8 April 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
The election for the presidency of the İstanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Union (İThİB), one of the Turkish textile industry’s largest representatives, kicked off with a general assembly in İstanbul on Wednesday. Ahead of the voting, the two candidates addressed the union’s members. The union has 1,400 member firms, but sources said that only around 860 would be participating in the election. The results were yet to be announced when Today’s Zaman went to print.
Speaking ahead of the vote in İstanbul on Wednesday, Hazim Sesli, a favorite candidate for the presidency, said his team was ready to serve the textile industry in the best way possible. “It is time to inject fresh blood into the sector and we have faith that our projects will do this.” Also speaking ahead of the election, İTKİB President İsmail Gülle said his team would concentrate more on business trips to new exports markets if they win the elections. Regarding recent reports on “fake exporters” which said the İTKİB accepted some firms as members of the union even though they are not exporter companies, Gülle said this is nor acceptable and that he believes the union will “sort out the rotten apples” following the election.
