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BRIEFING Forum Istanbul 2018: Towards 2023 IN DEPTH Turkey: ‘Heart’ of Health Tourism BRANDS Unique Tastes with Tamek

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

The Turkish Perspective

Contents 36 COVER

05 FIRST 05 | Aiming $5B in trade volume 06 | Welcome Over 10 Million Guests in 2018 07 | Solar Power Generation Triples 08 | Turkish drones take the stage 09 | Third Nuclear Power Plant 11 | TANAP to start first gas delivery

05 Following the global crisis, at a time when international investments fell and the search for a new financial structure is in progress, it is very important for İstanbul to come forward with a competitive structure.

13 BRIEFING 13 | DETERMINED TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM

48 INDEPTH

48

48 | TURKEY: ‘HEART’ OF HEALTH TOURISM

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stressed Turkish-British bilateral relationships and improving the relations in every field during his official visit in London.

Turkey, defined as a “paradise country” by travelers, is on the top of must-see places list of tourists.

Turkey has also set a higher standard of success in health tourism in recent years.

17 | TOWARDS TO 2023 WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES

55 BRANDS

This year Forum İstanbul 2023 event, which is organized for 17 years and take place during 3-4 May 2018, get off to a running start.

60| TURKEY’S 40 YEARS OF DOMESTIC SUCCESS STOR

20 |“TRUST” IN THE DIGITAL AGE

22 |TURKEY’S LOCAL WEBSITE

From the use of new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to new business and cooperation models, various subjects were discussed at the summit.

Designed and developed for Turkish Internet Ecosystem and supported by TİM-TEB Startup Business House.

Embracing the dining tables of Turkey and the values of Turkish culture for 40 years, Şenpiliç keeps the same friendly attitude, which has penetrated into its DNA, also in its 40th anniversary communication.

PERFORMANCE MONITORING PLATFORM

28 | GOLDEN AGE OF GAMING The Turkish gaming sector aims to expand its export volume to $1 billion this year after making a name for itself in the recent period when it won several prestigious awards.

30

62 AGENDA

EXHIBITIONS, SUMMITS, 30 | TURKISH AIRLINES EUROLEAGUE FAIRS, MEETINGS IN THE NEXT MONTH

FINAL FOUR BRINGS BASKETBALL PASSION TO BELGRADE

Europe’s highest club-level basketball competition, titlesponsored by Turkish Airlines, sees Real Madrid crowned as the champion.

63 FIGURES THE BASIC INDICATORS OF TURKEY IN THE APRIL 2018

1

2 Online

Online

MANAGEMENT

theturkishperspective.com

PUBLISHER ON BEHALF OF TURKISH EXPORTERS ASSEMBLY/ CHAIRMAN OF THE TURKISH EXPORTERS ASSEMBLY

MEHMET BÜYÜKEKŞİ STRATEGIC PARTNER PRESIDENT OF PRIME MINISTRY INVESTMENT SUPPORT AND PROMOTION AGENCY

ARDA ERMUT

THE TURKISH PERSPECTIVE DIGITAL

The Turkish Perspective website is to be launched soon.

A NEW MEDIUM TO LEARN, ANALYZE AND MONITOR EVERYTHING ABOUT TURKISH ECONOMY AND BUSINESS, IS BORN. THE TURKISH PERSPECTIVE DIGITAL WILL SHARE THE LATEST NEWS, INTERVIEWS WITH DECISION MAKERS, PROVIDE IN-DEPTH ANALYZES AND WILL BE THE FOREIGNER’S GUIDE IN TURKEY REGARDING REGULATIONS AND LEGISLATIONS.

MANAGER IN CHARGE H. BADER ARSLAN PhD

PUBLICATION BOARD M. İLKER AYCI HC. DR. MUSTAFA ÇIKRIKÇIOĞLU BİLAL EKŞİ SÜLEYMAN KOCASERT BÜLENT AYMEN FURKAN KARAYAKA

PUBLICATION MANAGEMENT PRESIDENT MEHMET MÜCAHİD DEMİR

mdemir@theturkishperspective.com

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EDITORIAL EDITORS MUSTAFA YİĞİT myigit@theturkishperspective.com

RAMAZAN GÜZYURDU rguzyurdu@theturkishperspective.com

BUSINESS CULTURE T INVESTMEN CIENCE S D N A INNOVATION E DAY VIDEO OF TH NEWS KETING B R A N D MA R

EUROPEAN COORDINATOR İNANÇ ATILGAN CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS İLHAN ALPAY OGAN İBRAHİM AVCI SERAP KAYA DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR AHMET SAİD ÇELİK acelik@theturkishperspective.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER UMUT DURUTUNA YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY

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BRIEFING Export Week 2017:

YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY

Breakthrough Year of Exports

8

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IN DEPTH The Country of Northern Lights: Finland

OF RISK PSROTRY

INDU

Need: Innovation

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IN DEPTH Invest in France

JANUARY 2018 ISSUE 54

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

TURKISH EXPORTERS:

BRIEFING Soda Ash: The

Largest Producer in Europe

IN DEPTH Turkey: Global Player in Defense

BRANDS Arzum: A 50-Year Brand In Household Electrical Appliances

BRANDS Beyoğlu Gazozu: Taste From The Past

DECEMBER 2017 ISSUE 53

BRIEFING The Only Thing We

BRANDS Şölen: Re-Establishing the Chocolate Candy Rules

FEBRUARY 2018 ISSUE 55

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

THE YEAR OF

RECORDS

We’re grateful for your confidence

MEETING AND EXCEEDING INTERNATIONAL QUALITY AND SAFETY STANDARDS, TODAY’S TURKISH AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IS HIGHLY EFFICIENT AND COMPETITIVE THANKS TO VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTION.

Turkey has a “breakthrough year” in 2017 and gained the confidence of all world.

TuRkEy iS REaDy fOR ThE yEaR Of RECORDS afTER ThE bREakThROugh yEaR, 2017.

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YOUR COMPLIMENTARY COPY

PANORAMA Global Trade On The Rise BRIEFING Major Actor of Humanitarian Aid IN DEPTH Invest in Greece

MARCH 2018 ISSUE 56

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

APRIL 2018 ISSUE 57

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Nihat Zeybekci, Minister of Economy, shared the current state of Turkish economy with Turkish Perspective.

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

8 TH YEAR

PANORAMA Lorem Ipsum Dolor Amet BRIEFING One Festival, Two Continents IN DEPTH Bridging The Energy Gap

MAY 2018 ISSUE 58

ECONOMY BUSINESS FOREIGN TRADE ANALYSIS

Turkey

on the Move

Turkey has long been a country shaken by chronic economic and financial crises (1959, 1969, the 1970s, 1994, 2000-2001), but it has risen, in the last decade, to rank 17th among global economic powers.

More than a magazine, the Turkish Perspective will now be more interactive and responsive, as expected from Turkey’s main voice for international audience.

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JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

The Turkish Perspective

Editorial MEHMET BÜYÜKEKŞİ PRESIDENT (TIM)

ONWARD TO NEW MARKETS WITH INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS

In order to strengthen Turkey’s presence in the global arena, it is vital that we expand our product range and improve the quality of our products.

T

URKEY’S FOREIGN TRADE

has undergone a radical transformation since the early 2000s.

Our exports increased six-fold where our imports quadrupled. While the weight of agricultural products decreased in our exports, the weight of the sectors based on technology, such as automotive and electrical electronics started to increase.

The year 2017 has been a successful year for both GDP growth and exports thanks to the efforts of our exporters, the recovery in the global economy and the incentives of the Turkish government to revive the economy. In this period, while our exports displayed an increase above the world average, our exporters continued to with new investments and a great number of sectors achieved significant employment increases. We declared 2017 as “Breakthrough Year in Exports” and our exporters made it possible. In 2017, Turkey reached the second best export figure of all time and exported $157 billion worth of goods. Exports on a quantity basis also reached the highest level of history; with an increase of 10.9 percent to 115 million tons.

In 2018, which we declared as the

“Year of Records”, we are breaking a new record every month. We had the highest January, February, March and April monthly exports of our history this year, and for the first time in March, monthly exports surpassed $15 billion, and our annualized exports reached $161.4 billion, the highest level in our history. We aim to end the year with $170 billion annual exports and with a new record every month for the rest of the 2018. However, in order to strengthen our presence in the global arena, it is vital that we expand our product range and improve the quality of our products. Especially the development of innovative products and R&D investments are extremely important.

To fulfill these targets, as Turkish Exporter’s Assembly we continue to promote exports for the future of our country. Since 2012, we are organizing “Turkey Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week” and get a great number of participants from public entities, NGO’s, business environment, CEO’s, students, academics and experts in research and development to meet in one platform, under the same roof. We conduct many other projects as well, aiming to

further increase the awareness on the importance of R&D and innovation.

For instance, InoSuit and InovaLig. The first innovation acceleration program in Turkey, InovaLig, gives a chance to Turkish companies to compete with 7,500 companies from 80 different countries according to their abilities on innovation in one platform. And in InoSuit, we provide innovation based mentorship to our firms and help them build a University-Industry partnership as well as building a “Corporate Innovation System”.

In addition, on May 8th we have launched an online portal called “Export Compass” located at “ihracatpusulasi.org.tr”. The portal includes information and guidelines on several aspects of trade; such as, how to establish a company, how to register at an exporters association, how to authorize a customs broker and so on. Thanks to this portal, exporters and entrepreneurs will be able to reach valuable information and data on exports. General political information about the countries as well as data on foreign trade, tax rates, flights from Turkey, embassies, commercial counselors, export/import prices and so forth.

In order to reach our 2023 targets, we are bound to multiply our share in global trade today. For now, we are the 17th largest economy in the world. However, our rank in exports is 31st. Our purpose is to strengthen Turkey’s position, which forces us to build sustainable solutions to see improvements in Turkey’s export ranking through investments on R&D and innovation. The future of our economy, relies in increasing the investments.

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The Turkish Perspective Content: Negotiations with Washington P06 Solar Power Generation Triples P07 Turkish Drones Take the Stage P08 Turkey’s Mardin Eyes 1M Visitors P09 Invest over $46B on Railways P10 TANAP to Start First Gas Delivery P11 Editor: Ramazan Güzyurdu

First

BUSINESS, TOURISM, ECONOMY, ENERGY, EXPORT, DEFENSE, TRANSPORT, DIPLOMACY...

DIPLOMACY

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says:

AIMING $5B IN TRADE VOLUME

President Erdoğan emphasized that Serbia offers great opportunities for investors.

The trade volume between Turkey and Serbia had reached $1 billion in 2017 but reiterated Turkey’s desire to bring this volume to $5 billion.

S

ERBIAN PRESIDENT

Aleksandar Vucic arrived Turkey for a two-day visit to attend the Turkey-Serbia Business Forum in Istanbul and the HighLevel Cooperation Council Meeting in Ankara.

Following the meeting, the two

leaders held a joint press conference, in which they praised the warm ties between the two countries over the last years and developing economic relations.

President Erdoğan underscored tourism as a key area of partnership. “With economic stability

coupled with natural and historical beauties, both Turkey and Serbia can capitalize on tourism projects to cement their ties,” he said.

“Particularly in terms of tours, Turkey and Serbia can launch joint projects. Last year, Turkey hosted some 150,000 Serbian

tourists while around 100,000 Turkish people visited Serbia,” he said.

Regarding investment and cooperation projects between Serbia and Turkey, Erdoğan said that infrastructure and transportation sectors also offered room for collaboration projects,

as he drew attention to the Belgrade-Sarajevo Highway project.

“The BelgradeSarajevo Highway Project that will be realized with Turkey’s contribution is a friendship project to strengthen commercial and economic relations in the region,” Erdoğan said.

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BUSINESS

TOURISM

ECONOMY

NEGOTIATIONS WITH WASHINGTON

Welcome Over 10 Million Guests in 2018

‘TURKEY NEEDS TO BOOST PRODUCTION’

The minister highlighted that Turkey is continuing to negotiate the issue with the U.S. government.

Istanbul museums aim to attract more than 10 million local and international visitors this year, a senior Culture Ministry official said.

Production needed to reduce inflation, says head of Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association.

Deputy Economy Minister Fatih Metin, who attended the 2018 Trans-Caspian Forum organized by the Caspian Policy Center (CPC) in Washington, elaborated on additional taxes the U.S. government imposed on imported steel and aluminum.

Stressing that the U.S.’ decision does not fit its position in the world economy, Metin said it is very contradictory that a country that is supposed to be the pioneer of free trade is acting with a protectionist policy.

“Unless there is a change in Turkey’s favor, we will make our application to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and inform them that we will take our countermeasures.

At this point we are expecting the latest assessments of the U.S.,” he continued.

Metin recalled that the ministry did a study covering 18 products, and in those products, they also worked on the basis of reciprocity against the goods from the U.S. JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

I

STANBUL’S DIRECTOR of Culture and Tourism, Coşkun Yılmaz, “We think that there will be more than 10 million museum visitors in 2018,” told as Turkey marks Museums Week on May 18-24.

Yılmaz said that in 2015, more than 9 million people visited the city’s museums — the highest number of visitors.

Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace alone, a residence to the Ottoman sultans for almost 400 years, has attracted over 830,588 visitors during the first the first quarter

of 2018, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry data.

Istanbul museums were visited by over 2 million people during the same period.

Istanbul boasts 91 official museums, including 35 private as well as 19 museums operating under the Culture and Tourism Ministry as well as three under the Turkish military, Coşkun said.

Twelve others are Turkish national palaces.

Coşkun also pointed out the importance of promoting Turkish museums.

ISTANBUL: CITY OF MUSEUMS Istanbul’s Director of Culture and Tourism, Coşkun Yılmaz said that they conducted an Istanbul Museums Workshop on May 22-23.

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MILLION NUMBER OF PEOPLE VISITED THE CITY’S MUSEUMS IN 2015

830 91

THOUSAND VISITORS CAME TO TOPKAPI PALACE IN Q1 OF 2018

MUSEUMS IN ISTANBUL ACCORDING TO CULTURE AND TOURISM MINISTRY

Boosting production in Turkey should help to bring down inflation, which in turn will reduce any risk from currency fluctuations, according to the head of one of the country’s top business associations.

“It is necessary to increase efforts first of all to bring inflation under control,” Abdurrahman Kaan, head of MUSIAD, told.

Kaan made the remarks on the sidelines of the Turkey-Africa Economic Forum in the central Turkish province of Konya, where more than 150 businesspeople and 33 ambassadors from African countries were attending to discuss Turkey’s investment opportunities in Africa.

“I think that Turkey needs to increase its production and while raising production, it will lower inflation, and then should gradually reduce the risk of rate,” Kaan said.

Kaan added the body expects that Turkey’s economy will grow around 6 percent in 2018.

The Turkish Perspective

ECONOMY

ENERGY

ENERGY

TURKEY’S MILK PRODUCTION UP OVER 17PCT

Solar Power Generation Triples

Amount of milk collected by integrated dairies surpasses 936,000 tons, official data says.

Turkey’s solar power production saw a yearly increase of 175 percent to 2.8 million megawatt-hours in 2017 according to data.

Turkey’s cow milk production increased by 17.9 percent in March compared to the same month last year, the country’s statistical authority said.

TurkStat data revealed the amount of collected milk reached 936,687 tons in the third month of this year.

“Drinking milk production by integrated dairies was 161,374 tons in March and increased by 16.7 percent when compared to the same month of the previous year,” it said.

Data showed that shocheese production from cow’s milk amounted to 64,550 tons - a 12 percent yearly increase - while cheese production from sheep, goat, buffalo and mixed milk rose by 37.6 percent to 3,123 tons.

T

HE INSTALLED power capacity of solar power increased from 939 megawatts to 2,978 megawatts year on year, representing a 217 percent rise, according to data released on Monday by Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority.

The rate of solar electricity production out of all electricity production, increased to 0.97 percent in 2017, from 0.38 percent in 2016. In 2017, solar production became the sixth biggest electricity resource after natural gas, coal, hydroelectricity, wind and geothermal power.

Turkish wind power production increased by 15.2 percent to 17.9 million megawatthours in 2017, the data also revealed.

To encourage the deployment of solar electricity production, which lagged behind renewable energy resources such as wind in recent years, Turkey launched Renewable Energy Resource Zone Project (YEKA) tenders for 1,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity in 2017, and in January 2018, eased regulations to promote solar photovoltaics on roof-tops.

TURKISH SOLAR MARKET HAS FURTHER POTENTIAL Turkish solar power production increased in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority’s (EMRA) data.

