Resistance to transparency is futile When our prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, talked about the “robot lobby” in his speech at the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) weekly meeting on Tuesday, I thought I was dreaming. I thought that…

#RemindGezi Social media has very quickly become one the most important fronts in the political wars over the last two years. I would like to use the word “debate” instead of “war,” but the reality is that we are…

You cannot play it down Last week I wrote about the hashtag #Geziyihatırlat (#RecallGezi). This week, the top hashtag is #BerkinElvanÖlümsüzdür (#BerkinElvanisimmortal). Berkin Elvan is the name of a 15-year-old boy who died on Monday (March 10) after being…

Fear leads the way to the dark side I used to think the current government hated the Internet and that was the reason why they do everything in their power to kill it. I thought they hated the…

Is there no hope? Today, in order to tell you about the affairs of the technology and Internet industries in Turkey, all I need to write are three words: Twitter is banned. With these three words, you can…

Use technology for transparency, not for oppression The elections are over and the results are not shocking. I have written many times that I really don’t care who wins as long as everything is orderly and no…

Qatar and Turkey, new business allies Last week I wasn’t able to write an article as I was attending the Turkish Festival in Doha. Qatar has been on my radar ever since Pozitron (now a part of Monitise) opened…

Laughing for all the wrong reasons Yesterday was April 23, National Sovereignty and Children’s Day.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Cabinet members delegated their seats to children as part of the national Children’s Day tradition, letting young…

Where does Turkey belong, digitally? It is very difficult to decide where Turkey belongs to in any given area. There are as many maps that put Turkey in the Asia section as maps that place Turkey in Europe. The…

Minding my business I frequently write about the lack of transparency in decisions made by major Turkish technology companies, such as the Fatih project and national warship tenders, as well as the management of telecommunication firms. In almost every…