WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/TPR//M/259 
27 March 2012 
 (12-1628) 
Trade Policy Review Body 
21 and 23 February 2012  
 
 
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW 
 
TURKEY 
 
Record of the Meeting 
 
Chairperson:  H.E. Mr. Mario Matus (Chile) 
 
 
  Page 
 
I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 3 
II. OPENING STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF TURKEY  5 
III. STATEMENT BY THE DISCUSSANT 9 
IV. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 12 
V. REPLIES BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF TURKEY AND ADDITIONAL COMMENTS 37 
VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 43 
 
 
 
Note:   Advance written questions by WTO Me mbers and the replies provided by Turkey are 
reproduced in document WT/TPR/M/259/Add.1 and will be available online at:  
http://www.wto.org/english/tr atop_e/tpr_e/tp_rep_e.htm.    WT/TPR/M/259 
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  I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 
1. The fifth Trade Policy Review of Turkey was held on 21 and 23 February 2011.  
The Chairperson H.E. Mr. Mario Matus (Chile) we lcomed the delegation of Turkey headed by 
Mr. Cemalettin Damlaci, Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Economy, and the discussant, H.E. Mr. István Major (Hungary).   
2. The Chairperson recalled the purpose of the Trad e Policy Reviews and the main elements of 
the procedures for the meeting.  The report by Turkey was contained in document WT/TPR/G/259 
and that of the WTO Secretariat in WT/TPR/S/259. 
3. Questions by the following delegations had been  submitted in writing at least two weeks in 
advance and had been transmitted to  the delegation of Turkey:  United States;  Republic of Korea;  
China;  Switzerland;  Mexico;  Australia;  Malaysia;  Japan;  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;  European 
Union;  Argentina;  Indonesia;  Costa Rica;  Indi a;  Brazil;  Colombia;  Canada;  and Thailand. The 
following delegations submitted additi onal written questions after the two-weeks deadline:  Ukraine;  
Pakistan;  Peru;  Chinese Taipei;  and Ecuador. 
4. The Chairperson noted that he had considered th e reports prepared for this meeting by Turkey 
and the Secretariat, and he was pleased to note that compared to the economic difficulties many WTO 
Members had been going through for some time now, the Turkish economy grew by an impressive 9% in 2010 and at a similar rate in 2011.  He noted that all would like to hear from the Turkish delegation how they viewed the prospects for their ec onomy.  Turkey appeared to have been able to 
carry on the economic expansion while maintainin g a low-tariff and overall open import regime for 
industrial goods, although the Secretariat report not ed the use of some protective measures during the 
period under review.  In agriculture, which was more  closed to imports, Turk ey seemed to have been 
stepping up its support to the sector, which was some what against the trend in other WTO Members. 
5. Overall, this Review provided Members an opportunity to exchange on certain systemic 
issues of interest to all policy makers.  On the basi s of the questions received and the reports prepared, 
we could comment on the following themes: 
● Bilateralism :  There might be a paradox between Turkey's increasing participation in 
an ever expanding network of preferential regional and bilateral trade 
agreements , while,  , also being an active and influential Member of the WTO;  
● Tariff:   questions may be asked on how  to ensure transparency and predictability  
of a trade regime where the applied tariffs are generally low, while the majority of 
Turkey's tariff lines are either unbound or bound at high rates in the WTO framework;  
● Remedy measures:   comments may be made on Turkey's increasing use of trade 
remedy measures , and its decisions to extend them, and possible links to import 
surveillance and monitoring measures; 
● Technical regulations, standards, and SPS measures :  comments may be made on 
Turkey's harmonization and alignment with the EU's systems, remaining differences, 
and the implications for Turkey's trading partners;  
● Intellectual property rights :  it would be interesting to hear Turkey's comments on 
IPR protection, including effective penalties and remedies, and efforts to improve the 
administrative enforcement of IPRs; WT/TPR/M/259 
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  ● State's support:   it would be interesting to hear comments on Turkey's support to the 
agricultural sector  and a shift towards more trade-distorting forms of support.  
Market intervention by state-owned ente rprises.  Ensuring transparency through 
timely notification of domestic  support and export subsidies; 
● Energy:   Turkey's efforts to me et its growing need for energy , and measures to foster 
deregulation, diversification, and energy efficiency, should be noted. 
  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  II. OPENING STATEMENT BY THE RE PRESENTATIVE OF TURKEY  
6. Since the last Trade Policy Review of Turkey in 2007, the world economy has gone through 
one of the most severe economic crisis of its histor y. However, notwithstanding the enormity of the 
crisis, adverse impacts of the cr isis on Turkish economy have been limited. Thanks to carefully 
designed, sound macro-economic strategy along w ith timely and decisively implemented fiscal 
policies and structural reforms, as many accept, Turkey has performed well, managing to grow 
substantially, by recording exceptional growth rat es. Remarkable economic performance achieved in 
hard reality of deep economic contraction, stood out Turkey as one of the fastest growing economies 
in the world in 2010. 
7. GDP growth rates were recorded as 9% in 2010 and 10.2% in the first half of 2011.  In the 
first quarter of 2011, with the 12% GDP growth rate , Turkey has been the fastest growing country in 
the world.  Manufacturing, construction, retail a nd wholesale trade and transportation were among the 
key sub-sectors contributed significantly to th is high growth performance. Becoming the 17th biggest 
economy in the world, and 6th in Europe as of 2010, Turkey is well beyond her growth target, set by 
the 9th Development Plan for 2007-13. Growth rate for 2011 is expected to be more than 8%.  OECD 
calculations suggest that Turkey will be the fast est growing OECD country, with an annual growth 
rate 6.7 % for the period 2011-17.  
8. There are number of outstanding factors that ch aracterize the period under review which also 
led Turkey finding its path more easily in the turmoil of global economy. Fiscal discipline, and effective debt management policies put into practice in line with the monetary policy since 2002, have 
been among the factors mitigating the adverse effect s of the global crisis. Decreasing borrowing costs 
together with stability of Turkish financial sector  increased public confidence and contributed to the 
extension of borrowing maturities. Thus, contrary to many other, debt sustainability has not become a 
concern for Turkey. A slight increase in debt stoc k ratios in 2009, followed by the regular decreasing 
trend soon after. The net public debt to GDP ra tio fell from 66.4% in 2001 to 28.8% in 2010 whereas 
the central government budget deficit to GDP ratio was recorded as 3.6%, in the same year. It is 
expected to decline further to 1.7% in 2011. 
9. Strength of Turkish banking system with strong capital structure and profitability enabled a 
quick rewinding to the pre-crisis conditions. In 2010, capital adequacy ra tio was realized as 19% 
which was well above of the legal rate of 8%. Turk ish banking sector increased its profit by almost 
10% without any governmental support during the crisis period.  
10. Strengthening the private sector's role in Tu rkish economy has been an integral part of 
Turkey's overall macroeconomic program during the period under review. In line with private-sector-
led growth strategy, privatization process has been carried forward. Overall privatization proceeds 
realized by Turkish Privatization Administration ha ve reached to approximately US$53.5 billion as of 
mid-2011. 
11. In terms of the monetary policy, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey continued to 
implement inflation targeting together with a floating exchange rate regime in 2008-11 period so as to 
achieve and maintain price stability. With the econom ic slowdown due to globa l crisis and favorable 
outlook in cost-based factors, annual CPI inflation in 2009 was 3.5 points lower than the 2008 figure. 
CPI inflation ended 2009 at 6.5%, whereas the corre sponding rates were at 6.4% and 10.45% in 2010 
and 2011, respectively.  
12. Although Turkey was able to differentiate he rself with strong growth performance, sound 
fiscal position and wisely taken steps to implement n eeded structural reforms even at the peak of 
global crisis, the level of current account defic it has been a challenge for Turkish economy.   WT/TPR/M/259 
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  13. Indeed, as an emerging market with high growth rates, the current account deficit of Turkey 
stems mainly from high dependence on energy im ports as well as increasing need to import raw 
materials and intermediate goods for some sectors.  Moreover, rapid increase in service expenditures, 
sharp rise in commodity prices, strong domestic demand are some other important reasons of huge current account deficit. In parallel to high growth  rates and the import figures recorded in 2010 and 
2011, the current account deficit reached US$77.1 billi on in 2011, with an increase of 65% compared 
to 2010. Up until now, we could manage to fina nce current account deficit through the incomes of 
services sectors such as tourism, contracting, tran sportation as well as the encouragement of foreign 
direct investments and long-term capital inflows.   
14. On the other hand, I would like to underline hereby that Turkey has been working on to 
mitigate the impacts of current account deficit. En couraging the production and export of high value-
added products, promoting of foreign direct investments, increasing the incomes of services sectors such as contracting, technical consulting, tourism and transportation are our main targets in this 
regard. We believe that encouraging production of intermediate goods, implementation of the Export-
oriented Production Strategy and Raw Material Suppl y Strategy will help to limit the current account 
deficit.  
15. The Medium Term Program announced in 20 10 for the period 2011-13 represents the 
priorities of the Turkish economy by realistic as sumptions for the coming periods along with the 
policies to be followed. The Program adopted with the ultimate goal of increasing welfare, aims to 
stabilize growth, to enhance employment, to improve public balances and to provide price stability.  If 
Turkey had resisted better than so me others in times of economic a nd financial crisis, no doubt, this is 
in part because of the positive role played  by prudent trade and investment policies.   
16. Since the last Trade Policy Review in 2007, building on its export-led, outward oriented 
economic growth, Turkey has become more integrat ed into the global markets. The openness rate of 
Turkey, as the share of total trade volume in GDP, in creased to more than 40 % in 2010 from 30.6% in 
1994.  Although, contraction in global markets aff ected Turkey's trade volume in 2009, during which 
both exports and imports decreased by 22.6% and 30. 2% respectively, pre-crisis trade volume of 
US$334 billion was re-attained in 2010.  
17. Turkey's bilateral trade with almost all regions in creased substantially in the last five years.  
Export strategies focusing in different regions of the world paved their way creating a more 
favourable climate for Turkish exports, which r eached US$113.9 billion in 2010 and US$135 billion 
in 2011. Thus, since 2007 Turkey's exports increased by  26%.  Turkey's Mid-Term Plan for the period 
2012-14 foresees total exports to reach US$148.5 billion in 2012.   
18. Over and above the quantitative increases and ma rket diversification, ongoing structural 
transformation towards capital and technology in tensive sectors changed sectoral composition of 
Turkey's exports. The total export value of medi um and high-tech products increased to US$34 billion 
in 2010 from US$25 billion in 2006.  
19. Besides its commitments as a WTO Member, the Customs Union established with the 
European Community in 1995 and the perspective of full membership to the EU remained as the main 
determinant of Turkey's overall trade policies.  
20. Turkey continues to put emphasis on diversifyi ng her trade partners and lessen its market 
dependencies. As part of this strategy, Turkey star ted to implement more active trade agenda with the 
outer part of the world. With the impetus  gained  out of FTA's with several countries such as Egypt, 
Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Albania, Georgia, Monten egro, Serbia and Chile, several  others are under 
negotiations including those with Korea, Republic of , Ukraine, Malaysia, Colombia and Ecuador. 18 
FTA's signed, represent a better living conditions and prosperity for the 3.2% of world population.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  Trade deficit of US$1.5 billion that Turkey was gi ving towards her FTA partners in 2002, turned into 
a US$1.4 billion of trade surplus as of 2011. 
21. Turkey also sustains efforts to achieve more lib eral trading conditions in its region. To this 
end, an ambitious trade agenda, which would also contribute to the economic and political stability in 
the region is pursued in the framework of regiona l organizations including the Economic Cooperation 
Organization, Black Sea Economic Cooperation,  Organization of Islamic Cooperation and 
Developing-8. Besides that, Turkey is pursuing b ilateral, plurilateral and regional initiatives with 
Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Azerbaija n and other neighbouring countries in the form of 
strategic economic partnerships.  Yet, it is worth to mention that efforts at bilateral and regional levels 
should never be taken as Turkey's drawback from multilateralism but an indication of her genuine 
willingness to liberalize trade at each and every level without eroding the basis of the multilateral 
trading system. 
22. Emerging economies are accepted as the new FDI pow erhouses. This is also valid for Turkey.  
Today, with its geographically strategic locati on, demographical features, economic and political 
stability and favourable climate for investments, Turkey offers unique opportunities to foreign 
investors. Yet, like many other countries, global fina ncial crisis had adverse impacts also on Turkey's 
investment flows. Indeed, it woul d not be correct to say that the global FDI has bounced back to 
pre-crisis levels. Expectation is that FDI flows w ill recover to pre-crisis levels over the next two 
years, particularly because of perceived risks and regulatory uncertainty in a fragile world economy. 
We know that the global FDI flows in 2010 remained  some 15% below their pre-crisis average and 
37% below their 2007 peak. Hence, under such circ umstances, both FDI and portfolio investments 
remained limited  and net outflows were observed in Turkey in the last quarter of 2008 and  in the 
first quarter of  2009.  
23. In 2010, however, due to expa nsionary monetary and fiscal policies in developed countries 
coupled with the rising risk appetite, attracted  more capital flows to emerging economies which 
enabled Turkey to receive net portfolio inflow of  US$16.1 billion in 2010. To tal value of FDI inflow 
and total capital inflow were recorded as US$9. 3 billion and US$42.9 billion respectively in 2010 
with FDI inward stock reaching US$181.9 billion. FDI inflow to Turkey was US$15.7 billion as of 
2011. 
24. In the last couple of years, no economy has been  entirely spared from the adverse effects of 
the economic contraction, neither has Turkey. Protectionist pressures being felt in a variety of ways. Nonetheless, instead of adopting inward looking and pr otectionist sentiments, Turkey has opted out to 
show resistance to those temptations in order to  keep trade flowing in an open, rule-based and 
predictable environment. This can be perceived from her foreign trade policy formulation and conduct 
general framework of which largely remained  unchanged since the last policy review. 
25. Here are just a few examples: With a simple  and transparent tariff structure based on 
ad valorem  rates for 98.3% of tariff lines and favour able market access conditions, Turkey has 
continued to provide trad ing partners with a remarkable predic tability;  level of simple average 
protection rate for non-agricultural goods remained at 4.2% as of 2011, which is one of the lowest 
among developing countries;  although margin be tween bound and applied rates leave a scope to 
increase MFN duties, Turkey's applied MFN rates ha ve not changed significantly during the review 
period;  efforts have been sustained further to improve legal framework as well as implementation and 
enforcement capacity of trade related regime in a number of areas ranging from intellectual property, 
to technical standards in order to streamline trad e procedures and facilitate trade;  and the market 
access conditions are certainly more alluring fo r countries treated under  the signed FTA's, GSP 
schemes and regional arrangements.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  26. At the flip side of the coin, however, infrast ructural challenges such as constantly being 
experienced in the agricultural sector, limit Turkey's ability to improve level of liberalization in this 
area while keeping reform of world agricultural trade in the Doha Development Round high on the 
agenda. Although we have been confronting a numbe r of problems which put us in a difficult position 
in terms policy making, we have been striving hard  to address existing bottlenecks in a most effective 
manner. 
27. Taking this opportunity, I would like to emphasi ze the importance Turkey attaches to the 
Doha Development Round. In fact, what has been expe rienced in the last few years has manifested the 
potential risks we may encounter in an increasingly in terdependent world if and when we give up free 
trade. Now, we know that failure would be costly, more than we could think of, on a global scale.  
Turkey, in full conviction of the fact that trade is  one of the most outstanding sources of growth and 
prosperity, stands ready to lend her suppor t to re-vitalize multilateral trade talks.   
28. Before concluding, let me express where Turkey  wishes to head for from where she stands.  
By all means, we believe Turkey has passed the stress test in the last global turmoil and could register 
herself as one of the leading economies in the world.   We are in full conviction that having been one 
of those countries that could show strong resilie nce in the global economic and financial crisis, 
Turkey will be continuing on her path stronger and d ecisively, yet with vigilance, targeting to become 
one of the top ten economies in the world by 2023 w ith US$500 billion of export volume. To this aim, 
Turkey projects to get a share of world trade 1.2% by 2013 and 1.3% by 2018. 
29. An important contribution for the Turkish econom y in meeting this target would come from 
concluding the Doha Development Round by de livering substantial new trade opportunities and 
ensuring a fair play ground for all. With this in mi nd, let me reiterate that Turkey will continue to 
work constructively in the DDA throughout 2012 and onwards.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  III. STATEMENT BY THE DISCUSSANT (H.E. MR. ISTVÁN MAJOR (HUNGARY)) 
30. Turkey and Hungary share a long lasting common history and have a strong political, 
economic and strategic partnership.  Our two nations , conscious of their shared past consider each 
other as true friends. I'm particularly privileged to serve as a discussant for the fifth TPR of Turkey as 
I believe that since its last review in 2007 Turkey evidently become a major pl ayer  in international 
trade,  and in many aspects arrived to a very im portant turning point rega rding its future policy. 
31. As an opening remark the Turkish Government should be commended for its rather successful 
macroeconomic policy in the review period. The d eep-going structural reform program undertaken by 
Turkey starting in 2002 resulted in a very robust, dynamic and sustained real average GDP growth of 
more than 7% in the first decade of the millennium. As was the case for very many similar open 
economies, the crisis severely hit the Turkish economy as well, and the GDP fell by almost 5% 
between 2008 and 2009. As a response the Turkis h authorities provided a very agile economic 
management during the crisis, applying an efficient discretionary stimulus program. As a result, very 
spectacular recovery took place, pr oviding a 9% GDP growth in 2010 and the growth rate for 2011 is 
almost 8%. For European observers these figures are simply breathtaking. 
32. Adding to the list of successes Turkey's macroe conomic balance was kept relatively well and 
although the crisis took a toll, the country's net publ ic sector deficit remained at an enviable 35% of 
the GDP. The gross external debt – which declin ed steadily during the l ast decade – was also 
successfully stabilised by th e Government at a rather comfortable 40% of the GDP. 
33. However it is also part of this remarkable ec onomic success story that in the past few months 
some worrying signs appeared on the horizon of the Turkish economic policy makers in the form of 
eroding external competitiveness resulting in a widening current account deficit, and a steadily 
increasing inflationary pressure in the economy. Ho w does the Government visualise an efficient 
policy-mix of soft-landing in the coming months?  
34. Turkey, of 73 million people, is a fast-risi ng economic actor devel oping dynamically and 
steadily and becoming more and more the model to follow in its closer and larger region. With 
onward connections to markets in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and beyond, Turkey 
currently stands as the 17th largest economy in the world. The country ranks 22nd in 2009 among the 
world's exporters of merchandise and 14th amongst exporters of services. This already impressive data 
is put to a new light when we take into account th at the Turkish Government set the ambitious target 
for 2023 and aspires to join the precious club of the world's top ten economies, with the GDP per 
capita of more than US$25,000, as well as expor ts worth US$500 billion annually. This growing 
influence and attractive model role puts on the Govern ment of Turkey a large amount of responsibility 
stemming from the fact that its future actions c ould be followed by other actors in the region. 
35. Although the trade account of Turkey has not been  is surplus since 2001, exports were rapidly 
rising between 2002 and 2010. Regarding the structure of its trade it is also worth noticing that while 
Turkey is still predominantly an exporter of manuf actured goods, the figures show that the exports of 
agricultural products, mostly food have been rising over the last three years, representing around 11% 
of exports.  
36. While the EU remains Turkeys most important  trading partner and investor accounting for 
nearly 70 of total FDI inflows between 2005-10, and it is also evident that the orientation of Turkey's 
economic and trade policies are still largely driven  by its preparations for accession to the EU, the 
Secretariat Report also highlighted that the EU shar e in Turkish export declined by nearly 10 % point 
from 2006-10. This reflects significant diversificat ion in Turkish exports towards North Africa, 
certain CIS countries and Asia. On the import si de we can observe the same tendency with the 
Russian Federation, the U.S., China, Indi a and Kazakhstan gaining important positions. WT/TPR/M/259 
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  37. As noted by the Secretariat Report since the last  review the basic features of Turkey's trade 
policy remained largely unchanged with the major point of orientation remaining the Custom Union 
with the EU and the ongoing EU accession procedures which - with is consequent alignment to the 
EU acquis  - are largely viewed by investors as a important stabilizing factor in Turkey's legal 
framework. In this respect it should be also mentioned that since the last review Turkey aligned itself 
with important EU legal instruments in the field of competition policy, custom procedures, and 
intellectual property. 
38. On the multilateral front Turkey remained strongly committed to the multilateral trading 
system, including the DDA negotiations. As to the past  few years Turkey played an active and useful 
role in several negotiating committees, recognizing  its responsibility as a major emerging player to 
push for further liberalization and strengthening of  rules. Even though the Round is in a difficult 
situation right now, Turkey is among the members e ngaging positively to carry out useful work this 
year. At this juncture it is worth recognizing the speci al commitment of Turkey to promote the interest 
of LDCs. The hosting of the important Fourth Un ited Nations Conference on the LDCs eminently 
demonstrated this dedication. 
39. Turkey is not party to any of the plurilatera l agreements resulting from the Uruguay Round, 
but it is a signatory to the ITA. Given that Turk ey participates as an observer to the Plurilateral 
Agreement on Government Procurement since 1996,  and in view of the success of the GPA 
negotiations at the end of last year, it would be a very useful information for many of us in the room 
to know what are Turkey's intentions considering an eventual membership in the GPA. Taking into 
account the level of development of Turkey and its in creased level of international competitiveness, it 
seems to me that Turkey would be a net beneficiary of joining this instrument. 
40. As a recent tendency, like ma ny other countries Turkey negotiated several, namely 18, FTAs 
and currently is in a process of negotiating furt her regional and bilateral agreements. The FTAs 
largely follow the same pattern as the EU, which is also linked to the CET. In addition we can observe 
a deepening regional integration tendency with th e neighboring (ECO, OIC, BSEC) ) countries, and 
on this it would be helpful to know more about  the regulatory aspects of those latter regional 
agreements, for example in  the anti-dumping or intellectual property field.  
41. As a result of the large amount of FTAs the major part of Turkey's imports was subject to 
quite low level preferential tariffs. Moreover it is also worth noticing that Turkey - a developing 
country - operates an autonomous preferential regime  favoring other developing countries. Under this 
GSP Scheme which is closely aligned to the EU regime Turkey also provides duty-free quota-free 
treatment to LDCs.  This generous measure is especially commendable and I hope that many other 
WTO Members, especially emerging economies would follow this positive example. 
42. Taking a closer look at the investment regime  there are some important points to raise.  As It 
was already recognized in previous reviews, a continue d series of large privatizations in the electricity 
distribution, port operation, petrochemical and tob acco enterprises, telecom as well as the structural 
changes in many important sectors, together with the strong and stable growth contributed to the 
steady rise of foreign investment.  The financial cris es affected somewhat this tendency, and in this 
regard the Secretariat Report notes that after a steep  decline in 2007-08 there was quick recovery and 
the FDI is currently back at pre crises level. With this said, as the SEC report also highlights the state 
ownership is still considerable, notably in certain banks, transport companies, public utilities, energy 
and mining enterprises, and agricultural marketing boards. 
43.
 Another very important aspect to attract fore ign investment is the question of foreign 
ownership of companies. In this field Turkey is largely open almost in all sectors with no foreign 
equity caps (FEC). However some exceptions and FD I restrictions still remain in media, transport,  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 11 
 
