Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that Eskişehir is the apple of the eye and a center of attraction in Western Anatolia with its high value-added industry, entrepreneurial power, production culture, and human capital.

Hisarcıklıoğlu explained that Eskişehir has become a brand city producing advanced technology, saying, “You, as Eskişehir, produce 849 different industrial products. In 176 of these, our Eskişehir ranks among the top three. In 54 of them, you are the largest producer in Türkiye. This is actually the most concrete indicator of Eskişehir’s success story.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Türkiye has transformed from an agriculture-based economy into an industrial giant over the past 40 years, saying, “Today, Türkiye has become the largest industrial power in the entire region, including Italy, China, Russia, and Israel. The Turkish private sector has achieved tremendous success in this regard. Can you imagine, from a Türkiye that exported $3 billion, we are now selling $270 billion worth of industrial products.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that they are facing unfair and destructive competition caused by mostly dumped imports, particularly from China in the Far East, and stressed the need to develop a strategy as a country to counter this.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the increasing Chinese competition in traditional markets requires providing exporters with long-term, low-cost financing to counter aggressive pricing, adding, “Our goal must be to become an industrial country that builds global value through production and grows through technology. This transformation will shape not only the economy but also Türkiye’s future competitiveness. Our industrialists must also transform accordingly, and we need the support of the public sector.”

Referring to the increase in input costs, the high cost of credit in recent periods, and difficulties in accessing credit, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Our labor-intensive sectors are experiencing serious difficulties. The companies in these sectors are actually our common value, the common value of our country. We must protect and support them.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu shared that they launched the TOBB Breath Loan to alleviate the difficulty of accessing finance, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and noted the following: “We had initially approved 30 billion lira. It was a low-interest loan of 30 billion lira, which is a drop in the ocean. We need a lot, but it’s just a drop. This was important for our industrialist brothers and sisters, especially our small-scale members. We delivered it to them. In fact, the 30 billion lira ran out in two days. Immediately afterwards, we obtained approval for the second package. We received approval for the second package worth 25 billion lira. We reached our small-scale members with a total of 55 billion lira. Now the requests continue. Allah willing, we will launch the third one soon. Together with my presidents, we are continuing our work to follow up on these and finalize them.”

The TOBB President later inspected the newly completed service building of the Eskişehir Chamber of Commerce. Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the Republic Day Concert.