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The Insurance Agent Trusted by Turkish Truck Drivers in America: John Donik and Istanbul Insurance

In recent years, trucking has become one of the fastest-growing sectors among Turkish entrepreneurs in the United States. Thousands of Turkish truck drivers and transportation companies operating across the country now play an important role in the logistics industry, which forms the backbone of the American economy. The boom in e-commerce during the pandemic further accelerated this trend, encouraging many Turkish entrepreneurs to enter the trucking business. However, one of the most critical aspects of the industry is insurance. A single accident involving a commercial truck can result in damages reaching hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars. For that reason, choosing the right insurance coverage is essential for both drivers and fleet owners.

March 17, 2026
Published in Professionals

From the Sales Floor to the CEO’s Office: Selcuk Karabasoglu’s Two-Decade Rise at A.J. Worldwide

In global logistics, success is often a form of invisible engineering. A container reaching the right port, an air shipment arriving on time, a customs file moving forward with the correct documentation—viewed from the outside, these can seem like routine operational details. But inside the industry, what keeps the system running is not infrastructure alone. It is trust, speed, discipline and the ability to make sound decisions under pressure. Selcuk Karabasoglu’s story begins precisely at that intersection: a professional who joined a small logistics company in a sales role in 2005 and, over the years, rose to become its CEO. Today, A.J. Worldwide is a well-established company that has been operating since 1994 in global freight forwarding and third-party logistics. The company provides air freight, ocean freight, trucking, warehousing, customs brokerage and third-party logistics services, while also operating in niche segments such as e-commerce fulfillment, exhibition freight, express freight, humanitarian aid logistics and project cargo. What makes this story compelling, however, is not simply the scale of the company. More important is the fact that Karabaşoglu’s rise was not the product of a carefully mapped corporate succession plan. It was the result of consistent effort, the ability to build trust and a habit of doing more than what was written in the job description.

March 16, 2026
Published in Businessman

World Energy Council Türkiye Holds the Opening Meeting of the Young Energy Leaders (YEL’26) Program

World Energy Council Türkiye successfully held the opening meeting of the Young Energy Leaders (YEL’26) Program, which brings together young professionals who will shape the future of the energy sector. At the first gathering of the program, the Council’s vision was shared with the participants, and the program’s goals regarding leadership development, sectoral transformation, and multi-stakeholder and international cooperation were discussed.

Members of the World Energy Council Türkiye Board of Directors—Kıvanç Zaimler (CEO of Sabancı Holding), Elchin Ibadov (CEO of SOCAR Türkiye), and Mehmet Ertürk (Chairman of the Board of Ardens Energy)—contributed to the opening meeting. During the session held with the Young Energy Leaders selected for the 2026 term, the framework of the activities to be carried out throughout the program was outlined, and participants’ expectations from the program were heard.

The opening program was further enriched by the insights and evaluations shared by Barış Sanlı, Prof. Matthias Finger, and Dr. Ali Çınar, providing valuable contributions to the sectoral perspective.

The Young Energy Leaders Program aims to encourage young professionals who are interested in the energy sector and aspire to take an active role in decision-making processes to engage more strongly with sectoral issues. Within the scope of the program, participants are expected to deepen their knowledge in areas such as energy security, sustainability, transformation policies, and innovative business models.

In addition, through national and international meetings, workshops, and engagement platforms, it is planned to enhance participants’ sectoral vision, analytical capabilities, and leadership skills. The program seeks to bring a multidimensional perspective of young professionals into the energy ecosystem and to create long-term value for the future of the sector.

Through the YEL’26 Program, World Energy Council Türkiye continues to contribute to a sustainable and strong future for the energy sector and wishes all Young Energy Leaders—especially the new-term participants—an inspiring, productive, and successful program journey.

February 23, 2026
Published in Business

The Shared Pulse by Eda Uzunkara

Your cracks are not flaws. They are openings. The Shared Pulse is a contemporary novel set in Istanbul, between systems that promise certainty and relationships that resist being solved.

Alev lives by the algorithm of her AI life coach. Toprak manipulates his compatibility score on a dating app designed to predict desire.As their lives intersect, the story asks what happens when intimacy is measured, tracked, and optimized—and what it costs to stay present inside that logic.

Can love survive when it is treated as an optimization problem?

This is a journey through the glitches of the heart—a reminder that love is not a noun, but a verb.

Editorial Review;

“Philosophically observant and fascinating speculative romance that integrates technology and humanity into concepts of dating and love.”

What elevates all of this is the author’s language. The prose is sensory and alive, for example, “The night was already pressing the windows,” or “The city below stretched its limbs.” The author’s command of wordcraft feels effortless and immersive, making the emotional and philosophical questions feel real and alive rather than abstract. This is speculative fiction at its best: using near-future technology to interrogate identity, intimacy, and the radical idea that our cracks aren’t flaws at all: they’re openings.

— Rachel Barnard, Author and Editorial Reviewer