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Gezi as a sit-in with a library
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…
Who is this interest-rate-lobby?
I was just about to give up when I got a flash: instead of asking who would most benefit from high interest rate, I turned to the powers that push up Turkey’s riskiness.…
Turkey’s part-time protesters
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…
Possible economic consequences of the Gezi Park resistance (2)
Political risk perception concerning Turkey will increase; with ups and downs but always here with us. Last Thursday I tried to discuss the possible long-term…
Yuppies in the streets, how about politics?
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…
Government, demonstrations and the future of talks with the PKK
Demonstrations in Istanbul spread to other cities. They will probably continue for a while. Everyone is discussing their causes and consequences. The government’s…
Possible economic consequences of the Gezi Park resistance (1)
The Gezi resistance might help Turkey overcome the impediments to a mature democracy. What are the possible economic consequences for Turkey of the Gezi Park resistance…
FED: Then and now (2)
The expectation that the FED will aggressively increase interest rates before the anticipated timeframe dampened the risk appetite towards Turkey and countries alike.…
Decentralization is now the hottest item on the agenda
Deliberative democracy is the best prescription for all types of discontent. Turkey needs further dialogue and more tools for deliberative democracy. Do you remember…
Two roads diverged in Arab transformations
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…
FED: Then and now (1)
If the FED does “now” what it did “then” (in terms of direction and magnitude) what would be the consequences for Turkey? In the last couple of weeks Turkey’s interest…
New York is 10 times better than Istanbul
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…