News from Turkey

[The March Hare]

Are You On The Turkish Rich List?
Tuesday, 26 September 2006
The Turkish Statistical Institute has just published its annual income survey. It shows that the richest 20% of the country spend, on average, 2,000 YTL per month – around £8,000 per year. The poorest, on the other hand, spend around a quarter of that at 500 YTL per month – around £2,000 per year. The average spend of the 17.5 million population was around 1,000 YTL per month - £4,000 per year.

So where do you fit into the list? Well, let’s do a simple comparison. The basic UK old age pension of £4,000 a year would see most living on the breadline in the UK, but in Turkey they would be in the average spender bracket. A couple with the UK basic state pension would receive around £7,000 nudging them towards the top 20%.

Good news then? Well, yes and no. Whilst your spending power is greater in Turkey the survey also found that the average spend has increased by 22% since 2004. Not all of this increase is due to inflation currently running at around 10%, but it does show how the fast developing economy is increasing consumer spending.

[The March Hare]

Charity Jump From Babadag for Cancer Research
Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Yakamoz Hotel at Ovacik continues to support local charities and both FIG and Fethiye Animal Shelter will benefit from donations made by visitors during the summer season of 2006. However, following the summer of 2005 when it was discovered that a significant amount of Yakamoz visitors from the UK were in various stages of cancer treatment, it was decided that during 2006 funds would be raised for UK cancer charities.

On Thursday 28 September, Jan Jones who runs Yakamoz Hotel with her business partner Mike Vickers is to paraglide from Baba Dag. Say's Jan - "this is not an experience I am looking forward to . I know I can swim but I know I can't fly! However, it is for an excellent cause and that by flying with Sky Sports I know I am in very professional hands".

So far Jan and Mike have raised nearly £1,000 towards their chosen cancer charities and with 5 weeks of the season left, they hope to increase this figure still further. To ensure that the deed is done, many of the guests from Yakamoz Hotel will be on the beach to witness Jan's safe return to earth - all of whom have contributed to her fund raising efforts. Mike likes to keep his feet on the ground and will be taking the pictures.....

The jump is being donated by Sky Sports at Olu Deniz and besides Yakamoz guests, donations and support has been given by Explora Jeep Safari's, Topuzlu Jewellery, Goldfinger and Star Optik in Hisaronu.

Good luck Jan!

[The March Hare]

Yacht death two released on bail

Yacht death two released on bail
Wednesday, 27 September 2006
Two female members of the French family involved in the bizarre death of their Moroccan captain during a yacht blue-cruise from Fethiye have been released from prison in Fethiye on 10,000YTL per person bail with a restriction order preventing them from leaving Turkey.

The bailed female members of the family, Marineno Bassaro (55) and Sylivia Bassaro (25) had to leave behind in prison David Bassaro (25), the son of the family, who’s situation continues to be under investigation by police. The father of the family Max Bassaro (60) is still recovering from a wound to the stomach sustained when the family struggled with the knife wielding Moroccan captain of their yacht ‘Latetia Blanda’ after an incident involving a lost inflatable boat that was blamed on the captain.

According to reports the Moroccan captain tried to hi-jack the yacht and sail it to Rhodes but the family overpowered him and locked him below decks. On arrival back in Fethiye police searched the yacht and found the captain dead. Police are continuing their investigation

[The March Hare]

Ministry is confident over public safety
Thursday, 28 September 2006
Following the recent bombings in tourist areas of Izmir, Adana, Marmaris, and Antalya, and calling for a comprehensive, international fight against terrorism, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has sent letters to 32 countries, including Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, and Great Britain.

The letter, to culture and tourism attaches, was distributed to tour operators, tourism associations, press, and other relevant units and copies were also sent to travel agencies in Turkey specialising in tours coming from abroad. The letter stressed that there is nothing to worry about concerning the overall state of public safety in Turkey, as current safety measures are more than adequate.


The terrorist bombings made headlines around the world and some countries issued travel advisories for their citizens travelling to Turkey. Ozgur Ozarslan, Director General of Promotion for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said that travel advisory cautions were expected and confirmed that such cautions are considered normal.

