BBM 66 July - Temmuz 2023

BBM • JULY - TEMMUZ 2023 38 INTERVIEW • RÖPORTAJ who cannot keep up with the change will, unfortunately, be left behind,” warns TUSAF President and emphasizes that sector stakeholders should closely follow the population and consumption trends in the world. “We cannot stay out of these trends while there are so many success stories in our milling sector,” says Tezcan, adding that government support is a must for R&D and P&D investments at that point. Here are the answers given by TFIF Chairman Haluk Tez- can to our questions: Two major earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş shook Turkey on 6 February. After the earthquake, which caused massive destruction in 11 provinces, the Turkish flour industrialists mobilized to help the earthquake vic- tims. As TFIF, you organized an aid campaign and visited the region and conducted inspections. Could you tell us about your aid efforts and the effects of the earthquake on the flour industrialists in the region? First of all, may God never again allow such a catastro- phe to happen to our nation. This disaster has revealed to us that we should be prepared for all kinds of disasters in advance and that we should build our infrastructures in a planned and solid way considering various scenarios. As TFIF, we, together with our industrialists, worked in co- ordination with the institutions of our state, especially the Turkish Grain Board (TMO), to overcome this difficult period and delivered flour and bread to the disaster area. TFIF Board of Directors visited millers affected by the earthquake and carried out observations. We listened to the demands of the millers and worked with all our institutions, especially our ministries, to heal the wounds and for our businesses to get back on their feet as soon as possible. With the awareness that flour and bread form the basis of our nutrition, we mobilized all our means to the earthquake region in order to avoid problems in access to basic neces- sities in such a disaster. On the evening of the first day, we started to deliver bread to the region from the surround- ing provinces. Then, as the bakeries in the region started to open gradually, we supplied flour. We stood by our state and nation by sending these flours to the region as dona- tions. We are continuing these aids. Regarding the effect of the earthquake on the flour in- dustry in the region…13 flour factories in 4 provinces in the earthquake region were damaged to the extent that they could not be used. We have observed moderate damage in 7 factories and light damage in 3 factories. 13 destroyed factories need to be rebuilt in a new location. During our visit to the region, we observed that the de- stroyed factories were mostly located in rural areas, in the pan TUSAF Başkanı, sektör paydaşlarının dünyadaki nüfus ve tüketim trendlerini de yakından takip etmesi gerektiğini akta- rıyor. “Değirmencilik sektörümüzde bu kadar başarı hikayesi varken bizler bu trendlerin dışında kalamayız.” diyen Tezcan, bu noktada Ar-Ge ve Ür-Ge yatırımları için de devlet desteği- nin şart olduğunu söylüyor. İşte TUSAF Yönetim Kurulu Başkanı Haluk Tezcan’ın Değirmenci’nin sorularına verdiği cevaplar: Türkiye, 6 Şubat’ta Kahramanmaraş merkezli iki büyük depremle sarsıldı. 11 ilde büyük yıkıma yol açan depremin ardından Türk un sanayicisi de dep- remzedelere yardım için seferber oldu. TUSAF ola- rak yardım kampanyası yürüttünüz, bölgeye gidip incelemelerde bulundunuz. Bize hem yardım faa- liyetlerinizden hem de depremin bölgedeki un sa- nayicisi üzerindeki etkilerinden bahseder misiniz? Öncelikle, Allah milletimize tekrar böyle bir felaket yaşat- masın. Aslında bu deprem, hepimizi ders almamız, çıkarımlar