SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA — Since the failed military coup in Turkey one year ago, it's been harder for startups to attract foreign investment, said entrepreneurs at a recent tech conference in California. After the July 15, 2016, coup attempt, the Turkish government cracked down on perceived opponents to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Many have lost their jobs and thousands have been imprisoned, including journalists, academics and activists. For Mustafa Acet, an entrepreneur in Istanbul, the coup and its aftermath have been a setback for the burgeoning tech ecosystem in Turkey. He recently attended Etohum San Francisco, an event bridging the Turkish startup community with Silicon Valley.

Roma have announced the signing of Turkey international Cengiz Under from Basaksehir for €13.4 million. Under, 20, has signed a five-year contract with the Serie A club and becomes their fifth signing of the summer. "I'm delighted to be here and very excited about meeting the fans," the midfielder told the club's official website upon signing. "My aim is to earn myself a regular starting berth as quickly as possible." Roma could pay a further €1.5m in bonuses to Basaksehir depending on performance targets of both the player and club.

If there is one word to describe Elif Batuman's new novel The Idiot, it's the word "mundane." And that just might be the novel's greatest strength. The book follows the year in the life of Selin, a Turkish-American freshman at Harvard. As Selin goes through her freshman year, she must navigate getting along with her roommates, an infatuation/ relationship with an older Hungarian student, and later, a trip to Europe to teach English.  Oh, and all the while dealing with the typical college freshman woes of examining the relationship between truth, existence, and language while studying linguistics. Casual.

Looking at the foreign investor map of Turkish companies by region, American investors stand out, having invested in 161 Turkish companies through merger and acquisition transactions in the pharmaceutical and energy industries in the last decade. The greatest interest in Turkish companies abroad has been shown by American investors over the past 10 years. According to data compiled by Ernst & Young, an independent company offering audit, consultancy, corporate financing and tax services, American investors have invested in 161 Turkish companies over the past decade. Also, many foreign companies entered the Turkish market through mergers and acquisitions, transfers of enterprises or privatizations in the same period.