UKinTurkey Newsletter Sep./ Oct./Nov. 2013 (Nr:4)
Message from the British Ambassador Welcome to the latest edition of the UK in Turkey newsletter In this edition you will find information about projects on which we have been working recently with the Turkish Government, as well as developments in our trade relations in this key market for British business. One new element is our GREAT campaign, which we are using to make the point to the Turkish business and student communities that the United Kingdom is a world class destination for trade and investment partnerships, and for education. In October and November, we took a London double-decker bus to various cities across Turkey to use as an eye-catching mobile headquarters from which we could promote the UK’s reputation for innovation and entrepreneurship. On the political side, the situation in Syria remains our biggest current priority. We are working with the Turkish Government and other allies to find a political solution, and to help handle the humanitarian crisis. The United Kingdom has already pledged £500 million to help alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, making this our biggest ever response to an international disaster.
On 20 November, the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoğlu, met in Istanbul to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the terrorist bombing which targeted our Consulate-General in Istanbul, and to join HSBC at an event marking the separate bomb that killed three of their staff and injured many more that day. I know the Foreign Secretary was deeply moved by his encounters with the families and friends of the victims. Speaking at a memorial event, he paid tribute to those killed and injured saying, ”they will always be remembered, long after the ideology and organisations that were responsible for their deaths are consigned to the past.” If you would like to read his speech, you can find it here at our website. As ever, we are keen to ensure that British residents in Turkey, and the two millionplus British tourists and other visitors, continue to benefit from up to date travel advice on Turkey. For up to date information, please look out for travel advice updates on our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Sadly, this is my final newsletter as the British Ambassador in Turkey. I have enjoyed my four and a half years enormously. I will miss the friends I have been lucky enough to make here, and this amazing country and its rich history. I am going back to London, but hope to be a regular visitor to Turkey. My successor, Richard Moore, who knows Turkey well from a previous posting here, looks forward to taking charge in January.” With Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Sir David Reddaway HM Ambassador
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Message from HM Consul General In Istanbul the busy autumn season resumed in September For us the most moving event was the tenth anniversary of the terrorist bomb attack on the Consulate General on 20 November 2003. The victims of the attach included ten of our staff, among them the Consul-General, Roger Short. On 20 November this year, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague and Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, led a commemorative event at the Consulate General. The families of those who died, former and current staff and representatives of the Istanbul local authorities also attended the commemoration, which included one minute’s silence in memory of the victims. Both ministers laid wreaths of remembrance and spoke of the continued struggle against global terrorism, in which the UK and Turkey work closely together.
This autumn we have also taken forward energetically the GREAT campaign, designed to to promote the UK’s trade, investment and education links with Turkey and raise the UK’s profile as a business partner of choice. On 7th October we held a Fashion is GREAT event in collaboration with Harvey Nichols’ department store in Istanbul and their Turkish partner, DemSA. Over 300 people attended a catwalk event with five up-and-coming British-based fashion designers. We also used the opportunity to promote the fantastic creative expertise of the British fashion industry. Our second GREAT highlight this autumn has been the visit to Turkey of a red double decker London bus. This particular vehicle was unique: the very first of the new-look hybrid dieselelectric buses to enter service in London in 2011. It travelled across Europe to reach Turkey in October this year. We used the bus, a beautiful and iconic example of high-tech and "green" British design, to support trade, investment and education across Turkey. The bus visited Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and the Anatolian cities of Eskisehir, Kayseri and Adana, supported by teams from the UK Trade & Investment, UK Visas & Immigration teams and the British Council. We held business seminars with local Chambers of Commerce and also visited universities to promote the benefits of education in the UK. We supported the bus tour with a social media campaign. The bus attracted a great deal of attention and surprised some British travellers on its travels. Click here [xx link] for a flavour of the bus’ journey, including an impressive photo shot from Cappadocia. Look out for our next major GREAT event, the British Business Summit, which will take place in March 2014. It will focus on technology, finance and infrastructure.
Leigh Turner (@leighturnerFCO) Consul General, Istanbul
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Message from HM Consul Once a year all members of the consular staff get together to review our activities over the year and start planning for how we are going to deliver consular services for the following year. This year we met in Bodrum and spent a day considering how we can deliver the Consular Strategy 2013 – 2016: Consular, and a day focussing on our consular customers and their experience of our services. We were joined by guests from London, Malaga, Sharm El Sheikh and around the region including several Bodrum-based representatives of our resident consular customers. There have been some significant changes during the year. If you are a British national calling for assistance, our new system for call handling, started in the summer, should mean that you get a quicker answer to routine enquiries and can be more certain of reaching the right member of consular staff to help you if you need more complex assistance. More of our services are available online and we now have an online appointment booking process so you can be sure of seeing someone without undue delay when you come to our consulates. As an example of real time response to customer feedback, one of our customer representatives pointed out a difficulty with using the online appointment system and we changed it to something more user friendly there and then.
