Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Çorlu Commodity Exchange held a ceremony for the opening of its new service building. Attending the ceremony were TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Tekirdağ Governor Ali Yerlikaya, Tekirdağ Representatives to the National Assembly Ziyaeddin Akbulut, Emre Köprülü and Bülent Belen, Çorlu Commodity Exchange Board President Yüksel Ertan and the members of the council and board of directors.

Congratulating the president and the board for giving Çorlu a new, modern building, TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the Çorlu Commodity Exchange holds special importance for him.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Because I worked with the the former president Özcan Tülümen at the Union of Chambers Board. Özcan Tülümen has contributed to TOBB to make it what it is today, I thank him. Çorlu is a very plentiful place and you should be proud of it. The Çorlu Commodity Exchange taking steps to become an accredited exchange. Becoming accredited means service quality on European standards.”

Stating that the world’s population increases by 74 million each year, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “This means that the world’s population increases by the equivalent of Turkey each year. Can you imagine that all of those people will need to be fed? In addition to this, 1.5 billion people have move up to middle class, especially in Asia. These 1.5 billion people have started consuming. As result, when we look at the 10 goods which increased the most in price we see that 4 of them are agricultural and livestock goods. Agriculture and livestock farming are no longer just for subsistence any more, quite the opposite, they are a source of income just like industry and trade. It is a great market. Allah has graced us with a great land. I’ll say it frankly; we need to be thankful every moment to Allah for this.

We are the 7th largest country in the world in terms of arable land. Allah has granted us fertile lands. We should all be working together. What we earn now isn’t enough. As an example, the Netherlands is the size of Konya. Their agricultural and livestock farming exports amount to a total of 63 billion Dollars. Turkey’s total for last year was 13 billion Dollars. We aren’t even utilizing Konya to its full extent; if we did, we would reach 63 billion Dollars. So don’t fret that we don’t have petroleum or natural gas. Allah has graced us with beautiful lands, but we must appreciate and care for them.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu went on, “Let those who serve in the private sector know that they serve their country. The more support there is for the private sector, the more we can save people from unemployment. The parliament members and the municipality director must be visited every day, I know because I get requests for employment every day. But do you know where jobs are? In the private sector. Every support to the private sector is reflected on employment.”

- Governor Yerlikaya

Tekirdağ Governor Ali Yerlikaya thanked the Commodity Exchange President Yüksel Ertan for presenting Çorlu with such a building, expressing his gratitude for everyone who contributed to the construction; from the architect to the contractors, craftsmen and workers.

- Çorlu Commodity Exchange President Ertan

Çorlu Commodity Exchange Board President Yüksel Ertan said, “I would like to thank you for being with us on this joyous day for our commodity exchange.” Ertan stated that they are honor bound to thank the past presidents and councils which came before them to make today possible. He also thanked TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and his colleagues for all their support from the first day the construction began.

After the speeches, Çorlu Commodity Exchange Board President Yüksel Ertan and Council President Ömer Büyük presented TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Tekirdağ Governor Ali Yerlikaya and Çorlu Municipality President Ünal Baysan with plaques to commemorate the day.
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