Second generation reforms are closely connected to how business is done and are associated with the structure of the public administration.

Can Turkey become the tenth biggest economy in the world? Of course, if we can stay focused on this target and decide on our priorities. Since the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) granted the government the authority to issue decrees with the aim of restructuring public services, I have been expecting a statement that reads like this: "The following are our priorities to make Turkey the tenth biggest economy in the world: (First Hundred Days Priority List). In order to handle these priorities as soon as possible, we have to concentrate the public administration as a single target. The first two hundred days of the program are of critical importance in this regard. After the elections, the new government was granted the authority to issue decrees with the aim of restructuring public services in order to take steps rapidly in the context of the First One-Hundred Days Program. This authority will be executive to fulfill the following targets: (To-Do List of the first One-Hundred Days Program)." However, our dreams have been broken once again. Decrees have not been presented to the public with this perspective; this has not relieved, but rather blurred our minds further.

This was how things worked during the administration of Turgut Özal. Back then, the motto was "You have to start with reforms." The steps taken in the first hundred days of a program were deemed important. Let's keep a tally now: The general elections were held on June 12. Today is September 9. We are about to leave behind the first one hundred days since the elections. What has Turkey done during this period in the context of the target to make itself the tenth biggest economy in the world? Maybe some steps have been taken, but we do not know about them. We would if we were told. Enabling Turkey to enter among the tenth biggest economies in the world by 2023 should be a target that excites us all. However, now, we have to do certain things differently to meet the target. Turkey's economy used to grow via internal migration. Five decades ago, 30 percent of the total population lived in urban areas. Now, the cited ratio is 75 percent. The people that migrated from rural to urban areas also moved from the low-productivity agricultural sector to the industry and services sectors.  Their productivity thus was tripled automatically. This part is important: this way, people went through a process of transformation in which they were able to improve their productivity without improving their skills. Turkey earned productivity gains without having to invest in people. Solely as a result of internal migration, Turkey achieved rapid growth rates.

Congestion in cities

However, the inclination towards cities has turned into a phase of congestion. If the population of the Marmara region grows further, the newcomers will be able to make only a negative contribution to the productivity given the current infrastructure. This is the chief reason why I dislike the Channel Istanbul project. This project cannot be assessed solely on the basis of cost. The project needs to be assessed from this perspective:  How much investment in the logistic infrastructure of the Marmara region is needed so that the project contributes to the region's productivity? At the current point, the major growth challenge for Turkey is that it has to focus on how to improve the productivity of people in the sectors in which they already work, not on the extent to which people changing sectors as a result of migration from rural to urban areas contribute to productivity. We have to focus on how to improve the productivity of industrial workers, for instance, rather than on people shifting from agriculture to industry. Hence, it is harder this time. We are in a period where second generation reforms which require orchestration are to replace first generation reforms. Second generation reforms are connected closely to how business is done and are associated with the structure of the public administration. From this perspective, it is highly meaningful, and to the purpose that the government plans to restructure the public administration via decrees in order to put into action the First One-Hundred Days Program.

But are the decrees we have seen so far to this purpose? No. Do we have a First One-Hundred Day Program? No.

I wish we did. I wish that political stability automatically guaranteed policy stability.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 09.09.2011