Turkey to Clear IMF Debt by May
ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkey is set to make a "clean break" with the International Monetary Fund by paying off its remaining debt by May, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. "We have been paying and paying... Right now the debt stands at $860 million (643 million euros)," Erdogan said in televised remarks. "When we pay the last slice in May, we will zero out the debt and make a clean break," he added. Erdogan said his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which took over a $23.5 billion IMF debt when it came to power in 2002, was in talks to loan five billion dollars to the the global institution.
- Published in Politicians
WASHINGTON- US State Department stated Ambassador Ricciardone only reiterated what Clinton had said earlier. The Spokesperson for the US State Department, Victoria Nuland said that US Ambassador in Ankara, Francis Ricciardone only reiterated what former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said on several Turkish court cases.
Relations between Turkey and the United States are expected to enter a new and intensified hectic period amid ongoing regional crises, such as Syria’s turmoil and Iran’s controversial nuclear drive, amid Democrat Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections.
