Football is never just football (or how I hate protectionism)

Recently I found out that the endless discussions that I have with my dear friend Ozan about the development path Turkey should follow is a part of a 200 year old debate involving free traders and protectionists . Ozan's on the side of an import substituting industrialization and I on the side of free traders - I found out accidentally that one of the strongest voices of protectionists is Dani Rodrik , an Istanbul-born Turkish Jew from Harvard. Another topic that I discuss often with Ozan is football -word discussion is not appropriate here since we don't "discuss" we just talk about our love for Besiktas. So when I read an article from Mustafa Denizli, an ex football star turned journalist, which was protectionist in nature I wanted to bring it up here on my blog and gather your opinions. I think it serves good to demonstrate pros and cons of both approaches to development. In Turkey various different broadcasting companies broadcast almost all the European footba...