LONDON - Ankara should take critical decisions to pursue economic development and keep EU process fresh, wrote British Financial Times on Wednesday.
FT indicates, ''as Turks watched the lira, the country's currency, sink by around 20 percent in value over the past few weeks, memories of the devastating financial and political crises of 2000-2001 cannot be far from their minds.''
''There is a difference, however. Then, the lira was devalued by 40 percent almost overnight, the economy was in freefall, and a debt default was only just avoided. Now, the economy is growing at 8 percent a year, inflation is in single figures, and a stable government is leading in the opinion polls,'' stresses FT.
Writing about the comments of analysts, the newspaper says, ''the past few weeks have 'hurt', but there is unlikely to be permanent damage. What we are seeing in Turkey is pain for investors, not a crisis of the economy.''
Meanwhile, FT notes, ''the EU accession process is a key reason why investors flooded into Turkish stocks and bonds in the past two years'' and claims, ''any weakening of its momentum would be a reason to exit.''