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ANKARA, March 12-- The Turkish government's plan to privatize 14 sugar factories sparked a bitter controversy, with workers and unions warning that whole agriculture communities would be affected. "Don't listen to lies spread by people who do not know the issue. Those factories will not close down; on the contrary, they will produce even more," said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to reporters on Friday, when he was asked about this issue which makes headlines in Turkey, an important sugar beet producer. "We will not allow that farmers or workers fall victim of this scheme," insisted the prime minister. Last month, the Turkish Prime Ministry Privatization Administration announced its intention to sell off some of the 25 plants of the publicly owned sugar factories company Turkseker. TURKEY, BIG SUGAR PRODUCER Turkey accounts for 7 percent of global sugar beet production, which makes it the world's sixth-largest producer after the United States, France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The country produces about 2.6 million tons of sugar from sugar beets annually, half of which comes from Turkseker factories. The privatization administration said it would sell off 14 factories, most of them in industrially poor regions of central and eastern Turkey. The plan triggered objection from employees and their trade unions, local communities, sugar beet producers, opposition parties and consumers across Turkey, making it a real political controversy. | 