 
  and business services and the acquisition of real estate also bares restrictions. I would like to ask our 
Turkish friends whether there are any plan s of regulatory changes in these areas. 
44. Coming now to the Market Access Regime and l ooking into the tariff schedule of Turkey we 
can observe that, although the agriculture tariff lines were all bound as a result of the UR, as concerns 
non-agricultural products the binding level is only 33.5 %. At the same time wi thin the framework of 
the Custom Union with the EU a common external ta riff has been put in place resulting in an applied 
tariff level well below Turkey's bound rates. The SEC  report notes that in 2011 the average applied 
MFN tariff rate for industrial products amounted to 4.1%. With regard to the agriculture the tariff 
protection is relatively higher and Turkey's app lied rates in 2011 averaged around 47.9%, with 
considerable tariff peaks. The average bound rate is 72% for the same products.  These figures taken 
together with the very low level of bindings leav e Turkey a very considerable margin of possible 
liberalisation. 
45. In my opinion it would be a fair assessment to  say that overall Turkey trade policy resisted 
very well the protectionist temptations in the crisis  period. However after many years of stability in 
tariff policy a somewhat negative tendency appear ed in 2011. In July the MFN import duty was 
increased to 75% on certain meat products. The exte rnal tariff regime was also put in question in 
September last year when Turkey decided to cons iderably increase the MFN duties of some textile 
and apparel products.  Given Turkey's comp etitiveness and increasing economic strengths these 
measures seem somewhat disproportionate. 
46. Next to tariffs, the openness of the regime is also determined by the regulatory part of its 
system. In this regard although since the last review  the custom legislation has been further simplified 
and streamlined (with the alignment  to the  EU acquis )  there are still some elements in the regime 
that require further clarifications. For example several members questioned the utilization of some 
specialized custom offices for cu stom clearance of certain goods, the import regime of some specific 
products like textiles, alcoholic be verages or second hand goods. It w ould be interesting to hear the 
explanation of our Turkish friends on the motifs behind these somewhat unorthodox measures.   
47. On the IP front it is widely recognized by Memb ers that since the last review Turkey made a 
considerable advance in the enforcement of intellect ual property rights, although there is still ground 
for improvement in fighting piracy and counterfeiti ng. Since the last review Turkey continued the 
legal and structural reform, and in this respect  I should welcome the setting up new IPR database in 
the field of copyright, the new special bureaus of i nvestigation in the area enforcement and last but 
not least the creation of the Intellectual and Industr ial Property Coordination Board.  On this latter it 
will be interesting to hear more on the experiences gathered in this new Board. 
48. Finally the TPR review provides a good opportunity to encourage transparency both 
domestically and in multilateral level. In this li ght I would note the importance of the notification 
obligations enshrined in several WTO agreements. As it is reflected in the Secretariat Report our 
Turkish friends have some shortcomings in this r espect so I would like to ask our Turkish colleagues 
to improve their performance and provide the memb ership with more insight on domestic and export 
support schemes in the field of agriculture.   
49. There are certainly many other important issues in the trade policy of Turkey that I did not 
manage to touch upon, but I'm sure that there will ce rtainly be some eager Members to do this job.  
Overall it seems to me that in the review peri od the Turkish Government have carried out an 
extremely successful macroeconomic policy and the country's trade policy also shows several positive 
developments.  I can just earnestly hope that Turkey by recognizing its rapidly increasing economic 
strength and competitiveness will go even further into  reforming and opening up its trade regime.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  IV. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 
UNITED STATES 
 
50. During Turkey's last TPR in 2007, the Chair noted that Turkey's various programs of 
economic reform had succeeded in fostering impres sive economic growth, while keeping inflation in 
check and reducing public and private debt burdens.  However, the Chair also highlighted a number of 
areas which needed further addressing in order to sustain economic growth, including the need to 
liberalize further Turkey's investment regime.  Th e Chair also noted the concerns expressed by a 
number of Members regarding remaining restricti ons, including a high level of tariff protection in 
Turkey's agricultural sector. 
51. Today we are pleased to have the chance to re view developments since the 2007 TPR and to 
discuss Turkey's recent economic performance.  Economic growth has been impressive since the 
previous review, providing evidence of the success of the government's reform efforts.  Despite the 
downturn Turkey shared with much of the world in 2008-09, real GDP growth rebounded to 9% in 2010 and was 7.5% in 2011.  The IMF forecasts 2%  growth in 2012.  Since 2001, the Secretariat 
advises that Turkey has been succes sful in driving down annual consumer price inflation from 29.7% 
in 2002 to 10% or less since 2004.  One key change in  Turkey's trade and investment posture noted in 
the Secretariat's report is the relative decline in the EU's share of Turkey's total trade and investment 
since 2007, and concurrent pronounced shift in Turkey's commercial engagement toward 
neighbouring countries in the Middle East and No rth Africa, Central As ian and Asian regions. 
52. Our 2010 data demonstrate how important bilatera l trade and investment are to both of our 
economies.  Turkey in 2010 was our 35
th largest goods trading partne r with $14.8 billion in total 
(i.e. two-way) trade.  U.S. goods exports to Tu rkey were $10.5 billion and our imports from Turkey 
totalled $4.2 billion.  The United States has continue d to support Turkey's e fforts to boost economic 
growth through increased goods exports, providing  duty free benefits under the U.S. Generalized 
System of Preferences. 
53. The United States is a significant investor in Tu rkey, with the stock of U.S. FDI valued at 
about $5.7 billion in 2010.  Our mutual trade and investment have generated increased employment 
opportunities in both countries.  
54. Despite the positive aspects of the record described in the Secret ariat's Report, there are areas 
where we believe Turkey could make further improvements.  Continuing to make progress by 
eliminating trade restrictions and increasing transparency would benefit Turkey's economy by 
increasing efficiency and raising productivity to support sustained economic growth.  We urge Turkey 
to redouble its efforts to open its market, particularly in agriculture, including in the area of biotechnology, and to ensure world-class intellectual property protection – all of this would greatly 
increase the competitiveness of the Turkish economy. 
55. The United States notes continued concerns with aspects of Turkey's customs regime, 
particularly ongoing problems with certain custom s regulations, procedures, and valuation methods.  
Similarly, some of Turkey's import licensing prac tices as well as technical and food safety regulations 
are troubling.  We would like, therefore, to urge Turkey to examine closely its measures and practices 
to ensure that they are in line with Turkey's WTO commitments, including the Customs Valuation and 
Import Licensing, Sanitary and Phytosanitary, and Technical Barriers to Trade Agreements.  In 
addition, we urge Turkey to take the necessary st eps to ensure prompt and full notification to WTO 
Members of its new and modified TBT and SPS measur es.  We also urge Turkey to submit overdue 
Committee on Agriculture notifications, especially  those relating to domestic support, which 
according to the Secretariat's report, has experien ced increasing levels during the period of review.   
The United States stands ready to work with Turkey to address these concerns.  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 13 
 
