Let's Talk Turkey

I am thankful for friendship and leftovers this day after Thanksgiving. I had lunch with my BFF whom I haven't seen in almost six months and love that we are always able to pick up where we left off without skipping a beat. Hubby wanted straight up leftovers for dinner but I couldn't do it so made PDub's turkey and swiss panini with a couple of modifications ... no fig jam, spicy brown mustard instead of Dijon and walnut halves instead of pecans. Fabulous!

I only have three assignments left for my International Business course and one of them is a group paper on a country (the other two are short paper on international expansion and a 50 question exam). Guess which country my group selected? You got it, Turkey! Each of us is researching a separate topic and we'll conclude with how to do business in Turkey. I am researching the country's government and legal & political systems (the other topics are culture and the economy). I found a website with information on Country Commerical Guides prepared by the Department of Commerce. All I had to do was email the Turkish representative and he sent the entire PDF ... score!

As the world’s fastest growing economy during the first quarter of 2011, Turkey represents a market with great potential. Turkey has been designated as a priority market under President Obama’s National Export Initiative and has, as a result, been the focus of sustained International Trade Administration and U.S. Government efforts, including targeted trade promotion. U.S.-Turkish trade grew by 34 percent last year, reaching a record high of almost $20 billion. Furthermore, U.S. exports to Turkey rose 38 percent, totaling $14.6 billion and making Turkey one of the top 25 U.S. export markets.

Fun facts:
• The Republic of Turkey is at the "crossroads" of Europe and Asia
• Depending on how you define continents, Turkey is either part of Eurasia or part in southeastern Europe and part in western Asia
• The part of Turkey in Europe is called ‘Thrace’ while the part in Asia is called ‘Anatolia’
• Turkey was the center of the Ottoman Empire with Constantinople as its capital (now Istanbul)
• If you subscribe to the seven-continent definition, Istanbul is the only city in the world located on two continents
• 98% Muslim - Turkey is the only secular Muslim country amongst all the Muslim countries in the world (separation of church and state)
• The Turks introduced coffee to Europe and tulips to the Dutch
• St. Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) was born in Patara and became the bishop of Demre, on Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast
• Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey
• It is only 577.36 miles or 929.15 kilometers from Istanbul to Sochi, Russia - the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics (only 440 days away!!!)