What happens to Turkey if Iran becomes normalized?
Güven Sak, PhD
18 June 2013
If Iran becomes normalized, the importance of Turkey in the eyes of its western allies diminishes. Turkey has been snowed in under its own troubles for the last twenty days. That’s not good if you ask me. Not that it’s disreputable to tourists visiting Turkey. It’s a disgrace for the people of Turkey per se. We first insisted on redeveloping the only green space in Taksim as a construction site. Upon the strong reaction, we have withdrawn the project. We are unable to find a middle way or be moderate as we are supposed to. Cities love middle ways.
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A citizens’ movement taking shape in Turkey
Güven Sak, PhD
15 June 2013
Something interesting is happening in Turkey. First of all, I see empathy on the streets. The other day one of the modern day protesters of Turkey was telling me how she had now realized what her sisters with headscarves went through in the recent past. “It was about being aware of what you are wearing by continuously thinking of possible reactions” she added, “in the past, dressing was automatic but now I am very much more conscious of what I wear. I have to think about the dress code for every occasion and I just do not like it.” For the first time, women with and without headscarves are not only demonstrating together, but also sharing an experience. I see that as a development in the right direction. Secondly, for first time in my half a century of living in this country, I
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It is a good idea to hold a local referendum for projects involving Taksim
Güven Sak, PhD
14 June 2013
Local projects must be resolved one by one upon thorough discussions at the local level. Finally, yesterday there was a relevant and normal development. Hüseyin Çelik, deputy head of the AKP, following his meeting with the representatives of the Gezi Park protestors, stressed that the project “perhaps” might be voted on in a local referendum. I believe that the Gezi Park project should be put to a referendum. Turkey should have democratic tools of freedom of expression where local issues can be elaborated at the local level. If some people think that Taksim should be turned into a construction heaven and that trees idly occupy the park, they must have the right to say so. Yet I don’t believe there are people with this view. I will tell you why.
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Gezi as a sit-in with a library
Güven Sak, PhD
11 June 2013
Roundtable politics have equal and participatory individuals and dialog. About ten years ago, Turkey’s exports were $30 billion; now they are $135 billion, 90 percent of which were made up of industrial products. Thirty years ago, exports were around $3 billion, 90 percent of which were agricultural products. In the early 1980s, Turkey decided that it had to open up its economy to the world in order to enrich itself. It took three decades ago the steps Egypt refrains from today. That’s why both Egypt and Turkey are where they are today. Thanks to those policy reforms, Turkey has completed its economic and social transformation, which since 2002 has enabled a political transformation via the ballot box. These transformations have taken place thanks to the widening set of economic capabiliti
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Turkey’s part-time protesters
Güven Sak, PhD
08 June 2013
The massive protests in Turkey over the last ten days have been using social media extensively. In about 24 hours starting from 4 p.m. last Friday, the number of tweets sent was about 2 million, 88 percent of which were in Turkish. Ninety percent of them came from inside the country. This number was at about 30 percent in the case of the Egyptian Revolution. About 50 percent of tweets originated from Istanbul, close to the site of protesting. So says a report of the New York University’s Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) Laboratory. Extensive social media use is characteristic of all latter day protests around the globe from Occupy Wall Street to the Tahrir Square. Taksim Square was no exception. There is nothing unusual so far. Modern day protests lead to extensive social m
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Yuppies in the streets, how about politics?
Güven Sak, PhD
07 June 2013
Turkey needs a new way of doing politics and a new story. The old ones are just over The demonstrations in Taksim to protest the construction at/profit attempt on Gezi Park have not yet ended but are spreading. As they spread, the core of the issue becomes blurrier. That’s why we’d better take a few snapshots to elaborate on. First things first: we have to admit that there’s a serious social fact from which important lessons can be learned. Everyone is trying to identify its meaning. There are two groups of initial reactions: on the one hand is the archaic conspiracy reaction that ascribes anything it does not understand to abstract and incomprehensible outer forces. On the other hand is the effort to understand the events as a social fact. I think the second is healthy, but not the first.
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Decentralization is now the hottest item on the agenda
Güven Sak, PhD
04 June 2013
Deliberative democracy is the best prescription for all types of discontent. Turkey needs further dialogue and more tools for deliberative democracy. Do you remember that photo from the groundbreaking ceremony for the third bridge over the Bosporus, the one that depicts the moment of groundbreaking? I recalled that one while I was trying to make sense of the protests that have started in Gezi Park, Istanbul, and have diffused throughout Turkey. Do you recall the photo? It depicted a significant crowd. It had the President, Parliament Speaker, Prime Minister and several ministers together with their spouses. Did you notice who was missing? Kadir Topbaş, the Metropolitan Municipality Mayor of Istanbul. Among all those people, he could not find a place for himself. At the most important gathe
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Two roads diverged in Arab transformations
Güven Sak, PhD
01 June 2013
I remembered the famous Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” while listening to M. Marzouki in Ankara the other day. The poem reads, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--/ I took the one less travelled by / And that has made all the difference.” It is the difference between Spring and Fall when it comes to Arab transformations. Marzouki noted that the Arab Spring could still turn to Arab Fall in Ankara. So two roads diverged, not in a yellow wood, but in the Arab transformations. That is the base line of what is happening in our neighborhood nowadays. One road is well trodden; the other has not ever been taken before. Not ever taken before in the Arab world, I dare say. It is sectarianization or democratization, one based on religion the other on secular values. One is about div
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New York is 10 times better than Istanbul
Güven Sak, PhD
31 May 2013
In these times where quality is becoming more important than quantity, walkable cities rich with parks and restaurants are integral parts of the industrial policy. New York has 4500 parks; Istanbul has 428. I am darn sure that Istanbul beats New York in terms of number of contractors, but the picture is the exact opposite with parks. The New York City Government (NYCG) is the counterpart of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM). To take care of urban parks and gardens is among the responsibilities of each. Reading the working reports of the two is a very instructive. Lately, Ozan Acar of TEPAV has been studying the two. Today let me share with you some of the figures he has complied and then state some observations. First, the score at the headline: The number of parks and gardens
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Forty-two percent of the population do not have bank accounts
Güven Sak, PhD
28 May 2013
Middle class implies stability. Not in the sense of creating it, but registering it. I think there are two types of persons: those who have bank accounts and those who don’t. In Turkey, 42 percent of the population at or above 15 years of age are do not have bank accounts. If banks are easy targets in a given country, one reason is that not many people are engaged with banks. The rate in Turkey is on the rise, however. Those who take a swipe at banks without thinking had better be more cautious. By the way, Islamic instruments of banking are not involved in the calculation.
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