Mideast politics ‘hurt’ Turkey’s trade: Turkish esporters body

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) Chairman Mehmet Büyükekşi delivers a speech adressing businessmen in a meeting held in Istanbul. AA photo

The Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) says developments in the Middle East have been adversely affecting Turkey’s trade in the region.

“We have been experiencing losses in almost all of the Middle East except Iraq,” TİM Chairman Mehmet Büyükekşi said yesterday, while speaking at TİM’s Enlarged Presidents Board meeting. Recalling Turkey had captured a stable economic success in the region within the past 10 years, the chairman said Turkey’s foreign policy had been a strong factor in that. Büyükekşi claimed the developments damaging Turkey’s trade had “actually happened outside of Turkey’s control.” “It would cost Turkey, whether it would remain impartial or took another side,” he stated.

Büyükekşi also defended the government’s much-criticized “zero problems” policy, saying exporters could only overcome the stagnation in European markets thanks to this policy back.