Letter from Turkey
by Warren Coats

Istanbul is a beautiful city. I stayed in Bebek on the Bosphorus, the magnificent shipping lane connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. It divides Istanbul into its European and Asian halves. I visited my friend Ernest McCall, bought one Persian carpet, and sipped coffee in a café at the edge of the water on the European side looking across to Asia. I spent many pleasant hours this way reading Michael Lind’s The American Way of Strategy, which all American’s should read to understand what as gone so terribly wrong with our foreign policy over the last decade.

My last morning in Istanbul I had breakfast with a delightful young Turk I had worked with in Ankara in 2000 and 2001 during the Turkish banking and balance of payments crisis of those years. He made some interesting observations that I will share with you. Though the banking sector has been very significantly strengthened since 2000 and inflation has been reduced from over 80 percent to below 10 percent, the economy remains fragile because of Turkey’s failure to modernize enough of its laws and the continued government ownership and involvement in far too much of the economy and all of the corruption that that always involves.

Very interestingly my young Harvard trained friend noted that Turkey lacked the human capital of the Europe it hoped to join. Most of its citizens lack the level of education and related skills of most Europeans. As a result Turks living in Europe sink to the bottom of the economic ladder. Workers of poorer European countries rise faster and further than Turks because they are better educated. He was not blaming Europeans or their governments but rather the failings of his own government to direct its efforts appropriately. How refreshing.

He also noted that the great fondness and respect Turks had always had for America has in the last few years largely turning into suspicion of America’s motives and integrity. In this respect, Turkey is like every other place I visit.

Warren Coats, Washington D.C.