New BridgehouseLaw Office in Istanbul!

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We are happy to announce that our BridehouseLaw family is growing big and expanding its horizon with a new office location in one of the largest cities of the Middle East – Istanbul. BridgehouseLaw is building bridges between business, law and taxation. We know that foreign language skills, cultural understanding and access to expansive networks can make all the difference. That is why we have our local offices in different regions of the world to provide global solutions from local professional networks in these regions, and we are pleased to provide our clients with the connections needed to advance their own business interests.

Germany and Turkey enjoy exceptionally close and wide-ranging relations stretching back over the decades. A growing number of people with Turkish roots in Germany are making a lasting mark on German society through their engagement in the country’s cultural, economic and political life. The 1999 German Nationality Act opened up new prospects to many Turks living in Germany in legal terms. The nearly three million people of Turkish origin living in Germany – somewhat more than half of them with German citizenship – are an important factor in bilateral relations. Another factor is Turkey’s attractiveness as a travel and tourist destination (about five million Germans visited the country in 2012).

In August 2013, the two countries economics ministries agreed to set up a Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO). The first meeting is scheduled for 2014.

The German Rectors’ Conference’s Higher Education Compass currently lists 966 cooperation agreements – including nearly 800 ERASMUS programs – between German and Turkish universities (as of October 2013), and this number is trending upwards. The Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir branches of the Goethe Institute offer a wide range of cultural programs, thus making a contribution to intercultural exchange in all areas and also showing an increasing presence across the country.

Significant waves of Turkish immigration to the United States began during the period between 1820 and 1920, when American immigration policies were quite liberal. Since the 1980s, the flow of Turkish immigrants to the United States has included an increasing number of students and professionals as well as migrants who provide unskilled and semi-skilled labor. Turkish Americans live in all fifty states, although the largest concentrations are found in New York City, namely Rochester, NJ, namely Patterson and Clifton – also known as “Little Istanbul”, CA, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, Michigan. Current estimates of the total Turkish population in America are around 300,000. Turkish-Americans are organized under 300 social, professional and cultural associations across the US (e. g. ATAA Assembly of Turkish American Association in DC; AFTA American Turkish Friendship Association in DC; FTAA Florida Turkish American Association in Miami, Istanbul Center in Atlanta, etc.)

American Turkish Council is located in Washington DC; ATCOM American Turkish Chamber of Commerce – in Cherry Hill, NJ; TACC Turkish American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in NY, Atlanta and Chicago.

The most successful and well-known companies owned by Turkish investors: Bankasi, Koc Group, Akbank, Garanti Bankasi, Sabanci Group, Turkcell, Turk Telekom, Halk Bankasi, Vakiflar Bankasi, Enka, Erdemir, Dogan Holding, Anadolu Efes, Godiva, Mavi Jeans, Gilan, Sarkar, LTB Jeans.

We say Merhaba to our new BridgehouseLaw Member in Istanbul!