Turkey has been changing impressively since 2002. It achieves high growth rates on the one hand and a rapidly changing economic structure on the other. Turkey has become a world economy with an ever increasing rate of transformation. This is exactly why Turkey was one of the countries that were highly affected by the global crisis of 2008. I guess one does not need to know how rockets fly in order to claim this. If you are an integral part of the global economy, you will inevitably be affected by the global crisis at the highest degree. Turkey has been going through a rapid change since 2002 in terms of both quantitative and qualitative indicators. It is basically possible to add these up one after another to have a perfect picture of transformation. However, it is not quite so in practice. Why? The answer is hidden in the question itself. Let us see what the trick here is.

In such cases, I immediately recall the election slogan 'India Shining'. Before the 2004 elections, the government party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) entered the general elections with a substantial confidence. India was shining, what else would one need? I even remember the election poster: a young woman with traditional Hindu dress was playing golf at a lushly course, and next to her stood a cute little boy wearing Western clothes. Was BJP wrong? No, BJP, the voice of Hindu nationalism was quite correct. The progress India made in the information technologies (IT) sector by 2003 was quite impressive. It was as impressive as the progress Turkey made since 2002. However, change also created a number of losers. So, the first point should be derived from here: Each change does not create the same positive outcomes for everyone. We saw the picture of India's losers recently via a film and a book. The movie was Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. It conveyed the message quite openly. And the book was Arvind Adiga's novel "The White Tiger" Both emphasized the unshining side of India. So, we can conclude that nothing is as it seems. In fact, BJP lost the 2004 elections against the Congress Party. Voters always know; in Turkey and in India. Anyway, let us now concentrate on Turkey.

As we said at the top, things do not proceed as you desire in processes of rapid change. Yes, a change happens; but in rapidly changing societies there will be losers as well as winners. Change does not necessarily generate positive outcomes; it can also have negative side effects. This potential negative outcomes change can bring about should be the first point we must regard. The second point is; you might need to make effort in order to ensure that change brings about positive outcomes. You have to manage the change as much as possible so that it generates the desired outcomes. Here, 'managing' refers in Wittgenstein's sense to providing the warmth, light, and moisture to grow the soil. Do you remember Wittgenstein's expression: "You cannot pull the seed out of the soil. You can provide warmth, light, and moisture. It has to grow alone." So, the processes must be managed in this sense.

Now, if we take departure from the first point we reached, one point I recall the most from the COP15 climate change negotiations signaled an issue that can serve as an example to the negative side effects of change. It also emphasized how the process should be managed. I know this is a long of an introduction; but it is Saturday. Please lay back and keep reading. Turkey holds the 23^rd position in the TOP-25 carbon dioxide emission list as per the figures for 2006. Please do not immediately reject 'So what? Turkey has the seventeenth biggest economy of the world' and let me finish. Turkey stands at top   of the world rank in terms of the increase in greenhouse gas emission for 1990-2007. Turkey's greenhouse gas emission increased by 119 percent. So the first point is that Turkey is the world leader in polluting the world over the last eighteen years. Emission rate of Spain who ranked the second at the list increased by almost 50 percent. The story however does not end here. Second, rate of increase for Turkey, which was at 72.6 percent from 1990 to 2004 have jumped up to 119 percent for 1990-2007  period. That is to say, Turkey not only leads in the race of polluting the world but also pollutes the world gradually more and more rapidly. It is obvious that the record-high increase in emissions is closely connected with the impressive growth performance maintained after 2002. Then, the third conclusion following from this point is that as Turkey maintains rapid growth rates, energy needs increase, and thus Turkey pollutes the world more rapidly day by day. There is no doubt that this is not sustainable. Moreover, polluting the world on the one hand and relying on the 'Turkey is a developing country' excuse does not fit us and cut more and more attention each day.

The conclusion to be made concerning the processes of change and transformation is quite obvious. High-pace growth forces Turkey to also pollute the world with a higher pace. Turkey needs to revise the technological infrastructure of industry with respect to sustainable growth. The fact that greenhouse gas emissions rise in line with the increase in the pace of economic growth indicates that the technological and energy infrastructure of Turkey shall be revised immediately. A technology that seems sustainable today will not be so in the near future. And that future is now nearer than ever.

Yes, Turkey's economy grows, and growth is glamorous.

Turkey while growing pollutes the world extensively. And it is not possible to get out this by just saying that you are "sorry for the inconvenience."

This growth potential is unsustainable also with respect to the environment. There are no ifs or no buts in this issue.

The pollution Turkey spreads around is only one negative side effects of growth. And this is not indispensible; it is related with technological infrastructure.

This commentary was published in Referans daily on 30.01.2010