Turkish Airlines country’s largest service exporter

By Gokhan Ergocun, Tuba Sahin and Musab Turan

ISTANBUL (AA) - The national flag carrier Turkish Airlines has been named as the country’s largest service exporter on Friday.

Turkey’s 500 Largest Service Exporters Award Ceremony was held in Istanbul by Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) in coordination with Trade Ministry.

Speaking at the ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the total turnover of awarded 500 firms was $93 billion in 2017 as their services exports amounted to $23 billion.

"These 500 firms made more than half of our total services exports," Erdogan said.

Turkey continues to move towards its aims with democracy, economy, and security, the president added.

Carrier firms Sun Express and Pegasus, logistic company Ekol, construction contracting company Gap Insaat were also among the top 5 service exporters.

Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said Turkey had $22 billion services export surplus during the January-October period, up 22 percent compared to the same period last year.

The country's services export surplus was around $1 billion in 1984, $7.9 billion in 2002 and $20 billion in 2017, she noted.

"Our target is to double or triple this figures with contributions of new services sectors, " she added.

Services export becomes one of the most powerful instruments for fighting against the current deficit, Pekcan said.

The country ranked as 29th last year with its $43.7 billion services exports in the world, Pekcan reminded.

She said Turkey does not only exports goods to all around the world but it also exports contractor services, software, TV series, movies, and health services.

Turkey is among the top 10 countries in the textile and tourism sectors, and the country will be a regional power in e-commerce, medical tourism, information technologies, and software sectors, Pekcan noted.

"This year, just our game software exports will exceed $1 billion, which is equal to Turkey's steel exports to the U.S.," she said.