Malatya was first introduced to the textile industry when the Sumerbank Factory was built, and today is one of the Turkish provinces that has made textiles a priority. Thirtyfive percent of the facilities in the 1st Organized Industrial Zone, which continues to see investment in this area, belong to textile companies. Meanwhile, textile companies comprise fifty percent of the investors who have applied to invest in the 2nd Organized Industrial Zone. Known as the "Apricot Capital", Malatya is beginning to make a name for itself in several othersectors in the region.
The economy of Malatya is based on agriculture, agricultural industry and animal breeding. Malatya has significant influence both economically and socially as one of the most populous provinces in the Eastern Anatolia Region. The population of Malatya began to increase rapidly in the 1980s with the creation of the lake at the Karakaya Dam, the founding of Inbnu University, the presence of the 2nd Army Corps and the impact of GAP.
With a geographical location that makes it an important center of commerce, Malatya established its Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1923, and currently has 41 collective companies, 2,895 limited companies and 550 corporations registered. Not including those in the planning stages, there are currently 87 companies operating in the textile sector. Today, Malatya is capable of processing every type of cotton, produces every type of thread and any fabric from combed cotton, to canvas, tarpaulin and denim.

The Turkish Textile Foundation is focusing on "6 Sigma" trainings to prepare its members for global competition. To date, Saray Carpets and Bahariye Textiles have taken advantage of this training provided by Matris Consulting and paid for by the Turkish Textile Foundation. The training continues at Kar-su while Soktas employees will begin the "6 Sigma" training in October. The training not only makes companies more effective in international markets, it also makes significant contributions to company finances. According to the figures provided by officials from Saray Carpets, they have completed ten "6 Sigma" projects which have made a contribution of 1.5 million dollars to company books. Meanwhile, the worth of the first "6 Sigma" trainings at Bahariye was calculated as 300,000 YTL. The foundation will continue to provide 6 Sigma training in the new quarter following a different method. October 24th has been set as the deadline for participation. Turkish Textile Foundation's Secretary General Oguzhan Oguz noted that companies have received tremendous benefit from the "6 Sigma" training. He said their goal was to enable companies to increase their corporate capabilities and grow stronger in the competitive global marketplace so that they could launch new initiatives.

Oguz said, "For this purpose, the Turkish Textile Foundation's management has adopted the vision, methodology and system embodied in Six Sigma,one of the most effective tools for achieving its founding principle of ensuring that the Turkish textile industry continues to play an important role in the domestic economy and world markets. In 2007, these applications were begun with Saray Carpets, Karsu and Bahariye Textiles."
Noting that there are two different types of "6 Sigma" training, known as 'Black Belt' and 'Green Belt', Oguz said, "Black belt training lasts 23 days while green belt training lasts 10. There is a difference in quality between the two training courses. Green belt training will provide an average of 50,000 dollars worth of improvement per person while black belt training is double this amount."

The International istanbul Fashion Fair, IF, opened its doors for the 10th time. The istanbul Fashion Fair was sponsored by the IF Council, which was formed by leading associations from the Turkish ready-made apparel sector for the purpose of making istanbul a fashion center, andthe istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Union (iTKiB). This year's fair was attended by 357 companies. The fair was held in the istanbul CNR Expo Center on August 23-25th and hosted world-renowned fashion designers.

Minister of State, Kursad Tuzmen made opening remarks at the fair, drawing attention to the fact that this is the world's third largest exhibition, saying, "I would like to congratulate everyone who has made a contribution. Even in times of economic crisis, everyone here has joined forces to bring us to where we are today.

Although the textile and apparel sectors in neighboring countries have declined by 40%, Turkey has experienced an increase of 17%." The grand opening began with the fashion creations of the famous designer, SafakAtahan, and the fair included the fashion shows of the finalists of the 16th Young Fashion Designer Contest. The creations of designers such as Muge Ersin, Gamze Saracoglu, Mehtap Elaidi, Nejla Guvenc, Simay Bulbiil, Deniz Kaprol, Ceren Ertan, Ferya Surel, Ebru Gunay, Zeynep Mursalioglu, Giray Sepin, Yasemin Aytar, Selim Baklaci and Safak Atahan were also on display at the fair. More than 34 purchasing delegations attended the fair from Germany, the USA, Morocco, France, the UK, Spain, Italy, Japan, Egypt, Portugal, Russia, Tunisia, the UAE, Bulgaria and Romania. Ninety companies from Syria also participated in the exhibition.

