GlobalAtlanta’s first roundtable podcast is focused on relations between Georgia and Turkey.

Participants included Jacobus Boers, international business lecturer at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business; Tarik Celik, executive director, Istanbul Center; Craig Lesser, managing partner, Pendleton Consulting Group and Adil Soyuer, director of economic relations, Turkish American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast U.S.

Phil Bolton, publisher of the GlobalAtlanta news service, served as moderator of the Oct. 10 event held at Agio Press Inc.'s office in Decatur.

Among the topics discussed were the general lack of knowledge about the state of Georgia in Turkey and the country of Turkey in Georgia.

In an attempt to expose academic, civic and business leaders from both Georgia and Turkey to each other, the Istanbul Center has initiated a series of lectures and gatherings in its offices in Midtown.

Since it was opened in 2002, the center, a nonprofit organization dependent on private donations from both the U.S. and Turkey, also has organized multiple trips to Turkey to introduce Georgia leaders to their counterparts there and to expose them to Turkish culture.

Mr. Lesser, who served as Georgia’s commissioner of economic development from 2004-2007, says that the hospitality he received in Turkey was unsurpassed in his travels to some 40 countries.

He also encourages local companies and economic developers to seek out opportunities to conduct business with Turkey in view of its favorable 8 percent growth rate. In addition, he speaks well of Turkey’s business networks in Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Mr. Celik points to the impressive gains in trade between Turkey and Georgia,  which grew from a total of $300 million in 2007 to more than $1 billion in 2010.

Mr. Soyuer credited Turkey’s past decade of stable government with helping prop up its current economic growth.

Mr. Boers places the U.S.-Turkish relationship in a historical context and emphasizes the importance of cultural immersions, be they through the sorts of trips that the Istanbul Center organizes or study abroad experiences of students.

To reach Mr. Boers, send an email to jboers@gsu.edu; for Mr. Celik, celik@istanbulcneter.org; for Mr. Lesser, cslesser@pendletonatlanta.com and for Mr. Soyuer go to soyuer@taccsoutheast.com.

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