We, as Siemens have been operating in Turkey for more than 160 years, which is astonishingly a long time. We have always planned for a long-term presence in Turkey and worked accordingly. Also based our sustainability approach on this framework. Prior to the launch out of a project, we always contemplate on how to develop it in the long run; since rather than one-time support, initiating a project, growing it, taking it to different levels, improving its scope and value are important to us. Siemens Opera Contest that has become a traditional event is a good example to this approach; it started from scratch and within these 21 years it touched and continues to touch the lives of tens of opera singers who performed on world stages.

While launching and continuing the project, our premise has always been this: There are many talented young people and artists in Turkey. Trying to create opportunities for these young people on various platforms has been our main source of motivation and enthusiasm.

I believe that the phenomenon of “brand” is another important aspect. Building a brand and sustaining its reputation requires great time and effort. When these young opera singers successfully represent Turkey abroad, they are actually performing on behalf of Turkey and add great value to the brand of Turkey.

In my now more than 43 years with Siemens, I worked in 7 different countries. Every country has its dynamics and every country has unique musical, economic, and political rhythms. But what has always fascinated me the most is how different instruments may bring people together. These instruments can sometimes be sports, sometimes cuisines or art. They immediately interfere and open the doors of communication, especially when experts or authorities feel they are in a deadlock.

Lucky us, we have been doing this for 21 years. This reminds me of the motto “Ars longa, vita brevis”. Cited from Hippocrates and translated into Latin, this phrase means “art is long, life is short”. Actually, Hippocrates said these words in the context of medicine, which he considered to be an art, and added: “opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgement difficult”.

In other words, expertise on a certain topic, craft or art requires a lot of time, effort and endeavor. Compared to this trouble, our life is quite short. Yet, there is another side to the medallion: An art earned by giving your lifetime to it makes you immortal in the end. Isn’t this already the dream of an artist?

When I think about Siemens Opera Contest, I do not see a standardized event that has never changed in 21 years. On the contrary, I see a snowball that grows layer by layer, developed with experience, and gains value with the excitement and enthusiasm of young people. And I thank everyone involved for their contribution.

Let Tchaikovsky say the final words: “Music is indeed the most beautiful of all Heaven’s gifts to humanity wandering in the darkness. Only music can calm, enlighten, and still our souls. Music is a true friend, refuge, and comforter, makes life worth living. Perhaps there will be no music in heaven. Well then, let us give our mortal life to it as long as it lasts.”

“We believe that it’s every child’s right to access preschool education” says Nalan Yalçın, General Manager of AÇEV, Mother Child Education Foundation.

AÇEV piloted an intensive pre-school program to provide critical early childhood education for Syrian refugee children in last summer. We as Siemens Turkey are proud to support such a valuable project of AÇEV. Following the program, an extensive monitoring and evaluation was conducted and the results revealed that kids benefited from this program showed a remarkable improvement which proved it ‘successful’. Some of this children have never seen their parents home back in Syria. Now they are even more ready for their ordinary school education.

This has been a valuable example to develop further education programs for refugee children. This video talks for itself!

As Siemens, we are celebrating our 160^th year in Turkey. Since 1856, we have not only been performing economic activities on these lands, but also contributing to the society in many different aspects.

The constantly-changing international business environment leads us towards a new mindset on growth and success. Companies now should have a vision of growth beyond traditional parameters such as increasing production and acquiring short-term financial revenue. They also need to consider the impact they create on the society and the environment. Our responsibility towards the society we live in is greater than ever.

Parameters that reveal the success of a company change constantly. The success of a business is no longer assessed by looking at its turnover or number of factories. To talk about real success, we need to look at the long-term contribution of a business to the country it operates in. Investors want to see the long-term contribution to make investments as well. Employees also want to see the real social contribution of their corporations to the world, the future, and children in a measurable way and to feel proud about it.

