Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The “Informing Businessmen Meeting” and the “2010 Tax Award Ceremony” held by the Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ETSO) were attended by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Erzurum Mayor Sebahattin Öztürk, Erzurum Municipality President Eyüp Tavlaşoğlu, ETSO President Lütfü Yücelik, ETB President Hakkı Hınıslıoğlu and many guests.

In his speech, TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Erzurum had taken on an important mission during the founding of the Republic and the War of Independence, “Everyone should be thankful to the resident of Erzurum. They battled forces armed with the most modern weaponry of the day with sticks and stones, protecting the eastern flank of the country.”

- “The common point in brand cities is unity and solidarity”

Saying that were two types of businesses to prosper, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “I want you to prosper because I want to prosper. If the residents of Erzurum prosper, I prosper. There are brand cities right next to you. Eleven brand cities like Kayseri, Konya, Maraş, Denizli and Eskişehir. Was Erzurum any different from them 30 years ago? They were all the same. So what happened and Kayseri moved ahead? My observation is that when the mayor, municipality president, Grand Assembly members, presidents of chambers and commodity exchanges and NGOs come together, that city becomes a brand. There is a saying in our culture which says there is grace and prosperity in unity, pain in dissent.

I saw it in Kayseri and Gaziantep. We are all created differently. We must think differently and respect that people think differently but bring our differences together to work in unison for our cities. That’s when things change. I’ll tell you that the Minister of Health is a blessing for Erzurum. You have a strong voice in him in Ankara. He is doing his third term as minister. The minister has had important contributions in Erzurum. My wish is that when something is done right you appreciate it. Instead of shouting off the wrongs tell the person privately. Let’s not take down the people we voted for before even the ballot boxes are opened. Protect those who server our people, these are not things that will be resolved with money.”

- “We must increase the number of our entrepreneurs”

“Another thing is, we must increase the number of our entrepreneurs. Turkey has 1.3 million entrepreneurs which puts us in 17th place in entrepreneurs. If we want to reach Japan’s level, we must increase the number of entrepreneurs in this country. This is the way. As the union of chambers we have pointed out the importance of young and women entrepreneurs’ potential. They are the country’s future.

Why are the women and young entrepreneurs important? Women entrepreneurs number only 70,000. Half the population is women, only 6.5% of the entrepreneurs are women. Their mission is to provide role models for young girls so they also become entrepreneurs. The Erzurum protocol should embrace them.

Please do not discriminate amongst you children. Don’t separate the girls from the boys. Everything based on unfairness and unjustness is bound to crumble to dust.

-“We share in poverty and dissent in prosperity”

Japan has companies of 500 years; Europe has companies of 200 years of age; the number of companies over the age of 100 in Turkey won’t be above 10. So why don’t they last as long here? Because parents leave their worldly goods behind on a base of unfairness. I’m asking you not to discriminate between your children. Parents have a duty to teach their children partnership. We share in poverty and dissent in prosperity. Two brothers are together in poverty but when there is money they both go off on their own.”

Saying that 50% of the population is under the age of 28, Hisarcıklıoğlu went on; “Our real dynamism compared to the west is our youth. We must support our youth in enterprises. This is the way to prosperity. Support women and young entrepreneurs. Do it for yourselves. If every entrepreneur employed 1 other person we would not have unemployment. It is said the most beneficent of people are those who are beneficent to others. And how will we benefit others? By employing them.

If you do not have money but you have a good idea which you can convince me you can earn money with, I will vouch for you and 27 banks will loan you money. No mortgages or guarantors but I will have to believe your project will earn money.

- “As long as it snows you’ll earn money”

Speaking of the importance of the Dadaş culture and snow in Erzurum, Hisarcıklıoğlu said; “As long as it snows you’ll earn money. While Turkey earns no money from winter tourism Italy, France and Switzerland make 30 billion dollars off of it. We have set our goals high. Everyone should set their goals high. There are no better courses, infrastructure or snow in Turkey. The Mayor says that 3,000 people can ski per day. With 5 months of skiing, that means 450,000 people would come here.

