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The case for optimism and ‘Green Deal Turkey’ GÜVEN SAK

The case for optimism and ‘Green Deal Turkey’

2020 was marked by the virus. Every day, we continue to learn something new about its character and mutations. Economies are slowing down, and people are losing their livelihoods with every wave. Are we going to remember 2020 with total dismay?

December 25 2020
Turkey’s breaks with the past GÜVEN SAK

Turkey’s breaks with the past

Dec. 17 was the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring. When young Egyptians flooded Tahrir Square all those years ago, I was fascinated. I thought change was in the air, that our region could change for the better in a very short amount of time.

December 18 2020
Turkey to be in list of top 10 largest world economies by 2050 GÜVEN SAK

Turkey to be in list of top 10 largest world economies by 2050

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, passed away on Nov.10, 1938. Every year on Atatürk’s death anniversary, his successors visit his mausoleum to pay their respects and speak on the state of the nation. This year while paying his tributes at the mausoleum to commemorate the death anniversary of Ataturk, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “As we have ensured that our country reached its goals in many areas, so too, God willing, we will make sure that our country places among the top 10 economies in the world. I believe that will the greatest gift to Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.” Turkey is now at number 17. The president often speaks of the year 2023 as a marker for such goals. Looking at the basic economic indicators, I think that this would be doable. Let me elaborate.

December 11 2020
Track change in Ankara GÜVEN SAK

Track change in Ankara?

After Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, many said that she would take a “U-turn” away from the economic liberalization reforms she had promised. The iron lady would disappoint them. “To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the ‘U-turn,’ I have only one thing to say,” she said, “you turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning!”

November 13 2020
Revenge of the places that don’t matter GÜVEN SAK

Revenge of the places that don’t matter

It was Andres Rodriguez-Pose of the London School of Economics (LSE), who saw “the revenge of the places that don’t matter, in the 2016 Brexit vote in the U.K., the 2016 election of Donald Trump in the U.S., the 2016 Austrian presidential election, the 2017 French presidential election, and the 2017 German general elections.” All of those votes were about regional inequalities.

November 06 2020
Three tasks for G20 GÜVEN SAK

Three tasks for G20

In three weeks, the leaders of the world’s most “systemically important” countries are due to meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the 15th summit of the G20. It used to be an important event in the geopolitical calendar where many serious financial, environmental and political problems were addressed in its summits. With the election of Donald Trump in 2016, as well as many other nationalist and populist leaders, the importance of the G20 has declined.

October 30 2020
Saudi ban shows importance of rules-based trade GÜVEN SAK

Saudi ban shows importance of rules-based trade

Turkey still does not have an ambassador in Tel Aviv, our president campaigns against Israel whenever he gets the chance, and conditions under the COVID-19 pandemic are less than ideal, yet Turkish-Israeli trade continues unhindered. In the first nine months of 2020, Turkey’s exports to Israel amounted to $3.2 billion, almost the same as the export volume of 2019. Troubled political relations between the two countries have not had a direct impact on bilateral trade. There are no calls for boycotts, nor measures to slow down trade between Turkey and Israel. Despite the troubled relationship between Erdoğan and Netanyahu, the system works.

October 23 2020
A Schuman Plan for Cyprus GÜVEN SAK

A Schuman Plan for Cyprus

Turkish Cyprus is due to hold the second round of its presidential elections on Sunday. The tragedy of the situation is that the outcome of the election probably won’t change things too much for the enclave to go forward. Whoever gets elected will have to act within a very narrow margin of choices because the Cyprus conflict is no longer merely about the inhabitants of the island.

October 16 2020
Turkey is aging at an inopportune time GÜVEN SAK

Turkey is aging at an inopportune time

“A pessimist sees the difficulty at every opportunity, the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty,” former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said. I consider myself a born again optimist, yet as an experienced citizen of Turkey, I see much difficulty as well.

October 09 2020