Prime Minister Binali Yildirim last month unveiled an investment support package for the conflict-torn provinces in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish east and southeast, including a pledge perhaps unprecedented in the world. Speaking in Diyarbakir, the largest city of the region, Yildirim promised that the government would build dozens of turnkey factories and hand them over to entrepreneurs.
The package aims to prop up the region’s economy and stop the flight of investors who have been scared away by the fighting between the security forces and Kurdish militants, who have also been attacking construction sites, killing workers and burning down machinery. Along with incentives, tax facilities and infrastructure projects to rebuild cities devastated in the latest round of violence, Yildirim pledged the government would build 80 factories in the region each year and hand them over to entrepreneurs to operate.
