volume 7 issue 31 - undersecretariat of the turkish prime ministry for foreign trade special issue

Turk Of America 1-13 12/30/08 1:49 AM Page 2

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I N D E X

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1 4 THE ROLLING MILL SUPPLIER FOR STEEL MILLS: GERD WOLFF Gerd Wolff works with many iron and steel factories, among which are the world giants. Bekir Sunman, a Turkishentrepreneur who joined up with Klaus Konrad to purchase Gerd Wolff in 1998.

2 4 GERMANY PRODUCES AND EMS TRANSPORTSEMS, which handles most of the overland transportation between Germany and Iran, was founded by businessman fieref T›rafl in 1985. EMS employs approximately 200 people in the transportation sector.

2 6 THE TURKISH FOOD GIANT OF GERMANY Baktat was established in 1986 by the brothers Mustafa, Kadir, Ali, H. ‹brahim, and Muharrem Baklan. Mustafa Baklan, the second son of Ad›güzel Baklan – a Turk who came to Germany to work in a foundry – was only 16 in 1972 when he came to Germany.

4 6 BERLIN: THE CITY THAT INTRODUCED DONER TO THE WORLD Remzi Kaplan, President of Kaplan Doner, is one of the businessmen who discovered East Berlin after the fall of the wall.

4 8 GERMANY’S NEW JEWS: TURKS It all began with an article penned by Prof. Faruk fien, Director of the German Turkey Study Center Foundation, entitled, “Europe’s New Jews.”

5 4 THE THIRD SIEGE OF VIENNA Turkish entrepreneurs in Vienna, the capital of Austria, focus mainly on the wholesale foods and gastronomy industries, just as their cousins in Germany do. Do & Co Restaurants and Catering, Etsan, Orient, and Hürpafl are some of the leading Austrian Turkish companies.

6 4 THE LARGEST TURKISH FOOD COMPANY IN AUSTRIA Macro Group, which was founded by Hüseyin Ünal, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Macro Group, has 13 supermarkets in Vienna, varying between 600-1200square meters in size, as well as three furniture stores.

6 6 THE MAN WHO INTRODUCES CEYLON TEA TO EUROPEAN MARKETSOrient, under its own brand name, provides all European markets, Austria being first on the list, with every kind of dried food. In 1986 Bakan became the first businessman to import Ceylon tea to Europe.

6 8 AUSTRIA’S VEGETABLE & FRUIT KING Presently, the Onur Group companies owned by Haydar Güner are Austria’s number one vegetable-fruit import dealers.

7 0 WEDCO: THE INDUSTRIAL PRECISION CUTTING TOOL Wedco High Quality Tooling, established by Edip Bay›z›tl›o¤lu in 1991, controls 10% of the Austrian market inproduction of precision cutting tools and dies.


It was in 1824 that the Americangovernment posted its first Ame-

rican Consul, David Offley, to thewestern Anatolian city of Izmir. Itwas only after thirty years of Ame-rican efforts to establish formal re-lationships that the Ottomans ag-reed to open this consulate.

Well, did the Ottomans have anAmerican consulate in the USA atthat time? While glancing thro-ugh the archives of the New YorkTimes, a record starting from1851 and stretching to the pre-sent, I chanced upon a story ofsome adventures of Turks livingin New York City 146 years ago.

An ad placed in a New York Ti-mes newspaper dated November22, 1863 was eye-catching. Thead was an announcement thatHatchik (Christopher) Oscan-yan, the author of a book entitledThe Sultan and His People wouldbe giving a lecture on the subjectof “The Women of Turkey.”

The announcement stressed thefact that the speech would be ac-companied by a number of pho-tographs detailing the lives, loves,marriages, dances and many ot-her aspects of women living inthe Ottoman Empire. Who was this Hatchik Oscan-yan? And why did he, in the1850s, feel the need to describethe Ottomans to the people ofNew York City? When I wentdeeper into my research, I learnedthat this Hatchik Oscanyan wasa rather colorful character.

Born on April 23, 1818 in Istan-

bul, Oscanyan was an Ottomanof Armenian descent. He was la-ter to change his first name fromHatchik to Christopher. In additi-on to Armenian, he also knewTurkish, Greek, Italian, French,and English. He soon attractedthe attention of Reverend Harri-son G. O. Dwight, an Americanmissionary working in the Otto-man lands. When Oscanyan’smother died, the missionary per-suaded him to travel to New Yorkin order to continue his education.

In 1835 Oscanyan traveled toNew York City and enrolled inNew York University (NYU), buthe fell ill and had to postpone hisstudies. He earned his living du-ring those years by working forthe company that was buildingthe Charleston and Cincinnati ra-ilroad lines.

He spent six years in the US befo-re returning to Istanbul, where hebegan to publish the first Armeni-an-language newspaper, the As-tarar Ptizantian (Byzantine Ad-vertiser). In 1843, when his en-terprising efforts ran afoul of theadministrators, he began wor-king as the private secretary ofTophane Müfliri Fethi Pasha, thehusband of Atiye Sultan and theson-in-law of Sultan Mahmut II,the 30th Sultan of the OttomanEmpire. (1808-1839)

While he was employed as a pri-vate secretary, he was charged bythe Palace with the responsibilityof purchasing the dowry of Sul-tan Mahmut’s daughter, AdileSultan, who was being betrothedto Mehmet Ali Pasha, the head ofthe Imperial Navy, or the Kap-tan-› Derya. This appointmentgave him an opportunity to havea first-hand look at the workingsof the Ottoman Palace.

Following this marriage, Oscanyanleft his position as private secretaryand began to serve as the Istanbul

TurkofAmerica • 07

representative for several Americanand European newspapers.

VOLUNTEER PUBLICISTIn 1853 he opened an exhibit cal-led the Oriental and Turkish Mu-seum in London. While this ef-fort did attract some attentionfrom the English, it failed to me-et with success, and in 1853 hedecided to return to New York,the city he had left in 1841.

In 1857 he published the 468-pa-ge book, The Sultan and His Pe-ople, mentioned earlier. This bookreceived wide attention in NewYork and 16 thousand copies we-re sold in just four months. Thebook was a wealth of informationabout the Ottoman Empire of theday, including information aboutthe dervishes, the city’s mosquesand the Grand Bazaar.

In 1868, Oscanyan, an authorwith palace connections who hadalso served as a writer, a transla-tor, journalist and politician, wasappointed to head up the firstNew York City Consulate of theOttoman Empire.

Were there enough Turks in NewYork City at that time to requirea consulate? According to rese-arch undertaken by Prof. Sedat‹flçi, a total of 1.2 million personsmigrated from Ottoman lands tothe U.S. during the years span-ning 1860 – 1921. Of these, 200thousand were Muslims and eth-nic Turks while the rest werenon-Muslims.

TOURING WITH THE GENERALIn 1872 General William T. Sher-man visited the Ottoman Empire,and Oscanyan was given the res-ponsibility by the Ottoman aut-horities of taking care of the gene-ral during his visit by acting as the“Representative of the Sultan.”When General Ulysses S. Grantserved as US president during theyears spanning 1869–1877, Sher-

man took his place as Comman-ding General of the Army.

Oscanyan continued to act asConsul until 1874. After leavingthis position, he continued inNew York with his literary effortsand he wrote the words to an Ar-menian opera. There are no re-cords as to when Oscanyan died.

He played a very significant rolein changing the negative Otto-man stereotypes. As he laboredto eradicate anti-Ottoman fee-lings, he also contributed to spar-king English and American inte-rest in the Ottoman regions. Heacted as a kind of liaison in for-ming a bridge between westernelites and the Ottomans.

Oscanyan had his own place inelite New York society. He was aclose friend of Ada Claire, a wo-man who was recognized as aleader among writers, artists andin the feminist movement. Very popular magazines of theday, such as Harper’s and Putnam,published reviews of his book TheSultan and His People. Putnamfound Oscanyan’s book to be both“comical and interesting.”

It is still possible even today tofind Oscanyan’s books being of-fered by antique auction houses.In June 2008, Green Valley Auc-tions, Inc, a company operatingout of Virginia, sold a work cal-led Oscanyan’s Oriental Album,a book that contains 24 drawingsof Ottoman daily life, for $4,520.

Oscanyan introduced the West tothe daily life of the Ottomans atthe end of the empire, at a timewhen the land was being brokenapart in nationalist uprisings. Henot only was the Consul of the Ot-toman Empire during those years,but also served as an ambassadorfor tourism, a writer, and a trans-lator. He is a person who deservesto be remembered.œ

Cemil Özyurt [email protected]

FROM EDITOR

THE FIRST TURKISH CONSULATE IN NEW YORK CITY

Hatchik (Christopher) Oscanyan.(Source: Oscanyan, C. “The Sultan and HisPeople”. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1857.


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14 • TurkofAmerica

THE CRISIS, OBAMA AND THE FUTURE

TURKOFAMERICA asked Turkish businessmen, who feel this crisis very closely,

about their expectations for 2009, the effects of the election of Barack Obama as president,

and the precautions taken in their companies.

Ekmel Anda, President of Unique Settings of New York. Ahmet Sand›kç›, Arcade Currency Palace, Inc.)

Engin Ar›k, President & CEO of Luminit LLC

Alpaslan Bafldo¤an, President of Asia Minor Carpets

HOW WILL BUSINESSMEN SURVIV ED U RING THE GLOBAL CRISIS ?

HOW WILL BUSINESSMEN SURVIV ED U RING THE GLOBAL CRISIS ?

‹smail Hakk› Ercan, Businessman, Former Chairman ofthe Florida Turkish American Association

Turk Of America 14-19 1/1/09 9:22 PM Page 2

On February 7, 2007, theReuters News Agency sent

its subscribers a seven sentencenews item. The news item saidthat the subprime and risky loansof British-based HSBC Holdingshad reached 10.5 billion dollars in2006, and that this was morethan 20 percent over what theanalysts had been expecting.

HSBC was the first bank to anno-unce such a high loss. Subprimemortgage credits triggered the glo-bal crisis. Following this, NewCentury Financial, which was oneof the biggest lenders of subprimemortgages in the USA, declaredbankruptcy. As the crisis that hadbegun in February 2007 began togrow with a snow ball effect, fi-nancial institutions like Bear Ste-arns, Merrill Lynch, LehmanBrothers, Washington MutualBank, and Wachovia were wipedoff the board.

According to the latest data, theeffects of the global crisis havespread throughout the world. Ac-cording to data of the AmericanCommerce Department, the fore-ign trade deficit of the USA was56.5 billion dollars in September,and its exports decreased by 6 per-cent. In this way the US sufferedits biggest monthly drop since Sep-tember 11, 2001. According to apoll of 54 economists, the GDP ofthe US will drop by 3 percent du-ring the last quarter of the year.

According to an OECD report,the GDP of the 30 developed eco-nomies will shrink by 0.3 percentnext year. In the USA this ratewill be 0.9 percent, 0.5 percent inthe European Union, and 0.1 per-cent in Japan. How has this crisisthat has enveloped the world af-fected the businessmen living inthe USA and in Europe? TUR-KOFAMERICA asked Turkishbusinessmen, who feel this crisisvery closely, about their expectati-ons for 2009, the effects of theelection of Barack Obama as pre-sident, and the precautions takenin their companies.

Ekmel Anda - (President of Unique Settings of New York) “THIS IS THE TIME TO INVEST. WESHALL REAP THE FRUIT LATER”New York, NY - Ekmel Andamanufactures jewelry, aluminumand chairs in New York. He emp-loys a total of 220 people. He saysthat in this crisis, rather than firepeople, they have embarked on anaggressive marketing strategy. Hesays, “During a crisis there arenot many companies that concen-trate on marketing and that areactive. While in normal conditi-ons there would be, say, a hun-dred companies actively pursuinga strategy, this would fall to 4-5during a crisis. We want to be oneof the 3-5 active companies in ourm a r k e t . ”Anda says that the jewelry sectorin particular is not a basic neces-sity, and as such it is easier topostpone expenses concerning it,but underlines the fact that saleshave increased by 15 percent du-ring the last month. Anda expectsthe crisis to last a year and a half,after which things will get back tonormal. “Within this context weare expecting the crisis to last fora total of 22-24 months. If weconsider that six months have al-ready passed, what we have leftbefore a return to normality is 18months.”. Anda says that once the marketsare back to norma,l the benefits ofthe investments carried out duringthe crisis will become clear, andadds, “Thanks to the efforts weare making now, we shall be 3 ye-ars in advance in comparison toour competitors once things getback to normal.” Anda underli-nes the fact that they have usedtheir own resources to carry outinvestments, without relying onloans, and says that even during acrisis there are many investorswho want to invest their money ingood investments. Anda says that he believes that theelection of Barack Obama to thepresidency has had a positive ef-fect on the population, and adds,“He is a young and positive presi-dent. He is a unifier. The names


around him are also respectablepeople. I hope that he will do go-od for both the USA and the restof the world.”. Anda says that Obama’s electionis an important step in the moti-vation of Afro-Americans, andadds, “I always present myself asan example. I started my profes-sional life in a gas station. ‘If I cando it, you can do better.’ Now ha-ving realized that one of their ownhas been elected president, thesense of ‘this means that I can doit also’ has been instilled amongAfro-Americans, and they will beable to have a more positive out-look towards life.”

Ahmet Sand›kç› (Arcade CurrencyPalace, Inc.) “THE FALL IN GAS PRICES WILL REVIVE THE ECONOMY”Palm Beach, FL - Ahmet Sand›kç›,the owner of Arcade Currency Pa-lace, Inc., the first numismatic sto-re in the USA, says that one of theelements that is preventing theeconomic crisis from deepeningfurther is the fall in gas prices. San-d›kç› says, “If gas is cheap, peoplewill go out and spend. The sale ofcars will increase, car repair shopswill do business. The price of agallon of gas has fallen from aro-und 4 dollars to 2 dollars. Thiswill have an effect in reviving thevarious sectors of the economy.”Sand›kç› says that as one of theUSA’s most respected numisma-tics, he has not been overly affec-ted by the economic crisis andstresses the fact that while 2007was not too good, 2008 was verygood from his point of view, andthat he was expecting even betterthings from 2009. Sand›kç› thinks that during a cri-sis, m o n e y collecting is a perfectinvestment, and adds, “You seethe state that the stock exchangeand the money markets are in. Amillion dollar invested in stocks ayear ago has now fallen to 150thousand dollars. In addition tothis, you cannot manage yourown money. It is the broker at thebank or your customer represen-tative who chooses in your place.

You cannot control your own mo-ney. But in case of a collection, onthe other hand, you have the chan-ce of managing your own money.You can lose 5 or 10 percent as am o n e y collector, but your losseswill never be 100 percent.” Hesays that Barack Obama’s electionas president is a ray of hope forAmericans and the rest of theworld, but he opposes Obama’stax plans. Sand›kç› is against ha-ving people with a yearly incomeof more than 250 thousand dol-lars pay additional taxes, andadds, “This is like dipping yourspoon in the soup prepared by bu-sinessmen, who for years have be-en working to employ people.”

Ilgar Peker – (Gastronomy & Real Estate Investor)“THE MOST DIFFICULT THING TO CORRECT IN A CRISIS IS LOW MORA-L E ”New York, NY - Ilgar Peker isthe owner of Turkish Kitchen,which is one of the best Turkishrestaurants in New York, and abusinessman famous for his realestate investments. Peker, who isactive in the gastronomy, gasoli-ne and real estate sectors, under-lines the fact that the most im-portant factor in a crisis is a lowmorale. He says that he did nottake any extra precautions forthe crisis since he always mana-ges his own companies as if the-re were a crisis. Peker believesthat the food and gas businesseswill be less affected by the crisisin comparison to other sectors.Peker says that the real estatemarket was forming a bubblebefore the crisis and that he ex-pects markets to return to nor-mal within 2-3 years. Pekerthinks that the real estate sectorprovides people with many op-portunities during a crisis, andthat during a crisis there are al-ways those with cash to invest.He thinks that between 9months and a year will have topass before good opportunitiespresent themselves. Especiallynow that the stock-markets havecrashed, people do not have


‹smail Hakk› Ercan (Businessman, Former Chairman of the Florida TurkishAmerican Association):“THE CRISIS CAN BE OVERCOME ONLYBY RENOVATING OLD INFRASTRUC-T U R E . ”Coral Springs, FL – Business-man ‹smail Hakk› Ercan opera-tes in Florida, which is one ofthe places where the real estatesector that triggered the econo-mic crisis has hit bottom. Ercansays that the economy can berevived if the government reno-vates public infrastructure thatis too old, such as roads, dams,and bridges. He says, “One ofthe policies of former AmericanPresident Franklin Rooseveltwas to revive the economy byaccelerating the construction ofdams and infrastructure. Thisadministration also might try asimilar method.” In addition tothese new sources of employ-ment, Ercan also stresses theimportance of reducing depen-dence on foreign sources ofenergy, but does not think thatBarack Obama will introduceradical changes, even thoughhis message during the presi-dential race was “change”. Er-can says that he voted for the

Democrats and that the mainfactor leading to this decisionwas the economy. He says,“The factor that most influen-ced people in this election wasthe economy. The other factorwas the unjust way of gover-ning of George Bush. In a way,being president of the USA me-ans also being the president ofthe world. A president has to bejust not only to his own people,but to all of the world. I hopethat Obama will take this intoc o n s i d e r a t i o n . ”

Ercan underlines the fact that inthe USA, political campaigns ba-sed on fear are not effective, andsays that for Turks to be effectivein the political arena the firstthing to do is to determine the ci-ties and towns where there aremore of them living. He also says,“In addition to this we have tounite in supporting a single candi-date. We have to forget distincti-ons like right or left, secularist orIslamist, and support a singlecandidate so that we can be suc-cessful in the elections. Turks ha-ve a mission concerning the elec-tions-- showing the Americansthat Muslims are not bad.”

many investment alternativesapart from real estate, and hehimself is waiting for good op-portunities.

The young businessman saysthat notwithstanding the crisis,constructive dialog between Re-publicans and Democrats washaving a positive impact on mar-kets. Peker, who did not vote onNovember 4th, says, “If I hadvoted I would have voted forObama, but since I did not seemuch difference between thetwo I did not vote.” The busi-nessman says that if he had vo-ted, his first priority would havebeen the economy. Peker says al-so that it would not be right toexpect Obama to solve the crisisimmediately.

Engin Ar›k (President & CEO of Luminit LLC)“THE STANDARDS OF LIFE WILL REVERT TO WHAT THEY WERE 50 YEARS AGO”Torrance, CA – Engin Ar›k, Pre-sident & CEO of the California-based technology company Lu-minit LCC, (a global provider ofinnovative light management so-

lutions for the display, lighting,biomedical, and machine visionindustries), thinks that in 2009there will be a recession in theUSA, Europe, and the Far East.Ar›k says, “They are talking ofthe probability of a depression,but I don’t think that’s very li-kely.” Ar›k says that Luminithad not yet been affected by therecession and that they were ex-pecting growth to continue in2009. He adds that the third qu-arter of 2008 had been the bestquarter of the year for the year.Ar›k thinks that nobody can pre-dict the time frame of the crisis,and adds, “The scariest thing isthat nobody knows what to ex-pect and nobody can makeplans. Anyway, the best predicti-ons up to now were of thosewho said the worst scenarioswould happen.”

Ar›k said that he was happy thatObama had won the election,and added, “Almost all other co-untries preferred Obama. Oneof the reasons why economicproblems increased was a lack offaith in the team in power. Oba-ma is a leader who is very intel-ligent, speaks very well and hasthe capacity to convince you. Atthe moment 70% of Americansbelieve that he will be able tosolve these problems. Even tho-ugh Obama says that theseproblems are so deep that theycannot be solved in a year or ina ‘term’ (and he is right), the factthat people trust him will makethings a bit easier.”

This is how Ar›k summarizes theway the crisis will change Ame-rican society: “I think that thestandards of living in Americansociety will revert to their formermore modest levels of half a cen-tury ago, and that this will con-tribute to the establishment of amore balanced society. In additi-on to this, a more participatoryforeign policy that is based ondialog, which is Obama’s style,will restore America’s reputationin the world.”



Harun Sevimli.

Vocelli Pizza.


Alpaslan Bafldo¤an (President of AsiaMinor Carpets) “LEAVES ON A TREE CANNOT FLUTTERBY THEMSELVES”New York, NY - Asia MinorCarpets, which is one of NewYork’s oldest companies sellingTurkish carpets and kilims, isknown for its products for theupscale market. Alparslan Bafl-do¤an says that just like all othersectors, the home furnishing in-dustry will also contract andthat one of the main problems isto get paid by customers. Bafldo-¤an says that since they mostlysell to high-income customers,their sales have not fallen bymuch, and compares the presentcrisis with the crisis in 1989 inthe following way: “The crisis in1989 was a financial crisis andthe stock exchange and moneymarkets suffered greatly. Backthen the real estate sector wasnot affected. But the present cri-sis includes both the financialsector and the real estate sec-tor.” Bafldo¤an quotes a saying of hisfather to explain the crisis: “Lea-ves on a tree cannot flutter bythemselves.” Bafldo¤an stressesthe fact that the crisis will inevi-tably be felt in every sector, andsays, “Considering our targetsegment, we cannot sacrifice forthe sake of cost cutting. There isalso no point in introducing newproducts during a crisis, becausethere would not be any demandfor it. The USA is a dynamicmarket. Its nature will let it reco-ver in a short time. And it is alsoimportant to recover morally

during the crisis.” Bafldo¤anstresses the fact that Obama’selection as president representshope and says, “Americans hadgot into such a state that theywere ashamed to show theirpassports. The new presidentwill introduce a new period anda new enthusiasm.”

Harun Sevimli (President of AmerTurk, Inc.)“THE CRISIS SHOWED US OUR WEAKP O I N T S ”Santa Clara, CA – Harun Sevim-li, President of the Amerturk,Inc. Company, which organizesthe sale of the unsold productsheld by great chain stores, stres-ses the fact that every day theyreceive lists of new stores thathave closed, but that there is noguarantee that these productswill be sold. Sevimli says thatthey have never preferred to firepeople during a crisis, and that


in fact they have just hired twonew people, one of whom is amarketing person. Sevimli saysthat if the USA invents somet-hing that will affect humanity,this will favorably influenceboth its spirits and economy,and adds, “In the same way thatman went to the moon, and the-re was the Internet revolutionand computer technology provi-ding jobs for millions of peopletogether with all its branches, asimilar great invention mightchange the history of thew o r l d . ”Sevimli stresses the fact that thecrisis led to the discovery of theweak points of the company,and adds, “If we had establishedrepresentatives in foreign coun-tries before the beginning of thecrisis, at the moment we wouldhave had great opportunities.We learn something new witheach experience.”

Sevimli reminds us also of thefact that before the crisis theyhad had great opportunities, butthat they had not had the possi-bility of profiting fully fromthem, because they had prefer-red not to get loans from banksand adds, “It is fortunate thatback then we preferred to investwith our own resources, becausewe now see the difficulties facingcompanies that took out bankl o a n s . ”

Varol Ablak, (President & CEO of Vocelli Pizza) “PEOPLE SHOULD OVERCOME THEIRF E A R S ”Pittsburgh, PA- Operating 135pizza stores in eight different sta-tes, Varol Ablak, President &CEO of Vocelli Pizza, says thecurrent financial difficulties willbe felt a year and a half fromnow. Ablak says that “To defeatthe current crisis, first of all pe-ople should overcome their fe-a r s . ”Vocelli Pizza, recognized by theindustry's top trade magazinesas a leader in the pizza sector,was ranked in the top 50 pizzacompanies for growth in PizzaToday’s national "Hot 100Companies" annual listing.Over the past five years, Vocellihas doubled its annual system-wide sales. They were activelyseeking new franchise partnersto develop new Vocelli Pizza sto-res and Ablak’s projectedgrowth rate was approximately30% annually. Reaching thecompany’s target, Vocelli ope-ned 10 stores in 2006 but addedonly four stores in 2008 andnow the total store number is135. Ablak says that before thecurrent global crisis, they wereplanning to expand internatio-nal franchises, but the current si-tuation made them focus on lo-cal markets. “We still have sameambitions to open stores overse-as, to go IPO, but right now weshould focus on the current situ-ation and markets.” Though hevoted Republican in the last elec-tion, Ablak believes that Oba-ma’s presidency promises to be agreat opportunity for the U.S.and the world.

Turan Kahraman, (President and CEO,Askew Industrial Corp.)“WE ARE PURSUING NEW CUSTOMERS AGGRESSIVELY”Los Angeles, CA - The currentrecession has touched just aboutevery company in the US manu-facturing sector. Askew Indus-trial Corporation, a 51 year-oldsupplier of production hardware

Turan Kahraman.

Haydar Güner


Edip Bay›z›tl›o¤lu – (President of Wedco) “THE MAIN REASON FOR THE CRISISIS INSECURITY”Vienna, Austria – In the Austriancapital of Vienna, Edip Bay›z›tl›-o¤lu, founder of Wedco HighQuality Tooling and president ofthe Austrian-Turkish Business-men’s Association, says that theeconomic crisis has caused a stag-nation in the market for cuttingtools produced for heavy in-dustry ranging from the car sec-tor to the electronics sector. Emp-hasizing that the main reasons forthe crisis in the marketplace areinsecurity and hopelessness, Bay›-z›tl›o¤lu says that, “While on theAutobahn, one vehicle stopped.Because the first one had stop-ped, the ones behind it sloweddown in panic. I compare thecurrent crisis to this.” Bay›z›tl›o¤lu, who points outthat Lehman Brothers’ filing forbankruptcy created a major cri-sis of confidence among depositholders, says that the Americangovernment should not have al-lowed the bankruptcy.Noting that they are continuingto maintain three factory shiftsin their production centers andthat they have not laid off anyworkers, Bay›z›tl›o¤lu states thatthey have pushed their invest-ment plans to the back burner.Stating that the crisis in Austriawill lead to a 5-15% contracti-on, he emphasizes that amongthe many countries with whichthey do business, in the crisis thegreatest financial difficulties willbe felt in Turkey. “Because inTurkey the business world isused to crises, they put on thebrakes faster. They quickly gointo their shells. There is notmuch loyalty towards the consu-mers, workers, and businesspartners. Big companies imme-diately extend the terms of theirloans,” he said. Touching on the election of BarackObama as president and how thatwill be a good opportunity for po-litics and the economy, Bay›z›tl›o¤-lu says he believes that 20 years

from now the child of an immig-rant family can be elected primeminister. “Today, French presidentSarkozy is the son of a Hungarianfamily and London’s mayor Ale-xander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson’sgreat-grandfather was a Turk.Why couldn’t my child one day be-come prime minister of Austria?But the important question here ishow Turkish would he still be?”

Osman Nuri K›r (President of PashaWhole Sales) “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR SALES TO BEAS HIGH AS THEY WERE IN 2004-05”Long Island, NY – Osman NuriK›r is the owner of Pasha WholeSales, a wholesale company thatmarkets products sold in the gasstations of Long Island and Que-ens in New York. He says thatbusiness has diminished by aro-und 30 percent as a result of theshrinking of the market. He sta-tes, “A gas station, to which I pre-viously sold 2500 dollars worthof goods, now buys the equiva-lent of 1700 dollars. Our biggestgain during this crisis has been thefall of gas prices. I consume aro-und 150 dollars worth of gas aweek. With the old gas prices, thisamount was much higher.”K›r, who added a new route tohis distribution web in Long Is-land, says that the route, thatwas sold for 149,000 dollars be-fore the crisis, is now during thecrisis worth only 70,000 dollars.He stresses the fact that a time ofcrisis provides you with ideal in-vestment opportunities. As for K›r’s expectations for theyear 2009, they are pessimistic.He says, “It is impossible for usto sell as much as we did during2004-2005.” He summarizes thepresent crisis with the followingexample: “140 people working ina DHL building near a gas stati-on to which we sold products we-re fired . 140 people, who everymorning at breakfast time wouldget a coffee and cigarettes at thegas station, have suddenly disap-peared. The sales of the gas stati-on will fall and this will directlyaffect my business.”�

to OEMs, is affected by the reces-sion primarily in two ways: 1-Lesser volume: As our customers(OEMs) reduce their productiondue to the lack of demand fortheir parts, they purchase less. 2-Lower margin dollars: The worl-dwide recession and the relatedreduced demand caused the ma-terial prices (for metals used inthe manufacturing of our pro-ducts) to plummet significantly.A drop in the cost of material wo-uld typically be welcome news.Unfortunately, the speed inwhich this happened left manycompanies with higher priced in-ventory. The other major effectof this sudden drop in prices is onthe profitability of the compani-es. Most companies’ overheadstructures are built to be suppor-ted by a certain amount of grossmargin or contribution margindollars. With the lower amountof contribution margin dollars,companies will have to lower the-ir overhead.

