Local politics concentrate on business follow-ups in Ankara. Ministries, meanwhile, will have to focus on fulfilling the demands of interests instead of on policy making.

Yesterday, I realized that I have not been writing any commentaries about Ankara. I have been living in Ankara since 1979, when I moved here from Bursa to study. I write assertively about national and world matters, but I do not write at all about the city in which I live. Is this normal? I don’t think so. It is a deficiency of Turkey that there are no economists in universities studying the competitiveness of cities.

Let me generalize: Do you think our indifference about the local environment in which we live is normal? I don’t know, but it is harmful to us. If we had not been indifferent, Ankara would have had a subway by now, for instance. The mayor of Ankara is rising to the peak on the list of mayors who have spent the longest terms in office, but how many centimeters – not kilometers – of subway line have been designed and constructed since the term of Murat Karayalçın, the former mayor? None, as far as I know. This year, subway construction works were delegated to the Ministry of Transportation and the Treasury just so the Ankara subway could be completed. But if we showed interest in this issue, municipalities would not have their traditional sidewalk repair season. These sidewalk repairs must be raised as an example in response to those who argue that “the best way to fight corruption is transparency.” The repair work is carried out in broad daylight over and over again, but nothing happens. Among the issues highlighted in a TEPAV study prepared years ago on local administrations, the one that surprised me the most was our indifference to the problems of our local environment.

But the source of the problem appears to be the way in which our minds function. And this is shaped by the old administrative mentality in Turkey: Throughout this country, there is a strong belief that local agencies cannot accomplish any task without central guardianship. However, it is the local people who know the local issues and problems best. Let’s imagine that you are the provincial administrator in Manisa. If you issue any document required to do business in a province in half the time it takes the other administrations to do and and if everyone moves his business to Manisa, and if the importance of Manisa in Turkey’s economy increases, what would be the gain of Manisa? The central authority continues collecting taxes, no one appreciates your success, and even if you have planned the investments needed for the sustainability of accomplishments, no one pays attention to your ideas. Then, would local politicians begin to focus on the solution of local issues? They would not. They would concentrate on business follow-ups in Ankara. They would not try to develop projects but would focus on their own prestige: “Our MP can get an appointment for a meeting from the PM even for today.” Ministries meanwhile will have to focus on fulfilling the demands of interests instead of on policy making. With respect to doing business, the problem in Manisa and in Diyarbakir is the same.

I believe that the chief permanent success of the Justice and Development Party governments will be the opening of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) throughout the country. RDAs directly support an important transformation in mentality at the local level. Since their establishment, RDAs have provided funds for almost 17,000 projects. Among these are the Technology Transfer Offices Project executed by Boğaziçi University, or violin courses. They collect projects related to whatever local problems are. The functioning of the RDAs resembles the functioning of the European Union process. While you are thinking that the old system is over, it continues to function out of sight, within the capillaries of the country. To see proof, please open your eyes and walk around.

I would like to stress three points about RDAs. First, the financing of local projects via RDAs will encourage residents to think about the issues of their neighborhoods. This is good. Second, it will establish the culture of project design in Turkey. The core principle of entrepreneurship is to be able to explain your goal understandably and in three words. A person who cannot identify the main idea of a business plan cannot become an entrepreneur. Therefore, RDAs are good also for the entrepreneurial culture. Third, RDAs raise teams of bright young people and create dynamics where local solutions are sought for local problems, which is always good. I personally attach high importance to the contribution RDAs are to make to Turkey’s intellectual transformation.

Please keep in mind that if not provided with local solutions, local problems will become central problems. The establishment of RDAs is the most revolutionary step taken throughout the history of the Republic era on the local issue.

As we following each right step, however, we again are doing things that will not improve RDAs, but make them dysfunctional. Most of the ministries act as if RDAs do not exist during local projects. At the same time, we are cutting the salaries of newly appointed RDA experts by 25 percent. What a good decision, ha!

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 06.12.2011