Reasons for Investment in Turkey
Turkey with its inevitable admission to the EU, offers a splendid investment opportunity

Unique geographical location
Turkey enjoys a very special location at the crossroads between East and West, overlapping Europe and Asia geographically. The proxy to the new emerging markets in the Middle East and Central Asia creates unique business opportunities.

A strong international investment record
The experience of more than 11,600 (as of end-2005) foreign capital establishments, including 104 of the Fortune Top 5000 companies, confirms Turkey as a predominant investment location.

A fast developing stable economy
The average growth rate for the last 5 years, which is well above many OECD countries, implies a dynamic and growing economy. WTO outputs also state that Turkey is among the most dynamic 20 countries in the world trade. In the last 3 years, Turkey's GDP grew by 24.3%, on a cumulative basis (in real terms). Turkey's real GDP and GNP increased by 8.9% and 9.9% respectively in 2004. This is the highest growth rate in the last four decades and makes Turkey one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Turkey is expected to grow by more than 5% per cent a year in the next 5-to-10 years.

- A huge domestic market

- High-skilled, competitive labour

- High quality standards

- The gateway of energy resources

- A state of the art telecommunications network

- Strong ties with Europe and United States

- Living cost is significantly lower than other European countries

- Besides being a vacation resort, it is also suitable for retired people to live all year long with its mild climate, nice atmosphere and reasonable prices.

- A newly built property in Turkey from a reputable developer comes with guarantees.

- The prices in Mediterranean Turkey have gone up by nearly 30 % in the past two years.

- Only 2 - 3 hours of flight time away from most European cities.

- Turkey is an all year round vacation destination.

- Turkey can provide excellent infrastructure with respect to hospitals, roads and rail links, phone lines / internet access etc

- Foreigners are warmly welcomed and English has become widely spoken.

- Foreigners from many countries can now legally own property in many parts of the country, especially around the Mediterranean coast.

- Real estate acquisition of foreign real and legal persons has been regulated in the article 35 of the Land Registry Law numbered 2644 with law numbered 5444 and dated December 12,2005 which was established in the Official Gazette of 26046 numbered and dated January 7,2006 (For further information http://www.tkgm.gov.tr )

TURKEY PROPERTY INVESTMENTS

The number of UK citizens who owned a real estate in Turkey rose to 10,171 in mid-April 2005 from 2,964 in mid-July 2003. On the other hand, the number of properties owned by UK citizens in Turkey rose to 7,663 in mid-April 2005 from 2.420 in mid-July 2003. Thus, respective increases in the number of UK citizens who invested in property and the number of properties purchased by Britons became 243% and 217% over the period in question whereas respective increases in the number of all foreign nationals who invested in property and the number of properties purchased by those foreign nationals became 40% and 34% over the same period. In other words, Britons’ investments increased much faster than other foreign nationals in the period in question.

Direct Investments

UK ranked highest third in terms of paid capital in the list of countries whose real persons or legal entities established FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) companies in Turkey as of June 30, 2003, until when establishing an FDI company was subject to an authorisation.

Between year 1980 and July 2003, the cumulative amount of authorised FDI capital surmounted $ 35 billion.

After July 2003, the FDI rules were relaxed considerably and the following changes occured;

-Both Turkish and FDI companies started being treated equally.
-Bureuacracy with regard to establishing or acquisition of a company was minimised,
-Legislative changes made work permits of foreign personnel more transparent,
-The Government committed itself to remove all barriers infront

of FDI companies and to make the investment environment more attractive,
-Boosted expectations with regard to Turkey’s full EU membership upon the EU’s decision on starting the negotiations as of October 2005 and fast recovery in Turkish economy in last four years enabled Turkey to draw the attention of the potential investors.

As a result, the total number of FDI companies increased by 78% in the 2.5 year period up to December 2005 whereas in the same period, the number of FDI companies with UK-based capital increased by 126%.