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Fenerbahçe toppled its archrival Galatasaray 1-0 in the derby match in Turkey’s Spor Toto Super League on March 8, narrowing the gap in the league standings to one point behind the Lions, who still head the league. Home side Fenerbahçe snatched win in the 81st minute, when veteran Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt found the net in a counter attack, but that was only after the Canaries missed several guilt-edge chances.  Its win at the Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium meant that Fenerbahçe continued its dominance over Galatasaray in its home ground, where Fenerbahçe has been unbeaten against its archrival since 1999.  What’s more, Galatasaray’s Turkish international striker Burak Yılmaz, who narrowly missed a chance at the start of the game, and Hakan Balta will miss the team’s next game after picking up bookings.  With the win, Fenerbahçe moved to 50 points, one point behind leader Galatasaray on 51 points.  Galatasaray’s Dutch forward Wesley Sneijder had scored two goals in the last two minutes of his team’s home game against Fenerbahçe on Oct. 18 last year, giving the Lions a 2-1 victory. With its 1-0 home win, Fenerbahçe nudged ahead on goal difference, as the results between the two sides will determine the champion if the two sides finish the season on equal points.  Galatasaray is currently leading the league on goal difference, ahead of second-place Beşiktaş, which beat Sivasspor away in a tough match over the weekend.  Gençlerbirliği, which will host Fenarbahçe this weekend, prepared by beating SAI Kayseri Erciyesspor 4-2. The defeated Central Anatolian side visits Beşiktaş on March 15.  Istanbul Basakşehir and Torku Konyaspor drew 0-0, and the latter will face Galatasaraylater this week.  Eskişehirspor and Bursaspor also could not break the deadlock, while on March 7 Balıkesirspor and Çaykur Rizespor draw 2-2.  Kasımpaşaspor, another Istanbul team, draw 2-2 against Akhisar Belediyespor in the opening game of the weekend on March 6. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Protestors who stand at the front of a demonstration in which public and private goods are damaged will be forced to pay more compensation for damaged property than those at the back, according to an Interior Ministry circular. A circular issued by the Interior Ministry and signed by Interior Minister Efkan Ala has outlined the details of how the damage to public or personal belongings caused during a protest will be addressed, daily Vatan reported March 9.  The circular states that individuals who harm public or personal goods in “terror protests” and social movements that turn violent will be determined with evidence collected “by all means.” Once the people harming the property have been specified, a lawsuit against them will be opened. While the circular notes that people determined to have committed the damage would clearly need to pay the amount of the damage incurred, legal action could also be taken against them for “causing harm through immoral acts.”  If a group of people are determined to have caused damage to public and personal goods, then the damage will be shared equally among the number of people in the group, during which individuals in the front of the group will pay a higher share of the damage, while people at the back of the protest will pay less.  The circular also notes that individuals inside a group can file suits against each other if some claim they participated less in the rally. The circular entered into force on Feb. 16, and was sent to all the governors of Turkey’s 81 provinces in order to ensure unity in the implementation of the circular.  Meanwhile, provincial governors may ask the Finance Ministry for permission to open legal action proceedings against the protesters, even if officials in charge of opening administrative suits decide there is no public benefit to opening such cases. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Foreigners prefer to invest in the finance sector rather than industry in Turkey, as measures taken to avert the 2001 crisis enhanced financial regulation in the country, according to official figures

The focus from the foreign resource inflow into Turkey from 2003 onwards, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) took power, as well as the focus of foreign direct investments have been radically different from previous eras.  In the period under AKP rule, the acceleration of the inflow of foreign resources is mostly associated with the results due to the IMF’s controlled measures package for the 2001 crisis. While a new IMF program was implemented in 1998, the 2000-2001 fluctuation dragged Turkey’s economy into a major crisis; the outflow of capital forced the Bülent Ecevit-led coalition government to take emergency measures to overcome the crisis. Kemal Derviş, trusted by the IMF and World Bank, was invited to Turkey as deputy prime minister and as a result of the bitter medicine administered by the IMF, equilibriums were reconstructed.  