Sneijder to Galatasaray ‘transfer of the century’

ISTANBUL – It’s the ‘transfer of the century’, according to the big Turkish sports paper Fanatik. Competitor FotoMac brings the news too and adds that ‘it’s not a joke but reality’ and that Sneijder is ‘very excited’.

Many normal newspapers also report the transfer of the Dutch …

Slowly but surely

In Turkey, the need for reform is large – as is the country’s capacity to implement these reforms. So, how effectively does governance in Turkey serve the needs of present and future generations, asks Fréderike Geerdink.

Let’s start with the good news. Starting with the bad news would mean stating that Turkey is performing rather badly when comparing OECD countries …

Agriculture sector also profits from trade mission

ISTANBUL – Conducting trade with Turkey often also involves politics. And that counts even more for agricultural trade, as became apparent during the trade mission to Turkey of the Dutch Prime Minister Rutte this week. For the agricultural businessmen who were travelling with the mission, import taxes are still a problem to overcome.

It is busy at the Dutch consulate in …

These women don’t choose… between Istanbul and Amsterdam!

Move to Istanbul? Or stay in Amsterdam after all? Aygül, Cigdem, Mine and Ebru decided not to choose, but live their lives in both cities!

(These are not the pictures used in ELLE, these were provided by the interviewed women themselves.)

She remembers exactly how it was twenty five, thirty years ago. Her parents would buy plane tickets to Turkey …

Working on a Greek beach

(I was on a short holiday in Greece and couldn’t resist making a story.)

They earn some €30 a day, Greek youngsters working in tourism during the summer. While their country is going through hard economic times, they are happy they found a summer job. ‘Without this work, I wouldn’t be able to go to university’, says Chris (18). A story …

Turkey follows own course in agricultural policy

ISTANBUL – Within a few weeks, when the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice approaches, they will be shipped into Turkish harbours again: thousands of cows and sheep. Production in Turkey isn’t enough to meet the high demand during the Feast of Sacrifice. For those few weeks, Turkey gets closer to Europe, which demands that import restrictions that Turkey has for cattle …

Yuksekova trade plunges after Iran sanctions

About 20 Turkish trucks loaded with steel wait behind a fence at the Esendere border crossing with Iran. On the Iranian side, the trucks will be unloaded into depots, but today there is little movement.

[caption id="attachment_3186" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Three truckers wait for their cargo to be unloaded at the Esendere border crossing with Iran."]…

Real estate market for holiday homes very much alive

ISTANBUL – The real estate market for holiday homes is still very much alive in Turkey, as opposed to those in other Mediterranean countries, like Spain. The favourable exchange rate of the Turkish lira and the fast-growing Turkish economy are the most important reasons.

Turkeycame under the spotlight in the eighties as a country where Europeans could buy real estate …

Turks don’t want war with Syria

ISTANBUL – Turks in general approve of their government’s decision not to start a military retaliation against Syria, after the shooting down of a Turkish jet last Friday. In most cases the Turkish media consider the reaction of the government to be cautiously measured. Only a handful of Turks would support an armed conflict. 

Prime Minister Erdogan announced on Tuesday that …

‘It’s going well between The Netherlands and Turkey’

Four hundred years ago it started, the official ties between the Republic of the United Netherlands and the Ottoman Empire. Jan-Paul Dirkse is now the Dutch ambassador in Turkey’s capital Ankara. How does he see the relations between the two countries now?

Published in a magazine of Schiedam Municipal Museum. The first Dutch ambassador in Turkey, Cornelis Haga, was from …