Turkey: Seeing firm democracy, US firms set to invest

ANKARA (AA) – Unconcerned by last week’s foiled coup, American investors are set to ramp up new investments in Turkey, according to Bora Gurcay, head of the Turkish American Business Association TABA-AmCham.

Gurcay, who also heads Motorola Solutions Turkey, said this week that four prominent U.S.-based companies with large investment plans for second half of the year in Turkey have no intention of changing their mind after the failed putsch.

“They are even thinking about carrying the planned investments one step further,” Gurcay said.

“When people first heard about the events, there was a panic in companies abroad,” Gurcay said. “But after Turkish people confronted the coup by pouring into the streets, a perception of, ‘If people can pour into the streets for democracy we can even make permanent investments in this country, not just marketing’ formed in many companies.”

Regarding his own company, Motorola Solutions Turkey alone has investment plans worth $375-400 million for the second part of the year.

“There are other plans currently we have worked on. We could even boost this number a month from now,” he added.

Gurcay said that they believe from now on investments in Turkey will grow, as Turkey’s image is better than a week ago and this will naturally boost investment appetites from US companies.

“Foreign investors now saw a democracy that is deep-rooted and backed by the people, not just a democracy in appearance, and no matter what happens, a dictated regime cannot easily take the reins of the country.”

In 2015, Turkey became the 20th most-popular destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow with $16.5 billion, up from number 22 in 2014, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).