As GİMDES, with the aim of bringing the “Halal and Tayyib” lifestyle to everysegment of society, we have kicked off 2026 with a packed, fruitful event calendarfeaturing major projects. As you know, we had previously shared with the public ourplans to implement projects such as the Halal Lifestyle Festival, our special food fair, and the International Halal Conference this year.
We are delighted to have successfully concluded the “Halal Lifestyle Festival,” the firststep toward these ambitious goals, which we held in Bağcılar in April, thanks to thesupport of our people and businesses. The festival’s excitement was elevated to an academic level with the technical conferences held in the afternoon. Under the title“Educational Conferences: Boycott, GMOs, and Heirloom Seeds”:
● Expert Mustafa Meral conveyed the Islamic legal dimensions of the boycott and itssignificance in our daily lives through his presentation titled “Why Are WeBoycotting?”
● Chemist Dr. Halim Aydın, in his presentation on “GMOs and Heirloom Seeds,” shared striking scientific findings regarding how genetic material transmitted throughbreast milk alters future generations and human nature.
Amid this intensive and successful agenda, we had also held preliminary discussionswith the relevant authorities regarding the establishment of a special “Halal FoodPavilion” for our organization within the F-İstanbul 2026 fair, scheduled for August 26–29, 2026. Our aim was to create a strategic alliance where our certified producers wouldcome together, with GİMDES quality and halal awareness leaving a lasting impressionon the fair.
However, following consultations with our certified companies over the past month, wedetermined that the majority of them would be unable to participate in this event withthe comprehensive involvement we had envisioned due to conflicts with their existingfair schedules, high operational workloads in the sector, and an inability to allocateadditional budget.
As GİMDES, our primary goal is to present a broad and strong presence alongside ourcertified companies at the events we participate in. However, since the requestsgathered from our companies did not reach the sufficient number required to establishan independent pavilion, GİMDES has decided not to participate in this event at theinstitutional level.
Just as we have done in the past, GİMDES remains committed to continuing withdetermination to undertake projects that will amplify the cause of halal food, set standards, and shape our own agenda. We extend our gratitude to all the companies thatcontributed to this process and to our volunteers who have not withheld their prayers forus.
We respectfully announce this to the public.
Dr. Hüseyin Kami BÜYÜKÖZER
President of GİMDES and DHV
WHC Patron