46,000 175% MEGAWATTS

CURRENTLY INSTALLED SOLAR POWER CAPACITY IN TURKEY

INCREASE IN TURKISH SOLAR POWER PRODUCTION IN 2017

1.1 BILLION

SQUARE METERS ROOF SPACE COVERING

PETROL OFISI INVEST AT LEAST TL 1B Selim Şiper, the CEO of Petrol Ofisi (PO)said the company has full confidence in Turkey.

Selim Şiper said that they determined the annual investment amount base as a minimum TL 1 billion ($235.4 million).

Explaining that the investments will be directed to plants and stations in 2018, Şiper said first they want to take positions in Istanbul-Antalya, Istanbul-Ankara and Ankara-Niğde routes. Şiper said that PO has a strong infrastructure and that they have an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons in mineral oil. He also pointed out that they are the fuel suppliers of giant projects like the Istanbul New Airport, Third Bridge, Çanakkale Bridge and Ankara-Niğde Motorway, stressing that Petrol Ofisi employs about 50,000 people in total.

“We welcomed 2018 with growth.

We increased our net sales figure from TL 30.8 billion in 2016 to TL 39 billion in 2017. We increased our market share below 20 percent in 2017 to 22 percent at the end of the year,” he continued.

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ENERGY

BUSINESS

FIRST ONSHORE LNG PRODUCTION Turkish energy company LNG Gaz Üretim Depolama ve Satış A.Ş. will set up the country’s first onshore LNG production and storage facility.

T DEFENSE

TURKISH DRONES TAKE THE STAGE Turkey’s new soldiers in the sky, the upgraded “kamikaze” drones, will be exhibited for the first time at an aeronautical show in Turkey.

Developed by Turkish defense contractor STM to support the tactical and field needs of Turkish security forces, the kamikaze drones ALPAGU Blok 2 and KARGU eliminate targets more efficiently with new features such as enhanced ammo capacity and improved accuracy.

The upgraded locally made armed drones will make their debut at the Eurasia Airshow in Turkey’s Antalya on April 25-29.

Davut Yılmaz, the CEO of STM, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday that the drones will boost the country’s defense.

Yılmaz said that their aim is to do important worldwide projects on autonomous systems.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

urkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) approved its application to build two onshore LNG storage facilities in Afyonkarahisar and Çorum.

“Although in small volumes, the project will be Turkey’s first efforts in LNG production and nonmarine storage,” Evliyaoğlu said.

“EMRA is working on the tarification of the storage facility.

This will also be a first for EMRA and set a precedent for future projects. After the tarification, we will start negotiations with financial institutions and banks for project finance,” he said. Turkey, which is Europe’s third-biggest gas importer, is struggling to increase its natural gas storage capacity.

In 2017, a gas storage facility was opened in the central Anatolian region. The country also commissioned an offshore

Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRU) in December 2016. A second FSRU was launched in the Mediterranean region of Hatay in early February.

“In the past, Turkey would store natural gas in its gaseous form in storage or underground facilities,” Evliyaoğlu said.

“We will not only be the first in LNG production, but also the first to store LNG storage onshore in Anatolia,” he said.

The company’s facilities will have a production capacity of 208 cubic meters of LNG per day and storage facilities of 2,000 cubic meters of LNG, Evliyaoğlu said.

“For Turkey, this is a strategic project to ensure natural gas supply security. Capacities are expandable in line with the demand from LNG users and natural gas demand from the national transmission line,” he said.

BUSINESS

Turkey’s New Company Launches up over 33 pct

The number of newly established companies in Turkey jumped 33.1 percent last month compared with April 2017, TOBB announced.

T

his April, 8,456 new companies were established, compared to 6,353 businesses starting in the same month last year, TOBB said in a report.

The top three fields of operation among new companies were wholesale and retail trade, and construction and manufacturing.

The report showed that 578 companies went out of business in April, down 21 percent from the same month a year earlier.

In the first four months of the year, 32,554 new companies were launched - an annual increase of almost 35 percent, according to the TOBB.

KEY BELGRADESARAJEVO MOTORWAY The Belgrade-Sarajevo Highway, planned to be built with the joint initiatives of Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia with an estimated cost of 3 billion euros, is being seen as a permanent sign of regional peace and stability.

The BelgradeSarajevo Highway will be the “elixir of regional peace,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday in Sarajevo.

Ahead of his rally in Sarajevo where he will meet expat Turks living in Europe, President Erdoğan held a meeting with Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and discussed political and economic ties particularly focusing on cooperation in tourism, defense and infrastructure. Erdoğan also said that the bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina will increase to $1 billion in a short period.

President Erdoğan stressed that Turkish firms are encouraged to partake in industry, infrastructure and transportation projects.

He noted that the free trade agreement with BosniaHerzegovina will also be expanded; hence boost the bilateral trade volume.

The Turkish Perspective

DEFENSE

ENERGY

CONTRACT FOR ALTAY’S MASS PRODUCTION

Third Nuclear Power Plant

Undersecretary of Defense Industries İsmail Demir announced that the contract for Turkey’s main battle tank Altay will be inked soon.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak and China’s energy sector representatives discussed Turkey’s third nuclear power plant.

In late April, it was announced that Istanbul-based armored vehicle manufacturer BMC was contracted for the mass production of Altay.

Following the bidding process the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries would now hold talks on the deal with BMC to mass produce and develop the battle tank.

The deal to mass produce Turkey’s first ever fully indigenous tank will strengthen the country’s defense industry while creating huge economic value.

The economic size of the project, to be spread over more than 20 years, is expected to reach $25 to $30 billion.

M

INISTER ALBAYRAK

paid a visit to State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), where he came together with SPIC Chairman Meng Zhengping and State Nuclear Power Technology Company (SNPTC) Chairman Wang Fengxue. During the meeting with SPIC and SNPTC, the two parties discussed Turkey’s third nuclear power plant.

Minister Albayrak also held a number of key talks with the Chinese representatives.

On the first leg of his trip to Beijing, Albayrak met with China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) Director Nur Bekri. In the meeting, they reached a consensus on moving forward in energy cooperation between the two countries.

The minister also received China National Chemical Engineering CEO Dai Hegen and Goldwing CEO Pan Yantian.

His next stop was the Chinese Atomic Energy Authority

(CAEA), where he met with the vice chairman of the institution, Wang Yiren. The two parties reached an agreement to cooperate in the research and development, human resources and training.

The energy minister also paid a visit to the State Grid Corporation of China, which boasts one of the world’s largest electricity distribution capacities.

Albayrak, who met with the institution’s Chairman Shu Yinbiao, received extensive information from the authorities regarding the company’s electricity generation and distribution network. A number of goodwill agreements in the electricity sector to improve cooperation between the two countries were then signed.

On the last leg of his trip, Albayrak paid a visit to the world’s largest bank, China Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which recently began its operations in Turkey.

TOURISM

TURKEY’S MARDIN EYES 1M VISITORS Recently hosting a number of festivals and sports events, the city expects to welcome 1 million tourists this year.

Having increased the number of tourists by 300 percent compared to 2015, Mardin has become a popular destination for international events with the cooperation of the governor’s office and tourism professionals.

Hosting the Turkish Women’s Basketball Cup final Feb. 21-25, the Kite Festival April 20-23, the World Freerunning Parkour Federation Parkour World Cup May 11-13 and simultaneously the Mardin C2 MTB Cup, millions of people watched the city on international channels in the last two months.

Professionals noted that private and public sectors joined forces and attracted tourists to the city once again.

Mardin Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Alâeddin Aydın recalled that Mardin reached the highest number of tourists in 2014. “In the first 4 months of this year, we reached over 50 percent of the 2014 figures. We will break the all-time record in 2018,” Aydın said.

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TRANSPORT

DIPLOMACY

INVEST OVER $46B ON RAILWAYS In the last 15 years, Turkey has invested €18.5 billion ($25 billion) on its railways market.

T

ECONOMY

EBRD INVESTS $82M IN ŞOK European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announces multimillion dollar investment in Şok Marketler.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has invested $82 million in a minority stake in Şok Market, a Turkish discount grocer in Turkey.

The move supports one of the largest initial public offerings on Borsa Istanbul, Turkey’s sole stock exchange, EBRD said. Şok operates a wide range of products at competitive prices: fruits, vegetables and personal care products.

The chain operates 5,100 stores and 24 warehouses.

Since 2009, EBRD has invested 10 billion euros in various sectors of the Turkish economy, with almost all investments in the private sector.

In 2017 alone, EBRD invested 1.6 billion euros in 51 projects in Turkey.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

urkey will invest €39 billion ($46.4 billion) on railways in the next five years, the transport minister said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 10th World Congress on High-Speed Rail, Ahmet Arslan said: “Our target is to transform all our lines to electrically operated and raise our productivity to the maximum level until 2023.”

In the last 15 years, Turkey has invested €18.5 billion ($25 billion) on its railways, including high-speed trains, he added.

He added that a 1,213-kilometer high-speed railway line was in operation in Turkey. “Construction of 3,798 kilometers of railway is underway and 11,582 kilometers of railway projects are in the process of auction and plan.”

The minister said high-speed trains serve 33 percent of the country’s population in seven cities.

“Turkey is the second-largest country after China in railway constructions. Our target is to complete 11,700 kilometers (7,270 miles) of high-speed railway lines until 2023 and to link 41 cities to each other,” said Arslan.

Isa Apaydin, director general of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), said there are 41,000 kilometers (nearly 25,500 miles) of high-speed railway lines in the world and the figure will nearly double in the coming years.

“High-speed trains are the motor power of the Industry 4.0, they provide productivity for all areas,” he said.

“These trains not only change tourism and economy, they also change people’s lifestyle,” he added.

Over 1,000 high-speed rail experts from all around the world will meet in the congress themed “sharing knowledge for sustainable and competitive operations”.

EXPORT

Turkey Earns $1.4B in Hazelnut Exports

Volume of export increases by over 24 percent, value drops by 4.7 percent in first eight months of export season of hazelnut.

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urkey sold abroad over 215,000 tons of hazelnuts in the first 8 months of the export season, making a $1.36 billion revenue, a national union of exporters of the nut said.

The export volume between September 2017 and April 2018 saw a 24.6 percent jump in the same

period from a year earlier, the Black Sea Hazelnut and Products Exporters’ Union announced.

Despite the growing sales volume, the value of exports dropped by 4.7 percent over the same period of the previous season, according to the union’s statistics.

ERDOĞAN, MADURO HOLD CONFERENCE President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro held a conference call on Thursday to discuss a range of issues, including the upcoming presidential elections in both countries, bilateral relations and the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

In the call, Erdoğan said he hoped the presidential elections set to be held on May 20 in Venezuela will be held in an atmosphere of peace and will prove beneficial for the country, reminding that Turkey, too, will be holding elections on June 24.

He added that an official visit to Venezuela was among his top priorities after the elections.

The Turkish president wished his Venezuelan counterpart success in the polls before thanking Maduro for his participation in the OIC summit set to be held in Istanbul.

The Turkish Perspective

ENERGY

TANAP TO START FIRST GAS DELIVERY

The backbone of the multinational energy project Southern Gas Corridor, TANAP is due to become operational on June 12 to boost gas supply security in Turkey and Europe.

The transmission capacity of TANAP will be increased to 24 bcm and then to 31 bcm through additional investments.

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REPARING TO DELIVER natural gas

from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz-2 and other fields in the Caspian Sea to Turkey and Europe, the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) is due to start operation on June 12, Energy and Natural Gas Minister Berat Albayrak announced Friday at the 11th Sector Meeting of the Electric Distribution Services Association (ELDER) in the northwestern province of Bursa. The minister stated that the project will start operating with a grand ceremony with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev, other heads of state and ministers in attendance.

The TANAP project along with the South Caucasus Pipeline that brings Shah Deniz-2 natural gas to the Turkish border via Georgia as well as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will be linked to TANAP on Turkey’s İpsala border, will deliver Azeri gas to European markets through pipes in Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Italy’s south to form the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a multinational European Commission project to transfer gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Gas Field in the Caspian Sea to European markets to reduce the continent’s dependency

$7.99 TOTAL COST OF TANAP PROJECT

1,850 KILOMETERS TOTAL LENGTH OF TANAP

The project is also considered an important step for Turkey’s ambition to become a regional energy hub should Turkey fully liberalize its gas market.

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PROVINCES THE PROJECT RUN THROUGH

13,000 PEOPLE

THE PROJECT PROVIDED JOBS OPPORTUNITIY

on Russian gas. In that respect, TANAP not only contributes to Turkey’s gas supply security by diversifying resources, but will also boost European supply security by enriching the energy resource channel for continental countries. Considered the backbone of the SGC project, TANAP will replace the defunct Nabucco pipeline.

TANAP will run from the Turkish border with Georgia, beginning in the Turkish village of Türkgözü in the Posof district of Ardahan, and run through 20 provinces including Kars, Erzurum, Erzincan, Bayburt, Gümüşhane, Giresun, Sivas, Yozgat, Kırşehir, Kırıkkale, Ankara, Eskişehir, Bilecik, Kütahya, Bursa, Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Tekirdağ and Edirne until it ends at the Greek border in the İpsala district of Edirne in Thrace. From this point, TANAP will connect to convey natural gas to European nations.

At the dawn of the project, TANAP was first estimated to cost $11.7 billion.

But some successful procurement, project management and financial management have reduced the cost down to $7.99 billion. TANAP partners received $3.75 billion in loans from international finance institutions.

The European Union also provided a grant of $10.2 million.

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The Turkish Perspective Content: Towards 2023 with New Opportunities P17 “Trust” in the Digital Age P20 Turkey’s Local Website Performance Monitoring Platform P22 Exporters are in South America, Route: Argentina P27 Golden Age Of Gaming P28 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four Brings Basketball Passion to Belgrade P30 President Erdoğan’s Visit in UK Cements Turkey As Top Strategic Partner P32 Editor: Mustafa Yiğit

Briefing

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY, GAMING, EXHIBITION....

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

DETERMINED TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is in the UK’s capital city of London to pay an official visit, delivered a speech about Turkish-British bilateral relationships and improving the relations in every field.

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ointing out that they are passing through a period during which the long-established relations and cooperation between Turkey and the UK are further improving, deepening and gaining momentum in every field, President Erdoğan added: “The recent referendums in the both countries have had a significant impact on the high level that our

relations have reached today.

Turkey decided to change its government system with the constitutional amendment last year. We are setting up a more effective government model which will carry Turkey to its 2023 goals.”

“We are determined to keep the momentum we have gained in our economıc relations” Drawing attention to the fact that the UK is Turkey’s

second biggest export market in Europe and that the total trade volume is over 16 billion dollars, President Erdoğan continued as follows: “We continue to work together in order to reach the 20-billion-dollar goal that we had set during Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to our country last year. We are determined to keep the momentum which we have gained in our

economic and trade relations and to adapt to the changing conditions.” Further stressing that they host more than three thousand British firms in Turkey, President Erdoğan underscored that they make no discrimination between Turkish and British firms.

CALL TO INVEST IN TURKEY Mentioning that Turkey has a domestic market of 81 million people, President

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President Erdoğan said that the partnership in defense industry has proved.

“OUR GOAL IN BILATERAL TRADE VOLUME IS $20 BILLION”

Erdoğan highlighted that they have recently put assertive and comprehensive incentives into effect and added: “We continue to work to announce new ones. I invite you to our country to make more investments.”

President Erdoğan also said that the partnership in defense industry has proved what the two countries could achieve together and made a call to jointly manufacture products with higher added value and advanced technology.

“THE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN TURKEY AND THE UK IS A NECESSITY RATHER THAN A CHOICE” Highlighting that he considers the strategic partnership between Turkey and the UK a necessity for the benefit of the both countries and a vast geography rather than being a simple choice, President Erdoğan continued as follows: “As Turkey, we attach great importance to the security of the EuropeAtlantic region and work to establish permanent peace and security in the Middle East. We also aim to restore stability in such countries as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. We want a joint JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

“As Turkey, we attach great importance to the security of the Europe-Atlantic region and work to establish permanent peace and security in the Middle East.”

fight to be waged against all kinds of terror. All these are priority issues for our countries. Very serious challenges which affect the entire world are taking place right beside our country. As two responsible members of the international community and two allies, Turkey and the UK are jointly combatting these challenges. We are mutually determined to fight against terror and the reasons of the irregular migration at their sources.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom also held a joint press conference in the UK capital city of London.

Stating that the UK is Turkey’s second biggest export market in Europe and that it is their pleasure that they are hosting more than three thousand UK firms in Turkey, President Erdoğan noted that the bilateral trade volume between Turkey and the UK was around 16 billion dollars in 2017 and added: “But our goal is to increase it to 20 billion dollars, and we are going to realize it with the joint steps we will take.” President Erdoğan also said that during today’s meetings, they also touched upon the National Combat Aircraft Project that has been designed as a fifthgeneration warplane by Turkish and UK firms.

