Economic development program from the Victory Party: 'Globalization and the Victory Economy'

The Victory Party has prepared an economic development program under the name "Globalization and the Victory Economy." The introductory meeting for the program was held at the call of the party's Chairman, Ümit Özdağ. The introductory presentation was made by Bartu Soral, Deputy Chairman responsible for Development and Economic Policies. Soral conveyed his proposed solutions regarding Turkey's economic independence, prosperity, and future. 

"WE ARE AMONG THE COUNTRIES THAT HAVE EVALUATED GLOBALIZATION THE WORST"

Taking the floor first at the meeting, Özdağ analyzed the globalization process, stating, “Since the Corona crisis, we have seen that globalization has regressed and national states have begun to play a stronger role in the economy. When Trump was first elected, he had practically started a new American nationalist struggle against globalization. Later, we saw that the globalists came back to power with Biden, and now the Trump administration is coming for the second time, and this time with a more comprehensive program, with protectionist measures that will deeply affect the world market, such as the US withdrawing from globalization, restricting the circulation of money, and imposing a 25 percent customs tax on two neighboring countries like Canada and Mexico. Our country is among the countries that have evaluated the neoliberal economy and the globalization process the worst. Today, despite the failure of neoliberalism that has emerged and become clear in Turkey and various countries of the world, we see that the economic programs of both the government and the opposition are still determined within the framework of the neoliberal paradigm.”

"INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES DOMINATE THE WORLD"

The Victory Party's economic development program was explained by the party's Deputy Chairman responsible for Development and Economic Policies, Bartu Soral, in a presentation consisting of two parts. In the first part of the presentation, the sectors dominating globalization, change processes, strategies, and policies were explained, while in the second part, what Turkey needs to do from the second quarter of the 21st century onwards was conveyed.

Starting his speech with the change in the sectors that have dominated the world in the last 30 years, Soral said, “Instead of the oil, natural gas, and energy companies we are accustomed to, information technologies such as semiconductors, internet content information, and software infrastructure have reached a size of 15 trillion dollars in the world. Pharmaceutical manufacturers and gene technologies have also reached a value of approximately 5 trillion. Within 9 years of its establishment, Meta reached a market value of 1 trillion dollars in information technologies, Tesla in 11 years, and Alphabet in 15 years. This shows us that information technologies have changed so rapidly and dominated the world so quickly that these figures could be reached in such a short time. If we look at the money these companies spend on R&D, Huawei spends 23 percent of its turnover every year, Tesla spends 44 billion dollars a year, Amazon spends 87 billion dollars a year, and Meta spends 42 billion dollars a year, while Turkey's total expenditure without these companies is 16 billion dollars.”

Regarding exports based on high technology, Soral also stated, “When we look at the leading countries, China is in first place with 769 billion dollars, followed by Germany with 223 billion dollars and the USA with 166 billion dollars. Turkey is in 35th place because our high-tech product exports are 7 billion dollars. Our share in total export volume is only 2.5 percent.”

"TURKEY IS AMONG THE COUNTRIES THAT LOSE THE MOST"

Expressing Turkey's position in the global foreign trade balance, Soral stated, “Between 2000 and 2023, Turkey was among the countries that lost the most in the global foreign trade balance; we had a foreign trade deficit of 1.8 trillion dollars. This means borrowing from abroad to import in foreign trade. Borrowing means remaining dependent on abroad. We are dependent on abroad. China, on the other hand, became the country that gained the most in 23 years by giving a foreign trade surplus of 7 trillion dollars. It is followed by Germany, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.”

"RENEWABLE ENERGY MUST BE USED"

Drawing attention to the steps Turkey needs to take, Soral continued his words as follows:

“Today, Turkey must achieve the transition to information technologies and late industrialization. Both sectors use energy. Turkey needs cheap electricity. For this, it must use renewable energy, which is abundant in the country. However, when we look at the existing installed power and average growth rates in solar energy between 2013 and 2023, China ranks first with an average production of 609 thousand 921 watts per year, followed by the USA and Japan. Turkey's installed power is only 13 thousand watts.”

"A TRADE WAR IS STARTING"

Evaluating the embargo that China will not apply to the USA, Soral warned, “In the dominance of global rare elements (lithium, cobalt ore, etc.) used to produce semiconductor materials, microchips, and wind turbine magnets, China again ranks first as of 2023 with a total production of 240 kilo tons, followed by the USA in second place with 43 kilo tons. China announced that it has stopped the export of 3 of these minerals to the USA. In other words, a trade war is starting. Currently, China dominates the main raw materials of the world's largest sectors, semiconductors and microchips, and has started an embargo; the war is beginning.”

"PRODUCTION CAPACITY DROPPED AFTER PRIVATIZATION"

Emphasizing that Turkey has regressed with privatization, Soral said, “Heavy industry, high-tech production, and education are the 3 foundations of development. China also ranks first in steel production, which is heavy industry. However, we import 30 billion dollars worth of petrochemical products every year. Especially after PETKİM was privatized, its production capacity dropped. In China, defense industry companies are publicly owned. Turkey needs giant factories the size of 6 Petkims.”

"TURKEY IS IN THE TOP 500 IN THE BEST UNIVERSITIES"

Drawing attention to the importance of education in training the brains that will produce technology, Soral stated, “There are 36 universities from the USA and 12 from China in the top 100 universities in the world, but there is not even one from Turkey. We can only enter the ranking from the 450th place with 3 universities.”

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE 'VICTORY ECONOMY' STRATEGY

He concluded his speech by listing the basic principles of the 'Victory Economy' strategy one by one:

"Domestic production, which is the same decision we made at the Izmir Economic Congress.

Turkey is currently surrendered to globalization and neoliberalism, meaning a corporate empire exists. We need a competitive, innovative, productive economy that benefits from it, not one that surrenders to it. Because there is not a single brand we have been able to create in the last 43 years, and we are not in high technology. 

Development with a planned and mixed economic model alongside a strengthened market economy.

Giant firms through public-private partnerships in production. 

Saving the Marmara Region from congestion and transforming every area of the country into a production center through regional and rural development.

Creating public institutions that set out with the goal of full employment, investing, and producing.

Public and private sectors that transition to an information society and make material and moral investments in technology, research-development, and science.

Countries like Canada and Germany are announcing programs to attract qualified, well-equipped young people to their countries. We, on the other hand, lose our qualified young people to those programs and fill our country with Afghans, Iraqis, and Syrians who have no background or qualifications. This does not exist anywhere else in the world. An education policy and set of values where young people find their future in their own country and believe in the ideal of common development.

For a Turkey without smugglers, baby killers, or drug cartels, everyone must account for their income and pay their taxes with a 'where did you get this' law.

Rule of law and the obligation to be accountable in every field.

Separation of powers, politics producing policies for the public interest.

External resources only financing production.

Pursuing a competitive exchange rate policy that does not surrender to hot money.

International relations that prioritize the country's development projection.

Returning to Turkey's planning tradition.

The State Planning Organization (DPT) will be re-established with the participation of experienced, well-equipped bureaucrats and academics who know the world.

Mandatory planning will be done for the public, and guiding planning for the private sector.

Plans will be prepared with the participation of all stakeholders of the economy."