One just can't help but to complain -- just like TOBB President Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu -- about the negligence toward the economy and the hindrances and impediments on the reform process which all surfaced after 2006 due to the dozens of gigantic problems awaiting solutions.Hisarcıklıoğlu is very right to say, "Although it has the potential to become a world power, Turkey has lost much time because of inappropriate agendas. We have broken the struggling power of our country through vicious debates that bear no fruit. We now want peace, only peace!" and he is very right to not want to pay for the financial damage caused by those who overstep the bounds of their legal powers. Also, his statement "I want to underscore this: Yes, we are now a party to the debates. We are on the side of peace, stability, common sense, democracy and development. We are against fights and conflicts and any initiative launched to impede democracy and development. We want peace, we are expecting Turkey to act with common sense and to reconcile with itself" deserves to be applauded.
Yes, Turkey really wants peace because it has been sorely in need of peace in recent years. Moreover, it needs social peace, welfare and stability. It is very visible how some official as well as unofficial institutions, the main opposition party in particular, and the media are trying to plant seeds of chaos and instability in the society every day, thereby leading the country to disaster. When one looks from a slightly wider angle, it is much better seen how the mostly artificially created socio-political problems and crises are causing deep social unrest and causing great damage to the country's vision. When we get rid of the demoralizing and tense atmosphere in Turkey, even a little, we have the possibility of assessing this grave situation in a far easier way.
I have been in the Swedish town of Goteborg for two days on account of the 61st World Newspaper Congress, the 15th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo. Looking at Turkey, particularly from Sweden, which has been chosen, many times, the world's best country in terms of welfare standards, our sadness over the time lost by Turkey with vicious debates and unending artificial crises grows even more. Compared with Turkey, Sweden deserves to be called a "dream country." However, what matters for countries is not having no problems; the ability to come up with effective solutions to problems is really what matters. And Sweden constitutes the best example to this end.
Having not encountered any wars for two centuries, even though Sweden's long-successful economic formula of a capitalist system interspersed with substantial welfare elements was shaken in the beginning of the 1990s by its aging population, growing rate of unemployment and global economic crises, its fiscal discipline over the past several years has allowed the country to weather economic change.
In many respects, Sweden is a country that does not fit and even confutes the preconceptions of Turkey's elitist modernists. Above all, Sweden is not a republic. It still has a king and is governed by a constitutional monarchy. Although it became an EU member in 1995, it is a country that refused to become a part of the Euro zone after a referendum conducted in the country in 2003.
Sweden's surface area is approximately half that of Turkey. It has managed to become the most peaceful and prosperous country in the world despite adverse climate conditions and its small population of 9 million. While the 70-million-strong Turkey has not even one single global brand, Sweden markets its products such as Volvo, Scania, Saab, DAF, Tetra Pak, Ericsson and Radisson SAS all around the world. Extremely successful both in the industrial sphere and the service sector, Sweden has doubled its success through its sensitivity toward environmental issues by being party to almost all environment agreements.
Contrary to Turkey's dynamism and young population with an average age of 28, the average age in Sweden is 41, but their life expectancy is also higher: 81. Despite this small and aging population, Sweden's gross domestic product (GDP) is $432 billion. This means that their gross domestic income (GDI) per capita is $36,900. While only 1.4 percent of its GDP comes from agriculture, 29.2 percent stems from industry whereas 69.4 percent is sourced from the service sector. Parallel to this data, only 2 percent of the population works in the agricultural sector, 24 percent in the industrial sector and 74 percent in the service sector. It has very strong foreign trade with a total volume of $176.5 billion in exports and $157.2 billion in imports. It also has a foreign direct investment (FDI) stock of $200 billion, and no one lives below the poverty line. These numbers demonstrate Sweden's welfare standards, which manifest themselves in other fields as well: 7 million of the country's 9 million people have access to the Internet.
Sweden, which owns Volvo, Scania, Saab, DAF, Tetra Pak, Ericsson and Radisson SAS, doesn't have a devastating opposition party such as the Republican People's Party (CHP), a judicial mechanism that tramples all legal principles, an army that stages a coup and issues a memorandum whenever it gets bored, deep gangs that have a long reach into the state such as Ergenekon, ludicrous debates stemming from cries of "secularism is slipping away!" separatism, claims about religious extremism or embezzlement in the billions of dollars.
The things we have and Sweden does not shatter our peace, whereas the things Sweden has and we do not cause our miserable poverty -- which is the real issue that should be addressed. Despite its great potential, Turkey unfortunately still looks for peace, welfare and stability to save itself from poverty and tension.
