Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Muğla TSO’s new service building was opened during a ceremony attended by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Muğla Governor Fatih Şahin, Muğla Municipality Prsident Osman Gürün, Muğla TSO Board President Bülent Karakuş, Muğla TSO Council President Hilmi Giresun and many guests.

In his speech, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they had laid the foundations of the building together and seeing it complete makes him proud. Emphasizing that the new building is fitting for the Muğla TSO, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “There is grace and prosperity in unity. This building is the most concrete proof of unified action. There is no possibility of service without unity. You are fortunate in regards to your governor, municipality president, parliament representatives, and chamber and exchange presidents.”

- Agriculture and livestock

Stating that agriculture and livestock will gain importance in the coming term, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Agriculture and livestock used to be just for subsistence. Now it is a significant source of income.”

Emphasizing the need to focus on important points, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Allah has given you reason. You must use it well. The Netherlands is the size of Konya. Its yearly exports in agriculture and livestock is 80 billion Dollars. Turkey is the 7th largest country in terms of arable land in the world. However, Turkey’s agricultural and livestock exports only bring in 12 billion Dollars.

Use the mind which Allah has granted you so that both Muğla and Turkey become richer. There is great potential and market for agriculture and livestock.”

- Tourism

Pointing out the importance of tourism, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “You invest once and profit for years afterwards. We haven’t quite grasped tourism as a nation yet. Turkey’s number one sector is tourism. If it weren’t for tourism our current deficit would have been 100 million Dollars last year. With tourism, everything is domestic products. We should be taking advantage of this.”

Stating that Turkey is not getting sufficient profit out of tourism, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In the last 6 years, Turkey has been the country which has profited the most from tourism in the world with a 50% rate. Italy comes after us. When we look at tourists’ spending, Egypt makes tourists spend 900 Dollars per person. We get 750 Dollars. We need to use our heads here. We have the chance of earning 250-300 more Dollars with our current facilities. We have the best quality hotels in the Mediterranean. We have the best service but they make them spend a thousand Dollars while we only get 750 Dollars.”

Emphasizing the importance of quality as well as the number of tourists visiting, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We must look at both numbers and profit. If we were getting a thousand dollars per person with our current facilities, we would get an additional 10 billion Dollars to the 23 billion Dollars we got. This is a great loss.”

Comparing the first four months of last year to this year in Muğla and observing that there has been an increase of 60% in visitors, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Muğla, which is already a brand, needs to invest in its name each year.

- TOBB’s activities

Providing information regarding TOBB’s activities, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu made the following assessment: “The Credit Guarantee Fund helps small and medium sized businesses to ensure credit.  We also provide counseling services through ABİGEM.”

- “Encourage the youth and women for entrepreneurship”

Calling out to businessmen, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Support young and women entrepreneurs so that they may provide role models for our children. So that they encourage our youth and women to entrepreneurship. Turkey’s most important problem is finding 750,000 jobs for people each year. We can only achieve this by increasing the number of our entrepreneurs.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu urged that businessmen act fairly in regards to inheritance among their children and said, “All order based on injustice is doomed to fail.”

- Story of success

According to World Bank reports, Turkey is 75th on the World Ease of Business Index but that it is the 18th largest economy in the world.

“Every citizen of the country needs to carry entrepreneurs on their shoulders,” stated Hisarcıklıoğlu, “Do you know why? Because being the 75th on the World Ease of Business Index while being the 3rd fastest growing country in the world in terms of the contribution of the private sector is an extraordinary success. More importantly, while ensuring 8.5% growth, Turkish entrepreneurs have also provided employment to 1.3 million people.”

- Quality democracy, strong economy

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that high quality democracy is required in order to attain a strong economy and said, “We have a goal. We want to sprint ahead. We want to be one of the world’s 10 largest economies in 11 years. If we want a strong economy then the quality of democracy needs to be high. We don’t have a chance otherwise.”

Stating that these are equal to each other, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the 4 political parties in the parliament have promised a new constitution and that the people have voted with this in mind.

Stating that the country needs a new constitution and that the present system is decrepit, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they want to be richer as a country, that the 74 million citizens of the country deserve to be at least as rich as German citizens.

After the ceremony, a cake celebrating the 60th anniversary of the foundation of TOBB was cut. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu presented the Muğla TSO board members with gifts commemorating the 60th anniversary.

Muğla TSO President Bülent Karakuş presented Hisarcıklıoğlu with an oil painting of Mount Masa, the symbol of Muğla.

Muğla TSO Council President Hilmi Giresun and Muğla TSO Board President Bülent Karakuş also made speeches, detailing the works the Muğla TSO has undertaken and continues to undertake.
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