From the Publisher

STANBUL: MY FOOTSTEPS ON ITS PAVEMENTS

Sometimes…

In the moment that that enchanting inner voice in me tells me to ‘stop!’, I hand over my car to a parking lot.

That ‘friendly’ inner voice has always brought me the beautiful colors of life. So I trust it and I chose to experience Istanbul.

I suppose Orhan Veli Kanik, that divinely inspired, ever fresh Turkish poet, wrote his best Istanbul poems in a similar contemplative state.

“Listening to Istanbul like Orhan Veli did.” This is something that is pretty hard to do, certainly. In today’s increasingly tough living conditions it is almost possible to apprehend the romanticism of the post-World War II generation, which touches the deepest feelings.

But this city.

This city that has survived since oldest recorded times is always fresh, always beautiful, always colorful, and always seductive.

Hearing my footsteps on these pavements, on which the most powerful emperors and the most glorious armies of the world – the ones who built history – walked, fills me with a unique pleasure.

I’m talking about all these things in order to recreate that very special image of this city, in which we meet for one of the world’s biggest jewelry fairs.

To meet in a city that has witnessed history.

Our appointment is with such a city, where all cultures meet, disparate views shake hands, and which remains the homeland of independent perceptions, even before the concept  of ‘globalism’ was coined.    

In these hard times internationally, Istanbul embraces us as one of the world’s rare regions of stability.

The worldly-wise city walls cross our path not as barriers, but as corners that direct us all to common goals; its indulgent, friendly people cross our path as beacons indicating the successful routes we draw for ourselves.

We make ‘the highest quality’ commerce internationally and we meet in one of the ‘highest quality’ cities of the world.

Within the long and successful story of the Istanbul Jewelry Show, one of the most important elements is certainly the Turkish jewelry sector, which has proved its power to the whole world.

The milestones of this success story are marked by our determination and patience.

Again, the pages of this success story are illustrated by the great support of the world jewelry sector; that is to say the most fastidious, the most exacting people in the world, who seem perpetually unsatisfied.

But, I still believe in the magic of Istanbul.

Inviting, embracing, touching our hearts, encouraging us to think positively and establish positive relations. I am talking about a very special city.

These special notions are behind the recent well known and worldly developments in Turkey, but you cannot read about them in specialists’ columns; you can only feel them.

At the same time, they are expressions of confidence coming from trusting this country and investing in its future.

See! We are together again.

And I know that we will miss each other and miss experiencing Istanbul until next March.

Şermin Cengiz