Turkey’s business world pushes for coalition gov’t

ANKARA

CİHAN Photo

The business sector has become an increasingly vocal proponent of the formation of a coalition government in Turkey, with leading business organizations intensifying contacts with the leaders of four political parties that entered parliament in the June 7 election.

The first stop in Ankara by board members of the country’s top business organization, the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), was the headquarters of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) on June 16.

“We have conveyed the business world’s request for the urgent formation of a government,” TÜSİAD head Cansen Başaran-Symes told reporters after meeting CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and party executives, as well as Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who she met later in the day.

“We have a positive expectation about politicians with regard to paving the way for a government,” said Symes. 

The same delegation will hold a meeting with Prime Minister and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Ahmet Davutoğlu on June 17, as well as the co-chairs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

“As a civil society organization, we are not here to be part of the formation of a government. But during our meeting with the CHP, we conveyed our request for the rapid forming of a government with a conciliatory culture prevailing among politicians,” Symes stressed. 

Meanwhile, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu has also emphasized the urgency of forming a new government, and warned about the dangers of a possible early election. 

“A coalition picture, urging conciliation, has emerged from the ballot box. We believe that an early election would not bring a lasting solution and would lead to a loss of time. Therefore, we wish for the forming of a government within the current parliamentary arithmetic,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said after a meeting with Davutoğlu, also held on June 16.

He was speaking on behalf of a group mainly composed of representatives of a wide range of labor and trade unions, and members of the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee. Accordingly, executives from the Turkey Tradesmen and Artisans’ Confederation (TESK), the Turkish Union of Agricultural Chambers (TZOB), the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş), the Confederation of Righteous Trade Unions (Hak-İş), the Confederation of Public Servants’ Trade Unions (Memur-Sen), the Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-Sen), and the Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Unions (TİSK) all accompanied Hisarcıklıoğlu.

The same delegation is scheduled to meet CHP head Kılıçdaroğlu on June 17 and the leaders of the MHP and the HDP in the coming days. 

Amid such traffic in the capital, a delegation from the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD) will meet with both Davutoğlu and Kılıçdaroğlu on June 17. MÜSİAD is also expected to hold meetings with the other two parties in the coming days.

MÜSİAD’s view of the picture after the June 7 vote was already outlined at a meeting over the weekend.
“The parliamentary arithmetic that emerged after the election hasn’t enabled any party to form a government on its own,” it said in a press release after their meeting, adding that they regarded such a situation as a chance for all parties to engage in “self-criticism.”

“It is obvious that forming a coalition government is indispensable according to the new parliamentary arithmetic that has emerged,” MÜSİAD stated.