Business

• Your success in Turkey is defined by your ability to build effective personal relationships combined with a clearly outlined and well-presented proposal.
• Business is personal. Although this is changing with the influx of big multi-nationals and a more corporate culture in some of the larger companies, many businesses are still family owned and run.
• Turks will want to do business with those they like, trust, feel comfortable with and with those who can provide a long-term relationship. If they feel you are hiding something or there is an element of suspicion about your motives, you may not get very far.
• Building a relationship with your Turkish counterpart(s) is therefore critical. The first meeting at least should be solely focused on getting to know each other. Once a relationship has been established, you can safely move on to business matters.
• Turks are astute business people. Ensure that your proposal clearly demonstrates the mutual benefit and profitability of any agreement or partnership.
• Turks are both oral and visual communicators, so try to present information vocally and with maps, graphs and charts.
• Decision-making can be slow. It is most likely that you will meet and negotiate with less senior members of a family first. Once you are seen as trustworthy and your proposal financially viable, you will then move on to meet members that are more senior. A decision is ultimately made by the head of the family/company.
• When negotiating, the Turks will generally start at extremes in order to gage your response. Before negotiations, know your target figure and work slowly toward it through meaningful concessions. When conceding, ensure you present this as a favor and a decision made out of respect and liking for your counterpart(s). Try and concede only once you have gained agreement on a reciprocal concession on a separate or related issue.
• Do not use deadlines or pressure tactics as the Turks will use this to their advantage and reverse the tactic by threatening to cancel agreements or end negotiations. Be patient.
• It may not always be necessary to focus on financial benefits when negotiating. It is just as useful to point to areas such as power, influence, honor, respect and other non-monetary incentives.

Dining

• Most business entertaining will take place in restaurants. Turks enjoy food and the meal is a time for relaxing and engaging in some good conversation.
• The protocol of Turkish hospitality dictates that the host always pays for the meal. The concept of sharing a bill is completely foreign. You may try and offer to pay, which may be seen as polite, but you would rarely, if ever, be allowed to do so. The best policy is to graciously thank the host then a few days later invite them to do dinner at a restaurant of your choice. It may be a good idea to inform the restaurant manager that under no circumstances are they to accept payment from your guests.
• Evening meals may be accompanied by some alcohol, usually the local cocktail called Raký (pronounced rak-uh). It will comprise of a few courses with the main course always meat or fish based, accompanied by bread and a salad.
• Turks smoke during meals and will often take breaks between courses to have a cigarette and a few drinks before moving onto the next.
• Tea or Turkish coffee is served at the end of a meal sometimes with pastries. Turkish coffee is a national drink and should at least be sampled. It comes either without sugar, a little sugar or sweet. Turkish coffee is sipped and allowed to melt into the taste buds so do not gulp it down as you would instant coffee. Never drink to the bottom of the cup as it will be full of ground coffee and taste unpleasant.

Gift Giving

• Gift giving has no real place in business relationships or etiquette. Relationship building and the like will usually take the form of dining or sight-seeing trips rather than lavish gifts.
• However, personal gifts will be accepted well. It is always a good idea to bring gifts from your own country such as food or craft items.
• Be aware that Turkey is a Muslim country. Before giving alcohol to anyone, be certain that they drink.
• The only time you would need to give any great thought to gifts would be if you were invited to a Turk's home for dinner. The most usual gifts to take are pastries, (especially 'baklava') and decorative items for the home such as ornaments or vases. Flowers are not usually taken to a host but can be if felt appropriate. It is best to ask a florist for advice on what is best to take. If the host has children take some expensive sweets or candy.

Greeting

• When meeting, shake hands firmly. When departing, it is not always customary to shake hands although it is practiced occasionally.
• Friends and relatives greet each other with either one or two kisses on the cheek. Elders are respected by kissing their right hand then placing the forehead onto the hand.
• When entering a room, if you are not automatically met by someone, greet the most elderly or most senior first. At social occasions, greet the person closest to you then work your way around the room or table counter-clockwise.
• Greet people with either the Islamic greeting of 'Asalamu alaykum' (peace be upon you) or 'Nasilsiniz' (How are you? pronounced na-sul-su-nuz). Other useful phrases are 'Gunaydin' (Good Morning, pronounced goon-ay-dun), 'iyi gunler' (Good Day, pronounced ee-yee gun-ler) or 'Memnun Oldum' (pleased to meet you).