ELEVATOR WORLD magazine celebrated its 70th anniversary last year. Last year, in each issue, we shared the development of our publication over the decades with you through the articles of lift historian Dr. Lee Gray, which are almost a chronicle of the lift and escalator industry. Following the EW series, we will address the history of Asansör Dünyası, the first magazine in Türkiye’s lift industry, with a similar series of publications.
With the increase in vertical construction in Türkiye and the growing number of companies and manufacturers operating in the lift industry, Asansör Dünyası began its publication in October 1996.
The first issue, prepared under the leadership of founders Türkay Özgür and Muzaffer Baştakar within the Ajans 99 organization, consisted of 45 pages. In the first issue of the magazine, under the general editorial management and editorial work of E. Nilgün Gündoğdu, readers were informed about the mission of the magazine, stating: “ASANSÖR DÜNYASI magazine is in a new restructuring and initiative phase to elevate the level of information needed for the lift technology, industry and market.”
It is also known that the founders of Asansör Dünyası obtained verbal permission from EW at that time in order to avoid any copyright issues, given that its name translates to “Elevator World” in Turkish. A short while after the passing of Muzaffer Baştakar, Asansör Dünyası became part of the EW publishing group in 2014.
The first issue of the magazine, which started publication on a monthly basis, featured a full-page Ar-San advertisement on the cover. Apart from the issue number and date, there were no other spots related to the content on the front cover.
As can be seen in the content of the first issue, the aim was to provide the readers with comprehensive content close to the standards of EW, which had 43 years of experience, including educational, informative and overseas developments. The only news from abroad was the promotional news of Elevcon 96. The news, authored by Dr. Gina Barney, included details and the program of Elevcon 96, which was scheduled to take place in Barcelona at the end of October 1996, along with a participation application form.
The first issue also included technical articles such as “Fire Safety in Lifts,” “World of Norms: DIN,” “V-Belts in Lift and Escalator Designs” and “Trends and Developments in Lift Control Technology.”
Ersan Barlas, an industry veteran, was among the great supporters of the magazine. Barlas contributed to the first issue of Asansör Dünyası with an article titled “Lift Material Technology and Installation.” Barlas continued his support for Asansör Dünyası until his retirement.
In his article titled “Design and Applications of Hydraulic Lifts” Bülent Özbelli from Pera Mühendislik makes a significant contribution to the first issue, highlighting that hydraulic lifts command a market share of 55% in Europe and 60% in America. When we look at the market share of electrically driven lifts today, we see that they have largely replaced hydraulic lifts in the market.
Uğur Yener, the owner of Övünç Mühendislik (now operating as MP Yener Övünç Asansör), has been a steadfast supporter of Asansör Dünyası since its inception, providing advertising support. Reflecting on the events of that time and the launch of Asansör Dünyası, he expressed, “We were in the machinery manufacturing sector. We were manufacturing special machines. We were only able to manufacture a single machine in three months after intense efforts, achieved through meticulous calculations down to five-thousandth of a millimeter. Although we were generating significant revenue, the lengthy manufacturing processes were gradually eroding our profits. Given these circumstances, I decided to stop machine production and venture into the lift industry, believing it might offer more favorable prospects. As I entered this new sector, I continued to pursue my profession as an electrical engineer. We began manufacturing panels in the lift industry, a process that proved to be more rapid and flexible compared to our previous endeavors in machine production. We promoted ourselves through magazine advertisements. With swift progress, we rapidly secured a prominent position in the market. Demand surged rapidly, reaching levels that led to queues for production. We tried to respond to the gap in the sector in this way. We were dispatching products across Türkiye, which gave us the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. We still maintain the friendships from that period.”
In the “Get to Know Our Companies” section at the end of the magazine, introductions of Ar-Lift, Ar-San, Buga Otis, Özyıldız, Pera Mühendislik and Tamay companies were featured. The company featured on the back cover of the first issue was Özyıldız Asansörleri.
There was also a paid subscription form at the end of the magazine. During that period, due to constraints in budget and resources, the magazine commenced publication with paid subscriptions. In the subscription form at the end of the magazine, the annual subscription fee was set at TRY 2 million (approximately US$20).
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