Hisarciklioglu: Turkey Should Rapidly Get Rid Of Being Dependent On Foreign Assistance

ADANA - The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in Turkey (TOBB) Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu said on Monday that the negotiations with the United States in the last months showed clearly that Turkey should rapidly get rid of being dependent on foreign assistance.
Making a speech in a ceremony held by Adana Rotary Club, Hisarciklioglu emphasized the importance of economic indicators and said that the power of a country in foreign policy was measured with its gross national product.
Noting that foreign assistance brought harm instead of benefit as there was not a development policy depending on national resources, Hisarciklioglu said that stability could not be provided by linking economy only to foreign assistance.
Emphasizing that Turkey would have damages economically due to the military operation of the United States against Iraq as it happened in the first crisis as well, Hisarciklioglu said that the losses in measurable and accounted items could reach 16.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2003. He added that there was a loss risk worth of 70 billion dollars in the coming ten years and this loss could increase to 150 billion dollars with alternative costs.
Hisarciklioglu said that dangers which Turkey was face to face should be rapidly calculated with all dimensions and measures should be taken urgently. He added that if the government would not take Turkey to table as a founder after the war, Turkey would be one of the losers of war.
Noting that it was necessary to see the realities of Turkey, Hisarciklioglu said that Turkey had to be strong economically for not remaining on the background. He added that if this nation was not strong economically, it could not stay on this lands and those lands were the hardest geographies of the world where a weak and powerless nation could not exist for a long time. He said that Turkey's priority must be its economy.
Hisarciklioglu said that total foreign debt stock of Turkey was 50 billion dollars as of 1991 and it increased to 129 billion dollars in 2002. He added that national income per capita which was two thousand 660 dollars as of 1991 decreased to two thousand 586 dollars in 2002.
(GC-AÖ) 24.03.2003