GAHİB President Zeynel Abidin Kaplan said, ‘’A textile machinery fair with international content should be organized in our city, which is the center of textile production, especially in carpets. We are involved in and support the work done on behalf of our country and our city.’’
During our visit to Southeastern Anatolia Carpet Exporters’ Association (GAHİB) President Zeynel Abidin Kaplan to inform about the GTM fair activities, President Kaplan said, ‘’I find the decision to organize the Gaziantep Textile Machinery Fair to be correct.I am happy on behalf of our province that such a great organization will be run.’’ Zeynel Abidin Kaplan received information about the participating companies and examined the hall plans. Southeastern Anatolia Carpet Exporters’ Association President Kaplan concluded with the following, ‘’We will work for our country, our city and we will be united for success. We have been actively involved in fair activities since 2008 and have actively participated in many fair formations. We know how important fair activities are and how much care they require. We will provide the support needed for the GTM 2025 fair to be successful. You should also definitely carry out visitor works, especially from the Middle East region, for the fair to be even more successful.”
Close Observation to Southeastern Anatolia Carpet Exporters’ Association (GAHİB)
It was established in 2009 and has approximately 1,300 members. The association is one of the two Carpet Exporters’ Associations in Turkey and acts as the Coordinator Association for the carpet sector and carries out the secretariat of the carpet sector board. Machine-made carpets, tufted carpets, hand-made carpets and rugs are exported by the companies within the Southeastern Anatolia Carpet Exporters’ Association. Machine-made carpets are the most exported product of our sector amongst the exported sub-groups of goods. In this context, the machine-made carpet industry represented by the Union is one of the most important sectors of Gaziantep province. Approximately 200 manufacturing companies in the sector, with over 1500 carpet weaving machines, make 90% of Turkey's machine-made carpet exports with an annual amount of 600 million m². Our sector is one of the leading sources of employment with approximately 65,000 direct and 200,000 indirect employees. Export Figures Our country's carpet exports in 2024 were realized as 2 Billion 867 Million 477 Thousand US Dollars. The first 5 countries to which we export the most as a country are the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Kingdom, and Germany, respectively. Our country exported to 180 different countries in the last 12-month export period. Our Union's share in carpet exports throughout Turkey was realized as 67.9%. 86.2% of GAHIB’s total carpet exports in 2024 are Machine-Made Carpets, 12.7% are Tufte Carpets, and the remaining are Hand-Made Carpets and Rugs. The Southeastern Anatolia Carpet Exporters’ Association exported to 143 countries in the last 12 months.
