the Turkish Airlines recommencement of flight launch, Istanbul, Cape Town
18 September 2007
Our honoured guests, Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Airlines Board of
Directors, Mr Hamdi Topçu, thank you very much for once again being in South
Africa and fulfilling a promise that you have made some time ago, that Turkish
Airlines will be back. Thank you very much for keeping that promise because
today it is a reality. The first flight has resumed and it has landed safely. I
want to thank your government and people for believing in South Africa as a
destination for Turkish Airlines. Also want to greet the Turkish ambassador in
South Africa and all the ambassadors that are here.
I want to acknowledge the presence of Minister Essop, our Minister of
Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in Western Cape. I am glad you
are here to see what the fruit is of some of the work I do. They get very
envious when I fly to Istanbul, under the impression that I go there for
holidays. I am happy to say that they can also now take holidays with a direct
flight between Cape Town and Istanbul.
The world is becoming much smaller and it is all because of airlines in
addition to the internet. We have seen the vital role of air transport in the
process of bringing countries that are far away, closer together. I am very
happy that in 2005, the Turkish government declared it the year of Africa. That
was an enormous sense of vision to commit to making 2005 the year of Africa.
This was not just a statement by the Turkish Government because immediately, a
follow up to begin creating trade relations with Africa began, which was then
followed by commerce between Africa and Turkey.
More importantly, the air links between Turkey and Africa were opened up and
that is why Turkish Airlines now flies to Darfur, Addis Abbaba, to Lagos and
since yesterday again, flies to Johannesburg and Cape Town. I am very happy
that Cape Town is among those five destinations because for those of you who do
not understand why we are in such a state of euphoria, why we are so excited
about this, we will now have four regular flights a week, for 52 weeks a year,
from Turkey to South Africa.
What that means is that we are looking at 186 flights per year, carrying 200
passengers and more per flight. The impact of this is that in one year, Turkish
Airlines will bring half a million people to South Africa and to the Western
Cape. We need to make sure that when they come they have a good time, that it
is profitable and beneficial, but more importantly we also have to work.
I promised the chairman that I will make sure that South Africans are also
able to take a flight out of Cape Town or Johannesburg and visit the beautiful
country of Turkey, particularly Istanbul and the areas around Ankara. I think
there is so much we have missed by not having a direct flight but that has been
corrected. Thank you very much once again for bringing Turkey in reach or South
Africans. We are going to make sure that we are able to see Turkey. I want to
tell those South Africans who are amongst us; I have been to Turkey three times
in the last few years. It is a marvel.
South Africans will not be able to understand how you can see the ruins of a
massive civilisation called the Byzantium civilisation; it is there in Istanbul
if they have not seen it. On top of it, you see the ruins of the Holy Roman
Empire, another civilisation that was founded in Turkey. On top of that you see
the Ottoman Empire a third civilisation that existed there; all three on top of
each other.
You can still see the tolerance that existed as different civilisations and
religions co-existed. It is something to see and we will only be poorer if we
do not see this. There is an opportunity for us to walk in the footsteps of
history, to be able to follow the footsteps of Alexander the Great as he made
his way through those areas.
Mr Chairman, ambassador, I am sorry if I am doing your work. But someone has
to be to say, now that the air link has been restored, we have to make sure
that we get South Africans to understand that once upon a time, there were
three civilisations that existed in Turkey and it gave birth to so much that we
take for granted in the world today. We have a reliable partner in Turkish
Airlines. The chairman has spoken about its results. In a world where air
travel is a precarious business, in a world where flags have been taken for
granted, have been destroyed because of bankruptcy because of inefficiency,
because it could not cope with the demands of air travel today, here you have
the Turkish Airlines that has not only survived, but has grown.
Here is an airline that has increased its fleet from 61 to 103. Here is an
airline that has shown its net profit increase by 28% to realise profits of
US$132 million. It is almost unheard of that that an airline can do that in an
era of cutbacks. We are not given food on the plane anymore; they cut down on
the toothpaste and other necessities. Turkish airlines on the other hand are
saying, we are not just surviving, we are thriving. So we are very excited that
we have such a reliable partner that is with us.
I want to say to the Turkish ambassador and to Turkish business people who
have made this possible, who have allowed us to negotiate these flights that we
are committed as South Africans to making sure that South Africa and
particularly Cape Town, becomes the springboard for Turkish business people to
go into the continent of Africa. I am saying to you that this continent of
Africa now that it is achieving peace, now that there is more democracy, now
that the rule of law is established, now that banking institutions, judicial
institutions and others are stabilising Africa, it is quite evident that Africa
is an economic giant that is waking up.
We do not want Africa to be re-colonised by businesspeople from the East. We
need the muscle of a booming Turkish economy to come into Africa and to make
sure that we sell our raw materials and our beneficiated products to the right
people. We are opening our doors to allow business people from Turkey to come
and invest in our infrastructure, in order to open the doors of trade across
the whole of sub Saharan Africa, and that is the opportunity that South Africa
opens for Turkish business people to the African economy.
The African economy is growing at a rate of 5,5% in Goss Domestic Product
(GDP) per year, there is more peace, there is more growth and I think we must
share that growth with Turkey, a country which in 2005 already, when there was
still some instability and civil wars in Africa, when there was not that much
democracy, decided to make 2005 the year for Africa. That is the vision and
foresight we must be able to reward as we are currently doing.
For the tourism industry of the Western Cape particularly, we can show
Turkey at least one place in the world that can rival Istanbul for beauty. Then
you live in a place where two continents meet, where half of your city is in
Europe and the other half is Asian, when you have the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean Ocean, when you have the coastal Mediterranean plains in the
South and the historical cultural centrepieces in the north, there is very
little that can compete with the beauty you have in your own country. But I
want to say to you, encourage Turks to come and see Cape Town they may fall in
love with this country, I am not saying in which way because you can fall in
love with the place called Cape Town and we are sure that this is going to be a
very busy line between Istanbul, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
So, for me, this is an enormously important evening and I am hoping that we
are all going to do our work to ensure that this is a successful venture and we
from our side are going to make sure that we participate in the marketing of
Turkey, so that Turkish Airlines can be able to recoup its investment in this
venture. So thank up you very much, congratulations and well done.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
18 September 2007
