Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

President of TOBB, M. Rifat Hisarciklioglu reminded in his speech at the meeting that was held 2 months ago, President of Germany, Christian Wulff had visited Turkey. Hisarciklioglu emphasized, Christian Wulff earlier said in his visit to Turkey that he is the president of all Germany and only a person who has a vision could deliver such a speech. He also underlined that some people who have no vision criticised Wulff and asked him “How could you be the president of Muslims and Turks?”. Hisarciklioglu added:

 

“I want to ask our German friends, do you say we will not pass the tour when Mesut scores a goal? It is not obvious that Mesut is ours or yours, though. When he scores a goal, you feel happy and we feel happy, too. When he scores a goal against us, we both feel happy and sad. We would be sad if someone else scores it but we feel happy just because Mesut scored it.”

 

 

Hisarciklioglu also added that the world leader, the USA’s President Barack Obama has his roots ın Africa. “Obama is an African and his father is a Muslim. Does the Americans say that he is an African and his father is a Muslim? A country which support discrimination will have a narrow vision and will stay small. In our culture, we love everybody just because of their creator. People’s religion, race, ethnicity is not important for us.”

 

 

Hisarciklioglu emphasized that Turkey is the 16th largest economy of the world and the 6th largest economy of the Europe and place between Italy and China as an industry giant and Turkey is one of two countries that growing fastest. “We invite our German friends to invest in Turkey. Turkey’s hinterland begins at Croatia and contains Russia, Middle East and Africa. Let’s invest in this region.” Hisarciklioglu added:

 

“There are 3 million Turkish people living in Germany. In their respective 3th generation, there have grown 80.000 entrepreneurs and today they give job opportunities to 400.000 people and that is a great contribution to German economy. We should forget historical mentality and combine our power.”

 

 

Hisarciklioglu reminded that German and Turkish economy is a 4 trillion dolar economy when combined. “We don’t have petroleum and natural gas but we have a great entrepreneurial spirit.” Hisarciklioglu added:

 

“There is great potential in the renewable energy area in Turkey. We anticipate that in the next 10 years there will be an investment in energy sector costs 120 billion dolars.”

 

Hisarciklioglu also criticised the absence of some German politicians and added: “In spite of the bad weather conditions, we came here from Turkey but they could’t come from Germany. This shows our Germany vision.”

 

“Foreign trade between Turkey and Germany is 25 billion dolars but it is like a drop in a lake. Opportunities should be evaluated.”

 

 

“The Problem of Visa should be solved”

 

 

President of TATSO Rainhardt Freiherr Von Leoprechting said in his speech that Turkey should be a full member of the European Union and Turkish-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports that. “Turkey is a great opportunity for Europe and the EU is not a Christian Club. Turkey and the EU both need each other. Membership will be beneficial for both part of countries.” He also emphasized that visa problem is a disadvantage for the relationship between the two countries and visa problem should be solved as soon as possible.”

 

 

The Ambassador of Turkey in Berlin: Ahmet Acet

 

 

Ambassador Ahmet Acet highlighted that Turkish entrepreneurs’ field of activity contains construction, textile, tourism and nutrition sector. Today, approximately 70.000 Turkish business provide employment to 330.000 people and the total revenue reaches to 30 billion euros. He also added:

 

“Nowadays, visa problems in Europe including the Balkans are solving rapidly and Turkey doesn’t feel comfortable about the visa issue with Germany. We call for Germany’s support to solve this visa issue definitely.”

 

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