A View to Turkey 2003
We feel that your interest in Turkey has been increased by taking this magazine. Welcome to Turkish World.
We will be glad to inform you about Turkey. Resources for more information about Turkey are given in this magazine. We hope it will be useful for you.
Turkey started secular modernization and industrialisation process in 1920’s with the revolutions of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. These revolutions are being extended today. Being a country with Muslim majority is not an obstacle in this work. Turkish Republic with European life style, legislation, education system and Latin alphabet is no more an exotic country for Europeans. In a visit of yours in Turkey, beside the fascinating natural beauties and historical monuments, only the impressive silhouettes of the mosques and minarets create a clear difference with the European cities. This, however, is the sign of being the gate of Europe to the east. Thanks to its natural treasures, historic heritage and traditional hospitality, Turkey welcomes nearly 11 millions of tourists every year.
With the start of industrialization in Europe, Turks also adopted European life style and started with the reforms for this aim. Today these reforms are strengthened with the mutual Customs Union with EU in 1995 and continuing with the new laws for the harmonization with the EU legislation in every field. Turkey’s journey of being part of the EU reaches 40 years back. Enormous efforts have been undertaken from that day till today. Turkey has always been a European Country not only geographically, but also in commerce, legislation, education and social areas. Turkey with the population of nearly seventy million is the second largest population in Europe after Germany. Furthermore, it hosts the youngest population for work force, 70% of the population consist of young people. In Turkey, education level is rising fast, mandatory primary education lasts eight years. In our country with total 79 universities, every year 1.000.000 graduates complete their education. On top of that, 40.000 Turkish students are continuing with their education in universities all over the world. Total students are more than 15 million.
It is a fact that Turkey’s economy experiences sharp ups and downs for some years. Here, one should realize that Turkish companies learned to survive in an environment of over
100% inflation while competing with gigantic international companies, and that they obtained a more flexible and dynamic structure. The inflation, which is predicted to drop below 20% at the end of 2003 and to onedigit numbers at the end of 2004, remains no more as a difficult economic factor to be worried about for local or international companies. Despite the big earthquake damage in 1999 and economic shock in 2001, Turkey has always been among the fastest developing countries. According to official values of 2003, GNP of Turkey is 3000$, but OECD and World Bank give a value of 6000$ for the Purchasing Power Parity. With its economical and qualified work force, Turkey is the best candidate for being the attraction centre in European geography. Yes, Turkey is in Europe and can be reached easily. Beside direct road transport, seas on three sides of Turkey make sea transport fairly easy, inexpensive and attainable. Remember that two of the most important factors in trade are transport and easy access. If your residence is anywhere in the Europe, you can reach any region of Turkey very easy and fast. The flight time between the farthest metropolis of Europe and Turkey takes three and a half hour. Residents of Middle-East and CIS Countries have the same opportunity. Turkey is in the same time zone of Moscow and Tel Aviv, which is only an hour ahead of France and Germany (CET). During normal working hours you can continue your business with phone calls. Highly capable telecom and internet infrastructure maintains a flawless connection. You can also arrange meetings during daily journeys. Working days and hours are same as Europe; weekend holiday is on Saturday and Sunday. In today’s business world with the increased importance of effective time usage, you can save time thanks to these advantages. Turkey on the road to the full EU membership joins the meetings of European Banking Federation and rapidly progresses its financial integration activities. Turkish banking sector pays also attention on international legislation and standards about effective banking applications, in order to receive the deserved place in the international market. By removing dissimilar practices, usage of the same financial tables, in other words same financial language between different countries was made possible. In this way, differences in financial analysis of an international working person or establishment disappeared.
International transparent accounting rules and standards are accepted by Turkey and all legislation was in accordance to them. Standards used by establishments and organizations are the standards developed by International Accounting Standards Committee-IASC, World bank, International Monetary Fund-IMF and International Federation of Accountants-IFAC. These high quality standards provide comparison possibility, transparency and full explanation.
Having a high quality, standard compliant production of goods and services has been the main goal of companies. Producers are almost racing for having the next ISO 9000 (quality related) series and ISO 14000 (environmental) series certifications and production in accordance with CE norms. An important proportion of internationally accredited certification companies branches in Turkey carry on intense certification activities. Turkish Accreditation Agency TÜRKAK became a member of European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) in 27.11.2002. In the second half of 2004 Multilateral Agreement (MLA) will be signed and TÜRKAK will gain international acceptance.
All these steps are results of Turkey’s motivation on standards and harmonization. They also prove that Turkey considers standards and environmental issues not as luxury but as a part of quality of life. Our aspect on high quality production made Turkey an important producer and exporter in automotive industry in Europe. Turkey is continuing with being the production centre of large American, Far-Eastern and European companies. Advantages like available by-product industry, industrial infrastructure, educated personnel and economical work force act as centres of attraction. Annual automotive and by-product export in 2004 is estimated around 10 Billion Euros. Turkish manufacturers in textile and leather sectors have created the second big power in Europe, after Italy. They supply quality with reasonable price while their annual export reaches beyond 10 Billion Euros.
All mentioned above are not coincidence. Turkey’s infrastructure and human resources capability allowed these leaps. Producers in Turkish HVAC&R Sector started the same forward movement en route of being a powerful production force of Europe. True, this is not easy, but established and developed trade fairs, NGO’s and working groups promise a bright future.
While a number of chambers, foundations and associations regulate general business, Turkish HVAC&R sector is being developed by NGO’s in an organized way as well. Turkish HVAC&R Association ISK‹D -member of Eurovent/Cecomafis ready to be your guide for any business relations you may want.
Biannual ISK-SODEKS Istanbul fair of Hannover-Messe Sodeks Co., organized by the sector, associations and ISKAV Foundation, is one of the biggest European fairs in this sector with 45.000 m2 net stand area and 75.000 m2 total area. This expo is the intercontinental meeting place of industry and trade in every even year.
We recommend that you make your investment today and establish contacts with Turkish firms to utilize opportunities in the future. Turkey has opened trade gates for sellers, buyers and investors and waits with traditional hospitality for its friends.
Turkish HVAC&R Association
ISKID Export Committee
