Doing business in Turkey
Step 1. Get yourself to Turkey.
Step 2. Get a haircut and a real job.
Step 3. Enjoy!
The Turkish people are generally friendly and helpful and Turks love to shop. Turkey's location - bridging Europe and Asia, with a rich history and beautiful environment is great for tourism. Turkey's Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean beaches are ideal locations for retirement or summer home investors. Turkey is rapidly growing and changing and so there are many opportunities for investment in infrastructure or helping to increase productivity in agriculture and horticulture, energy and manufacturing industries. Turks are getting into sport and recreation. They highly value education. With the move to join Europe, Turkey needs business reforms and marketing. Lots and lots of opportunities for doing business in Turkey.
Are you Talking Turkey?
What's your experience of Turkey?
Welcome Home to Turkey
Getting to Turkey
From New Zealand (the ends of the earth)
A potential/future business partner met us at the airport. We stayed in a friend's apartment and had one week while they were away to find an apartment, furniture and survival Turkish.
Our apartment was in an area where the locals were used to foreigners. It was cheap (about 1/4 the price we were paying in NZ) and close to public transport and a language school.
Residence permits are required for car ownership and connecting services (electricity, water, telephone, internet) in your own name. Often Turkish friends or foreigners who have permits will sign up for you.
Obtaining a residence permit requires forms, passports with photocopies of your last entry to Turkey, photographs, marriage certificates translated into Turkish and proof of financial support (money in a Turkish account). So applying for a long term residence permit before you spend your start up cash is a good idea.
You can apply for a work visa from your home country, but if you are exploring business opportunities it is advisable to spend some time in language and culture learning on a tourist or student visa first. Visa fees and terms vary from country to country - New Zealanders can get a three month tourist visa for free. In Turkey applications for work permits require a current residence permit.
Once you've got somewhere to live and some of the initial paperwork sorted, it is time to get a haircut and a real job.
Fly to Turkey
For business or pleasure
Turkey has a great resorts, rich history, amazing sites and awesome shopping.
Turkish cuisine has got to be the best in the world. Come and experience a huge variety of healthy fresh food.
Cheapest flights are probably on Wednesday.
Living in Turkey
A guide to housing in Turkey
If you are going to do business in Turkey, it is helpful to live here. I have written this lens as a guide to housing in Turkey, with a special focus on our experiences of living in inner city and suburban apartments in the beautiful city of Izmir.-
Living in Turkey : Housing
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Turkey is a land of huge contrasts. Rich and poor, young and old, ancient and modern, East and West. Living here is a privilege and an awesome cultural experience! Century old Greek style villas, brand new multi-million dollar apartment complexes, p...
Books for Surviving your first week in Turkey
The start of your Turkey Reference Library
Turkish Phrasebook by Arzu Kurklu, Lonely Planet Phrasebooks
You wipe the dust from a bejewelled bottle and a d more...1 point
Teach Yourself Turkish Complete Course Audiopackage by Asuman Celen-Pollard, David W. Pollard, David Pollard
You can use Teach Yourself Turkish Complete Course more...1 point
Translation tools from eBay
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Adjusting to the culture
Many Turks learn English and especially in the major cities you will find Turks who are willing to practice their English with you and help with all sorts of things as you adjust to Turkey. You will find that Turkish culture may be quite different to your own.
A good way to start to fitting into the culture is to get a Turkish haircut.
Getting a haircut
A great way to experience the culture
Turks take hair very seriously. So seriously that it is considered a national art form and foreigners are not allowed to be employed as barbers in Turkey.Learn all about the "getting a men's haircut in Turkey" experience in this featured lens:
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Getting a men's haircut in Turkey
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Turks are very hospitable and friendly people. If you are a foreigner in Turkey, to really enjoy the hospitality, you will want to make friends and connections with people. A good way to experience the culture is to get a men's Turkish haircut. It i...
Vote on the Turkish business opportunities/sectors most likely to succeed!
Top 10 Business in Turkey Opportunities
What do you think will be the most successful opportunity?
Turkey is in the process of joining the European Union and there are many opportunities for business in or with Turkey as the country goes through necessary changes. Even if Turkey does not obtain full EU membership, there are still many opportunities to do business with Turkey. Turkey's resources include a large young population, fertile land, industrial cities, modern infrastructure as well as being in a prime geo-strategic location, bridging Asia and Europe.
Please vote and add to this list of business opportunities/sectors (originally in alphabetical order) that are most likely to succeed:
Agriculture
Turkey produces a lot of unique varieties of food, such as pomegranate. Opportunities exist for biofuel and organic crops. The dairy industry in Turkey is underdeveloped.0 points
Construction
New buildings are appearing everywhere and so construction materials are in big demand. Turkey often experiences earthquakes so earthquake resistant technology is needed. There are many property development and investment opportunities.0 points
Energy
Gas and oil production and distribution. Wind, hydro and solar electric production. "Greening" of existing thermal electrical production.0 points
Healthcare
Turkey has started to attract health tourists looking for affordable dental care, operations and other medical treatments. Turkey has recently made it easier for foreigners to practice medicine.0 points
Manufacturing
Turkey has many industrial zones, producing foods, textiles, pharmaceuticals and automobile products.0 points
Minerals
Turkey has the largest boron reserves in the world. Gold, thorium and other exploration and production opportunities could be worthwhile.0 points
Sport and Leisure
Football (soccer) is the biggest sport. Turks enjoy the outdoors and love to picnic, but park and recreation spaces are often underdeveloped.0 points
Telecommunications
The industry has recently opened up for more competition. Millions of Turks have mobile phones.0 points
Tourism
Turkey has a rich culture and history with many Biblical sites and places of interest. The climate and geography offers many opportunities for resort and hotel development.0 points
Training
Turks value training and education. There are many dershane (learning houses) that are training students (in addition to their school lessons) to pass the national exams and learn skills such as computing and English language.0 points
Business in Turkey Links
- Business in Turkey
- Business in Turkey - Your Guide to Doing Business in Turkey
- Invest In Turkey
- The investinturkey.gov.tr website, is an easy-to-navigate information platform for international entrepreneurs considering why and how to invest in Turkey. You will find here the facts and figures to make your mind how best Turkey fits in your international business strategy.
