Mehmet

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet ?im?ek has said preparatory work to launch a coordination mechanism for Islamic banking in Turkey have started, and the related circular note has recently been sent to the Prime Ministry. 

Continuing terror attacks and curfews have dramatically affected economic and trade transactions in eastern Turkey since last June, as around 500 businesses have closed down only in the Sur district of southeastern Diyarbak?r since then, according to businesspeople from the region. 

The companies have lost almost 70 percent of their revenue, they added. 

Turkish officials have said they are not overly worried about Russian trade sanctions against Turkish goods, adding they are in search of alternative markets as the loss of the Russian market is not in intolerable amounts. 

There will be no change in the independent status of Turkey's Central Bank, according to Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet ?im?ek, after the Turkish Lira eased on concerns about a new government program.

Turkey's stocks fell 4.39 percent and its debt insurance costs rose on Nov. 24 after it reportedly shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border, while other emerging assets also struggled in the face of a strong dollar and weak commodities.

Former Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet ?im?ek will be in charge of the economy in a new cabinet named by Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu on Nov. 24, becoming deputy prime minister in a team which saw close allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an take key ministerial posts. 

After discussions both on traditional and social media, including a Twitter poll by the country's finance minister and an official investigation, it has been decided villagers in the eastern province of Bingöl who found and sold meteorite pieces at inflated prices did not need to pay taxes for this sort of income.

Turkey's Finance Ministry has dispatched officials to conduct tax inspections on meteorites found in the eastern Turkish province of Bingöl, prompting fierce opposition on the part of local villagers who say the meteorites were "sent by God" and are not quantifiable. 

Questions have arisen over the possible future cabinet role of former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, after he failed to attend the G-20 Summit in Antalya. 

Turkey's state budget hit a 7.2 billion-Turkish Lira surplus in October largely thanks to payments by leading communications companies that won the tender for advanced 4G technologies, dubbed "4.5G."

Last October, the budget had a deficit of 3 billion liras.