Annex A
UK PRESENCE
1. Our interests in Turkey are managed by
our Embassy in Ankara and our Consulate General in Istanbul. There
are also locally staffed Consulates or Honorary Consulates in
Izmir, Bursa, Antalya, Marmaris, Bodrum and Mersin.
2. Diplomatic activity includes commercial,
economic, political, press and public affairs, consular, immigration,
law enforcement liaison and management work. There is also a sizeable
defence section. A comparative summary of staffing is contained
in the table below.
| |
Posts | Homebased Staff
| Locally Engaged Staff
|
| UK | 2 |
52 | 135
|
| France | 2
| 64 | 91
|
| Germany | 3
| 104 | 196
|
| USA | 3 |
289 | 646
|
ESTATE IN
TURKEY
3. We have historical property in both Ankara and Istanbul.
In Ankara, the Embassy compound of 10.4 acres is the site of the
Embassy and Residence. The Turkish Government gave HMG 7.1 acres
in 1926, and we bought a further 3.3 acres in 1946. A church and
a school are also on the compound.
4. In Istanbul, the Sultan of Turkey gave HMG a site
of 0.5 acres in 1801. The Consulate-General occupies part of Pera
House, a large Italianate building constructed by order of Parliament
and dating from the mid 19th century. Pera House comprises offices,
the Consul-General's residence, staff accommodation and a representational
facility for the Ambassador. A fire substantially damaged Pera
House on 31 May 2000. Since, the Consulate-General has operated
from buildings on the periphery of the compound. We are restoring
Pera House. The project should be complete in January 2004 at
a cost of £5.1 million.
5. We also have property at Tarabya on the shores of
the Bosphorous, 25 km north of Istanbul. The Sultan gifted this
to Queen Victoria in 1847. It measures 8.5 acres and comprises
four staff houses, a clubhouse and an amenity cottage.
THE BRITISH
COUNCIL
6. The British Council's main office is in Ankara with
other offices in Istanbul and Izmir. The Council employs four
UK based and 60 locally employed staff. The Ankara office works
with state ministries to support Turkey's progress towards EU
accession. The Council aims to promote Britain as Turkey's preferred
partner in Europe and is well placed to work on projects funded
by the EU when these come on stream. It already works closely
with the Embassy on Human Rights projects.
7. All three Council offices have education services
(placement for UK language schools and counselling for UK tertiary
education) to help promote English language study; there is also
a large and successful English language teaching programme in
Istanbul. The Council hopes to extend English language teaching
to Izmir and open a fourth office before 2005, supported by fee-paying
services. The Council's Libraries and Information services help
teachers and learners of English as well as providing information
on modern Britain in multimedia format.
8. The Council manages the Chevening scholarship programme
for the FCO and will send approximately 40 postgraduate students
to the UK for the 2002-03 academic year.
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