Istanbul, 28 August 2001

 

 

 

 

OUR PARTNERSHIP BEGAN IN 1954.

FOR HALF A CENTURY OUR LIVES WERE AN EXCITING ADVENTURE, OUR TOGETHERNESS CLOSER THAN THAT OF BROTHERS. THIS MAGNIFICENT JOURNEY GAVE ME GREAT HAPPINESS THROUGHOUT MY LIFE BUT IT HAS NOW COME TO AN END FOR MY DEAR FELLOW COMPANION, UZEYIR. LET US FIND CONSOLATION IN SAYING 'GOD ALMIGHTY THOUGHT IT PROPER,' AND ACCEPT REALITY.

 

 

WE BEGAN OUR BUSINESS LIFE FROM NOTHING. TOGETHER WE MADE ALARKO, WE MADE IT LIVE AND WE MADE IT GROW.

DURING THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THIS JOURNEY, WE TOOK SOUND DECISIONS FOR THE MOST PART IN CHOOSING THE HARBORS WE WOULD REACH. OUR OUTLOOK ON LIFE DEVELOPED WITH OUR PHILOSOPHY. OVER TIME THE CHARACTER OF THE COMPANY BECAME APPARENT.

WE MADE INNUMERABLE MISTAKES. HOWEVER, WE CLAIMED OUR MISTAKES AS OFTEN AS WE CLAIMED WHAT WE DID RIGHT. WE BOTH PAID THE PRICE TOGETHER.

DURING THIS JOURNEY, WE NEVER EVEN ONCE SAID, "THIS MISTAKE IS YOURS!"

SLOWLY WE DEVELOPED BY TAKING SOUND, SURE STEPS. WE DIDN'T TRY FOR A PLACE AMONG THE BIGGEST IN OUR BUSINESS WORLD.

WE PUT THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST AND RESPECT OVER WEALTH.

WE BECAME A LARGE FAMILY -- SIX THOUSAND PEOPLE. ALL THE MEMBERS OF THIS FAMILY BROUGHT ALARKO HOLDING TO WHERE IT IS TODAY WITH A MANAGEMENT THAT SUITED THE HONEST AND TRANSPARENT BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY WE DEVELOPED OVER THE YEARS.

WE BELIEVED AND CONVINCED PEOPLE THAT THE COMPANY'S GREATEST WEALTH IS ITS HUMAN RESOURCES.

AS OUR CLOSE FRIENDS KNOW, UZEYIR GARIH HAD INNUMERABLE MERITS AND VIRTUES. HE GAVE GREAT IMPORTANCE TO HUMAN RELATIONS. HE BEHAVED RESPECTFULLY TO EVERYONE WITHOUT LOOKING AT HIS OR HER SOCIAL QUALIFICATIONS. HE WAS TO CREATE A LARGE ARCHIVE IN WRITING DOWN THE PROBLEMS HE ENCOUNTERED IN HIS BUSINESS LIFE AND THE WAYS TO A SUCCESSFUL SOLUTION.

WITH TIME HE COMPILED THESE NOTES AND PUBLISHED HIS FIRST BOOK IN 1989 UNDER THE TITLE, "MY EXPERIMENTS."

THE GREAT INTEREST THIS BOOK ATTRACTED GAVE HIM THE COURAGE AND THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO PUBLISH FOUR MORE "MY EXPERIMENTS" BOOKS ONE AFTER THE OTHER AND THEY FORMED A LIBRARY.

PENNING THESE WORKS WAS THE RESULT OF HIS BELIEF IN SHARING.

IN THE INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND BOOK WE READ A QUOTATION FROM PLATO.

PLATO SAYS, "WHEN PEOPLE MIGRATE FROM THIS WORLD, THEY ARE OBLIGED TO LEAVE EVERYTHING HERE. THEY DO LEAVE MANY THINGS. BUT MOST TIMES IT IS THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE THAT THEY TAKE WITH THEM."

AND GARIH CONTINUES THUS:

"IN FOLLOWING THESE WORDS OF PLATO, I THOUGHT IN ALL MODESTY TO PRESENT MY BAG OF KNOWLEDGE TO MY FRIENDS WHO BELONG TO THE 'ALARKO FUTURE CLUB' AND TO ALL YOUNG PEOPLE AND YOU MY FRIENDS WHO MAY BE ABLE TO BENEFIT."

HERE WAS A MAN OF BROAD HORIZONS WHO EMBRACED NOT JUST ALL THE PEOPLE, ALL THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF TURKEY, BUT OF THE WORLD AS WELL.

A PERSON'S NORMAL LIFE IS NOT LONG ENOUGH TO GROW WISER BY LEARNING FROM ONE'S OWN MISTAKES, THAT IS, IT IS NOT LONG ENOUGH TO BECOME WISE.

LEARNING FROM THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS IS ONE OF THE SECRETS OF BEING SUCCESSFUL AT AN EARLY AGE.

MY GENEROUS PARTNER UZEYIR EXAMINED THE MISTAKES THAT WE PERSONALLY AND AS A COMPANY MADE ALONG OUR JOURNEY AND SHOWED WAYS OF PREVENTING SUCH KINDS OF MISTAKES AND HE AIMED AT SERVING THE COMMUNITY.

WHEN COMPANY MANAGERS FOUND IT STRANGE THAT THE COMPANY'S MISTAKES AND SECRETS SHOULD BE SO NAKEDLY CONVEYED TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD, HIS ANSWER WAS TO OFFER AN IDEA OF HOW EXTENSIVE HIS HORIZON WAS.

