The number of companies founded last year increased 15.6 percent when compared to 2014, up to 67,701, while the number of companies that shut down decreased 13.5 percent to 12,114 when compared to last year, according to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. Accordingly, the number of companies founded increased 15.11 percent to 6,118 in December 2015 when compared to the same month of the previous year, while the number of companies that shut down decreased 21 percent within the same period to 1,829.

A total of 37.4 percent of these newly established companies and cooperatives were founded in Istanbul, 11.5 percent were founded in Ankara and 7 percent were founded in İzmir. The only provinces where no companies were founded in December were Gümüşhane and Ardahan. Out of the 4,729 companies with foreign partners founded in Turkey overall, 599 had Syrian partners, 330 had German partners and 304 had Iraqi partners. Out of 422 companies with foreign partners founded in December 2015, 170 had Syrian partners, 30 had Iraqi partners and 27 had Iranian partners.