Who would have thought the old school tie could play a vital role in the slaying of Turkey's worst enemy, inflation? The Mulkiye, the venerable School of Political Science, was established by the Ottomans in the 19th century to train administrators for the service of the sultan. Some more recent graduates are now the backbone of a team which could finally guide the Turkish republic out of its economic mess.
Almost all of Turkey's governors, ambassadors and finance ministry officials are Mulkiye graduates. Together they constitute one of the most formidable establishment cliques in the country, the Mulkiye juntasi.
The Mulkiye is enjoying probably its strongest influence ever over the conduct of economic policy. Prime minister Mesut Yilmaz is a graduate, as are finance minister Zekeriya Temizel, central bank governor Gazi Ercel and secretary general of the Turkish treasury Mahfi Egilmez.
The Mulkiye logo is a grazing cow, symbolizing the budding bureaucrat's insatiable hunger for knowledge. Until the mid-1970s the Mulkiye Cow Festival was a major event in the Turkish capital. It lasted a week during which students got drunk and let off steam before their final exams.