Roundtable politics have equal and participatory individuals and dialog.
About ten years ago, Turkey’s exports were $30 billion; now they are $135 billion, 90 percent of which were made up of industrial products. Thirty years ago, exports were around $3 billion, 90 percent of which were agricultural products. In the early 1980s, Turkey decided that it had to open up its economy to the world in order to enrich itself. It took three decades ago the steps Egypt refrains from today. That’s why both Egypt and Turkey are where they are today. Thanks to those policy reforms, Turkey has completed its economic and social transformation, which since 2002 has enabled a political transformation via the ballot box. These transformations have taken place thanks to the widening set of economic capabilities.
The policies of the early republican era gave a serious blow to the human capital of Anatolia. When the non-Muslims left the country, the set of economic capabilities decreased. During the last three decades a new bulk of human capital has been accumulated. Don’t forget those who drive up the seventh-grade-dropout education level average. That’s how Turkey has become a medium-tech from a low-tech economy. If the aim is to achieve high-technology, Turkey will need more of those qualified, young, urban professionals. These professionals have for the first time engaged in politics. We have to keep in mind that this comes as a package. You cannot keep the young professionals and forego the politics. This is the first thing to stress.
The Gezi Park Library has been one of the most important details of the protests for me. Protesters established a library in a couple of days. It has books from a wide array of authors, from Machiavelli to Samed Behrengi, J. K. Rowling, and Dan Brown. I think the creativity of the Gezi Park protestors is important for the technological leap Turkey needs. Do you know how many libraries there are in New York? 214, compared to 21 in Istanbul. Again, New York is ten times better than Istanbul. New York’s libraries have a total collection of 65 million books while those of Istanbul have 524,000. New York is more than a hundred times on this account. In 2012, New York’s libraries had 43 million visitors while Istanbul’s had 721,000. Istanbul is beaten once again. The other day a friend asked me “Why do you compare the most creative city in the world with Istanbul?" I do, and I will, because I believe that with its current level of development, Istanbul has the chance to become like New York. New York is much better than Istanbul since it offers a better ecosystem and environment for its residents. That’s what makes the difference.
When I was in primary school and school, I used to be given pocket money. I had to take a bus or a dolmuş to school. The Anadol was the only domestic brand of car and soon after Fiat introduced the Murat 124. It was in the early 1970s. The economic capability set of Turkey was not sufficient for automobile production. And owning a car was a daydream for middle-class families. The reforms that opened up Turkey to the world came only ten years later. True, I was raised by a loving family; but the opportunities back then were not comparable to what today’s young professionals have. This generation grew up in the back seats of their family cars, not on public transportation, though this has to do also with the current urbanization practices. I think it is nothing but normal that they demand a new style of politics and particularly more voice in local decision-making processes. Politics in Turkey have always been classroom-style. What we need now is roundtable politics. Classroom politics are made up of a leader and a group following the leader. It is all about a long and boring monolog. Roundtable politics have equal and participatory individuals and dialogue. This is where Turkey is heading. This is good and normal.
This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 11.06.2013
