UKinTurkey Newsletter

Jan./Feb./Mar. 2014 (Nr:4)

Message from the British Ambassador

I am really delighted to be here in Turkey as the British Ambassador. I have very fond memories of this country. I learned the language as a junior diplomat. And the country holds very special memories for my wife Maggie and me. Our daughter Livvy was born in Istanbul. We had a great time exploring Turkey in the early 1990s. I arrive again in Turkey at a fascinating time. The economy has experienced a decade of almost unbroken economic growth and this has transformed many parts of the country for the better. I want to encourage more British companies to come out here to see the trade and investment opportunities for themselves. I also want to work with the Turkish Government to ensure that the country remains on the right path towards eventual entry into the European Union. I believe Turkey would benefit greatly from EU membership, not least in embedding the standards we in the UK hold dear: democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. I want to ensure that my team in Turkey continues to provide a top class consular service for the very small minority of British nationals who encounter problems while they are in Turkey. Maggie and I were delighted to meet many members of the British community during my recent visit to Antalya, Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum and Izmir. We look forward to meeting many more along the Aegean and Mediterranean coast during our time here. We really valued the opportunity to hear your views on life in Turkey: both the rewards and challenges. This newsletter is designed to give this community a flavour of what my team has been up to in recent months. But to ensure that you remain right up to date with our activity, I strongly encourage you to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Comments are of course always welcome! Richard Moore HM Ambassador (@UKAmbRichard)

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Message from Istanbul Deputy Consuls-

General Sayed Shah and Rafe Courage

A great deal happening.... We are pleased to report that the GREAT Campaign to promote bilateral trade, investment and education links between the UK and Turkey will continue for a second year, from April 2014. In its first twelve months we expect that the Campaign will have introduced about 200 British companies to the opportunities in Turkey, held around 15 events and identified 50 Turkish companies considering investing in the UK. ON 18-19 March, the first year of the GREAT campaign will culminate in the British Business Summit in Istanbul. The summit coincides with the visit of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Fiona Woolf and includes three separate events: Technology is GREAT, Finance is GREAT and Technology is GREAT. An exciting line-up of influential speakers will set the framework for contacts between some 200 Turkish and British companies. Later in March the campaign will sponsor a panel discussion at the Uludag Economic Summit near Bursa, Turkey’s equivalent to Davos. 500 top business leaders attend the two day event to discuss economic and business priorities. The panellists will include former British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw and Samir Brikho, CEO of British engineering firm AMEC. More details are available on the website. The next GREAT campaign event, in Istanbul from 20-22 May, will be a global first – the GREAT Festival of Creativity. The Festival is designed to showcase different aspects of British creativity to an exclusive high level business audience, through a series of masterclasses, exhibitions and networking. The Festival will cover the Luxury, Design, Technology, Innovation, Education, Fashion and Food & Drink sectors. After Istanbul the Festival will move to Hong Kong later in 2014 and to Shanghai early in 2015. The Festival has been created and is led by a group of British private sector companies, in collaboration with the GREAT campaign. [The UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) team continues to develop its strategic partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey. The Chamber will collaborate with UKTI on the organisation of three missions during the GREAT Festival. These will focus on the healthcare, future cities and luxury sectors].

