Hürriyet against violence towards women

Hürriyet started its “No! To Domestic Violence!” campaign as a social responsibility project back in October 2004. It has continued it non-stop ever since.

Across the world a third of all women are beaten at least once in their lifetime, forced to have sexual intercourse, or harassed in some other way.

Much of this violence was carried out by men within their families at home. In other words, the women and children were hurt and killed by those who are the closest to them.

This is a problem all around the world, in both developed and the developing countries. In the U.S. there are reportedly more than 4 million women who have been beaten by their husband, while in the U.K. one in seven women have been hit by their husband.

Rates of violence against women in Turkey are even higher.

Hürriyet’s campaign believes in a “zero tolerance” approach to domestic violence and all violence against women.

The campaign aims to show the destructive and permanent effects on every family member, with women and children being in first place. It also aims to contribute to removing all of this violence and calls on every group in society to play its part.

It also supports all global and local campaigns organized for women.

“Paint İzmir Orange” is one of these campaigns.

It started on Nov. 25 and will continue till Dec. 10, when a big “orange march” will be held in the western city of İzmir.

As part of the campaign, we have hung our orange flag on daily Hürriyet’s office in İzmir’s Alsancak district.

So until all violence against women ends, let’s paint İzmir, Turkey and the world orange.

The bureaucrat of the year: Türk Eximbank General Manager Adnan Yıldırım

I first met Adnan Yıldırım when he was part of the EGS Group, an Aegean company formed in the 1990s. A steady supporter of Aegean exporters, he has taken on various positions over years, including Chamber of Industry and Commerce Secretary General and Deputy Economy Minister.

These days he is the General Manager of Eximbank. In 2016, he was chosen as “Bureaucrat of the Year” and this year the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has given him the same award.

Last year, Eximbank financed 22.9 percent of Turkey’s exports, this year that ratio has raised to 26 percent. The number of customers has increased 15 percent annually.

Congratulations to Yıldırım.

Social media addiction

As I looked around the departure lounge of an airport on Nov. 29, I noticed almost everybody in the hall was busy with their mobile phones.

They were mostly looking at their social media accounts.

The statistics say we spend three hours per day on our smartphones. But I am afraid this is getting longer every day.

That is what addiction is like. It makes people believe that the virtual world is real.