Mr. President

Esteemed Guests,

My MÜSİAD comrades in this cause, with whom I am honoured to serve this distinguished homeland

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I thank you for not leaving us alone at the general assembly of MÜSİAD, which has left 35 years behind it, and for sharing in our excitement; as a member of this great family and as its President, I greet you all with respect and reverence. Welcome, you have honoured us.

Mr. President

Distinguished Guests

I feel the pride of having been elected to this important post with your trust and support in MÜSİAD, of which I have been a member since 2010, in whose many levels I have served to this day and which I regard as my family.

I know that carrying out worthily this duty, which for me requires great sensitivity and effort to bear, will only be possible with the prayers of those who have a claim upon this cause.

Because in its leaven there is the tear of those who clung to hope despite pain, the memories of those who paid a price in the past, and the claim of a generation that managed to stand upright in spite of everything.

MÜSİAD, which emerged from the bosom of our nation and grew and flourished there, is the result of a return to the essence and of the desire to seek one’s roots.

The essence is the leaven of man’s creation, and the root is his past, his belonging, his faith, his history and his values. A nation that is not nourished by its roots is condemned to be lost in its own shadow.

As Akif says, ‘two or three axes will not separate us from our past’. It is with this understanding that the foundations of MÜSİAD were laid 35 years ago today, on 9 May 1990. In the time that has passed, MÜSİAD has played an important role in our country’s breaking of the chains of domination in the deep corridors, and in bringing production, industry and trade together with the true owners of this homeland.

With this consciousness, MÜSİAD keeps alive today the noble understanding of the 13th-century Akhi organization despite the 8 whole centuries that have passed, and strives to place trade on a moral foundation and to attribute what it earns not to itself but to God.

MÜSİAD;

  • is a movement of virtue that prefers winning people to earning money,
  • that has taken as its principle the hadith of our Prophet, ‘the trustworthy, honest, Muslim merchant will be with the martyrs on the Day of Judgement’ • and that strives to keep alive today as well the Market of Medina which he established 15 centuries ago.

MÜSİAD is not merely an economic organization; it is the product of a deep-rooted reckoning of Civilization.

On this occasion, I once again extend my gratitude to my esteemed founding presidents who laboured in its establishment and to all our members and veterans who keep us one and together under this roof.

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Mr. President

Distinguished Guests

The world economy has been struggling with inflation for the last 15 years. The Covid-19 pandemic, which occurred before the effects of the 2008 crisis had been fully overcome, and the adverse developments in our neighbouring regions, chiefly the Russia-Ukraine war, have slowed global trade and growth rates and have negatively affected the fight against poverty in many parts of the world. Again in this period, the world, faced with a Global Debt Crisis, has come to speak more and more of such topics as the labour market being transformed by artificial intelligence, the employment gap, and energy and food security. The world economy, which is seeking solutions to all these developments, is experiencing extraordinary developments of late and is preparing for an altogether different adventure with trade wars and the uncertainties they bring with them.

In this new period, in which the countries of the world will take their industries under protection out of concern over trade deficits, in which new trade blocs will form and in which we will see moves that transform the supply chain, it is evident that trade and production will become a political and strategic instrument more than ever before. At the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of ‘globalization’ was presented as the triumph of unlimited trade between countries and of the free market economy. However, the developments of recent years show that this situation has come to an end, or has at least changed form.

The Trade Wars, growing ever fiercer between the world’s two economically largest countries, appear before us as one of the most striking reflections of this transformation. If there is one fundamental lesson to be drawn from history, it is that – unfortunately – trade wars are after a while followed by real wars. Today, the savagery in Gaza and the economic tensions between the United States and China show that the wars of the 21st Century will be more and more “wars between civilizations”. In the period ahead, no National State will be able to remain indifferent to the issues of the

civilizational community of which it is a part; it will strive to be an effective “Civilizational-National State”.

Praise be to God that Türkiye, thanks to the National Initiatives our state has implemented in many fields, was prepared in advance for these days; while carrying the rate of Domestic and National Production to the peak point of the history of our country on the one hand, it has on the other hand further strengthened our ties with our Civilization and our roots. This success is a source of pride for our country.

Mr. President

All these developments show quite plainly that Türkiye will be one of the most important actors of the new world order.

As MÜSİAD Businessmen, tomorrow as yesterday we will stand behind the National Policy Implementations of our state and will always keep alive the excitement of this historic opportunity our country has seized.

In the new term, MÜSİAD will be positioned not merely as a business world structure but at the same time as one of the actors shaping the national and global economic future of Türkiye. In the coming period, MÜSİAD, besides increasing the influence of the Turkish Business World throughout the world and having a greater say in international markets, will develop projects that reach the broad strata of society and that will benefit the economic development of the oppressed Muslim geographies, and will be ready to take every kind of initiative incumbent upon it for Türkiye to become a regional leader.

My Brothers and Sisters!

We are the grandchildren of Mevlana, who said, ‘He who does not trust his own earnings will depend on the favour of another’, and of Ahmet Yesevi, who said, ‘Earn with your own hand, be a burden to no one; whoever you are in need of, he is your master’; we are the true owners of Anatolia.

These lands raise not only crops but people; brave people kneaded with their own labour, with sweat on their brow and warmth in their heart…

Seizing as an opportunity this period in which Divine Destiny has broken in our favour, we will use the economic and industrial advantages we shall gain not for our own interests, but as instruments of the cause we pursue in order to answer whoever uses the concepts of human rights and democracy as a mask and seeks a cover for its oppression throughout the world!

Our cause is an order of life. It is the struggle between truth and falsehood that has continued since the time of Adam. What falls to us is to stand upright, more than ever before, against unjust orders today.

With these feelings and thoughts of mine, I offer my most heartfelt gratitude first of all to our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has never withheld his support from us, who is the architect of a growing, developing and advancing Türkiye, and who has honoured our General Assembly with his presence. To my esteemed President Mahmut Asmalı, from whom I have taken over the duty today, and to all our past-term presidents, to our esteemed statesmen and to all

our guests, I extend my thanks on behalf of myself and the MÜSİAD Family for your participation….

I would like to conclude my remarks with the lines of Master Necip Fazıl, which express the spirit of struggle incumbent upon us today as it was upon our ancestors in the past;

My Mehmed, rejoice, heads held high!

Rejoice whether we die or whether we return home!

Do not think this wheel will stay stuck on the hump!

Tomorrow is surely ours, surely ours!

The sun has risen, the sun has set, eternity is ours!

I Greet You All With Respect and Reverence