Turkey, seeking to speed up its entry into the European Union (EU) and to satisfy its huge public sector borrowing requirement, is moving ahead with its massive privatisation programme, inviting bids for its oil refineries company, tobacco concern, banks and other state enterprises. Major state companies, long-protected from outside influence, are at last being offered to foreign investors.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist government is also preparing to carry out new reforms that will further align Turkey’s political system with the 15 members of the union. These reforms include granting rights to minorities to establish private radio and television channels to broadcast in their mother language, and reducing the military’s entrenched role in Turkish politics.
