There are two types of countries in the Middle East, the ones that require demonstrations in their Tahrir Squares to initiate change and the ones that can use the ballot box for the same purpose. Turkey belongs to the second group. While Turkey belongs to the second group, Egypt, on the other hand, has invented the Tahrir Square model for change in our region. And I believe that Turkey does have something to offer to Egypt, not as a fully fledged model for change, but as a source for inspiration. If a country's experience is considered as the collection of past policy mistakes, Turkey has a multitude of experiences to share in this transformation business. We made a myriad of policy mistakes in the last three decades. Turkish transformation did not start in 2002. The ballot box has been in use as a transformational device since the early 1950s: it is only now coming to a level of perfection. Economic liberalization has been with us since the early 1980s. There is still a way to go. Today let me focus on this issue of how there is no Turkish model but a Turkish experience to look into.

I have been reading the Al Ahram Weekly lately. Post-revolutionary Egypt seems to be a country under intense discussion. The issue is to consolidate the gains of the revolution and to determine how to proceed from here. In this discussion, reflections on a "Turkish model" are constantly popping up. For example, in the latest issue of the paper, all presidential contenders have been expressing "their admiration for the Turkish economic and political model." A similar vivid interest for the "Turkish model" also appeared at a workshop organized by the Arab League General Secretariat on Monday in Cairo. The objective of the meeting was again to understand what has been happening in Turkey as a policy experiment. Well, that is healthy. The details of the Monday meeting are at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, or TEPAV, website.

What are the salient features of the Turkish economic and social transformation? First, the transformation did not start in 2002 with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but far earlier with Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel on Jan. 24, 1980: the late Turgut Özal, who later became president, was his undersecretary as the architect of the reform process at the time. Change takes time and progress is always incremental.

Second, it started with a set of policy reforms aiming at economic liberalization in Turkey. Turkey is now one of the two industrialized countries in the region - the other being Israel.

Third, Turkish industry is geographically diversified throughout Anatolia with the emergence of new industrial cities.

Fourth, new industrial centers emerging in Asia Minor brought forth a conservative political transformation at the center, as well as a determination to be open to the world as much as possible. The people of Turkey have found out that it is possible to generate wealth not by hiding behind curtains but through opening up to the global markets.

The fifth feature is urbanization. In 1960, only 30 percent of the population lived in urban areas. Now this ratio is around 75 percent. Although traffic in Istanbul is not as congested as in Cairo, wait for the Istanbul Canal project to be realized. It is all about policy mistakes.

The Turkish experiment is still unfolding. Turkey is not an artificial construct like a bridge between East and West. This is a country in flux, a country that is constantly changing with internal migration. Turkey is a policy experiment with many mishaps. That's where the beauty of the Turkish "model" lies. It is alive. We can talk.

This commentary was published in Hürriyet Daily News on 18.06.2011