Shortly after he was nominated by Turkey's outgoing government to be a high-profile candidate in this month's general election, Mehmet Simsek made an acceptance speech to ruling party worthies. It did not go down well.

"I said all these stupid things about the economy and I even used the phrase 'total factor productivity'," the former Merrill Lynch economist says, shuddering at the recollection. After the event, Abdullah Gul, foreign minister in the outgoing Justice and Development party (AKP) government, took him aside and whispered: "Mehmet, we're going to have to teach you some politics."