Murat Yalcintas

During a recent visit to Atlanta, the president of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce told GlobalAtlanta that 95 percent of Turkish companies are small- to medium-sized enterprises, and many of them are looking for American partners. 

Murat Yalcintas, the top official over the chamber’s some 264,000 active member companies, said that a lack of awareness has kept Georgia and Turkey from having a closer trade relationship, but many resources are available for Georgia companies looking to help close that gap.

Mr. Yalcintas’ recent three-city tour, which started in Atlanta and eventually took him to Mobile, Ala., and Los Angeles, was aimed at getting the word out about Turkey’s opportunities and how his organization could help U.S. companies could tap into them.

“Turkey is ideal for American companies that want to expand their horizons,” said Mr. Yalcintas, who added that the Istanbul chamber, with a database of more than 350,000 companies, stands ready to provide matchmaking services, set up trade missions, perform market research and foster cooperation with non-governmental organizations.

And the chamber does all this with no strings attached.  American businessmen interested in such services need not register with the chamber or pay any fees; they simply must call ahead with requests in hand, Mr. Yalcintas said.

Although companies “making invoices” or setting up offices in Turkey are statutorily required to register with a chamber or trade organization, American companies trading with Turkey can forego registration with chambers, which Mr. Yalcintas called “semi-public entities” that carry a lot of weight in Turkey’s business scene.

To illustrate the chamber’s international clout, Mr. Yalcintas said that the Istanbul chamber sends out about four trade missions per week and brings in two or three. 

Despite the usefulness of Mr. Yalcintas’ organization, Georgia companies need not go across the ocean to make connections with Turkey.

Mona Diamond, the honorary consul general for Turkey in Georgia, said that she wants the honorary consulate general to be an accessible resource for any companies or individuals looking to connect with Turkey.

“We can help people,” she said. “I want people to feel like the honorary consul general is only a phone call away.”

Ms. Diamond said her office can quickly screen a U.S. company and get it involved directly with a Turkish chamber of commerce.  She is also the Georgia representative the Turkish-American Business Assocation, an Istanbul-based non-profit that is a member of the American Chamber of Commerce network and has five offices throughout Turkey. 

On top of that, she has been involved with the foreign trade division of the Turkish embassy in Washington, and she said that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is providing help for companies exporting or moving to Turkey.

In addition to chambers of commerce abroad, a local U.S. government entity provides a variety of services for Georgia companies looking to export to Turkey.

Although the Atlanta office of the U.S. Export Assistance Center does not target Turkey specifically, it gives exporters access to its Gold Key service, which provides market research, direct contacts and “tailor-made” appointments in any country including Turkey, said Lincoln Martinez, senior international trade specialist at the assistance center.

Mr. Martinez said his office has seen increased interest in Turkey over the past five years, but the thriving market there remains relatively untapped.

“(Turkey’s) market potential has increased tremendously, but interest from the business community has not increased proportionately,” he said.

The Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast United States, a relatively new chamber that still has not held an official grand opening, is trying to drum up some interest from its headquarters in Atlanta.

Ayhan Korucu, the chamber’s president, met Mr. Yalcintas in Mobile and saw opportunities for cooperation.  Although Mr. Korucu acknowledged that the Istanbul chamber’s resources are extremely competitive, he said that his Turkish-American chamber could provide quick access, private attention and timesaving connections.

“(Atlanta businesspeople) would be working with individuals like me to go through all the hassle in Turkey and to get them in touch one-on-one” with people there, instead of wasting time and money, said Mr. Korucu, who added that his services aren’t limited to one city in Turkey, a country of about 75 million people.

Mr. Korucu, who owns Korucu Technology International Inc., an Atlanta-based software development company, as well as another company that organizes trade missions, said his chamber is already working with a variety of companies in Georgia by preparing them to cut through governmental red tape in Turkey.