'Turkey spins wheels' in economy, says President Erdo?an

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President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said Turkey has been spinning its wheels in the economy for the past three years and the way out of this loop and to keep the system flowing with speed was to adopt the presidential system of government. 

?Maybe some people are not aware, but figures prove this. We have been in an economical wheel spinning for the past three years. Businessmen want to invest but the jurisdiction system blocks them,? said Erdo?an aboard the presidential airplane TUR on the way to Istanbul from Kazakhstan, where he held meetings with the country?s head, Nursultan Nazarbayev. 

Erdo?an said the per capita income had exceeded $10,000 but it has not been making any progress for the last three years as some people were putting chains on one?s wrists and thus forcing one to spin their wheels. 

?[A businessman] wants to invest but the jurisdiction blocks them. The investments are not small; they vary between 200 million and 500 million dollars. If there were no obstacles before them, the businessmen would have ?rammed it through,?? said Erdo?an, giving Istanbul?s Sal?pazar? Port Area project, commonly known as Galataport, as an example. 

?The tender for Galataport, for which an investment of around one billion dollars was at stake, was held two years ago. The project has not yet started. Why? Because the Council of State halted the execution of the project two years after the objection was made,? said Erdo?an, adding there were several examples of such situations.

Turkish company Do?u? Holding placed the highest offer for the privatization of Galataport with a $702 million bid in May 2013, winning the rights to operate the port area in Istanbul?s Karaköy neighborhood for 30 years.

Soon after the tender was...

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