EminAbi.com from 2001 to today
1988–2001 — The foundations of EminAbi.com
Emin Özel started using a Commodore 64 in 1988 and switched to a PC in the 1990s. In 1994, at the age of 17, he set up EMEX BBS and ran it until 1997. Users dialled in by modem to exchange messages and files. It gave Özel experience of running an online community.
Özel began working at the computer retailer Escom in 1996. Around 2000, he built and presented websites under the name Emin Özel Online. He put the first trial version of EminAbi.com online in January 2001.
26 March 2001 — The official launch
EminAbi.com officially launched on 26 March 2001. Its aim was to bring together Turkish people in the Netherlands, Türkiye and other parts of the world to exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas. At a time when internet use was much less widespread, it offered a space to discuss everyday problems, ask for advice and consider different views with mutual respect.
The meaning behind EminAbi
The Turkish word emin conveyed trustworthiness, while abi suggested an older brother whom you could approach for advice. The founder’s own name, Emin, added a personal meaning. The mature male figure representing the site and its slogan Emin Ellerdesiniz, meaning You are in trusted hands, expressed the same sense of trust. Emin Özel explained this approach in the January 2004 issue of Ekin Dergisi (no. 87, p. 85).
2000–2002 — From an idea to TürkTel
In 2000, Emin Özel came up with the idea of a call centre for Turkish speakers. In 2001, he was an account manager at Audiotex in Rotterdam. Work took him to cities such as Rotterdam and The Hague in the west of the Netherlands, where he met people in Turkish business and media.
Özel pitched the idea to Leo Dijkgraaf, founder and director of Annie Connect, a major Dutch call centre and an Audiotex client. Dijkgraaf was still building his company and promised to take up the idea later. He kept that promise in 2002, calling Özel to ask him to put the plan into practice at Annie Connect. Özel led the project under the name TürkTel.
2002–2005 — An idea for television
On those visits, Özel met Ali Rıza Başaran, founder of Demet TV, a local broadcaster in The Hague with Turkish-language cable programmes. In 2002, while leading TürkTel, Özel gave Demet TV an interview. The contact led to a plan to bring social issues discussed on EminAbi.com to television.
Demet TV would provide airtime and technical support. Özel would develop and present the programme. The broadcaster had no production budget. Özel sought funding until 2005, but the programme never went ahead.
September 2002 — Dert Ortağı in Ekin Dergisi
During those visits, Özel met Ayhan Sucu, publisher and editor-in-chief of Ekin Dergisi, a Turkish-language monthly based in Rotterdam. Özel came up with a feature that would print his own columns alongside conversations from the EminAbi.com forum. He organised the collaboration, wrote the columns under the name EminAbi and selected the forum contributions. Emin Özel prepared the Dert Ortağı feature on a voluntary basis throughout its run and did not ask Ekin Dergisi for payment for this work.
The magazine published ten issues a year, with a two-month summer break. Free copies were distributed across the Netherlands at Turkish community venues such as mosques, coffeehouses and community centres. Home delivery cost €1.95 per issue in postage at first and €2.50 later.
The Dert Ortağı feature first appeared in the September 2002 issue of Ekin Dergisi (no. 73, pp. 60–61). In the following period, it occupied three pages. The first carried Emin Özel’s writing, while the other two presented topics and replies selected from the forum. Articles were also made available online after each issue appeared. The voluntary collaboration continued, with summer breaks, through the June 2005 issue.
December 2002 — Visitors from 50 countries
According to NedStat figures published in the December 2002 issue of Ekin Dergisi (no. 76, p. 84), EminAbi.com received visitors from fifty countries. Visitors were between fifteen and fifty-five years old. In the preceding month, daily visits had reached 1,500.
Seven volunteers worked on the site from different locations. Türkiye, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and England were among the countries generating the most visits. Volunteers shared technical maintenance, forum moderation and public relations responsibilities, discussing the site’s needs online.
December 2002 – March 2003 — New services
Following the computer technical support section, Sanal Doktor, or Virtual Doctor, opened in December 2002. Visitors could submit health questions free of charge and remain anonymous if they wished. Education and Guidance followed in February 2003 and the Legal Corner in March 2003. These services were described in Ekin Dergisi issues 77 (p. 87), 78 (p. 76) and 79 (p. 65).
April 2003 — PC World and PC Net
PC World awarded EminAbi.com 90 out of 100 in its April 2003 issue (p. 157), mentioning twenty-one subject areas including health, computers, education, law, sport and music. PC Net presented the site as a successful example of the emerging forum culture in its April issue (p. 185) and reported that it had almost a thousand members. Both assessments were cited in the May 2003 issue of Ekin Dergisi (no. 81, p. 69).