"WE ARE NOT JUST CONTENT WITH COMPETING IN TURKEY. WE MUST COMPETE WITH OUR RIVALS IN ALL THE DEVELOPED NATIONS OF THE WORLD AND WE MUST BE ONE STEP AHEAD OF THEM. THE ENTIRE TURKISH BUSINESS WORLD MUST BE READY FOR THIS GLOBAL COMPETITION. ALARKO IS THE LEADER IN TURKEY ON THIS ROAD," UZEYIR GARIH WOULD SAY.

THIS GENEROUS MAN, WHO BEGAN WITH NOTHING AND WENT SOMEWHERE THROUGH LIFELONG EFFORT, LEFT US A GIFT, THESE BOOKS, SO THAT HE COULD SHARE HIS SUCCESS WITH SOCIETY. THESE ARE STILL READ AS COURSE BOOKS IN MANY UNIVERSITIES AND SHOW OUR ENTREPRENEURIAL YOUNG PEOPLE THE WAY.

HE BECAME THE GUIDE FOR YOUNG GENERATIONS TRYING TO PRODUCE SOLUTIONS FOR THE SOCIAL AND ECOCOMIC PROBLEMS OF OUR NATION. WHEN HE TURNED OVER THE DAILY BUSINESS IN THE COMPANY OF WHICH HE WAS A FOUNDER TO THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS THAT WE HAD RAISED, HE KNEW IT TO BE A SACRED DUTY TO TRANSFER HIS UNQUENCHABLE ENERGY TO THE PEOPLE THROUGH SPEECHES, TELEVISION PROGRAMS AND UNVERSITY COURSES. HE SAW THE LOW LEVEL OF EDUCATION AS TURKEY'S GREATEST DANGER AND WARNED US ABOUT THIS WHENEVER HE FOUND AN OPPORTUNITY.

MY COMPANION THROUGH LIFE, UZEYIR WAS A PERSON WHO WAS CURIOUS, INQUISITIVE, A GREAT THINKER WHO LEARNED AND WHO TAUGHT AND WHO EXPRESSED HIS THOUGHTS COURAGEOUSLY.

HE WAS AWARE THAT EARLY OR LATE ONE'S LIFE ON EARTH ONE DAY WOULD COME TO AN END. MOST PEOPLE DIE WITHOUT LIVING; SOME RARE PEOPLE CONTINUE TO LIVE AFTER DYING. UZEYIR WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE IN THE WORKS HE CREATED, IN HIS BOOKS AND IN ALARKO.

HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF OUR COMMUNITY. HE CONTRIBUTED FINANCIALLY AND SPIRITUALLY AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY.

GARIH KNEW THAT ALL THREE OF THE HEAVENLY RELIGIONS CONTAINED THE MESSAGES AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE SAME ONE GOD AND HE INVESTIGATED THEIR COMMON SIDES. HE HAD MEMORIZED MANY VERSES OF THE BIBLE AND THE KURAN. AS A MEANS OF SHOWING THE WAY HE WOULD MENTION THESE VERSES IN HIS CONVERSATIONS.

HE WAS FAMED AS A SPEAKER SOUGHT FOR ACADEMIC PLATFORMS FROM AMERICA TO THE PHILIPPINES BECAUSE OF HIS VAST ACCUMULATION OF LEARNING AND HIS KNOWLEDGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES.

HE SAW IT AS A SACRED DUTY TO INTRODUCE ABROAD TURKEY'S MODERN, WESTWARD-LOOKING, RESPECTABLE FACE.

UZEYIR WAS AWARE OF HIS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES ALL HIS LIFE.

HE BELIEVED THAT HE HAD A DUTY TO GIVE AT LEAST AS MUCH AS HE GOT. "I WAS RAISED IN THIS COUNTRY. TO SERVE IT IS A BINDING DUTY," HE SAID. HE VOICED THIS BELIEF AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY AND HE WAS ONE OF THE BUSINESS WORLD'S LEADERS IN THIS RESPECT.

OVER AND ABOVE ALL THESE EFFORTS, HE ALWAYS GAVE PRIORITY TO HIS FAMILY LIFE.

HE WAS A KIND AND UNDERSTANDING HUSBAND.

HE WAS A CLOSE AND SYMPATHETIC FRIEND TO HIS CHILDREN, DALIA AND IZZET.

FOR HIS GRANDCHILDREN HE WAS AN INTELLIGENT GUIDE, THE TEACHER OF A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE.

TO BE PERFECT IS FOR GOD ALONE. BUT FOR ME, UZEYIR GARIH WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL MAN, THE CLOSEST TO PERFECTION OF THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE I'VE KNOWN.

FOR HALF A CENTURY THE GREATEST GIFT THAT GOD HAS GRANTED ME HAS BEEN OUR OPENING OUR SAILS TOGETHER ON THE SEA OF LIFE. I WAS ALWAYS AWARE OF HOW FORTUNATE I WAS AND THANKED GOD FOR IT.

IT WASN'T JUST THE BUSINESS WORLD WHO LOST AN EXCEPTIONAL LEADER, A GREAT MAN, BUT THE ENTIRE TURKISH NATION AND HUMANITY.

WE WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP HIM ALIVE FROM NOW ON AND BENEFIT FROM THE WORKS HE LEFT BEHIND.

WE WILL KEEP THE FLAG FLYING HIGH

GOD GRANT US ALL CONSOLATION.

ISHAK ALATON