GÜVEN SAK

Trumps Israel-Palestine Plan is a patchwork of failed attempts GÜVEN SAK

Trump's Israel-Palestine Plan is a patchwork of failed attempts

Looking for something positive happening in Turkey lately? Well, Wikipedia is back as of January 2020. It was shameful that for years we had to use workarounds to use the encyclopedia of the digital age. Thanks to the Constitutional Court in Ankara, it is now easier to search for information in Turkey.

January 31 2020
Israelis are back in Turkey after a lost decade GÜVEN SAK

Israelis are back in Turkey after a lost decade

When we speak of the recent history of Turkish-Israeli relations, two dates stand out. The first is Jan. 30, 2009, when then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyi[ Erdoğan was on a Davos panel with President Shimon Peres. Erdoğan told Peres what he thought of Israel’s policies, and stormed off the stage. The second was in May 31, 2010, when a flotilla of six Turkish ships, led by the Mavi Marmara, tried to breach the Gaza embargo and were stopped by Israeli soldiers. Ten Turkish activists were killed and one Israeli soldier was seriously wounded. Relations have been in deep freeze ever since. Sure, trade continued, people still travelled back and forth, but people could never be sure about the future of relations.

January 17 2020
Mr. Michel comes to Ankara GÜVEN SAK

Mr. Michel comes to Ankara

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, was in Zagreb, Croatia, the other day, as that country took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

January 11 2020
Mind the gap in 2020 GÜVEN SAK

Mind the gap in 2020

I see a huge gap between Turkey’s daily political rhetoric and the aspirations of its ordinary citizens. I was looking at the recent İKV (İktisadi Kalkınma Vakfı-Economic Development Foundation) survey.

January 03 2020
Refugees still left in the cold GÜVEN SAK

Refugees still left in the cold

Last week, the Global Refugee Forum was convened in Geneva to put the refugee situation under the spotlight. It was the first of its kind to be organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Swiss government.

December 20 2019
How ‘The White Man’s Burden’ endures in Trump GÜVEN SAK

How ‘The White Man’s Burden’ endures in Trump

This week, President Donald Trump pardoned three U.S. officers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. It made me think of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden,” that ode to Western imperialism.

November 22 2019
Turkey ranked 33rd among 190 countries GÜVEN SAK

Turkey ranked 33rd among 190 countries

In the World Bank’s 2019 Doing Business Survey, Turkey was among the top 10 reformers. It has not been able to hold on to this position in the 2020 report that was just released. Yet the country’s ranking regarding ease of doing business has improved, moving from 33rd to 43rd. In the metrics of doing business, Turkey looks better than before.

November 08 2019
A passage to Europe GÜVEN SAK

A passage to Europe

Let me start with a bit of wonderful news: Next Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Chang’an Cargo Train (a.k.a. China Railway Express) is to make a short stop in Ankara. It is then going to pass under the Bosphorus, using the Marmaray tunnel. This is going to be the first direct cargo train traveling from Xian, China, to Europe, arriving at Prague passing through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. At long last, the Turkish corridor to Europe is becoming operational

November 03 2019
Its all about the refugees GÜVEN SAK

It's all about the refugees

It was Tip O’Neill, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who said that “all politics is local.” Joe Biden, then vice president of U.S., clarified the phrase for me in Istanbul, when he said, “all politics is personal.” That is a solid reference point to understand the dynamics behind the limited Turkish counter terrorism operation into northeastern Syria. It’s all about the refugees, if you ask me.

October 25 2019