Turkish ambassador to Ireland Necip Egüz talks to Eda Halis about the experience of Turkish immigrants in Ireland, as well as political and economic relations between the two countries
‘Close to 2,000 Turkish people live in Ireland,” says Turkey’s ambassador to this country, Necip Egüz. “This figure was higher before the economic crisis in 2008 – since the crisis they have gone to Russia and Europe. But now, the economy is improving again and we would encourage them to come here again.”
The ambassador, who took up the post in February this year, says Turkish people in Ireland can usually be found working as artisans or operating small businesses like shops. “But also we have young engineers who are working in companies such as Facebook and Google. Sometimes we hold meetings with these engineers and we are talking about what we can do for Turkey and Ireland.
“Generally, they are satisfied with the living conditions here,” he adds. “Of course, in 2008 the economic crisis affected them too, but now we do not have a problem with that.”
On economic relations between Turkey and Ireland, Ambassador Egüz explains that the situation could be stronger.
“There is $800m dollars of trading volume between the two countries; $350m dollars of this are exports to Ireland from Turkey, $450m are export to Turkey from Ireland. In fact, in 2007 the total amount increased to $1bn, but after that economy began to decline. Now once again we are trying to revive economic relations.”
Ambassador Egüz adds that Turkey is among the 26 countries worldwide that Ireland has selected as a target market for growing exports.
“Turkey has a growing and developing economy, and Ireland also sees significant potential in Turkey. For this reason, in April we visited Turkey with the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade [Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore].”
The ambassador shares his hopes that the visit has contributed to an increase in Turkey’s exports in the textiles and automotive sectors.
“There is an organisation called Enterprise Ireland, which has 3,600 Irish companies as clients. This export-oriented institution has a small number of foreign offices around the world, and a new office opened recently in Istanbul.” The ambassador says this is a strong indicator of the opportunities that exist for Ireland in Turkey.
On political matters, Ambassador Egüz believes Ireland will support Turkey’s future membership of the European Union.
“There is no problem in political relations between Ireland and Turkey,” he says. “Last January, Ireland held the Presidency of the Council of the EU, and Ireland is a country which supports Turkey’s EU membership, and this is a positive factor for Turkey.”
A more immediate matter for the ambassador, however, is Turkey’s Republic Day, which will see Turkish people all over the world celebrate their nation on 29 October.
“We [at the embassy] will give a reception on the day,” he says. “We have rented a hall and we will invite all Turkish people here to be together.”
