What I did instead was reflect about the country’s recent achievements. Balancing them with those domestic issues that still need to be addressed both by Ankara and civil society, the pendulum clearly swung to “overall positive.”
Let me try to explain how I arrived at this conclusion. I am thankful to be out and about quite a bit speaking with taxi or dolmuş (minibus) drivers, hospitality industry managers, shopkeepers, university graduates, politicians or captains of industry and with many of those who never make the headlines yet keep a nation on course by working hard and paying taxes. What for? First and foremost, to listen! In the past and in particular in places far away from the capital I had been confronted with disbelief once my acquaintances learned that I am writing for the Today’s Zaman family, a fact I had mentioned in some of my previous columns.
The ice began to melt -- over time that is -- when we started talking more seriously after all the introductory “how are you, how is the family?” had been courteously exchanged. The challenge -- to break down two types of mental walls: First, many of the people I spoke with thought that “we,” the foreigners, were here to buy and take away their lands. Second, many thought that the new Turkish government (i.e. after November of 2002) would represent a Turkey they do not understand, equally claiming that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) would “take away their lands” by abolishing the status quo and turning the country upside down. Whereas the first statement is baseless and even more surprising heard in regions where tourism is the dominant income factor, the second is rather correct except for the “taking away the lands” part. Turkey’s current prime minister indeed managed to “turn the country upside down” yet in the most positive sense of the idiom possible.
How come the ice began to melt? Because Ankara can show off an impressive track record that even the most dyed-in-the-wool anti-AK Party proponents simply cannot brush aside anymore! Their children have far better chances of finding employment as the economy fares extremely well. The minimum wage remains low but over time should rise to TL 1,000 net -- Ankara managed to transform the economy into a successful liberal functioning market place, was able to survive external financial upheavals and even managed to work without austerity measures being imposed on them either by the IMF or by means of dubious bail-out funds. On the contrary, Turkey could help to bail-out some of its neighbors!
Dual-lane highways are built everywhere, and high-speed trains begin to connect towns and cities. Turkey-made products have become a symbol of quality, not of cheap souvenirs. A young generation is read to embrace the world while not overlooking the fact that they represent a modern, democratic republic.
Issues that had been categorized as taboo are openly debated -- think allowing different choices of personal attire at universities, considering radically reforming institutions that add more confusion instead of clarity to certain items of policy making (think YÖK), establishing civilian control over matters related to national security and allowing broadcasts on television in other languages than Turkish. The entire list would fill an entire page, hence I did a “pick and mix” exercise.
All civil society reforms would have been fruitless without a strong economy. A strong economy would have been impossible without abolishing most unwanted state interference and allowing a liberal market economy to flourish. Noteworthy, too, that many of today’s regulatory and policy making initiatives originated in a place one would normally associate with over the top bureaucracy -- Turkey’s State Planning Department, which over the years I had the pleasure of visiting on a number of occasions.
Yes, there are deficiencies in the educational sector, which needs a bit of fresh air so to speak. There are issues that need to be resolved linked to gender imbalances and unfair treatment of women. There is terror costing lives of innocent people. There is a West-East (economic) gap.
But “Turkey the brand” is nearly ready. Not elected politicians ultimately benefit but civil society. I am looking forward to the next Development Plan, a re-enforced EU accession related reform drive and in general an even more prosperous Turkey. Happy New Year!
