Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu, in an example told how FIFA instructed referees to be mindful of star players as they are the ones filling up the stadiums, that, “They are the ones who glorify football. And so, those who glorify Turkey’s economy are here today. You must protect and preserve them. Don’t scare us with envelopes.”

- “I look to Turkey’s future with hope”

Stating that an export volume of 160 billion USD has been achieved, with an emphasis on industrial goods, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “As of last year, there’s no country in the world we don’t export to. This is your accomplishment. You’ve made it so that, in my lifetime, in just 30 years we’ve become an industrial giant between Italy and China. We are number one in industry in the world; number two in construction and transportation. My generation took this country from the 27^th economy in the world to be the 17^th.”

Stating that their goal is to reach 25,000 USD national per capita income, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In the last 6 years, we have been stuck at 6,000 USD. The reason for that is our negligence of structural reforms. We’re stuck fast at 10,000 USD. Our goal is to reach 25,000 USD national per capita income. They way to achieve that is through structural reforms. Turkey must return to its original agenda. The true agenda is structural reforms in the economy. Economy can never be our second priority. Economy is imperative. We want only one thing: We don’t want money, we just want on thing. There are 16 countries ahead of us. We want to trade in whatever conditions these 16 countries are trading in. We can do this. The only condition is that our unity and solidarity is preserved.”

Also present during the Award Ceremony were Trabzon Governor Abdil Celil Öz, Trabzon Greater Municipality Director Orhan Fevzi Gümrükçüoglu, TOBB Board Vice Chair Halim Mete, BALO Inc. Board Vice Chair Harun Karacan, Trabzon Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Suat Hacisalihoğlu, Trabzon Council Speaker Şadan Eren, Trabzon Commodity Exchange President Şükrü Güngör Köleoğlu, Trabzon Republic Attorney General Hayreddin Akçıl and Trabzon Tax Office Director Ayhan Yaman.