There are more changes on the way to make life easier for British nationals in Turkey. We have simplified the marriage documentation process that British nationals have to go through with the consulate in order to get married in Turkey. There is a new form which will shortly be available online which British couples can download, complete and get notarised before arrival in Turkey for their wedding, avoiding the need to spend a day visiting a consulate with an armful of documents. Look out for announcements on our Facebook and Twitter feeds for when this change takes place. Our community meetings remain popular and, whilst we cannot answer all the questions being posed at these meetings, the feedback we get from them is positive and we always take away a list of issues to raise with the Government of Turkey. This year we have had the opportunity to introduce officials from the new Directorate General of Migration Management which is taking on responsibility for many of the administrative issues that affect British visitors and residents in Turkey. We will continue to work with them and bring to their attention the issues of concern to British nationals and hopefully see a smooth transition as they take over their responsibilities. Perennial difficulties with property and SGK continue to fill our electronic mailbags and we will be looking in the new year at raising these issues, amongst others, in formal talks with the government. As ever we welcome feedback on our services and how we might improve them so please do get in touch. Happy Christmas, Timothy Fisher (@HMConsulTurkey) HM Consul, Ä°stanbul
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NEWS FROM THE EMBASSY Pages 5-6
CONSULAR Page 7
PROJECTS Page 8
TRADE Page 9
CONSULAR LINKS Page 10
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NEWS FROM THE EMBASSY
HMA Sir Reddaway’s remarks on 10th anniversary of Istanbul attacks HMA Sir David Reddaway wrote an op-ed for Hurriyet daily on the 10th anniversary of the bomb attacks to the Britih Consulate General and HSBC Bank in İstanbul. «Ten years on from the worst terrorist attacks in Istanbul’s history, the threat from extremist violence sadly remains. But I believe the UK and Turkey are countries made great by our determination to stand up for what we believe in, to reject terrorism and violence as a means of pursuing political aims and to engage with the world to strengthen democracy, prosperity and security. That gives me cause for optimism on a day when we look back with such sadness at the human cost of terrorism.» said Sir Reddaway. Click here for the full article of Hurriyet daily (Turkish): http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/25159935.asp
New head teacher of BESA welcomed British Ambassador Sir David Reddaway (far left) and the Head of the Governing Board for the British Embassy School Ankara (BESA) Peter Spoor, gave a reception to welcome and introduce Mr. Kenneth Page, the new Head teacher of the British Embassy School Ankara to the parents (far right). Mr Page in his speech thanked for the warm welcome he has received from everyone and underlined the excellent report the school had got from the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate (British Schools Overseas). BESA is a British School following the curriculums of England and Wales, based in the grounds of the British Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. It is a coeducational primary school with children aged between 3 and 13.
Project launched by HMA Sir David Reddaway
The opening ceremony of the “Project on Raising Awareness of Chief Civil Administrators and Law Enforcement Personnel about the Enjoyment of Rights to Assemble and Demonstrate and make Press Statements” was made in Ankara. HMA Sir David Reddaway said in his opening speech that the Turkish Interior Ministry is strongly committed to ensuring that Turkey carries out reforms necessary towards meeting the EU acquis and a great deal of progress has been made in recent years. “I would like to underline once again the British Government’s longstanding commitment to Turkey’s EU membership, and to working with you towards that goal.” added Sir Reddaway.
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NEWS FROM THE EMBASSY Defence & Security Equipment International 2013 Exhibition The Defence & Security Equipment International 2013 Exhibition was held between 10-13 September in London. The Turkish Deputy Defence Minister Kemal Yardımcı, Brig Gen Mehmet Dişli from Turkish General Staff as the official guests of the UKTI Defence & Security Organisation. 10 Turkish companies were exhibited at the Turkish Pavilion.
Istanbul – Security and Fire Exhibition and Conference IFSEC Istanbul – Security and Fire Exhibition and Conference took place in İstanbul between 30 September -02 October 2013. With the assistance of UK Trade and Investment, the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) brought a mission of 14 UK security and fire companies to exhibit their capabilities at the show. The event was an important opportunity for British companies to interact and network with local and regional sector representatives.
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CONSULAR Series of community meetings completed British nationals living in Kuşadası, Bodrum, Fethiye, Marmaris and Didim were recently invited to community meetings.
SGK issues
Preliminary information on the new foreigner’s law & adaptation process, latest situation with SGK, driving licenses and the wills/property were among the subjects evaluated at the meetings.
