Purple revolution in business organizations in Turkey

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Turkey’s biggest industrial and commercial bodies elected new leaders over the weekend, including several businesswomen, who will be expected to steer Turkish businesses through the uncharted waters of the global economic crisis.

HSBC Turkey’s chief executive, Piraye Antika, was voted in as chairwoman of the International Investors Association, or YASED, on Friday, one of more than 100 businesswomen elected to assembly memberships during the nationwide trade and industry chambers’ elections that took place this weekend.

Tahir Uysal, who led YASED for two years, did not stand as a candidate Friday.

By winning the election, Antika became the first chairwoman of the association at its 28th general assembly. The YASED assembly also renewed one-third of its board in the elections.

Participation of women in trade and industry chambers

The nationwide elections showed that businesspeople have heeded the call of Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, who, on Jan. 24, called for more "womanized" chambers of trade and industry and for the active participation of businesswomen in board and assembly elections.

The weekend elections by 365 chambers gave businesswomen the opportunity to take leadership positions in the trade and industry chambers, and in their functional commissions, for the first time. The 118-year-old İzmir Trade Exchange will be led by its first female chairwoman, Işınsu Kestelli, while the 111-year-old Gaziantep Chamber of Trade welcomed its first female assembly member.

Taking her seat as chairwoman of the İzmir Chamber of Shipping Assembly was Özden Çokdeğer, an active entrepreneur in the shipping sector for a decade who had served as a board member of the İzmir Chamber of Shipping, according to a report by Hürriyet newspaper yesterday.

Female participation in Istanbul’s trade and industry chambers remained below expectation. Four businesswomen were elected to assembly memberships in the Istanbul Chamber of Trade, or İTO, and women gained six seats in the assembly of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, or İSO.

Since the election process in Antalya has not yet been finalized, the number of female assembly members in the chambers of industry and trade there remained unknown as the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday.

Eastern Anatolian cities were widely disappointing in terms of women’s participation in the region’s business circles. The area's male-dominant culture has traditionally has resulted in business bodies having no female members on their boards.

No surprises in Istanbul

The trade and industry chambers’ election resulted in no big changes for Istanbul. Murat Yalçıntaş, who led the İTO for four years, was reelected by 133 out of 254 votes.

But İbrahim Çağlar, who challenged Yalçıntaş’s leadership, received 110 votes, showing he is a formidable force in the organization.

Tanıl Küçük, the current İSO president, was appointed for another four years by the votes of İSO assembly members, reported the Anatolia news agency.