Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Speaking at the awards ceremony TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Entrepreneurship Week has started off simultaneously in 81 provinces with press meetings and provided information regarding activities that would take place.

Stating that the Global Entrepreneurship Summit will be held in Istanbul this year, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We’ve invited entrepreneurs from all over the world to be role models for you.”

Touching on the importance of entrepreneurship, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Turkey has 2.5 million unemployed. In addition to this 750,000 youths join the workforce each year. The solution to unemployment is entrepreneurship. The only way to lower the number of unemployed is to increase the number of entrepreneurs.”

Emphasizing that Japan’s population is 120 million with an entrepreneur population of 6.4 million, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In order to reach Japan’s level we require three times the number of entrepreneurs we have at the moment.”

- “We don’t know what we are producing”

Stating that the amount produced of agricultural goods was not known, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Today, Turkey doesn’t know which goods or how much it produces. I have a recollection regarding hazelnuts from 3-4 years ago. There were disagreements regarding the hazelnut crop. The Minister of Agriculture requested that we mediate the disagreement as they were unable to calculate the crop. We would be mediating between the exchanges, chambers of agriculture and exporters’ union presidents. As they all gathered in Ankara, discussions started up. The negotiations were based on ‘We’ve had little rain,’ or ‘We’ve had plenty of rain’. When I asked the undersecretary when the actual negotiations would start as I thought this was banter he told me that this was actually it.”

TOBB President went on, “Holland is as large as Konya. It exports a sum of 50 billion dollars’ worth of agricultural produce. We have to identify what we should be planting and where we should be doing it first of all. Another mistake that we’ve made is split up land through inheritances, lots have become smaller and smaller, losing productivity as a result; we need to consolidate deeds into larger areas. England thought of it a hundred years ago. We’ve yet to follow the example. Inventory and a consolidation of land is required in agriculture.”

- TOBB Board Member and ATSO President Budak

TOBB Board Member and ATSO Board President Çetin Osman Budak said, “Antalya has always been successful in taxes and foreign currency income an so it is again this year. While goods and services tax collection rates are around 15% in Turkey in general, it is 40% in Antalya. Income ratio has increased by 18% in Turkey while it has increased by 25% in Antalya. I heartily congratulate all of our members.

You’ve brought Antalya to where it is today. Because you are successful, Antalya is one of the select provinces in Turkey today. You will carry Antalya to greater heights by the 100th anniversary of the Republic, 2023. I know you and I heartily believe you will succeed in this.”

Stating that TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu has not broken tradition despite his busy schedule, ATSO President said, “He honors us. We all know how busily our President works. Be sure that putting aside your personal life, family life for serving society requires an extraordinary amount of effort.

We know that the efforts of our President have gone beyond the borders of Turkey. The latest proof of his success is being elected to the office of Eurochambres Vice President. It is difficult for a Turk to be elected for these things with ever increasing amount of success; it requires much labor and experience.

It is for this reason that our President is truly deserves our thanks and applause. I would also like to thank our Mayor, Parliament Representatives and all provincial directors for always supporting and standing by us.”
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