Conducted by the Ekonomist magazine in collaboration with the Turkish Economy Bank (TEB), "Anatolia's Top 500 Companies" survey has been announced. The results indicate that the Gaziantep-based Tiryaki Argo, which led the way in 2014 kept its place at the top of the list this year as well, followed by Hatay-based Tosçelik, which has ranked second two years in a row. The previous year's third place Erbakır was ranked sixth. It was replaced by Kocaeli-based Yıldız Entgre in 2015.

According to the survey, the total turnover of Anatolia's Top 500 went up to TL 188.5 billion ($62 billion) in 2015 increasing by 5.3 percent in comparison to the previous year's amount, which stood at TL 179 billion.

While Turkey's total exports dropped 8.7 percent in 2015, a decrease in Anatolia's 500's total export stood at 16.2 percent dropping to TL 15.7 billion in 2015 from TL 18.7 billion in 2014.

The total profit of the Top 500 dropped by 6.7 and 13.1 percent in nominal and real terms, respectively, while their employment level increased by 1.6 percent going up to 295,628 from 291,033 in 2015.

In the survey, which ranks the Anatolian companies in accordance with their net sales, the companies that operate outside the three big provinces without any ties to big holdings and have a foreign capital share below 50 percent are accepted as Anatolian companies.