The importance of the Republic of Turkiye for the Russian Federation and the attractiveness of bilateral trade and economic cooperation can hardly be overestimated. Currently there are certain obstacles for Russian businessmen in Turkiye in terms of making payments, obtaining insurance, opening new companies and bank accounts. At the same time, there are legal options for solving the above-mentioned problems and hedging possible risks.
To get the most positive experience from working with the Turkish business community, one should look for partners in the right places: exhibitions and fairs, high level of organization of which in Turkiye is regularly noted by foreign participants; membership lists of business associations that play a special role in the Turkish economy. “Red Flag” is Russian-speaking representatives of intermediary companies indulging in a wide range of economic activity, as a rule, these people come from CIS countries. Everyone is familiar with the phrase “We Russians do not deceive each other“, in practice, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Hence the wary attitude of the Turkish side towards various intermediaries and the desire to work directly with Russian manufacturers and importers.
Personal communication in Turkiye almost completely replaces business correspondence. Forexample, a Russian company requested information about an exhibition from a Turkish organizer, a week has passed, and there is no answer. Colleagues in Istanbul called the organizer directly, spoke inTurkish, and received information immediately. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account thelanguage barrier, without an interpreter or knowledge of the Turkish language, it is extremely difficultto establish interaction. The management of Turkish companies has an excellent knowledge of English, but in order to contact them, you first need to go through the reception and medium level managers.
It is extremely important to clearly spell out the terms of the contract in Turkish and Russianlanguages, to avoid template agreements previously used with European partners. Once a Russian company did not change the phrase in the contract that conflict situations are resolved “in accordance with Austrian law.” As a result, it was necessary to look for appropriate specialists in Istanbul. By default, there is no such thing as a penalty for a late contract fulfillment in Turkiye, if penalties are not spelled out in the contract, it will be difficult to bring the partner to justice.
It is highly important to talk and negotiate with the Turks. The number of liters of tea you drank during a conversation with a Turk will have an effect on the currency exchange rate that a Turkish bank or a payment agent will offer you for a foreign trade contract. If you come to Turkiye to visit your partner’s company and negotiate the price will be lower for you, because you are already known to the Turkish side.