- Demographics of Turkey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- An overview of the different types of people in Turkey. Your potential customer base, suppliers or workforce.
- Investment & business opportunities in Turkey
- An Insight: Business Opportunities in Turkey.
Turkish organizations that can help and a list of sector-specific opportunities. - Vista Interactive - a company owned by the author of this lens
You will need a website, marketing material and other media produced when you start your business in Turkey.
Vista Interactive excels in creating content managed multilingual websites and business solutions for clients around the world. We have significant experience with helping companies get established in the Turkish market or export their Turkish made products to the world.
Contact Vista Interactive to discuss your project.- Aslan International
- Aslan offers a variety of consulting services to foreign and domestic firms and individuals in either English or Turkish. They have significant experience in doing business in Turkey. Foreign investors are encouraged to purchase a subscription to their monthly Foreign Investor in Turkey newsletter.
- EXPATIA
- Based in Istanbul Turkey, Expatia is a dynamic management consultancy designed to provide diverse consultancy and expatriate employment services.
- World Bank report on Doing Business in Turkey
- A snapshot of Turkey's aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business and on each of the ten topics that comprise the overall ranking
- Doing Business in Turkey -- U.S. Commercial Service Turkey
- The U.S. Commercial Service offers valuable assistance to help U.S. business export goods and services to markets worldwide. This part of their website focuses on the Turkish market.
- World Bank: Turkey - Data & Statistics
- World Bank Data and Statistics on Turkey.
- Turkish Business Culture training courses
- Turkish Business Culture training course and Turkey Social Culture courses
- Doing e-business in Turkey
- Latest analysis and country profile of Turkey's information and communications technology industry.
- Turkey on NationMaster
- Statistics on Turkey. Facts and figures, stats and information on Turkish economy, crime, people, government, health and education. More than 30 maps.
- How Do You Do Business In Turkey? - Turkey Forum
- Discussion about how expat people are doing business in Turkey.
- Invest in Izmir
- Invest In Izmir, third largest city in Turkey.
- Starting up in Turkey : Exploring career opportunities
- Are you searching for a job in Turkey? You feel qualified, you are motivated but you can't find anything suited to both your skills and interests?
- Turkey's profile on FocusEconomics
- Economic Forecasts from the World's Leading Economists for Eastern Europe
TODAY'S ZAMAN :: Expat Zone
Recent Expat articles from one of Turkey's daily English newspapers
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Share your Turkey experience
Aika wrote...
looks like Turkey is not only a place to do business, it can be a great place to live also. Well done lens!
Posted December 20, 2007
Karendelac wrote...
Hello Peter, I rated your lens 5 stars for being so organized and complete. Please take a moment to view my State of the Art Titanic lens. Best of Holiday Cheer, Karen
Posted December 13, 2007
Good information about credit card. That's a 5 star rating from me. You can find all type of credit card news from my lens. If you have some time, please feel free to check it out.
Posted December 06, 2007
Carla-White wrote...
Great lens, gave it 5*. Have a look at my lens on management and business courses.
Posted December 05, 2007
d-artist wrote...
very interesting lens 5*check out my lens on a war medal from Turkish (Ottoman Empire) Gallipoli Star Medal of WW1
Posted December 04, 2007
calicoskies wrote...
Great lens...5 stars!!!
Drop by my lens :)
Heroic Animals
Posted December 04, 2007
WealthCreationMentors wrote...
Excellent information!
Thanks for sharing.
Frank,
www.WealthCreationMentors.com
Posted December 01, 2007
Living Overseas
- Transitions Abroad
- A portal for Work Abroad, Study Abroad, Cultural Travel and Living Overseas.
- EscapeArtist
- International Real Estate, Expatriate resources, Resources for Americans fleeing America, Search the largest expatriate database of embassies, international jobs & offshore financial services web sites.
- The Turkish Life
- San Francisco girl living in Istanbul.
Istanbul'da oturan San Francisco'lu bir k?z. - Carpetblogger
- Caustic Commentary from Constantinople: News and Views from the declining and emerging empires.
- Escape Artist - Resources for living overseas
- Restart Your Life Overseas
Live Where You Want To Live ? Live How You Want To Live . . . And Make Money Doing It!
Info about Living Overseas - International Real Estate, Overseas Jobs - Asset Protection - Expatriate Resources - Overseas Retirement.
Work Permits
- Permit problem plagues foreigners
- The perennial problem of work permit issuance -- or lack thereof -- continues to plague skilled foreign workers in Turkey, as work permit applications with everything in order can take months, or even years, to process.
by Peter.Murray
I'm an entrepreneur from New Zealand who has chosen to live and do business in Turkey because of the huge potential here.
My strengths are in the Info...
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