Turkey

Progress Report for 2002

The Turkish national ISMN agency, being part of the Foundation for Information and Documentation Services, has been actively in service since 2001 and today is recognized both by government bodies and NGOs.

A. There has not been a change in the number of publishers that have received a publishers' prefix. Yet, according to data we have, the number of music items for which an ISMN number has been allocated has amounted to 187 and the number of published books to 133. Naturally, the latter figure includes all those books related with the field of music.

We believe that there may be several reasons for the current situation;

1 That in the founding stages of our Agency, we have been accurate in forming the list of publishers and thus have succeeded in reaching the greater body of music publishers in Turkey; therefore, no noteworthy company/establishment or person has been overlooked;

2 That music publishers continue to be cautious towards the ISMN system for fear that they may be violating the copyright law;

3 That the utility of the ISMN system has not been fully conveyed to circles other than music publishers (song writers, composers, etc.).

For a solution, The following points will be considered:

1 We have already planned to organize seminars and/or workshops mainly in three major cities to bring music publishers within the system and representatives from other circles together.

2 We aim to co-operate with the Ministry of Culture so that the ISMN system, which is an ISO and TSE (Turkish Standards Institution) standard, can be given a "compulsory" status throughout Turkey.

3 We will seek ways of gaining support from various funds so that Music Publishers and artists (writers and composers) can be encouraged to use the ISMN.

B. In order to publicize the ISMN system more effectively, between the dates of 12-21 December 2002, we opened the "ISMN Turkey Agency Stand" next to the Foundation stand in the Istanbul International Book Fair, which was attended by about 300 publishers.

1 In the opening pages of our Foundation Catalogue specially printed for the Fair, we allocated sufficient amount of space to provide information about the ISMN and distributed the catalogue.

2 We distributed several other books and brochures (the ISMN Manual among others), forms, as well as the "ISMN Newsletter / 12 July 2002" during the Fair. 3 We provided first-hand information about the system.

C. A list Turkish Music Publishers has appeared in "MPIID/Music Publishers' International ISMN Directory, 4th Edition 2003" for the first time and all concerned bodies were immediately informed about this honorable event in writing, with essential photocopies attached; also, information was provided as to how to obtain the Directory.

D. Our web site has been in service at http://ismn.org.tr and "Related Links" include music schools and academies, libraries, publications and several standards; also, permission to translate the DOI Handbook into Turkish has been obtained and a Turkish translation of this handbook has been presented to users in our website.

E. Together with the International ISMN Agency, we organized the "10th International ISMN Panel Meeting in Ankara - 2002" between the dates of 6-8 May 2002 in Ankara National Library. In addition to routine agenda items, we believe that we obtained the results listed below during the Panel Meeting:

1 A priceless intercultural interaction, as well as a contribution to tourism,

2 Information and experience exchange, novel opportunities for co-operation and assistance,

3 Publicizing of the ISMN system to more peripheral circles as well as to directly-related circles, and forming of a public opinion.

Our Panel Meeting was covered thoroughly and very nicely by the International ISMN Agency in the "ISMN Newsletter / 12 July 2002." Letters and e-mail messages sent by participants after their departure from Turkey have really encouraged us and helped forget the great tiredness; these messages will always remain to be a nice collection of memories and will guide us in our future efforts.

We would like to thank, especially, to Dr. H. Walravens, Dr. U. Wegner and K. Spitzer, as well as to F. Leduc and Ms. B. Janowsky, Ms. B. Holt, Ms. S. Sugar, Ms. A. Kanic, Mr. Jerábek and Dr. R. Lloret for their contribution for and throughout the Panel; we also thank authorities from the Ministry of Culture and all other participants, as well as to dear Hakan Gür.

Hasan Duman