The policies implemented included the rehabilitation of the banking system, which had collapsed with the bankruptcy of about 20 banks, as well as a serious revision policy for central budget, social security system, the state economic enterprises (KİT), the privatization process, municipalities and agriculture sales cooperatives. Through these policies, public finance was also rehabilitated. These radical measures produced serious political results and coalition partners failed to pass the threshold in 2002 elections. This huge voter reaction was beneficial for the AKP. The recovering economy attracted extraordinary foreign resources. The AKP became the only ruling party thanks to the election system, which has a 10 percent threshold. One-party rule, plus the rehabilitated finance system and public finance, was attractive for foreign investors. The IMF control was a separate assurance. As a sum of all these factors, it resulted in an extraordinary resource inflow, some of them buying KİTs in the industry sector. The banking sector of the economy, which grew at an average of 7 percent during the 2003-2007 period, was a separate attraction for foreigners who also entered the finance sector by buying banks.  When the 2003-2014 period is reviewed, the foreign direct investment in these 12 years neared $120 billion. Almost one-third of the foreign resource inflow in the same period came as direct foreign capital while the remaining two thirds came as portfolio investment and credits – these are “debt raising capital.”  The sector breakdown of the FDI reveals another striking fact. Foreigners have chosen to invest in the finance sector more than in industry. The finance sector, banking and insurance have the biggest share in direct investment with 37percent.  The mobile phone market has been another attractive sector for foreign investors, nearing 10 percent of total direct investment. Foreigners engaging in commercial activities primarily did so in the retail sector, with the percentage exceeding 5 percent. Construction and real estate sector also attracted nearly 5 percent of foreigners. Other sectors such as transportation, health and other service sectors also attracted foreign capital, corresponding to a share of 62.5 percent of total foreign capital, constituting nearly $75 billion of the nearly $120 billion direct foreign capital in 12 years.  Capital foreign to industry  Industry has constituted a share of 37.5 percent in direct foreign capital in the general sense in this period; however, when the definition is narrowed to the manufacturing industry, only 22 percent of FDI has gone to the manufacturing industry. Energy investments have a share of 13.5 percent in total, while mining has almost a 2 percent share.  Thus, we can say that during the 2003-2014 period foreigners have invested $2.2 billion in manufacturing industry and $1.3 billion in energy industry annually. This is equal to the amount invested in the finance sector alone. In other words, foreigners have invested in the manufacturing industry, energy and mining an amount equal to what invested in the banking-insurance sector alone. This preference is associated with profitability. Because foreigners saw that profit rates in finance were higher than industry, they steered their investments in that direction.  While 22 percent of the almost $210 billion foreign direct investment in 12 years was directed to the manufacturing industry, their subsectors were food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco which had a one-fourth share. The entries to this manufacturing branch was nearly $7 billion in 12 years, with the privatization of Tekel and investments in the tobacco sector playing a major role.  The chemical industry (including medicine) has 17 percent share in manufacturing investments of foreigners. While the computer and electronic utensil subsector came third in attracting foreign investors in the manufacturing industry, the main metal industry is the fourth subsector with its nearly 11 percent share.  It can be seen that foreign investments in the subsectors of manufacturing are mostly domestic market-oriented sectors. It should also be noted that chemical and computer-electronics sectors have quite a high rate of imported inputs.  Foreign in the bourse  Foreign investments also came as investments in shares on the bourse. Investors involved in buying and selling shares traded on bourse are exporting capital this way.  According to Central Bank data, the value of shares of Turkish companies bought by foreigners at the end of 2014 was $62 billion. This amount was around $33 billion in 2005. This means an increase of around 88 percent in 10 years.  In 2005, in the portfolio of foreigners, 24 percent of shares belonged to industry firms and their market value was $8 billion. When it was 2014, the value of foreigners’ shares in industry firms reached $15 billion; the share did not change.  The sector preferences of foreigners where they became partners to companies do not vary much from their preferences in the stock exchange market.  In 2014, shares belonging to foreigners were predominantly from the finance sector, while 52 percent of the portfolio was made up of banking shares. At the end of 2014, the amount of shares of the financial sector that belonged to foreigners was $32 billion, with a share of 52 percent. (Hurriyet Daily News)

International Women’s Day was celebrated in various cities around Turkey, with protests over violence against women being the common theme of events across the country.  A cortege of political parties, labor unions, trade bodies and women’s groups marched the Kadıköy district on Istanbul’s Asian side, chanting slogans of solidarity and holding banners. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Chair Pervin Buldan was present at the rally, wearing colorful clothes. Women holding pictures of slain women subjected to male violence protested the killings of women and the government’s policies towards women.  Apart from male members of the press, no men were allowed to enter the meeting area in Kadıköy. Many watched the events behind a security line where some danced traditional dances outside the square.   