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Why are Turkish men paying out of their noses to be exempt from military service?
I was in Israel last week, where I saw a Picture of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife, posing with their youngest son who is about to be conscripted to the…
On Track for Inclusive Growth - How to make ends meet in G20?
Since the onset of the financial crisis, the G 20 Forum, whose membership consists of systemically important advanced and emerging economies, has emerged as the…
Actions and words in Turkey
Here are two presidential addresses to consider from November 2014: President Obama talked about net neutrality, while President Erdoğan talked about gender equality (or…
Nothing personal, Mr. Biden
Have you seen the latest Pew Attitudes Survey on Turkey? Only 19 % of Turks have a favorable opinion of the United States. The Americans I talk to appear to be offended…
After all it’s not that bad in Ankara
These days, I am increasingly hearing that Turkey is becoming less democratic and more authoritarian. People bemoan the decline of the rule-of-law, the symbol of that…
Why do investors pick Brazil over Turkey?
I was at a meeting in Beijing this week. The city had plenty of blue sky and light traffic. I was told that authorities arranged this to fix their image before the APEC…
How to deal with the Jihadist International?
The Jihadist International is a growing phenomenon. Like the Communist International of early 20 th Century, this movement feeds on domestic inequality, and contrary to…
Is Kobane a Trojan horse for Turks?
Turkey is ambivalent on the siege of Kobane. The city lies in the Ottoman Governorate of Syria and was built in 1912 around a train station along the Baghdad Railway.…
Is the G20 still policy relevant?
The World has changed. In the past, the most powerful 7 countries were enough to govern the rest of the world. However , now we need more , and policy cooperation is…
How fragile we are
I have had a song by Sting stuck in my head for the past two days. Remember the one that goes, “nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could/For all those born…
The tragedy of Turkish engineers
People talking about the prospects of the Turkish economy these days keep bringing up the country’s skills deficiency. “The average years of schooling in the country is…
ISIL is a threat to Turkey
I was just looking at the results of Metropoll’s survey on the ISIL threat. The result is clear: 4 out of 5 people in Turkey considers ISIL a threat. “Any kind of…