ANKARA: Turkey is to lift the two-year-old state of emergency next week on July 18. The much-awaited decision was made during the first Cabinet meeting of the new executive presidential system on Friday.
Emergency rule has been renewed seven times since it was imposed in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in July 2016.
The state of emergency gave Parliament increased powers to pass new laws, and suspend rights and freedoms.
Under the measures, more than 110,000 public-sector employees allegedly affiliated with the Fethullah Gulen network and terrorist organizations have been removed from their posts, while more than 1,300 associations have been closed.
Turkish business organizations have been calling for the end of the emergency rule to normalize the country’s international relations and preserve its reputation.
The EU has also criticized Turkey, claiming that many civil and political rights were curtailed.
Whether the decision will re-energize Turkey’s relationship with the EU, which has dropped to an all-time low over recent years, remains to be seen.
Foreign investors in Turkey also criticized the emergency rule, saying it deterred direct investment to the country, which is in desperate need of cash flow.
In a press conference following Friday’s decision, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that if Turkey faced another threat, the state of emergency might be reintroduced.
The lifting of the two-year emergency rule was among promises Recep Tayyip Erdogan made during his election campaign.
Laura Batalla, secretary-general of European Parliament’s Turkey Forum, a cross-party non-partisan discussion platform, said the lifting of the state of emergency was a positive step toward normalizing relations between Turkey and the EU.
“While this move has been long overdue, we expect a renewed commitment from the Turkish government to improve the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms in the country,” she told Arab News.
Batalla also noted that an improvement in this area could lead to an unfreezing of negotiations on the modernization of the Customs Union as well as improving the overall climate of relations between Turkey and the EU.
Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, said the lifting of emergency rule would be welcomed by foreign investors.
“But the vulnerabilities of the Turkish economy have in the meantime deepened. And more structural measures are urgently needed to restore confidence,” he told Arab News.
According to Ulgen, the lifting of emergency rule is a necessary but insufficient step forward.
“Much of the same can be said with respect to Turkey’s relations with the EU. The lifting of the emergency rule is a positive development that urgently needs to be coupled with other reform measures,” he said.
Turkey to lift emergency rule on July 18
Turkey to lift emergency rule on July 18
- More than 110,000 public-sector employees allegedly affiliated with the Fethullah Gulen network and terrorist organizations have been removed from their posts
- The EU has also criticized Turkey, claiming that many civil and political rights were curtailed
Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine
- The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030
- The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium
ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
