Those who show interest in Turkey are the marketing departments of large globalized companies seeking the country's domestic market.

The election is over. The will of the people has been revealed, and all of us are trying to interpret it. Those who take the oath and those who refuse it are all acting in accordance with their own goals. I do not see a problem in that regard. Everything is in order there. Things are more entangled on the economic front. I am not talking about the risks involved with the current account deficit. Everyone, including the administration, is aware of that problem. But there is a structural problem nobody will take on. With your permission, I will touch on this neglected problem today. It is a good time to do so, since the administration is devising its new program these days. Let's take a look.

I have previously expressed my concern about "why global value chains skip Turkey." I even added that "becoming a country through which a global value chain passes is harder than becoming a country through which a pipeline does." A pipeline, after all, is only a matter of God-given geography.

Being a country through which a global value chain passes, on the other hand, is about the way of life and skill sets of those who live in that geography. Today, let's also add that "a country which only attracts the marketing departments of global companies cannot increase its exports." This seems to be the case in Turkey.

Why only marketing departments

From Microsoft to Eli Lily, Google to Merck, why is Turkey attracting the marketing sectors of giant companies and not, say, their production, product development or R&D departments? I would say that this is the day's question for the experts. This is what I mean when I say that Turkey does not have a global value chain passing through it. The solution might be Turkey deciding to overcome mediocrity. What should be expected from the new government is an "Overcoming Mediocrity Program" (OMP).

The "managing the situation" stage for the sake of integrating into the global economy is a thing of the past. The economic possibilities that Turkey presents to investors should no longer be those of quantities, but qualities. Turkey is in the process of transforming its quantitative experiences into a qualitative jump. It will either get stuck in the medium-income trap, or ascend to the high-income level. The experience accumulated over eighty years of Republican regime is important. But this is the time to make a jump. That is what has been occupying my mind these days.

Istanbul is an important hub

Let us expand the topic a bit. The question is: Why do global companies, when setting up global value chains, see Singapore as a product development center, but not Turkey? Why has Dubai, despite all of its efforts, not been able to get past the marketing departments? Why do the top executives of foreign companies not value us enough to show up themselves at meetings but just send someone to represent them because they think it might be important for marketing? The number of active global companies in Turkey is growing day by day. Istanbul is becoming an increasingly important hub for the regional centers of these companies. Media reports on this topic are pleasing. But in these companies only the marketing departments really shows interest in Turkey. Turkey's expanding domestic market, varying consumption patterns and growing middle class are interesting to these companies. Their research and development departments, however, remain uninterested.

Why? We will talk about that later. But Turkey cannot reach its 500 billion dollar export target without advancing past the marketing departments of the global companies. I will talk about that, too.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 08.07.2011