Turkey's new approach on EU

Is it possible to understand Turkey's new road map only through President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speeches and the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) forthcoming emergency convention that will lead to a change in its administration?

Of course, they both give hints about the path that Turkey will pursue from now on. For instance, the following remarks that Erdoğan made during the eighth International Occupational Health and Safety Conference a couple of days ago becomes more of an issue at this point: "We cannot regard a human being only as a means of production like a machine, raw material and capital. In our understanding, a human being is not a homo-economicus. Firstly, we must improve ourselves in this field and make a human-centric understanding dominant in business life in order to reduce occupational accidents and prevent the loss of lives and labor exploitation." I will revisit Erdoğan's speech; however, I must also refer to his recent statements addressing the European Union. Erdoğan said, "You go your own way and we go ours." Let us leave aside this and take a look at Erdoğan's more recent remark that EU membership is Turkey's strategic goal. This must tell us something about the new era. Those who think that there is a contradiction between these two emphases are far from understanding the codes of this new era. This is because, even though EU membership is a strategic target for Turkey, this does not mean Turkey can stomach the EU's unfair and hypocritical attitude toward it.

This time last year, then Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci summarized how Turkey and the EU would readdress the customs union agreement, saying that Turkey agreed with the EU on the following four topics in line with Turkey's demand: Turkey will definitely take part in any decision-making mechanisms; Turkey will automatically be part of any free trade agreement signed between the EU and third countries; the EU will remove all trade obstacles and tariffs that obstruct the free movement of Turkish goods in the EU market that fall within the scope of the agreement; and the EU will include the agriculture, services and public procurement sectors, which were excluded in the 1996 agreement. Even though a year has passed since the agreement, the EU's bodies have not taken a single concrete step. However, it is known that if Turkey cannot be a direct part of the U.S. and EU's Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement when it fully comes into effect, the TTIP will become obsolete. Otherwise, Turkey would declare its customs union agreement with the EU unsustainable. Despite this, as it has always been, Turkey faced the EU's Fabian policy.

Now, Turkey has ran out of patience with these issues where diplomatic initiatives and discourse are about to end. Erdoğan knows that the EU, as has always been the case, will not fulfill its promises toward Turkey after it obtains what it wants from Turkey regarding the refugee crisis, and he warns everybody of this reality. Turkey still aims to be a full member in the EU for its own interests. There is only one thing new here: Turkey will no longer care about promises, but look at the EU's concrete moves and take steps accordingly.

Meanwhile, Turkey has been discussing a change in the economic administration. Everyone asks whether there will be a change in the economic administration; however, these discussions are not something new as they began in 2008 when Erdoğan did not sign the 20th standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Turkey has reached a final point and come to a crossroads as summarized by Erdoğan's speech during the abovementioned eighth International Occupational Health and Safety Conference. Erdoğan's reference to the concept of "homo-economicus" is an emphasis on a modern and human-centric economic understanding that prioritizes inclusive growth and fair and crisis-free market mechanism.

Indeed, debates over the concept of homo-economicus are very deep, as it is based on the assumption that everybody's individual interests can build society in a rational way. This understanding, which is the basis of the traditional Western right, was put forward after the Industrial Revolution, asserting that the human mind is pragmatic. Although this understanding seems to uphold a free market economy, it gives rise to hierarchical and authoritarian dominance in politics. This being the case, the market is not always free due to the monopolistic dominance. The economic understanding in this paradigm starts with laissez-faire homo-economicus and goes as far as to ultraliberalism that is morally defended by Carl Menger and Friedrich Hayek. This leads to a new kind of fascism, which originates from Darwinism and imposes individual hierarchy and domination. This understanding, which is the basic ideological starting point of the West's current crisis, rejects equality and justice and tries to suppress all political moves toward equality and justice within the scope of the state's security policy. Do you not think it is time to discuss a new economy that regulates income distribution? Why did people rebel in Greece, which is administrated by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, a couple of days ago? Or, are they not homo-economicus?