Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu visiting Trabzon for the plaque ceremony to award those who fulfilled their 50th year in the Trabzon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, high tax payers, contributors to the country economy via exporting, technology developers and members of industry establishments on the first 1000 companies of Turkey.

Hisarcıklıoğlu spoke: “France is in an election period. This is a populist move done with winning the election in mind. This will benefit neither party and Turkey has to foot the bill. The damage will reflect on French politicians.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu spoke about the work they have done regarding the bill to be discussed at the French parliament:

“We spoke to officials, representatives of the French business world, CEOs of major companies that have worked in Turkey. When you look at it, the Turkish and French business world is worried about the same things. France is in an election period. This is a populist play made by politicians to win the elections. This will not help either party. What is being sacrificed is the alliance with Turkey in this region. The French politician will be the one who suffers as a consequence. This is because Turkey is in a position of power in its region. It is the largest economic power between Italy and China. In terms of political power, the popularity of Turkey is very high in the Middle East, Central Asia, to our East and the Balkans.”

Stating that Europe is struggling with economic crisis, Hisarcıklıoğlu said “As Europe struggles with economic crisis, trying to emulate us, they are endangering the future of France on a small gain.”

In reply to a question of whether he thought if the bill would pass in the French parliament, Hisarcıklıoğlu answered, “That will, of course, be decided by the French parliament. Our contacts in the French business world are all worried about the same things. Turkey is a rising star. They do not want to have trouble with a rising star. Whether or not it will pass doesn’t matter, the members of parliament will decide of their own free will. However this not help them with the election, it won’t benefit any of them. If there are 500,000 Armenians there, so too are there 150,000 Turks who will vote.”

When asked if there was a plan of action in the case that the bill was passed, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “There can be no consideration for such a plan. We have stated our case that it is inconceivable that France, the country which claims to school the world on human rights and democracy, would outlaw thought so.”

- France visit the topic of the awards ceremony

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu touched on the same subject during the Trabzon Tax and Export Record Holders Awards Ceremony.

“What does France want to do that made us go there? France recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2001. In an economic crisis, we could not react the way we should have in those circumstances. 10 years later, they’re saying that whoever says there wasn’t an Armenian genocide in Turkey will be immediately jailed for a year and subject to a fine of 45,000€. What kind of justice is this?

What does the law do to the people there? It is evident what happened in Algeria and Rwanda more recently. They can’t involve us in this. It won’t be us but France who will come out the worse for this. The French business world thinks the same way.”

Stating how politicians are calculating ways to win the 500,000 votes of Armenians to win the elections, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Our 150,000 citizens will show their reaction as well.”

The goal is to gather 20,000 Turks at the French parliament. There is grace and prosperity in unity, anguish in dissent. We can’t go on without getting along with each other. We need to act as one in national matters. The poem says: One day they will hear you think quietly, they will call you to account for the things which did not happen, these French will censor your dreams if they can.”
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