President Alan: “Our Priority Demand Is the Extension of the Incentive Law”

The January Assembly meeting of the Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held under the chairmanship of President of the Assembly Sedat Karataş, with the participation of Elazığ CCI Chairman of the Board of Directors İdris Alan, Nationalist Movement Party Elazığ Member of Parliament Semih Işıkver, MHP Provincial Chair Yunus Bal and Assembly Members.

Stating that the primary actor in the development of the city and the growth of its economy is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while the institution that clears the way for the Chamber and business people, removes the obstacles facing the business community and provides new opportunities and privileges is politics, Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry President of the Assembly Sedat Karataş said that the most important and valuable factor in the economic development of our province is the incentive law, and that the Members of Parliament of our province are making efforts to have this practice extended by a decision covering long periods.

Stating that they were happy to hold the first Assembly meeting of the year with the participation of our provincial Member of Parliament Semih Işıkver, who is sensitive to every demand of the Chamber and the business community, takes immediate action to resolve problems and always stands by the business community, Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry President İdris Alan continued his speech as follows:

“Our Honourable Member of Parliament, who sincerely takes on all the problems of the city, above all those of the business community, who, when necessary, speaks his mind without hesitation, and who, when necessary, especially when politics becomes needlessly tense, invites the parties to calm and common sense in a gentle manner, and who in this respect is the conscience of the city, has offered us his support and contribution without a moment’s hesitation whenever we have requested it.
As a Chamber, we have been extremely pleased that our Honourable Deputy brought to the agenda of Parliament our demands on many issues raised by us as the Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, above all the Incentive Law, as well as the extension of the grants and support provided to earthquake-affected provinces to cover the tradespeople and business people of our province, the Logistics Base Centre, raising the hot springs in our province to the position they deserve, our reaction to our Baskil apricots being marketed as Malatya apricots and many other issues, and turned them into parliamentary questions requesting answers from the Ministers.
I once again thank, in your presence, our Honourable Member of Parliament, who is devoted to Elazığ, shoulders every value of his city, takes these matters to heart and shows great determination in resolving them.”

President Alan:
“With Your Identity as a Business Person
You Are the One Who Will Understand Us Best”

Pointing out that MHP Member of Parliament Semih Işıkver belongs to a family that successfully conducts commercial activities in our city and that, before his term as a Member of Parliament, he was a figure who had undertaken important and prestigious projects both in our province and in our country, President Alan said, “For this reason, you are both the one who will understand us best and contribute to the solution of our problems, and, as a Member of Parliament, you are at the point of the solution and at the centre of it.
As you know, in 2017, during our first term as Elazığ CCI President, Elazığ began to benefit from the 6th Region incentives within the framework of the Attraction Centres Regional Development programme, which was implemented to eliminate the development gap between the provinces of our country.
This date became a turning point both for our city and for the business community, and an important step was taken towards our province becoming a production base.”

President Alan:
“With the Incentives, Our Investments and Employment Increased Rapidly”

Stating that with the investment drive brought by the incentives the number of our Organized Industrial Zones increased from 1 to 3, and the total industrial area reached 1,450 hectares from 410 hectares, President Alan said, “At present, approximately 15 thousand workers are employed on the 200 parcels in production in Elazığ OSB, Elazığ Teknova OSB and Kovancılar OSB, which is in the establishment phase.
With all the parcels in these OSBs entering production, this number is targeted to reach 30 thousand.”

Alan:
“With the Incentives, the City Wrote a Success Story”

Pointing out that this success story brought by the incentives was achieved between 2017 and 2026, in just 9 years, President Alan said, “The sole reason for this success story was that our province benefited from the 6th Region incentives.
In short, in 2017 one thing changed, and everything changed.
The Incentive Law, which led to important developments in the economic world of our city, was extended for one year at the beginning of each year until last year, and most recently, at the end of 2024, it was extended for two years, with your contributions as well.
The fact that the incentive period ends at the end of this year is making us investors uneasy.
This uncertainty we experience every year around the Incentive Law, which clears the way for our business community, encourages our investors and enables them to see ahead, causes our investors to remain idle and stagnant and dampens their enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, this situation deals a major blow to the real sector, production and exports,” he said.

