Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Ata Kavame, President of the TOBB Türkiye Creative Industries Council, emphasized that the “creative industry” is of great importance for societies in his speech at the panel held within the scope of the “Let’s Talk Orange” series of events at the İzmir Chamber of Commerce Meeting Hall.

Recalling Türkiye’s recent success in creative industry exports, Kavame said that the country has a high creative reserve and that this reserve has been recognized all over the world and turned into gains.

- “Türkiye is the world leader in digital arts”

Emphasizing that Türkiye’s most important treasure is its youth, Kavame said that this opportunity should be utilized well.

Stating that Türkiye is the world leader in digital arts, Kavame addressed the young people attending the panel as follows: “For the first time in the world, Türkiye started to provide incentives in the field of digital arts. For the first time in Türkiye, applications were made in the field of professional qualification. You should grow this in the future and broadcast it to the world. Because your success will be the success of your country.”

- We must work to prevent brain drain

Nuray Eyigele İşleyen, Member of the Board of Directors of İzmir Chamber of Commerce, said that the Turkish cinema sector has been developing steadily in recent years and that the sector’s exports have increased to 1 billion dollars.

Emphasizing that the budgets of Turkish films have reached million dollars and the audience numbers have reached million people, İşleyen said, “The TV series produced in our country are watched in many countries of the world and are highly appreciated. As İzmir Chamber of Commerce, we, as İzmir Chamber of Commerce, attach importance to working in cooperation with institutions and organizations to contribute to the development of the sector, and we know that the state supports provided for the development of creative industries are very important. In this regard, we have close collaborations with the General Directorate of International Trade in Services of the Ministry of Trade and the Service Exporters Association. We frequently plan joint meetings to inform our members about the supports.”

Stating that they are aware of the sector’s difficulties in finding and retaining qualified staff, as in many other sectors, İşleyen said, “It is a concrete fact that the creative industries sector is experiencing a significant brain drain from İzmir to Istanbul. We need to increase efforts to ensure that young people who grow up in İzmir stay in İzmir.”

- We promote our country with the creative industry

Berat Kuzu, Member of the TOBB Türkiye Creative Industries Council and Chair of the Let’s Talk Orange Commission, stated that thanks to the Creative Industries, they have increased Türkiye’s cultural reserves and promoted Türkiye to approximately 190 countries.

Kuzu said that the purpose of these events is to raise awareness of the creative industries.

Stating that they tell about Türkiye’s cultural reserve in 190 countries with scenarios and content consisting of the ideas of creative people in Türkiye, Kuzu said, “With the creative reserve, we are not only practicing the art of cinema here, we are introducing our geography and our perspective on humanity. In addition, we show the industrial products and tourism areas produced in our country. Creative industries in the world generate a volume of 2.2 trillion dollars in indirect volume. Linearly, there is a global volume of 300 billion dollars. Türkiye produces 10 percent of this 300 billion dollar volume among 6 countries. This money is worth enough to produce many industrial zones in İzmir every year. Therefore, we are trying to produce new added values in every part of this developing sector.”

Speakers including sector representatives Pelin Mavili, Burak Satıbol, Gülen Gözkara, Tahsin İşbilen, İsa Doğmuş, Turusan Çiner, Duygu Yaygır, Cangül Kuş and Enver Çakın shared their views.

- ‘Let’s Talk Orange’ events

The “Let’s Talk Orange” series of events, initiated by the TOBB Türkiye Creative Industries Council, aims to raise awareness for raising the qualified human resources needed by the sector and to discuss the contribution of creative industries to the economy by bringing together industry veterans, young professionals, students, academics and public representatives with the support of chambers and commodity exchanges in 30 cities across Türkiye.