In order to be transformative, you first have to be aware that you are different.

Recently in Tunisia, a businessman said, “It gives me goose bumps when your ministers come on official visits with hundreds of business people.” He thought that it was quite disturbing that people in the same industry as his came to his country to sign deals. He was depressed to see the army of rivals marching around. Let me remind you that until recently Tunisia was a closed country, like Turkey in the 1980s. But they don’t know about the paths we have followed since then. Turkey has to develop a transformative foreign economic relations strategy for the region. This was not necessary in the 1980s, but it is today. Now it is about time for our ministers to review their strategy of taking planes full of businesspeople to the countries they visit. Let me tell you why.

I think that Turkey’s existing foreign economic relation strategy is outdated. It made sense in the Turgut Özal era, but it is antiquated now. What is the essence of this antiquated foreign economic relations strategy? It can be summarized as follows:  take samples, sell products, get the cash and run home. This strategy made sense in the 1980s, but now it is useless. Now it is time for a new one.

First, the markets we target and the domains of development for Turkey have changed, in terms of both quantity and quality. In quantitative terms, the import demand for non-European markets is extremely small. Moreover, the products targeted at these markets are inferior in terms of both technology and quality. In qualitative terms, all of the new target markets are closed, with ongoing institutional development. The foreign economic relations strategy for these also has to have a transformative element. When Turkey first designed the “take the money and run home” strategy, Europe was the target market. The policy framework didn’t need to transform the trade partner. Today it does.

It is easy to export to Europe if your products are high quality. Hence, 60% of Turkey’s exports go to Europe. The road that connects European markets to Turkey is a highway, not a trail. And Turkey’s strategy was designed in line with this setting. Trading with our eastern and southern neighbors, on the other hand, is like trying to drive through a rocky field rather than on highway. It is exhausting and risky.

It is not a task that small companies can do, getting their feet on the ground. If you insist, you will most probably end up with a number of bankrupted companies and a bad reputation in the region. This is bad. If you are not convinced, just go to Erbil and talk with the Kurdistan Regional Government officials.  So, here is the first point: it would be useful if Turkey designs a new foreign economic relations strategy in a way that would allow it to have a transformative role in the partnering country.

Being transformative means not taking the climate of doing business in the respective country, including the economic policy set, as given. From now on, Turkey can grow wealthy only along with the rest of the region. Turkey’s geography is a bracelet on its ankles. If your trade partners are poor, you will become an ordinary exporter. For a transformative foreign economic relations strategy, Turkey has to focus on how to facilitate Turkey’s investments in the region. And does Turkey do this, on a regular basis? No. The US has a state agency that insures investments abroad. So does Israel. But Turkey doesn’t. Why? Because no one has ever come up with that idea.

The third point is, to develop a transformative foreign economic relations strategy, the approach to the target economy should not be based on generating quick profits. Turkey needs long-term strategies, yet, we are still shortsighted, stuck with the old one. Filling a plane up with businesspeople and taking them on weekend trips is not a foreign economic relations strategy.

In order to be transformative, you first have to be aware that you are different. Turkey is like an adolescent unaware of his or her potential.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 03.08.2012