With the advent of the new year we enter also a new area overshadowed by events of 2020. In hindsight the dominating episode in 2020 was the Covid-19 pandemic and the management of the crisis it entailed. Obviously, we will continue to address these issues for future potential new crises and the memory of 2020 will become a twilight of our life when we get older. At this point we have many open-ended questions such as: How the pandemic will end? What kind of a world and future will be waiting for us afterwards? And what is it really; the NEW normal?

The New Year embraces and reminds us of “the new” by its nature. Starting from this point of view, I took a glance at 2020 to see which novelties it has brought to us, I observed that we received the chance to take care of ourselves and our families in a different dimension. It is up to each of us to reflect if and how this time allowed us to think about if and what made us happy in this process (it is very individual). Especially in such turbulent times, naturally, an instinctive reflex gets us to prioritize self-preservation. However, in this period we have seen that caring for others, particularly for our families and loved ones is essential beyond and as a part of our own wellbeing and happiness.

Yes, the pandemic has created a new “normal,” a new reality, a new world indeed. As Siemens, we have a company culture and history which prefers assimilating and embracing change and the NEW before it occurs, I remember our Pictures of the Future Publication and concept, to predict what the future in the changing environment could look like and how we, with new technology can help to improve the quality of life.   It’s worth to be open minded for the NEW also it is, at times, uncomfortable and comes with a stress (but positive stress). As long we see it as such, the new as positive stress and we remain open minded for any change we will prosper, we will grow as individual and as a company. It is within our power to do so.

I wish you all a healthy and happy year that is full of hope, with your families and loved ones

We are all deeply disturbed and sad by the news of the massacre in the city of Hanau in Germany. German authorities announced that the attack organized by a Neo-Nazi took the lives of 10 people, 5 being Turkish citizens. Once again, we witnessed this unacceptable and tragic incident revealing how crucial and consequential individual and social common senses are, and how unacceptable and unjustifiable racism is.

As distinct individuals, we all belong to the community of “humanity”, sharing this world. We all stand and engage in various positions, work in diverse areas and try to add value to life and others. This diversity means, none of us is ever superior or inferior to others.

Through this diversity, we enrich our planet and contribute to one another. Therefore, regardless of our ethnical backgrounds, religions, languages, or political views, we have humanitarian responsibilities to each other. After the horrible massacre, all political leaders, including the German President, and most importantly the people of Hanau showed great solidarity, which has given a very meaningful message. I strongly believe that German authorities will take necessary steps to prevent the social disease of racism. As a person who knows both countries and nations quite well, I also believe that peace, solidarity and coexistence of people are a lot stronger than racism.

In his book “Time for Outrage!” Stéphane Hessel defends reacting to such incidents, rather than being indifferent: “Get annoyed; do not keep silent against those infecting our world.” Shaken by the tragic massacre, I offer my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in Hanau.

Throughout the history of humankind, our species has always found something to celebrate. Religious celebrations, anniversaries, national or global festivals and many more.

Why are we doing this? I am sure there are many psychological and sociological reasons, but the quintessential need is to have a PAUSE, a moment to shake us up and remind us of the important aspects of our existence. It is also a moment to share and CARE as a community, family, citizen of the world, and an important opportunity to think beyond ourselves.

Well, let’s all remember this aspect of celebrations as we wish the best for the upcoming festivities – whatever they might be. And in particular, let’s hope that the NEW YEAR 2020 will bring happiness, health and prosperity to each of us, our communities and the world.

Happy holidays!

Today is 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day – one of the most exciting and happy days for our nation. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, dedicated the very day that the Turkish Grand National Assembly was established to children and this is a significant example of his vision. It is also a very valuable to us, because just as the Assembly laid the foundations of our Republic, children shape the world and steer the future.

To understand what the world will be like in the future, we need to look at today’s children. What they do, what they are interested in, what games mean to them… These indicate how the world will be like tomorrow. And the future comes in a hurry.

