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What if Mark Zuckerberg joined the army in Turkey? 22/02/2012 - Viewed 2849 times

If Mark Zuckerberg had not been born in New York but in Istanbul, he would now probably be brooding over when and how to fulfill his mandatory military service. In a previous commentary [1], I tried to portray how the Turkish entrepreneurship ecosystem is far from offering young people opportunities similar to those that Zuckerberg enjoyed in the US. I see now that I missed one important element: mandatory military service.

Having brought the idea of Facebook to maturity, Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of university and started his business. That is very uncommon among students in Turkey. Here you try to stay in university as long as you can in order to avoid the mandatory military service. After graduation, many potential entrepreneurs enroll in graduate programs to defer serving in the army. Potential entrepreneurs either become academics or seek out opportunities abroad.

So it is evident that Turkey’s military does not make life easier for entrepreneurs. You might ask about the correlation between military service and entrepreneurship, or creativity. I have no answer to that. How about this one though: If the Zuckerbergs of the world [2] lived in Turkey, how would they choose to fulfill their national service?

Experts on the issue will probably think this is nonsense, but my purpose is to share my ideas about possible improvements for the current system in Turkey.

Here is my recommendation for a six-step mandatory military service reform:

  1. Everyone serves 12-month mandatory national service right after high school. This way, young men would have time to rest, get to know society and the country in which they live they live and mature before university. Moreover, this major source of stress would not be drawn out until the end of university and entrepreneurs would have a head start. Also, young people would learn about the problems of life earlier. A new bill has now raised the level of mandatory education to twelve years, meaning that the young population will have at least high school diplomas from now on. So why don’t they fulfill the mandatory national service right after that?
  2. Mandatory national service is not limited to the military, but involves other public areas such as education, health, security and legal services. Article 72 of the Constitution states that national service can also be fulfilled outside the Turkish Armed Forces: “National service is the right and duty of every Turk. The manner in which this service shall be performed, or considered as performed, either in the Armed Forces or in public service, shall be regulated by law.” Considering all the deficiencies in Turkey’s public services, expanding the scope of the mandatory national service would help, to some extent, to close this gap.
  3. Before national service posts, candidates are evaluated according to their skills, knowledge and areas of interest as well as physical characteristics. Young people to perform mandatory national service are placed to posts in line with their qualifications. They can even compete for certain posts. At the end of the third year of high school, students wanting to go to university can take a national service evaluation test after the university entrance exam (ÖSS). After the rigors of the ÖSS test, the evaluation would be a piece of cake.
  4. Duties performed in the national service must require the recruit to exercise sound judgment and take initiative. People should feel that they are useful, that they are learning and developing their abilities. This way, when looking for jobs later in life, they can write in their CVs the duties they performed and initiatives they took during their national service. Those who are categorized as gifted and talented can serve in positions which require creativity and decision-making (such as military logistics units, anti-smuggling units), while those with moderate skills can carry out procedural duties (such as passport control).
  5. After twelve-months of service, those who performed successfully and who want to continue working in the same field are given the chance to work at professional posts. For example, young people with advanced military skills can be allowed to start a professional career in the army. Similarly, a person who worked as an assistant clerk at the courthouse can be offered the chance to start a career in this field.
  6. Women must also perform national service. Article 72 in the Constitution clearly states that “National service is the right and duty of every Turk.” It does not say anything about gender. Both men and women must therefore serve so that women too can prepare for lives in business.  Also, this could be a step in the right direction concerning gender equality.

I know, these ideas will sound utopian for some and nonsense to others. Many who read this will come up with a series of reasons why these are not feasible. But I think the way to make sure that Turkey’s Mark Zuckerbergs can succeed is to reform the military service system (or to remove the barriers beyond reform), among others. Turkey introduces a paid military service law once for every generation just because it could not solve the rooted problems of the mandatory military service system. Just as it introduces successive tax amnesties as it hasn’t been able to launch a tax reform, right?

I think it is time to consider comprehensive reforms rather than temporary solutions to save the day.


[1] “Why the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world don’t live in Turkey” http://www.tepav.org.tr/en/kose-yazisi-tepav/s/3055

[2] Zuckerberg is a Jewish American, but he is not an Israeli citizen. So, he has not done mandatory military service in that country. If you are curious how the mandatory military service in Israel contributes to entrepreneurship in the country, please read The Start-Up Nation by a US-based think-tank Council on Foreign Relations (http://www.cfr.org/israel/start-up-nation/p20356)

*Esen Çağlar, TEPAV Economic Policy Analyst, http://www.tepav.org.tr/en/ekibimiz/s/1025/Esen+Caglar

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