Research Project: Turkish Board Games (posted by Eliza)

Intro

My family LOVES board games, so I was immediately hooked on the idea of my Turkish research project being about what we can learn about Turkish culture by playing Turkish board games; backgammon and okey.  Backgammon’s ancestors were born around 2000 years ago with the Romans. The Romans had a game called “Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum” and now you can go to Syedra Ancient City in Alanya, Antalya to see the very old board game (Erdogan). We didn't get the chance to go to Syedra but we did go to Ephesus and we saw some ancient board games there. For people in the 20th century, backgammon wasn’t the game that everyone played. Until that is, a Russian named Alexis Obolensky came along. Alexis learned to play backgammon from his Turkish gardener. During the 1960s and 1970s, Alexis traveled widely promoting backgammon both as a gambling and tournament game (Roeder). 

Okey comes from rummikub, created by the Romanian Ephraim Hertzano in the 1940s. You have probably wondered at one point or another why rummikub is played with tiles instead of cards. That is because when Ephraim was a young man, Romania was ruled by a strict communist regime that banned cards. However, they did not ban tiles, and Ephraim took advantage of that using tiles in the place of cards. Rummikub literally means Rummi played with cubes. Later Ephraim and his wife moved to Israel where they sold handcrafted rummikub sets and spread the game all the way to Anatolia where it got fashioned into okey (Gravett). 

Methodology and Thesis

To answer my question, I read two books and thirteen articles from sources like TurkeyToday, National Geographic, and DW News. I also watched a bunch of videos that helped me learn how to play backgammon and okey. I also went to a museum in Istanbul that explains the history of coffee culture and at the site of the oldest coffee company in the country. I interviewed Mirac, our tour guide in Konya, and Osman, a Kurdish person in Kas, and Mustafa, a soldier in Foça. The biggest part of my project was just experiencing playing backgammon and okey in local coffeehouses with old guys who are painters, mechanics, police officers, and teachers.

Overall, I think that I have learned a lot about Turkish coffeehouse culture, gender roles, and cigarette culture by playing Turkish boardgames.

Section 1

You need to have a place to play backgammon with your buds, right? Well, in Turkey coffeehouses are that place. The first coffeehouse in Istanbul was made way back in 1555, by two merchants from Syria, who brought coffee from Yemen (McGovern). At the time, coffee houses were called kahvehane. Coffee quickly increased in popularity, and by the 1600s there were over 600 coffee houses in Istanbul. By the 1800s, there were 2,500 coffeehouses in Istanbul (Maspul). As you probably know, Turkey is 99.8% Muslim. The Quran says that drinking alcohol is a "vile act" and the working of Satan. Therefore, pubs and bars are looked down on, so people go to coffeehouses instead. In 2013, UNESCO declared Turkish coffee to be an "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" (CNN). Mirac says that during iftar the coffeehouses are where everyone goes to watch sports. As Mirac explains, coffeehouses are important because ever since he and his friends started to have kids, coffeehouses became the only place they could socialize away from home. He says they all have to put their phones on the table and whichever wife calls first has to pay for everyone's drinks.

Section 2

The second thing I have noticed is women or, more accurately, the absence of women in the coffeehouses. In the first coffeehouse that was built by the two merchants, women were not allowed, but that is not a big surprise - it was 1555 after all (McGovern). Now read this passage from Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World by Thomas F. Madden: “Muslim women in Constantinople were kept strictly confined to their homes. When a Muslim woman was forced to travel, she was covered head to foot or shielded all around by heavy curtains carried by slaves. They were forbidden to have anything to do with the world outside their home” (Madden). This book is talking about the time era of 1500 to 1800, certainly not just 1555. Both Maric and Osman said that they don’t play backgammon or okey with women, although Maric did say that in university neighborhoods there was much more diversity of who was playing backgammon and okey together. One reason why you see so many men playing is because women spend four times the amount of time on caregiving and domestic duties and don’t have time for games (Isildak). Not to mention that less than one third of women in Turkey are in the labor force (Isildak). The 11th president of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, worked on women's rights when he was president (DW News). Many articles say Erdogan is not doing anything about women's rights. For instance, Asli Telseren says, “The government has used rhetoric on the importance of family and the role of women within the family, as an essential tool for re-consolidating patriarchal social structure” (Telseren). I have not seen many women in the coffeehouses playing games. I agree with Mirac because there were definitely some women playing Turkish boardgames in Çanakale, which is a university town. Other than that, it is very striking how few women play or generally in coffeehouses in towns like Kas and Foça.

