We can’t understand ‘new Turkey’ through yesterday’s knowledge

The new Turkey is much different from the older one. As we have displayed courage to confront our own history, not only have taboos been broken, but also military and bureaucratic tutelage was removed from the shoulders of democracy.

However, the minds that have difficulty in understanding this new Turkey are full of old knowledge. We are so conditioned that we do not make an effort to understand what the real potential of Turkey is. Now, we find out that airports and harbors, which have been constructed, all have values that are measured in billions of dollars. For years, many subventions have been granted from the governmental budget for these projects in the name of "public service." Then these constructions were privatized and it was understood that they are not expenditure- but revenue-generating projects. Furthermore, after privatization, they started to offer better service. We also see that Turkish Airlines could be among the movers and shakers of the aviation industry in the world. We realize that Turkey could be a tourism magnet and could build highways as well as erect skyscrapers. Even more, we could construct an undersea rail tunnel under the Bosphorus.

What about the fact that we have been restricted to TEKEL - a Turkish tobacco and alcoholic beverages company - for years? We even drank aniseed-free rakı. Did we not use to think it was natural when we saw particles of wood in the cigarette? Turan Güneş, foreign minister of that time, used to say, "These cigarettes can only be smoked by the janissary" as they required strong lungs to inhale. Now there are a number of rakı brands with various flavors that are offered to our tastes. It is no longer reported as news that tobaccos bought in high quantity and overstocked by the TEKEL Company, are burned.

Can you imagine that Turkey, which was introduced in a manner of "We are in need of 70 cents" at one time in the past, now pays $60 billion (TL 126.5 billion) for energy imports per year? We are certain that if life and work safety is not provided for coal miners, we will import coal as well. Leaving aside energy imports, Turkey has recently rendered a payment of approximately $50 million to import GSM cellphones. Five or six years ago, an authorized person from the telecommunication institution said "Approximately 3.5 million cellphones from Turkey are sent abroad for repair." According to his statements, when the mobile phones were broken down, they used to be thrown away if they were outdated and cheap. However, if the phones were valuable, they were taken to a repair service. If hardware failures could not be fixed there, they were sent abroad. The outlays that are spent for personal needs like these have climbed higher now. At that time, a similar explanation came from the authorities of the digital camera industry. It came to light that us Turks spend at least $2 billion for cameras every year and another $160 million to $170 million to print the photos. Just think about our expenditures on household appliances, cars, furniture and others. Are you unaware how A/C units became widespread? Did you ponder over the fact that the state has spent $3 billion for the Syrian refugees without undermining the country's economy? What we have in front of us is not the figures of a poor country, but the signs of an advanced economy of a country where citizens spend money for their personal needs and this is explained with large amounts on a world scale. Now we have a boom in the residential sector as well.

In brief, let us avoid labeling Turkey a third-world country. Our approach to democratic politics should not be in the same ballpark with that of a Syrian or Nigerian. Do we not realize that Turkey is definitely better and more stabilized than before?

Developed countries experience poverty and social injustice as well. But the politicians there do not manipulate calamities and misery. They generate solutions and promise a better future for their citizens. They reach
solutions through projects, not protests. Are we not all fed up with that political competition of who is bad by inviting contentions about the regime's safety?