Daily Briefing for the Conscientious Leader
Feet in the world. Heart in Istanbul.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2026 · ISSUE NO. 6 · GAME CHANGERS · WEALTH · MARKETS · HEALTH · TECH · BY MEHMET ISTANBULLU
Turkey’s data centers, by the numbers: about 250 MW in 2025 | 22 MW in Temelli’s first phase | 120 MW planned at Deliklikaya | a 1 GW goal for 2030 | $30 billion in HIT-30 incentives
LEAD · GAME CHANGERS
Turkey Breaks Ground on a $4.1 Billion Data Campus and Aims for a Gigawatt
Rönesans and Digital Realty started building in Ankara on Monday, a first step toward Turkey’s goal of 1 gigawatt of data center capacity by 2030.
BY MEHMET ISTANBULLU · ABOUT 6 MINUTES
On Monday, Oct. 19, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır broke ground in the Başkent Organized Industrial Zone at Temelli, outside Ankara, on a data center campus to be run by Rönesans Holding and Digital Realty, the U.S. data center operator. The first phase is planned at more than 22 megawatts of IT capacity and about 10,000 square meters of data halls, and is due to open in 2028. [2] Kacır said the first facility needs $450 million for infrastructure and buildings and another $900 million for cooling and IT. “Once all phases are complete, this facility will represent a fixed capital investment of $4.1 billion,” he said. [1][4]
Digital Realty announced the joint venture on Sept. 14, saying land, power and permits had been secured and early works had begun, with Istanbul to follow. [3] Erman Ilıcak, the honorary president of Rönesans, said ground will be broken on a 120-megawatt campus at Deliklikaya, in Istanbul, in February. He put its cost at $5.2 billion: $1.7 billion from Rönesans and $3.5 billion from tenants and partners. [2]
WHY IT MATTERS
Turkey starts from a low base. EY counted about 81 commercial data centers with about 250 megawatts of capacity in 2025, concentrated in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, up from 120 megawatts in 2021. That is 2.90 megawatts per million people, against 11.58 in Poland, 32.14 in Germany and 50 in the United Arab Emirates. Capacity in service or under construction comes to 290 megawatts, and announced or potential projects to about 590 more. [5]
The 2026-2030 Artificial Intelligence Action Plan sets a national goal of at least 1 gigawatt, or 1,000 megawatts, by 2030. Kacır said Rönesans and Digital Realty plan more than $10 billion of investment in Ankara and Istanbul for about 200 megawatts, one-fifth of that goal. [1] He called data processing and cloud computing “the oil of the 21st century.” Global installed capacity, he said, was about 103 gigawatts last year and is expected to reach 200 gigawatts by 2030, and more than a fifth of the value of new investment worldwide has gone into data centers. [1]
The Turkish case rests on cost. EY puts electricity at about €0.06 ($0.07) per kilowatt-hour in Turkey, against €0.35 ($0.39) in Germany and €0.07 ($0.08) in the UAE, and construction at €7.62 ($8.55) per watt, the lowest of the six markets it compared. [5][6] Ilıcak called Turkey Europe’s third-largest electricity producer. “Our goal is to make Turkey Europe’s fifth-largest data center hub, after France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands,” he said. [2]
WHAT THE STATE IS OFFERING
Kacır described HIT-30, a $30 billion program of incentives for high-technology investment through 2030, as the largest incentive package in the country’s history. [1] Its data center call supports sites with at least 30 megawatts of IT capacity, at least 50% of it compatible with AI hardware, and a power usage effectiveness of no more than 1.4. Support includes tax incentives of up to 50% and energy support of up to 10% of the investment, according to a summary by PwC Turkey. [7] Kacır put the call’s budget at $1.4 billion; PwC’s summary of the call gave $1.5 billion. [1][7] A separate AI call has $1.6 billion for cloud investments of at least $100 million each, and a quantum call has $300 million. [7]
The state is also building computing power of its own. TRUBA, the national science e-infrastructure, has served more than 8,900 researchers with more than 80,000 processor cores, 504 graphics processors and 26 petabytes of storage, Kacır said, and a program called GPU for Everyone is to open high-performance chips to startups and researchers. [1]
PROFILE: ERMAN ILICAK
Ilıcak, 59, was born on Oct. 3, 1967, graduated from TED Ankara College in 1985 and earned a civil engineering degree from Middle East Technical University in 1990. He founded Rönesans İnşaat in 1993 and opened its first office abroad a year later. He chaired the holding company until 2014, when İpek Ilıcak Kayaalp took over, and is now its president emeritus. The group, based in Ankara, says it has worked in 30 countries with more than 30,000 employees. [8]
He has built the group through partners. Rönesans bought Heitkamp in Germany and Ballast Nedam in the Netherlands in 2014 and 2015, brought in Singapore’s GIC for its shopping centers, worked with Meridiam and Sojitz on six city hospitals and sold half of Rönesans Enerji to TotalEnergies in 2023. [8] At Temelli he went past the official target. “In my personal view, we can raise the 1,000-megawatt target our minister set to 2,000 megawatts,” he said, adding that the aim should be $80 billion of investment in the wider industry and that Rönesans is ready to deliver about 600 megawatts, or 30%. [2] Fuat Oktay, chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the goal could rise to 2,000 or even 3,000 megawatts. [2]
Paula Cogan, Digital Realty’s president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the campus is designed for cloud providers, companies, financial institutions and the public sector, and that Turkey joins Milan, Sofia, Lisbon and Kuala Lumpur among the company’s new markets this year. [2] In this editor’s judgment, Rönesans is using its hospital model again: a global partner for operations, its own crews for the concrete and the power.
THE BEST MOVES
Sell into the fit-out, not just the shell. The first Temelli phase carries $900 million for cooling and IT, twice the cost of the buildings. Suppliers of power, cooling and electrical systems should be talking to Rönesans and Digital Realty now. [1]
Check the incentive thresholds before you scope a site. The HIT-30 data center call starts at 30 megawatts of IT capacity and a power usage effectiveness of 1.4; smaller or less efficient projects fall outside it. [7]
Put Deliklikaya in the calendar. The start of work in Istanbul in February, at 120 megawatts, is the larger test of whether the program keeps pace. [2]
WHAT TO WATCH
The bottom line: In this editor’s judgment, Turkey has cheap power, land and a builder with deep pockets. Monday’s ceremony starts the test of whether 250 megawatts can become a gigawatt in five years.
IN BRIEF
WEALTH
Britain’s Five-Year Mortgage Rate Sits at 6% as Sellers Cut Prices
The average five-year fixed mortgage in Britain stood at 5.99% on Monday, according to Moneyfacts, after topping 6% earlier this month for the first time in three years; the two-year average was 5.96%. Rates have risen since the war in the Middle East began, as bond-market swings pushed up the swap rates that price fixed deals. [10] Sellers are adjusting. More than 3,000 asking prices a day were cut in September, the most in 15 years, by nearly 7%, or about £21,000 ($27,900), on average, the BBC reported. [11][6] Rightmove said October asking prices rose 1% from September, below the usual 1.3% for the month, and sales agreed fell 8% from a year earlier. [12] Hamptons found that 56% of first-time buyers now pay more for their mortgage than they paid in rent. [10] Chancellor John Healey presents his budget on Wednesday, Oct. 28. [13]
The move: If you are selling, price it right the first time: homes that were cut took 119 days to sell, against 39 for those that were not. [11]
MARKETS
Indonesia’s Stocks Suffer Their Worst Two Days on Record After an MSCI Warning
Jakarta’s benchmark index closed down 3.6% on Monday after an 11.6% plunge on Friday, a two-session fall steeper than any during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, Reuters reported. The trigger was MSCI’s statement on Friday that it was considering moving Indonesia from “emerging market” to “standalone” status. [14] A final decision is expected by June. Goldman Sachs estimates that a full removal could set off about $5.6 billion of passive outflows, with $2.7 billion more at risk if FTSE Russell follows. [15] The exchange cut the daily limit on price falls to 7% from 15% and will drop stocks with highly concentrated ownership from its main index. The rupiah weakened to 18,030 per dollar, and the 10-year bond yield rose to 7.4%. Foreign investors have sold a net $4.98 billion of Indonesian stocks this year. [14]
The move: If you hold emerging-market index funds, check their Indonesia weighting now; index decisions, more than company results, are likely to drive those shares until June. [15]
HEALTH
An Immunotherapy Lets Some Rectal Cancer Patients Skip Surgery
The FDA on Monday granted accelerated approval to GSK’s Jemperli (dostarlimab) for adults with untreated stage II or III rectal cancer whose tumors are mismatch repair deficient or microsatellite instability-high, about 3% of locally advanced cases. [16] In the AZUR-1 trial, 154 patients received up to nine doses over six months; after a median follow-up of more than two years, almost three-fourths had not needed surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. In an earlier Memorial Sloan Kettering study of 50 patients, none had detectable cancer after treatment, and of 27 followed for at least three years, one relapsed. Standard treatment can affect bowel, urinary and sexual function and fertility. The drug can cause severe immune reactions, and because the approval rests on interim results, GSK must keep following patients. [16]
The move: If anyone in your family is diagnosed with rectal cancer, ask for the tumor’s mismatch repair status before treatment is scheduled.
