Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan
Turkey’s president on Saturday marked the anniversary of the Battle of Malazgirt, a historic victory for the Turks in Anatolia nearly a millennium ago, praising Turkish people’s determination to protect their independence.
The Battle of Malazgirt (or Manzikert) on Aug. 26, 1071 saw Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Alparslan defeat a Byzantine army and open up Anatolia for Turkish domination.
In a written message, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “Defying a host of attacks from inside and out, our people have clung to this soil for almost 1,000 years thanks to the soul of Malazgirt.”
Turkey’s biggest safeguard is the “determination of our people to protect their independence, their motherland, and their future,” even in the face of economic attacks, he added.
Erdogan drew parallels between the struggles of the Battle of Malazgirt and the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Turkey, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
“As long as this soul -- which made us take the Malazgirt victory and makes it possible to protect our unity despite our differences -- is kept alive, nobody can hold back our country from reaching its goals for 2023, 2053, and 2071,” he added, referring to Turkey's centenary and the 600th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, as well as Malazgirt.
Turkey has set specific goals and targets that include major improvements in the economy, energy, healthcare, and transportation for 2023.
Erdogan also released a separate message honoring Victory Week, which marks two key historical victories by Turkish forces: the Battle of Malazgirt and Great Offensive of Aug. 26, 1922, which saw invading Greek forces' eventual defeat at the hands of the Turkish army.
He lauded the Great Offensive -- the biggest military operation of the Turkish War of Independence -- as a “milestone in the struggle for independence.”
“Our beloved people protected their national and spiritual values at the cost of their lives throughout history,” he wrote.
The 96th Victory Day on Aug. 30 commemorates Turkey's victory in the Battle of Dumlupinar, in the Aegean province of Kutahya, part of the Great Offensive.
The attractiveness of Turkey rebounded especially for European tourists in 2018, the CEO of Turkish-German carrier SunExpress says."We clearly see that there is a big rebound in Turkish tourism and the attractiveness of Turkey, especially in the eyes of European tourists is clearly coming up and very strong again," Jens Bischof told Anadolu Agency.He added that the number of passengers the company carried to [the southern holiday resort city of] Antalya rose 30-35 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2018."So 2017 was the record year [for SunExpress] and 2018 is going even better," he said. "And also if we look into the early stages of tourism in 2019, so my prospects are very positive for the upcoming period."Recalling that 2016/2017 was a challenging year for the Turkish tourism sector, Bischof said the company had full confidence in not only the development but also in the recovery of the sector."Despite all the uncertainties and challenges, 2017 was a record breakout year for SunExpress," he noted.The company carried 8.8 million passengers last year, the majority of whom traveled to Turkey's touristic destinations, Bischof said.He added that the company has a great confidence in the market therefore had already ordered 50 aircraft in 2014."We will place majority of these aircraft here in the country," he said.Commending Turkey's "extremely well developed" infrastructure, Bischof said business opportunities in the country were vast and rich."I like the business mentality and business environment that I found here. One major contributing factor is that you find a very young population in Turkey, the labor force is very well educated," he said.Bischof said investors can be successful when they understand the market well."And also have to live little bit with the volatility and the cycles which we experienced in the market. But if you happen to do so, it can be very successful and certainly very exciting to work in Turkey," he noted.Bischof recommended that investors who are interested in Turkey not place their investment decision in the hands of desktop research.“Come here, look at this country, environment, infrastructure and create your own perspective. Because I believe if you do so you will gain trust to place investments in Turkey,” he said.Antalya-based SunExpress was founded as a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa in 1989. The carrier flies to around 80 destinations in more than 20 countries in Europe, Asia and North Africa.In terms of capacity, SunExpress is the biggest leisure carrier serving touristic parts of Turkey and Anatolia, Bischof stated.He said that the airline was named 5th best leisure airline in the world and best leisure airline in Turkey by Skytrax in 2018.
German CEO sees rebound in Turkish tourism sector
The privilege of some currencies can be cut by utilizing the tools of digital economy, Turkish Technology and Industry Minister Mustafa Varank said on Friday."With the tools of digital economy, we can find ways for implementing a payment and exchange system free from political interventions. This way, we can also break the privilege of some currencies," Varank said during his speech at the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting in the northern Argentine province of Salta.Varank noted that the world is at the beginning of unprecedented changes."Digital economy is becoming the trigger of [the] new industrial and financial revolution," he said."Countries that promote [an] innovative, integrated and data-driven public sector would be the stars of the digital age," he added.Citing that the trade wars were shaping the whole global agenda, Varank said no one wins a trade war."Two weeks ago, Turkey, unintentionally became a part of the war. As a result, we saw some volatilities in our currency which had no rational macro-economic base," Varank said.He noted that the country dealt successfully with attack thanks to "well-planned and decisive steps" the government has taken."My point is here that, this happened to Turkey and the risk stands for all the countries, they might face the similar situation," he warned.
Turkish minister promotes digital economy