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KABUL (TCA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country will host the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of efforts to end the Afghan Taliban's 17-year insurgency, RFE/RL reported. Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev during his visit to Turkey met with the heads of the largest Turkish companies in Ankara on September 13, Kazakh Invest National Company for Investment Support and Promotion reported. Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan and Turkey signed 24 agreements on investment, trade and economic cooperation at an investment forum in Ankara on September 12. The projects with Turkish capital are aimed first of all at development of the non-resource sector of the Kazakh economy, providing more than 3,000 new jobs. “Today Turkey is on the second place in terms of the number of companies with foreign capital in Kazakhstan. Growing number of Turkish companies in our country is one of the basic factors contributing to exchange of capital, best practices and technologies between our countries,” said First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, who opened the investment forum. Kazakhstan and Turkish companies have signed 24 commercial documents for a total amount of around US $1.7 billion. The documents are aimed at implementation of different investment projects. For instance, in Kazakhstan’s Zhambyl region it is planned to build a factory for production of soda ash (Na2CO3), which is used in metallurgical, chemical and glass making industries, with a total cost of 270 million US dollars and with creation of 350 jobs. According to an agreement reached between Kazakh Invest National Company for Investment Support and Promotion and Eksen Group, the Turkish investor plans to build a new financial, social and business center – Downtown Almaty – in Almaty city at a cost of 300 million US dollars. Downtown Almaty will accommodate business centers, premium class apartments and JW Marriot hotel, Kazakh Invest said. Administration of Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region and DAL Holding signed the Agreement on construction of a greenhouse facility at a cost of $200 million with creation of 700 jobs. “We can speak of strengthening of expansion trend of large Turkish holdings on the market of Kazakhstan. Whereas traditional industries to where Turkish investors came in the past were hotel business and production of construction materials at the level of small and medium business, today major Turkish companies open such new industries as mining and metallurgy, agriculture, agricultural chemistry, metallurgy, treatment industry and much more,” said Saparbek Tuyakbayev, chairman of Kazakh Invest National Company Board of Directors. The Turkish side emphasized that Turkish investors are interested in expansion of their production in Kazakhstan due to the country’s political stability, a favorable investment climate, and access to markets of the Eurasian Economic union, Central Asia, and West China.
BISHKEK (TCA) — In the issue relating to a network of Turkish schools in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek has found itself between a rock and a hard place with regard to its relations with Ankara. We are republishing this article on the issue, originally published by Eurasianet: A disagreement over a network of Kyrgyzstani schools that Turkey views as havens for state sabotage and even terrorism is fast turning into a game of chicken. Judging by Bishkek’s latest salvo, the smaller country is reluctant to roll over, even in the face of increasingly strident demands from Ankara. On September 11 Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Turkey’s ambassador and told him to “only reflect objective information” in his public speeches, after the diplomat had referenced the schools in a press conference the previous day. Ambassador Cengiz Kamil Firat had told journalists eager to know the fate of the controversial Sapat schools that Turkey’s government-run Maarif Foundation would soon be taking them over. The schools had initially been built with the “money of Turkish taxpayers,” he said. The Education Ministry responded that the schools are firmly under Kyrgyz government control and that only the schools’ founders – including “citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic” – could determine their fate. The fees-based Sapat schools were previously known as the Sebat schools before the Kyrgyz government rebranded them, under Turkish pressure, in 2016 after a botched coup attempt in Turkey. The Sebat schools had been linked to Fethullah Gulen, an enigmatic 77-year-old U.S.-based educator and cleric whom Ankara blames for masterminding the coup attempt. The controversy puts Bishkek in a tricky position. The Sapat schools remain among Kyrgyzstan’s best, while Turkey increasingly classifies friends and enemies according to their stance on Gulen. Fellow Turkic state Azerbaijan, for instance, stands firmly among Ankara’s best buddies. The country had already begun clearing out Gulen-linked institutions in 2014, after the cleric’s very public split with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Following the coup attempt, Baku duly finished the job. Turkmenistan, too, has cracked down on Gulen supporters in the country. Others who joined the anti-Gulen effort late have made up for lost time. This week, Moldova deported seven Turkish nationals who were teachers at a Gulen-linked school in the capital, according to Amnesty International. Another six Turks were deported from Kosovo earlier this year. All of them are believed to be imprisoned now in Turkey, where tens of thousands of teachers and civil servants have been jailed over supposed Gulen links since the coup attempt. Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, is sitting on the fence. When Erdogan visited Bishkek last week, his speeches were peppered with references to FETO, an acronym Ankara uses to liken the Gulenist network to a terrorist organization. During a meeting with President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Erdogan warned that Kyrgyzstan might also face a coup if it doesn’t act decisively. Turkey would save the country from the "shadow of FETO," he promised. To Bishkek, just as alarming as the school-takeover push is a reported list of 130 arch-Gulenists the Turkish delegation...
CHOLPON-ATA, Kyrgyzstan (TCA) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev says Uzbekistan is eager to join the Council of Cooperation of the Turkic-Speaking Countries, also known as the Turkic Council, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Political partnership between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey has been strengthening for many years and has reached a high level. It is time now to give a new impetus to the development of economic cooperation between the two countries, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said at the Kyrgyz-Turkish investment forum held in Bishkek on September 2. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Kyrgyzstan on a two-day official visit, attended the forum. Trusting relationship Leading companies from Turkey and Kyrgyzstan from various economy sectors, representatives of state bodies and international organizations took part in the forum. The participation of the Turkish President in the forum’s work raises mutual trust between businesspeople of the two countries, President Jeenbekov said. "We have a particularly trusting relationship with Turkey. For partners from fraternal Turkey, our doors are always open, we are happy with every meeting with you. During my official visit to Turkey last April, we reached important agreements in trade, transportation, agriculture, energy, health, and pensions," Jeenbekov said. In 1994, trade between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey was $20 million. Over the past 23 years, this indicator grew 18-fold and last year amounted to $356 million. "At the same time, I believe that our trade is not fully used. We need to make every effort to increase the trade between our countries up to $1 billion,” Jeenbekov said. Over 27 years of Kyrgyzstan’s independence, hundreds of projects have been implemented in Kyrgyzstan with the participation of Turkish capital. Currently, over 600 joint Kyrgyz-Turkish enterprises operate in Kyrgyzstan. Since 1995, direct investments from Turkey to Kyrgyzstan exceeded $500 million. Creating conditions for doing business Kyrgyzstan has created the most favorable conditions for doing business, Jeenbekov said. As a result of fiscal reforms, the most liberal tax regime in the region was created. In Kyrgyzstan, tax rates are much lower than in some countries of the region. For instance, VAT is 12% and the income tax is 10%. Agricultural producers, trade and logistics centers and machine and tractor stations are completely exempt from the profit tax. From September 2018, VAT is only 2.4% for enterprises processing domestic agricultural produce. To develop the country’s regions, preferential taxation of the industry was introduced. In the settlements of regions defined by the Government, enterprises are completely exempt from the tax on real estate and land from five to ten years. Kyrgyzstan gives priority to the processing of agricultural products, energy, light and processing industries, and tourism. The country will continue reforms to liberalize investment laws and restrict interference in business activities, as well as to respect contractual rights, President Jeenbekov said. He told the forum participants about the stable regime tax option. New enterprises are exempted from inspections for three years. There is a free currency regime in the country. There are no restrictions on buying and selling foreign currency, withdrawal and input of capital. The import of technological equipment is exempt from customs duties. Foreign investors can use inexpensive and skilled labor and cheap electricity. Kyrgyzstan has...
