Daron Acemoğlu, a Turkish-American economist with Armenian roots, said he wouldn’t have won the Nobel Prize in Economics if he had pursued his academic career in Turkey, the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Friday.
In an interview with journalist Fatih Altaylı on YouTube to be aired on Sunday, Acemoğlu, who was among the recipients of a Nobel award for his research on how societal institutions influence economic prosperity, criticized Turkey’s academic and judicial systems. He said restrictions on academic freedom in Turkey would have made it impossible for him to win such recognition there. “If you tell a scientist what they should research, that scientist is not going to win a Nobel prize,” Acemoğlu said.
Acemoğlu, who teaches at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was among three economists awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in October. He shared the honor with Simon Johnson and James Robinson for their studies on the role of institutions in economic development. The Nobel committee praised their work as providing insights into how societies’ legal and social structures contribute to their success or failure.
During the interview, Acemoğlu outlined fundamental changes he sees as necessary for Turkey’s economic future. He emphasized the need for a transparent judiciary and education reforms that would foster open-mindedness, competition, and the effective use of technology. Without these reforms, he warned, Turkey would struggle to achieve economic stability.
Acemoğlu, whose work has led him to the forefront of debates on economic reform, is known for his vocal criticism of the Turkish government’s handling of economic policies. He said the country faces a critical “window of opportunity” over the next 15 to 20 years, stressing that reform efforts could determine whether Turkey will “advance or fall behind.”
A longtime advocate for institutional reform, Acemoğlu served as part of a 70-member team of experts advising the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on economic policy in 2022.
Acemoğlu is the third Turkish citizen to win a Nobel award, following novelist Orhan Pamuk and molecular biologist Aziz Sancar.