Diyarbakır aims high in regional fair sector

DİYARBAKIR - Anatolia News Agency

Companies coming from İzmir, Ankara and Istanbul aim to discover a new market and that is why they are coming to the southeastern province, according to fair experts. AA photo

Making a name for itself in the fair and exhibition market, the southeastern province of Diyarbakır is now aiming to become the Middle East’s fair center.

“All the markets in the west are already saturated. That’s why the firms are looking to discover new markets,” İlhan Ersözlü, the general manager of fair and exhibition company TÜYAP, told Anatolia news agency in a recent interview. “Companies can open to Syria, Iran and to Iraq. They can do trade to those countries via fairs in Diyarbakır.”

The province’s fairground, which is spread over a 10,000-square-meter enclosed area and a 57,000-square-meter open area, has hosted 12 fairs since it opened in 2008. Some 128,000 people visited fairs at the center in 2009, while 286,000 people came the following year. The ground has hosted 12 countries and 729 different companies at fair’s this year.

The fairs are generally focused on agriculture, technology, books and construction.
Ersözlü also said they were also managing fairs in Istanbul, Adana, Konya and Bursa. TÜYAP will manage fairs in Diyarbakır for 10 years, added Ersözlü.

“In 2010 we increased the fair events in Diyarbakır to eight and in 2011 we organized 12 fairs in Diyarbakır,” he said, adding that Diyarbakır fair organizations had grown more quickly than expected.
“This showed us the investment in Diyarbakır was the right thing to do,” he said, adding that Diyarbakır might become an important market within five to 10 years.

Companies coming from İzmir, Ankara and Istanbul aim to discover a new market and that is why they are coming to the southeastern province, according to Ersözlü.

The fairs are also social responsibility projects, according to Ersözlü. “For example, during the book fair, we also hosted young writers from the area, we also organized art projects during the book fair,” he added.

Those fairs also contribute to the artistic and cultural life of the area, he added.
The city is one of the leading fair centers in the Middle East region, said Ersözlü, adding that the grounds were open to open to international companies as well.

“When we consider other provinces such as Kahramanmaraş, Adana and Gaziantep, we can see more production in those cities, but Diyarbakır is the best-developed province in terms of the fair business,” said Ersözlü

“All the companies that aim to sell goods to the Middle East participate in fairs in Diyarbakır.”
During fair times all the hotels run at full capacity, said Ersözlü, adding that the province would continue to grow.