Anatolia’s treasure, handmade carpets will grow with exports.
Turkey, one of the world’s largest carpet producers and exporters, is taking action to bring handmade carpets, one of the greatest cultural treasures of these lands, to the world stage. Ahmet Hayri Diler, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Istanbul Carpet Exporters’ Association (İHİB), pointed out that the brand value of Turkish handmade carpets is quite high and that they can rise to the top again with the right projects and said, “We aim to increase our exports by carrying out important promotional activities in target markets. The success of our initiatives will contribute not only to exports but also to rural development and women’s employment.” Istanbul Carpet Exporters’ Association (İHİB) organized a promotional trip to Hereke, where Hereke carpets, which have a history of nearly 200 years, are woven. While the workshops where Hereke carpets, which have a very important place in the world with their fine workmanship and high quality, are woven, were introduced to the press members and participants, a visit was also made to the Hereke Carpet and Silk Weaving Factory, which was established in 1943. In this factory, which is affiliated to the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Directorate of National Palaces and continues its production as a museum-factory, original Hereke fabric patterns are extracted as a result of joint studies carried out with the researchers of the National Palaces, and the lost patterns are reproduced, and in this way, the carpets in the palaces are made in accordance with the original with original patterned fabrics.
Handmade carpet exports to 123 countries
Ahmet Hayri Diler, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Istanbul Carpet Exporters’ Association (IHIB), said that Turkey is one of the first countries that come to mind when it comes to carpets in the world, “As Turkey, we export handmade carpets to 123 countries. The biggest shares are the USA with 35 percent and Japan with 28 percent. The high number of export countries shows our market diversity and Turkey’s strength in the global market.”
Exports will be increased with new projects
Stating that the most important problem is the insufficient production despite the high potential, Diler continued as follows: “As Istanbul Carpet Exporters’ Association, we are aware of this problem and we are developing projects for a solution. Considering that Anatolia is the motherland of the art of rugs and weaving, we pay special attention to handmade carpets, which are one of the greatest cultural treasures of these lands. The success of our initiatives will contribute not only to exports but also to rural development and women’s employment. In addition, the re-export of old handmade carpets in our country through processes such as repair is also an important economic contribution. The qualified labor force required for this process is also available in Turkey. We provide a serious foreign currency inflow to our economy with both exports and sales to tourists.”
Stating that although Turkey is the world leader in woven machine-made carpets, it lost its longstanding first place in hand-woven carpet exports and fell to fourth place, Diler said, “Currently, India, Nepal and China are in the first three places. The brand value of Turkish handmade carpets is quite high and we think that we can rise to the top again by realizing the right projects. Our target markets include the USA, Japan, France, Italy and Germany. We aim to increase our exports by carrying out important promotional activities within the scope of the Turquality Promotion Project in these countries. The success we have achieved especially in the USA and Japan shows how high our potential in these markets is.” Stating that Hereke carpets have a very high value not only domestically but also in the global market, Ahmet Hayri Diler said, “Hereke carpets have been keeping the cultural heritage of our country alive by bringing art and craft together for centuries, and continue to carry the handicraft heritage of our country to future generations with traditional weaving techniques. We aim to ensure that these carpets, which are woven in Hereke with thousands of labor and special techniques, spread to the world with the value they deserve. We attach great importance to the development of carpet weaving in Hereke, which represents Turkish carpet weaving in the best way in the global market, and we are ready to do our best in this regard.”
