Abu Dhabis The National looks at the one emerging art market that hasn’t taken a hit during the global recession–the Turkish market. In a detailed story with some strong arguments on both sides of the question, we learn that Turkish collectors are still spending strong on art:

Notable, however – and odd – is that since the recession began, the art market elsewhere has been in deep trouble. Sotheby’s and Christie’s have laid off employees. Arts circles are full of chatter about a buyers’ market. In most of the world, prices are going down. Why should Turkey be the exception? […]

Aylin Seçkin, an art and culture economist at Istanbul Bilgi University, largely agrees. “The recent developments in the Turkish art market should be examined in view of the macroeconomic dynamics,” she says. “Turkey has a growing young investor population with increasing incomes. They invest in art as well as in stocks. I don’t think the Turkish art market is overhyped. It’s still a relatively cheap and promising market for foreign investors.”

But other collectors and consultants have doubts – big doubts. Isabella Içöz, an independent art consultant who advises Sotheby’s on its Turkish contemporary art collection, says: “You can’t take auction results at face value. When you read that a work has sold at auction at a certain price, you have to ask: ‘Has it actually sold? Who sold it back?’ A sale didn’t necessarily take place.” […] “The prices may be artificially driven up to drive someone’s reputation or boost a collection,” she says. “It happens more often than it should.”

Taking Stock (The National)