Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 97115 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ETRD EAGR ETTC EAID ECON EFIN ECIN EINV ELAB EAIR ENRG EPET EWWT ECPS EIND EMIN ELTN EC ETMIN EUC EZ ET ELECTIONS ENVR EU EUN EG EINT ER ECONOMICS ES EMS ENIV EEB EN ECE ECOSOC EK ENVIRONMENT EFIS EI EWT ENGRD ECPSN EXIM EIAD ERIN ECPC EDEV ENGY ECTRD EPA ESTH ECCT EINVECON ENGR ERTD EUR EAP EWWC ELTD EL EXIMOPIC EXTERNAL ETRDEC ESCAP ECO EGAD ELNT ECONOMIC ENV ETRN EIAR EUMEM ENRGPARMOTRASENVKGHGPGOVECONTSPLEAID EREL ECOM ECONETRDEAGRJA ETCC ETRG ECONOMY EMED ETR ENERG EITC EFINOECD EURM EENG ERA EXPORT ENRD ECONEINVETRDEFINELABETRDKTDBPGOVOPIC EGEN EBRD EVIN ETRAD ECOWAS EFTA ECONETRDBESPAR EGOVSY EPIN EID ECONENRG EDRC ESENV ETT EB ENER ELTNSNAR ECHEVARRIA ETRC EPIT EDUC ESA EFI ENRGY ESCI EE EAIDXMXAXBXFFR EETC ECIP EIAID EIVN EBEXP ESTN EING EGOV ETRA EPETEIND ELAN ETRDGK EAIDRW ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS EPEC ENVI ELN EAG EPCS EPRT EPTED ETRB EUM EAIDS EFIC EFINECONEAIDUNGAGM EAIDAR ESF EIDN ELAM EDU EV EAIDAF ECN EDA EXBS EINTECPS ENRGTRGYETRDBEXPBTIOSZ EPREL EAC EINVEFIN ETA EAGER EINDIR ECA ECLAC ELAP EITI EUCOM ECONEFINETRDPGOVEAGRPTERKTFNKCRMEAID EARG ELDIN EINVKSCA ENNP EFINECONCS EFINTS ECCP ETC EAIRASECCASCID EINN ETRP EAIDNI EFQ ECOQKPKO EGPHUM EBUD ECONEINVEFINPGOVIZ ENERGY ELB EINDETRD EMI ECONEFIN EIB EURN ETRDEINVTINTCS EIN EFIM ETIO ELAINE EMN EATO EWTR EIPR EINVETC ETTD ETDR EIQ ECONCS EPPD ENRGIZ EISL ESPINOSA ELEC EAIG ESLCO EUREM ENTG ERD EINVECONSENVCSJA EEPET EUNCH ECINECONCS ETRO ETRDECONWTOCS ECUN EFND EPECO EAIRECONRP ERGR ETRDPGOV ECPN ENRGMO EPWR EET EAIS EAGRE EDUARDO EAGRRP EAIDPHUMPRELUG EICN ECONQH EVN EGHG ELBR EINF EAIDHO EENV ETEX ERNG ED
KMDR KPAO KPKO KJUS KCRM KGHG KFRD KWMN KDEM KTFN KHIV KGIC KIDE KSCA KNNP KHUM KIPR KSUM KISL KIRF KCOR KRCM KPAL KWBG KN KS KOMC KSEP KFLU KPWR KTIA KSEO KMPI KHLS KICC KSTH KMCA KVPR KPRM KE KU KZ KFLO KSAF KTIP KTEX KBCT KOCI KOLY KOR KAWC KACT KUNR KTDB KSTC KLIG KSKN KNN KCFE KCIP KGHA KHDP KPOW KUNC KDRL KV KPREL KCRS KPOL KRVC KRIM KGIT KWIR KT KIRC KOMO KRFD KUWAIT KG KFIN KSCI KTFIN KFTN KGOV KPRV KSAC KGIV KCRIM KPIR KSOC KBIO KW KGLB KMWN KPO KFSC KSEAO KSTCPL KSI KPRP KREC KFPC KUNH KCSA KMRS KNDP KR KICCPUR KPPAO KCSY KTBT KCIS KNEP KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KNNB KGCC KINR KPOP KMFO KENV KNAR KVIR KDRG KDMR KFCE KNAO KDEN KGCN KICA KIMMITT KMCC KLFU KMSG KSEC KUM KCUL KMNP KSMT KCOM KOMCSG KSPR KPMI KRAD KIND KCRP KAUST KWAWC KTER KCHG