkey indispensable
Confident that Russia will overcome the crisis better than others, Akıskalıoğlu said Russia would remain indispensable for Turkey and vice versa. Both Akıskalıoğlu and Aksay implied the current crisis would turn into an opportunity to the degree that Russia succeeds in reducing its dependence on income from energy resources by introducing structural reforms that will diversify its economy.
Both have also said energy would remain an important field of cooperation despite criticism that Turkey is too dependent on Russia, which provides natural gas through a pipeline called the Blue Stream under the Black Sea. Akıskalıoğlu said a second pipeline parallel to the first is on the agenda.
’Turkey's EU bid delusional’
The idea of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine becoming members of the EU is nothing more than a pipe dream, according to a top adviser to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Sergey Markov, who is also a parliamentarian in the Russian legislative body, the Duma, said that Turkey, Russia and the Central Asian countries should work together more, with Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan forming the nucleus for this cooperation. "We are not against the EU," Markov said. "But although Croatia can be a member, the road to EU membership for Turkey, Russia and Ukraine is delusional. We are poor and thus the EU does not need us. First we have to cooperate with each other, become rich, and then sit down with the EU."
The Georgian ambassador to Turkey called on Russia to respect the territorial integrity of neighboring countries. "If you say that you respect the sovereignty and independence of other countries, then you should let the people of Georgia have the right to choose their own leaders," Tarile Lebanidze said.
Though the economic crisis may hit hard, it will eventually pass, but the adverse effects of frosty relations in the region will continue unless resolved. Lebanidze said that the Russian-Georgian war last summer showed how conflicts can have a negative effect.
"If the Turkish business circles in Russia don’t panic and start retreating, there is a serious window of opportunity to benefit from the crisis," Hakan Aksay, President of the Russia-Turkey Research Center, said at a conference organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Council, or DEİK, that gathered representatives of the business world to evaluate the importance of Eurasia for Turkey’s economy.
Aksay said the crisis has started to negatively impact economic relations that otherwise reached record levels with $38 billion worth of trade volume, placing Russia above Germany as Turkey’s No. 1 trade partner and raising Turkey’s place among Russia’s trade partners to fifth. Although there was a 67 percent decrease in bilateral trade volume for January when compared with last year, Turkey remained as the fifth largest trade partner for Russia, Aksay said.
Aksay said the Russian economy has been hit badly by the global crisis, with the ruble losing value and unemployment reaching high levels, but that there is no reason to say Russia will crumble. Recalling that Turkish businessmen did not panic and withdraw during the crisis that hit Russia in 1998, Aksay said the Turkish business world should be persistent. "Turkish business, with its courageous characteristic and calculated risks, can go toward new investments at a time when other foreign capital is leaving Russia," he said. Replacing the ruble or Turkish lira with dollars in bilateral trade could be implemented during the crisis and provide another tool to boost trade, Aksay said.
Ali İhsan Akıskalıoğlu of the Turkish Russian Businessmen Union also asserted that Turkey could transform the crisis into an opportunity. He said over the year the business world has overcome political difficulties from time to time, but that there were still some problems, noting specifically the difficulties that Turkish truck drivers face. "Because of these difficulties, the Russian consumer is getting Turkish commodities with a higher cost but also a lower quality," said Akıskalıoğlu, adding that creating difficulties at the border does not benefit Russian people.
Turkey indispensable
Confident that Russia will overcome the crisis better than others, Akıskalıoğlu said Russia would remain indispensable for Turkey and vice versa. Both Akıskalıoğlu and Aksay implied the current crisis would turn into an opportunity to the degree that Russia succeeds in reducing its dependence on income from energy resources by introducing structural reforms that will diversify its economy.
Both have also said energy would remain an important field of cooperation despite criticism that Turkey is too dependent on Russia, which provides natural gas through a pipeline called the Blue Stream under the Black Sea. Akıskalıoğlu said a second pipeline parallel to the first is on the agenda.
’Turkey's EU bid delusional’
The idea of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine becoming members of the EU is nothing more than a pipe dream, according to a top adviser to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Sergey Markov, who is also a parliamentarian in the Russian legislative body, the Duma, said that Turkey, Russia and the Central Asian countries should work together more, with Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan forming the nucleus for this cooperation. "We are not against the EU," Markov said. "But although Croatia can be a member, the road to EU membership for Turkey, Russia and Ukraine is delusional. We are poor and thus the EU does not need us. First we have to cooperate with each other, become rich, and then sit down with the EU."
The Georgian ambassador to Turkey called on Russia to respect the territorial integrity of neighboring countries. "If you say that you respect the sovereignty and independence of other countries, then you should let the people of Georgia have the right to choose their own leaders," Tarile Lebanidze said.
Though the economic crisis may hit hard, it will eventually pass, but the adverse effects of frosty relations in the region will continue unless resolved. Lebanidze said that the Russian-Georgian war last summer showed how conflicts can have a negative effect.