In accordance with this trend, I would like to share with you a project that we, as the Siemens Turkey family, are most excited about. In our 160^th year in Turkey, we decided to measure Siemens’ contribution to Turkey’s sustainable development in terms of quality and quantity. Based upon our experience and know-how, we demonstrated the contributions that our operations in Turkey have made to the sustainable development goals and social life of Turkey.

We released the report “Siemens Turkey – Business to Society” in September 2016. I am planning to share some details of the report soon, but for the moment you may reach the PDF version of the report at Download the Business to Society Report! Our report clearly displays how much contribution a company can make to social development. We hope it will act as an example for other companies.

In my opinion, the best thing about the social media is that it allows feedback and exchange of ideas. I have recently had an experience that supports my belief. In my Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ accounts, I posted an interview from the Siemens Customer Magazine and asked for my followers’ views on “smart cities.”
While some comments identified the “smart city” concept as cities and infrastructures that make peoples’ lives easier, some of them claimed that “smart cities” would bring more chaos. Of course, it is natural to have disagreements on any subject. But I think what we should focus on now is what people expect from technology companies to transform technology into benefits for the daily life.
As far as I can see, the biggest expectation is improvements in transportation, safety, and environmental initiatives. Therefore, it is necessary to focus not only on building technologies, but also on transportation technologies. Among the comments on transportation, I was mostly affected by the loss of lives due to delays of ambulances in heavy city traffic.
There is a very important article on this subject in the November issue of Siemens’ Future and Trends magazine. The article is about an EU project by Siemens and its partners. This project aims to ease city traffic by connecting the traffic lights and the drivers. During the tests, 12 ambulances, 2 electric vehicles, and 20 signaling systems were equipped with various communication units. Every 10 seconds, these communication units send information to certain points on the road via a dedicated WLAN network. For example, when the information on an approaching ambulance arrives, the traffic light turns green as long as it won’t cause a serious effect on traffic. I believe that such technological developments can increase the chance of survival in cases where even seconds are critical. In short, as in everything else, life should be the priority when it comes to smart cities.

I know that the country’s agenda is filled with sad incidents. Unfortunately, we watch all that’s happening with a heavy heart. Yet I cling to the hope that our country will once again overcome these hard times and in the name of long-term thinking, I would like to point out an important issue: Why is liberalization important to investors in a country that wishes to continue consistent growth?

We are all aware of our need for energy as a growing and developing country. Those who follow me on various platforms would know that I always advocate the idea of benefiting from a wide range and a balanced portfolio of energy sources. And now, due to certain issues, I need to focus especially on one pillar of this portfolio: Natural gas industry.

First of all, let’s remember what makes natural gas combined cycle plants so important in the diversity of energy sources: These plants can rapidly replace renewable power plants when energy demand is high or renewable plants cannot generate electricity due to seasonal reasons; can perform secondary frequency controls; and most importantly, are accepted as a clean energy source. Therefore, they should have a strong place in the energy network our country needs.

However, natural gas and electricity industries have recently been discussing some problems. In almost all meetings with our customers and various stakeholders of the industry, especially the problems in natural gas power plants are mentioned. The media often covers the news that due to the troubles experienced by investors, installed natural gas power plants are disassembled and taken abroad. This is a serious loss for our country and future in a time when we try to make Turkey an attractive environment for investments.

We agree with the industry’s prominent figures that liberalization should be rapidly completed and that this bottleneck in the electricity and gas industry can be overcome with the Azeri gas to be transferred to our country via an international pipeline project like Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP). When the bottleneck is overcome, we will have more local and foreign investments in Turkey. Thus, employment will increase, and it will be easier for us to secure our growth performance. It is vital that we, as a country, keep this as an important part of our agenda.

I am in San Francisco meeting young people – all in search for the future. Every conversation is about what he or she is working on ( to start a new company): A new project, invention or a new idea how to change the existing stage of everything and come up with something new.

Likewise, I am also meeting many engineers from all over the world. Some of those are from countries where their grandmothers predicted the future by looking into a cup of coffee. Here they know that the Future can not be predicted and they are all working on inventing it.