 
  56. We take this opportunity to recognize Turkey  for its continued efforts to strengthen 
intellectual property protection.  Nonetheless, we observe that significant problems remain.  While the 
Secretariat's report highlights conti nued constructive steps taken by Turkey in the area of intellectual 
property rights enforcement, we believe that furthe r comprehensive, coordinated and sustained efforts 
in this area are necessary to establish an adequate level of intellectual property protection in Turkey.  
We would be interested in an update on any legisl ative, judicial or enfo rcement steps the Turkish 
government anticipates in this area. 
57. The large share of foreign direct investment in Turkey's services sectors demonstrates the 
growing importance of these sectors to Turkey's economic well-being.  For the benefit of Turkey's economic growth prospects, we continue to urge  the Turkish government to eliminate remaining 
services barriers including in the financial services, telecommunications, and energy sectors.  
58. The United States welcomes Turkey's continued support and commitment to the WTO's work 
and to trade liberalization through the rules-based multilateral trading system.  We appreciate that 
Turkey has long been an observer to the WTO Committee on Government Procurement (since 1996).  Since the revision of the Government Procurement Agreement agreed upon at the WTO Ministerial in 
December 2011 will facilitate accession to the GP A, we strongly encourage Turkey to commence 
accession to the GPA as soon as possible.  
59. We appreciated Turkey's comments today concer ning the interplay between its bilateral and 
multilateral activities.  We note that Turkey, like most WTO Members, is pursuing its trade liberalization interests in multiple fora. 
60. The United States appreciates the opportunity to  participate in this review and provide 
observations.  We look forward to continuing our wo rk with Turkey and ou r trading partners to 
strengthen the global economy and th e multilateral trading system embodied by the WTO, allowing 
trade and investment opportunities to expand. 
REPUBLIC OF KOREA 
61. We would like to commend the Turkish gove rnment for successfully weathering the recent 
global economic crisis through its well-engineer ed macroeconomic and trade policies as Deputy 
Undersecretary Damlaci aptly pointed out just a wh ile ago.  Turkey deserves our admiration for its 
robust 9% real GDP growth in 2010 and a furt her 7.5% increase projected for 2011, because it was 
achieved despite the ongoing great recession.  Such a stellar performance is particularly meaningful as 
it was possible thanks to Turkey's continued market  liberalization and other structural reforms in 
various areas. 
62. Having said that, we would also like to recognize that there is a growing concern among the 
Membership regarding Turkey's trade remedy measures, as the Secretariat report indicates.  We take due note of the recent increase in the number of the anti-dumping measures taken and of the investigations and extensions of the safeguard measu res.  In addition, what still attracts our attention 
is the fact that more than 60% of Turk ey's non-agricultural tariff lines remain unbound. 
63. From the perspective of Korea, one of the key findings of the Secretariat Report is that the 
recent economic crisis has highlighted the benefits  of the economic reforms undertaken by Turkey 
since 2001 and the value in maintaining and continui ng these reforms.  Thus, we very much hope and 
expect that Turkey will continue that path.  In this  vein, we also expect that Turkey will continue to 
make meaningful contributions to the timely conclusion of the DDA negotiations, as it will help 
facilitate Turkey's reform process as well as those of  other WTO Members.  We are confident that the 
Turkish government will do so as we heard this  morning from Deputy Undersecretary Damlaci his WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 14  
 
  government's strong commitment to its active and c onstructive engagement with regard to the DDA 
negotiations throughout this year and beyond. 
64. We are pleased to note that Turkey and Korea have developed robust and friendly ties in 
many areas, including the economic and commercial field, over the past several decades since the 
Korean War in 1950.  A defining moment in our bilateral relationship has recently come.  At a 
summit held in Ankara earlier this month, our leader s agreed to elevate the bilateral relations to a 
"strategic partnership".  Indeed, such a partnershi p will take our cooperative relations to new heights 
not only at the bilateral, but also at the regional and multilateral levels. 
CHINA 
65. China is particularly pleased to attend the fift h Trade Policy Review of Turkey. This is not 
only because Turkey is one of China's oldest trad ing partners since 1000 years ago when the ancient 
Silk Road linked both countries, but also because it is today that Chinese Vice President XI Jinping 
starts his official visit to Turkey. In view of both historical and up-to-date connection, especially with 
the support of our leaders, we have every reason to  believe that China and Turkey will further our 
mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation in the years to come. When receiving the interview by the Turkish media yesterday, Vice Presi dent XI expressed that China would continue to 
encourage more Chinese enterprises to  invest in Turkey and enhance our cooperation with Turkey in 
the areas such as infrast ructure construction, energy and te lecommunication. Despite an annual 
growth of 35% in the past 10 years, our bilate ral trade stands at only US$19 billion. Our two-way 
investment is only US$820 million. Given the si zes and the complementarities of the two economies, 
both countries surely will tap the great potentiality fo r both trade and investment so as to bring our 
bilateral relations to a higher level. 
66. I would like to share some observations on Turkey's economic performance and trade policy 
over the review period. Turkey embarked on significan t structural reforms in response to the domestic 
economic crises in 1999 and 2001. The reforms led Turk ey into a long period of sustained growth and 
economic stability by successfully mitigating the global crisis. Turkey is currently the 17
th largest 
economy and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Having said that, as noted by the Secretariat Report, some structural challenges rema in to be tackled, such as high unemployment. We 
encourage the Turkish government to take more  proactive initiatives to address these challenges. 
67. Coming to trade specifically, it goes without saying that Turkey is an active and constructive 
participant of the WTO, particularly in the DDA negotiations. Its views and positions have been 
widely shared in this house. Most recently at the General Council last week, Turkey correctly 
highlighted some key points that are worth deliberating by each and every one of us. 
Ambassador Aran has said that we must all remain  committed to the WTO as its systemic importance 
goes beyond the Doha Round; that, despite the difficu lties we are having, it is important for us to 
remain committed to the successful conclusion of  the DDA and make continued small progress to 
advance the negotiations; and that development dimens ion has to be preserved. We thank Ambassador 
Aran for those enlightening remarks, which of cour se is merely a small fraction of his continuous 
contribution to this system.  
SWITZERLAND 
68. First of all, I would like to underline the impressi ve results that Turkey achieved since the last 
TPR. The recent economic crisis highlighted the be nefits of the economic reforms undertaken by 
Turkey. The banking sector proved robust, and th e financial position of the Turkish Government 
allowed for stimulus of the economy. The growth  rates obtained reached in 2010 and 2011 with 
respectively 8.9 and 6.5% are substantial. Turkey's  economic recovery was led by growth in private 
consumption and a rebound in exports . The current challenges lie in following through on reforms and  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 15 
 
 
  stepping up the momentum to address the remain ing difficult questions in a challenging economic 
environment. 
69. Let me briefly comment the bila teral economic relations  between our two countries. Turkey is 
an important partner for Swiss companies. Not leas t as a result of the remarkable growth of the 
Turkish economy, Swiss-Turkish trade amounted to nearly US$3 billion in 2010. The main product 
categories which Switzerland exports to Turkey are chemicals-pharmaceuticals, machinery and 
watches. In return vehicles, textiles and apparels as well as agricultural products constitute more than 
60% of the Turkish exports to Switzerland. Even th ough our bilateral trade is growing, we noted, like 
other European countries, that our market share is stagnating in the context of  the important expansion 
of Turkish economy in the last years in te rms of growth, trade and investments.  
70. On the investment side, the stock of Swiss direct investment in Turkey represented nearly 
US$3 billion at the end of 2010. Major areas of investments are pharmaceu ticals and chemicals, 
machinery, agro-processing, and in the service sect or, banking, insurance and tourism. In general, 
Swiss businesses assess the economic relations with Turkey as good and friendly. However, Swiss 
companies also flagged some problems on the Turkis h market. Most of them relate to non-tariff 
barriers, like the handling of goods at the border,  and differences in certification and conformity 
controls. For instance in the textile sector, th e Woven/Knitted "Fabric Detail Sheet" (FDS) and the 
"Exporter Registry Form" (ERF) complicate trade. In  particular, the FDS requires the handing over of 
sensitive information. 
71. Switzerland recognizes the efforts undertaken so far by the Turkish Government in improving 
the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs). An adequate protection and enforcement of IPRs 
are an important prerequisite for domestic and fo reign companies to invest into research and 
development (R&D) of new and innovativ e products and services in Turkey.  
72. Before I conclude, I would also like to highlight the active role of Turkey in the WTO. The 
Swiss authorities also commend Turkey for its stra tegy of continued trade liberalization through 
negotiations at the multilateral, regional and bilate ral levels, which is leading to a multifaceted 
transformation in all sectors.  
MEXICO 
73. There can be little doubt that, for every countr y, the review period has been marked by 
uncertainty and economic problems.  This is why I would like to highlight the important role played 
by the reforms implemented by Turkey since 2001, which not only enabled it to register sustained 
growth up to 2007 but also to be in a better position to face up to the major recession in 2008 and 
2009.  Thanks to its sound fiscal and monetary policies, Turkey's economy has had a margin of 
manoeuvre to deal with the crisis and bring about  a return to growth.  The economy grew by an 
enviable 9% in 2010 and no less enviable growth estimated at over 8% in 2011, although the forecast 
for 2012 shows a sharp decline, with possible recovery in 2013 as the external situation improves.  This will, however, essentially depe nd on the trend in Europe's economy. 
74. The Economist  has prepared an indicator of emerging countries' margin of fiscal and 
monetary manoeuvre ( wiggle-room index ).  This places Turkey in a zone  that calls for considerable 
caution as it has less flexibility to ease its monetary po licy and use fiscal stimulus to generate growth 
if the Euro-zone crisis worsens.  One of the worry ing indicators is the current account deficit, which 
was equivalent to 6.5% of GDP in 2011 and is expected to rise to 9% in 2012, placing Turkey in a vulnerable position.  If the global financial situati on worsens, it will become more difficult to finance 
such a large current account deficit and, ultimat ely, more difficult to lower interest rates. WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 16  
 
  75. Turkey's trade policy has changed little since the previous review and its programme for 
integration with the European Union still serves as the basis and guidelines for its policy.  Likewise, 
the previous review's comment on the complex ity of its trade regime remains relevant. 
76. Concerning its tariff policy, the agricultural sect or continues to be highly protected.  The 
average MFN tariff on agricultural products is much  higher than that on non-agricultural products, 
and in 2010 were 43.4 and 4.8%, r espectively.  As regards agricultu re, if WTO Members are placed in 
ascending order of tariffs, Turkey is one of the most  protectionist.  On the other hand, for industrial 
goods, tariffs are among the most liberal, although the level of tariff bindings is low and only half of 
the tariff lines have been bound within the WTO. 
77. In the area of investment, the efforts made  to reform the Investment Encouragement 
Programme and the Decree of 2011 intended to im prove the regulatory environment for investors 
deserve particular attention.  There has also b een notable progress in the privatization programme, 
which has boosted investment in various economic  sectors, attracting investors from all over the 
world and generating large amounts of revenue.  Acco rding to the OECD's Regulatory Restrictiveness 
Index, however, Turkey still has a lot to do in term s of facilitating foreign investment in sectors such 
as real estate.  We urge Turkey to pursue its priv atization programme in those sectors in which foreign 
investment has been restricted and State participation remains important .  We should also like to have 
further details on the public-private associations set  up so far and which are to become the model for 
financing future investment. 
78. Concerning agriculture, lack of transparency prevents us from evaluating the programmes and 
support which Turkey is providing to its agricultura l sector, and also from following up the trend in 
support policy over the past ten years and verifyi ng compliance with Turkey's commitments within 
the WTO by examining the notifications submitted to  the Committee on Agriculture.  The delays in 
compliance with the notification obligations in the Agreement on Agriculture since 2002 are a matter 
of concern, especially as Turkey is the seventh la rgest agricultural producer in the world and is an 
important importer and exporter of cr ops.  According to the Secretariat report and OECD data, Turkey 
has increased the value of the support given to  its producers and has distanced itself from the 
OECD trend towards decreasing use of trade-distorting measures.  As agriculture is still an important 
source of jobs, accounting for 25.2% of jobs and 8.4% of economic activities in 2010, Turkey needs to intensify the reforms made in 2001-2008 so as to  benefit from the competitive advantage afforded 
by its geographical situation and its fertile soil, as can be seen from the rapid growth in exports of 
agricultural products. 
79. The services sector has become the major contributor in Turkey's economy.  In 2010, its share 
of the gross domestic product was 60% and it employe d 50% of the labour force.  Turkey has known 
how to take advantage of its cultural and natura l resources, managing successfully to make itself a 
leading destination for tourism.  We acknowledge the priority given by Turkey to diversification and 
investment efforts in order to m eet growth expectations with a vi ew to extending the tourist season, 
doubling the number of tourists and tripling revenue in this sector by  2023.  We welcome the reforms 
undertaken in the energy sector, especially the privatiz ation of electricity distribution so as to allow all 
consumers freedom to choose their electricity supp lier by 2015.  Neverthele ss, the reform process 
needs to continue.  We urge Turkey to pursue th e liberalization it has launched in the services sector, 
remaining faithful to its objective of improving th e number and quality of its commitments on market 
access and trade.  
AUSTRALIA 
80. 
Australia appreciates its warm  and expanding relationship with  Turkey underpinned by close 
extensive and deepening cooperation on global st rategic and economic issues.  This includes a 
growing number of bilateral instruments aime d at underpinning our expanding trade relations:  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 17 
 
 
  arrangements covering animal hea lth and quarantine, agriculture and live animals, air services, 
investment promotion and protection, and double ta xation. These arrangements reflect the fact that 
our bilateral trade has diversified in recen t years beyond a commodities-based focus into 
manufactured items, services and investment.  
81. While investment in each other's country is relatively small, the entry into force of an 
Investment Protection and Promotion Agreemen t in 2009 and signature of a Double Taxation 
Agreement in 2010 are aimed at further encouraging investment links between our two countries.  We 
are keen to explore opportunities for increased invest ment in the energy sector, infrastructure, mineral 
exploration, construction and agribusiness. 
82. This Trade Policy Review provides an opportunity to gain further insights into the important 
changes occurring in the Turkish economy, as well as to highlight where further changes could be 
made.  We welcome the relative strength of the Turkish economy at a time of considerable global 
economic uncertainty.  Turkey's growing economic we ight and global influence is evidenced by the 
important role it now plays in the G20, the WTO and other international organisations.  Its strong 
commitment to the WTO and the Doha Round is of course welcome and shared by Australia. 
83. Turkey is to be commended for the tough econom ic decisions of the past decade on reducing 
inflation and reform of its financial and banking sector s, and taxation and social security regimes.  We 
welcome the Turkish Government's continued focus on working actively on the challenges of 
unemployment, control of the current account defi cit, exchange rate stability, agricultural sector 
reform and expansion of trade markets beyond th e European Union, its major trading partner. 
84. Australia nevertheless continues to be concer ned about the high tariff protection Turkey 
maintains for many agricultural products, the dir ection of agricultural domestic support programs and 
the ongoing use of export subsidies. Australia also  has increasingly strong interests in services, which 
have become an important part of Turkey's economy. Australia looks to  Turkey to further liberalise its 
services market, particularly in the energy, mini ng, ICT, infrastructure, business services and 
education sectors.  
MALAYSIA 
85. After the global economic crisis in 2008, th e Turkish economy has been growing at an 
impressive rate.  Turkey's GDP growth rate was 9% in 2010 and 10.2% in the first half of 2011.  The 
industrial sector showed a notable growth rate of  12.6% in 2010, whereas the growth rate in the 
services sector was recorded at 8.5% in the same year.  Indeed , the Turkish economy became one of 
the fastest growing economies in the world in 2010 a nd in the first half of 2011, which is impressive 
by any standards.  Malaysia wishes to comme nd Turkey on its stellar economic performance. 
86. Malaysia has always maintained good economic an d trade relations with Turkey.  Bilateral 
trade between Malaysia and Turkey is relatively sma ll and is confined to a narrow range of products.  
In 2010, bilateral trade between the two countri es amounted to US$794.33 million and accounted for 
less than 1% of each other's total global trade. 
87. Despite the relatively small trade between the two countries, there is huge potential for further 
growth in our trade relationship.   In 2011, exports a nd imports, to and from Turkey increased by 
46.4% and 15.6%, respectively.  Since 2001, Malaysia's  total trade with Turkey  has been growing at a 
compound annual growth rate of 5.67%.  Exports to Turkey of manufactures of metal, has increased 
by 124.3%, crude rubber by 93.5%, palm oil by 72 .3% and transport equipment by 75.9%.  This 
clearly shows an encouraging increase in the trad e between our two countries and the potential for 
further growth. WT/TPR/M/259 
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  88. Bilateral trade between Turkey and Malaysia is expected to further increase to US$2 billion 
this year from US$1.75 billion last year, driven by th e conclusion of the FTA with Turkey.  Malaysia 
has began a FTA with Turkey and to date, seven TN C meetings have been held, the latest in July 
2011.  Progress of the negotiations has been going we ll, and discussions on sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures, trade remedies, customs procedures and co-operation and technical barriers to trade have 
already been concluded.  It is hope that the conc lusion of the FTA between Malaysia and Turkey will 
boost our trade relationship to new heights. 
JAPAN 
89. I would like to start with Turkey's macroeconom ic environment and policies. As pointed out 
by previous speakers, thanks to growth in priv ate consumption and a rebound in exports, Turkey's 
economy has successfully recovered from the effects of the world economic and financial crisis, 
which had affected it severely, according to the OECD Report.  
90. Also, Turkey maintains very sound fiscal polic y. The public sector primary balance was kept 
in surplus from 2000 through 2008. As a consequenc e, net public sector debt significantly decreased 
until 2008. After deterioration in 2009 due to fiscal  stimulus in response to the global economic and 
financial crisis, it resumed improvement from 2010. In addition, it is worth noting that inflation-
targeting has been implemented successfully, and the annual increase in consumer price index has 
come down from 29.7% in 2002 to 6.4% in 2010. Japan applauds, with great deal of admiration, these 
efforts by Turkey which have significantly improve d its macroeconomic environment, and hopes that 
Turkey continues its efforts in the same direction. 
91. Regarding trade and trade-related policies, we ha ve four comments.  Firstly, Japan welcomes 
that Turkey has been increasing its exports, except in 2009, and diversifying its export markets. Its 
principal market is the EU both for exports (46.3%  in 2010) and imports (38.9% in 2010), but Turkey 
has expanded trade with other countries.  
92. Secondly, in the area of investment, it has deve loped legislation and regulations to further 
improve its investment climate, including the est ablishment of the Turkish Investment Support and 
Promotion Agency in 2006 and a policy shift from ex ante  control to minimal ex post  monitoring. 
These changes have undoubtedly contributed to the in crease in FDI inflows. Yet there are some areas 
with restrictions on foreign ownership. Japan  acknowledges the efforts made by Turkey and 
encourages it to continue to move in this direction.  
93. Thirdly, according to the Secretariat's Report, a Special Consumption Tax (SCT) was 
introduced in August 2002. While the rates of SC T on electric vehicles are from 3 to 15%, gasoline-
electric hybrid vehicles are charged from 37 to 84%  in SCT. Although I understand the rationale for 
preferential rates for eco-friendly vehicles, I believ e that the same rationale should be applied to 
gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Therefore, Japan encourages Turk ey to review coverage of 
preferential SCT rates to promote eco-friendly vehicl es. In this connection, we appreciate the reply 
from the Turkish Government that works have been  going on the taxation system which promotes the 
usage of eco-friendly vehicles with low emission of CO
2, including hybrid vehicles. I hope this work 
will be completed as soon as possible. 
94. Fourthly, according to the Secretariat Report, wh ile there has been progress both in legislation 
and enforcement in terms of IPR protections, some  Members observed that counterfeiting and piracy 
products are still widespread. Japan is of the view  that in order to prevent further spread of 
counterfeiting and piracy products, it  is important to establish criminal penalties for the handling of 
counterfeit goods with commercial purpose. Theref ore, Japan hopes that Turkey will amend the 
Trademark Law to introduce such provisions in the near future.   WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 19 
 
