00:02In Istanbul, some of Turkey's biggest business groups have built more than companies.
00:08They've built galleries, museums and foundations.
00:11So, what does culture bring to a city and can it draw visitors, talent and business?
00:17Let's find out.
00:24Nearly 64 million people visited Turkey in 2025, generating more than 65 billion dollars in tourism revenue.
00:34Culture was among the main draws for more than two-thirds of them.
00:39To see how business has shaped that appeal, our first stop is the Sabanji University Sakep Sabanji Museum,
00:47where an exhibition of Yoko Ono is bringing international contemporary art to Istanbul.
00:53The exhibition, a collaboration with Spain's Muzak and Akbank,
00:57is an example of how Turkish business is connecting Istanbul to the global art world
01:02and shaping how the city is seen in Europe and beyond.
01:07An international exhibition of the scale, of course, is very significant
01:12because it puts Istanbul on the map.
01:15And, of course, when we do house these international exhibitions,
01:19it also means that you have an international interest in what is happening in Istanbul.
01:25So, that brings significant cultural interaction,
01:29significant cultural networking,
01:31significant interactive know-how in terms of museology.
01:42Sabanji isn't an isolated case.
01:45At Istanbul Modern,
01:46Turkish business has turned contemporary art into a point of contact between Turkiye and the world.
01:53Backed by funding sponsor Ej Zajibashe,
01:55the museum reopened in 2023 in a building by Renzo Piano.
02:00I think today, if a city wants to attract international talent and international investment,
02:08a strong business environment and a good economy are only part of the picture.
02:13I think quality of life is just as important.
02:17These are all part of what makes a city attractive.
02:20So, for us at Ej Zajibashe, an investment in culture is really an investment in the future of a city,
02:27especially in terms of its international attractiveness.
02:36Corporate involvement in culture can take another form.
02:40Not paintings, but machines and transportation.
02:43At the Rahmi Emkoç Museum, one of Turkiye's largest business groups has preserved the country's industrial history.
02:51And for the team here, the collection isn't only about preserving the past.
02:56They have a particular audience in mind.
02:58The museum's museum's museum's museum's museum's museum's museum is only about Turkey's industrial history,
03:03but about the world's industrial history, a museum's museum's museum's museum's museum.
03:10The small visitors have seen this museum's museum's museum.
03:14After seeing this museum,
03:15we have gotten the idea of what I can produce.
03:19We are one of our most important missions.
03:23It's cultural significance has been recognized beyond Turkey too.
03:28In 1996, it became the first Turkish museum to win the Council of Europe Museum Prize.
03:38Together, they've helped build a cultural ecosystem that's now part of Istanbul's identity.
03:45But does it matter beyond culture to visitors, businesses and investors?
03:50To find out, we turned to a different kind of business, TAV Airports, an international operator at one of Turkey's
03:57main gateaways to the world.
03:59Airports are no longer simply places to pass through. They are also part of the visitor experience.
04:05To make people happy, you need to have something unexpected. Just this year, we have done like 16 cultural events
04:12in our airports in Turkey.
04:14And culture matters in business too, not just at the gate.
04:18Business is not numbers. Business is people. To do business, you need to know people. And to know people, you
04:24need to understand culture.
04:25In Turkey, you have French companies, but also Italian, German or European companies established here alone or with Turkish partners
04:33for decades.
04:35And it's a full ecosystem. It's kind of Lego, but each piece are coming from everywhere in Europe, including Turkey.
04:44For a city that attracts visitors' talent and investment, culture is a huge part of the appeal.
04:51It's also part of how Istanbul is seen in Europe and beyond.
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