Filenews 12 December 2022
Turkish investments in Portuguese ports dominated by a close ally of Erdoğan.
"We are grateful for your investments in Portugal," Portugal's infrastructure minister, Pedro Nuno Santos, told Turkish Yilport president Robert Yuksel, who had just announced a €124m investment in Portugal. euro for the expansion and modernisation of a container port in Lisbon. "Invest more, invest as much as you can", said Nuno Santos, but the truth is that Yuksel cannot invest much more, because he has already bought seven ports in Portugal. These include the capital's container port, but also the country's largest port, Leixoes in Porto.
In 2016, Yilport, part of the Yildirim business group, had bought the licences from the Portuguese company Tertir, which until then had been managing the country's ports without much success. In return for the concession of the ports by 2038, Yilport promised to make investments of more than €500 million. euro. So far, so good. But there is a problem: If he were Russian, Robert Yuksel Yildirim would be a typical example of an "oligarch". He maintains a close friendship with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and within a few years has turned his family business into a global group. In Portugal it "plays" out of competition, while it has already acquired a total of 21 ports around the world and is considered one of the top names worldwide in the transport and logistics industry.
"Economic criteria" for investing
"The decision to cede the ports to the Turks was probably made on purely economic grounds," notes José Pedro Teixeira Fernandez from the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI). "They had just submitted the best offer." Fernandez, however, doubts whether the decision was the right one. "So far the financial figures are satisfactory. A lot of money has been invested and useful know-how has been acquired", he points out, adding, however, that "on the other hand, ports belong to the strategic infrastructure, which can very well be used as a means of political pressure. In my opinion, the government has not prepared for this eventuality."
With Yilport at the helm, Portuguese ports became more competitive. The container port of Porto is now considered the most efficient in the Iberian Peninsula. In the past, ports were paralysed by strikes and could not respond to competition from neighbouring Spain. Now Yilport is trying to turn Portuguese ports into the first host station for ships coming from the US. But this intensifies the country's dependence on foreign investors. After the rescue of the Portuguese economy by the eurozone, much of the energy infrastructure was bought by Chinese investors, and now it is the turn of the Turks to invest in the ports. All this has not been preceded by a public debate, nor any confrontation between the government and the opposition.
"Geopolitics means predicting potential future risks in advance," says analyst Teixeira Fernandez. "But this is not the case in Portugal. All decisions are taken on the basis of purely economic rather than geopolitical criteria. If there are negative consequences for the state, they will be seen in time. Especially Turkey, until 2016, seemed like an exotic, but friendly country, which the government would not consider a threat to Portugal's strategic interests."
Lack of strategic thinking
In recent years, Portuguese governments have estimated that investment agreements with Turkey offer several risk clauses and the worst thing that could happen would be a termination due to a breach of contract. In general, there was a feeling that Portugal is a small country, which maintains friendly relations with everyone and no one has reason to insult it. However, Teixeira Fernandez estimates, it would be better if there was a greater risk diversification, with investors from different countries, since no domestic investor appears.
Instead, the Lisbon government preferred to bet on a single "horse" with purely economic criteria. "The fact that such an important name as the Yildirim Group decides to invest here proves that we should have confidence in our economy ourselves," Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos said years ago. Portuguese analyst Teixeira Fernandez expresses a different view. "Of course we can rest on our laurels at the thought that we are at the western end of Europe, away from all kinds of problems," he says. "But it is a dangerous thought that can pose significant problems..."
Jochen Faguet
Curated by Giannis Papadimitriou
Source: Deutsche Welle
