Istanbul // Turkey on Wednesday said it would free 38,000 prisoners not linked to the failed coup in a move apparently aimed at releasing pressure on prisons filled to bursting with suspects from the putsch.
The announcement came as Turkey presses on with the biggest purge in its modern history after the failed July 15 coup by rogue elements in the military, whose shockwaves are still being felt one month on.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the release was “not an amnesty” and the convicts were not being pardoned but released on parole.
It will not apply to convicts guilty of murder, terrorism or state security crimes, or the thousands jailed after the failed coup which took place on July 15.
“The regulation refers to crimes committed before July 1, 2016. The crimes committed after July 1, 2016 are outside its scope,” Mr Bozdag said on Twitter.
“As a result of this regulation, approximately 38,000 people will be released from closed and open prisons at the first stage.”
The timing means that it is impossible that anyone detained for complicity in the coup can be released as part of the mass parole move.
According to Turkish officials, more than 35,000 people have been detained since the coup attempt although almost 11,600 of them have since been released.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said that as of August 16 there were of 213,499 people in Turkish prisons while the total capacity was only for 187,351 people.
Prison numbers in Turkey had risen exponentially in recent years but that those detained after the coup still make up a significant proportion of the prison population.
It is likely that releasing convicts not linked to the coup will make room for the alleged coup plotters who still face trials and heavy jail sentences.
Turkey is in the throes of a three-month state of emergency imposed after the failed coup, which the authorities describe as an attempt by the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.
Mr Gulen vehemently rejects the charges but Turkey has embarked on a relentless drive to expel what Erdogan calls his “virus” from all public institutions.
In the latest move on Wednesday, the authorities fired another 2,692 civil servants mostly from the police, the official gazette announced. Some 75,000 people have already been dismissed from their jobs over alleged links to Mr Gulen.
Turkey has pressed the United States to extradite Mr Gulen to face trial back home, with Turkish prosecutors already demanding a symbolically tough punishment of two life sentences and 1,900 years in jail.
US Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Ankara next week, the White House announced, in the highest ranking visit to Turkey by any Western official since the coup.
Turkey has been deeply upset by what it has described as the lack of solidarity shown by Western leaders in the wake of the coup and is sure to press Mr Biden on the extradition issue.
With concern also surging over the authorities’ attitude on press freedom, security forces sealed and raided the premises of the pro-Kurdish daily Ozgur Gundem following a court order to shut it down.
A Turkish official said that the closure had nothing to do with the state of emergency but because the court found the paper was acting as a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
But Ozgur Gudem said on its website that two dozen people were detained in the police raid on its offices. Meanwhile its board member Asli Erdogan — a prominent writer — was detained in a police raid on her home, Turkish media said.
*Agence France-Presse
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
