Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Decisions made during the joint DTİK Board of Directors and High Advisory Board (YİK) meeting were announced during a press meeting. Attending the meeting in addition to TOBB/DEİK and DTİK President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were DTİK YİK Member Aslı Başgöz, DTİK Board of Directors Member Zeynel Abidin Erdem, DTİK YİK Member Mübariz Mansimov, DTİK Board of Directors Member Ahmet Çalık, DTİK YİK Başkanı Muhtar Kent, DTİK Board of Directors Member Rona Yırcalı, DTİK YİK Member Süreyya Ciliv, DTİK Board of Directors Member Hüseyin Aydın, DTİK YİK Member Yalçın Ayaslı, DTİK YİK Member Atıl Kutoğlu, DTİK YİK Member Mehmet Öztürk, DTİK Board of Directors Member Nejdet Demiryürek, DTİK Board of Directors Member Ali Galip Savaşır, DTİK Board of Directors Member Turgut Torunoğulları, DTİK Board of Directors Member Ömer Süsli, DTİK Board of Directors Member Celal Seçilmiş and DTİK Board of Directors Member Remzi Kaplan.

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), DEİK and DTİK President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized in his speech they have established a strong structure within DTİK in order to allow the Turkish diaspora to be effective.

The DTİK Board of Directors, which will coordinate the efforts of these diasporas with the motherland, will have as its natural members the presidents of the Eurasia, Europe, Balkans, Asia-Pacific, Americas, Middle East – Gulf- Africa Regional Committees, responsible for the policy implementation in their regions coordinated by the High Advisory Board under Muhtar Kent.

M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have decided on the projects and the calendar of the coming term at the joint meeting of the Board of Directors and the High Advisory Board.

- “We’ve become followers of the diaspora concept”

Touching on the “World Turkish Entrepreneurs Council” held in the November of last year, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have set forth a claim and a goal, “We are no longer immigrant workers, the time of homesickness is over.”

Emphasizing that they are followers of the diaspora concept, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that their request for the government to establish an institution geared towards diasporas in 2009, upon which the Department of Turks Abroad and Relative Nations was established.

- “It has become national policy”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have successfully become the bridge between the government and diaspora, becoming more organized and stronger. He went on:

“We have dedicated our first 3 years to raising awareness, producing policy with the government and taking the first steps in organizing diasporas. Now, the next 3 years will be a time of execution. Our goal is to become one of the 3 most influential diasporas in the world by the centennial anniversary of our Republic. We won’t be the most populous but we have set ourselves the goal of becoming one of the most active.

I can proudly say, as a result of our work, the matter of diasporas has become national policy. Our efforts to this end continue. NGOs will convene in Ankara today and tomorrow. We will be there as soon as the meeting is adjourned.”

- Examples from throughout the world

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the President of Brazil is an immigrant of Bulgaria and that this year Brazil has signed special acquisition agreements with Bulgaria as well as directing its two biggest companies of to research investment opportunities in Bulgaria. The co-CEO of Deutsche Bank is Indian and the Deutsche Bank has volunteered its consultative services in order to pull in more investment to India.

Stating that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the USA is Italian, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Have you ever heard of a single problem between Italy and the USA? The founder of Google is of Russian origin. Is it a coincidence that the Russians’ Yandex is set to become the second largest search engine in the world after Google?”

Stating that 215 million diaspora members are present in the world and the number will reach 405 million in 2050, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that it was already evident that diasporas would have greater influence in the future and that the foreign investments in China are indicative of the representative of the Chinese diaspora.

- “Two critical parts are entrepreneurship and youth”

Emphasizing the emergence of diasporas as a new power, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The first decision is to widen our diaspora organization. We will implement country and city based diaspora representatives in addition to regional representatives. We want to have a representative in every channel in the world from Tiran to Glasgow, from Peking to Toronto, from Abuja to St. Petersburg. We will have representatives in close to 300 cities in the coming term.

- “Turkish restaurants institutional image catalogue”

Stating that the request to implement a project geared towards Turkish restaurants in regards to image problems, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that restaurant numbers would double in 5 years as well as turnovers increasing 2.5 times.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they would prepare a Turkish restaurants institutional image catalogue, detailing architecture and institutional identity design standards as well as inventory and menu work geared towards Turkish cuisine.

“We will implement the Diaspora Franchise Platform to facilitate the venturing of our brands in Turkey to international markets and acquisition of business by our diasporas. We will bring together the companies franchising in Turkey with our entrepreneurially minded members in diasporas.”

- Diaspora success awards

Stating that they will work to establish diaspora research centers and desks in universities and think tanks, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that this would alleviate the lack of research regarding diasporas.

Next, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they would provide scholarships to 50-100 young people for education and internships in Turkey. They will also start giving out Diaspora Success Awards beginning next year in the categories of diaspora entrepreneurship, diaspora women entrepreneurship, diaspora youth entrepreneurship, diaspora professional management and diaspora culture and arts.

- “The goal is 80 countries and 300 cities”

In reply to reporters’ questions, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the main goal of the platform is to organize Turks living abroad and show them their capability for moving in unison.

Stating that the first success was seen during the alleged Armenian genocide bill was being discussed in the French Senate, showing that just as many Turks as Armenians live there, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The goal is 80 countries and 300 cities. We are determined to put into action all of the activities we’ve listed within the next year.
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