September – October 2003 — Renewal and growing interest
The site was renewed in September 2003. E-cards, MP3, digital satellite and television topics, and a poetry section called Gizli Sevdalar, or Hidden Loves, were added. Ekin Dergisi also began introducing the volunteer team to its readers.
In October 2003, Ekin Dergisi (no. 84, p. 87) reported that EminAbi.com had reached approximately 150,000 visitors since its establishment, based on the NedStat statistics of the time. Registered membership was a separate measure.
January 2004 — Exploring new services
Issue 87 of Ekin Dergisi announced plans for a wider service structure under the name sanalhizmet.com. The forum was to remain an important part of it.
2004 — Three years online and a volunteer team
On 26 March 2004, EminAbi.com marked three years since its official launch. The June 2004 issue of Ekin Dergisi (no. 92, p. 75) published the names of thirteen volunteers contributing from different countries.
April – June 2005 — Looking back on Dert Ortağı
The April 2005 issue of Ekin Dergisi (no. 100) carried Emin Özel’s explanation of the site. The June issue (no. 102, pp. 63–65) reviewed three years of Dert Ortağı. His writing during this period explored family, relationships, honesty, justice and solidarity through proverbs and examples from everyday life. He concluded with the words “When your life grows dark, look for the light in your heart.”
The interactive EminAbi CD
The same issue introduced the interactive EminAbi CD, bringing together articles published since September 2003 with music and animation. Produced by EminAbi.com, it was sent free of charge to every reader who requested it.
2005–2007 — The forum continues
Members continued to start discussions, share experiences and ask each other for advice. Registration was not required to read the forum, so most visitors followed the site without creating an account.
Historical records contain 3,924 registered users, excluding spam accounts that appeared later. A considerably larger audience read the content without registering.
2008 — Press interest and a changing internet
In 2008, one of Türkiye’s largest newspapers at the time wanted to interview Emin Özel for its Saturday supplement and introduce EminAbi.com to its readers. Technical problems and infrastructure that could not adequately support a possible influx of visitors led him to postpone the offer. When those issues remained unresolved, the interview and publication did not proceed. The decision reflected a wish to protect the site’s operation and publication quality.
At the same time, newer communication platforms were becoming widespread and interest in traditional internet forums was beginning to decline.
23 July 2011 — The final message and a difficult decision
Ageing software, automated registration attempts and spam made maintenance increasingly difficult. EminAbi posted the forum’s final message on 23 July 2011, replying to a member. New posts and registrations were then closed. Earlier discussions remained readable for some time.
2015–2022 — The offline period
Maintenance and compatibility problems took the site offline around 2015. Database backups were retained and several attempts were made to restore access to the material.
2022 — The legend returns!
Technical research resumed. The site returned online with the announcement EminAbi.com – Efsane Geri Dönüyor, meaning The legend returns. Restoring the historical forum still required work on the old database structure, software compatibility and Turkish character encoding.
26 March 2026 — Twenty-five years
EminAbi.com marked twenty-five years since its official launch. Internet use and communication habits had changed considerably, while the aim of preserving the accumulated material remained.
2 November 2026 — The historical forum archive reopens
The preserved database backups were transferred to current infrastructure. Compatibility issues and Turkish character problems were resolved. Thousands of posts and discussions became accessible again in a read-only archive (Turkish).
11 November 2026 — The redesigned website goes live
The redesigned website becomes the main entry point to EminAbi.com. Visitors can read the history of the site, selected stories from the forum and contributions from Dert Ortağı in Turkish, Dutch, English, German and French. The historical forum remains accessible from the new site as a separate archive.
Today — Preserving the past and passing it on
EminAbi broke its silence after years away. Emin Özel never gave up on bringing the articles and forum conversations collected since 2001 back to readers. The Dert Ortağı articles can now be read alongside the original magazine pages, and Forum Selections links back to the discussions in the archive.
From the outset, Özel ran EminAbi on a voluntary basis to contribute to society and covered its costs out of his own pocket. He continues the work today in the same spirit.
As interest in old magazines and forums revives and loneliness is increasingly discussed as a social issue, Özel sees this return as a rebirth. In the articles and forum replies from those years, we can see how people listened to one another’s concerns and treated one another with respect even when they disagreed. For Özel, putting that respect, courtesy and understanding into practice again is an act of resistance against a trend that pushes us further into isolation.