Turkey keeps growing amid problems: Deputy PM Babacan

Turkey continues to grow in a stable manner, despite the negative conditions surrounding it, said Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan at an award ceremony on Jan. 3.

"Turkey may be growing at a slower pace than it was a couple years ago, but the country continues to grow in a stable and reasonable way amid many negative conditions," he said at a ceremony organized by the Mersin Entrepreneurs' Association.

He cited Turkey's experience with the Gezi protests in 2013, followed by the corruption claims, as examples of the negative situations affecting the country recently.

"A local election and a presidential election were conducted in the last two years. The civil war continues in Syria, right beside Turkey. We can barely say Iraq is stable. The recent Russia-Ukraine conflict also makes things worse around Turkey," he said.

Despite all these negativities, and the decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) to end the high liquidity party in global markets, the Turkish economy keeps growing and creating new jobs, he said. He noted there are some critical principles of great importance to maintain good performance in the economy.

"The most important principles are building confidence and maintaining stability. Economic growth is not possible unless these are ensured," he said, adding that it was not easy to achieve them. Babacan also said there are several problems with the country's investment environment.

"We have problems in the judicial area. We also see that the links between municipalities and business circles are not strong, as well as the links between universities and the industrial world. We'll be focusing on solving these problems in the future," he said.