Turkey tries to revive flailing southeast regional economy

ISTANBUL (AP) – Businessmen from Turkey’s overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast called yesterday for special industrial zones to boost the region’s economy and prevent a revival of separatist violence. Turkish and US officials agreed earlier this week to work on setting up industrial zones in Turkey which would be able to export goods to the USA without tariffs or quotas. At least one zone would likely be in the southeast, which has suffered 15 years of armed struggle between Turkish troops and autonomy-minded Kurdish rebels. The head of the region’s leading business group, Bedrettin Karaboga, said the southeast needs these zones more than anywhere else in Turkey. «If qualified industrial zones aren’t set up here, to give the southeast’s economy some breathing space, then a revival of terror and a social explosion are inescapable,» he said at a meeting in the city of Sanliurfa. The southeast is one of Turkey’s poorest regions. Per capita income in provinces under emergency rule is less than half Turkey’s national average of around $2,300. «Businessmen who haven’t been able to produce for 16 years because of the scourge of terror don’t want to face the same problems again,» Karaboga said. Fighting in the region has died down since 1999, but clashes continue. Four provinces are still under emergency rule, which means governors can impose curfews, ban rallies and stop demonstrations. A government plan to end a recession saw the economy shrink some 8.5 percent last year with an estimated 1.5 million layoffs, hasn’t addressed the southeast. Turkey and Iran, blessed with the world’s second biggest natural gas reserves after Russia, are keen to forge a link with Greece to tap into the EU’s huge market. Greece has already slated EU funds to extend its network to Italy. Greece currently pumps some 3 billion cubic meters annually from its northern pipeline, a joint Greek-Russian venture, into the country. During a visit to Greece late last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to increase the capacity to 6 billion cubic meters, Agrafiotis said. But he estimated Greek domestic natural gas needs to top 7.5 billion cubic meters per year in the coming years. He said the Greek-Turkish pipeline would pump through an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters for domestic consumption but would also be used to transit gas to Italy.