Foundation Laid for Vocational High School to Be Built in Evyap's Name

The foundation stone was laid for the Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Workshops and Sports Hall to be built in Istanbul Tuzla in the name of Ahmet Fikret Evyap, the second-generation representative of Evyap who passed away last year. Evyap will build a vocational and technical high school with 32 classrooms in Tuzla, where its factory is also located. The high school to be built in the name of Ahmet Fikret Evyap, the second-generation representative of Evyap who passed away last year, will be transferred to the Ministry of National Education upon completion. The school, which will bear the name of Fikret Evyap who transformed Evyap into a global exporter with his innovative vision, will be built on approximately 17,000 square meters. The school building with a total of 32 classrooms will consist of three workshop buildings, an indoor sports hall and outdoor sports areas, and will serve approximately 15,000 square meters of indoor space. The foundation stone ceremony of the school was attended by Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, Tuzla District Governor Ümit Hüseyin Güney, Tuzla District Director of National Education Metin Çangır, Evyap Board of Directors Chairman Fethi Evyap, Evyap Executive Board Chairman Mehmed Evyap, Evyap Executive Board Member Ömer Evyap, Semra Evyap wife of the late A. Fikret Evyap, his daughters Ayşe Evyap Kadakal and Zeynep Evyap Kutsoy, as well as Evyap employees and students.

Will meet an important need in Istanbul

Speaking at the foundation stone ceremony, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül stated that vocational high schools are currently the most pressing need in Istanbul. Gül said, "This is not a project carried out through standard procedures. First of all, the proposal came from the family. This is very valuable to us. We need people who are graduates of vocational high schools. We can see that vocational high school graduates find jobs in the market more easily. Their planning of the workshops and sports hall that are needed while building our school is also very valuable. It will hopefully fill an important need in Tuzla and Istanbul." Governor Gül, saying "We will hopefully hold the opening ceremony of our school together with the Evyap family," added, "I believe that among the students studying here, new Fikret Evyaps will emerge, and when each of them becomes their own version of an Evyap in the future, they will return and have schools built as well." Mehmed Evyap, Executive Board Chairman of Evyap, a businessman who stands out for his passion for his profession, his vision and his frugality, began his remarks by referring to the vision, hard work and frugality of his father Ahmet Fikret Evyap. "I will list three characteristics that distinguished our dear father from others," said Evyap, continuing as follows: "Fikret Bey did not like to boast, so I will not mention how many schools he had built. I want to talk about the things that made him special. The most important characteristic that distinguished him from everyone I knew was that he was a man passionate about his profession. Even as a child, he would sneak soap from his father's soap workshop and pots from our grandmother's kitchen and try to make soap in the garden. In his later years, when he could not leave home due to his health, he would ask everyone who traveled to bring him soap. When they brought it, he would rejoice like a child. Another characteristic was that he was extremely accurate in his predictions about the future—in other words, he was visionary. And he was an extremely frugal person. He would write on the back of a piece of paper where he had noted oil prices a letter he wrote for my 35th birthday, so frugal was he. But he was never stingy. Currently, the construction of Mehmet Rıfat Evyap Science High School in Erzurum is also ongoing. Hopefully, the friends who graduate from these schools will also become people of benefit to our nation and country like Mehmet Rıfat Bey and Fikret Bey.