Emerging markets, even those that seek to defy it, are inextricably the product of their past. The role that the legacy of bureaucracy plays in shaping institutional power structures and the way in which cronyism manifests itself are determined by the historical shape of a country. Real junctures in a country’s development are rare. Opportunities for a country to decidedly separate itself from the past – to reform, transform and democratize it – do not come often. Turkey, and as an extension of it the country’s energy sector, has long stood at one such juncture. Today, the path which Turkey chooses will determine the country’s ability to answer one of its most pressing macroeconomic concerns: the dual challenge of possessing one of the world’s most rapidly growing energy markets while containing little known hydrocarbon resources.