The Mesopotamia Book Fair, organized by Amed Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DTSO) and Eylül Fuarcılık at the Mesopotamia Fair and Congress Center between 16-24 December, is registering a high number of visitors. Nearly 200 publishing houses participated in the fair, which was held this year after 4 years of suspension. Many interviews, panels and book-signing events have been organized at the fair with the participation of many writers.

Publishing houses representatives participating in the Book Fair talked to ANF about the pros and cons of the industry.

'There is a distribution problem'

Azad Zal (J&J publishing house): "It is very important for publishers and writers to hold this fair in Amed after 4 years. In other fairs, there is normally not much interest on the first day, but this event was very crowded since the opening. These people really need books and knowledge as much as they need water and bread. In order to respond to the Kurdish people, as writers, we need to publish and distribute much better, higher quality books. There is a distribution problem in Turkey. Through fairs, readers can access books more easily. We will do our best to ensure this access."

Halil Samed (Red Publications): "We met with the readers after a long time. The fair is crowded, and this is a good sign. I hope there will be interest in the publishing houses' books. I believe we will have a nice fair. As a publishing house, we are at the fair with 110 books and 35 authors."

'These fairs are very important for Kurdish publishing houses'

Bawer Berşev (Dara Publications): "We have been preparing for the fair for two months. We published 24 books close to the fair. The crowd is really good. We were able to attend the fair with only 4 of our authors this year. A few of our authors are out of town and abroad. We could not bring them."

Berfo Bari (Na publications): "We were longing for the fair in Amed. As a native of Amed, I am very happy to be here. We have high expectations from the fair, especially Kurdish publishing houses publishing in Kurdish are experiencing difficulties in terms of the market. I think the fair will have a great impact on the revival of this market. I think the readers will like and buy our books. As a publishing house, we are here with 30 of our authors throughout the fair."