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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Brexit has made Turkey more important to the West
Güven Sak, PhD
25 June 2016
The Brexit campaign made a big issue about the unlikely scenario of a Turkey imminently joining the EU and 80 million Turks suddenly migrating to their island. At least some of the “leave” votes on Thursday must have been cast due to that fear. And paradoxically, Brexit made Turkey more important. Why? Because it has destabilized post-1945 Europe, and I think Turkey help re-stabilize it. Let me elaborate.
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Just check the loan-to-deposit ratio
Güven Sak, PhD
18 June 2016
I believe that Turkey belongs to the West, because despite everything, it shares certain values we usually refer to as Democracy, the rule of law, liberty, you name it. But if that is too abstract for you, and you want a more concrete link, look no further than the balance sheets of Turkish banks. Our country’s recent reliance on domestic demand to boost growth has only made that link stronger.
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What happened to Turkey’s 99 percent?
Yasemin Satır Çilingir
13 June 2016
When the Occupy Wall Street protests began in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park five years ago, the catchiest slogan was “We are the 99 percent!” The rationale behind the protests was the share of income and wealth of the richest percentile in the U.S. and the inequality of distribution. Since 2000, the richest 1 percentile of the U.S. society owns around 37-38 percent of the total American wealth. At the turn of the millennium, Turkey’s wealth distribution was almost identical to that of the United States; the richest 1 percentile of our society owned 38 percent of the total wealth in Turkey. If I was to say, “today’s situation is quite different; the share of the top 1 percentile in Turkey is around 55 percent, and Turkey is competing for world leadership,” would you be happy that Turkey i
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Turkey: Perspectives on Eurasian integration
Selim Koru & Timur Kaymaz
12 June 2016
It has become a cliché to speak about Turkey as a “bridge between East and West”. The country was indeed part of the historical Silk Road, and many of the country’s settlements were founded along the route, roughly 35 kilometres apart from each other – a day’s distance by caravan during the road’s heyday. But the Silk Road collapsed six centuries ago, and the 10 million shipping containers travelling from China to Europe are, today, almost all transported via maritime routes. The shift from a land route to a maritime route represented a huge change for East–West trade, and it may be changing again.
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The Bundestag decision is about German politics
Güven Sak, PhD
04 June 2016
Germany is Turkey’s number one trading partner, and Turkey is among Germany’s top 10 trading partners. So we are important to each other. There are many German companies here, and they are well integrated into our market, and of course there are millions of Turks in Germany, with many entrepreneurs and corporate warriors among them.
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Turks care more about democracy than visa free travel
Güven Sak, PhD
28 May 2016
Have you seen the Kadir Has University’s latest Survey of Perspectives on Turkish Foreign Policy? Well, I find its results rather interesting. 55% of Turks thinks that Turkey needs to be more active in the Middle East. Further, around half thinks that in the post Arab Spring atmosphere, US is the most powerful country in the Middle East. Yet the American activities in the region are perceived as a security threat; 41% of Turks states that the US is not to be trusted. Overall, negative evaluation of the US has increased to 67% this year.
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