3rd Istanbul Fellowship Program Ends

The 3rd Istanbul Fellowship Program, which was initiated in 2016 by Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright & Licensing Society (TBYM) with a view to make Istanbul a marketplace for copyrights, was held on 9-11 March 2018. The program co-organized by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) and Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright & Licensing Society (TBYM), took place with 209 participants from 66 countries.

122 professional guests from Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Vietnam participated in the program.

The opening ceremony of the program took place on March 9, Friday, with participation of high-level participants including Mr. Vasip Şahin, İstanbul Governor; Mr. Rıdvan Duran, Head of Culture Branch in İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality; Mr. Kemal Kaptaner, head of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Kültür A.Ş.; Mr. Hamdi Turşucu, Head of the General Directorate of Libraries and Publications and Mr. Tayfur Esen, President of Turkish Press and Publishers Copyrights & Licencing Society in addition to many Turkish and international publishers.

The program was presented by Mr. Mustafa Doğru, Member of TBYM International Relations Committee. Mr. Tayfur Esen, President of TBYM, delivered the opening speech.

Greater Organization with Greater Participation in 2019

In his speech, Mr. Esen highlighted the growth and transformation that the publication sector has witnessed, saying that these led to new challenged and new opportunities for the sector. The world copyrights market, Mr. Esen remarked, was not an exception in this regard.

122 Foreign Publishers from 66 Countries

Mr. Esen also stated that Istanbul Fellowship Program will continue to occupy a place in the activity planners of international publishers: "Today we host 122 foreign publishers from 66 countries. As a matter of fact, we received more than 300 requests. Nevertheless, we had to limit the number of participants in accordance with our overall strategy regarding the program. We will have a much broader scope next year with increased number of participants."

The Host: İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Directorate of Culture

Following President Esen's speech, Mr. Rıdvan Duran, Head of Culture Branch in İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, was invited to the floow to deliver his speech.

Mr. Duran made the following remarks: "Istanbul, a cultural capital, may as well become a centre of copyrights trade. Istanbul is in a much better position to become a global copyrights market compared to her rivals. The Metropolitan Municipalicty will continue to support publishers. The Municipality places utmost importance on the 3rd Istanbul Fellowship Program and hope to see greater organizations in years to come."

Istanbul: The Capital of Letters

Following Mr. Duran's speech, Mr. Kemal Kaptaner, Head of İstanbul Kültür A.Ş., took to the floor to deliver his speech. "Verba volant, scripta manent" [spoken words fly away, written words remain] said Mr. Kaptaner to open his speech, before moving on to define Istanbul as the capital of letters, making a note of the great examples of the traditional art of calligraphy, to some of which Istanbul is a home.

General Director Duran stated that in parallel with Turkey's development and growth in recent years, the Turkish publishing sector is now the 11^th biggest in the world: "We have initiated a new project designed to provide translation service for the cultural, artistic and historical works on Istanbul. You will be able to receive a translation support through this project. The website of the project will shortly kick off."

"We Will Continue to Support the Publishers"

Following Mr. Duran, Mr. Hamdi Turşucu, Head of the General Directorate of Libraries and Publications, took to the floow. Mr. Turşucu highlighted in his speech that Turkey has improved her position in the areas of publishing and books and has become one of the big players in the world stage.

Mr. Turşucu also said that they would continue to support publishers before providing some statistical data: "In 2000, the number of books published in Turkey (number of ISBNs) were 12,580. Last year, we reached a record high of 690,335 books (ISBNs). I can now proudly say that we are among the top 10 publishers of books around the world. When we include the books for which ISBN is not required, we can say that our annual publication number is above 66 thousand."

Istanbul is the Meeting Point of Book Publishers

Following the speech of General Director Mr. Hamdi Turşucu, Mr. Vasip Şahin, Governor of Istanbul, were invited to the stage. Mr. Şahin stated that Fellowship Program, jointly organized by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Turkish Press and Publishers Copyrights & Licencing Society, will be a meeting point for book publishers and authors.

Highlighting the fact that the program attracted participants from around the world including USA, Far East, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mr. Şahin said: "This year we host 122 publishers from around the world. In the future, authors and publishers will continue to use this platform to exchange opinions and establish contacts in the publishing market. The increasing number of guests from other countries will enrich our program. Copyrights and translation support offered by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will hopefully contribute to the reputation of the works of our scientists and intellectuals abroad. Each country is a home to valuable scientists and intellectuals. Often times the rest of the world is unaware of such people. Nevertheless, occasions like these provide opportunities for everyone to express themselves and promote their artistic and intellectual works. I hope to see more of such programs in the future."

Following the opening remarks, the program continued with various sessions.

The first session was entitled "Turkey: A Rising Copyrights Market" and chaired by Mr. Akif Pamuk, member of TBYM Board of Directors and Head of Research & Development Commission. In their speeches, the speakers briefed the participants in various topics. TBYM President Tayfur Esen spoke on "The Promotion of Turkish Publishing Market"; Hamdi Turşucu, General Directorate of Libraries and Publications, on "Translation and Publication Grant Programme of Turkey (TEDA)"; and Mr. İlhan Soylu, Board Member of Istanbul Chamber of Commerce on "Istanbul Kitapkent Project".

Following the first session, international and Turkish publishers had a chance to meet in a coffee break at WOW Hotel, with classical ball room music in the background. The dinner was also held in WOW Hotel, this time with classical Turkish music in the background, accompanying the guests intent on meeting one another.

Mr. Şaban Karataş, General Director of Copyrights in Ministry of Culture and Tourism, who could not attend the opening ceremony due to his appointment in Mardin, also attended the dinner.

In the second session of the program held on March 10, Saturday, the topic was "The Journey of Turkish Children's Books around the World".

The session was chaired by Ms. Gamze Erentürk, Director of YATEDAM, and moderated by Ms. Zeynep Alp, Member of TBYM International Relations Committee. The speakers of the session were Ms. Yuliani Liputa, Mizan Foreign Copyrights Manager, who spoke on "How does Mizan Press choose children's books from foreign publishers in general and from Turkish publishers in particular?"; Ms. Shereen Kreidieh, General Director of Dar Asala on "How does Asala Press choose children's books from foreign publishers in general and from Turkish publishers in particular? What are the criteria for Children's Book Awards?"; and Mr. Filip Batkoski, Director of Bata Press, on "What is the impact of the joint cultural heritage in the sales of Turkish children's books in Macedonia and the Balkans?"

The 3rd session was moderated by Ms. Seda Darcan Çiftçi, Member of TBYM International Relations Committee, and was entitled "The Journey of Turkish Fictional and Non-Fictional Books around the World".

The speakers of the session were Mr. Arsalan Fasihi, Chief Editor of Qoqnoos Publishing Group, who spoke on "Turkish literature in Persian language; the past, present, future and dissemination"; Mr. Felix Dahm, Director of Copyrights at Suhrkamp Verlag on "The Journey of Suhrkamp, One of Germany's Oldest Publishing Houses, in Purchasing, Protecting and Selling of Foreing Copyrights: The Case of Turkey"; and Mr. Mieke Chew on "Supporting and Advertising Publications in Foreign Languages: The Example of Turkey".

Following the meetings held for two days, the participants were taken on a boat tour in Bosphorus, where participants had a chance to share their know-how and experiences regardind the publishing markets of their countries.

The 3rd Istanbul Fellowship Program, organized by Turkish Press and Publishers Copyrights and Licencing Society, brought together Turkish and foreign publishers in a special event. The program ended following bilateral meetings on March 11, Sunday. The participants of the event were presented a Certificate of Participation at the end of the event.