The Turkish transportation minister said on Wednesday that a special communication tax (OIV) would "prevent tax loss" of the Finance Ministry.

Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said such a tax would also "simplify" lives of citizens.

"We especially foresee an arrangement that will pave the way for value added services in telecommunication," Yildirim told reporters in Ankara.

The Transportation Ministry submitted a proposal to the Finance Ministry to introduce OIV two week ago.

Members of the two ministries and experts from the Information Technologies Agency have started to work on the project.

"This will take some time," Yildirim said.

Also speaking about a Maltese-flagged Turkish ship hijacked recently, Yildirim said the Search and Rescue Coordination Center of the Maritime Undersecretariat was monitoring the ship, and a Turkish destroyer was also in the same region.

Pirates hijacked the ship "Frigia" on Tuesday off the coast of Somalia. Turkish maritime company "Karya" was operating the ship.

The ship had 19 crew members, 17 of whom were Turkish and the other two are Ukrainian citizens.


AA