Jam tomorrow, never jam today
Awaiting an inflation miracle
Atik Ali Pasha's mansion is on the Bosphorus in Istanbul between the Dolmabahce and Ciragan palaces, which the Ottoman sultan and the princes occupied for most of the 19th century. Dolmabahce is now a museum and Ciragan has been converted into a luxury hotel. Not so long ago a prime minister wanted to give the mansion free of charge to a political party boss whose investments include tourism. But the press got wind of it. In order to extricate itself from the mini-scandal that erupted the government decided to privatize the mansion via public tenders.
The privatization went through - on paper. US hotel chain The Four Seasons and a company belonging to Turkey's large Çukurova group paid $29 million for a 49-year lease on the mansion. The partnership also undertook to invest about as much again to convert it into...
