Given that Turkey performs poorly on the human development index, there is still great progress to be made.

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey and the US Department of State have been carrying out a joint Global Entrepreneurship Program in Turkey. The objective of the Program is to familiarize Turkish entrepreneurs with their peers in the region as well as in America so they can learn from and imitate each other. We are discussing how the success attained in one part of the globe can be transferred to other regions. Last month, in the context of the Program a delegation of foreign investors visited Turkey. During the visit, a business plan competition was carried out with the participation of more than thirty entrepreneurs selected from among the best of the best projects that had entered business plan competitions throughout Turkey. Watching the events, I thought, “Can entrepreneurship make Turkey fly?” To achieve its targets for 2023, Turkey has to do better than the rest of the world; it has to fly in real terms. As there are only 11 years left and there is no sign of any structural groundwork, I guess the entrepreneurial spirit is what Turkey is counting on. So, can entrepreneurship really make Turkey fly? Why not?

In the early 1980s, Turkey had a total of $3 billion of exports, 90 percent made up of agricultural goods. By the early 2010s, exports reached $130 billion and 90 percent of it was composed of manufacturing goods. The economic structure was upgraded in twenty-one years. Let me note this: If we consider per capita income as the measure of prosperity, however, Turkey has performed less successfully. For the first time, in 2011 per capita income exceeded the $10,000 threshold. So, if we take 1980 as the milestone, it took 31 years for Turkey to exceed the threshold. The declared target for 2023 is to raise per capita income to $25,000. This is the only way Turkey can become the tenth largest economy of the world. This is what the figures say! As we are in 2012, Turkey has to fly high during the next eleven years.

I recommend TEPAV Economist Esen Çağlar’s commentary on our website. There are 84 countries with populations greater than 10 million. With Turkey having entered the list, there are 29 countries whose per capita income is over $10,000. Today, Turkey is where the US was in 1929, Japan in 1968, Greece in 1970 and Korea in 1991. How many years did it take for these countries to raise the per capita income to $25,000? It took 44 years for the US, 22 years for Japan, 35 years for Greece, 31 years for Spain and 19 years for Korea. So, no country has ever accomplished a leap from $10,000 to $25,000 in 11 years. In the Mediterranean region, it took three decades to make the leap, and only with the support of the European Union. The leap took two decades in the Southeastern countries we envy. It’s for a reason that I said Turkey has to fly with wings.

So, can Turkey achieve a first? Can entrepreneurship make Turkey fly? Yes and no. Yes, because the world is not as it used to be. We are living an era in which technological change is the only reality and it has been advancing ever increasingly. Second, the preconditions of success for today’s entrepreneurs are different from those of yesterday. In the past, the precondition of entrepreneurial success was the ties between entrepreneurs and the national political power. Today, connections with the entrepreneurs of central countries are more important. Third, the new type of entrepreneurs will be the source of a mental transformation and regeneration within the corporate sector. So, let me note this down as well. In fact, Turkey can really fly high with venture capital tools and private equity companies. No, because Turkey cannot fly unless the shackles on the entrepreneurs are unlocked. When it comes to intellectual property rights, there is all talk and no show. The new Turkish Commercial Code is still not effective. The court system is inoperable; trails last for ages. In this picture, how can Turkish entrepreneurs connect with their peers? They cannot even speak English yet! Turkey achieved $10,000 per capita income automatically via urban migration, but $10,000 cannot be increased to $25,000 without investments in human capital. Given that Turkey performs poorly on the human development index, there is still a great deal of progress to be made.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 08.06.2012