When you earn money I earn money in Ankara as well. Recognize the value of this. You will make this into a brand. Otherwise there will be no money. If somebody is doing business, making exports, that gives me great pleasure. Erzurum deserves to be a brand in winter sports. This must be an issue not only for Erzurum but all of Turkey. Don’t only think of skiing. Is there a thermal spa in Pasinler? A great chance for profit. Our job is to work on these. You are ahead of most cities in terms of local goods. Geographical markers are very important. You have not made jet stone a geographical marker, you need to do this.

-“Organic farming is another priority for us”

The most advantageous area for organic farming is Erzurum. There are a billion hungry people in the world right now. Arable land is quickly becoming contaminated. These lands are the very center for organic farming because they have not been contaminated. There is an exponential difference between organic and other products. This is why organic farming is another priority for us. When Erzurum lost blood in livestock so did Turkey. It saddens me greatly that Turkey imports livestock.

One of the two issues with livestock is that of scale. You cannot grow on a small scale. You must work on a grand scale. The other is the matter of grassland. Our slogan should be; if there’s grass, there’s milk, if there’s milk, there’s meat. Grassland based livestock farming must be developed further. The Netherlands is the size of Konya but their livestock exports total 50 billion Euros. Turkey’s agriculture and livestock exports are 11 billion dollars. This is why we must reevaluate the agricultural and livestock policies.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said; “With 11% growth in the first quarter we have broken a record. Hopefully we can keep it up until the end of the year. The only heroes of this success are the entrepreneurs in this room. These are official figures, meaning the majority of the 11% growth is private sector based. You deserve medals.”

- “The problem with unemployment is the lack of vocation”

Talking about the UMEM ABILITY’10 project, Hisarcıklıoğlu, “The only problem is unemployment. To solve that, we have initiated the ABILITY’10 project. The problem with unemployment is the lack of vocation. This is a project for providing vocations to the unemployed. We train personnel on the needs of companies for 3 months and turn them over to the company afterwards, while paying for insurance and wages for that duration. If the company is satisfied we ask them to hire the trainee.

As the Turkish business world, our biggest complaint is the taxation burden on employment. We tell the businessmen that we will decrease their tax burdens for 4.5 years.”

- “Free market does not mean lawlessness”

Emphasizing current deficit as another important issue, TOBB President said, “Industry production increase in 2010 is 13%, intermediary goods imports increase is 33% without energy costs. If we do not want current deficit we must increase our intermediary goods production. As the Union of Chambers, one of the matters we follow is the retail sector legislation. Free market does not mean lawlessness. The retail sector legislation must be implemented for this reason. You can’t say you can do whatever you want just because you have the money.”

- “Turkey’s system is obsolete and decayed”

Stating that Turkey’s problem was systematic, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Turkey’s system is obsolete and decayed. We have made this country the 16th largest economy in the world with this system. Bureaucracy is wasting resources. We have achieved a record with 11% growth. We are the fastest and most growing country. But we are the 65th for the ease of doing business in the world. On the one hand I will try to run and on the other they will hold me back and in spite of this we will succeed. The only solution to this is a new constitution.

“I want to have a say in electing my Grand National Assembly representative,” said the TOBB President and went on, “This is how democracy works. Law and jurisdiction reform must also be affected.

We have set ourselves a goal as Turkey. In 2003 we said that we would make Turkey one of the 10 largest economies in the world by 2023. I believe we will achieve this. To do this we must enjoy the rights that the other countries do. We need to stop fighting among each other and focus on the order of the day. If we do this we can once again become number one.

