Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993 TAG: 9307300248
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Visitors from Turkey were in town this week on a mission that could add some 25 jobs to the local economy.
Three members of the Turkish Parliament, along with a Turkish engineer and architect, were here for a close look at Thermastructure - the unusual building panels produced by Radva Corp.
The Turkish government is considering using Thermastructure in more than 900 houses planned for past and present members of the Turkish Parliament, Radva officials said.
The visitors represent a cooperative of Turkish government workers that would purchase the houses. The houses would be built outside Ankara, the capital of Turkey.
The project not only would add 25 jobs at Radva's Radford plant but could open the door to additional Turkish business - which in turn would mean more jobs locally, Radva President Luther Dickens said.
Plans also are in the works to open a Thermastructure plant in Turkey, Radva officials revealed this week.
The Turkish delegation was making no snap decisions.
"It is the first time that we have seen it," said Ertekin Duruturk, a member of Parliament and chairman of the delegation, of the building panels.
Thermastructure, Radva's patented building system of steel reinforced expanded polystyrene panels, is produced at Radva as well as other places around the world - including a recently opened plant in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia.
Duruturk said Wednesday that members of the delegation would talk among themselves before making any decisions. Also in the Turkish delegation were Parliament members Nabi Sabuncu and Hazim Kutay.
Radva officials said a decision is expected soon.
On a daylong visit Wednesday, the Turks visited houses in the area built of Thermastructure, then ate lunch at Radford's Canton Restaurant.
Afterward they visited the Radva factory on 17th Street, where they bounced up and down on a Thermastructure panel.
They even took some time to talk politics with a reporter. Concerning the situation in nearby Bosnia, Duruturk said "America should do what it has done in Iraq. They have done something in Iraq, but they ignore the Serbia-Bosnia problem."
If problems such as the conflict in Bosnia are ignored, said Duruturk, nations that feel slighted could end up forming their own United Nations.
Duruturk added, however, that he "hopes the fellowship between the Turkish and American people will continue as before."
Duruturk - who had visited America before, but not Radford - said he found the city "nice and clean."
But he said the visit started badly, when the delegation was detained at the airport in Atlanta.
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials detained them for two hours despite their diplomatic passports, members of the delegation said, forcing the visitors to miss their original connecting flight to Roanoke.
Tom Fischer, district director for INS' Atlanta office, said an officer there was concerned about the visas some of the Turkish visitors had. The visas did not permit extended work in this country. "He [the INS officer] wasn't too sure about the degree of work they were going to be involved in," Fischer said.
Fischer said the group was referred to a secondary area for more questions, as are many foreign visitors every day. A second INS officer interviewed them there, and sent them on their way, he said.
Fischer said the Immigration and Naturalization Service apologized to the group for the delay.
by CNB