The Republic and statism

The Republic places the human, the individual, and the citizen at its center. In this respect, it integrates with enlightenment, reason, and science. Because it is so, it believes in the equality of people. It intervenes in life to make people equal. It is Jacobin. It is against a system where the strong crush the weak. It is against Social Darwinism.

From this perspective, when looking at the Turkish Revolution, it is seen that the six arrows, which are the summary and symbol of the Republican Revolution, are complementary to one another, and that among the six arrows, the arrow of statism, along with the arrow of populism, comes to the fore with its economic content. However, statism is an unfortunate arrow. It has always been neglected after Atatürk. It has been deliberately portrayed as unimportant, archaic, and outdated.

The words of one of our important economists whom we remember with mercy and longing, Arslan Başer Kafaoğlu, stating that “Apart from Doğan Avcıoğlu, there are very few people who believe that the most important principle of the Atatürk Republic is statism” (“Statism and Full Independence”, Aydınlık, 10. 02. 2008, p: 44), reveal one of the most important reasons for the crisis Turkey has been experiencing for many years.

In the early Republican period, under the leadership of Atatürk, Turkey, which made great breakthroughs in the economic field with its growth rate, industrialization speed, and holistic development approach, has become stagnant as it moved away from Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s populist-statist economic model. Moreover, it has made its resistance against global economic crises weak, its economy fragile, and its structure powerless. Both the development gap between regions has widened and the income gap between classes has deepened. Therefore, in the 100th year of our Republic, if Turkey is to learn from what it has experienced, it must start by putting statism back on its agenda and remembering the relationship between statism and independence.

Thanks to the Republic’s understanding of statism, which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and İsmet İnönü called “moderate statism,” Turkey achieved what was essentially an economic miracle. During this period, while the repayment of foreign debts, first incurred in 1854 during the Crimean War, was being made as required by the Treaty of Lausanne (the final installment of the debt was paid in 1954), Turkey also did not make any changes to its customs tariffs until 1929, again as required by the provisions of Lausanne. In addition to these, despite the abolition of the Tithe (Aşar) tax in 1925 and the Great Depression of 1929, Turkey implemented very important industrial facilities and established banks.

Because Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was aware that the foundation of national independence lies in economic independence. For this reason, even before the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne and the proclamation of the Republic, he convened the Economic Congress in İzmir. He said, “There is no independence without economy.” He underlined that if there is no financial sovereignty, there cannot be national sovereignty either. He emphasized that military and political victories must be complemented by economic victories.

In short, while the Republic stood out on the economic plane as public-mindedness and planning, it thought of its citizens. This is also one of the reasons for the anti-Republicanism of liberals who see the citizen as either a disciple or a customer.