The laboratory and cafeteria building, which was built at the Maritime Faculty of ITU in the name of Captain Altay Altuğ, the founder of Uzmar Shipping, the ‘Doyen’ of Turkish maritime, was put into service with a ceremony attended by one of the former prime ministers, Binali Yıldırım. In addition to two kitchens and dining halls, the new building will serve eight club rooms, a cafeteria and eight laboratories. Representatives of the maritime industry and maritime NGOs also attended the ceremony.
The first speech at the ceremony was made by ITU Maritime Faculty Dean Prof. Dr. Oğuz Salim Söğüt :
Leadership, will and determination
Söğüt stated that after the Chairman of the Board of Uzmar Denizcilik, Engineer Noyan Altuğ, expressed him that they wanted to bring works on behalf of their father, Captain Altay Söğüt, they started a work with the ITU rectorate. He said, “Suay Umut Conference Hall was inaugurated on 30 November 2019, the day we were holding our 135th Fish Day. With Our esteemed graduate Eng. Erkan Dereli’s suggestion and the decision of our faculty committee and our senate, the name of our deceased sailor will live in this hall. Eng. Suay Umut’s lifetime achievements will continue to inspire our students. God rest his soul. On the same day, ITU-UZMAR new laboratory and cafeteria building signature protocol ceremony was held in our conference hall. ITU Rector of the period Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca and UZMAR Chairman of the Board Noyan Altuğ signed the contract. We would like to thank them for their leadership, willpower and determination.”
The greatest being is humanity
Stating that the new facility has a closed area of 2,300 square meters, Söğüt said, “This project would never have been realized without the donation and continuous support of the Altuğ Family. Human is the greatest creature in the world. You will love people. There will be human love in you. They say the sea has a pedestal. The sea will not forgive you if you spend your earnings elsewhere, expressing his view of the world and the profession and his passionate commitment to the school that feeds, feeds and educates you, about the donation of our father, Captain Altay Altuğ, which gave our students the chance to start their careers under the same conditions as students studying at other schools. I am grateful to him.” Doyen Captain who could not attend the ceremony due to pandemic conditions, in the video message he sent, said, “I loved people because of that school. But I learned to love even those who don’t love me. So you do the same too. Just love people.”
Ahmet Noyan Altuğ, Chairman of the Board of Uzmar Denizcilik :
What matters is the spirit of HMS
My father was born in 1925. He graduated from HMS in 1952. My father always had difficulties and troubles in his life. We have always heard this from our fathers and many older brothers. My brother is a captain. His name is Kaan Altuğ, he graduated from 1985, I graduated from 1989. I also became a mechanical engineer. Previously, during the ministry of our esteemed prime minister, they had provided dormitory buildings with great added value in our school. This work we have done, remains like a grain of sand in the sea. We are creating our future for decades. It is the spirit of our school that brings together the graduates of HMS, one of the institutions that have carried our industry on its back for years. It is very important for our school to have buildings and facilities worthy of a certain professional approval. My father said that, ‘The sea takes back what it gives.’ Both gained and lost from the sea. We are sailors after all. We are always dealing with crises. As much as we can, we will continue to give to the sea what we earn from the sea when we can.
Tamer Kıran, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IMEAK Chamber of Shipping:
Education is our top priority
“As the Chamber of Shipping, of course, we are the head of this sector. All components of the industry are within our structure. We are ready to support any institution that will take maritime forward. We are open to cooperation and we are doing our best with all our resources and will continue to do it. Education is the top priority at the Chamber of Shipping. When we look at it, we allocate 50 percent of our resources to education. In this context, we are in close relations with ITU. We will continue to contribute to maritime education. We believe that one of the sectors that will contribute to the future of this country is maritime. Today, maritime has gone to a completely different field. The most important thing about this, we will keep education as the number one in this sector.”
Prof. Dr. İsmail Koyuncu Rector of ITU :
Our family ties are getting stronger
Maritime faculty will provide great service to the needs of our students. All these initiatives to increase the brand value of ITU strengthen our family ties. It also makes invaluable material and moral contributions to the training of future ITU students. I would like to thank Uzmar Shipping and our dear graduates. Captain Altay Altuğ’s cafeteria and laboratory building has an area of approximately 2,500 square meters and is becoming a very important unit of our Tuzla campus. The contact office of ITU Northern Cyprus Campus will also be located in this building. On behalf of the ITU family, I would like to thank UZMAR, who has made great contributions to the completion of this project and has contributed greatly to following and preserving the deep-rooted traditions and values of Turkish maritime since the day it was founded. We have another project that we started with the Chamber of Shipping, the renovation of the swimming pool. There are not only training, education and practical trainings here, but also a very important project is being carried out at the moment. Certification of the trainings we initiated jointly with TPOA was carried out in this pool. Upon this, our Maritime Faculty started its accredited training and trained a very significant number of TPOA’s engineers here. In particular, the accredited training of engineers who will work on offshore platforms is now carried out locally and nationally within our faculty. Trainings will be held here not only for TPOA but also for many private sectors addressing this field. Hopefully, we will open our pool in January. We have an education building that we evacuated due to the earthquake. We need a building of approximately 10 thousand square meters in that area. We ask our maritime industry to show their contributions for this. With the renovation of this building, it will be possible to gather many small buildings in that building and make our faculty tidy in this new education building.”
Binali Yıldırım, one of the former Prime Ministers :
Without maritime there will be hunger and cold
“As the great Marine Captain Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha said, “Who rules the seas rules the world”. Without shipping, without our seas, half the people would die of hunger and cold. It is so vital. Considering climate change, the strongest material we have left is our seas.
Brotherhood
This is the maritime faculty. It once provided independent education as a Maritime College. Then joined ITU. I also taught here in from 92 to 93. I know the atmosphere of the school here. Maritime traditions are those that carry customs from the past to the future. Knows past and imagines future accordingly. Maritime has a different passion. People holding each other. There is a hierarchical structure. This is a beautiful thing. Of course, when this boarding education period was over, it would disappear. That’s why we decided to have a dormitory built during my ministry, thus a dormitory for 650 people was built. Today’s monetary value is 40 million turkish liras. Good luck to our young people who will become sailors.
Work for at least five years
“My advice to young officers and engineers is to do your job for at least 5 years, after that, whatever you do, it will be much more productive and successful. Doyen graduated from this school before we were even born. It’s been almost three quarters of a century. May God give you a good life. Once again, I would like to thank the UZMAR family for their contribution. May God give you plenty of income and grant you more good deeds.”