If You Have Time · Five shorter reads for the evening, the weekend or the flight.
PROFILE
The Economist Who Taught Central Banks to Talk Wins a Nobel
Columbia’s Michael Woodford shares the 2026 economics Nobel for models that put expectations, and what policymakers say about the future, at the center of policy.
On Oct. 12 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded this year’s economics prize to Robert E. Hall of Stanford and Michael Woodford of Columbia “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.” They share 12 million kronor, about $1.2 million. [17][6] The academy’s point is simple to state: households and businesses look ahead when they save or set prices, so when governments and central banks explain their plans, they can shift those expectations and move the economy. [17]
Woodford was born in 1955 in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and earned his doctorate at MIT in 1983. [17] Before economics he studied at the University of Chicago and took a law degree at Yale. [19] His 2003 book, Interest and Prices, set out the New Keynesian theory of monetary policy that grew from this work. Speaking by phone during the announcement, he said he was “elated” and that the theory was meant to help governments explain “why the things that are being done are being done.” [18]
The move: This week tests his idea. Turkey’s central bank decides on Thursday and Bank Indonesia also meets; read their statements for what they say about the next move, not just the rate. [9][14]
GADGETS
A $99 Plug Tracks Your Car, and Its Maker Says It Won’t Sell the Data
The Miles Plug, launched on Monday, fits a car’s OBD-II port and uses cellular and GPS to report location, trips, speeding and hard braking, vehicle health and possible crashes, with roadside help. A chatbot in the app decodes warning lights and estimates repair costs. [20]
It costs $99 plus $180 for a year’s membership, or $396 for three years with the plug, paid upfront with no auto-renewal. It works with most gas and hybrid cars from 2008 on and some electric ones. “You’re the customer, you’re not the product,” said co-founder Matt McGovren, who says trip and location data will never be sold. A similar device, Automatic, shut down in 2020. [20]
The move: If a teenager in your house is learning to drive, try it under the 60-day money-back guarantee, and agree together on which alerts each of you sees. [20]
WEALTH
Honeywell Sees 9,950 New Business Jets Over the Next Decade
Honeywell Aerospace’s 35th Global Business Aviation Outlook, published as the NBAA-BACE show opens in Las Vegas, forecasts 9,950 business jet deliveries from 2026 through 2035, 4.4% more than last year’s forecast, plus 4,200 turboprops. Annual deliveries are expected to rise from about 1,280 aircraft this year to more than 1,500 by 2035, worth more than $37 billion a year. [21]
The world fleet is projected to grow 29%, from about 39,400 aircraft in 2025 to nearly 51,000, and flight hours 34%, with midsize jets up 40%. The U.S. and Canada take about 63% of deliveries and host about 83% of fractional flying. The Middle East conflict has paused growth in that region, Honeywell said, though the UAE remains a leading hub. [21] Gulfstream flew its first fully outfitted G400 on Monday, and a test G400 set a Miami-Las Vegas record of 4 hours 8 minutes on blended sustainable fuel. [22][23]
The move: If you are weighing a fractional share or a midsize jet, note that Honeywell expects midsize jets to grow fastest; ask manufacturers and fractional programs about delivery slots and waiting times now. [21]
WORLD
Kyrgyzstan’s Energy Minister Says Only Big Plants Will End Power Imports
Small hydropower and solar will not end Kyrgyzstan’s electricity shortage, Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov told a parliamentary committee on Monday; that will take large hydropower plants and the Kara-Keche thermal plant. [24] The country had imported 2.922 billion kilowatt-hours by Oct. 15, 99% of plan to date. [25]
Output from January to September was 11.314 billion kilowatt-hours, against a plan of 10.334 billion. Winter consumption is forecast at 19.6 billion, with 4.1 billion imported, and Bishkek’s main heat and power plant had 29% of its 1.5 million tons of coal in stock. [26] Another 44 megawatts of small hydro and 50 of solar are due by year-end; President Sadyr Japarov wants imports ended within two to two and a half years. [27] The minister inspected Kambarata-2 and preparatory work at Kambarata-1 on Oct. 10. [28]
The move: If you supply turbines, grid equipment or project finance, follow the Kambarata-1 and Kara-Keche tenders; that is where the minister says the real gap will be closed.
