1st Istanbul International Opera Festival - State Opera and Ballet General Directorate puts its signature under a huge project that will combine European Culture Capital Istanbul’s historical places with art. 1st Istanbul International Opera Festival will be organized as Istanbul 2010 European Culture Capital project with the support of Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Istanbul Governorship and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Festival : It will be realized at the Yıldız Palace, Topkapı Palace, Rumeli Fortress and Cemil Topuzlu Outdoor Theatre during July 2010 under the Art Directorate of Yekta Kara, Head Director of State Opera and Ballet General Directorate. Operas about Turkish culture and life that are included in the repertoire of 1st Istanbul International Opera Festival such as The Abduction from the Seraglio, Fatih the Conqueror (Fatih Sultan Mehmet) and Zaide, will meet with the audience at brilliant İstanbul nights and at original historical decors. The 4 weeks festival will remain in the minds of art lovers with 7 different opera productions and in total 17 performances. Besides the productions of Ankara, Istanbul, İzmir, Antalya and Samsun State Opera and Ballet, world’s most important and prestigious art institutions such as Deutsche Oper Berlin and Bremen Opera will also perform the most beautiful samples of opera as a company. Famous names of international music arena will also take to the stage in the festival as guest soloist artisans together with Turkish and foreign artisans.>>

Turkey is one of the fastest growing economies in OECD,The Turkish economy has grown steadily over the last 27 quarters with an average rate of 7%. This growth is expected to continue in coming years with a lower rate due to the global financial crisis. After the 2001 financial crisis, Turkey made important structural reforms which have led to improve her financial system. Therefore, Turkey is relatively less affected by the global crisis. Although nowadays Turkey has to deal with debts which mostly belong to private companies, effects of the global financial crisis to Turkey are not going to be an internal one on the most part, but it is going be an external one as less demand for exports. Also previous crisis experience of Turkish businessmen and economy officials make Turkey more resilient to the global financial crisis today. Being the commercial center of southeastern Europe, Middle East and Eurasia, Turkey is becoming an increasingly important economic and diplomatic country in the region. Between 2001 and 2007, Turkey’s GDP have increased by 242% totaling to USD 656.6 billion and she became the 15th largest economy in the world.>>

Monthly AT-A Glance : “Trade on the volatility, or stay away till the dust settles”

We issued a sell call on April 28, 2010 entitled “Yes, it is a tactical sell”. And since then, the ISE-100 index has declined from 58,000 to 52,000 levels on May 25, 2010, by 12%. We think that this was a first leg down, and dependent on developments in the currency markets, the FED’s rate decision and the outcome of the G20 meeting in late June. We advise bargain hunters to await the second leg of the downturn before buying, and we're not quite there yet.

The global risk aversion has resulted in a US$ 422 bn outflow from the ISE, led by the banking stocks, and marked the largest outflow since February 2009. We expect the risk aversion to continue during June on further outflows, regardless of Turkey’s relatively good fundamentals. Yet, the outflow in June may not be as high as it was in May as we rarely see large scale outflows lasting for two consecutive months.

Panic reaction may create some trading opportunities and even good entry levels for long-term investments, and thus we recommend investors to remain on the sidelines in search of good opportunities. Our pick list for the month is once again a mixture of more defensive names and attractively-valued stocks.>>