Another election has gone by and the ruling party AKP (Justice and Development Party) has won the elections, receiving 46.50% of the vote. AKP has won 341 seats, CHP (People's Republican Party) 112, and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) 71. In addition, 26 independent MPs have entered the Parliament. AKP has won a majority that ailows it to form a single-party government, and this has boosted the business world's hopes that its preelection expectations would be realized. Thinking that AKP has obtained very good results in the elections, the business world now expects some action on both the unemployment package and the social security reform that had been shelved during the past term.
Evaluating the results, Halit Narin, President of the Turkish Textile Employers' Association said, "AKP needs to adopt broad-based and longterm policies focusing on production and unemployment. Unemployment should become a priority." Narin further said, "The main goal of a well-planned system should be a policy designed to reduce unemployment through investment. AKP can no longer hesitate and is no longer subject to criticism. People have indicated support to the party by saying, Turkey has to grow; there might be shortcomings, but the goal should be continuous growth.' This is the outcome of the elections. So, there must be a response to this support now. What needs to be done is to support investments."Senol Sankaya, President of the Uludag Ready-to-Wear Exporters' Association and CEO of Yesim Textile, said that the problems of the non-financial sector had not been adequately addressed during the first term of the AKP government and that the focus had mainly been on the financial sector. Sankaya said, "We hope that the government will address the problems of the non-financial sector in its second term. Employment costs and energy costs, and especially the cost of natural gas, should be lowered.Meanwhile, the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Associations (TISK) announced a list of recommendations for the first 180 days of the 60th government that will be formed in the coming days. Demands from the new government cover a wide range of topics, from reducing the burden of taxes and social security payments as a solution for unemployment, to completing the privatization process.

Akin Tekstil, one of the longest-established enterprises of the Turkish textile industry, is celebrating its 51st anniversary. Speaking to the Textile Employers Magazine, Akin Tekstil General Manager Ra-mazan Ozgur emphasized the company's confidence in the future and said that it has proven its pioneering spirit with the many innovations and groundbreaking projects it has undertaken so far. Ozgur stated that the company had a long history in textiles and said, "For half a century, textiles have been a priority for our group. We will continue to implement a strategy of vertical growth and specialization, as opposed to horizontal expansion."Ramazan Ozgur stated that Akin Tekstil was planning to use its expertise to achieve progress in high value-added fields. He added that the company was one of the first in the industry to enter the technical textiles segment. Ozgur said: "When we say technical textiles, we mean products that can perform certain technical functi-ons. Akin Tekstil focuses on multi-functional, high performance, technical fabrics. Fabrics with anti-bacterial and moisture-management properties are just an example."

Ozgur stated that these anti-bacterial fabrics had been approved by foreign authorities, and said: "These products offer several advantages in terms of human health, and Akin Tekstil is developing new applications that aim to improve their performance." Ramazan Ozgur stated that stain-resistant and stain-repellent fabrics were very popular in the market, and explained that the company had broken new ground by manufacturing a "climatic" fabric that keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The new Pursaklar Yunus Emre building of the Labor and Social Security Training and Research Center (CASGEM), which was launched with the contribution of our association, opened on July 9. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Labor and Social Security Minister Murat Basesgioglu, Minister of State Besir Atalay and former Minister of Justice Cemil Çicek were present at the opening ceremony, at which Prime Minister Erdogan presented a plaque to Halit Narin, the President of our association.
Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Erdogan said that the project could be completed only this year although the plot of land for the building had been allocated 33 years ago. Erdogan said, "As the country's government, our top priority is to make Turkey a perfect social state governed by the rule of law." PM Erdogan also emphasized the importance of vocational training. Also speaking at the ceremony, Labor and Social Security Minister Murat Basesgioglu explained that CASGEM had been established in 1955 by an agreement signed with the International Labor Organization and that it had been transferred to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 1960. Stating that both labor unions and employers' associations had contributed to the erection of the building, Basesgioglu said that these two groups had been helpful in channeling a certain amount of funds collected by the Ministry as administrative fines into the construction of the building. Basesgioglu said that the building had cost YTL 7.6 million and that YTL 3.6 million of this came from workers' and employers' organizations and administrative fines. Later on in the ceremony, Prime Minister Erdogan presented plaques to the President of the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Associations (TiSK), Tugrul Kudatgobilik, TUTSiS (Turkish Textile Employers' Association) President Halit Narin, and Pursaklar Mayor Selcuk Çetin. Erdogan then inaugurated the Labor and Social Security Training and Research Center building, accompanied by his ministers. The ceremony was also attended by the presidents of workers', employers' and civil servants' confederations, and bureaucrats of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.