Mr Carry

American legendary field assembly supervisor, 1962-1965 Your writer is telling a very old story. Our American supervisor had a very simple name Joseph Carry (Mr Carry). He said that his ancestors were English, French, Irish, who first immigrated to America, and that even the native blood gene was mixed. He spoke an elusive English with a Central American farmer accent. In 1960s when American companies took every industrial facility tender in the Turkish market, there were no Germans, Japanese or Chinese. A new thermal power plant would be built next to the Mersin Ataş refinery. Fuel oil no. 6 produced at the refinery would burn the nr.6 fuel oil in steam boilers to produce 2x25 Mwe electricity and give electricity to Çukurova region. The American company, with which we would later establish a joint venture company, received the tender on a turnkey basis. Americans gave the domestic field assembly work to our local company, which had many English-speaking Metu graduate engineers. Americans sent a supervisor from America who knows the field assembly business very well. They gave the man a late model American car. The Company covers accomodation hotel and the food expenses. Our man travels between Mersin and Ankara every weekend for consultation and routine reporting. However, in the 1960s, the roads were narrow and very bad. He had an unfortunate accident while driving fast on rough roads with an American car going like the wind. He was caught and taken to court. The judge does not impose a large prison sentence, but imposed a travel ban from Turkey so that he can pay monthly monetary compensation to unfortunate family. His wife in America has divorced her husband. Mr Carry forbidden to drive, company give him a local driver. The site assembly of thermal power plant was finished. A new 2x25 Mwe power plant tender was coming out, Japanese Mitsubishi received the new job, we still have the assembly work eith our American supervisor, we received the order and finish it. Our American supervisor was very lonely. His Turkish friends found him a beautiful widowed wife (Melahat) with two children, Mr Carry got married, he adopted the children of the woman's previous wife, and he had a child himself. Years pass, our hero is getting older, his job in the local company is on, still working on new projects, he continues to financially support the family he pays compensation to, he takes care of his wife's ex-children and his own child. I met him in the 1990s. Mr Carry was involved in our new projects that client said, "We definitely want an American field supervisor." His native English was still smooth, he spoke Turkish with a broken local South accent. Then I lost track. Time passed, I attended a Powergen conference in Milan in the 2000s, I met a young American engineer in the breakfast lounge of the hotel I was staying in, he spoke perfect Turkish. As the conversation deepened, it turned out that our young American was the son of our American supervisor with his Turkish wife. He was Tarsus American high school graduate then from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at istanbul Boğaziçi University after high school, he has received graduate education in his father's state in the USA, he was working in an American energy company, his father Mr Carry was old, the ban on leaving Turkey was over, but he did not leave Mersin. Looking back, we live in an interesting world where incredible coincidences bring people together. 4x25 Mwe Mersin thermal power plant has aged, privatized, sold, dismantled as scrap, a new investment will be made in its place. Let's see what new owners do. Istanbul, 17 November 2022

Mersin Refinery

Contract negotiations in Mersin Refinery in 1992- Essay In 1992, we received an invitation from Mersin Ataş refinery, which is now closed and liquidated as of 2004. They wanted rehabilitation on the last of the three existing steam boilers, we did a site survey, they were CE design square boilers with fuel oil burners in the corners, the old erroded steam pipes would be replaced, the entire insulation would be renewed. We took the existing technical drawings of pipes to be disassembled, renewed, made labor pricing, estimated the proposal price, we were invited to the workplace after the proposal evaluation, we went to the refinery as a team of four engineers, we explained our price, we defended, the offers of the rival companies were presented to us, the competitors who did similar business before were not very successful, our price was a little bit expensive but no big deal, we were whispered that if we get on the same level we would get the tender. We left the price issue aside and entered the negotiation of the contract document, we were going through a 100-page common text, sentence by sentence, we passed the simple subjects, the document was in English, Ataş was a foreign partner company, the contract should be in English, it was not a problem for us, we are all METU graduates with English education. We passed the items gradually, finally we came to Force Majeure clause. Ataş has listed the “force majeure” conditions one by one, and would not accept any other situation. They wanted the suggested counter proposal to be written clearly. We, on the other hand, sent the English document to our US partner and received an legal opinion, US lawyers wanted a statement to pass into a final contract, "third party involvement beyond our control”. We explained our reasoning as follows, “For example, if a plane crashes into the Ataş refinery, or a nuclear submarine passing by explodes," these are not under our control, but negative situations created by third parties. As for the price part, the bid file of our competitor who gave the cheapest price was put in front of us and we were asked to go down to this price. Our figure was very high. Our team, which has been negotiating from morning to night for a week, has run out of patience, We said, "We are quitting, whatever you do", we stopped negotiating, left the meeting and left on Friday evening at the weekend and returned to Ankara. On Monday, our British general manager of our US joint venture company explained the situation to the senior officials of our local partner parent company. He said that it was impossible for us to get the job with this price and this contract wording, that we broke the ties and turned. Our local parent top management gathered. Two-hours later, they said, "We will do this job at this price and with this contract, no matter how you tie it up, but tie it up, sign the contract and get the job”. The British general manager returned to his room, wrote a new acceptance letter as if we had not broken the ties on Friday, we got the job, we signed the contract a week later at Ataş refinery. We held the first kickoff meeting at the nearby Karatoprak fish restaurant by the sea, we ate fish, on fish-scented papers. We set the project planning. That fishy-scented table paper kickoff meeting entered the contract file as the starting document, the work took a year, no submarine was close by, no plane crashed into the refinery, we had no need for force majeure. Why did I tell this story? The Anglo-Saxons determine the risks clearly and price high while we Turks take the risks more easily. I don't know which one is correct, what do you think? Ankara, 05 October 2022

