[Tilli]

Regardless of the EU talks and whether Turkey joins or not, I read this in the London Times of Monday December 18th 2006

RECENT DEALS

1. Citigroup, the biggest US bank, agreed in October to buy 20% of Akbank
TAS, Turkey's 3rd biggest lender, for about 3.1 billion dollars.

2. Vodafone bought Telsim, Turkey's second biggest mobile phone operator,
for 2.6 billion euros last year.

3. The National Bank of Greece bought 46% of Finansbank for 2.3 billion
euros this year.

4. Belgian bank Dexia bought Denizbank for 2.4 billion dollars this year.

5. Fortis, a leading banking & insurance complany in the Benelux countries
acquired 93.3% of Disbank for 987 million euros last year.

A synopsis of the article reads -

"Economists & analysts point out that it is now Turkey's efforts, backed by the International Monetary Fund under a 10 billion dollar programme, to bring about macroeconomic stability, reduce the budget deficit and bring inflation down to single digits that have secured its status as an attractive emerging market."

EU or no EU, we can be assured that this sort of money is not being put into an economy where profits cannot be realised.

What are others views on this?