Askew has a two-prong responseto the current situation: loweringits overhead and growing sales.We are continuing to lower ouroperating costs in order to mana-ge our business with lower grossprofit dollars. We are also pursu-ing new customers aggressively inorder to grow our sales volume.The business models in which wehave operated for the last severaldecades have proven themselvesto be insufficient and inapprop-riate when faced with the challen-ges of the current economic crisis.Every company needs to be lea-ner, more determined and morediligent than ever before. Whilethe current crisis is devastating,the companies that will survivewill be much better prepared toweather future storms.”

Ahmet Halaç (President of Halac Iron Works, Inc.) “THE SOLUTION DOES NOT LIE IN ABIGGER STATE” Sterling, VA - Ahmet Halaç, ow-ner of the iron and steel manu-facturer Halac Iron Works, Inc.,

is one of the businessmen whohave not been too affected by thecrisis. Halaç, who builds schoolsin Virginia, Maryland, and Was-hington, D.C., says that their or-der book is full until mid-2010. Halaç stresses the fact that thecrisis cannot be solved by meansof state intervention in the eco-nomy, and says, “If the state hadbeen able to manage the eco-nomy and improve it, Russiawould now be the strongest co-untry of the world. If you un-derstand capitalism, you canfind solutions.”Halaç preferred not to make pre-dictions about how long the crisiswould last, and underlined thefact that the American economywas based on consumption, andthat this could not be changed.

Haydar Güner – (President of Onur Group)“THE ELECTION OF OBAMA WAS AGREAT STEP FORWARD”Vienna, Austria - Haydar Gü-ner, chairman of the board ofOnur Group, which is Vienna’sbiggest importer of vegetablesand fruit, says that Europeanmarkets, where the crisis was de-eply felt, was closely monitoringthe application of the decisionsmade in the USA, and that thesolution of economic problemshad to come from the USA aswell. Güner says that just as inthe rest of the world, the electionof Obama to the presidency hadbeen received with enthusiasm inAustria as well, and adds, “As abusinessman who lives far fromhis own country, I also thinkthat Obama’s election was a gre-at step forward. The fact that theson of immigrants can also beelected president is an importantstep that supports globalizationand the harmonious life for hu-mans promised by America andall developed countries.”Güner says that the GeorgeBush’s approach to humanityand human values had been ag-gressive, and that his greatestwish was for these errors not tobe repeated.




few years, but we need to keep inmind that we need to be patientfor investments in the US marketto produce results.

Can you tell us about programstaking place in the near future?A trade delegation traveled toMiami at the end of April 2008and another to the state of Geor-gia in October 2008. Meetingswere held with delegations of 20-25 people, especially on a sectoralbasis. Other activities planned forthe near future include active par-ticipation in important fairs, invi-ting Investors and Out-sourcingDelegations, the organization ofreciprocal seminars, the intensifi-cation of sectoral promotional ac-tivities in the US market, and the

While the impact of the fi-nancial crisis affecting the

whole world, starting with theUSA, is increasingly being felt, thepolitical and bureaucratic teamsteering Turkey’s foreign trade isseeking new ways of expansion.

Plans call for Turkey’s exports toreach USD 125 billion by the endof 2008. The target establishedfor 2010 is USD 200 billion. WillTurkey be able to reach that figu-re, and to what extent will thecurrent crisis affect targets? Howwill the crisis in the USA, the grea-test importer in the world, affectthe purchasing power of the USand the exports of other countri-es? We asked Kürflad Tüzmen,State Minister responsible for Fo-

have also focused on activities tolaunch a promotion campaign,which constitutes the most impor-tant leg of the strategy. These ac-tivities can be divided in two gro-ups, long term and short term.The activities we can define aslong term aim to a large extent toconsolidate the image of Turkeyand of Turkish products. Withinthis framework, for example, theTurquality project and other acti-vities by groups promoting hazel-nuts, leather and ceramics aims toconsolidate the image of Turkishproducts and to emphasize theelement of quality.

The implementation of the stra-tegy to develop trade with theUSA will continue over the next

reign Trade, about Turkey’s fore-ign trade strategy in the near futu-re and about its short and longterm goals.

What point have the activities ai-med at the US reached? What isplanned for the future?Within the framework of ourstrategy to develop trade and in-vestment relations with the USA,we first carried out a series oftechnical activities in order to es-tablish target states and sectorg r o u p s .

Now we have reached the stagewhen activities aimed at particu-lar markets and in accordancewith established targets will becarried out. In the meantime, we

EXPORT STRATEGY


TURKEY HAS AN EXPORTTARGET OF USD 200BILLION IN 2010-HOW WILL THE GLOBALCRISIS AFFECT THEEXPORT TARGET?

TURKEY HAS AN EXPORTTARGET OF USD 200BILLION IN 2010 -HOW WILL THE GLOBALCRISIS AFFECT THEEXPORT TARGET?

“We are planning on taking a major step towards exceeding our export objective of USD 125 billion in

2008 and achieving the target of USD 200 billion in 2010.”

State Minister Kürflad Tüzmen.

Turk Of America 20-21-22-23 1/1/09 9:25 PM Page 2

development of collaborationamong private sector organizati-o n s .

Activities conducted by promoti-on groups and the targeting of theUS market are also continuing.The Turkish Leather Fair, begunby the Leather Promotion Groupand first organized in January2008, will become a traditionalelement and a brand.

The project begun in 2007 in con-junction with the Turco-Ameri-can Businessmen’s Association inthe state of California with theaim of establishing a communica-tion network between Turkishand American companies will becompleted in 2008.

In 2008 we are also planning toinvite purchasing delegationsfrom US chain stores, exclusivelyfor Turkey and to show Americanimporters all the production sta-ges of Turkish products from alls e c t o r s .

On the other hand, seminars heldin Turkey for food and automoti-ve products to promote the USmarket will continue to be held inother sectors too.

What does Turkey need to do inthe field of technology?One of the priority subjects in ouractivities concerning the USA wasthe removal of Turkey from the“Special 301 – Priority ForeignCountries,” category, a classifica-tion that is made in considerationespecially of those companies thatmake technological investmentsin Turkey. Although it has nosanction power, this indicator isseen as a sign of the importancegiven by companies to intellectualproperty and it affects high leveltechnology investments. It is forthis reason that we continuouslyprovide the USA with informati-on on the developments takingplace in Turkey with regard to theprotection of intellectual propertyrights. Turkey has therefore beenremoved from the list of Priority

Foreign Countries.

In short, the objective of the acti-vities held within the frameworkof our strategy is to consolidatethe image of Turkey and of Tur-kish products, to increase our ex-ports to the USA, to draw the at-tention of US investors, and to de-velop bilateral relations in gene-ral, taking advantage of the posi-tive effect that trade relations willhave on political and cultural rela-t i o n s .

What can be done to increase sec-toral variety?The products currently exportedto the USA do not present a wi-de variety. Approximately 35%of our exports to the USA cur-rently consist of textiles, readymade clothing, and iron and ste-el products. Because of the focuson these sectors, an export prob-lem in these sectors can cause ourtotal export performance tod r o p .

We also need to calculate that theproblems in the housing sector,which have triggered the crisis inthe USA, can negatively influencethe iron and steel sector that playsan important role in the US mar-k e t .

In this context, increasing sectoralvariety and consolidating our pre-sence in the US market are two ofour main means to avoid being af-


fected by these periodical econo-mic developments. However, wemust also not forget that the USAis a market where there is a needfor long term policies in sales andm a r k e t i n g .

Which are the sectors that shouldbe emphasized?In the light of these data, it is im-portant that activities planned forthe near future and in accordancewith our strategy be distributed totargeted sectors and states, thatthere be some focus on other tar-get markets, apart from traditio-nal export sectors such as ironand steel and textiles, and that ac-tivities are increased. We can seethat there has been an increase inexports in the sectors of machineindustry, jewelry and ceramicsand we will continue to supportthese sectors.

We will continue organizing pro-motional activities that emphasizequality and providing incentivestowards branding, in order to suc-cessfully compete in the export oftextiles and ready-made garments

SHORT TERM ACTIVITIES AIMED TO DEVELOP ECONOMICRELATIONS WITH THE USA• The 3rd Term Meeting of the Economic Cooperation

Committee (EOK) and the 5th Term Meeting of the Trade and

Investment Council with the USA were held in 2007; the 4th

Term Meeting of the EOK was held in 2008.

• The 6th Term Meeting of the Trade and Investment Council

was held in October in Ankara.

• Meetings have been organized where information was

presented on the US market, with the aim of facilitating

Turkish companies’ entry into the market. Informative seminars

have been held for exporters in Istanbul, Gaziantep, Bursa,

Izmir and Ankara concerning the USA Generalized System of

Preferences.

• Conferences were held in 2007 in Ankara, Istanbul and

Izmir and in March 2008 in Gaziantep, Mersin and Konya,

on the “Kosher certificate.”

• Seminars have been held in Bursa, Ankara, Konya, Izmir

and Istanbul, with the participation of US purchasers, aiming

to promote the automotive and food sectors of the US market.

• These are mainly short term ventures that will introduce our

companies directly to their distribution channels.

• Apart from the existing trade representation offices in New

York and Washington, new representation offices were

opened in 2007 in Chicago and Los Angeles. The aim is to

achieve an increase in the services provided to our companies

in the USA.

• Trade and boutique trade delegation programs have been

organized since 2006 to target states. Many conferences,

starting with conferences jointly organized by the Foreign

Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and the American Turkish

Council (ATC) have been attended.

• The trade chambers of states, sectoral associations, and PR

companies relevant to trade delegations and Turkish

associations and chambers have been contacted, as well as

other organizations and individuals considered useful.

S t a t e

Minister

Kürflad Tüzmen with

T U R K O F A M E R I C A

executives Cemil Ozyurt

and Ömer Günefl.


EXPORT STRATEGY


and to empower our exporters.In this context, we are continuingto offer incentives to companiesthat wish to open offices or set uprepresentatives in the USA.

The main objectives that we haveestablished within the scope ofour strategy for the near futureinclude the diversification of ourexport products’ range with theaddition of products of high ad-ded value that embody high tech-nology and that are fashion andbrand oriented, the increase ofthe share of states other thanNew York within our exports,and the resulting reasonable in-crease of our share in the USA’stotal imports.

On the other hand, in spite ofall the recent unfavorable deve-lopments, the USA has occupiedthe 7th place in our exports forthe year 2007. We have no do-ubt that if we consolidate ourstrategy on the basis of our ex-periences we will definitely ac-hieve our objectives for the nearf u t u r e .

How will the recession in theUSA affect Turkey?In 2008, when there will be anincrease in the influence of the

recession in the USA, fair orga-nizations, purchasing and tradedelegation programs will conti-nue to be actively employed inorder to develop our economicdialogue with foreign markets,starting with the target countri-es. Preferential trade and freetrade meetings will be intensi-vely pursued. Our current posi-tion in the international cons-truction contract market will befurther consolidated. Trade po-licies will continue to be imple-mented against the increase inimports, which damages localindustries, and against low pri-ced imports that result in unfairc o m p e t i t i o n .

Work is underway that aims toincrease activities in the ChinesePeople’s Republic and markets inNorth and South America. Weare planning on taking a majorstep towards exceeding our ex-port objective of USD 125 billionin 2008 and achieving the targetof USD 200 billion in 2010.

How much success has been ac-hieved in these stages?Thanks to the superior exportperformance shown in recentyears, we can say that our co-untry has achieved success in

the first two steps. As for thethird stage, which consists of in-creasing the export of productshigh in added value, we areworking intensively on image-making projects and promotionand branding activities, such asTURQUALITY. These activiti-es give our country the opportu-nity to compete in fields otherthan prices, too. Over the nextfew years our exporters are go-ing to position themselves in ac-cordance with economic deve-l o p m e n t s .

Significant projects are being re-alized in the field of constructioncontracting in oil rich countries.Because of the financial accumu-lation in these countries, this pro-cess will continue in the near fu-ture too. High level economicgrowth is expected to continue inChina, India, and the Far East;some commentators even claimthat these countries will be ableto compensate for the recessionin the USA.

What do you think about theproduction plants of some sec-tors moving outside Turkey?It is very important to presententrepreneurs with an approp-riate and easy investment envi-

ronment. Cost is the most im-portant element in such an en-vironment. The fact that someTurkish companies are movingtheir production plants abroadbecause of lower costs is a natu-ral consequence of trade. Andanyway such a process is hap-pening all over the world. Thesame issues are being experien-ced in the USA and in Europeand companies are moving tothe places where labor costs arelower.

This situation no doubt has so-me negative consequences fromthe point of view of employ-ment in Turkey; however, thesecompanies bring their profits toTurkey and contribute to an in-vestment accumulation. Tochange this situation it is neces-sary to lower costs for investorsand entrepreneurs in Turkey. Inthis context, for example, fac-tors such as energy prices andlabor costs come into promi-nence in investment decisions.Last of all, an analysis is beingconducted with the goal to in-crease competitive power inTurkey, with the participationof all relevant organizations.We expect this project to shedlight on our work.�

U.S. IMPORTS FROM TURKEY (2003 to 2007) (In thousands of dollars) / OVER $50 MILLIONEnd-Use Code Value 2003 Value 2004 Value 2005 Value 2006 Value 2007

Fruits and preparations, including frozen juices 47,857 54,339 46,822 79,887 108,047

Vegetables and preparations 31,274 41,506 51,706 64,595 69,727

Fuel oil 39,017 50,899 123,365 83,846 73,000

Other petroleum products 88,476 67,996 354,598 150,787 252,376

Other (tobacco, waxes, nonfood oils) 154,203 154,357 189,027 161,489 183,550

Synthetic cloth and fabrics, thread and cordage 92,690 102,154 122,308 130,318 149,414

Finished textile industrial supplies 48,610 95,783 98,645 53,171 54,099

Stone, sand, cement, and lime 218,292 285,694 394,782 453,483 452,680

Iron and steel mill products-semifinished 212,776 887,697 458,677 918,807 269,422

Finished metal shapes & advncd manuf, except steel 38,767 75,351 74,872 124,251 146,334

Other (boxes, belting, glass, abrasives, etc.) 37,683 47,784 56,026 77,811 80,880

Other industrial machinery 43,503 51,667 64,515 61,509 64,338

Agricultural machinery and equipment 58,203 69,190 80,938 66,413 57,026

Parts for civilian aircraft 15,114 29,834 49,523 71,112 85,449

Engines for civilian aircraft 55,263 60,399 71,328 79,155 107,893

Apparel and household goods-cotton 1,218,827 1,116,483 931,808 698,523 589,534

Apparel and household goods-wool 45,187 74,346 85,418 52,316 58,529

Apparel and household goods-other textiles 253,075 270,197 250,070 290,115 211,547

Rugs and other textile floor coverings 41,489 59,273 75,221 80,892 96,792

Jewelry (watches, rings, etc.) 248,872 369,871 405,893 359,828 358,030

TOTAL (All imports) 3,788,189 4,933,808 5,182,052 5,359,038 4,600,537


ISTANBUL MINERAL AND METALS EXPORTERS’ ASSOCIATION

Turkey’s Leading Exporters’ Association

Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters’ Association (IMMIB) is a professional

establishment which deals with all of export activities at the export density regions and

affiliated to The Undersecretariat of The Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade. IMMIBconsists of 6 Associations;

o ‹stanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association

o ‹stanbul Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters’ Association

o ‹stanbul Chemicals and Chemical Products Exporters’ Association

o ‹stanbul Electrical-Electronics and Machinery Products Exporters’ Association

o ‹stanbul Precious Minerals and Jewellery Exporters' Association

o ‹stanbul Iron and Steel Exporters’ Association

IMMIB plays a significant role in the Turkish exportation as it represents more than

26,000 exporter members realizing about 32,3% of Turkey’s total exports in 2007

with the value of 34,2 billion dollars.

The basic aims of IMMIB are increasing the export potential and performance of

Turkey and contributing to the development of bilateral and multilateral commercial

relations of their members in their international activities. In that frame, the functions

and objectives of our Association are as follows:

o Organizing international buyers mission programs in Turkey and arranging

trade delegation programs to other countries for its members,

o Participating in international fairs,

o Monitoring and preparing sectoral datas, reports and market research studies,

o Publishing documents in relevant fields of members,

o Developing co-operations with international associations working on sectoral

basis,

o Solving problems and difficulties arising from the legal transactions that the

member firms encounter,

o Examining foreign trade regulations and laws of importer countries so as to

keep the member firms informed about the international rules,

o Enhancing export capabilities of our members by organizing Industrial

Design Competitions, seminars, etc.

Please ask for your reliable suppliers from IMMIB.

‹STANBUL MINERAL AND METALS EXPORTERS’ ASSOCIATION

Address: D›s Ticaret Kompleksi - A Blok Çobançeflme Mevkii, Sanayi Cad.

34197 Yenibosna - Bahçelievler/ ‹stanbul TURKEY Tel: +90 212 454 00 00 Fax: +90 212 454 00 01 e-mail: [email protected]

www.immib.org.tr www.turkishcosmetics.org www.buyfromturkey.org www.turkishstones.org

www.taj.org.tr www.turkishkitchenware.org


ring place for designers and arc-

hitects who come not only to

educate themselves about natu-

ral stone, but also to find inspi-

ration from the beautiful materi-

als showcased.

Designed by an award-winning

architect, the AKDO Showroom

in Connecticut is available for

the trade and their customers,

and showcases the company’s

vast collection of natural stone

slabs, tiles and mosaics. Also fe-

atured are tiles and mosaics in

slate, glass and porcelain. Visi-

tors can view stocked items first

hand, as well as see the very ne-

west in design trends, custom

options and new product intro-

ductions. The showroom’s mini-

malist clean lines create an art

gallery feel, perfect for the bre-

ath-taking array of mosaic pa-

nels, exotic slabs and stone tile

displayed there. In-house pro-

duct specialists are on-staff to

make the selection process fun

and easy. AKDO’s space also fe-

atures a warehouse and distri-

bution center to house its huge

inventory of products, allowing

the company to turn orders aro-

und quickly and conveniently.

AKDO’s unique racking system

and rail carriage allows desig-

ners, architects, retailers and

their clients to easily view its

vast selection of slabs from all

over the world.

COUNTLESS PRODUCTS

There are two Silkar/AKDO

showrooms in Turkey, one in An-

talya, and one in Istanbul. The

beautiful spaces display an

overview of the countless pro-

ducts Silkar can produce made-

to-order. Commercial contrac-

tors frequent the showrooms to

Hakki and Erdogan Akbulak,

brothers born in Ankara, es-

tablished AKDO/SILKAR after

Erdogan was diagnosed with

cancer in 1990. He came to the

United States for treatment, and

it was at this critical time that

Hakki realized how important it

was to spend as much time with

his brother as possible. He

pledged to start up a business

with him if he survived. Fulfil-

ling his promise, Hakki left his

CPA job and researched what

products he could import from

Turkey to the United States. He

settled on natural stone and wit-

hin a short while granite, marb-

le, limestone, travertine and sla-

te became the brothers’ passion

– imported not only from Turkey

but from 25 other countries as

well.

Today, the two brothers split ad-

ministrative duties for AKDO,

the brand name given to retail

products, and SILKAR, the name

given to the operations where

lection. The vast assortment of

AKDO products is available thro-

ugh a dealer network of over

1,000 locations throughout Eu-

rope and the U.S.A.

SUPERB QUALITY AND

ORIGINAL DESING

After the success of the stone

slab, tile and mosaics, AKDO ex-

panded its offering in the United

States to include glass – not the

regular low-end poured glass

variety – but beautiful hand-ma-

de collections of superb quality

and original design. An additio-

nal high quality product, thro-

ugh-body porcelain, has also

been added to the company’s

offerings. This is a business that

thrives on quality and brilliance.

The AKDO/Silkar showrooms,

located in Turkey and in the Uni-

ted States, are acclaimed for

their sophisticated presentation

of product, which creates a gal-

lery aesthetic unique to the in-

dustry. The spaces are a gathe-

both retail and commercial pro-

ducts are produced. Hakki is

responsible for the North Ameri-

can market and Erdogan mana-

ges the rest of the international

operation, including ownership

of six quarries and two state-of-

the-art factories in Turkey. The-

se stone production facilities oc-

cupy an impressive 1,356,250

square foot space. The cutting

edge equipment housed at the

factories allows for countless

options for customized pro-

ducts, perfect for commercial

projects. It also allows the rese-

arch and development teams on

both continents to produce ori-

ginal stone mosaic collections

that are highly esteemed within

the industry, and coveted by in-

terior designers. With thou-

sands of products supplied by

Silkar’s manufacturing plants,

coupled with numerous resour-

ces for slabs and tiles from aro-

und the world, the AKDO brand

is able to offer customers the

very best in both quality and se-

A D V E R T O R I A L


P A S S I O NP A S S I O NTHE BROTHERS’

Erdogan Akbulak was diagnosed with cancer in 1990. He came to the United States for treatment, and it was at thiscritical time that his brother Hakki realized how important it was to spend as much time with his brother as possible.


browse products and meet with

Silkar’s experienced Architectu-

ral Department. This depart-

ment employs several architects

who work to make every com-

mercial project seamless. They

do this by analyzing the job’s

plans to provide the perfect pro-

duct, and offering solutions to

keep a project within budget.

Customers can also take advan-

tage of Silkar’s 3D software,

which allows them to build a

three-dimensional rendering of

whatever space they need natu-

ral stone products for.

The AKDO brand has come to

represent innovation and com-

mitment to quality. Their mosa-

ic designers have mastered the

art of creating original patterns

that are instant classics, sure to

stand the test of time. The key

to the success of the products is

that cutting-edge products are

produced from classic stones to

generate mosaics that have an

appealing aesthetic, suitable for

both contemporary and traditio-

nal environments. The proprie-

tary mosaic designs are exhibi-

ted at several annual internatio-

nal trade shows in award-win-

ning booths, always attracting

the attention of the industry.

AKDO/Silkar is equally as com-

mitted to providing superb cus-

tomer service. The product is of

the highest possible standard

and it is vital to maintain this ex-

cellence in every facet of the

company. To this end, on-going

training is high on the list of fun-

damentals for each department.

The caliber of the employees is

an added value to all of the AK-

DO/Silkar customers.

OVER 100 PEOPLE

The growth of this company is

legend – from its humble begin-

nings back in the 1990’s it has

expanded greatly. The United

States operation started out as

a source for retail products and

residential spaces. It now also

employs a commercial and hos-

pitality division. Apart from the

Connecticut location, which

supports a staff of over 100 pe-

ople, there is a thriving Califor-

nian location, a manufacturing

facility in China and imminent

operation in Atlanta, Georgia.

The European side of business

provides over 400 people with

jobs, and for over a decade has

been a leader in fulfilling natural

stone needs for commercial pro-

jects. A German showroom is

slated for next year.

Hakki and Erdogan Akbulak’s

dream was born from a tragic si-

tuation and realized through

hard work and passion for inno-

vation. The brother’s collabora-

tion fulfilled it’s mission of

strengthening the bond betwe-

en family, and across the world

people benefit: through desig-

ning with AKDO products, wor-

king with helpful AKDO/Silkar

representatives, and being emp-

loyed at one of the many locati-

ons across the world.�


THE AKDO/SILKARS H O W R O O M S ,

LOCATED IN TURKEYAND IN THE UNITED

STATES, AREACCLAIMED FOR THEIR

S O P H I S T I C A T E DPRESENTATION OFPRODUCT, WHICH

CREATES A GALLERYAESTHETIC UNIQUE TO

THE INDUSTRY.


examined in the iron bar exportsin question there was an exportof 359 thousand tons last yearand this export has deterioratedin the past ten months to 224thousand tons. However therehas been an increase on otheritems. Turkey also exports pipes,HRP steel and wire rod to theUnited States. Our pipe exporthas reached 116.4 t h o u s a n d t o n sin the first ten months, our w i r er o d export reached 111 thousand

tons and our HRP steel export re-ached 116 thousand tons. Therewere serious increases in the ex-ports of these three products. Due to the problems faced inthe American market when itcame to iron bars, Turkey chan-ged its course to the PersianGulf and with the increase inthe price of oil and the increasein the investments in this areathere was a larger share of themarket to be had.

Is there a possibility that theUnited States will not importTurkish iron bars, therefore jeo-pardizing its own sector in themeantime? (As far as I knowTurkey imports the raw materi-als for the iron bars from theUnited States) Turkey is the largest buyer whenit comes to American iron andsteel scrap exports. Turkey’s ye-arly iron and steel scrap i m p o r t sin 2007 reached 17.1 milliontons. 3.9 million tons of this wasfrom the United States market. Inthe first 6 months of 2008 2.3million tons of iron and steels c r a p was imported from theAmerican market. The monetaryvalue of this is over a billion dol-lars in six months. In otherwords, the volume of our i r o nand steel scrap imports is higherin value then our steel exports.

It is a fact that the companieswithin the iron steel sector inTurkey have proven experience,knowledge and capital accumu-lation in this area. Besides newexport ventures, is it possible tofollow a strategy of “investingspecifically within the United

The United States importsiron and steel products from

27 countries around the world,including Turkey. As Turkey’sexports to the United States re-ached 642.7 million dollars inthe first 10 months of 2008, andeven though there were certainsetbacks recently, Turkey is stillassertive in the American mar-ket when it comes to constructi-on iron (Bars-Reinforcing). Atthe end of 2006, with 1.1 milli-on tons of construction iron,Turkey was the largest supplierto the United States. Turkeytranscended the setback in theiron bar market in America bydirecting itself to the PersianGulf.

Istanbul Iron and Steel Expor-t e r s’ Association President Ser-dar Koçtürk spoke to TURKO-FAMERICA about the structu-ring of the iron-steel sector andthe demands of the Americanmarket during this economiccrisis.

Could you speak especially abo-ut how the iron steel sector,which at the end of 2006 had re-ached 1 billion dollars in ex-ports to the United States, fell to300 million dollars in 2007 and491 million dollars in the firstnine months of 2008? Whatkind of expansion did the Tur-kish iron steel sector make du-ring this time in the export mar-ket? To evaluate Turkey’s iron steelexports to the United States ona value base would not be he-althy due to the extreme fluctu-ations of the unit price. It would

be healthier to evaluate it on aquantity base. If you look at itfrom a value base, then Tur-key’s exports to the United Sta-tes reached 642.7 million dol-lars in the first 10 months of2008. Last year it had reached264.4 million dollars in the firstten months. When looked at ona value base that is an increaseof 143% but at a quantity basethere is only a 40% increase.When the export product base is


TURKISH STEEL INDUSTRY

TURKEY IS THE LARGEST BUYER OF UNITEDSTATES IRON AND STEEL SCRAP EXPORTS At the end of 2006, with 1.1 million tons of construction iron, Turkey was the largest supplier to the

United States. Turkey transcended the setback in the iron bar market in America by directing itself to thePersian Gulf.

