Presided over by Economy Minister Ali Babacan, the meeting was attended by state ministers Cevdet Yılmaz and Zafer Çağlayan, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker, Labor and Social Security Minister Ömer Dinçer and Environment and Forestry Minister Veysel Eroğlu. Speaking at the opening of the board meeting, Babacan said the government attached great importance to regional development programs to lessen the economic disparities between different parts of the country by introducing steps to raise the living standards in the relatively poorer regions.
Babacan recalled that the government had launched an action plan last year to speed up efforts to complete Turkey's biggest regional development program, the Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP), saying the government was planning to invest $10 billion in the program by 2012. The previous state minister for the coordination of the economy, Nazım Ekren, who was replaced by Babacan in the latest Cabinet reshuffle, also placed great importance on the region and on GAP. He organized nearly half a dozen special meetings to deal with the specific problems of the southeastern Anatolia region.
Babacan mentioned in his speech the construction of an airport in Batman province, which he said would be completed next year. This airport will contribute to regional development by rendering transportation more convenient. The Şırnak airport, for which a tender of construction had been launched recently, will also play a massive role in sparking economic activities in the disadvantaged regions of the country, he asserted. Babacan also recalled an economic incentive plan that the government launched just a few months ago to encourage private investments in nine provinces.
The minister said Turkey today faces an unprecedented opportunity to attain unity among its Turkish and Kurdish nationals. “We can achieve this by overcoming the nemesis of terror that troubled the nation for many years and by pushing out the barraters who want to sow the seeds of discord among brothers,” he said. If a country is devoid of stability and confidence, if it lacks a peaceful environment and if it is deprived of a sturdy base of security, this country will never be able to leap forward in any field, especially in the economy, the minister claimed. He called on the people of the republic to end their internal disputes and to cling to each other in unity and solidarity to overcome their problems and allow the country to rise as a powerful actor on the global stage.
Babacan said there is not a single obstacle that Turkey will fail to overcome “if we spend our energy on production, employment and investment rather than on vicious quarrels and chronic problems.”