 
  95. In conclusion, Japan would like to reiterate its  hope that Turkey will further facilitate trade 
and foreign investment by developing more conduc ive environment for manufacturers, investors and 
rights holders. 
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA 
96. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notes with pl easure that the Turkish economy has shown a 
remarkable performance with its steady growth ove r the last decade. A sound macroeconomic strategy 
combined with a prudent fiscal policy and major structural reforms in effect since 2001, has integrated the Turkish economy into the globalized world, while transforming Turkey into one of the major recipients of FDI in its region. The visible im provements in the Turkish economy have also boosted 
foreign trade. Significant improvements in such a short period of time have ranked Turkey on the 
world economic scale as an exceptional emerging economy, the 16
th largest economy in the world, 
according to GDP figures in 2011. 
97. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Turkey enjo y very good and long standing bilateral 
economic relations. After the global economic crisis in 2009, Turkey-Saudi Arabia bilateral trade 
volume has been in recovery tendency. Tr ade volume between our two countries reached 
US$4.66 billion in 2010 and almost US$6 billion in 2011. The number of Turkish companies, mainly 
in contracting sector, which undertake huge projects in Saudi Arabia is continuously increasing. 
Similarly, there is a growing interest in Saudi bu siness circles in Turkey. Total investments made by 
173 Saudi firms in Turkey between 2004-09 are around US$1.3 billion, mainly in sectors such as textiles, food industry, banking, foreign trade, real estate and tourism. 
98. Having said that, we do have concerns over so me of the trade policies and measures adopted 
by Turkey. We have noted along the last decade an increase in the use of anti-dumping measures by 
Turkey as referred to in paragraph 47 of the Secret ariat Report. Of course, Turkey is not unique in 
this; there is a clear tendency over this period to wards wider and more frequent use of anti-dumping 
and other trade remedy measures than it has be en common in the past. These are matters of 
importance to all Members and we s hould be very interested in anything that Turkey can tell us about 
the reasons, in its own case, for the marked increase in recourse to anti-dumping measures. We have 
submitted a written question to Turkey on this issu e, alongside questions on the legal standards and 
procedures used in anti-dumping investigations. We ar e particularly interested in the response to our 
question regarding Turkey's obligations under a key provision of the Anti-dumping Agreement. 
99. We are also interested in the need for expansion of the ener gy infrastructure described in 
paragraph 30 of the Secretariat Repor t, and would be grateful for any further information that could be 
provided by Turkey on the steps the Government is taking to encourage private investment in these 
projects. 
100. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appreciates the strong commitments of Turkey to the Doha 
Round and to the multilateral trading system. We co mmend Turkey for its active participation in the 
negotiations and we look forward to working closel y with Turkey on all subjects with a view to 
promoting trade and development particularly in  sectors of interests to developing Members. 
EUROPEAN UNION 
101. The EU is pleased to participate in the fift h Trade Policy Review of Turkey and discuss 
developments in its trade policies and practices si nce the previous review in 2007. The EU and 
Turkey enjoy a very close relationship under the framework of a Customs Union since 1996 and we 
remain Turkey's first trade partner and investor - in 2011, our bilateral trade flows amounted to 
€94 billion. This close relationship could be stre ngthened even further. We therefore encourage 
Turkey to make further progress in aligning to  EU trade policy and to ensure full and smooth WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 20  
 
  implementation of the EU-Turkey Customs Union. We are important partners also in the WTO, where 
Turkey has played an active role in enhancing the global trading system, and bringing forward the 
DDA negotiations. We also commend Turkey as a Me mber of the G20 for its strong commitment 
against protectionist measures.  
102. Turkish economy performed well in 2010 and 2011:  a robust economic growth of above 8% 
was accompanied by significant job creation and im pressive fiscal results. Turkey's policy mix is 
conducted on a pragmatic basis aiming not only at maintaining price stability but also reducing the 
current-account deficit. However, Turkey's current -account deficit doubled in one year and reached 
about 10% of GDP in 2011. A further tightening of global credit conditions risks complicating the external financing situation for Turkey, as it relies on significant foreign inflows. Furthermore, 
consumer price inflation increased to over 10% in  February 2012 from about 6% in mid-2011, which 
greatly complicates the central bank's task of setti ng monetary policy. At the same time, Turkey 
should pursue tight fiscal policies, as fiscal rest raint raises national savings and helps reduce the 
current account deficit, public debt and borrowing co sts. In addition, if Turkey wants to improve its 
long-term growth potential, a major effort to speed  up structural reforms would be welcome, as the 
momentum for structural adjustment has clearly st alled in recent years. We particularly encourage 
Turkey to address a very large gap and skills mism atch between the labour demands of the highly 
dynamic export oriented sectors on the one hand and the excess supply of low-skilled labour on the 
other hand. 
103. As regards steps Turkey has taken to enhan ce competition and accelerate privatisation, the 
EU welcomes the Law on Monitoring and Supervisi on of State Aid, which entered into force in 
October 2010, and setting up the State Aid Monito ring Authority. While commending the effective 
work of Competition Authority, we would like to  raise Decree-Law 649, issued in August 2011, and 
its Article 45 - in order not to jeopardise the e ffectiveness of the Turkish competition regime, we 
suggest that the scope of this article be stri ctly limited to accountability mechanisms and other 
legitimate forms of control such as budgetary control.  
104. The EU has close co-operation and regular bila teral dialogues with Turkey; nevertheless we 
appreciate this opportunity to discuss its trade polic ies and developments at  the multilateral level, 
including indicating areas where we feel further improvements would be beneficial both for Turkey 
and its trading partners. In this c ontext, the EU has the following co mments.  Firstly, Turkey's regime 
for imports of old, second-hand, renovated, faulty and obsolete goods, subject to permission by the 
Ministry of Economy. This is, in practice, equi valent to a non-automatic import-licensing regime. 
Only goods that are exported during the same year of production are considered as new goods, 
otherwise they fall into the category of used goods. Th e EU is particularly concerned in respect of the 
import regime for retreated tyres, which are unduly classified by Turkey as second-hand products, thereby not recognizing UN/ECE relevant standards. We  would be interested to hear about Turkey's 
intentions to review its impo rt regime in this regard.  
105. Secondly, the EU continues to have serious c oncerns related to protection of IPRs. While 
acknowledging the overall progress Turkey has achieve d (e.g. in setting up IPR legislation and IPR 
specialised judicial bodies, in aligning it with th e EU laws and recently establishing EU-Turkey IPR 
Working Group), we encourage Turkey to upgrade its efforts to ensure efficient enforcement of IPRs. 
The adoption of updated draft laws regulating indus trial property rights, including deterrent criminal 
sanctions, is still pending. Likewise, the effects of the annulment of criminal sanctions for trademark 
infringements by Constitutional Court in 2008, deci sion No. 2008/2, and the late adoption of a new 
law have not been remedied so far and right holde rs are still bearing its consequences. Coordination 
and cooperation between the different IPR stakehol ders and public bodies is essential, as are general 
awareness campaigns on the risks of IPR infringements.   WT/TPR/M/259 
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  106. Thirdly, the EU would like to express its appreci ation for the partial lifting of import bans (on 
BSE grounds) of bovines and their products from ce rtain EU Member States. According to the OIE, 
most of the EU Member States have a "negligible" or "controlled" BSE risk status. However, Turkey 
still differentiates imports from diffe rent EU Member States or other countries outside of the EU that 
have the same BSE risk category. Therefore, we ca ll on Turkey to lift all import bans from the EU by 
fully following the OIE recommendations in this respec t, or to present a scientific justification for not 
doing so. 
107. Last but not least, we would like encourage Turk ey to address concerns on the circular issued 
by its Ministry of Health on 31 December 2009, laying down that in order for a pharmaceutical product to be imported to Turkey, the manufacturer  must submit a certificate of Good Manufacturing 
Practice (GMP) issued by the Turkish Ministry of H ealth or an authority of another country with 
which Turkey has a mutual recognition agreement.  Consequently, since 1 March 2010, Turkey does 
not accept the EU GMP certificates as it was the case si nce many years. We urge Turkey to speed up 
the handling of the inspections and to issue the GMP certificate within the prescribed timeframe.   
108. In conclusion, we encourage Turkey to con tinue its efforts in enhancing its economic 
environment in a sustainable way, further stre ngthening its administrative capacity and fully 
implementing the Customs Union. All this will surely positively contribute towards achieving 
Turkey's long-term objective to be among world's top ten economies by 2023.  
ARGENTINA 
109. Turkey is one of the founding Members of the WTO and an important participant in the 
multilateral trading system and in this Organization.  Like Argentina, it belongs to the G-20, where we 
work together to coordinate policies and so  contribute towards global economic stability and 
sustainable growth. 
110. Argentina is happy to participate in this new re view of Turkey's trade policy.  It is taking 
place soon after the commemoration of 100 years of bilateral relations, whic h began in 1910, and the 
official visit of our President in January 2011.  On the occasion of this review, I should like to make 
some brief remarks on Turkey's trade policy and on trade relations with Argentina. 
111. As stated in the Secretariat report, Turk ey imposes low MFN tariffs on non-agricultural 
products, an average of 5%.  The import regime fo r industrial goods is even more open than the 
common external tariff indicates as Turkey's free tr ade agreements give many of Turkey's most 
important trading partners duty-free access. 
112. I should like to emphasize that this openn ess, which goes beyond Turkey's international 
obligations, exists without depriving trade policy of  room for manoeuvre as the average for the tariffs 
on which Turkey has made binding commitments is 17.4%.  This gives Turkey the necessary 
flexibility in relation to its development and ec onomic growth needs.  We note, however, that 
although in general MFN tariffs on imports have not changed to any significant extent since 2007, 
Turkey has occasionally modified tariffs on certain ag ricultural products in the light of the domestic 
supply and demand situation. 
113. In the agricultural sector, there is a wide gap between the applied and bound MFN tariffs:  on 
average, 48% compared to 72%, according to the Secret ariat report.  We also note that Turkey has not 
submitted notifications on agricultural support to the WTO since 2002, bearing in mind that there are indications of increases in the value of the support given to agricultural producers.  The 
market-oriented Agricultural Reform Implementa tion Project was phased out in 2008 and an 
increasing portion of the support is now extended in the form of deficiency payments and other 
instruments such as area-based payments, which can distort agricultural trade. WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 22  
 
  114. Furthermore, Turkey's market price support has increased in recent years.  This results in 
losses for State-owned enterprises trading in comm odities such as grains and sugar and has been 
offset by transfers from the Turkish Treasury.  L astly, we note that 16 groups of agricultural products 
are eligible to receive export subsidies.  To su mmarize, we hope that Turkey can successfully pursue 
its market-oriented agricultural reform programme. 
115. I should now like to dwell on our bilateral trade.  Although this only accounts for around 
0.3% of total trade for both countries, in 2010 it amounted to US$450 million.  This is an increase of 
some 400% since 2000.  Argentina is Turkey's fourth  most important trading partner in Latin America 
and the Caribbean.  It is also one of the ten princi pal destinations for Argen tina's exports to Asia.  
Turkey's main exports to Argentina are tyres, steel cables, engines, transport vehicles and spare parts.  
Argentina mostly exports wheat, soya beans, sunflo wer seed oil, chickpeas, beans, flour, wool, cotton 
and transport vehicles. 
116. Turkey and Argentina have worked together in  this Organization on various issues, including 
joint proposals in the negotiations on trade facilitation and services.  We also share many interests at 
the multilateral level concerning, for example, the pi votal role of the development dimension and the 
relevance of the WTO.  I should like to conclude by stating that we are confident we shall continue to 
work with Turkey on these and other topics with  a view to an open and rules-based multilateral 
system. 
INDONESIA 
117. Turkey is one of the world's key trading players, with strong multilateral trade commitments.  
Turkey is also among the world's leading producer s of textiles, agricultural products, construction 
materials, consumer electronics, home a ppliances and transportation equipment. 
118. In this remarkable opportunity, please allow me  to share how both governments have been 
engaging a mutual trade relationship.  Indonesia and Turkey are important trading partners to each other.  The Government and the people of both countries have long maintained strong and friendly 
bilateral relations.  The total value of trade between Indonesia and Turkey from January-November 
2011 amounted to US$1.7 billion, an incr ease of 40.31% compared  to 2010 which was 
US$1.2 billion.  Meanwhile, during January-November 2011, Indonesia gained a surplus of US$901.9 million, an increase of 31.72% compared to 2010 which was US$684.7 million. 
119. Given our strong trade relationship and increasi ng interdependence, I ndonesia attaches great 
importance to Turkey's commitment and efforts in maintaining an open trading system and an open 
market.  On Turkey's specific trade policies, we not e that some restrictions remain on market entry as 
follows:  the use of anti-dumping measures has been  rising over the years in Turkey, and more 
recently safeguards and countervailing duties.  We w ould kindly insist the Government of Turkey to 
ensure that all investigation processes on the areas  of trade remedies are consistent with the WTO 
Agreements. 
120. Meanwhile, we noted that the textiles and cl othing sectors are subject to higher tariff 
protection compare to most other industrial activities.  Anti-dumping measures also had affected the 
importation of yarn and textile fabrics.  On the issu e of TBT, Indonesia wishes that the Government of 
Turkey ensure that Turkey would not sets stringent  entry criteria through the TBT and other measures 
that would discriminate products from its trading partners.  We also noted that Turkey maintains subsidies programme for agricultural products with  the aim of developing its export potential in 
value-added processed agricultural products. 
121. Despite of several concerns which we have raised, Indonesia greatly appreciates the various 
efforts that Turkey has devoted to maintain its market openness and competitiveness.  We are  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 23 
 