After the bombings the USA, Council of Europe, NATO and France condemned the terrorist assaults in Turkey. In a statement about the attacks from the North Atlantic Council's session, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo stressed that terrorist events can never be defended nor justified. French President Jacques Chirac said that he condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey “with the highest determination,” and sent a written message to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which he said that he was ‘shaken’ by the events

[The March Hare]

Turkish economy up
Wednesday, 18 October 2006
The Turkish economy has broken a new record for continuous growth over the past four years according to findings from the Turkish Insitute for Statistics (TUIK).

In the second quarter of 2006, the economy grew by 8.5%, while the first six months of this year saw a growth of 7.5%. Growth in the economy was recorded for 2005 at 7.6%, while the first quarter of 2006 saw 6.3% growth. TUIK is also forecasting that income levels of Turkish citizens will rise by the end of 2006. At the moment the average income of Turkey’s 72,974,000 citizens is $5,008 USD but TUIK say that this will have risen to $5,800 USD by the end of 2006.

[The March Hare]

Boxers strike gold
Tuesday, 17 October 2006
Two Turkish women boxers have become European champions for the first time in their categories in the 5th European Women's Box Championship held recently in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Gold medal winners were Hasibe Ozer Erkoc, competing in the 50kg category who defeated her Russian rival Victoria Usachnko and Sumeyra Kaya (52kg) who beat Saliha Kucghen of Morocco. Semsi Yarali (86kg) qualified as a silver medallist and Gulseda Basibutun (48kg), Gulsum Tatar (60kg) and Selma Yagi (80kg) won bronze medals. Overall in the championship Turkey was ranked second behind Russia.

[The March Hare]

How to try to win 7 million quid!
Sunday, 29 October 2006
The national Milli Piyango lottery has announced that their traditional draw, staged on December 31st every year, will have a first prize of 20,000,000YTL (around 7,000,000GBP). 200 million tickets will be printed and total prize money is expected to exceed 118,000,000YTL. There is no roll-over for the first prize ticket - they will keep drawing numbers on the night until they hit the lucky winner or winners. Milli Piyango tickets can be purchased in whole or in part.

A full ticket will be 20YTL, a half ticket will be 10YTL and a quarter ticket will be 5YTL.

But, as always, beware of fakes!

[The March Hare]

Turkey in the Guinness Book of Records

Turkey has entered the 2007 edition of the famous book for its consumption of…….bread. The book quotes that each person eats an average 700 kgs of bread per year. Well we say eat, but we're sure some of this ends up as fishing bait judging by the guys we see on the kordon.

Whilst we know the Turks love their loaves we expected the nation to top the records with their consumption of tea. But no, they have been beaten to the tea pot by the Irish, who according to the book, are the highest consumers at 2.5 kgs per year.

And another surprise, the highest consumption of beer is not with the British or even the Belgians. Its Czechs who top that list with each person downing 157 litres per year. Of course these figures are averaged over the whole population so somewhere someone is very merry indeed

[The March Hare]

Oops . . . You just dropped my Gulet!
Thursday, 02 November 2006
In Bodrum a huge Gulet obviously didn't want to be back on dry land for the winter. As the dockyard winched the vessel onto the hard-standing it broke loose from its supporting sledge and rolled onto its side.

After much scratching of heads the dockyard had to resort to renting two giant cranes to lift the gulet back onto the sledge. Nobody was injured in the incident and eventually the gulet made it to dry land.

[The March Hare]

Yavuz goes the distance down under
Thursday, 02 November 2006
Disabled marathon runner Yavuz Sap of Fethiye has competed in the Samsung Melbourne Marathon held on October 8th in Australia. Yavuz has represented Fethiye and Turkey before in a number of national and international marathon events.

This is the eighth time that Yavuz has attended the Melbourne Marathon and he competed in the 21km half marathon course
Fethiye Belediye has been supporting Yavuz with his marathon activities over the years.

Yavuz said “I want to prove that disabled people can achieve success as well.”

