Businessman association's political activities in Turkey: case of MÜSİAD

The aim of this study is to present the reasons of corporate political activities conducted by MUSIAD, one of the businessmen associations operating in Turkey, and the ways of practice of these activities. Some of the factors that affect the businessmen associations, created by businessmen who own companies and their involvement in political activities are the political conditions of the countries in which they operate corporate structures of the companies, size of the companies and their dependency levels on state. In this study, first of all, a literature review on the definition of corporate political activity, types of political activities, theoretical approaches on this subject, factors effecting corporate political activity and the results of corporate political activities is conducted. Then the journey from commerce chambers to businessmen associations in Turkey was examined by explaining the state-business relations in Turkey to understand the appearance of businessmen associations in Turkey and the activities they conduct. Then, the methodology used in the research, the research model and sampling are examined. In the final chapter, the data sets collected from the journal named Çerçeve, published by MUSIAD, one of the businessmen associations of the sampling, are examined by using Thematic Analysis methodology and 5 themes effecting MUSIAD's political activities were revealed.