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Güven Sak, PhD - [Archive]

What does a physicist do in Turkey? 27/11/2012 - Viewed 2124 times

 

Unless Turkey advances from a medium-technology to a high-technology economy, achieving the 2023 targets will remain a sweet dream.

According to the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, for Turkey to become a member of the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) would mean paying a full membership fee for nothing.  A review appeared in Radikal the other day. My favorite part went, “It doesn’t seem possible for Turkish companies to succeed in CERN auctions. The only potential sectors Turkey can succeed in are services such as cleaning and catering." Why? The review explains: “Turkey’s human resources in the field of particle physics cannot compete with those of other CERN member countries.” Then, the review says Turkey should not take any step to become a full member of CERN until it builds capacity in terms of physicists and companies.

After I read the piece, I understood better why Turkish scientists leave to work in the laboratories of other countries. If I were a trained physicist and willing to work in the area, I would never stay in a country with such genuinely bad administrators as those in Turkey. Second, I thought about how Turkey could build the capacity in the absence of an attractive alternative such as CERN membership and projects. I believe this is quite a hard task to achieve. Third, I got a better idea of why students persistently avoid studying the basic sciences at university. Studying the basic sciences is not a sound option in a country governed by incompetent administrators. So, the only career option for a physicist in Turkey is teaching physics at a private training center. And for Turkey, without basic sciences there is no high-technology.

Let me take it from the top. Having achieved a certain level of capacity, Turkey became an associate member of CERN in 2009. Now, we have the right to become a full member, but we are not willing for the above reasons. This is a reasonable preference if Turkey does not have any ambitions in the field and if CERN membership does not help Turkey achieve its goals. Yet, unless it advances from a medium-technology to a high-technology economy, achieving the 2023 targets will remain a sweet dream. How can Turkey succeed at high technology? There are three critical factors, if you ask me.

First, one is a well-devised public macroeconomic policy framework. No public intervention, no high-technology. No company will bother struggling in the high-tech business when there are easier ways to make money. The public intervention here must not be selective but encourage competition. Turkey is on the wrong path, except for the decision to become an associate member of CERN in 2009.

Second, without the basic sciences and scientists working with the best of the field, Turkey cannot achieve advanced technology. CERN membership will be beneficial from this perspective. Turkey could make progress in the sciences via long-term technical projects, the CERN project being one. Training scientists is not like growing plants in a pot. Scientists must gain experience carrying out projects using state-of-art technology.

Third, both the 2023 targets and high-technology require heavy taxation on urban rents and other unearned income through a healthy tax reform. Otherwise, everyone will seek to hit the jackpot by purchasing land and passing by zoning regulations. Turkey has been doing this for the last five decades, but has only been able to achieve one-fourth of the GDP per capita of the U.S.

Turkish physicists are rising against the current situation and the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, which believes Turkey is capable of winning only tenders for cleaning projects, is expected to respond. I hope their response involves how Turkey is planning to achieve the 2023 targets without physics. All of us are dying to know the answer.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 27.11.2012

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