[The March Hare]

General elections to be held November 2007
Sunday, 05 November 2006
Turkey's parliament has agreed that general elections should be held a year from now, quashing long-running speculation that the ruling AK Party would call snap polls. The centre-right AK Party and two opposition parties in the general assembly approved a law setting the polls for November 4, 2007. The ruling AK party has presided over strong economic growth following a 2001 financial crisis and the launch of Turkey's European Union entry talks. The AK Party became Turkey's first single-party government in 15 years after a stunning election victory in 2002 and with its grassroots popularity the party has brought stability to the country after years of mismanagement. But a September poll, commissioned by the party and published in October showed its support falling to 26.2 percent from nearly 33 percent just two months earlier.

Only one other party, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), could gain enough votes to clear a 10 percent threshold needed to enter parliament, the poll showed. Support for the CHP stood at 15.5 percent. Nearly a third of those canvassed said they were undecided about whom to back in the next general election.

[The March Hare]

Motivates TRNC
Thursday, 09 November 2006
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has made a bold move to attract tourists after a poor season. They have agreed to pay tour operators £25 for each British tourist they bring into the internationally unrecognised state. The TRNC government is well aware that Southern Cyprus attracts millions of tourists each year compared to the 100,000 British Tourists it attracts. It blames this mostly on the increased costs of flying to TRNC and the extended flight time of 6 hours compared to around 4.5 to the South. Direct flights cannot be operated to the republic because of an international boycott so aircraft must first land on the mainland of Turkey before setting of for TRNC.

Could this new initiative could pave the way for the Turkish Government to consider a similar incentive to revive this years struggling tourism sector?

[The March Hare]

Electricity Prices Set to Rise
Thursday, 09 November 2006
The World Bank and IMF are calling for Turkey to hike its electricity prices following increases in the cost of production and distribution. The price of electricity has been unchanged for around 3 years but the costs of the energy used to generate it have increased significantly. In fact it was the increase in costs that led to the 13 hour blackouts in the summer as generating companies found they were actually making a loss for every unit of electricity they produced. The response by the energy authorities was to introduce measures to stop the energy companies from ceasing generation but the problems are fundamental. The Turkish economy cannot afford to subsidise the rising costs and this is what the World Bank and IMF are highlighting

[The March Hare]

Turkey salutes Ataturk
Friday, 10 November 2006
Friday November 10th is the 68th anniversary of the passing of Turkey’s founder and the first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

At 9:05 a.m. air-raid sirens and car horns will sound across Turkish cities, morning rush-hour traffic will halt and pedestrians and school children will stand to attention. The nation will then observe a minute’s silence to mark the anniversary of the death of Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. The first official ceremony honouring Ataturk will be held at his mausoleum in Ankara and is usually televised live across Turkey. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will lead members of the government and armed forces in the national remembrance ceremony that has been held every year since the death of Ataturk in 1938. Similar ceremonies will take place in towns and villages all over the country.

President Sezer has gone on record as

[The March Hare]

Turkey salutes Ataturk
Friday, 10 November 2006
Friday November 10th is the 68th anniversary of the passing of Turkey’s founder and the first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

At 9:05 a.m. air-raid sirens and car horns will sound across Turkish cities, morning rush-hour traffic will halt and pedestrians and school children will stand to attention. The nation will then observe a minute’s silence to mark the anniversary of the death of Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. The first official ceremony honouring Ataturk will be held at his mausoleum in Ankara and is usually televised live across Turkey. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will lead members of the government and armed forces in the national remembrance ceremony that has been held every year since the death of Ataturk in 1938. Similar ceremonies will take place in towns and villages all over the country.

President Sezer has gone on record as saying that in order to protect and preserve Ataturk’s legacy, one needed to constantly guard the independence of the country and the secular republic and that despite his passing away 68 years ago, Ataturk remains in the hearts and minds of all citizens, and continues to enlighten the path forward. “Great nations produce great leaders. The Turkish nation is right to be proud of the fact that it produced Ataturk” President Sezer said and noted that Ataturk’s love and belief in the nation resulted in his achievements and set an example to all nations that wanted to become independent.