President Alan:
“We Find It Meaningful and Valuable That Our Five Members of Parliament Are Conveying Our Problems to Minister Kacır”

Stating that they regard it as a very valuable step that the five Members of Parliament of our province will visit Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır on Tuesday regarding the inclusion of our province within the scope of investment areas, President Alan said, “First of all, we regard it as a valuable and very meaningful initiative that you have put forward a joint will and action plan with the five Members of Parliament of our province on an important issue for our city, especially on such an important issue that will directly affect our city’s economy, investment, production and employment, and we thank you on behalf of our Chamber and all our business people for the great effort and sincerity you have shown in this initiative.
Our request from you, our esteemed Members of Parliament, at tomorrow’s meeting is that, together with the agenda of investment areas, you convey to our Honourable Minister the insistent demands of the business community for the incentive law to be made permanent for our province or for a long-term date to be set, and that you show diligence in following this up.
It should be known that even if three more separate Organized Industrial Zones were established in an Elazığ without the Incentive Law, if the 6th Region opportunities in the Incentive System are not available, the city’s production, employment and economy cannot revive or grow. As long as the investors of our province cannot benefit from these opportunities, we have no chance, and can never have a chance, of competing with the provinces of our Region.
Our priority and, in the old saying, most pressing demand and wish is for the Incentive Law to be clarified and for its period to be extended over many years.
The issue of inclusion in the Investment Areas corridors where Industrial Zones will be established, which is on the current agenda of our province and will be discussed tomorrow by our Members of Parliament with our Honourable Minister, is of course extremely important and valuable for the coming decades of our city.
And this issue is an important project that will shape the industrial development of our province in the coming years.
We find this matter important and necessary as well.
However, these two issues are two separate important issues that must be assessed, followed up and resolved separately from each other.
As the business community, while we maintain our insistence on Investment Areas, which will have a long-term effect on the economy of our province, our current priority is for the Incentive Law period to be extended on a long-term basis, giving your investors confidence and removing it from their agenda.
The truly vital problem that needs to be solved here is not new land and areas that will revitalise the existing OSBs and boost new investment areas, but the long-term extension of the incentive law that will ensure the continuation and increase of these investments.
Because if investors see a long-term calendar ahead of them regarding the incentives, that is when the importance of investment areas will truly emerge and become valuable.
If there is no incentive law and it ends tomorrow, both our existing OSBs and the Investment Areas project on the agenda will be non-existent and worthless, and will never benefit the city,” he said.

Member of Parliament Işıkver:

“Elazığ CCI Is the Locomotive of the City”

Stating that the Assembly Members of the Elazığ Chamber of Commerce consist of very valuable names who carry the burden of our province’s economy and are its locomotive and of strategic importance, MHP Member of Parliament Semih Işıkver thanked Elazığ CCI President İdris Alan for his kind invitation.

Stating that meeting with the Elazığ CCI Assembly Members today was all the more valuable and meaningful ahead of the meeting they would hold tomorrow with Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, MHP Member of Parliament Işıkver expressed the following views in his speech:
“It is very nice to be with you today. It is very valuable for us to be informed by you, especially about the matters we will discuss tomorrow with our Honourable Minister.
You all know who we are. I, too, know all of you more or less. We have been involved in trade for many years. We were mostly in the contracting side of trade, but we also have investments in different fields. I am currently a partner in a real estate company as well. Here I especially thank my valued President İdris very much. As we go to tomorrow’s meeting, all of us as a city have focused on the following. Regarding these mega industrial zones and new investment areas, the Samsun-Mersin line has been announced. The absence of our province within this phase has prompted us to take action on this matter. Since I believe that the polemics we have experienced in Ankara on this issue have also harmed us, harmed the identity of Elazığ, the description of the people of Elazığ and the label of Elazığ, our valued Members of Parliament will put an end to this tension tomorrow and consider what we can do for our city and what we can ask for the city. We will fight this struggle.”

Member of Parliament Işıkver:
“I See That Without Incentives No Production Can Take Place in This City and We Will Face Chaos”

Recalling that Elazığ obtained the incentive law in 2017, during the first term of Elazığ CCI President İdris Alan, MHP Member of Parliament Semih Işıkver stated that employment, which was 955 before the incentives, has now risen to 15 thousand.
Stating that he can see very clearly already today that without the incentive law nothing can be done in this city, that the existing ongoing trade will somehow come to a standstill, and that we will be faced with chaos in which we will not be able to see the results of the success achieved here, MHP Member of Parliament Işıkver said, “I do not think that a law on its extension will come out of tomorrow’s meeting. But this is a process, this is a struggle. In 2024 we raised this insistently as well. We went back and forth. With the great efforts of our Honourable Members of Parliament and, above all, with the efforts of you, the Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we succeeded in the extension. Now we need to extend this until 2030 and be done with this matter once and for all. Whatever the way and method for this, we will fight this struggle in our Veteran Parliament, in the Council of Ministers, and before our Honourable President and our esteemed Party Chairman. You can rest assured of that.”