Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The description reads:

“The report titled ‘Al Gülm Ver Gülm’ on odatv website contains slander and misinformation. It is out of the question that TOBB would ever receive services from the company co-owned by TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu. TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu has no partnership in Tür-Sum, which provides services to TOBB.

The companies of TOBB President and Board members cannot enter into tenders organized by TOBB and sell their own products and services to TOBB.

In the tenders organized by TOBB and its subsidiaries, a written commitment is also obtained from the winning company. With this commitment, the company that received the tender undertakes that it will not buy goods from TOBB President’s companies.

Contrary to the allegations, accusations and comments contained in the report, TOBB's code of ethics has not been violated in any way. TOBB has applied these rules with great sensitivity from the very beginning and will continue to do so.

Tür-Sum company mentioned in the report has provided technical consultancy services in some activities such as school construction in the provinces and districts of TOBB. This service is intended for the audit of such activities independently of construction and acquisition works.

Everyone in the public and private sectors knows very well that the main importance is the proper execution of the construction tender. In the selection of technical consultants, which has a key role at this point, it is very important to know past performance and competence.

Tür-Sum, which serves the public and private sectors and has been operating for 44 years, has been preferred due to its domestic and international business experiences and competent staff.

TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu has no partnership or ties with Tür-Sum company, of which Ahmet Akpınar is chairman of the Board of Directors.

Armada and Söğütözü mentioned in the report are multi-partner companies. Söğütözü is the owner. Armada is only the operating company. It has 58 partners. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu is one of the minority shareholders with 9.74%. Ahmet Akpınar is one of the small shareholders with a rate of 3.2%.

In this context, it is extremely wrong and misleading to try to ignore all these facts by bringing up the fact that the owner of the technical consultancy company in question is one of the very small shareholders in a company where TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu is a minority shareholder.

Announced respectfully to the public.

Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey”