Turkish Forum

Category: Business

  • Armenian foundation ventures into real estate sector with Istanbul project

    Armenian foundation ventures into real estate sector with Istanbul project

    VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    Istanbul’s Armenian community has ventured into the city’s booming property sector with the completion of Lotus Evleri, a luxury housing project. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

    Istanbul’s Armenian community has ventured into the city’s booming property sector with the completion of Lotus Evleri, a luxury housing project whose foundations were laid four years ago by Patriarch Mesrop II.

    The project was built on 11,250 acres of land on a ridge overlooking the Bosphorus. The land is the biggest piece of land owned by Istanbul’s Armenian community.

    The Ortaköy Surp Asdvazsazsin Armenian Church Foundation handed over the land to a construction company in return for a portion of the apartments to be built.

    The construction of Lotus Evleri was completed last year and tenants have been moving into the 200 luxury apartments for some time now.

    Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, İskender Şahingöz, president of the foundation, said the community reclaimed the valuable land through intense efforts.

    “This land was taken [from us] by the Treasury in 1973, just after the Bosphorus Bridge was built. The reason was national security. Then the land was assigned to the Defense Ministry,” Şahingöz said.

    The foundation filed a lawsuit in 1996 against the state and won the land back. “This case was a first in the history of minority foundations,” Şahingöz said.

    Jesus the fugitive

    In Ottoman times, minority foundation property was registered under the names of Jesus Christ, Mary and the apostles to prevent inheritance disputes.

    Later, however, the Treasury declared the owners of the land to be “fugitives” when it confiscated the land from the community, according to Şahingöz.

    The foundation leader praised European Union adjustment laws and the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government as keys to getting the land back.

    “We were not even able to use our money as we wanted [in the old days],” he said. “Now we can use it as we like. The new regulations on minority foundations, though not enough, give us hope for the future.”

    As foundation lands are notoriously mired in various ownership disputes in Turkey, finding a construction company for the project proved difficult.

    The Lotus Evleri have 20 luxury blocks as well as shopping and sports complexes. Şahingöz declined to say how many apartments the foundation received in return for the land, but added that the rent revenues would be used to finance the expenditures of the Tarkmançazs school and church, which belong to the foundation, and to engage in new investments.

  • Sotheby’s opens Istanbul branch with high expectations

    Sotheby’s opens Istanbul branch with high expectations

    sotheby opens istanbul branch with high hopes 2010 12 14 lGlobal luxury real estate chain Sotheby’s announced the opening of its first office in Istanbul at a press meeting Tuesday.

    Turkey has great potential for demand in luxurious real estate, compared to the European market, Chief Executive of Sotheby’s International Realty Mike Good told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review at the meeting.

    Operating in 43 countries across the world through franchising and master offices, Sotheby’s opened its first branch in Turkey in the cosmopolitan district of Nişantaşı.

    “Turkey is a very strategic location for us and we are confident that it will be a quality market,” Good said. “I expect a great boom in the Turkish market due to the country’s great population and keen interest in luxurious lifestyles.”

    The number of Sotheby’s branches in Turkey is expected to rise to 10 over the next three years, said Emin Hitay, board chairman of Hitay Yatırım Holding – a Sotheby’s Turkish franchisee. “We aim to reach a business volume of $1 billion by the end of 2011,” he said.

    Turkish consumers spent nearly $14 billion Turkish Liras this year and this amount is expected to rise, according to the chairman.

    Nearly 15 percent of property projects in Istanbul consist of luxurious residences, he said. “We will provide private and confidential services for our customers.”

    In the Istanbul real estate market, price-per-square-meter has risen from $5,000 to $25,000 in the last few years, Hitay told the Daily News. Istanbul would be the main focus of the company’s growth and new offices are set to be opened in the southern province of Antalya, as well as the southwestern province of Marmaris, in next few years, he said.

    The real estate company also plans to provide services to Turkish customers who would like to buy or rent a property abroad, as well as foreigners in search of luxurious properties in Turkey. “Average per capita income [in Turkey] rose nearly threefold in the last eight years and consequently the purchasing power of Turks also increased rapidly, thanks to the positive climate following the global economic crisis,” the chairman said.

    Foreign demand in local properties

    Foreigners’ demand in Turkish properties has boomed in recent years, especially in Istanbul, since the city provides “a modern but also a traditional lifestyle in a unique environment,” he said. “The total volume of real estate purchased by foreigners living in Turkey had reached $566 million by the first quarter and $916 million in the second quarter of this year.”

    The group expected this figure to rise, the chairman told the Daily News. “The law of reciprocity could be waived by the Turkish government regarding the sale of properties to foreigners.”

    The Turkish Parliament has recently been working on a draft law to ease real estate purchases for foreigners.

    “Foreign demand in old Istanbul – known as the main historical district of the city – is rising daily,” said Çiğdem Hitay, chairperson of Sotheby’s International Realty Turkey.

    “Historic waterside mansions by the Bosphorus attract foreigners,” she said, adding that the cost of such residences vary between $6 million and $150 million, depending on the characteristics and conditions of the building and the view.

  • Valeura Energy buys stake in natural gas exploration licence in Turkey

    Valeura Energy buys stake in natural gas exploration licence in Turkey

    CALGARY – Valeura Energy Inc. (TSXV:VLE) says it has bought an interest in the Edirne exploration licence in Turkey’s main natural gas producing region for $3.1 million, expanding its presence in the country.

    The Calgary-based company says it will own a 35 per cent interest in the licence, which covers land in the Thrace Basin, the main natural gas producing region of Turkey.

