Around half of start-ups in Turkey founded by Syrians in February

ANKARA

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Syrians topped the list of foreigners with the most start-ups in Turkey in February, with the number of Syrian firms established totaling 188, according to data from the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).Data shows that 6,300 companies started operating in Turkey in February, 450 of which are foreign-partnered.Some 188 of the newly established companies, almost half, were founded directly by Syrians or with their partnership. Iraqis followed their Syrian counterparts, investing in 34 newly established firms in Turkey, while Germans ranked third with 28 start-up investments, according to TOBB data released on March 18.A total of 916 companies were established by foreigners in Turkey in the first two months of the year. While 415 of them were directly founded by Syrians or with their partnership, some 65 companies were founded by Iraqis and 64 by Germans, according to TOBB data.The number of newly established companies in February rose 16.56 percent compared with the same month last year. Data also showed that 781 companies went out of business, a decrease of 21.9 percent compared with the same month in 2015.