Gul: "Turkey's economy is recovering from the global economic crisis"

President Abdullah Gul yesterday visited the Black Sea province of Bayburt and the eastern Anatolia province of Erzurum. Touring the two cities, President Gul spoke with provincial officials and met with local people. Gul received a hearty welcome from Bayburt, as crowds gathered in front of the governor's house, chanting slogans praising Gul. "Everything is for your sake," Gul told the crowds in an impromptu speech. "From the north to the south, the east to the west, everything should be as good as possible in Turkey." After speaking with the governor, Gül gave assurances that the concerns of the region would be addressed. In Erzurum, Gul attended a meeting of the Eastern Anatolia Development and Cooperation Bridge (DAKIK), held by the Confederation of Eastern Anatolia Industrialist Businessmen (DASIDEF). Speaking at the meeting, which was also attended by Health Minister Recep Akdag, State Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, Erzurum Governor Sami Bulut, Erzurum Mayor Ahmet Küçükler, Ataturk University Rector Hikmet Kocak, officials from provincial public bodies, and nearly 1,000 businesspeople from across Turkey, Gul called on entrepreneurs to invest more in the eastern provinces to address regional development disparities. Stating that Turkey's economy is signaling that it is about to recover from the global economic crisis, Gul said thanks to the structural reforms of the last 10 years, Turkey has remained relatively undamaged since the beginning of the crisis, citing how Turkey is the only G-20 country where no bank went bankrupt due to the crisis. Stressing that Turkey has been undergoing a sweeping economic and democratic reform process in recent years, Gul said the nation shouldn't waste its energy on time-consuming, useless political disputes, but instead should focus on this process. He also said Turkey is a big country whose differences should be seen as a rich resource, thus leading to a synergy which makes sweeping changes possible.