Wanted: Turkish Immigrant Workers

The Economic Development Corporation is wooing Turkish investors for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia: at a recent conference in Turkey, it was a case of entrepreneurs courting entrepreneurs. Elmar Kok reports from Izmir

Ali Akbas intends to take on Europe from his base in North Rhine-Westphalia: his new television channel will take to the airwaves of Europe in mid December. Akbas has bought a frequency slot from Turksat, an investment that is costing him "about € 16,000" a month.

He says that the advantage of this purchase is "that Turks living in Europe will still be able to use their existing satellite dishes" and that no-one will have to buy a new dish or retrofit their old one to watch the new channel.

He is one of four Turkish entrepreneurs who went to the Chamber of Commerce in Izmir to promote North Rhine-Westphalia as a business location. It makes perfect sense: Akbas' new channel, Avrupa, will broadcast from its headquarters in Mülheim in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Courting Turkish investors

The Economic Development Corporation (GfW) and the Essen-based Center for Studies on Turkey invited powerful entrepreneurs from the Turkish Aegean to Izmir in an attempt to whet their appetite for North Rhine-Westphalia as a business location.

Mehmet Ali Kasah, president of the Association of Aegean Entrepreneurs, made it clear at the conference that the start of accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) must be agreed on 17 December if economic co-operation is to be fruitful.

He explained that such negotiations would put co-operation with Germany ⎯ and North Rhine-Westphalia in particular ⎯ on a secure footing. Kasah welcomed the fact that North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) was one of the very first regions to speak out in favour of Turkey's accession to the EU. He went on to say that interested Turks would be well able to overcome any cultural differences.

"They do not feel as if they are in a foreign country when they are in North Rhine-Westphalia; Turkish children go to school there and many of them pray there," says Kasah.

Faruk Sen, head of the Center for Studies on Turkey and co-organiser of the conference, believes that accession negotiations will take place. However, as far as Turkey's actual accession to the EU is concerned, he sees obstacles ahead: "The fact that no deadline has been set for the end of the process is problematic."

Moreover, all current Member States will have to agree to Turkey's accession. "Romania and Bulgaria were not obliged to meet these conditions," says Sen. Aydin Yardimci spoke about the requirements that Turkish citizens were obliged to fulfil in the past.

Attractive start-up conditions for Turkish companies

Aydin is managing director of the Cologne-based Aydin Fleisch GmbH. Before establishing his company, he was asked to demonstrate his abilities to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. "I said to them: I came to Germany as a Turk and I qualified as an engineer here; if I can manage that, we can safely assume that I can manage to learn about bookkeeping," he recalls.

Aydin goes on to say that it is now very easy to start a company in Germany.
"Don't just target Turkey," is the advice he gives to the 40 Turkish entrepreneurs who came to Izmir. "It only takes half an hour to go through the notary formalities of setting up a company in North Rhine-Westphalia."

With so much promotion for NRW as a business location, Michael Kolmar, the managing director of the GfW, only sees one problem that remains unsolved: an event for Turkish and Dutch entrepreneurs is taking place at the same time as the conference in the chamber of commerce.

"We know that more Turkish money is invested in the Netherlands than in NRW. But we consider this to be a sporting challenge," says Kolmar. The GfW even offers Turkish entrepreneurs a so-called "Welcome Package" that includes a free financial injection of € 3,000 and assistance in looking for the right company location.

In search of good contacts

Kolmar recommends the northern part of the Ruhr as an ideal location. In view of the fact that the EU considers the region to be in need of support, "subsidies of up to 18 per cent are available." In addition, entrepreneurs can avail of the offer of advice from the recently established NRW Bank. Kolmar informs the Turkish entrepreneurs that as a state institution, the GfW is not permitted to offer legal, fiscal, or financial advice. "However," he adds, "we can help you make great contacts."

The Turkish entrepreneur Emine Öztekin sometimes lacks good contacts in Germany. Her company, Kortan Görsel Sanatlar, manufactures CDs and DVDs. "Woman entrepreneurs are rarely taken seriously in Germany," she relates.

When she speaks to German business partners, they often ask her whether she really comes from Turkey? Many, she adds, still consider Turkey to be a "third-world country."

This is why, she explains, the four Turkish entrepreneurs who made their way to Izmir could not do any lobby work for her. Television man Akbas is quick to assure her that "the lobby work is on the way."

The fact that the Mülheim-based television channel will broadcast to the four corners of Europe will also ensure a different perception of pro-European Turks, he says.

Elmar Kok

This article was previously published in the German daily Die Tageszeitung.

Translated from the German by Aingeal Flanagan