The 9th edition of the National Textile Engineering Student Congress (UTMÖK) was organized by the Textile Community of Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University (KSU), on May 5-7 at Kahramanmaraş Mehmet Akif Ersoy Cultural Center. 700 people, including the students, academics and industrialists, participared in this year’s edition of the event that is organized by the textile engineering department of 13 universities in a different university every year. It was criticised that the senior administrative and civil authorities including the governor, deputy governor and the mayor of Kahramanmaraş did not participated in the event, which attracted interest from the sector representatives despite the intense pace of work. The participants, who stated that the textile sector has an increasing importance in the cities’ economy, said that the support given to such events by the local authorities will encourage the investors and this will result in new investments made in the city.
Muhammet Nasuhi Kılınçkıran, Chairman of the Textile Community of KSÜ, made statements about the conference that lasted 3 days, and said that the textile sector in Kahramanmaraş, which performs 35 percent of Turkey’s yarn production, is a locomotive sector. Kılınçkıran continued by saying; “Organizing the 9th National Textile Textile Engineering Student Congress in Kahramanmaraş, contributed a lot the the city’s, university’s and the textile sector’s promotion. In the congress, which aimed to develop and implement projects and to open the horizons and develop the visions of the textile engineering students, to adapt them to the sector and to make them contribute to the textile engineering education, the veterans of the sector shared their experiences and knowledge with the textile engineering students and the past, present and future of the the textile sector, which is the locomotive sector of Turkey and especially of the region was evaluated by the experts in the regional and national context. Another important feature of the congress is that it creates a platform for the textile engineering students from 13 universities to come together and discuss their own problems, offer solutions and to implement these solutions.
The Students Visit KİPAŞ
Kılınçkıran stated that information was transferred at the panels held during the congess and for the first time at this edition. a textile facility was visited. “In order to increase the business etiquette of the participants, we organized a technical visitation the Kipaş Yarn Facilities,” said Kılınçkıran and added that they are thankful to the people and to all the institutions and organizations that give both material and moral support to the congress.
Kahramanmaraş Grows 4 Times in 10 Years
Kemal Karaküçük, Chairman of Kahramanmaraş Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KMTSO), stated that Kahramanmaraş will become an actor that has a corner on the global textile market. Karaküçük underlined that Kahramanmaraş has achieved a 4-fold growth in the last 10 years and it has become one of the 10 biggest manufacturing regions of Turkey. After 2005, 6,3 billion Turkish Liras worth of incentive investment was made in Kahramanmaraş. $ 2,2 billion worth of investment made within the frame of 370 investment projects and there is an ongoing investment that worths $ 1,6 billion. Textile sector has the highest share among the investments made in the city,” said Karaküçük.
Karaküçük stated that the half of the 500 industrial plants located in the city operates for the textile sector. “35 percent of the yarn consumed in Turkey, which equals 400 thousand tons, is met by us. Besides 15 percent of the fabric production is carried out only by our company. With its production capacity, Kahramanmaraş reaches an advantageous position in the global market. We have a significant potential to create –with the medium and long term support received from the government - a greater capacity in the region and to increase the production of textile products with high added value,” said Karaküçük.