 
  encouraged that Turkey has continued to focus on th e comprehensive reform of its policies as well as 
the progressive liberalization in various sectors, which remains ongoing. 
COSTA RICA 
122. My delegation is happy to partic ipate in this fifth Trade Policy Review of Turkey.  We note 
with satisfaction the statements in  the Turkish Government's report in favour of the principles of the 
multilateral trading system and its commitment to the WTO.  Costa Rica, as a member of the "Friends 
of the System" also shares Turkey's interest in pr ompt conclusion of the Doha Round as the best way 
of making a contribution in the global economic cr isis and as the best response to protectionist 
pressures. 
123. The Secretariat report highlights some aspects that we believe are important to stress, for 
example, the Turkish economy's sound growth despite the global economic crisis.  Turkey is reaping 
the results of the recent structural reforms and its market liberalization polic y, which has improved its 
competitiveness. 
124. We note, nonetheless, that although Turkey app lies relatively low tariffs in the industrial 
sector, this openness has not been reflected in its  commitments within the WTO as a majority of 
industrial tariff lines (66.5%) have not been bound  and the average bound tariff in this sector is 
17.4%.  This situation is not conducive to the pred ictability of Turkey's foreign trade regime.  We 
have also noted that the Government may increase MF N applied tariffs if it deems them insufficient to 
provide "adequate" protection to do mestic industries.  Moreover, the Law sets a so-called "statutory 
tariff", which is different from the applied MFN ta riff.  My delegation would like to have further 
details concerning this statutory tariff, the produc ts to which it applies and its period of validity. 
125. It is also important to underline Turkey's  frequent use of anti-dumping, safeguards and 
countervailing duties in recent years and we should li ke to emphasize that such measures should only 
be used on an exceptional and justified basis a nd in accordance with th e multilateral disciplines 
agreed.  They should not be used generally as a policy tool. 
126. We also take this opportunity to recall how impor tant it is that all Members comply with their 
WTO notification obligations.  We hope that Turkey will bring its notification obligations up to date 
as soon as possible, especially those concerning agricultural support, particularly when it would appear that this has increased in recent years.  We should like to know how Turkey assures other 
WTO Members that it does not exceed the annual m onetary ceilings for expor t support and subsidies 
when it has not submitted any relevant notifications since 2002. 
INDIA 
127. Turkey's economic performance has been truly re markable. Despite the financial crisis, its 
economy was able to register a growth of 9% in  2010 making it one of the fastest growing economies 
in 2010. Though the financial crisis did lead to a fall in exports and domestic demand, Turkey's robust 
banking sector and a good fiscal position allowed it to provide the necessary fiscal stimulus to restore 
growth. We are happy to note that the economic d ecline proved short-lived and that Turkey was able 
to recover quickly and strongly from the crisis.  
128. Fiscal discipline has been one of the cornerston es of Turkey's economic policy and has played 
a leading role in maintaining macroeconomic st ability and decreasing its debt burden. Turkey's 
medium and long term strategies, aimed at sustaining growth, increasing competitiveness and employment, reducing the current account deficit a nd promoting infrastructure investment, have all 
played an important role in its notable performance making Turkey the 17
th largest economy in the WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 24  
 
  world. A new FDI law enacted in 2003, providing equal treatment to foreign capital and guaranteed 
transfer of receipts, has helped in enco uraging inflows of foreign investment.  
129. On the trade front, Turkey's applied MFN tari ffs for non-agricultural products, based on the 
EU Common External Tariff, are quite low at 5%. However, following an investigation in 
January 2011, Turkey has raised its MFN tariffs on a wide range of textiles and clothing goods. As 
noted in the Secretariat Report, Turkey is an important user of anti-dumping measures with 
118 measures in force in August 2011. It has al so imposed countervailing duties since 2009, and 
initiated investigations and exte nded safeguard measures on a number  of products, including cotton 
yarn, which has impacted exports from India. We enc ourage Turkey to exercise restraint in the use of 
such trade defence measures. 
130. Bilateral economic cooperation be tween India and Turkey has grown exponentially, given the 
complimentarity between our economies, and based on a number of agreements covering a wide range 
of areas. Bilateral trade grew from US$3.142 b illion in 2009-10 to US$3.578 billion in 2010-11, 
registering a growth of 13.7%. During the same period, India's exports to Turkey increased from 
US$1.539 billion to US$2.757 billion recording a grow th of 79%.  This, however, is much below the 
actual potential. 
131. The India-Turkey Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation chaired by the 
Ministers of Foreign Trade on both sides, is an active forum contributing to enhanced commercial 
interaction between the two countries. Indian and Turkish companies are collaborating closely in the 
areas of transport, infrastructure development, hydr o-carbons, and oil and gas. 112 Indian companies 
are operating in Turkey in diverse fields such as polyester fibre, packaging material, vehicle 
manufacturing, irrigation systems, steel plants, mining sector, telecom, building pipelines, etc. 
Similarly a large number of big Turkish infrastru cture companies have their presence in India.  
132. A Joint Study Group has been constituted by both si des to consider the feasibility of an India-
Turkey FTA. We understand that Turkey is exam ining various strategies for improving its 
information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure as a means of enhancing 
productivity, where we feel India can contribute constructively. We look forward to increased 
cooperation between our countries in the coming years to exploit the full potential of our relationship.   
133. Before concluding, our delega tion would like to express its deep appreciation for the very 
constructive role played in the DDA negotiations by  the Turkish delegation. We would also like to 
take this opportunity to applaud Turkey's commit ment to the cause of LDCs, including its successful 
hosting of the UN Ministerial Conference on LDCs th at led to the adoption of the Istanbul Programme 
of Action.  
BRAZIL 
134. Brazil is pleased to note the outstanding performance of Turkey's economy over the past 
couple of years, with a 9% growth rate in 2010 a nd an estimated 7.5% increase in 2011. These results 
no doubt highlight the value of the economic refo rms undertaken by Turkey since 2001, which have 
brought about a wider and deeper integration into the world's economy. However, as pointed out by 
the reports, significant challenges still lie ahead in Turkey's quest for economic growth and social 
development. For one thing, the combination of openness to international trade flows and robust 
growth has contributed to a widening current accoun t deficit. Besides, unemployment rates remain 
uncomfortably high. In addition, reform toward s a more market-based economy has made Turkey 
more vulnerable to capital volatility and internationa l economic imbalances, and their resulting effects 
on exports and balance of payments stability.  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 25 
 
 
  135. It is praiseworthy that Turkey has chosen to  respond to such challenges by seeking to increase 
the overall competitiveness and productivity of its  economy. Brazil hopes that Turkey's long-term 
development strategy, which is to guide the tr ansition to an export-led, technology-intensive 
production structure, will live up to its expectations  and effectively lay the groundwork for sustained 
growth and social development. In pursuing tho se goals, Turkey should resist the temptation of 
resorting to measures which would run counter to greater economic efficiency while striking a proper 
balance between the exercise of its rights and th e respect for its obligations under the WTO.  
136. Brazil notes with great satisfaction that the b ilateral relations with Turkey, which feature a 
solid economic foundation, have beco me particularly dynamic and vibrant over the past few years. 
This has translated into intensified bilateral c ontacts and visits, and grow ing bilateral political and 
economic cooperation. It is widely  known that Turkey is a key econom ic player in its region with 
growing global influence. In the multilateral sphe re, our actions are guided by a common vision, as 
we share the aspiration to a more representative, legitimate and development-friendly international 
governance structure.  
137. Our economic relations, which have been increasi ngly deep and diverse, are characterized by 
a high degree of institutionalization. Signed in 2010,  the Action Plan for the Strategic Partnership 
between Brazil and Turkey sets out a number of bila teral cooperation initiatives in the fields of trade 
and investment. Moreover, our countries have been able  to jointly explore ways of furthering bilateral 
trade flows and investments in the framework of a revitalized economic coordination mechanism, 
which, in 2010, was co-chaired at Ministerial level.  
138. Trade volume with Turkey has exhibited a virt ual tenfold increase over the past ten years, 
reaching approximately US$3 billion in 2011. Brazilian e xports to Turkey cover a vast array of goods, 
concentrating on raw materials. These include iron ore, soya, rye, coffee, tobacco and metallic leaves. 
On the other hand, imports by Brazil from Turkey are predominantly made up of semi-manufactured 
products, including auto parts and diesel engines. Enha nced bilateral investments across all sectors of 
our economies have followed suit. The recently concluded bilateral ag reement to avoid double 
taxation will most certainly spur further investment flows. 
139. At the regional level, MERCOSUR and Turk ey signed in 2008 a framework-agreement for 
the launch of negotiations of a free trade agreement. Regrettably, those exploratory talks have stalled. 
Brazil remains, nonetheless, open to exploring oppor tunities to resume the negotiations on mutually 
beneficial terms. Any such agreement would be criti cal to the further expansi on and diversification of 
our bilateral trade. 
COLOMBIA 
140. In this review, Colombia would like to draw attention to Turkey's Long-Term Development 
Strategy (2001-2023), which has enabled structural re forms to be undertaken fo r market liberalization, 
privatization, agricultural reform, strengthening of the banking system, and fiscal and monetary 
discipline.  These reforms have helped to make Turkey the 17th largest economy in the world, the 
22nd global exporter of goods and the 14th exporter of services;  they have also helped to make it the 
eighth most important tourist destination, with an  average of 25 million foreign tourists each year.  
Turkey has shown consistency during the global fina ncial crisis, thanks to  its sound policies and a 
solid economic foundation. 
141. Together with Colombia and four other countri es, Turkey is one of the so-called" CIVETS" 
countries, a term that has come into fashion to designate the six countries with the greatest growth 
expectations for the next decade.  Analysts ag ree that the CIVETS countries - Colombia, Indonesia, 
Viet Nam, Egypt, Turkey and Singapore - have relatively diverse economies that are not over-dependent on commodities, they do not have larg e fiscal deficits, their inflation rates are under WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 26  
 
  control, all have large young populations and app ear to be the most attractive destinations for 
investors, with an estimated increase of 4.5% in GDP over the next 20 years. 
142. Furthermore, we believe that Turkey's econo mic stability allows it to improve its tariff 
binding commitments for industrial products;  to lo wer the bound tariffs for agricultural products and 
manufactures;  to simplify and restructure the tariff regime;  and to take on new commitments in the 
area of services.  We should also like to draw atte ntion to:  the continued wide gap between the bound 
and applied rates;  the fact that Turkey thus has a degree of flexibility to raise MFN duties on various 
agricultural and industrial products;  and Turkey's stringent administrative monitoring scheme for imports, including price-based controls. 
143. Since the previous Trade Policy Review in  December 2007, Turkey has significantly 
increased its recourse to remedial measures, a nd by 2011 it had imposed 118 anti-dumping measures, 
one countervailing measure and seven safeguard meas ures.  It also gives special protection and 
incentives to its agricultural sector, with strong tariff protection and a whole series of production and export incentives.  Moreover, Turkey has not made any notifications on agriculture to the WTO since 
2002. 
144. At the bilateral level, Turkey is an important  partner for Colombia in the Mediterranean.  
Currently, we are negotiating a free trade agreemen t and an investment promotion and protection 
agreement.  Between 2000 and 2011,  bilateral trade between Colombia and Turkey grew, notably as a 
result of the rising value of Colombian exports of coal.  Between January and November 2011, 
bilateral trade amounted to some US$649.5 million, an increase of 125% compared to 2010.  Since 
2003, the trade balance has been in Colombia's favour  and it is estimated that for 2011 the surplus will 
exceed US$420 million. 
145. To conclude, we congratulate Ambassador Ar an on all the work undertaken in this 
Organization, on his full commitment to move ahead with the Round and on his leadership in such 
important events as the fourth United Nations  Conference on the Least Developed Countries. 
CHILE 
 
146. Chile considers Turkey to be a trading partner of vital importance.  Si nce 2011, we have had a 
trade agreement with Turkey that is the cornerstone of trade rela tions between the two countries.  
Under this free trade agreement, over 96% of trad e between the two countries has been duty-free since 
the agreement entered into force on 1 March 2011.  Th e other goods in the timetable for reduction will 
be duty-free within a maximum period of six years. 
147. The agreement contains chapters on market access, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, 
technical barriers to trade, rules of origin, cust oms procedures, safeguard measures, dispute settlement 
and legal provisions.  The agreement is of benef it in particular to the mining, fruit-growing and 
agri-food, fishing and forestry sectors.  Chile's main fruit crops, fishing and forestry products are 
given sizeable tariff reductions.  In return, produc ts such as machinery and automobiles from Turkey 
will enter Chile duty-free.  Everything indicates that our trade relations will become even closer in the 
future. 
148. Chile appreciates the dynamism and transparency of Turkey's economy;  the way in which 
Turkey has faced up to the current global economic  crisis, taking as a basis the lessons learned in 
dealing with its 2001 crisis;  and the rapidity with which it has become integrated in the world through 
the signature of trade agreements. 
149. In this, the fifth review of Turkey's trade polic y, in addition to the questions posed, we should 
like to make two comments:  firstly, we urge Tu rkey to increase its tariff bindings because this will  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 27 
 
 
  make its trade regime more predictable;  and, secondly,  we urge Turkey to bring its notifications up to 
date, particularly those on agricultural support. 
CANADA 
150. Canada and Turkey have close and flourishing trade relations.  Turkey is our second trading 
partner in Central and Eastern Europe, after Russia.   Bilateral trade between Canada and Turkey as a 
whole has more than tripled over the past ten years and in 2010 amounted to US$1.5 billion, a 
reflection of the strength of the Canadian and Turkish economies despite the worldwide economic 
downturn that began in 2008. 
151. For Canada, Turkey offers important potential outlets for trade and investment.  Between 
2005 and 2010, Canadian direct investment in Turkey more than doubled, from US$771 million to 
US$1,815 million.  Canadian firms continue to show an interest and have confidence in the 
Turkish market, and it is expected that Ca nadian investment will continue to grow. 
152. Canada has undertaken a certain number of extr emely fruitful trade and investment initiatives 
with Turkey over the past three years, including th e signature and implementation of an air transport 
agreement in 2009, which was extended last October to meet the demand for commercial aviation.  In 
addition, the agreement to prevent double taxati on came into force on 1 January 2012, lessening the 
fiscal obstacles to trade and investment.  Both Cana da and Turkey have opened consulates in our most 
important business centres, Istanbul and Toronto, r espectively, demonstrating their confidence in the 
development of our relations. 
153. Canada congratulates Turkey on having one of  the fastest growing economies in the world 
with record high export volumes.  Turkey, like Ca nada, has fared relatively well through the financial 
crisis through sound financial regula tion and is encouraged to maintain independent oversight of the 
sector.  Despite strong fiscal fundamentals, Turkey's large current account deficit, slowing of domestic demand, and the continuing  economic crisis in its largest trading partner, the European 
Union, will mean new challenges for 2012 and beyond.  Canada urges Turkey to ensure that measures 
to address the current account deficit, such as t hose aimed at encouraging greater domestic production 
of intermediate goods and other requirements for domest ic production, do not create barriers to trade. 
154. Turkey's ambitious development plans, includi ng Vision 2023 targets, have the potential to 
stimulate growth in Turkey and around the world.  Canada is encouraged by Turkey's commitment to 
opening its market by levelling the playing field for foreign investors, including by the entering into 
force of the new commercial code in July 2012 to  align Turkish commercial law with international 
standards and increase transparency in financial reporting, and by committing to harmonize legislation 
governing public-private partne rships.  Ambitious plans for infrastructure development and 
government procurement would benefit from enhanced transparency and adherence to the principles 
of the Government Procurement Agreement, to  which Canada encourages Turkey's eventual 
membership. 
155. Canada also takes partic ular note of Turkey's increased use of trade remedies as well as recent 
and possible further changes in production patterns in Turkey's steel sector. Canada has raised 
questions related to both developmen ts and looks forward to reviewing the explanations that Turkey 
provided today. 
156. Canada and Turkey share the legitimate objectiv es of protecting human, animal, plant health 
and the environment.  While recognizing that th ere are different approaches to reaching these 
objectives, we have the highest expectations that Turkey will ensure that any measures it takes are 
science-based, no more trade-restrictive than necessar y and reflect the realities of global trade today. 
Canada urges Turkey to develop and implement policies in a manner that preserves the market access WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 28  
 