KRDP KPAS KITA KTSC KPAOPREL KWGB KIRP KJUST KMIG KLAB KTFR KSEI KSTT KAPO KSTS KLSO KWNN KPOA KHSA KNPP KPAONZ KBTS KWWW KY KJRE KPAOKMDRKE KCRCM KSCS KWMNCI KESO KWUN KPLS KIIP KEDEM KPAOY KRIF KGICKS KREF KTRD KFRDSOCIRO KTAO KJU KWMNPHUMPRELKPAOZW KEN KO KNEI KEMR KKIV KEAI KWAC KRCIM KWCI KFIU KWIC KCORR KOMS KNNO KPAI KBWG KTTB KTBD KTIALG KILS KFEM KTDM KESS KNUC KPA KOMCCO KCEM KRCS KWBGSY KNPPIS KNNPMNUC KWN KERG KLTN KALM KCCP KSUMPHUM KREL KGH KLIP KTLA KAWK KWMM KVRP KVRC KAID KSLG KDEMK KX KIF KNPR KCFC KFTFN KTFM KPDD KCERS KMOC KDEMAF KMEPI KEMS KDRM KEPREL KBTR KEDU KNP KIRL KNNR KMPT KISLPINR KTPN KA KJUSTH KPIN KDEV KTDD KAKA KFRP KWNM KTSD KINL KJUSKUNR KWWMN KECF KWBC KPRO KVBL KOM KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KEDM KFLD KLPM KRGY KNNF KICR KIFR KM KWMNCS KAWS KLAP KPAK KDDG KCGC KID KNSD KMPF KPFO KDP KCMR KRMS KNPT KNNNP KTIAPARM KDTB KNUP KPGOV KNAP KNNC KUK KSRE KREISLER KIVP KQ KTIAEUN KPALAOIS KRM KISLAO KWM KFLOA
PHUM PINR PTER PGOV PREL PREF PL PM PHSA PE PARM PINS PK PUNE PO PALESTINIAN PU PBTS PROP PTBS POL POLI PA PGOVZI POLMIL POLITICAL PARTIES POLM PD POLITICS POLICY PAS PMIL PINT PNAT PV PKO PPOL PERSONS PING PBIO PH PETR PARMS PRES PCON PETERS PRELBR PT PLAB PP PAK PDEM PKPA PSOCI PF PLO PTERM PJUS PSOE PELOSI PROPERTY PGOVPREL PARP PRL PNIR PHUMKPAL PG PREZ PGIC PBOV PAO PKK PROV PHSAK PHUMPREL PROTECTION PGOVBL PSI PRELPK PGOVENRG PUM PRELKPKO PATTY PSOC PRIVATIZATION PRELSP PGOVEAIDUKNOSWGMHUCANLLHFRSPITNZ PMIG PREC PAIGH PROG PSHA PARK PETER POG PHUS PPREL PS PTERPREL PRELPGOV POV PKPO PGOVECON POUS PGOVPRELPHUMPREFSMIGELABEAIDKCRMKWMN PWBG PMAR PREM PAR PNR PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO PARMIR PGOVGM PHUH PARTM PN PRE PTE PY POLUN PPEL PDOV PGOVSOCI PIRF PGOVPM PBST PRELEVU PGOR PBTSRU PRM PRELKPAOIZ PGVO PERL PGOC PAGR PMIN PHUMR PVIP PPD PGV PRAM PINL PKPAL PTERE PGOF PINO PHAS PODC PRHUM PHUMA PREO PPA PEPFAR PGO PRGOV PAC PRESL PORG PKFK PEPR PRELP PREFA PNG PGOVPHUMKPAO PRELECON PINOCHET PFOR PGOVLO PHUMBA PRELC PREK PHUME PHJM POLINT PGOVPZ PGOVKCRM PGOVE PHALANAGE PARTY PECON PEACE PROCESS PLN PRELSW PAHO PEDRO PRELA PASS PPAO PGPV PNUM PCUL PGGV PSA PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA PGIV PRFE POGOV PEL PBT PAMQ PINF PSEPC POSTS PHUMPGOV PVOV PHSAPREL PROLIFERATION PENA PRELTBIOBA PIN PRELL PGOVPTER PHAM PHYTRP PTEL PTERPGOV PHARM PROTESTS PRELAF PKBL PRELKPAO PKNP PARMP PHUML PFOV PERM PUOS PRELGOV PHUMPTER PARAGRAPH PERURENA PBTSEWWT PCI PETROL PINSO PINSCE PQL PEREZ PBS

