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Business Daily: Turkey

14/06/2013

Turkey

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Turkey

Will tear gas on the streets of Istanbul disperse investors as well as protestors?

Turkey's economy has been booming in recent years. But will the protests of recent weeks derail that in the short-term?

Nkem Ifejika visits Finansbank, Turkey's fifth largest private bank, to meet Inan Demir, its chief economist. He says many Turks have benefited from their country's stable growth of recent years, but now they want democratic as well as economic freedom. And foreign investors, who have been responsible for much of Turkey's growth, are watching the political situation closely.

Turkey's small businesses account for 99 per cent of all enterprises. Of those who have jobs, four out of five work in small firms. At fish and spice markets on either side of the Bosphorus, traders are optimistic that despite a sharp drop in business in recent weeks, the situation will soon return to normal.

But in and around Taksim square, where most of the protests have taken place, restaurants and hotels are suffering from a steep drop in tourist trade.

Haluk Kaptanoglu, a managing partner with international accountancy firm BDO, tells Nkem the protests could seriously damage investor confidence if they continued for many more weeks, but he does not believe that will happen.

And Osman Akyuz, from the Participation Banks' Association of Turkey, or TKBB,  tells Nkem about Turkey's ambition to become a global centre for Islamic finance.

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