Yılmaz set to pick top boss seat today

ISTANBUL

Muharrem Yılmaz, current vice president of TÜSİAD, is expected to become the chairman today. AA photo

The new board of the Turkish Industrial and Business Association (TÜSİAD) will be prepared by the upcoming new chairman, Muharrem Yılmaz, before the general assembly today.

The candidates are Cansen Başaran Symes, Tayfun Bayazıt, Memduh Boydak, Osman F. Boyner, Cenk Çimen, Haluk Dinçer, Esin Güral Argat, Tarkan Kadooğlu, Simone Kaslowski, Sedat Şükrü Ünlütürk and Volkan Vural, along with Muharrem Yılmaz, who is the current vice chairman.

TÜSİAD has long been criticized for being an Istanbul-based organization, but analysts say the new board represents the Anatolian capital also, according to daily Radikal.

TÜSİAD’s current president, Ümit Boyner, has faced some hard times, particularly with Cabinet members, during her presidency, blaming them for taking a gender-discriminative stance against her.
Currently there are no disputes between TÜSİAD and the government and such matters should be interpreted according to their context, Turkish Time magazine quoted Yılmaz as saying last month.

Istanbul Chamber to elect new chair person

Separately, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce’s (İTO) next president will likely be İbrahim Çağlar, current assembly chairman of the chamber and a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as he has received majority support, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday.
Right-wing business associations influential in İTO and who voted for the current president, Murat Yalçıntaç, in 2005 and 2009 elections, are now preparing to support Çağlar in the next election that will start Feb. 14.

Yalçıntaş said he would not run in the next election, an announcement that prevented division of support for Çağlar. Çağlar had collaborated with Yalçıntaş to help him win the 2005 elections. Despite the last election in 2009 causing problems between the two, Yalçıntaş will back Çağlar, according to sources.