Why markets are worried about suddenly cold Turkey

NEW YORK — Why are investors around the world so worried about Turkey's economy, when it's smaller than Florida's? Because of the possibility that somebody bigger will be next.

Investors have been pulling out of Turkey's markets, sending its stock market and currency plunging. That's making debt that Turkish companies owe in dollar terms even more expensive to pay back, which only further weakens the country's financial system.

Turkish companies need to pay close to 5.80 lira for each $1 of debt that they owe, for example, up from 3.79 lira at the start of the year.

The big fear, though, is that the distress could spill over into other emerging markets and cause a cascading wave of losses as investors pull out of other countries that borrow heavily in dollars and are dependent on foreign investors. Argentina? Brazil? South Africa?

Such a thing has happened before. A financial crisis that began in 1997 after Thailand devalued its currency eventually sent markets reeling across the region in what became known as the Asian financial crisis.

Stoking the concerns is the rising US dollar and a Federal Reserve that has pledged to continue raising short-term interest rates. Such moves have historically coincided with pain for emerging market stocks. When US rates are higher, investors feel less need to head to emerging markets in search of higher returns.

Many analysts along Wall Street, though, say they don't expect another Asian financial crisis. Turkey has borrowed much more in foreign currencies than any other country, as a percentage of its economy, and investors question how much authority its central bank has to raise interest rates.

Emerging-market economies broadly are also in much better shape than 20 years ago, with stronger currency reserves, say strategists at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

"Turkey is both more exposed and less able to do something about it than any other country," says Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network.

source: philstar.com

Suicide bomber kills four, wounds 36 in Istanbul shopping district

ISTANBUL - A suicide bomber killed four people on Saturday in a busy shopping district in the heart of Istanbul, pushing the death toll from four separate suicide attacks in Turkey this year to more than 80.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the blast was "inhumane" and would not stop Turkey, which has been targeted by Kurdish and Islamic State militants, from fighting "centers of terrorism".

Israel said two of its citizens died in the attack, Washington said two Americans had been killed and a Turkish official said one victim was Iranian, suggesting that some of the dead may have had dual nationality.

The blast, which also wounded at least 36 people, was a few hundred meters from an area where police buses are often stationed. It sent panicked shoppers scurrying into alleys off Istiklal Street, a long pedestrian avenue lined with international stores and foreign consulates.

"There is information that it is an attack carried out by an ISIS member, but this is preliminary information, we are still checking it," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters, using another name for Islamic State.

He said a third Israeli may have died. Israel also said 11 of its citizens had been wounded while Ireland said "a number" of Irish were hurt.

The attack will raise further questions about the ability of NATO member Turkey to protect itself against a spillover of violence from the war in neighboring Syria.

Turkey is battling a widening Kurdish insurgency in its southeast, which it sees as fueled by the territorial gains of Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria, and has also blamed some of the recent bombings on Islamic State militants who crossed from its southern neighbor.

"No center of terrorism will reach its aim with such monstrous attacks," Davutoglu said in a written statement. "Our struggle will continue with the same resolution and determination until terrorism ends completely."

Three suspects

Germany had shut its diplomatic missions and schools on Thursday, citing a specific threat. US and other European embassies had warned their citizens to be vigilant ahead of Newroz celebrations this weekend, a spring festival largely marked by Kurds that has turned violent in the past.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Two senior officials said the attack could have been carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fighting for Kurdish autonomy in the southeast, or by an Islamic State militant.

A PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in the capital Ankara over the past month which killed 66 people. Islamic State was blamed for a suicide bombing in Istanbul in January which killed at least 12 German tourists.

One of the officials said Saturday's bomber, who also died in the blast, had planned to hit a more crowded location but was deterred by the police presence.

"The attacker detonated the bomb before reaching the target point because they were scared of the police," the official said, declining to be named as the investigation is ongoing.

Another official said investigations were focusing on three possible suspects, all of them male and two of them from the southern city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border. There was no further confirmation of this.

Armed police sealed off the shopping street where half a dozen ambulances gathered. Forensic teams in white suits searched for evidence as police helicopters buzzed overhead.

"I saw a body on the street. No one was treating him but then I saw someone who appeared to be a regular citizen trying to do something to the body. That was enough for me and I turned and went back," one resident told Reuters.

Istiklal Street, usually thronged with shoppers at weekends, was quieter than normal as more people are staying home after a series of deadly bombings.

Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said 36 people had been wounded, seven of them in serious condition. At least 24 of the wounded were foreigners, according to Istanbul's governor.

International condemnation

Turkey is still in shock from a suicide car bombing last Sunday at a crowded transport hub in the capital Ankara which killed 37 people and a similar bombing in Ankara last month in which 29 died. A PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for both.

The latest attack brought widespread condemnation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on an official visit to Istanbul, said it showed "the ugly face of terrorism". France condemned it as "despicable and cowardly".

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg described it as "another terrorist outrage against innocent civilians", while the U.S. State Department said it was the latest "indefensible violence targeting innocent people throughout Turkey".

The Kurdish-rooted opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) condemned the bombing. The PKK's umbrella group said it opposed targeting civilians and condemned attacks on them.

A 2-1/2-year PKK ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence in the southeast since the 1990s. Hundreds have since died.

Separately, a police officer and a soldier died in clashes with militants in the southeastern city of Nusaybin, security sources said.

In its armed campaign in Turkey, the PKK has historically struck directly at the security forces but recent bombings suggest it could be shifting tactics.

At the height of the PKK insurgency in the 1990s, the Newroz festival often saw clashes between Kurdish protesters and security forces. (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun, Asli Kandemir, Humeyra Pamuk, Daren Butler, Parisa Hafezi in Turkey, John Irish in Paris, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin and Idrees Ali in Washington)

source: interaksyon.com

G20 SUMMIT | Paris attacks, Syria divide reshape world leaders' agenda

ANTALYA, Turkey - World leaders joined a heavily-guarded summit in Turkey on Sunday to forge a united front against jihadist violence after the Paris gun and bomb assaults but facing stark divisions over conflict-riven Syria.

US President Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin of Russia, China's President Xi Jinping and other leaders gathered at the Mediterranean resort ofAntalya two days after the Paris attacks claimed byIslamic State jihadists that killed at least 129 people.

The Paris killings darkened the mood of the summit of the Group of 20 top world economies, with security and the Syrian conflict now eclipsing an economic agenda that will also deal with the spreading refugee crisis, climate change and tax avoidance.

Several sources told AFP that the leaders were working on a rare separate statement to denounce the Paris attacks and terrorism, urged on by host President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said the summit agenda was now "very different" given the massacre in Paris.

"We need to lead an international fight within a coalition against collective acts of terrorism," Erdogansaid on the eve of the summit after meeting withChina's Xi, who described terrorism as "a common enemy of humanity".

The gathering, which will take place without French leader Francois Hollande who remains home to lead his shaken country, offers the first possibility of a meeting between Obama and Putin since Russia launched its own air campaign in Syria.

The West suspects the Russian bombardment is aimed at propping up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a difference that risks driving a wedge through the summit, which officially kicks off at midday Sunday (1000 GMT).

The White House has said no formal summit is so far scheduled between the pair, whose icy body language at previous encounters has grabbed as many headlines as their comments.

Erdogan wants to use the summit to cement his status as a global leader after winning a resounding victory in an election last month, held three weeks after a twin suicide bombing in Ankara that killed 102 people and was blamed on Islamic State militants.

But while even Putin and Obama are likely to have no trouble standing together in shared abhorrence of terrorism, overcoming differences on Syria will prove far trickier.

Heightened security

All musical events, including at the official dinner on Sunday night, have been cancelled as a mark of respect for the Paris victims and Turkish state media said the already tight security at the summit was stepped up.

The leaders will probably struggle to find common ground over the Syria crisis, with host Turkey deeply opposed to Russia's air strikes and finding only a lukewarm reaction so far to its proposal for a safe zone free of Islamic State jihadists to be created inside Syria as a haven for refugees.

"I pray and hope that G20 will provide a platform whereby all of these issues can be discussed openly and then we can understand each other," Erdogan said.

Top diplomats gathered in Vienna on Saturday agreed a fixed calendar for Syria that would see a transition government in six months and elections in 18 months but failed to agree on the future of Assad.

Yet officials in Antalya have insisted that they will not allow terrorism to derail the summit.

The refugee crisis is a key topic, with host Turkey housing some 2.2 million Syrian refugees from the conflict but the European Union wanting Ankara to do more to prevent migrants undertaking risky boat crossings to the EU.

Discussions on climate change will assume greater importance than usual coming just ahead of a UN conference in Paris that aims to agree a legally binding global climate treaty.

