Cohabitation alla Turca
Güven Sak, PhD
26 July 2014
Turkey is about to set sail in uncharted waters. Starting August 29, we are going to have a directly elected President. That is the date for the transfer of Office right after the second round of elections in August 24. We will have to learn how to deal with a constitutionally strong prime minister and a directly elected president. This gets complicated considering that the president will be elected, yet constitutionally weak. Turkey still has a parliamentary system, so cohabitation alla Turca is about to start.
[More]
Each country first has to do its part
Fatih Özatay, PhD
24 July 2014
Countries that call for international cooperation have to sit down and assess the strength of domestic cooperation. If there is no such cooperation across the domestic economy, their right to demand domestic cooperation can easily be challenged.
[More]
Corruption grows as infrastructure grows
Güven Sak, PhD
22 July 2014
I attended a meeting on the need for global infrastructure investments the other day. One of the speakers said, “If corruption were an industry, it would be the third-largest one in the world in terms of income flows.” Research suggests that annual income flow via corruption is worth a little less than $3 trillion. The largest global industry based on income flow is food and agriculture with $4 trillion, followed by transportation and global supply chain management. Global corruption ranks third on the list. The annual growth rate of the sector, as the experts of the issue say, is as high as five percent on average. Apparently, the rate is much higher in some countries.
[More]
How did it happen in Turkey but not elsewhere?
Güven Sak, PhD
19 July 2014
On the plane to Sydney, Australia, this week, I took to reading Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s The Time Regulation Institute (1961). I had time; the flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney takes twelve hours. Penguin Classics recently published an English translation by Maureen Feely and Alexander Dawe. It is a lot of fun to read and I highly recommend it. I am not a literary critic, so don’t expect me to say things about the novel itself beyond this. But I have something to say regarding the experience of reading an old Turkish novel in English. I find it easy to read and understand. Tanpınar’s original work in Turkish was not like that for me. I have to confess that it was much harder to read and understand. Either something, like the style of Tanpınar, was lost in translation or I had difficulty in und
[More]
Living within one’s means
Fatih Özatay, PhD
17 July 2014
Cooperation does not seem on the table from this date onward, either. That’s why Turkey has to get used to living within its means A large part of emerging market economies encountered a major problem starting in the second half of 2010. The chief source of the problem was that developed countries’ central banks had first cut interest rates down to zero and later injected abundantly liquidity into the system in order to ensure certain level of recovery in their respective countries.
[More]
Why has the number of high school interns been increasing?
Güven Sak, PhD
15 July 2014
It was in the Bloomberg Businessweek the other day (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/silicon-valley-interns-facebook-welcomes-high-school-recruits): Last November, Michael Sayman, an employee at Facebook, met with the founder, Mark Zuckerberg. “4 Snaps,” a mobile game developed by Sayman had attracted 500,000 players in the month after its release. On his way to Florida, Michael’s mother had accompanied him as he is a 17-year-old high school student, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The piece also talked about high monthly salaries for interns. So what is going on here? Why are companies head hunting high school students?
[More]
How ISIS activity is bad for Turkey
Güven Sak, PhD
12 July 2014
Of the 30 billion dollar Iraqi exports, a third is from Turkey. Gaziantep alone provides around a fifth of Iraq’s imports. So Iraq by itself is important for Turkey. Now two things are happening at once. First of all, it is getting harder and harder to send trucks down to Iraq. Secondly, Iraqi import demand is declining rather rapidly as Iraq transforms into a war zone. The decline in Iraqi orders has now reached 40 percent, and doesn’t seem like it will stop there. Declining orders and no transport corridor to send the goods. Bad for Turkey. Especially bad for provinces neighboring Iraq and Syria.
[More]
Is İhsanoğlu David to Erdoğan’s Goliath?
Güven Sak, PhD
05 July 2014
Turkey is going to elect its 12th president this year, with the election’s first round to be held on August 10. The first 11 of our presidents were elected by Parliament, while this time it is going to be done by direct popular vote. A direct vote to elect the president of a parliamentary system paves the way for a constitutional crisis, if you ask me. A popularly elected president will surely change the chemistry of our parliamentary system. He (as there are no female candidates in the race) will surely have moral authority to push his agenda.
[More]
Turkey’s economy is sensitive to external shocks
Fatih Özatay, PhD
03 July 2014
Turkey suffered the highest reduction in GDP growth rate and more than doubled the average loss in output among Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
[More]
A draft bill on “you-know-what”
Güven Sak, PhD
28 June 2014
Can you solve a problem by not naming it? That is how the Kurdish reconciliation process has been managed so far. Now, a new draft law on the issue has been sent to the Turkish Parliament last week. The name of the draft law is rather telling of how the Kurdish reconciliation process has been managed so far. It is called the “Draft Bill for Ending Terror and Strengthening Social Cohesion.” You might hear an Orwellian bit to it, but it mostly reminds me of something out of the Harry Potter books. Remember Harry’s nemesis, Lord Voldemort, who was referred as “He-who-should-not-be-named?” Or my personal favorite, “You-know-who.” Here in Turkey, we now have our own draft bill on “you-know-what.” The bill authorizes the government to do its utmost in dealing with “you-know-whos” and talking ext
[More]
