Russia - Turkey visa-free travel

With the signing of a mutual agreement between Turkey & Russia today [Tuesday, 18 January 2011] mutual visa regulations will most likely be lifted within two months time.

The decision is expected to increase trade between the two nations & has excited tourism operators, as it will go into effect prior to the start of the summer season.

After the initial protocol to lift joint visa regulations was signed on 12 May 2010, today the Re Admission Agreement, considered the final stage in the process, was signed between Turkey & Russia.

According to the Russian Embassy visa regulations should be lifted between the two countries in one to two months time.

Now, not only will businessmen be able to travel freely without the burden of obtaining visas, but the practice is also expected to positively affect tourism between the two nations. Last year alone, three million Russian tourists vacationed in Turkey.

Cumberland Properties welcomes the news, as making travel easier between the two countries will undoubtedly increase the number of rental enquiries to Seaview Regency Prestige, already popular with Russian tourists if the 2010 season is anything to go by, commented Cumberland Properties rentals manager Utku Karamanlioglu.

He added that the prospect of owning a Turkish property, whether as a holiday home, or a property investment in Turkey would now become even more attractive to Russian property investors keen to capitalise on the growing number of Russian tourists visiting the Bodrum peninsula.

Cumberland Properties have recently sold a significant quantity of Turkish property at its popular Woodland Regency development to Russian nationals both as Turkish holiday homes & also as Turkish property investment.

Following Cumberland Properties successful debut at the Moscow International Property Show last November Cumberland are planning to have a presence at the forthcoming DOMEXPO to be held at Gostiny Dvor, just 200 meters from Red Square, Moscow, between Thursday, 24 February – Sunday, 27 February 2011.

For further information:

Elena Sikorsky elena@cumberlandproperties.net London office [Наш русскоговорящий сотрудник]

Selim Sirri selim@cumberlandproperties.net London office

Volkan Akgözlü volkan@cumberlandproperties.net Bodrum office

Utku Karamanlioglu utku@cumberlandproperties.net Bodrum office

Source: Sabah

Turkey tops World Travel Market ExCel London

The Turkish Office of Culture & Tourism was an exceptional contributor to this year’s World Travel Market [WTM] held at ExCel in London during November with this year’s Turkish stand growing 30% in size since last year.

At the press conference Mr. Ozgur Ozaslan, Turkey’s Deputy Undersecretary Responsible for Tourism, announced that Turkey had not experienced any reduction in its tourist arrivals in the past two years unlike many other countries.

Indeed, by welcoming over 27 million visitors to its shores in 2009, Turkey achieved an increase of 2.8% in visitor numbers positioning it as the only country to benefit from a growth in inbound tourist numbers in 2009.

Growth looks set to be even more spectacular during 2010 according to the early figures which reveal over 23 million visitors arriving in Turkey in the first nine months of the year, extrapolated, a year on year increase in tourist arrivals of 6%.

Turkey’s success has also been reflected in winning various tourism awards to include being voted “Favourite Destination” in the 2010 Reader’s Travel Awards by the readers of the world famous Condé Nast Traveller UK magazine & numerous World Travel - European Awards it has received this year.

Istanbul, the European Capital of Culture for 2010, has also staged countless arts & cultural festivals, activities & concerts & has acted as host to a succession of world sports events such as the FIBA world basketball championships & Formula 1 events.

In a continuation of Turkey’s emerging role in the sports world the Universiad Winter Games will be held in Erzurum, Turkey’s centre of winter sports, between 27 January – 6 February 2011, & the 11^th European Youth Olympic Festival [EYOF] the only all-European multi-sport event will be held in Trabzon between 23 - 30 July 2011.

In London to receive the Chatham House Statesman of the Year Award 2010 from the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II, Turkish President Mr. Abdullah Gul will be opening the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centre in November 2010, [Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centres have opened in Bosnia Herzegovina, Albania, Egypt, Macedonia & Kazakhstan. Plans are underway for new centres in other countries including Germany, France, Kosovo, Syria & Russia], in addition to the Mimar Sinan exhibition held at the Royal Institute of British Architects [RIBA] dedicated to the chief Ottoman royal architect during the 16th century. His most famous work being the Suleiman Mosque in Istanbul.

Mimar Sinan [1490 – 1578] was the chief Ottoman architect & civil engineer to sultans Suleiman I, Selim II & Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures amongst other more modest projects.

President Gul stated that “Mimar Sinan is a part of Ottoman & Turkish culture & a part of the common heritage we share with countries from Romania to Saudi Arabia, from Greece to Israel.”

The WTM Turkey press conference was attended by Mr. Ozgur Ozaslan, Deputy Undersecretary Responsible for Tourism; Mr. Cumhur Guven Tasbasi, General Director for Promotion; Mr. Levent Demirel, Deputy General Director - all from the Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism & Mr. Irfan Onal, Director, Turkish Culture & Tourism Office UK.

Additionally, Turkish Members of Parliament, Provincial Governors & representatives of the tourism industry also attended WTM this year.

There were also special head-to-head sessions with senior representatives from the Mugla & Antalya regions & a series of high-level meetings throughout the four days.

Moscow International Property Show – post show roundup

Economists & writers will long argue about the causes & consequences of the economic crisis, but a real estate business has no such luxury as time for reflection.

An increasing number of events dedicated to the elite segment of real estate are proving the fact – the crisis has been overcome & a new era has been ushered in.

Positive changes in the market have already activated its most reliable sector – luxury property. Cumberland Properties participated in the XV International Property Show in Moscow, which is closing the season of presentations in real estate this year.