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Sayed Shah

Istanbul Deputy Consul-General

Rafe Courage

Istanbul Deputy Consul-General

Message from HM Consul

I had no idea that there was a Mongolian Chelsea supporters club until a coach load of fans turned up to the recent Galatasaray – Chelsea UEFA Champions League match on February 26th. But there is, and they arrived with a banner declaring their support 6000 miles from Stamford Bridge. Helping this enthusiastic team of supporters get their banner into the ground was one of the more unusual tasks our Consular team found themselves engaged in on the night of the match. Preparation for big international matches involving British clubs starts as soon as the fixture is announced. We work closely with the UK club’s security team, UK police, Football Association, host club and local authorities to enable the travelling fans to get to, and enjoy, the match safely. 1,500 fans were expected for this fixture and many arrived a day or so early, giving them plenty of time to get into the mood. Although the vast majority of fans are well behaved and able to have a good time without getting into trouble, reports circulated in the early hours of Wednesday morning that there had been a couple of violent incidents during the night. Liaising closely with the club security team in meetings throughout the day, we were able to separate fact from fiction and help prevent tensions rising between fans. Both the club and the Embassy put out a steady stream of twitter messages to help people stay safe on the evening of the match. Consular staff were on hand at the bus meeting point near Taksim Square and at the away fans gate at the stadium – joined by our Ambassador. Everyone with a ticket got into the stadium although some of the more offensive banners were confiscated. The consular team were still solving problems at the gate when the first goal was scored but were up in the stands with well behaved fans for most of the match. Away fans are held back at the end of the match for half an hour or so before heading home on the buses. A bit of negotiation between ourselves and the police enabled us to commandeer a couple of their buses to take the last few fans back to the centre of town for a bit of post match dissection over a pint or two. The consular team, on the other hand, were tucked up safely in bed by 2:00am confident of another job well done. Timothy Fisher (@HMConsulTurkey) HM Consul, İstanbul 3

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NEWS FROM THE EMBASSY Pages 5-6

CONSULAR Page 7

PROJECTS Pages 8-9

TRADE Page 10

CONSULAR LINKS Page 11

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NEWS FROM THE EMBASSY

HM Ambassador, Richard Moore, presents his credentials to the Turkish President, Abdullah Gül. The British Ambassador, Richard Moore, presented his credentials on 4 February, Tuesday to the Turkish President, Abdullah Gül. The Ambassador said: “I am delighted to be returning to Turkey as Her Majesty’s Ambassador. I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with a country which has seen an incredible political and economic transformation since I last worked here in the early 1990s. As firm supporters of Turkey’s entry into the EU and as longstanding NATO allies, our countries have developed a very strong partnership. I’m confident that we will develop even stronger political, cultural and economic ties in the years to come.”

British Ambassador Richard Moore pays visit to Ataturk’s Mausoleum After presenting his credentials to the Turkish President Abdullah Gul, British Ambassador Richard Moore paid a visit to Ataturk’s Mausoleum (Anitkabir) with a delegation from the Embassy, on 4 February 2014 Tuesday. The Ambassador wrote these lines to Anitkabir Memory Book: “It is a great honor to pay my respects to the father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. A giant of the 20th century and a great friend of the United Kingdom.”

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NEWS FROM THE EMBASSY

Chevening gathering British Embassy Ankara hosted a gathering for the Chevening Alumni on 15 January at the Red Lion Club. Chevening Alumni are Turkish citizens, who have previously benefited from a UK Government-sponsored scheme to study in the UK. Another Chevening Alumni gathering was held on 22 January in Consulate-General premises Istanbul. The participants all apreciated opportunity to come together.

BESA signs condolences book for Mandela The staff and students of the British Embassy School paid their respects to the people of South Africa by signing the condolences book for the late Nelson Mandela which was opened by the South African Embassy in Ankara. Leading the way were Head Teacher Mr Kenneth Page, Head Girl Lara and Head Boy Enver.

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CONSULAR

Customer Service Excellence Certificate Visas and Immigration Department of the British Consulate General Istanbul (UKVI Istanbul) has been accredited with the CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE in 2013 for their contributions in achieving customer satisfaction. UKVI Istanbul has been awarded this certificate following assessments based on five main criteria of Customer insight, the culture of the organisation, access to information, delivery, time limits and quality of service. UKVI Istanbul continues to put in considerable effort for achieving customer service excellence in 2014 by means of devising customer surveys, providing updates through visa application centres and website announcements. Please visit http://www.customerserviceexcellence.uk.com/ for more detailed information about this project and you can share your views with us on www.visainfoservices.com

New regulation on visa procedure comes into force 10th April 2014 In accordance with the Turkish Law on Foreigners and International Protection (Law no. 6458), which was published in the Official Gazette on 11 April 2013, the practice of issuing affixed/stamped visa at the border gates will finish on 10th April 2014, the date that the new law comes into force. UK nationals who require a visa to visit Turkey can only obtain this visa from the Turkish Government website www.evisa.gov.tr before their visit to Turkey. Please be aware, it has been brought to our attention that there are several websites offering Turkish visas at a higher cost than the official website and we would strongly recommend all travellers to Turkey to use only the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs websitewww.evisa.gov.tr to obtain their visa. Full details of the application process and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be found on the website.’