Other key guests at the summit include Saudi King Salman, whose delegation according to the Hurriyet daily has booked 546 hotel rooms at a cost of up to 15,000 euros ($16,115) each and hired 400 luxury cars.

Focus beyond economies

Although the G20 usually focuses on economic issues, the fight against terrorism was already expected to be on the agenda. The summit comes two weeks after a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula.

It also comes just over a month after two suspected Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up at a peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara, killing more than 100 people in the worst such attack in the country.

Events such as the attacks in Paris made it crucial for the world's top economies to stand shoulder to shoulder at the summit, China's vice finance minister said.

"We must work together, we must enhance our solidarity," Zhu Guangyou told a news conference in the coastal resort of Belek, where leaders began gathering for the summit.

Speaking in Vienna, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was growing consensus among global powers that they had to work together to confront Islamic State.

Turkey's battles

The G20 summit takes place just 500 km (310 miles) from Syria, where a 4-1/2-year conflict has transformed Islamic State militants into a global security threat and spawned Europe's largest migration flows since World War Two.

Erdogan condemned the Paris killings and pointed to Turkey's own long battle with domestic security threats, which include its fight with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in its southeast and recent bomb attacks linked to Islamic State.

Ankara sees a growing threat to its security from radical Islamists. Security sources said the Turkish army killed four Islamic State militants when they came under attack from across the Syrian border on Saturday. One official said the frequency of such attacks was on the rise.

Turkish officials said Erdogan would push in bilateral meetings with leaders including Obama for more coordinated and decisive action against Islamic State in Syria.

But he would also emphasize Turkey's opposition to U.S. support for Kurdish rebels who are fighting the radical Sunni insurgents, they said. Turkey says these rebels have close ties to the PKK, considered a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union as well as by Ankara.

"Terrorism has no nationality or religion. All terrorism is bad, we must leave aside the feeling that our terrorist is bad and your terrorist is good," Erdogan said.

NATO-member Turkey opened its air bases in July to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, but critics say it woke up late to the threat.

Following January's attacks in Paris by gunmen on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the wife of one of the gunmen fled through Turkey to IS-controlled Syria.

Turkey stepped up its fight against Islamic State in July, but the campaign has largely seen air strikes and military action against PKK fighters in Turkey and northern Iraq.

On Friday night Turkish jets pounded PKK targets in northern Iraq, where the group's headquarters are located.

Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition HDP, said the Paris attacks were a result of the world's failure to deal with Islamic State (ISIL).

"The world, including Turkey, has not undertaken an effective, coordinated effort against ISIL. Just the opposite, everyone used ISIL, or elements within it, for their own interests," he said at an event in Istanbul.

source: interaksyon.com

At least 30 dead in 'terrorist' attack on Ankara peace rally

ANKARA - At least 30 people were killed Saturday in twin explosions in Turkey's capital Ankara, targeting activists gathering for a peace rally organized by leftist and pro-Kurdish opposition groups.

Corpses of activists were seen strewn across the ground after the blasts, with the banners they had been holding lying next to them.

At least 30 people were killed and 126 wounded, the interior ministry said in a statement giving the first official toll.

"We curse and condemn this atrocious attack taking aim at our democracy and our country's peace," the statement said.

A Turkish government official told AFP that the authorities "suspect that there is a terrorist connection," without giving further details.

There were scenes of chaos after the blast, as ambulances searched for the wounded and police cordoned off the area.

"We heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station," said Ahmet Onen, 52.

"A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre, I don’t understand this," he said, in floods of tears.

Turkish police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators angered by the deaths of their fellow activists from the scene, an AFP correspondent said.

Amateur footage broadcast by NTV television showed smiling activists holding hands and dancing and then falling to the ground as the huge explosion went off behind them.

Initial reports spoke of a single explosion but Turkish media said later there had been two separate blasts in short sequence.

The authorities were exploring the possibility that the blasts could have been caused by a suicide bomber, the official Anatolia news agency said.

'Barbaric attack'

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had been briefed over the blast by Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Anatolia said.

"We are investigating the explosion and will share our findings with the public as soon as possible," a Turkish official told AFP, without giving further details.

The area was to have hosted an anti-government peace rally organized by several leftist groups later in the day, including the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed," said the HDP's leader Selahattin Demirtas.

The attack comes with Turkey on edge ahead of November 1 polls and a wave of unrest over the past few months.

An attack in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc on July 20 targeting pro-HDP activists and blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists killed 32 people and wounded a hundred others.

The militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) accused Ankara of collaborating with IS and resumed attacks on the Turkish security forces after observing a two-year ceasefire.

Over 140 members of the security forces have since been killed while Ankara claims to have killed over 1,700 Kurdish militants in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.

There had been suggestions that the PKK was about to announce a new ceasefire to help the HDP boost its score in the upcoming election.

The HDP performed strongly in the last vote on June 7, winning 80 seats to deprive President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of an outright majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002.

The AKP then failed to form a coalition in months of talks, prompting Erdogan -- who had been hoping for a large majority to push through reforms to boost his powers -- to call another election on November 1.

The office of Davutoglu said that he had cancelled election campaigning for the next three days.

He was to host a meeting of top officials, including powerful spy chief Hakan Fidan, in the early afternoon to discuss the attack.

source: interaksyon.com

Calm comes to Ferguson on Thanksgiving

FERGUSON, Mo. -- A peaceful Ferguson came together Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving and recover from violent protests that erupted when a police officer was not charged in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager.

Armed National Guard troops and humvees with US flags hoisted on their antennae at the shopping mall and boarded-up stores were the only outward sign of the turbulence of recent days.

There were no protesters or police on the streets of the St Louis suburb, which reeled from Monday's decision by a Missouri grand jury not to charge a white policeman who shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9.

Residents kept out of the cold, spending the holiday with friends and family, attending church services and beautifying boarded-up stores.

"I believe God enough to know we will rebuild," said Reverend Carlton Lee, the pastor at Flood Christian Church, which was burnt beyond repair during the violence on Monday.

He spoke at a service at the nearby Wellspring Church, saying he had received death threats and was devastated to watch the building go up in flames.

But life would carry on, Lee said.

Sunday service will be held in a heated tent in the parking lot and the church, where Brown's father reportedly worshipped, set up an online appeal for $50,000 to rebuild. So far, it has attracted $2,000.

Free turkey and pumpkin pie

Wellspring offered a free traditional Thanksgiving lunch of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie to members of the community and a diverse group of Christians from nearby parishes who came to express support.

"We do this every year but right now with the Ferguson unrest, it just brings the community together," said volunteer server Rhonda Johnson.

"The important thing is for people who have been to Ferguson, and who have shopped in Ferguson, and who have been part of Ferguson, to keep doing that," said fellow volunteer and local journalist Alvin Reid.

Anger over the grand jury verdict and Brown's killing is still palpable, and protesters have all vowed to continue demonstrating until justice is served.

"I don't know what's going to happen, I really don't. I think time heals all wounds but how much time it's going to take, I don't know," said Reid.

Many say they can never accept the grand jury decision that Officer Darren Wilson shot Brown in lawful self-defense after an altercation. In total, 12 shots were fired.

Wellspring pastor Willis Johnson said the community still felt great disappointment and mistrust, but was quietly optimistic that healing would come.

"We thought more than anything that people needed to come out and come together," Johnson told AFP as diners tucked into lunch. "It was imperative."

His church has provided medical respite, counseling and help to members of the community traumatized by the decision and the unrest.

'People were helped'
"Monday was very, very hectic at times for the staff -- very frightening because of the large crowds and the activity outside," Johnson said.

"We saw the movement of the masses past our church, we heard the gunshots," he said. For a period, he could not get into the area because of a lockdown.

"It was a very stressful time but a lot of people were helped," he said.

Down the road, families and children painted cheery scenes on the boarded-up windows of a row of shops before going home for Thanksgiving dinner.

"UNLESS someone LIKE YOU cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better," they painted next to a festive scene on a dental practice.

On a Chinese restaurant, children were painting a dragon.

"Seeing all this plywood was making us feel pretty down about it and putting the paint on there is just going to do something better," said Lou Bailey, 37, a project manager for a large company.

He said a home-school group of 10 families had swapped lessons for community work in recent days, sweeping away broken glass and beautifying shop fronts.

"Maybe ... here in the community we can rebuild relationships and create lasting friendships, which in turn is going to change a lot in the long run," he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Summit of Islamic nations opens in Cairo

CAIRO - The 12th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation opened in Cairo on Wednesday, with Syria's civil war and the battle against Islamist militants in Mali topping the agenda.

The meeting gathers the leaders of 26 of the OIC's 57 states, including the presidents of Iran and Turkey.

Senegalese President Macky Sall gave the opening remarks, making his last address before handing the OIC's rotating presidency to Egypt's first Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi.

