PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS SITE: http://www.boycottturkey.org/

[asalafedayiwar]

Asala,
I think most of these goods come from turkey via Iran, as regards the quality/price, the clothes you buy in London are probably made in turkey!
Labels don't always tell the full picture.
I remember when I was a kid, the label might say "empire made".....it could come from anywhere in the world.

Oh yes, I completely forgot about Iran. I actually thought and read as well, that the biggest importer of goods to Armenia was Iran. However, I assume that it doesn't necessarily mean that the goods are produced in Iran.Ok, then what else except natural resources and textile we import from Iran (meaning also Turkey??)? And what is the role of Russia in today's Armenian economy? I am asking only about economy here. I mean what kind of alternatives do we have? Ok, suppose that people (Armenian suppliers first of all) boycott Turkey, from whom are they supposed to buy goods that cannot be produced domestically? And what if alternatives are much more expensive than the goods imported from Turkey? Will people agree to pay the difference just out of patriotic feelings?

Steph, regarding buying clothes in London. You are right, there are a lot of goods (not only clothes) that are labeled "made in Turkey". I always pay attention to such things. I think most of the clothes in United Colors of Benetton, Zara come from Turkey, although I am not 100% sure.

A friend of mine, who lives in the US, told me that he bought a picture frame from one of the US stores and it was made in Turkey. When he noticed it, he printed out some info about Turkey (about violations of Human Rights) and also added some references to boycottturkey.com and returned the frame to the store and asked for a manager. When the manager came he talked to her about the reasons why he returned the frame and gave her information that he had printed out earlier. I have got no idea whether that shop took any actions against Turkish goods (and I would be extremely surprised if they did), but still this kind of actions might make people consider importing goods from other countries. Who knows?? Maybe, when we go shopping and come across any goods produced in Turkey, then we should also ask for a shop manager and then let him/her know reasons why they shouldn't buy goods that were produced in Turkey. Maybe it sounds utterly daft, but it may work in some cases.

[Steph]

Asala,
I lived for some time in Ukraine and Armenia, at that time, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many goods of all kinds, from kettles to cars, were imported by air from Dubai. Every city, small and large had flights to UAE. Whether this still happens I don't know but for sure a large amount of quality goods are from UAE and Western Europe.

As regards boycotts, if one person decides not to buy one small item, in my view the boycott has worked. Not perhaps bringing turkey down in one move but little by little.......

[Turkish Pride]

Ultimately any type of boycott of Turkish goods will fail. Something like over 20 Million tourists go to Turkey every year just think about the amount of money they alone contribute to the Turkish economy.

Turkey also produces large amounts of foodstuffs and clothing which is distributed around the world.

Even Turkish goods are on sale in Armenia and I read an article saying that even in Karabakh Turkish goods can be found.

I'm not even going to even mention about the Turkish economy now being the 17th largest economy (in GDP terms) and growing strongly.

[Joseph]

Ultimately any type of boycott of Turkish goods will fail. Something like over 20 Million tourists go to Turkey every year just think about the amount of money they alone contribute to the Turkish economy.

Turkey also produces large amounts of foodstuffs and clothing which is distributed around the world.

Even Turkish goods are on sale in Armenia and I read an article saying that even in Karabakh Turkish goods can be found.

I'm not even going to even mention about the Turkish economy now being the 17th largest economy (in GDP terms) and growing strongly.

I agree with you to some extent. What I think we are reffering to is creating an actual awareness regarding Turkey's human rights record and genocide denial by way of using a boycott. This can have an actual effect, even if only acute. In certain areas such as textiles, Turkey has been losing ground to China so it could hurt them in that respect. Additionally, the more we spread the word and the more self-inflicted damage Turkey does to its own reputation (killing of Christians and so forth), the increased likelihood that tourism arrival will decrease somewhat.


As far as Turkish products go, since my last trip to Armenia, I've seen an overall decrease in the number of Turkish products (Turkish products flooded the market since independence in late 1991 by way of third countries) as Armenia has been incrementally producing there own (albeit slowly) and have also started receiving more and more products from Europe.

[Steph]

Ultimately any type of boycott of Turkish goods will fail. Something like over 20 Million tourists go to Turkey every year just think about the amount of money they alone contribute to the Turkish economy.

Turkey also produces large amounts of foodstuffs and clothing which is distributed around the world.

Even Turkish goods are on sale in Armenia and I read an article saying that even in Karabakh Turkish goods can be found.

I'm not even going to even mention about the Turkish economy now being the 17th largest economy (in GDP terms) and growing strongly.

A boycott can work on many levels, the personal satisfaction of selecting where one makes purchases and how, any contribution to a boycott has an effect, of course it does, no matter how small.

A very recent report on Euronews showed that German tourism in turkey, their main market, is down by 25%. Nothing to do with Genocide recognition but the Germans being tired of the street-hawkers and others who pester the heck out of all visitors. turkey should not rely too heavily on it's tourism industry, militant islam will turn Western Europeans away and other areas, such as Bulgaria and Croatia are gaining in popularity.

Needless to say, I will not spend my hard earned cash on turkey or, where I can help it, turkish goods.

[1.5 million]

Ultimately any type of boycott of Turkish goods will fail. Something like over 20 Million tourists go to Turkey every year just think about the amount of money they alone contribute to the Turkish economy.

