steven chase

OTTAWA— From Friday’s Globe and Mail

For the third time in four months, Peter MacKay found himself facing accusations he’s spending public dollars too freely – an awkward track record for a Harper cabinet minister during an era of belt-tightening in Ottawa.

A taxpayer watchdog Thursday released bills obtained under access-to-information law showing the Defence Minister’s travel expenses last year include a $1,452-per-night stay at a luxury hotel in Munich and a $770-per-night bill for accommodation in Istanbul.

See where Peter MacKay stayed

Harper defends Peter MacKay’s use of a military helicopter

Defence Minister Peter MacKay addresses air crew and technicians after inspecting a new Canadian military Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone helicopter at 12 Wing Shearwater in Halifax on Thursday May 26, 2011.

Peter MacKay under fire for ‘search and rescue’ trip

Mr. MacKay’s staff managed to find far cheaper accommodation than their boss at the same Istanbul Ceylon Intercontinental, the Canadian Taxpayer Federation found. The aides stayed in $276-per-night rooms at the InterContinental – less than half what the minister was charged.

The controversial expenses are more political grief for Mr. MacKay, who caught flak earlier this fall for asking a military chopper to airlift him from a fishing vacation and for racking up more flights on government VIP jets than any other minister but Stephen Harper.

“Peter is becoming this Parliament’s crown prince of pork,” NDP MP Pat Martin said. “This government is broke. We can’t have a globe-trotting Minister of Defence, living in the lap of luxury like some kind of a Gucci-shoes Conservative gadfly from the 1980s.”

Mr. MacKay defended the Munich bill as the cost of staying close to a major 2010 security conference he was attending in the German city.

“Canada books rooms at the same hotel where the conference takes place, where the majority of participants stay,” he told the Commons. “Nation-to-nation meetings at conferences such as this advance the interests of Canada and advance the interests of the hardworking men and women who serve our country around the world. I was proud to represent Canada.”

The same security meeting is taking place at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in 2012, and rates for a room during the Feb. 3-5 period run as low as $364 a night if booked now.

As for Istanbul, Mr. MacKay’s staff explained the difference in the cost of the minister’s room and his aides’ rooms by pointing out he needs a bigger space to host official visitors.

Mr. MacKay has become a favourite target for opposition accusations of excess in an era where the government is trying to squeeze billions of dollars in savings from Ottawa’s deficit-ridden books. Repeated revelations about his spending have spawned speculation that players in the military are trying to undermine him as he prepares to recommend significant reductions in defence spending.

While the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is avowedly non-partisan, several of its former staff members have become Conservative staffers, candidates or MPs. The group often criticizes the Conservative government from the right, urging it to be more fiscally responsible.

The group’s national director, Gregory Thomas, said the organization requested the travel bills after news of Mr. MacKay’s fishing-vacation airlift broke in September, to “see what else he’s been up to.”

Mr. Thomas suggested the minister’s colleagues “have to be a little choked” to read stories this fall about Mr. MacKay being nearly the top user of the government’s VIP jets, given that the Tories have tried to restrict overall use of the planes.

via MacKay accused again of high-spending, including $1,452 hotel room – The Globe and Mail.

Robert Wilson/Record…

WATERLOO — There is tranquility in the submerged moment.

There is warmth in the wondrous, fish-filled waters of the Sea of Marmara, where a young boy from Istanbul can swim and snorkel and sail away the days of his youth.

“You lose track of time,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, recalling the childhood sanctuary he discovered by dipping beneath the surface of Turkey’s inland sea.

“You lose your presence. You forget about it. You are so immersed in that environment because it’s so fabulously beautiful.”

Maybe this morning will provide Hamdullahpur with another serene moment when the 57-year-old professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering is officially installed as the University of Waterloo’s sixth president at the Physical Activities Complex.

He has already taken over for the departed David Johnston, Canada’s governor-general.

But this is the instant where the former skydiver figuratively parachutes in to guide a world-renowned school of 30,000 students with 4,000 faculty and staff.

Maybe he’ll get a skydiver’s rush during fall convocation ceremonies.