Özgecan Aslan, who was brutally murdered in the southern Turkish province of Mersin in early February, was also remembered in the mass rallies.  Istanbul University Bicycle Club members, in cooperation with the Beşiktaş Municipality, crossed the Bosphorus Bridge with their bikes, cycling for the safety of women in traffic.  Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Haznedar also accompanied the event with his bicycle, and said participants attended the event for all women in Turkey and for Özgecan Aslan. Meanwhile in Ankara, thousands of women from various NGO’s gathered at a central park, from where they marched carrying banners and calling on all to rise up against violence against women. In the Aegean city of İzmir, a choir of 8,000 women sang folk songs, while 5,000 women wearing traditional dancing dresses in the southern city of Antalya joined the İzmir meeting via live video link. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association (TÜSİAD) released a statement on Saturday regarding the March 8 International Women's Day, emphasizing the equality for women in every aspect of life. A visual including a keynote from the statement along with the association's current chair Cansen Başaran-Symes (middle) and two former female chairs whom had respectively served in 2010-2013 and 2007-2009 periods, Ümit Nazlı Boyner (left) and Arzuhan Doğan-Yalçındağ (right), was posted within the statement. "We invite everyone in business world, public sector and politics to give priority for social gender equality" the statement said. "We cannot fly with one wing." "We wish for equal representation in the parliament as the result of this year's parliamentary elections" the statement added, along with key issues of women's education and equal work environment. TÜSİAD also announced that it will support Sabancı University's "Business World against Domestic Violence" project, which aims to increase the awareness of business circles on domestic violence and adoption of corporate practices focused on the issue. (Daily Sabah)

The race for the title in the Spor Toto Super League might get closer this weekend when Fenerbahçe hosts archrival Galatasaray in an Istanbul derby March 8. Galatasaray tops the league standings with 51 points in 22 games, four points ahead of third-placed Fenerbahçe. Beşiktaş, in second spot with 48 points, will be travelling to Sivasspor to play a few hours before the derby. The Istanbul club’s players will be hoping to clinch a victory and watch their opponents beat up each other in the evening. Both Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray are highly-motivated for the game, to a point that the home team coach İsmail Kartal said, “I’m so fired up for the match I could go on the pitch and play.” “Everybody should know that Saraçoğlu is our temple, there is no way out,” Kartal told reporters.  “We will win this game with the energy our supporters give us. There is no team we will not beat when the supporters and the players become untied as a whole,” he said. Galatasaray will also try to beat the odds against Fenerbahçe. Although it has dominated the Istanbul derbies in the last four seasons, having won 12 of its last 21 games against Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş and losing only three, it has also lost 12 of its last 15 games at Fenerbahçe and drew three.  The last time Galatasaray won at Fenerbahçe away was Dec. 22, 1999, but coach Hamza Hamzaoğlu has set his eyes to break the jinx. “We will not play for a draw to maintain the points difference, Galatasaray is not such a team, we will be there for a victory,” daily Hürriyet quoted Hamzaoğlu as saying on March 6. Kartal will have to fix the problems in Fenerbahçe’s offensive line. The team lost 2-1 to Akhisar Belediye and was held to a 1-1 draw at Torku Konyaspor last week, with goals coming from midfielder Raul Meireles and defender Egemen Korkmaz. Forwards Moussa Sow, Emmanuel Emenike, Pierre Webo and Dirk Kuyt were silent in those matches, and coach Kartal is considering fielding Brazilian midfielder Diego Ribas in the starting lineup, according to reports. Away fans will not be allowed at Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium due to security concerns, but Galatasaray Chairman Duygun Yarsuvat and a group of board members are expected to be in the stadium. Also on March 8, fourth-placed Istanbul Başakşehir will host Torku Konyaspor, while Gaziantepspor travels to Karabükspor. In Week 23 games on March 7, cellar-dweller Balıkesirspor will take on Çaykur Rizespor at home, Bursaspor will hope to cut the gap between itself and the top four with a victory at Eskişehirspor and Kayseri Erciyesspor and Gençlerbirliği will clash at Kayseri. Trabzonspor will visit Mersin İdmanyurdu in the last game of Week 23 on March 9. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Thousands of people in Istanbul have marched to mark the first anniversary of the death of the youngest victim of the Gezi Park protests. Berkin Elvan was 14 when he was hit by a police teargas canister in Istanbul on June 16, 2013, as anti-government demonstrations swept Turkey. He turned 15 while still unconscious but failed to recover from his injuries and died two months after his birthday, on March 11, 2014. His death triggered nationwide protests in Turkey, as the policeman who shot him remains free. "Throughout the past 12 years that the AKP [Justice and Development Party] ruled the country, hundreds of kids, younger than 18, have been killed in the streets," Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said at the remembrance ceremony for Elvan at the Okmeydanı Cemevi on March 7. "The Prime Minister and the President of this country has never voiced their sorrow even for one of those kids," he added. After the ceremony, thousands of people walked to the spot where Elvan was reportedly shot when going to buy bread in the Okmeydanı neighborhood. They then marched to the cemetery. Police cordoned off the area, closing several streets to traffic, as mourners marched somberly with water cannons following them for a possible intervention. Berkin Elvan's mother and father told the story of their son's grave in a written statement on March 6, noting that the new marble and glass work, which has several references to the Gezi protests, has been crafted by artisans from all the regions of Turkey, including an Alevi, a Syriac Christian, an Armenian and a Jewish master. (Hürriet Daily News)

