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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000053 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE AND EB 
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - J.ROSE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINV TU
SUBJECT: TUSIAD ELECTS NEW CHAIRMAN; DECRIES DINK MURDER 
 
REF: A. ISTANBUL 42 
     ¶B. ANKARA 112 
     ¶C. ISTANBUL 38 
 
ISTANBUL 00000053  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  During the January 25 Annual General Assembly 
TUSIAD (Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association) 
members elected a new board of directors, naming Arzuhan 
Dogan Yalcindag the first female chairman in the group's 
37-year history.  Yalcindag's election was a foregone 
conclusion, a fact that prompted two members to call for 
greater democracy in the election of the next board as well 
as an impassioned defense of a system that rotates 
responsibility on the TUSIAD board among Turkey's leading 
business families by several current board members.  Outgoing 
Chairman of the Board Omer Sabanci and High Advisory Board 
Chairman Mustafa Koc used their remarks to decry the January 
19 murder of newspaper publisher Hrant Dink and to call for 
reforms to the educational system as well as improvements in 
the political climate and increased democratization in 
society.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  In a decision that had been accurately predicted by the 
press and the subject of conversation within business 
circles, TUSIAD members elected a new board of directors on 
January 25.  For the first time in the organization's history 
the board chairman is a woman, Dogan Television and Radio CEO 
Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag (biographic info contained in para 
8).  This decision prompted a number of speakers to address 
the irony of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessman's 
Association being headed by a woman and to highlight the 
powerful role that women play in Turkey's business community. 
 Women's increasingly important role in business was 
underscored by the January 24 Turkish Businesswomen's 
Association Award Ceremony where keynote speaker PM Erdogan 
personally handed out the awards and congratulated the 
honorees, including Businesswoman of the Year Hanzade Dogan, 
Arzuhan Yalcindag's U.S.-educated younger sister. 
 
¶3.  Two members chided the group for a seemingly undemocratic 
election, noting that Yalcindag's selection as TUSIAD 
Chairman had been openly discussed in the press for over a 
week, in some cases disparagingly with a play on the Dogan 
Group's campaign to increase the participation of poor and 
rural girls in the education system "Daddy send me to school" 
with "Daddy send me to TUSIAD."  They argued that because 
TUSIAD, in its role as the 'voice of the private sector', 
frequently calls for greater openness and representation in 
Turkish politics it was important that TUSIAD abide by its 
own recommendations in its internal workings.  These 
complaints prompted board member Cem Boyner, whose nephew 
Osman Boyner recently became engaged to Hanzade Dogan, to 
describe a system of consensus-based 'burden sharing' whereby 
Turkey's leading business families rotate the responsibility 
of serving on the TUSIAD board. Boyner's comments were echoed 
by several other board members who argued that this system 
was representative and appropriate for a voluntary business 
association. 
 
¶4.  Two recent deaths - the January 19 shooting of 
Turkish-Armenian newspaper publisher and activist Hrant Dink 
(reftels) and the January 24 death of former Foreign Minister 
Ismail Cem - featured in prepared remarks given by outgoing 
TUSIAD officials.  High Advisory Board Chairman Mustafa Koc 
used his remarks to decry the January 19 murder of newspaper 
publisher Hrant Dink as well as to call for improvement in a 
charged political climate that had given way to 
politically-motivated assassination.  Koc cautioned that some 
circles were resisting political reform and called on the 
business community to oppose those who would seek to change 
Turkey's orientation away from modern politics and a 
functioning market economy.  He noted that a healthy economy 
is not possible without a strong regulatory framework and 
active civil society.  He described education as vital both 
to society and to the economy and called for greater private 
sector support for educational reforms.  He repeatedly 
stressed the importance of maintaining a focus on the West, 
although he noted that a focus on the West should not come at 
the expense of relations with Turkey's neighbors.  Strong 
relations with the EU and the United States would complement 
good relations with neighboring countries. 
 
¶5.  Outgoing Chairman of the Board of Directors Omer Sabanci 
described Hrant Dink's murder as an event that would isolate 
Turkey in the world as well as destroy advances in freedom of 
speech and threaten creative thinkers.  This effect was 
confirmed by newspaper columnist and political science 
professor Soli Ozel who told us the murder would have a 
 
ISTANBUL 00000053  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
chilling effect on intellectuals and writers who would censor 
their comments to avoid endangering themselves.  Sabanci 
described TUSIAD's support for democracy as a key principle, 
noting that democracy protects the market economy as well as 
conserving resources, preventing internal conflict and 
creating political and economic stability.  He argued that 
Turkey still had a long way to go before achieving a 
developed democracy and called for TUSIAD members to work to 
change the political status quo.   Sabanci argued that 
politicians needed to be aware of what they say and of how 
their words affect listeners.  A charged political climate 
laid the groundwork for Dink's murder and it was society's 
responsibility to instead foster a climate that supported 
democracy. 
 
¶6.  Responding to criticism of TUSIAD's recently released 
report on 130 Years of Turkish Democracy by MHP party leader 
Devlet Bahceli, Sabanci explained that TUSIAD played an 
important role as the voice of the private sector.  As a 
voluntary organization, unlike Chambers of Commerce and 
Industry in which corporate membership is mandatory, TUSIAD 
is truly a non-governmental organization.   Now that Turkey 
has embarked upon accession negotiations with the European 
Union, TUSIAD must develop a new vision and a new mission, 
Sabanci argued.  When TUSIAD was first formed it was one of 
the few supporters of the market economy and EU membership. 
Now these goals are broadly accepted by intellectuals, 
however the bureaucracy and politicians still work to 
preserve the role of the state in the economy.  The private 
sector needs to remain vigilant with regards to efforts to 
keep Turkey out of the EU, government backsliding on 
privatization, and anti-democratic articles in current 
legislation.  Sabanci sees TUSIAD's new goal as advancing the 
vision of Turkey as a contemporary, secular, innovative and 
technically advanced nation. 
 
¶7.  Comment:  Omer Sabanci, who is stepping down after three 
years as TUSIAD Chairman, was a forceful advocate for 
modernization and transparency both in the economy and in 
politics.  Over the years he used his role as TUSIAD Chairman 
to criticize government decisions not to amend Article 301 of 
the Penal Code (criminalizing insulting 'Turkishness') as 
well as more recent decisions to delay privatization of the 
state run electricity distribution company.  Arzuhan 
Yalcindag is the face of a younger generation, but clearly 
has the support of a business establishment that is market 
driven, Western-oriented and devoted to a vision of Turkey as 
a modern, secular democracy.  It remains to be seen whether 
she will harness the prestige and influence of TUSIAD as her 
predecessor did.  End Comment. 
 
¶8.  Biographic Data:  Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag was born in 
¶1965.  The eldest daughter of media baron Aydin Dogan, she is 
a graduate of Bosphorous University.  She has worked in 
retailing, banking and media.  She established and managed a 
mail order company MILPA Co in 1990 and headed that firm 
until 1992.  From 1993-1995 she served as a board member of 
Alternatif Bank.  She moved to family-owned Milliyet 
newspaper in 1995 where she headed the finance division.  In 
1999 she developed a television news project that lead to a 
partnership with Time Warner and the creation of CNN Turk, 
which has been on the air since 2000.  She is currently the 
CEO of Dogan Television and Radio, a company established by 
her father Aydin Dogan, whose Dogan Media Group is the 
largest media corporation in Turkey.  She is active in civil 
society and belongs to a variety of business organizations as 
well as groups that support education and volunteerism.  She 
is married and has two children. 
 
 
JONES