Turkey abolishes tax cuts for Syria-imported goods

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Cabinet decree published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, Dec 14 stipulates that Turkey will no longer grant tax cuts on industrial goods imported from Syria, on which it has recently imposed a number of economic sanctions in protest of the government's violent crackdown of pro-democracy demonstrations there.

According to the decision, which will take effect Dec. 24, Syria is removed from Turkey's Generalized Preferences System (GTS), which arranges the tax cuts the country gives for a number of developing economies' industrial products.

Ankara joined the Arab League and Western powers in imposing nine economic sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government on Nov. 30 to put more pressure on the Syrian administration. The country is now blocking the delivery of all weapons and military equipment to Damascus as part of measures aimed at persuading Assad to end the violent handling of the pro-democracy protesters. Ankara also suspended all ties to the Syrian Central Bank, freezing all Syrian government assets in Turkey and suspending all loan deals as part of its sanctions on the Syrian government.

Turkey is Syria's largest trading partner, and the countries did $2.4 billion in trade last year. The sanctions are expected to deal a heavy blow to Syria's already ailing economy; yet, experts note that the Turkish economy will also suffer, particularly in the Southeast, where it borders Syria, Today’s Zaman reported.