  that has been afforded to WTO Members and that  doesn't create unnecessary obstacles to international 
trade.  Canada and Turkey both have much to gain  from a free and uninterrupted flow of trade.   
157. Finally, Canada would like to congratulate Turk ey on its strong support for LDC trade issues, 
including granting nearly 80% tariff lines for LDC products duty-free quota-free, as well as hosting a successful Fourth UN Conference for LDCs in Istanbul in May 2011. 
THAILAND 
158. Turkey and Thailand have had a diplomatic  and economic relations hip for more than 
50 years.  During 2008-10, the total trade va lue between Turkey and Thailand averaged at 
US$1.13 billion per year.  In 2011, our total trade va lue with Turkey rose by 15.11% to approximately 
US$1.44 billion.   
159. In this trade relationship, Thailand's export to Turkey has increased by 25.08% from 2010 
to 2011 to US$1.25 billion. Our main exports to Turkey include motor cars, rubber, yarn and man-
made filaments and air-conditioning machines.  Among imports from Turkey to Thailand are machinery and parts, other metal ores, vegetables, and chemicals.  We hope that the Thailand-Turkey 
relationship will continue to grow and b ecome more prosperous in the future.  
160. Reading the Secretariat Report, Thailand is impr essed with the structural reforms undertaken 
by the Government of Turkey after the domest ic economic crises in 1999 and 2001, which has 
resulted in a robust banking sector and a good fiscal po sition and in turn allowed Turkey's economy to 
rebound from the 2008 crisis quickly and efficiently.  Such rebound is indicated by Turkey's notable 
real GDP growth, unemployment rate decrease to pr e-crisis levels, and inflation rate decline. 
161. Thailand would also like to recognize Turkey's effort to integrate its trade to the global 
community, for instance, its Customs Union with th e EU, 16 bilateral FTAs currently in force, and 
ongoing negotiations with 13 partne rs and the launch of negotiati ons with additional 10 trading 
partners.  Beyond these agreements, Turkey is also ac tive in its regional trade agreements.  Thailand 
agrees with this strategic approach and hopes to  see the commitments unde r these agreements help 
compliment and improve Turkey's multilateral tr ade commitments under the WTO both in the aspects 
of tariff and non-tariff measures.     
162. Also indicated in the Report, Turkey's tariff re gime for industrial goods is quite open as it has 
applied the Customs Union CET, and its applied MF N tariffs for non-agricultural products are low.  
However, Thailand would like to encourage Turk ey to reflect such openness in Turkey's WTO 
commitments and also extend it to trade in agricultural commodities. 
UKRAINE 
163. Four years have passed since the last Trade Policy Review of Turkey, and during these years 
Turkey, like all of us, has been facing new challenge s, in particular those originating from the world 
economic recession, as well as new opportunities. Neve rtheless, Turkey has demonstrated "positive 
developments", "strong growth" and "has been fastest growing country" in the past two years. In this 
context I would like to point out that Ukraine highly appreciates Turkey's adherence to the WTO 
principles of openness and transparency, highlighting in its Report recent trade policy developments 
and plans for the future thus allowing us be bette r informed of its trade practices and objectives. 
164. Turkey's Trade Policy Review is an important fo cal point for analysis since Turkey is one of 
the most active players and not only in the world trad e. Turkey, as a G20 country, has been using this 
forum for new efforts in trade opening, sustainable development. Turkey's "major initiatives for the  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 29 
 
 
  sustainability of open global trade contrary to the current phase of protectionist motives" deserve 
attention and respect. 
165. Turkey is an active participant in negotiati ng groups under the DDA as a "Friend of the 
System". We appreciate our colleagues' inputs th ey are making on many issues in small groups and 
open-ended meetings. 
166. As a general comment, I would like to draw atten tion of Turkey's trade policy makers to some 
issues, still existing and causing concerns:  comple x tariff structure, with considerable number of 
unbound lines;  high level of agricultural tariffs, tariff peaks;  statutory tariff is a major factor making 
the tariff regime unpredictable and highly protective at  times;  insufficient transparency of domestic 
support measures in agriculture; regrettably Turkey has not yet notified it properly to the WTO. This 
goes alongside with Turkey's rather low level of compliance with the notification obligation; we 
commend Turkey for opening two TBT enquiry points, nevertheless, we would to call upon Turkey to 
take effort and submit all the outstanding notifica tions;  textiles registration requirement covers quite 
extensive list of goods, and the system may be burdensome for businesses;  Turkey has continued 
extensive use of trade remedies during the period un der review; and the number of Turkey's SOEs is 
rather big, but we do hope they operate in a wa y that do not impact competitiveness and avoid trade-
distorting practices. 
167. Since Turkey recognizes the benefits of lib eralized multilateral and preferential trade 
arrangements, Ukraine hopes some of these issues can be corrected, adjusted and improved, so that 
trade could rely on greater predictability.  At the same time it's worth mentioning certain improvements in the sphere of protection of intell ectual property rights, agriculture, SPS, services. It 
definitely adds to legal certainty of trade. Uk raine is awaiting Turkey's  second revised conditional 
services offer in the context of economic liberalization program of the government. 
168. Last year Ukraine and the Turkey started activ e bilateral negotiations on a FTA, which is 
expected to cover trade both in goods and services. I take this opportunity to express our appreciation 
to Turkey's negotiators for their continuing e fforts to strengthen bilateral trade and economic 
relations. 
PAKISTAN 
169. Although Turkey has bound only 33.5% its tariff lin es for industrial goods and relatively at a 
high level, due to Turkey's commitments as a Me mber of EU-Turkey Customs Union, its applied 
tariff for third countries is a low and predictable. Besides, Turkey is fully aligned its trade policy 
relating to providing market access to LDCs and developing countries in accordance with the EU-
GSP Scheme. 
170. In the area of agriculture, Turkey is not obliged  to maintain third country tariff in line with 
that of the EU, the applied tariff on these products is  relatively higher. We believe that Turkey will 
continue to reform its agricultural policy to ad dress our common endeavour relating to food security. 
Though in accordance with the Ag reement on Agriculture, the issu e is categorized as "non trade 
concerns", reforms in Agricultural policy definitely  has positive impact e.g. to keep markets open. 
171. An important feature of Turkey's trade regime is its expansion of trade with the non EU trade 
partners. This shift has been witnessed since 2008.  More endeavours in this direction will keep 
Turkish economy more viable, especially when th e economy of the many European countries is not 
growing for various complex reasons in cluding debts and vulnerability of Euro. 
172. Being a natural and geographical  bridge between Europe and Asia, Turkey has always 
enjoyed a good mix of work ethics, values and cu lture, which has made Turkey enlightened and WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 30  
 
  forward looking while keeping its cultural mix toge ther. This is a model to be pursued by all its 
neighbours.  
173. Pakistan and Turkey have a long history of strong and brotherly relationships. Our common 
participation in ECO Agreement, OIC Trade Preferential System and D-8 PTA brings us even closer. We have successfully translated deep political rela tions into close economic  cooperation. We have 
signed a framework agreement at the bilateral leve l and are in the process of negotiating preferential 
concessions.  
174. Turkey imposed safeguard measures on cotton yarn in 2008. While sunset review was 
initiated, it was suddenly abandoned and original saf eguards were reintroduced followed by definitive 
safeguard measures in February 20 12. The stakeholders in Pakistan are concerned about the process 
followed by Turkey. Although this issue was not rai sed in our written questions to Turkey, we would 
request Turkey to provide more clarity during this  Trade Policy Review. Nevertheless, we hope that 
we can discuss this issue bilaterally fo r amicable resolution of the issue.  
175. In the multilateral negotiations, Turkey enjoys  respect and is recognized as a "Friend of 
System". Pakistan and Turkey generally have  common positions on all issues and have made 
endeavours for completion of the Doha Round. Last year, Turkey hosted the Fourth United Nations 
Conference on the LDCs. In this manner, Turkey  has contributed immensely in highlighting the 
development concerns in all areas including trade.  To my delegation, this was one of the most 
important activities during 2011. The results of this  Conference also contributed to developing 
consensus on development issues for the MC-8 outcome.  
PERU 
176. Peru, like Turkey, regards defence of the multilatera l trading system as one of the main pillars 
for the establishment of a fair and balanced globa l economic system, which can foster welfare and 
mitigate poverty worldwide.  Accordingly, the form ulation and implementation of our countries' trade 
policies are guided by the free and fair trade principl es upheld in this Organization.  In this context, 
we welcome Turkey's efforts to en sure that the Doha Round negotiati ons conclude with an ambitious 
and balanced outcome. 
177. We also welcome the fact that Turkey, as a member of the G-20 and an acceding country to 
the EU, has undertaken major initiati ves for the sustainability of open global trade contrary to the 
growing protectionist trend. 
178. We have carefully noted the positive performance of Turkey's economy and how the sectoral 
composition of its exports has been changing toward s more capital and tec hnology intensive products, 
and duly note the priority attached by Turkey to  its trade relations with Latin American economies 
and its interest in reaching future free trade agreemen ts with the Andean countries.  For both Peru and 
Turkey, it is extremely important to boost still fu rther the upward trend in the volume of bilateral 
trade, the establishment of production chains in secto rs of mutual interest, direct investment and 
technological innovation. 
179. On this occasion, our delegation has submitted questions from our Ministry of Agriculture 
concerning the support tools in Turkey's agricultural policy, input subsidies, State-owned agricultural 
enterprises that need to be restructured and details on the export subsidization programme for 
agricultural products.  Peru's Tax Administration S upervisory Authority has also submitted questions 
on anti-dumping measures on imports of textiles a nd clothing and other customs administration 
issues.  We very much look forward to receiving the replies from Turkey, which will be examined 
with the greatest interest.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU 
180. In Turkey's last Trade Policy Review, it was recognized that the government had 
implemented an ambitious and successful programme of reform immediately after the economic crisis 
in 2001. Now, we also note that, straight after the global economic crisis that began in 2008, Turkey's economy grew strongly thanks to timely and deci sive economic policies, robust macroeconomic 
fundamentals and capital flows.  In 2010, Turkey again attracted attention by becoming one of the 
fastest growing economies in the world, with high  growth rates not only in its industrial and its 
services sectors, but also in agriculture.  Turkey's  sustained economic growth  is also having a positive 
effect on its external trade. 
181. On the bilateral front, we have enjoyed very  good economic and trade relationship with 
Turkey in the past years. On trade, the total va lue of two-way trade between us and Turkey amounted 
to US$1.97 billion in 2011, an increase of 21.6% over the previous year.  In particular, our imports 
from Turkey rose significantly in 2011, by nearly 25 %. In fact, Turkey is fast becoming one of our 
most important trading partners. 
182. I would just like to mention Turkey's activ e role in the WTO unde r the leadership of 
Ambassador Aran and his colleagues in Geneva.  In particular, the valuable contribution of 
Ambassador Aran to the work of the WTO. We would like to continue and even increase the close 
working relationship between our two missions in Ge neva, such as in the work of "Friends of the 
System".    
ECUADOR 
183. Turkey has recorded an impressi ve macroeconomic performance, w ith rates of up to 9% for 
GDP growth during the review period, a diversified basket of products in which no heading accounts 
for more than 6% of imports or 3% of exports.  Export destinations and import sources have also been 
diversified in recent years.  Turkey's four major sources of imports are divided between Europe, Asia 
and North America, and the situation is similar for exports.  Despite the encouraging figures cited 
above, trade with Latin America is in the early st ages and there is no Latin American country among 
Turkey's 30 leading trading partners. 
184. In bilateral trade with Ecuador, imports from Turkey come under over 400 headings and 
showed sustained growth during the review period.  In return, Ecuador's exports to Turkey only 
include 25 products or so, with bananas accounting for over 90% of the total, and are subject to a 
tariff of close to 150%.  As a point of reference, it should be noted that Turkey's average bound tariffs are around 37%, whereas the applied tariff is 12%. 
185. Turkey is a country of major economic importanc e within international trade dynamics and is 
a partner to which Ecuador attaches great importance.   Trade negotiations are currently under way at 
the bilateral level with a view to concluding a trad e for development agreement and we hope that this 
process will shortly be completed. 
CROATIA 
186. In these challenging economic environment and the world economic and financial crises, 
Croatia compliments Turkey for its outstanding ec onomic performance. We would like to highlight 
Turkey's achievements in trade policy and the fi scal discipline that strengthened its economy in 
general and resulted with the impressive GDP grew of  9% in 2010 and 10.2% in the first half of 2011. 
That placed Turkish economy among the most prosperous and fastest growing economies in the world. WT/TPR/M/259 
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  187. Relation between Croatia and Turkey has been friendly and we are pleased to note that our 
economic cooperation is slowly but constantly impr oving. The strong impetus to the strengthening of 
the traditionally good trade relations was given by the FTA signed in 2002. The volume of trade between our two countries reached to US$525 milli on in 2011 from US$78 million in 2002. But the 
economic and trade relations between our countries ar e still far from the existing potentials. There are 
many promising sectors for more intensive trade and investment links: traffic infrastructure, energy 
transmission networks, tourism, shipbuilding, c onstruction as well as joint activities in the third 
markets, especially in the South-East Europe.  
188. We welcome Turkey as an important partner and stakeholder in the Doha Development 
Round and recognize its active participation in th e DDA negotiations. Croatia is committed to the 
conclusion of the multilateral trade negotiations and firmly believes that liberalization process will 
continue. We are sure that Turkey's strong comm itment to the WTO, particularly as one of the 
members of "Friends of the System", will help  to advance the DDA negotiations to a successful 
conclusion with benefits for all WTO Members.   
NEW ZEALAND 
189. The Reports shed light on what has been an out standing rate of economic growth over the last 
few years in the Republic of Turkey. This is an achievement for which we warmly congratulate the 
Government of Turkey.  Turkey's estimated 7.5% gr owth in 2011, despite the global financial crisis, 
is impressive, and a testament to how well the economy is being managed.   
190. New Zealand and Turkey share a warm and positiv e bilateral relationship, based on historic 
ties and similar perspectives on many international issues.  As it stands, however, our trade and 
economic relationship remains modest.  Bilateral trade has risen slightly in the last two years - from 
NZ$51 million in the year ended June  2009 to NZ$70 million in the y ear ended June 2011 - but it has 
by no means reached its full potential.   
191. An area that particularly stands out in th e Secretariat's findings – against a background of 
continuing efforts to achieve trade liberalisation in other sectors - is that of agriculture. The report 
notes that "overall … Turkey's agriculture has become  less market oriented". The Secretariat also 
noted that "Turkey has become an outlier in th e OECD because (i) the value of its support to 
agricultural producers … is increasing; and (ii) an increasing portion of its support is provided in the 
most trade-distorting ways". We note that the use of market price support, high applied tariffs and export subsidies are all features of Turkey's approach.   
192. It is of concern to New Zealand that Turkey 's agricultural tariffs remain high.  The WTO 
Secretariat's Report states that Turkey's simple average bound rate is close to 72% for agricultural 
products, compared with 17.5 % on its non-agricultural  bound tariff lines.  It is a similar picture for 
applied tariffs – on average 47.9% for agricultural products compared to 12.2%  overall.  New Zealand 
encourages the Turkish Government to continue to  consider reductions in these high tariffs.  We 
believe that the reduction or removal of agricultu ral trade barriers will, ultimately, contribute to 
Turkey's agricultural policy objectives as highlighted in the Secretariat's report of improving food 
security and improving sector productivity and competitiveness.  
193. We note from Secretariat's Report that Turkey places a low priority on the use of Green Box 
measures in support of its agricultural sector.  New Zealand firms are already working with Turkey on 
a series of efficient farm management projects, which demonstrate the value of investment in research, training and extension activities for improving industry productivity and competitiveness. 
We hope this and other similar e xperiences will encourage Turkey to carefully consider the direction 
of Government support to its agricultural sector.   WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 33 
 
 
  194. As others have noted this morning, New Zeala nd welcomes the active role that Turkey plays 
in the work of the WTO, including the ongoing DD A negotiating process. We would like to conclude 
by reiterating our strong desire to continue to work  closely with Turkey in order to grow our trade 
relationship.  In that context, we look forward to  hearing more about how reforms to the agriculture 
sector will feature in Turkey's ongoing economic development plans. 
MOROCCO 
 
