Whenever Turkey arrives at a crisis point, especially in the political arena, many people look to an unusual source for guidance and comment: the country’s business leaders. Since it was created in the early 1970s, Tusiad – the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association – has forged an influential role for itself as both a lobby group and a kind of non-governmental organisation that has as much to say about politics as about commerce.

Tusiad was the driving force behind a landmark report in 1997 on Turkey’s democratic development that still stands as a reference point for democrats and reformers. Its members, who include the business and financial dynasties of Istanbul and the new entrepreneurs behind the commercial renaissance of Anatolia, have also stepped into the fray on human rights, Turkey’s membership of the European Union, and the general business environment, often to the discomfort of the government of the day.