“THE SOLIDARITY THAT THE UK SHOWED FOLLOWING THE JULY 15 COUP ATTEMPT IS VALUABLE TO US” Commencing his speech by emphasizing the value of the solidarity that the UK showed with Turkey following the July 15 coup attempt, President Erdoğan said that they thoroughly discussed the relations between the two countries during his meetings with Queen Elizabeth II and UK Prime Minister May, and added that they also exchanged views on what can be done to maintain the cooperation between the two countries post-Brexit and to further improve it.

The Turkish Perspective

very quickly in terms of development and prosperity, President Erdoğan noted: “Turkey is ready to provide Uzbekistan with every kind of support during its revival period.”

Even though the bilateral trade volume reached $1.5 billion in 2017 by increasing 25%, they don’t see it sufficient and aim to take it to $5 billion, pointed out President Erdoğan, and said that they will intensify their efforts to increase the mutual investments in both countries.

“REGIONAL COOPERATION IS THE KEY ELEMENT OF STABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT”

ELEVATING THE BILATERAL RELATIONS WITH UZBEKISTAN President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is paying an official visit to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, met with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan.

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resident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan held a joint press conference in the Uzbek capital city of Tashkent.

Noting that they discussed during their talks political, military, economic, commercial and cultural aspects of the relations between Turkey and Uzbekistan as well as what further steps might be taken in the upcoming period, President Erdoğan stated that they also exchanged views on regional and global issues.

“We had elevated the Turkey-Uzbekistan bilateral relations to the level of

strategic partnership during President Mirziyoyev’s visit to Turkey last October,” recalled President Erdoğan, adding that they have taken steps to further strengthen the basis for the strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Commencing his address by stating that Uzbekistan’s regaining its independence on December 16, 1991 was a source of pride for the Turkish nation as much as Uzbeks, President Erdoğan noted that Turkish governments have always mobilized their means to contribute to Uzbekistan’s development.

Stressing that he works

with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan in team spirit to better carry the two countries to the future, President Erdoğan said that they had raised Turkey-Uzbekistan relations to strategic partnership level during President Mirziyoyev’s visit to Turkey last October and added that with the joint declaration signed today they have established the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

“TURKEY IS READY TO PROVIDE UZBEKISTAN WITH EVERY KIND OF SUPPORT”

Drawing attention to the fact that Uzbekistan advances

Further emphasizing that today they are witnessing the ugly face of war and terror at many corners of the world, President Erdoğan underscored that Turkey and Uzbekistan are the countries which have been affected the most by the instabilities in their region, and added that Turkey stands ready to further strengthen the cooperation with Uzbekistan in order to enable peace and stability to prevail as soon as possible in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Regional cooperation is the key element of stability and development, continued President Erdoğan, and noted that as Turkey, they are ready to give every support they can to the initiatives that will strengthen the cooperation and solidarity between the sister countries in Central Asia which they have separate ties of affection with each of them. President Erdoğan concluded: “I believe that God willing, we will make this ancient region, which is the cradle of civilizations, the source of peace and tranquility once again with our joint efforts.”

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SEEKING NEW OPPORTUNITIES OF COOPERATION President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is in the Republic of Korea for an official visit, attended the signing ceremony of the agreements between the two countries.

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tating that the meeting between the leaders and the delegations have further strengthened the friendly ties between the leaders of the two countries, the statement read that President Erdoğan and South Korean President Moon held extensive talks for the further strengthening of the bilateral relations.

According to the statement, the two leaders attribute great importance to reinforcing the TurkeySouth Korea cooperation that is based on fraternity that derives strength from the joint struggle the two countries waged during the Korean War; welcome the

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swift improvement of the bilateral relations in politics and economy as well as in social and cultural affairs; and have agreed to boost the cooperation between the governments and private sectors of the two countries.

The statement read that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Turkey and the Republic of Korea provides an important basis to improve the economic relations and increase the bilateral trade in a more balanced manner; and that the leaders have announced the imminent entrance into force of the Agreements on Investments and Trade in Goods and Services, having

agreed to make amendments to the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and to sign as soon as possible the Agreement on Maritime Transport.

NEW AREAS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN TURKEY AND SOUTH KOREA Pointing out that President Erdoğan and President Moon are pleased that the construction works of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, which has become a symbol of the successful cooperation between the two countries in the field of infrastructure, have been completed successfully and that the project of the Çanakkale

1915 Bridge proceeds fast, the statement stressed that the leaders have reached an agreement to enhance the projects for cooperation in such fields as transportation, infrastructure, energy and defense industry. “The parties noted they have common understanding that bilateral cooperation in the fields of science, technology and R&D is of crucial importance in order for them to act jointly during the 4th industrial revolution.

They, to this end, reached an agreement to speed up the exchange of experts and to seek new opportunities of cooperation in these fields,” the statement underlined.

Referring to the inauguration of the Korean Cultural Center in Ankara in 2011 and the upcoming establishment of the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in Seoul, the statement read that the two leaders agreed to intensify the talks in the fields of culture, tourism and education, and continued: “Having reached an agreement to further strengthen the current cooperation, the two leaders welcome the fact that Turkey and the Republic of Korea are in close cooperation not only at bilateral level but also at multilateral platforms including the United Nations. The two leaders also agreed to further empower the MIKTA, which has emerged as a mid-level cooperation mechanism, and to raise the cooperation level within the MIKTA, including by elevating it to the summit level. Confirming the importance of G20 in terms of international economic cooperation, the two leaders agreed to continue their cooperation within G20.”

PHOTOGRAPH BYLOREM IPSUM

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The Turkish Perspective

TİM Chairman Mehmet Büyükekşi said: “We are very pleased to be the strategic partner of this Forum.”

BUSINESS

Forum İstanbul 2018:

TOWARDS 2023 WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES

This year Forum İstanbul 2023 event, which is organized for 17 years and take place during 3-4 May 2018, get off to a running start.

BY SERAP KAYA

PHOTOGRAPH BYLOREM IPSUM

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RESIDENT OF FORUM İSTANBUL Haluk

Sur, Chairman of Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) Mehmet Büyükekşi and Executive Editor of Finance World Özlem Özgencil Orhon made the opening speeches of the event.

President of Forum Istanbul Haluk Sur, “In the meantime, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all those who believe in us and share their exciting thoughts. This year, the theme of our organization is “Turkey

“Added value production is extremely important for us.”

and the World: Within an Inch of 2023”. We will evaluate it in our main headings such as how Turkey is positioning itself, how to find new opportunities and innovative solutions in the framework of developments, against the changing global balance,” he said.

Chairman of TİM Mehmet Büyükekşi, “I hope that Forum 2018, which started today, will be especially beneficial for the benefit of our economy and our country. As mentioned before we have supported

this formation for 17 years and we are very pleased to be the strategic partner of this Forum. Today we will talk about where the world is going, where our country is, the threats and opportunities that are waiting for us” he said. “The speed of the world is dizzying. Today, billions of people are communicating with social networks and blogs. Now social events are being organized from the internet. I want to underline the sharing of ideas. As TİM, we do not only increase our exports, but also we value the sustainability of the increase” he said. Büyükekşi reminded that some things called “will take place in the long term” are already behind and some events called “Soon” are still waiting. Chairman of TİM Büyükekşi continued his speech as follows: ““As Turkey Exporters Assembly, our goal is not only to increase our exports. The increase is sustainable. To reach an export structure that supports growth, employment, development. As we move on to this goal, we cannot ignore the events that are happening in our country and in the world. We need firms that closely follow current developments, catch global trends, and even set trends in their own sectors.

Added value production is extremely important for us. We have very big events in the fields of innovation, R&D, design, branding and entrepreneurship.

Finance World Editor-inChief Özlem Özgencil Orhon, “As you know, the world is changing at an increasing

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rate. Production, work and life models change with what technology brings.

New business areas are born, old ones are changing their shape.” she said.

IHR President Attasi: You appreciate what you do for asylum seekers.

Following the opening speeches, the first session of Forum İstanbul 2018 took place under the moderation of Forum İstanbul Honorary President Yavuz Canevi.

The Forum continued with International Humanitarian Relief President Houda Atassi, Sabancı University International Energy and Climate Center (IICEC) Director Carmine Difiglio, Professor at the University of International Business and Economics. John Gong, TÜSİAD General Secretary and Board Member Bahadır Kaleağası,Pew Research Center, Senior Researcher Jacob Poushte and Vice President of Forum Istanbul, International Political Science Association Prof. İlter Turan’s speeches.

Speaking at the International Humanitarian Relief, Houda Atassi, shared Syrian refugees’ key figures for contribution Turkey has now begun joint development on a variety of products and platforms.

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to Turkey’s economy, and said “As is well known, the number of Syrian asylum seekers has exceeded 3 million 400 since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis.

71 percent of them are young people under 29 years old.

Today the cost of the crisis is about 10 billion dollars. Turkey covered the expenses the 7.2 billion dollars alone. However, we can say that despite this the average catch of up and down three times by Turkey’s economy to see average growth in the EU economy. Most of the Syrian asylum seekers are located in the South and Southeast; Hatay, Gaziantep, Mersin and Kilis are

leading. in these cities, asylum seekers, premises that they rent with and purchase real estate.

From the beginning of 2011 until the first half of 2018, the number of Syrian companies that established in Turkey, are 6 thousand 322.”

TAI Digital / Industrial Conversion Structural Group Manager Metin Tabalu pointed out that the diversification that comes with industry 4.0 is the work of the team management and concentration at the highest point. Tabalu, “Industry 4.0 in the prominent thing to increase capacity, people will

take their place, but maybe it will not be. We have defined this as digital industrial design within ourselves,” he said.

DEFENSE SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD OF THE FUTURE Undersecretary of Defense Industry Prof.Dr. Ismail Demir, “After 2010, Turkey has now begun joint development on a variety of products and platforms or local development projects. It can be seen in various places where we talk about 100% domestic product in the globalizing world today and it is not very meaningful.

However, in a field such as the defense industry, you are one of the main factors that suffice for the ones that are at a critical point,” he said.

Havelsan General Manager Ahmet Hamdi Atalay, “The size of the defense industry in the world is 1.4 trillion dollars.

About 50 percent of this is dominated by the US. As Turkey, we receive 6-7 billion dollars the share of that pie.

In fact, Turkey’s population have 1 percent of the world population. Our defense industry must be this size,” he said. Atalay also underlined that the proportion of residents reached 60 percent in the defense industry.

The Turkish Perspective

SMART PRODUCTION FOR SMES

“1st İstanbul SMEs and Informatics Congress” was held in InterContinental Hotel on 3 May 2018 under the main theme of “Smart Production in Global Competition”.

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HE 1ST ISTANBUL SMES and Informatics

Congress was organized in cooperation with Turkish Informatics Association, Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM), İstanbul Chamber of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Turkey (KOSGEB), Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC). SME managers and employees, representatives of informatics sector, academicians and administrators of public

institutions and organizations met in the congress. Digital transformation awareness and solutions to the problems of transformation were discussed during the congress.

Mustafa Çıkrıkçıoğlu, Deputy Chairman of Turkish Exporters Assembly stressed that the number of SME firms has a very important place for Turkey in terms of employment and export.

“SMEs’ power and potential are attracted by world economies. In recent years,

LOCAL GROWTH IN THE WORLD WITH YOUNG

Young Turkey Summit brought together youth from 81 provinces and 184 Turkish universities, will be held at the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center.

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HE YOUNG TURKEY SUMMIT, one of Turkey’s

most comprehensive youth events that hosts more than 30 top-level speakers and over 3,000 young people each year, was held for the sixth time this year. The event has been organized since 2013 to promote leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, digital transformation and information in society and become a classic in this

regard, shedding light on the ideas and dreams of young people with this year’s slogan “National for Growth, Local for Development.” The Young Turkey Awards will be presented with a grand ceremony parallel to the summit, as well.

Among Summit’s strategic partners, Chairman of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) Mehmet Büyükekşi underlined that national and domestic production is

important steps have been taken in the development of SMEs in our country. Our most important goal is to grow our companies and move them to the future, our most important vehicle will be knowledge and informatics.”

During the congress, three special sessions called “Digital Transformation, New Opportunities and SMEs”,

“Preparing for Tomorrow: Robots and Information Security”, “Solutions for SMEs: Financial Opportunities and Supports” were organised. Turkish Informatics Association will organise two more congresses on 27 September 2018 in İzmir and 25 October 2018 in Ankara with the topics that will raise awareness for SMEs.

very important to reach the targets of 2023. Büyükekşi, “Our young people need to play an important role in reaching these targets.

Every formation that is not in the new generation can last a maximum of one life.

Our goal is to be able to take robust, reliable steps that will drive the generation of

our target. For this, we have faith in young people,” he said. “As TİM, we direct our young people to become entrepreneurs, to make designs, to produce projects.

We are organizing R&D project markets and design competitions to bring out the potential of our young people,” he said.

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TECHNOLOGY

“TRUST” IN THE DIGITAL AGE

From the use of new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence to new business and cooperation models, various subjects were discussed at the summit.

BY İBRAHİM AVCI

T

HE 12TH DIGITAL AGE SUMMIT, organized

by the digital business and culture magazine Digital Age, focused on digitalization, technological development and the effects of new business models with regard to the concept “trust”. The event took place on May 8 at Four Seasons Bosphorus Istanbul, and speakers included Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Tamara McCleary, Tatyana Mamut, Vlad Trifa, Varol Akman, Peter Pomerantsev, Jon von Tetzchner and Asi Burak.

During the event, a total of 55 speakers and 2000 visitors JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

were welcomed by the main conference as well as a series of side events and meetings.

MOBILE DEVICES ARE PART OF OUR LIFE

THE HEALING POWER OF VIDEO GAMES Asi Burak, CEO of Power Play, a US-based digital media and production company spoke about healing effect of video games on the world. “Games played on personal computers, game consoles, mobile phones and tablets are one of the strongest tools of the 21st century. The access and impact of digital games are evident. Currently, 67 percent of American households join

in this $99 billion global network,” he said.

Offering a general overview of the latest trends and main issues, Asi’s strong opinion is that games should be used for the general good of the public and will share leading work from around the world, including his entry into the field by leading the team behind PeaceMaker, an award-winning game on the clashes in the Middle East.

Digital Age, focused on digitalization, technological development and the effects of new business models with regard to the concept “trust”.

Dr. Jens Binder, Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Nottingham Trent University tackled trust in the digital arena from various aspects.

Through research examples of social media participation and the use of mobile technologies, he claims our notion of trust arises for interpersonal environments and is related to predictability and trustworthiness. These aspects of social interaction are reflected onto humandevice and human-service

The Turkish Perspective

interactions. The discussion summarized the concept of digital paranoia as the biggest threat to trust in the digital age and claimed that the only cure for such paranoia is unconditional transparency.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a philosopher, scholar of randomness, essayist, risk-management expert attended the Summit.

THE EFFECT OF DECENTRALIZATION ON TRUST Egemen Taş, Chief Technology Officer(CTO) at Comodo Group Inc. said: “The internet continues its continuous, fast evolution and development.

The next decade is expected to seriously impact our way of life due to various transformations.

Fast decentralization, which developed with the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to distributed technologies such as blockchain and preferred by software developers and users due to its economic return, will determine the concept of “trust” in the next decade.”

BLOCKCHAIN AND THE FUTURE OF BITCOIN Haberturk newspaper finance editor Sefer Yüksel and Bloomberg HT presenter Gizem Yilmaz, Kimlic CEO Gökhan Seçkin, IBM Turkey CTO Sevilay Kurt and Investment International Markets Director Şant Manukyan talked at the “Blockchain Revolution and Business Opportunities” session.

Vivaldi Technologies Founder CEO founder of Opera and Vivaldi web browsers, Jon Stephenson Von Tetzchner pointed out that the simplicity and the increased functionality of the browsers in the session, entitled “Internet Scanners and Webinar Future”.

“Bitcoin has entered into an exchange rate and has seriously affected the economy, but it cannot be stable because there is always something new to build, so I think the future of bitcoin is obscure.”

Vlad Trifa, Internet of Things Pioneer, Technologist, Entrepreneur, Advisor @ WEB OF THINGS talked at the session of “Trust 2.0 – How Blockchain Technology Can Create New Levels of Engagement with Your Brand”. “In the last few years, consumers lost trust in the food industry whether food producers are small or are world giants as a result of various scandals, including widely used labels such as “craftsman,” “organic,” “fair trade” or “natural.”” Trifa explained how the latest technologies

can restore consumer trust, how blockchain and Internet of Things technologies may be combined to receive a reliable digital birth certificate, enabling a brand to stand out and initiate hyperpersonalized interaction with customers.