195. Turkey's economic growth these last few years has attracted particular attention in 
international financial circles.  The United States newspaper The Wall Street Journal , basing itself on 
Turkey's growth figures for 2011, called it a tiger in the midst of chaos and the global crisis.  Turkey 
is today incontrovertibly a regional power, both at the economic and political levels.  With growth of 
10% in 2011, inflation under control and a reasonabl e level of public spending, Turkey, a true bridge 
between Asia and Europe, is one of the major emerging countries. 
196. As a result of timely and decisive economic polic ies (reform of the labour market, reform of 
the financial sector and the pivotal role played by the private sector in the economy), robust 
macroeconomic fundamentals, enduring capital inflow s, lower interest rates and loan expansion, 
Turkey's economy grew strongly after the global economic crisis in 2008. 
197. Morocco welcomes Turkey's impressive economic  performance over the past decade:  ranked 
the 17th largest global economy, its GDP has tripled in three years, and it has the most promising 
growth prospects in the OECD.  This flourishing economy is a diplomatic advantage.  It enables 
Turkey to act as a pole for regional growth and reinforces its image as a "soft power". 
198. Morocco also welcomes the succes s of Turkey's financial sector, which has been on a sound 
growth path for the past decade.  The banking sector, which underwent major restructuring following 
the economic crisis in 2001, has managed to overc ome the recent global financial crisis with no 
apparent damage and has reaffirm ed its outstanding resilience. 
199. Turkey successfully withstood the crisis, despite a rapid rise in unemployment, and, in the 
midst of the global upheavals, managed to improve its  ranking with the leading rating agencies.  The 
global crisis spared Turkey to a relative extent thanks  to the financial system's capacity for adjustment 
and prudent macroeconomic policies.   Turkey is one of the few emerging countries that ended up with 
a higher credit rating than the pre-crisis level and no rescue package was needed to support the 
banking system. 
200. Recognizing that progress along the path to modernization of the economy cannot be 
achieved without opening up to the outside world, Tu rkey is actively participating in the negotiations 
within the WTO and has chosen to diversify its  trading partners by signing several free trade 
agreements, including one with Morocco in 2004, within the framework of  the Euro-Mediterranean 
regional integration process.  We are happy to note  that this agreement between Morocco and Turkey 
has opened up new horizons for economic operato rs, particularly as the two countries have 
complementary assets not as yet exploited efficiently. 
201. To achieve its economic and trade goals, Turkey, the 17th largest economy in the world in 
2010, aims to reach 12th place in 2018 and tenth in 2023.  The achievement of these goals would be 
facilitated by conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, which would offer 
substantial new trade opportunities.  Turkey's vision is widely shared by many developing countries, 
including my own, Morocco. 
202. Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate the Government of Turkey on its successful and 
impressive performance in recent years, and on its remarkable dynamism within multilateral trade. WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 34  
 
  OMAN 
203. The Sultanate of Oman and Turkey have long st anding historical and cultural relations which 
underpin our economic and trade relations. These rela tions were cemented by a visit of Turkey's 
President to Oman last year.  We congratulate Turkey on the impressive achievements in its economy and trade. The GDP of Turkey grew by 9% in 2010 and has been projected to have increased by 7.5% 
in 2011. Turkey has become the 17
th biggest economy in the world. Its per capita income is more than 
US$ 10,000. These achievements are the result of  wide-ranging economic reforms undertaken by 
Turkey since 2001. We hope Turkey will continue on  the path of high growth. The inflation rate has 
been brought down from 70% in 20 01 to 10% or less since 2004. We hope the inflation rate and the 
current account deficit would be reduced further,  and we commend Turkey for its achievements. 
204. The MFN applied tariff rates of Turkey for non-ag ricultural products are quite low. However, 
it is surprising that Turkey has bound tariffs on only 33.5% of non-agricultural tariff lines.  We hope Turkey would consider enlarging the scope of its tariff bindings. 
205. It appears most of Turkey's trade is on prefer ential basis. The Secretariat Report shows that 
Turkey now has 16 bilateral FTA's and this number may increase to 39 FTAs, with 13 on-going 
negotiations, including one with GCC countries, which needs to be revived. Turkey also has another 
10 projected negotiations.  We hope the number of bilateral agreements will not undermine Turkey's 
active role in the multilateral trading system. In c onclusion, Turkey is an important WTO Member; it 
is a strong supporter of the multilateral tr ading system and of the DDA negotiations. 
JORDAN 
206. Turkish economy grew strongly after the global economic crisis in 2008, the remarkable 
figures shown in the reports related to investment and GDP are a result of the wise and decisive 
economic policies, robust macroeconom ic fundamentals, enduring capital inflows, lower interest rates 
and loan expansion. 
207. The Turkish sustained economic growth rat es and the ambitious economic policies are 
remarkable; therefore Jordan congratulates the Turk ish Government and the business society for such 
achievements and would like to wish Turkey more prosperity. 
208. In addition to the friendship ti es between Jordan and the Republic  of Turkey it is noticeable 
that Turkey is one of our main trading partners and we look forward to further strengthening our trade 
and investment relations and we hope that the recently signed free trade agreement between Jordan 
and turkey which entered into force in 2011 will have a very positive impact and increased bilateral 
trade.  
NIGERIA 
209. Like so many other countries across the world, Turkey felt the impact of the global financial 
crisis in 2008 and 2009, with a precipitous dec line in exports accompanied by a loss of domestic 
demand.  However, Nigeria is pleased to note from the Secretariat Report that Turkey was able to 
capitalize on structural reforms undertaken in the af termath of severe domestic economic crises in 
1999 and 2001.  The reforms included market liber alization to promote private sector growth, 
privatization, agricultural reform, banking system  strengthening, fiscal discipline, tight monetary 
policy with inflation targeting, and a floating excha nge rate regime.  Thus, in responding to the recent 
crisis, a robust banking sector and a good fiscal pos ition allowed the Government to provide fiscal 
stimulus to restore growth.  The economic declin e proved short-lived and the subsequent rebound has 
been strong.  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 35 
 
 
  210. In the same vein, the Government Report indi cates that fiscal discipline has been one of the 
cornerstones of Turkey's ongoing economic program and played the leading role in maintaining macroeconomic stability by decreasing debt burden.  Hence, the successful debt management strategy 
contributed to the impressive track record of the Tu rkish economy in the past ten years.  The tenets 
underlying the economic program enabled the Turkis h economy to deal with the negative effects of 
the global financial crisis of 2008 effectively. 
211. It is important to note that Turkey has s ubmitted various notifications as indicated in 
Table II.2 of the Secretariat Report;  this is a test imony of Turkey's commitment to ensuring that trade 
is not subject to hidden barriers, since non-ava ilability of relevant in formation regarding WTO 
Members trade policies and practices can hamper free flow of trade.  These and other efforts aimed at 
complying with WTO commitments deserve commendation. 
212. At the bilateral level, relations between Nigeria and Turkey generally cover political, 
economic and socio-cultural spheres;   and have been sustained over the years by the mutuality of 
interests and the friendship of our peoples.  The rela tions have been characterized by cooperation and 
trust between the leaders of our two countries, and ow e a great deal to the desire of our two countries 
to forge ahead in addressing the important issues th at would make the world a better and more secure 
place to live.  To that end, Nigeria and Turkey have intensified their b ilateral relationship and 
cooperation through the consistent ex change of visits by our leaders, at the highest level and through 
D8.  The two countries hope to expand their trade a nd business relations in different sectors of the 
economy, including mining, textiles, fo od security, energy and construction. 
213. In conclusion, Nigeria considers Turkey as an  important WTO Member and looks forward to 
collaborating with Turkey in the ongoing Doha Deve lopment Agenda negotiations.  In this context, 
we wish to acknowledge the constructive and proac tive engagement of the delegation of Turkey in 
Geneva.    
TUNISIA 
 214. It must be pointed out that there are common historical ties between Tunisia and Turkey, 
which contribute towards the dynamism of bilate ral relations.  In addition to these ties, their 
geographical positions and the convergence of their a pproaches to modernizati on are similar.  During 
his visit to Tunisia in September 2011, Mr Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, declared that "We are very close, everything unites us, only look at our two very similar flags, and we should draw even closer together."  He reaffirmed  Turkey's commitment to support Tunisia and intensify and develop 
bilateral cooperation in all areas, exceeding the current volume of trade, which amounts to only 
US$1 billion. 
215. Several official delegations composed of businessmen representing, inter alia , the investment, 
infrastructure and tourism sectors, visited Tuni sia after the revolution, in accordance with the 
Turkish authorities' commitment to provide full support for Tunisia's economic recovery.  The recent 
visit to Ankara by the Tunisian Minister of Fore ign Affairs reaffirms the close political and economic 
relations of our two countries.  In recent year s, Tunisia and Turkey have managed to establish 
cooperation in various areas, with close to 60 cooperation agreemen ts and protocols. 
216. At the sectoral level, several Tunisian-Turkish  commissions in various spheres (agriculture, 
tourism, transport) meet periodically.  At the trad e level, in November 2004, the two parties signed an 
agreement on establishing a free trade area.  Trade between the two countries amounted to around 
US$1 billion in 2009.  Around 23 Turkish exporting fi rms have set up in Tunisia (either entirely or 
partly), with a volume of investment estim ated at TND 10,426 million, and they employ 
1,500 workers. WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 36  
 
  217. My delegation wishes to underline the consider able efforts Turkey has made since the 
previous review with a view to pursuing its econom ic and trade liberalization policy by reinforcing 
the opening up process, establishing an environment conductive to the development of investment and 
diversifying its trade and economic relations with its partners.  Tunisia congratulates Turkey on the 
impressive growth achieved despite the global cris is that has affected economies worldwide and on 
the efforts made to combine balance, development and stability.  My delegation also congratulates 
Turkey on its commitment to support fo r LDCs in the Doha negotiating process.  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 37 
 
 
  V. REPLIES BY THE REPRESENTATIVE  OF TURKEY AND ADDITIONAL 
COMMENTS 
218. It was my pleasure to take note that Member s in the first session highlighted the great 
performance of Turkish economy. Indeed, the suc cess of the policies and reforms adopted well 
indicate that the path Turkey followed was the right one . Our intention is to continue on this path in a 
determined manner, keeping in  mind potential risks to appear as the global economy still lives 
through a period of fragile recovery.  As I mentioned in the opening statement, prudent trade and investment policies were among the reasons that le d Turkey to record one of the most impressive 
growth rates even during the crisis period. 
219. With its growing importance in international tr ade, Turkey plans to become one of the top 
10 economies in the world by 2023. Achieving this go al, would necessitate Turkey to further diversify 
its export markets among others. Indeed, this is  one of the reasons behind Turkey's increased 
engagement in bilateral and regional initiatives. Here at this point, I would like to assure WTO 
Members that Turkey's intensified efforts to enla rge network of bilateral and regional agreements 
would not divert Turkey from its devotion to mu ltilateralism. On the cont rary, these agreements 
would strengthen its genuine willingness to lib eralize trade at each and every level.  
220. The Ministry of Economy, as the main authority responsible for trade and investment policies 
in Turkey, in its decisions and policy implementati ons pays due attention to act in line with its 
international rights and obligations, more specifically with that of the WTO.  
221. We noted that most of the Members were eag er to hear more on current account deficit. 
Despite the declining gap between imports and expo rts in the last quarter of 2011, current account 
deficit is still high mostly due to structural factor s, such as high dependency on energy imports, which 
has been increasing together with rising GDP. Al most 60% of current account deficit comes from 
energy import bill. Therefore, Turkey has starte d to implement many projects to reduce the energy 
dependency. In this context, I would like to state th at the policies that will be adopted with the aim of 
coping with the current account deficit will contin ue to be in line with Turkey's international 
commitments.  
222. On the other hand, as a response to new ch allenges and changing economic environment 
stemming from the global economic crisis, Turkey h as changed its monetary policy stance to achieve 
the flexibility needed to target simultaneously the pr ice and financial stability. In order to pursue price 
and financial stability concurrently and to restrain  the macro financial risks arising from short-term 
capital inflows, a multiple tools mechanism that incl udes policy rate, reserve requirements and interest 
rate corridor has been employed.  
223. Despite all these policy moves, it is true that  inflation was higher than 2011 target. But, 
increase in inflation mainly stemmed from depreciation of TL and unprocessed food prices which are temporary rather than permanent and hardly within  the control of monetary policy. I would like to 
emphasize that Turkey will continue to fight against inflation during 2012.  
224. Turkey's monetary policy in moderating credit growth and lengthening maturities has also 
helped Turkey's rather structural problem of  current account deficit through reducing demand and 
increasing the quality of financing. In this context,  the share of long term and FDI inflows in total 
financing has been increasing.  
225. As far as the investment environment in Turkey is concerned, we were encouraged with the 
positive notes raised by the delegates in the first sessi on. The reforms in this field are reflected in the 
amount of the FDI inflows in Turkey, despite the turm oil in the global environment.  In line with the WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 38  
 
  major macroeconomic reforms la unched in 2001, Turkey has also initiated a comprehensive 
investment climate reform program, in order to en sure an investor friendly regulatory framework.  
226. In this context, Turkey developed its own structure based on strong public-private sector 
dialogue. The reform program has proved to be highly functional in building productive problem 
solving mechanisms with effective participation of all stakeholders from both public and private 
sector. 
227. With regard to comments of some delegati ons in the area of services, I would like to 
emphasize that Turkey has a very open FDI regime  in terms of market access and national treatment. 
As an example, total foreign capital share in th e Turkish banking system is around 42% in terms of 
asset size. In mobile telecommunication services, we  have three companies all having foreign share 
ranging from 13% to 100%. In fixed telecommunicati on services, we have 165 companies in the 
Turkish market, the biggest one with 55% foreign pa rticipation.  With these figures, we believe that 
we have achieved substantial po licy developments in many services sectors. We will carry on with the 
same perspective. I could also note that regardi ng the real estate acquisition issue, the Turkish 
Government is in the process of improving the real estate regime with more favourable conditions for 
foreigners. 
228. With regard to the Government Procurement Agreement issue, Turkey closely follows the 
Agreement as an observer and welcomes the conclu sion of the revised Agreem ent. Turkey hopes that 
this revised version of the GPA will pave the wa y for an even competition among Member countries.  
229. It is worth noting once again that Turkey a ttaches utmost importance to trade facilitation, 
simplification, rapid clearance and reduced cust oms formalities. Having referred to rapid and 
simplified customs procedures, I have the pleasure to inform you about the new customs 
implementations. On the way towards e-customs, we  are sustaining efforts to complete studies of 
paperless customs, single window, one stop shop a nd New Computerized Transit System which 
would enable rapid clearance of goods thus creating a more competitive enviro nment for the traders. 
230. Concerning the specialized customs offices, whic h the Secretariat addressed in its Report and 
some delegations touched upon, I would like to stat e that these offices operate to facilitate and speed 
up the customs clearance with their specific t echnical equipments and experienced staff. 
231. As for the gap between the bound and applied ta riffs, we would like to remind that Turkey 
has always been a defender and practitioner of th e WTO principle of predictability. For the last 
15 years, Turkey's average applied tariff rate for th e industrial products has been as low as 4.2%, one 
of the lowest among developing countries. It is not only the low rates but the stability that reflect 
Turkey's conviction to liberal trade.  
232. The binding of unbound tariff lines, raised by some  members, indeed is an important aspect of 
NAMA modalities under the Doha Development Agenda. Besides, Turkey has also been a supporter 
of a comprehensive binding coverage in the NAM A negotiations. Thus, due steps will be taken by 
Turkey accordingly, following the conclu sion of the related negotiations.    
233. Some of the delegations pointed out the increase in trade remedies. I would like to remind all 
Members that in the last two years only three new anti-dumping investiga tions, two new safeguard 
investigations and no countervailing investigations have been initiated by Turkey.  Moreover, all these 
anti-dumping measures and countervailing duties take n by Turkey are in compliance with the WTO 
rules. It is important to note that these measures are used against unfair trade practices. In addition, 
the imposition of AD and CVD measures against unfai r imports provides fair trade environment not 
only for injured domestic industry but also for Turkey 's trading partners in Turkish market. On the  WT/TPR/M/259 
 Page 39 
 