Section 3

The third thing I have noticed when playing backgammon and okey is how everyone seems to be smoking. Turkey has the 9th most smokers per capita in the world; 50% of men smoke and 25% of women above 18 smoke. 18-19 million people smoke in Turkey (Erdogan). When I was playing okey in Kas you could barely see anything. I'm being serious. It was that smoky. Together, Turkey uses up 5.4 billion packs of cigarettes every year and if you divide that number by every adult in the country everyone smokes 64 packs per year (Al Jazeera). 174,000 people get lung cancer every year and 85,000 of those die, so that means every day 300 Turkish smokers die. You may be wondering why the government isn't doing anything, but they actually are. If your coffeehouse is found with smokers inside you have to pay a fine which is usually between 442 US dollars for the first violation and 2,151 US dollars for a second violation, and for a third violation the coffeehouse has to close (Qakmu). A coffeehouse owner tried to follow the rules and lost 80% of his customers, so now he just allows smoking and pays the fines or bribes. The government has also been putting up bans. For instance, the 1996 ban on cigarette ads, the 2008 ban on smoking in confined public spaces, and the 2013 ban on smoking inside cars (Erdogan). The government enforced these bans with police officers but dad and I played okey in a confined public space with a police officer who was smoking. The government also requires you to produce cigarette packs that have gross pictures of diseases that you could get if you smoke. The grossest one I've seen so far is a rotting foot with gangrene. So yes, the government is doing things, but no, the smokers are not listening.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I think that board game backgammon and okey are essential in Turkish culture. I wish that the United States had a similar culture around having coffeehouses instead of pubs because it is less rowdy. I like backgammon more than many other games because it consists mostly of strategy. and i like okey because it is very lively, and you can't seem to get bored playing it.

Works Cited

"Backgammon: The Cruelest Game in Art." Ludolatry, YouTube.com. 2021.

Bektas, Sena. "Role Models and Gender Roles in Turkey." Women's Campaign International. 

2025.

Crane, Michael. "Tavla in Turkey." Backgammon Galore. 1996.

Erdogan, Koray. "Why Are Turks Heavy Smokers?" Turkiye Today. 2025.

"In Turkey, Your Coffee Comes with a Side of Destiny." CNN. 2025.

Isildak, Muratcan. "Breaking Barriers: How Turkey's Gender Labor Market Shapes Women's 

Future Jobs." Modern Diplomacy. 2025.

Madden, Thomas F. Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World. 2016.

McGovern, Connor. "How Istanbul's Ancient Coffee Culture Is Holding Its Own." National 

Geographic. 2022.

Roeder, Oliver. Seven Games: A Human History. 2022.

Telseren, Asli. "Gender Inequality and Feminism." International Sociological Association. 2022.

"These Turkish Women Practice Self Defense." DW News. 2024.

"Turkey Battles Lung Cancer with Smoking Ban." Al Jazeera. 2017.

"Turkey, Where Cigarette Smoke and Fines Don't Scare Anyone." Qakmu. 2025.

"Turkish Coffee Culture and Tradition." UNESCO. 2013.

Research Project: Turkey's Tourism Troubles (posted by Jane)

Introduction

Turkey's economy is reliant on tourism. With tourism accounting for 12% of the country's GDP and 10% of all national employment, it would be terrible for there to be a drop in tourism (Marmaris). However, that is exactly what happened in the first seven months of 2025. There has been a 30% drop in tourists in comparison to 2024 (Marmaris). With prices going up in Turkey due to inflation, more and more tourists choose to visit other countries like Greece or Spain (Cetinguc). I wanted to know how this would affect prices in Turkey's iconic bazaars. In theory when demand goes down, with fewer tourists, prices should go down. In Naked Economics, Charles Weelan says, “When the cost of something falls it makes it more attractive”. So the price and quantity should look something like this:

However, when I was interviewing store owners they said their prices went up. So I set out to understand why.

