Zeynel Abidin Erdem, Chairman of Erdem Holding and Director of TABA, the Turkish-American Businessmen's Association
Turkish-American relations are at their peak. Americans see that Turkey doesn't make any mistakes, is a civilized and strong state, that the military platform actually represents the unity of the nation - they understand that the US needs Turkey and Turkey needs the US. Despite the shakes in the political platform they support Turkey very much.
I see Turkey's EU membership as a must. Turkey is oriented towards being in modern civilization, able to protect human rights and freedoms, with GNP per capita reaching up to 20,000 dollars, solving all social problems such as education and health. If we remain out of these limits we will deal with problems such as Kurdish-Turkish; Alevite-Sunni; leftist-rightist; Turkish-Armenian, Cyprus and hundreds of others. All these problems are files prepared on the international platform and come in front of us time to time.
If we do well they put the green file in front of us - if they feel that we are going to break their balances they put the red file. PKK was an example of these files. The EU thought that Turks would dominate Central Asia and control the oil resources there, so out of fear of being unable to do anything over there without Turkey being the link, they made long term plans and used our Kurdish people against the Turkish state.
They supported the PKK in military and political aspects and caused us 50.000 lost lives. When they understand that Turkey doesn't try to control the region and doesn't lead the countries, they withdrew the red file, froze PKK problem and put the green file on the table. When Turkey solves its own problems and secures a national consensus, we can sit on a table for EU discussions.
This will enable Turkey to find credits, receive foreign direct investment and their partnership in our privatized investments. Ankara is the barrier for us to enter the EU. There are two government leaders in Ankara. They cannot reach the 3rd leader who is the Prime Minister. This is not their mistake, the law is so. No one can touch the PM according to the law.
Mesut Yilmaz makes very good attacks but cannot get any results. Devlet Bahceli makes very good work but is left at the corner. And Turkey loses time. 70% of a young population, a group of well educated young people, an enterprising group - these people are losing their jobs and becoming unskilled and ineffective. Turkey goes backward. This hinders us to enter EU.
The United States wishes that Turkey gets into the EU. The US convinced the F,U into taking Turkey into consideration and starting discussions. The F,U knows that Turkey is a strong friend of the US amid the instability of the Middle East and with entering EU, Turkey-would gain more stability. After Sept. 11 we all see the example. Turkey was supporting the US very strongly and showed a high performance. Turkey, but not Egypt or Saudi Arabia, could save the US from having the war on terrorism seen as a Muslim-Christian war.
In 24 hours, after a meeting of the cabinet, Turkey announced that we as a Muslim country were with the US, that this event was terror and could not be accepted. To terminate Bin Laden and terrorist groups we sent soldiers. Turkey is not a strong factor of balance in the world but it is in the Middle East. And it can be a balancing factor between the EU and the US in future.
Turkish Lobby in US
The Turkish lobby in the US is not strong. There are two reasons for this. The Turkish population is not very intense in the United States. The Greek, Armenian or Jewish people vastly outnumber Turkish people. On the other hand these people came years ago and got rich and effective in the society over time.
We have fewer Turks who also do not have much money. Turkey is balancing the lobbying, though, by making alliances with Jewish groups, otherwise Turkey doesn't have lobbying and is not successful.
TABA is in the center of the efforts to promote Turkey in the US and to develop bilateral relations. TABA is acting together with the American-Turkish Federation and DEiK, and also the Turkish-American Council, which is also very strong. We are very active in our offices in the US. After Sept. 11 we sent over I 5000 e-mails to all senators and congressmen, and also to the President, and got the reply from George W. Bush in 24 hours saying : 'Receiving your support mail made us happy. We have always had your support.' We are a non-governmental organization, but we act on inputs coming from our government.
TABA has almost 1000 members. Around 270 members are either partners or CEOs of American and European companies abroad. Around 700 members are effective business people managing big companies paying high amount of tax in Turkey and training young and dynamic teams.
What does Mr. Erdem think about Pamukbank being taken over by the state? Also, what about the Uzan Group celebrating its 46th anniversary throughout Turkey with concerts featuring Cem Uzan's speeches?
Causing an active group like Cukurova to collapse, a group which brought GSM and internet service to Turkey much earlier than many European countries, is a catastrophe. Mehmet Emin Karamehmet is someone I know very closely who doesn't spend money on luxury items, clothing, holidays, social life. Since 33 years he never missed a board meeting, was active in every issue, supporting every action. In order to get $1.5 billion from IMF you collapse the bank of a man who pays $2.2 billion in taxes. I do not think this is logical and I'm very upset.
As for the Uzan group, I think they are a very successful group in service of the country since 46 years. We never had relations with them, they are a very closed group and I don't know much about them. But I know that they are very serious and employ a great number of people. They have some international conflicts but I also know nothing about this issue. Cem Uzan is a young, well educated, dynamic and successful person speaking foreign languages. I hope that he would enter politics and work to change the vision of Turkey. I think that Turkish people see the truth, can see people and evaluate them. I think a young successful person like him would be a value for Turkish politics. Zeynel Abidin Erdem was born in 1944 near Mardin. After graduating Yildiz University Faculty of Chemistry in 1970, he completed the PhD program of Istanbul University Faculty of Management. He is the President of Erdem Holding Inc., Genpa Genel Pazarlama Inc., Ertel Erdem Telekominikasyon Inc., and Erdem Bilgisayar Inc. Along with many professional civic posts, he is the Honorary Consul of Sudan in Istanbul, the Director of Turkish-Spanish Business Council and of TABA-Turkish American Businessmen's Association. Dr. Erdem is married and has two children. He is an avid sportsman, enjoying golf, tennis and sailing.