— Could you briefly introduce TURKSTAT?

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) is an institution that presents the information obtained from censuses and researches related to the economic, social, demographic and cultural structure of our country, to the public, especially public institutions and organizations.

Publications; It is prepared in accordance with the principles of quality data production and service provision within the framework of consistency, timeliness, transparency and confidentiality principles.

There are 26 Regional Directorates throughout Turkey. One of them is Gaziantep Regional Directorate. Its area of responsibility includes Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Kilis provinces. It carries out its services with approximately 90 personnel, 14 of which are technical personnel.

— Are there any special studies conducted by TUIK in Gaziantep?

We do not have a special research that we conduct only in Gaziantep. All of our research is determined by our Presidency in Ankara. Our Presidency determines the research subjects according to the needs of the Ministries and other institutions, especially the Prime Ministry.

For example;

Many researches are carried out by regularly meeting face to face with workplaces and households in Gaziantep and its provinces. In addition to this, statistical information is compiled by making use of the records in the database of different institutions.

For industrial statistics research, approximately 2450 enterprises are followed monthly, quarterly and annually in the provinces of Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Kilis.

For inflation research (CPI), 1400 visits are made to around 700 workplaces in three provinces and 10,100 prices are compiled per month.

For rent increases, 160 addresses in the regional responsibility area are followed.

For the Producer Price Index (PPI), price compilations are made with around 40 workplaces.

Within the scope of the Building Construction Cost Index (BIME) research, prices are compiled from around 110 workplaces.

For unemployment research, a survey is conducted with a total of 1600 households in the region's responsibility area annually, with addresses changing quarterly.

In order to determine the products that make up the inflation basket, an average of 90 families are regularly interviewed annually.

Face-to-face interviews are conducted with 280 families for the Income and Living Conditions survey and 120 families for the Life Satisfaction survey.

In addition to these major studies, there are also studies conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute on an average of 45 different subjects.

With all these researches, we go silently and deeply and try to produce the figures that constitute the agenda of the country.

—Do TÜİK personnel encounter problems while working in Gaziantep?

I would like to say "no" to this question, but unfortunately, the research we follow is not easy. We are aware that it is very difficult to obtain information in situations where economic and social problems are experienced. But we also have to do our duty. Our personnel, who compile data in the field, are trained on many different subjects. At the beginning of these trainings are communication, public relations, body language, technical subjects. Our staff; He has to know how to sit down, get up, and visit the workplace and home. A TURKSTAT personnel is aware of the necessity of being well-equipped due to their duties.

We sometimes encounter difficulties in not providing information from workplaces and households in the area of responsibility.

According to Article 54 of the Turkish Statistical Law No. 5429, which entered into force in 2005, although businesses and households that do not provide information were authorized to impose administrative fines, there was no need to implement this article until the end of 2009. However, due to the difficulties we have encountered during the compilation of the data in recent years, unfortunately, administrative fines have been applied.

We are doing a public service. Almost every segment of society uses the data we obtain. We want the data; be healthy, accurate and reliable. This is not possible with our work alone. Our data sources, namely business and household owners, also need to be a little more sensitive to TURKSTAT surveys.

—What do you attribute the population growth of Gaziantep to?

As of 31 December 2009, the total population of Gaziantep is 1 653 670 people. 88% of this population lives in the city center. This rate is 13 points above the Turkey average. In other words, Gaziantep has gained the identity of an urbanized province.

In recent years, it has been the province with the highest increase in population after Istanbul. At the same time, it is among the top ten cities with the highest population growth in the world.

After the 1990s, it has become the center of attraction of the region, due to its geographical location and entrepreneurial spirit. Therefore, Gaziantep received a lot of immigration. According to 2009 data, 495 485 people currently living in Gaziantep came from another city and settled in Gaziantep. This corresponds to approximately 30% of the total population. Migrants are also predominantly