Watch the full video: QuickTime    Windows Media or watch specific segments as noted below. Introduction. QuickTime    Windows Media Providing assistance to Turkish businesspeople wanting to make start businesses in the United States.  QuickTime    Windows Media The thriving Turkish community in Atlanta. QuickTime    Windows Media The formation of the chamber. QuickTime    Windows Media The first delegation from Turkey will arrive in October. QuickTime    Windows Media State of the Turkish economy and the business impact of Turkey’s bid to gain entrance to the European Union. QuickTime    Windows Media Synergies between industries in Georgia and Turkey. QuickTime    Windows Media Atlanta as the "Olympic city" is well known in Turkey. QuickTime    Windows Media Misconceptions about Turkey and promoting understanding. QuickTime    Windows Media

The Atlanta-based Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast United States has not held a public grand opening, but the organization has launched with the short-term focus of providing a bridge for Turkish businesspeople looking to operate in the U.S.

More free enterprise and less bureaucratic red tape make America an attractive destination for Turkish companies, but they need guidance if they are going to take the financial risk of crossing the Atlantic, Ayhan Korucu, the chamber’s president, told GlobalAtlanta in a video interview.

“I try to talk to a few businessmen in Turkey, and this is exactly what they said: ‘That is a too-big country for us,’” said Mr. Korucu, who owns Korucu Technology International Inc., a software development company he started in 1992. “I tell them it is not; you just have to come experience the feeling yourself.”

The chamber will hold a formal announcement sometime in November after it refines its services, but even in the meantime, the chamber is already “in business,” Mr. Korucu said.

Mr. Korucu, who has been in the United States 27 years after becoming a student at Georgia State University in 1980, said that the organization has seen quiet and unexpected success in its first few months of operation. 

The chamber has already garnered about 20 individual members and Mr. Korucu expects to approve 20 or so of the approximately 25 company applications currently being reviewed.  The chamber has also organized a trip for a delegation of 12 businesspeople from Turkey’s textile industry that will come to Georgia in October.

“We asked everybody, ‘When you come to the United States, what are your expectations?’”said Mr. Korucu, whose second company provides assistance for trade shows and delegations.  “We got that info from them and we started working immediately.  The tours, the sites and meetings, everything is arranged.”

The textiles industry is one of the areas where Mr. Korucu said there is particular synergy between Turkey and Georgia.  He also would take advantage of the well-developed carpet industry in both places, as well as construction and real estate development, sectors he said would particularly benefit from the prominent marble and granite trade in Turkey.

Aside from business ties, Mr. Korucu also said that there are cultural reasons for Turkish companies to come to Georgia.  Although Miami has a higher population of Turkish-Americans than Atlanta, Mr. Korucu estimates that there are 5,000-7,000 people of Turkish descent living in Georgia’s capital.

“If they come here for business, they have to have a life to live.  I have to introduce them to the Turkish community, not just other businessmen, but the families,” Mr. Korucu said, adding that the Turkish-American chamber helped sponsor an annual Turkish Festival, which was held at Piedmont Park in Atlanta on Sept. 9. 

Mr. Korucu also said that his organization works closely with the Istanbul Cultural Center to put on cultural events that will help business people feel welcome in the U.S., a country that many Turks find overwhelming before arriving here.

Although Mr. Korucu didn’t mention them explicitly, there are a number of other Turkey-focused organizations in Atlanta.  The Turkish-American Cultural Association of Georgia also sponsors Turkish cultural events, and the American Turkish Friendship Society helps promote positive relations between the U.S. and Turkey.

Mr. Korucu spoke highly of Mona Diamond, the president of the friendship society and the honorary consul general of Turkey in Georgia, and said he would be working with her on an initiative that will promote business between Turkish and American women.