Global Immersion Experience · March 2026
İstanbul
A week inside Türkiye's economy — conglomerates, banks, factories and kitchens — and the themes that survived the flight home.
Taught by Tülin Erdem
Geopolitical study
Geopolitical Analysis of Turkey
Course: Global Immersion Experience in Türkiye
Geopolitical risk brief ahead of the Türkiye immersion, focusing on energy corridors and currency stability.
Learning outcomes
- Mapped Black Sea/Middle East corridor dynamics and their effect on FDI flows.
- Analyzed inflation and FX pass-through for consumer-facing businesses.
- Outlined cultural and regulatory considerations for market entry sequencing.
Insights
What the city was like
Business school explains the economy. The rest of it you have to eat, watch and walk.
The Reading Cup
A fortune-telling Turkish coffee joint, in New York City. You drink the coffee, turn the cup over onto the saucer, wait for the grounds to settle, and someone reads what is left.
It is a good project idea precisely because the ritual does the work: the wait is the product. A small booking flow, a reader's calendar, a page that explains the custom to people who have never turned a cup over — and the whole thing runs on twenty minutes and a saucer.
Watch the cup being read →
Restaurant
Aheste
Meze rethought, plate by plate, on Beyoğlu's back streets.
Restaurant
Çiya Sofrası
Chef Musa Dağdeviren's Kadıköy kitchen, and an argument that regional Anatolian cooking is worth preserving.
Television
Midnight at the Pera Palace
A journalist slips between present-day Istanbul and 1919 through a hotel room door.
Hotel
Pera Palace
Built in 1892 for passengers off the Orient Express, and the hotel the series is named for.
From the Çiya booklet
More coming soonPages from the booklet the restaurant hands you, on the history behind what is cooked there. More of it going up as it is scanned.
Paintings
Painted after the trip. Each one is on the shop.
Companies & lectures
Who we heard from
Nine hosts across the week, from a macroeconomics lecture to a chef's kitchen.
Boğaziçi University
- Dr. Ceyhun Elgin — Professor of Economics, macroeconomic lecture
Rönesans Holding
- Mr. Ömer Yıldız — CEO, Rönesans Concessions
- Ms. Handan Saygın — Chief Investor Relations Officer
- Ms. Evrim Atalas — Sustainability and Environmental Director
Akbank
- Mr. Hakan Binbaşgil — Vice Chairman and Executive Board Member
- Ms. Şebnem Dağ Güven — Executive Vice President, Digital Solutions and Strategy
Milteks
- Belce Bilgingulluoglu — Senior Director of Development
The Walt Disney Company Türkiye
- Onur Kumbracı — Operations Director, News & Sports
Mercedes-Benz Türk
- Volkan Tutal — Director, Bus Production
- Emre Kuzucu — Director, Bus Procurement
LOGO
- Mr. Tuğrul Tekbulut — Founder, former CEO, Chair of the Board of Trustees
Çiya Sofrası
- Chef Musa Dağdeviren — Chef-Owner
Koç Holding
- Mr. Arif Emre Keleş — Strategy Executive Director
- Ms. Hayriye Karadeniz — Information Technologies Coordinator
- Ms. Burçun İmir — Corporate Communications Director
- Mr. Halil Şirin — Human Resources Coordinator
- Mr. Ömer Meserretçioğlu — Investment & Business Development Coordinator
Eczacıbaşı Group
The panel, mid-session.
Overview
Sixteen things Türkiye taught us
From the post-departure session. Step through them, or skip the deck entirely — nothing below depends on it.
Theme 1 of 16
Video
İstanbul, in shorts
Pick one and it plays here. Nothing loads until you choose.
Istanbul, at street level
The short that started the reel.
Street scenes
Walking the city between sessions.
Professor Tülin Erdem addresses guests
Opening the evening in Istanbul.
Set 1 of 2
