[EXPAT PROFILE] Building bridges between Turkey and the rest of the world

Tonnaer founded TRIADA in 2006 with two Turkish colleagues. But what led her to do this in Turkey? “It’s a way to help people in the EU and Turkey come closer together,” she highlights, noting: “I’m interested in both international relations and language and culture. My master’s was in international relations and Spanish philology. After that I worked with EU institutions in Brussels for three years and then coordinated the foundation of the Dutch National Youth Council. While I was managing the council’s international and social affairs departments, I got to know about Turkey through projects with Turkish youth organizations. I’ve always had an affinity with Mediterranean cultures, and I thought that being based in Turkey would be more of a challenge for me than, say, Spain. I was also intrigued by the way Turkey is a mix of East and West in the Mediterranean. I moved here in 2005.”

Through TRIADA, they -- Sevgi Kunut, Ayça Çiftçibaşı and Angelique -- describe themselves as working toward building bridges between Turkey and the rest of world, the Netherlands in particular, through public and commercial projects. So exactly how are they achieving that? “We provide Turkish companies, organizations or institutions with the opportunity to add an international perspective to their activities, establish international partnerships and create new business and project opportunities,” Angelique underlines. “Between us we have a vast pool of experience and expertise in this field. Sevgi and Ayça both specialize in project consultancy, budgeting and project management. We’re using our international network in the Netherlands, Turkey and Belgium to find the right people or organizations to meet specific needs and secure funding or sponsors. We work with various bodies which have funds available such as the EU, specific countries such as the Netherlands’ Matra fund and other embassy funds, the World Bank, national innovation funds such as the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [TÜBİTAK] funds and the 7th Framework and private foundation funds. We also monitor and follow the relevant policies and financing opportunities for companies or organizations and give regular updates.”

“We’re acutely aware of the challenges presented by cultural and language differences once different nationalities start to work together,” she says. “It goes without saying that we need to be able to work in many different languages, and between us, we offer Turkish, English, Dutch, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian and German. But we also use our languages and knowledge of different cultures to pinpoint and resolve potential problems between foreigners and Turks. A good example is the way the Dutch are very direct people whereas the Turks aren’t.”

So what’s the difference between a public and a commercial project? “A public one is a social responsibility project, one that contributes to society, such as when we found funding for and followed through with the training of the Antalya, Ankara and İzmir mounted police divisions,” she explains. “Whereas commercial projects are about cooperation between businesses. They aren’t just about financial gain, though, as bridges can be built on many levels, for example, high up through ambassadors or like TRIADA, from the bottom up. Misunderstandings come from not knowing each other, so business cooperation is one way to put that right.”

The proof is in the pudding

TRIADA is perhaps best known for its involvement in the recently completed training of the Antalya mounted police division. “The aim of the project was to encourage cooperation between mounted police divisions in different cities and between different police units as well as build a bridge between the Turkish police and public,” she points out, explaining: “I contacted the Dutch mounted police to see if they were interested in providing training, and then we got advice on funding from Jan De Vis, who’s responsible for the Dutch National Police’s cooperation with Turkey, and eventually secured 92,000 euros from the Dutch government for the project. The Antalya, Ankara and İzmir police selected 25 police cadets with riding experience. The head trainers of the Dutch mounted police came to Antalya to both teach the cadets and teach them about training horses; some cadets also went to the Netherlands on study trips. All the cadets passed the course, and seven were selected as future trainers themselves. This was a pilot project and will hopefully be repeated in five other cities in Turkey; we’re lobbying to secure funding for that.”

An ongoing public project is the international internship program. “We place Dutch students with Turkish companies or hotels so that they can get work experience,” she highlights, and explains: “The students and companies were satisfied and learned a lot about each other’s business culture, so it’s successful from that point of view. The downside is that it can be very time consuming to sort out the legalities as well find the right placement for students. It’s very challenging to coordinate Turkish companies -- which tend to make decisions at the last minute -- and Dutch students, who expect a placement to be confirmed three months in advance. We invest a lot of time and energy in this project, the rewards are very limited, but since it’s TRIADA’s baby -- our first project -- I don’t want to give it up.”