With International Women's Day approaching on Sunday, March 8, the Association for Education and Supporting Women Candidates (KA-DER) issued a report card for gender equality in government representation on Friday, giving Turkey's government failing scores. The organization reported that only 77 of 535 members of Parliament, two of 81 governors, one of 25 undersecretaries and three of 30 metropolitan municipality mayors are women. The report further noted Article 10 of the Constitution, which states: “Men and women have equal rights. The government is responsible for ensuring the implementation of this equality.” KA-DER criticized the state of Parliament, observing that only 14.39 percent of parliamentary deputies are women. KA-DER also drew attention to recent physical altercations that have taken place, stating, “This Parliament does not promote peace, equality, freedom, justice and tolerance but instead represents violence, rage, discrimination, fighting, cursing and insults.” The women's organization demanded that a Women and Men Equality Commission be established by the government to focus on and improve equality within the legal framework, and a constitutional provision guaranteeing a gender quota in Parliament. The organization wants the government to intervene in the sexist practices that take place within the assembly. “Even after being elected, women face an array of obstacles. The political sphere is still run with that mentality that politics are a man's job and continues to exclude women. In 43 districts in Turkey, there are no female parliamentary deputies. We expect the upcoming 2015 general elections to eliminate this shame,” stated Chairwoman Gönül Karahanoğlu in the press statement. KA-DER also noted, “Women in Turkey are not in decision-making positions, and they experience violence, including in representative roles.”

41.9 percent of women in Turkey abused

Furthermore, Bahçeşehir University revealed shocking statistics on the state of violence against women in Turkey to the press on Friday, sharing that 41.9 percent of women in Turkey have been subjected to violence at least once in their lives. The violence against women research analysis also stated that 50 percent of women that come from lower economic classes are subjected to violence. The report indicated that the situation is worst for women in northeastern Turkey, with 57.1 percent of women being subjected to physical or sexual violence. The region with the lowest percentage of women sexually and physically abused was the western Marmara region, with 26.2 percent falling victim to abuse. The report stated that 39.4 percent of women in İstanbul are victimized. Sociology professor Dr. Nilüfer Narlı of Bahçeşehir University shared in a press statement that even Turkish idioms promote violence against women. These idioms are used widely in Turkey, according to Narlı, and put abusers in a righteous and culturally accepted position. “Thus,” she stated, “nearly 60 percent of women who have faced violence see their husband's actions as right. They accept these attacks and, with time, identify with it [become accustomed to the abuse].” (Today's Zaman)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said it would be “felicitous and propitious” if former President Abdullah Gül declares his candidacy to run in the upcoming general elections scheduled for June 7, as sources said the two founders of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would soon meet to discuss the issue.  “I think such a decision by him would be felicitous and propitious,” Erdoğan said in Ankara on March 6, responding to a reporter’s question about Gül’s probable candidacy.  “The issue of the candidacy is at his own discretion,” Erdoğan said, adding that he had spoken with Gül last week about his father’s illness, wishing him a speedy recovery. Gül had earlier hinted that he would make a comeback to the political “movement that he had helped launch.” Bülent Arınç, the deputy prime minister who is also among the AKP’s founders, said Erdoğan’s remarks were a “light of hope.” Speaking in a televised interview on private broadcaster NTV, Arınç said it would be wise to invite Gül back to the party, but he does “not think we are at such a point yet.” He also said he would like to see Gül return in the role of parliamentary speaker.  Sources told Hürriyet that a number of senior members of the AKP had asked Erdoğan during a recent meeting to convince Gül return to the party, to which Erdoğan responded neither negatively nor positively.  Both men fixed a meeting for the upcoming days in a recent phone call, sources said, adding that Gül would expect an open invitation from Davutoğlu before taking action.  Rumors of Gül’s return to the AKP ahead of the June elections were rejected most recently in February by AKP spokesperson Beşir Atalay.  