AN ANALYSIS OF ACTIVE FOREIGN CAPITAL COMPANIES IN ISTANBUL

Abstract

Istanbul is an ancient city that has been the capital of great world empires of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman throughout its history dating back 8,000 years. Being the geographical, cultural and religious intersection of the continents of Europe, Asia and even Africa, its unique beauties, multi land and sea transportation facilities and the fact that the human population is always dense, has always naturally made it stand out in the production and trade of goods and services.

Today, it is the heart of the Turkish economy with a population of more than 15 million, the largest city in Europe, which produces more than ¼ of the national product, realizes more than half of foreign trade, collects 60-84% of all tax revenues, and 14.9 million incoming tourists in 2019 before the pandemic. In addition to its own market larger than 20 countries in terms of population in Europe, its position as a "terminal” for Turkey's market of 84 million and for more than 50 neighboring countries at a 3-4 hours flight distance, are the factors increasing İstanbul’s attractiveness for domestic and foreign investors.

Moreover, as a result of the controversial “open door" practice that Turkey has recently implemented for refugees from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, there is an additional community of 532.000 people consisting only of Syrians, which is no doubt much higher, when the people from various nationalities trying to establish a new life in the city with or without a residence permit are added.

In that sense, the analysis of active companies with foreign capital in Istanbul such as the determination of their countries of origin, their numbers, capitals invested, their development over the years, in which districts they are concentrated, would certainly help policymakers for socio-economic as well as domestic and foreign entrepreneurs for investment decisions.

Taking into account of above-mentioned considerations, this study evaluates and interprets the records of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) about 39,391 companies with foreign capital, which are still operational as of August 11, 2021.