Professor Mehmet Akalin, textile department head at the Marmara University Technical Education Faculty thinks that the solution derives from two separate strategies in the short and long run. Pointing to the efficiency concept as the only solution for corporations to continue their operations in the short term, Akalin said: "This concept is not properly understood in Turkey. We should almost make administrators memorize the concepts of machine, personnel and production efficiency." According to Akalin, the long-term strategy and tendency towards production with high added value are required for the survival of the sector. "I know this is not easy. Westerners recognized that 40 years ago and incrementally transformed itself from simple textile production to technical textile production without jeopardizing the sector," said Akalin and added that this level would not be reached in two years.
Akalin also explained that Turkish textiles had mostly worked for the dynamic domestic market since the 1980's and could increase exports by being a supplier for the European market that withdrew simple textile production since this period. Turkey could meet five percent of the world's textile demand during that process. During these developments, the possibility of the threat of countries where labor and raw materials are extremely cheap for the market in the future was underestimated. Textile manufacturers should not become despairing of the point reached, Akalin suggests.
He went on further to say, textiles were evaluated as an "initiator" sector for industrialization during the 80's; however, it was not a transition industry, and that the textile sector paved the way for both employment and the development of subsidiary industries.
By Ibrahim Turkmen