We have achieved many things in 30 years. No other country could match that. When Özal said to open up to the world 30 years ago, we asked ‘Who is he working for, who has what to sell to whom?’ My mother’s washing machine would rock its way to the living room when it worked. But now 1 out of every 3 home appliances in Europe are Turkish made, 1 of every 4 televisions are Turkish made. We produce the highest quality cars in the world.

If our people are shown the right way of something and trained, there’s nothing they can’t do. We may not have petroleum or natural gas but we have an extraordinary enterprising spirit. The guy who doesn’t speak any foreign languages, who doesn’t know addresses is selling products to 200 countries. Find me just one example of this in another country. This is your success story. We will make this country rich. If there’s 10,000 dollars per capita income today, we want to raise that to 25,000 in 2023. This is what you will do. If we are unchained and can compete on equal terms with our competitors, we will make this country economically number one in the world.”

- Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Yücelik

Erzurum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Board of Directors President Lütfü Yücelik congratulated everyone who paid their due taxes despite economic hardships and went on, “I congratulate all of our members who have been producing, investing, providing employment, making export profits and paying taxes on regularly despite all odds and wish them a prosperous future.”

Stating that tax policies should encourage free enterprises who are the pioneers of development, Yücelik said, “If the tax policies in effect are impoverishing people and economically harming establishments then those policies cannot be considered successful.”

Erzurum CCI President Yücelik stated that the 11% growth was a joyous occasion and went on, “That exports increased by 12%, nearing 11 billion dollars in the same time and the Gross National Product has reached 285 billion Lira is very exciting.

It is evident that the private sector’s contribution to this success is very significant. We hope that the growth will continue to do so in controlled fashion on a yearly average.”

Erzurum’s economical development can only be achieved when the social and cultural differences between its various parts are settled stated Yücelik, saying that they, as a chamber, acted with a partnership culture and collective spirit in mind in doing their part.

President Yücelik said that they were in the process of establishing a foundation university in Erzurum to provide added value and provide an alternative education path for youth as the Erzurum CCI.

Providing information on the ABILITY’10 project, Yücelik said, “Our chamber, in an effort to support employment and train qualified personnel for establishments continues to successfully organize ABILITY’10 activities in Erzurum along with the Ministry of Education, Labor and Social Security Ministry, TOBB and Turkish Employment Institution.”

In this regard, surveys have been conducted with 105 establishments. A promise of 251 employments has been granted. A total of 11 courses have been opened. 177 people are attending the courses. As part of the project the insurance premiums for the people who are employed via the courses are paid for the employers for up to 4.5 years as encouragement. We have observed that we are more successful than the other provinces who are also taking part in the project.”

- Erzurum Commodity Exchange President Hınıslıoğlu

The Erzurum Commodity Exchange Board of Directors President İ. Hakkı Hınıslıoğlu stated that the Universiade 2011 Olympics are very important for winter tourism and that the next steps fall to the businessmen and that business be conducted in a manner befitting the city where Atatürk established the Republic.

Stating the need for additional universities in Erzurum, Hınıslıoğlu stated that their aim is to host 150,000 students by 2023.

Hınıslıoğlu, “The service sector needs to grow. Erzurum’s must-haves are agriculture and livestock. If we do these we will make Erzurum into a star city.”

Touching on the importance of grant programs, Hınıslıoğlu stated that they would be signing a protocol to serve exporters of the Tabriz CCI and the Erzurum Commodity Exchange and CCI.

Erzurum Commodity Exchange President Hınıslıoğlu asked for a girls’ vocational high school in Erzurum, “This vocational high school must have an aerospace engineering and computer engineering courses with at least 2 foreign language courses.”

Hınıslıoğlu invited the TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and all presidents of chambers and commodity exchanges to the final of the Super Cup which would be played on July 31st in Erzurum.

Stating that hosting the first foreign president to visit Erzurum, the Greek Prime Minister Yorgo Papandreu, was of the utmost importance, Hınıslıoğlu asked that TOBB host their foreign delegations for at least a day in Erzurum.
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