Price Elasticity & Price Descrimination

The first theory as to why prices didn’t go down is the inelasticity of demand. This means that tourists are more willing to buy goods no matter the price. Tourists from other countries often don’t know how a product is normally priced. In Safranbolu, I interviewed a sweets seller in the tourist area and she explained that the shop increased the price because they need to make up for the sweets they aren’t selling. Tourists are more willing to buy products even if the price goes up. This means that demand is inelastic. If you were to graph it you would see that the demand line is more vertical.

Now when the demand shifts left (less tourists) producers can keep prices up while still not having too much excess supply. However, this graph is very complicated and there are other reasons prices have gone up that I will explain in the next sections. 

Shop owners take a gamble at overcharging tourists and it normally pays off. Even Turkish tourists are willing to pay a little more on vacation. In Naked Economics Charles Weelan explains that even airline companies will find ways to increase prices for business travelers who are willing to spend more but still keep prices lower for leisure travel. For example, a flexible or last minute ticket is more expensive. This is also a ticket that business travelers would need. This is a way for airlines to maximize their profit. This is also what shop owners do. In official  language changing prices is called price discrimination. We saw examples of this while in Safranbolu, the tourist sweet shop is more expensive than a shop on the other side of town catering to locals .Charging more to tourists means you have a much higher profit margin without having to do any extra work. Of course, this can be very irritating for tourists. Another way you can see price discrimination is in price fixing. Stores will collectively decide what to charge for certain items. We learned about this in Konya with a shop owner who explained there is a min and max amount for items. Price fixing we learned also happens between the different scuba shops in Kaș. So one reason prices haven’t gone down is tourists don’t know what the correct price is so are willing to pay a lot more.

Input Costs

I learned about price elasticity but like everything in economics there are lots of reasons for prices to stay up even if there is less demand. I interviewed another sweets seller who said he decided prices based on the input costs which was mostly sugar. When I did some digging, I found that sugar was tariffed heavily. That is not something you want to do if there is already inflation. India, their second-largest source of sugar, faced a 100 percent tariff in 2023. Morocco, Turkey's main source of sugar was tariffed 42.1 percent. This hikes up the price of sugar so the price of Turkish delights goes up, too. Trade is one of the best ways to improve an economy. Charles Weelan in Naked Economics explains trade lowers the price of goods and makes more efficient use of the world's resources. Another reason import prices have gone up is that the value of the lira in terms of other countries' currencies have gone down making products feel more expensive for Turkey. So even if there is less demand store owners can’t lower the prices since input costs are so high.

In the theory of supply and demand, this would be represented by double shift. First, demand shifts left because of the drop in tourism. Then, supply shifts left because of increasing input costs of sugar. Therefore, the price of the sweets is indeterminant.

Inflation

At the start of this project, when doing general research on Turkey’s economy, the main thing that showed up was their terrible inflation. Like many authoritarian regimes, Erdogan, the current president, declared a state of emergency and took control of the central bank in 2018. (Reuters). Erdogan then gave the whole world an example on why the central bank is separate from the main government. He decided to increase the money supply from 2021 to 2025 in an economy that already had some inflation. This made inflation even worse. Inflation peaked at 85% in 2022 (Lachman). Then, when Erdogan tried to fix this mess. Interest rates went way up as the central bank took money out of the economy. In March 2024, interest rates went from 8.5% to 50%, marking an all time high in Turkey's modern history (GIS). This has led to lots of mistrust in the government, you can see this when you talk to any Turkish person. How does this connect to tourism? Firstly tourists no longer see Turkey as a budget getaway. I also wanted to know if real prices, the price minus inflation, actually went up or if the original graph was correct. 

