Iranian firms get closer to Turkey, says businessman

Many Iranian firms are approaching Turkey to open to the world as banks of Persian gulf countries take measures against Iran, says Osman Balta of Gübretaş

Gübretaş, the Turkish fertilizer producer also active in Iran, is encouraging Iranians to continue doing business with Turks despite growing United States and European Union sanctions on the Islamic republic, said the top executive of the firm yesterday.

“We have encountered no difficulty in our business with Iran yet since the embargo does not include fertilizers,” said Osman Balta in an interview with Hürriyet Daily News.

He said the company has recently started up a new firm based in Istanbul, Razi International Trade Company (Raintrade), to coordinate the transactions with the fertilizer facilities in Iran. The company used to manage exports from Iran directly from its facility in Razi, the capital of the Arshaq district, in the country’s north.

“We are doing transactions through state-owned Halkbank and some other banks with no difficulty,” added Balta.

Moreover, “Some Iranian businesses used to work with Qatari and Bahraini banks and they started to look toward Turkey since such countries started to launch the measures against Iran,” said Nihat Vuran, the director of the corporate communications department at Gübretaş.

“There are many Iranian firms looking for opportunities here in Turkey as Iranian businessmen want to open to the world,” said Balta.

According to official data, the number of Iranian firms established in Turkey registered a record increase last year. Some 590 Iranian firms were established while the number of Iranian joint ventures hit a total of 2,140. Iran was also the No. 1 country in terms of the increase in the number of firms in Turkey, hitting 41 percent in 2011.
“Many of the Iranian investors in Turkey have been inspired by our operations in Razi,” Balta added.