Hack of a Day: First Impressions

TURKEY - In Brief 24 Nov 2015 by Murat Ucer

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Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet Bottom Line: Very worrisome news, but further escalation or military conflict is not a foregone conclusion… A much-feared development -- because various parties (Russia, U.S., Turkey, etc.) have been operating so close to each other over the Syrian territory -- has taken place today, with Turkey downing a Russian fighter jet “over Turkish territory and after repeated warnings”, according to the Turkish statement. But Russia rebutted saying that the plane was over Syrian air territory. The good news is that the Russian pilots did not get killed, having been parachuted down, they were reportedly captured by Turkmeni forces on the ground. My immediate reaction is that this is clearly bad news, but the worst – a direct military conflict between Russia and Turkey -- should be avoided partly because this would be such a calamitous development. Put differently, we should see a heightening of diplomatic shuttling between Turkey, Russia, and potentially, Nato – but the conflict should be contained and the worst should be avoided. Admittedly, the situation is highly fluid however -- in fact Putin just called the act a "stab in the back" as we were writing these lines -- we will update our readers as more information becomes available. PM Davutoglu announces the cabinet Bottom Line: A roughly market-neutral cabinet, with a slight tilt toward negative because of Mr. Babacan’s absence. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the new cabinet today. Mr. Ali Babacan is not in the cabinet, whose role has now been given to former Finance Minister – and another market friendly/reasonably orthodox name – Mr. Mehmet Simsek, who was made Deputy Prime Min...