Erdogan urges employers to hire more contracted workers

By Baris Gundogan and Mehmet Tosun

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on Turkish employers to hire more contracted workers to further boost Turkey's growth rate, the recent numbers of which beat expectations.

Erdogan addressed the members of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) in the "Employment Council" meeting that was held at the Bestepe Culture and Congress Center in Ankara on Thursday.

"Since our growth rate has doubled, if [each of you] can employ two more contracted workers at a time, we will hopefully even attain a greater growth rate," Erdogan called on TOBB members.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey's rising economic growth rate would "silence those who want to portray it as a weak state".

"Think about it. Even the main opposition in Turkey is not comfortable with an 11.1 percent growth rate," Erdogan said. "Are they living in space? They do not know what we are doing here."

Turkey’s GDP grew by 11.1 percent in the three months to Sept. 30 from a year earlier, beating expectations of the world’s leading economists.

Turkey became the fastest growing economy among G20 countries after boasting an 11.1 percent growth in the third quarter of 2017, according to a Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) report released on Monday.