Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Speaking at the “Ankara Meeting of Brands” event held by the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Turkey must first be made into a brand.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stating that Saudi Arabia and Greece were richer than Turkey 30 years ago, said, “Today, add both Saudi Arabia and Greece and they will not equal Turkey.”

Stating that some cities profit by branding, Hisarcıklıoğlu gave Cairo and Rome as historical and New York as a finance city examples.

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the 3-star hotel prices in these cities are equal to the 5-star ones in Turkey.

Stating that there is a perception of bureaucracy when Ankara is mentioned, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We haven’t been able to disperse the perception that Ankara is a city of bureaucracy. What do we do? We are keeping an eye out to see if the Central Bank or Ziraat bank will leave Ankara.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that it was evident Ankara does not want to a city of civil servants and went on, “Ankara is third in terms of patent applications. It stands at fourth place in industrial design. At the same time, Ankara only has 2 registered products. Thank Allah for whoever thought of that. Is there nothing else besides Çubuk pickles and the Kalecik Karası? There is the cat, which we lost to Van. Carrots and its juice of Beypazarı – none of these are branded. Does Ankara have no brands? It does. We have the Municipality Director. There are 2 brand municipality directors in Turkey, the other being the Kayseri Municipality Director Mehmet Özhaseki.”

Reminding that Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir are unlucky in regards to politicians, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Because our politicians make policies of Turkey, never of Ankara. Motivating them falls to those second in line. This duty falls to those of us who are waiting second in line. If we can do this we will become 10 times richer.”

- ATO President Bezci

Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) President Salih Bezci stated that a brand is what differentiates a product or service from others and that branding identifies an establishment, product or city.

Bezci stated that a city having its own brand increase GNP, employment and the number of visitors to congresses, fairs, conferences and festivals and thereby directly increases foreign investments.

- Ankara Shopping Festival

Stating that Ankara must work diligently in order to be a brand city by 2023, Bezci said that the Ankara Shopping Festival will be an important step to this end.

Reporting Ankara has been flooded with guests during the festival Bezci stated that domestic flight visitors to Ankara have increased from 70,000 to 85,000; international flight visitors have increased from 315,000 to 340,000; foreign tourists entering Ankara customs has increased from 32,000 to 40,000 and the vehicles arriving at the central bus terminal have increased from 42,000 to 47,000.”

- e-Ankara Project

Bezci provided information regarding the promotional campaign for Ankara which will take place on the electronic medium named, the e-Ankara Project.

Bezci reported that the project aims to actualize Ankara tourism potential

- Other speakers

Ankara Municipality Director Melih Gökçek, TUSAŞ-Turkish Aerospace and Space Industry Inc. Strategy and Technology Board President Yılmaz Güldoğan, Nuh’s Ankara Pasta Marketing Director Nihat Uysallı, Beypazarı Mineral Water General Director Niyazi Ercan and Prof. Dr. Ali Atıf Bir also gave speeches touching on the developments in Ankara in regards to branding, their institutions’ and establishments’ work to this end and emphasized the importance of elevating Ankara’s brand awareness.
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