It is “too early” for former President Gül to be nominated as a parliamentary candidate in the June elections, Davutoğlu had also said in February. “I met with him [Gül] last week. Our president is also talking with him, but there has not been such a request. It is too early for the issue to be discussed right now. There has not been any request or suggestion about it,” he said at the time. The AKP members who want Gül back in the party say he could act as a “wise person” and “build links between the past and the future of the party.” He could also contribute to the ongoing talks to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue and mediate in any split of opinions between the president and the prime minister.  AKP sources close to Gül suggested that the former president would not seek a seat in the cabinet after the elections and he would not run to take over the leadership of the party in a congress.  “If things go badly in the party, Gül could appear as an alternative and he may get a position, but this is a very long-term look. It is not an issue of today,” one source said.  The AKP was founded in 2001 by members of a number of existing conservative parties, winning the 2002 elections. Gül became the prime minister after the landslide victory, as Erdoğan was still banned from taking the seat. However, after the government abolished the ban in March 2003, Erdoğan became the prime minister, served by Gül as foreign minister and deputy prime minister until 2007, before the latter became president.  Gül left the post once again to Erdoğan after the latter became Turkey’s first president to be elected in a public vote in August 2014.   While he was still in office in April last year, Gül said a “Vladimir Putin–Dmitry Medvedev formula,” involving the shifting of seats between the prime minister and the president, “would not be an implementation that suits democracy.” (Hürriyet Daily News)  

The Turkish lira hit fresh record lows on Friday after strong US jobs data raised the specter of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) raising interest rates by mid-year and efforts by Turkish politicians to ease the pressure on the currency failed. The lira fell to an historic low of 2.6474 against the US dollar on Friday. The lira was already hurt by investors' fears of political interference in monetary policy and by general jitters about emerging markets that face headwinds from a resurgent dollar. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's strident criticism of the central bank's monetary policy has unnerved investors who fear the weakness of the lira will boost inflation further. The lira slipped 0.2 percent and is down 10 percent this year. Elsewhere, the dollar rose to an 11-year high against the world's major currencies and US bond yields jumped on Friday, as US jobs figures reinforced expectations the Fed will push ahead with its first rate hike in almost a decade. Payroll data showed US companies added 295,000 jobs in February, well above forecasts for an increase of 240,000. It was the longest run of 200,000-plus increases since 1994. The main stock index Borsa İstanbul (BIST) lost 0.44 percent to 80,431 points, while the benchmark 10-year bond yield eased to 8.15 percent from 8.19 percent at Thursday's close. On Friday, Turkish politicians, including Erdoğan, rushed to ease the tension in markets. These, however, failed to avert the lira's freefall. “One shouldn't say anything to the central bank from now on,” Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said in Ankara on Friday. Arınç said threatening the central bank and intervening in its policies is “not right,” adding doubts created over the central bank may have stirred the lira's fall. On Friday, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy chair responsible for the economy, Selin Sayek Böke, referred to the current decline in the lira's value to an ongoing currency devaluation. “The president is interfering in markets with speculative remarks to benefit from the depreciation in the lira. … We saw similar political interventions back in the 1990s,” Böke said in her written statement on Friday. Earlier on Friday, the lira eased off new record lows after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in New York that he had spoken with the central bank about the currency's weakness and all necessary steps would be taken. Davutoğlu has been meeting bankers and fund managers in New York, along with Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, in an effort to soothe investor concerns over central bank independence and persistent lira weakness. Davutoğlu told reporters in New York that he had spoken with Turkish Central Bank Governor Erdem Başçı about the lira's weakness and "every kind of measure" on the issue would be taken if necessary. He did not elaborate. "Turkey has one single agenda. … The unstoppable depreciation of the lira has now become the single biggest problem of every citizen and every private company," İstanbul Analytics economists wrote in a research note. Erdoğan said on Friday that he would hold talks with Başçı and Babacan after the lira's decline to record lows. Speaking to reporters in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said an "interest rate lobby," an ill-defined group he has accused of trying to sabotage Turkey's economy through higher rates, was at work in the lira's slide. "There is the known work of the interest rate lobby and the latest developments are completely due to dollar-euro moves," Erdoğan said. "Those who invest excessively in the dollar may end up being stranded." He said both Başçı and Babacan had requested talks with him and that they would meet after Babacan returns from New York. (Today's Zaman)