Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Stating that Çorum is a city of history, culture and tourism, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Hattuşa / Boğazköy, Alacahöyük is an open-air museum. Çorum is a center of knowledge which has brought up wise men like Akşemsettin, Master Ebussuud, Elvan Çelebi. Today, Çorum has become an industrial city. Thanks to the Samsun-Çorum-Ankara high-speed train project, Çorum will connect Central Anatolia to the Black Sea. Prosperity has always been found on trade routes.”

Stating that he believes that this investment is very important and is following it closely, the TOBB President said, “Because we want people to come to Çorum, the center of the world, to see the immense historical and cultural wealth here. Evliya Çelebi also wrote of it in his Travelogue. The air of this area is good for asthma patients. The Rose Dessert, İskilip Stuffed Peppers, its roasted chickpeas; you are rich in terms of gastronomy, industry and trade.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the best representative of Çorum with its myriad of riches is the Çorum Chamber of Commerce and Industry and that Çorum CCI and CE always do their parts for the development and advancement of Çorum, “I personally have witnessed this. We are working together with the President Çekin on the CCI Council and President Naki on the CE Council. Our two presidents represent you there. In Çorum, both our Chamber and the Exchange are accredited. So they offer 5-star service to their members. With our chamber's new service building its physical capacity has also reached 5-star. Our chamber, with the support of the development agency, has set up a solar power plant. Our commodity exchange is working with Hitit University to establish a Veterinary Laboratory. I am proud to have such visionary presidents.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the question everyone is curious about is the question of what the markets are going to do and went on, “There has been a turmoil in the economy for some time now. Foreign exchange, interest, inflation; All three of them went up. There is a visible slowdown in the market, money isn’t cycling. As TOBB, we keep the pulse of the market and you first hand, through our Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, we record problems one by one. Then we forward all this to our government and demand immediate action. We met in Istanbul with the CEOs of all banks in our country. We emphasized that the finance sector and the business world are on the same ship. We spoke about your problems experienced in banks.

Then on Wednesday we met with the Ministers of Treasury and Finance, Industry, Trade and Labor at TOBB. Here, in detail, we forwarded all our requests and solution proposals to our Ministers. We have especially emphasized this to each of our Minister. This period is the period of preservation. We need to protect trade, production and employment capacities of our traders and industrialists. Each factory shut down is a loss for the 80 million per factory which stops its production. We are struggling with all these interests, exchange rates, taxes and different bureaucratic legislation.

With a thousand troubles, the only request we have of the government is that they stand by us, do not leave us alone in this economic struggle.”

Stressing that he was never pessimistic, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they survived dozens of crises and turmoil in the last 25 years, they would overcome this one as well.

- Halkbank General Manager Arslan

Halkbank General Manager Osman Arslan pointed out that the interest and exchange rate fluctuated in August and September.

Arslan, stating that the main economic data in Turkey is indicative of strength, went on, “This situation will continue thanks to our smart policy. Our business need not be seized by any concerns of deadlock. Turkey has managed to come out stronger out of such arduous processes before in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2009.”