Ataturk, who died aged 58 from cirrhosis of the liver, has certainly stood the test of time better than many of the other great revolutionary leaders of the last century. He was no ordinary leader. After winning a series of bitterly fought battles to wrest Turkey's independence from occupying armies he went on to formulate a cultural revolution which changed the face of Turkey, including introducing the Latin alphabet and giving women the vote.

During his rule, Ataturk borrowed enthusiastically from Western countries in modernising Turkey, for example utilising the German commercial code and Swiss laws on bankruptcy.

In foreign policy, he courted the Western democracies, notably Britain and France, and had little time for the communist and fascist ideologies then gaining ground. Ataturk was also a nationalist, but eschewed ideas of territorial expansion.

As Turkey continues to aspire to become a member of the European Union and encompass the values of Western democracy, Ataturk remains secure in the affections of his countrymen, a mentor for pro-Western liberals and conservative nationalists alike.

[The March Hare]

Villagers taking credit to save the trees
Saturday, 11 November 2006
In an imaginative move to persuade villagers living deep with the forest areas of Mugla to stop cutting down trees to boil water the government has sponsored ‘solar energy credits.’ The scheme has started in 11 villages around the forest areas of Mugla with some 200 families benefiting from the credits. A spokesman said that traditionally forest villagers have used wood to make fires to boil water for washing and cooking and the credit scheme will now help preserve trees and cut down air pollution.

[The March Hare]

Low Cost Flights – Worrying Developments?
Wednesday, 15 November 2006

A reader wrote to us about a recent experience flying with Thomas Cook airlines from Manchester into Dalaman. On the face of it the flights looked good value and were booked on line and electronic tickets issued in a similar way to Easy Jet with no fuss and all very efficient.

But, with the cheap price comes a sting as there’s only 15kgs of luggage allowance. That’s not a problem if you read the small print associated you’re your booking and book with the full knowledge. But, according to our reader, many people seemed to be unaware. The 15kgs limit was being actively enforced at check-in with many passengers being required to empty their bags there and then or pay the excess baggage charges, which of course, have to be physically paid somewhere else in the airport. This led to long delays and hot tempers. But, as our reader experienced, the rules don’t appear to be consistently enforced. Whilst one queue was being put through the third degree, in the adjacent line the check in person didn’t seem to be that bothered and checked in bags regardless.

I guess we are all used to the smoke and mirrors that the airlines employ to make their prices look cheap but only to work out much more expensive after taxes, fuel supplements and meals; but the reduction in baggage allowance is worrying development and one to watch out for.

So, shop smart and ‘weigh’ up your flight quote – is it really good value?

[The March Hare]

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Turkish agricultural sector looking at hard times ahead
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Farming employs nearly a third of the population and as Turkey attempts to overhaul its agricultural sector in time to receive planned EU funding the outlook for farmers is not looking good.

By next year, Turkey is expected to have in place a system to distribute EU support to state agencies and farmers. Unfortunately for farmers that means old subsidies for seeds, fertiliser, and tractor fuel will be removed, making the government responsible for only $2 billion of funds, as opposed to the $6 billion that the old system cost the government. According to farming analysts the forthcoming agricultural reforms driven by the EU reforms could cut employment in the Turkish farming industry by as much as 40 per cent, which could lead to around three million agricultural workers looking for other jobs.

Unemployed farm workers arriving in the cities could represent the largest demographic shift in the country since the 1980s when tens of thousands of Kurdish villagers were displaced during violence between the Turkish military and the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party.


Turkish city dwellers trace many problems to tensions with newly arrived poor and uneducated villagers and there are fears that a fresh influx could exacerbate these strains.

Unless the Turkish government can quickly come to grips with the looming problem and re-structure the agriculture sector to harmonise with the EU member countries the future prospects for millions of Turkish farmers who relied heavily on the traditional subsidies will remain grim

[The March Hare]

A New Supermarket for Fethiye?
Friday, 24 November 2006
Representatives of a large supermarket chain were in Fethiye recently to identify suitable land to build a new supermarket. The site could possibly be near to the proposed extended bus station.

No other information is available at present but we expect the new shop will bring ‘value’ and price cuts for our weekly shop……every little helps.

[The March Hare]

I bet that it is Tesco