“The first 5-10 seconds of your jump, once you are in a vertical position, after your chute opens, it’s silence,” he said.

Hamdullahpur’s is an international man, educated in Turkey and Canada, bent on leading Waterloo into an increasingly international age of higher education.

As he turns 58 on Nov. 3, he’ll be on a flight to the south coast of China where he’ll open a Waterloo office in Hong Kong. He takes off Nov. 2. He touches down Nov. 4. Technically, he’ll miss his birthday.

But the cause is worthwhile.

Hamdullahpur believes the university’s physical and intellectual presence must be felt around the world to reach out to alumni and potential new students.

That’s the only way to stay on top with new universities emerging from India, China, Brazil, Singapore and Europe to challenge the established school powers.

“The world has changed,” he said of the international push.

“No reputable university on this planet will survive if we continue in our ways of how we attracted students and talent to our universities. Ten, 15, 20 years ago, we could sit in our offices and expect that people from around the world will come.”

That’s no longer the case, he said.

Waterloo already has a Dubai campus in the United Arab Emirates, along with local campuses in Kitchener, Cambridge and Stratford. On Saturday, the first 87 graduates of the school of pharmacy in Kitchener earn degrees.

Hamdullahpur, the former school provost, is perhaps best-known for sacking the 2010 football season of the scandal-ridden Warriors.

“It was a bitter pill for everybody but it was a necessary pill,” he said.

“Education sometimes has hard lessons.”

Hamdullahpur met his Canadian wife, Cathy, in Halifax in 1983, was former provost at Carleton University in Ottawa and wants Waterloo’s students to get to know him better.

“It’s an open-door policy with me,” he said. “I’m not somebody who is sitting in his office whose name they can’t pronounce.”

Hamdullahpur is the youngest of five brothers raised by a single mom. His businessman-father, Nasri, died of liver disease when Feridun was barely one. He didn’t know his dad. So Hamdullahpur, a father of two grown boys, said he will think of his mom on Saturday.

Merziye, 92, preached humility and the value of education to her boys.

She still lives by herself in Istanbul.

“One very independent-minded woman,” Hamdullahpur said.

He’ll also think of his oldest brother Perviz, who quit school when his dad died in order to run the family business and support his mother and brothers.

He’ll remember Firuz, the brother he lost in a car crash nine years ago.

When Firuz was old enough to go to matinees, his smaller brothers would give him money to go to the movies. Feridun and Riza were too young to go.

When Firuz retuned, he would retell the entire move to a pint-sized audience.

“We would just sit and listen,” Hamdullahpur said.

On Saturday, about 2,000 graduating students will get a chance to sit and listen to him.

jhicks@therecord.com

via TheRecord – Feridun Hamdullahpur prepares to lead UW into the….

Amnesty International accused Bush of 'responsibility for crimes under international law.' | AP Photo

By TIM MAK

The human rights group Amnesty International called on Canadian authorities Wednesday to arrest former President George W. Bush when he attends an economic summit in the province of British Columbia next week.

The group accused Bush of “responsibility for crimes under international law including torture.”

Amnesty International asked that Canada either prosecute or extradite Bush for violations that they allege took place during the CIA’s secret detention program between 2002 and 2009. The organization wrote a 1,000 page memorandum addressed to Canadian authorities to make the case for human rights violations by the 43rd president.

“Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former President Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture,” Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

The Canadian government responded to the request with critical words for Amnesty International.

“I cannot comment on individual cases… that said, Amnesty International cherry picks cases to publicize based on ideology. This kind of stunt helps explain why so many respected human rights advocates have abandoned Amnesty International,” Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney told POLITICO, noting that Amnesty International had never sought a court order to bar Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Tongolese dicator Gnassingbé Eyadema from Canada.

“Perhaps this helps to explain why Salman Rushie has said that ‘it looks very much as if Amnesty’s leadership is suffering from a kind of moral bankruptcy,’ and why Christopher Hitchens has written about the organization’s ‘degeneration and politicization,’” Kenney added.

Bush cancelled a visit to Switzerland in February after facing similar public calls for his arrest by the other human rights groups.

