General review of Turkey a year ahead of deputy and presidential elections

The current AK Party administration, which came to power about 20 years ago and was able to make all the moves it wanted to make in Turkey during this time, now seems to have reached the end of the road – as evaluated by many political experts. The reason they say is “Because Turkey no longer has the strength to bear with the current situation, especially in terms of the economic power of the people and other issues such as freedom of expression and justice etc.”

The current administration (AK Party) which took over the management of the country at a time when money was abundant on the world market and the country had already taken a positive path with the IMF program before it came to power, seems to have completely lost its management skills and control for some time, after 20 years in power.

PREFERENCES OF RULING ADMINISTRATION

During 20 years in office, the government preferred to use the immense amount of financial funds it provided for construction investments rather than production and employment. It implemented projects that provided large profits, such as roads, bridges, hospitals and airports, at higher costs than normal, strengthening “major contractors” mainly, but not showing the same interest in production-related projects that would directly and much more contribute to economic indicators such as employment and national income.

In the meantime, the administration increased the exports, of course. However, the proportion of imported inputs in export products did not go down and probably even continued to increase, to the contrary. Naturally, imports also increased at higher rates, mostly causing the foreign trade balance to continue to develop negatively.

FINANCIAL PRACTICES

On the other hand, while these balances were developing against the benefit of the country, the administration also displayed serious mistakes in the field of finance and fiscal management such as persistently lowering interest rates based on a (made up) theory that contradicts economic science, such as “high inflation is the cause of high interest”, causing exchange rates to skyrocket and the Turkish lira to depreciate. Consequently, this caused the prices of almost all products in the country to see very serious and on-going increases.

It goes without saying, the Ukrainian war also had an impact on price increases. However, the effect thus caused did not weigh as much as thought, in the total price increases.

POLITICS, FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND JUDICIARY

As for the issue of politics, law and freedoms in the country, the administration, unfortunately began to show an increasingly weak performance in these areas. The negativity in this regard has started to lead to many disadvantageous situations even on a global basis such as affecting the opportunities of attracting foreign investment, in a negative manner and finding finance with suitable terms etc.

At the end of the day however, the biggest reason why ruling bloc has lost its support in the eye of the citizens, is poverty and the abnormal decline in purchasing power that has engulfed the country from one end to the other to be in the last few years, in particular.

In the event of a change in management at the first election, there will surely be questions that the current ruling administration will have to account for regarding incorrect/unfair practices which may require the involvement of the judiciary as well, eventually. In the light of this information, it is clear that the current administration would not particularly want to give up the power and do whatever it deems necessary in this direction.

TURKEY TO MAKE FATAL DECISION IN 2023 ELECTIONS

The bottom line is, Turkey will have to make a very serious and rather fatal decision about which direction to go in the general and presidential elections, to be held in the summer of 2023.

Let’s wait and see until then, with our prayers for the best.