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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Turkey

21st May 2013

Astonishing Turkey: business, tourist opportunities and Anatolian tigers

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Zeugma Mosaic Museum – Gaziantep

The eyes follow you wherever you look.  The gaze is bold, beautiful and serene.

But the image is 1,500 years older than the Mona Lisa.

Gaziantep, a city of 1.3 million people close to the Turkish border with Syria, is often called an “Anatolian Tiger” because of its rapid growth over the past few years.  I visited the city recently with the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey to meet local political leaders and businesses and talk about trade and investment opportunities in the UK. Several things were striking:

– the rapid economic growth of Gaziantep means there are many important businesses and business people looking for trade and investment opportunities with the UK and other countries;

– those businesses could profit from UK expertise in many areas including innovation, education and training, and design;

– UK Trade and Investment can help Turkish and British businesses profit from business opportunities in Gaziantep;

Gaziantep itself is an awesome, ancient city.  It is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited settlements in the world.  Its Zeugma Museum features an incredible display of Roman-era mosaics including the famous “Gypsy Girl” with the mesmerising eyes.  The increasingly-restored city centre is full of impressive historic caravanserais and other splendid structures.  And it is home to a famous culinary tradition of spicy food blending Middle-Eastern and Turkish influences which the world will shortly discover (more on this later if a certain planned investment in London comes off).

Check out Gaziantep – worth a visit for lots of excellent reasons.

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About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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