An award-winning Turkish visual designer based in Los Angeles has helped increase American tourist numbers to his homeland by 30 percent thanks to a strategic advertising campaign.
“Bringing tourists to Turkey is not only possible by taking the photos of the Maiden’s Tower, Ephesus and Ölüdeniz and advertising them in Times Square and The New York Times,” visual designer Emrah Yücel recently told Anatolia news agency. “A strategy is necessary behind this activity; it is necessary to know American people. We pay attention to give the right message in right times.”
Yücel won a job tendered by the Culture and Tourism Ministry and began a poster campaign earlier this year that used visuals resembling Hollywood movie posters to increase the number of U.S. visitors to Turkey from 100,000 to 130,000 over the previous year, according to official ministry data.
The designer, who has worked in Hollywood for many years, said his promotion team attached great importance to Easter and Thanksgiving, which are very important to Americans, as well as April 23 Children’s Day.
Julia Elaine Robertson and Shira Rachel Babow are exchange students at Bilkent University, located in the country’s capital city Ankara. After completing their studies, they will return to University of California. At Bilkent, international faculty and instructors make up more than a quarter of all academic staff, representing 40 different countries. There is a growing body of full-time international students, as well as exchange students visiting from more than 250 partner institutions.
The EBRD is making a €1.4 million investment in Meykar, one of Turkey’s leading private manufacturers and distributors of frozen beverages to expand the company’s capacities and product range.
Turkey's economy grew 11 percent in the first quarter of 2011, Turkish Statistics Institute said on Thursday. The economy had grown 9.2 percent in the last quarter of 2010, and 8.9 percent throughout the previous year, higher than the expectations of the government. Turkey's GDP was up 17.9 percent in current prices and reached 284.8 billion Turkish liras-TL (175.4 billion USD). In constant prices, Turkey's economy grew 11 percent and reached 25.8 billion TL (15.8 billion USD). 
A group of Turkish scientists have discovered a gene that causes end-stage kidney disease in children.
Denizbank, a Turkish lender largely owned by Europe’s Dexia, has agreed to sell its insurance operations in Turkey for 161.9 million euros to U.S.-based Metlife, a statement from the lender said Monday. According to the agreement on sales of 99.86 percent of stake, Denizbank branches will continue to sell Metlife’s individual retirement and life insurance policies for 15 years.
A statement by Koc Holding said on Wednesday that Turkey's Koc Holding Honorary Chairman Rahmi Koc would receive the award at a ceremony to be held this year.
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce was awarded ''Best Corporate Social Responsibility Project'' by the World Chambers Federation (WCF), is the only global awards programme to recognize the most innovative projects undertaken by chambers of commerce and industry from around the world.
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), the largest U.S. chemicals manufacturer, and Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii (AKSA) AS, a Turkish maker of synthetic acrylic fibers, are in talks to form a joint venture to make carbon fiber and derivatives, the companies said.
Mehmet Oz becomes the eighth Turk to grace the cover of one of the world's most prestigious magazines, Time. The Turkish health guru known as Dr. Oz, who gained fame as the host for on a show on the American TV channel Fox, has become the eighth Turk to grace the cover of one of the world's most prestigious magazines, Time.
Following his visit to the United States to develop economic relations between Turkey and the U.S., the chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, or TOBB, said he received extremely positive signals from his meetings despite the current picture of weak trade ties.
Istanbul, which ranked seventh in world congress tourism last year and sixth in Europe, has become an international convention destination, according to Murat Yalçıntaş, chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, or ICOC. "By strengthening its position among the top 10 cities in world convention tourism, Istanbul should target to enter the top five in the next five years," said Yalçıntaş, who has also been the chairman of the Istanbul Convention and Visitors Bureau, or ICVB, since March 2006.
Career criminal Willie Sutton is credited with saying that he robbed banks, “because that’s where the money is,” and while Sutton later claimed to have never uttered that infamous line, he did say in his autobiography that criminals “go where the money is … and go there often.”
Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan picked up another international award Sunday, winning the prestigious Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for his most recent work, “Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da” (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia).