Amnesty International said that Canada was obligated to arrest Bush under its commitments to the UN Convention Against Torture. The human rights organization objected to the Bush administration’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” and violations they characterized as “cruel, inhuman and degrating treatment and enforced disappearances.”

“A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights,” said Lee.

www.politico.com, 12.10.2011

TORONTO – They’re talking Turkish at the Cheese Boutique this week. Toronto’s iconic cheese shop in the city’s west-end celebrates the foods of the Turkish and Ottoman Palace with the help of three acclaimed chefs from the landmark Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel in Istanbul, who will be showcasing their talents in a series of cooking demonstrations and food dishes that promises to be one of the best culinary experiences to come to the city.

The event is taking place all week to Sept. 26 and features cooking classes with the George Brown culinary students and a special evening gala. Plus this coming Sat. Sept. 24 Cheese Boutique will be celebrating all things Turkish with specialty foods and appearances from the chefs to offer a true gourmand experience for everyone.

The three chefs are famous for their work with the Ciragan Hotel Ottoman Palace, the only Ottoman Imperial Palace and hotel by the Bosphorus (known as the Istanbul Strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia). It’s considered one of the most prestigious hotels in the world that has hosted countless eminent figures including heads of state, royalty, artists and such celebrities as the late Luciano Pavarotti, Robert De Niro, Ray Charles, Sophia Loren and Oprah Winfrey to name a few.

The chefs — Hasan Hüseyin Bozkurt, Eray Erdogan and Ahmet Kara — will be presenting some of the finest dishes from the hotel, including the hotel’s award-winning Tugra Restaurant , which serves the best of traditional and modern Turkish and Ottoman cuisine in dinners.

CHEESE BOUTIQUE, 45 Ripley Ave. 416-762-6292, Cheeseboutique.com.

via A taste of Turkey | Home | Toronto Sun.

Postmedia News Europe Correspondent

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to visit Greece following the G8 summit last month in France the furrowed-eyebrow reaction from some analysts was: “What about Turkey?”

Neighbouring Turkey, which Mr. Harper has never visited since taking office in 2006, has a booming economy, has more than seven times the population (78.8 million), and is an increasingly important western ally and regional power broker in the Middle East and North Africa.

Neighbouring Turkey, which Mr. Harper has never visited since taking office in 2006, has a booming economy, has more than seven times the population (78.8 million), and is an increasingly important western ally and regional power broker in the Middle East and North Africa.

Greece, with just under 11 million people, is staggering under a debt so vast it is barely able to assert its own sovereignty, let alone exert regional influence. Its trade with Canada is tiny and shrinking.

“We should be paying closer attention to Turkey, which is the Mediterranean’s economic tiger and the region’s only Muslim democracy,” said Fen Hampson, director of Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.

“Turkey has a key stabilizing role to play in the Middle East and North African region. Its GDP is fast approaching the $1 trillion mark.”

There are also business interests who would like to see Canada’s rapidly growing trade relationship with Turkey flourish even more, particularly those seeking major government contracts, said Gar Knutson, an Ottawa lobbyist and former Liberal MP who sits on the board of the Canadian-Turkish Business Council.

“I think the prime minister at some point should go to Turkey. They’re an important NATO ally; it’s a quickly growing economy. We have lots of interests there,” Mr. Knutson said.

Mr. Harper’s aides have told the media that Canada has important historical and people-to-people ties with Greece, and there has been a long-standing invitation to Mr. Harper from Prime Minister George Papandreou.

Politics is another factor, since the Conservatives have long wooed the large Greek diaspora in Canada.

But Turkey, say Mr. Harper’s aides, is one of the countries the prime minister wants to visit.

“We did our best in a minority government situation to travel to as many countries as possible,” spokesman Andrew MacDougall said in an email this week.

“Of course, we haven’t had the opportunity to visit all the countries we would like to visit, including Turkey. We look forward to doing so at some point in the future.”

But the idea of a Harper visit to Turkey is fraught with domestic and foreign policy sensitivities due to decisions dating back to Mr. Harper’s time as official Opposition leader.