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 08ADANA16, TURKEY: DESPITE BOOMING ENERGY AND COMMODITY PRICES,

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #08ADANA16.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08ADANA16 2008-05-02 10:59 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Adana
VZCZCXRO3896
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0016/01 1231059
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021059Z MAY 08
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4649
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1192
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1253
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADANA 000016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EAGR EFIN TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: DESPITE BOOMING ENERGY AND COMMODITY PRICES, 
CUKUROVA REGION SHARES GLOOMY ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 
 
REF: A) ISTANBUL 187;   B) ANKARA 834 
 
Summary and Comment 
----------------------------- 
 
1.  (SBU) Business leaders in the Cukurova region of southern 
Turkey share the nation-wide pessimism about economic prospects 
for 2008.  The textile industry's steady decline will likely 
accelerate when the GOT revises its regional incentive scheme, 
and plans for investments in other sectors such as tourism, 
medical services and energy are developing too slowly to provide 
any near-term relief.  On the bright side, Cukurova's 
traditionally strong agricultural sector is expected to benefit 
from high commodity prices, though citrus exporters are trying 
to recover from a hard frost early in the year.  If energy and 
commodity prices remain high in the mid- to long-term, the Adana 
region should logically hold a winning hand, but this promise 
has thus far not delivered the level of job creation needed for 
a city whose population is now 1.3 million and growing.  End 
summary and comment. 
 
The Gathering Gloom 
-------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) Businessmen in Adana and Kahramanmaras in recent weeks 
have provided a micro-level perspective on the pessimism 
Istanbul-based financial analysts expressed in ref a.  Koral 
Cepni, a former textile executive who is now a university 
lecturer, told us that residential construction has sagged in 
recent months due to increasing interest rates and middle class 
economic insecurity.  Unlike deep-pocketed Istanbul developers, 
he said that Adana contractors cannot afford to provide 
favorable financing to purchasers, who must then rely on bank 
loans.  Adana lost a prestigious project in February when an 
American luxury condo investor pulled out of a $75 million deal 
due to the mortgage crisis in the U.S. and corruption issues 
with one of the Turkish partners. 
 
3.  (SBU) Similarly, Cepni said that car sales have slumped 
since January and that retailers and the textile industry have 
been particularly hard-hit.  Only one of dozens of textile 
companies remains profitable, he said, and the number of 
shuttered store-fronts (based on his admittedly unscientific 
survey) has more than doubled in the last nine months.  He said 
poor market research results in a high level of small-business 
failure.  Some aspiring businessmen, he said, "think they can 
start making kebab and toast and the customers will come.  It's 
not that easy."  Low-cost mega-stores such as Carrefour, 
meanwhile, are proving successful at luring shoppers away from 
traditional vendors in the city center. 
 
