Top business organizations praise democratic values in joint declaration after coup attempt

The heads of the Anatolian Lions Businessmen’s Association’s (ASKON), the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), the Chamber of Maritime Trade (DTO), the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (İSO), the Istanbul Commodity Exchange (İSTİB), the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO), the Independent Industrialists and Businesspeople Association (MÜSİAD), the Malls and Retailers Federation (TAMPF), the Exporters Assembly of Turkey (TİM), the All Industrialist and Businessmen’s Association (TÜMSİAD), the Travel Agencies Association of Turkey (TÜRSAB) and the International Investors Association (YASED) said that democracy defeated the July 15 coup attempt. 

“We do not [recognize] any will other than the national will,” they noted. 

“As the representatives of the business world, we know that it is only possible for our democracy to deepen and our economy to strengthen through a civil administration. Non-democratic powers will create huge damages to our economy and ruin all of our gains as a country,” they added. 

“Any intervention that aims to overthrow our elected government will kill our democracy and economy,” they noted, slamming the coup attempters and voicing their full support to the government and the national consent. 

They underscored the necessity of the “will of the nation” and democracy, while saying they expected “positive impacts on the Turkish economy in the medium- and long-term,” as the coup attempt was repelled. 

“The business world requires peace, trust and stability,” they stressed, vowing that the country’s strong image would rule out the initial negative impacts in the domestic and international market.

“We will continue to grow our economy by working and investing more,” they noted, adding it was now time to act with common sense and fuel togetherness.