Sympathy for the Turks
Güven Sak, PhD
30 July 2016
After the attack on Istanbul Atatürk airport, there was sympathy for Turks. Brandenburg gate in Berlin was draped in our crescent and star, reporters talked about how heroic airport guards stopped the shooters. It felt a little bit like what the French have been getting after attacks in Paris and Nice. As simple as that sounds, it means something to people. We felt like we were part of a community.
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Western leaders should visit Turkey to show solidarity
Güven Sak, PhD
23 July 2016
There are two types of countries in the world: Countries where life is predictable and countries where it isn’t; dull countries and interesting ones. The basic difference between these two categories of countries is the strength of their institutions. The weaker your institutions, the higher the chance that your country is interesting. I live in Turkey. Life is very interesting here.
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Armenia: Change of Regime or Civil Disobedience?
22 July 2016
Friday’s thwarted military coup in Turkey was not the region’s only political turmoil last week. On Sunday, 17th of July, a group of armed men stormed the Patrol-Guard Service Regiment in Erebuni Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and took hostage a number of police officers. The attackers killed one officer, wounded four others, and at the time of this writing, four policemen are still being kept hostage.
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Turkey's Last Coup: What I Saw in Ankara
Selim Koru
16 July 2016
On May 27, 1960, the people of Turkey woke up to their first coup. Soldiers occupied centers of government, established checkpoints, took over communications stations, and announced that Adnan Menderes, the prime minister at the time, had failed as a statesman, and that the military was there to stabilize the country.
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Turkey needs investment
Güven Sak, PhD
16 July 2016
Turkish central bank has been releasing ODI to FDI figures. ODI means “outward direct investments” by Turks, and FDI stands for “foreign direct investments” from abroad, into the Turkish economy. The ODI to FDI ratio was around 15 percent in 2002-2007. The ratio has risen to around 37 percent in 2012-2016. For every $100 coming into Turkey, $36 goes out. That was $15 in 2002-2007, mind you. Both foreign and domestic investors just prefer not to invest in Turkey. That means they have no confidence in the country’s future.
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Turkish citizens of Syrian origin
Güven Sak, PhD
09 July 2016
There are two industrial countries in our region: Israel and Turkey. Israel has been transforming through external migration. Turkey has been transforming through internal migration. Both of those transformations have far-reaching economic and political dimensions.
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Back to old Turkish pragmatism?
Güven Sak, PhD
02 July 2016
There were more news coming out of Ankara this week than many Western countries have in years. Some of it was good news, some of it less so. In the thick of it, I see two strands of policymaking, two tendencies in decision making that I will call HQ1 and HQ2.
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