“Fun with My Puppets, Learn with My Teachers” is one of the projects TRIADA is currently working on securing funds for. The project is about opening a pre-school education center for children in Adana which will combine formal and non-formal education methods via puppet drama, amongst other things. They’ve applied to the EU’s Strengthening Pre-school Education Grant Scheme for a grant of 82,500 euros.

The scope of TRIADA’s commercial projects is constantly expanding. Past, present and future projects include coordinating company matchmaking as well as arranging and providing professional development training seminars for both companies and individuals. “When the Dutch trade mission was in Antalya in November 2008, we were directly involved in setting up 150 meetings between 23 Dutch horticultural companies and potential Turkish partner companies in Antalya. The funding came from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ABN AMRO Bank. The response was positive: The Dutch companies were happy with both the organization and market information they were given and the majority said that their meetings with the Turkish companies involved were useful for cooperation in the long term.”

So what are they currently involved in? “In January we started working with a young businessmen’s association of around 100 companies in Antalya which wants to enhance its profile, image and services for members as well as set up an interactive Web site. They’re paying a monthly subscription fee, which comes from their membership fees, for monthly seminars and training sessions. We’ve matched them with a professional employee to carry out tasks together with TRIADA and prepared a survey to find out what the members want and are working toward creating a professional corporate identity for them which includes a Web site, newsletter and press releases. It’s too soon to say how successful this is because we just started; however, the event last week generated both lots of press attention because of the guest speaker and good press releases that we helped them with.”

‘Infantesi’: music, dance and a Spanish stallion

Angelique is also an outdoors person and combines her passion for horses with the arts in a unique performance, “Infantesi,” as another way to bring cultures together.

“The show is a unique fusion of arts: horse dressage, music and dance,” she explains. “I give a dressage display on my horse Infante with Soleila, a professional oriental dancer who’s also Dutch, who accompanies us dancing. During the European tours of Mustafa Erdoğan’s ‘Fire of Anatolia,’ Soleila was the head oriental dancer. The show is inspired by Roma culture in Turkey, Spanish ferias and oriental dance. ‘Infantesi’ reflects the different characters of Gypsy passion, from flamenco to oriental to Roma and takes you from the euphoric sounds of the Arabian Desert to the dark corners of the flamenco soul. The show is a synergy of dance, people and horses with all the power, elegance, humor, mysticism and drama that that entails. There are four different parts: Spanish, Roma and oriental and in the fourth part Soleila improvises. It’s a first in Turkey, but I used to perform a similar show with flamenco musicians and dancers in the Netherlands. I’ve also worked with well-known dressage and flamenco artists in Spain and Germany.”

“Since we started, it’s proven to be very popular,” she says, adding: “We’ve performed ‘Infantesi’ at the opening of the Mardan Sport Complex, the Antalya Mounted Police Club, Antalya Beachpark and Bagana Horse Club. It’s been featured on Turkish TV, such as on ShowTV and StarTV, and in many Turkish and international newspapers and magazines.”

Since she started riding when she was eight, she’s trained all sorts of horses. She’s had Infante, who’s now 21, for 16 years and brought him to Turkey from the Netherlands. “When I bought him, he could do the basics, and I taught him the rest,” she points out. “Getting him here took longer than I anticipated: Instead of two to three weeks, the whole process took three months, including three weeks of quarantine in İstanbul. Now Infante is well taken care of at Bagana Horse Club, where I also assist with the training of young and/or difficult horses,” says Tonnaer.

So what’s so special about Infante? “He’s an Andalusian, also known as the pure Spanish horse, a breed which originates from Andalucía in southern Spain,” she explains. “It makes sense to perform the show with an Andalusian as they’re the result of the cross-breeding with North African horses which took place when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in peace in Andalucía. Andalusians are known for their intelligence, sensitivity and docility...People have in fact seen them more often than they realize because they appear in many paintings of European kings on horses.”

Angelique is very positive about what TRIADA is doing and the message behind “Infantesi.” “Even if there’s an economic crisis, we still have something to offer people, such as the opportunity to cooperate or a better vision of the future. We’re practical idealists trying to make life a little better. The world would be a better place if everyone did the same”