An International Program: İstanbul Publishing Fellowship

The 6^th “International İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Program” was held on 09-10-11 March 2021 in Grand Cevahir Hotel. The program is organized by the Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licencing Society with contributions of Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The program is also supported by İstanbul Governorate and İstanbul Chamber of Commerce.

Bringing together foreign publishers in İstanbul to conduct copyright and translation negotiations, was organized in a hybrid form this year to mitigate risks associated with the pandemic. The program features both online and physical meetings. The number of participants in the face-to-face meetings was kept at a minimum, observing the health requirements for the participants.

Anadolu Agency is the Global Communication Partner of the event, and Turkish Radio and Television Association (TRT) supports the program as the Communication Sponsor. 869 participants from 120 countries applied to attend this year’s event. The İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Coordination Board granted admission to 345 participants from 60 countries.

The Opening Ceremony of the event was honoured by the participation of high-level officials, including Ali Yerlikaya, İstanbul Governor; Ali Odabaş, Director General of Libraries and Publication; Coşkun Yılmaz, Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism; İsmail Menteşe, Provincial Director of Commerce; Şekib Avdagiç, Chairman of İstanbul Chamber of Commerce; İsrafil Kuralay, Vice President of the Board of Directors of İstanbul Chamber of Commerce; Münir Üstün, President of Federation of Professional Publishing Associations; Lale Memmedova, Counsellor to Republic of Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture; Emrah Kısakürek, President of the Board of Directors of Association of Press and Publishing Union, Mustafa Altundal, President of Professional Association of Publishers of School and Culture Books (DEKMEB) and other representatives from the press and publishing sectors. Özgül Özkan Yavuz, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism also attended the event through videoconference.

The opening ceremony was presented by Kübra Akkoç and started with a promotional film about the program. The opening speeches were delivered by Ali Yerlikaya, İstanbul Governor; Şekib Avdagiç, Chairman of İstanbul Chamber of Commerce; Mustafa Doğru, President of Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licencing Society; Bilal Erdoğan, Head of Trustees of İlim Yayma Foundation. Ord. Prof. İsa Habibbeyli, Vice President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Member of the Parliament, also delivered a speech on behalf of Azerbaijan, which was selected as the Focus Country in this year’s event.

“We can promote our publications all around the world”
In his opening address, Mustafa Doğru, President of Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licencing Society (TBYM) underlined how İstanbul Publishing Program, which was first organized in 2016 with a view to promoting cooperation between Turkish and foreign publishers and tturning İstanbul into a copyrights market, is still bringing together world publishers in İstanbul with growing targets every year.

Expressing his satisfaction to be among a group of people travelling in pursuit of their love for books, President Doğru made the following remarks: “Participants of the five previous events turned into our voluntary ambassadors. Throughout the year, we received very good feedback on İstanbul Fellowship and we were honoured by the praises.

“Thanks to this program, it is possible to establish a network spanning over Europe, Arab World, Asia and Africa and we can promote our publications all around the world. In 2010, Turkish publishers produced 210 million copies of books with banderols. In 2020, this figure rose to 433 million copies. This indicates a two-fold increase within ten years.”

After President Doğru, Ali Odabaş, Director General of Libraries and Publications, delivered his speech where he informed the participants about TEDA translation and publication support program, which can be seen as a turning point in exporting and promoting Turkish literature around the globe. Mr. Odabaş also informed the participants about the activities of the General Directorate, which include, among others, working towards the growth of the Turkish publishing sector, vitalizing literary ecosystem, improving sectoral standards, and promoting Turkish culture, literature, and publishing around the world.

Director General Ali Odabaş also stated that participation in international book fairs is among the primary targets of the Ministry. While the ongoing pandemic prevented participation in international books fairs in 2020, Mr. Odabaş said they have already started seeing the positive results of programs such as İstanbul Publishing Fellowship, which was organized for the 6^th time this year. “We can see the success of the 2020 Fellowship Program by looking at the number of applications to the TEDA Program.”

“Culture will be the driving force behind commerce”
Şekib Avdagiç, Chairman of İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO), reminded the participants that İTO has been publishing books and periodicals since 1885. “For almost one and a half century, we have been contributing to publishing and culture in addition to our efforts towards promoting economy and commerce. We regard publication as an inseparable part of our efforts.

Underlining that the international copyrights event is another added value to İstanbul, Avdagiç made the following remarks: “We are honoured to be supporting this event. This contribution will continue while I am in office. In my capacity as the Chairman of İstanbul Chamber of Commerce, I believe I and all the other merchants in İstanbul have a liability to support an event that is oriented towards İstanbul, culture, and books. We know that so long as our authors and publishers are supported, culture will be the driving force behind the rise of commerce. We are also honoured to be granting the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Special Award as part of the event.”

Following İTO Chairman Şekib Avdagiç, Ord. Prof. İsa Habibbeyli, Vice President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Member of the Parliament delivered his speech, where he expressed his happiness to represent Azerbaijan and the 6^th İstanbul Fellowship Program: “I am very happy to be back in İstanbul after a long while due to the pandemic.”

Prof. İsa Habibbeyli also expressed his content for selection of Azerbaijan as the Focus Country, saying that “this is an indication of fraternity between Azerbaijan and Turkey: two states and one nation.” Mr. Habibbeyli extended the respect and love of Azerbaijani people for the Republic of Turkey and Turkish people.

Bilal Erdoğan, Head of Trusteed of İlim Yayma Foundation, also delivered a speech during the opening ceremony, where he congratulated Azerbaijan for being selected as the Focus Country of the event and said: “It is a well-made decision to name Azerbaijan as the Focus Country for showing the width of Turkish literature. I wish a very successful meeting to all the participants. I hope we will be much more crowded next year when the pandemic is over.

“We are also implementing a program that provides incentives for publishers”
Özgül Özkan Yavuz, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism, delivered her speech through videoconference and said that the Ministry is working in close cooperation and collaboration with the representatives of the sector to ensure a sustainable and continuous growth of the publishing sector.

Ms. Özgül Özkan Yavuz also referred to the TEDA Program, which enables foreign readers to read Turkish cultural and literary works in their own language and made the following remarks: “We are also implementing an incentive program for publishers to promote Turkish cultural, artistic, and literary works abroad through translation and publication in other countries as part of the TEDA (Support Program for Export of Turkish Cultural, Artistic, and Literary Works) Program.

Ms. Yavuz reiterated her belief in the successful outcomes of this year’s event where important talks will take place and agreements will be finalized. “Copyrights exchange, cultural exchange and interaction, introduction of Turkish publishers into new markets, enabling foreign publishers to conduct business in Turkey, and most importantly, organization of mutual talks in the field of copyrights are among the primary objectives of ‘İstanbul Publishing Fellowship Program’. Since the first day, the Program enabled more than 6 thousand bilateral talks, which led to completion of more than 3 thousand preliminary copyrights agreements.”

The second novelty of this year’s İstanbul Fellowship Program is the Focus Country component. This year’s focus country is our old friend and brother country, Azerbaijan. We will once again feel the difference of belonging to two states with one nation. On this occasion, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the soldiers and civilians who fell in pursuit of liberating Karabakh from 29 years of captivity. May Allah grant them a place in Heaven.”

100 Countries and 500 Publishers Next Year
In his speech, Governor Yerlikaya also made the following remarks: “In my speech in last year’s event, I had said that ‘I would wish to see 500 publishers from 100 countries.’ When we speak about İstanbul, we naturally aim for the highest. We always want better. Publication is not an easy sector. It requires commitment, passion, and love.

I would like to sincerely congratulate all the publishers and Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licencing Society for bringing together authors, publishers, and readers even in these difficult times of pandemic.”

USD 50.000 Incentive for Next Year
Governor Yerlikaya referred to two important novelties of this year’s event: “The first is the Istanbul Copyright Awards. The objective of this competition is to c foreign publishers to translate and publish Turkish works. 52 publishers from 26 countries nominated 661 books for this year’s award. To me, all these publishers are worthy of awards. Such competitions make great contributions to increasing cultural cooperation and promotion through development of Turkish publishing sector. This is the third time I am participating in this event. This year, we provided an incentive award worth USD 20.000. God willing, we will increase this amount to USD 50.000 next year. I congratulate all the recipients of the award.

“If the world was a book, İstanbul would be its most beautiful page”
Governor Yerlikaya ended his speech with the following remarks: “if the world was a book, İstanbul would be its most beautiful page. If the cities were a poem, İstanbul would be the most emotional lines. We cannot be modest here. Therefore, there could be no better candidate as the host city of International Istanbul Publishing Program than İstanbul. I hope that the event will bring good benefits and fortune to our literature and the publication sector. I would like to extend my congratulations to all who made this event possible”.

Following the opening addresses, supporters of the 6^th İstanbul Fellowship Program was rewarded with a plaque. Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya and other members of the protocol cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the event, which continued with seminars and B2B meetings.

