Social policies have a direct and inevitable relationship with economic policies. It is not possible to apply effective and comprehensive social policies in a given country without creating economic prosperity and ensuring sustainable growth.

In a weak economy, social policies would and could only share poverty. Economic growth increases wealth and prosperity in the country. The fair distribution of national income that is produced by the growing economy and responding to market failures is the function of social policies. The main aim of social policy is to increase social welfare for all social groups and individuals. The way to increase social welfare ultimately can be achieved by ensuring sustainable growth and a strong economy. Social policies have been strongly interrelated with the economic advancement from the very beginning of the adventure of the modern welfare state.

Investing in people

Turkey has maintained a stable economic policy in the past 15 years while making great strides in the area of social and welfare policies. While the resources allocated to the social expenditures and social transfers from the budget were TL 1.3 billion in 2002, this figure increased to well above TL 45 billion as of 2017. Alongside this budgetary expansion, comprehensive structural reforms have been implemented from social security to healthcare policies, social assistance and labor markets.

As a direct result of these investments in the individual, while the rate of Turkish citizens living with an income below $1 per day and living with an income below $2.15 per day were 0.2 percent and 3.04 percent in 2002, respectively, both have almost declined to zero by the end of 2016. Likewise, the proportion of the population living on an income below $4.30 per day declined to 1.62 percent by 2016 from the immense proportion of 30.3 percent in 2002.

In the 2014 U.N. Human Development Report, Turkey is shown as one of the countries with the fastest pace on human development. In the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) 2015 income distribution report, Turkey is mentioned as one of the rare countries that improve equality in income distribution. The Gini coefficient for the country, which indicates income inequality, has declined from 0.44 in 2002 to 0.4 in 2016. According to the 2015 U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) Report, Turkey was classified among the high human development countries compared to the middle human development countries in which Turkey was classified in 2002.

The new welfare model

Thanks to the investments made in social policies over the past 15 years, Turkish society has made a breakthrough that has not been achieved within previous times in terms of its human development. The literature now mentions a distinct model of the Turkish welfare state among the general family of Mediterranean welfare states.

This adventure of Turkey's social welfare model is not exclusively different from the trends in the world. Parallel to global integration, localization movements and welfare mix discussions have been extensive transformations in the welfare state in Turkey, too. However, it must be noted and highly praised that Turkey is one of the rare OECD and European countries that increases social spending and expands coverage of social welfare services while experiencing the global economic crisis from 2008 to 2010, and while welfare state retrenchment was the sole agenda worldwide.

Changing conditions

On the other hand, it is necessary to identify the deficiencies of this model, analyze the gap between policy and practice and adapt policies to meet changing social demands. While the welfare state in the world shrinks and social spending among OECD countries diminishes, the increase in the amount of resources that Turkey allocates to social welfare is important. But still, the country needs to take necessary measures for more effective and efficient use of these valuable resources.

It is a concept that is accepted in the literature that citizen satisfaction rates from the expansion of social welfare show a steady increase initially as the services expand, but at a certain point this satisfaction stagnates and even declines if no update is made to the services. There is a need for a model of welfare that overcomes this stagnation and increases citizens' satisfaction by responding to changing and diversifying demands.

Society in transformation

Turkey, as in all developing countries, is undergoing significant socio-demographic transformations. The demographic window of opportunity for the country will begin to close in 2023, and the country will become an aging society that losses its young and dynamic population structure.

Likewise, social expectations of generations X, Y and Z are changing immensely. The internet revolution deeply affects how new generations respond to the classical ways of social services' provision. The effects of being an information and consumption society are showing themselves extensively. The Turkish family and society are undergoing a rapid sociological transformation.

Thus, in this heyday, Turkey should update and improve its welfare model to respond to these challenges. In fact, it is inevitable for the welfare policies to evolve through social and cultural changes, since these policies directly touch and serve people's changing needs.

Non-Western experiences

Turkey is also an inheritor of an alternative, non-Western social welfare model that finds its source in social institutions such as foundations (vaqfs), zakat, sadaqah, Islamic solidarity and family. In history, comprehensive social welfare models have been established centuries before Bismark and Beveridge. In the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, a comprehensive welfare model was maintained for centuries, built upon the principles of preservation of social differences and ensuring social inclusion.

It is necessary to develop a new Turkish welfare model and present it as an alternative by building it on the experiments and experiences of this historical heritage. With this perspective, there is a need for a vision in social policies that will align Turkey's welfare model to the government's 2023 and 2051 political visions. Such a vision will and must be an amalgam of the following points:

• Reproduce a contemporary interpretation of the historical, religious and cultural heritage of Turkey's social policy history.

• Provide a welfare model that is appropriate and compatible with the structure of Turkish society and its cultural codes.

• Respond to the changing needs of Turkish society, which passes through immense socio-demographic changes.

• Continue and strengthen the 15-year-old welfare gains.

• Ensure the social integration and social inclusion of all parts of society, including Syrian refugees.

• Analyze the deficiencies in implementation with confident self-criticism and bring the mentality of innovation to social policies.