Keeping with tradition aiGroup invited exhibitors to the shopping centre “Tishinka” in the centre of the Russian capital, where 184 companies from 40 countries brought fresh designs for the demanding Russian client. Around 8,000 visitors, among which friends & partners of Cumberland Properties, were asking questions of real estate companies’ representatives & choosing the most suitable offers during the two show days.

As president of aiGroup Kim Waddoup remarked, “there is yet no better tool for investment than property, especially an overseas property”.
This year has significantly expanded the selection of geography. Five to six years ago Russians were buying real estate mainly in Europe – in Spain, France & the UK. Today there is hardly an island left where footprints of a Russian buyer won’t be found. Distances do not confuse Russians. However, their neighbours, Bulgaria, Finland, Montenegro & Turkey remain the favourites & are constantly strengthening their positions.

Surprisingly the economic crisis has had a beneficial impact on the overseas segment of real estate. In the context of inflation, the need to invest, or simply a desire to secure financial assets, it has prompted many Russians to refer to such a reliable instrument as property ownership abroad.

This was evidenced by a significant number of interested visitors, investors & potential buyers at the Moscow International Property Show this year.
Russians & representatives of other CIS countries are not only aware of what it is to invest in real estate, they also believe this sector to be the most profitable to invest in.

That’s why Cumberland Properties who have long specialised in the design, construction & provision of exquisite interiors to their exclusive properties in Turkey, decided to offer the market a few new projects at the Moscow International Property Show where Cumberland’s Woodland Regency development was the most admired of all.

While the name of Cumberland is becoming familiar to the sophisticated ear of the discerning Russian buyer our team continues to work on the next set of fabulous ideas.

Turkish top court bans pro-Kurdish party

Turkey’s Constitutional Court has voted to ban the country’s largest pro-Kurdish party because of alleged links with Kurdish separatist rebels.

Turkey’s chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya argued that the Democratic Society Party (DTP) took orders from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The DTP is the latest in a series of pro-Kurdish parties to have been closed down in Turkey.

The EU, which Turkey hopes to join, expressed concern over Friday’s ruling.

“While strongly denouncing violence and terrorism, the presidency recalls that the dissolution of political parties is an exceptional measure that should be used with utmost restraint,” the EU’s Swedish presidency said in a statement reported by Reuters.

The 11 judges in Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that the DTP had become a “focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state, the country and the nation”, court president Hasim Kilic told reporters.

He said DTP leaders Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk had been stripped of parliamentary immunity and banned from politics for five years along with 35 other party members.

The treasury would seize all party assets, Mr Kilic added.

The DTP holds 21 seats in Turkey’s 550-member parliament.

Some 40,000 people have died since the outlawed PKK launched an armed campaign in the mainly Kurdish southeast in 1984.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head, in Istanbul, says the DTP’s ban is another blow to the government’s hopes of ending the conflict.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tried to push through a package of reforms aimed at winning over the alienated Kurdish community and persuading militants to lay down their weapons.

Reacting to the ban, DTP chairman Mr Turk said it would not help to end the 25-year conflict.

“Turkey cannot resolve this problem by closing down parties,” he said.

The court case has already caused unrest in Kurdish areas.

In the city of Hakkari - near the Iran and Iraq borders - Turkish police used water canon to break up a protest by Kurdish rebel supporters on Friday, Anatolia news agency reported.

Kurds make up about 20% of Turkey’s population of more than 70 million.

Turkey, the EU and the US list the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

For more information visit: www.bbc.co.uk / www.reuters.com

Turkish Property Sales Rise By 24% In Q3 2009

Even though the real estate sector continues to feel the negative after effects of the global financial crisis and is expected to regain pre-crisis levels by as late as 2012, sales of property in Turkey rose by 24% in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year thanks to several incentives, Today’s Zaman reports, quoting Real Estate Investing Partners Association (GYODER) President Turgay Tanes as saying.

Delivering a speech at a press conference called to present the association’s recently released report on the sector, Tanes said that real estate in Turkey had been one of the sectors that was anticipated to have been hit most severely by the global financial crisis.

However, he noted, the sector saw a 24% rise in housing sales figures in the January -September period of 2009 over the same period of 2008.

The fact that demand for property in Turkey, both domestically and internationally, remains strong is partly fuelled by the burgeoning tourist industry and strong overseas investment in Turkey maintaining demand, consequently this will have helped to deflect the worst impact of the crisis and continues to underpin the market.

These figures are certainly bourn out by Cumberland Properties own experiences of sales of property in Bodrum for the period.

To a great extent the Bodrum peninsular remains immune from the negative effects of the crisis due to its preferred location. Unequivocally the favoured holiday destination both domestically and internationally the peninsular benefits from its designation as a protected area; the Turkish Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture has issued a White Paper that lays out specific guidelines limiting the density of construction in order to retain the authenticity of the Aegean and Mediterranean coastlines.

Buildings may only be 2 storeys high and must be whitewashed, maintaining the region’s authentic and picturesque identity. Furthermore, only 20% of the land in Bodrum can be built on, thus ensuring that its diverse range of wildlife together with its unique natural beauty will be protected for generations to come.

Cumberland Properties can further endorse these findings having already sold a number of properties at Woodland Regency in the first week of January 2010 and are currently experiencing a significant increase, over the same period last year, in enquiries for both property for sale in Bodrum and rentals in Bodrum, having already secured a number of reservations for the ever popular Seaview Regency Prestige

For further information on Yali Seaside Residence contact: Volkan

Source: ANSAmed.

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