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What’s the trouble with Turkey?
Denmark has had no majority government since 1982. Turkey, on the other hand, has been ruled by a tight single party majority since 2002. That is 33 years of debate and…
Have you heard the cry of Özgecan?
Özgecan Aslan was a 20-year old university student. She was killed in a private bus after an attempted rape in Tarsus, between Mersin and Adana on the southern coast of…
Greek debt no longer a technical problem
The European Union has approached the Greek debt problem as a technical one up until now. Greek governments used to share that perspective. No more. Alexis Tsipras and…
The Middle East and North Africa needs its own ASEAN
In 2012, Turkey made the Ro-Ro agreement with Egypt, which allowed its goods easier access to Middle Eastern markets. The agreement is going to expire this April, and…
First Muslim-majority country to chair the G20
In 2012, Mexico was the first emerging economy to lead the G20. So Turkey is not first. But those out there with unhealthy “first time ever” obsessions, can take solace…
Why Turkey’s transformation is confusing
I have been hearing two seemingly contradictory tales about Turkey’s transformation lately. One ends with the AKP’s election victory in 2002, while the other starts with…
Let the person without sin throw the first stone
People seem to think that Turkey has changed in some basic way in the past couple of years, that the system of 80 million people somehow shifted its stance overnight to…
How the ballot box made Turkey
Internal migration made Turkey. Families packing up and leaving their hometowns has been one of the major building blocks of our growth model. But no more, according to…
The state of the Turkish economy
Santa Claus is a citizen of Turkey - or he would have been if he was living today. In the third century, he was known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, today’s city of Demre in…
The unbearable feeling of loneliness
It takes courage to accept failure. President Obama showed the world that he can learn from the facts and abandon a long-failed policy. Because US policy towards Cuba…
What’s the problem with the Middle East?
What comes to your mind when you think about the Middle East? For me, it’s the low level of connectivity. Here we have a region composed of clammed up countries; but…