TUSIAD after Weapons Industry

The pro-EU Turkish business and industrialists group TUSIAD said earlier this week that Turkey should support the United States of America (U.S.) in a war against Iraq. Many in Turkey and in the world are against this war. Associate Prof. Hayri Kozanoglu and Prof. Dr. Turkel Minibas talked to Bianet about TUSIAD's statement:

They believe Turkey's future is in the hands of the U.S.

According to Associate Prof. Dr. Kozanoglu, those who want Turkey to support the U.S. are scared of U.S.' reaction, and are worried that Turkey's International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed economy program may be hurt.

In order to better explain TUSIAD's approach, Kozanoglu reminded of February 28, 1997:

"In the February 28 period, the General Staff said, "We will spend 150 billion dollars on weapons in the next 10 to 20 years. We want most of this money to come from Turkish private sector."

The weapons industry needs big investments and technology. If something like this is going to happen in Turkey- not that we have any concrete evidence- it will happen through powerful industrialists like TUSIAD."

This is a war of resources, large companies will benefit from it

"The share from the cake of war is more important than ethical values," said Prof. Dr. Minibas. "This will be a war of resources," he added.

"Because this is a war of resources, the big companies have monopoly over the use and control over these resources. And because the big companies have monopoly, Turkey has no chance of getting a big share out of this cake of war."

Kozanoglu said some business circles have a different view on war because of the differences in trade relations:

"Our trade on developing countries like Iraq is composed of small things, like consumer and alimentary products. That is a region where the 'Anatolian capital,' of the Justice and Development Party mostly benefits from. But TUSIAD is an institution that mostly has close relations with Europe and the U.S."

They should reveal their expectations

Prof. Dr. Minibas, called on the business circles that want Turkey to support the war, to explain their expectations and calculations to the public.

"They should both explain how much they plan to benefit from a war, and tell how much it will contribute to energy rehabilitation and their market share in the outside world.," Minibas added. (NK/EA/NM)