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    Have you ever looked at Turkey with scrutiny?

    Güven Sak, PhD26 November 2009 - Okunma Sayısı: 1167

     

    Things might escape from attention within the daily struggles, but they should not. Things might be shaded by the severity of the power struggle; but they should not. Pessimistic discussions focusing on elections might upset you; but they should not. Politics might be in opinion nowadays that it is useful to establish the impression that the history of full of dark pages. But this is not completely true. The most important indicator for this is the achievements of Turkey: Turkey is a unique actor in its region; it is highly different than all other countries of the region. Have you ever scrutinized Turkey lately? Let us do this today and enter the Sacrifice Festival with higher hopes.

    Turkey is a unique actor in its region. I have acknowledged this during my visit to Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. It was just the beginning of the US invasion. Iraq was governed by US governor Paul Bremer. There was no commercial traffic at Baghdad airport yet. Planes were not yet descending and landing slowly as they used to. Planes arriving on top of the airport landed after they made short-diameter circles in the air. Back then, transportation to Kabul was also made this way so that rocket attacks were prevented. Planes were landing after narrowing the target as much as possible. When you put down on, you were taken to a vehicle filled with armed US soldiers. If the vehicle stopped due to the city traffic, soldiers would get off and surround the vehicle.  In short, Baghdad would exhaust your nerves from the very beginning. Anyway, I was at the Ministry of Industry of Iraq when I first heard the phrase: "Turkey is an industrial giant in its region".  To be honest, I have not thought this way before.

    Turkey is an industrial giant in its region. The graph below depicts it clearly. The graph shows non-food and non-oil industrial exports of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. The size of the bubble for each country reveals the value of non-food and non-oil industrial exports. As can be noted, size of Turkey's bubble is the biggest. So, the first point is, Turkey is the biggest industrial exporter of the region in terms of value.

    referans 20091126.520px

     

    And the second point: Vertical axis shows the share of manufacturing industry exports (excluding food and oil exports) of the relevant country in total exports of the region. In this respect, Turkey alone carries out 35 percent of total industrial exports of the Middle East and North Africa region. Closest follower of Turkey is Israel carrying out 19 percent of the industrial exports of the region. Sum of the share of Turkey and Israel exceeds 50 percent. In the horizontal axis share of industrial exports (excluding food and oil products) in total exports of the relevant country is given. Industrial products other than food and oil constitute 80 percent of Turkey's total exports composed of. And this is the third point to state.

    So, what does the big picture suggest? Turkey is the unique actor of the region with its diversified economy and strong industrial infrastructure. Turkey's dominance in the region is furthered from 2000 to 2008. Relative economic stability ensured after the 2001 crisis have intensified the integration of Turkey's economy with the global economy reinforcing its position in the region. And this is the fourth point.

    Fifth point is quite obvious: There stands a stunning success story despite the pressure economic crisis put on the corporate sector and the depressing discussions going on. It is useful to get out of the fight and take a closer look at Turkey once in a while. There is no need for pessimism.

    Happy Sacrifice Festival to all.

     

    This commentary was published in Referans daily on 26.11.2009

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