MÜSİAD Australia Melbourne Branch Opening

19 October 2023

Dear friends, esteemed MÜSİAD Family,

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen,

I respectfully greet you all…

Welcome to the opening of our MÜSİAD Australia, Melbourne Branch; you have brought joy with you…

Our Distinguished Guests,

Since its foundation in 1990, MÜSİAD has entered into a very strong and effective organizational structure through the branches and representative offices it has opened both in our country and abroad. It has always been a pioneer and a guide in the field of organization.

Because one of the most important reasons for MÜSİAD's existence is to build a strong and lasting organizational structure. Whether at home or abroad, MÜSİAD has always believed in the power of organization in order to raise its contact with its members to the highest level.

MÜSİAD is a civil society organization with offices in 84 cities in Türkiye and in 85 different cities of the world, possessing an organization of national and international reach. Yesterday we held our branch opening in Indonesia. Today we are taking another very fine step for our organization and are holding the opening of two new branches in Australia. With our Melbourne and Sydney branches we are increasing our points of connection and expanding our family.

Praise be to God, for two days we have been experiencing the joy of being together with our brothers and sisters in Indonesia and in Australia, thousands of kilometres away from our country, and of relieving our longing.

Yet despite all this, one part of us is wounded and hurt… One part of us is furious at the crime against humanity being committed in Gaza… Our hearts are bleeding…

Israel's oppression has been continuing in Gaza for more than ten days. The massacres taking place before the eyes of the whole world became utterly blatant with the bombing of a hospital the day before yesterday and of a marketplace yesterday. The words to be said are now exhausted.

Our hearts are burning, our spirits are heavy…

Dear friends,

I say “heavy”, because as you know, the Israeli massacre has been continuing in Palestine for more than fifteen days. Today, more than yesterday, we are in need of and obliged to be one and united and to act together.

Israel, which commits a new crime against humanity with every action it takes, must be stopped at once. The words to be said against this oppression are now exhausted. The Israeli massacre must be stopped right now. The international community must act urgently and take the necessary measures against every kind of war crime.

As MÜSİAD, we condemn the war in Gaza and this massacre committed against humanity. We call upon all the actors in the region for justice, so that the war may be ended, peace may be established in the region and the crimes against humanity may be prevented as soon as possible. We say that the barbaric attacks against civilians in Gaza must be stopped at once… We will continue our struggle until an independent State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital is established. Let no one have any doubt about this.

Esteemed MÜSİAD Family,

Our Almighty Lord commands as follows in verse 102 of Surah Hud: “Such is the seizure of your Lord when He seizes the towns that are given to wrongdoing! Truly His punishment is most painful, most severe!”

As MÜSİAD, we have always stood by the oppressed, whatever their nation, religion or race. And we will continue to do so. From whomever the oppression may come, we must stand as one and united beside the oppressed.

Only so long as we are one and united and strong can we stand upright beside the oppressed against injustice… Only in this way can we make our struggle stronger.

What will make us strong is our being one and united. Not you, I, he; if we become “We”, we can bring out our own strength. Only if we become “we” can no power stand before us and can we become those who truly have a say.

If we are united and strong, we can intervene in the wars and the human tragedies that are taking place. If we want to support our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we must be strong. In short, we must believe in the power and the might of “We”…

Esteemed members of MÜSİAD,

For the past two days we have been experiencing the pride of bringing two of our branches, situated in different regions of the world, into operation at once. Australia, where we are holding a branch opening today, together with Southeast Asia is among the foremost regions with which we want our connection to the continent to be strong. Australia possesses a strong economic structure both as a continent and within its own immediate geography.

Economic and commercial relations between Türkiye and Australia began to develop mainly after the 1970s. In the trade between the two countries our country is generally in the position of a net importer.

The main products we import in our bilateral trade with Australia are gold, coal, pharmaceutical products, fruit and vegetables, machinery and inorganic chemicals. The main items we export are machinery, mechanical appliances, land vehicles, fruit and vegetables, iron and steel, plastics and their products.

Although Australia is thousands of kilometres away from us, it must also be said that there are a number of advantageous circumstances that will further strengthen the trade and the cooperation between us... The first of these is that our commercial and diplomatic relations have continued without problems for very many years.

It is observed that Australia's current exports consist mainly of natural resources, minerals and agricultural products, while approximately two-thirds of its imports consist of manufacturing industry products. When this foreign trade composition is compared with Türkiye's economic structure and foreign trade structure, the economies of the two countries prove to be of a nature complementary to each other, and this creates a favourable environment for the further development of economic and commercial relations.

Another advantageous circumstance is the presence of a very large Turkish population on the continent. Turks resident in Australia, the great majority of whom hold dual citizenship, have investments in such fields as food, construction, textiles, communication technology, wholesale and retail trade, painting, communication services, restaurant management, automobile repair and taxi driving. It is estimated that there are approximately 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises belonging to Turks.

I congratulate all our brothers and sisters who have undertaken successful ventures here and contributed to the country's economy. It is of course important not to forget the country in which you were born, our heavenly homeland, but the place where we have been fed is our other homeland. Your contribution to the people and to the economy of Australia is most valuable.

As MÜSİAD, together with our Australia Branch, we are engaged in an effort that accelerates commercial relations and seeks to establish new forms of cooperation both for our members and for the citizens of the two countries. In this way, alongside our commercial relations, our cultural relations will also become stronger.

May God be pleased with everyone who laboured for our branch opening. May God not let our labours go to waste.

Dear friends,

As I complete my words here, I thank all those devoted to MÜSİAD, from our founding cadre who laboured to bring our MÜSİAD to this day to the newest member to join our family. I pray for God's mercy upon those who have departed from among us.

I thank all our members, our branch presidents and the officials who laboured for the opening of our Australia Melbourne and Sydney Branches.

MÜSİAD has come to this day with faith, with love for the cause and with patience. God willing, by working day and night with determination, by God's leave we will shape the future too “as one and together”.

I hope that the opening of our Australia Branch will bring good things to the MÜSİAD community above all, and to our country and our nation. I greet you all with my most sincere feelings…

May God protect you.

Mahmut Asmalı

President of MÜSİAD