Small Organizations Can better protect themselves Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a philosopher, scholar of randomness, essayist, riskmanagement expert, former trader and author of the New York Times bestseller The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, talked

at the session titled “Trust and Disorder”. Taleb said that everything that is alive and organic is influenced by environment and stress. For this reason, large, successful organizations tend to be fragile. Small organizations can better protect themselves from negative changes.

When we consider people, young people are more advantageous in terms of the probability of survival than an elderly. But in technology it is the opposite. When we compare young and old technologies, it is more fragile for young technologies.

Nassim Taleb also underlined that technology has become the social fabric of society. He continued: “In the past we were getting news from the barber of the neighborhood, now social media gives us information.

However, the reliability of the social media is more debatable than the barber’s.”

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PingTurk was founded to help Turkish IT ecosystem to provide high performing, error-free web sites and services for their customers.

TECHNOLOGY

PingTurk:

TURKEY’S LOCAL WEBSITE PERFORMANCE MONITORING PLATFORM Designed and developed for Turkish Internet Ecosystem and supported by TİM-TEB Startup Business House.

BY SERAP KAYA

I

t is not always enough to setup brand new, fully redundant infrastructure; to provide high performance and five-nines uptime. The wisdom behind the rock solid web sites/services is always monitoring with the right tools and being aware of what is going on both yours and your service provider’s infrastructure.

PingTurk was founded in 2015 by internet & telecommunication sector professionals, who

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wants to help Turkish IT ecosystem to provide high performing, error-free web sites and services for their customers. “The necessity was obvious.” said Murat Balkan (Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of PingTurk). “Customer Experience should be monitored locally, if your customers are aggregated mainly in one country.

Despite using a global website monitoring platform our first customer had

“We then started building a cloud based performance & status monitoring platform with monitoring points (probes) located in different cities of Turkey and solely focused on Turkish internet market.”

experienced an outage recently.” he adds. The problem here was caused by the performance degradation and the outage had not been noticed by the global monitoring service because of the nature of the round-robin monitoring method (one location monitoring at a time) they are using. We then started building a cloud based performance & status monitoring platform with monitoring points (probes)

The Turkish Perspective

located in different cities of Turkey and solely focused on Turkish internet market.

PingTurk has more than 10 monitoring points located in different cities of Turkey ( İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Bursa, Antalya and Denizli ), which are also monitoring from different fixed and mobile service provider’s network at the same time. Parallel monitoring (concurrent probing) catches much more performance degradations and outages statistically with accurate measurement results. All monitoring, alerting and reporting infrastructure of PingTurk is located in Turkey. As the internet exchange points of Turkish ISP’s may also have outages, PingTurk set up an infrastructure that will never be affected from such an IXP outage.

PingTurk now can monitor more than 10 protocols and services including HTTP, HTTPS, PING, DNS, TCP, SSH, SSL, email etc. and instantly notify users via SMS, email, IVR, webhooks and push notifications (PingTurk Mobile Apps).

Only monitoring the infrastructure and service

PingTurk has more than 10 monitoring points located in different cities of Turkeyİstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Bursa, Antalya and Denizli

PLANS AND SALES MODELS PingTurk has 3 plans which is targeting 3 customer segments chosen by customers in e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, media and telecommunication sectors.

Basic, professional and enterprise plans meets various business needs. Webhook notifications, multiuser support, data profiles, rule optimization service etc. makes the differentiation of the services.

WE ARE TARGETING INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

provider’s network doesn’t mean you can understand how performing your service is. Hundreds of metrics and results can be confusing, especially if you don’t have enough expertise in working logic of complex protocols.

PingTurk provides intelligent root-cause analysis and suggests troubleshooting methods based on the monitoring results, which helps making accurate analysis and extremely shortens the troubleshooting duration.

PingTurk has 3 plans which is targeting 3 customer segments chosen by customers in e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, media and telecommunication sectors.

PingTurk is planning to go online on the global markets including Gulf, United States, Canada and Europe Regions with a new brand Pingrunner, this summer. Pingrunner beachhead market will be the Gulf region says Erdem Çavuşoğlu, Director of Sales and Marketing. Our very first marketing campaign will target directly the Gulf region with more than 95% internet penetration rate, which is significantly above Turkey’s (%70)* E-commerce and online payment companies in the region is growing, so the need for web performance monitoring tools is going to increase. Big players in the

PINGTURK: “THE NECESSITY WAS OBVIOUS,” CUSTOMERS SAID. Greg Linden, Manager at Amazon, reported that during A/B testing, their team found that even a 100-millisecond latency in pageload time decreased sales by 1% in 2006. That same year, Marissa Meyer, then a VP at Google, reported that just a 500ms delay in Google’s search-result response time resulted in a 20% drop in traffic and revenue. (If just half a second dropped Google’s ad income by 20%, imagine the damage that a three-second-delay could do.)

In 2009, Akamai, in partnership with Forrester Research, discovered that the average online shopper expects pages to load in two seconds or less (which was down from the four seconds that used to placate shoppers in 2006). After a threesecond lag, they learned, up to 40% of potential customers would abandon a site.

By 2012, Web users’ impatience had reached unprecedented levels, according to The New York Times, with people opting to visit a site less often if it is slower than a close competitor by only 250ms.

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Briefing

“WHY SHOULD WE USE PINGTURK?” WITH QUESTIONS-ANSWERS

MURAT BALKAN

We are using an internal monitoring tool deployed in our datacanter. Why should we use PingTurk?

Unlike on-premise monitoring products, PingTurk monitors your services by simulating your customers. With monitoring points located in Turkey’s different provinces and different fixed and mobile service provider networks, PingTurk reports the customer experience that your customers live.

In most web infrastructure topologies, access to your systems from inside and outside is done through different IP interfaces. With internal measurements, you can’t catch a problem occurring in your external network.

Founder and CTO

web performance monitoring domain are not targeting directly this region and we will be relatively comfortable in market penetration, he adds. We will reutilize our monitoring strategy in penetrating different markets with monitoring probes spreaded in target regions locally, and concurrent monitoring methodology.

This strategy will be the game changer in the market. Our global competitors monitor their customers from totally different geographic locations and they use round-robin methodology, which doesn’t give sufficient and pointed information. Our approach will help us to compete with our competitors.

OUR PRODUCT PORTFOLIO IS GROWING Our customers from different domains help us to enhance our product and also influence us for adding different monitoring types and protocols to be added to our portfolio. We will be adding a brand new protocol which will be sector’s first implementation worldwide says Murat Balkan.

In addition to synthetic status monitoring, we will announce our RUM (real JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

We are using a cloud based web monitoring service from a different provider. Why should we use PingTurk?

You may be using web monitoring service from a different provider.

1. Monitoring Points 2. Alarm and Reporting Services of these services are located abroad.

Other providers can’t fully measure the your customer’s service quality and experience as their monitoring points are abroad. A measurement made in Berlin will not give the correct result as a measurement made in Antalya from domestic operators.

The fact that the monitoring points, alarm and reporting servers are abroad, the measurements can not be done in case of an outage in Turkish operator’s internet exchange points , the measurement results can’t be reached and the alarm notifications can’t be delivered.

user monitoring) service as a complementary product in very near future. RUM passive monitoring technology will help our customers to monitor real user interactions with their sites and services.

They will be aware of how fast their services responding to the real user requests, if they are facing errors and also if any part of their business flows is not operating as designed.

PRODUCT ROADMAP Our next challenge will be developing an APM (Application Performance Monitoring) product which will be an complementary service for synthetic website performance and passive real-user monitoring methodologies. By the APM product we will monitor our customers servers and applications. SaaS approach will continue with application and server focus, enriched metrics and programming language support. Our APM product will support both onpremise and Cloud based installations.

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Briefing

EXPORTERS IN SOUTH AMERICA, ROUTE:

ARGENTINA

Turkey-Argentina Business Forum and bilateral business negotiations held in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires on April 22-25, 2018. Süleyman Kocasert.

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3 TURKISH BUSINESS

people from 12 companies, operating in dry fruit, construction, automotive supply industry, machinery, electric-electronics, motor vehicles, air-conditioning, plastics, tobacco and household electrical appliances sectors participated in TurkeyArgentina Business Forum.

Süleyman KOCASERT, who is Deputy Chairman of TİM, was the Head of Delegation.

Argentina Chamber of Commerce (CAC) and Argentina Importers

Association (CIRA) was our partner organizations in Turkey-Argentina Business Forum which opened with the opening speech of Ruben Garcia, President of the CIRA. Garcia, stating that Turkey is a very important player in the international market, said they attached great importance of the development of relations with Turkey.

Afterwards, the promotional film about the economic and foreign trade data of Turkey and TİM, reflected on the cinevision screen, also received great

applause and appreciation from the participants.

Following the video presentation, Deputy Chairman Süleyman Kocasert firstly celebrated the April 23rd National Sovereignty and Children’s Day in the beginning of his speech and told about TİM activities.

Kocasert, who gives important information about foreign trade data and potential

products between the two countries, emphasized that our firms are the biggest importers of our country as much as they are exporters.

Afterwards, Kocasert stating that the primary goal is to increase bilateral trade, he underlined that we wish to fulfil true potential of bilateral trade of Turkey and Argentina as our President clarified at previous visit to Argentina.

TURKEY’S TOP 500 SERVICE EXPORTERS SURVEY HAS STARTED

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ERVICES SECTOR

firms could apply the survey on www.tim. org.tr/tr/500.html link within telecommunication, computer and information services, construction services, education services, health services, tourismrelated services in travel and passenger transport, recreational and cultural services, passenger transport services, feight transportation and logistic services, financial and other services sectors.

Application process of “Turkey’s Top 500 Service Exporters” survey started for the third time this year by Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM). Waiting for applications from all service JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

exporters The Chairman of TİM, Mehmet Büyükekşi said, “This year, we aim to increase the number of applicant firms. There is a great opportunity for Turkey in service trade, rapidly developing every year, rising

by 2.4 percent and existing by 4.8 trillion dollars in 2017.

Thus, our service exports in 2017 reached $ 43.6 billion with an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year. Our 500 companies in the research have exported a

total of 18.5 billion USD in 2016. This figure corresponds nearly half of percent of our country’s service exports.”

TOP THREE COMPANIES IN EACH SECTOR AND THE TOP 10 COMPANIES WILL BE AWARDED Top three companies in each sector, as well as companies that received the top 10 rankings among the companies participating to the survey will be awarded. Services sector firms could apply the survey on www.tim.org.tr/tr/500.html link free of charge. Applicants will taken by declaration method but if required supportive documents will be demanded. Application process will finish after the required checks.

The Turkish Perspective

THE WORLD IS AT THE FINGERTIPS OF EXPORTERS WITH JUST ONE CLICK The portal, which is designed for companies and entrepreneurs who want to increase their exports or enter new markets, will be available at ihracatpusulasi.org.tr.

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to establish a company, how to register the exporters’ unions, customs brokerage is authorized to provide information. Thanks to the portal, we are able to export and make access to the most important information and information for everyone.”

Büyükekşi, who made the call to “Use this information” for exporters, “Learn about your target markets. Find out about competing countries.

At this point, use limited resources with the right target markets in the most efficient way.”

S THE REPRESENTATIVE

of of 71 thousand exporters, which provide employment to 3.1 million people in Turkey, Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), has accelerated its efforts to improve the performance of exporters. TİM, in this context, launched the Export Compass information portal. The portal, which is designed for companies and entrepreneurs who want to increase their exports or enter new markets, will be available at ihracatpusulasi. org.tr.

On the portal, exporters will have a chance to access detailed global foreign trade data on 6-digit Harmonized System (HS) Codes level; annual exports data, number of exporters on selected products, export unit prices, Turkey’s share in these markets, and general information about the countries.

Speaking at the launch, the Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci said that, TİM will contribute greatly to the exports and the exporters with the Export Compass

DESIGNED BY LOCAL COMPANY portal. Zeybekci also stated that, the portal will make a great contribution to activate the export potential and said, “We will reach 2023 targets with the goal of 100 thousand exporters”.

NEW TARGET COUNTRIES Chairman of TİM Mehmet Büyükekşi said that thanks to the data on the portal, exporters can do any kind of market analysis. Following analysis, companies will be

able to identify new target countries.

Stating that the portal will also provide useful information about the target country, TİM Chairman said, “This information is also important institutions and companies’ resources in the country, mutual diplomatic representation, visa applications, flights performed in the country concerned from Turkey, the fairs with national participation in this country, the customs duty applied to Turkey ratios.”

CALL TO THE EXPORTERS: “USE THIS INFORMATION” The portal emphasized that easy access to basic information about the country planned to be exported, Büyükekşi expressed that entrepreneurs will also show how to start exporting.

TİM Chairman, “The portal offers to the exporters how

Büyükekşi emphasized that they are a team business and that they are thanking 3 individuals and institutions for this work. “First of all, we would like to thank Nihat Zeybekci, Economy Minister, for having this project.

Our Ministry has provided very important support in reaching our firms. Secondly, I would like to thank the Presidency of the Office of Economic Co-ordination and Monitoring. Thirdly, on this whole project we worked with a local business intelligence firm. We have shown everyone that our domestic firms and Turkish entrepreneurs can design such business intelligence terminals. I wish the success of our e-quality company in ODTÜ Teknokent. I would also like to thank the staff of TİM R&D Department for carrying out the infrastructure of the project and the work done during the project. “

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Briefing

GAMING

GOLDEN AGE OF GAMING

The Turkish gaming sector aims to expand its export volume to $1 billion this year after making a name for itself in the recent period when it won several prestigious awards.

BY RAMAZAN GÜZYURDU

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URKISH GAME DEVELOPERS’ exports

surged by 40 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, reaching $700 million.

Having broken export records in succession, the sector aims to export $1 billion this year.

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci underscored that Turkish game developers who have developed games that are attracting attention all over the world maintain the success they have achieved in exports.

Zeybekci stressed that the game development sector is scoring with the gamers who continuously work on the development of new games and make a difference in foreign trade on the other.

The minister stated that according to the Game Developers Association of Turkey (TOGED), the sector increased its exports by 25 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year and reached $500 million, breaking a record in exports. He also said with the increasing interest in Turkish game developers’ games and the new additions to existing games, a new export record was broken last year, adding that exports of the sector increased by 40 percent in 2017, reaching $700 million.

“The sector broke successive records in the previous year and now aims to export $1 billion this year. We, as the Ministry of JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

“The sector broke successive records in the previous year and now aims to export $1 billion this year.

We, as the Ministry of Economy, will continue to support the gaming software sector.”

Economy, will continue to support the gaming software sector,” Zeybekci added.

Zeybekci noted that the sector has broken new records every year in exports. Stressing that Turkish game developers are also preserving their target of $2.5 billion to $10 billion for 2023, Zeybekci said besides their success in exports, games developed in Turkey were also awarded at many prestigious international competitions last year.

TOGED Chairman Ali Erkin said that interest shown in the games developed in Turkey continue in the international arena.Erkin stated that the new games of individual developers and gaming companies, which have reached a massive volume of followers, as well as new versions of existing games are anticipated all over the world. He expressed that the sector is happy to turn this international interest in the an operation that brings foreign exchange to the country, adding that the sector is proceeding with sure steps towards their targets.

TOGED Chairman Erkin underlined that support provided for the game development sector has made a significant contribution in this regard. He said they received support from various institutions, especially the Ministry of Economy, in this process.

“More than 90 percent of our sales are made abroad.

We grow steadily in this sense.

Besides economic activities, the sector’s development is our most important agenda item. We are in contact with relevant institutions about what needs to be done for this, and there are steps we have taken,” Erkin continued.

“We are striving to change the public view of the sector and to bring a qualified workforce in the sector. ”Suggesting that along with the growth in the sector and companies, the need for human resources also grows, Erkin stressed that the doors of the sector are open for anyone who worked on various areas of game development and created concrete works during the course of their education.

“From now on, we will try to grow our sector as well as train the human resources needed,” Erkin said.

PHOTOGRAPH BYLOREM IPSUM

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The Turkish Perspective

EXHIBITION

ISTANBUL HOSTED THE REGION’S LARGEST EXHIBITION

One of the five largest exhibitions in the world; the Building, Construction Materials and Technologies Exhibition Yapı – Turkeybuild Istanbul hosted 85,923 visitors this year.

BY İBRAHİM AVCI

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S THE LARGEST building

exhibition in the wide region including the Balkans, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Middle East and North Africa, Yapı – Turkeybuild Istanbul hosted around 1,000 exhibiting companies from 17 countries at 11 halls and outdoor areas this year.

Having taken place at Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center between May 8th- 12th, the exhibition brought together world-famous celebrities such as the WikiHouse Foundation founder Alastair Parvin and architects Asif Khan and Achim Menges, as well as over 90 important architects, industrial experts and leaders from Turkey and all around the world.

