Dear Kültür Family, 

COVID-19, which turns the world scene into an arena in every aspect, has made its existence accepted to all of us without exception. I use my preference to face the reality in all circumstances, no matter how sharp it is. The courage of awareness and knowing what I'm fighting against keeps me alive.
  
I am aware, these three weeks were not easy for anyone. Our balance of work and private life is intertwined. On one hand, we try to protect ourselves and our loved ones, on the other hand, we meet the demands of life, even in a superhuman effort. Sometimes we want to stop, sometimes we want to go out and walk, run. Looking at the sea and the sky, going and hugging our loved ones…

The definition of normal has changed for all of us. It is all our trouble to try to turn the game in our favor with short passes in our increasingly narrow field. But everything we live; all our tides are very natural and human. When you feel that you can’t take it anymore and your personal space turns into a circle, I ask you, please remind yourself of a fact: “Now in a different place in the world; another man, another woman, another child also struggling for the same existence, even maybe in more difficult conditions. For sure,  all of us, the whole world, are on the same ship.”

Dear Members of Kültür Family,

As Kültür College, we set off with a sail 60 years ago., and that sail passed many winds. The pandemic is of course much bigger and more different than any other crisis we have experienced. However, this show of strength of the virus will be over one day and will be withdrawn from the scene with all its effects. Just like a cloud… It will leave the loaded rain in one place and go, either today or tomorrow…

Will this process leave traces in the medium and long term? Yes. Did it damage some things? Absolutely. Will we have a hard time for a while? It seems so. The pandemic will be taken under control but all of us; it will take some more time to recover at an economic, social, medical, psychological level. Therefore, in order to be prepared for the difficult processes that may occur after the pandemic and to remain durable, we need to protect our mental and mental health as well as physical.

Another request is about our communication practices, which were interrupted during this time. Pandemic mostly damaged our communication habits that sustain us. In this sense, let's try to use our all the implements and channels we have, as active as possible. 
Our processes regarding communication, education and work started to be on the track, and our routines started to shape. Our distant learning platform CATs, continues to meet our needs regarding the sustainability of the education service.

In the process of working remotely, we left the second week behind. Our meetings with our Rectorate, General Secretariat, Deanery and Manager of Vocational School, Directorate of Financial and Administrative Affairs, and Legal Consultancy took place in our agendas. Our service network and area is expanding in our administrative processes. İKÜ Virtual Counter was commissioned. In this context, let's continue to keep our communication channels open in order to improve the process and achieve excellence in digital service quality.

I sincerely believe that we will make every effort to keep our sharing environment alive in the future.

During this period, many questions come to us regarding the working conditions, and health insurance, which is one of our working rights that we provide our employees. On this occasion, I would like to share a few headlines with you to address the question marks.  First of all, I would like to state that our complementary health insurance that we offer to our staff, (I hope we never need it), also covers the pandemic. If we come to our working conditions… We can say that the process will determine to some extent how long the distance work will go on. We have two basic criteria in this decision: your Health and Safety. KOVKOM will continue to inform us about the distance study program on a weekly basis. How we shape our working conditions in the medium and long term is a headline that we consider with various dimensions. Many institutions set different strategies in the context of the industry they serve and job descriptions. Our main goal and wish is to leave this process behind and to return to our work without leaving any of our employees in a difficult situation. However, depending on the conditions created by uncertainty;  in the face of the unbalanced workload distribution caused by working remotely we may need to produce solutions annual leave, etc. 

Dear Members of Kültür Family,

Another title I would like to underline is the importance of sharing and solidarity. Let's not forget that we can change another life, even with the smallest contribution we provide to be a part of the solution at such times. In times of crisis there is a talismanic side that gives strength. In this context, İKÜMED and KÜMED have accomplished a very good work. We have created a closed circuit network with names from Kültür who are medical members among our Kultur College graduates. We identify the needs of hospitals, we started a solidarity mobilization. It is enough for all my work fellows who want to support with their contribution to contact İKÜMED.

Dear Members of Our Family,

Kültür has come to these days with the awareness of being a family business and family in essence. So, everyone who works under the umbrella of Kültür is a member of this family. What I want you to is that we should not forget that we are family in this uncertain period. As we speak, and as we nurture the environment in which we will share our thoughts and new ideas as long as we maintain our trust, goodwill, our burden will lighten. At the end of the day, it is essential to be alive with health, safety and loved ones. These days will pass, I sincerely believe in that. In this climate where uncertainty prevails, we thank all of our work fellows who work and produce without knowing time and space; I convey my greetings to your family and my sincere love to your children.

Hope to see you soon,

Dr. Bahar Akıngüç Günver 
İKÜ Head of the Board of Trustees