From working the fields to the top of central bank

Yılmaz, who at one point after becoming head of the bank was noted for his wife’s headscarf and for the pile of shoes photographed in front of his door, spoke with Aksiyon magazine about some of the lesser known details of a life that took him from the life of a field worker to the pinnacle of Ankara bureaucracy.

Durmuş Yılmaz was one of six children his widowed mother struggled to raise despite poverty and difficult conditions. Born in 1947 in the village of Karacaömerli near the town of Eşme near Uşak, Yılmaz’s father died in 1951 only a few years after his birth. Yılmaz says the first image that comes to mind when he thinks of his childhood is that of his mother, who would read the Quran in the morning and then prepare breakfast for her children before heading out into the fields to work.

There was no school in the village of Karacaömerli until 1954, and when it arrived, it had just one teacher and one classroom. Yılmaz and his older sisters started attending the new school, with children from the ages of 7-18 learning reading and writing in the same classroom.

Interestingly, the woman Yılmaz was to later marry -- Düriye Hanım -- was at the same school. When Yılmaz finished his primary school education in 1959, he was so successful that his teacher encouraged him to take the exams for teaching school. Unfortunately, on the day that he and his friends arrived at the school where the exam was to be held, he was asked by the authorities for his identity card (nüfus cuzdanı); only then did he realize he didn’t actually have one. No one had ever asked him for one before; when he registered for his village school, his teacher there had simply guessed his age. Now, with no identity card, Yılmaz was refused entry to the exam and had to return to his village. He was 13 years old, and with his plans for further schooling suddenly ended, he began a period of manual labor in the fields. He and his older sisters began hoeing cotton in the morning and also tending grape arbors.

 ‘I ran away from home so I could get an education’

In February of that year, a few of Yılmaz’s friends who had continued their studies came to visit his village. Both were junior officers in the military, and one was actually in military school. Their formal uniforms had a great effect on the young Yılmaz, and he immediately went to his mother and told her of his desire to further his education. However, his mother told him he was needed in the village and asked him to forget about his education. But the young Yılmaz resisted; seeing that he was not going to convince his mother, he left and didn’t return until later that night. Finally, he convinced his mother -- with the help of his older sisters -- and set out with his family for Ulubey to register for school. In those days, the journey from the village of Karacaömerli to the town with which it was connected, Eşme, took six hours, which is why his mother told him to study in Ulubey -- less than four hours by donkey. Thus, in 1960, Yılmaz started middle school in Ulubey. His mother rented a house for him, left some dishes, some food and some wood for the stove. She told him to take care of himself and returned to the village. When he recalls his middle school years, Yılmaz’ eyes fill with tears as he says: “I was supposed to do everything myself and that is what I did. I made my own food; I lit my own fire. It was very difficult for me, but I was very happy, and I never complained.”

It was under these difficult conditions that Yılmaz finished middle school. Though he was successful in every high school exam, he decided to attend the Tapu Kadastro (Land Registry) Vocational High School in Ankara. And thus began his years of study in Ankara, years marked by a lack of funds. In those days, graduates of the Land Registry High School could only attend the map survey department of Yıldız Technical University in İstanbul. But Yılmaz did not wish to attend this department of the university, so instead he began working as a government clerk. He was first appointed to work in Ula, connected to the city of Muğla. In truth, his real dream was to study law, but the school from which he had graduated prevented him from pursuing this dream. To overcome this problem, he registered at Turgut Reis High School in Muğla, and worked as hard as he could, finishing the three year school in just one-and-a-half years, and then taking university exams. In his exams he got enough points to enter Ankara Law School.

After Yılmaz registered at Ankara Law School, he requested his official land registry clerical duties be transferred to Ankara. Thus, he worked at the Ankara Land Registry offices while studying law. One day, on leaving work, he noticed a line in front of the Ministry of Education. He inquired about it and learned it was for an exam for students to be sent abroad by the ministry. Yılmaz then filled out a form, entered the exam and won the right to study in England on a state scholarship. And so in 1970, he headed for England to continue his studies.

