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Stars remain the same while i was studying astronomy

Stars remain the same while i was studying astronomy

When i was thinking to leave the university, my professor said to me “What you do now is best for you”. Unfortunately, we lost that valuable person during speed train accident in Ankara. I started to make music under that motivation in my hometown.  After founding Manga, we always had our studio which made us more independant. That was kind of headquarter for us. Since we came together with other members, we came till today and i think there will be never retirement from music.

Ozgür, İstanbul 2020

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Follow your passion

My name is Elad Azizli. I was born in 1985, Baku. I am an otolaryngologist. I was a successful student because of that when I was a sophomore in medical faculty at Azerbaijan, I gained right to continue my schooling in Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty according to an agreement with our school and Istanbul University.

When I was a little boy, I was operating winsomely with an anatomy atlas, scalpel and forceps which were gifts from a friend of my father. Since then it has never changed, I am still getting busy with scalpel and forceps.

It was very clear that I would be a doctor especially a surgeon. At the university I thought a lot, I was drawn into nose, face and voice aesthetics. Once I specialized at the physiology of these organs, I started to perform plastic surgeries. In time I saw clearly that I made the right decision by choosing that speciality.

Years ago I was dreaming that I am doing exactly what I am doing right now; dealing with a specific disease, performing operations, writing scientific articles about all of this and going all over the world and making presentations in congresses.

Today, I am happy to accomplish all of these. The real reason behind my success is my curiosity in medicine, the desire for research that comes with curiosity; in short, my love to the profession.

A person should be conscientious and honest in every action and decision that he/she makes. Here is my advice to you; imagine anything you want, commit with passion, work hard and most importantly, never compromise your integrity and conscience.

Elad Azizli
Istanbul, Turkey, 3 December 2019

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Why are you waiting when there is so much that you can do?

I decided to take a break from teaching biology -which I love so much- when I learned that I was pregnant with my third child. I was going to raise him by myself.

Thanks to my husband, who had quit his job to establish his own mineral oil company, I could do what I had decided. When our son was two years old, I wanted to return to my job that I missed, but my husband asked for my help at his company, and so, I started to work there.

First of all, I improved the working environment, then I started to learn finance. In time, our company had grown up; so we had our own gas stations. Then, we moved to İstanbul from Mersin; at that time, our gas stations' number reached 17. In 1992, we founded the fuel dispensing company OPET. Safe working conditions and employee satisfaction was our priority. 

I have been an OPET executive board member who is responsible for social responsibility projects, such as the cleanliness of the stations and their toilets, environmental pollution control, and ensuring that the facilities are handicap-friendly and satisfactory to customers.

All of our Clean Toilet, Green Road, Model Village, Traffic Detectives, Çanakkale and Troya Respect to History projects are continuous, because they touch people's hearts and change their behaviors. 

We have had golden medal projects which are studied as a case at Harvard University.

I am 68 years old and still in love with my husband, just like in the university years, when we had first met. We have two sons, one daughter, and four grandchildren. I write poems, travel writings and articles for some magazines. I am also interested in photography.

Some people say "Why are you in such a rush?", "It's time for rest" to me. My answer to them is "Why are you waiting when there is so much that you can do?" Why are we living if we can't change something positively with our presence?

Nurten Öztürk, Founding board member of OPET Oil Company
İstanbul, 2 October 2018

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Money doesn't mean happiness

We are supporting our family budget by selling our own hand-made products to the boaters at the Göcek marina with my sister-in-law Rabia.

Women's jobs are much harder at sea, but life has always been a struggle for me. We are from Kaleköy. I graduated from middle school. My family isn't wealthy, and because of that, I couldn't continue schooling. When I was a student, I had worked every summer, in fact all of our family members were working. My daughter is 11 years old; she is a fifth grader. My son goes to kindergarten. My boy doesn't like school; he always make up excuses to not to do his homework, which I think is typical man behavior, but my girl is a hard-worker, and I think she will gladly continue schooling. I wish my daughter could have a job that will make her happy. Money doesn't mean happiness.

My husband has a greenhouse at Demre, Antalya. He is working there with the children. They come here at summertime and return to Antalya when the schools start. Once, there was citrus; now everybody turned to greenhousing - they grow tomato and pepper plants.

I want to keep up with the changes of life. Now everybody could know almost anything, thanks to technology. I don't want to be in poverty, I want a better life for my children. I don't want too much, the standard level is more than enough for us, but we have to work very hard for it.

We make embroideries and sew them onto various fabrics. Every night, we complete colors and missing patterns, and in the daytime, we sell our products by docking the tourist boats with our caique. They are very interested, especially the women. I like my job. My husband also supports me.

Dilek Gökbelen, Entrepreneur, Boat shop owner
Göcek, Muğla, 21 September 2018

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