The name of George Soros was frequently mentioned by the government and its partners during the trial of Osman Kavala. It was at this time that Turkey met the name Soros and even the concept of “Saros waste” for the first time. Soros kept his spot on the agenda for a long time. So who is George Soros?
George Soros, born August 12, 1930, is a Hungarian-American billionaire, investor and philanthropist. As of March 2021, his net worth is calculated to be $8,6 billion, and he has donated more than $32 billion to Open Society Foundations to date.
For the first time, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it made its name by making the biggest financial aid of all time to the Eastern European countries (Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, etc.), which were quite poor compared to Western Europe. Its aid is more than the financial aid of large organizations such as the United Nations.
Many writers and famous names describe Soros as a “philanthropist” because of these activities. But on the contrary, there are some authors who claim that they do this to control the socio-political system of those countries. Against these allegations and question marks, Soros said, “The only reason why I am accused of these color revolutions is Russian propaganda. I support such processes around the world. We're doing it in Liberia right now, we can do it in Nepal too,” he defended himself and admitted such actions. He also told a Russian radio in 2006 that he financially supported the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia.
He states that he was greatly influenced by the open society philosophy of Karl Popper, who was his teacher during his studentship at the London School of Economics in England, and that this influence contributed to the formation of a system of values such as fallibility, insight, thinkability and open society in his life. It indicates that it is very successful in financial markets with its value systematic. Soros, who is at odds with George W. Bush, declared that Bush had made the capitalist open economies infamous around the world and mostly restricted the movement of non-governmental organizations organized by him.
Soros is the founder of the Open Society Foundations. Soros' Open Society Foundations Turkey branch is the Open Society Institute Charitable Foundation (OSIAF) in Bebek, founded in September 2001. In 2002, about two weeks before the start of the Iraq War, he visited Sabancı University and said in the interview, “Turkey is the best export product army due to its strategic location.”
Soros was born in 1930 in Budapest, Hungary to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. In 1939, when Hungary was occupied by the Nazis, the family went through very dangerous and difficult times because they were Jewish. His father, Tivadar Soros, ensured their survival by issuing false identities for all family members and constantly changing their place of residence.
He immigrated to England in 1947 and studied economics at the School of Economist at Oxford University. While he was a porter to earn a living in England, he was treated in a state hospital when his leg was broken. He learned by experience how important the state's helping the poor, that is, social justice, is. He learned macroeconomics in his faculty. He also became a student of Karl Popper, who greatly influenced him, and was inspired by his future “Open Society” project.
He immigrated to the United States in 1956. The first thing he did was arbitrage transactions. That is, he bought a stock or currency where it was cheap and simultaneously sold it where it was expensive. He distinguished himself in the financial world in a short time, and became the owner of a great fortune thanks to the international investment fund he founded. George Soros is chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, chief investment advisor of the Quantum Fund Group. This fund has been recognized as the world's highest performing mutual fund in its 28-year history.
George Soros, who received honorary doctorate degrees from the New School of Social Research, Budapest University of Economics, Oxford University and Yale University, was awarded the university's highest honor, "Laurea Honoris Casua", by the University of Bologna in 1995 for his efforts to create open societies around the world. . Soros is also the founder of the Central European University in Budapest and the International Science Foundation in Moscow.