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PROJECTS

Workshop on climate change adaptation A workshop on “climate change adaptation at the city level” took place in Bursa between 3-5 December as part of an Embassy project with the Ministry of Environment & Urbanization (MoE&U). Participants from Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, MoE&U, Ministry of Forestry, State Hydraulic Works (DSİ), and relevant local government representatives gained hands on experience on how to adopt to the challenge of climate change.

UK-Turkey Training Workshop on Modern Migration Management Operational officers and managers from the Turkish General Directorate for Migration Management (GDMM), Turkish National Police (TNP), Coastguard and Ministries of the Interior, Labour and Development met in Ankara under the auspices of a UK led project to discuss key migration issues. Migration experts from EU Member States that delivered presentations on the latest techniques in managing irregular, legal and asylum based migration.

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PROJECTS

Better Migration Management – The UK, Afghanistan and Turkey join forces In December, 10 Afghan officials from Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Foreign Affairs and the central statistical authority, came together in Istanbul to receive migration training from a UK funded project led by the Vienna based International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) This training event was held under the auspices of the ICMPD Budapest Process Silk Routes Working Group and funded via the UK FCO Migration Fund (formerly known as the RRF). More information can be found on the Budapest Process by following this link:- http://www.icmpd.org/Budapest-Process.1528.0.html

Workshop sponsored by Prosperity Fund An Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST) Sustainability Index Workshop was organised by Sabanci University and the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative on 23 January. The benefits of Turkey’s first official sustainability index were discussed by investors, creditors, and company representatives.

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TRADE

Grow with Turkey Gathering key Turkish and British decision-makers and opinion leaders from the world of business, politics, academia and press, ‘’Grow with Turkey’’ provided a unique opportunity to present the recent economic developments and the dynamism of the Turkish economy with sector specific highlights on finance, ICT, energy, real estate & infrastructure with special emphasis on women’s role in economic growth. The purpose of the day is to bring together Turkish and UK SMEs in several sectors such as automotive, ICT, construction & design for partnering and to identify possible deals. The day included presentations on sectoral opportunities and matchmaking, as well as visits to sectoral opportunities in the UK (primarily for the Turkish companies).

Minister Lindinton’s Ankara visit

Minister for Europe, David Lidington, was in Ankara between 24-26 February. His programme included calls on the Turkish Justice and Europe Ministers. Accompanied by a large business delegation on 25 February, the Minister spoke at a nuclear energy conference. The Minister highlighted the UK’s readiness to work with the Turkish Government and local companies as they look to expand Turkey’s civil nuclear infrastructure. The Minister said: “Today’s focus is of course on cooperation in the field of civil-nuclear energy. From exchanges with Turkish energy experts, I understand that Turkey relies heavily on energy imports, and I applaud the Turkish government’s investment in a range of new technologies and sources to diversify Turkey’s energy supply. The UK is particularly well placed to share with Turkey the technical expertise needed to deliver this level of investment. So there is a great deal of business to be done between UK and Turkish firms in the civil nuclear sector.

British Business Summit On 17-18 March, 2014 the British Business Summit took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Istanbul to showcase the UK’s excellence in Infrastructure, Finance and Technology under the umbrella of the GREAT Campaign. The British Business Summit in Istanbul, which was honoured by the attendance of the Lord Mayor of the City of London and an accompanying delegation, concluded with great success. BBS hosted over 500 guests from business world both from the UK and Turkey. To view the event video you may visit: www.britishbusinesssummit.com

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CONSULAR LINKS (Please click on the titles for

the relevant web page)

Online Consular Appointment System

Travel advice

Overseas British passport applications

Births, deaths and marriages

Legislation service

Notarial and documentary services

List of lawyers

Importing and driving cars

Mobile phones

Entry and residency requirements in Turkey

Healthcare for British visitors and residents

Natural disasters (Earthquakes)

Buying property

Emergency numbers in Turkey

Ex-pat websites & online newspapers in English

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CONSULAR LINKS