Umit Boyner elected to TUSIAD's helm

Umit Boyner, Boyner Holding's board member responsible for financing and investments, yesterday was elected the new chair of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD), after Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag stepped down from the position. The election took place during TUSIAD's 40th ordinary general assembly meeting, where Boyner and the new board were elected with 198 votes out of a total of 200. Speaking about the election's outcome, Boyner said that she and her colleagues "feel honor and great excitement to head TUSIAD for the next two years." Calling TUSIAD Turkey's most powerful, intellectually strong and independent nongovernmental organization, Boyner announced that next month the group will announce a program for a "transparent, concrete and accountable structure." Stressing the group's determination to pursue Turkey's EU accession bid, Boyner said businesspeople do not approve of "mocking" the target of full membership by 2014. "We do not want this issue to fall by the wayside on the nation's agenda," she said. "We constitute a bridge. We should not be swayed from our EU target due to the populist policies of European leaders." Boyner also said TUSIAD supports Turkey's full democratization, calling for a new civilian constitution for the country. In a speech prior to the election, outgoing TUSIAD Chair Yalcindag said the global economy needs a more participatory and democratic administration, underlining that Turkey, as a G-20 member and regional power, acts as the economic engine in a problematic region. International dynamics, energy geopolitics and coming economic developments all call on Turkey to play a more active role in the international system, Yalcindag said.