Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The introductory meeting for the book, “Safahat – The Complete Poetry Collection of Mehmet Akif Ersoy” was held at the TOBB Conference Hall in Ankara. The meeting, hosted by TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, was attended by the Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay as well as many high level bureaucrats, directors and representatives of the arts and culture communities. The book, prepared by TOBB and comprised of 1400 pages has both the original and the contemporary Turkish versions of the poems. Attendees of the meeting were gifted with this set of Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s works.

Giving the opening speech during the meeting, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu addressed the guests as “Friends of Akif” and spoke, “There are important turning points in a person’s life which shape the future. This is also true for nations. Sometimes, when you think you’ve lost everything, you put forth everything you have and achieve something even greater than before. This is why, throughout history, the first thing looters burn down and destroy are libraries and archives. This is because they wanted to destroy the memory of the nation. They know that just as a person with no memory can’t reach their goal and even have a goal, neither can a people. The ‘mankurts’ of Chyngyz Aitmatov are the most gruesome examples of this.”

- Minister Günay, ‘Osman Hamdi of our day’

Stating that relaying the national memory to future generations is the first condition of actually being a nation, Hisarcıklıoğlu likened the Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay to the Osman Hamdi of today’s world.

Also touching on the subject of bringing cultural treasures smuggled abroad back, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The Minister Ertuğrul Günay, by reclaiming the stolen masterpieces of Anatolia, has put down his name in the history of the Republic. He has shown an extraordinary effort in not just reclaiming the artworks smuggled to foreign countries, but also in discovering and preserving the ones we have. Frankly, a person would only expand this effort if it was his own property. In your presence, I would like to thank him on behalf of our community. In addition, he has accomplished great things in developing museums, cultural publications and increasing their overall quality. Turkey is advancing by leaps and bounds in tourism during his term as minister.”

- Joint projects with Günay

Drawing attention to the joint projects they’ve accomplished with the Culture and Tourism Minister Günay, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We have been supported greatly by him in our election as the United Nations World Tourism Organization board of directors as Vice President. We will be holding the world’s largest tourism organization in the world together on 15-16th of November, 2012. Tourism investor from the four corners of the world will be hosted in İstanbul. I would once again like to thank him and the Ministry for this work, which we believe will contribute greatly to the promotion of our country and the development of tourism.”

- “Economy by itself is not enough to advance”

Agreeing with the Minister Günay’s words, “Life moves forwards but is only understood when looking back,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said:

“As the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, we are the umbrella organization of the Turkish business world. Our members are responsible for 75% of Turkey’s yearly production and 90% of its exports. Our members, numbering 1.5 million, are providing employment to 12 million people. Our members invest 150 billion Dollars each year to the future of this country. As TOBB, we work to enable our members to do business both domestically and internationally. However, we know that economical gain alone is not enough for the development of a people, not enough to be a nation.

Maintaining a sense of nationality and relaying cultural inheritance to future generations to achieve that goal is paramount. This mentality and responsibility, as the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey we are expending efforts to put forth permanent works.

We give great importance to work which will relay the consciousness of society will be instrumental in maintaining an identity of nationality to future generations. We have contributed greatly to the restoration of many ancestral relics domestically and internationally throughout the years and continue to do so. In order to nurture generations who are connected to their history and who are knowledgeable, we have constructed 45 educational facilities and there are more under construction. In the presence of such select guests, I will state once more that we will continue to contribute.

The piece we are introduction today is a part of that work. We wanted to make the most important spokesperson for the Independence War and its period known to new generations. I first encountered Mehmet Akif, his love of country and nation, when I was still a child with the National Anthem. Afterwards, in my readings of Safahat, I witnessed Akif’s genius and character. In our youth, Safahat was an extraordinary piece for us with the values it held. We learned the drama of Seyfi Baba and the responsibility of statesmanship from Ömer. Its messages are written on our souls. Akif’s recounts of travels abroad and his addresses are exemplary and fonts of advice.”

- “We need Akif’s words”

Stating that there is just as much need today as in the past for the mind, words, honesty, loyalty and patriotism of the Poet Akif, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that every one of Akif’s poems are fonts of advice today. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The foundation upon which his poetry is the permanent and ever changing reality of humanity. If we are able to contribute even a little bit for his greatest gift to us, Safahat, we will be content.”

- “Safahat is my bedside book”

Emphasizing that Safahat remains one of his bedside books, the TOBB President described Safahat as a roadmap showing both the past and the future. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “A roadmap presenting experiences of the past and the goals for the future, an extraordinary personal development book. Every time I open it and read at random, I find many things of myself in it. I believe that our society, especially the younger generation, have a lot to learn from Akif. Safahat is a manifesto teaching unshakable resolve and courage; for love of labor for nation and country. It is with these thoughts that we have set out to make our contribution to the Year of Mehmet Akif and Safahat.”

- Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay

Speaking at the introductory meeting for Safahat, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay stated that, as the Ministry, they are working to preserve the cultural treasures of the land and that Mehmet Akif Ersoy is one of those treasures.

“Akif is akin to Ahmet Yesevi, Hacı Bayram Veli and Yunus Emre for me; one of the greatest architects of the values which make us, us.”

Stating that they had declared last year as the Mehmet Akif Ersoy Year, Günay said that they have organized many events and have collected the works of Akif and thanked everyone who contributed to the preparation of Safahat.
​