Standing Back Up

Our country faced many challenges. Uncountable amount of natural disasters, wars, occupations, economic crises… Poverty, famine, coups… We overcame them all. As our ancestors said, “Brave people stands back up when they fall”. The patient, determined, and humble
Turkish people are one of the rare nations in history in terms of struggling with challenges. Once again, our people are going through a challenging period of testing.

As a result of two consecutive earthquakes and floods, we lost more than 50,000 lives. 11 of our cities were destroyed. We call it the “Disaster of the Century”, we have really experienced a break that will go down in history. Yet, we stand back up, we shake ourselves up. Holding our pain in our hearts, we keep working, we continue our life…

The World Bank increased its growth forecast for the Turkish economy from 2.7 per cent to 3.2 per cent this year, and from 4 per cent to 4.3 per cent for 2024. These data support the feelings I shared at the beginning of this article. After analyzing not only the economic growth but also the social causes of these disasters, I came to believe that our living standards will also get better. We will succeed, just like Germany, which succeeded after its destruction following the World War II, just like Japan, which succeeded after the destruction of two of its cities by atomic bombs. We will rebuild our destroyed cities under a new understanding, without repeating old mistakes.

In this issue, where we discussed the subject of “New Livable Cities” in detail, Master Architect Celaleddin Çeik and Master Architect Dr Mustafa Tutar shared their valuable opinions. Assoc. Prof. Ümit Ünver, Executive Director of Zerobuild Institute, shared significant information on “Zero-Energy Buildings”. In the evaluations we made with valuable business people and scholars, we included opinions on critical issues such as humanitarian aid and legal processes in international projects.

As we complete the DEİK Container City for 5000 people in Kahramanmaraş, Elbistan, we look forward to your continued support in our new initiatives for the region. Kind regards.