Konya exports near $4 billion as leaders assess risks

Türkiye’de İş Dünyası magazine held its “Ekonomiye Yön Verenler Zirvesi” in Konya on Oct. 13, where Konya Ticaret Odası President Selçuk Öztürk put local exports near $4 billion.

That matters for a city presenting itself as a stronger production base: Öztürk said Konya exported $80 million in 2000, making the current level a sharp increase over 25 years, Haberport reported.

The summit, organized by the İhlas Media Group magazine at a Konya hotel, brought together business representatives, municipal officials and insurance executives. Celal Toprak, the magazine’s editor-in-chief and moderator, said the forum was intended to publicize the city’s choices and vulnerabilities: “We are trying to reflect the city’s risks, opportunities and future investments in our magazine, and as İhlas Media Group to carry them to our other platforms and announce the issue to the whole public.”

Öztürk said Konya’s economic indicators had outperformed Turkey’s average over the 2000-2025 period, citing per-capita income and employment, while saying unemployment had stayed below national averages. He also said patent and trademark registration data placed the city near the top ranks during the past decade. The Haberport article did not provide the underlying datasets for those comparisons.

Öztürk attributed much of the export base to local capital rather than large foreign industrial investment. “While exports of $4 billion are being made today, a large part of this has been carried out by the city’s own investors and industrialists; large-scale foreign industrial investments coming from outside have been limited,” he said.

Risk management was another focus. Serdar Polat, general manager of Armor Katılım Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerliği, the summit’s main sponsor, said businesses should not treat insurance only as an expense and argued that cyber and financial risks now sit alongside traditional hazards. “The only thing you cannot buy when you need it is insurance.

Because after damage occurs, you cannot go back, buy insurance afterward and demand compensation,” he said.

Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi Ulaşım Daire Başkanı Hasan Görgülü said rail-system projects were continuing and that residents would see infrastructure improvements in the near term. He said the city operates about 700 buses with 1,200 drivers, covering roughly 120,000 kilometers daily. He also cited about 3,600 kilometers of daily rail-system operations and about 185,000 passengers on tram lines.

The article did not give budgets, financing details or a dated timetable for the transport projects. Full fares were reported at 29 lira and student fares at 12 lira.