 
  other hand, safeguard measures shoul d be considered in its own mer its. We assure you that Turkey 
implements safeguard measures c onsistent with WTO Agreement and in a transparent manner.  
234. Regarding the increase in MFN duties on textile and apparel products, I would like to state 
that the examination has been conducted upon the request of domestic producers and during the examination all the interested parties were informed . As a result of this examination, the increase in 
tariffs was deemed necessary and put into for ce in compliance with the Article 2 of GATT'94. 
235. Agriculture remains a key sector, although its shar e in Turkish economy h as been declining as 
a result of structural change towards services and in dustry. Primary agriculture contributed 10.3% to 
GDP and 25.7% to employment in 2011. Turkish agri culture is still dominated by small scale and 
semi-subsistence family farms. Therefore, the ag ricultural sector is still a highly sensitive economic 
field in Turkey.  
236. In order to address existing challenges as well as to reform Turkish agricultural system to 
harmonize with that of the EU, Turkey has been living through a transformation process in the recent 
years. It is expected that both the result of ongoing reform process and WTO Agricultural 
Negotiations would carry Turkish agricultural system  towards more market oriented structure.  
237. Turkey implements the SPS measures by taking in to consideration its rights and obligations 
stemming from WTO-SPS Agreement as well as the recommendations and the standards of the international sister organizations of IPPC, OIE and Codex Alimentarius.   
238. On the other hand, with regard to the GMO is sue, I would like to state that the evaluation 
made by the Biosafety Board of Turkey is based on scientific risk assessment. With regard to Good 
Manufacturing Practices (GMP), I would like to re iterate that Turkey's GMP legislation is in 
conformity with the international rules and pr ocedures. Turkey only abolished the unilateral 
acceptance of GMP certificates issu ed by respective countries following the withdrawal of some 
medicines from the market. Let me add that the Tu rkish Ministry of Health  has the necessary capacity 
to handle the inspections within the prescribed ti me frame. Taking this opportunity, I would like to 
inform you that Turkish Ministry of Health is ready to negotiate Mutual  Recognition Agreements 
upon the request of any member country. There is no doubt that notifications are very important to 
provide a predictable and transparent trade environmen t. In this context, Turkey is in the process of 
expediting its notifications. 
239. As intellectual property rights have become among the key factors in providing sustainable 
development, facing new global challenges and attrac ting foreign direct investment, Turkey attaches 
great importance to further developing its existing IPR system which has been  considerably advanced 
in the last decade. Promotion and protection of IPR has been declared among the priorities in the 
Government Action Plan in Turkey. In this contex t, the legislative framework and enforcement has 
been improved, the number of the specialized cour ts for handling of IPR cases has been increased and 
coordination among all the relevant stake holders has become more effective.  
240. It should be emphasized that the current IPR le gislations in Turkey is in line with the 
international standards, particularly TRIPS Agreem ent and requirements stemming thereof. In order to 
further enhance the legislative framework a single draft law consisting of, inter alia , important 
provisions for improvement of the system and penal ties on certain IPR has been prepared. This draft 
law has been made public for the opinions of the stake holders.  
241. Thanks to the continued economic growth in Turkey and awareness activities in the field of 
IPR, we have observed a remarkable increase in the number of IPR applications. Number of both 
foreign and domestic patent applications in Tu rkey has significantly increased, likewise, the number 
of trademark applications has boosted.  WT/TPR/M/259 
Page 40  
 
  242. We also took note of the comment related to eco -friendly products. In this context some tax 
advantages were introduced to vehicles with electri cal engines in terms of Special Consumption Tax 
last year. Besides, revision of the taxation system to promote the usage of eco-friendly products, including hybrid vehicles is under consideration. 
243. Concerning the energy sector, I would like to stat e that the share of public sector is decreasing 
in electricity generation in the face of increasing pr ivate sector investments. Furthermore, government 
holds a position not to make investments in the electricity generation sector from the public funds unless there is a threat of electricity supply crisis . Additionally, an ambitious  privatization process has 
been initiated in electricity distribution sector and is about to be completed.  
244. Last but not least, I would like to reiterate th at Turkey attributes great importance to LDCs  in 
the global trade. With this in mind, Turkey has al ways been a supporter of simplified and accelerated 
WTO accession procedures for the LDCs. Turkey's  hosting Fourth United Nations Conference on the 
LDCs in May 2011 in Istanbul was also a concrete  sign of Turkey's support for the LDCs in the 
international trading system. Without any doubt, Turkey will continue its efforts in a more 
strengthened manner in coming years.  
245. In concluding my remarks, I would again like to thank for the support extended by WTO 
Members to Turkey on the occasion of the fifth Trad e Policy Review.  Turkey will be continuing its 
path with full dedication to WTO and the principles it represents. In order to further the multilateral 
trading system, there is a role to be played by the successful conclusion of the DDA. Turkey will be 
extending its continuous support to this end as well.  
DISCUSSANT 
246. First a few words about the economic policy.  It  was evident from the debate that there is a 
general recognition that the Turkish government c onducted in the review period a rather successful 
macroeconomic policy which could just be envied by almost everybody as we heard from several 
speakers. Turkey has a rather su ccessful political mixed, on one hand using very efficient stimulus 
programs in order to promote the recovery of the economy after the shocks of the crisis, and at the 
same time you succeeded to stimulate the economy a nd keep absolutely a remarkable low level of the 
public deficit of the country. 
247. Regarding the trade policy of Turkey, I can say th at in general the Turkish policy is pragmatic 
and realistic and quite predictable, which is a very valuable asset in the present circumstances. 
Although from the debate we learnt that there are still some problems and questionable elements 
which are quite natural in a rapidly changing econo mic environment with so many challenges.  The 
most criticized part of the Turkish trade policy was re lated to agriculture but in this aspect Turkey is 
not alone. Several Members pointed the relatively hi gh level of protection provided to agricultural, 
other Members criticized the level of the domestic subsidies in particular the export subsidization 
which goes against the main trend in the OECD countries. As you mentioned today, it is very 
important Turkey's intention to make mo re market-oriented the agricultural sector. 
248. Another criticized element of the Turkish policy w as the intensification of the trade remedies.  
In your statement, you mentioned that last year th ere was a considerable decrease in the number of the 
new cases in anti-dumping and no countervailing measure  procedures. I would like to hope that this 
trend will continue, and it leads me to the third qu estion that it is the resistance of Turkey to the 
protectionist temptation.  In the debate, it was generally recognized that the Turkish government 
resisted in a remarkable way to this temptation, and in this respect Turkey is showing a very good 
example to other emerging economies.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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  249. Some Members questioned the use of special ized customs offices for certain goods or 
maintaining a specific import regime for some  goods.  You provided an explanation for the 
specialized customs office but some Members remain su spicious but I am quite sure that in the future 
it will not create problems for the traders.  Some critical remarks we made concerning the lack of 
notifications in some fields, in particular in agricu lture.  You promised that Turkey is in the process of 
improving its notification performance and we are all glad to hear that.   
250. Regarding IP protection, we follow with admira tion the steps that Turkey has taken in this 
field, both concerning the establishment of new institutions and strengthening the legislative background, and the new draft law mentioned woul d increase the confidence of the Members.   
251. To conclude I would like to congratulate the Turkish government for the economic 
performance, for the stability and the visibility in  its trade policy practices, and if there are 
shortcomings we are all confident that Turkey w ith determination and creativity will sort out the 
remaining problems. 
EUROPEAN UNION 
252. The EU would like to present a few follow-up questions and make some comments, and as 
usual we will submit the follow-up questions in writi ng to the Secretariat, and hope for replies in due 
course.  First, the EU has asked for Turkey's fu rther views related to its competition policy and we 
have submitted three questions to require for furthe r information regarding Turkey's agriculture sector 
and more specifically on its export subsidies on the functioning of the Turkish Grain Board and on the 
notifications.   
253. In this context, and while welcoming Turkey 's information on its plan to submit delayed 
domestic support and export subsidy notifications to  the WTO in the near fu ture, the EU also would 
like to make a comment and underline the need for transparency through comp liance with notification 
obligations under the Agreement on Agriculture, and by  providing up-to-date notifications in order to 
allow Members to understand each other's policies, a nd in this context we take note of the very 
positive statement earlier about expediting the notifications. 
254. Our second comment relates to one of the issues raised by a number of Members including us, 
and that is Turkey's increasing dependency on tr ade remedies and the extension of the existing 
measures, and the intensive use of safeguard inst ruments is also caused of concern for the EU.  
Obviously we do not contest the right of Turkey to make use of the trade defence instruments in general, and safeguard in particul ar, but we would like to encourage Turkey to be cautious with the 
use of safeguard as safeguards affects all imports irrespectively of their origin. 
255. Finally, we would like to recall Turkey to lif t all import bans on BS E grounds of bovines, and 
their products from the EU Member States, and full y follow the OIE recommendations in this respect.   
UNITED STATES 
256. We would like to offer some follow up questions .  First, regarding various import prohibitions 
as identified in the Secretariat.  It is our understand ing that on February 8, Turkey's Scientific Risk 
Assessment committees recommended the approval of three GE corn events, but did not recommend 
approval of six GE corn events, stating they were risky.  These recommendations are now open for public comment.   
257. The scientific documents referenced by the Committees for the non-recommendation of the 
six events were not based on the findings of any of the institutions cited.  In the case of the non-
recommendation for corn event T25, the Committ ees ignored the positive risk assessment findings 
from multiple governments and instead the recomm endation was seemingly based on a single, non-WT/TPR/M/259 
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  peer reviewed summary report by an internati onal NGO.  Moreover, this NGO did not provide a 
negative finding, but stated that more research w as needed.  Would Turkey provide the rationale for 
the Committees ignoring in its decisions a significan t weight of scientific evidence supportive of the 
safety of feed products derived from these events? 
258. We understand that according to an amendm ent to the regulations published in the Official 
Gazette  on February 22, any gene with antibiotic resi stance or ABR marker genes cannot be imported 
unless it is recommended for approval by both the Bo ard and the Scientific Risk Assessment 
Committee. Does this mean that th e six genes in question (the ones not recommended for approval by 
the Risk Assessment Committee) cannot be appr oved for import if they contain ABR genes?  
259. The comments above should be taken into c onsideration when the Committees review the 
pending applications for this set of genes for f ood use. Please explain why the applications for 
transgenic soy and corn for food use have taken so  long to review in light of Turkey's law which 
states that decisions must be taken within 270 days. 
260. The second follow-up is related to a question that we posed on the Turkey EU Customs 
Union.  We inquire the reason in which Turkey claims it is required by the Turkey-EU Customs 
Union to discriminate against U.S. origin goods showing a CE mark, when the EU does not discriminate in the same way in order to  maintain the same Customs Union.  
261. Third, regarding our question on the increase in MFN duties on some textiles and apparel 
products on 15 September 2011.  Based on Turkey's r esponse, we understand that this action is not 
conducted pursuant to the Agreem ent on Safeguards.  Please state precisely which WTO agreement 
and specific provisions therein governed the process under which Turkey conducted this change in 
tariff rates and explain how that process conforms to the provisions of that Agreement. 
262. Fourth, I have a follow-up question regarding st ate-owned enterprises specifically the Turkish 
Grain Board or TMO.  Would Turkey please provide  data confirming that the TMO has operated on a 
profitable basis since 2002? Although purchase prices are set by the TMO's Board of Directors, does the Government of Turkey provide any sort of assi stance to the TMO to ensu re that the TMO's Board 
is able to make payments at their set purchase pr ices?  Is the TMO's Board of Directors bound by any 
legislation or regulation in how it determines prices?  
263. Turkey responded that the TMO sells products  above the purchase price in the domestic 
market, but it sells exported products  at the world price.  The United States understands that this could 
mean that the TMO sells exported product below its  purchase price.  Can Turkey confirm whether or 
not this is true and explain whether the TMO's more  profitable domestic sales are used to make up for 
any losses on exports? 
264. And finally, in an earlier response Turkey noted that the TMO's purchase and selling of 
products operate on the basis of profitability.  In this response, Turkey did not confirm whether the 
TMO does or does not receive any funding from th e Treasury to account for differences in the 
purchase price and the export price, if below the pur chase price.  Can Turkey please confirm whether 
or not the TMO does receive funding from the Treasu ry to account for any difference in price, 
regardless of purpose? 
JAPAN 
265. Japan has one follow-up question in relation to th e reply to our questions No. 10 on the Stamp 
Tax.  Referring to Turkey's answer, documents re levant to operations which are oriented to earn 
foreign exchange are exempt from the Stamp Tax.  However, this exemption is applied only to 
domestic companies. What does Turkey consider consistency with the National Treatment under the 
GATS and Foreign Direct Investment Law (Article 3)?   WT/TPR/M/259 
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  VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRPERSON 
266. This fifth Trade Policy Review of the Republic of Turkey has been an excellent opportunity 
for us all to improve our understanding of Turkey's  trade and trade-related policies and practices and 
how they have evolved since the previous review in  2007.  We are grateful for the active participation 
of the Turkish delegation headed by H.E. Mr. Cemalettin Damlaci, Deputy Undersecretary at the 
Ministry of Economy.  I would also like to thank the discussant, H.E. Ambassador István Major of 
Hungary, and Members of the TPRB for contributing to our fruitful exchange of views.   
267. Members commended Turkey for its impressive recovery from the global financial crisis, 
having capitalized on structural reforms undertaken in response to past crises.  Noting that Turkey has 
set ambitious targets for its economy by 2023, to be achieved with the development of an export-
oriented production structure, Members sought more information on how Turkey intended to attain its 
goals.   
268. Members appreciated Turkey's active participation in the WTO and its commitment to a 
strong and effective multilateral trading system.  Al though the dominance of the EU has become less 
pronounced in Turkey's foreign trade over the last four years, Turkey is closely linked to the EU 
through the customs union, and Turkey's negotiations  to ultimately become an EU Member.  Many 
questions were raised about Turkey's participati on in preferential trade agreements and on-going 
negotiations to expand the network of trade preferen ces even further.  Turk ey's GSP scheme, whereby 
Turkey extends preferences unilaterally to other de veloping countries, and in particular LDCs, was 
highlighted and appreciated. 
269. Although Members found that Turkey had re lied on macroeconomic measures to exit 
successfully from the shocks caused by the global fi nancial crisis, some evidence of recent trade 
restrictive measures was also highlighted and ex amined.  Areas for further reform were also 
identified.  Action on these fronts would enhan ce the competitiveness of the Turkish economy and 
contribute to sustained economic growth, to the be nefit of Turkey and its trading partners.  In 
particular, Turkey might give consid eration to the following points:   
 Tariffs:  The gap between Turkey's applied tari ffs and its commitments within the WTO 
framework is considerable.  While Members woul d expect significant efforts from Turkey to 
reduce this gap in the future, Turkey should also  be careful not to exploit this "policy space" 
to the detriment of its trading partners in the interim.   
 Trade remedies : Turkey has become a major user of anti-dumping and safeguard measures.  
I note the slowdown in new anti-dumping investigations as a positive sign, but also that some concerns were raised about recent decisions to  extend certain safeguard measures and whether 
these decisions had complied with all the requirements of the WTO.   
 TBT and SPS:  Turkey was encouraged to improve its procedures for the publication and 
notification of draft technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  Turkey was 
urged to ensure that its SPS measures not be maintained without scientific evidence nor be 
more trade-restrictive than necessary. 
 Government procurement:  Some Members encouraged Turkey to remove the existing price 
preference for domestic suppliers in public procurement and consider accession to the 
Government Procurement Agreement at the earliest possible stage.   
 Intellectual property: Several Members noted that the protection of intellectual property had 
improved in Turkey, and encouraged the authoriti es to continue their efforts to ensure more 
effective enforcement of IPRs.  WT/TPR/M/259 
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   Agriculture:  Some delegations noted that Turkey's agricultural sector has become less 
market oriented with increasing levels of subs idies, and a shift towards more trade-distorting 
forms of support.  Enhanced transparency in  the market interventions of state-owned 
enterprises was called for.  Turkey should al so keep Members regularly informed by 
providing accurate and timely notifications on domestic support and export subsidies to the 
WTO.   
270. This successfully concludes our fifth Review of the Republic of Turkey.  The large number of 
advance questions and the many interventions by Me mbers indicate the important role of Turkey in 
the multilateral trading system.  Turkey's recent economic performance is a success story which we would all like to see continued in the years to come. 
 
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