Serdar Koçtürk, President of Istanbul Iron and Steel Exporters Association


States in order to be close to thecustomer and to make a placefor oneself as a direct manufac-turer in the market”? It is very logical for Turkish ma-nufacturers to invest in the UnitedStates. The United States is thelargest iron and steel scrap s u p p l i-er in the world. It also importslong steels. It can be foreseen thatin the event that Turkey does notfill this void, others will fill it. Wesee that there are steps in this di-rection already. However, due tothis period of economic crisis, itlooks like the Turkish investor isnot in a place currently to under-take such a venture.

In the month of August 2008alone, the import of iron steeland products from the UnitedStates reached over 400 milliondollars. As of the end of Septem-ber 2008 the requests for ironsteel imports were at 2.684 mil-lion tons. When we look at ironsteel, which is our largest importto the United States of all of ourimports, doesn’t it take a largepiece of the pie when comparedto the United States Market? Your observation is correct. TheUnited States is the largest impor-ter in the world. Even though ourshare in this market is small, inthe context of all the goods thatare sold in this market the UnitedStates takes a huge share of ourexports. For example in the firstten months the United States wasthe largest customer when it cameto our export of HRP steel. Forwire rod and pipes it was the thirdlargest market.

This current economic crisis hasdeeply affected the constructionsector in the United States; towhat degree will it have an ef-fect on the Turkish exporter? The effects of this crisis will beserious and there will be a set-back in our export numbers.However, due to the decrease inoil prices and freight costs ourcompetition level in the markethas only gotten stronger. The increase in the value of the

dollar these last few days is saidto make those in the export bu-siness happy, but isn’t it a disad-vantage for those producerswho buy their raw materials ba-sed on the dollar? There is no problem for the ma-nufacturer who buys raw mate-rials on the dollar and then sellsthem on the dollar. The increasein the dollar value can be an ad-vantage for those who buy rawmaterials with the New TurkishLira, and for those in fieldswhere it is labor based. Theseare sectors such as foods andtextiles. However, since devalu-ation is present in many countri-es, the competitive field has notcreated an advantage.

Will a new strategy be decidedfor the American market goingon the prediction that by 2010 itwill have recovered its paststrength? The role of the UnitedStates in Turkey’s complete ex-port picture may be small, butwhen the Unites States limits itsconsumption, then the manu-facturer in Turkey also gets af-fected. Is there a date you fore-see for the effects of the econo-mic crisis to end and for nor-malcy to return to Turkey?The American market is impor-tant for Turkey and Undersecre-tariat of the Prime Ministry ForForeign Trade values this marketand is working on developing


strategies for increasing the ex-port numbers. Due to the factthat the United States is theworld’s largest net steel importer,it is important to Turkish steelmanufacturers and exporters.This mutually beneficial business

trade will continue to grow afterthis crisis is over and new oppor-tunities will abound. We foreseethat the effects of this economiccrisis will start to abate towardsthe second half of 2009 and thatthe trend of growth will restart.�

US Import of All Steel Mill Products From TURKEY


althful beverages. Having understood early on theimportance of the energy and vi-tamin beverage market in theworld, Coca-Cola made the stra-tegic decision to enter into thisnew market by purchasing acompany with an established re-putation. The company it purc-hased, Glaceau, accords in all res-pects with Coca-Cola’s strategy,even though this move from clas-

sic carbonated beverages to vita-min drinks cost the giant com-pany USD 4.1 billion.

Chosen from among 600 candi-dates worldwide, Sinan Altunwas appointed Global MarketingManager responsible for fruit jui-ces, and centered in the companyheadquarters in Atlanta; he was amember of the team responsiblefor the purchase of Glaceau. Af-ter the transfer of Glaceau, whichwas previously sold only withinthe US, to Coca-Cola, Altun wasnamed Global Commercial Ma-nager of the team established tolaunch Glaceau in markets outsi-de the US. Altun spoke to TUR-KOFAMERICA about his care-er, the effects of the crisis, and thebeverage sector:

How and when did your career atCoca-Cola begin? Your name wasmentioned as the architect of theGlaceau deal, worth USD 4.1 bil-lion, which took place this past ye-ar. What does it feel like to be partof an enterprise that can be consi-dered a radical change in the stra-tegy of a century-old company?My career with Coke started in1997 as Fanta and BonaquaBrand Manager, responsible forthe Caucasus and the CentralAsian Republics, located in Istan-bul. Later, I took on different res-ponsibilities, ranging from BrandManager to Marketing Directorin the Belgium-Luxembourg regi-on, Turkey region and SouthernEurasia region. In November2005, I was selected as one of thetop 5 marketing talents out of600+ candidates across the globeto attend The Coca-Cola Com-pany's Global Benchstrength

In 1996, J. Darius Bikoff waschecking into the purity of bott-

led water and didn't like that so-me had contaminants. He deci-ded to create his own distilledwater with added electrolytes.The resulting Smartwater, in asleek bottle designed by DougLloyd, became a hit in naturaland specialty food stores when itwas released in 1998.Bikoff’s company, Glacéau, also

known as Energy Brands, Inc., isa beverage company based in theWhitestone section of New YorkCity. The success of the Glacéaubrand launched a new marketingcategory in the beverage industry:enhanced water. Glacéau's slo-gan is “hydrate responsibly.”In October 2004, noted rap artist50 Cent obtained a stake inEnergy Brands, stating that hewanted to make his mark in he-


COCA-COLA

SINAN ALTUN, GLOBAL MARKETING MANAGER OF GLACEAU: “THE CRISIS WILL BEGIN TO BEWEATHERED IN 2009”

Chosen from among

600 candidates

worldwide, Sinan Altun

was appointed Global

Marketing Manager

responsible for Glaceau,

fruit juices, and centered

in the company

headquarters in Atlanta.

Sinan Altun, Global

Marketing Manager

of Glaceau.


Program based in its Atlanta he-adquarters, and became the Glo-bal Marketing Manager in thecompany's Non-Carbonated andNew Beverages Department.Last year, after the acquisition ofGlaceau, I was appointed theGlobal Commercial Director toexport the magic of Glaceau bu-siness to the world. I am defini-tely not the architect behind thisacquisition but it is a fantasticfeeling to take such a crucial rolein its expansion around the globe. This acquisition was one of thebiggest and most important of allin our company’s history. I am very excited and happy to bea part of this and to know that Iam a key player in this changeand growth opportunity for thecompany.

Can you tell us about the deve-lopments that have taken place inthe vitamin water and energydrinks sector since 2007?In line with the global health andwellness trend, consumer habitsand attitudes are changing. Theenhanced water and energy drinkssegments have been two of thosefastest growing segments withinthis change. With our marketingintelligence and strategies, we arekeeping tabs of the pulse of theconsumers and responding fasterto their emerging needs. Today,the Coca-Cola Company has 12billion dollar brands in addition tothe ‘Coca-Cola’ brand. We arereplicating the innovation and lea-dership model that we have usedwith our flagship brands with theenhanced water and energy drinkss e g m e n t s .

How do you expect the currentcrisis to affect the soft drink sec-tor? Does the position of energyand vitamin drinks in the marketshow any difference in compari-son to other drinks (negative orp o s i t i v e ) ?I am a firm believer and may be apositive thinker that the world willstart getting out of this crisis nextyear. During crisis situations, pe-ople’s consumption behavior

changes in terms of when, howand how much they consume. It ismore important to focus on whatmatters for the business and conti-nue communicating with the con-sumers. Within this context, I be-lieve the energy drinks and enhan-ced water segments will be impor-tant forces driving growth in thebeverage industry.

You are one of the Turkish seniormanagers in Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is the only company amongthe Fortune 500 to have a TurkishCEO. How does the presence ofTurkish managers in top manage-ment motivate you in your work?In the past 30 years, the Turkisheconomy has been through muchturbulence. In these times a lot ofvaluable experience was gained.Turkish managers have been le-veraging these experiences andcapabilities around crises mana-gement, calculating risk taking,acting fast upon needs and colla-borating in the companies theywere managing. We are seeingmore and more Turkish mana-gers in middle and upper level po-sitions in international compani-es. I am confident this will conti-nue to increase and we will haveour fair share in international or-ganizations. Of course for meand my colleagues, seeing Tur-kish managers at upper manage-ment levels in the Coca ColaCompany is both a source of ins-piration and motivation.

When I examined your CV I no-ticed that a large part of yourprofessional life was spent at Co-ca-Cola. What kind of advanta-ges has it given you to work atCoca-Cola, a world giant and thebest known brand in the world?Ever since I joined the Coca ColaCompany I have had the opportu-nity to work in a multi culturaland multi national organization.Working at Coke helped me beco-me a global citizen. It helped me tounderstand and respect differentcultures in the world, to accomp-lish work in different geographies,to have a wider and deeper world


view, to be a visionary, to developa more flexible, result oriented andentrepreneurial management styleand to build strong relationshipsall around the world.

If the history of Coca-Cola wereto be written one day, what wo-uld you like it to say about SinanA l t u n ?I would like to be remembered asone of the global influential lea-ders who put his heart and mindinto the Coca-Cola company andwith his infectious energy grewand expended many brands,most recently Glaceau, aroundthe globe to put a smile on the fa-ces of the world’s consumers.

How many days in the year doyou travel? I know that you havea daughter. Are you able to spendenough time with her?I travel half of the year. My wifeSerfi, who works for Procter &Gamble, also travels a lot due toher job. The other half of the ye-ar, I try to spend with my wifeand with my daughter Alara.With Alara we have our ‘father-daughter days’. Especially when

Serfi is traveling, we play basket-ball together, swim together,watch movies and play her favo-rite games. I try to take all my va-cation days every year. We al-ways have 1 week winter vacati-on and 2 weeks summer vacationand make sure to spend qualitytime together in these times.

Are you able to follow what hap-pens in Turkey? If you were to setup your own business in Turkey,would this be in the drinks sector?I follow the agenda in Turkey asmuch as I possibly can. We havean amazing country and we try toquench our thirst for it by visitingoften for our family holidays.I’ve been working for the CocaCola Company for the past 11years and I believe that success li-es in focusing on the work you doand nothing else and I am conti-nuing on this path.

Is there anything you would liketo add?I would hope that the Turks inthe US combine their forces andsupport each other in more effec-tive platforms. Thank you. �

THE TURKS AT COCA-COLACoca-Cola is the only company in the Fortune 500 to have a

Turkish CEO; Muhtar Kent has been the CEO of Coca-Cola since

1 July 2008. Coca-Cola has 5 important regional management

headquarters in the world and one of these is in Istanbul. There

are at least 20 Turkish senior managers at Coca-Cola.

In Istanbul, Ahmet Bozer manages the Eurasia region, which

covers 93 countries. The other Turks working at Coca-Cola and

their job titles are as follows:

Umut Özayd›n l› (The Coca-Cola Company, Global Music

Marketing Manager), Ali Nejat ‹pekçi (Glaceau Global, Field

Development Manager), Alev Gökçe (New Product

Development Manager), P›nar Zaimo¤lu (Global Marketing,

Financial Analyst), Tebessüm Welch (Financial Research

Manager), Güran Yet (Global Planning, Financial Director),

Berna Kaçan (Ethics and Compliance Manager), Arzu

Küpçüo¤lu (Project Manager), Rana Kardefltuncer (Glaceau

Global, Brand Activation & Cooperation Manager)

Sinan Altun with his

daughter, Alara.


of the world textile sector’s toporganization, the ITMF (Interna-tional Textile Manufacturer’s Fe-deration) for a two-year periodstarting in October. Can you giveus some information about theITMF and your projects? The International Textile Manu-facturers Federation (ITMF) isthe top organization in the inter-national textile sector. With theresearch it carries out, its studies,publications, and the conferencesit organizes, it is constantly provi-

ding its members with a stream ofinformation about developmentsin the textile sector, and as a re-sult, it plays a leading role in de-fining the macro strategies of thesector. Of course my first goal as presi-dent of the ITMF is to be presentfor every type of undertaking onall platforms directed towards de-velopments in the world textilesector, and in this context tocarry ITMF’s activities even furt-her. Since the first day of my pre-sidency, my colleagues have beenworking very intensely, and in theupcoming period, though visitsand reciprocal meetings that wewill carry out, we will give shapeto our strategies in this field.

When we examine trends fromthe past until now, in the textileand ready-made clothing sectoras in many other areas, it appearsthat production is gradually shif-ting from developed countries toless developed and developing co-untries. As president of theITMF, how do you evaluate thistrend in this context? Of course now in this globalizingworld economy, as productioncriteria like costs, logistics, rawmaterials, and qualified manpo-wer are evaluated, productionhas shifted to the most suitableregions in its own particularprogression. But I find it useful tounderline that the contribution ofdeveloped countries to the textileand ready-made clothing marketshould still not be underestima-ted. When one looks at existingtechnologies and investments inR&D, there should be no doubtthat in the future, as today, inno-vative technology-focused pro-ducts and developed countrieswill continue to be authoritativein this sector. Today the textilesand ready-made clothing sector,by following every type of scienti-fic development, first and fore-most nanotechnology, is workingon adapting these advances to thesector. To think the opposite,that textiles are going to comple-tely shift to less developed coun-

The textile and ready-made clot-hing sector is one of Turkey’s

locomotive industries. Of the ap-proximately 43,000 companiesthat are operating in the sector,25% of them are active exporters.Of Turkey’s 500 largest manufac-turing establishments, 20% ofthem are active in the textile andready-made clothing sector. It isestimated that total investmentsmade in Turkey’s textile and re-ady-made clothing sector havesurpassed $150 billion.

We asked Halit Narin, Presidentof the International Textile Ma-nufacturer’s Association and cha-irman of the board of the TurkishTextile Employers Association,about the effects of the globaleconomic crisis and the strategiesthat the Turkish textile sector isfollowing.

After a long time as chairman ofthe board of the Turkish TextileEmployers Association, you werechosen to also serve as president


TURKISH TEXTILE INDUSTRY

HALIT NARIN:“TURKEY IS ONE OF THE COUNTRIES THAT WILLEXPERIENCE THE LEAST LOSS DURING THE CRISIS.”

Of Turkey’s 500 largest manufacturing establishments,

20% of them are active in the textile and ready-made clothing sector.

Halit Narin, President of the International Textile Manufacturer’sAssociation and chairman of the board of the Turkish Textile

Employers Association,


tries, would be naïve, since high-tech textile products today are in-tensively used in many areas, inc-luding space technology. As for our largest concern here, itis the issue of fair trade. Todaythe markets of many developedand developing countries are for-ced to compete with textile pro-ducts and ready-made clothingthat have been supported with in-centives contrary to the rules ofthe World Trade Organizationand not produced according toappropriate standards, or not fol-lowing any standards. One ofthe most important points is thatwhether it be on the part of theconsumer or the producer, we ne-ed to take a stronger role againstthis type of wrongdoing.

How will the world textile sectorbe affected by the latest globalcrisis? In this context, what is thebiggest difficulty that the Turkishtextile sector is expected to facedomestically and abroad? The dimensions of the global cri-sis currently underway have notyet been clearly established. I be-lieve the biggest danger seems tobe its indefiniteness. But I believethat after measures taken bymany of the world’s countriesand with the monetary supportgiven to the markets, after a cer-tain period everything will getback on track. Of course in theshort term, as a result of con-sumption slowing down andworld markets shrinking, manyproducers will fall on hard timesand this will cause some consoli-dations and liquidations in thesector. At this point it’s naturalthat the Turkish textile and re-ady-made clothing sector will ex-perience its share of the crisis, butby completing sectoral transfor-mations and moving from produ-cing basic products to higher va-lue products, Turkey will be oneof the countries that will experi-ence the least loss during this cri-sis. My recommendation to myown friends is that we concentra-te on the flexible production mo-del Turkey has had from the past

until now and make products fo-cused on the customer, whether itbe through the market or productdiversity.

The U.S. has NGOs that closelyfollow working conditions in tex-tile factories to monitor whetherthey are in accordance with hu-man rights. As a Turkish textileemployer, what would you like tosay to American consumers andto NGOs following these types ofbusinesses about working conditi-ons and opportunities in Turkey? Of course this situation is a topicthat Turkey takes very seriously.The Turkish textile and ready-made clothing industry has bro-ught workers and employers sideby side to the present situation.The types of practices that are inviolation of human rights are al-most nonexistent in Turkey, unli-ke many places around the world.I’d like to say that through theframework of years of experienceas a union, we ensure that all ofour businesses give their workersevery type of social security andmore. Any kinds of practices thatare in violation of the mandatedhuman rights regulations must befought against in the strongestpossible way. In this context,NGOs should carry out more ef-fective studies related to the rai-sing of awareness during the pro-curement process of all types ofproducts and those companiesbuying products for their own ne-eds must be more sensitive regar-ding issues of human rights andchild labor when choosing com-panies with which to work.

In the recent American election,one of the topics most frequentlymentioned by both presidentialcandidates was that efforts sho-uld be made to bring back to theU.S. the textile and ready-madeclothing production that has mo-ved abroad. In this sense, howmuch of Turkey’s production hasshifted abroad? As an associationof employers, do you see invest-ment abroad by businesspeoplein the Turkish textile sector as a


loss? This is a very interesting topic. Ofcourse every country would likeits national companies to be aut-horitative on all points, and withthat aim, to evaluate every type ofenterprise opportunity withouthaving restrictions as to place.But here an important point, alsoexpressed by American presi-dents, is to not forget one’s ownpeople and workers. AlthoughTurkey has a young, dynamic,and educated population, around10% of it has to struggle withunemployment. From the pers-pective of our country, one of themost important issues is to provi-de work opportunities for ourown people. Turkey has a needfor work provided by the textileand ready-made clothing sector.For now we can’t ignore the factthat nearly 3 million people areemployed by this sector. Withoutproviding jobs for our own peop-le, it will be impossible for the co-untry to develop as a whole. Inthis light, I don’t look at allwarmly on factories that closedown so that investments can bemade in other regions.

Every day we see more Turkishtextile companies in the U.S. The-se are mostly in the position ofrepresenting companies that areproducers in Turkey. But wedon’t often see enterprises on theinvestor level. It’s not possible tosee Turkish textile-makers as in-vestors in the U.S. given the cur-rent economic conditions, buthow about in the future? Whet-her this is impossible or a difficultpossibility, would the biggestobstacle here be the cost factor?In its own land, Turkey is one ofAmerica’s most important allies.On a number of issues, strategicalliances on common points areunder consideration. But up tonow, the subject of bringing part-nerships in the military field intothe economic field has not beenadvanced far enough. For now,besides cost factors, the reasonthat Turkish textile companiesare not taking enough of a share

in the American market is Ameri-can leaders’ insufficient interestin, and support for, Turkish in-vestors. For example, an agree-ment like the U.S.’s favored tradeagreements (QIZ) with countrieslike Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel,from our perspective offers greatimportance. American leadersshould never forget that the Tur-key founded by Atatürk, with itshistory of more than 80 years asa republic and nearly 600 yearsof experience as a state, is in theposition of being America’s onlyreal ally in the region. In the eyesof the world the two societiesshare strong similarities and asthe world takes shape in the futu-re the importance of this will be-come much more apparent.

What are your thoughts on EU-Turkey relations? This is the wrong time for this in-cident to be considered. Certainlyboth sides are in the wrong on so-me points. But we are moreover acountry that is making an effort tobe a member. By persuading thoseagainst us of our efforts, we mustwork towards propelling them on-to a better path. Our duty is tomeet Western civilization face toface and take our place in Westerncivilization, on the path given to usby Atatürk. In this way, if the EUsteps back a bit we need to persua-de it to come forward. It’s thewish of our whole nation to jointhe EU. While government politicscontinue like this, if as the govern-ment and as the National As-sembly we have decided to join theEU, and if as a nation we are be-hind this decision, we should actaccording to our own manner ofconduct rather than according tothat of those against us.

But it has to be a union that iswanted on both sides. With itnow being desired on only one si-de, we are in the position of con-sidering whether we should aban-don the EU as an alternative. Be-cause in respect to the final out-come, it’s like love, and can’t beo n e - s i d e d .�


market is so important to us, and inthis new period we will continuewith a new strategy. At this time weare continuing to work withthe companies in themarket that wetrust,“ he says. Ermifller says thatlately they have be-en concentratingon special projectsin Americaa n d

adds that they will continue to fo-cus on this strategy in the upco-ming months. Among the projectsin which Ravini products are beingused this year a 400,000 sq ft mul-tiple story building in Europe, allof the bathroom furnishings of a41-story, 489-unit project calledthe Wind Miami Project, the lu-xury residential project MarinaTower Of Turnberry in the city ofAventura in Florida, an apartmentbuilding in Fisher Island, one of theworld’s most famous residentialspaces, and the Parc Place SouthBeach project in Miami Beach. Ermifller says, “We are participa-ting in important projects in Miami.We have also made important con-tributions to our sales with the im-portant projects that we have takenon in the Far East. We will also en-ter the other states in in addition toNew York, Illinois, Florida, Texasand California, with different pro-ducts.” For Ravini, Latin Americatops the list of targeted markets out-side of the United States.�

R A V I N I

Ravini, which has been opera-ting since 1996 in Turkey’s

most important natural stone cen-ter of productions, Bal›kesir hascaptured a new trend with the graymarble (Shadow) that it has pre-sented to the American, Europeanand Middle East market.For the past years, Ravini has beensupplying beige marble and traver-tine from its own quarries to bigprojects all around the world. In2008, they entered their most im-portant venture by selling the graymarble they found in the secondstone quarry that they had purcha-sed to the American market. Ravini USA General ManagerCengiz Ermifller says, “We havebeen looking for different color tooffer to our customers. As soon aswe found our new product, thegray marble, we immediately star-ted production. Gray marble isvery fashionable at the moment.”Gray marble is used mostly both ininteriors and exterior, in living are-as, bathrooms, kitchen, pools, pa-tios and driveways. Ravini's new products have beenattracting a lot of interest at the tra-de shows the company has beenattending and Ravini has develo-ped a corresponding sales strategy.Their new products have contribu-ted greatly to Ravini’s sales duringthis time of economic crisis. Ravini Turkey exports 60 percentof their manufactured goods to theAmerican market, and via theirMiami office they are able to reachtheir customers directly. In additionto their sales to the American mar-ket, Ravini sells to Europe, middleeast, Asia, South America, mprethen 30 countries around the world.As Ravini changed its sales strategyby focusing more on new products,it also took many precautionarymeasures when preparing for theeconomic crisis. One of these me-asures was to decrease the producti-on of mosaics. When Ermifller tra-veled to China to see mosaic pro-duction in its place, he says “When

I saw how little it cost to producemosaics during my trips to China, Isaw that it was not possible to sell inthis market unless we have betterquality and service. After supplyingmosaics to Home Depot for threeyears, we decreased the mosaic pro-duction and focusing for the specialdesign for our special clients.”

THE MARKET WILL PULL ITSELFTOGETHER IN THE SECOND HALF OF2009 Ravini, which had 400 workers intheir facilities in Bal›kesir and Bile-cik, had to drop that number downto 250 due to the current economiccrisis. However, Ermifller is hopefulfor the upcoming year. He says thathe believes the American marketwill pull it together in the secondhalf of 2009. “The construction sec-tor will not always stay this way; itwill pull itself together. We believethat America will revive faster thanEurope. This is why the American

RAVINI DISCOVERED SHADOW


Ravini's new

products have

been attracting a

lot of interest at the

trade shows the

company has

been attending and

Ravini has

developed a

corresponding

sales

s t r a t e g y .

CengizErmifller,

Ravini USAGeneral

Manager.



this project, which we have wor-ked towards for a very long time.With this project TAV Airportshas clinched its place in the inter-national arena, both in the finan-cial and the aviation field.”TAV Airports Holding was theonly company, among such glo-bal giants as Hochtief (Germany),Egis – Kaupthing Vienna (Austri-a), and Singer & Friedlander(French – British partnership),which had all passed the first pha-se of the bidding, to have made itto the final phase and to have be-en able to meet all of the criteria.

In 2007, 680 thousand passen-gers used Alexander the Greatairport in the capital city of Skop-je and St Paul the Apostle Inter-national Airport in Ohrid. TAVAirports aims to increase both thepassenger and the airline num-bers at both of these airports aftertaking over operations. At the sa-me time it is foreseen that a res-

tructuring will take place that al-so includes the modernization ofthe technical infrastructure.

TAV Airport Holding will opera-te Alexander the Great and St Pa-ul the Apostle International Air-port for 20 years. The Shtip Car-go Airport construction is expec-ted to be finished in the secondhalf of 2011.

TAV Airports, an internationalplayer in the field of airports ma-nagement in the Middle East,North Africa and the Caucus,operates Istanbul Ataturk, Anka-ra Esenboga Domestic and Inter-national Terminals and Izmir Ad-nan Menderes Airport in Turkey;its overseas operations includeGeorgia Tbilisi Airport and Batu-mi Airport and Monastir HabibBourguiba Airport in Tunisia.TAV Airports also holds therights to operate Antalya Gazipa-fla Airport and Enfidha Zine Abi-dine Ben Ali International Air-port in Tunisia.

CAIRO AIRPORT OPENSCairo Airport’s new third termi-nal, constructed by Turkish TAVAirports Holding, was opened byEgyptian President Hüsnü Müba-rek and Egyptian Prime MinisterAhmet Nazif in last December. Cairo International Airport isone of the major airports inEgypt and the primary hub forthe national carrier Egypt Air.Cairo International is known asthe second busiest in Africa afterJohannesburg International inSouth Africa. Cairo handled ne-arly 10.8 million passengers in2006 and ten million passengersin 2007 and it is becoming busierand busier. The airport has thepotential to be a major hub withits positioning between Africa,the Middle East and Europe. (* Ru -

melia is the part of the Ottoman Empire

which was in Europe.)�

ADVERTORIAL

TAV Airports Holding has wonthe bid to operate the Alexan-

der the Great Airport in Skopje,the capital of Macedonia and themost important center of the Bal-kans, St Paul the Apostle Interna-tional Airport in Ohrid, and thenew cargo airport in Shtip.

TAV Airports Holding’s offer tooperate Alexander the Great air-port and St Paul the Apostle In-ternational Airport for the nexttwenty years as well as to buildand operate Shtip’s New CargoAirlines was announced as thewinning bid by the Macedoniang o v e r n m e n t .

The operations contracts were fi-nalized on September 24th in Ma-cedonia. The President & CEOof TAV Airports Holding, M. Sa-ni fiener, the Macedonian Minis-ter of Transportation and Com-munications Mile Janakieski, andvarious other Macedonian go-vernment officials were present.

M. Sani fiener, the CEO of TAVAirports Holding, which in addi-tion to becoming a regionalbrand in airport management hasalso become a global companydue to its business character, said,“We are very happy to be opera-ting an airport in Europe andthat we have been successful in

this project that we have beenworking towards for a very longtime. The Macedonian contractalso carries the mission to openthe door to Europe for TAV Air-ports Holding, a company thatalready operates airports in theMiddle East, the Caucasus, andNorth Africa. Another importantpoint for us is that along with theairport operations in Macedoniawe have reached our aim of ‘10Airports in 10 Years’ in only eightyears. We are proud to have reac-hed our goals ahead of schedule.”

fiener stated that the operation ofairports in Macedonia will serveto further open TAV Airportsoperations into Europe. fiener sa-id, “With our projects in Mace-donia, which holds a very strate-gic place in both the world andpolitics and with which we haveshared a 500 year common past,we have said, “Hello, Rumelia*”We have been very successful in

TAV AIRPORTS HOLDING TOOPERATE AIRPORTS IN MACEDONIATAV AIRPORTS HOLDING TOOPERATE AIRPORTS IN MACEDONIA

Sani fiener, President & CEO of TAV Airports Holding.


