Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The government revealed its new Medium-Term Program (OVP) covering 2027–2029, outlining macroeconomic targets that analysts view as unusually realistic while hinting at election preparations for 2027.
Maritime trade in the Black Sea has come to a near halt due to Russian and Ukrainian strikes, creating a major economic threat for Turkey, according to a shipping executive.
Turkey's tourism industry, long considered an economic powerhouse, is struggling to achieve expected revenue growth this year as inflation drives up costs and diverts customers elsewhere.
In a July 2 joint statement with the European Union following the High-Level Economic Dialogue, Turkey agreed that EU-Turkey relations “should continue to be guided by values, such as respect for the rule of law, fundamental rights, democracy and media freedom.”
The top business association, TÜSİAD, urged the government to focus on development over mere economic growth. The meeting of the group’s High Advisory Council saw Chair Ömer Aras, who was detained last year after criticism over democracy and the rule of law, carefully avoid those topics this time around.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Orhan Pamuk. “The Museum of Innocence.” A television series. With its release, months later, the public agenda shifted. Justice, legal troubles, and the deepening, ever more painful economic crisis were suddenly pushed aside. This series — along with the book of the same name and its author, Orhan Pamuk — took center stage, especially on social media.
Friedrich Merz’s visit to Ankara marks a new phase in German-Turkish relations — the trip served domestic power dynamics in Berlin in political terms rather than through concrete agreements. The chancellor did not come because Turkey has fundamentally changed, but because Germany finds itself in deep economic and political uncertainty. By Ozan Demircan
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek warned investors to expect a worsening in the country’s current account and the central bank said it expects faster inflation as strain grows on the government’s economic plans.
Queen Mathilde is leading the Belgian Economic Mission to Turkey to bolster bilateral ties — but she will not be traveling to the capital, Ankara.
The CEO of Turkey’s largest private lender, İşbank, called for an immediate departure from the government’s economic program, saying that global conditions have made the fight against inflation impossible.
Economic hardship has long been measured through the humble simit -— the sesame-covered circular bread sometimes called the Turkish bagel. Now the ruling AKP is being accused of shrinking even that symbol. Once used by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to show that a family could not afford a single simit and tea with the minimum wage, the calculation has taken a new turn: a simit divided into three.
The European Union’s push to conclude free trade agreements (FTAs) is reshaping the economic landscape around its periphery. Chief among these is the long-negotiated EU–Mercosur Trade Agreement, alongside accelerating talks with India. While these agreements are formally bilateral between the EU and third parties, their implications extend well beyond signatories. For Turkey, which is bound to the EU through a customs union covering industrial goods, these deals carry direct consequences—despite Ankara not being a negotiating party.