Business life

Mumtaz Teker, Turkey’s other ambassador in France

From his native Turkey, he has kept his smile, his affability and his courtesy towards others, oriental qualities. He says he loves "everything" about France: his wife, who is French, the food and the landscapes (in that order!). "France is a very beautiful country," he says, speaking as a travel professional. Mumtaz Teker is the satisfied founder of Pacha Tours, the top travel agency for Turkey. He took over Rêv’Vacances, which specialised in the Middle East, in 1998, with an annual turnover of 150 million euros, offices in seven countries and 150,000 clients each year.
Both Francophone and Francophile - he studied at the famous French Lycée de Galatasaray in Istanbul which has trained the Turkish elites for a century -, the young Mumtaz came to Paris to study law. His aim was to become a diplomat like his father. But the 1970s saw a boom in world tourism, especially in Turkey. A pragmatic man, "where you can find work, you can live", he chose this path. Pacha Tours was set up in 1983 and gradually grew bigger. His next aim: the conquest of Asia, where world tourism is developing very fast. One foot in Europe, the other in Asia: which is normal, for a Turk...

Nadia Khouri-Dagher
journalist