Designing concept rooms and products to enrich imagination of world’s children by considering their needs, emotions and life styles, Çilek is the !rst and the most important specialist brand of Turkey, specialized in baby, child and young rooms.

SENSE OF GENUINE DESIGN Çilek Mobilya follows up life styles, choices, needs and current trends of children and youth, thorough its Turk-ish designers within the structure. Designing well-defined concept rooms, Çilek gathers all the products to meet all the requirements of a person in a room, from bed to blanket, carpet to curtain, lamp to night table, closet to pillow, in room atmosphere. Being admired all across the world, Çilek products have GS (TUV) Certificate of "uality, which is granted to high safety and quality standards.

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PRIVILEGED FRANCHISE SYSTEM IN ÇILEK Opening concept stores worldwide with #anchise system, Çilek is always by your side with its expert and young sta$. It shares its profound knowledge and technology with entrepreneurs throughout its long-term, pro!table and prestigious #anchise system. It gives a successful and pro!table establishment opportunity to entrepreneurs.

FRANCHISE STORES WORLDWIDE

Çilek distributes the world into 10 separate regions in accor-dance with its expansion strateg y to world cities and continues its planned and quick growth aggressively. It aims at increasing number of the stores worldwide, which is currently 82, to more than 250 in 5 years. Opening stores with the same standards any-where in the world with its concept store understanding ; Çilek gives entrepreneurs the opportunity of profitable and long-term business partnership. Furnishing rooms of more than 2 million children and young people all around the world, Çilek products are currently exported to 63 countries in the world such as Ger-many, USA, Switzerland, Britain, Ukraine, Japan, Russia and Italy.

FIRST SAMPLE STORE AND WAREHOUSE APPLICATION IN GERMANY Pro%iding an example for the entrepreneurs with sample store and warehouse application in strategically-important countries, Çilek realized the first application in Köln, Germany. With

the sample store and warehouse application, which achieved a great success, Çilek has 6 stores in Köln, Stuttgart, Berlin and Munich in Germany.

GERMAN MODEL IN USA MARKET Çilek implemented the sample store and warehouse application in USA, which had been applied in Ger-many first, and established the first sample store and warehouse in Miami City, Florida State. Opening 2nd store in Nashville City of Tennessee State, Çilek’s goal is to establish 8 stores in Florida and then to ex-pand in USA, starting from California State.

NEW TARGET IS CANADA

Setting out a quick and planned growth strateg y for Canada, Çilek aims at expanding in big cities of Can-ada such as Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa and then in other states including Quebec State and opening 27 stores by 2013.

ENJOY THE ADVANTAGE OF ÇILEK FRANCHISE SYSTEM;

Long-term, highly pro!table investment and business • partnership opportunity,

A proven, safe, powerful and prestigious franchise system,• Architectural support and turn-key concept store support,• Regional protection and continuous training support,• Various products, experience and knowledge exchange,• Products complying with international safety standards •

and Çilek guarantee.

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ing strong, unemployment waslow, and the stock market andconsumer confidence levels werehigh. Housing starts were stillstrong, and low interest ratesspurred home refinancing, resul-ting in more money to spend onhousehold furniture.The "Wood Household Furni-ture, Upholstered" Encyclope-dia of American Industries re-port indicated that people in theUnited States had more dispo-sable income than ever, resul-

ting in strong furniture sales.However, by the early 2000sgrowth rates for the furnitureindustry began to lose ground.Nevertheless, the upholsteredfurniture sector suffered fewercompany closures and employe-e layoffs than the furniture in-dustry as a whole, which experi-enced several company closingsand employee layoffs. In 2004the industry stabilized and be-gan to grow at a more predic-table pace.The U.S. Census Bureau repor-ted that the total value of up-holstered household furniturereached $10.5 billion in 2005, amodest increase from $10.1 bil-lion the previous year. Thenumber of establishments enga-ged in that industry reached1,593 in 2005, employing morethan 82,500 workers. With 289manufacturers, California ran-ked first among the states, follo-wed by North Carolina's 259and Mississippi's 109.

INDUSTRY LEADERSLa-Z-Boy Inc. is the largest pro-ducer of upholstered furniturein the United States, and its rec-liners are the world's leaders.Based in Michigan, its brandsinclude La-Z-Boy, BauhausUSA, Hammary, and Kincaid.The company also manufactu-res chairs, sofas, and tables, allof which contributed to its 2007revenue of $1.6 billion. As ofApril 26, 2008, the companyhad 70 company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores.Furniture Brands Internationalranks as one of the leading ma-nufacturers of residential furni-ture in the United States. Reve-nue for 2006 topped $2.4 billi-on, portions of which were deri-ved from its non-upholstered li-nes. Based in St. Louis, Missou-ri, this company produced suchbrands as Broyhill, Lane, andThomasville. As of December31, 2007, it operated 28 stores.With over 50 years of innovati-on and experience in the furni-ture industry, The Ashley Com-

In recent years, the Americanfurniture industry has been

hurt on a number of levels. Theweak dollar has made importsexpensive and the industry is fa-cing increased competition fromAsia -- from China and Vietnamto relatively new suppliers likeIndia and Bangladesh. The furniture industry is experi-encing a tough year because thehousing market is slowing downand the credit crunch is hurtingfurniture consumers. The in-dustry lost a lot of retailers andit will probably lose more. Fur-niture and home furnishingscontinued its decline, dropping13.2% versus last October. In-dustry analysts said that this isthe worst period for the industrysince World War II. Jerry Epperson, a furniture in-dustry analyst with Richmond,Va.-based investment bankerMann, Armistead and Epperson,and a Furniture/Today colum-nist, has ratcheted back his fore-cast for the furniture and beddingbusiness, calling for a 7.2% decli-ne in shipments this year and amild rebound of 1.7% in 2009.According to Furniture Todaycolumn, Epperson is projectingshipments of $37.3 billion thisyear — a 7.2% decline from2007. And the $40.17 billion re-corded in 2007 was a drop of2.1% from 2006. Epperson do-esn't see a significant rebounduntil 2010, when he's forecas-ting shipments of $40.7 billion.For 2011, the projection is$42.64 billion. The forecast isbased on an economic modeldeveloped by University of Mic-higan economist Saul Hymans.The heart of the U.S. furnitureindustry, North Carolina, has

lost more than 22,500 jobs infurniture and related industriessince 2000, according to the sta-te’s Employment Security Com-mission. The number of woodenfurniture jobs dropped by 62percent between 2002 and2007; the number of upholsteryjobs declined 16 percent.

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENTAccording to a report by rese-arch company Gale, in the late1990s the economy was still go-


U.S. FURNITURE INDUSTRY

FURNITURE INDUSTRY WILLNOT REBOUND UNTIL 2010

The heart of the U.S. furniture industry, North Carolina, has lost more than22,500 jobs in furniture and related industries since 2000.


panies (Ashley Furniture Indus-tries, Inc.) makes upholstered,leather, and hardwood furnitu-re, and distributes them throughsome 275 Ashley Furniture Ho-meStores throughout the UnitedStates, Canada, and Japan.

HARDWOOD PLYWOOD AND FLOORING MARKETSIn the U.S., domestic hardwoodplywood and flooring manufactu-rers face increasingly unfair com-petition from abroad in their ho-me market. According to a reportreleased by the U.S. InternationalTrade Commission, imports ofwood flooring and hardwoodflooring increased from $1.2 billi-on in 2002 to $2.7 billion in 2006before dropping to $2.4 billion in2007 due to the housing down-turn. In comparison, U.S. con-sumption of these products grewfrom $3.5 billion in 2002 to $5.6billion in 2006 before falling to$5.2 billion in 2007. In otherwords, the market share of im-ported wood flooring and hard-wood plywood increased from34% to 46% over the five-yearspan. Imports of Chinese woodflooring and hardwood plywoodincreased at an annual rate of37% between 2002 and 2007and accounted for most of thegrowth of U.S. imports. (Source: Rich Christianson, Wood & Wo -

od Products, 1 October 2008)�


INDUSTRY NEWSTop 100 Companies’ Revenue SlippedSofa-sleeper specialist Jennifer Convertibles continued to struggle in its fiscal fourth quarter, reporting a net loss of $867,000, compared toa $1.7 million gain for the same period a year ago. Revenue for the Top 100 company slipped 16.3% to $30.8 million for the periodending Aug. 30, while same-store sales decreased 19.5%. (Source: Furniture Today)

Englander Adds Malaysian LicenseeTop 15 bedding producer Englander is continuing its international expansion with the addition of a licensee for Malaysia. MattressworldInds. of Selangor, Malaysia, has won the right to produce Englander-brand bedding in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Mattressworld,in business for more than 30 years, produces natural latex bedding as well as polyurethane foam and spring models. The company exportsits mattress lines to Japan, Australia, Europe and Canada. (Source: Furniture Today)

The Heart of the U.S. Furniture Industry: The High Point MarketThe High Point Market is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, bringing more than 85,000 people to High Point everysix months. Serious retail home furnishings buyers can be found in High Point twice a year. Current Demographics: 188 Buildings, 12 Million Square Feet of Show Space, 85,000 Attendees Each Market, More Than 2000Exhibitors, 110 Countries Represented, Tens of Thousands of New Product Introductions. Approximately 10% of Attendees Are International.Upcoming Spring and Fall High Point Market Dates: April 25-30, 2009 / October 17-22, 2009.

TOP U.S. FURNITURE COMPANIES C o m p a n y H Q Revenue 2007 W e bAshley Furniture Industries Arcadia, WI $3.21 billion a s h l e y f u r n i t u r e . c o mSteelcase Inc. Grand Rapids, MI $3.1 billion steelcase.com Masco Corp. Taylor, MI $2.9 billion m a s c o . c o mJeld-Wen Inc. Klamath Falls, OR $2.2 billion j e l d - w e n . c o mFurniture Brands Int. St. Louis, MO $2.17 billion f u r n i t u r e b r a n d s . c o mAndersen Corp. Bayport, MN $2.1 billion a n d e r s e n w i n d o w s . c o mHNI Corp. Muscatine, IA $2.08 billion h o n i . c o mMasterBrand Cabinets Inc. Jasper, IN $2 billion m a s t e r b r a n d c a b i n e t s . c o mHerman Miller Inc. Zeeland, MI $1.92 billion h e r m a n m i l l e r . c o mLa-Z-Boy Incorporated Monroe, MI $1.62 billion l a z b o y . c o mHaworth Inc. Holland, MI $1.48 billion h a w o r t h . c o mPella Corp. Pella, IA $1.2 billion p e l l a . c o mKnoll Inc. New York, NY $1.05 billion k n o l l . c o mEthan Allen Interiors Inc. Danbury, CT $1.005 billion e t h a n a l l e n . c o mGlobal Group Marlton, NJ $930 million g l o b a l t o t a l o f f i c e . c o mAmerican Woodmark Corp. Winchester, VA $760.9 million a m e r i c a n w o o d m a r k . c o mKlaussner Home Furnishings Asheboro, NC $715 million k l a u s s n e r . c o mLeggett & Platt Inc. Carthage, MO $690 million l e g g e t t . c o mTeknion Corp. Toronto, ON $631 million t e k n i o n . c o mKimball International Inc. Jasper, IN $615 million k i m b a l l . c o mSource: fdmonline.com

U.S INTERNATIONAL TRADE STATISTICS FOR FURNITURE AND FIXTURES (In Thousands of Dollars) September 2008 C u m u l a t i v e YTD thru September 2008E x p o r t Import E x p o r t Import

N A I C S Description 337110 Wood Kitchen Cabinets and Countertops 1 5 , 4 1 9 5 6 , 6 3 9 1 1 8 , 3 1 6 512,074 337121 Upholstered Household Furniture 45,319 221,081 382,883 1,937,351 337124 Metal Household Furniture 8 , 2 2 5 1 7 7 , 9 2 7 87,273 2 , 2 7 4 , 3 9 9337127 Institutional Furniture 173,816 1,057,268 1 , 4 3 9 , 2 9 9 9,966,519 337129 Wood Sewing Machine Cabinets 7 3 4 168 4 , 7 9 7 3 , 3 1 2337211 Wood Office Furniture 14,011 7 0 , 9 8 3 1 1 4 , 5 1 0 686,513 337214 Office Furniture (except Wood) 24,374 38,217 190,309 355,262 337215 Showcases, Partitions, Shelvings, and Lo 100,417 3 9 9 , 8 0 4 902,236 3,501,736 337910 Mattresses 15,696 22,138 102,330 170,243 337920 Blinds and Shades 5,647 86,335 45,179 743,940 Total 403,658 2,130,551 3,387,131 20,151,351 Source: U.S. Census Bureau


Turk Of America 42-43-44-45 12/30/08 2:08 AM Page 2

goods exhibited at the openingwas provided by two officersfrom the Palm Beach PoliceDepartment.

The famous pop star VanillaIce visited the Arcade Cur-rency Palace the day before theopening and began to form hisfirst numismatic collection.

The opening was attended byguests coming from a varietyof states in the USA as well asTurkey, among whom wereFerhan Geylan, owner of theGilan jewellery, Mahmut To-pal and Ömer Günefl, BoardMembers of the Turkish-Ame-rican Chamber of Commerce,the businessmen Ismail Hakk›Ercan and Cengiz Ermifllerfrom Florida, George H. Pearl-man, Vice President of theAmerican Turkish Council andhis wife Elaine, LincolnMcCurdy, Chairman of theTurkish Coalition of America,and local TV channels fromPalm Beach and celebritiesfrom Palm Beach high society.

WHAT EXPERT SAY ABOUT AHMET SANDIKCIRandy Campbell (EducationalDirector of Florida United Nu-mismatist): “The first time I

met Ahmet was at the Clear-water Coin show 2005 after Iwas informed by fellow collec-tors of his impressive accumu-lation of United States papermoney. Having been so intri-gued by it, I flew down to Flo-rida from Ohio that year tomeet him in person and viewhis collection. When a fellowcollector and I walked up toAhmet Sandikci’s table at theClearwater Coin show, we we-re simply amazed at the rareperfect quality of Paper Moneythat he owned. By far it is themost impressive and awe-inspi-ring Paper Money collectionthat I have ever seen in my 46+years of being paid travel aro-und the U.S. After speakingwith Ahmet and was just shoc-ked at his knowledge of eachand every note that I had to in-vite him to the Annual FloridaUnited Numismatist Conventi-on to give the first Paper Mo-ney Educational speech ever.Ahmet has truly added somuch to our community withhis amazing and I mean ama-zing accumulation of PaperMoney, that he is World Wideknown especially amongst our150+ million collectors in theU.S. as having only the best ofthe best.” �

The Arcade Currency Palace,known for its American pa-

per money collection, has ope-ned its second store in PalmBeach, a favorite location forthe world jet set. The openingof the store, owned by Turkishbusinessman Ahmet Sand›kç›,a famous numismatist living inthe U.S.A., and his businesspartner Dennis Detrie, and si-tuated at the corner of WorthAvenue, where many worldbrands are located, and S. Co-unty Road, was attended by fa-mous personalities from PalmBeach high society and by Tur-kish businessmen.

Among the items of Americanpaper money exhibited at theArcade Currency Palace,which is assiduously followedby numismatists, the piece thatattracted the most attention onthe opening night was a USD1,000 paper bill issued in 1928and valued at USD 50 million.The total value of the money inSand›kç›’s collection is estima-ted to be around USD 500 mil-lion.

Florida Congressman Alcee L.Hastings sent a proclamationto the opening and thankedSand›kç› and Detrie. The col-

lection contains paper moneywith interesting stories datingfrom 1862 to our day.

Sand›kç›, who opened his firstantique paper currency store in2005 in Tarpon Springs, poin-ted out that the Palm Beachstore was designed to presentthe world jet set with a diffe-rent kind of service. “The sto-res on Worth Avenue, Palm Be-ach’s world famous avenue, aregenerally built around the sameconcept. This new investmenttargets a different group of pe-ople and that will draw a newcustomer group to Pal Beach.”

The celebrities living in PalmBeach arrived in private limo-usines to attend the opening.Guests were met at the entran-ce with red roses. The guestssupported education projectsby the Raymond F. KravisCenter by attending a silentauction for products and servi-ces of world famous brands. Inorder to give support to thiseducation project, Ahmet San-d›kç› and Dennis Detrie, part-ners in the Arcade CurrencyPalace, donated to the campa-ign a symbolic check worthUSD 10,000. Protection forthe money and other valuable


ON PALM BEACH

THE FIRST MONEY SHOWROOM ONTHE STREET OF THE WORLD JET SETSand›kç›, who opened his first antique paper currency store in 2005 in Tarpon Springs, pointed out that

the Palm Beach store was designed to present the world jet set with a different kind of service.


crisis, which originated in theUSA. With the crisis, this slow-down will increase. Remembe-ring that Turkey exports 55 per-cent of its total to the EU, it beco-mes obvious that the crisis in theEU will obviously have a negati-ve effect on Turkey’s exports tothis area.

If Turkey is to stay ahead of thegame during this crisis, Turkishcompanies will have to develop

innovative manufacturing andmarketing techniques and, whatis more important, Turkey willhave to be successful in findingalternative world markets.

Why do you think it is that theshare of Turkish exports to thebiggest market of the world issmall even though exporters havebeen greatly successful and havetaken giant strides forwards du-ring the last 10 years? Will thisperiod of crisis make it even mo-re difficult to penetrate the USmarket? Or might it create newo p p o r t u n i t i e s ?Turkey is an important ally of theUSA. We are talking about twocountries that have cooperated inimportant political matters. Ho-wever, the USA and Turkey arenot so close geographically andfor this reason these two countri-es are not part of the same integ-rated regional economic union.Turkey is geographically adjacentto other European countries suchas itself and this has led Turkey tojoining the EU Customs UnionAgreement. At the same time,Turkey’s aim of being part of theEU has also made Turkey turn itsattention politically to EU coun-tries in particular. Today Turkeysends more than half of its ex-ports to the EU. However, in thenew world order, focusing on asingle area may not always provi-de positive results. This is why,as you yourself have said, Tur-kish exporters should rediscoverthe USA, which is the world’sbiggest market. There are impor-tant opportunities awaiting Tur-key in this gigantic country. Ithink that in the next few yearstrade between Turkey and theUSA will get better.

For the first time since September2001, US imports fell in Septem-ber 2008 by 12.1 billion dollars,to 211 billion dollars. This was arecord. Imports of car compo-nents, which is an area of poten-tial interest as far as Turkey’s ex-ports to the USA are concerned,fell to their lowest level. (In Feb-

Despite the fact that Turkishexports have been rising

uninterruptedly since the 1980s,the recent global crisis means thatTurkish exporters must now di-rect their activities towards newoutlets. While Turkey exports 55percent of its total exports-- quitea conspicuous share--to the coun-tries of the European Union, theUSA has remained below its po-tential as a trade partner.Turkey’s exports to the USA forthe period January-September2008 were around 1.5 billiondollars. US imports during the sa-me nine months, on the otherhand, were as high as 1.6 trilliondollars. The top 15 exporters soldgoods amounting to 1.2 trillionto the USA. The remaining 500billion dollars worth of goodswere sold by the remaining coun-tries, including Turkey. As for theUSA, its exports during the samenine-month period were 1.01 tril-lion dollars.

The most important of the rea-sons why trade relationships bet-ween these two countries are soweak, even though the USA is thebiggest importer in the world andTurkey is one of the countrieswith the fastest growing exportvolume, is the geographical dis-tance between them. Another ele-ment is that the USA does notgrant Turkey the trade privilegesit grants to countries like Israel,Jordan, and Lebanon.

During the first nine months ofthe year, even though it did notexport as much as it wanted tothe US market, Turkey increasedits exports to the United ArabEmirates by 209 percent, to Qa-tar by 203 percent, to Kuwait by177 percent, to Lebanon by 121percent, to South Africa by 112.5percent, to India by 85 percent,and to China by 57.5 percent.

Mehmet Büyükekfli, who waselected Chairman of the TurkishExporters’ Assembly last Septem-ber, answered TURKOFAME-RICA’s questions.

For the first time in a long period,Turkey's exports declined duringOctober, even if only by a little.Taking the global crisis also intoconsideration, what are your ex-pectations concerning exports in2009? We have to face the fact that theglobal crisis will not end very qu-ickly and that for a time worldmarkets will stagnate. The econo-mies of the EU were already slo-wing down even before this latest


THE TURKISH EXPORTERS’ ASSEMBLY

TURKISH EXPORTERSSHOULD REDISCOVER

THE USA

The top 15 exporters sold goods amounting to 1.2trillion to the USA. The remaining 500 billion dollarsworth of goods were sold by the remaining countries,

including Turkey.

Mehmet Büyükekfli, Chairman of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly


ruary 2004 it had been 18.5 billi-on dollars, and this last Septem-ber 18.6 billion dollars.) Could itbe that the reduction in the con-sumption of the products of im-portant sectors like textiles andautomotives in the USA will leadto sectoral changes in Turkey'sexport strategy to the USA?Even though Turkey’s exports oftextiles and automotive productsare high, Turkish industry doesnot consist solely of these twosectors. We manufacture accor-ding to world standards all kindsof industrial products and we ex-port them to world markets. Tur-key’s present needs are to developnew marketing strategies for theglobal world, and to expand intonew markets. This is why the re-duction in the US imports of tex-tiles and automotive products do-es not reduce the US market’s im-portance for Turkey. Quite theopposite, by reminding one of thequestion of how to export theproducts of other sectors to theUSA, it will encourage Turkey.

The prestige of the USA as a co-untry, which had sunk during thelast 8 years to its lowest level in al-most all countries, has slightly re-covered with the election of Oba-ma as president. How did Turkishbusiness circles react to the factthat the son of an immigrant hasin these days of global crisis beenelected president of the USA? Asfar as you can see, how will thispolitical change affect the eco-nomy during the next years?The election of Obama has beenperceived as a victory for the op-pressed throughout the world.The same goes for the way it wasperceived in Turkey. However,Obama is not a member of theoppressed classes. The portraitwe have is that of a Harvard gra-duate, with a successful past, fullyaccepted and a member of theupper classes. This is why I donot think that we should be ex-pecting great changes in Ameri-ca's political and economic poli-cies during the Obama presi-dency.

Exports make Turkey function.Does the devaluation of the Tur-kish Lira against the dollar in thisperiod of crisis make exportersthe hope of Turkey?The fall in the value of the Tur-kish Lira is good news for Tur-kish exports. The fact that theNTL had been overvalued for along time had led Turkish manu-facturers to produce with expen-sive NTL and to sell with cheapforeign exchange.

Naturally enough, this kind of asituation minimizes profitability.A more realistic valuation of theprices of foreign exchange willmotivate our exporters. Also be-cause an appreciation of foreignexchange will reduce Turkey’simports, thus contributing favo-rably to local manufacture. Re-cently, the low value of foreignexchange had led manufacturersto get their raw materials and se-mi-finished products from coun-tries other than Turkey, and thiscreated problems for local provi-ders. With the present level of fo-reign exchange values, this disad-vantage will be partially compen-sated for.

However, there is another pointbesides the revaluation of foreignexchange. And that is that for ex-porters it is the stability of foreignexchange prices that counts rat-her than their absolute values.Just as in all other financial mar-kets, speculative movements alsoexist in foreign exchange mar-kets, and they will always exist.However, excessive fluctuationsin foreign exchange markets ma-ke planning more difficult for thereal sector.

Steps taken to alleviate this prob-lem will eliminate the unpredicta-bility facing exporters, and willlet them be more optimistic abo-ut the future.

In 2009, will Turkey's small andmedium scale enterprises, whichoperate thanks to bank credits,face the danger of the banks refu-


sing to provide loans or raisinginterest rates? What kind of a fi-nancial environment will expor-ting companies face next year?The probability of experiencingproblems obtaining loans is rat-her high in the case of the realsector. It is even being said thatthese problems have alreadyb e g u n .

The minimization of the effectsof the crisis requires the streng-thening of credit resources forour real sector, not their reducti-on. It is said by many that Tur-key’s banking sector is strong,and this makes us think that thebanking sector will understandour problems.

It is very important for our ex-porters that extra resources betransferred to Eximbank tostrengthen its capital structure,and that the limits concerning thecredits that companies can getfrom Eximbank be raised.

In addition to this, it would begood if resources equivalent to1% of total yearly exports weretransferred to the Price Supportand Stability Fund.

The deferral of social securitypremiums and of other similarcontributions for companies thatdo not fire employees in the nearfuture, the freezing of energy pri-ces until the economy is back tonormal, and the introduction ofadvantages for the payment ofenergy bills to industrialists wo-uld all be welcome as palliatives.

Is it possible that the fact thatthe economy of the EuropeanUnion, which is Turkey's grea-test export partner, is stagnant,that Japan is facing the same si-tuation, and that the same goesfor the USA, will make it impos-sible for us to find alternativemarkets? Can you say anythingabout when we will get back ton o r m a l ?Every crisis certainly includes op-portunities. For example, the cri-

sis will mean that European com-panies will order in smaller quan-tities. It is at this point that ourgeographical proximity to Euro-pe and our logistical advantageswill become important.

What I mean is that Europeancountries will prefer to orderfrom Turkey, when the quantitiesare smaller, rather than from thecountries of the Middle and FarEast, so as to be able to get betterquality products in a shorter ti-me. This is why in 2009 there willbe advantageous situations forsome of our sectors, and especi-ally for the textile and garmentmaking sectors.

In addition to this, we have alsogot to increase our efforts to findalternative markets. Recently wehave seen that Turkish exportershave become increasingly interes-ted in neighboring countries andregions. The African market hasbecome a center of this interest.

For example, during the first 9months of the year, Turkey in-creased its exports to the UnitedArab Emirates by 209 percent,to Qatar by 203 percent, to Ku-wait by 177 percent, to Lebanonby 121 percent, to South Africaby 112.5 percent, to India by 85percent, and to China by 57.5p e r c e n t .

Consequently, we can say that inthese days of crisis we have toexpect that our main marketswill shrink, and focus more onthese rising markets. If insteadof worrying about the crisis wecan take pro-active steps andturn our energies towards newmarkets, I am confident thatnothing will happen to us in thiscrisis. However, it is not easy tofix an exact date, because thiscrisis in not centered in Turkey.Consequently, as developed eco-nomies continue to try to findsolutions for this crisis that theycaused, we shall have to act fastand to try to find solutions asquickly as possibl e .�


According to historical re-

cords, hazelnuts were being

produced along the southern

shores of the Black Sea in to-

day’s Turkey as far back as 2300

years ago and Turkey has been

exporting these nuts to other

countries for the past 600 years.

Turkey is one of the handful of

countries in the world that has

all of the climatic conditions

amenable to the raising of ha-

zelnuts. It also produces and ex-

ports approximately 75% of

world hazelnut consumption. It

is thanks to the high quality of

Turkish hazelnuts that this pro-

duct is so popular and so sought

after.

Turkey has an annual 250,000

ton export of shelled hazelnuts

with 80-85% of these products

going directly to the EU. Eu-

rope has a broad use for

a week, 33% said they consu-

med hazelnuts weekly as additi-

ves to other foods, and 86% re-

ported that they liked the taste

of hazelnuts.

Spurred on by the positive re-

sults of the consumer surveys,

advertising and promotional

campaigns were launched in the

USA and these activities conti-

nued throughout 2007 and

2008. These activities were car-

ried out with a three-pronged

strategy approach: marketing

strategies directed towards the

food industry and marketing

and nutritional marketing stra-

tegies directed towards consu-

mers.

THE FOOD INDUSTRY MARKETING

STRATEGY

The Hazelnut Promotion Group,

with its “Consumer Research

Program” is showing the marke-

ting people that the hazelnut is

these hazelnuts, adding them to

chocolate products, confecti-

onaries, pastries and ice-cream.

