Turkish lobbyists in Brussels assisting Turkey in its EU bid

However, flourishing opportunities favoring an open market economy and state tax incentives intended to boost Turkish exports, especially since the term in office of Prime Minister Turgut Özal, have aroused interest among Turkish entrepreneurs in supporting Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

The representative of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) in Brussels, Serdar Yeşilyurt, told Sunday’s Zaman that the confederation has a representative in the capital of Europe in order to help with Turkey’s EU membership bid. “The presentation of our country at the level it deserves and informing our counterparts about the rapid and encouraging developments in our country have also been a part of our support for Turkey’s EU bid. A good presentation of our country, reforms, and as a result, EU membership will definitely give our country a push and help its value overall,” stated Yeşilyurt, adding that putting aside Turkey’s EU bid, the country’s trade relations with European countries have resulted in Turkish business associations developing close ties with their European counterparts. “With respect to the high level of trade with Europe, there is still an enormous opportunity to be nurtured between Turkey and European companies both in Turkey and in Europe, as well as in third countries. The TUSKON EU office acts as a pioneer in creating these links,” he said. In addition to several events including panel discussions, conferences and seminars to present the developments in Turkey and Turkish politics to Brussels, TUSKON’s Brussels branch has organized visits and hosted delegations from various EU institutions and member states, believing this to be one of the most beneficial ways of promoting the country.

“Our main motive for assigning a permanent representative to Brussels was that Turkey needed to monitor the political and economic developments occurring in the EU,” Çiğdem Nas, the deputy general secretary of the İstanbul-based Economic Development Foundation (İKV), told Sunday’s Zaman. The İKV launched its Brussels office in 1984 when the European Economic Community (EEC) had discussed and commenced further investigation of Turkey’s membership. Nas continued, saying that after some time the İKV decided that simply reporting the events was not enough. One must also interpret them and later attempt to have an influence on the decision-making process through lobbying activities. “We have to explain Turkey’s arguments to the European authorities and establish ties with our European counterparts,” stated Nas, adding that the İKV Brussels office has organized discussion meetings and conferences in Brussels and other cities in Europe such as Amsterdam and Paris.

The international coordinator of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD), Bahadır Kaleağası, explained the reasons Turkey needs representative offices in Europe, noting that involvement with lobbying activities is crucial, that Turkey should be more clearly introduced to the European public, that Turkey’s interests and arguments need to be supported more actively, that happenings in Europe must be monitored more closely and that trade relations with Europe ought to be intensified. “In order to realize these goals we have to influence the decision makers in accordance with Turkish interests. But unfortunately, since Turkey is not an EU member, it is not so easy to have an impact on the decisions. We tried to overcome this difficulty by finding local partners. For example, we went to Mr. Schröder [the former German chancellor] with our German counterpart to convince him that Germany also has an interest in when Turkey becomes an EU member. We did same thing in Greece, France and other European countries,” he stated.

He also said TÜSİAD’s membership in Businesseurope, The Confederation of European Business, has a crucial importance in having a say in the decisions made in the European Union and argued that the European Commission has always sought the confederation’s opinion before making a decision on behalf of the EU.

He also commented on the growing interest of Turkey’s NGOs in opening communication offices in the EU capital, Brussels, and stated that the representatives are from diverse backgrounds and support varying arguments to European authorities, which is not an unexpected situation for Europe, which highly values pluralism.

Bülent Bilgiç, the head of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Brussels office, drew attention to the fact that Turkish businessmen and interest groups cannot remain indifferent to the EU membership process and emphasized Turkey has increasingly had more important roles in European institutions.

“TOBB Chairman Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu has been elected as the deputy president of Eurochambers, a union of European chambers, which clearly shows the acceptance of Turkey as a prestigious member of the union,” said Bilgiç.

Eurochambers is the representative of nearly 22 million companies in member states.

Counting on the advantages of having a seat at European institutions, Bilgiç noted that the participation of Turkish interest groups in European professional organizations has paved the way for communication with European counterparts and created opportunities to open channels of communication.

The TOBB representative also pointed to another positive result of lobbying activities, saying that the activities have led European entrepreneurs to take a closer look at Turkey and provided opportunities for Turkey to attract more foreign investment.