Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Attending İKV’s 50^th anniversary event in İstanbul in addition to TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır, İKV President Ömer Cihad Vardan and many businesspeople.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the business community view EU membership as a win-win, “Youth and women will win, workers will win, small businesses will win, farmers will win. All parts of society will benefit. Likewise, EU will benefit from this. Turkey’s membership will render the European Union’s political and financial situation more robust and dynamic. This will lead to increased regional and global stability as well as peace.”

Stating that İKV was founded with this vision 50 years ago, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that TOBB has adopted İKV with the same vision for the last 50 years, contributing to its efforts.

- Importance of reforms

Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The EU membership process requires comprehensive reforms. In the past, especially under the leadership of our President of the Republic, Turkey gained much ground in this regard. Significant reforms were enacted in order to meet the Copenhagen political criteria.

Comprehensive reforms have been enacted in regards to the rule of law, the preservation of basic rights and freedoms and a working market economy.

Today, many EU countries are unable to fulfill Maastricht Criteria; we have fulfilled many of these criteria thanks to the economic reforms we’ve enacted. However, there are still significant reforms in the area of finances and politics which must be enacted. Enacting reforms is difficult; it requires wide social support and compromise.

We’ve organized many activities to this end, both domestically and internationally, under the İKV umbrella with many organizations representing all parts of society.

The President of the Republic also attended these activities.

We will continue our efforts. On Thursday, I met with the EUROCHAMBRES Chairman in Brussels as well as the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, relaying to them our expectations in regards to the EU accession process.”

- Visa freedom dialogue must be satisfactorily concluded

Stating that chapters on energy, economic and monetary policy, legislation and basic rights as well as justice, freedoms and security should be opened posthaste, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The visa problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible. The modernization of the Customs Union is on the agenda. The developments in this regard were announced by the Prime Minister on May 2^nd, 2015, at the TOBB General Assembly. I would like to thank the government for their determination on this matter.”

Stating that Turkey should not be excluded from the TTIP negotiations, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We should continue to work together on all of these issues. The government which will be formed following the elections should focus on the EU accession process, too. Despite some EU leaders' lack of vision and sense of justice as well as unacceptable behavior, we must accomplish this for ourselves because the Turkish people deserve to live on the EU standards. We will continue to work for Turkey’s EU membership just as we have done so far.”

- President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reported that 14 chapters have been opened for negotiations while Science and Research chapter has been closed temporarily, and went on, “The other chapters which need to be opened remain closed due to purely political reticence. We are determined to continue our negotiation process which we’ve done for the last 10 years despite its ups and downs.”

Erdoğan thanked the Financial Development Foundation (İKV) for their contributions to Turkey’s EU journey in their 50 years since 1965. He went on to congratulate the three former presidents and founding members who would be receiving plaques for their 50 years of service.

- European Union (EU) Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır

European Union (EU) Minister and Chief Negotiator Volkan Bozkır criticeized the European Parliament for their statements in regards to the events of 1915 and pointed to a ruling made by the EU Court of Justice in 2003, stating that actions made just to spite Turkey would not be to the benefit of the European Parliament.

Bozkır went on to speak in regards to the efforts to remove visas, detailing the difficulties stemming from certain conditions in both the EU and Turkey.

- İKV President Ömer Cihad Vardan

Financial Development Foundation (İKV) President Ömer Cihad Vardan said, “We believe that this process should not be embroiled in irrelevant political games lacking credibility and historical truth.”

Drawing attention to the fact that are no countries which have begun the negotiation process and completed the criteria outlined in each chapter, Vardan said, “We have been rendered unable to open various chapters due to extraordinary requirements not previously present as well as vetos from some EU members. Unfortunately, there are attempts to change the rules while the game is ongoing.”