Turkey’s Silicon Valley Given Birth

Ghettos built on state property in Armutlu will be demolished to make way for plans to turn the region into a "silicon valley". Experts said, "Istanbul will become a technology base for the Middle East and Africa thanks to Teknokent and it expects to employ 500,000." and Gates’ recent visit (January 30) is expected to assist in speeding up the project and help increase Turkey’s informatics turnover rto $8 billion.

Remarks from Microsoft officials give some clues to the project’s important contribution to the Turkish economy: "The complex is to be built similar to Silicon Valley in the US, and large informatics firms have already begun to make plans to bring their headquarters to Istanbul." The project is aimed for completion at the end of 2005, when information technology companies are expected to take up residence Teknokent. The complex will like an Organized Industrial Zone and will be advertised is a privileged district of technology. Some opportunities will be provided for only local companies, including income tax breaks and discounts on value added taxes. Technokent came to the forefront of the government agenda during the meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bill Gates. It will be built on 92,000 square meters land and it will be expanded to about 552,000 square meters later on.