During that period he embraced the politically active Armenian-Canadian community’s claim that atrocities committed against their community in Ottoman Turkey starting in 1915 constituted genocide.

Plenty of politicians around the world have responded to the Armenian lobby effort, resulting in some 20 legislatures in various countries passing motions recognizing that genocide took place. Among them was the Canadian Senate, in 2002, and the House of Commons two years later.

But, according to Turkey, Canada’s Conservative government is the only one in the world to officially embrace the genocide narrative as official government policy.

Turkey objected furiously in 2006 when Mr. Harper formally stated the new policy, but some diplomats said a thaw had started to develop prior to the 2011 election campaign.

In April of 2010, for instance, Mr. Harper issued no statement to the general public to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. And recent high-level visits include a 2009 trip to Turkey by Lawrence Cannon, then minister of foreign affairs, and another last year by Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

Furthermore, Export Development Canada has just announced the opening of a regional office in Istanbul to help Canadian exporters break into the relatively thriving regional market, and there have been preliminary talks on possible free trade negotiations.

But then Mr. Harper issued an election campaign statement on the genocide, almost identical to the 2006 declaration, that got almost no mainstream media coverage in Canada but deeply angered Turkey.

Mr. Harper’s “wrong and unfair” judgment was based on “one-sided information” that came after a number of initiatives to improve relations, said an April 27 statement from the Turkish foreign ministry.

The government’s position was also “based on narrow political calculations” and “dealt a blow to these efforts,” the statement declared.

Rafet Akgunay, Turkey’s ambassador to Canada and a former senior foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said there has never been a discussion initiated by either government regarding a possible Harper visit.

“I don’t want to comment on such assumptions. If he wants to visit Turkey I’m sure my authorities would consider it accordingly,” Mr. Akgunay told Postmedia News.

But he described Mr. Harper’s genocide position as a “major obstacle” standing in the way of improved relations.

While one senior Turkish foreign affairs official in Ankara told Postmedia News this week that Mr. Harper would be welcome, another former senior Turkish diplomat familiar with Canada said he doubted his country would agree to set out the welcome mat for a foreign leader who would likely inflame nationalist sentiment.

Mr. Hampson said Mr. Harper should try to find a way to mend relations.

“Turkey is far too important a country to shun or ignore or make hostage to our own domestic politics.”

via Will Harper ever visit Turkey? | Posted | National Post.

“EDC will be looking to advance Canada’s expertise in sectors such as power generation, infrastructure and green technologies, including water treatment, as key areas of growth that match up well with the needs of the Eastern Mediterranean region,” said Benoit Daignault, Senior Vice-President, International Business Development, EDC, who is in Istanbul for the opening ceremonies.

“EDC has seen a direct and immediate result in expanding Canadian supply and products in areas where it has representation, and we are confident that Canadian companies will bring great benefits to companies in Turkey, the Balkans and the Caucasus, whether they are looking for a supply chain partner or making an investment in Canada.”

Two-way merchandise trade between Canada and the Eastern Mediterranean region totaled CAD 1.56 billion in 2010, having risen steadily from the 2006 level of CAD 709 million.

In 2010, EDC provided financial solutions for 433 Canadian firms doing business in the region, facilitating more than CAD 1.3 billion of trade with Turkey in 2010 and close to CAD 2 billion in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Burak Aktas will be EDC’s new permanent representative for the region, based in Istanbul, Turkey, where he will lead EDC’s business development strategy. Countries supported by EDC’s new representation include: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Israel and Turkey.

“As the recovery struggles to take hold, there are many companies with creditworthy transactions and lucrative opportunities in the region, and with more than CAD 2 billion in direct Canadian investment into the region since 2000, there is a strong trend towards long-term commitments by Canadian companies to these markets,” Mr. Aktas said.

Mr. Aktas has been working in the market since 2007 as a Regional Manager, supporting the region from EDC’s head office in Ottawa. He joined EDC in May 2001 as a Financial Services Manager on the Financial Institutions Team, responsible for a banking partner portfolio including Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Société Générale, ICICI Bank Canada, State Bank of India, and National City Bank.

