Why Does Turkey Make Sense As A Focus For International Business Expansion?

[Liz Seyi]

Famously spanning Asia and Europe, the country that many of us know as Turkey – officially named the Republic of Türkiye – has provided plenty of reason for economic optimism in recent years.
Turkey is a founding member of the Group of Twenty, or G20, which was formed in 1999, and has recorded impressive economic growth over the last few decades. Indeed, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) annual growth rate averaged 4.81% from 1999 until 2024. It is expected that the Turkish GDP annual growth rate will be around 4.5% in 2025.
A growing population could give your organisation access to a strong labour force
While the last few years have seen many countries around the world struggle to grow, Turkey has enjoyed a healthy percentage of GDP growth. Such factors as the country’s rapidly growing population and improvements in the financial sector have helped place Turkey in a strong position for sustained growth over the remainder of the decade.
Speaking of growth, you might be curious to know the other reasons why Turkey should be a key focal point of your organisation’s international workforce planning over the years to come. Below are some of those reasons:
• A strategic trading location
Over the course of its history, Turkey has taken great advantage of its position straddling Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. In today’s era that is very much defined by economic activity across national borders, Turkey continues to make the most of its East-West location.
Transport connections within and beyond Turkey’s borders have been enhanced still further lately, and the country is seeking to become a major energy transport hub.
• An expanding consumer class
With its population now exceeding 80 million, including a growing middle class, Turkey has undergone a remarkable transformation into an upper-middle-income country.
Businesses that trade in consumer goods have particular reason to take an interest in the opportunity that Turkey’s expanding consumer class represents. This trend has included high urbanisation rates, with some 20 urban centres in the country now having a population of more than two million.
• A relatively low cost of labour
While incomes in Turkey have lately been on the rise, much of the Turkish population consists of educated young people who still have low salary expectations compared to much of the rest of the world.
These young people are dynamic, ambitious, and increasingly in possession of skills that make them indispensable in the labour market. This could help make it a sound decision for your business to use a reputable Employer of Record (EOR) service – such as Aspirock – to tap into such talents, without the burden of having to set up a local entity in Turkey.
• The relative ease of starting up and doing business
The Turkish authorities have been cognisant of the need to make the procedures involved in setting up a business in the country as streamlined as possible. Sure enough, changes have been made to help make the process of starting a business in Turkey quick and straightforward.
Reach out to Aspirock, however, and as a business owner or decision-maker coordinating your international workforce planning, you might not even need to go as far as setting up a Turkish company or entity.
As an EOR service with a presence in Turkey, we can take much of the burden off your business’s hands when it comes to the handling of administrative tasks such as employment contracts, payroll, and tax compliance in the country.
As a result, you could soon be taking on capable personnel from Turkey, without having to establish your own business’s legal presence there. That, in turn, could greatly free you up to focus on the growth of your business.