Pandemic Management in Turkey: The Question of Institutionalization and Institutional Memory

The aim of this report is to discuss the “pandemic management” within the historical context of institutions, to evaluate institutionalization attempts regarding pandemic management, underline the importance of institutional memory, the lack of institutions in modern Turkey and to put forward policy recommendations in terms of institutions focused on pandemics. The first section summarizes the historical background of pandemic management in 19th and 20th century in the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic giving special references to continuity and discontinuity in terms of institutions. The second section examines Robert Koch Institute and Pasteur Institute as autonomous and historical institutions and their roles in pandemic politics, management and preparedness. The third section discusses the institutional memory, trust to institutions and institutional amnesia. The last section examines the current situation in terms of pandemic institutions in Turkey and suggest some political advices in pandemic management.

(The policy paper is available only in Turkish.)