In addition to this, thanks to the

efforts of the Hazelnut Promoti-

on Group in markets that it has

been targeting, the use of hazel-

nuts is also growing in other

markets outside of Europe.

Currently, Turkey exports about

7000 tons of hazelnuts annually

to the US, but it is also noted

that, even though North America

also produces hazelnuts, the

consumption of hazelnuts has

not yet reached targeted levels

in America. This is also despite

the fact that consumer surveys

carried out in the US have de-

monstrated that US consumers

are interested in hazelnuts. A to-

tal of 70% of the consumers sur-

veyed said that they believed

that hazelnuts were beneficial

to health, 40% reported that

they snacked on hazelnuts once

A D V E R T O R I A L


Americans eat an average of less than 1 ounce of hazelnuts each year. In comparison, the Swissconsume more than 4.4 pounds per person and Germans consume more than 2 pounds.

USING TURKISH HAZELNUTS ADDS VALUETO PRODUCTS suited to the tastes of the Ame-

rican consumer. They are wor-

king on breaking down the mis-

conception that the hazelnut is

not widely accepted in the Ame-

rican food sector. The Hazelnut

Promotion Group tries to enco-

urage the American food compa-

nies to create new products with

hazelnuts by providing special

information regarding the hazel-

nut. The Promotion Group has

signed off on a wide-ranging

market research project, aiming

to gain a database that would

prove that American consumers

like hazelnuts. A research pro-

ject was set up in order to crea-

te an industry profile and to in-

crease hazelnut consumption.

The data collected from the two

research projects were printed

in a brochure.

Within the framework of food

company meeting tactics, to gi-

ve messages of hazelnut use to

companies that produce choco-

late and bakery products, and in

order to raise the awareness of

the hazelnut in the American


market, as well as the success

of hazelnut products, the group

has held meetings with leading

firms in the food sector. In part-

nership with leading companies

that use hazelnuts, ads were

made and printed in the leading

magazines of the sector.

Within the framework of Com-

mercial Media, commercial work

was executed with the largest

firms in the food sector, along

with various advertisements

about the hazelnut, recipes and

articles were published in the

following commercial magazi-

nes, which have very high circu-

lations, reaching over 2 million

readers: New Products Magazi-

ne, Baking Buyer, Food Manage-

ment, Snack Food Wholesale

Bakery, Candy Industry, and Ma-

nufacturing Confectioner.

Within the framework of such

important Commercial Trade

Shows in the food sector as the

Philadelphia Candy Show,

Fancy Food Show, Retail Con-

fectioners International 84th

Annual Convention, All Candy

Expo, Institute Of Food Techno-

logies, International Baking In-

dustry Exposition, International

Foodservice Editorial Council,

Food & Culinary Professionals,

International Association Of Cu-

linary Professionals, Research

Chef Association Annual Confe-

rence, Pennsylvania Manufactu-

ring Confectioners Association

and Copia Chef, the interest in

the hazelnut was stirred thro-

ugh conferences and various

a c t i v i t i e s .

The Hazelnut Council, which

was created in 1997, has been

serving ever since in order to

provide resources to food sector

professionals, with their formal

website that provides up to date

statistics regarding worldwide

hazelnut production, hazelnut

production in Turkey and Ore-

gon, supply and demand data,

technique brochures, supply da-

tabase and recipes using hazel-

nuts, and additionally an online

sample order form for industry

purposes.

The Hazelnut Council publishes

an e-newspaper called Nut-

trends as part of a food products

e-newspaper framework, which

publishes information on mat-

ters such as new trends in the

food industry, hazelnut rese-

arch, new hazelnut product

news, consumer statistics and

news on hazelnut use.

Within the framework of part-

nership, working with important

and leading companies in the

food sector, and getting consu-

mers to try hazelnuts or pro-

ducts containing hazelnuts, two

presentations were held in the

winter and the summer with the

Au Bon Pain company, which

holds 230 businesses in the Uni-

ted States and Asia. In the win-

ter presentation, the “Hazelnut

Fudge Cookie” and “Hazelnut

Cream Pastry” products, and in

the summer presentation the

“Hazelnut Monkey Bread”, “Ha-

zelnut Salad Dressing” and a

new product Au Bon Pain pro-

duct, hazelnut iced coffee, were

introduced in 43 cafes in the

New York City, Chicago, Boston,

and Washington D.C. markets.

Throughout the presentations

positive feedback was received

from consumers through the

use of comment cards.

CONSUMER MARKETING STRATEGY

Within this strategy, in order to

raise the awareness that alre-

ady exists in Europe that the ha-

zelnut is a perfect complement

to chocolate, articles and hazel-

nut recipes were published in

newspapers. Additionally, a se-

ries of recipe cards were printed

in order to reach the consumer

population. As long as compani-

es continued to use hazelnuts,

they were supported in creating

new products and their de-

mands for hazelnut samples

from the Council were met thro-

ugh trade shows, firm meetings,


and through correspondence

and the website.

Eight hazelnut recipes were e-

mailed to editors in order to

suggest new ideas for use of

the hazelnut. Partnerships were

formed with 25 important blog-

gers who write personal blogs

and through the use of the me-

dia over 275 million consumers

were reached with new ideas

and messages regarding hazel-

nuts, nuts, health/fitness, cho-

colate/candy and general nutri-

tional information. The recipes

were based on 4 different sub-

jects; hazelnuts (story of, sec-

tor, properties), healthy lifest-

yles, superfoods and general

k n o w l e d g e .

Within the framework of Spo-

kesperson Promotions, in order

to introduce the hazelnut with a

famous face, a media blitz was

realized with chef Curtis Stone

in New York, in which he talked

about the benefits of cooking

with hazelnuts. A clip was bro-

adcast on Health Home Report

and Direct TV about cooking

with hazelnuts. The conversati-

ons with various editors regar-

ding the hazelnut was published

in Good Housekeeping, Family

Circle, Elle, Fitness, Women’s

Health, Quick and Simple and

Prevention magazines, publica-

tions with a combined circulati-

on of 16 million, reaching more

than 40 million readers. Additio-

nally, the editors of the best

consumer magazines did 14 ra-

dio spots regarding the use of

hazelnuts in home cooking and

reached 9 million listeners. Re-

cipes and research news were

sent to Women’s Health and Elle

magazines.

NUTRITIONAL MARKETING

STRATEGY

Within this particular strategy a

database was created on the be-

nefits of the hazelnut on health.

Scientific research is being done

on the health benefits of the ha-

zelnut and of the phenolic con-

tent within the membrane of the

hazelnut in order to increase the

interest of consumers in the use

of the hazelnut and to increase

the interest of the industries,

which could use the hazelnut in

their products. Participation in

the American Dietetic Associati-

on Show (ADA) in order to reach

nutrition and health experts to

help spread the word of the he-

alth benefits of the hazelnut

was executed.�

The Hazelnut Promotion Group started its activities in the untied

States in 1997. Since 2002 the Hazelnut Promotion Group has be-

en working with public relations and promotion firms to identify

the place and the importance of the hazelnut in the American mar-

ket through various sets of research and surveys.

The Hazelnut Promotion Group carried out a consumer survey

among the food sector regulators in order to “show that the hazel-

nut is suited to the tastes of the American consumer” and worked

with focus groups in order to identify consumer trends. Special

presentation kits were prepared for meetings held with firms. A

media tour was done regarding the benefits of using the hazelnut.

Advertisements were placed in food sector magazines and fairs

were attended.

In the Hazelnut Council website; there are news items regarding

the hazelnut in the e-newspaper “Nuttrend”, and recipe cards we-

re prepared, aimed at the consumer. The Hazelnut Promotion Gro-

up won the “Perfection” award in the United States from the Inter-

national Association of Business Communicators. The Hazelnut

Council, which executes advertisement and presentations for the

Hazelnut Promotion Group, won an award with its project "Hazel-

nuts: Creating a Compelling Food Trend”.


goes into the product. As long aswe do not change this, because ofrising labor costs there’s no doubtthat we will feel increasing pressu-re to sell more merchandise thatrequires less labor to produce.For this reason, the future of oursector is closely connected to itsability to rapidly transform itselfin order to continue accelerating.Put another way, the sector is fa-cing a need to move into a higherclass by adding to its accumulatedpast and advantages.

What needs to be done in orderto achieve this?

It is of vital importance to reachthe necessary maturity in the areasof design, product development,logistics, marketing, and customerservice in order to achieve a susta-inable competitive power.

The process of branding plays animportant role in our ability tosucceed in these areas. This is thenew goal for our country in the fi-eld of jewelry. Branding, by ma-king ourselves different from ourcompetitors in terms of design,production, service and communi-cation, is a very important step ingaining customer preference. Inthe period ahead, the force propel-ling our exports is going to be ourbranding.

What benefits will brandingbring to the sector?If we can succeed in this as a sec-tor, we aim to capture Italy’s mostimportant advantage. When wesucceed in this, our productionand export totals will increasemuch faster than our exports. As a sector, we have a goal of be-coming the global leader by reac-hing exports of $10 billion in 10years. In the period ahead, the in-crease of retail stores abroad, tou-rism sales, and the suitcase trade,which still accounts for a signifi-cant portion, will all have an im-portant share in this.

While this is a very ambitious tar-get, it will become reachable withsectoral transformations and withthe development projects we aregoing to begin. We know that not-hing can be obtained without cer-tain costs.

The latest crisis will cause consu-mers to spend less. How willproducts in the luxury-consump-tion category, like jewelry, be af-fected by this crisis? Among luxury consumer goods,we can say that jewelry is the onlything that doesn’t lose value afterit’s bought. For example, ready-made clothing, accessories, andelectronic products, which beco-me worn out and go out of style,

The jewelry sector, which is oneof the sectors most ambitious

to make its landing as Turkey’sglobal brand, realized exports of$2.6 billion in 2007. Representati-ves of the sector have declared the-ir goal of becoming the global lea-der by reaching exports of $10 bil-lion in 10 years. According to‹mam Alt›nbafl, president of theIstanbul Precious Minerals and Je-welry Exporters’ Association(‹DMM‹B), which aims for 25%growth in the next year, “My big-gest expectation is for 2010 andafter. I believe that growth will beat its lowest in 2009 and that bet-ween 2010-2012 there will be anexplosion.”

In 2007, the American jewelryand precious stones industry (6-digit NAICS code 339914) made$1.7 billion worth of importsfrom 104 countries. The Ameri-can market reached a sum of$2.3 billion in 2007. It is expec-ted that Turkey’s jewelry exportsto the American market will re-ach a total of $200 million worthof exports.

What are the sector’s targets for its10-year projections?

In the past 15 years, by showingitself to be high level, our jewelrysector has made an important pla-ce for itself in the world. In theproduction of gold jewelry in par-ticular, we are in the position ofbeing the country with the largestshare in the marketplace afterItaly. There is also a rapid growthin the production of jewelry con-taining diamonds and preciousstones, which is tied to increasingdemand. Looking at the period ahead of us,it’s clear that we are not fortunateenough to have competition basedon cheap inputs. This is becauseour in our sector more than 80%of the factors determining the costare based on import inputs. As forlabor costs, which are as impor-tant as technology in production,we have almost caught up withEuropean standards. For now, the main criteria in ourexports is the amount of labor that


TURKISH JEWELERS INDUSTRY

“TURKISH JEWELERS’ TARGET:TO CAPTURE ITALY’S MOSTIMPORTANT ADVANTAGETHROUGH BRANDING”

“TURKISH JEWELERS’ TARGET:TO CAPTURE ITALY’S MOSTIMPORTANT ADVANTAGETHROUGH BRANDING”

“If we can succeed in thisas a sector, we aim to

capture Italy’s mostimportant advantage.When we succeed in

this, our production andexport totals will increase

much faster than ourexports.”

“If we can succeed in thisas a sector, we aim to

capture Italy’s mostimportant advantage.When we succeed in

this, our production andexport totals will increase

much faster than ourexports.”


quickly lose their value and thereis almost no gain to be had in re-selling them. For that reason, du-ring economic crises the demandfor that type of product decreases,for people have less of what is cal-led “disposable money” that canbe spent wastefully. But jewelry,because it’s made of precious me-tals and stones, has a special valu-e as a form of investment, alongwith its esthetic qualities.

For this reason, in the face of thepsychological and social depressi-on that comes during times of cri-sis, there is a strong probabilitythat people will be inclined to-wards rewarding themselves andthat rather than buying other pro-ducts, they will buy jewelry as giftsthat are lasting and do not losetheir value. Buying a present of je-welry for family members is moreappealing because it will remain assomething with value that can belater put towards the family bud-get if money is needed.Therefore, I am not of the opinionthat our sector will be affected asnegatively as other luxury andconsumer sectors.

There are many Turkish compani-es now active in the Americanmarket. Because of problemsstemming from competition anddifferences in the markets, some ofthem have had to close their offi-ces and return to Turkey. Do youhave a general briefing given byyour association, or any advicethat you would give companiesthat are starting to do business inor export products to the U.S.?Has an association of the strongestTurkish exporters considered ope-ning a similar sort of informationor advertising office in the U.S.?As you know, on its side the U.S.applies its own GeneralizedSystem of Preferences (GSP) to-wards developing and underdeve-loped countries. The gold produc-tion sector in our country benefitsfrom this system as it allows thepossibility of importing goods intothe U.S. without customs fees.However, at certain points the

U.S. removes from this system co-untries that have passed the crite-ria that it has set. For example, du-ring a reexamination period in2007, it was decided that goldproducts in the 71131950 GT‹Pcategory would be removed fromthis system as of July 2008. As aassociation, we organized educa-tional seminars for our exportersso that they could make better useof this vital system, and those se-minars will be continued.

Moreover, in 2008 our associati-on, as a national organization ofexporters, took part in some of themost prestigious jewelry fairs, inc-luding the JCK Show in Las Ve-gas, the Hong Kong Jewelry andWatch Fair, and the Macau Je-welry and Watch Fair. Firms inthe sector were educated in designwith the goal of strengthening the-ir competitive edge.The question of our associationopening an office in the U.S. isone that will be evaluated interms of the demand in this area.Certainly our association will useall the possibilities that it has tohelp our sector.

Does the high competition betwe-en firms doing business abroadweaken the prestige of Turkishproducts in the market? Whatshould be done to prevent this?The main reason for this competi-tion is that we used to compete ina very narrow field. And, after all,competition among like firms isthe natural outcome of trying touse cheap labor to get a footholdin the market. As I said earlier, bycreating advantages for continuedactivities and high yields, our goalis to develop ways for Turkishcompanies to coexist and tocomplete each other as partners,rather than as competitors.

As an association it is not possiblefor us to apply commands by for-ce. What needs to be done andwhat we are focusing on is to equ-ip firms with the weapons to pro-tect themselves from debilitatingprice competition.


Will the U.S. first of all change pla-ce in your list of markets due tothe crisis? Will imports go into adifferent expansion because of thec r i s i s ?Even in the worst scenario, theU.S. is the world’s largest marketfor gold and diamonds. The short-term stagnation and shrinking willnot be enough to change this fact.However, Middle Eastern compa-nies do have an edge in times likethis when the market turns to-wards lower caret and lighter pro-d u c t s .For that reason we can send whatare called “price point” cheap pro-ducts to the upper-middle segmentand make up for our losses in thelower market. In the end the U.S.market is not one that is enteredwith a short-term approach. Wha-tever the conditions are, it’s a mar-ket that we will remain in long-term by adapting.

Are any of your member compa-nies thinking of production inAmerica, getting rid of exports alltogether and deciding to be part ofdomestic market?In our sector, there are many com-panies wanting to bring the pro-duction experience that they havegained in our country to other co-untries and there are entreprene-urs that have already started this.The same thing is true for the U.S.You should not doubt that therewill be Turkish firms that willcarry out production under the ne-cessary and appropriate conditi-ons there. Furthermore, the ow-ners of many small and medium-sized businesses that are in pro-duction in the U.S. have Anatolianr o o t s .

Gülaylar, Atasay, and Alt›nbaflare among the first Turkish je-welry companies that come tomind in the U.S. While there’s aruthless race to open stores in Tur-key, in the U.S. in particular com-panies act more carefully on the is-sue of opening stores. What arethe reasons for this? The reason for this is that mostTurkish companies are not yet

strong enough to provide merc-handise to big distributors in theU.S. on a large scale, and there isnot enough American appreciati-on of Turkish jewelry. In a mee-ting we had, the WGC presidentsaid that it was thought by Ameri-can consumers that all of the goldjewelry in the country had comefrom Italy. In such a big market asthe U.S., rather than being drea-mers and adventurers, it’s morecorrect to take action by conside-ring the consumers’ brand sensiti-vity. For this reason, not countingindividual enterprises, an optionthat could be considered by Tur-kish jewelry stores is to buy exis-ting chains of stores in the U.S.,particularly in the crisis environ-ment in which we find ourselves.

What are your expectations forexports in terms of numbers to theU.S. market for the end of 2008and the year 2009? For 2008, it appears that the U.S.has given its place to the UAE. Bythe end of the year we will havesucceeded in reaching exports of$200 million. In the next year, ifwe consider the existing financialcrisis, we can aim for an increaseof 25%. My biggest expectation isfor 2010 and after. I believe thatgrowth will be at its lowest in2009 and that between 2010-2012 there will be an explosion.Our main preparations should befor that period. The crisis periodpresents us with a test environ-ment in which we can determineour shortcomings. �


There are approximately

43,000 companies operating

in the sector, of which 25%

are active exporters. Of Tur-

key’s 500 largest manufactu-

ring establishments, 20% of

them are operating in the tex-

tile and ready-made clothing

s e c t o r .

Approximately 20% of the

companies that are operating

with foreign capital in Tur-

key’s manufacturing industry

With the export figures it

has reached and its qu-

alified employment capacity,

the Turkish textile sector is

one of most important players

in the world textile sector.

After China, Turkey is the

largest textile investor

oriented towards textile

machines in the world. It is

estimated that investments in

the textile and ready-made

clothing sectors have reached

a total of $150 billion.

largest supplier, sends

approximately 70% of its ex-

ports to this region.

After pressure from lower

costs in the Far East, the Tur-

kish textile and ready-made

clothing sector underwent a

serious period of transforma-

tion and rather than basic

products it now concentrates

its energy on the manufacture

of high-tech, innovative

p r o d u c t s .

In Turkey, which has the world’s

17th largest economy and the

6th largest economy in Europe,

the textile and ready-made clot-

hing sector holds a very impor-

tant share of overall industry

and is one of the country’s loco-

motive sectors.

Of its approximately $25 billi-

on worth of exports of textile

and ready-made clothing

products, Turkey, in its positi-

on as the U.S.’s second

TURKISH TEXTILE EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION – ADVERTORIAL


THE WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST TEXTILE INVESTOR:

THE TURKISH TEXTILE SECTOR

Of its approximately $25 billion worth of exports of textile and ready-made clothing products, Turkey, in its positionas the U.S.’s second largest supplier, sends approximately 70% of its exports to this region.

Halit Narin, President of Turkish Textile Employers' Association.


are in the textile and ready-

made clothing sector.

The Turkish textile and ready-

made clothing sector, with its

integrated structure that ex-

tends from cotton to thread,

thread to fabric, and fabric to

ready-to-wear clothing; expe-

rienced manpower on every le-

vel; a structure that is innova-

tive and open to change; a lar-

ge domestic market and a

strategic geographic position,

will continue to be one of the

world’s most important pro-

duction and trade centers in

the future as it is today.

SINCE 1962

Turkish Textile Employers' As-

sociation (TTSIS) has been es-

tablished in 1962 to legally

and professionally protect the

social and financial rights of

its members.

The main objectives of the As-

sociation are to create unity in

the industry by facilitating col-

laborations among members,

to financially support their pro-

fessional activities and to in-

vest in business ventures to rai-

se the level of productivity and

efficiency in the industry.

In addition the Association pro-

vides legal representation for

its members and negotiates la-

bor agreements, providing va-

rious domestic and internatio-

nal services for textile emplo-

yers to maintain the best per-

formance at their workplace.

TTSIS prides in being the first

employers' association in Tur-

key to have negotiated labor ag-

reements with trade unions.

This experience has helped the

association keep a pulse on the

sensitivities of the labor force

and the association has been

able to consider their issues at

every new period and phase in

the industry. Believing in crea-

ting sustainability through soci-

al dialogue, Turkish Textile

Employers' Association has bu-

ilt a solid reputation among all

involved parties in the sector.

THE MEMBER OF

INTERNATIONAL

O R G A N I Z A T I O N S

TTSIS works to find solutions

to common problems in the in-

dustry, to protect the legal

and social rights of its mem-

bers and improve the industry

standards to be able to better

respond to the legal and tech-

nical demands of the modern

business life.

In order to present the signifi-

cance of the Turkish textile

sector and to be able to pro-

tect it against unfair competi-

tion, the Association is regis-

tered with various internatio-

nal platforms.

TTSIS has seen the importance

of international callaboration


and therefore represents the in-

dustry not only at national level

but also at international level as

well. We are members of the In-

ternational Textile Manufactu-

rers’ Federation-ITMF, Interna-

tional Wool Textile Organisati-

on-IWTO, the European Textile

and Clothing Organization-EU-

RATEX and the European Com-

mittee of the Cotton and Allied

Textile Industries of the E.U.-EU-

ROCOTON.

TTSIS believes in the impor-

tance of building a generation

of well-trained individuals and

participates in many educati-

on and research programs that

support the intellectual and

professional development in

Turkey. In light of this missi-

on, the association organizes

seminars, conducts various re-

search projects and publishes

reports to build collaboration

between the academia and the

industry.

The Association announces its

activities and services by way of

its own publications and recei-

ves regular coverage at numero-

us media outlets in the country.

Additionally the Association is

subscribed to various national

and international media and ke-

eps a tab at all kinds of regional

and global developments in the

industry.

TTSIS gives utmost importan-

ce to the promotion of Turkey

and the Turkish textile in-

dustry. The Association is also

open to developing more in-

ternational collaborations,

meeting potential customers

and building new strategic

p a r t n e r s h i p s .�

R :

Turkish Textile Employers' Association board members are together.


dily rising costs in precious me-tals and jewels, especially dia-monds. The value of shipmentsgrew from $5.26 billion in1998 to $8.62 billion in 2003.Industry revenue for 2005 wasapproximately $7.18 billion,with a gross profit of 33.16percent, or $2.38 billion.

According to the report prepa-red by Global Markets Direct,the industry's revenue for theyear 2007 was approximately$9.7 billion USD, with an esti-mated gross profit of 27.45%.Import was valued at $32.6 bil-lion USD, from 160 countries.The industry also exported$19.0 billion USD worth ofmerchandise to 166 countries.Adding import value to andsubtracting export value fromthe industry's shipment value,the total domestic demand for

the industry in 2007 was $23.3billion USD.

According to the U.S. CensusBureau, jewelry, watch, precio-us stone, and precious metalwholesalers represented appro-ximately 12,936 establishmentsin the mid-2000s. Combined,they employed some 61,411people with an annual payrollof $2 billion, most of whomworked in New York, Califor-nia, and Texas.

The total number of employeesreached 61,411. The averagesales per establishment were$1.1 million. The majority ofthe establishments were small,employing fewer than five pe-ople. Jewelry, the largest sectorof the industry, dominated mo-re than 37 percent of the mar-ket. The jewelry and preciousstones category numbered3,435 establishments and con-trolled more than 26 percent ofthe market. Diamonds repre-sented 1,327 establishmentsand controlled about 10 per-cent of the market.

The main markets for U.S. ex-ports of precious metal jewelrywere Switzerland, Japan, andThailand. In the late 1990s, theUnited States was Japan's fo-urth-largest overseas supplierof jewelry, with 15.3 percent ofits import market, followingHong Kong (23.1 percent),Italy (18.8 percent), and Thai-land (17.1 percent), and lea-ding France (8.6 percent). Asiais projected to be the biggestconsumer of U.S.-manufactu-red jewelry from 2007 through2015.

JEWELRY DEMANDAccording to the World Gold

Sales of luxury goods in theU.S. are expected to total

$72.5 billion in 2008, accor-ding to Bain & Co., a Boston-based retail consulting firm.Worldwide, sales of luxury go-ods are expected to grow 3 per-cent this year to $230.7 billion,Bain predicted last October.That is down from growth of6.5 percent last year and 9 per-cent in 2006.The jewelry industry is one ofthe indispensable parts of lu-xury goods. The US jewelrymanufacturing industry inclu-des about 1,900 companies andthe 50 largest firms account for60 percent of industry revenue.However, nearly two-thirds ofcompanies have fewer than fiveemployees.Consumer confidence in the lu-xury market dropped in thethird quarter to its lowest level

since Unity Marketing begantracking it in December 2003,but according to the Elite Tra-veler - Prince & Associates,about three-quarters of familieswith a net worth of $1 millionto $10 million said in a surveythat they would spend less inthe final three months of thisyear than last year on luxuryitems. Less than 1 percent saidthey would spend more. 58percent of survey participantssaid they planned to spend anaverage of $2,400 for jewelryand watches.

INDUSTRY OUTLOOKIn 2006, there were nearly1,700 manufacturers of precio-us metal jewelry in an industrywith over 32,000 employees.The U.S. had 15 percent of theworldwide sales in this cate-gory. Manufacturers face stea-


A GLANCE AT THE U.S. JEWELRY INDUSTRY

IS A PIECE OF THE GOOD LIFE HURTING? In 2006, there were nearly 1,700 manufacturers of precious metal jewelry in an industry with over

32,000 employees. The U.S. had 15 percent of the worldwide sales in this category.

Located in prestigious Monmouth County New Jersey's largest

jewelry showroom, Marlboro Diamond Plaza, in Marlboro, NJ.


Council, the third quarter of2008 saw a record $18 billionin consumer demand for goldjewelry, with buyers returningto the market on lower pricepoints, around and below$800. The biggest contributorto the positive trend was Indi-

a, which witnessed a rise of 65percent in value, or 40 tons,relative to the prior year’s le-vels, with the Middle East, In-donesia, and China all enjo-ying rises of more than 40 per-cent in value or 10 percent int o n n a g e .


There were however, strongdeclines in Western marketswith the U.S. down 9 percentin value and 29 percent intons, and the U.K. down 5percent in value and 26 per-cent in tons due to the overalldecline in the retail market.

Source Citation: "Jewelry, Precious Me -tal." Encyclopedia of American Industri -es. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Businessand Company Resource Center. Far -mington Hills, Mich.:Gale Group.2008., jckonline.com.�

COMPANY NEWSThe current global crisis is affecting luxury department stores, with Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman posting disappointing results. The high-enddepartment store chain Saks lost $42.8 million, or 31 cents a share, for the three months that ended Nov. 1, compared with a profit of $21.6million, or 14 cents a share, for the period a year ago. Sales at Neiman Marcus, the luxury department store, dropped nearly 28 percent inOctober compared with the same month last year. Sales fell 20 percent at Abercrombie & Fitch, nearly 17 percent at Saks, 16 percent at TheGap and nearly that much at Nordstrom.

COST OF DOING BUSINESS SURVEYJewelers of America, the national association of retail jewelers, has released the JA 2008 Cost of Doing Business Survey, which analyzesmember stores’ financial data from 2007. For Jewelers of America members, 2007 produced mixed results. There was growth among designer/custom, independent high-end, and chainretailers, while mid-range independents saw real declines. Overall growth was essentially flat for the first time since 2001 and 2002, comingin at -0.3% on average (down from 4.1% in 2006). Designer/custom retailers fared best with a 6.1% sales increase over 2006. Independenthigh-end retailers saw a growth of 3.5%, but that was down from 2006, when the category was up 7.4%. Chain stores experienced a 2.5%sales growth, while mid-range retailers were down 1.7% compared to 2006 sales. Profitability was down in 2007, with specialty retailers experiencing a median 4.6% net profit as a percent of net sales compared to last year’s5.3%. Gross margins were 48.7%, down from an increase of 49.1% in 2006.

