500 MILLION DOLLARS OF BOYCOTT ON FRENCH PRODUCTS

Turkish Press
Oct 24 2006

ANKARA – Reactions to voting of the French draft law that makes any
denial of so-called Armenian genocide a crime escalate among Turkish
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and people.

The draft will be voted in the French parliament on Thursday,
October 12th.

According to Sabah newspaper, Turkish enterprises, chambers, trade
unions and consumers’ unions are considering a boycott of 500 million
USD to consumer products imported from France. Especially imports of
sophisticated products will be slowed down as a first response. In
the second phase, imports of manufacturing products from alternative
countries is on the agenda. Turkey has made imports of 4.5 billion
USD from France in the first 8 months of 2006; 4 billion USD of this
amount is manufacturing and mining products.

A committee from the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of
Turkey (TOBB) will travel to France today to visit French employers’
representatives in Paris. The committee headed by Ankara Chamber of
Industry (ASO) Zafer Caglayan will point out the harmful consequences
of the draft if it becomes a law.

-PLANE ORDER SUSPENDED-

Turkish Ciner Aviation company suspended its order for a new Falcon
2000 type plane. Owner of Ciner Aviation and Sabah newspaper,
Turgay Ciner, called plane producer Dassault and said the order is
suspended until the draft law is voted in the parliament. Ciner said
he will cancel his order if the law is adopted in the parliament on
October 12th.

-NGO REACTIONS NATIONWIDE-

Chairman of ASO Zafer Caglayan:

"There is business that increase French businessmen’s appetite. It
must be clearly stated that they cannot be included in the tenders
in Turkey."

Chairman of Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce Mehmet Aslan:

"We will call on our members not to make business with French
businessmen and call on our people not to buy French products."

Chairman of Consumers’ Union Bulent Deniz:

"We will boycott a French product every week beginning on October
12th. We will increase this number gradually."

Chairman of YASED (Foreign Inverstors’ Association of Turkey)
Saban Erdikler:

"The reactions must be reasonable. We must not be agitated and punish
ourselves with our reactions."