MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı assessed the treacherous coup attempt of July 15 and its effects on the Turkish economy. Emphasizing that MÜSİAD has always taken a stance alongside the national will and has constantly fought against coups and coup plotters, against FETÖ and similar terrorist organizations and their extensions, President Asmalı said, "From now on, too, our stance will continue to be on the side of democracy and the national will".
In his assessment, President Asmalı made the following statements:
"The principal aim of all coups without exception, whether military or civilian, is the transfer of resources, wealth and income. For instance, it is known that the coup of 12 September 1980 caused deep damage particularly to income distribution. For 12 September resulted in the entry into our country of multinational companies that act on the impulse of profit maximization in every field and have spread across the whole world by this means. Similarly, February 28, which we describe as a “post-modern coup”, is directly related to the bank looting and corruption that increased in the years that followed it. What is more, this process is the principal factor that dragged the Turkish economy into the major economic crisis it would experience in 2001.
The uprising of 15 July 2016 must also be assessed in this context. In this sense, what was targeted on July 15 was a Turkish economy that had closed its debt to the IMF in 2013, that had been growing positively for 27 quarters, that had brought its financial and fiscal discipline into a stable structure, and that was preparing to implement many major projects.
Although the markets returned to their normal functioning immediately after July 15 thanks to the successful policies of the economic administration, this uprising of course had serious costs. According to initial determinations, this cost amounted to approximately TRY 300 billion, and we can estimate that it increased even further when its effect on sub-sectors is taken into account.
Of course, factors such as the dollar exchange rate, which stood at 2.87 on 14 July 2016, exceeding 3 immediately after the coup attempt, the selling pressure that formed in the markets, and the interruption of production and economic activity further increased the economic damage caused by July 15. The Turkish economy, which grew by 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent respectively in the first two quarters of that year, contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter of the year in which the coup attempt took place.
At the stage we have reached today, when the current size of our economy is taken into consideration, we see that all this cost we have mentioned has not been able to overshadow the gains achieved in fiscal terms over the past 20 years. In this context, what the Turkish nation, which stood up for its will on July 15, managed to preserve was not only democracy but at the same time the Turkish economy.
The FETÖ terrorist organization not only damaged our economic capacity but also poisoned and targeted our human capital. Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our nation not only rendered this treacherous coup attempt by FETÖ fruitless but also frustrated its dark plans targeting our independence and our future.
MÜSİAD has always taken a stance alongside the national will and has fought against coups and coup plotters, against FETÖ and similar terrorist organizations and their extensions. From now on, too, our stance will continue to be on the side of democracy and the national will."