08.03.2023 ANKARA
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the workshop organized by the TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council on the occasion of March 8th Women's Day.
Hisarcıklıoğlu, who
stated that they experienced the 8th of March International Women's
Day in a bittersweet way this year, said, “As you know, we have experienced a
terrible earthquake disaster based in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay, which directly
affected 11 provinces and approximately 14 million people. According to the
latest information, we have lost nearly 50,000 lives. 230,000 buildings were
found to be ruined, to be demolished urgently and severely damaged. The number
of people who are homeless or in need of shelter has reached a total of 1.7
million people. We have also lost friends and members from our community. I
wish mercy from Allah to those who lost their lives in the earthquake and
urgent healing to our wounded. Our deepest condolences to our nation.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said
that they created a crisis desk in Ankara on the first day of the earthquake by
asking what we can do for our country and provinces, “We sent 10 of our
colleagues to the provinces and districts most affected by the earthquake to
coordinate and determine the needs. We have identified emergency contact points
from the Chambers and Exchanges in the region. In coordination with 43 Chambers
and Commodity Exchanges in 11 provinces, we acted together with our Chambers,
Commodity Exchanges, Sector Councils, Women and Young Entrepreneur Councils all
over Türkiye. We ensured that the search and rescue equipment and all kinds of
necessities were delivered to the region. With the coordination of the Chambers
and Commodity Exchanges in the region, we quickly distributed all these to
those in need. As TOBB and the Chamber-Commodity Exchange community, we have
acted in a great mobilization spirit since the first day. We have delivered 6
aircraft, 7 ships and 3,900 trucks of relief materials, 41 trucks of tents, 970
containers, 141 mobile kitchens, 551 construction machines and mobile cranes to
the region.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating
that they were always in contact with the Women Entrepreneurs Council Presidents
throughout this process, said, “As our board members, you have worked with
great devotion and identified the needs in the field. You have tried to catch
up everywhere by acting collectively without making any distinction between
center and village. You have done tremendous work to meet the needs of
earthquake victims. Some of our women entrepreneurs voluntarily took part in
search-and-rescue efforts. Some of them also provided various aids to heal the
wounds in rural areas. I won't be able to name them one by one here, but I know
that you have organized business people without sleeping for hours or even
days, you have organized the aid with great devotion. You did not leave our
earthquake victims alone. I thank you all individually and I am proud of you.
May Allah be pleased with your efforts.”
TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu, emphasizing that they went to the region 4 times, saw the
disaster on the site, and shared the pain of the citizens, said: “In this
troubled time, we have witnessed that both our people and our private sector
have shown an example of solidarity that will be an example to the world. It
was almost as if 70 of our provinces flooded into the region. For those who
have experienced disaster in such difficult times, it is paramount they know that
they are not alone. This is what it takes to be a nation. We are all one with
our earthquake victim brothers and sisters. We are united to bring them back to
a normal life. We have conveyed the demands from the region regarding the
economic measures, incentives and supports to be taken after the earthquake and
the legislative arrangements to our Ministers, and we are following them. A
significant number of them have also come to life. But we're not done yet.
For those of us who
represent the private sector of our country, the real work starts from now on.
We will heal our wounds. We will renovate and build our cities affected by the
earthquake. We're going to get it back on its feet. In this context, with the
participation of our business world and philanthropists, we are launching the
campaign to build permanent housing in the earthquake zone very soon. We will
explain the details shortly. On this occasion, we call on our women and young
entrepreneurs and all our philanthropists to support the housing campaign.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu talked
about the projects they have started and said, “With our project from the
Supplier Earthquake Region, we invite our companies, especially large-scale
ones, to meet their raw material and semi-finished product supplies from the
companies in the earthquake region. I expect the active participation and
support of our Women Entrepreneurs Council. Let's make our supply of goods and
services from the disaster zone and let's get the businesses in this region
back on their feet. In addition, we have started to work to ensure that food
retailers operating on a national scale meet their purchases of agricultural
and food products and raw materials from the earthquake region. We continue to
work to ensure that e-commerce marketplaces do not receive commissions from
companies in the earthquake region. So far, 2 marketplaces have announced that
they have participated in this campaign. In order to revive employment and
economic activity and to reactivate the damaged production facilities, we are
launching a technical support campaign with the contributions of our members.Apart from these, we also want to receive your
opinions and suggestions.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said,
“The day is first and foremost a day of being one, being together, coming
together and embracing with the same feeling. The day is a day for unity.
Together we will overcome these gloomy and sorrowful days.”
Pointing out that
almost all of Türkiye is dealing with fault lines and earthquakes,
Hisarcıklıoğlu continued: “It is impossible for us to change or ignore this
fact. That is why we need to work on how to be better prepared for subsequent
disasters. After the fire disaster we recently experienced, our TOBB Women
Entrepreneurs Council took a very active role. Today you should discuss what
can be done specifically for the 11 provinces. Also, Allah forbid, if we
experience a disaster of this magnitude again, we should talk about how we can
contribute as the Women Entrepreneurs Council. We will heal our wounds together
with the spirit of solidarity and mobilization.I would like to take this opportunity to thank
once again our TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council president and TOBB Provincial
Women Entrepreneurs Council Presidents and Board members who are also on the
ground in the earthquake region and who did not spare their support for the
earthquake victims at any time.”
- TOBB KGK President Öztürk
TOBB Women
Entrepreneurs Council President Nurten Öztürk said that as TOBB Women
Entrepreneurs Council, they have been united since the first moment of the
earthquake and have built a very beautiful bridge of hearts. Öztürk stated that
they tried to add life to the souls and to be a balm for the wounds as much as
they could, and that they did not give up where they were not enough, and that
they needed continuity to live.
Nurten Öztürk, as the
TOBB Women Entrepreneurs Council under the coordination of chambers and
commodity exchanges, shared the work they have done in this process and stated
that they have been and will continue to make efforts day and night to overcome
these difficult days together and to deliver the aid to their places.
Öztürk said that with
the workshop they will hold today, they aim to design forward-looking projects
and applications that will accelerate the transition to the “healing and
resilient society” stages based on the needs of 11 cities declared as “Disaster
Zones”, and that the outputs of the workshop they will carry out on the topics
of physical needs, economic needs and psychosocial needs will guide them as
prescriptions.
Stating that “We must
keep the region afloat”, Nurten Öztürk said, “We must find permanent solutions
to ensure that earthquake victims find a place in society again and to be
employed. For this, as public and non-governmental organizations, we should
work in common mind and determine our road map. We should integrate our
earthquake victim guests from other provinces during their stay in our
provinces, but more importantly, we should strive to strengthen them to return
to their own lands. We will not be prisoners of pessimism. We will not stop
dreaming of the future. These days will pass. As long as we keep hope. We know
that we will be stronger in common solidarity.”