April 20, 2016•Update: April 22, 2016
ANKARA
The problems Turkey has faced over recent years are linked to the country’s development and growing power, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.
“Now, all the world is seeing the reality of a growing, developing [Turkey] and of a Turkey advancing with firm steps,” Erdogan said in a speech at a patent awards ceremony in Ankara. “Frankly speaking, I think the problems we have faced for the last three years are not unrelated with this situation.
“If some games are played over our country, you have to know that this jump is beyond these games.”
Erdogan identified the 2013 anti-government protests and recent terrorist attacks as examples that showed Turkey was being targeted for its success.
He added that “Turkey is not the old Turkey anymore” and said the country could not be easily manipulated.
Turkey aimed to become one of the world’s top 10 economies, the president said.
Turning to patents, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik said the government had been working to establish an intellectual property market as part of the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange.
“We put emphasis on increasing the application of patents, industrial design and trademarks in the country,” he said. “Turkey remains among the countries with the fastest growing international patent application. We've had some good progress and improvement but we're still not yet at the level that we want.”
According to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the number of applications for intellectual property has seen double-digit growth in Turkey since 2005 and the country stands 23rd globally for the number of international patents filed.
It is the 11th largest filer of international trademark applications and ranks seventh for industrial design applications.
