Istanbul - The Turkish shoe company that produces the brand of footware used by an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George Bush has seen a surge in orders in the past week.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the shoe factory in Istanbul of the same name, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that he had received orders for some 300,000 pairs of the model that was thrown at the US president.

"Someone even came from America seeking distribution rights," Baydan said.

The entrepreneur wants to rename the model, a brown leather shoe with a thick sole, as the "Bush shoes." In Turkey the shoes sell for 42 US dollars wholesale. (dpa)