How to avoid vandalism

How should vandalism to world heritage works be prevented? A few weeks ago, I went for a walk on Ataşehir Meriç street. It is a long street with one-way motor traffic, it takes about six kilometers round trip from side to side, and I meet the daily goal of ten thousand steps. There are pictures on the garden exterior wall of Ataşehir Primary School on the way. They gave each artist a space of 3-4 meters in width, the height is two meters. Painters made oil paintings here on wall. Some are original on topics of their own choosing. Istanbul landscape, women's rights (disturbed child bride), village landscape, Atatürk in a black business suit at the blackboard, Atatürk in military uniform on a horse immediately come to mind. There are copies of Van Gogh sunflower paintings, various other famous copies. As I was passing by, I saw a young girl painter sitting on the floor on a mat, painting a new picture on the white wall reserved for her. She chose a hyper-realistic theme. Large bees were depicted on large honeycombs. I liked it very much, congratulated her. The picture will probably be finished in a few days. Then the rain will come, it will be under the influence of mud, the people passing by will touch it, it will wear out over time. The interior space is on the right at the lower door exit of the Ankara Metu university library. There are oil paintings of famous Turkish painter Yalçın Gökçebağ on the Exit wall. Who knows when the artist made these paintings there. Over time, the pictures have worn out. It was very good that the METU management provided plexiglass protection for these pictures to be protected. Be sure to see it if you pass by. There is a summer view on one side and a winter view on the other. Between 1496 and 1498, Leonardo Davinci painted the famous "The Last Supper of Jesus" in the interior of the church of Santa Maria Della Gracia in Milan. Jesus and his twelve apostles were depicted in this painting. You make an appointment online to see the wall picture, you pay 15 € (2015 price) per person over the internet, you enter the church in groups of fifty together with other people for fifteen minutes in the time allotted to you. There is this famous painting on one wall of the venue, and another painting by another artist on the other wall. It is not possible to move it as it is a wall picture. Instead of transportation, the place has become a museum. From 1498 to 1812, the painting remained in the place of worship within the church. When Napoleon soldiers came and occupied Milan, they made the church their barracks, behind the wall became a barn for cavalry horses. They opened the door under the picture for horse passage. Time has passed, the Napoleonic soldiers are gone, the door is closed. The picture has been preserved again. Today, it is not possible to approach the picture less than two meters, there is a barrier wall in between spectators and the picture. You already go through a very tight electronically protected security to enter. Recently, two young female activists threw canned tomato soup on Van Gogh's “Sunflowers” painting in the National Gallery in London. They wanted to draw attention to environmental pollution. They were released on bail because of their young age. Museum officials took precautionary measures earlier, there was a plastic transparent light protection film on such precious paintings, nothing happened to the painting. They cleaned the painting and it's back on display six hours later. There is nothing to be forgotten in this case. I would say that other means of protests, attitudes and explanations should be made for environmental awareness. It is impossible to get closer than two meters to Laonardo Davinci's "Mona Lisa" painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There are armed guards on both sides of the picture and an unbreakable glass security measure on the picture. The painting collections of Amsterdam Van Gogh, Moscow Tretiakov, Madrid Prada, Rome Vatican, Florence Uffizi, New York Metropolitan museums are full of very beautiful paintings. You must visit when you go. We have many valuable oil paintings in Ankara painting and sculpture museum. My favorite painters Osman Hamdi, Yalçın Gökçebağ, Nedim Günsür's paintings are there. My favorite painting is the Ankara castle view made by Nurettin Ergüven. My late father had bought the “ortaköy” oil painting depicting Nurettin Ergüven before the Bosphorus bridge was built, from the artist himself, and carried the original painting home himself. We also bought a picture of “village place mosque at night at full moon” with it. Where is Ortakoy picture now? The other picture remains with us. Who knows what artifacts there are in the mansions of Büyükada? One of them is the Büyükada clock square painting by the artist named ilbar Ahmet Veli, hanging in the open space on the wall of the pub at the entrance of the open market. Its value should be known and it should be taken to an inner sheltered place. World heritage sites should be protected, they should not be targets for nonsense environmental protests or nasty actions. Serious deterrent measures must be taken. The vandal act in London's National Gallery should be a warning to everyone and preventive measures should be taken. https://www.eurasiareview.com/27102022-how-should-vandalism-to-world-heritage-works-be-prevented/ Ankara 26 October 2022