Apart from TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, Minister of State and Deputy Prime Ministers Cemil Çiçek, Ali Babacan, Minister of State Selma Aliye Kavaf, Minister of Industry and Commerce Nihat Ergün and Mayor of Ankara Melih Gökçek were also in attendance. Other record holders received their plaques from Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Minister of Industry and Commerce Nihat Ergün.
Speaking at the plaque ceremony, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “Today Ankara stands a stone’s throw away from not only Hakkari, Edirne, Muğla, Iğdır, but also Baghdad, Kabul, Tripoli, Jerusalem and Sarajevo. Today, Ankara stands as the light of hope not only for Turkey but for all oppressed and aggrieved geographies and nations, stands with a mission of hope. Wherever something happens in the world Ankara is brought into the equation. Ankara’s opinions are awaited.”
Saying that in 1923, Ankara looked like a village whereas now it resembles a European city in all aspects, Erdoğan;
“Ankara stood thousands of kilometers away from Kırıkkale, Çankırı, Konya and even Eskişehir until the end of 2002. Neither the citizens’ nor the industrialists’ nor the traders’ voices could penetrate the halls of Ankara. Today Ankara stands, both in effect and in spirit, as the solution, production and export center of the country. We are making Ankara into the high-velocity train center as well. The Ankara-Eskişehir line started operations in 2009. Eskişehir-Istanbul and Eskişehir-Bursa lines are under construction. Ankara-Konya line has been constructed and is undergoing test runs, to start runs maybe as soon as the end of this month. The Ankara-Sivas line still has construction taking place. New projects like Erzurum, Erzincan, Trabzon and İzmir lines will soon join ongoing ones, covering the country in webs of iron with Ankara at its center. Likewise for airways. Anadolujet operates with Ankara as its base of operations and many domestic and foreign destinations can be reached from Ankara.”
-ATO President Salih Bezci
Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) President Salih Bezci addressing the Prime Minister; “Monuments are the marks of people. They say (Extraordinary projects are the works of courageous men.) We believe in your courage and respect it.” Expressing his support of the “Channel Istanbul” project, Bezci said the added value generated would benefit all of Turkey.
-ATO Assembly Chairman Nuri Gürgür
ATO Assembly Chairman expressed his wishes that the chaotic times of crises would not come around again. Touching on the issue of current account deficit of Turkey, Gürgür stated that Turkey would soon overcome any current account deficit problems. Gürgür also spoke of the development of Ankara.