Yapı – Turkeybuild Istanbul hosted the Business Development Platform events exclusive to its 41st anniversary, addressing all issues regarding the industry such as innovation, technology, architecture and design with the ‘Yapı Stage’ and ‘Yapi Arena’ events, as well as the ‘Yapi Unplugged’ workshop and the ‘Yapi Masterclass’. This year’s event program was held in high regard by the exhibitors and the visitors.

Yapı – Turkeybuild Istanbul also carried out an important social responsibility project on its 41st anniversary. As part of

the project that was initiated in cooperation with the “Herkes İçin Mimarlık” (Architecture for All) Association, seats were produced by recycling the waste material remaining from stand production during the exhibition. The seats and open classroom units that were produced were sent to the Uşak Eşme Güllü Village Primary and Secondary School to put them back into use. Referring to the social responsibility projects that they carried out on the 41st anniversary of Yapi – Turkeybuild Istanbul, Kemal Ülgen said: “Our goal is to address the needs of the schools in need by spreading this project to other schools each year and to help bringing village schools back to use in addition to the contributions into education.”

TURKEYBUILD

iSTANBUL Yapı – Turkeybuild Istanbul also carried out an important social responsibility project on its 41st anniversary.

PHOTOGRAPH BYLOREM IPSUM

8 - 12 MAY2018

Commenting on the 41st Yapı – Turkeybuild – Istanbul, the ITE Group Regional Director Kemal Ülgen said: “Just like the previous 40 years, we had a pretty successful exhibition on our 41st anniversary as well; hosting around 1,000 exhibiting companies from 17 countries. We discussed many topics about the sector in great detail with the experts of the industry.

We brought world-famous architects and designers such as Alastair Parvin, Asif Khan and Achim Menges together with the followers of our industry, benefiting from their know-how and experience. One of the greatest expectations in the exhibitions are foreign participants and visitors.

We are totally satisfied with the results of the Hosted Buyer Program, which was implemented as part of the Ministry of Economics and our exhibition by taking advantage of the global power of ITE Group.

We contributed into creating new collaboration opportunities by bringing our exhibitors.

The countries who sent the highest number of visitors this year were Poland, Germany, Italy, Russia, China, Taiwan and Czech Republic.

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Briefing

AVIATION

Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four Brings Basketball Passion to Belgrade Europe’s top club-level basketball competition, title-sponsored by Turkish Airlines, sees Real Madrid crowned as the champion.

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HE FINAL FOUR came head to head in Europe’s highest-level basketball championship over the weekend at the Štark Arena, Serbia’s largest indoor arena.

And the new champion Real Madrid was crowned as the victor, defeating last year’s

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

champion Fenerbahçe Doğuş Istanbul, on Sunday 20th May in the final stage of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

Taking place from May 18th to 20th, Europe’s most prominent and highest-level basketball championship saw four of Europe’s best teams

battle it out for the coveted title. This year’s finalists were CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe Doğuş Istanbul and Žalgiris Kaunas. Žalgiris Kaunas won the third-place game 77-79 against CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid has won

a decisive victory of 85-80 over its rival Fenerbahçe Doğus Istanbul at the end of the Championship game at Belgrade’s Štark Arena. This win also stands for the 10th EuroLeague Championship of the Spanish representative.

PHOTOGRAPH BYLOREM IPSUM

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PHOTOGRAPH BYLOREM IPSUM

The Turkish Perspective

To complete one of the greatest seasons by a teenager in basketball history, Luka Doncic was chosen Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four MVP (Most Valuable Player). For the Final Four, Doncic led Madrid with 31 points, was second with 6 assists and a performance index rating of 35 and third with 10 rebounds. At age 19, he is the youngest ever Final Four MVP. In addition, the EuroLeague MVP, Luka Doncic of Real Madrid was awarded 1.000.000 Miles&Smiles Travel miles from the advantageous FFP of Turkish Airlines.

As the home hub of Turkish Airlines, in 2017 Final Four, Istanbul has twice played host to the championship and for the 2018 Final Four, Serbia’s capital was well placed to welcome the best in basketball. The evening culminated in Real Madrid triumphantly lifting the coveted Turkish Airlines EuroLeague 2018 trophy cheered on by the crowds and broadcast by more than 32 broadcasters across more than 175 countries.

Mr. Ilker Aycı, Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive

Committee, commenting on the exciting final between Fenerbahçe Doğuş Istanbul and Real Madrid; “Belgrade provided a spectacular backdrop for another thrilling Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, here in the Serbian capital for the first time. As Turkish Airlines we would like to thank Belgrad for the warm hospitality that showed in last three days.

The Final Four competed in Europe’s most prominent and highest-level basketball championship with clear sportsmanship and energy.

Heartfelt congratulations

Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee M. İlker Aycı delivered a speech at the Final Four Belgrade 2018 - Awards Ceremony.

to the last champion Real Madrid and its successful rival Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul who turned this final game into an exciting feast.”

At the awards ceremony at the Palace of Serbia on 19 May, five of the biggest stars in the 2017-18 competition were announced; Nick Calathes of Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens, Nando De Colo of CSKA Moscow, Luka Doncic of Real Madrid, Tornike Shengelia of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz, and Jan Vesely of Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul Sponsored by Turkish Airlines, the airline that flies to more countries than any other, Final Four championship again offered sports lovers around another unique environment and experience. In the true spirit of Turkish Airlines, ‘delightfully different’ activities were performed by teams from Turkish Airlines and EuroLeague.

This was also an opportunity to continue with initiatives carried out by OneTeam, EuroLeague’s corporate social responsibility program which was created with the Turkish flag carrier airline’s support in 2012.

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Briefing

INVESTMENT

PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN’S VISIT IN UK CEMENTS TURKEY AS TOP STRATEGIC PARTNER During his official visit to UK, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came together with top executives of international fund managers at Bloomberg headquarters.

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resident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official visit to London on May 13-16 to attend the TurkishBritish Tatlıdil Forum and to meet with Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The official visit also saw President Erdoğan meet with businesspeople and investors during a business lunch at Bloomberg headquarters.

Accompanying Erdoğan were Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci, and ISPAT President Arda Ermut. The JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

delegation met with senior managers of leading global banks and funds such as Credit Suisse, AXA, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Blackrock, Fidelity, ING, HSBC, Standard Chartered, EBRD, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup. President Erdoğan informed the attendees about the economic developments in Turkey and then addressed their questions.

ISPAT President Arda Ermut said the meeting offered British investors the opportunity to hear first-hand about Turkey’s economic policies. “The

UK is an important FDI source for Turkey. We have more than 3,000 companies operating in Turkey with UK capital and we have attracted USD 10 billion in FDI from the UK since 2002.

We have a trade volume of more than USD 16 billion.

So, this meeting was of vital importance. We showcased Turkey’s support for UK investors at the highest level,” Ermut added. President Erdoğan gave an interview to Bloomberg TV following the meeting.

Prior to President Erdoğan’s official visit,

ISPAT was also present at the “Invest in Turkey Forum 2018” in London, with ISPAT Vice President Ahmet İhsan Erdem being a keynote speaker. Erdem presented on development plans and the policies of investing in Turkey for potential investors, infrastructure developers, and financiers.

His presentation mainly focused on how Turkey’s macroeconomic indicators, growth prospects, and unparalleled economic reforms all contributed to lucrative opportunities across a wide variety of sectors.

The Turkish Perspective

PRESIDENT ERDOĞAN MEETS EXECUTIVES OF SOUTH KOREAN GIANTS

DISCUSSES CURRENT, UPCOMING PROJECTS

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Together, those companies have a combined annual market volume in the trillions of dollars, have substantial investments in Turkey, and continue to partake in the country’s mega-scale projects.

The series of executive meetings in Seoul were aimed at reinforcing Turkey’s bilateral ties between the South Korean contractors and Turkish business people. President Erdoğan encouraged the South Korean companies to continue their engagement with Turkey by taking part in the new investments that are in the pipeline across a wide range of sectors.

s part of his official visit to South Korea, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and a delegation that included Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s Ambassador to South Korea Ersin Erçin, and ISPAT President Arda Ermut, came together with officials from several major South Korean companies on May 2.

Among the companies the Turkish delegation met with were SK Engineering and Construction (E&C), Hyundai Motors, Samsung, LG, Hanwha Q-cells, Daelim Industrial, and GS E&C.

Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Opens Escalator Factory In Kocaeli

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nother groundbreaking investment in Turkey!

Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Elevator opened an escalator production facility in Kocaeli as part of a EUR 20 million investment. The move positions Turkey as a central hub in escalator exports to the region.

Deputy PM Fikri Işık – “Employment in the manufacturing industry is integral to sustainable employment. We do not distinguish between foreign and local investors; every company, like Thyssenkrupp, that invests in Turkey is treated as a local company.”

ISPAT President Arda Ermut – “Thyssenkrupp’s investment indicates Turkey’s significance in the eyes of foreign investors.

With an initial annual capacity of 1,200 units and initial localization rate of 50% and up to 90% at later stages, the facility will lessen our dependency on imports.”

Thyssenkrupp Elevator Turkey CEO Turgay Şarlı – “Having operated for many years via its sales office in

Turkey, Thyssenkrupp once again demonstrates its confidence and commitment to Turkey with the inauguration of this facility.

We will not only expand, but we will also drive other Turkish companies to grow.”

Thyssenkrupp Elevator Global CFO Ercan

Keleş – “Our ‘Made in Turkey’ escalators will build upon the ‘local and national’ concept. Turkish engineers and workers in Thyssenkrupp’s new facility will enable the transfer of technology and pass our know-how on to Turkey’s mission.”

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Briefing

DENMARK’S DFDS TAKES OVER TURKISH OCEAN FORWARDER U.N. RO-RO FOR EUR 950 MILLION D

anish shipping and logistics group DFDS – northern Europe’s largest logistics company – has announced the acquisition of a 98.8 percent stake in Turkish freight shipping operator U.N. Ro-Ro – Turkey’s largest operator of ro-ro (roll on/roll off ) freight ships – from Turkish private equity companies Actera Group and Esas Holdings for EUR 950 million on a debtfree basis.

According to DFDS, this acquisition of the largest player in the Turkish market is aimed at increasing DFDS’s presence in the Mediterranean and making it a major player in the growing transport market between the EU and Turkey.

U.N. Ro-Ro operates five routes connecting Italy and France with Turkey. It runs 12 ships and manages port

terminals in Trieste, Italy and in Pendik, near Istanbul in Turkey. The routes connect the Turkish ports of Pendik, Ambarli and Mersin with Trieste and Bari in Italy, Toulon in France, and Patras

in Greece. In cooperation with rail operators, U.N. Ro-Ro also offers intermodal transport between key EU markets and the ports.

Commenting on the deal, DFDS CEO and President

Niels Smedegaard said, “Trade with the EU is extremely dynamic. Since U.N. Ro-Ro was founded in 1994, seaborne trade has continued to take market share from road transport where congestion, border controls, and customs formalities hinder the flow.

Today, 55 percent of the trade is seaborne – and the share continues to grow, benefiting U.N. Ro-Ro, which is the major operator in this market.

U.N. Ro-Ro is a highly profitable company, and we are confident that joining forces will create exciting new opportunities as we can expand services to new customers and combine the two sales organizations.”

The management of U.N Ro-Ro will remain in place.

The company employs 500 employees, and the deal is subject to approval by regulatory authorities.

ISPAT’S PORTUGAL PROGRAM UNVEILS NEW OPPORTUNITIES I

SPAT continued pushing forward with its investment attraction and promotion activities in May. A main country of interest this past month for ISPAT President Arda Ermut and his delegation was Portugal, where they held a roundtable meeting with top management of major Portuguese companies and a participated in a number of interviews in Lisbon.

The visit saw the ISPAT delegation host a business lunch meeting with senior representatives of around twenty renowned companies JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

in Portugal, such as Portugal Telecom, Vision Box, Simoldes, Amorim, EDP, Sugal, Pestana and BBVA. ISPAT President Arda Ermut gave the latest updates on Turkey’s investment environment, business opportunities, and economic reforms. Reminding that Portugal and Turkey have common features, Ermut invited more Portuguese companies to invest in Turkey.

ISPAT’s Portugal program also included media interviews with Jornal Economico and Dinheiro Vivo.

The Turkish Perspective

ISPAT ATTENDS GLOBAL PRIVATE EQUITY EVENT IN WASHINGTON D.C.

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he 20th Annual Global Private Equity Conference took place on May 15-16 in Washington D.C. Hosted by the International Finance Corporation in association with EMPEA, the event brought together 900 delegates from 80 countries.

ISPAT was a sponsor, exhibitor, and panelist at the event. ISPAT Vice President Ahmet Burak Dağlıoğlu participated as a panelist on the “Mitigating Risk and

ISPAT has taken solid steps to increase its dialogue with the private equity industry and has participated in various activities.

Capturing Growth in Turkey” panel and spoke on how GPs can leverage liquidity to attract additional investments and capital to Turkey in coming years. He stated that ISPAT has taken solid steps to increase its dialogue with the private equity industry and has participated in various activities over the past year to raise awareness globally. “We believe that private equity will make a significant contribution to our endeavors to attract

investment into Turkey - this is because private equity is one of the major sources of FDI in the world,” said Dağlıoğlu.

The Global Private Equity Conference, the leading emerging markets private equity event in the world, brought together development finance institutions, new investors, private equity consultants, and industry practitioners representing private and public pension funds.

more than 20 million online shoppers and an e-commerce market of USD 10 billion, Turkey holds exciting potential

for startups. In the first quarter of 2018, investments totaling USD 19 million were made to 17 startups in Turkey.

Turkish Startups Summit Leaves Mark In Germany

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SPAT offered insight into Turkey’s growing position as a global startup hub at the “Investment in Turkish Startups Summit” held in cooperation with Istanbul Startup Angels and the Turkey Technology Team Foundation (T3 Vakfı) in Berlin, Germany.

ISPAT Vice President Furkan Karayaka and

Coordinator Ahmet Cüneyt Selçuk gave presentations during the Summit. They focused on the general investment environment in Turkey and the incentives and opportunities in the Turkish startup ecosystem.

Turkey is Europe’s 4th largest online user base, with more than 56 million internet users. With

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Cover / Fellowship Istanbul: Where of theEast Twenty Meets West

ISTAN JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

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NBUL The Turkish Turkish Perspective Perspective The

Following the global crisis, at a time when international investments fell and the search for a new financial structure is in progress, it is very important for İstanbul to come forward with a competitive structure.

BY MUSTAFA YİĞİT

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Cover / Fellowship Istanbul: Where of theEast Twenty Meets West

In consideration of Turkey’s strong presence in terms of

economic and financial development in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Central Asia, it is possible to say that İstanbul has the potential to become a regional, and then global financial center.

The global business cycle and Turkey’s recent performance clearly show that making İstanbul an international financial center with the joint efforts of the financial sector is a realistic vision.

The Turkish economy has survived previous economic crises, and has registered remarkable growth in the last few years. Its growth reached almost 3.18% in 2016, and about 5.11% in 2018.

For one thing, Turkey is quite a populous country, with heterogeneous development across the territory.

Based on economic standards, Turkey is recognized as an emerging market and is one of the world’s newly industrialized countries, having earned a place in the Group of Twenty, which is a group consisting of the twenty most important economies in the world.

Turkey’s economical significance is partially attributed to the country’s growth, especially during the recent global financial recession. While countries around the world struggled to grow, let alone maintain a balanced economy, Turkey experienced a rather high percentage of gross domestic product growth annually. Additionally, Turkey’s financial sector saw significant improvements, most notably with the country’s inflation, which reached rates lower than those prior to the financial crash and even the lowest in a decade.

With a rapidly growing populace as well as having had one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and the world, JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

Turkey managed to maintain a stable and unchanged unemployment rate over the past decade, with the exception of 2009.

However, despite a significant spike in unemployment, Turkey’s competent management helped bring the total unemployment rate to single digits for the first time in many years.

İSTANBUL AS THE MAJOR BUSINESS CENTRE

İstanbul’s proximity to both the East and the West is a remarkable advantage.

As a geopolitically important center that unites London in the West with Singapore in the East, İstanbul is located at a spot that has the highest potential of bringing together investors and financial companies within the triangle of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Thanks to this location, İstanbul has a time difference of maximum two hours with European, Eurasian and MENA countries. Its proximity to centers including London, Frankfurt and Zurich in terms of physical location and time zone is a significant facility for financial institutions that plan to open branches in İstanbul. The city’s convenient location in terms of time zone makes it easier for it to work with the world exchanges.