Turkey also produces large amounts of foodstuffs and clothing which is distributed around the world.

Even Turkish goods are on sale in Armenia and I read an article saying that even in Karabakh Turkish goods can be found.

I'm not even going to even mention about the Turkish economy now being the 17th largest economy (in GDP terms) and growing strongly.

I agree with you in many senses - however let me ask - was ASALA a threat to bring down the Turkish Government? Well such a boycott is not really intended to ruion Turkey's (thriving?) economy...(Turks can pretty much take care of that by themselves I think - j/k)

[asalafedayiwar]

I agree with you in many senses - however let me ask - was ASALA a threat to bring down the Turkish Government? Well such a boycott is not really intended to ruion Turkey's (thriving?) economy...(Turks can pretty much take care of that by themselves I think - j/k)

ASALA never had any intentions to bring down the Turkish Government. It was not their aim. And we already mentioned, that besides harming the economy, this campaign may result in more people finding out about the human rights violations in Turkey. In addition, it may bring more attention to the Armenian Genocide denial issue and etc.

[Helen]

It is not only us looking for the same code lol


April 23, 2007
hi, the first three numbers in a barcode shows, from which country the product is, and 869 is Turkey, so when u would buy something and it has the number 869 then this product is "made in turkey" and when u r buying then u'd do something good for the turkish economy....

April 23, 2007
wow ... I`m working for 3.5 years in trading and i had no idea about this one i should be ashamed of myself! :P
from now on i`ll look only 869 ... barcodes items !
Go Turkiye! Iyi Bayramlar kardesim!

[Turkish Pride]

You guys are saying this boycott campaign will bring attention to human rights issues in Turkey. I know that human rights aren't perfect in Turkey but they are improving albeit it is and will be a slow process that cant be fundamentally changed over night. Outside pressure on human rights issues within Turkey is bound to create resistance to change within the country itself.

In any case sure Armenians and a few of their sympathisers might spend all that time whenever they go shopping to actively search out every single item they buy and make sure that item doesn't have Turkish origins. However what makes you think that Turkish companies aren't furthermore trying to diversifying their buyer base by expanding into newer markets to compensate for loses such as, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and an obvious one Central Asia.

Besides there is a large Turkish population within Europe itself on the whole they tend to live in geographic proximity from one another and as thats the case there are many Turkish shops which sell Turkish goods in Europe, the number of the Turkish goods stores are increasing as the Turkish demand for Turkish products increase as well. The money made from Turkish goods in theses stores easily outnumbers the kinds of money could be lost by a few Armenians boycotting Turkish goods.

So I beg to differ that a boycott wont do much to harm Turkey. As Turkey can guarantee income from other sources and the Turkish economy is expanding into different and newer markets daily.

1.5 million I dont recall using the word thriving, but since the AKP has been in power the greatest period of continual growth in Turkeys economy has occurred I may be against their Islamic agendas but if the economy can continue like this (next year Turkey will surpass Australia in GDP) then good I'd rather have a AKP government for 5 more years. Now if only they could hurry the hell up with other reforms then I'd be happy.

steph I dont know if street-hawkers are the sole reason for a down swing the Turkish tourism sector has experienced in recent times. Other issues are at hand here such as the bird flu crisis experienced in Turkey, Kurdish terrorism which has been targeting tourist places, the cartoon crisis also had an affect as has the Iraq war. So please dont try and paint some kind of picture whereby its the annoying people pestering Turks who have created a downswing in tourism. I know these street hasslers are a problem and dont worry the Turkish government is well aware of them and they are going to penalise them alot harsher in the future. Turkey is trying to appeal to tourists by improving local infrastructure in tourist regions (ie better road connections, railroads, bus and coach services, increasing the number of hospitals and their facilities, etc...)

Furthermore Turkey is diversifying its tourism sector clubbing in the beach resorts has recently started to kick off and is getting bigger and better by the year, Turkey is trying to appeal to backpackers and the regions its promoting for them are central and even parts of eastern Anatolia.

Finally the Turkish government invests alot of money on tourism promotion I seriously doubt a little known boycott campaign with a limited amount of financial clout could ever counteract that.

[Steph]

turkish pride,
If I wanted to paint pictures I would use a brush not a keyboard.
Euronews stated that it was the street-hawkers who had led to the drop in German tourism, not me.
Most holiday destinations have these folk, trying to earn a living and annoying most of us, but I think that rather than any other reason is probably the spread of militant Islam and the recent horrific murders of Christians, including of course, Hrant Dink.

The Kurdish terror tactics don't seem to deter British visitors to turkey, we deal with terror attacks in rainy UK so they won't stop our summer vacations.

Any extra markets found by turkey for her goods and services can still not replace the money lost from boycotts. True, my pitifully small contribution to boycott turkey will forever be unrecognised ( Mr Erdogan hasn't sent any begging letters yet!)
BUT A LIRA LOST IS A LIRA LOST.

I usually spend my vacation money in Greece and Italy, their gain turkey's loss.

I hope for your sake that turkey fails to attract the "clubbing" sector, as then you will truly see the dregs of humanity who have blighted holiday resorts such as Kavos (Corfu), Aya Napa (Cyprus) and Ibiza. You really wouldn't want these people because they will really and finally deter other tourists.
And how your radical Islamists will react to widespread alcohol and drug abuse, open-air sex in all it's shapes & forms and general mayhem. Interesting.