Today’s children cannot imagine a world without the concepts, technologies and devices that previous generations could not even dream of. They grow up and develop with technology. Their perspectives, systems of thought, approaches are fed by the infinite opportunities of technology, especially the digital technology. That is why they can cross borders a lot more easily. When the opportunities of digitalization are combined with their powerful imagination, great works and inventions emerge. Writing codes, developing robots, inventing things, creating their own online media are natural parts of their lives.

As adults, our responsibility is to support such conscious and productive children. That is why I am very enthusiastic and proud of our projects aiming to help children confidently prepare for the future. For instance, our employees support the robotics and mechatronics initiatives at Darüşşafaka High School and encourage young students to think more innovatively. We have provided voluntary engineering support to Darüşşafaka Robotics Club, namely Sultans of Turkey, for a robot that won the FRC Robotics Competition in the USA. In addition, our engineers at Siemens Turkey give coding trainings to the female students at Darüşşafaka and support them in their career paths as voluntary mentors.

Encouraging more female students to study engineering is another initiative that we adopt and put great emphasis on. With the Female Engineers Project held in cooperation with our Diversity Council and Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), our female engineers offer mentoring to young female engineering students to support their theoretical knowledge with experience and practice.

We attach great importance to the projects for the children and young individuals, because we know that we need to take responsibility for all children to build a better world. We need to support them and help especially those with fewer means to confidently preparefor the future. I hope such initiatives continue in a larger scale not only at Siemens Turkey, but also in the business world and throughout the country.

Happy 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day to all children!

We have already left the first week of 2019 behind. I believe it would be best for all of us to start the year with hope and especially optimism. Well then, what exactly is “optimism”? I have finished reading Steven Pinker’s book “Enlightenment Now” a few days ago. This Canada-born American experimental psychologist defines optimism as “the theory that all failures -all evils- are due to insufficient knowledge.”

There will always be failures or problems, because our knowledge will always be infinitely far from complete. What we need to keep in mind is this: We may encounter problems that are difficult to solve, but it is a big mistake to confuse them with problems unlikely to be solved. Most problems are solvable and each particular failure or evil that we encounter is actually a problem that can be solved. Therefore, we need to be optimistic and focus on the solution to be able to go forward.

An optimistic civilization is open to development and diversity, it is not afraid of innovations, and it has a tradition of constructive criticism. Its institutions focus on continuous improvement, identify failures, and find ways to eliminate them.

There will always be solutions to problems as long as we are optimistic.

After all, what is life but continuous problem-solving?

Happy new year to all!

2019 is only a few days away. I believe that every year-end is an important opportunity to look back and evaluate past actions, to take a look at the roadmap, and to determine the next steps.

The year we are leaving behind has been economically and politically challenging both for Turkey and for the world. Yes, it wasn’t an easy year, but as a “Turkish company with German roots” that has been operating in Turkey for 162 years, we continue to take firm steps with the trust and love we have for our country. As in previous years, we implemented many projects that contribute to the Turkish economy in 2018 and we put our signature under leading investments in our areas of operation.

2018 has also been important in terms of the development of the relations between Germany and Turkey. Since the launch of our operations in Turkey in 1856, we, as Siemens, have always took part in large-scale projects and firsts, while also playing an active role in Germany-Turkey relations. Today, we continue to pay attention to fulfilling our duties to reinforce the ties between the two countries.

The cooperation between Turkey and Germany is based upon strong economic foundations and has a huge potential for growth. I am very happy to see that following a short period of problems, relations have recently reached a much better point. For instance, earlier this year, Siemens AG CEO Joe Kaeser visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In April, we had the opportunity to visit Siemens Training Center in Berlin together with Mr. Berat Albayrak, then Minister of Energy and today’s Minister of Treasury and Finance. During this visit, he stated that “Germany is an indispensable partner for Turkey”.

