'A Good Anchor'.(World Affairs; Roundtable)(Ali Y. Koc, Ferit Sahenk, Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, and Suzan Sabanci Dincer)(Interview)(Cover story)

Byline: Christopher Dickey and Rana Foroohar

Turkey's top tycoons speak out on ties to Europe, headscarves, the military and other controversies.

It's not often that you can sit down to tea in one room with the bulk of a nation's economic power. But at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, representatives from Turkey's four largest industrial families gathered together with NEWSWEEK to discuss the future of their country as it moves toward historic changes. Ali Y. Koc is CEO of Koc Information Technology Group, Ferit Sahenk is chairman and CEO of the Dogus Group, Mehmet Ali Yalcindag is CEO of Dogan Media Group and Suzan Sabanci Dincer is a board member of Sabanci Holding and managing director of Akbank. Their family holding companies control many of the nation's top banks, service firms and manufacturers. Below, they sound off to NEWSWEEK'S Christopher Dickey and Rana Foroohar about European double standards, headscarves, military might and hot money.

NEWSWEEK: Turkey has strong growth, a much more stable economic environment than it did a few years ago, and there's been so much progress around inflation, why bother with Europe? Why put so much energy into joining the European Union? Would it not make more sense for Turkey to simply keep the status that it has with Europe in terms of trade, but remain outside of the EU, with all of its red tape and restrictions?

Koc: IT'S no secret that growth is in the East, starting with oil-rich countries like Russia, then the Eurasia area, and the Gulf area. Most of the world's growth is expected around Turkey and to the East of Turkey. We have all the ingredients that could allow us to become the leader of this region. But, at the same time -- transparency, trust, comfort and stability--these are elements contributing to wealth in the Western countries. In order to be like that, you have to install and implement rules of transparency, human rights and fair competition. By fulfilling the EU membership requirements, this is what [Turkey] is trying to reach. Even if Turkey had no EU aspiration, we should still be taking those steps to reach our economic potential.

Sabanci Dincer: IT is a good anchor. It gives us good discipline. We have to look at it as a whole process.

Sahenk: INVESTORS and people around the world want to see the country going forward, socially speaking. That anchor [of EU membership] kind of put us onto the road. I totally agree with my friend Suzan that the EU for Turkey -- is a vehicle, or a set of values, and for us to be focused on this, we have to name that target. And that is the EU. And as the days go by, I hope that this gets into the roots of Turkish society, where we really go for the values, rather than just the sole target of being a member of the EU. And I hope that one day, Turkey will have the luxury of saying yes or no [to the EU]. We already have these values in our pockets. Turkey will be a great partner for Europe.