NEW TREND: CYBER MONDAYCyber Monday, the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season, debuts thousands of promotions to show what Web sites haveto offer this holiday season, according to Shop.org.The online shopping day was held on the Monday after Thanksgiving (Dec. 1 this year). Nearly 84 percent of retailers had a special promotionfor Cyber Monday, up from 72.2 percent last year, according to the eHoliday Survey, conducted for Shop.org this fall by Shopzilla. About 85 million Americans were expected to do some online shopping on Monday. That figure is up 18% from this day last year, from 72.0million in 2007 and 60.7 million in 2006, according to a Shop.org survey.

ONLINE HOLIDAY SPENDINGApproximately $8.2 billion (excluding travel) has been spent online so far for the November – December holiday season, marking a 4-percentdecline versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore. ComScore is forecasting that holiday online retail spending will be flat versus a year ago and significantly lower than last year’s growth rate of19 percent and below the retail e-commerce growth rate of 9 percent ($102 billion) that has been observed for 2008 through October.

AN ASSOCIATION The New York State Jewelers Association was established in 1909 and is based in New York City. With over 700 members from Montauk toBuffalo, the NYSJA represents the top retailers, designers, suppliers and manufacturers in New York City—the jewelry capital of the world.(newyorkjewelers.org)

BLACK FRIDAY According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppersvisited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year. Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 onBlack Friday weekend, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five Americanworkers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national, and internationalretail associations. www.nrf.com

LEADERS IN TOTAL REVENUE OF JEWELRY RETAILERS / (ttm)Signet Jewelers Ltd $3.6 BTiffany & Co. $3.1 BZale Corp. $2.1 BBlue Nile, Inc. $321.4 MDGSE Companies, Inc $107.0 M

Source: yahoo finance


needed by companies wishing

to operate within the Gazimagu-

sa Free Port and Zone. All servi-

ces required by a company wis-

hing to operate within the free

zone, including during a com-

pany’s founding phase, the

planning of its operation model,

the follow-up of its founding

processes and mediation and lo-

gistic services related to trade,

will therefore be provided cen-

trally. Speedy and efficient lo-

gistical services (transportation

services within and outside

ships, forklift handling, packa-

ging and stock management

services) are also among the

most important and efficient

services offered by PortISBI.

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE

GAZIMAGUSA FREE PORT AND

ZONE

Free zones are established in

developing countries all over

the world with the aim of deve-

loping the country’s economy vi-

a financial and commercial in-

centives. The free zone incenti-

ves accorded to Turkey at the ti-

me of the initial development of

free zones, and which have re-

cently partly ended because of

the EU harmonization process,

are still valid for TRNC.

Significant tax incentives are

available at PortISBI Gazimagu-

sa Free Port and Zone, with the

aim of drawing investors to

With the passing of Law No.

14/77, in 1978 a 480,000

square meter Free Port and Zone

was established as part of the

Gazimagusa Port in Cyprus. The

enterprise was financed comp-

letely by the state and it has be-

en operated since then by the

state, mainly as a port.

PortISBI – Cyprus Free Zone &

Marine Logistics Services, Ltd –

was authorized in 2008 by the

government of the Turkish Re-

public of North Cyprus to deve-

lop the Gazimagusa free port

and zone and integrate it with

the economy, on the basis of a

build-operate-transfer model.

PortISBI is a private company

that carries out its investments

with its own enterprise capital.

Although there are currently no

sa Free Port and Zone, which is

currently active, is approxima-

tely 478,000 mÇ. The aim is for

80 companies to be added as of

2010 to the currently existing 45

companies and intensive pro-

motional activities are being

conducted with this objective.

Taking into consideration the

geopolitical advantages of

TRNC, the zone is expected to

become a center from which it

will be possible to conduct di-

rect trade with all countries lo-

cated within an area of 600 km.

The sectors and countries targe-

ted initially are as follows:

Target Sectors

1. Construction and subsidiary

industries

2. Hotel and tourism logistics

3. Yacht construction, mainte-

nance, repairs and logistics

4. Commercial and individual

land vehicles, spare part logis-

tics

5. Software and technology

development companies

Target countries

1. Turkey

2. Israel

3. Great Britain

4. UAE and countries of the

Arabian peninsula

As distinct from most known fre-

e zone models, PortISBI is a

company that centrally coordi-

nates all services that may be

plans for an additional partners-

hip within the project, due to fo-

reign investors’ increasing inte-

rest in the project, it seems

highly probable that a foreign

partnership will take place in

the future.

THE OBJECTIVE OF PORTISBI

The Gazimagusa Free Port and

Zone is an active free zone open

to investment, with an existing

infrastructure. The first phase of

the process, that is to say the in-

vestment phase for the 130,000

mÇ area to be developed, will

begin at the end of October

2008. Even in its present state,

the free port zone offers faciliti-

es that can be immediately put

into operation by investors.

The utilizable area of the Magu-

PORT ISBI – ADVERTORIAL


A NEW FAVORITE FOR INVESTORS:

PORTISBI AND GAZIMAGUSA PORT ZONE

Metin Yalç›nPortISBI, Director


Northern Cyprus.

All local and foreign companies

within this zone can benefit

from the following incentives, in

accordance with the Law on Fre-

e Ports and Zones in the TRNC:

1. The income obtained from

operations and activities by pro-

ducers within the Free Port and

Zone is 100% exempt from Cor-

porate and Income Taxes.

2. All of the income obtained

from operations and activities

by investors other than produ-

cers is 100% exempt from Cor-

porate and Income Taxes, on

condition that commercial pro-

ducts and services are not sold

to the TRNC.

3. Activities within the zone are

exempt from Customs Taxes,

VAT and indirect taxes.

4. The employment of foreign

experts, engineers and techni-

cal personnel is permitted.

5. Free income and capital can

be transferred freely, without

being subject to foreign exchan-

ge legislation.

6. All operations and all pay-

ments, such as salaries, fees

and concessions, can be carried

out with internationally valid fo-

reign currencies.

THE IMPORTANCE OF

TRNC FROM A LOGISTICAL

PERSPECTIVE

Owing to its perfect geographi-

cal position at the crossroads of

the East Mediterranean com-

mercial sea traffic and to its pro-

ximity to the countries of the

Mediterranean and of the Arabi-

an peninsula, Northern Cyprus

is an area that many countries

wish to make use of in their

commercial logistics. This as-

pect of the country frequently

comes up in many regional col-

laboration meetings.

Although TRNC is very important

from the point of view of the are-

as appropriate for transit trade,

unfortunately, because of the

political situation that has in qu-

estion until recently there is

very little awareness regarding

it. PortISBI will act as a catalyst

in the integration of TRNC into

world trade in the near future.

The main problem encountered

by both North Cypriot and Tur-

kish companies can be said to

be the “trade embargo and limi-

tations” lying behind the econo-

mic conjuncture of TRNC. The

expectations that this state of

uncertainty, which has lasted

for many years, will be resolved,

at least from an economic point

of view, have increased as a re-

sult of recent developments.

In this sense, there are expecta-


tions that the incentives and ad-

vantages provided by the free

zone, complemented by high

quality services, will make a big

difference for companies com-

peting in the international con-

juncture. The companies to be-

nefit the most from the develop-

ment of the economy of TRNC

will be Turkish companies and

their partners.

When we look at Cyprus’s histo-

rical development, we see that

the Gazimagusa settlement in

particular constituted an impor-

tant logistical transition point

and that it was one of the most

important stops on the Silk Ro-

ad. Following the planned deve-

lopments, we will witness the is-

land of Cyprus, along with the

Gazimagusa Free Port and Zone

project in TRNC, regaining its

important historical role.

Following the positive contribu-

tions made by the Turkish side

in Cyprus to the UN solution

plan, their having said “yes” in

the referendum held in April

2004 and the fact that the EU

Commission approved TRNC’s

trade legislation directly, Nort-

hern Cyprus has become a favo-

rite venue for international in-

vestors. In October 2007 the EU

Commission also stated that

there were no international

bans on the ports of Northern

Cyprus, thereby declaring that

the limitations that have been

implemented unilaterally until

the present were not valid.

All these developments will po-

sitively affect TRNC’s integrati-

on with global trade. The incen-

tives and advantages offered by

the Free Zone, on the other

hand, will draw foreign invest-

ment to the economy of Nort-

hern Cyprus, thus enabling the

development of an economy ba-

sed on trade and on small sized

production.�

Cyprus Free Zone & MarineLogistics Services Ltd.H e a d q u a r t e r s :Gazi Magusa Free Port andZone - TRNC

Liaison Office:Osman Pafla Cad. ServerSomuncuo¤lu Sk. Ya¤c›o¤lu‹fl Han› K.2 D.2, LefkoflaTurkish Republic of NorthernC y p r u s

Tel : +90 392 228 61 26 F a x : +90 392 228 62 39

W e b : www.portisbi.comE - m a i l: [email protected]


ugh the polls were showing justthat. Or maybe everyone waswaiting for this but no one wassaying it. In the end everyonewitnessed a historic electionand were all tired. We are wit-nessing the change that Obamaspoke about and promised du-ring his campaign. This changeis coming from Obama him-self. His cabinet members seemto be old faces but Obama isbringing together all experien-ced names under his presi-dency. Those choices show ushow Obama believes in him-self. With Hillary Clinton, whoknows very much about Tur-key and its problems, as Secre-tary of State; and Rahm IsraelEmanuel, who was instrumen-tal in blocking congressionalefforts to pass an Armenian ge-nocide resolution being selectedby President-elect Obama to behis Chief of Staff, and with re-tired general James Jones asNational Security Advisor, thepromises made to the Armeni-an diaspora during the electionmay not be so easy to fulfill.

The new president's world po-litics is based on compromise;he had stressed this point du-ring his entire campaign. Hewill try to rebuild the reputati-on of the United States, whichhas been eroded for the pasteight years. While he is doingthis he will also be communica-ting with world leaders that ha-ve not been allies in the past.While these liaisons are on dip-lomatic terms in the beginning,if there is the potential, thenthey may also be executed on apresidential level later on. How

will these changes might effectTurkey is a question on every-body’s mind. It is only naturalthat there is such a curiositysince President-elect Obamahas made promises to the Ar-menian diaspora during theelection campaign that have ne-ver been made before.

In the very beginning he mayhave been influenced by his clo-sest advisors, who had biasedopinions. It could be; up tillnow many presidential nomi-nees in the United States havemade such promises but thenafter seeing important informa-tion on national security everyday, they have walked awayfrom such positions.

Let me repeat, newly elect pre-sident Obama may have saidthese things knowing all ofthis. During the campaign hesaid numerous times that hewould withdraw from Iraq,that he would make a strongpresence in the Israeli-Palesti-nian talks, that he would solvethe problem with Iran diplo-matically and that he wouldshift the war from Iraq to Afg-hanistan. Now when we lookat this foreign policy, even tho-ugh it has not been so declared,we see that these things cannotbe done easily without Turkey.For this reason I believe thatthe Obama government willcreate problems for Turkey,more on the Kurdish issue rat-her then the Armenian issue.When it comes to withdrawingfrom Iraq, the issues of “Moti-on 2”, (Motion 1, allowing UStroops to use Turkish soil to in-vade Iraq, was rejected onMarch 2003 in Turkish parlia-ment) and “What will happento the Kurds” will be issuesthat will cause Turkey someheadaches. Turkey should notget locked into the genocide is-sue and leave the solutions tothe other problems to time; ins-tead we must take an active ro-le and also take precautions.�

WASHINGTON BACKSTAGE

In August 2000, United StatesPresident Bill Clinton was the

keynote speaker at a charityevent held in order to get Con-gress member Richard Gep-hardt reelected for anotherterm. Bill Clinton came to thisevent, held in Washington DCat the Mayflower Hotel, freshfrom the Israeli and PalestinianPeace Talks with Yasser Arafatand Ehud Barak. In fact, hewas a little late because of that. I was among those there whowas waiting impatiently for Pre-sident Clinton. In his speechPresident Clinton spoke aboutthe differences in thinking bet-ween Al Gore and George Bush;he reiterated that there would bea big change in the United Statesand in the whole world if theRepublicans won the elections. Imade some predictions as towhat these changes might beand I put down my thoughts inan article I wrote in 2002 forTURKOFAMERICA. I evalua-ted the post 9/11 United Statesand the world. Now when welook back at the past 8 years wecan see what these changes we-re. In this time period the risksare great and the world is divi-ded, there is a divided structu-ring of “you are either one of usor one of them,” hardly anysemblance of trust and an eco-nomic crisis, which we are unsu-re of how deeply it goes.

When Barack Obama announ-ced his candidacy for Presidenton a cold day in February2007, Hillary Clinton was seenas a sure thing even before theDemocratic Party had its pri-maries. I was one of those whothought, “How can Obama beelected in times like these?” Iwas wrong! The people of theUnited States were sick and ti-red of the Republican rule forthe past eight years and theyhad first given this signal by vo-ting for Democrats in the 2006House and Senate races.

I was expecting a strong De-

mocratic candidate to be cho-sen but I was not expecting aresult like this. Newly electedpresident Obama understoodduring this whole voting pro-cess what the people of theUnited States were unhappyabout and he built bridges withvoters who all had different vi-ews but had met in the center.Furthermore, he had even gai-ned support from voters moreto the right on ending the warin Iraq.

The people of the United Sta-tes, whether Democratic or Re-publican, had become fed upwith the war and they were allon the same page when it cameto the billions of dollars beingspent in Iraq while there werefinancial problems to be solvedback home. These problemswere education, fair incomedistribution, healthcare prob-lems, retirement, an aging in-frastructure and the two mostimportant subjects: indepen-dence when it came to energypolitics and the slowing downof the economy. However,what was on every person’smind, thought it was rarelyspoken about, was a black manbecoming President of a whiteAmerica. This subject was pa-ramount till the very last dayand though the polls showedBarack Obama with a majorlead, political experts were notvoicing any guesses on the elec-tion’s outcome. Speculationswere made and polls were dis-cussed but no one really expec-ted the people of the UnitedStates to punish the RepublicanParty in such a way, even tho-

C H A L L E N G I N G

T I M E S


Ali Günertem [email protected]

Turk Of America 62 12/18/08 11:42 PM Page 2


which companies set up connecti-ons with which, and whether the-se connections are pursued.Organic foods, clean energy andconstruction have been chosen astarget sectors by the two countri-es. The aim is to encourage notonly Turkish firms to work in theUnited States, but also for Ameri-can firms to invest in Turkey.Ally Gunduz also played an im-portant role in the realization ofthis program. Gunduz, who star-ted to work as First Global Busi-ness Director at the ManhattanChamber of Commerce, playedan important role in the choice ofTurkey as a partner. Before herpost at MCC, Gunduz worked asTrade Commissioner at the SwissFederal Ministry. DTZ, the London-based interna-tional consultants, stated that$58 billion worth of foreign di-rect investment flowed into NewYork in 2006.

SEV‹L ÖZIfiIK: “IT IS VERY IMPORTANTTHAT THE PROGRAM SUCCEEDS”Sevil Öz›fl›k, Chairman of TAC-CI, stated that it is a wonderfulopportunity that MCC has cho-sen Turkey as a partner, and thatit will set an example for othercountries. Öz›fl›k said, “Since wehad been aiming to work toget-her with MCC in many organiza-tions in the USA, it was impor-tant for us that they chose a Tur-kish business organization. Thisshows that American firms wantto work with Turkey and withTurkish businessmen.”In 2009 TACCI and MCC willcollaborate on activities in sectorsthat they believe Turkey is strongin, and that would offer new op-portunities for the USA. Öz›fl›k sa-id, “We expect our businessmento set up direct joint ventures orpartnerships in these sectors. InTurkey there are serious compani-es operating, especially in the fieldof green energy and organic foods.We believe that these companieswill find a big market and manyopportunities in the USA.”�

Anew window is opening forTurkish exporters and inves-

tors through the ManhattanChamber of Commerce (MCC).The Turkish American Chamberof Commerce and Industry(TACCI), whose headquartersare in New York, has reached anagreement with the ManhattanChamber of Commerce to carryout a series of activities, includingconferences and meetings, aimedtoward bringing together the U.S.and Turkish business worlds, andevaluating and encouraging tradeand investment opportunities bet-ween the two countries.

NANCY PLOEGER: A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR INVESTORSNancy Ploeger, President of theManhattan Chamber of Com-merce, told TURKOFAMERI-CA about the details of the prog-ram and said that they are veryhappy to enter into a partnershipwith a country with such a largeeconomy as Turkey. Pointing outthat they will be enabling Turkishbusinessmen to make use of theirconnections, Ploeger said, “May-be we won’t have a member ineach and every field that Turkishbusinessmen need to do businessin. However, we may have mem-bers who have connections withother firms. We will help to set upthose connections.”

Ploeger emphasized that theManhattan Chamber of Com-merce has connections with 85chambers of commerce in Bro-oklyn, the Bronx, Queens andStaten Island and that this meansgreat opportunities for compani-es wishing to invest in New York.Mentioning that companies gene-rally find the opportunity to gettogether at fairs, investment mee-ting and road-shows, but thatthere is no clear information onthe continuity of such events,Ploeger said that within the fra-mework of the program initiatedwith TACCI, they will be able toexamine how the process works,

TACCI & MMC

SUPPORT FOR THE TURKISH BUSINESS WORLD FROM THE M A N H A T T A NCHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The MCC is known as one of the biggest businessorganizations in the USA. Member companies providejob opportunities for 1.6 million people in the USA and

nearly 4.5 million people around the world.

Sevil Öz›fl›k, President of Turkish American Chamber of Commerce Industry (TACCI)

Nancy Ploeger, President of Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

Nancy Ploeger with Turkish mission.


!"#$%&'%()*#+,(%+-(.-(#%//01/023%4546%7)%789:%/%

!"#$%&'%()*#+,(%+-(.-(#%//01/023%4546%7)%789:%1%

port of some products establishedby the USA, can also be definedas an advantage. The fact thatplastic products exported to theUSA are sold with 0% customstaxes constitutes an advantagefor Turkish exporters.Besides exports to the USA, canproduction activities also be car-ried out? Are there any membercountries that have such a plan orthat will conduct market researchon this subject?In order to talk about intensivelycarrying out a project of this kind,it is necessary for relations betwe-en Turkey and the USA to ceasebeing so focused on security andfor trade and economic relationsto gain prominence. When thishappens, direct capital invest-ments between the two countries

will be included among the mostimportant topics for negotiation.Last year the total US investmentin Turkey reached USD 4.2 billi-on and the total trade volume ex-ceeded USD 12.3 million. Howe-ver, looking at it from the other si-de, the situation is still inadequa-te; the number of Turkish compa-nies investing in the USA is verylow. The main reason for this isTurkish investors’ biased appro-ach to costs in the US market.

What is the importance of the USmarket for the sector of chemicalsand chemical products? Whatpart of the total exports goes tothe US market?In 2007, the Turkish chemicalssector realized exports worthUSD 425 million to the USA. Inthe first ten months of 2008, thechemicals sector’s exports to theUSA have already reached USD520 million. The main productsexported to the USA include mi-neral fuels, organic chemicals andinorganic chemicals.

What are the major problemsthat your member companies en-counter when doing business inthe USA?The main problems encounteredby Turkish companies doing bu-siness in the USA:- The continuous inspection ofcontainers by X-Ray, because ofsecurity reasons.- The Generalized System of Pre-ferences which is brought upevery year and which preventsthe establishment of long termmarketing strategies.- The long duration of shippingand the high prices charged bycompanies carrying out directshipping. - The inability of distributing com-panies in the USA to serve all states.

How is the chemical and chemi-cal product sector in Turkey ex-pected to be affected by the crisis?What are your forecasts regar-ding production and export inthis sector for the next five years?It is out of the question that a cri-

Parallel to the effects of thecurrent economic crisis, Tur-

key has now experienced a decli-ne in its exports for the first timein 32 months. The export figuresfor October 2008 decreased by1.87% in comparison to the sa-me month last year and by21.8% in comparison to last ye-ar’s figures. Despite this, therehas been increase in exports inthe chemicals sector, a trend thathas been continuing consistentlysince last year. During the first 10months of 2008, an increase of46.7% over the prior year was re-corded. The rate of increase inOctober was 10.2% in compari-son to the same month last year.By 2023, exports in the chemicalssector are expected to reach USD100 billion.In 2007, the Turkish chemicalssector realized exports to theUSA valued at USD 425 million.In the first ten months of 2008,the chemicals sector’s exports tothe USA have already reachedUSD 520 million. Murat Akyüz, Chairman of theIstanbul Chemicals and ChemicalProducts Exporters' Association(IKMIB), spoke with TURKO-FAMERICA about the currentstate of the sector and its future.

Turkey occupies the 45th placeamong 228 countries selling go-ods to the USA. Total exports forthe first nine months have reac-hed USD 1.3 trillion. The totalvalue of chemical companies onthe stock exchange in the USA isapproximately USD 91 billionand they have an average profitmargin of 6.6%. In a countrywhere the market and the figuresare so big, what does the Turkishchemicals sector need to do?Our aim as the Turkish chemicalsector is to increase our exportsto all countries and to become aglobal player. The USA is a largemarket and the most basic way torealize exports to this market is tobuild a standardized productionand export structure. Turkishcompanies need to be aware, ho-wever, that due to matters of se-

curity, the USA insists that theexported products be monitoredfrom the production to the pac-kaging stages. The most impor-tant factor in the US market is asuitable price, however, and forthis reason I recommend that ourexporters take this into conside-ration when quoting prices. Mo-reover, another characteristic ofthe market lies in the fact that USconsumers are fully aware of the-ir rights and are ready to protectthem. The strategy to develop tra-de and economic relations withthe USA and the other NorthAmerican countries was launchedin 2006 and our companies wereadvised to choose markets on thebasis of states. The GeneralizedSystem of Preferences (GTS),which enables customs-free ex-


CHEMICALS INDUSTRY

THE CHEMICALSSECTOR HAS GROWN

IN SPITE OF THE CRISIS

The increase in exports in the chemicals sector, whichhas been continuing consistently since last year, has

continued in spite of the global crisis.


sis of these dimensions should notaffect our country and our sector.However, I hope that its effect onour sector will be at a minimumlevel. Our export figures supportmy expectations, but we foreseethat the sharp drops in raw mate-rials and petrochemicals in theexports of the last two monthswill result in a standstill in ex-ports as well.

Turkey’s October 2008 export fi-gures were recently made public.Our total exports have dropped by1.87% in comparison to October2007, to USD 9,530,000,000.This is to say that Turkey’s exportsdropped for the first time in 32months. The automotive sector,which occupies the first place in ex-ports, declined significantly in Oc-tober. The sector’s exports havedropped by 21.8% in comparisonto October 2007. The sector of re-ady-made garments has experien-ced a similar situation, with a dropof 17.15%. However, the increasein exports in the chemicals sector,which has been continuing consis-tently since last year, has continuedin spite of the global crisis. In thefirst 10 months of 2008, an increa-se of 46.7% has been recorded incomparison to last year. The rateof increase in October was 10.2%in comparison to the same monthlast year. As of the end of October,our export figures have reachedUSD 12,133,000,000. In 2023,exports in the chemicals sector areexpected to reach USD 100 billion.

In the USA there are many medi-um sized companies that may wishto become partners or cooperatewith Turkish companies. Keepingin mind the power of consumptionin the USA, are there plans for col-laborations with small and medi-um sized companies?Although existing collaborationswithin the sector are generally Ger-many-based, I hope that ongoingregular relations with the USA canform the basis of long term colla-borations. I think that the increasein companies with Turkish capitalin the region and in the Turkic Re-

publics will result in the speedy in-crease of small and medium sizedcompanies of this kind.

When you take into considerati-on the development of the chemi-cals sector in Turkey, what arethe major problems that awaitthe sector in the near future?The REACH legislation, whichcame into force within the frame-work of EU harmonization laws,is the main problem affecting thechemicals sector, as well as manyother sectors, such as iron andsteel, mining, metal alloys, auto-motive, stationery and textiles.The REACH legislation, whichaims to offer high level protectionfor human health and the envi-ronment and protection for thecompetitive and effective structu-re of the market, ascribes the in-dustry responsibility, and therefo-re high costs, concerning the ma-nagement of risks resulting fromchemicals and the provision ofaccurate information on chemi-cals produced.As Turkey is not yet a membercountry of the EU, in the shortterm, the REACH legislation do-es not directly affect our chemi-cals production and our export tocountries outside the EU. Howe-ver, if our country becomes a fullmember of the EU, it will bemandatory for the regulationsbrought by REACH to be imple-mented in all the production acti-vities of the chemicals sector. The REACH system will directlyaffect our chemicals export to theEU. In the export of chemicalsfrom Turkey to the EU, productsto be exported need to be recor-ded at the European ChemicalsAgency (ECHA), in accordancewith the REACH legislation.As our country is not a member ofthe EU, it is not possible for ourcompanies to apply directly to theEuropean Chemicals Agency(ECHA), within the frameworkof the REACH legislation. At thispoint we are confronted with theobligation to form a Single Repre-sentation Office, which wouldfulfill all requirements within the


scope of REACH. As IKMIB isaware that the issue of Single Rep-resentation will bring financialand administrative responsibilitiesto Turkish exporters, it has deve-loped a solution and has establis-hed RGS, or REACH Global Ser-vices company.

Another issue that Turkey mayhave to confront lies in the proba-bility that, together with an in-

crease in production in neighbo-ring countries, Turkey will rema-in at the level of spot markets. �

TOP 50 THE U.S. CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTORS1. Univar N.V.2. Ashland Distribution Co.3. Brenntag North America, Inc.4. Helm America Corp.5. ICC Chemical Corp.6. Itochu Chemicals America Inc. (ICAI)7. Harcros Chemicals Inc.8. JLM Industries, Inc.9. Hydrite Chemical Co.10. Canada Colors & Chemicals Ltd.11. KODA Distribution Group12. Interstate Chemical Co., Inc.13. Premium Ingredients International14. L.V. Lomas Ltd.15. Quadra Chemicals Ltd.16. EMCO Chemical Distributors, Inc.17. K.A. Steel Chemicals Inc.18. Superior Solvents & Chemicals19. Hawkins, Inc.20. Mays Chemical Co. Inc.21. Grupo Pochteca S.A.B. de C.V.22. PVS Chemicals, Inc23. Barton Solvents, Inc24. E.T. Horn Co.25. Wego Chemical & Mineral Corp.26. The M.F. Cachat Co.27. Startex/CSD28. Pride Solvents & Chemical Co.29. The Plaza Group, Ltd.30. Callahan Chemical Co.31. Chemicals Inc. (Chemgroup)32. Allchem Industries33. Archway Sales Inc.34. Whitaker Oil Co.35. H.M. Royal, Inc.36. Tanner Industries, Inc37. Solvents and Chemicals, Inc.38. GS Robins and Co.39. Rowell Chemical Corp.40. Durr Marketing Associates, Inc.41. Tilley Chemical Co. Inc.42. Cole Chemical & Distributing, Inc.43. Westco Chemicals, Inc.44. George S. Coyne Chemical Co., Inc.45. Industrial Chemicals Inc.46. Tarr, LLC47. D.H. Litter Co., Inc.48. TCR Industries49. Conchemco, Ltd.50. Charkit Chemical Corp.

Murat Akyüz, Chairman of the

Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical

Products Exporters' Association.

