ISTANBUL // Mustafa Karaduman is one of Turkey’s leading self-made entrepreneurs – and a devout Muslim.
He has made a fortune in the textiles industry with a string of factories and shops selling conservative clothes in Turkey, the Middle East and Europe, earning him the nickname “Allah’s tailor”.
But he has never sacrificed his belief in conservative values for the capitalist dream.
Turkey’s secular elites have long looked on religious businessmen such as Mr Karaduman as uncultured arrivistes, but as the country braces itself for the impact of the global recession, it is the very same devout businessmen and religious middle class who are emerging as a buffer against its worst effects.
At the Tekbir clothing factory on the outskirts of Istanbul, Mr Karaduman surveyed 350 workers bent over sewing machines and irons and promised that the free daily midmorning soup and afternoon tea and cake breaks would continue.
The snacks are believed to add to productivity. Nicole Hill / The National
“We respect humanitarian rules, it takes precedence over other things; they don’t have to spend their salaries on meals,” he said. “We see these breaks as valuable and it adds to their productivity.”
The workers, men and women nearly all of whom have families to support, looked pleased.
Although Mr Karaduman is not expected to meet his turnover of US$50 million (Dh183m) this year, he does not plan to cut back on zakat, giving 2.5 per cent of his wealth to the poor, a religious requirement for all Muslims.
“This issue will be crucial in an economic crisis because many charitable organisations are funded by the middle class and religious businessmen,” said Prof Recep Senturk, a sociologist at the Centre for Islamic Studies.
“Who else will do it? Our capitalists traditionally are not philanthropic. That culture has yet to develop among rich businessmen. They give some but it is a token amount.”
Last year, Turkey had 34 billionaires with a combined net worth of $58.7 billion, Forbes magazine reported in its annual rich list in March, but this year there are only 13.
Turkey saw a massive economic boom and between 2002 and 2006, when the economy grew by an average of 7.5 per cent after the government implemented a series of International Monetary Fund reforms. As a result, billions of dollars in foreign investment began pouring into the country and Turkey began exporting goods such as textiles and manufacturing products, including furniture and appliances.
These dynamic businessmen, called the “Islamic Calvinists” in reference to their strong work ethic and origins in the poorer region of Anatolia, were at the forefront of the boom that has produced thousands of blue and white collar jobs for the approximately one million Turks who move to urban areas every year.
In 1950, 80 per cent of the population was rural; today 70 per cent live in urban areas.
“I believe we play an important role in the economy because it is up to business to produce this and expand it abroad,” said Mr Karaduman. He arrived in Istanbul from his hometown of Malatya in the east in 1969 with $50 in his pocket and advice from his father to “behave yourself”. Today, he has sent most of his seven children to England for education and drives a 2006 Mercedes.
The company’s clothes are designed by his cousin Esra, 23, and are modest but fashionable affairs with long sleeves, loose skirts and colourful scarves.
“We tried to design our clothes to best suit Islamic rules prescribed in the Quran that tell your daughters to become veiled and our focus is this,” he said. “We are the dominant business in this sector.”
Prof Senturk said economic development has led to a strong and politically active middle class.
