The debate surrounding a recent deal between the Finance Ministry and international consultancy firm, McKinsey, once again laid bare the reason why government-opposition relations in Turkey are not healthy.
Turkey has been experiencing a period of deep economic turbulence for some time now; mostly as a result of a combination of exchange rate manipulation and economic attacks. To overcome this, Treasury and Finance Ministry Berat Albayrak on Aug. 20 unveiled the New Economic Program (NEP) – a new road map Turkey will follow in the near future. He also announced that the Ministry's Cost and Transformation Office will work with McKinsey to provide the economy with greater confidence in the global markets.
In addition to the Ministry, Turkey's major business organizations, including the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), contributed to this decision.
Unfortunately, however, this fact was not enough to stop the opposition and a section of the media from launching a logic-defying perception manipulation – with some claiming this was a submission to the U.S., while others mentioning the IMF update. Some even went as far as referring to the Ottoman Public Debt Administration.
This shows how the Turkish opposition, with the Republican People's Party (CHP) in the forefront, has engaged in unnecessary and futile policies.
In fact, the deal with McKinsey was not even the first of its kind. İş Bankası, Garanti Bank, Vakıfbank and the Ministry of Health have had similar agreements with McKinsey before. I am sure the CHP would not talk frivolously on the issue had they only asked İş Bankası, where the party holds a big share and is represented in the board of directors by four members. Simply comparing this agreement with the IMF is not a well-intentioned approach; it was either driven by ignorance or bad intentions.
Indeed, both are true; because this mentality has long served as a part of external perception manipulations carried out against Turkey. The destruction caused by these domestic and foreign efforts to manipulate perceptions about Turkey cannot be underestimated. Time is needed to compensate for the damage these perceptions have caused. The Israeli lobby groups and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) spend millions of dollars each year in the U.S. on campaigns against Turkey. This is exactly why an agreement has been signed with McKinsey – to tell the world that "the Turkish economy has a reliable structure."
What could be more admissible as simple common sense than making an agreement with an international firm for this purpose?