Murat Akyüz, Chairman of the

Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical

Products Exporters' Association.


cult period. For us, the crisis hasnot brought any serious loss. Thereason for this is that our custo-mers’ satisfaction, the diversityof our products, our products’quality and consistency, and thetrust and harmony we have crea-ted in our company. These havebeen the main keys to our suc-cess.”

During the economic crisis thathas become especially apparentduring the last quarter of 2008,

even if Sefa Stone’s sales ratesdrop significantly because of de-pendence on other businesses, inthis difficult period the companydoes not anticipate that its endpoint for the year will be belowtarget.

The economic crisis, which beca-me a reality in 2008 and has cau-sed some of the world’s largestcompanies to go bankrupt, is af-fecting real estate and consequ-ently the natural stone sector. Itis expected that the sector can berevived when the excess stock ofhouses, which is reducing de-mand for new construction, isdepleted and there is a renewedneed for houses.

Çevik emphasizes that in this cri-sis, which is directly affecting thenatural stone sector, they are ma-naging the crisis by buying theright merchandise at the right ti-me and at the right prices.

The young director adds: “Fromour point of view, the stagnationin the American market that hasaffected competition in the natu-ral stone market has become areal opportunity. The reasons forthis is that small and medium-si-zed companies are unable to we-ather the crisis and are closingdown. Let me also mention aga-in our customers’ trust in ourcompany and our products. Atthis point, I see it as a point ofpride that a question mark do-esn’t come to anyone’s mindwhen Sefa Stone is mentioned.We are sure that we are going tohandle this tough time which af-fects all world and we will conti-nue serving our customer as go-od as possible. We will keep im-proving our services for our cus-tomers and we will keep doingthis kindly and more effectively,our main goal is always to meetour customer needs have them allsatisfied on the other hand of co-urse increasing our sales. I wantto finish this nice interview by sa-ying "Keep watching us we havenot done anything so far.” �

In May 2006, Sefa Stone beganserving American consumers

with its 16,000 sq.ft. depot inMiami. The reason the companychose the city of Miami, the heartof the East Coast, is the high de-mand for natural stone in thatarea.

It’s possible to see natural stonefrom Turkey not only in Miamibut also in all of America’s gro-wing cities. Between 2000 and2005, Turkey’s market share ofthe natural stone industry in theU.S. rose from 10.9% to 38%.During the same period, Italy’sshare decreased from 32.4% to9.4%.

During the first nine months of2008, exports from Turkey tothe U.S. of unprocessed marble,semi-processed marble, granite,and travertine reached $386 mil-lion. Turkey, which has a thirdof the world’s marble reserves, isattracting attention with the une-qualed products that it offers them a r k e t .

With more than 50 different pro-ducts in gold, noce, and ivory co-lors in stock at Sefa Stone, thecity’s only expert is on locationat the company. Selçuk Çevik,Sefa Stone’s General Director,says that, “Having our own qu-arry and factories in Turkey isthe most important source of ourconfidence in ourselves.”

In the American market, SefaStone offers customers its mainproducts of gold-, noce-, andivory-colored travertine in diffe-rent dimensions and thicknesses.Çevik says, “Our leadership inthe travertine market in particu-lar was proved in 2007 by ourhigh performance in exports.”

SALES 40 PERCENT UP

Beginning in 2008, besides conti-nuing its leadership in the traver-tine market, Sefa Stone has alsoentered the marble market. Withthe diversity of its products in-creasing by the day, its sales figu-

res compared to last year’s figu-res have gone up by 40%--despi-te the global economic crisis.

General Director Çevik summa-rizes the strategy they have beenfollowing during the crisis: “Wehear that business in the sector isgoing badly, that many firms ha-ve closed their offices, that someof them have reduced their staff.However, we as a company havenot felt the need to make anymajor changes during this diffi-


A SUCCESS STORY

WHY HAVEN’T WE

BEEN AFFECTED BYTHE CRISIS?

Turkey’s market share of the natural stone industry inthe U.S. rose from 10.9% to 38%. During the same

period, Italy’s share decreased from 32.4% to 9.4%.

Selçuk Çevik, Sefa Stone General Director.

Turk Of America 46 12/18/08 10:53 AM Page 2

sis of existing clients. Just as onecan use different criteria for thisanalysis, there are also the criteri-a which are widely accepted inthe marketplace: how recentlywas the customer acquired, howfrequently does the customer usethe service, what is the averagemonetary amount of customer’sorder? According to these criteri-a, who your--meaning the naturalstone supplier--most recent custo-mer is, how recently they havebought natural stones from you,how frequently they buy naturalstones from you and on an avera-ge how much they spend each ti-me they order from you are crite-ria which are widely accepted. Ofcourse a natural stone companycan widen this list of criteria.There are two different benefitsof coming to this point for a na-tural stones company. Firstly, with such a grouping youwill get to know your existing cus-tomers much better and you canclearly see which customers youneed to be making your priority. Secondly, by identifying your ide-al customer, whenever you ventu-re out into the market to find newcustomers in an appropriate mar-ket, it will make it easier for youto find that new ideal customer. In short, within the Americannatural stones market you knowwhat you want and whom youwant. You will know what kindof contracting company or whatkind of construction companyyou want to work with and youwill conduct a market search ac-cordingly. In this way you canuse your limited resources in themost efficient way by clearly de-fining your target. Another important point is the ne-ed to constantly analyze the finan-cial risks of your customers. Thisanalysis becomes even more im-portant during an economic crisis.Keeping your existing customersmay be your number one goal, butin order to take make wise decisi-ons, keeping constant track of the

financial risk situations of custo-mers within the natural stone sec-tor carries a paramount importan-ce for the financial well-being ofyour natural stones company. Youneed to keep in mind that even yo-ur best customer may have to handoff their business tomorrow due toany number of reasons. Just as yo-u can get information about the re-putation of any company, which isyour client, from any other com-pany in the marketplace, you mayalso use financial databases. The U.S. is rich with databasecompanies which keep records ofnot only individuals’ finances,but also the finances and reputa-tions of companies. You, as a na-tural stone supplying company,can, from your own office, learnabout the financial risk situationof your customer or a companyin any state of the U.S. From exis-ting corporate database compani-es in the U.S. you can learn thefollowing about the companywhich is your customer: the na-mes of the owners, the financialrisk situation of the company,whether or not they owe moneyto other suppliers, how many ti-mes they have been taken to co-urt for outstanding debts, and theresults of those lawsuits. In thenatural stone sector, as in the bu-siness world, continuity is rele-vant and the financial risks of yo-ur customers may increase ordecrease. With a constant watchyou can be aware of the financi-ally risky situations of your custo-mers and you can take precauti-ons accordingly. �

NATURAL STONE

The construction and naturalstone sector ranks as one of

the sectors that has been hit thehardest by the financial crisisthat we are living through in theUnited States. All natural stonesuppliers and producers are fee-ling the stagnancy within the na-tural stone sector. This stagnancy is causing the na-tural stone market in the UnitedStates, which was already shrin-king in the past few years, to geteven smaller. With these twofactors coming together, an in-crease in competition and a dropin the profit margin are cominginto effect. In the past fewmonths the increasing value ofthe dollar may have created anadvantage for the producers, butthe stagnancy in the market hasbrought down this advantage tothe lowest possible level.

CAN THIS CRISIS BE CHANGED INTOO P P O R T U N I T Y ?The most frequently asked questi-on in this economic crisis, as in allother ones before this, is the same:“How can we change this currentcrisis into an opportunity?” Whether you are a natural stonefactory in Turkey supplying to themarket in the U.S. or whether yo-u are a natural stone importer andsupplier based in the U.S., whatyou present your clients is morethan just marble tiles or marbleslabs. You do not merely providea product; you also provide a ser-vice. For example, your job doesnot end when you deliver themarble slabs you promised to aconstruction company in the U.S.This is a point that is often over-looked, but in fact the quality ofthe service you provide your cli-ents is just as important as yourproduct. In the natural stone mar-ket, American clients choosesuppliers first based on their qua-lity of service and then on theirquality of product. Listening care-fully to the client, showing interestwith periodic visits, keeping the

promises that were made, your at-titude when dealing with the cli-ent and professionalism in serviceare important parts, if not the en-tire concept of service. Periods of economic crisis allend some day. The importantthing is not just to get throughan economic crisis period withno harm or with the least harmdone; it is also important to pre-pare in order to operate properlywithin the market after the eco-nomic crisis is over. How canthis preparation be executed?During a period of economic cri-sis, in the period of compensa-ting for the crisis, and in the pe-riod of a boom, the key point fornatural stone companies is al-ways to have a command overyour customers or your custo-mer portfolios. Working withexisting clients is always lesscostly and more profitable thenfinding new clients in the mar-ketplace. Additionally, existingclients will also recommend youto other potential clients in themarket. This means that, especi-ally during an economic crisis,concentrating on existing clientsrather than on finding new cli-ents will help natural stone com-panies not only in weatheringthe crisis with the least amountof loss but will also help naturalstone companies gain an advan-tage against their competitors inthe period following the crisis.

IMPORTANCE OF CRMA natural stone company canonly stay in business and growas long as it can supply productto customer groups such as con-tractors, architects and construc-tion companies. Companies sho-uld try and keep in hand thosecustomers that they work withmost profitably and efficiently.This activity can be executedwith CRM, which a marketingimplementation that is very po-pular these days. The CRM app-lication first starts with the analy-

ABOUT THE NATURAL STONE SECTOR IN THE UNITED STATES


Hasan Kürflad Devecio¤lu*

* Hasan Kürflad Devecio¤lu has been

applying his knowledge and experience

of direct marketing management for many

years to the natural stone sector in the US.

He is the author of “Marketing Imported

Natural Stone Products” and “Strategic

Natural Stone Marketing”. In addition, he

had two books in Turkish, The Direct Mar -

keting Method Which Is The Most Suited

And The Most Profitable For The Turkish

Market and The American Business

World. You may reach the author at kur -

[email protected]. (For further informati -

on visit www.kursaddevecioglu.com or

w w w . m a r k e t i n g m a r b l e . c o m . )


that would be interested in visi-ting your website. Some of themost simple ideas have turnedinto very successful websites -for example: a specific tropicalfish, antique cars, exotic flowersor even pet grooming. If youridea is unique, for example if yo-u are an expert on raising exoticorchids and you want to make awebsite about how to raise or ta-ke care of them, you have a uni-que 'niche' which although theremay be less potential visitors,you will probably get a largerpercentage of those visitors be-cause there will be fewer websi-tes about exotic orchids raise tocompete with. Once you startedto get visitors to your websiteyou can sell your website spacesto people or to companies whowant to advertise their pro-ducts/services etc. to your verytargeted visitors. This is how notto make money on the internet.

Brace yourself because it's thetime to say “hi” to the new di-gital era. The Internet, as youwell know, did not perish alongwith those which were very fa-mous dot-com once upon a ti-me. While investors are gettingawarded for investing in green-tech and are coming back withtheir very- philanthropic badge,folks are still day-dreaming newways to use the goluptious tech-nology that made a big fuss inthe first place.

I don’t need to tell you that no-wadays the internet is fulfillingmany of the visions and magnitu-des. All these crazy applicationsthat seemed beyond the grasp ofunderstanding just a few yearsago; online invoicing tools, eventcalendars, stock managementapplications - are “a taken forgranted feature” of daily life.

This extraordinary data circulati-on supercharges itself with highspeed internet and finally this will

be called web 3.0. Since we havelong way to go for Web 3.0which Eric Schmidt hypotheti-cally explains that it will be "app-lications that are pieced together"- with the characteristics that theapps are relatively small, the datais in the cloud, the apps can runon any device (PC or mobile), theapps are very fast and very custo-mizable, and are distributed vi-rally.” we can start to find a wayaround solutions that will enableus to discover this abortive land.On the other hand the term"Web 2.0" describes the chan-ging trends in the use of WorldWide Web technology and webdesign that aim to enhance creati-vity, communications, secure in-formation sharing, collaborationand functionality of the web.Web 2.0 concepts have led to thedevelopment and evolution ofweb culture communities andhosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharingsites, wikis, blogs, and folksono-mies. The term became notableafter the first O'Reilly MediaWeb 2.0 conference in 2004. Alt-hough the term suggests a newversion of the World Wide Web,it does not refer to an update toany technical specifications, butrather to changes in the wayssoftware developers and end-users utilize the web according toTim O'Reilly. It seems that mobi-le technologies will lead the digi-tal life of the near- f u t u r e .

The-not-so-staggering result isthat the Internet is not justback. It is much better and mo-re flexible than it was before.Early stage investors (called“angels”) and venture capita-lists are looking for new hits toget the lion's share. The newrun, however, will definitely bedifferent. If you are the one ofthose guys who just doesn’twant to invest in somethingtouchable, try doing businesso n l i n e .�

T E C H N O L O G Y

Back when the Internetbubble was deflating disas-

trously, no one has ever tho-ught that the interaction betwe-en geniuses and dummies hascreated any important conflict.The way we see the internet’sluminous view was that, it wo-uld never be its like again.

The whole internet-land has goneinto meltdown and thank good-ness we tried every possible mo-ney making way on it. It’s been adecade now it is gone and left asour taste. Angel investors whoslapped a dot-com name in thefashionable internet times are sto-ne-broke nowadays to feed geeks’lovely web applications. Hell,How are we gonna make moneyon the internet?I think it is the time to re-thinkabout it. Exuberance has defini-tely returned, but with a bit ofdisparity. There’s been a gro-wing trend of high-profile Inter-net and technology investorsshifting focus to green tech.That was one of the major rea-sons why internet has got lonelyfor years. The opportunities forinvesting in green technologyinnovations are massive andonly just being seriously lookedat. So that’s why most of the In-ternet entrepreneurs are stayingaway from www life and focu-

sing on growing innovations tofight climate changes. Being aphilanthropist and making go-od money beside is good.

When we look at the complete-ness of the solutions to re-disco-ver the internet, I’m sure wewill be able to see that there arestill many areas and ideas to putinto a form and to shape themuseful for human life in terms ofmaking the communication ea-sier and richer to control in amobile environment for instan-ce, developing creativity, in-creasing the social competencesof a personality, promotingcommunication bonds and soci-al cohesion. Internet plays a de-cisive contribution role in theformation of socio - culturalpotential between places andpeople. If there are people outthere who think that internethas come to an end then I wo-uld say it still is a tremendoussource of economical profit.Here is the tricky question,

H O W ?Your new website has to be abo-ut something. It could be any-thing. What’s most important isthat, the idea you come up withshould be unique. Practicallyany subject you can think of hasmillions of potential 'visitors'

[email protected]


Mesut Darendeli

THE NEW INTERNET TIMESTHE NEW INTERNET TIMES


in 10 years.` By doing so has itbecome a model for other coun-tries? Are there other countries,besides Turkey, that have set upstrategic planning aimed at crea-ting brand names?The TURQUALITY® prog-ram remains the world's firstand only state-sponsored bran-ding project. No other countryhas yet set up a similar project.

Do you have any statistics onhand about the number of sto-res owned abroad by companiesthat are Turquality project par-t i c i p a n t s ?We maintain on-going statisticsrelated to the companies invol-ved in the program. While it isnot the sole denominator of theproject's activities at this pointin time, companies involved inthe TURQUALITY® projecthave approximately 300 overse-as operations that are either cur-rently open or at the openingstage.

Among the firms you have sup-ported, are there any that havevery quickly achieved notablesuccesses? Can you give us thenames of such companies?The TURQUALITY® programcurrently includes 61 trade-marks operating in 7 differentsectors. Because of the very lar-ge differences among the sec-tors, the differences relative to

the time they entered the prog-ram, and the varying marketconditions of the sectors inwhich they operate, it wouldnot be right at this point todraw any comparisons. On theother hand, a variety of measu-ring tools are used to monitorthe performance and the acti-ons of the companies in theprogram.

Is it correct to say that the Tur-quality project represents go-vernmental policy? Will theTurquality project continue ifthere is a change of governmentor of governing officials?The TURQUALITY® Projectwas started under the leadershipof Minister of State Kürflad Tüz-men and in a very short periodof time this project has gainedthe attention and approval ofboth the public and private sec-tors. The efforts of the TUR-QUALITY® Project will conti-nue to be directed both to the vi-sion and the mission of theprogram. �

Arecord 39,945 internatio-nal trademark applications

were received in 2007 by theWorld Intellectual Property Or-ganization (WIPO) under theMadrid system for the interna-tional registration of trade-marks, representing a 9.5% in-crease on figures for 2006. Forthe 15th consecutive year, appli-cants from Germany have ledthe list of top filers, followed byusers in France, the United Sta-tes of America (USA) and theEuropean Community (EC).China remains the most desig-nated country in internationaltrademark applications, reflec-ting increasing levels of tradingactivity by foreign companies inC h i n a .

Turkey, however, remains theonly country that is involved inthe trademark program on astate level. By November 2008the TURQUALITY project,which had set out with the slo-gan, `10 World Brand Namesin 10 Years` reached a totalof 61 companies. The TUR-QUALITY project includes anumber of Turkish trade-marks/brand-names, in a list ofsectors that stretches fromready-to-wear and cosmetics tofood and electronic namebrands. TURQUALITY hasexplained its mission toTURKOFAMERICA.

What is the annual growth fac-tor of companies which areworking under the auspices ofthe Turquality project? Is theprimary aim of the project to in-crease the number of such com-panies, or is it to instill theTURQUALITY philosophy in-to companies?As you know, the TURQUA-LITY® project started off withthe target of creating ten Tur-kish name brands that wouldhave world-wide recognition ina time period of ten years. Theaim is to identify those brandnames that have this kind of po-tential and to provide the sup-port necessary to accelerate thebranding process. Thus, it hasnever been the aim to increasethe number of companies recei-ving support per se, but there isalso no upper limit to the num-ber of projects eligible to receivesuch support. As a result of this,while there were 46 brand na-mes included in the project bythe end of 2007, by Novemberof 2008 that number had risento 61. Each Turkish brand na-me that meets the minimum re-quirements and which has de-termined its vision to becominga world recognized name is eli-gible to benefit from the TUR-QUALITY® support program.

Turquality set off with the slo-gan of `10 world name brands


TURKS & QUALITY

THE WORLD'S FIRST AND ONLY STATESUPPORTED TRADEMARK PROGRAMBy November 2008 the TURQUALITY project, which had set out with the slogan,

`10 World Brand Names in 10 Years` reached a total of 61 companies.



money.” The second cause is theexpectation that the lawyer onthe other side will create a justand fair agreement. Those firms that do not get legaladvice before getting into a bu-siness agreement pay a lot morein legal fees once things come toa deadlock. Karaahmeto¤lu andLuz point out that if their clientsseek their advice before they getinto trouble then their profitswill be much larger. During an economic crisis, in ad-dition to firms that see their busi-nesses dwindling, there are alsothose people who would like to in-vest their cash. Thomaz Luz saysthat the first piece of advice to tho-se that would like to invest is, “In-vest in relation to what youknow.” He says, “If you knowtextiles then invest in textiles, if yo-u know food stuffs then invest inthe food sector. If you have cashand you are experienced in the re-al estate market, then this is a go-od time to invest in real estate.”Karaahmeto¤lu also points out thatduring an economic crisis brandingis also a good investment.

ADVICE FOR THE TURKISH B U S I N E S S M A NKaraahmeto¤lu and Luz have

the following advice for busi-nessmen who would like to dobusiness in the United States: - Find an experienced lawyer.Instead of picking a legal firmthat has some experience andknowledge here and there, pickone that specializes in a certainfield. - Let go of the way that busi-ness is done in your country; tryto learn and understand thesystem in the United States.Know that the two systemswork differently.- Do not forget that culturaldifferences are also reflected inthe world of business. - In the American businessworld accountants and lawyersare integral, even if this is notthe case in your own country. - Know that the United Statesis comprised of 50 different sta-tes and that if needed you mayhave to consult a different law-yer for each state you do busi-ness with. Choose a legal firmwith a good network.

BEFORE YOU START DOING BUSINESS - Research well the companyto whom you are selling. Is it agood company? Are they consis-tent in paying their debts? Rese-arch whether they have a badreputation in their field. - Meet one on one with yourclients. See with whom you aredoing business.- Research whether or not thecompany with whom you aredoing business has been sued foroutstanding debt.- There may be companies whotry to take advantage of the factthat you are inexperienced inthe market, so do market rese-arch to prevent this. - Be patient. There is no reasonfor a good businessman not todo well in the United States. �

As the effects of the econo-mic crisis spreads across

the United States, companiesthat are closing, those who can-not get their outstanding rece-ivables, those who are freezingtheir investments and those whoare shrinking their markets areall lining up. According to the data from theAdministrative Office of theU.S. Courts, as of June 2008967,831 companies have decla-red bankruptcy. With a 28.9percent increase from the yearbefore in bankruptcies, it is ex-pected that in the followingmonths as the crisis deepens thisnumber will increase. One of the career groups whosee an increase in their worklo-ad during an economic crisis isbusiness litigation lawyers. Theyare the first address when com-panies have lawsuits againsteach other. Barbaros Karaah-meto¤lu, the founder of the Ka-ra Law Firm, is a name that isvery well known among theTurkish community in NewYork when it comes to businesslaw, and he states that the eco-nomic crisis will only increasetheir business.Karaahmeto¤lu, who has beenconcentrating on corporate andinternational law, created a part-nership in the beginning of 2007with litigation court lawyer Tho-mas Luz, who is experienced inlabor law, expanding his field ofpractice even more. Luz, who islicensed as a lawyer in NewYork, Connecticut and the D.C.,worked as Vice President andconsultant at NatWest BankN.A. for the past six years. Karaahmeto¤lu underlines thefact that with his partnershipwith Luz the areas in which theycan now serve their clients’ legalneeds have expanded.

In addition to Thomas Luz andBarbaros Karaahmeto¤lu, thereare five lawyers working at theKara Law Firm. Karaahmeto¤luwould like to also hire a lawyerwith a specialization in ban-kruptcy matters in parallel withthe need created in the followingmonths by the economic crisis,but the firm is still serving theirclients’ needs when it comes tobusiness, corporate law, acco-unts receivable law, the creationof corporations, restructuring,labor law, inheritance and bran-ding. In addition to their officein New York, Kara Law Firmalso has liaison offices in LosAngeles and Istanbul.

“FIRST TAKE YOUR PRECAUTIONSAND THEN DO BUSINESS”With what they have learnedfrom their experiences in the cour-troom, Karaahmeto¤lu and Luzgive some advice to businessmenwho execute sales to the U.S.They underline the two primarycauses for cases of personal acti-on, the first one being that thereis no legal foundation createdbefore the purchase and sale.Do not act on the belief that “Iam selling to a large corporationin the U.S., I am sure to get my

ADVICE TO BUSINESSMEN

“TIMES OF ECONOMIC CRISIS ARE ALWAYS AGOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR INVESTMENTS”

“Do not act on the belief that “I am selling to a large corporation in the U.S., I am sure to get my money.”

Thomas Luz. and Barbaros Karaahmeto¤lu


This global economic crisis,which is said to be one of the

biggest ones in the 21st century,is an important factor in the in-crease in unemployment in theUnited States. According to theBureau of Labor Statistics forNovember 2008, in that monththere was a 6.7% unemploy-ment rate with 10.3 million pe-ople out of work. There has be-en an increase in unemploymentin the past 12 months, 2.8 milli-on people added to the joblessrolls. From December 2006 uptill today the number of peoplein the finance sector who havelost their jobs has reached200,000. Just in October of thisyear, 24,000 people have losttheir jobs in the finance sector.

As universities graduate moreand more people, many well-educated brains from overseasalso move to the United Statesfor work. In these difficult ti-mes, those who are looking forwork must follow an appropria-te strategy from beginning toend in order to get firms interes-ted in them. Esra Öziskender, an expert inthe field of human resources,states that the first condition inlooking for work in the UnitedStates is to know exactly whatyou want and to make a wisecareer plan. If you do not wantto waste any time, then anothermust is to know what state andwhat city you want to work in.

When we talk about the Ameri-can market, first we need to sum-marize what kind of environmentwe are talking about. Öziskenderexlplains, “With a land mass of9.83 million square kilometers, a


FINDING A JOB

HOW CAN ONE FIND WORK DURINGAN ECONOMIC CRISIS?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for November 2008, in that month there was a 6.7%unemployment rate with 10.3 million people out of work.

Esra Öziskender with her business partner Ira E. Shapiro.


population of more than 300 mil-lion, 50 states and several territo-ries, the United States is a verylarge work space.” She says thatbesides the national labor lawsand regulations, each state alsohas its own labor laws, regulati-ons, traditions and customs.

Öziskender also underlines thefact that those who are lookingfor work in the United Statesare very conscious, from the hig-hest level manager, the newlygraduated personnel and theconstruction worker on the lo-west rung of the ladder; they allknow what they want, they lookfor work with a clear plan forthe future, and they do not lea-ve things up to chance. For thisreason the first rule to lookingfor work is to work with a well-designed career plan.

POWER OF THE RESUMEÖziskender says that the secondimportant step for those whoare making a career plan is toprepare a good resume, andadds: “Your resume is yourmarketing tool. The resume willusually not get you the job. Thepurpose of the resume is to ge-nerate enough interest in orderfor you to get called in for an in-terview. Whether or not you getthe job depends on how success-ful you are in your interview.” The next step after your careerplan and a good resume is tosend out your resume to asmany firms as possible or to allof your target firms. Job searchsites and headhunter sites on theInternet are also resources thatmust be used. Öziskender embarked on herhuman resources career in Bos-ton by aiding people around herwith their resumes, and now shehas over 15 years of experiencein her field. At her last position,Öziskender was the director ofhuman resources at AstraZene-ca pharmaceuticals in Turkeybefore coming to the UnitedStates, and with her participati-on on human resource task for-

ces with experiences in Europe,Asia and the United States, shehas a wide range of experiencein every field of human resour-ces. Öziskender has organizedworkshops on the establishmentand protection of company cul-tures and values during mergersand acquisitions in Europe andthe United States, and establis-hing her own company HRLinkConsulting, Inc. in March of2005, she signed a partnershipwith Ira E. Shapiro, an expert inhuman resources, management,organization, strategic planningand leadership with many yearsof experience in New York.Öziskender and Shapiro nowserve their customers with a wi-de range of services, includingthe establishment of a companyfrom the ground up, legal andfinancial consulting, and findingand hiring temporary or perma-nent staff. Shapiro, as the president of HireUSA, Inc., has been working inhuman resources managementsince 2006. Shapiro underlinesthe fact that mistakes made in hi-ring practices cause long-termdamage for a company. He emp-hasizes the fact that his companycan be of service to companieswanting to invest in the UnitedStates at every stage. Öziskender claims that the resu-mes that they aid in writing havea 98 percent rate of leading tothe applicant being hired andadds: “Writing a good resumedoes not guarantee a job for theperson searching for one. It aidsin getting called in for an intervi-ew. What makes the decision ofwhether or not that person getshired is the impression that theyleave on the employer and whet-her or not their past experiencesmeet the needs of the position towhich they are applying.”

