“They earn a place on the top of our head if they want to come to Turkey,” he said, recalling a famous Turkish saying that refers to the generous Turkish hospitality shown to guests. “We have a very liberal economy and we believe in free trade,” Çağlayan told a group of reporters traveling with him on a business trip to Saudi Arabia. He also gave assurances to some 1,000 French companies who have already invested in Turkey, saying, “As my prime minister has said, if a foreign company invests its trust in our economy, it would ‘earn a place on the top of our head',” he noted, adding that “French companies are no different than companies from any other nation.”
Çağlayan warned, however, that there will be a public outcry over the bill in Turkey and that the pressure on the government to retaliate will mount. “I understand the public's frustration as I feel the same. This [bill] is totally unreserved and uncalled for. It is plain simple populism to cater to the domestic electorate. I hope it does not impact on our economic ties,” he said.
Turkey received $600 million in foreign direct investment (FDI) in October, the bulk of it from EU member states, including France. The October performance of the economy brought the total amount of FDI the country attracted in the first 10 months of this year to $11.5 billion, 82 percent more than during the same period a year ago. Turkey received only $6.3 billion in FDI in the January-October period of 2010.
Çağlayan emphasized that 86 percent of all the FDI received in the first 10 months of this year came from European countries. It therefore goes without saying that Turkey has become a safe haven for European investors as they try to park their cash at a time when the EU is having difficulties in finding a lasting solution for the ongoing sovereign debt issues in a number of its member states, including the continent's largest economies such as France, Italy and Spain.
As part of the measures taken by the Turkish government, the minister said the planned meeting in January between the French and Turkish ministers of economy was cancelled. The Turkey-France Joint Economic and Trade Committee Meeting was supposed to be held under the co-chairmanship of both ministers in January 2012.
The two countries recorded a trade volume of $14 billion during the first 10 month of this year.