    It bought the stake from Edirne Enerji Petrol Arama Uretim Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, a wholly-owned affiliate of Australia’s Otto Energy Ltd. The deal is expected to close around Dec. 22.

    Edirne’s revenues from gas sales were about US$1.5 million in the third quarter, and natural gas production from the licence added up to 6.3 million cubic feet per day.

    The average price for gas from Edirne was US$ 7.40 per million cubic feet in the third quarter, which Valeura says reflects premium prices for natural gas production in Turkey.

    Valeura, based in Calgary, has oil and natural gas projects in Western Canada and Turkey and is looking to expand to parts of the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean and Latin America.

    Valeura shares were down 0.5 cents to 38.5 cents in morning trading on the TSX Venture Exchange.

    via Valeura Energy buys stake in natural gas exploration licence in Turkey – Winnipeg Free Press.

  • THY Carry 26.9 Million Passengers in First 11 Months Of 2010

    THY Carry 26.9 Million Passengers in First 11 Months Of 2010

    131210 eka thyTurkey’s national air carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY), carried 26.9 million passengers in the first eleven months of 2010.

    In a statement issued, the THY said that the number of passengers it carried in the first eleven months of 2010 was up 17.1 percent when compared to the same term last year.

    In the first eleven months of 2009, the THY carried 22.9 million passengers.

    Between January and November 2010, the number of Business Class passengers using international flights of THY went up 29.4 percent when compared to the same period last year, the THY said.

    According to THY, occupancy rate reached 74 percent in the first eleven months of 2010, up 2.8 percent when compared to the same term last year.

    -TURKISH AIRLINES-

    Based in Istanbul, Turkish Airlines is one of the fastest growing and prosperous airlines in the world. It carries approximately 25 million passengers a year, with direct flights to 126 international and 37 domestic destinations.

    The company was founded in 1933 with a fleet of five airplanes that carried a total of 28 passengers. THY made its first domestic flight in 1933 and the first international flight in 1947.

    THY posted 389 million Euro of profit in 2009, becoming one of the top companies, following Air China and Ryan Air, in the world that recorded the highest profit in 2009.

    AA

  • Turkish Airlines to open Istanbul -Kharkiv route in 2011

    Turkish Airlines to open Istanbul -Kharkiv route in 2011

    Turkish Airlines is to start a regular flight between Kharkiv (Ukraine) and Istanbul (Turkey) in 2011.

    plane

    “As early as in 2011, Turkish Airlines will fly from Kharkiv,” Director General of the company’s representative office in Ukraine Erol Akcal said in an interview with the Kontrakty weekly.

    “After Kharkiv, the next on the list is Zaporizhia.”

    However, he did not give the exact date for the launch of the flight, or its frequency.

    According to him, the airline also plans to increase the frequency of flights to Kyiv, Odesa, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk.

    Currently, flights between Kharkiv and Istanbul are serviced by Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines.

    Turkish Airlines was set up in 1933. Its fleet includes nine Airbus 340s, eleven Airbus 330s, twenty-one Airbus 321s, twenty-five Airbus 320s, five Airbus 319s, eight Boeing 777s, and sixty-nine Boeing 737s.

    via Turkish Airlines to open Istanbul -Kharkiv route in 2011 – Ukrainian news. Interfax-Ukraine.

  • Turkey to partner with Kenyan firms to make, sell furniture

    Turkey to partner with Kenyan firms to make, sell furniture

    By Scola Kamau  (email the author)

    Posted Monday, December 13 2010 at 18:01

    Kenya’s dynamic economy and emerging middle class have attracted furniture dealers from Turkey.

    Furniture by Turkey's Konfor

    Under the umbrella Istanbul Exporters Association, over 250 companies will partner with leading supermarkets and furniture making companies in Kenya, in the production and distribution of home and office furniture.

    “With its ideal location, vibrant economy and fast growing population, Kenya has the potential of becoming the hub that feeds markets in the East African Community,” said Tuncer Kayalar, Turkey’s ambassador to Kenya.

    He said talks were ongoing with selected partners in Kenya. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the fifth Turkish Furniture Expo held recently in Nairobi.

    However, the announcement comes at a time Kenya is facing a timber shortage that has led to a government ban on logging.

    The country’s forest cover currently stands at 312,500 acres according to the Kenya Forest Service, which is far below Turkey’s. A 2010 forest products for Turkey report by the United States Department of Agriculture put the country’s forest cover at 21.2 million hectares.

    To partly close the timber gap, Turkey will import raw materials from home.

    Kenya is spending more than $37.5 million annually on timber imports up from $62,000 in 1999, to meet rising demand that now stands at 38 million cubic metres annually.

    According to the chairman of the Kenya Timber Manufacturers Association, Samuel Gitonga, the sector lacks enough raw materials to meet demand.

    Turkey hopes to take part of this market and boost its furniture exports, whose value stood at $1.3 billion in 2008, $1.1 billion in 2009, and is expected to reach $1.4 billion by the end of this year, and which could rise to $1.6 billion aided by the anticipated venture into Kenya’s lucrative market.

    Turkey’s overall exports to Kenya increased from $98 million in 2007 to $233 million at the end of 2008, driven largely by petroleum products. The country also exports generators, agricultural machinery, carpets, flour and pasta.

    Kenya’s exports to Turkey in contrast have stagnated at $12 million, with leather and tea as the top products.

    As Turkey aggressively seeks to invest in Kenya, analysts predict that the trade balance will continue to tier in favour of Turkey, unless Kenya adds value to its exports and enters into more bilateral agreements.

    In October, the two countries signed deals in investment, tourism, science, agriculture and labour.

    flashad

    via The East African:  – Business |Turkey to partner with Kenyan firms to make, sell furniture.