He urged the summit to support the sovereignty of Mali, threatened by "terrorist groups" who are committing "crimes" against the Malian people.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama 'pardons' 2 turkeys

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama "pardoned" two turkeys Wednesday ahead of the annual Thanksgiving holiday, when Americans dine on millions of the fattened fowl.

"They say that life is all about second chances," Obama told reporters gathered at the White House Rose Garden for the yearly ceremony. "This November I could not agree more."

The symbolic reprieve means the lucky birds -- Cobbler and understudy Gobbler -- won't end up on the dinner table but will instead live out their days in a custom-made enclosure on George Washington's estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia, the White House said.

Both are 19 weeks old and weigh about 40 pounds (18 kilos).

Their names were chosen from submissions by elementary schools and, for the first time this year, the US public was able to pick which of the two would become the "2012 National Thanksgiving Turkey" by casting a vote on the White House Facebook page.

"The American people have spoken and these birds are moving forward," said Obama, just back from a tour of Asia, in a nod both to the social media poll and his 2012 re-election campaign slogan.

In a further reference to his recent White House win on November 6, Obama joked that Nate Silver of the New York Times -- who in astounding detail had correctly predicted his victory against Republican rival Mitt Romney -- had also foretold which turkeys would be pardoned.

"I joke but for the first time in our history, the winners of the White House turkey pardon were chosen through a highly competitive online vote," he said.

"And once again, Nate Silver completely nailed it. This guy's amazing. He predicted that these guys would win."

The annual tradition dates back to former president John F. Kennedy.

While daughters Sasha and Malia looked on, Obama performed the pardon in an almost pontifical manner with a sign of the cross.

While Sasha gave Cobbler a quick pet on the back feathers, Malia shook her head and refused.

Thanksgiving was first celebrated by pilgrims who fled religious persecution in England. For many Americans, it has become a family-oriented day marked with an enormous meal that centers around roast turkey, an assortment of side dishes and a slice or two of pie.

Wednesday's pardon takes place amid criticism from animal rights group PETA, which urged Obama not to maintain the tradition.

"It makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds and portrays the United States' president as being in some sort of business partnership with the turkey-killing industry," it said in a letter.

"Turkeys do not need to be 'pardoned.' They are not guilty of anything other than being born into a world of prejudice."

Shortly before the turkey pardoning ceremony, PETA demonstrators dressed as turkeys staged a protest outside the White House holding signs that read "Gobble veggies, not turkeys" and "Pardon all the turkeys."

As in years past since 2009, the president and his family will do some community service on Wednesday afternoon before celebrating the holiday on Thursday.

source: interaksyon.com

A Pinoy Thanksgiving feast at SM City North EDSA

MANILA, Philippines - Thank God, it’s Thanksgiving Day! In the US, where this cherished tradition began as far back as the 1800s, families gather around the table on a nippy fourth Thursday of November to share a heartwarming Thanksgiving dinner and to give thanks for the countless blessings from above. Inarguably the star of the Thanksgiving table is the iconic turkey.

In the Philippines, Thanksgiving Day takes on a new flavor. And SM City North EDSA makes the day even more special for Filipino families with its assorted food offerings that delight the heart and the belly. Taking center stage in this truly Pinoy Thanksgiving feast is our very own lechon that adds color — and bite — to the celebration.

Happy Thanksgiving Day! Happy eating!

source: philstar.com

Fighting in southeastern Turkey leaves 19 dead, report says

(CNN) -- Fighting between Kurdish rebels and government troops in southeastern Turkey killed more than a dozen people over the weekend, according to the semi-official Anatolia news agency.

Six soldiers, two village guards and 11 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, were killed when the rebels attacked a military station in the village of Gecimli in Hakkari province late Saturday night, the agency said.

Fifteen other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Turkey has been fighting the PKK since 1984. Initially, the movement sought a separate homeland for Turkey's ethnic Kurdish minority. But now, the rebels say they are fighting for more linguistic and cultural freedoms.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union have formally labeled the PKK a terrorist organization.

This is not the first time a military outpost in the area has been targeted. In June, eight soldiers and 10 PKK fighters were killed in the town of Yuksekova in the province.

Recently, there has been movement on restarting a peace process, with the head of Turkey's leading opposition party signaling his willingness to work toward a resolution with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan recently announced that students could elect to take Kurdish language lessons under a new educational reform package.

More than 40,000 people, mostly ethnic Kurds, have been killed in the conflict.

source: CNN