Queen's Turkey visit centers on business
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA
The queen of the Netherlands yesterday met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the second day of her visit to Turkey on the sidelines of an economy meeting at the prime minister's residence.
“The Netherlands ranks first among the countries making investments in Turkey,” Erdogan said at the meeting. But he emphasized that commercial relations between the two countries should expand even more.
Accompanied by the Turkish premier, Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard had talks with the representatives of Turkish and Dutch industrial organizations here in Ankara. Before her meetings in the Turkish capital, the queen went to the central Anatolian province of Kayseri.
There are interesting reasons behind the queen's visit to Kayseri, where many of the Netherlands' 350,000-strong Turkish community come from. Turks in the Netherlands own 15,000 companies and providing employment for 60,000 people. Turks have a say in a wide range of areas from Telecom to the insurance system.
On the other side, some 150,000 firms in the Netherlands that has an aging population risk being shut down because of a lack of heirs and the biggest hope for those firms now is Turkish entrepreneurs who moved to the Netherlands years ago from the Kayapinar district of Kayseri. After her short trip to Kayseri, the queen returned to Ankara on the same day. On Thursday, the royal party will be in Istanbul.
Late on Tuesday, Queen Beatrix avoided giving political messages in Ankara, while Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen spoke about the need for dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. Verhagen conveyed the message that historians alone cannot solve the so-called genocide discussions, suggesting that politicians come together to discuss and solve the issues, Dutch sources said.
He also conveyed the urgent need for amendment or abolition of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and called for an urgent action for clearing obstacles before freedom of expression in Turkey. The Dutch minister expressed the desire of European Union members for opening Turkish ports to Greek Cyprus.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA
The queen of the Netherlands yesterday met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the second day of her visit to Turkey on the sidelines of an economy meeting at the prime minister's residence.
“The Netherlands ranks first among the countries making investments in Turkey,” Erdogan said at the meeting. But he emphasized that commercial relations between the two countries should expand even more.
Accompanied by the Turkish premier, Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard had talks with the representatives of Turkish and Dutch industrial organizations here in Ankara. Before her meetings in the Turkish capital, the queen went to the central Anatolian province of Kayseri.
There are interesting reasons behind the queen's visit to Kayseri, where many of the Netherlands' 350,000-strong Turkish community come from. Turks in the Netherlands own 15,000 companies and providing employment for 60,000 people. Turks have a say in a wide range of areas from Telecom to the insurance system.
On the other side, some 150,000 firms in the Netherlands that has an aging population risk being shut down because of a lack of heirs and the biggest hope for those firms now is Turkish entrepreneurs who moved to the Netherlands years ago from the Kayapinar district of Kayseri. After her short trip to Kayseri, the queen returned to Ankara on the same day. On Thursday, the royal party will be in Istanbul.
Late on Tuesday, Queen Beatrix avoided giving political messages in Ankara, while Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen spoke about the need for dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. Verhagen conveyed the message that historians alone cannot solve the so-called genocide discussions, suggesting that politicians come together to discuss and solve the issues, Dutch sources said.
He also conveyed the urgent need for amendment or abolition of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and called for an urgent action for clearing obstacles before freedom of expression in Turkey. The Dutch minister expressed the desire of European Union members for opening Turkish ports to Greek Cyprus.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 4:41 PM
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