SPORT
Iheanacho Scores in 11 Straight Games, a First in Turkish Football
Kelechi Iheanacho, the Nigerian forward who played for Manchester City and Leicester City, headed in Bursaspor’s second goal in a 2-0 win over Pendikspor on Monday, scoring in his 11th consecutive league match. [29][30] Metin Oktay, for Galatasaray in 1962-63, and Saffet Sancaklı, for Kocaelispor in 1995-96, each stopped at nine. [29]
He passed them on Oct. 15 with two goals and an assist in a 3-0 win at Muğlaspor, taking his season to 14 goals and three assists in 10 games, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported. [30] The win lifted Bursaspor, in the second-tier Trendyol 1. Lig, to 25 points; next is an away match at Ankara Keçiörengücü. [29]
The move: If you follow Turkish football, his next chance at 12 is Bursaspor’s away match at Keçiörengücü.
THE OTHER PAGE IN NUMBERS
$1.2 million
the economics prize, shared by Hall and Woodford [17]
$99
the price of the Miles Plug, before membership [20]
9,950
business jets Honeywell expects to be delivered by 2035 [21]
2.922 billion kWh
electricity Kyrgyzstan imported by Oct. 15 [25]
11
straight league games with a goal for Iheanacho [29]
The Best of Elsewhere · What is worth your ears and eyes this week, and why.
LISTEN
What Mathematicians Lose When A.I. Solves the Problem
The Daily (The New York Times) · Tue., Oct. 13 · 33 min
Steven Strogatz, a Cornell mathematician who writes for The Times, describes the excitement and the grief of watching A.I. go from struggling with arithmetic to helping solve famous open problems. He asks what is lost when machines deliver answers without the human struggle and insight. [31] In this editor’s judgment, it is the best half hour this week on what A.I. does to work that gives people purpose.
REPORT
Turkey’s Data Center Market, Mapped
EY-Parthenon · September 2026 · PDF, in Turkish
EY counts Turkey’s commercial data centers, ranks the six largest operators by capacity, compares power and building costs with Germany, Poland, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and sets out scenarios for reaching the 1-gigawatt goal. [5] For anyone reading today’s lead with a project in mind, it is the most useful single document on the market.
READ
Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires
Paris Marx · Profile Books (UK); Penguin Random House (U.S.) · Oct. 20, 2026 · 320 pages
Marx, a technology journalist, reports on the physical machinery behind A.I. and the cloud: data centers that draw heavily on power and water, and the communities pushing back. The book is longlisted for the 2026 Financial Times and Standard Chartered business book award. [32][33] Read it next to today’s lead for the questions any new campus will face over power and water.
READ
Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War’s Most Extraordinary Spy
Ben Macintyre · Viking (UK), Sept. 10; Crown (U.S.), Sept. 15, 2026 · 416 pages
In 1981 Vladimir Kuzichkin, codenamed Redwood, was a KGB major in Tehran when he turned to Britain’s MI6. Drawing on new archival material and interviews, Macintyre follows what he revealed about Soviet plans in Iran and the escape that MI6 officer Ian McCredie planned for him as Iranian intelligence and the KGB closed in. [34][35]
Every pick links to the original. Our note says why it is worth your time; the work is theirs.
SOURCES: FRONT PAGE 1–16 · THE OTHER PAGE 17–30 · YET ANOTHER PAGE 31–35 (ACCESSED OCT. 20, 2026)
Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Natural Earth (public domain) · Map: The Other Post
The Other Post: Daily Briefing for the Conscientious Leader is independent analysis for decision-makers. Nothing here is investment, legal or medical advice. Issue No. 6 · © 2026 Mehmet Istanbullu
ISSUE NO. 6 · EDITED BY MEHMET ISTANBULLU
Daily Briefing for the Conscientious Leader
Clear sight. Best moves. More options. — For leaders in business, government and society across MENA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2026 · REPORTED THROUGH MONDAY, OCT. 19 · GAME CHANGERS · WEALTH · MARKETS · HEALTH · TECH
Feet in the world. Heart in Istanbul.