While the city has a population of over 15 million (around 19% of the whole country), it handles most of the country’s international and wholesale trade, as well as its services business. For example, over 40% of Turkish exports and imports go through the İstanbul

REMARKABLE GROWTH IN THE LAST FEW YEARS 10%

GDP Growth Compared to Previous Year 8.49

8%

6.09

6% 4.79

5.11

5.17

4% 3.18

3.48 3.5 3.51 3.59 3.60

2%

0%

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017* 2018* 2019* 2020* 2021* 2022*

Source: Statista 2018

The Turkish Turkish Perspective Perspective The

39

POTENTIAL TO BECOME A GLOBAL FINANCIAL CENTER +50% OF GLOBAL TRADE OCCURS WITHIN A 4-HR DIRECT FLIGTH RADIUS EUROPE

RUSSIA GDP: USD 1.3 trillion Population: 144 million Imports: USD 191 million

GDP:USD 17.7 trillion Population: 600 million Imports: USD 5.7 trillion TURKEY

Direct flights between Turkey & Singapore

MENA GDP: USD 3.1 trillion Population: 431 miilion Imports: USD 900 million

port, and about 42% of Turkey’s tax revenues are generated by İstanbul. On the whole, İstanbul itself accounts for over one-fifth of Turkey’s GDP. Such a remarkable performance is thanks partly to its strategic location, which lies at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, making it a natural trading and transportation hub across the continents.

As a bridge that unites Asia and Europe, İstanbul’s central location allows a passenger to fly to 56 different countries and the other financial centers in the region in less than 4 hours. With Turkish Airlines flights, it is possible to access more than 150 international routes directly. In addition to the two airports in the city, the construction of a third airport, which is larger than both, has started.

The target of establishing at least one university in every city led the number of universities in the country to more than double in the last couple of years, increasing to 170. With 51 universities, İstanbul is the leader in terms of the number of higher education institutions.

The new target is to add to the qualified labor force. Towards this purpose, universities are encouraged to train finance experts through post graduate programs. Also, effort is made to attract highly qualified labor force from abroad.

The new Turkish Commercial Code, on the other hand, went in force on July 1, 2012. As a country in EU-accession process, Turkey has already taken a long way with respect to the harmonization of the Turkish capital markets regulation with the EU acquis. New bilateral agreements that encourage cross-border investments and that prevent doubletaxation are signed every day. The target is to harmonize tax, legal infrastructure, transparency and information mechanisms as well as financial sector regulations with international arrangements and practices, especially the EU acquis.

Business infrastructure is the synthesis of a business plan and a business process.

It consists of human resources, business

Turkey’s economical significance is partially attributed to the country’s growth, especially during the recent global financial recession.

CENTRAL ASIA & CAUCASIA GDP: USD 312 million Population: 87 million Imports: USD 71 million

process and operational infrastructure.

As part of IFC İstanbul strategy, the living quality, security and transportation facilities in İstanbul will be improved, and the physical conditions that will satisfy the infrastructure requirements of financial institutions will be provided. New investments are made continuously in order to strengthen Turkey’s technology and communication infrastructure; offering fast, reliable, uninterrupted and low-cost electronic communication facilities.

Efforts are in progress to establish an independent and autonomous “arbitration center” in İstanbul. Such arbitration center will be internationally competitive with respect to cost, speed, and finalization process of decisions.

Parties will be allowed to select arbitrators of their choice, including those that are not included in the list of arbitrators accepted by the Arbitration Center.

Provisions on arbitration in the Code of Civil Procedure and those of the International Arbitration Law will be combined and a single set of arbitration regulations will be prepared. Mediation system will also be improved so as to settle disputes in a short time, without referring to the court. The arbitration center will also offer corporate mediation.

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Cover / Fellowship Istanbul: Where of theEast Twenty Meets West

IFC ISTANBUL&BIST

Set to become one of the world’s top 10 financial centers, İstanbul International Finance Center (IIFC), for which studies on the legal infrastructure have already begun, is expected to attract funds primarily from the Gulf countries.

T

he İstanbul International Financial Center (IIFC) project - which started in 2009 and is currently being developed in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district - has been designed to be one of the world’s major financial centers.

This landmark government project aims to build a larger financial center than the existing ones in New York, London and Dubai and also aims to make Istanbul the center of finance internationally. It will create a center designed be the heart of the world financial sector and serve 24/7 as a public hub. With the completion of the project, some 30,000 people will be employed. Constructed on an area of 2.5 million square meters (26.9 million square feet), the IIFC will have 560,000 square meters of office space, 90,000 square meters of shopping mall, 70,000 square meters of hotel, 60,000 square meters of residential space and a culture and congress center with a capacity of 2,000.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

BORSA İSTANBUL’S PLACE IN İSTANBUL INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTER

In order to position İstanbul as an international financial center, novelties and improvements were planned in many fields, and a significant part of these have been already realized. A major step taken in this respect is the new Capital Markets Law. As required by the Law, which re-structures Turkey’s capital markets and institutions as efficient, competitive and capable of responding to the developments in the international markets, İMKB, İstanbul Gold Exchange and the Turkish Derivatives Exchange (TURKDEX) merged under the roof of “Borsa İstanbul”. Therefore, Borsa İstanbul offers a single platform for trading all capital markets instruments, and has a very important mission in the IFC İstanbul project.

Borsa İstanbul’s contributions to İstanbul’s position as a financial center

may be listed under five headings; liquidity, product diversity, a fund center for international investors, technology development, and brand value. High liquidity and ensuring healthy price discovery play a key role in international investors’ financial center preferences.

Within this framework, Borsa İstanbul is the region’s leading market with its high liquidity, and offers a great potential.

Borsa İstanbul’s traded value and market capitalization show that Borsa İstanbul is the “market of the region”. Borsa İstanbul was established in line with the developments in the international securities exchange business, and partly through the regional and global connectivity, it targets to become one of the leading exchanges of the world, as a platform offering trading of all capital markets instruments, employing a technological infrastructure at international standards, and ensuring operational efficiency.

The Turkish Turkish Perspective Perspective The

In the upcoming period, upon the launch of the energy and commodity markets, these markets will be integrated with financial markets. The brand value of Borsa İstanbul also plays an important role in İstanbul’s identity as a financial center. Aware of the place of İstanbul in the global financial sector’s perception, Borsa İstanbul rapidly updates its market regulations, and introduces new markets, products and technologies in an attempt to catch up with the international standards in the sector.

ISTANBUL ARBITRATION CENTRE T

Borsa İstanbul attaches great importance to research and development activities for new financial products, and is working jointly with the World Bank on establishing an Islamic financial research center to work on the increasingly popular Islamic products. Furthermore, efforts to establish another research institute that will work in cooperation with universities as a technology park are in progress.

Borsa İstanbul is an important factor for İstanbul Financial Center project. In consideration of this, investments made as part of this project may be viewed as those made in the future of Borsa İstanbul. Borsa İstanbul will become a center of attraction that offers trading of all the financial assets traded in the global markets.

he Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) is an independent, neutral and impartial institution providing efficient dispute resolution services for both international and domestic parties. The ISTAC’s dispute resolution services are available to all contracting parties, without any membership requirements.

The ISTAC Arbitration and Mediation Rules, prepared by the Centre with regard to modern institutional rules, entered into force on 26 October 2015. Introducing innovative and efficient provisions, the Rules answer the current needs of arbitration and mediation proceedings.

Within the scope of arbitration, the ISTAC offers services such as Fast Track Arbitration, Emergency Arbitrator and appointments of arbitrators in ad hoc procedures. The ISTAC arbitral awards are binding and subject to enforcement anywhere in the world. The ISTAC consists of a Board and a Secretariat, comprised of internationally prominent and leading experts in the area of arbitration law.

The role of the Board is to assist parties and arbitrators in ensuring that disputes are resolved as efficiently as possible. The Secretariat is available to provide its services under the Rules and to answer questions from parties, their counsels, arbitrators, and any other actors involved in the ISTAC dispute resolution services.

Providing the parties a neutral, flexible and confidential setting for dispute resolution on an international scale, the ISTAC constitutes an exclusive alternative for the resolution of disputes,

The Istanbul Arbitration Centre is an independent institution of arbitration, which has been established for the purpose of providing institutional arbitration services. with less expense and within the shortest amount of time possible. Given Turkey’s key geographical location, the ISTAC shall be an international centre for the resolution of commercial disputes between European, Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Parties wishing to refer to the ISTAC arbitration or mediation are encouraged to include an appropriate clause in their contracts.

www.istac.org.tr

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Cover / Fellowship Istanbul: Where of theEast Twenty Meets West

The City Never Sleeps

A city that offers you tradition and modernism; authenticity and evolution; historical places and latest fashion... Wrapping and warming you up with the sun of the Eastern world, appealing with the intellect and technology of the West.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

The Turkish Turkish Perspective Perspective The

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Cover / Fellowship Istanbul: Where of theEast Twenty Meets West

In the early seventies Turkey was an insider’s tip for hippies, backpackers, globetrotters and a few enthusiasts of history and culture. But with the beginning of the eighties Turkey witnessed a steady boom in tourism and double-digit growth rates almost every year. This boom started with the decision of Turgut Özal, the former prime minister and president of the Republic of Turkey, a visionary politician who understood that tourism is a very important branch of world economy. His government declared several suitable places at the southern coast of Turkey as tourism development regions and allowed the building of new hotels on plots of lands rented for 49 years and also endowed many companies with necessary credits in order to start them into business. İstanbul has been populated by the humankind since the 6th century BC. Including Roman, Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires, this very old but fascinating city functioned as a home to many tribes, nomads and of course; civilizations. Not only hosting, İstanbul was also the administrative and religious center of these three empires mentioned.

What this privilege brings about is an endless reserve of religious places, historical buildings, museums, palaces, structures carrying the characteristic features of a number of different human societies.

Maybe this is the reason why İstanbul has always been a city full of tolerance towards any kind of diversities. In İstanbul, mosques, churches and synagogues stand side by side. İstanbul has always been a major trade center of the world. Since the city is a main junction point where sea and land routes all intersect, İstanbul became a pivotal exchange point globally.

In terms of population, it is the biggest metropolis of Europe. İstanbul also offers lots of opportunities. Not to mention endless number of historical places, you can find modern art galleries, exhibitions, festivals, museums, special events in this JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

city alive each day. But even walking in the streets might be a pleasure, since each corner opens up to another fabulous structure dating back to hundreds of years before today. İstanbul today features an outstanding combination of history and modernity.

The beautiful silhouette of the city is a palimpsest that combines the architectural masterpieces of Byzantine, Ottoman and Turkish rules. The meeting point of Europe and Asia over many centuries, the matchless skyline of İstanbul, formed by the creative genius of Byzantine and Ottoman architects, also symbolizes the cultural diversity of the city today. İstanbul

is a historical city, but relentlessly modern with all that it has to offer at global standards.

Enjoying a unique geographical position straddling 25 Europe and Asia, İstanbul is culturally rich and vibrant. You will be welcomed by an exciting mix of scents, sounds, and sights that have enchanted many visitors alike throughout the thousands of years of the city’s history.

A loyal inheritor of a multicultural past and a leading metropolis moving forward at an astounding rate, the city truly merges the ancient with the modern. The domes, minarets and old bazaars of the city intermingle with the state of the art convention venues, buzzing malls, leading universities and hotels at world standards.

Although İstanbul is a metropolis where one is surrounded by thousands of people, it still offers some surprisingly romantic retreats. There is something about this busy city the energy, the Ottoman and Byzantine architecture mingling with shantytowns, the lights of the Bosphorus flickering on the water that can also be magical.

As the European Capital of Culture in 2010, İstanbul certified its richness and generousness in that field too. Alongside

The Turkish Turkish Perspective Perspective The

THE DELIGHT OF TURKEY

The Turkish cuisine’s richness of variety offers a wide choice for those who want to experience and enjoy new flavours. From exquisite pastry choices to delicious meat, fish and vegetable specialities; Turkey’s gastronomic panorama reflects a remarkable culinary synthesis coming from its cultural heritage.

FEELS LIKE HOME

İSTANBUL FOR ART LOVERS

From five-star deluxe residence hotels to boutique hotels with minimalist design, İstanbul offers a wide range of accommodation choices for everyone.

Nearby the touristic attractions or just next to a gigantic convention center, considering the millions of visitors İstanbul embraces each year, it is definitely not dubious to say anyone can discover the hotel suitable for themselves in this city.

The art scene in İstanbul has witnessed an explosion in recent years. Independent galleries have been popping up in the back streets of Tophane, Karaköy, Galata, Cihangir, and Nişantaşı neighbourhoods, as well as the more unlikely districts of Maslak, Arnavutköy, and Balat.

THE CITY NEVER SLEEPS

İstanbul has always been decribed as a city 63 which is “never sleeping”.

The reason of this epithet is that İstanbul offers a number of special events, organizastions and concerts at any time, no matter what the time is. It is quite reasonable to say that the generosity it offers, is a result of the wide range of resi- dents it has.

As a city hosting millions of peo- ple, the city of İstanbul has to enliven up the days and nights of its beloved residents with various events.

BUSINESS HUB AND CONVENTION CENTER Alongside the four intependent meeting clusters spread around the city, İstanbul is now, one of the “World’s Top Top 10 Congress

ENTERTAINMENT & NIGHTLIFE IN İSTANBUL Destinations”. With its deluxe convention and exhibition centers, this city is the house of glory for the professionals of the business World.

‘As World’s Top 10 Congress Destination’ İstanbul is an ideal city to hold congresses with 100 to 30,000 or more participants as the city is home to 7 convention centres and 3 exhibition centres each capable of hosting major events with thousands of delegates. There are also many unusual venues situated in historic sites and Bosphorus shores that offer unique experiences for events.

Sometimes a sophisticated nightclub with dazzling view nearby the sea, sometimes an underground bar with non-stop headbangers or just a relaxing café serving you hookah and also open all night long. İstanbul cannot be imagined without the sea and the Bosphorus. Therefore, nightlife venues are widely spread around the shoreline to keep the party going with a sea view! The venues by the Bosphorus are mostly high end luxury places where you can find the best enterteinment in the world. These venues are generally elite restaurant turning into clubs after 10 o’clock.

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Cover / Istanbul: Where East Meets West

Istanbul in Numbers Ä°stanbul offers lots of opportunities like historical places, you can find modern art galleries, exhibitions, festivals, museums, special events and much more.

Average Temperature

Average Relative Humidity

Average Sea Temperature

13,6 DEGREES CELSIUS

79%

15-16 CELSIUS

70%

of students are in State universities

Universities

51

(30% of total universities of Turkey are in Istanbul)

30%

in Private universities

105.009

Licensed sportsmen: (61.708 active) Stadiums: 16 with grass (139.729 capacity) and 11 with firm ground Olympic shooting range: Bowling saloons: Golf courses: Football (Soccer) teams: teams in Super League, 2 teams in 1st League, 10 teams in League C (as of 2017-2018 Season) Sports clubs: 470 football clubs, 190 basketball, 92 volleyball, 16 handicapped, 251 karate/judo/tekwandoo, 68 boxing

2

9

1

5

Newspapers

Hospitals

MILLION (2017)

Hotels

Sites

17 Palaces 66 49 Historic 64 Historic Historic

Mosques,

Churches

63 Museums

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

Medresse

471

80+ five star 100+ four star 90+ three star 110+ two star 10+ one star 125+ special category

349

Tourist entertainment installations

72 Cultural Centers 62 Fair-Congress 8 Centers Concerts halls

Tourists

10.8

233 (in 2015), 71% of them are private hospitals

Hospital Beds

33,733

Libraries

337 local and

28 national papers

28

Movie theaters

70

Theaters

23

Art galleries

68

Media

15 TV stations and

130 radio stations

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In Depth / Turkey: ‘Heart’ of Health Tourism

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The The Turkish Turkish Perspective Perspective

49

TURKEY: ‘HEART’ OF HEALTH TOURISM

Turkey, defined as a “paradise country” by travelers, is on the top of must-see places list of tourists. In addition to consolidating its position as an indispensable holiday stop for tourists from around the world, especially from Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Turkey has also set a higher standard of success with the concept it has created in health tourism in recent years.

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In Depth / Turkey: ‘Heart’ of Health Tourism

A

FASCINATING COUNTRY THAT IS AT THE CROSSROADS OF EAST AND WEST, once home to some of the earth’s greatest empires. Turkey straddles Europe and Asia, between modern and traditional, combining influences from the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Central Asia. A young population of 80 million people, turkey is a modernizing country that offers visitors a breathtaking array of historical ruins, amazing coastlines, bazaars, churches and mosques.

