“[Turkey] looks like a jigsaw puzzle today. We have all the pieces but are unable to put together a unique picture from them. We have to overcome this situation,” Chairman Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said yesterday at the World Turkish Entrepreneurs Congress in Istanbul.
The key to Turkey’s success for rapid economic progress is Turkish-origin businessmen who operate abroad, according to Hisarcıklıoğlu. “There are global Turks now. This treasury of ours, the Turkish diaspora [of Turkish-origin businessmen abroad], have increased to about 6 million” all over the world. Turkey can join the club of the world’s top 10 economies only through this diaspora, he added.
There are about 3,900 Turkish associations active abroad, and some 130,000 Turks are studying abroad. Turkish people own about 140,000 enterprises throughout Europe, whose annual revenues total approximately 50 billion euros, Hisarcıklıoğlu said.
“We have high expectations of you,” Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said in his opening speech at the congress, addressing the Turkish diaspora.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board has prepared a road map on “Diaspora Strategies: Suggestions for the Turkish Diaspora,” which aims to strengthen relations with more than 4 million Turkish migrants living outside Turkey. The strategy will be disclosed today by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. |
Source : hurriyetdailynews.com
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