There has been some confusion recently about the interpretation of the rules regarding the ability of foreign nationals to opt out of the SGK healthcare system. Some branches of SGK directorate appear to have misinterpreted the ruling. We have contacted the SGK Head Office for clarification. The ruling was published in the Turkish Government Official Gazette on the 29th of May 2013 and reported soon after by us on this facebook page and in our quarterly newsletter. It remains as follows: It is no longer compulsory for foreign nationals to join SGK health scheme. After one year of residency in the country with a residence permit, all foreign nationals will have the right to apply to become members to the SGK scheme. All foreign nationals who have been residing longer than a year will also be eligible to apply and their payments will start from the date they applied. Payments will not be back dated and no penalty will be applied. The only circumstances in which a foreign national will be able to cease or withdraw their application from SGK is when they leave Turkey; join an official health scheme (like NHS); gain employment with a Turkish company that deducts SGK from their salary; or on death.
Supporting British Nationals in Turkey Consular staff from Marmaris and Fethiye gave presentations promoting the safety and security of British nationals at meetings on 25 and 26 September 2013 organized by the tour operator Jewel-in-the-Crown to train and educate hotel staff on hosting British tourists. Read the full text: http://issuu.com/ukinturkey/docs/supporting_brit ish_nationals_in_tur
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PROJECTS Raising Awareness on the Procedures of the Individual Application An Embassy sponsored project on Raising Awareness on the Procedures of the Individual Application in the Area of Human Rights implemented by the Ministry for European Union Affairs in cooperation with the Constitutional Court, Ombudsman Institution, Human Rights Institution of Turkey and Ministry of Justice, was launched on October 1st . 2013. Hosted by the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Mr Egemen Bağış, the first meeting was held in Ankara with the participation of the President of the Constitutional Court Mr Haşim Kılıç, the Minister of Justice Mr Sadullah Ergin, the Chief Ombudsman Mr M. Nihat Ömeroğlu, the President of the Human Rights Institution of Turkey Dr Hikmet Tülen and the Deputy Head of Mission of British Embassy Ms Janet Douglas.
Project on city-level climate change adaptation A first workshop under an Embassy funded to support the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in implementing its national strategy to adapt to climate change took place in Bursa on 10 September 2013. The project aims to build city-level capacity and skills to develop a climate change adaptation strategy, and to develop a Climate Adaptation Support Package, tailored to the Turkish context.
Developing a national strategy to manage irregular migration This project is supported by the British and Norwegian Embassies in Turkey. Over 50 participants attended from the, Turkish National Police (TNP), Jandarma, Coast Guard, Ministries of Health, Family, Social Services, the Turkish Administrative Ombudsman. A number of NGOs were also represented. Sirin Turkay, project manager (migration) at the British Embassy said, “This event was a major part of the project and it was pleasing to see the involvement of all the new Turkish GDMM, all law enforcement agencies and the NGO community to devise the national strategy for dealing with irregular migration.
Rights to Assembly and Demonstration
Low carbon aviation project
Under the Re-Uniting Europe Fund’s (RE) “Rights to Assembly and Demonstration” project, HMA Sir David Reddaway attended the opening ceremony in Ankara on 8 October. The Ambassador underlined the UK’s support for the right to peaceful protest and highlighted our concerns about excessive use of police force during the Gezi protests.
An Embassy-sponsored project on low carbon aviation took place in Ankara between 1-3 October. 30 experts from the Turkish State Airports Authority, airline companies & airport operators participated
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TRADE
GREAT Regional Bus Tour Turkey The GREAT London Bus, which has been designed by the renown British designer Thomas Heatherwick has visited Turkey this month. In cooperation with British Council, BCCT and with sponsorship of Shell, Akfen Holding and MINI the bus has visited 7 cities in one month; Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Kayseri, Adana and Mersin. Chambers of commerce, universities and city centres have been visited; business seminars and seminars about education in UK were delivered. GREAT, Prosperity, IKTI, UKVI and PPA gave messages of doing business in UK, visas, education in UK and the combined services provided.
In Ankara the bus also visited the Embassy and was exhibited in front of TEPAV during Green is GREAT event and underlined its Hybrid technology as it leaves half of the carbon footprint of the regular busses. It was very well received by the public, business world and the universities. Also it was widely covered in the media.
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CONSULAR LINKS CONSULAR LINKS (Please click on the titles for the relevant web page) Online Consular Appointment System Travel advice Overseas British passport applications Births, deaths and marriages Legislation service Notarial and documentary services List of lawyers Importing and driving cars Mobile phones Entry and residency requirements in Turkey Healthcare for British visitors and residents Natural disasters (Earthquakes) Buying property Emergency numbers in Turkey Ex-pat websites & online newspapers in English
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