Turkey is now also recognized as a rising medical tourism center. Turkish hospitality and friendliness is well deserved, and now combined with easily accessible high quality medical treatment at economical prices, Turkey is a rising star on the global medical tourism scene. Medical tourists can benefit from the wide variety of healthcare options with high standings in international accreditations. Turkey offers patients and tourists great hospitality, fantastic scenery and now world-class healthcare at affordable rates. Healthcare transformation in Turkey has brought about dramatic change not only to Turkey’s healthcare landscape, but also the attention of doctors and patients from different countries.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

Stay Healthy While Travelling

For decades, Turkey has been known for its cultural, historic and natural beauties that mesmerize tourists around the world and in recent years, medical tourism has become another reason why thousands of tourists rush to Turkey.

With developing technology in Turkey’s health sector and state-of-the-art medical facilities, Turkey has turned into a medical hub for tourists from around the world in recent years. According to the latest figures, the number of tourists who visit the country for medical treatment exceeds 500,000, according to the latest figures. Realizing the potential for health tourism, medical centers and hospitals have become a suitable choice for tourists seeking treatment options from facilities offering good accommodations, the best drugs and much more.

Along with the U.S. and Germany, Turkey is among the top 10 destinations for medical tourism. Turks offers competitive treatment options for aesthetic treatments, eye surgery and treatment of various other diseases. Tourists often prefer to get plastic surgery here, as well as hair transplants and various other treatments, while enjoying travels in Turkey where they discover the natural and cultural richness of the country at the same time.

TURKEY IS ONE OF THE LEADING HEALTH BASES OF THE WORLD

BY ITS QUALIFIED HUMAN RESOURCES, COMPETITIVE PRICES, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND EVIDENCE-BASED SERVICE PROVISION AT INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS.

The Turkish Perspective

TRENDING MEDICAL TREATMENTS IN TURKEY DENTAL TREATMENT For both medical and aesthetic reasons, dental treatments are very popular in Turkey. Locals and tourists alike generally prefer to be treated at private dental centers rather than hospitals since procedures are done more quickly in the centers. The reason why many come to Turkey for this is mainly because the prices are much more affordable than Western countries.

There are more than 1,200 state and private hospitals operated by the Turkish Ministry of Health and these hospitals have local and international health certification. Apart from those hospitals, medical centers serving specifically your specific needs have offices worldwide.

As in all corners of the world, medical centers that operate illegally without the proper certification do exist so it is important to thoroughly research the medical facilities you choose prior to going in for treatment.

Medical tourism is a rapidly developing new sector in Turkey.

Increasingly, patients from Europe and the Middle East come to Turkey for medical treatment as high-quality healthcare services are offered at relatively more economical prices. There are 46 Joint Commission International (JCI)-certified hospitals in Turkey, making Turkey the country with the third highest number of such hospitals (excluding the United States). The most popular procedures are cosmetic, dental and ophthalmology procedures. Turkey also has a good reputation in cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, nephrology, oncology, neurology, dermatology, gynecology/ obstetrics, orthopedics, organ transplantation, and otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat). As some of these surgical procedures have long waiting lists in European countries, Turkey has become an attractive country for medical procedures.

PLASTIC SURGERY Plastic surgery is classified among the top three medical treatments that many tourists come to Turkey for. Turkish medical doctors in the field are considered some of the best doctors in Europe. From simple nose jobs to detailed procedures, Turkish aesthetic doctors work miracles. Aftercare and patient privacy are also other reasons why many tourists choose Turkey to undergo plastic surgery.

EYE SURGERY Eye surgery and cataract surgery are considered among the most expensive health services around the world. Compared to many countries, Turkey offers high quality eye treatment at affordable prices. There are hundreds of eye treatment centers across the country offering treatment packages from well-educated and high-profile doctors specializing in optometry.

Tourists who arrive in the country for a short holiday can quickly have eye surgery and go back to their countries with high quality vision.

HAIR TRANSPLANTS Turkey has become a center of hair implantation, welcoming people from more than 70 countries who demanded hair implant services. Istanbul has become a hub for males who would like to get a head with full of hair. It can be seen hundreds of tourists who have received hair transplant surgery on Istanbul’s streets. There are many private centers that provide hair transplant service at an affordable price while giving you service such as private chauffeured limousine transfer from the airport and many other services.

SPA TREATMENT Spending a holiday at natural thermal springs - known as “kaplıca” in Turkish - is gaining popularity for both local tourists and people from abroad; especially Arab countries. Many believe these thermal springs have healing properties, which is why the elderly are particularly attracted to them. Turkey’s western cities are popular for spa and thermal treatment for people of all ages.

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In Depth / Turkey: ‘Heart’ of Health Tourism

Incentives to Promote Health Tourism

The Turkish government has rolled up its sleeves to promote and boost health tourism with new regulations and incentives for the sector, while bringing additional investment incentives for the private sector within the framework of the field.

With the recently enacted value added tax (VAT) regulation to promote health tourism, a VAT exemption was issued for foreigners in Turkey for services offered in this area.

The government previously exempted earnings obtained in health tourism from the 50 percent corporate tax to encourage private hospitals to bring patients from abroad. In 2017, Turkey, which has set a higher standard of success with the concept it has created in the sector in recent years, saw a 31 percent increase in health tourism, Turkish Medical Tourism Development Council Member Özlem Safiye Kurt recently said. She stated that more than 1 million people came to Turkey for health tourism in 2017, leading to a foreign exchange inflow of more than $10 billion.

The VAT exemption to support health tourism has made Turkey more advantageous than other countries and that they will soon make a new regulation to pave the way for the private sector and promote health tourism institutionally.

The government also will add investment incentives for private sector health tourism investments, the Economy Ministry will provide additional tax deduction and VAT exemption by defining it in the investment incentive system and contracts covering more than one year with social security institutions abroad can be made and, in particular, by making long-term contracts with social security institutions in Europe, they will provide treatment and care when countries agreeing on prices send their sick and elderly citizens to Turkey for care.

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TURKEY IS NOW CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE TOP 10 MEDICAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS IN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF ITS EASILY ACCESSIBLE LOCATION, HIGH QUALITY MEDICAL CARE AND AFFORDABLE PRICES.

IT Solutions in Healthcare

Turkey has taken a very progressive approach towards utilizing health IT solutions in the country’s healthcare structure. When a citizen reports to a medical doctor in Turkey, all his/her healthcare information is recorded in an Electronic Health Record (EHR).

ICD-10 coding is the standard for the description of illnesses in these records. All doctor visits, diagnostics, treatments, and prescriptions are entered in the record. The system produces e-prescriptions which are fulfilled at pharmacies. This also makes it possible for the pharmacies

to claim their receivables from the Social Security Institute online. Data collected from across the country is centrally stored at Ministry of Health servers. In April 2015, Ministry of Health launched a mobile application which makes it possible for every citizen to access his/her health record.

For the coming years, Ministry of Health intends to use the data collected for forecasting and trending patterns of illnesses, and to have citizens be more active in managing their healthcare by accessing their healthcare records. If there is need, it will encourage citizens to use remote monitoring devices to more regularly communicate with their healthcare providers. Ministry of Health is also working on integrating ‘Clinical Decision Support’ elements into the current EHR systems in order to reduce errors made during diagnoses.

Telemedicine is still in its early stages and there are some pilot projects to provide medical support from larger hospitals to smaller hospitals in rural areas.

The Turkish Perspective

THE GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY HAS WORKED TOWARDS PROVIDING UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE, INCLUDING MAJOR CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION, GOVERNANCE AND FINANCING OF THE HEALTH SYSTEM, INCLUDING MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES. Fifth City Hospital Inaugurated

Kayseri City Hospital was inaugurated in the presence of H.E. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the TGNA (Turkish Grans National Assembly) İsmail Kahraman, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Health Minister Dr. Ahmet Demircan and many ministers.

In his speech, H.E. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that city hospitals had been his dream since his duty as the mayor and added that “Thankfully, we laid the foundations before and hold the inauguration ceremony today. Such a big progress. The foundations we laid have come to this point.”

H.E. Erdoğan further stated that Kayseri was the fifth city hospital inaugurated following Yozgat, Isparta, Mersin and Antalya and they planned to complete Ankara Bilkent, Manisa, Eskişehir and Elazığ City Hospitals by the end of the year.

According to statements of the Turkish President; with one thousand 607 bed capacity, 466 thousand 400 square meters closed and 281 thousand 500 square meter open area, Kayseri is the biggest city hospitals inaugurated so far. There are 413 examination rooms, 253 intensive care units and 43 operation tables in the hospitals which consist of 4 main hospital buildings and physical therapy and forensic departments.

In addition to closed parking lot with 3 thousand 200 cars capacity and open parking area with 200 vehicles capacity, there is a heliport and in cases of emergency, patients transferred with helicopters will be able to be admitted directly to the operation rooms or intensive care units.

H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also expressed his good wishes so that the

hospital completed in less than 3 years would make good contributions for both Kayseri and the region, congratulated those who took part in the whole process and wished swift recovery for all patients who would be treated in that hospital.

Healthcare System and Quality in Turkey

Turkey is now considered as one of the top 10 medical tourism destinations in the world because of its easily accessible location, high quality medical care and affordable prices. In the past, Turkey had a fragmented health system.

Starting in 2003, Turkey launched an ambitious program called the Health Transformation Program (HTP) designed to transform its healthcare landscape and has done so with some impressive results. Improved emergency Kayseri was the fifth city hospital inaugurated following Yozgat, Isparta, Mersin and Antalya.

response times, improved coverage of vulnerable populations, improved patient satisfaction has led to better health outcomes including life expectancy, improved maternal and child mortality rates and a lessening of communicable diseases.

The government of Turkey has worked towards providing universal health coverage, including major changes in organization, governance and financing of the health system, including management of resources and delivery of services.

Turkey’s healthcare system is comprised of public hospitals including state hospitals, education and research hospitals, university hospitals and private hospitals.

With 90 percent coverage achieved, the World Bank has called Turkey’s health reform as “one of the big success stories of health reform internationally”.

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The Turkish Perspective Content: Tamek: Reach the Unique Tastes with Tamek P55 Otokar: Domestic Production in Military Vehicles P58 Turkey’s 40 Years of Domestic Success Story P60 Editor: Serap Kaya

BEVERAGE, AUTOMOTIVE, FOOD...

Examples to the main group of products available in the food and fruit juice categories of Tamek include fruit juice, jam, food.

BEVERAGE

REACH THE UNIQUE TASTES WITH TAMEK

Having one of the largest contracted farming networks in Turkey, Tamek helps the farmers in all aspects; from planting to harvesting, including any seedling they need and field / orchard maintenance.

BY SERAP KAYA

T

amek, a food and beverage producer of 100% Turkish-origin, has been doing business with the enthusiasm and innovative spirit of the first day for 63 years since its establishment on March 31, 1955. Examples to the main group of products available in the food and fruit juice categories of Tamek include fruit juice, jam, boiled food, canned (ready to serve) food, corn, pickle, sauce, paste-

tomato products, peas and garniture.

The food and fruit juice category of Tamek includes a total of 329 products in its portfolio with the brand name of Tamek; 266 of which are offered to the consumers in the domestic market and 63 are exported, without compromising the freshness, quality and taste.

Tamek is a brand known as a breakthrough producer. Some

The food and fruit juice category of Tamek includes a total of 329 products in its portfolio with the brand name of Tamek.

of the popular goods produced for the first time by Tamek which introduced a number of products into Turkish food sector include: the first ketchup and mayonnaise of Turkey, the first ready to eat and stuffed food, the first boiled legumes/beans, the first jam for diabetics, the first tin canned fruit juice, the first paste in cardboard box, the first canned food with no additives or preservatives.

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Briefing Brands / Tamek

One of the distinctions of Tamek is the importance it attached to the agriculture for so many years. In the food and beverage industry, the freshness of the fruits and vegetables is as highly important as the conditions under which they are grown. One of the first food companies to adopt a controlled agricultural practice with the growers, Tamek both inspects the production chain thanks to this practice, and supports the Turkish farmers with the guarantee of purchase it offers.

Having one of the largest contracted farming networks in Turkey, Tamek helps the farmers in all aspects; from planting to harvesting, including any seedling they need and field / orchard maintenance. In this way, not only does it supervise every process of the production from the field to the factory but it also keeps contributing to the prosperity and sustenance of 1,000 farming families from whom it purchases 260 thousand tons of fresh vegetables and fruits on contract basis. Carrying

on a significant social responsibility project with this support, Tamek responds to the question raised by the farmers, “Where will I sell my crop next year?�, assuring the farmers to buy their crops the following year. Moreover, this policy enables Tamek to buy and bottle the freshest, homebred and natural fruits it purchase form the contracted growers, rather than using the concentrates purchased from abroad.

Tamek carries out production with a total of 1,100 employees at 3 plants based in Karacabey, Kiziksa and Salihli across Turkey.

On the whole, Tamek has a capacity of producing 338 tons of fruits and vegetables per year; and 67 percent of this capacity is actively used.

Tamek has always achieved a consistent growth since its establishment. And still today, we keep growing in all categories we are involved and expanding our share of the cake. To take a look at the performance figures of Tamek; we had an increase by 20 percent in the financial turnover in 2017, as compared to 2016. On the other hand, when we look at the performance that Tamek has displayed since 2015, we see that it registered a growth by 40 percent in the revenues in 2017, as against 2 years ago. If we stick to our schedule, we will have achieved a growth by 67 percent in total in late 2018, compared to 2015.

Tamek has a capacity of producing 338 tons of fruits and vegetables per year; and 67 percent of this capacity is actively used.

Tamek has always achieved a consistent growth since its establishment.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

TAMEK EXPORTS 16 PERCENT OF ITS PRODUCTION We are striving to boost our sales in the countries, such as USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, Denmark and Germany. We export 16 percent of our production.

We mostly sell fruit juice in almost all of our markets.

We also seek to increase the export share of our products in the food group. We actively export to some 57 countries, including such as Japan, USA, Germany, UK, France and African countries. We considered 2016 as a year to import less and export more and we took actions accordingly. Likewise, in 2017 we increased our export by 51 with our existing and new products in the current markets. To speak of the export in figures; we wrapped up 2017 with a turnover worth of $20 million, with the aim of achieving $25 million in 2018.

The Turkish Perspective

39 PRODUCTS HIT THE SHELVES IN 2017

In 2017, we carried out the formulation and productquality improvement studies for 46 new products, 39 of which hit the shelves. We will the some of the products on which we are still working, on the shelves in 2018.

Some of the popular products that hit shelves and attracted great deal of attention in 2018 were the fruits juice varieties in “famous nostalgic brown bottles” that we reintroduced into the market, which have a unique flavour thanks to its intense texture and take our customers back to the old days. Tamek fruit juice, which comes in 200 ml bottles, met the customers across Turkey, with all its well-known texture and apricot, peach and sour cherry flavours. Another product group which made a huge impression was Tamek Hot, Ranch and Barbecue sauces, put on the market for the sauce-lovers. The sauces, appealing to different tastes, come in different tastes in 250 ml packages.

The Palace Sherbet (Saray Serbeti) that we launched in the Ramadan period took its place among our highly popular products that we work seasonally. Tamek Tanelim which combined the flavour, freshness and health coming from real fruit chunks, in a single bottle; the sugar-free sour cherry and strawberry jams appealing to those abstaining from consuming sugary/sweet products due to healthy living and weight control as well as 3 types of cold (iced) coffee Coffeeto that we developed for the foreign markets, took its place among the leading products on 2017. Besides, atom beans and stuffed dried eggplant that we recently put

on the market were the other significant products.

We have some important products for which we already completed the R&D works in 2017 and introduced into the market in March 2018, the first one of which is Tamek Zinde.

“We entered a whole new category with the series “Tamek Zinde”. We combined the detox drinks and vitamin fruit drinks preferred by the consumers who look after their fitness, health and give importance to active living and natural diet, under the roof of “Tamek Zinde”.

The green and red drinks of “Tamek Zinde Detox” which are available under the series “Tamek Zinde” gives the consumers the essential nutrients and energy they need throughout the day. The veggies and fruits it contains help to get rid of the toxin and oedema in the body.

Tamek Zinde Vitamin, which is enriched with Vitamins B known to support and boost the physical and mental health, comes in two different types consisting of red fruits and green fruits.

To better describe the products; Detox Red contains beetroot, green tea and rooibos tea which help lose weight. Red beet is a source

Tamek has a capacity of producing 338 tons of fruits and vegetables per year.

of folic acid, potassium and fiber and also known as an essential ingredient in losing weight. the grape it contains facilitates fat burning The spinach in Detox Green facilitates losing weight. it helps to get rid of the toxins in the body and discharge the oedema thanks to the cucumber. It also contains apple, pear and lemon rich in vitamins and minerals.

Tamek carries out production with a total of 1,100 employees at 3 plants.