First job to determine inflation rates

After finishing university, Yılmaz did graduate work, then returned to his hometown of Usak in 1976 where he headed up the Trade Cycle and Broadcast Directorate for the Ministry of Trade. This job actually turned out to be very interesting, and it laid the foundations for his future career. His task was to figure out monthly inflation rates based on local prices for certain items. As a part of this task, every month he determined prices for items as varied as yogurt, cast iron, wooden chairs, the glass and wick for gas lamps and so on. Using these prices, Yılmaz calculated monthly inflation rates. Without even realizing it, he was preparing for his later role at the central bank, and the years of struggle against inflation.

While working for the Ministry of Trade, Yılmaz once again, on leaving work, noticed another line; he learned it was a line of people who wanted to become employees at the central bank. He immediately applied for a position and gained entry through high points on the exam; however, he realized he needed to do his military service first. So he did his military service and then started working as a clerk at the central bank. Yılmaz, who began his career at the central bank at age 32 as a clerk, rose to become head of the General Directorate of Workers’ Remittances. Before being appointed as governor of the central bank, he was a member of the bank congress. When a crisis occurred in Ankara in 2006 over who was to be appointed the new president of the central bank, his was one of the names being tossed around. Interestingly though, he had neither applied for such a position nor had any expectations concerning the position. Not only this, but he had never even met the president of Turkey at the time, Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Nonetheless, he became governor of the Central Bank of Turkey.

Single party an absolute must for economic stability

While you were heading up the central bank, it appeared that you were often at odds with the government. Was this really the situation, or is this just how it appeared in the media?

That’s only how it appeared. I actually worked in great harmony with the government. Some media sources strove to show us as being in a dispute with the government, while others tried to portray us as doing anything the government told us to. Neither of these images were accurate. Throughout the five years I did my job, Prime Minister Erdoğan never tried to intervene in my job. So people who wrote such inaccurate things are falsely accusing the government. We just did whatever was required of us when it came to monetary policy and for the interest of the nation. And there was no attempt on the part of politicians to give us any orders.

Why is price stability so important for you? What is your approach?

Price stability is very important for the growth of the nation. Those who are critical today would have done exactly the same if they were in our position then. For 30 years in Turkey we ignored high inflation rates, but we did not grow. Instead we had up and down periods. And thus we lost 30 years, just like that. Now we are in a period of low inflation combined with growth, and this is very healthy. Lack of financial discipline and high inflation resemble a book whose cover and binding are ruined. When this happens to a book, the pages start to fall out; in society comfortable living is impossible when inflation is too high and there is no financial discipline. So price stability is an absolute must for the economy. Our point of departure for our economy is sustainability. When industrialists, merchants and businessmen make investments, they need to calculate what inflation will be five years in the future. That is price stability.

What do you make of the point Turkey has now reached in public finance and economic stability, and how do you see the future in this area?

From this point onwards, the particular party in power is not relevant because we have a system in place. It doesn’t matter whether we elect social democrats, liberals or nationalists, but whatever party comes to power, it should be single party rule. From now on, Turkey will enjoy single party rule, and as long as that single party rule doesn’t break away from financial discipline, the way forward for the nation will remain clear. The main question is single party rule. Perhaps a coalition of parties could handle the job in some nations, but it doesn’t seem that we can do it yet; perhaps in the future. From that perspective, what Turkey really needs is single party rule that makes no concessions to financial discipline.

Photographs motivated me

What did you feel when you saw those famous photographs in the newspapers of your wife and of the shoes in front of your door? Were you depressed?

Yes, those images did cause stress for me, but I never thought, “Oh, those images are out now, we’d better pull ourselves together.” The stress I experienced was this: If I am not successful, they will connect this to the values I represent. They won’t say, “Durmuş Yılmaz was a failure”; what they will say instead is “that mentality is a failure.” So I really experienced great stress throughout my job as head of the central bank over concern that people might comment on my values, and the situation actually motivated me to be more successful.