The "Take Charge of Your Life" campaign is launching...

TÜRES, the representative of alcohol-free restaurants in the gastronomy sector, and TURYİD, the representative of tourist restaurants, came together for the #hayatinasahipcik campaign, launched to forestall the demoralization experienced in society following the Reina attack.
The details of the "Take Charge of Your Life" civil society movement, which aims to reinforce the sense of social welfare and security and to demonstrate that the schemes of those who carry out inhuman attacks will not be tolerated, were announced to the public at a press conference held at Feriye Palace on Thursday, January 12, with the participation of Birleşmiş Markalar Derneği (BMD) Chairman of the Board Sinan Öncel, Kategori Mağazacılığı Derneği (KMD) Chairman of the Board Alp Önder Özpamukçu, Turizm Restaurant Yatırımcıları ve İşletmecileri Derneği (TURYİD) Chairman of the Board Kaya Demirer, and Tüm Restoranlar Lokantalar ve Tedarikçiler Derneği (TÜRES) President Ramazan Bingöl.

In addition to the members of the associations organizing the campaign, famous names from the worlds of business, art, sports and entertainment attended the meeting.

Support for #hayatinasahipcik from dozens of famous names

At the meeting, with the hashtag "hayatinasahipcik," Ata Demirer, Ayhan Sicimoğlu, Burcu Esmersoy, Demet Akbağ, Dilara Koçak, Ege, Fatih Terim, Gezegen Mehmet, Hülya Koçyiğit, Kenan İmirzalıoğlu, Mehmet Yaşin, Osman Müftüoğlu, Saba Tümer, Şahika Ercümen, Sedef İybar, Taylan Kümeli and Tümer Metin shared snapshots from everyday life taken while strolling in the street, eating at a restaurant, fishing, going to the cinema, and walking in the park.

Sinan Öncel: "For the sake of our future, we need to embrace life more tightly"

Speaking at the meeting, Birleşmiş Markalar Derneği (BMD) Chairman of the Board Sinan Öncel said: "While we mourn our losses, we need to embrace life more tightly for our children, that is, for our future. As four of Turkey's most important civil society organizations, we are calling on all civil initiatives. Come; let us take charge of our country, our economy, our lives and our future. Let our machines run faster, let our restaurants and stores always be open. Let the avenues, cinemas, theaters and entertainment venues continue to live to the rhythm of life."

Alp Önder Özpamukçu: "We must carry on with our lives and take charge of them to the very end"

Kategori Mağazacılığı Derneği (KMD) Chairman of the Board Alp Önder Özpamukçu also said: "We believe that the efforts to create fear throughout the country, which are the main objective of the distressing events we have experienced one after another, will be rendered ineffective by our nation and the private-sector players standing united with our state, working in solidarity and without faltering." Özpamukçu said the following: "We wholeheartedly believe that these wounds that have been opened will heal in the shortest time, that our morale will quickly recover, and that peace will be restored once again. Our people possess this strength and resolve. As the esteemed players of the retail sector, who most closely follow the pulse of our people, the greatest response we can give will be to show that we have not been daunted for the sake of our tomorrows, and to take charge of our lives by carrying on with our daily lives. We must continue to do our shopping, to enjoy this beautiful geography we live in, to go to the cinema, to dine at our many wonderful venues, to have fun, to travel; in short, we must carry on with our lives and take charge of them to the very end."

Kaya Demirer: "To those who want to prevent us from continuing our daily lives, we say 'do not submit'"

Turizm Restaurant Yatırımcıları ve İşletmecileri Derneği (TURYİD) Chairman of the Board Kaya Demirer, underlining that they had launched a nationwide civil society movement to once again bring life back to the streets of Istanbul, which had fallen silent after the New Year's Eve attack, continued as follows: "The alarm bells will truly begin to ring when we become afraid to go out into the street. After the incident at Reina, we members of the sector came together arm in arm in Kuruçeşme. By turning this togetherness into a civil society movement, we are inviting all our citizens to take charge of their lives. Instead of thinking, 'Can a country be saved by going to the market, to the bazaar, to dinner, to the cinema or to do sports?', we say 'do not submit' to those who want to prevent us from continuing our daily lives. So that the country we live in, and our beautiful, sparkling Istanbul, do not fall into the state desired by those who planned and carried out the attacks, let us not retreat into silence; let us take charge of our lives. To give momentum to this movement, we need to use all the means at our disposal. For this, we say: 'Go out into the street, go shopping, go out to eat, go out to stroll, go traveling. Just get out.' We will take charge of our streets in our own country, so that we can say to the 30 million tourists who visit our country every year, 'Come, support this national mobilization of Turkey; if you want to fight terrorism, visit Turkey and do not leave us alone.'"

Ramazan Bingöl: "Let us make life abundant, let us multiply life and friendship"

Tüm Restoranlar Lokantalar ve Tedarikçiler Derneği (TÜRES) President Ramazan Bingöl, emphasizing that they had set out with the aim of reducing the negative effects the attacks would have on the tourism sector and of turning the perception that was being created in a positive direction, said the following: "Let no one carry water to the mill of those who want to bring our country to a halt. When we shut ourselves up in our homes, we do exactly what those who planned the attacks want. On the contrary, let us continue our normal lives without changing any part of our existence, let us make life abundant, let us multiply life and friendship. Let us stand together against the attacks. We invite people from different countries to our country to experience the magnificent flavors of Turkish Cuisine, one of the best cuisines in the world. To increase our share in world gastronomy tourism, we as a sector are joining hands. That is precisely why we say to our people, 'take charge of your life.'"