Prior to joining EDC, Mr. Aktas worked at the Sabanci Group in Turkey as an export manager, responsible for Southeast Europe and Israel. He also worked at World Learning in Washington, D.C., as an Exchange Program Intern in the Financial Reporting Department and as a Financial Auditor, specialized in the oil and gas sector at Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Mr. Aktas obtained an MBA (International Business) from the University of Ottawa and an Economics degree from the University of Istanbul.

Istanbul joins Dusseldorf, Mumbai, New Delhi, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Moscow, Abu Dhabi, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santiago, Lima, Panama, Mexico City, and Monterrey as a site of EDC representation.

EDC is Canada’s export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC’s knowledge and partnerships are used by more than 8,200 Canadian companies and their global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. EDC is financially self-sustaining and a recognized leader in financial reporting and economic analysis.

For further information:

Media contact:

Phil Taylor

Export Development Canada

Blackberry: ptaylor@edc.ca

Burak Aktas

Blackberry: baktas@edc.ca

via EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA | Export Development Canada opens permanent representation in Istanbul, Turkey.

Canada’s transport minister announced today that two Canadian airlines have been designated to operate scheduled international air services between Canada and Guyana and Turkey.

Enerjet will fly between Canada and Guyana, while Air Transat will fly between Canada and Turkey.

These designations were made possible by Canada’s 2005 air transport agreement with Guyana and its 2009 agreement with Turkey.

Under Canada’s Multiple Designation policy, all air carriers in the country may apply to the Minister of Transport for designation to operate scheduled international air services.

Comments on this story may be sent to aii.feedback@m2.com

For full details on (TRZAF) TRZAF. (TRZAF) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on (TRZAF) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.

via Canada designates two airlines to fly scheduled services to Guyana and Turkey | TradingMarkets.com.

(No. 384 – December 7, 2010 – 4:45 p.m. ET) The Honourable Peter Van Loan, Minister of International Trade, today officially opened the Consulate of Canada in Istanbul, Turkey, during a three-day trade mission to the country. Minister Van Loan opened the new consulate on behalf of the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“Canada and Turkey have long-standing diplomatic relations,” said Minister Cannon. “The opening of the new consulate in Turkey’s largest city underlines Canada’s priority of expanding bilateral ties with Turkey. Our government is committed to ensuring our network abroad has the right people in the right places to serve Canadians best.”

The new consulate will offer the full range of consular services to help Canadians in need of assistance; however, immigration and visa services will continue to be offered only at the Embassy of Canada in Ankara.

The trade section of the consulate will provide local business intelligence and expert advice to help Canadian companies take advantage of trade and investment opportunities in Turkey.

“The Government of Canada continues to open new markets and create new opportunities to help Canadian businesses and workers,” said Minister Van Loan. “The establishment of a Canadian consulate in Istanbul will support Canadian companies eager to expand into Turkey’s dynamic market.”

With one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world, expected to reach 6.8 percent in 2010, Turkey presents great potential for Canadian companies and investors.

“Canada is the best place in the world for potentially job-creating investment from around the globe,” said Minister Van Loan. “Canada’s investment climate offers everything from low taxes and solid economic growth to the world’s soundest banking system and a high quality of life.”

The official opening of the consulate was attended by business representatives, guests from the Istanbul diplomatic community, as well as local government representatives.

For more information on relations between Canada and Turkey, please consult Embassy of Canada to Turkey.

For additional details on Minister Van Loan’s visit, please consult Ministerial visit to Turkey and Greece.

- 30 -

For further information, media representatives may contact:

Melissa Lantsman

Director of Communications

Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs

613-995-1851

Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

613-995-1874

Follow us on Twitter.

Monika Bujalska

Press Secretary

Office of the Honourable Peter Van Loan

Minister of International Trade

613-992-9304

monika.bujalska@international.gc.ca

Trade Media Relations Office

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

613-996-2000

Tuesday, 07 December 2010 16:44

Turkish State Minister for foreign trade Zafer Caglayan has invited Canadian businessmen to invest in Turkey.

