[
Farooq was born in February 1994, the youngest of three kids. He was inseparable from his brother, Guven, and sister, Serap. They grew up tenting, enjoying video video games, and cooking collectively. Mates at all times identified their shared humorousness. His mother and father ran a print and replica store throughout the road from their residence in Kocaeli metropolis. They had been observant Muslims who gave their kids significant names: “religion” (Guwen), “mirage” (Serap), and “one who distinguishes between proper and unsuitable” (Farooq).
Kocaeli is an industrial port metropolis about 100 kilometers east of Istanbul surrounded by tobacco and sugar beet farms, petrochemical crops and paper mills. Roman emperors as soon as lived there, and their crumbling fortress partitions nonetheless dot the panorama. After the autumn of the Ottoman Empire, Kocaeli grew to become a producing boomtown, and its residents joined the newly fashioned Republic of Turkey within the Industrial Revolution.
When Ozer was born, Türkiye's economic system was in poor form. A fragile monetary system, irresponsible borrowing and political corruption had led to triple-digit inflation for a while. The instability of the lira put the financial savings of its complete inhabitants in danger. So many individuals moved their family belongings into overseas foreign money deposits that, by the tip of the 12 months, an astonishing 50 % of financial institution deposits in Turkey had been in foreign currency. A 12 months in the past, this determine was simply 1 %.
The identical month Ozer was born, a charismatic speaker, with a sympathetic gaze and a broom-stick moustache, started campaigning on the streets of Istanbul in a paisley kipper tie. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan railed in opposition to the secular elite that had introduced the nation near financial collapse. A religious Muslim, he walked the streets of his residence neighborhood, Kasimpasa, a tough district the place he grew up promoting simit, or sesame bread, promising reform. In a disappointing election, he fell into the function of Mayor of Istanbul.
Across the similar time, two Turkish enterprise giants launched Turkcell, the nation's first cell communications system. (This was a 12 months and a half earlier than the identical expertise was launched within the US.) By 2003, Erdoğan was elected prime minister, starting a decade of unprecedented progress that overseas observers referred to as Turkey's “silent revolution.” In a departure from his predecessors, he ruled by way of the prism of a businessman, spearheaded an enormous building increase all through the nation, and in the end ended Turkey's rampant inflation. His pro-business rhetoric boosted the center class and set Turkey on the trail to EU membership.
Ozer additionally caught the spirit of entrepreneurship at an early age. As a youngster within the mid-eighths, he labored after-school shifts at his mother and father' print store. “Ever since I used to be a child, I needed to have my very own enterprise, it doesn’t matter what discipline it was in,” he stated. On the finish of his second 12 months in highschool, he determined that additional research wouldn’t lead him to that dream, so he dropped out.
By 2013, Turkey's GDP had practically tripled, the lira was value simply above the greenback, and the nation was negotiating entry into the European Union. BtcTurk, Turkey's first crypto trade (and reportedly the world's fourth), was making ready to launch. Then, in Might of the identical 12 months, a gaggle of activists gathered in Istanbul's Gezi Park to protest plans to redevelop it right into a shopping center with Ottoman-era structure. They stemmed not solely the lack of inexperienced area but additionally the glorification of Turkey's Islamist previous in a society that calls itself secular. The police brutally cracked down on the protesters, sparking a nationwide protest. Inside weeks, greater than 3 million folks took half in demonstrations, their frustration now taking up the growing authoritarianism of Erdoğan's authorities. 1000’s of individuals had been injured and not less than 5 died. Ozer had simply turned 19 years previous. Within the following years, Erdoğan jailed file numbers of journalists and censored the Web, and overseas buyers withdrew.