Turkey is the safest haven for Greeks

The money withdrawn from banks has reached to 44 billion euros since the beginning of this year. Greeks, that travel to coastal towns such as Çeşme and Marmaris on daily trips, began to deposit their savings to Turkish banks.

Greeks rushed into banks due to uncertainties in the political environment and concerns of a possible switch back to drahma from Euro. For many Greeks new safe haven is Turkey. Greeks that do not want to keep their money in hand, particularly pensioners, began to open bank accounts in Turkey while they make day-trips.

65 billion euros withdrawn

According to Ufuk Şanlı of Vatan daily, a senior official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that there were Greek citizens who deposited in Turkish banks in the western part of Turkey. ''We heard depositors were mostly civil servants and pensioners. That's not possible to mention exact figures but we can talk about 10 million euros in here,'' he said.

According to Greece Central Bank data; Deposits in Greek banks shrank by 65 billion euros since the beginning of economic crisis in 2009. 21 billion euros of this amount have been transferred to big western banks. Holders of this money are mostly the rich.

However, middle and low-income class of the society, that make the majority of the Greek society, began to transfer their money abroad at the end of last year. According to Greece Central Bank, total deposits were 209 billion euros at the end of 2011, while this amount decreased by 44 billion euros to 164 billion euros by the end of March.

Transfers to Turkish banks speed-up in the last couple of months particularly. Greeks, that have relatively smaller savings, began to open bank accounts with 5 to 50,000 euros during daily trips to coastal hubs such as Çeşme, Marmaris, İzmir. '' They used to go West or Greek Cyprus. But now they consider Turkish banks as safe haven,'' a banker said.

Though, many Greeks prefer to keep their savings in vaults. That's why vault sales are also skyrocketed.

Euro should be ratified in elections

G8 meeting made a anxious start while German Chancellor Angela Merkel's reported comments sealed the meeting.

Merker reportedly told Greek officials to ask Greek citizens whether they wanted to stay in Euro Zone or not during the upcoming elections. The rumors raised the tensions between Athens and Berlin. Greek political parties were quick to react rumors. However, German government ruled out the claims.

Moreover, Spain was also among the priorities at G8 meetings. Spain was warned about failing to reduce rapidly rising budget deficit and it needs to increase austerity measures.

(Vatan, 20 May 2012)