German home appliance giant to keep investing in Turkey

German home appliance giant BSH Home Appliances' investment policy and production plans will remain unaffected by the recent political row between Germany and Turkey, the company's CEO Karsten Ottenberg said.

"We will continue research and development, and production in Turkey and keep on creating added value for its people," Ottenberg said.

Speaking with the Turkish media at the IFA Berlin, one of world's leading consumer electronics shows, Ottenberg evaluated the current situation and said that ups and downs in bilateral relations between the two countries may be experienced from time to time but it will not affect long-term business plans.

The BSH CEO told the Turkish language daily, Dünya, that the recent political tensions between Turkey and Germany would not affect his company's plans for Turkey and they will continue investing.

Pointing out that the two countries have a long history of cooperation, Ottenberg said, "As a global company that takes strength from this solid basis, we are producing in Turkey while creating value and employment for its people as well as our 8,000 employees and their families. In Turkey, we regard ourselves as a Turkish company and focus on our business. Our investments will continue uninterrupted."

Ottenberg emphasized the fact that many German companies that operate on a global scale receive a significant portion of their revenues from their non-German operations."Business and sales volume of some of the German companies that also operate in China have surpassed the ones in Germany. In short, if German companies would have changed their business plans in every political crisis, today there would neither be German miracles nor giant German companies," he said.

He added that the BSH's facility in Çerkezköy is its largest production center under one roof and that BSH Turkey ranks third in terms of size after Germany and China.

"Turkey ranks fourth among the consumer markets we serve with brands like Bosch, Siemens, Profilo, and Gaggenau. One of our three R&D centers in the world is in Turkey. 300 Turkish engineers are designing products for the world. We will continue R&D work and production in Turkey in the future just as we did in the past," he said.

Calling Turkey an important export base for the company, BSH Turkey CEO Norbert Klein said traditionally they had exported 60 percent of all products from their Çerkezköy factory, while the rest was presented to the domestic market.

He added that they had to shift some of that product to the domestic market in order to respond to an increase in demand in 2017, taking the export and local market balance to 55 to 45 percent.