Business Culture in Turkey

Learn Turkish business culture

Lesson Transcript

Want to speak real Turkish from your first lesson?

Hi everybody, merhaba, ben Seda. Welcome to turkishclass101.com.

Nasılsınız? Şimdi sizinle Türkiye’de iş kültürü ilgili konuşacağım.

Today I will be talking about business culture in Turkey. Are you guys ready?

Turkey is a country in the middle of Europe and Middle East so our culture is kind of mixed up in

the middle in between. Turkey's population is over 80 million and most of them are very young.

With this huge young population and a strategic geographical position Turkey has always been a

center for business, center of attention for business. What are the things that are a little

different than the other cultures in the business world? First of all, Turkish people are not very

direct in conversation. They like to go around the subject for a while to know the person so being

very direct and trying to get to the point is not suggested. You may be found some kind of repulsive

and having lots of meetings and meals are very normal before even start. You cannot do business

in Turkey without getting to know the people. The business is based on people and their trust so we

can say less paperwork and more trust is the best way to go. If you invite people to a dinner or

lunch you are supposed to pay but if you are invited it means that you are a guest and you

should not insist on paying. You can invite them back in return if you want to do something.

Bringing alcoholic beverages, drinks may not be a good idea in every situation. Some people are

more conservative religious and may not welcome such a gift so before bringing anything learn

about your audience and if you want to be on the safer side bringing a dessert or a gift from your

own country will do good and during the conversation expect to talk about your personal life that's not

intruding but very normal in Turkish culture talking about your spouse your family your kids

it's very normal don't get offended if you're asked about them and you can also ask them about

their families as well and try not to talk about politics and football in business meetings. Turkish

people can be very passionate about these subjects and drinking tea is very common during meetings

expect to drink lots of tea you can also ask for Turkish coffee if they ask what you want or you can

just ask for water and don't get surprised if they keep bringing you tea without even asking

that's very common and having lots of meetings are important for Turkish people they want to build

trust and relationship before doing business and reaching the right people for the job you want to

do is mostly the key for doing businesses there is no structure for doing it you have to meet the

right people and gain their trust and build relationships so be ready to spend some time

and after you gain their trust the paperwork won't take that long though so that's good news I think

and you may hear a lot of bakarız meaning we'll see we'll look literally it may be frustrating

especially for a westerner to do this kind of business so take a deep breath

generally Turks like to get acquainted with the people they will work and do business with

and they will most likely to do business with those they are able to trust and those they can provide

a long-term relationship so get ready for a slow decision process remember some people are religious

and some not if the person you do business is a religious person learn about Ramadan and don't

offer them anything to eat or drink during those times and respect them by not doing it yourself

you should also learn at least some Turkish greetings Turkish people love hearing foreigners

to speak Turkish and you can use hanım or bey for the respect when you know talking to someone

hanım is miss bey is mister and sometimes you add the profession before hanım or bey for example

you say doktor hanım miss doctor or öğretmen hanım miss teacher or avukat bey mister lawyer

it sounds weird in English but it is totally normal in Turkish and about timing Turkish people

are not very punctual you are expected to arrive on time but you may wait even for an hour for a

meeting it's not personal it is because as I told you before Turkish people love talking during

meetings and meetings can overlap because of it so if you want to do business doing a big deal out

of this may not help you so if you want to say everything if I want to say everything shortly

expect building a relationship and trust expect long meals and lots of tea be punctual but be

ready to wait be respectful to the religious people and older people be sincere and don't

expect a division between business and personal so these are the differences I see but don't forget

that there are a lot of different types of companies out there tech companies global companies are

mostly more global and less Turkish in style and with each younger generation and globalization the

differences are getting thinner and thinner in time so the best way of doing a business in a

foreign land is to observe the locals I guess okay guys that's all I want to say and I want to ask

do you have an experience doing business in Turkey or with a Turkish person and how was it and how

are these things similar or different in your country please leave some comments below I hope

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