ISTANBUL

The 11th International Istanbul Publishing Fellowship will bring together 335 publishers from 73 countries in Türkiye on Feb. 10, building on more than 35,000 rights meetings held since 2016 as the global publishing community gathers once again in Istanbul.

A press conference was held on Wednesday at the Tasyapi Events and Congress Center in Sisli, Istanbul, ahead of a program to be organized by the Turkish Printing and Publishing Professional Union (TBYM) on Feb. 10-12, with the support of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Speaking at the event, TBYM President Mehmet Burhan Genc said Istanbul Publishing Fellowship is Türkiye’s first content market, noting that no other content marketplace initiative has yet been launched in the cultural field.

“Our main goal is to bring works written in Turkish into world languages and to make Istanbul a copyright market, a center and a focal point,” Genc said.

He underlined that more than 35,000 bilateral meetings have been held within the scope of the program since 2016 and that over 25,000 preliminary agreements have been signed.

“This year, we received nearly 1,000 applications from 104 countries. Following evaluations, we will host a total of 335 publishers from 73 countries, including 225 foreign and 110 domestic publishers, in this year’s fellowship program,” he said.

Genc added that participants will include prestigious publishing houses closely followed by the global publishing industry, as well as many publishers from emerging and developing markets.

He stressed that the program aims to offer a level of accessibility and equality not typically provided by international book fairs.

Indonesia selected as focus country

Press and Publishing Union President Halil Celik described the program as a valuable international project sustained through strong cooperation and shared understanding at every stage.

“Through this project, we aim to make the Turkish publishing sector a globally followed, curiosity-provoking, agenda-setting and influential actor in the industry,” Celik said.

He noted that by selecting a focus country each year, the initiative seeks to enable Turkish publishers to establish direct and sustainable commercial relations with that country.

Recalling that the focus country practice was launched in 2021, Celik said activities conducted within this framework allow for in-depth analysis of the publishing structure, reader profile, distribution channels, and copyright regulations of the selected country, while also facilitating Turkish publishers’ access to those markets.

“These efforts also make it possible to build trust-based relationships between publishing houses and develop long-term partnerships,” he added.

Celik expressed satisfaction that Indonesia has been selected as this year’s focus country.

“Indonesia is one of the prominent countries in the Asia-Pacific region with its young and dynamic population, growing publishing market and cultural diversity.

“With a population of around 280 million and a single official language, Indonesian, it offers a broad and cohesive domestic publishing market. These features make Indonesia a strategic country for international publishing projects,” he said.

Celik continued: “The country has a strong production and consumption structure, particularly in educational, children and youth, and religious publishing. As home to the world’s largest Muslim population, Islamic publishing is an important part of social and cultural life in Indonesia.

“This creates a natural demand in the Indonesian market for publications themed around Turkish literature, Islamic thought, the life of the Prophet, Sufism, Ottoman history and values education.”

‘Telling stories of these lands’

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Board Member Munir Ustun said the chamber has participated in numerous international book fairs to promote Turkish literature.

Ustun stressed that local publishers are supported in showcasing their works and forming new partnerships.

“We sincerely believe that we must tell the stories of these lands with our own texts and our own words. For this reason, we are working with all our strength to promote Turkish literature,” he said.

Ustun described the Istanbul Publishing Fellowship as a publishing fair hosted in Türkiye, rather than merely an overseas promotional activity, calling it highly valuable and meaningful.

Providing information on program activities and copyright awards, Ustun said literature offers a powerful opportunity to tell these stories, but noted that in a digitalized world, stories attract audiences on screens as much as on pages.

“To identify written works that can be adapted for the screen, bring producers together with rights holders, and create new platforms for books, stories and literature, we established an additional sub-brand,” he said.

Ustun noted that the Media Match section, launched last year, brings publishers together with digital platforms, producers and production companies.

“Our aim is once again to represent Turkish literature in the best possible way and to ensure it reaches many people from different countries,” he added.

‘Publishers must be visionary’

Istanbul Publishing Fellowship Coordination Board Member Melike Gunyuz said publishers are people who shape the future.

“Because we are the ones who determine which words, concepts and stories will belong to the future. Thanks to us, ideas first enter the public sphere and then spread to the world.

“Therefore, publishers must be visionary and able to read the future. They need to see where the world has come from and where it is going,” she said.

Gunyuz recalled that the Istanbul Publishing Fellowship started 10 years ago as a very small program.

“There are major giants in the world. We dreamed that one day we could compete with them and become the world’s most important center for publishing copyright exchanges, but we did not know it would happen this quickly,” she said.

Pointing to rapid geopolitical developments worldwide, Gunyuz said that by turning Türkiye into a copyright hub, the program has enabled publishers from countries such as Uzbekistan and Mexico to meet, at a time when Europe positions itself as the center of culture, particularly through its visa policies.

“For this reason, the Istanbul Fellowship Program is now on the agenda of publishers all over the world,” she said.

Emphasizing that the program offers a highly democratic environment where publishers from different countries meet and exchange cultures, Gunyuz announced this year’s new initiatives.

“This year, we added a new feature, the IPF VIP program, also known as the International Publishing Forum.

“We will hold closed sessions featuring leading global publishers in children’s, fiction and non-fiction fields, attended only by publishing executives, editors or editors-in-chief from Türkiye’s leading publishing houses.

“Our aim is to better understand the publishing visions of major global players, learn from them and also express ourselves,” she said.

Tasyapi Board Chairman Emrullah Turanli said he was pleased to host the program and meet members of the press.

“I would like to thank all the institutions, associations and organizations that made this event possible. I am deeply grateful,” he said.

The Istanbul Publishing Fellowship program, a copyright marketplace project run by TBYM for 11 years, brings publishers from around the world together through one-on-one copyright meetings.

Aiming to make Istanbul a global actor in the copyright trade market, the project is supported by numerous institutions, including Türkiye's Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Press and Publishing Union, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, Anadolu Agency, Turkish Airlines, the Tourism Development and Education Foundation (TUGEV), and the Professional Union for Copyrights and Licensing of Educational and Cultural Book Publishers (DEKMEB).