So you think it is about data privacy? On April 10 this week, as you all know, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, has testified before Congress. Various senators asked him tough questions. He kept his straight face as best as possible while they were grilling him ferociously. Liberal senators kept…

Can Istanbul be like Artvin? What kind of a life we want and how we choose the city we live in are two very separate phenomena. Most people want to live in big cities because they believe the quality of life and probability of earning money is better in mega cities. However,…

Elections and fake news In just 60 days we will have presidential elections in Turkey. As there are still many unknowns about the process and the candidates, every bit of information is vital. class="cf"> Indeed, people everywhere have never been hungrier for political news than they are today, and this creates an atmosphere ready…

The e-sports federation is one giant step Even though I really do not understand all the games and cannot claim I understand everything I watch on Twitch, those who follow my column know I am very keen on e-sports developments in Turkey.class="cf"> Interest from companies and state authorities has been on the rise…

Is a social media win enough to win elections? Two days ago President Tayyip Erdoğan gave the kind of motto to the opposition that the latter was unable to find for a long time: “Enough” or “Alright” (tamam). He said that if citizens tell him “tamam” then he will step down.class="cf"> “Tamam”…

Still investing in Turkey Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the key figures that tells us how a certain country is seen by outsiders. If the FDI is high it means the perception of the country by the outsiders is rather positive. It also means confidence in that country’s economy is…

Turkish Lira vs. Turkish technology industry Lately everyone has been talking about interest rates and the fall of the Turkish Lira against other currencies. These have a few serious consequences on the Turkish ICT industry. Firstly, with the rising dollar against the lira, the prices of all hardware and software programs…

Revolutionizing movie going One of the things that mentors love to say to entrepreneurs is “think global.” What they mean is that a startup should not just focus on a local market, even at birth. Of course, this piece of advice is rarely kept, as going global is usually feared by entrepreneurs.…

The new fintech frontier: Financial health Recently, I had written that the Turkish startup ecosystem is very small compared to other countries such as Germany, Portugal, Israel, the United States, and Canada, etc. However, the growth rate of the ecosystem is promising. class="cf"> It is safe to say an ecosystem is only as strong…