MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı assessed the treacherous July 15 coup attempt and its impact on the Turkish economy. Emphasizing that MÜSİAD has always stood by the national will and has consistently fought against coups and coup plotters, as well as FETÖ and similar terrorist organizations and their affiliates, President Asmalı said, "From now on, our stance will continue to be in favor of democracy and the national will." President Asmalı made the following assessment:

“The primary purpose of all coups, whether military or civilian, is the transfer of resources, wealth, and income. For example, the September 12, 1980 coup is known to have caused profound damage, particularly to income distribution. This is because September 12 resulted in the entry into our country of multinational corporations driven by profit maximization in every field and thus expanding globally. Similarly, the February 28 coup, which we refer to as the ‘post-modern coup,’ is directly related to the bank embezzlement and corruption that increased in the years following it. Furthermore, this process was the primary factor that dragged the Turkish economy into the major economic crisis it would experience in 2001.

The July 15, 2016 coup attempt should also be evaluated in this context. In this sense, the target of July 15 was a Turkish economy that had paid off its debt to the IMF in 2013, had achieved positive growth for 27 quarters, had achieved stable financial and fiscal discipline, and was preparing to implement many major projects.

In each case, Although markets returned to normalcy immediately following July 15th thanks to the successful policies implemented by the economic administration, this uprising undoubtedly came at a significant cost. Initial estimates suggest that this cost, estimated at approximately 300 billion lira, has risen even further when its impact on sub-sectors is taken into account.

Undoubtedly, factors such as the dollar exchange rate, which stood at 2.87 on July 14, 2016, exceeding 3 immediately after the coup attempt, the selling pressure in the markets, and the disruption of production and economic activity further exacerbated the economic damage caused by July 15th. The Turkish economy, which grew by 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent in the first two quarters of the year, respectively, contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter of the year following the coup attempt.

Considering the current size of our economy today, we see that all these costs we have mentioned cannot overshadow the financial gains achieved over the past 20 years. In this context, we believe that the Turkish nation, who asserted its will on July 15th, will continue to preserve its will. What it has achieved is not only democracy but also the Turkish economy.

The FETÖ terrorist organization has not only destroyed our economic capacity but also poisoned and targeted our human capital. Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, our nation has thwarted FETÖ's treacherous coup attempt and thwarted its dark plans targeting our independence and future.

MÜSİAD has always stood with the national will and fought coups and putschists, as well as FETÖ and similar terrorist organizations and their extensions. Our stance will continue to be in favor of democracy and the national will.