Syrian conflict warms up local blanket market

UŞAK - Anatolia News Agency

The inner Aegean province of Uşak is the heart of blanket making in Turkey. AA photo

Blanket makers in the Aegean province of Uşak are seeing a boom in demand, mainly from aid organizations due to the ongoing Syrian turmoil.

Twenty companies in the province, which reportedly produce 90 percent of Turkey’s blankets, have recently been working at full capacity, depleting all their stock over the past four months, due to increasing demand fueled by Syrian refugees, sources said. Blanket demand increases in times of disasters and wars, Hazim Sesli, who runs a firm in Uşak, has said. “Syrian refugees particularly need blankets. Both aid organizations and well-to-do Syrians constantly buy blankets,” Sesli said. Some 1.5 million blankets have been delivered to the region from Uşak in the last four months, he said. “The firms are accepting orders for deliveries in three or four months,” he said. Ali Zengi, another local businessman, said he wanted an end to the Syrian turmoil despite the favorable business volume.