YENİ Party's first parliamentary inquiry motion rejected by AKP and MHP votes

The parliamentary inquiry motion submitted by the YENİ Party to investigate the problems in the textile and ready-to-wear sectors and to determine solutions was discussed in the TBMM General Assembly. In the vote held in the General Assembly, the motion was rejected by the votes of AKP and MHP deputies.

The session was chaired by TBMM Deputy Speaker Celal Adan. Before moving to the General Assembly agenda, Denizli Deputy Şeref Arpacı spoke on behalf of the YENİ Party group regarding the motion.

Arpacı stated that he had previously submitted a motion to Parliament regarding the textile and ready-to-wear sector, noting that in warnings he made three years ago, he had expressed that the sector's problems needed to be investigated and precautions taken.

Expressing that they received the response from the government side at that time that the problems were "temporary and caused by the global conjuncture," Arpacı argued that they had stated the sector was bleeding, but the necessary steps were not taken.

ARPACI: 35 PERCENT OF THE SECTOR HAS ERODED

Drawing attention to the losses experienced in textiles and ready-to-wear in his speech, Arpacı claimed that the total loss of labor force is over 500 thousand, 35 percent of the sector has eroded, and 10 thousand firms have locked their doors.

Arpacı stated that in terms of employment figures, the sector has returned to 15 years ago in textiles and 11 years ago in ready-to-wear, and that Turkey's share in the ready-to-wear market has fallen below 3 percent after many years. He also mentioned that exports have declined from 21 billion dollars to 16 billion dollars.

The YENİ Party Denizli Deputy argued that the incentives provided to the sector remained ineffective, saying, "Can a sector that is given 86 different incentives from different institutions end up like this? It does, because the incentives are designed not to be given. The conditions are very difficult."

Arpacı stated that the number of firms benefiting from foreign exchange conversion and employment supports is low, and that other supports remain insufficient to resolve the sector's problems.

Arguing that firms cannot profit from their operations due to the economic policies implemented and high inflation, Arpacı used the expressions, "The financial gains of the firms do not cover the losses they make from their operations; in other words, our firms are going bankrupt by working."

Arpacı stated that there has been an increase in concordat applications in the last three years, and that a significant portion of the applications came from industrial cities. Stating that the competitive power that the Turkish industry has built up over many years has weakened in the last three years, Arpacı emphasized that moving away from production carries risks for the future.

Following the completion of the deputies' speeches on the motion, the YENİ Party's inquiry request was not accepted in the vote held by AKP and MHP votes.

News Source: 12punto