Yandex set to shift up gear in Turkey

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ. Company photo

Russian search engine Yandex has decided to expand its presence in Turkey with new projects including the foundation of an engineering academy in Istanbul and is testing new systems.

Yandex plans to establish an academy in Istanbul where 50 engineers from Russia and 100 engineers from Turkey will work together to develop advanced technology products and services for Yandex.

Yandex Turkey chairman Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ said they provided a service like a “local search engine.” “We are launching the Yandex Search Academy project. We will cooperate with firms and universities in Turkey,” he said. Yalçındağ added that they would make this investment to help Turkey to become an innovation center in the region, adding that they aimed to offer products and services developed at this academy to platforms in the world.

However, Yandex will bring its latest project, “Islands,” into service primarily in Turkish market. As the Yandex team is near the end of the testing phase of Islands, a platform that aims to assist to create an environment for an online fast search, they will cooperate with turkish firms in order to develop the platform. Yandex’s share has risen to 3 percent in the last 18 months in Turkish market, which is dominated by Google.