'Tenth anniversary of the 2001 crisis' celebrations must not be exaggerated or used to disrepute the ruling government back then.

It is evidently good the recall the 2001 crisis to emphasize how important macroeconomic stability is. However when doing this we must also note that stability alone will not move Turkey to the first league. Recalling and remembering the crisis will have limited impact unless we keep in mind that the income gap between developed countries and Turkey did not close down even slightly over the last three decades and therefore that Turkey ran around in circles in this respect.

I delivered a speech at a panel discussion this week. The opening speech as well as some other indicators indicated that a large part of the organizers and participants of the panel think that Turkey achieved a lot with respect to the economy in the recent years. At the panel I presented a phenomenon I have highlighted several times at this column before.

They were shocked

The figure I represented during my speech was about the movement of per capita income in Turkey in proportion to the per capita income in the USA. It revealed that in spite of an average 4.5 percent growth rate Turkey achieved over the last five decades, the income gap between developed countries and Turkey almost remained constant. Some of the audience said that they were shocked.

I highlighted this phenomenon frequently not because I want to calumniate the past. I highlight this frequently because Turkey needs to face this phenomenon. 4.5 percent growth average is evidently insufficient to move Turkey to the first league - the league of the rich. Therefore, we have to quest ways to improve average growth rate up to 7 percent level in a sustainable way.

New things must be said
Of course we must keep in mind the importance of the macroeconomic stability achieved after the 2001 crisis. Following years of macroeconomic instability, we must see the current state as a success. Nevertheless, we must also recognize that if we settle with this, Turkey will remain as a middle-income country forever.

With this perspective, I guess it is clear that we should not exaggerate the 'tenth anniversary of the 2001 crisis' celebrations. In fact, we must condemn those circles which use these celebrations as tools to disrepute the ruling government back then. We must keep in mind that the 2001 crisis did not erupt overnight.

Let me repeat: "New things have to be said now."

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 26.02.2011