TUSKON chairman to Erdoğan: To make fortune, join business world


Date posted: March 1, 2014

İSTANBUL

In a response to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call to Hizmet movement to form a political party, the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) chairman Rıza Nur Meral called Erdoğan to quit politics and join the business world to make money.

Speaking at TUSKON’s fifth general meeting on Saturday, Meral highly criticized PM Erdoğan for its rhetoric and accusations about the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

“Politics is a platform where you serve people. It is not a spot to make money or build a fortune. Businessmen are calling those who tell non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to form a political party, to get into business world to make money,” Meral said.

One of Turkey’s most influential business confederations, the TUSKON, was threatened with being “wiped off the market” by the government after TUSKON made critical statements about government policies, chairman Rızanur Meral told the media on Friday.

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Turkey quoted Meral as saying on Friday that “different government figures, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, warned [that it would] do away with TUSKON unless it cut relations with certain groups critical of the government.” Meral was speaking in an interview with the WSJ Turkey on the sidelines of a Turkey-Africa Business and Investment Council meeting in İstanbul.

Meral’s comments are no surprise to those familiar with Erdoğan’s efforts to clamp down on his critics. Continuing government pressure and an alleged smear campaign against Turkey’s largest Islamic group, the Hizmet movement, which TUSKON is affiliated with, has seen leading business figures receive threats from government and its supporters. Erdoğan alleges that the Hizmet movement is working to undermine his political power, but he has provided no sound evidence to prove his claim. The Hizmet movement has so far dismissed all claims fabricated by the pro-government media and used by Erdoğan as “baseless.”

“Companies close to the Hizmet movement were contacted by some top government figures — by Erdoğan in person in certain cases — and they received threats to cut relations with the movement. Key figures from the National Intelligence Organization [MİT], the Finance Ministry and even business confederations like us visited TUSKON member companies to give them a warning,” Meral told the WSJ Turkey. The paper said the Ministry of Finance denied the claims and that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was not immediately available to comment on the issue.

“Yes, we are under intense political pressure; however, TUSKON members are not afraid of these threats. Instead, they have doubled efforts to boost new investment and charity projects,” Meral said. The chairman said they have faith that the current oppression will eventually come to a halt and leading business confederations like TUSKON and the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) will survive to serve Turkey. “Political figures and the government are temporary, but such organizations as TUSKON will continue to serve the Turkish people for a long time,” Meral concluded.

Source: Todays Zaman , March 1, 2014


Related News

Turkey’s Main Opposition Party Reiterates In Report July 15 Was ‘Controlled’ Coup Attempt

A report drafted by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016 has repeated an earlier claim made by the party’s leader suggesting that the coup attempt was a “controlled” one and that there were some Turkish authorities who knew about the coup plans but did not take any measures to prevent it.

Hizmet and March 30 elections: What happened? (I)

Erdoğan has rejected the evidence of corruption that has been substantiated or he has presented this proof as being part of a conspiracy. He promoted the idea that Israel and the US were external components of this conspiracy and that the Hizmet movement was the domestic component. Propaganda centers have worked to this end.

Fethullah Gülen condemns the terrorist attack in Gaziantep, Turkey

I condemn, in the strongest terms, the barbaric terrorist attack on attendees of a wedding ceremony in Gaziantep, Turkey that took the lives of more than fifty citizens, including children, and wounded many others. This is not just an attack on the attendees of a wedding, but also an attack on the solidarity of people of Anatolia, including Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Boshniaks, Albanians, Georgians and Circassians and others who lived as neighbors for centuries.

Down Syndrome child accompanies mother in prison as parents jailed over Gülen links

A 22-month-old child who suffers from Down Syndrome is living in jail along with his mother after both his mother and father were imprisoned in Konya over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, a report said on Saturday.

Kosovo PM to Turkey’s Erdogan: ‘We Mind Our Own Affairs’

Kosovo’s prime minister on Monday pushed back against threats made by Turkey’s president over a probe into the arrest and deportation of six Turkish citizens with ties to schools linked to the Fethullah Gulen movement, which Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup.

I am concerned: Erdoğan and elections

Current developments are disturbing. It does not take an oracle to guess that when the elections get even closer, the country will move further towards insanity if Erdoğan does not change his stance on a number of issues and cease his ferocious rhetorical tactic of designating every critic a traitor. Hrant Dink was assassinated as a result of such a campaign of hate.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

455 water wells opened in Pakistan thanks to Kimse Yok Mu

Thousands attend Turkish Festival in Johannesburg

Is Former Chief of General Staff Özkök a Closet Gülenist

On Hizmet: Why do I not criticize it?

Final Declaration of “Coexistence in Islamic Civilizations and Contemporary Reviews” Conference

The Gülen Movement: a modern expression of Turkish Islam – Interview with Hakan Yavuz

Turkish-American community grapples with Turkey coup’s aftermath

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News