N-2-3-012.45 Turkey by Steve Ruth* During several recent trips to Ankara for the World Bank, I have come across an exciting example of what could become an important breaking story in the world of Internet. At the Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey's premier engineering institution, a major data communications revolution is taking place which affects both engineers and non-engineers. (Half of METU's graduates are non-engineers). This modern university of over 20,000 students, with a full range of programs from bachelors to doctorate, has embarked upon a trajectory aimed at facilitating the connection of all students and faculty throughout the country to the Internet-- nearly 600,000 students and 60,00 faculty. With 3,000 persons already connected and short term goals of over 70,000 persons linked to the Internet, they are well on their way. What impressed me most was the high level of student use of Gopher and FTP to gain access to the newest literature in many scientific disciplines. In meetings with deans, chairpersons and administrators, I found a solid and sustained interest in taking full advantage of the full range of Internet services--WAIS, GOPHER, ARCHIE, E-mail, etc. as a routine part of university policy. Unlike many institutions I visit in developed and developing countries, METU has made the hard choices required to establish the necessary infrastructure for training, broadening the user base, and establishing a strong footing for extending Internet capability throughout the country. I visited two fully LANed dormitories of the ten that will soon have 35 terminals each for round the clock connection to worldwide network services in addition to the normal range of LAN services for computation, word processing, spread sheet, data base, etc. Most US universities to not have this quality and depth of network services. Professor Dr. Turker Gurkan, the vice president of METU, views these investments in network strengthening as a normal part of an evolution to place METU in a position to assist Turkey's other universities to become fully functioning participants in the growth of Internet as a normal informatics tool available to all studies in Turkish institutions of higher learning. Among the countries that are traditionally classified as Islamic states Turkey appears to be the leader in approaching the Internet as a national policy agenda. Turkey is interested in facilitating network entry for many of the Turkic states--countries like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, etc. In short they are poised to make a major leap to become connected quickly in Turkey and to help many of their neighbors achieve faster rates of entry than would normally be possible. Key players in Turkey are Professor Dr. Omer Anlagan , Attila Ozgit and Kursat Cagiltay . *Professor of Decision Sciences/MIS Director, International Center for Applied Studies in MIS George Mason University Fairfax VA, USA