Crisis hits Black Sea town
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SAMSUN-The global crisis has nearly crushed Samsun in Turkey's Black Sea region, according to the businessmen of the city. "The number of those applying for the unemployment fund is increasing," said Hasan Kılı?aslan, deputy director of the Provincial Directorate of the Turkish Employment Organization, revealing that dismissals have already started.
As export orders have come to a halt and banks have started recalling loans, the crisis has crushed businesses in Samsun like a "sledgehammer," according to Orhan Sever, chairman of the young businessmen association. "It is not likely to end in a few months," he said. "The global crisis has resulted in declines of turnover as mush as 50 percent. Some firms have even bankrupted. I am worried about the upcoming months."
"In my life of 57 years, I have never seen such a horrible crisis," said Mehmet Sağlam, the owner of a delicatessen store located in Samsun's city center. Charge accounts have also increased, Sağlam said, expressing fears about what will happen when the crisis deepens.
At present, enterprises operating in the city's industrial zone, which provide jobs for 5,000 people, feel the impact of the global crisis. All actors of the economy are facing tough times in the city, which sees dismissals and leaves without pay. Samsun, the only city that cannot benefit from government incentives to the Black Sea region, has actually been experiencing a crisis for years. In the city, whose economy is based on agriculture and stockbreeding, 67 percent of the labor force is in the agricultural sector.
Small and medium enterprises dominate the city's industry. Samsun's most important products include cement, fertilizer, copper, artificial jute, auto spare parts, furniture, textiles and medical equipment. With 16 small industrial areas, the city has a total of 5,200 workplaces. As of September, nearly 180 firms sent the city's exports to nearly 100 countries and totaled $325 million.