Addressing the Turkish-Canada Business Forum in Istanbul on Tuesday, Caglayan said Turkey provided the most comprehensive incentive system for research and development.

“Turkey will invest $110 billion in energy sector over the next ten years. Canadian nuclear energy firms are welcome to engage in talks for the construction of Turkey’s second nuclear energy plant,” said Caglayan.

Caglayan said Turkey exported over 20,000 different items to 221 of the 224 customs zones.

“The region we reside in is very significant. If Canadian companies want to take their place in this region, it goes through Turkey,” said Caglayan. He said Turkey was a major supply center at the heart of Caucausus, the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, at a four-hour flight away from 56 countries, urging Candian Trade Minister Peter van Loan and Canadian businessmen to realise Turkey’s significance.

Caglayan listed energy, environment, innovative technologies and green energy as possible areas of cooperation between the two countries.

“The implementation of free market rules, unrestricted transfer of profit and capital, unrestricted foreign exchange transactions… with its logistics, human resources, 73 million population with an average of 28 years of age, easy access to neighbouring countries, free trade agreements with 17 countries. When you add these up, Turkey offers great advantages,” said Caglayan.

He said Turkey had free trade agreements with majority of the European countries, adding that companies making investments to Turkey would seize all the advantages of Turkey.

AA

Turkish State Minister Zafer Çağlayan (C), Ömer Vardan of MÜSİAD (second from R), Mehmet Büyükekşi of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (far right), Canadian Minister Peter van Loan (second from L) and Yılmaz Argüden, head of the Turkish-Canadian Business Forum, pose for the cameras during a press conference in Istanbul on Dec. 7, 2010.

Turkish State Minister Zafer Çağlayan (C), Ömer Vardan of MÜSİAD (second from R), Mehmet Büyükekşi of the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (far right), Canadian Minister Peter van Loan (second from L) and Yılmaz Argüden, head of the Turkish-Canadian Business Forum, pose for the cameras during a press conference in Istanbul on Dec. 7, 2010.

Turkey and Canada are exploring the possibility of signing a free trade agreement, according to a top businessman who spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Tuesday.

Speaking during a visit by a Canadian trade mission to Istanbul, Yılmaz Argüden, head of the Turkish-Canadian Business Forum, said Canada was preparing to sign a free trade agreement first with the European Union and then with Turkey.

Canada also officially opened a consulate in Istanbul during the visit.

The visit was jointly organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, or DEİK, and the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, or MÜSİAD.

“It is too early to say whether we should have a free trade deal or not,” said Peter van Loan, Canada’s minister of international trade. “We would like to consider this after a free trade agreement signed with EU,” he told the Daily News. Van Loan said Turkey, a strong economic performer with a dynamic market of 72 million people, has a “key place in the global economy.”

Disappointing bilateral trade

Noting that the bilateral trade is relatively low, Zafer Çağlayan, Turkey’s foreign trade minister, said Canada had a total trade volume of $800 billion in 2008 while Turkey had $300 billion of foreign trade in the same year. “Unfortunately, the volume between the two countries remained at only $1.2 billion,” Çağlayan said.

“Last year, Canada’s total imports were $327 billion, while Turkey’s exports to Canada stood at $330 million,” said the minister, calling for stronger trade relations.

Çağlayan also called for Canadian energy companies to invest in Turkey. “We were not able to reach an agreement with South Korea for Turkey’s second nuclear power plant. Canadian firms are welcome to bid on constructing the plant.”

“Canada has great expertise in clean technologies and especially nuclear power plants,” said van Loan, noting that Canadian firms are interested in energy investments in Turkey. Canada accounts for 10 percent of the global nuclear energy market, while the country’s nuclear energy industry is valued at $6.6 billion annually, according to Atomic Energy of Canada.

Canada’s Istanbul consulate was opened in the high-rise office tower of Tekfen, located in the Levent financial district. The consulate mainly aims to serve Canadian and Turkish businessmen but does not accept visa or immigration applications. The consulate will be led by Michael Ward.

Çağlayan said a Turkish Trade Center and a Turkish Trade Consultancy would be opened in Toronto next year.