General

Turkey lies in both Europe and Asia, and its value system is therefore a mix of East and West. It is a secular state with the majority being Muslim. There’s a large difference in development between the various regions of the country with the more prosperous western Turkey and its larger cities, and the less developed eastern parts of the country.

Language

Turkish is considered to be a very difficult language to learn. However, most businesspeople speak English.

Business Climate

In a meeting, don’t expect to get down to business immediately. Tea or coffee and small talk allows for them to get to know you first. A relationship between participants must be established before any any formal negotiations take place. Many people smoke and there are few if any no-smoking zones. Turks have a good work ethic although time is not always a major source of anxiety.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project is an interactive database that allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes towards the U.S. to peoples assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization and extremism and other important issues.

Turkey ranks as no. 58 (of 180 countries) on Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.