Can there be a strong foreign policy without a strong economy?

It is worth emphasizing frequently that there is a direct relationship between foreign policy and economic policy. In the definition economists like to use, economic policy is the independent variable, and foreign policy is the dependent variable.

History has shown that a state that is not economically strong cannot pursue an independent foreign policy. An independent foreign policy cannot be pursued with an economy dependent on the outside world or an industry dependent on the outside world. Since imperialist centers know this well, they primarily want to seize the domestic market, energy resources, and surface wealth of the country they have targeted.

Just as having an independent economy is a fundamental condition for pursuing an independent foreign policy, there are also certain conditions for pursuing an independent economic policy: a production economy, productivity (using resources in the most accurate, precise, and efficient way), a planned economy, and import-substitution policies (producing basic inputs domestically)... This list can certainly be extended further. An effective, respected, strong, transparent, and accountable state must be a planner, regulator, supervisor, balancer, and entrepreneur itself in economic policies. It should not leave the market entirely to its own rules or the society to the mercy of the market.

The other condition required to pursue an independent economic policy is, first and foremost, to trust in one's own resources and national savings. In cases where it is mandatory to take loans or credit from abroad, these loans should be used for large, profitable, employment-creating, export-oriented, technology-producing, high-tax-paying, and strategic investments. Opening the domestic market wide to foreign capital, taking out external debt limitlessly and irresponsibly, surrendering to the deception of free trade and the lie of free competition, and following neoliberal prescriptions, IMF, and World Bank programs not only limit economic independence but also limit political independence. Unfortunately, this is the path Turkey has taken since the January 24, 1980 decisions. It is a model based on consumption, imports, and external debt, rather than production, exports, national savings, and own resources. Turkey is experiencing the consequences of not fully grasping that growth does not mean development, and that privatization and a free-market economy do not mean democracy.

We know from both world history and our own history: One of the methods of imperialist powers is to make countries dependent on them by keeping them in constant debt. The Ottoman Empire, which took its first foreign loan in 1854 while the Crimean War between 1853 and 1856 was ongoing, had its debts paid off by the Republic of Turkey exactly 100 years later, in 1954. The year the Crimean War ended, 1856, is the year the Reform Edict (Islahat Fermanı) was signed.

The finances of the Ottoman Empire fell into such a difficult situation that it was unable to pay even the interest, let alone the principal, of the foreign loans it had taken. British imperialism did not miss the opportunity. By keeping the Ottoman Empire in constant debt, it continuously increased its economic, financial, and therefore political influence over the Ottomans. When the Ottoman Empire became unable to pay its debts, the following humiliating formula was found: The state, unable to pay its debts, left the collection and management of certain revenue items to the Ottoman Bank in order to be able to pay its debts. From then on, a foreign bank, the Ottoman Bank, would do this job instead of the Ottoman State. The 1875 Ramadan Decree is very painful, humiliating, and full of lessons in this context.

The British, who wrote the book on imperialism, diplomacy, and intelligence in the world, were of course not satisfied with this major concession they extracted from the Ottoman Empire. Taking advantage of both their strong influence over the Ottomans and the heavy defeat the Ottomans suffered in the 1877–1878 Ottoman-Russian War (also known as the 93 War), they took over the administration of the island of Cyprus from the Ottomans. In 1878, under the guise of "leasing"—to use a fashionable term from recent years—they seized the island of Cyprus. Ostensibly, London was helping Istanbul and defending the Ottomans against the Russians. In reality, however, Cyprus was lost to the Ottomans and passed under British administration.

Neither the 1875 Ramadan Decree nor the 1876 First Constitutional Era could prevent the economic, political, and military collapse. In the end, the heavy debt spiral brought an even heavier yoke, and the Muharrem Decree was signed in 1881. Thus, in order to pay its debts, the Ottoman Empire left the management of the revenues allocated to creditors to the Düyun-u Umumiye (Public Debt Administration), which was managed by the creditors themselves. The state lost its economic and financial independence to such an extent that it could not even prepare its budget without obtaining permission from the creditors.

The Düyun-u Umumiye building is the Istanbul High School (formerly known as Istanbul Boys' High School) building on Türk Ocağı Street in the Fatih district of Istanbul. Opposite the building is the General Headquarters of the Committee of Union and Progress. This headquarters building is also known as the Red Mansion, Pink Mansion, or Crimson Mansion. The building next to the high school, with one facade facing Türk Ocağı Street and the other facing the Istanbul Governorship, is the Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Istanbul. The Provincial building in the Sublime Porte (Babıali) is the Grand Vizierate office of the Ottoman period, that is, the building where the Grand Vizier (prime minister) worked.

It is because the young Republic learned the necessary lessons from the collapse experienced by the Ottomans that national industry, import-substitution policies, spreading industry across the country, a planned economy, planned development, a balanced budget, a foreign trade balance, and avoiding foreign debt as much as possible were among its priorities. As a result of the economic policy pursued by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who knew very well that there could be no national sovereignty without financial sovereignty, no political independence without economic independence, and no independence without an economy, the young Republic created an economic miracle.