Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he finds peace every time he visits Konya, “This is the thirtieth time I have been in Konya. The capital city of the Seljuks which is our first state in Anatolia; the city of Mevlana who is the sultan of hearts; the city of wise people. I come to Konya almost twice every year. Every time I come to Konya, I find peace, and as I see you, I trust more and more in the future of our country, our nation. I spread the energy of Konya to 80 provinces. I point to you as an example.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu indicated that Konya wrote a great success story in 30 years and said, “In the past, it was only known as a bread basket. Now, beside agriculture, Konya is a star of commerce, industry, tourism and education in Anatolia. Here is Konya with 4 universities, 9 OIZs, 23 R&D Centers carrying Turkey forward.

I also looked at the figures of Konya. You’ve kept up with national average in 2017 for increase in number of establishments. You’ve surpassed national average in employment and exports. In the first 2 months of 2018, the number of newly established companies increased by 19% in Turkey while it increased by 27% in Konya. Among the top 1000 industrial establishments, 10 years ago, there were 15 companies from Konya, now you have increased this number to 21. You rank seventh province of Turkey with 113bn TRY in trade volume.

There is another area Konya should be proud of. The amount of bad cheques decreased by 42% last year. So, what percent of cheques are bad in Konya? Only 1.1%. Here, Konya has achieved almost half of the average in Turkey. What about the amount of protested bills? While it has increased in Turkey, it has decreased by 15% in Konya. What does all of this? The merchants-industrialists of Konya are true to their words. The checks and bills of Konya are reputable, and they are easily accepted everywhere.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that Konya is a brand city not only with its economy but also with its managers.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated sometimes people ask what it is that chambers do, “What are they doing? They bring valuable services to you. You had to come to the chamber for a document a month ago. We have transitioned to Digital Document Generation in our chambers. Now, chambers are online. Now you can get instant documents from your home or workplace. You don’t have to come to the chamber. In establishing the companies, the Chambers became the One-Stop-Shops. All setup operations will take place in our Chambers. You do not need to go to 7 different institutions since a month ago. You can start business with a single signature in company establishments. We lowered the cost of establishing the company. It was 2,250TRY a month ago but now it has been lowered to 650TRY. These are what the chambers are doing. It is to pave the way for entrepreneurs and to create the environment for more people to become entrepreneurs.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they provided credit to their members for an annual interest rate of 9.9 and said, “We made a loan volume of 5bn TRY available to our members last year and then we told our Prime Minister and our ministers that we used our capability to its fullest and that our members demand interest free loans. Thanks to them, 50,000TRY interest-free loans with 3-year maturity period have been provided. 29% of our members, that is 290,000 members, benefited from this.”

Indicating that the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) vouched for their members, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “At times like these, nobody would vouch for anybody else; we vouch for our members as chambers. Why? To facilitate access to financial tools. Allah forbid, if anything were to happen to you we will pay the bail. Nowhere in the world do chambers or unions vouch for their members.  Only Turkey does this. Even so, those with opinions and no knowledge ask, ‘What do you do?’ What more we can do? Even your father wouldn’t vouch for you, but we did.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have increased the vouch amount to 250,000TRY said, “Last year, we vouched for 221bn TRY of loans for 364,000 members. Before you stands an institution which can vouch for an extraordinary number of its members. We vouched for one third of members in Konya.”

Emphasizing that they will continue the support given to their members, Hisarcıklıoğlu said “We’ve prepared again this year; we will announce TOBB's Respite Credit to our members with our honorable Prime Minister. We will once again have the opportunity for our members to use the money belonging rightfully to them.”