The best proof of this statement was the BRICA Summit held in İstanbul, hosted by the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) with support from Siemens Turkey. Many world leaders came together in İstanbul for the BRICA Summit. We are preparing to provide innovative and digital technologies to the projects to be implemented within this scope in the coming period. By supporting successful, open, and fair international cooperation, we will continue to contribute to our country.

Yes, 2018 has been a challenging year not only for our country, but for the whole world. 2019 will also bring along its own challenges. However, let me tell you this: During my 40 years at Siemens, I have worked in seven different countries and faced many challenges and crises. Throughout this time, I have experienced how important it is to think in the long term, to cooperate, and to treasure people. I believe that we have successfully adopted this approach at Siemens Turkey by focusing on long-term plans. Within these 162 years, we have always believed in our country through thick and thin. We know very well that Turkey also trusts in Siemens.

With these positive feelings and opinions, I can’t wait to achieve many more successes in 2019 with the power of trust and love.

May 2019 bring you the best of everything.

Happy New Year!

Today, we celebrate the 95^th anniversary of our Republic. Known as the most important day in our country’s history, October 29^th changed the destiny of not only Turkey, but also the whole world. American Time magazine previously defined the proclamation of the Republic in Turkey as one of the “80 days that changed the world”.

This, above all, was an initiative to rebuild a country from scratch and it was a huge challenge. Transformative novelties were implemented in every area – from politics to public works, agriculture, economy, culture, education, industry, and commerce. Despite all the burden and exhaustion, our country made a revolution by putting its heart and soul into it. In a very short time, it rebuilt itself as a more modern and democratic society. This comprehensive transformation was widely adopted and rapidly implemented. Besides, it set an example to other countries. This, indeed, is a true success story and a very valuable legacy to us.

When I think about the achievements of the Republic, I especially attach great importance to two initiatives: Launching an educational campaign and reinforcing women’s place in the society. Please remember that the women in our country earned the right to vote and stand for election a lot earlier than many western societies. True development can only be achieved through education and equality. That is why Siemens Turkey strongly supports educational projects, encourages girls to continue their education, and regularly increases the number of female engineers in the team.

We sincerely believe in the principles and values of the Republic. With strong faith in the strength and future of Turkey, we work enthusiastically to help our country do better. We prove our determination through the responsibility we take and contribution we make to reach the goals adopted for the 100^th anniversary of the Republic. We support the new revolution, i.e. the digital revolution, with our state-of-the-art technologies and transformative innovations to help Turkey prepare strongly for the future.

In full confidence that our past will continue to inspire us in overcoming all obstacles, I commemorate our great leader Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as well as the martyrs and veterans with respect, longing and gratitude.

Happy Republic Day!

Within the cover story, Time editor wrote: “He  lifted his  people out of a slough of servile submission to alien authorities, bringing them to the  realization of their inherent qualities, to an independence of thought and action.”

Every time I look at this cover picture, I feel pride on behalf of my country and see the bright light of the future in the eyes of our founder. After 78 years, we still commemorate him with everlasting respect.

We have recently been running on such a busy agenda that we cannot remember what happened a year ago. And it becomes harder to remember more distant past.

I was in the USA 17 years ago when the August 17^th Marmara Earthquake occurred, but I can still remember the sad incident very clearly. In those days, we provided guidance to American NGOs that wanted to help our country after the earthquake. More than 17 thousand people lost their lives in the disaster. May them rest in peace.

We, as Siemens Turkey, are devastated by the news of the terrorist attack at İstanbul Atatürk Airport and our headquarters also shares our grief. The letter of condolences sent by Siemens AG Managing Board to our employees is a concrete indicator of their feelings of solidarity. The underlying message reads as “We believe in Turkey and we stand by you”. As stated in this letter, we should never give up believing in the future of our country. Our future will be built upon faith, hard-work and goodwill.

I extend my heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families and hope all those injured will get well soon. May the souls of the victims rest in peace.