AAP

She has worn many metaphoric hats in her role as prime minister but in Turkey on Thursday Julia Gillard donned some real marine head-wear.

Standing at the controls of a Perth-constructed ferry moored at a Bosphorus port in Istanbul, Ms Gillard tried on a sailor's hat as she promoted "another success story" for Australia's export market.

"They like the hat," she said, as camera shutters went crazy after she carefully placed it on her head.

Ms Gillard, who is in Istanbul after attending Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli, was shown through the Austral-built craft which will be used as a passenger vessel.

"As I travel, I want to make sure we are bringing Australian manufacturing stories to the attention of our own nation and to the world," she told reporters.

"There is a fashionable view that with manufacturing under pressure because of the high Australian dollar that we aren't seeing success in manufacturing.

"Here in Turkey, through the Austral Ferry, we can be very much making the point that there are success stories."

The company has sold 10 vessels to Turkey in recent years, as well as to other European, US and Middle East markets, in exports worth some $350 million, a company spokesman told Ms Gillard.

Earlier in the day the prime minister met with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Before the meeting, Ms Gillard told reporters that the patriarch is "a significant religious figure ... for so many Australians".

"I will be talking to him about inter-faith dialogue. He is also a man with a keen interest in environmental questions and the future of our planet and I will be speaking to him about those environmental issues," she said.

Following the meeting, a spokeswoman for Ms Gillard said the patriarch welcomed the federal government's recent investment into a new Antipodes Centre for Greek culture, heritage and language in Melbourne.

"The patriarch also expressed appreciation for the Gillard government's recent grant to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia to help complete the second phase of the Bribie Island Youth Campus," the spokeswoman said.

Ms Gillard spent Thursday afternoon in the Turkish capital Ankara, where she was due to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, before leaving for Australia.