June 24 and the economy's 'Red Book'


The Republic of Turkey is transitioning to a new public management model with the presidential system. This system ensures that its rapid, effective and accurate decision-making capabilities will be further strengthened - comparative to a well-established institution or company with a strong corporate strategy and well-established corporate governing principles.

Therefore, it is critical to build a government structure that will strengthen organizational skills and provide new dynamism, energy and activity to ministries, undersecretariats and supreme councils. Thus, it is also necessary to build an effective government that will work in harmony with the president's executive power to facilitate and nurture his decision-making process and strengthen the country's economy, military and political power in the region.

As already seen in many G20 countries, a national economy and development council focused on economic power, a national security council focused on military strength, and a justice and internal affairs council alongside a diplomacy and foreign policy council should be established to advise the new president. Likewise, the establishment of a space, science and technology council should also be considered.

Such councils, in which the president's chief advisers take on the responsibility of consulting with eminent scholars and experts, actively contribute to the president's decision-making process for developing strategies and road maps for the country. At the same time, ministries, supreme councils and undersecretariats in the presidential government system will stand out for their roles in follow-through, supervision and surveillance.

From now until 2030, the process of China taking over the load-bearing role of the U.S. and the development of a new global economic-political structure should be complete.

During this process, economic, diplomatic and military pressures on powerful countries such as Turkey will fluctuate. This imminent fluctuation makes the "National Economic Policy Document" that defines the tactics, action plans, duties and responsibilities necessary to fight against possible financial and economic attacks on institutions, such as the Turkish Wealth Fund, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, the Treasury and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, a safeguard similar to the military, intelligence and diplomatic strategy based on the "National Security Policy Document."

With effective coordination between these institutions, we will pass into a new phase where we can disrupt the manipulative operations being conducted against Turkey.

Will projects or reforms end in Turkey?

The parties' election declarations were introduced to voters one after the other. The strangest criticism I have heard so far was directed at the new promises, reforms and goals mentioned in the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) election manifesto. The critics, however, missed a very critical detail; for 12 years between 1998 and 2000, countries in the East, such as South Korea, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, rose as the "lions of Asia" by making tremendous improvements in technology, education and science and with promising industrialization in strategic industries such as defense, energy, transportation, aviation and space.

On the other hand, Turkey, after President Turgut Özal's progressive moves up to 1988, entered a period of tightening and lacked political and economic reforms. Political and economic inconsistency along with the lack of proper reforms coupled with terrorism threats dragged Turkey into the 1994 and 2001 crises.

The 12 wasted years from 1988 to 2000 made it very difficult for the country to recover and integrate into the world economy which limited accessibility, technology production, entrepreneurialism and the educational system as well as suppressed the capital market and limited the competitive private sector on a global scale.

During the 1994 and 2001 crises, Turkey experienced a $150 billion reduction in living standards and watched as half of the banks in the country went bankrupt, while Asian economies introduced tens of thousands of new companies, strong investors and strong brands to the global economic system. We need to continue the economic and democratic reform period started in 2000 and 2003 following the 2001 crisis that cost us two years. Over the span of more than 15 years, with first-generation reforms, we have transformed Turkey into an official candidate for EU membership, an important country within the G20 and a "playmaker" in Eurasia.

Now, it is time for second and third generation reforms that will carry Turkey to the top 10 countries in the world over the next 25 years. The next 25 years should be spent on establishing: Full digitization; a science, technology and innovation research and development ecosystem on a global scale; a new entrepreneurial and subsidy ecosystem; a democratic, flexible education system based on dynamic modeling that will elevate Turkish higher education to a competitive position in the world; and an effective, strong and just judicial system the world will envy. We will continue to build a strong institutional structure on a solid foundation based on the first-generation reforms under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Between 2003 and 2018, Turkey has seen great success in terms of global accessibility, development in Eurasia and humanitarian aid projects. Now it is time to expand of our strategically important global brands, such as Turkish Airlines (THY). Let's make a rational choice for Turkey's future after carefully reviewing the manifestos and promises of Turkey's first executive presidency candidates.