The US economic sanctions make the Iranian companies look for the new methods to evade the business limitations. In 2019, hundreds of Iranians have set up new businesses in Turkey to evade US pressure.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani this week. Both leaders have discussed the US economic sanctions during their meeting at the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit in Malaysia’s capital.
To avoid legal and business limitations, Iranians prefer to register foreign companies in Turkey. In the first 10 months of this year, Iranians more than any other nationality registered foreign firms in Turkey, according to new data from the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
“Out of 10,682 opened from January to October, more than 800 were registered by Iranian citizens — 49 publicly listed and 772 private limited companies,” the UCCE statistics say.
The lion share of the newly established businesses was set up by Iranians to bypass US sanctions. In the first ten months, 821 Iranian firms were established with a total capital of only 116 million Turkish lira ($19.5 million). In comparison with the normal pace, that is an insignificant sum to establish a foreign company.
According to the Turkish UCCE, the new companies are mostly in the wholesale and retail sectors, 677 of 821 firms were established in Istanbul. The rest were set up in Ankara, Antalya, an industrial hub of Bursa, as well as the port cities of Izmir and Mersin.
