Launched on 17-19 November 2020 with a virtual B2B meeting, 135 publishers from 36 countries attended the turlameetings.com website in three days. The virtual platform developing with new publishers and works will be continuously active for the copyright buyers across the world.

As part of the Turkish Literature Abroad (TURLA) Project conducted by the Press and Publishers Association to promote Turkish literature works abroad, a groundbreaking event was held on 17-19 November 2020. The opening of the TURLA Meetings virtual fair held within the scope of the project supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) took place with the participation of 135 local and foreign publishers from 36 countries. 

NEARLY 500 MEETINGS

B2B meetings have been carried out via the online platform for three days. Turkish publishers conducting nearly 500 business negotiations took a major step towards promoting Turkish cultural products in the globally. Thine virtual fair aiming to increase copyright exports has been growing with new publishers and works.
Esra Ceceli, Coordinator of the TURLA Project, mentioned that they would be keeping the virtual meeting platform launched on 17-19 November 2020 online for the copyright buyers worldwide. Ceceli underlined that they would maintain the platform’s dynamism and develop it with various events in the future.

AN ALTERNATIVE

TURLA Meetings virtual fair and B2B event offered an innovative, effective and accessible alternative to the international fairs canceled due to the pandemic. Beig executed since 2017 by the Press and Publishers Association, TURLA Project pursues its efforts to transfer the meetings to a brand new ground thanks to the website and platform built. Every publisher has an individual profile at the website where the event is held. The publishers insert the books and works they wished to display and make copyright meetings over. The physical features of each book and descriptive notes on the books can be demonstrated over the book profiles.

PANELS FOR THE READERS

In addition to gathering the prominent publishers of Turkey and the world, the website entered by 42 thousand single-users since its launch appeals to the readers with various events.
As part of such events, discussion panels titled ‘International Success of Turkish Publishing’, ‘Opportunities for Indian Publishers in Turkey’ and ‘Crime Fiction in Turkey and Opportunities’ were held for readers.

WHO SAID WHAT?

THE GOAL IS TO PROMOTE 500 BOOKS

Dr. İsrafil Kuralay, ICOC Vice President: Started in 2017, TURLA Project brought a brand new vision to our publishing realm. Copyright exports became a significant opportunity. We are encouraging this project actualized by the Press and Publishers Association as ICOC as we regard it as a significant service to our cultural domain. The goal is the promotion of 80 publishing houses and 500 books to the world. I still find this goal insufficient and believe it will be surpassed because we have a very active publishing life.

TURKEY IS READING BOOKS!

Münir Üstün, Member of ICOC’s Executive Board: Turkey is reading. There is an urban legend claiming that Turks do not read much, well this is false. I will inform you of the figures on books published since 2010. In 214 million books were published in 2010, 289 million in 2011, 293 million in 2012, 330 million in 2013, 344 million in 2014, 384 million in 2015, 405 million in 2016, 408 million in 2017, 411 million in 2018. Finally, in 2019 424 million books were published in Turkey. Taking the number of all these published books into consideration, we may easily claim that as of 2019, 850 million books were published, signaling five novels and five educational books per person. Turkey ranks 16th globally in terms of endorsement in this area and 6th in the world in generating new book titles.

WE THANK THE ICOC

Head of the Press and Publishers Association, Emrah Kısakürek: The pandemic process has altered all lives. We cannot conduct any activity that requires traveling. This year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and ICOC support our project, which we launched in 2017 with the support of the Istanbul Development Agency. We decided to take it to an online platform due to the pandemic. We thank the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and ICOC for their support.