GUIDE TO TURKISH BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001567 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - JROSE, MNUGENT USDOC FOR ITA - CRUSNAK E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: BEXP BBSR ECON TU SUBJECT: GUIDE TO TURKISH BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS REF: ANKARA 1015 Sensitive but Unclassified. ¶1. (U) Summary: Turkey's cornucopia of business organizations is often impenetrable and confusing to outsiders. Following is a brief introduction to the major players. More on each is available on Intellipedia (classified) under the title "Turkish Business Associations." End Summary. -------------- TOBB -------------- ¶2. (SBU) TOBB, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, is the mother of all Turkish business groups. It is the nationwide headquarters organization for 364 local chambers of commerce, industry, maritime commerce and commodity exchanges. It is the largest non-profit business organization in Turkey and acts as the spokesman for Turkish business with the government and foreign business organizations. Membership is mandatory for registered businesses. It is led by the dynamic and high-profile Rifat Hisarciklioglu. TOBB has been supportive of the OECD's investment initiative for the Middle East and is the sponsor of the "Industry for Peace" project, a Turkish initiative to develop an industrial zone in the Gaza strip. TOBB also cooperates closely with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- its closest U.S. counterpart -- on a variety of initiatives. Website: www.tobb.org.tr -------------- DEIK -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Turkey's international business association is DEIK, the Foreign Economic Relations Board. DEIK consists of 75 bilateral business councils with Turkey's trading partners. These include the Turkish-American Business Council and the Turkish-Iraq Business Council, etc. DEIK's chairman is Rona Kircali. On July 4-6, 2006, DEIK will host the "World Chambers Conference" in Istanbul, bringing together chambers of commerce and industry from around the globe. Since May 2006, the Turkish-American Business Council (TAIK in Turkish) has been chaired by Ferit Sahenk, the U.S.-educated head of Dogus group (see below). TAIK cooperates with the Washingon, DC-based American Turkish Council (ATC) in sponsoring an annual meeting in Washington as well as Congressional study trips to Turkey. Website: www.turkey-now.org -------------- TUSIAD -------------- ¶4. (SBU) TUSIAD, the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, is a fundamentally different animal from the above-mentioned groups, all of which come under the TOBB umbrella. TUSIAD represents the elite, traditional Istanbul-based family business dynasties like Sabanci, Koc, Dogan, Dogus. TUSIAD members, however, are individuals not companies, and include employees of other companies as well as multinational and U.S. companies. With its large interest in Turkey's economy (members' companies are said to account for up to 70% of annual exports),TUSIAD takes a broad interest in foreign policy and political, as well as business, issues. It maintains representative offices in Brussels and Washington, DC. TUSIAD is currently led by its first chairwoman, Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag, daughter of media magnate Aydin Dogan. Mustafa Koc of the Koc group serves as president of TUSIAD,s High Advisory Council. Website: www.tusiad.org -------------- TUSKON and MUSIAD -------------- ¶5. (SBU) TUSKON, the Confederation of Industrialists and Businessmen of Turkey, and its associated geographic federations (i.e. MARIFED in the Marmara region) are business groups that follow the philosophy and teachings of Fethullah Gulen (ref Istanbul 353). TUSKON is led by Rizanur Meral, former chairman of Sanko Holdings, and its secretary general is Mustafa Gunay. TUSKON recently opened an office in Washington, DC. MUSIAD (the Independent Industrialists' and ANKARA 00001567 002 OF 002 Businessmen's Association) is an "independent" business organization that contrasts itself with TUSIAD as reprensting the interests of smaller companies. Many observers also assert that MUSIAD has a political agenda aligned with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). MUSIAD is headed by Omer Bolat, General Manager of the Albayrak group. Website: TUSKON - www.tuskon.org, MUSIAD - www.musiad.org.tr -------------- YASED, TIM, TISK -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Less prominent, but still influential business organizations include YASED, the association of foreign investments, which seeks to represent the interets of foreign direct investors, i.e. multinational companies. Individual members and officers tend to be Turkish executives of foreign firms and meetings are conducted in Turkish not English. YASED elected in February 2007 a new chairman, Tahir Uysal, the General Director of BP Turkey. TIM, the Turkish Exporters Assembly, is a more grouping of 59 sectoral and regional exporters unions. TIM works closely on export promotion with Turkey's Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade. TIM is led by Oguz Satici, the outspoken defender of exporters' interests, particularly in the textile sector. TISK, the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations, speaks for employers in the business community, as the counterpart to labor unions. TISK is led by president Tugrul Kudatgobilik. Websites: YASED - www.yased.org.tr, TIM - www.tim.org.tr, TISK - www.tisk.org.tr. -------------- TUGIAD -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The Turkish Association of Young Businesspeople (TUGIAD) is an independent organization made up of young entrepreneurs. It is headquartered in Ankara and has branches in most major cities. Among its other activities, TUGIAD offers training programs to young businesspeople. Its president, Murat Sarayli, is also the president of a Europe-wide association called "Young Entrepreneurs for Europe" that lobbies on behalf of entrepreneurs within the EU and some surrounding countries, including Turkey. Website: www.tugiad.org.tr -------------- ABFT and TABA -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Both the American Business Forum in Turkey (ABFT) and the Turkish American Business Association (TABA) are "AmChams" located in Istanbul that are affiliated with the United States Chamber of Commerce. ABFT membership is limited to U.S.-based companies doing business in Turkey, while TABA's membership predominently consists of Turkish companies with a U.S. connection. ABFT has been particularly active in addressing policy issues of interest to U.S. companies. In 2007 it sponsored a survey of business conditions in Turkey for foreign firms and a conference on how to promote a policy environment that favors innovation, risk-taking, and entrepreneurship. TABA has branch organizations in Ankara and Adana, but these appear to be inactive. Linguistic note: The Turkish language is gender-neutral. Although the term "Isadamlar" is often translated as "businessmen," it includes businesswomen and is perhaps better rendered as "businesspeople." Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON