Dear Colleagues,

We are proud to be here with you on the fourth issue of our magazine, ALIVE.

Our Anatolian land hosts a very rich mosaic of civilisations. The traditional hand woven Turkish carpets are a part of the cultural legacy that has been shaped through a period of many centuries. What they reflect is our very history, culture, tradition, and custom. With our magazine we plan to provide contribution to the promotion of our carpets, to evaluate the present condition of our sector in the light of its past, and to make whatever contribution possible to the introduction of the beauties of Anatolia, the land that supplies us generously with all blessings.
Our sector and our country in general has been through a rough year regarding the economy. Besides the still-fuming crises, there has been certain political and economical developments giving rise to not very hospitable factors for our sector which stands highly dependent on the rest of the world. Observing the certain amount of acceleration in the realisation of our immediate expectations, on the other hand, becomes a source of encouragement for our country in these hard times. In the meantime, commerce and competition get even more difficult as a consequence of Globalism, a naturally evolving process.
The development of our sector has been suffering from impediments due to certain inconveniences, but our export of manufactured carpets has made a serious progress with an annual increase of about % 25 - 30. We expect our carpet manufacturing firms to carry this progress to further heights with their increasing experiences and correct policies of production developed according to the needs of the ever-changing markets, as well as their high technology.

Our hand woven carpet producers i have also caught a trend of serious progress. The producers have recently set aside the former concept of "low price - low quality" and condensed their efforts on enhancing the quality. Besides that, respectable effort has been made in our country to better the patterns and designs as well. Al producers have lent utmost importance to the correct interpretation of the changing trends in fashion, the creation of appropriate designs, and working these designs into suitably priced products of good quality. Although it is early for this change and development to become apparent in the export accounts, the progress has been witnessed by all experts that have visited the Turkish stands in the Domotex fairs during the recent years. The Turkish stands are indeed the richest of this fair in respect of design, variety and patterns.
I believe that the field of hand woven carpetmaking in Turkey, which has no chance of competition with countries ike China, India and Pakistan in respect of cost-effectiveness in serial production of high amounts, will receive due remuneration for its efforts in pattern, design and quality with custom-designed and boutique-styled productions and find its proper place in the worldwide market.

Wish a new year full of peace, serenity, health and success for our sector, for our country and for our whole world.

Suat Terzioglu
Chairman of the Board
Istanbul Carpet Exporters Association