Germany-Turkey: it’s about more than just migration
Güven Sak, PhD
28 October 2018
The German Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmeier, accompanied by a large delegation, was in Ankara this week. The German-Turkish rapprochement that President Erdoğan’s Berlin visit last hit off last month, is still in full swing. Once more, I heard that slipshod comment: “it’s all about the migration issue. Merkel needs it badly!” someone was saying. That is not correct. Turkish-German cooperation goes beyond the migration issue.
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Keeping up appearances
Güven Sak, PhD
21 October 2018
Remember the British comedy series in the 1990s, Keeping Up Appearances? Hyacinth Bucket, poor soul, so much liked to pronounce her surname as “Bouquet” when answering the phone. She used to say thing like “Oh, It's my sister Violet calling! She's the one with the Mercedes, swimming pool, and room for a pony.” Keep pretending to be less miserable, and less poor than you really are, and maybe you will be. Right?
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Can we expect a WTO 2.0?
Güven Sak, PhD
07 October 2018
2015 was not a bad year for global governance. The Paris Climate Accord was signed, giving us hope for the future balance of the environment. The Iran nuclear deal, also inked that year, was a relief for our good old Middle East. It was also the year Turkey was leading the G20, and world leaders met on the beaches of Antalya. The optimism of 2015 is now totally replaced by something else. It seems like a long time ago when the world could seriously talk about big things like climate change and global economic governance in a constructive way. Should we be totally pessimistic? I don’t think so. I think even more than 2015, this is the kind of environment when big changes can take place. And trade is one area where that looks likely.
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