Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The World Turkish Entrepreneurs Congress started in the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall with the attendances of TOBB/DEİK/DTİK President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan, Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı and many Turkish entrepreneurs.

Hisarcıklıoğlu started his speech by saying, "I would like to state my pleasure and honor in addressing this select gathering as the World Turkish Business Council President and as Congress President, to which I was elected to in 2004."

TOBB and DEİK President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "You are examples of entrepreneurship who have written success stories. The story of 50 years abroad is the portrait of success of the Turkish Diaspora. I have great respect for you and congratulate you once more."

Stating that the Congress was held in partnership with the Ministry of Economy, M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized this partnership. Hisarcıklıoğlu spoke:

"There is a new Turkey, which has become the hope of the impoverished and the downtrodden, which has spent 1.7 billion dollars in humanitarian aid in 2010 alone. Recall that Turkey waited on the IMF to provide that sum in credit 10 years ago. Turkey today hosts students from 147 countries coming here for higher education. Arab societies suffering under oppressive regimes for years are being inspired by Turkey. Unemployed Greek youth are seeking jobs in Turkey!

As a British diplomat said, Istanbul is the pivotal city which will dictate the future of Europe, which is even now preparing to host the 2020 Olympics with the work of our government!

The most dynamic actors behind all this are all of you! Global Turks who have spread to every corner of the globe!

This treasure is the Turkish Diaspora numbering almost 6 million! We are more numerous than the population of Denmark."

- The tenth largest Diaspora in the world is the Turkish Diaspora

Stating some numbers regarding the Turkish Diaspora, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "The Turkish Diaspora is the tenth largest in the world. There are 3900 Turkish associations operating abroad. There are 140,000 Turkish establishments west of Vienna, with a total turnover of 50 billion Euros. The three million Turks in Germany have opened 75,000 establishments in 50 years, employing 337,000 people. There are 350 Turkish engineers working in Microsoft, 35 in Google and 75 in Boeing."

Drawing attention to the fact that today's largest industrial giant, Germany, has an entrepreneurship ratio of 1%, Turkish citizens stand at 12%, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "With this enterprising spirit we have succeeded in producing 75,000 employers from 1500 workers in 50 years. The Turkish Diaspora, numbering almost 6 million, have produced success stories from painful foreign land stories."

- This force will make us Turbo-Turkey

Relating that he has listened to the stories of the businessmen attending the Congress, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "All of them have success stories. We have an entrepreneur who retired from banking in Japan, who now manages a 50,000 ton mine in Mozambique. A housewife raising her 3 children in Australia has now spread her 6 companies, which she started in her garage, to 5 countries. An entrepreneur who went to Britain with 300 Pounds, who now owns 450 branches with a turnover of 40 million dollars. An entrepreneur who bought the factory he was working in 30 years ago. We have tech-entrepreneurs who sell their software to General Motors, Ford and Boeing. Think if we were to bind all this power together! What couldn't such a force accomplish?

This force will make us Turbo-Turkey! The time has come for Turkey and the Turkish Diaspora to come together around shared global goals. We have always approached such concepts as lobbying and Diaspora with doubt. We have identified these things as foreign powers acting against us in our country. We weren't aware of our own Diaspora. Now, as the Turkish Diaspora, we declare 'We are here!' We want our successes to herald change, to shape change. Our goal is to be one of the top 10!

The top 10 is the world's 10 largest country economies. They direct the world. The key to it is a strong economy and the key to that is a strong Diaspora! We will enter the top 10 with our Diaspora! We have set our course. We will design the future together."

- Proposal package to Prime Minister Erdoğan

Stating that they will present the Prime Minister Erdoğan with a proposal package of 40 topics, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they were committing a first in Turkey. Saying that they have studied 15 successful Diaspora models, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "We have studied how they are organized and what goals they have set themselves. We planted the seeds for this 2 years ago with the World Turkish Business Council. Now, the time to speed it up has come. Of course establishing the institutional infrastructure will take time. Don't forget, Rome wasn't built in a day. We will gather the harvest in the next 10 years."

TOBB and DEİK President Hisarcıklıoğlu, quoting the dean of entrepreneurs Henry Ford said, "Coming together is the start. Staying together is development. Working together is success.

Today, 40 million Chinese are working like Chinese trade undersecretaries are making China the world's export giant. 80% of all foreign investments made to China have a member of the Chinese Diaspora in their midst. 26 million Indians are making India a center of medicine and informatics. 35,000 Indian doctors in America are directing their patients to India, earning India a billion dollars.

We can achieve our goal of 500 billion dollars export with the Diaspora. Before, you were our ambassadors, now in addition you will be our trade soldiers.

Today, we are like a jigsaw puzzle. We have all the pieces. But without organization we do not make picture. We must surpass this 'jigsaw syndrome'. Hopefully we will complete this picture together, along with our government.

We have association presidents from all over the world among us today. You are the dictum leaders of the Diaspora. You must be more active, more encompassing. Among us are the Presidents of our Commerce and Industry Chambers, Commodity Exchanges. They are the dictum leaders of their regions. We can map an organization spread to the very veins of Anatolia.

We must construct a union of power connecting Nevşehir to Frankfurt, Maraş to Moscow, Trabzon to Tokyo in order to enter the top 10."

- "We must unite under common goals

Emphasizing the importance of organization and uniting under common goals, TOBB and DEİK President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that with cooperation instead of competition, there could be no obstacle that cannot be overcome.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "As Hajji Bektaş-ı Veli said, let us be one, let us be big, let us be lively. Not only in bad times but also in good times; this force can surpass obstacles, we will always reach for greater goals."

- This is the time for lively entrepreneurship

Stating that the worker immigration age is over, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the age of lively entrepreneurship has begun, "We don't talk about the sad stories in foreign lands anymore, we talk of your global success stories. We believe that it is time to work together for a brighter future. For this, we need a unity of heart, a partnership of minds and institutional structures as Turks. To this end we have established the World Turkish Business Council (DTİK) as part of Foreign Economic Affairs Council (DEİK) to organize our Diaspora under our global goals and unite them. We want to see a Turkish community contributing to the country its living in with its language, culture, traditions and beliefs."

- Sustainable Diaspora strategy

Stating that during the congress, the design for a sustainable diaspora strategy and how to implement it will be discussed, Hisarcıklıoğlu concluded his speech, "We walk towards a shared future with you. We will realize our 2023 global goals with you.

As the master poet Necip Fazıl said, We've opened a rift in the ramparts, oh so holy. O fickle wind, blow whichever way you will.

We've set our goal, we are determined, we will be one of the ten largest economies in the world. We will achieve this with you."

- Minister of Economy Çağlayan, DEİK Executive Council President Yırcalı

Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan, addressing the Turkish Diaspora, said, "We have high expectations of you: You will, without becoming assimilated, without forgetting your language and your religion, become citizens of the country you live in, take part in the politics and trade of that country and be able to call to account and vote in that country."

DEİK Executive Council President Rona Yırcalı said in his speech, "We have named the 6 million who were missed and identified with immigration until yesterday as the Turkish Diaspora and value them as a important factor of Turkey.

No longer are Turks living in foreign countries guest worker immigrants. They are a power source who have begun to be influential fourth generation members.

During the last Congress we recognized our own power. Not only did we recognize it, we decided that long term strategies were needed.

We will, together with our government, public administration, civil society organizations and business world, design our shared future."

The Prime Ministry Turkish and Relative Societies Abroad President Kemal Yurtnaç provided information on the works of his institution and related their activities.
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