Tamek Zinde Detox offers our consumers a healthy alternative for a snack. Tamek Zinde Detox Green has 158 calories in 1 pack while Red Detox has 162 calories. When consumed twice a day between breakfast - lunch and as a snack in the afternoon; it helps you feel energetic and full.

Tamek Zinde Vitamin, which is enriched with Vitamins B known to support and boost the physical and mental health, comes in two different types consisting of red fruits and green fruits.

Tamek Zinde Vitamin Green consisting of apple, kiwi, pear, orange and lime; Tamek Zinde Vitamin Red consisting of pomegranate, raspberry, blackberry, black currant and blueberry offers a different freshness from both healthy and usual tastes, thanks to formula free of any sugar and flavouring.

Yet another one is Tamek Keyfim series, which we defined as the source of “pleasure”. With this series, we will put our mandarin and black mulberry fruit juice with the gourmet tastes, on the market in the premium segment.

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58

Briefing Brands / Otokar

AUTOMOTIVE

DOMESTIC PRODUCTION IN MILITARY VEHICLES

Otokar won the Modern Battle Tank Project contract opened by the Land Forces and Undersecretariat for Defense Industries.

Winning the Modern Battle Tank Project contract opened by the Land Forces and Undersecretariat for Defense Industries in 2008 was a dream come true for Otokar, which designed and developed Altay.

BY İBRAHİM AVCI

O

tokar, founded in 1963, is one of Turkey’s most established automotive companies, having witnessed the modernization and industrialization process that the country has gone through.

In the early 60s when industry advanced at a rapid pace in Turkey and urbanization gained significant momentum as a result, Otokar started the production of the first intercity bus under Magirus Deutz license aiming to introduce modern public transportation to the country. In 1968, Otokar proved its success in the bus segment by producing the most modern intercity buses of the period, which are still remembered today JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

as ‘Havalı Apollo’ (so called ‘Airy Apollo’ for its suspension system). Since then, Otokar has operated in all segments of public transportation.

For Otokar, 1976 marked a milestone when the company was acquired by Koç Holding.

Seeing a demand from banks for cash carriers in the 1980s, the company started producing armored cash transfer vehicles for the first time. Otokar entered the defense industry in the first half of the 1980s when it began to produce 4x4 vehicles under Land Rover license and manufactured the Armored Personnel Carrier, Turkey’s first armored military vehicle. By exporting this vehicle in the 1990s, Otokar also realized

Turkey’s first armored vehicle exports.

Otokar laid the foundations of its Arifiye plant in the early 1990s on a land acquired in Sakarya. Following the merger with Istanbul Fruehauf in 2002, Otokar added trailers to its product range and started to produce small buses named Sultan in the same timeframe.

Winning the Modern Battle Tank Project contract opened by the Land Forces and Undersecretariat for Defense Industries in 2008 was a dream come true for Otokar, which designed and developed Altay, Turkey’s national main battle tank.

Meanwhile, Otokar continued to introduce

innovations such as Doruk Electra, Turkey’s first electric bus. In 2011, “Otokar Europe” company was established to be closer to bus customers in Europe and to better understand their needs and respond to their expectations.

Otokar started operating in the light truck segment in 2013 and currently maintains its leading position in the respective bus segment.

FOUR PERCENT OF TURNOVER ALLOCATED FOR R&D IN THE LAST DECADE Otokar, since its establishment in 1963, has been one of the rare institutions that can develop its own technology and successfully maintain its

The Turkish Perspective

brand and national identity in its products. In the 1980s, Otokar was the first to apply computer-aided design in the Turkish automotive industry.

Focusing on R&D, the company was able to introduce numerous innovations and firsts in Turkey including the production of the first intercity bus, first tactical wheeled armored vehicle, first armored vehicle exports, the first original 8x8 combat vehicle production and first electric bus. Otokar, operating in its respective segments with original products designed and produced in line with its own R&D activities, has allocated nearly four percent of its turnover in the last decade for R&D, with expenditures in this period amounting to TL 483 million.

Otokar, as Turkey’s largest privately owned and highly experienced defense industry company, offers a product portfolio of various types and versions ranging from 4x4 up to 8x8 wheeled and tracked armored vehicles. Otokar is producing a wide range of defense industry products including 4x4, 6x6, 8x8 tactical wheeled armored vehicles and tracked armored vehicles as well as turret systems, designed to meet user expectations and demands. The product range includes wheeled armored vehicles COBRA, COBRA II, KAYA II, URAL, ARMA 6x6, ARMA 8x8 and Armored Internal Security Vehicle; tracked armored vehicles TULPAR, TULPAR-S and turret systems KESKİN, ÜÇOK, BAŞOK, BOZOK and MIZRAK. Otokar is also the main contractor in the first phase of ALTAY, Turkey’s national main battle tank project.

Otokar is the most preferred brand in the +25-passenger capacity bus segment in Turkey, designing and producing a

Otokar offers a product portfolio of various types and versions.

wide range of buses from public transportation vehicles for municipalities to shuttle buses and coaches for the tourism industry. With the POYRAZ, SULTAN, DORUK and KENT models in lengths from 7 meters up to 18.75 meters, Otokar boasts the widest bus range in Turkey.

In the cargo transportation segment, Otokar operates with semi-trailers for the logistics and transportation industry and light trucks. For the truck segment, Otokar produces Atlas trucks with a maximum payload of 8.5 tons with long and short chassis options.

Otokar, as Turkey’s largest privately owned and highly experienced defense industry company.

EXPORTING TO 50 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE FROM SAKARYA Otokar vehicles are currently used in more than 60 countries including Turkey across five continents. In addition to commercial vehicles, Otokar also exports defense industry products including tactical armored wheeled and tracked vehicles and turret systems with owned intellectual property rights to more than 30 friendly and allied countries.

With all of these strengths, Otokar’s exports in 2017 amounted to $149 million.

Otokar represents Turkey in the defense industry with its

world-renowned vehicles and has realized Turkey’s largest defense industry export deal for a single item in 2017. With the founding of Al Jasoor as a joint venture with its local partner in United Arab Emirates last year, Otokar has added another first to its achievements in the defense industry with technology transfer. With the deal signed by Al Jasoor for $661 million to deliver 8x8 armored vehicles to United Arab Emirates Armed forces, Otokar has expanded the scope of its exports activities with technology transfer.

Otokar maintains its goal of becoming a global player not only in the defense industry but also in commercial vehicles and continues to strengthen its position in the growing European bus market. In keeping with this target, the company has so far exported buses to more than 40 countries, particularly in Europe. Otokar’s total vehicle park has reached 2,500 levels in key target export markets, namely France, Italy and Spain and 500 levels in the Balkans.

In 2017, Otokar exported the KENT articulated bus to Italy, Serbia and Spain for the first time.

59

60

Briefing Brands / Şenpiliç

FOOD

Şenpiliç:

TURKEY’S 40 YEARS OF DOMESTIC SUCCESS STORY

Şenpiliç ranks 69th in Turkey’s “100 the largest industrial establishments” list.

Embracing the dining tables of Turkey and the values of Turkish culture for 40 years, Şenpiliç keeps the same friendly attitude, which has penetrated into its DNA, also in its 40th anniversary communication.

BY RAMAZAN GÜZYURDU

T

he foundations of Şenpiliç were laid with the establishment of a breeding farm in Gebze by Haşim Gürdamar, the Founder and Honorary Chairman, in 1978.

Haşim Gürdamar had entered the sector as a partner of the poultry cooperative founded by a few fellow citizen with the incentive credit granted by the state at these years. The hatchery was founded at first, and then it was decided to invest in a slaughterhouse. In 1988, the Şenpiliç today was founded. Şenpiliç, “Turkey’s the largest” integrated chicken JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

meat producer with a chicken meat capacity of 320 thousand tons and a turnover of more than 1,8 billion TL, ranks 69th in Turkey’s “100 the largest industrial establishments” list. Şenpiliç is the market leader in the Turkish chicken meat sector with a market share of 15 percent, and continues with its investments with the vision of being the “the best”, in addition to being the “ the largest”, by closely following all the technological developments and innovations related to the sector.

TURKEY’S THE LARGEST INTEGRATED CHICKEN MEAT PRODUCER With contracted producers in Sakarya and immediate vicinity in addition to its production facilities, Şenpiliç employs 3.200 people directly and 8.500 people indirectly. Şenpiliç carries out daily chicken meat distribution and sales to 81 cities of Turkey with its wide sales network.

The export figures of Şenpiliç increase as the export gains momentum in poultry sector and as Turkey is now among the big players in chicken meat trade. Şenpiliç

still exports approximately 10 percent of its production, and exports approximately 30 thousand tons a year to Iraq, Libya, Russia, Georgia, Africa, Far East, Gulf Countries and Turkic Republics.

Taking the advanced technology and quality standards into account in each and every step of its production, Şenpiliç has started a production process with ISO 9001 Quality Management System. Efforts related to broiler production under highest hygiene conditions also continue at the breeding farms with

The Turkish Perspective

the same high hygienic standards. Şenpiliç Söğütlü Slaughterhouse, producing with ISO 9001 Quality Management System, has been the first poultry slaughterhouse in Turkey with the Certificate of Pre-Permit Export to the European Union and the HACCP 13001 Certificate awarded by Turkish Standards Institution (TSE).

400 MILLION TL INVESTMENT IN 40TH YEAR Embracing the dining tables of Turkey and the values of Turkish culture for 40 years, Şenpiliç keeps the same friendly attitude, which has penetrated into its DNA, also in its 40th anniversary communication.

The brand statement “the goodness in our table increases as we share for 40 years” of Şenpiliç gives inspiration to a communication journey warming the cockles of heart.

After the area it was born and has grown, Şenpiliç has now started with investments in another city in 2017. The company is making an investment for a Slaughterhouse with a daily capacity of 450.000 pieces at first stage and a Feed Mill with an annual capacity of 579.500 tons at Osmaniye Kadirli. This will be followed by hatchery

400 Million

Investment in 40th year ANNUALLY

247.000 Tons Production EXPORTS

%

10

Percent of its production and breeding farms in the coming period.

This integrated facility to be established with a total investment of 400 million TL has another very important feature. This will not only be an important investment for Kadirli, but will create an ecosystem at a radius of 200 kilometers. 965 raisers and almost the same number of caretaker families will work at the farms to be established.

Total 4.065 personnel will be employed directly. This means the investment will touch the lives of approximately 25 thousand people. When the investments start with production in full capacity, annually 247.000 tons of production will take place. And this will provide an added value of $ 346 million to the area and the Turkish economy. For the Slaughterhouse and Feed Mill investments in Kadirli, it’s been projected that the assembly works will begin in June 2018 and the test operations will start in the fourth quarter.

Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences is launched at the Esentepe Campus of Sakarya University with the supports of Şenpiliç.

The faculty, which is constructed at an indoor area of approximately 5.500 square Şenpiliç were laid with the establishment of a breeding farm in Gebze by Haşim Gürdamar.

meters, is opened for education in September 2015. In addition to the classrooms for theoretical lessons in the faculty building, where approximately 1.200 students have education, there are labs in several fields including Operating Systems, Computer Architectures, Software Development, Database Systems, and Programming.

FROM FARM TO THE TABLE AT A SINGLE LOCATION Şenpiliç meets the demand of its consumers to know how healthy and reliable are the products for themselves, their families and particularly their children and to learn about the conditions which the broilers are raised in and how the production processes progress with the online platform “Çiftlikten Sofraya” (From Farm to Table). Believing that this is the most fundamental right of the consumers, Şenpiliç has taken action with a sustainable production understanding protecting the economic and social values without damaging the natural resources, environment and other living creatures. Published a micro site called “Çiftlikten Sofraya” (From Farm to Table) providing answers to the questions in consumers’ minds in the light of scientific data, Şenpiliç opens the doors to its farms to share with the consumers all the processes before the poultry meat arrives to the tables.

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Agenda

FAIRS, EXHIBITIONS, SUMMITS AND MEETINGS IN THE NEXT MONTH

JUNE

23-27

GAPSHOES 2018 OFM GAZIANTEP GAPSHOES is among the largest and the most important fairs of Turkey and the Middle East. The fair which is realized twice a year for the summer and winter seasons, is an ideal organization for the companies which desire to enter into and access new markets. GAPSHOES continues to grow under the cooperated work of especially Gaziantep Chamber of Industry, Gaziantep Chamber of Shoemakers and many sectoral associations and chambers.

06 - 08 JUNE 2018

PHARMA ISTANBUL CROWNE PLAZA ISTANBUL ASIA HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTER

Pharma Istanbul Fairgives the opportunity to introduce your new products to Middle East, Caucasus and North Africa markets with ideas for product innovation, supplier contact information! You can find the opportunity to represent your company in the best way by participating in seminars / workshops / bilateral talks during the fair. You can establish partnerships to sell your products, meet with industry leading organizations, and get the views of government representatives to open up a door to future trade.

GAMES WEEK ISTANBUL

CNR EXPO - YEŞILKÖY / ISTANBUL

06 - 08 JUNE

Organized by CNR Holding between 6-10 June 2018, GamesWeek Istanbul opens the entertaining doors of the game world for gamers. GamesWeek Istanbul, where the latest games and technologies will be exhibited, will be an unforgettable event with the participation of phenomenal players, tourists, players of all ages and technology enthusiasts, game studios, universities and leading game companies.

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

HEFI 2018

ISTANBUL FAIR CENTER

20- 23 JUNE

Turkey is an important actor of the world in production of home appliances and supplier industry. In order to evaluate the production of this sector and to increase the export HEFI Home Electronics Fair will be annually organized in Istanbul.

The fair, which will take place on June 20-23, 2018 within Istanbul Fair Center at Halls nr.9 &10, is supported by various associations of the country.Turkey being located at an important hub of white goods and supplier industry is a star of the industry. .

JUNE

23-27

BAKAF 2018 ISTANBUL FAIR CENTER

Western Black Sea Tourism Promotion and Collaboration Fair (BAKAF) which is going to be organized by Istamonu Fair Organization Limited Company in Istanbul Fair Center between the dates of 27-30 June 2018 is Turkey’s first regional fair.

BAKAF 2018 is a tourism and collaboration fair involving promotion of 8 unique provinces within the Western Black Sea region

1.7

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

IN AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR

MILLION

Figures

Units in 2017

374

THOUSAND

Units in 2002

A GOLDEN ERA IN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Turkey and Britain are experiencing with increasingly powerful political and economic relations its golden age in recent years with the increase of the volume of bilateral trade and mutual investment.

Turkey’s Export to Britain

Turkey's Import to Britain

2009 5.937 billion $

2009 3.74 billion $

2017

9.604 billion $

62%

2017

6.54 billion $

TURKEY-UK VOLUME OF FOREIGN TRADE

16.152

89%

billion $

9.410

MAJOR EXPORT ITEMS

10

billion $

Britain's direct investment to Turkey is 9 billion 894 million $ amounted period from 2002-2018

6,7% Britain’s share in this period, foreign direct investment in Turkey 6,7%

billion $

Motor Vehicles

12,1%

Cars, Station Wagons, Racing Cars

10,2%

Insulated wire, Cable, Fiber Optic Cables etc.

4,9% 2009

2017 Data: Anadolu Agency

TURKEY’S POPULATION EXPECTED TO CROSS 100MN IN 2040

According to Turkish Statistical Institute data Turkey’s population s expec ted to reach 107 million in the long

term and while the rate of young population is decreasing, the rate of elderly population is expected to increase.

Total Population

In 2023

2018

81,9 million

2023

86,9 million

16.3 Million

Population % Age 65+ 15-64 0-14

6.1 Million

8.7

% 10.2 %

16.3 % 22.6 % 25.6 %

Ankara İstanbul

2040

100,3 million

4.6 Million

2060

107,0 million

İzmir

67.8 % 67.2 % 64.4 % 60.4 % 58.7 %

2.7 Million

2080

3.2 Million

Bursa

23.5 % 22.6 % 19.3 % 16.9 % 2018

107,1 million Antalya

2023

2040

2060

15.7

%

2080 Data: TURKSTAT

63

64 Figures

GERMANY

1,35

BELGIUM

0,31

NETHERLANDS

0,42

FRANCE

0,69

UK

0,84

SHARE OF TOP 20 COUNTRIES IN TOTAL EXPORT (BILLION $) Turkish exports shares to most leading 20 markets in April 2018.

USA

0,65

SPAIN

0,69 MOROCCO

0,18

POLAND

0,29

ROMANIA

0,31

RUSSIA

0,27

ITALY

0,79 BULGARIA

0,22

CHINA

0,22

IRAN

GREECE

0,17

0,15

ISRAEL

0,33

EGYPT

0,22 SAUDI ARABIA

0,24

Data: TÄ°M

JUNE 2018 ISSUE 59

IRAQ

0,55

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