The annual congress of the European Association of Textile Finishers (CRIET) was held, with the support of our Association, on May 24-26 at The Marmara Hotel in Istanbul. Ersal Yazgan, President of the Turkish Textile Finishers Association, hosted the congress, where presentations on the Chinese market and technical textiles attracted great interest. The current President of CRIET, Malcolm Jarvis, was also present at the congress andone of the basic topics on the agenda was a discussion of CRIET's status in the aftermath of Italy and Germany's withdrawal from the association. Also at the congress, a group from China held private discussions in a specially reserved hall of the hotel to discuss Chinese textiles, chemicals and auxilliary materials. One of the presentations that was received with interest was a presentation on applications in the Orta Anadolu Textiles company, where the first pilot implementation of the European Union's "Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive" was launched under the supervision of the Environmental Engineering Department of the Middle East Technical University (METU) as part of Turkey's harmonization with EU environmental regulations. Our Board Member Bulent Baser, who was the first to make a presentation at the CRIET Congress, stated that investments in production, consumption and textile machinery were increasing around the world and that projections showed that while the consumption of textiles in the world had risen to 61.6 million tons in 2006, this figure was expected to reach 63.5 million tons in 2007.

Bulent Baser said: "Turkey is one of China's biggest competitors, along with India and Pakistan" and added that in terms of Turkey's average annual export growth between the years 1995-2004, the country was growing much faster than India and Pakistan.One of the presentations at the congress was made by CRIET Secretary-General Cees Lodiers, who spoke of the impact on the textiles industry of the new "Chemicals Policy-REACH" that has become effective in Europe as of June 1, 2007. Prof. Dr. Roshan Shishoo, who presented information on the technical textiles market, said that the world textiles market is rapidly changing and that sports clothes and casual and functional clothing have come to the forefront of fashion.

Textile manufacturers reelected Halit Narin as chairman in our Association's 21st General Assembly on 7-8 April. The election was held at the headquarters of the Turkish Textile Employers' Association in Metrocity. As it has been the case in previous years, "harmony" was maintained in the election where there was a single candidate list and where the message sent to the public was "We will continue as a single force with Halit Narin".

Speaking on the first day of the General Assembly in which 74% of the members participated, the Association's Chairman Halit Narin said: "We had a peaceful period of three years. The balance in the relations between workers and employers was struck in a quiet environment. You had the opportunity to work in your plants; the relations between workers and employers were harmonious and at their highest level, with or without economic difficulties. All of you know that our Association has been active for approximately 40 years as an organization that maintains good harmony among employers. This is due to the fact that everyone here knows everything that is being done."

Turkey grew more than expected thanks to the investment of $67 billion the private sector made last year. The Gross National Product (GNP) grew by 6% and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.1% in 2006. As a result, Turkey has had 5 consecutive years of growth. The total growth rate of 5 years is %43.17. According to the data of the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK), following the shrinkage of 9.5% in 2001, the annual growth rate of 6% in GNP means that Turkey has had 20 consecutive quarters or 5 consecutive years of growth. The growth rates were 7.9%, 9.9%, 7.6% and 6% in 2002, 2005, 2005 and 2006 respectively; growth started to decelerate after 2004.

The economy grew in 10 years since 1994. However, Turkey witnessed its third lowest growth rate (in the years of economic growth) in 2006. In the years of economic growth, the lowest growth rate was observed in 1998 at 3.9%, followed by 2003 at 5.9%. Turkey's GNP decreased in 1994, 1999 and 2001, the year with the highest shrinkage. The per capita national income of Turkey increased to $5,477 last year. According to the current figures, the per capita gross national product was $5,800 in 2005. The per capita gross domestic product increased from $5,016 to $5,482. As a result, in comparison with the previous year, the per capita GNP increased by $469 and the per capita GDP increased by $466 last year.

Until now, our Association donated 50.000 computers to the national education system as a part of the campaign to support the use of computers in education; it is now implementing the Textile Sector Supra-enterprise Vocational Training Center (METEM) project. The construction of the first METEM built in Cerkezkoy with the collaboration of the Turkish Textile Foundation, a part of our Association, was completed. Cerkezkoy METEM will train medium-level, skilled labor for the textile sector for the first time in Turkey and will open in the 2007-2008 academic year. Adana (Organized Industrial Zone) and Kayseri (Germirli) METEM projects will start after the completion of Cerkezkoy METEM. The Advisory Board of the Association met in the Conference Hall of Cerkezkoy METEM on 26 April on the occasion of the implementation of the first METEM project.

On 19 April, Sakip Sabanci Museum in Emirgan, Istanbul opened its doors for a new exhibition on Turkish rugs that left Turkey centuries ago. The exhibit called "In Praise of God: Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches, 1500-1750" is sponsored by our member Yunsa, which sees the promotion of Turkey's cultural wealth as a part of its corporate responsibilities. The exhibit brings together Turkish rugs which were indispensable items in the churches and aristocratic families of Transylvania which was formerly under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Director of Sakip Sabanci Museum Dr. Nazan Olcer said that "In Praise of God: Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches, 1500-1750" Exhibit would continue until 19 August and that it contained 47 Western Anatolian rugs from museum, exhibits and collections in Hungary and Romania. Talking about the Transylvanian adventure of the rugs, Dr. Olcer said that the art of Turkish rugs started in Central Asia and traveled to the Near East with the tribes that went to Anatolia; the rugs were then sold to Europe after the 13th century. She underlined the fact that rugs were not a part of Western art; "Rugswent West exclusively from this land; Europeans paid a lot of attention to rugs after the 13th century." She said that the rugs sold in Europe went to royal families, the rich, courts and high-ranking church officials such as the Pope and cardinals who were part of the rich institution of the church. Dr. Olcer also said that the only decorations in Catholic churches were Turkish rugs at the time when decorations were removed from Catholic churches.

Thanks to its quality, Turkish fabrics look surprisingly good in Europe. These expressions regarding Soktas in the latest edition of magazine Monsieur is the best proof of this: "I haven't seen such a quality fabric for last 30 years. This fabric is used for manufacturing custom-made shirts offered in Amy's."
These are the expressions of Michel Korn, one of the best shirt makers of the day who started his professional life in Sulka at the age of 20. According to Korn, this collection produced by Soktas is an absolute miracle and surprise. In the interview of the magazine, Korn expresses that he has never seen such a thin Egyptian cotton even tough he worked on the thinnest cottons and voiles many times. It is stated in the magazine that having limited quantities in stock, the poplin is offered to the customers via the "traditional" custom-made shirt service of Amy's, the place in where a patterning and a last fitting processes is used before finishing a custom shirt.