The problem is not limited to Southeastern Anatolia.; it seems industry did not visit the said part of the country.

The era of shouting about the Kurdish issue was ended a while ago by the Honorable Prime Minister. The Don't War, Talk campaign initiated by the the daily Radikal daily also is also related to the end of the "shouting era." Today we are in a process where any matter and proposal related to the Kurdish issue is made clear and discussed openly. This is a good thing. Listening to what others say rather talking at the same time with other will better the circumstances. But the silence of the east augurs no good. It is related not only to the silence of the residents. In the east, the machinery is also silent and production plants are nonexistent. How can we define this silence and why is it bad? If you wonder why, please join me.

If you, referring to the database of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce for the 1000 large industrial firms, mark the provinces that have more than five enterprises, you come across a picture like below. Looking at this, three conclusions can be reached. Turkey, thanks to Turgut Özal's reforms, has extended industry to Anatolia. This is one of the most significant achievements of the post-1980 era. In this process, industrial activity went beyond Istanbul, Izmir and Adana. Istanbul enables industrialization in the surrounding region, whereas Izmir seems to have entered the deindustrialization phase. In this respect, Central Anatolia seems to end up the absolute winner. This would be the first point to emphasize. Second, when spreading toward Anatolia, industry has diligently avoided  eastern Anatolia. The map below prepared by TEPAV economists indicates provinces with five or more enterprises. The eastern part of the map does not liven up even if you limit it to one enterprise. The detail to note here is that the problem is not limited to south-eastern Anatolia. It seems that in broad terms the industry has not arrived in said part of the country.

Why is this important? The spread of industry also accounts for the social change of Anatolia. The arrival of shopping malls in Anatolia, for example, Sankopark in Gaziantep is a product of the industrialization process. Similarly a few days ago newspapers featured the advertisement of a large real estate project in Gaziantep. Industry can blossom in a region only if the set of opportunities offered by the region goes above a certain minimum. In this context, the silence of the east is related directly to the limited set of opportunities offered in that region.

Is the issue of security not at all relevant? Of course, it is relevant; after all, industry requires peace. It needs unfailing and high quality electricity, roads and a skilled labor force. Professionals moving into the region demand high quality schools for their children. They demand movie theatres, high-quality hospitals, hotels and clean hotel beds. All of these require public expenditures. Without these you can have no new factories. You just have silence. And silence augurs no good.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 24.12.2010