TUSIAD calls for public consensus on issues

Turkey's leading business group yesterday called for a public consensus on issues to ease recent tension in the country. Speaking at the annual Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) Board of Directors meeting, Chairman Mustafa Koc said that politicians in Turkey act like brothers squabbling over their inheritance. He said that he believes there is a desire in the country to advance Turkey from a developing country to a developed one, and this makes it hard to explain why politicians are acting in a way that risks the economy and democracy and threatens to alienate Turkey from the rest of the world. Koc argued the country is wasting precious time on political debates focused on short-term interests. "How can we endanger the regime and its main tenets?" he asked. "Have we lost so much control?" TUSIAD President Arzuhan Doğan Yalcindag, speaking at the same meeting, echoed Koc's remarks, arguing that political disagreements that would be normal in most countries seem to become incredibly destructive in Turkey. "Decisions of the Constitutional Court can be criticized, but repudiating the country's top court is unacceptable," she said. Stressing that the current closure case against the ruling party could be instructive, Dogan said, "The lesson here is to find a balanced solution without harming the system." She added that a national consensus that covers the needs, hopes and fears of all sectors of society is needed. Stating that the TUSIAD doesn't advocate constitutional changes, which she sees as a quick fix to long-term problems, Dogan added, "We're talking about a true national consensus document" which could be produced after a serious work of up to a year-and-a-half.