Textile Workers’ Union Vice President Muzaffer Subaşı said that the Turkish textile sector is doing well in terms of production and that factories in south-eastern Anatolia have even been working overtime to fill orders.

He said Turkish textile sector continued to contribute to Turkey’s development and welfare “even if the problems and difficulties of the sector are ignored. He added that the sector was showing signs of recovering from the economic crisis and also an increase in exports.

South-eastern Anatolia has experienced a spike in exports recently, with a 22% increase in exports in October 2009 over a year ago. The region’s exports in the first nine months of the year compared to the first three quarters of 2008 dropped by 9%; the October rise, however, reduced that figure to 6 percent for the 10-month period.