PROBLEMS FOR TURKISH PEOPLELOOKING FOR WORKÖziskender, based on her pastexperiences, touches on theproblems that Turkish peoplelooking for work frequently run


into. She lists them under thefollowing headings: - Legal Status: If the personlooking for work does not havea Green Card or citizenship,then ‘legal status’ heads the listof problems. The H1B work vi-sa that gave employers the op-portunity to hire foreigners be-came much harder to get after9/11. Some firms do not want tosponsor workers due to the ex-tra expense that it brings them.In times where the economy isgood and the need for workers ishigh the chance given to foreig-ners increases accordingly, but intimes when the economy is badand Americans are also out therelooking for work then it gets har-der for a foreigner to get hired.- The Transfer Of Experience:For those candidates with workexperience especially in Turkeyand Europe, when they get to theUnited States they have to startfrom zero in about 90% of thecases. This is extremely demora-lizing for them. The candidatesmust get used to the fact that thisis just a temporary phase; theyneed to believe that after a fewyears of gaining experience in theAmerican market, they then canmove onto positions which aremore suitable to them. - Job Search Techniques: Loo-king for work in the United Sta-tes, in the same way as they didback in Turkey, without kno-wing the appropriate techniques,can lead to disappointment. Ge-nerally the candidates bring to-gether all the experiences andknowledge that they have, butwhen you look at the resume, itdoes not have a completeness toit. There are two factors for this;the first one is that in Turkeyworkers who have experience inevery phase of management aremuch more valuable than thosewith specific specializations, andthe second one is that a resume inTurkey is written in order tobring together all past educationand experiences rather than writ-ten with a specific aim. The lackof a career plan made while they

are still in school causes the can-didates to lose track later on. - The Language Problem: Eventhough these candidates graduatefrom language schools, becausethey do not use English in theireveryday lives there is a certainlack of flow in their English. “Forthis reason, if they have the op-portunity, the candidates shouldfirst take care of their languageproblems, and they should startlooking for work when they be-lieve that their English is fluentenough,” says Öziskender, but ifthey can find the opportunity towork and also solve their langua-ge problems, especially by findinga low level job, then that will alsoproduce good results. “Generallywhat we see is that if a candidatefinds a job with the state of theirEnglish at that time, then they donot work on advancing their lan-guage skills after that,” she says.- Lack Of Networking: Net-working in Turkey is usuallydone among friends and acqu-aintances. In the United States itis not unusual to network withpeople that you do not know aslong as you create a commond e n o m i n a t o r .

WRITING A RESUME- If there is no interest in the re-sume that you have sent withinone to three months then youshould suspect that there is so-mething wrong with the resume. - A good resume shortens thejob search period by 50%. - Just as there is no room on aresume for too much informati-on, a too short resume is alsonot appropriate. - A resume that is 1-3 pages isconsidered a normal length. - As you write your resume, se-e if any sentence you write raisesany questions. - A recruiter usually spends 3 se-conds per resume and they lookfor key words that are looked forin the job requirements. If theydo not see these words then theyusually give up on that resume.Clearly write out your experien-ces with key words. �


his campaign rallies, and the un-precedented amount of funds heraised. His campaign organizati-on was highly disciplined and fo-cused. He correctly assessed themood of the American peoplewho were yearning for a changefrom past eight dismal years. Heshowed great political acumenby mastering the intricacies of aninscrutable primary nominationprocess to defeat the much betterknown Hillary Clinton, and sho-wed calm resolve in a tough ge-neral election campaign. Oba-ma’s inspiring yet sober and tho-ughtful election night speechwas a tour de force. Rather thanshowing jubilation that wouldhave been understandable givenhis astounding accomplishment,the newly elected president sho-wed a humble appreciation forthe enormous challenges that hefaces.

Governing, however, requiresdifferent skills than campaig-ning. Choices have to be made;unlike during the campaign,Obama won’t be able to assuageeveryone with his soothing rhe-toric. The road ahead is difficultand there will be many unexpec-ted turns. The economy is on adownward spiral and foreignpolicy decisions on Iraq, Iranand Afghanistan cannot wait.

In assembling his team, Obamais showing signs of being cautio-us and measured in his approachto his transition to power. He isdemonstrating a pragmatic sidein staffing his White House ad-ministration with political vete-rans. As of this writing, press re-ports indicate that Obama willnominate Hillary Clinton to beSecretary of State, and NewYork Federal Reserve PresidentTimothy Geithner to be Secre-tary of the Treasury. Word ofthe appointment of Geithner cal-med skittish world markets for atime but the expectations are

that this recession will be deepand painful.

Hillary Clinton as Secretary ofState would bring to the Obamateam someone with whom Tur-key and foreign governments arefamiliar. Some concern has beenexpressed as to the hawkish vi-ews she expressed on Iran du-ring the presidential campaign...Too much should not be read in-to what she said on the campa-ign trail, where as a potentialpresident, she had to appear to-ugh enough to handle the job, orpolitical compromises she had tomake as a Senator. Clinton has astrong pragmatic side to her thatindicates she can adjust to the si-tuation at hand.

The economic crisis is job onefor Obama. The news is dire:consumer spending is down andunemployment is rising; ban-kruptcies are increasing, and thehousing market is virtually dead.Businesses are re-trenching inthe expectation of a prolongeddownturn. Credit is tight and thelack of capital is making life dif-ficult for both small and largebusinesses. Any recovery looks along way off.

To help avoid a prolonged reces-sion or worse, a depression,Obama proposes a massive pub-lic spending program to get theeconomy on track. Spending for transportation andother public works infrastructu-re will help provide work to theconstruction industry and willalso funnel money to state andlocal governments which mustoperate with balanced budgetsand are having to cut back spen-ding at all levels because of redu-ced tax revenues. These actionswill restore some confidenceeven as it will take time for hisprograms to get implemented.

Much to the consternation of

P O L I T I C S

With the election of BarackObama as the next Presi-

dent of the United States, onecould almost hear a collectivesigh of relief emanating fromaround the world. It was as ifthe darkness that had come overthe world for the past eight yearswas finally about to be lifted.

The election of a new Americanpresident always brings with it asense of hope and possibility ofbetter days to come. And we cer-tainly need that. With the worldeconomy in turmoil and see-mingly intractable foreign policychallenges, seldom has an electi-on carried such importance tothe U.S. and the world.

Barack Obama is not wellknown to the Turks, so theyrightly want to know what kindof President he will be and whatimpact his presidency will haveon U.S.-Turkish relations.

Predictions in politics are moreoften wrong than they are right.A year ago, before the first presi-

dential primary in January, thenomination of Hillary Clintonby the Democrats was almost aforegone conclusion, while onthe Republican side, JohnMcCain’s candidacy was on lifesupport. At this early stage, allwe can do is speculate on whatan Obama administration willdo. Expectations for an Obamaadministration are sky high, per-haps unrealistically so given theproblems he faces. But there areencouraging signs that PresidentObama will justify the faith thatAmericans and the world haveplaced in him.

Obama hasn’t taken office yet,but his campaign revealed thepresident elect’s even tempera-ment and keen intellect. Theseprovide important clues as whatkind of President Barack Oba-ma will be. During the campa-ign, Obama inspired millions ofvoters with his oratory, many ofthem young people who werevoting for the first time. He de-monstrated his broad appeal inthe massive crowds he drew to


PRESIDENT OBAMA – A NEW BEGINNING FOR AMERICA


many Democrats, some costlyprojects, like reforming healthcare, may have to been accomp-lished on a piecemeal basis.

In light of the dour economicnews, it will be President Oba-ma’s main task to show the nati-on and the world that he is ta-king the necessary steps to im-prove the economy. There willno doubt be missteps along theway, but given the tough situati-on he is inheriting, the publicwill probably give him the bene-fit of the doubt for a while. Anyprogress, however slight, shouldbegin to restore confidence,which will be a pre-requisite foran economic recovery.

Obama is not likely to have a si-milar grace period when it comesto foreign policy. Vice PresidentBiden may have been inapprop-riate when he stated that the newpresident was likely to be testedby foreign leaders in the first sixmonths of his presidency, but hewas probably right.

Obama will push the Pentagonfor a plan to start withdrawingtroops from Iraq, while at thesame time wanting to increasepressure on the Taliban and AlQaeda in Afghanistan withoutalienating Pakistan.

Iran is continuing to develop itsnuclear program. The Russianshave threatened to put missilesalong their borders if NATO go-es ahead with plans for a missiledefense shield.

The Obama administration is li-kely to take a much more activerole in trying to resolve the feste-ring Palestinian-Israel problem,a fair resolution to which is atthe heart of many problems inthe Middle East.

The President-elect has statedthat he wants to use diplomacyto address many of these issues,but he will have to do so witho-ut appearing weak to Iran’s wily

Ahmedinejad and Russia’sdyspeptic Putin.

Where does Turkey fit into theObama administration’s plans?It remains to be seen, but giventhe high-profile problems ofIraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Rus-sia, common sense would dicta-te that the U.S. would want Tur-key to play an important role.Turkey has shown that it is alre-ady willing to be active diploma-tically in the region. For examp-le, Turkey is mediating talks bet-ween Syria and Israel, and canprovide a counter balance toIran and Russia’s ambitions inthe region. A peaceful Iraq is asimportant to Turkey as it is tothe U.S., if not more so, andTurkey can play a key role inhelping to stabilize Iraq, particu-larly the Kurdish area.

In the past, much has been askedof Turkey but from Turkey’sstandpoint, not enough has beengiven. While of late there has be-en cooperation on the PKK issue,residual bad feelings and a certa-in level of mistrust have characte-rized the relationship with the USduring the Bush administration.

Turkey has its own legitimate is-sues that it needs the new Oba-ma administration to help itwith, not just in regard to thePKK, where Turkey will conti-nue to need the cooperation ofthe U.S. to eliminate PKK sanc-tuaries across the Iraqi border.

Since the election of the GreekCypriot leader in February2008, there has been renewedhope for a settlement on theCyprus issue. Talks have beenongoing since September 2008between the two sides. Whilethe United States supports theresumption of talks, it has notbeen actively involved. U.S. in-tervention could provide the ne-cessary impetus to reach a finalagreement. If the U.S. decides toget involved, it will be a tellingtest for the Obama administrati-


on to see whether it will succumbto the powerful Greek lobby inthe US, which will strenuouslyoppose any perceived concessionto Turkey or the Turkish Cypri-ots, or whether it will take a mo-re even handed approach.

The 800 pound gorilla in U.S.-Turkish relations is the questionof the so-called “Armenian genocide.” PrimeMinister Erdogan, in his recentvisit to Washington for the G20Economic Summit, made clearin an address at the BrookingsInstitution in Washington thatany recognition by the US of theevents of 1915 as genocide wo-uld irreparably damage relationsbetween Turkey and the US.

There is no reason to believe thathe isn’t deadly serious. It is anunknown whether Obama andVice President-elect Biden, whoin the past have expressed sup-port for the Armenian position,will risk a rupture with such akey ally as Turkey at a timewhen Obama will need Turkey’scooperation on a number of keyregional issues vital to U.S. inte-rests. Turks will hope that Hil-lary Clinton and Rahm Emma-nuel, Obama’s new chief ofstaff, who opposed the congres-sional genocide resolution, willoppose any actions that wouldalienate Turkey.

There is a way out of this conun-drum. The Turkish government’sproposal for an independentcommission of historians to studythe issue would take the genocidequestion off the political table.Such a historical commission ma-kes eminent sense, but for this tohappen, the Obama administrati-on is going to have to take the le-ad and be the “honest broker” toinsure that all sides will coopera-te. In doing so, Obama will haveto be willing to withstand intenselobbying from Armenian inte-rests and powerful congressionalDemocrats like House SpeakerNancy Pelosi.

If, indeed, President Obamawants to change business as usu-al in Washington, as far as Tur-key is concerned there would beno better way for him to de-monstrate this than by removingpolitics from the genocide deba-te that has from time to time pa-ralyzed previous administrationsand congresses and threatenedto derail relations between thetwo countries.

It would be a bold move by thenew President. It would demons-trate that he is willing to stand upto parochial interests. And it wo-uld win him tremendous goodwill with the Turkish nation.

With threats of terrorism stillhigh and tremendous instabilityin the Middle East, the world isfar different from the previouscentury where Turkey was al-ways there for the U.S. A moreconfident Turkey appears deter-mined to play a leadership rolein the Middle East and the Ca-ucasus. In fact, it may just bethat the U.S. needs Turkey morethan Turkey needs the U.S.

Nevertheless, after eight fecklessyears under President Bush du-ring which the international repu-tation and credibility of the U.Shas been seriously damaged, andas we face unprecedented threatsto our economy, U.S. leadershipis needed more than ever.

The extraordinary election of Ba-rack Obama as the next Presi-dent is bringing much optimismthat the United States can onceagain provide that leadership.

As Americans and Turks, wewish Barack Obama Godspeed,for his sake, and ours.*�

Osman Bengur

Baltimore, Maryland

*A native of Maryland, Osman Bengur isa graduate of public schools inMontgomery County, Maryland andWashington, DC. He received his A.B. in1971 from Princeton University, wherehe rowed on the heavy weight crewteam, and received an advanced degreefrom Cambridge University, England. Hewas a first Turkish American candidatefor the U.S. Congress in 2006 election.


new law requiring that an inde-pendent auditor assess transacti-ons between interested parties be-fore the transactions are appro-ved was introduced in order tostrengthen investor protections.

According to the report, Turkeyis ranked 59 out of 181 economi-es in 2008. Singapore is the topranked economy in the Ease ofDoing Business category, follo-wed by New Zealand, the UnitedStates, Hong Kong – China, andthe Western European countries,something which does not comeas surprise. Although Turkeyjumped from a ranking of 91 in2006 to 60 in 2007, in 2008 itonly moved up by 1, reaching 59in the overall ease of doing busi-ness ranking.

STARTING A BUSINESSIn terms of the sub-components ofdoing business, in 2008, for instan-ce, in starting a business, Turkey isranked 43 overall. It requires 6procedures, takes 6 days, and costs14.91 % GNI per capita to start abusiness in Turkey. Turkey is ran-ked 68 overall for Paying Taxes.

CONSTRUCTION PERMITSTurkey is ranked 131 overall forDealing with Construction Per-mits. Where the regulatory bur-den is large, entrepreneurs movetheir activity into the informaleconomy. There they operatewith less concern for safety, lea-ving everyone worse off. Anot-her striking finding is that Turkeyis ranked 138 overall for Emplo-ying Workers. Employment re-gulations are needed to allow effi-cient contracting between emplo-yers and workers and to protectworkers from discriminatory orunfair treatment by employers. Inits indicators on employing wor-kers, Doing Business measuresflexibility in the regulation of hi-

ring, working hours and dismissalin a manner consistent with theconventions of the InternationalLabor Organization (ILO). Go-vernments all over the world facethe challenge of finding the rightbalance between worker protecti-on and labor market flexibility.But in developing countries espe-cially, regulations often lean toone extreme, pushing employersand workers into the informalsector. Analysis across economiesshows that while employment re-gulation generally increases the te-nure and wages of incumbentworkers, overly rigid regulationsmay have undesirable side effects.These include less job creation,smaller company size, less invest-ment in research and develop-ment, and longer spells of unemp-loyment and thus the obsolescen-ce of skills, all of which may redu-ce productivity growth. As the entire world watches theglobal financial system beingtransformed, inefficient producti-on systems forced to reform, andeconomic power being reshuffledtowards a more evenly distribu-ted paradigm, this may be theright time for Turkey to reformits business regulations to catchup with its competitors in Asia,Europe and Latin America andto get ahead in the new economicera by removing the constraintsthat prevent the private sectorfrom flourishing. With Turkey’scomparative advantages in locati-on and educated work force, the-re is no reason why Turkey sho-uld not be a heaven of entrepre-neurship and investments. The ti-me is ripe to put the private sec-tor in the driver’s seat. For more information on DoingBusiness Country Report forTurkey, visit: h t t p : / / w w w . d o i n g b u s i n e s s . o r g /D o c u m e n t s / C o u n t r y P r o f i l e s /TUR.pdf �

DOING BUSINESS PROJECT

It is now widely accepted thatsmall and medium-sized enter-

prises are key drivers of competiti-on, growth and job creation, par-ticularly in developing countries.According to the World Bank’s Fi-nancial and Private Sector Deve-lopment’s Vice Presidency:• Productive jobs tend to be crea-ted in private markets and compe-tition tends to drive upgrading ofskills and productivity growth • Rules-based markets that allowentry of new firms promote suc-cess on the basis of rules, not onthe basis of personal connections;this stimulates movement from theinformal to the formal sector inc-luding access to finance for under-served small firms and households • Better regulation and gover-nance reduces opportunities forcorruption • Wealth creation and entry ofnew parties into the market tendto create demand for better go-vernance

Yet, until recently there were noglobally available indicator setsto measure and compare the easeof doing business across countri-es. For instance, the macroeco-nomic indicators in national ac-counts are standard in every co-untry. However, for govern-ments that are committed to im-proving daily economic activitiesof their country and job opportu-nities for its citizens, and for in-ternational investors who are loo-king into investment opportuniti-es in other countries, there wereno standard indicators.

The Doing Business project, la-unched 7 years ago, looks at do-mestic small and medium-sizedcompanies and measures the re-gulations applying to them thro-ugh their life cycle. Although the-re have been earlier attempts tomeasure economic and policy

conditions for the private sector,the Doing Business project is thefirst that has come close to crea-ting a global standard in this field.

The first Doing Business report,published in 2003, covered 5 in-dicator sets in 133 economies.The 2009 report covers 10 indi-cator sets in 181 economies. Theproject has benefited from feed-back from governments, acade-mics, practitioners and reviewers.The initial goal remains: to provi-de an objective basis for unders-tanding and improving the regu-latory environment for business.

Doing Business provides a quan-titative measure of regulations forstarting a business, dealing withconstruction permits, employingworkers, registering property,getting credit, protecting inves-tors, paying taxes, trading acrossborders, enforcing contracts andclosing a business-as they applyto domestic small and medium-si-zed enterprises. A fundamentalpremise of Doing Business is thateconomic activity requires goodrules. These include rules that es-tablish and clarify property rightsand reduce the costs of resolvingdisputes, rules that increase thepredictability of economic inte-ractions and rules that providecontractual partners with coreprotections against abuse. 239 reforms in 113 economieswere introduced between April2007 and June 2008. Reformerssimplified business regulations,strengthened property rights, ea-sed tax burdens, increased accessto credit, and reduced the cost ofexporting and importing. The pa-ce of reform varied across regi-ons, with Eastern Europe andCentral Asia reforming the most.According to the report, duringthis period only one business re-form took place in Turkey. A

PRIVATE SECTOR IS THE LOCOMOTIVE OF AN ECONOMY


By Demet Cabbar

According to the World Bank’s “Doing Business Project”, Turkey is ranked 59 out of 181 economies in2008. Turkey jumped from a ranking of 91 in 2006 to 59 in 2008.


as the voice of the North Ameri-can steel industry in the publicpolicy arena and advances the ca-se for steel in the marketplace asthe material of choice. AISI'smember companies representover 75 percent of both U.S. andNorth American steel capacity.

The U.S. imported a total of2,964,000 net tons of steel in Oc-tober 2008, including 2,344,000net tons of finished steel, up 1percent and down 5 percent, res-pectively, vs. September’s finaldata. While total and finished ste-el imports through the first tenmonths of 2008 are each down 6percent vs. the same period in2007, the monthly average for fi-nished steel imports in the mostrecent 3-month period (August-October 2008) is up 7 percent vs.the monthly average in the pre-vious 3 months (May-July 2008).

Total and finished steel importson an annualized basis this yearare each down 2 percent, respec-tively, vs. 2007. On an annuali-zed basis, total imports of steel in2008 would be 32.8 million NT.Thomas J. Gibson, AISI Presi-dent and CEO said, “Against thebackdrop of a severe economicdownturn in the U.S. and glo-

bally, the unprecedented tonnageof finished steel imports fromChina in October (713,000 NT)is of extreme concern.”In October, the largest volume offinished imports from offshorewas from China (713,000 NT,up 26% from September). Thiswas 30% of all finished imports.While steel imports from Chinain the first ten months of 2008are down 9 percent compared tothe same period last year, Chine-se imports set a new all time re-cord in October. Much of thistonnage is in high-value productsstill receiving government exporttax rebates. Other major offshoresuppliers in September includeKorea (167,000 NT, down 32%from Sept.), Japan (132,000, up5%), Germany (81,000 NT,down 11%), Turkey (72,000NT, down 33%) and India(65,000 NT, down 59%).

While the import of steel is increa-sing in the U.S., AISI reported thatfor the month of September 2008,U.S. steel mills shipped 7,920,000net tons, a 6.8 percent decreasefrom the 8,492,000 net tons ship-ped in September 2007, and a10.7 percent decrease from the8,860,000 net tons shipped in theprevious month, August 2008. �

U.S. STEEL INDUSTRY

According to RNCOS, an in-dustry research firm, in a

new market research report titled"US Steel Industry Outlook,” theUS produces and consumes abo-ut 3% of the world's iron oreoutput. In 2007, mines in Michi-gan and Minnesota - the two lar-gest iron ore producers in the co-untry - shipped 95% of the ironore produced. The weak dollarremains a major challenge for theUS steel industry as steel importsare expected to slip down to aro-und 27 million metric tons thisyear from 30.4 million metrictons in 2007.

The RNCOS report indicatesthat the energy-related constructi-on market is a potential growtharea for the US steel industry. Atthe global level, overall crude ste-el production remained high in2007, but a slowdown was ob-served in the growth rate of crudesteel production from last year.Getting loans and expanding bu-

sinesses and the housing markethas become difficult due to uncer-tainty in financial markets. Thisresulted in a decline in apparentsteel consumption in 2008.

Although the U.S. imported $2.9billion in steel mill products, as ofOctober, 2008, a national surveyof over 1,000 U.S. voters foundthat 80 percent of those polled be-lieve that cheap steel from coun-tries where environmental stan-dards and manufacturing require-ments are low is a bad thing. Thereasons given were increases inglobal pollution, greenhouse gasemissions, and the fact that itcreates an unfair advantage for fo-reign steel producers that domes-tic steel companies do not have.

The question related to steel,sponsored by the American Ironand Steel Institute (AISI), waspart of the FirstView 2008 Natio-nal Post Election survey conduc-ted by Strat@comm. AISI serves


THE STEEL INDUSTRY’S MAJOR CONCERNS:THE CHINA FACTOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDSTHE STEEL INDUSTRY’S MAJOR CONCERNS:THE CHINA FACTOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS

Total and finished steel imports on an annualizedbasis this year are each down 2 percent,respectively, vs. 2007.

LEADERS IN MARKET CAPITALIZATION IN THE U.S. STEEL INDUSTRYPrecision Castparts Corp. $8.7 B United States Steel Corp. $3.5 B Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. $1.5 B Valmont Industries, Inc. $1.4 B Matthews International Corporat $1.3 B Mueller Industries, Inc. $865.3 M Mobile Mini, Inc. $452.9 M Chart Industries, Inc. $271.5 M Ladish Co., Inc. $263.8 M Graham Corp $92.2 MSource: Yahoo Finance


key were retrieved in 1984 from amerchant ship that sank in the La-te Bronze Age. Considered the ol-dest known seagoing ship, it is esti-mated to have sunk in 1300 B.C.,and contained goods that wereused for trade from different cultu-res from Nubia to the Balkans.Present at the opening of this ex-hibit, which sheds light on thehistory of the Near East and Eas-tern Mediterranean and on Tur-key’s history as a center of trade,were Halis Komili, Semahat Ar-sel, Suzan Sabanc› Dinçer, TA‹KBaflkan› Haluk Dinçer, Jeff Hak-

ko, Semahat Arsel, Ömer Dinç-kök, Halis Komili, Melih Sipahi-o¤lu and other well-known na-mes from the Turkish businesscommunity. The exhibition is made possible byDorothy and Lewis B. Cullmanand The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.Corporate sponsors are the DEIKTurkish-American Business Co-uncil, Do¤an Holding, Do¤uflHolding, Koç Holding, and Sa-banc› Holding. Additional sup-port is provided by the OceanicHeritage Foundation and the Na-tional Endowment for the Arts.�

Aglobalizing world, develo-ping trade routes, and com-

munication networks connectingthese to the world... Every type ofproduct and merchandise that yo-u can think of can be marketed tothe four corners of the globe. To-day these things are normal andcommon... But 4000 years ago,what kind of goods were used intrade between civilizations, andhow were they transported?Some 350 objects including neck-laces, earrings, bracelets, and fi-gurines that traveled from Syriato Anatolia and from Anatolia toGreece, comprise an exhibit cal-led “Beyond Babylon: Art, Tradeand Diplomacy in the SecondMillennium B.C.,” which openedto the public with a ceremony onNovember 15 at the Metropoli-tan Museum of Art. The artifacts, which come fromvarious museums in Turkey, Ar-menia, Georgia, Greece, and Le-banon, can be viewed until

March 15, 2009. Although theMet also wanted to include anci-ent artifacts from Syria in the ex-hibit, these plans were abando-ned because of the “Foreign So-vereign Immunities Act,” whichwas passed by the American go-vernment in January 2008. A total of 140 items are fromTurkey, of which 98 items, be-longing to the Uluburun ship-wreck, come from the BodrumUnderwater Archeology Muse-um, with the remaining items co-ming from other museums. These important works from Tur-

Chicago, IL – Huma Gruaz,founder and president of Al-

paytac Inc., has been named oneof the nation’s top three “BrandMarketers of the Year” by PRNews. Gruaz was honored at the2008 PR People Awards in Was-hington D.C. on November 6,2008. Hosted by PR News, these

annual awards showcase top in-dustry professionals who havedemonstrated outstanding achi-evements in public relations andmarketing. Gruaz’s work withleading housewares companyShark Euro-Pro, the foundingclient of the agency, in additionto the rapid growth of the


H A P P E N I N G S

“BEYOND BABYLON” EXHIBIT AT THE MET

HUMA GRUAZ NAMED BRAND MARKETER OF THE YEAR FINALIST

P l a c e : Metropolitan Museum of Art,Iris and B. Gerald Cantor ExhibitionHall, 2nd floorP r i c e : $20 suggested contribution,$15 seniors, $10 students. Reservations: No RecommendationNearby Subway Stops: 4, 5, 6 at86th St.Official Website: metmuseum.orgS c h e d u l e : Thru 3/15/09 Tue-Thu,Sun, 9:30am-5:30pm; Fri-Sat,9 : 3 0 a m - 9 p m

agency, helped Gruaz stand outamongst an impressive list of fi-nalists. Gruaz founded Alpaytacin 2004, and has since built thecompany into one of the premie-re public relations agencies inthe nation. To learn more abo-ut Alpaytac, visit w w w . A l p a y t a c . c o m .�

do/6th), Rep. Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico/1st). “We are verypleased that the co-chairs of theTurkish Caucus and the majorityof its members have been re-elec-ted and congratulate them ontheir election victories,” said Lin-coln McCurdy, President of theTurkish Coalition of America. �

The Turkish Caucus in the USHouse of Representatives will

begin the new legislative year (Ja-nuary 2009) with 71 members,down from its record number of80. However, only five of thoseMembers lost in the November 4

elections, while four members didnot seek re-election. Members ofthe Caucus who lost the electionare: Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohi-o/1st), Rep. Thelma D. Drake (R-Virginia/2nd ) Rep. Phil English(R-Pennsylvania/3rd) Rep. Randy

CONGRESSIONAL TURKISH CAUCUS HOLDS UP STRONG IN ELECTION Kuhl (New York/29th ), Rep.Chris Shays (R-Connecticut/4th ).Members of the Caucus who didnot seek re-election are: Rep. BudCramer (D-Alabama/5th), Rep.Jim Ramstad (R-Minnesota/3rd),Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colora-

For detailed information on eli-gibility criteria, applicationsforms and to learn more aboutthe program, visit the TurkishCultural Foundation website. �

Turkish Cultural Foundation(TCF) announces the 2009

Fellowship Program. The 2009TCF Fellowship Program will

award 10 Fellowships at USD10,000 for dissertation researchat the Ph.D. level; and 5 Fellows-hips at USD 15,000 at the Post-

TURKISH CULTURAL FOUNDATION 2009 FELLOWSHIPS doctoral level. The deadline forapplication is February 1, 2009.In 2007, 10 fellowships wereawarded under this program.

Turk Of America 86 12/20/08 12:51 AM Page 2

volume 7 issue 31 - undersecretariat of the turkish prime ministry for foreign trade special issue

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