Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ISTANBUL53
2007-01-25 15:23:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Istanbul
Cable title:  

TUSIAD ELECTS NEW CHAIRMAN; DECRIES DINK MURDER

Tags:  ECON EINV TU 
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6539
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000053 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SE AND EB
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - J.ROSE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EINV TU
SUBJECT: TUSIAD ELECTS NEW CHAIRMAN; DECRIES DINK MURDER

REF: A. ISTANBUL 42

B. ANKARA 112

C. ISTANBUL 38

ISTANBUL 00000053 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000053

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SE AND EB
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - J.ROSE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EINV TU
SUBJECT: TUSIAD ELECTS NEW CHAIRMAN; DECRIES DINK MURDER

REF: A. ISTANBUL 42

B. ANKARA 112

C. ISTANBUL 38

ISTANBUL 00000053 001.2 OF 002



1. Summary: During the January 25 Annual General Assembly
TUSIAD (Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association)
members elected a new board of directors, naming Arzuhan
Dogan Yalcindag the first female chairman in the group's
37-year history. Yalcindag's election was a foregone
conclusion, a fact that prompted two members to call for
greater democracy in the election of the next board as well
as an impassioned defense of a system that rotates
responsibility on the TUSIAD board among Turkey's leading
business families by several current board members. Outgoing
Chairman of the Board Omer Sabanci and High Advisory Board
Chairman Mustafa Koc used their remarks to decry the January
19 murder of newspaper publisher Hrant Dink and to call for
reforms to the educational system as well as improvements in
the political climate and increased democratization in
society. End summary.


2. In a decision that had been accurately predicted by the
press and the subject of conversation within business
circles, TUSIAD members elected a new board of directors on
January 25. For the first time in the organization's history
the board chairman is a woman, Dogan Television and Radio CEO
Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag (biographic info contained in para
8). This decision prompted a number of speakers to address
the irony of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessman's
Association being headed by a woman and to highlight the
powerful role that women play in Turkey's business community.
Women's increasingly important role in business was
underscored by the January 24 Turkish Businesswomen's
Association Award Ceremony where keynote speaker PM Erdogan
personally handed out the awards and congratulated the
honorees, including Businesswoman of the Year Hanzade Dogan,
Arzuhan Yalcindag's U.S.-educated younger sister.


3. Two members chided the group for a seemingly undemocratic
election, noting that Yalcindag's selection as TUSIAD
Chairman had been openly discussed in the press for over a
week, in some cases disparagingly with a play on the Dogan
Group's campaign to increase the participation of poor and

rural girls in the education system "Daddy send me to school"
with "Daddy send me to TUSIAD." They argued that because
TUSIAD, in its role as the 'voice of the private sector',
frequently calls for greater openness and representation in
Turkish politics it was important that TUSIAD abide by its
own recommendations in its internal workings. These
complaints prompted board member Cem Boyner, whose nephew
Osman Boyner recently became engaged to Hanzade Dogan, to
describe a system of consensus-based 'burden sharing' whereby
Turkey's leading business families rotate the responsibility
of serving on the TUSIAD board. Boyner's comments were echoed
by several other board members who argued that this system
was representative and appropriate for a voluntary business
association.


4. Two recent deaths - the January 19 shooting of
Turkish-Armenian newspaper publisher and activist Hrant Dink
(reftels) and the January 24 death of former Foreign Minister
Ismail Cem - featured in prepared remarks given by outgoing
TUSIAD officials. High Advisory Board Chairman Mustafa Koc
used his remarks to decry the January 19 murder of newspaper
publisher Hrant Dink as well as to call for improvement in a
charged political climate that had given way to
politically-motivated assassination. Koc cautioned that some
circles were resisting political reform and called on the
business community to oppose those who would seek to change
Turkey's orientation away from modern politics and a
functioning market economy. He noted that a healthy economy
is not possible without a strong regulatory framework and
active civil society. He described education as vital both
to society and to the economy and called for greater private
sector support for educational reforms. He repeatedly
stressed the importance of maintaining a focus on the West,
although he noted that a focus on the West should not come at
the expense of relations with Turkey's neighbors. Strong
relations with the EU and the United States would complement
good relations with neighboring countries.


5. Outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors Omer Sabanci
described Hrant Dink's murder as an event that would isolate
Turkey in the world as well as destroy advances in freedom of
speech and threaten creative thinkers. This effect was
confirmed by newspaper columnist and political science
professor Soli Ozel who told us the murder would have a

ISTANBUL 00000053 002.2 OF 002


chilling effect on intellectuals and writers who would censor
their comments to avoid endangering themselves. Sabanci
described TUSIAD's support for democracy as a key principle,
noting that democracy protects the market economy as well as
conserving resources, preventing internal conflict and
creating political and economic stability. He argued that
Turkey still had a long way to go before achieving a
developed democracy and called for TUSIAD members to work to
change the political status quo. Sabanci argued that
politicians needed to be aware of what they say and of how
their words affect listeners. A charged political climate
laid the groundwork for Dink's murder and it was society's
responsibility to instead foster a climate that supported
democracy.


6. Responding to criticism of TUSIAD's recently released
report on 130 Years of Turkish Democracy by MHP party leader
Devlet Bahceli, Sabanci explained that TUSIAD played an
important role as the voice of the private sector. As a
voluntary organization, unlike Chambers of Commerce and
Industry in which corporate membership is mandatory, TUSIAD
is truly a non-governmental organization. Now that Turkey
has embarked upon accession negotiations with the European
Union, TUSIAD must develop a new vision and a new mission,
Sabanci argued. When TUSIAD was first formed it was one of
the few supporters of the market economy and EU membership.
Now these goals are broadly accepted by intellectuals,
however the bureaucracy and politicians still work to
preserve the role of the state in the economy. The private
sector needs to remain vigilant with regards to efforts to
keep Turkey out of the EU, government backsliding on
privatization, and anti-democratic articles in current
legislation. Sabanci sees TUSIAD's new goal as advancing the
vision of Turkey as a contemporary, secular, innovative and
technically advanced nation.


7. Comment: Omer Sabanci, who is stepping down after three
years as TUSIAD Chairman, was a forceful advocate for
modernization and transparency both in the economy and in
politics. Over the years he used his role as TUSIAD Chairman
to criticize government decisions not to amend Article 301 of
the Penal Code (criminalizing insulting 'Turkishness') as
well as more recent decisions to delay privatization of the
state run electricity distribution company. Arzuhan
Yalcindag is the face of a younger generation, but clearly
has the support of a business establishment that is market
driven, Western-oriented and devoted to a vision of Turkey as
a modern, secular democracy. It remains to be seen whether
she will harness the prestige and influence of TUSIAD as her
predecessor did. End Comment.


8. Biographic Data: Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag was born in

1965. The eldest daughter of media baron Aydin Dogan, she is
a graduate of Bosphorous University. She has worked in
retailing, banking and media. She established and managed a
mail order company MILPA Co in 1990 and headed that firm
until 1992. From 1993-1995 she served as a board member of
Alternatif Bank. She moved to family-owned Milliyet
newspaper in 1995 where she headed the finance division. In
1999 she developed a television news project that lead to a
partnership with Time Warner and the creation of CNN Turk,
which has been on the air since 2000. She is currently the
CEO of Dogan Television and Radio, a company established by
her father Aydin Dogan, whose Dogan Media Group is the
largest media corporation in Turkey. She is active in civil
society and belongs to a variety of business organizations as
well as groups that support education and volunteerism. She
is married and has two children.


JONES