Turkish Forum

Tag: German-Turkish ties

  • VDMA: German technology meets Turkish textiles

    VDMA: German technology meets Turkish textiles

    25 German textile machinery manufacturers presented their latest solutions at two VDMA conferences this month in Istanbul and Gaziantep in Turkey. Almost 600 participants from the Turkish textiles industry used the opportunity to learn how German technology can help the sector to cope with the tough competition from Asia and several German companies were able to close deals with Turkish customers during the events.

    In his opening address Karl Mayer’s Fritz P. Mayer, Chairman of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association, said:

    “With a focus on higher quality, the creation of own brands as well as the development of technical textiles, the Turkish textile industry is getting ready for future challenges. A market share of 30% to 35% makes the German textile machinery sector Turkey’s technology partner number one. We are proud that the deliveries of machinery from Germany increased more than the whole textile machinery imports of Turkey from other countries in 2012.”

    In their greeting words, Ismail Hakki Hacialioglu, President Turkish Composites Manufacturers Association (TCMA), Ismail Gülle, Chairman Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (ITKIB) and Adil Konukoglu, Chairman Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce underlined the long and established relations between the Turkish textile sector and the German textile machinery industry.

    Focus technical textiles, energy and material efficiency

    According to the VDMA, expanding the production of technical textiles for automobile, construction and medical applications is one answer of the Turkish textile sector to the Asian competition.

    However, the organisation says: “The Turkish textile sector was mainly focused on garments and home textiles in the past. Knowhow and cooperation with research institutes, universities and user industries have to be built up.”

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    The German companies represented in Istanbul and Gaziantep recommended themselves as reliable and professional partners for this transition process and Turkish textile producers were invited to use the technical centres of the German textile machinery companies to test and to develop new textile applications right up to marketability.

    The VDMA says, the user-oriented technology lectures paid high attention to energy and material efficiency issues, which the VDMA supported by publishing its Blue Competence Energy Efficiency Guide in Turkish at the conferences in Istanbul and Gaziantep.

    Who’s Who of Turkish textile industry

    Nearly all of the big players of the Turkish textile and nonwovens sector were present at the VDMA events, including:

    AKSA Akrilik Kimya, Beyteks Tekstil, Hassan Tekstil, Kipaş Mensucat, Kordsa, Merinos, Mogul, Sanko Holding, Selcuk Group, Yünsa und numerous other companies including small and medium enterprises.

    The VDMA says the conferences in Turkey will fuel the already good trade relations between Germany and Turkey. From January to August 2012 German textile machinery exports to Turkey increased by 12% cent to Euros 248 million. In 2011 the scope of supply of German companies was 30-35%, followed by enterprises from Switzerland and Italy, both with 15%.

    Participating companies from Germany

    A. Monforts Textilmaschinen, Aug. Herzog Maschinenfabrik, Autefa Solutions, Dienes Apparatebau, Dilo Systems, Erbatech, Fong’s Europe, Groz-Beckert, Heusch, Hohenstein Textile Testing Institut, Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, LIBA Maschinenfabrik, Lindauer Dornier, Mahlo, Mayer & Cie., OEKO-TEX, Neuenhauser Maschinenbau, Oerlikon Neumag, Oerlikon Saurer Allma Product Line, Pleva, Rieter Ingolstadt, Textechno Herbert Stein, Trützschler Nonwovens, Trützschler, Welker Spintech, Wumag Texroll.

    Further information

    Download the conference program in Turkish

    www.germantechnology-turkishtextile.de

    via VDMA: German technology meets Turkish textiles.

  • Turkey’s president seeks to forge European ties on Germany visit

    Turkey’s president seeks to forge European ties on Germany visit

    Turkish President Abdullah Gül will have a full agenda when he begins a visit to Germany on Sunday. A rapidly changing Middle East, and Turkey’s EU bid will be central topics, says Islam studies expert Udo Steinbach.

