Turkey, Istanbul. Adding universities to The WSJE Future Leadership Program.

The Wall Street Journal Europe is now present in 7 Universities in Turkey.

Today I visited 3 of them. First stop: Istanbul Ticaret University. Private University funded by a Commerz Association. Department of Communication has its own tv and radio broadcast equipment. The students make 2 news editions a day for local television. Impressive.

Turkish distribution company Dunya is helping me in a fenomenal way. 2 managers, 1 car and 1 driver are at my disposal for 3 days. Originally I had rented a car to drive around in Istanbul myself. Dunya convinced me that was a bad idea. I cancelled the car... very very glad I did that now I have seen how people drive in Turkey. Let's say that Turkish drivers haven't reached the era of enlightment yet. Pictured: Mrs Elvan A. explaining me how Turkish people examine the coffee pulp in their cups to determine the future (if the pulp resembles a fish you will win a lot of money, if the pulp resembles a man on a horse you will be married soon).

Marmara University with The Wall Street Journal Europe cardboard
stand in the reception area of the central library. The university has about 60.000 students. 40.000 of them follow classes in buildings around the central library. In front of one of the buildings we saw a genuine fighter plane.

Koc University. Private University. Clean. Modern. Marble.
Koc University is part of the Koc Holding funded by the Koc Foundation.
The Uni is situated in the mountains, in the woods, 40 min from Istanbul center.
They seem to have a very interesting Executive MBA progran.
Makes you want to start studying again.

Open air bookshop in Ortakoy region, couldn't help myself, bought 2 English management books.

Taksim district, appealing walking area.
Sat down in corner of the Golden Horn street restaurant eating
things I can't pronounce.

Turkey. WSJE Future Leadership Program.

Turkey. Grey. Rainy. Cold. I added 7 Turkish Universities to our Future Leadership Program. For the first time The Wall Street Journal Europe will be available to students and professors in the following Turkish Universities:
- Metu University
- Marmara
- Kadir Has
- Bahcesehir
- Istanbul Commerce
- Koc
- Sabanci
I am in Turkey to follow up on the program and to establish relationships with potential partners and sponsors. All my meetings have been set up by our Turkish printer and distributor Dunya.

Around midnight after the first day in this strange country: my brain tries to cope with a busload of impressions. How many people did I meet who told me bluntly they feared for the future of this country ? Most of the people I met today (Am I meeting representatives of a minority or a majority ?) How many people expressed irritation even anger about the apparent move of the government to establish a religious state ? All the people I spoke with today. Somebody actually told me that the desire of the Turkish government to become a European memberstate is to be considered nothing less than a devious strategy to keep political correct Europe at ease while silently moving away from the secular inheritance of Ataturk. A Turkish businessman looked at me with tears in his eyes when I showed him some copies of The Wall Street Journal Europe. I lived in the US for 16 years he said. I read the WSJ every day. In 1996 I had the choice to move to Seattle or to Istanbul. Because of the kids my wife and I chose Istanbul. It was the biggest mistake in my life. I realise now I lost 12 years of my life. I should have built my carreer in the US, not here. I long to go back to the States when my children are old enough. I miss the freedom, I miss quality of life. I miss 'business'.

Picture: Koc Holding. A Turkish multinational founded in the 1920's.

A Fortune 500 company built over 3 generations.

They also have Koc University in their portfolio.