Turkish president unveils second 100-day action plan

By Tuba Sahin, Gokhan Ergocun and Ahmet Salih Alacaci

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled the second 100-day action plan in capital Ankara on Thursday.

Erdogan said 454 projects worth of 24 billion Turkish liras (nearly $4.49 billion) will be completed as part of the plan.

"We completed 340 of 400 projects from first 100-day action plan," Erdogan said at the presentation meeting at the presidential complex.

The president said that some 37.3 billion liras ($6.96 billion) were spent on the projects in the first 100-day action plan while the projected amount was 43 billion liras ($8.02 billion) for 400 projects, citing austerity measures.

Development and energy projects

On Turkey’s efforts for development, Erdogan said the Financial Stability and Development Committee will be established to strengthen financial stability and develop finance sector.

Also, Turkey Development Fund will be formed in order to boost private capital investments and generate alternative funding for high technology investments, he added.

On energy project TurkStream Natural Gas Pipeline, Erdogan said: "We are starting construction of part of TurkStream Natural Gas Pipeline project on our lands and will finish it by the end-2019.”

TurkStream is an export gas pipeline set to cross beneath the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and also further extend to Turkey's borders with neighboring countries.

TurkStream's first line is set to carry 15.75 bcm of natural gas to Turkey. With a second line that goes to Europe, the project will have a capacity of 31.5 bcm per year.

Last month, the last offshore section of a landmark natural gas pipeline was put into place.

Erdogan also said that Turkey will introduce new measures on 35-kilometers (21.7 miles) strip of Turkish-Iranian frontier including border lighting, CCTV coverage, and security sensors.

Turkey continues its efforts to clear a 1.6M square meter area currently unusable due to mines and unexploded ordnance.

Cultural projects

Among the cultural projects of the next 100-day plan, Erdogan mentioned the restoration of eight additional historical mosques and social complexes.

Also addressing Turkey’s fight against Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, Erdogan said Turkey will deal new blows against foreign financial activities of the terror group in the next 100 days.

The first 100-day action plan, that was revealed on Aug. 3, included over 1,000 projects and Erdogan announced 400 of them -- which were most important.

Within the scope of the plan, many projects were announced in several areas such as diplomatic missions, foreign policy, foreign currencies, new markets for exports, research and development centers, free trade zones, and mega projects.

Erdogan hailed the 'historic' step of laying groundwork for Turkey's national space program.

On Thursday, a presidential decree announced the establishment of the country’s space agency.

The Turkey Space Agency will prepare and carry out the National Space Program in line with the policies determined by the president of Turkey, according to the decree.

The president said Turkey is taking steps in 12 countries to use local currencies in international trade.

He noted that the country will start working on medium-range cruise missiles and mass production of surface-to-surface bullet project ATMACA.

"We will sign an agreement for Akinci project, [an offensive high-altitude long-endurance unmanned armed aircraft]," Erdogan noted.