Blog
Page 79 / 164
The Leyla Zana Case
Leyla Zana was able to find a place in the media with her female, Kurdish identity and experiences in jail. Her explanation on a solution to the Kurdish problem, which…
Current account deficit decreases, financing eases
It is quite pleasing that current account deficit has been decreasing and the quality of finance has been improving. Balance of payments figures for May were announced.…
Is the phase of slow growth over?
In May, industrial output picked up by 5.9 percent year-on-year. Have the period of slow growth that started in the first quarter of 2011 ended in the first quarter of…
The TOKİ model dates from the 1930s
Why can't the TOKİ model deliver any good even with good intentions? Sudden floods claimed lives in Russia and Turkey last week. Twelve people were killed in Turkey’s…
Muslims don’t trade enough
Most of the OIC countries have closed and heavily controlled economies and they don’t trade enough among themselves. Because their governments don’t allow them. I used…
Temporary gold exports and repercussions on growth
If Turkey’s gold exports were one million dollar lower; growth rate would be 2.6 percent instead of 3.2 percent. Recent changes in domestic demand have verified the…
'Turks have the sense of time'
Any country willing to undertake a regional role has to go beyond rural coffee talk. The other day in Barcelona, an official from a company that does business in Turkey…
An amusing debate
In 2012 Turkey can achieve 4 percent growth as targeted in the Medium Term Program, which is in harmony with my expectations for soft landing. “Hardness” and “softness”…
Turkey’s and Syria’s proxy war capacity
The tension in Turkey-Syria relations is rising. For now, no one expects a conventional war. However, this does not mean that there is no struggle. While diplomatic and…
Quite a soft landing
Though growth rates have decreased remarkably, there appears a soft rather than the dreaded hard landing. Gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2012 was…
80 Mango stores in Turkey, 5 in Egypt
To be able to assess the countries of the region with a different perspective, Turkey has to compile data. You cannot easily become the order-setter by just saying it.…
Syria and the Golden Rule
In the past, Syria has sponsored Kurdish rebels inside Turkey. Now Turkey seems to be sponsoring a similar insurgency inside Syria. There are struggles for survival…