Recep Tayyip

I use the first two columns of the year to summarize the past year’s economic agenda and share my predictions for the new year. The first one is much easier, as I have more than 100 of my columns to guide me.

We will eat healthy and exercise more. We will read more and watch TV less. So should be our resolutions for 2015, right? But that would be too mundane and easy after all. We as a proud nation of great heritage should do more.

One does not need a crystal ball to see that 2015 is going to be a tough year for Turkey. Elections, corruption allegations, the Kurdish peace process, Syria, to name a few cases, will ensure that tensions remain high.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the headlines with several statements in 2014. When he was still Turkey’s prime minister before Aug. 10 presidential elections, many of his sensational comments targeted his political rivals – or the Internet as a whole.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will not attend the country’s top business organization’s general assembly on Jan. 22, 2015 due to the organization’s claims that their addressee was the prime minister and not the president, according to prime ministry news sources.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s New Year’s address has mirrored his priorities for 2015, as he highlighted the utmost importance in fighting the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, referred to by government officials as the “parallel state,” along with pursuing the peace process with the country’s Kurds.

On Dec. 9, the front page of the maverick daily BirGün featured a big headline in bold letters in Arabic script. For the readers who cannot read Ottoman, BirGün explained that the headline just meant “thief.” On top of the headline the newspaper’s editors explained: If you forcefully teach us Ottoman this is what you get.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has again reacted to Turkey’s top business organization’s chairman’s words that their addressee was the prime minister and not the president, saying he would not attend TÜSİAD’S meetings anymore.

Opposition parties have maintained that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to chair a meeting of the Cabinet is a striking reflection of his ambition for one-man rule, as much as it is a result of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s inability to fulfill the requirements of his post.

A day after the Council of Ministers held its last meeting of 2014, the top national security body, which brings together the country’s top civilian and military leaders, held its last meeting of 2014 at the new presidential palace.