In Guernsey to celebrate his fund's success, Mr Sen said: 'When we decided to start the fund we wanted to work with someone in a relatively close time zone to Turkey. We looked at running the fund from Bermuda and Ireland but after making the link with Kleinwort Benson decided to come to Guernsey. When we met the board here we soon realised that they understood our requirements and were serious about conducting this sort of business. They moved quickly dealing with issues such as licensing and thanks to them and the cooperation of the authorities here we got established four years ago.'

The Taurus Fund is a mix of Turkish equities and some fixed interest stocks. He said: 'The number of listed companies in Turkey has doubled in seven years. There is certainly a growing universe but we tend to concentrate on the top companies.Our fund managers have a lot of experience and make a number of company visits every year. They have a target list of companies which is periodically updated and after the visits there is close monitoring of company performance.'

Mr Sen said that Turkey has high investment potential with a young and growing population but the Turkish stock market has has been dented by domestic crises and uncertainties over the last year, losing some 50 per cent of its value. Mr Sen continued: 'These problems have been caused by indecision and delays with the privatisation of the Turkish telecommunications industry. Privatisation is essential to provide the funds needed for investment, expansion and modernisation.'