Hasan ERCAZİP

We understood something as we were following the process at Istanbul Airport. The Turkish Stone is, unfortunately not the first option in a marble country of marble, such as Turkey. It is sad but true. We observed that; Nobody cares about the quality of the Turkish stones, the betrayal to this country’s values, and the stones’ promotion in many prestigious projects.

Long story short; Nothing is served on a silver platter. It’s never going to happen. And money does not grow on trees.

But we have also seen that we must not give up. We must resist and pull our rights out of the fire. I had felt angry and smiled with sorrow when Aydın Dinçer, the president of Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (IMIB),

first said, “We’ll do what’s necessary” after stating that for the Ziraat Towers project, forty thousand square meters of foreign natural stone was going to be used.

On top of that, I had written, “To whom will President Dinçer denounce?” Honestly, I had no hope for the solution.

However, Aydın Dinçer did not give in to hopelessness. He resisted and worked hard. He talked to two ministers and explained the situation and said how wrong it would have been to make such a mistake in a state bank.

And as a result: They decided to use Turkish stones for the Ziraat Towers. First of all, he deserved an apology and a loud applause from me.

What did we learn during this process? If we want the Turkish stones to be appreciated in their homeland, we must push the limits in politics and bureaucracy. We do not give up the fight, even in the most hopeless situation, because there is no other way. If we’re to win, we shall resist together.