With a domestic market of more than 70 million people, Turkey has no shortage of home-grown opportunities.

But even some of the largest players within the country are finding that they need partners in order to compete beyond their borders, said Ahmet Ciger, vice president of Tuskon, a confederation of Turkish businesspeople with about 15,000 members.

"There are not many big companies in Turkey," Mr. Ciger told GlobalAtlanta. "When you look at the 100 biggest companies, most of them are medium-sized when you compare with American companies."

About 15 Turkish firms visiting Atlanta this week are betting that with American help, they can make a bigger splash on the global stage.

They participated in a business matchmaking event put on by Tuskon and the Atlanta-based Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast. About 120 Georgians met with Turkish visitors representing industries like food, textiles, real estate and furniture.

The event was a continuation of a Turkish government strategy, still in the early stages, targeting Atlanta and Georgia for foreign investment, trade promotion and business cooperation. Tuskon is focusing on fostering ties between mid-sized companies. 

"This is a first step. We need to work longer term," said Mr. Ciger, whose organization facilitates trade conferences and overseas business missions.

Turkey has a lot to offer U.S. companies, he said. While slowing exports and lagging consumer spending caused Turkey's economy to shrink in 2009, its financial system has weathered the economic storms of recent years well. Unlike many Western countries, including the U.S, which was ground zero for the global financial meltdown, Turkey has seen no bank failures.

Its geographic advantages also remain unchanged. The country sits just east of the European Union and has a customs agreement allowing most goods exported from Turkey to enter the EU tariff-free, excluding agricultural products. Turkey also has convenient access to emerging markets in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, Mr. Ciger said.

Turkish trade with Africa, a fast-growing region for exports, grew from $6 billion in 2003 to $20 billion last year. The continent presents a prime example of how U.S. and Turkish firms can help each other, he said.

Turkey has strong construction firms vying for African infrastructure projects. They can compete on price, but they need access to advanced U.S. technologies to compete with Chinese rivals, who are offering cheap, efficient construction services throughout the continent, Mr. Ciger said.

In consumer goods, some companies are simply honing in on the U.S. For instance, furniture wholesaler Sunset International Trade LLC, a New Jersey-based American subsidiary of the Turkish brand Istikbal, visited Atlanta in search of retail customers in the Southeast.

Istikbal primarily makes sofas that fold out into beds and offer storage under their seat cushions. The brand targets space-conscious apartment dwellers in large cities, said Yusuf Ozturk, general coordinator for Sunset International.

Istikbal is an example of a Turkish firm that's huge at home but is still developing a global network. With $4 billion in yearly sales, it operates 2,000 retail stores under three brand names in Turkey. Its factories can churn out 6,000 sofas and 5,500 mattresses per day, Mr. Ozturk said.

Sunset International started up in New Jersey seven years ago to give Istikbal a presence near spendthrift U.S. consumers. It has steadily built up to $35 million in revenues in a market with many competitors, Mr. Ozturk said.

"Yes, we're very big in Turkey," he said. "But here we have a lot of big companies. It's very difficult."

As if carving a market niche weren't hard enough, Turkish businesspeople entering the U.S. must learn how to interact in a new, rigid business culture. Relationships are vital in Turkey, and meetings, especially in the early stages of business deals, are more about getting to know a person than selling them on a product or service.

Talks are more direct in the U.S., and interaction is governed by "absolute rules," not the fluid nature of Turkish negotiations, Mr. Ozturk said.

In the U.S., “When you say to a person, 'Yes I will do something,' you need to do it right then. If you can't do it, it's going to be a problem," he said.

The necessity of cultural sensitivity and local know-how works both ways, said Osman Karahan, a Turkish real estate professional.

In real estate, retail and just about any other sector, U.S. firms looking to Turkey need partners to help them gauge on-the-ground value, tastes and business practices, he said.

"If you don't want to lose your capital, you really need a joint venture," Mr. Karahan said. "If American people can know Turkish culture, they can do a great business in Turkey."

Karahan Residential Construction, Mr. Karahan's company, builds apartments and renovates buildings. It's looking to buy properties in Florida and California in about six months, when Mr. Karahan sees those real estate markets bottoming out.

As for Turkish companies investing abroad, many boldly enter smaller, nearby markets, but some avoid the U.S. because of its size, he said.

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