My favorite daily did a special report on Istanbul's prospects as a financial center about a month ago, which I finally had a chance to read over the weekend. I am sorry to say that I was disappointed by the report, although it came with the diligent reporting FT is known for. The whole thing simply reeked of advertising.
As friends would know, I do not like (and neither am good at) self-promotion, but reading the report gave me the courage to share what I had written in the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review, with a buddy of mine, about this issue after the government disclosed its grand scheme to turn Istanbul into a financial center with great fanfare (but no foreign press presence) at the time of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Istanbul. Alternatively, you can also read it in my blog, along with a short introduction:
Now, you can dismiss me as an Economics columnist with limited exposure to markets, arguing that being a market economist does not count, but my co-author has more than enough market experience to make up for lack of mine as well.
As for the pieces reeking of advertising, I have no idea if the FT did that (and I would be greatly disappointed if my favorite daily did), but my one and a half years of being an Economics columnist has taught me that there is a huge advertising-in-the-news industry in Europe. In the past year, I have met several "journalists" who were preparing such pieces, as they wanted to meet me- obviously, they were not too thrilled in my pessimistic views:)...
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