4.  (SBU) Adana's priority growth sectors - medical services, 
tourism and energy - are each experiencing problems.  Cepni 
noted Adana is well-positioned to serve as a "medical tourism" 
destination for the Middle East and some local clinics are 
trying to market to Syria as well as southeastern Turkey. 
Unfortunately, neighboring Gaziantep - which has closer links to 
both Syria and the southeast - is trying to develop the same 
sector.  In addition, the GOT is changing the rules that permit 
physicians to work for both state hospitals and private clinics, 
making it more difficult for private health providers to recruit 
doctors.  Similarly, the Adana tourism sector is competing with 
its western neighbor Mersin, which already has a head start in 
developing its (more attractive) oceanfront and in attracting 
foreigners, 2500 of whom have purchased vacation properties in 
the past 18 months.  Finally, while there has been a continuous 
drip-feed of press releases about companies interested in making 
large-scale investments in oil refineries or ship-building in 
the Ceyhan region, no big projects have actually been started 
since the BTC pipeline was opened two years ago. 
 
Textile Death Watch 
------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) In Kahramanmaras, an agriculture and textile hub about 
90 miles northeast of Adana, the local Chamber of Commerce 
president, Mehmet Balduk, worried that the crisis now developing 
could be worse than the 2001 crash because the current problems 
are not solely based in the financial sector.  Thanks to a 
central government incentive program, the textile industry in 
Kahramanmaras now employs 25,000 people.  He said that if the 
incentives are discontinued this year, as expected, he predicts 
factories using older, more labor-intensive machinery will close 
down or relocate, resulting in about 15,000 lost jobs.  Buldak, 
who is in the textile industry himself, is following many of his 
competitors and studying the opportunities in Egypt's Qualified 
Industrial Zone, which has attracted a number of Turkish 
companies because of lower labor costs and tariff-free access to 
U.S. markets. 
 
ADANA 00000016  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
6.  (SBU) Balduk also noted that, unlike in 2001, consumer 
indebtedness is now widespread and unsustainable.  It is 
commonplace now for blue-collar workers to have debts ten times 
higher than their monthly salaries, so when people lose their 
jobs they also end up defaulting on their loans and going 
bankrupt.  After a local textile company laid off 3,000 workers 
recently, there was a spike in court cases because so many of 
them were unable to pay their debts.  He noted that people in 
the Kahramanmaras region still have strong links to their 
relatives in the villages so they will not suffer from hunger, 
but they will not be able to pay their debts. 
 
Agriculture: Citrus Growers Angst, Grain Producers Fat and Happy 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
---------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) Cukurova's agricultural sector presents a mixed 
picture.  Ali Kavak, president of a local trade group, said that 
freezing conditions early in the year reduced the citrus yield 
by 21% which caused a comparable decrease in exports.  Cepni 
told us that higher prices will partially compensate for the 
lower output, though some citrus farmers get into trouble by 
holding their crop too long in hopes of getting higher prices 
(futures markets are underdeveloped for many commodities in 
Turkey).  The reduction in exports has hit ancillary industries 
especially hard: the head of an Adana-based joint venture with 
International Paper, Olmuksa, which specializes in cartons for 
citrus exporters, reported in February that his business was 
down 60%.  Transport companies are also feeling the pinch - a 
transport/logistics official in Mersin told the media that 
citrus export volume is down about 60% and local truck companies 
have redeployed parts of their fleet to western Turkey. 
 
8.  (SBU) Grain producers in the Cukurova region, meanwhile, 
appear well positioned for 2008.  Compared with the severe 
drought conditions in southeastern Turkey there has been 
sufficient rain in the Adana region and winter snows were 
adequate to fill the irrigation reservoirs.  Although high oil 
prices have increased operating expenses and the price of 
inputs, analysts expect local wheat, corn and soy farmers to 
benefit from the run-up in world grain prices.  Cepni said that 
in markets where the GOT plays a strong role, such as wheat, he 
also expects high prices as the ruling party will want to win 
support in the run-up to local elections next March. 
GREEN