    Gül's eyes are focused on Europe ahead of his visit
    Gül's eyes are focused on Europe ahead of his visit

    Turkish President Abdullah Gül is to arrive in Berlin on Sunday, September 18, where he will be received by his German counterpart, President Christian Wulff. During his four-day visit, he is scheduled to deliver an address at Berlin’s Humboldt University and also to hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    Ahead of the visit, Gül said Turkey was committed to pursuing membership in the European Union, despite opposition from some quarters in Germany and elsewhere on the continent.

    Deutsche Welle spoke to Islam expert Guido Steinbach about the issues bedeviling German-Turkish ties.

    Deutsche Welle: President Gül will be spending four days in Germany, a relatively long time for a state visit. Is this an attempt at convergence between the two countries?

    Udo Steinbach: Yes, certainly, for Germany and Turkey have several issues to discuss. President Gül already hinted at one of the main topics with his earlier statements that Turks living in Germany should speak perfect German without an accent. In other words, the issue of Turkish migrants in Germany will be a main topic.

    The other main issue will be how the two countries see the developments in northern Africa and the Middle East. For Turkey it is clear: without Europe, it is limited in what it can achieve. Europe, too, is aware that Turkey can be a strategic partner in this rapidly changing climate. The two countries must find a mutual strategy in northern Africa and the Middle East.

    But haven’t relations between Turkey and Europe cooled? Ankara’s EU accession negotiations are stalled, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel increasingly speaks of a mere “privileged partnership” between the two.

    Yes, and Turkey has reason enough to be frustrated over the way its bid for EU accession has been handled. But the fact that Mr. Gül has set aside four days for his trip to Germany should provide enough time to discuss this point – how can Turkish-European relations be reshaped in the light of new facts that have arisen in the past months. And also in light of the fact that Turkey and the European Union have more mutual interests in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East than ever before. We can no longer afford the indifference that has crept in between the two sides.

    Udo SteinbachBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Steinbach says Gül is one of Turkey’s ‘last Europeans’

    What future role does President Gül see his country playing in Europe?

    Mr. Gül is perhaps the last real convinced “European” among Turkey’s politicians. When it comes to Prime Minister Erdogan, I certainly have my reservations, but Mr. Gül is without a doubt pro-Europe. He has said time and time again that Turkey needs Europe’s support. Above all, perhaps, Gül seeks EU recognition that Turkey’s role in the Middle East is legitimate. Turkey is still waiting for this recognition, and this explains the often erratic way in which Erdogan and his foreign minister have acted in the Middle East.

    You say at the same time that Europe also needs to move towards Turkey: What areas in particular?

    There is currently a dominant scepticism that Turkey will ever become a member of the European Union. I believe this is a fundamental paradox. For the first time in the history of the EU, we are negotiating with a state over its membership to the union. This state, as with all those involved in the process of EU accession negotiations, must give up a whole lot and also transform itself significantly. And Europe, in the end, says: No, there is no membership for you. We have never seen this happen in such negotiations; it is unprecedented in the case of Turkey. And we must, I believe, vacate this fruitless position.

    Do you think Merkel could convince her conservative party of this?

    The chairman of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Ruprecht Polenz, who is a key figure in Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has written a book about how important it is for Turkey to join the EU. There are many voices in Merkel’s CDU that recognize Turkey’s importance for Europe. Maybe these voices, together with President Gül, will be able to persuade Merkel to abandon her very formalistic positions on Turkey.

    Should the concept of Turkey’s “privileged partnership” be dropped?

    Yes, that has to go. It works against the entire process. The Turks have made no secret about their frustration. And this is exactly the point: If, at the end of Mr. Gül’s visit, we manage to forget this “privileged partnership,” then we will have successfully begun a new chapter and taken an important step into a new common future.

    Friederika Schulz interviewed Udo Steinbach (glb)

    Editor: Sonia Phalnikar

    via Turkey’s president seeks to forge European ties on Germany visit | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 17.09.2011.