LASİAD (Laleli Industrialists and Businessmen Association) held its November Laleli Meetings on Thursday, November 2nd, at Laleli Wyndham Old City Hotel. Journalist İsmet Berkan was the guest speaker for this month’s Laleli Meetings. LASİAD President Gıyasettin EYYÜPKOCA delivered the opening speech of the program.
Following that, İsmet Berkan delivered a speech on the topic of ‘The Impact of Global Politics on the World and Turkish Economy.’ In his speech, Berkan highlighted, ‘Both the civil war in Syria and the developments in Iraq had direct effects on Turkey. We experienced and witnessed these effects everywhere in Turkey. Last weekend, the Turkish police prevented a significant attack, and we should thank the Istanbul police for that. There are aspects of terrorism that affect our lives. We may not feel it much in Istanbul.’ He added, ‘The civil war in Syria is an internal matter for Turkey. For this reason, your citizens’ relatives are living in Syria, and Turks have relatives there. It is not possible for you to turn your back. Therefore, Turkey became a part of this civil war.’
‘You should move your production to Russia.’
Continuing his remarks about Russia, Berkan stated, ‘The day after the European Union and the United States imposed sanctions on Russia, Vladimir Putin turned it into a significant move in domestic politics. He coined it as ‘We are self-sufficient.’ Food is the first step for Russia and Putin. I believe this situation will continue as long as Putin is in power. You should move your production to Russia. I cannot imagine a Russia without Putin.’
The President of the Turkish Footwear Industrialists Association (TASD), Süleyman Gürsoy, and the President of the Clothing Sub-Industry Association (KYSD), Murat Özpehlivan, also participated in the program.