Focus Country Azerbaijan
This year’s program featured the introduction of the Focus Country component, where the publication sector and literature of the selected country is placed in the thematic focus of the event.

To this end, Azerbaijan was named as the first Focus Country to show deep-rooted a language Turkish is and to generate international interest. Publishers, poets, and authors from Azerbaijan were invited to the event.

Two sessions on “Azerbaijani Literature and Translation into World Languages” and “When Reality Meets Fiction: Chingiz Abdullayev” were held.

The guests of the program included world-renowned Azeri author Chingiz Abdullayev as well as author Azad Ağaoğlu, who gained prominence in recent years.

İstanbul Copyright Awards
This year’s event also featured the first İstanbul Copyright Awards under the guardianship of İstanbul Governorate. The awards will be organized to promote copyright exchanges for translation of Turkish works into other languages and therefore supporting the development of the sector, cultural cooperation, and promotion, encouraging copyright deals, and rewarding achievements.

52 publishers from 26 countries applied for the İstanbul Copyright Awards, which is also supported by İstanbul Chamber of Commerce. The winner was Mohammad Katib from Digital Future LLC from Lebanon.

The second-place award was granted to Shahbaz Khudoghlu from Qanun Press in Azerbaijan. Bachar Chebaro from Hamad bin Khalifa University Press in Qatar.

The first three place holders were granted with cheques worth USD 10.000 for the winner, USD 6.000 for the second-place holder and USD 4.000 for the third-place holder that could be used in copyrights purchases.

The İstanbul Chamber of Commerce Special Award was given to Mensur Bytyqi from Kosovo.

Federation of Professional Publishing Associations Special Award was given to Nestoras Poulakos from Vakxikon Press from Greece. On behalf of the recipient, Nazlı Berivak Ak received the award.

SEMINARS ORGANIZED AS PART OF THE PROGRAM
“The Future of Publishing and Copyright Fairs in the Post-Pandemic World” seminar was moderated by Mustafa Doğru, President of Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright and Licencing Society. Juergen Boos, Director of International Frankfurt Book Fair, attended the event online. Bachar Chebaro, Secretary General of Arab Publishers Association and Daniel Mesino from Harper Collins México physically attended the seminar.

The online seminar on “Contemporary Azerbaijani Literature in Eastern and Western Literatures and Its Reflections around the World” was chaired by Nurane Tağıyeva, Coordinator for Culture and Arts at Baku Yunus Emre Institute.

There were three speeches in the seminar: “The Presence and Absence of Literary Movements in Independence Era Azerbaijani Poetry” by journalist and author Aghsin Yenisey; “Literary Relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey in the First Quarter of the Twentieth Century” by Mehdi Genceli, Resident Fellow at Institute of Turkic Studies”; and “Novel and Short Story in Azerbaijani Literature after 1990” by Ramil Ahmet, a PhD candidate at İstanbul University.

The seminar on “Azerbaijani Literature and Translation into World Languages” was chaired by Selçuk Karakılıç, Director of Baku Yunus Emre Institute. Ord. Prof. İsa Habibbeyli, Vice President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Member of the Parliament, talked on Azerbaijani poet Nizami Genjavi. Reminding the participants that 2021 has been named in Azerbaijan as the “Nizami Genjavi Year”, Mr. Habibbeyli said that Nizami was born in Gence where he lived until the end of his life, and who became one of the most prominent world poets.

Author Azad Ağaoğlu talked on contemporary Azerbaijani literature and novel with particular focus on “Ali and Nino”, a well-known work of Azerbaijani literature. Dr. Mehman Hasanlı also talked about the history of Azerbaijani novel.

The seminar entitled “When Reality Meets Fiction: Chingiz Abdullayev” featured three speakers. Vice Director General of Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism Directorate General of Libraries and Publications talked about TEDA Support Program. Alirezah Nourizadeh, General Director of Iran Book Support Program informed the participants about Iran Book Support Program. Oliver Moystad, Senior Advisor at Norla, talked about the Norla Book Support Program.

Supporters of 6^th Istanbul Publishing Fellowship included Republic of Turkey Directorate General of Libraries and Publications; Ministry of Commerce, İstanbul Governorate, Press and Publishers Association, İstanbul Chamber of Commerce, YAYFED, DEKMEB, TUGEV, Turkish Airlines, Albayrak Group, and Zeytinburnu Municipality. Additionally, Republic of Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture Baku Yunus Emre Institute, Azerbaijan Writers’ Association, and Baku Culinary Centre also supported the program as part of the Focus Country component.