To test this hypothesis, I interviewed our Airbnb host and also an employee at a scuba shop in Kaș. First, we interviewed our Airbnb host who explained that he used to have a tourist trinket shop but then because there were less tourists he had to shift to hardware, something locals needed. This was interesting but not what I was focusing on. The price of the Airbnb was more trackable. In 2018 he was charging 2,000lira a day. Now he charges 7,000 lira a day. It seems like he is charging a lot more now but if the 2018 price had kept up with inflation, he would be charging 21,000 lira. People's expectations also have not adjusted to the new prices. This creates a dilemma for store owners: they need to raise prices but they can't without losing customers. The real price did go down when adjusted for inflation; this supports the original graph with the claim that less demand leads to lower prices.

We heard a similar story at a scuba shop. There are 21 dive shops in the small town of Kaș. They will get together and set a minimum price but some shops will go under this price to attract more customers. This forces all of the other dive shop prices to go down. This ends up cutting into the guide's income which is now only at $1,000 a month, so dive instructors also have to have other jobs. When we asked about the prices she said in 2018 they were charging 500lira for a “try dive” now they are charging 1,7000 lira. It seems like the price has gone up a lot but no. If the original price kept up with inflation they would be charging 5,000 lira. Therefore, there was actually actually a 66% drop in real prices.

Airbnb

2018 : 2,000 lira

2026 : 7,000 lira

Real price: 21,000 lira

Scuba Shop

2018 : 500 lira

2026 : 1,700 lira 

Real price : 5,000 lira

Due to the incredibly high inflation real prices have actually dropped even though on paper it looks like it has gone up.

Conclusion

Inflation and high interest rates has made Turkey unlivable for so many people. Almost everybody we have talked to is trying to move out permanently or at least for a while.These numbers seem crazy on paper but the effects on people's real lives are even crazier. It may take a month to mess up an economy but it can take decades to repair an economy and regain the public’s trust.

Works Cited

"Why Do Erdogan’s Monetary Policies Stimulate the Deterioration of the Lira?” Futureuae, 2026, www.futureuae.com/create.sql.tar/Mainpage/Item/6771/chronic-inflation-why-do-erdogans-monetary-policies-stimulate-the-deterioration-of-the-lira. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

French, Douglas E. “The Beauty of Trade at the Grand Bazaar.” Mises Institute, 14 June 2011, mises.org/mises-daily/beauty-trade-grand-bazaar?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

Lachman, Desmond . “Turkish Inflation Lessons for the Federal Reserve.” American Enterprise Institute - AEI, 25 May 2022, www.aei.org/op-eds/turkish-inflation-lessons-for-the-federal-reserve/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

OEC. “The Observatory of Economic Complexity.” The Observatory of Economic Complexity, 2026, oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/raw-sugar/reporter/tur. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

Patterson, Rebecca. “If You like 35 Percent Inflation, Go Ahead, Fire the Fed Chair.” New York Times, 15 June 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/fed-trump-fire-powell.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

Reuters . “Turkey Removes Clause on Five-Year Term for Central Bank Governor.” Reuters, 9 July 2018, www.reuters.com/article/markets/turkey-removes-clause-on-five-year-term-for-central-bank-governor-idUSL8N1U54GI/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

Sak, Guven. “Turkey’s Economic Shift and What It Means – GIS Reports.” GIS Reports, 13 Aug. 2024, www.gisreportsonline.com/r/turkey-erdogan-economics/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

Team, BT. “Turkiye Boosts Tax Audits in Bazaars and Marketplaces to Tackle Evasion.” Bazaar Times, 25 Dec. 2024, bazaartimes.com/turkiye-boosts-tax-audits-in-bazaars-and-marketplaces-to-tackle-evasion/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

The Economist. “Fires, Earthquakes and Inflation Are Putting Tourists off Turkey.” The Economist, 4 Sept. 2025, www.economist.com/europe/2025/09/04/fires-earthquakes-and-inflation-are-putting-tourists-off-turkey. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

“Turkey Imports by Category.” Tradingeconomics.com, tradingeconomics.com/turkey/imports-by-category. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

Turkey, PA. “Turkey’s Tourism Faces Sharp Decline - P.A. Turkey.” P.A. Turkey, 29 Aug. 2025, www.paturkey.com/news/2025/turkeys-tourism-faces-sharp-decline-23119/.