Turkey has to get over the attitude of an average student who is content with the minimum grade to pass the class.

Turkey has neglected issues, as I mentioned last week. Today, Turkey is looking for someone to take care of them. One election campaign poster remains on a billboard on the Ankara airport road. It has a giant picture of the Prime Minister and the slogan, "We will take care of the neglected." I like to read it as "We will take care of the neglected issues of this country." A series of issues that have been left on the back burners must now be addressed. The Honorable PM Erdoğan also must deal with these neglected issues. I want to reiterate this before the parliament is formed so that I can recall this when I am asked, "why did not you speak if you knew about it?" Let me tell you what is on my mind.

First, let me recall these neglected issues. What are the neglected structural issues of Turkey? I am talking about the steps that need to be taken today in order to improve the lives of the future generations. These are the measures that will move Turkey out of the medium-income to the high-income category. The neglected issues are those which prevent Turkey from becoming an indispensible part of global value chains; a number of issues from the operational problems of the legislation to health and the highway infrastructure. I have already talked about these issues, which are burdensome both politically and financially. Therefore, they have always been skipped on the to-do lists of center-right populists. This has been the case in Turkey. And if we let things go, this might continue. We must always keep this in mind.

But is this a disease specific to Turkey? Not at all! This is one of the well-known maladies that come with populism. The future generations do not have voting power or a public opinion today. Then, they are non-existent in the eyes of populists from both the center-right and left. This is the case with Turkey as well as with France, Italy, Russia and even Venezuela. The pattern is the same everywhere and recurring. The mastership of a populist is no different from his apprenticeship. It is necessary to repeat this unrelentingly.

Becoming a country through which a global value chain passes is harder than becoming a country through which a pipeline does. The question to keep in mind is how the interest of the global giants in Turkey can go beyond their marketing departments. Why does the interest of the global giants  in Turkey each time bring up the quote by former Prime Minister Erbakan, "they are partners, we are just a market"?

Let me put forth a couple of reasons so that you can become familiar with the neglected issues of Turkey. First, Turkey has a long way to go with respect to intellectual and industrial property rights. The only regulation in this field is the minimum requirement for being a part of the known world. Becoming a part of product development and research chains requires being able to distinguish the vital and the important in regards to intellectual and industrial property rights. What happens if Turkey pushes itself off the interest of global chains just to make sure that a few enterprises can produce imitation products and employ unskilled labor to earn some money? The hare gets offended by the mountain, but the mountain does not notice. This will be a shame for Turkey and a disappointment for future generations.

The second one is the operational problems of the legislative system. Trials last forever. It is difficult to claim your rights. The  system fails to go beyond the minimum requirements. Third, competition conditions are not fair and state aid is not regulated properly. The minimum requirements block the road once again. Fourth, measures to overcome money laundering and corruption have been stuck at the minimum level needed to become a part of modern society. Fifth, is the lack of English proficiency, as Victor Fung, the CEO of global value chain Li&Fung recently stressed in Istanbul. This takes us back to the minimal quality of the education system.

Turkey has to get over the attitude of an average student who is content with the minimum grade to pass the class. What I am expecting from the PM Erdoğan and the new government is to prove wrong the proverb, "why break the habit of lifetime?" I expect that the mastership period does not resemble the apprenticeship period. I expect the government to take care of the neglected structural problems and its future citizens.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 12.07.2011